May 11, 2024

Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, Novelist and Life Coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Saturday, May 11, 2024, and this is episode #13 in Season 2024. This episode is titled “The One-Way Street.”

A widespread notion has taken hold of the world-at-large that there are many ways to Heaven. Friend, hear me when I tell you that this is a blatant lie that is leading countless people straight into the pit of Hell. Just as you must drive in only one direction on a one-way street or else you will be punished by the law, so must you take a one-way street to Heaven or else you will be punished forever. That one way street is Jesus Christ.

The problem with the world today is that we think we can make our own rules without any consequences. That, too, is a lie. God has already made the rules, and if we try to change them, we will be in big trouble.

As in, going to Hell.

So, you may be thinking, “Dr. MaryAnn, who are you to tell me that I can’t make my own rules? I can choose whatever way I want to get to Heaven. After all, it’s my life.”

To answer your question as to who I am, “I am no one, really, to tell you what to do. I’m not the one making the rules. God has already made the rules. He is God, and I am not. My job is simply to warn you about the rules that God has already made—and that are unchangeable, by the way—so that you will not end up in Hell and suffer torment there forever.

All that I do, then, is to inform you about the rules so that you can lead a happy, successful, peaceful life and so that you will not go to Hell when you die.

You might further ask, “What’s it to you whether I go to Hell or not?”

My friend, you may find this difficult to understand, but I recognize you as a masterpiece created by God. A person God wants to make His child, to be a part of His family forever and ever. Because I love God, I love you, and I do not want to see you suffer, especially suffer the eternal punishment of Hell.

Let me put it like this: God created you for fellowship with Himself. Satan hates that truth and wants to destroy you so that you will never experience that fellowship with the wonderful, awesome God Who made you. You see, Satan hates God and everything God has made, especially people. And he hates you!

So Satan throws lies your way—like the lie that there are many ways to Heaven—to get you off course and going in the wrong direction, away from God.

Now, you may be wondering how I know there is only one way to Heaven. I know on the authority of the words of Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God Who cannot lie. Jesus said this in the New Testament Book of John, chapter 14, verse 6: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Did you hear that? Jesus said, “I am the Way to the Father. God the Father lives in Heaven. Since Jesus is the only way to the Father, Jesus is the only Way to Heaven.”

But because God loves you, He never forces you to do anything. He gave you a free will so that you could be—well, free! Why did God make you to be free? Because He wants you to love Him because you want to love Him, not because He is forcing you to love Him. You see, forced love is not love at all. It is coercion.

Would you want your spouse or children or best friend to love you because you forced them to? Of course not! That wouldn’t be love at all. You want them to love you because they want to love you.

So it is with God.

Because God the Father loves you, He has prepared a special place for you in Heaven, where He lives. But there is only one way to get there. That way is through Jesus Christ.

Now, you may be asking, why does Jesus have to be the only way I can get to Heaven?

Here is the short version: When our first parents, Adam and Eve, were created, they were connected to God. God gave them dominion over the earth.

But when our first Mom and Dad sinned by disobeying God, they were disconnected from Him and forfeited that dominion. In essence, they handed the dominion of the earth over to Satan. At that instant, Satan began to rule the earth. When Satan took over, death in all of its forms entered the world, and Satan has ruled the world ever since. That is the reason there is evil in the world. Satan is the cause of all evil.

Now, God the Father felt sorry for Adam and Eve and wanted them and all of their descendants reconnected to Him. But He knew that man could never reconnect himself to God through his own efforts. It was impossible. Why? Because man’s offense against a pure and holy God was too great to be paid for by a now corrupted, unholy man.

So God the Father, in His great love and mercy, gave up His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price for reconnecting man back to Himself. You see, God the Son—Jesus Christ—was pure and holy. So He was worthy to pay the price for man’s sin against a pure and holy God. And as a man, Jesus Christ could stand in for fallen humanity in the reconnection process. In short, Jesus took the rap for our sin. He went to the electric chair for us so that we would not have to. Talk about love!

So, this is the essence of Christianity. Man can never earn his salvation. Jesus earned it for him. The main difference between true Christianity and every other belief system is this truth: Man cannot get to Heaven through his own efforts. No matter how many good deeds man does, he can never pay the price for his sin.

All other belief systems falsely teach that man can earn his way to Heaven by doing good deeds. I tell you, man cannot.

But the Good News—the Gospel—is that Jesus Christ earned man’s way to Heaven for him. Jesus paid the price of sin for man! He gave up His own life in order to do this. There is no greater love than giving up one’s life for another.

In paying for the price of our sin, Jesus gave us a great gift. But the gift is not ours unless we believe in it and receive it. We have to believe that Jesus paid the price for our sin, and we have to receive the gift from Jesus in order to benefit from the gift personally. When we do, we are instantly reconnected to God the Father.

So, Christianity is summed up in believing and receiving, not in earning and deserving.***

This process is commonly called redemption. And it is being offered to every human being simply for the taking.

What about you? Would you like to accept Jesus Christ as the one-way street to Heaven? Would you like to invite Him into your life now and receive Him as your Savior and Lord?

If so, pray this simple prayer after me:

Lord Jesus, I come to You just as I am. I acknowledge that I am a sinner, and I ask Your forgiveness for violating Your Word and Your will. I invite You into my life to be my Savior and Lord. Thank You for saving me. Amen.

If you sincerely prayed this prayer, you are now a born-again child of God. Welcome to the family of God! Write down today’s date. It is your spiritual birthday and the day on which you received the birthday gift of salvation that Jesus died to give you. Then write to me at drmaryann@maryanndiorio.com. I would like to send you a free PDF booklet titled After You’re Born Again to help you grow in your walk with Christ.

Until next time, remember that God loves you just as you are and just where you are and that He will help you to keep on winning with the Word!

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Source cited: *** David Guzik’s Commentary on Hebrews 8: 6, BlueLetterBible.org.

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The Iron Saint: Preparing the Church for Persecution
by MaryAnn Diorio, PhD

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Miracle in Milan by MaryAnn Diorio

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In Black and White by MaryAnn Diorio
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Copyright 2024 by MaryAnn Diorio, PhD. All Rights Reserved.

Dr. MaryAnn Diorio is an award-winning novelist, certified life and health coach, and a licensed minister. She writes award-winning fiction from a small town in New Jersey where neighbors still stop to chat while walking their dogs, families and friends still gather on wide, wrap-around porches, and the charming downtown still finds kids licking lollipops and old married folks holding hands. A Jersey girl at heart, MaryAnn loves Jersey diners, Jersey tomatoes, and the Jersey shore. You may learn more about her at her two websites:
maryanndiorio.com