Mitch Albom’s bestselling book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, is a novel about an 83-year-old man, Eddie, who works at the Ruby Pier amusement park as a maintenance man. Through a few catastrophic circumstances, Eddie dies trying to rescue a young girl when one of the rides malfunctions. When Eddie arrives in heaven, he meets five people that were connected to his life and each one passes on a pearl of wisdom. I thought it might be interesting to take a more non-fiction approach to Albom’s storyline and ask the question: Who are the five people you won’t meet in heaven?
Now, I understand that it might sound arrogant to claim that certain people will or will not make it to heaven, but let me clarify something very important: I’m writing this in reference to what the Bible says about our entrance into eternity — not my speculations or hunches. Also, each one of the people mentioned here really just point to a specific worldview. Each of these worldviews are opposed to the Gospel, in part or in all.
I encourage you to share your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below to add to the conversation. The goal of this list is to provide clarity and opportunity for discussion around the Gospel of Christ.
The Five People You Won’t Meet in Heaven
1. The Moral Pastor.
The pastor who teaches Scripture week after week, year after year — pointing to the great moral teachings found in the Word — is not enough to make it to heaven. You won’t meet the moral pastor in heaven because he’s been blinded by his worldviews; he believes it’s better to be inclusive at the cost of preaching Christ crucified and risen as the only way to God the Father.
Consequently, he lacks belief in the only thing that saves — the name of Jesus. He loves the principles, the wisdom, even the stories of Scripture, but he’s unwilling to believe that Christ is the only way. And, when that piece of the essential gospel is gone — when Christ is leveled out with all other ethical teachers and religions, the moral pastor is left with a savior who just cannot save.
The lesson: The gospel is the main story of Scripture. Stand on the death and resurrection of Christ and His payment for the sins of humanity. Morality will never gain us access to a Holy God, but faith in the work of Jesus will.
