 | Reverend Dennis Paschke is the senior pastor at Evangel Holton United Methodist Church, in Holton Kansas. Evangel church is a vital and growing congregation full of life that is changing lives and our community one person at a time. Dennis’ family emigrated from North Dakota to Alberta, Canada to homestead when his father was just a young boy. Rev. Paschke returned to the United States and has lived in many parts of the country. His life has afforded him many blessings before answering God’s call to full-time ministry, including being a vice president of a Fortune 100 company, serving as a chairman of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games and holding a U.S. patent. His greatest blessing in life is his walk with Christ! He believes strong faith always engages the heart and mind. EDUCATION: BSEE from the University of Calgary, Canada, and a Master’s of Divinity from Saint Paul School of Theology. FAMILY: He is married to wife Dawn and they have three sons Corey, Kyle and Marc. The family also includes one “wonder-dog” named Tucker! You can reach Reverend Paschke via email dpasch01@gmail.com. |
Religion
2012-01-26 14:04:55
Requirements to enter Heaven?
Q: I read recent articles in The Q & A Times and other places on Heaven and what it will be like. What are the “requirements” to enter Heaven? Are there different requirements for people of different religious persuasions?
A: Christians believe that you must believe in Christ as God’s only Son who came to take away your sin (separation from God) and that if you confess your sins, accept Christ as your Savior and repent you will be saved and united with God in Heaven.
Heaven, at its core, is a condition of closeness; it’s the state of a soul being enveloped in the Oneness of the Divine. Purgatory or Hell would be the opposite, a condition of distance and disconnection. The first is beautiful, tranquil and comforting to the nth degree. The second is exactly the opposite.
Each of us has an immortal soul that spends eternity either in a place of blessedness called heaven or a place of torment called hell. One’s destination depends on whether one is saved, forgiven by God’s grace and converted to a life growing toward sinless perfection.
What salvation means is to be free of sin and thus able to live in the presence of God. This presence is available to believers in this life, but is available fully and directly in the life to come. It should be noted that as much as Jesus came to offer the promise of eternal life with God – Jesus also always said he has come to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth in a new act of Creation. So Jesus came not only to get us into heaven BUT also to get heaven into us here and now!!
