“I realize that God could work in their lives at some point, bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ and repentance for the wickedness of sin in their lives, but as it stands now, all seven are not bound for the promised land.”

I wrote a post earlier this week about seven celebrities who do not believe in God, and after thinking about it for a while, I could have entitled it: 7 Celebrities Who Are Destined for Hell When They Die. I know, it sounds harsh. But these are the implications of these celebrities’ lack of belief in the living and true God.

I realize that God could work in their lives at some point, bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ and repentance for the wickedness of sin in their lives, but as it stands now, all seven are not bound for the promised land. The seven are bound for the eternal torment of hell. There is no basis by which we can say otherwise. Those who are outside of Christ have no hope of entering into heaven. Just listen to the most quoted Bible passage, and the often overlooked verses that follow, of all time:

“For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

I underlined the portions we need to focus on. The first is that God sent Jesus to save some, not all. Some might be saved, not all. So there is no room for universalism in Scripture. Secondly, the verse states that those who do not believe already stand condemned. This is a judicial declaration. In other words we need not wait until judgment day to discover the eternal destination of these seven actors. Unless God shows them grace, opens their eyes to their sinfulness and need for Christ, works faith in their hearts, and makes them born-again believers in Jesus Christ, the condemnation has already been proclaimed upon them.*

This truth does not just apply to these seven actors, but to anyone who rejects Christ as Savior and LORD.

Now I would like to raise two possible objections. First, some will point to the good that these seven actors supposedly do in their acting career. After all, who was not absolutely riveted to the screen when Morgan Freeman played a convict in Shawshank Redemption? We were all entertained by his voiceover, his presence, and his ability to truly act out the part of a convict “who can gets things.”

On one level, his performance was a good work for society because he entertained us. But is this enough to bring about salvation, especially given that Morgan Freeman, by his own admission, does not believe in God and thinks himself a god? (See the article  here.) What we are really asking is: don’t the works of Morgan Freeman count for something on judgment day?

In light of the verses above, we already know the answer, for we are not saved by our good works, but by faith in Christ alone. Paul declares this to us in his letter to the early church in Ephesus: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Please realize that Paul is writing to the believers in Ephesus and today, not to those who are not saved. We can see from his words that even the true Christian is not saved because of some work we have performed, but by God’s grace through faith, which is a gift of God.

Morgan Freeman, denying the God behind this gift, doesn’t stand a chance on his own merit. And neither do we. If we are saved, it is by God’s grace alone. Otherwise, our destiny is the same as Morgan Freeman’s.

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