A Christian Outcast.

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Come Sunday is a true-to-life movie about a pastor called Carlton Pearson. The definitive attributes this preacher own are: the gift of gab, singing, amiability, and faith. Very timely for the Pentecostal wave that took the last quarter of the century before the turn of the millennium. However, there was a point in Pastor Pearson's awakening when he claimed he heard the Voice of God. The Voice told him that what he was disseminating about being saved is not at all correct. The object of Christianity is not to save one's self from hell. If a person dies without having a personal relationship with God, does that mean this person goes to hell? What about the thousands and the millions in Africa who perished because of persecution and hunger and disease, do they go directly to hell? No, he surmised. When Pastor Pearson wouldn't budge from his stance, the Pentecostal community abandoned him He became an outcast. Which, many of Christians do to their fellow Christians. A few days ago, a young boy called Emanuel cried on Pope Francis' shoulders. His worry was: My father is not a Christian, is he in hell? The old, affectionate Pope told him that only God decides who goes to heaven or to hell. The fact that his father reared him well means his father has done something good. God is a merciful God. He hears the cries of children. So, keep praying for your Papa. Perhaps we Christians must meditate on the kind of beings we are. Being just a Christian is not an assurance one can go to heaven. The Pentecostals might be missing the mark, as Pastor Pearson contends, for Jesus died to save us. He did not die so we can shout out loud: I have a personal relationship with our Lord. That statement, per se, is selfish. Christianity is selflessness.