We are familiar with two of The 12 Biblical Passages that lead to Heaven. The first passage on this short pilgrimage is Matthew, 16:18 “Thou art Peter, and on this rock, I build My Church.”
The second of The 12 Biblical Passages that lead to Heaven. John 6:56, “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood, you do not have life in you.”
These two passages, directly from Jesus to us, bring us to ten short passages that lead to Heaven:
(1) Psalm 69:28 “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.” (This passage tells us that there is a “Book of the Living”, to which later passages refer as “The Book of Life”.)
(2) Daniel 12:1 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.” (This passage reaffirms that there is a “Book of life”.)
(3) In the gospels Christ says, “… but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (Luke 10:20). (Jesus is referring to “The Book of Life”.)
(4) In Philippians 4:3, Paul tells us: “the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” (St. Paul mentions “The Book of Life”.)
(5) Revelation 3:5 “I will not erase his name from the book of life.” (St. John reaffirms that there is “The Book of Life”.)
(6) Revelation 13:8 “all who dwell on the earth will worship him (the beast), everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.” (Again, St. John informs us of “The Book of life”.)
(7) Revelation 17:8 “… And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.” (Another mention of “The Book of Life”)
(8) In Revelation 20:12 “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.” (Another reference to “The Book of Life”.)
(9) Revelation 20:15 “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Finally, after nine references to “The Book of Life”, the suspense is over. We see what happens to those who are NOT mentioned in “The Book of Life”. They are thrown into “the lake of fire”.)
So, there is a “Book of Life”. Almost every human being is intellectually able to make the connection between “Thou art Peter, and on this rock, I build My Church.” with the fact that only His Church provides the specific to “life” that Jesus referenced when He said: “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood, you do not have life in you.”
It is hard to contradict the conclusion that if you do not take Communion in a Catholic Church with the Real Presence, you do not have life in you and, therefore, your name is not in the “Book of Life”.
The 12 Biblical Passages that lead to Heaven. They logically follow the very clear connection from the need to have life in us, and the only way He said we could have life in us, to nine specific references to “The Book of Life”, in which the names of those who “have life in them” are written.
Catholic Fundamentalism concludes that if we do not have “life in us”, it may be hard, even impossible, for our names to have been written in The Book of Life.
The last of The 12 Biblical Passages that lead to Heaven. Peter and the disciples watched all of Christ’s followers turn away when Jesus said “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood, you do not have life in you.” When Jesus asked the Disciples if they would abandon Him as well, Peter said, in John, 6:68, “Where else can we go?” That is the last of The 12 Biblical Passages that lead to Heaven.
So, we may begin with The 12 Biblical Passages that lead to Heaven. They show, with frightening clarity, that we need The Roman Catholic Church. Desperately. If we are to “eat His Body and drink His Blood and have life in us”, where else can we go?
