“If you vote for so and so, you go to heaven. If you vote for so and so and so, you go to hell.” At the moment it is time for the last few days of campaining of political parties in South Africa and parties go all out to get the last few votes, expecially the undecided vote. Now how do I know that if I vote for so and so and so that I go to hell? Let us even assume that it is a pastor who said that. How do I determine if he is speaking the truth or not? A few hundred years ago it would have been impossible to test what the pastor or religious leader was saying. The Bible was not available for people to read and to test what was conveyed as the truth. Today the Bible is available, but it is still not so easy to understand.

I remember that I was not even 17 years old when I experienced the presence of God in a very special way and that I also found a deep understanding and love for him. At that stage I could not understand how pastors and preachers were able to get a certain understanding from a certain portion of the Bible. So I started to write down what they were saying during the sermon. Today this has changed to making notes on my mobile phone. Technology has made it faster and a bit easier to read my notes a little bit later. The question I had years back is still a relevant question today: “Pastor, which Bible were you reading and what portion to get the message that you have just given me. What manual did you use to get to the explanation that you just gave me?”

This brings us to more questions …. “why do you accept the one chapter of the Old Testament as valuable and the truth for today, but you renounce the next one?” If we should keep the Sabbath, which day is it now? Saturday or Sunday? When does it start?

Many of these questions you cannot get answers to if you do not read the Bible. You need to get a feel for what this Book is all about. For better understanding it cannot stop there. You need to read more, maybe get a commentary or handbook to help you. If you want to go deeper, you need to study the Bible as well. There are many courses that you could do to study the Bible, some of them online and others with other people in a group situation. To be able to understand the message of the bible better and to be able to respond to other people who may claim a certain insight, it is vital that you study the bible and the culture(s) where it originates from.

To further this we have established a Bible School in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa where you can start with subjects leading to a certificate. a diploma or a degree. Once you have gone through the course, you will be able to answer people who made some bold claims or staments about anything.

Then you will know that voting for a political party will not take you to heaven or protect you from hell, but that an intimate relationship with Father God is the only way to be sure that you will be in heaven one day. You will know that Jesus the Son is the door to lead you to the Father and that the gentleman Holy Spirit is the one that can sweep you off your feet to experience the love of the Father right now. A very small aspect of this may be picked up from the books that you study, but a huge aspect is to know (experience) God to make Him known properly.

If you want to study with us, contact us. If you would like to sponsor a student, talk to us. Let us make heaven come sooner…