The actor described a moment when, as he has been pursuing God, studying the Bible, and starting “to come alive,” God told Wahlberg that God comes “first above everyone.”
“And I was like, ‘Before Jenny? Nobody comes before Jenny,’” Wahlberg said. “I went and told her, and she was like, ‘Of course he comes first, dummy.’”
“Once I could talk to my wife about it, I knew there was no turning back,” said Wahlberg.
‘Why Is It That Donnie Wahlberg Is Going To Go to Heaven?’
At one point in the conversation, Janko asked, “Why is it that Donnie Wahlberg is going to go to heaven?”
Wahlberg paused for a few seconds and then explained, “I’m not thinking. I’m just holding myself together. Sorry.”
After describing how he experiences the kingdom of heaven, God’s love, and the Holy Spirit right now, Wahlberg said, “Why am I going to heaven? I pray that I am. I hope that I am. But I would only say because Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and it’s by his grace.”
“So, gun to head right now,” Janko said, “you don’t know?”
“Why I would go to heaven?” Wahlberg asked.
“Or if you are,” Janko said. “Like, right now, could you confidently look me in the eyes and say, ‘I’m going to heaven.’ Like, if God took me right now, my life just died right now. There is no question—I’m going in.”
“Yes,” said Wahlberg.
Janko explained that he used to be “scared” at the Bible passage that describes people who claimed the name of Jesus, only for Jesus to tell them, “Depart from me. I never knew you.” Janko knew at the time he was the same as those people because he was relying on his own works.
“But the reason why we get to go and the reason why I’m not worried about it at all,” Janko continued, “in fact, the gospel says, ‘I gave this so that you know that you have eternal life.’ Not ‘think,’ not ‘have faith.’ No, no, no. Know.”
RELATED: ‘He Couldn’t Wait To See Jesus Face to Face’—Tim Tebow’s Father Dies at 78
“You, Donnie, will go because when Jesus left us, he said it is finished, and the way he said it is finished in his language was talking about debt,” Janko continued, “means it’s paid in full, which means, say, right now, we’re doing well, but next year you slip and you fall and you’re lost and you’re alone—bro, he already counted that.”
As they continued talking, Wahlberg said that he used to see his purpose as something God had given him, but now he believes “it ain’t even mine. It’s only his, through me…He’s using everything he built in my life. Every struggle, every stumble, fall, every little thing. It’s like he’s using it.”
“I now look back and understand. And I would say from time to time, ‘Yeah, this is God doing this. This is God doing this.’ But I look back now and I know without a doubt, right?” said Wahlberg. “He built me into that life to do what I’m doing now.”
“I literally spent my childhood in that house trying to make nine kids, my grandma, our dog, our cat, and everyone happy and bring us together and keep us unified as we’re fracturing and falling apart,” he said. “And it’s what I do for a living. I get on stage in front of 20,000 people and they’re suffering. They’re struggling, right? And they’re going through all these things.”
“And I do know, I do trust that this is exactly what’s supposed to be happening in my life right now,” said Wahlberg of his spiritual journey. “I am at the beginning, you know, of a new relationship and the most important relationship of my lifetime.”
