"Prepare ye the way of the Lord" - A Rich Man Shall Hardly Enter into the Kingdom of Heaven

Mt. Fuji from around Tokyo at Sunset

A Rich Man Shall Hardly Enter into the Kingdom of Heaven

The most important teaching of Christ Jesus is of course:

Mark 12
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

And the most unique teaching of Christ Jesus in all the human religions is:

Matthew 19
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

People wish and ask happiness and wealth when following a religion, but Christ Jesus clearly said that rich men cannot most probably enter into Heaven.  It means that you have to be poor to be admitted into Heaven. 

In other words, Christianity is a religion encouraging people to be poor.  Buddhism also encourages people to abandon their desires, but it does not emphasis especially on a need to be poor, although the Buddha lived and preached, begging people for foods.

When Christ Jesus went out to the desert to allow Satan to attempt Him, Satan used worldly wealth, success,  honor, etc. as traps for making Him stumble over human desire.  However, Christ Jesus said, "Go away, Satan!," rejecting all the offering of Satan.  And later, He preached to people to love the God but hate money.

In this context, the core of the teachings of Christ Jesus is that a man should be materially and economically poor if he is rich in faith.  In deed, for a man to earn even a dollar, he has to sell any part of his soul to Satan.  Money brings everything evil to the man.  Satan uses money as a tool to make men become its followers and betray the God.      

Indeed, it is said in the Bible that Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ Jesus for 30 silver coins.  Therefore, true followers of Christ Jesus, even if such a man calls himself the Pope, should not have money equivalent to 30 silver coins or more.  But the palace of the Vatican costs more than that.

Poverty and Christianity must be the critical issue to be addressed.   Because, rich men can hardly enter Heaven, according to the teaching of Christ Jesus. 

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Luke 3, King James Version
3 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

"whether he would heal him on the sabbath day" - The Conditions to be Certified as a Follower of Christ Jesus

A Park around Tokyo

The Conditions to be Certified as a Follower of Christ Jesus

What should be the conditions to be certified and admitted as followers of Christ Jesus?

1. First, you have to admit that Christ Jesus came from the God, although you might not be able to judge on whether He is the God, the Son of the God, an embodied angel, or other deity.

2. Second, you have to accept His teachings, although you might not be able to understand the true meaning of all His teachings.

3. Thirdly, you have to perform His teachings and live in accordance with them, although it must be difficult to do it 100% in your everyday living.  So, you have to make full efforts to do it as much as possible.

However, you have to believe that the God exists as basic condition like Jewish people, Muslims, conventional Christians, etc.

Put simply. believing in Christ Jesus is believing his words that He came from the God; He lived in the God; and the God lived in Him.  Therefore, those who believe in Christ Jesus believe in the existence of the spiritual world including Heaven and the hell.

But how can we believe in Christ Jesus?  Ironically, if we find evil influence of Satan around us, we may find divinity or divine nature of Christ Jesus.  The Bible clearly shows the state of Christ Jesus being attacked by Satan.

Or we had better think what state the present world would be in without Christ Jesus.  We own most of the culture, science, technology, and the way of thinking of today to Christ Jesus and Christianity through 2000 year history.  Even those who deny divinity of Christ Jesus today are living and thinking in environments established or influenced by Christianity.

Lastly, the most impressive teaching of Christ Jesus is that rich men cannot enter into Heaven but poor men can.  Therefore to be a follower of Christ Jesus, you have to be poor.  In this context, every rich leader of organizations related to Christianity cannot be regarded as a follower of Christ Jesus and thus cannot enter into Heaven.

In this context, even the Pope who is apparently richer than homeless Americans might not be able to enter into Heaven.  This is the most important issue for billions of Christians in the world. 

Indeed, Christ Jesus said that none was good except the God.         

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Mark 3, King James Version

And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.