Did you check out the AOL survey sometime back? If not, you missed a pretty interesting set of statistics:

What is the key to getting into heaven?

Living a good life. 65.5%; Having connections to someone at the top. 26.7%; Helping old ladies cross the street. 2.7%; Slipping St. Peter $20.00. 1.9%; Having a strong letter of reference. 0.5%; Making a deal with the devil. 1.2%; Telling a really good lie. 0.5%

Total votes 121,836

Are you going to heaven?

Yes. 89.8%; No. 10.2%

Total votes 143,309

(Source: www.aol.com)

Most of the answers didn’t surprise me, but did you notice how many more people responded to the second question (are you going to heaven?) as opposed to the first? 21,473 more folks opted to answer that simple question as opposed to taking time to think about the first one.

Apparently, nearly 9 out of 10 people believe they are going to heaven, but many of them don’t know and/or don’t care why.

I believe Satan’s goal is to take as many people as possible into hell with him. To do so, he doesn’t need to get anyone to convert to Satanism; he only needs to slightly distort the truth. This survey is a case in point: in one fell swoop he has 90% of Americans feeling good about themselves while at the same time are destined for eternal separation from God.

If these figures aren’t a wake-up call to our responsibility to share the good news of Jesus, I don’t know what would be. The devil has this country convinced that the ‘do good gospel’ gets them into heaven, and we are the only ones who can help them remove the blinders and see the Light of the world.

My suggestion would be to do a little survey in your corner of the world. Perhaps use this one, or make up new questions. The point is: get people talking about their perspective on heaven/hell. My guess is that most people you talk to will end up responding similar to the survey: i.e. good works get me into heaven. Here are a few verses you can use as discussion points:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5)

There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them. (Acts 4:12)

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

Evidently, God’s survey would come out very different: one out of every one goes to hell without Christ!