Established in 1996, Pathway to Victory serves as the broadcast ministry of Dr. Robert Jeffress and the First Baptist Church of , .

Pathway to Victory stands for truth and exists to pierce the darkness with the light of God’s Word through the most effective media available, including radio, television, and digital media. Through Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress spreads the Good News of Christ to a lost and hurting people, confronts an ungodly culture with God’s truth, and equips the saints to apply scripture to their everyday lives.

More than 930 radio stations in the United States broadcast the daily radio program, while Daystar and TBN, TCT, and Cornerstone Christian television networks air Pathway to Victory both in the United States and internationally.

Our mission is to provide practical application of God’s Word to everyday life through clear, Biblical teaching. Our goal is to lead people to become obedient and reproducing disciples of Jesus Christ, as He commanded in Matthew 28:18-20.

As our ministry continues to grow and expand, we are confident the Lord will use Pathway to Victory to advance the mission statement of First Baptist Dallas: to transform the world with God’s Word… one life at a time.

DR. ROBERT

PO Box 223609 | Dallas, TX 75222 214.969.2400 | ptv.org JEFFRESS

COMPLIMENTARY PDF COPY | NOT FOR PRINT According to the Bible, Satan has placed Regardless of what a veil over the minds of unbelievers other beliefs claim, (2 Corinthians 4:3–4). This veil remains until God miraculously removes it. We pray that God not all roads lead to will remove it—for one day, Jesus will return, in the body, to claim His Bride, the Church. He will Heaven. In fact, not all condemn the wicked and establish His Kingdom religions have the same on Earth. ideas about Heaven—or We only get one shot about how to get there. at getting Heaven One religion teaches that Heaven is becoming a god and populating your own planet. Another right. When we die, we says that Heaven is a paradise that must be earned cannot alter what we by performing righteous works. Yet another religion teaches that Heaven doesn’t really exist; believed while alive. you merely dissolve into the universe. Regardless of the belief system, all major world religions The moment we take teach that the way to get to Heaven is through our final breath in this doing—all except one. Christianity teaches that the way to Heaven is through accepting what life, we will either be Christ has done. In other words, Jesus has already earned Heaven for us, if we are willing to accept proved foolish or wise. Him on His terms. To ensure that what we believe about Heaven and This is what separates Christianity from all other how to get there is true, we are going to look at world religions. We see this in the Gospel of John what seven of the world’s major religions teach 14:6 where Jesus states: “I am the way, the truth, about Heaven—and the way they say to get and the life; no one comes to the Father but there.1 through Me.”

COMPLIMENTARY PDF COPY | NOT FOR PRINT Biblical Christianity

What Is Heaven? The New Creation The Bible teaches that Heaven is where He knew people would rebel against Him. Jesus is. The Apostle Paul made this plain in 2 In the Old Testament, God promised to send a Corinthians 5:8: “To be absent from the body Messiah (an Anointed Savior-King). God also set [is] to be at home with the Lord.” The current up a system of ritual sacrifices until the Messiah’s location of Jesus is the place where the souls arrival. Then, at the appointed time, God the of believers in Jesus go when they die. It is Father sent Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled the Old temporary because there will come a day when Testament prophecies of the Messiah. He lived a Jesus will create an eternal Heaven—a literal perfect life, and in about AD 33, Jesus died on a paradise on Earth. Roman cross. On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead. His perfect life provides righteousness. When that day comes, the souls of all His sacrificial death pays for sins. And His Christians will reunite with their immortal resurrection proves that He is God the Son. bodies, and they will live for eternity in what the Bible calls the “new heaven and new earth” To be saved, all people have to do is place (Revelation 21:1). This will be a physical their trust in what Jesus has already done for place—but nothing like the Earth we inhabit them. God saves people who don’t deserve it. today. In the New Heaven and New Earth, He gives eternal life to those who do not work God will eliminate sin, sorrow, pain, and death. for it. Christianity teaches that people simply God “will wipe away every tear” (21:4). And receive eternal life from God, by faith in Jesus. Christians will rule and reign with Jesus forever. The Holy Spirit then supernaturally connects Christians to the Church. Christians are adopted How to Get There? into God’s family. They are no longer slaves but Faith in Jesus Christ children of God through Jesus Christ. They Because God is a Trinity (Father, Son, and follow Jesus because His yoke is easy and His Holy Spirit), He was love before He created burden is light. He is their Sabbath rest. He is anything. God decided—before He created the their righteousness. He is the way, the truth, and world—that He would love people, even though the life. No one comes to the Father but by Him.

COMPLIMENTARY PDF COPY | NOT FOR PRINT Hinduism How to Get There? Escape the Cycle of Reincarnation What Is Heaven? To accumulate good karma, a person must Moksha work hard within his or her caste (Varna: “tribe,” The goal in Hinduism is to escape the cycle “type,” “color,” “category,” or “class”) and follow of death and reincarnation (samsara). Hindus various yogas (“yokes” or “disciplines”). A Hindu believe that human souls—atman—live millions person must not try to rise above his or her caste of times. Everything a person does in life or marry outside of it. This is the duty—the accumulates karma—a permanent record of dharma—of every good Hindu. For example, good and bad deeds. If an individual has done a person born into a poor or “untouchable” more good things than bad in this life, then in caste—say, a street sweeper—must not try to the next life, that person will be reincarnated become a doctor or a ruler. To do so will give into a better situation or as a higher being (e.g., the poor person bad karma. In fact, if one into a better caste, as a man, or as a cow). tries to advance into a better caste, it might be the dharma of someone in the upper castes to On the other hand, if a person’s bad karma suppress that person. outweighs his or her good karma, then that person will come back in a worse circumstance or as a lower form of life (into a worse caste, as a woman, or as a slug, for example).

Only after living millions of lives of doing more good deeds than bad can a person escape this cycle. This escape is called moksha. Upon achieving moksha, an individual soul is reabsorbed into the universal spirit called Brahman, like a drop of water falling into the ocean. There, one loses all individuality.

COMPLIMENTARY PDF COPY | NOT FOR PRINT Buddhism How to Get There? Destroy All Desire The way to destroy desires and the karma What Is Heaven? they cause, according to Buddhist teaching, is Nirvana to avoid extremes and follow the “Middle Way.” The great desire of Buddhists is to eliminate One achieves this Middle Way by following the all desire. For Buddhists, life is suffering. “Noble Eightfold Path” and the “Five Precepts.” Buddhists do not technically believe in a soul; The Eightfold Path includes right knowledge, instead, they believe in anatman, or “no-self.” right intentions, right speech, right conduct, Yet they do believe that unresolved desires right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and feelings become reincarnated (samsara) and right meditation. into other people, animals, or living things. Those reincarnated desires and cravings then The Five Precepts are the basis of the dhamma experience—and cause—more suffering and evil. (or dharma: the “way,” “law,” or “duty”) that all good Buddhists must obey: do not intentionally Like Hindus, Buddhists believe that karma kill any living thing, take only what is given to determines the blessings of the next life. you, abstain from sensuous misconduct, do not However, Buddhists believe that even the richest speak falsely, and avoid intoxicants. and healthiest people suffer unhappiness, sorrow, and death. Thus, to a Buddhist, all karma is Following all the aspects of the Eightfold Path ultimately bad karma. and Five Precepts requires a gargantuan amount of work. This may, in fact, take multiple lifetimes However, once a person learns to desire to achieve. nothing, he or she has accomplished the state of mind called nirvana. His or her latent desires— the “self”—then dissipate into nonexistence and the person ceases to be.

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What Is Heaven? Gan Eden (Garden of Delight) Modern Judaism (Rabbinic Judaism) is based heavily on ethnic descent and tradition, as recorded in the Talmud. Some Jews believe in a “World to Come” (Olam Ha-Ba). Others believe that this life How to Get There? is all that a person can experience. For Jews who Perform Righteous Works do not believe in an afterlife, heaven—Gan Eden TheTorah (the “Law,” the first five books of (Garden of Delight)—is simply creating an ideal the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament) teaches society now. that until the Messiah comes, one needs to make animal sacrifices. These sacrifices must take For Jews who do believe in an afterlife, Gan place at the temple—given to the one true God Eden is a place where the souls of the righteous (Yahweh)—in order to receive forgiveness for go to await being resurrected at the coming of sins. However, since their temple in Jerusalem the Messiah (Mashiach)—a righteous leader has been destroyed, Jews have no place to offer prophesied in the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible, or sacrifices. Thus, they cannot legally purify Old Testament). The Messiah will usher in a period themselves. of global peace and prosperity and will return all Jews to the land of Israel. Excluding Messianic To compensate, modern Judaism teaches that Jews—those who have placed their trust in Jesus followers now become righteous by repentance, as the Messiah—modern Jews reject Jesus as the prayer, study of the Torah, and performance of prophesied Messiah and the incarnate God. Like good deeds (mitzvah). Righteous individuals are their ancient forefathers, modern Jews reject the resurrected, while unrighteous individuals go to spiritual work of the Messiah—His sacrificial death Gehinnom, a place of torment. Unfortunately, no to provide forgiveness for sins—in favor of the follower of Judaism knows how perfect he or she Messiah’s political work of peace and prosperity. must be to reach Gan Eden. The line separating However, Rabbinic Jews believe the Messiah will righteousness from unrighteousness is terrifyingly not come until they purify themselves. unclear.

COMPLIMENTARY PDF COPY | NOT FOR PRINT Islam How to Get There? Submit to the Whim of Allah Islam means “submission.” To deserve heaven, What Is Heaven? a Muslim (“submitted one”) must serve Allah Jannah (Paradise) as a slave serves a master. They must follow the Islamic heaven is a place where Muslim men teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah (ways are given limitless wine,2 food, young servant of ) as recorded in the Hadith boys (ghilman), and 72 virgin women (houris) (accounts written after Muhammad’s death). whose skin is so translucent their bones are These practices include the “Five Pillars of revealed underneath. These virgins have been Islam”: recite the Muslim profession of faith, specially designed by god (Allah) to serve each perform ritual prayers correctly five times man and provide him with sexual pleasure each day, pay a charity tax to benefit the poor, forever. In Muslim heaven (Jannah), the man fast during the month of Ramadan, and go will remain forever young, be 90 feet tall, and on a pilgrimage to Mecca. However, not all have greatly increased sexual stamina. Some Muslims agree on which Hadiths (or Ahadith) Muslim writings even describe heaven as a type are authentic (sahih). Further, if a Muslim is not of sex-slave market or brothel. (Many Muslim faithful enough or finds displeasure with Allah, descriptions of heaven are too pornographic to be he is sent to hell to suffer forever. repeated here.) No Muslim knows if he has been good In heaven, faithful Muslim women will be enough to please Allah. There is no objective reunited with their husbands as their reward. standard of righteousness to earn heaven in Islam—only the whim of Allah, who can change his revelation as he so desires. The quickest and surest way for a Muslim to please Allah and to earn heaven is to die in a holy struggle (jihad), which often includes waging war against infidels (non-Muslims) or committing “martyrdom” (shahid) through suicide bombings and terrorist attacks.

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What Is Heaven? How to Get There? Three Kingdoms Perform Enough Good Works The goal of every Mormon man is to become In Mormonism, salvation is achieved by a god—to rule his own planet and populate following the examples of Elohim and Jesus, it through sexual procreation with his wife or who through their own good works became wives. Mormon doctrine teaches three levels gods. Mormons today must follow the writings of heaven: the Celestial (highest), Terrestrial of Mormon doctrine and the leadership of (middle), and Telestial (lowest) Kingdoms. the church. They must tithe, practice baptism The Celestial Kingdom is further divided into (both for themselves and for the dead), learn three levels. “God the Father” (Elohim), the the secret handshake and passwords to get into exalted man, resides in the highest level of the heaven, perform good deeds, and be born male. highest heaven. According to Mormonism, (Husbands can let their wives become goddesses, Elohim was once a man living on another planet, if they want.) Also, until 1978, only whites worshipping his own god. But by good works, could achieve godhood. Elohim became a god. He now resides with a Almost everyone eventually makes it into physical body near a star called Kolob. Together one of the three kingdoms, with the very worst with the “Heavenly Mother,” Elohim sires people cast into the “outer darkness.” Yet only “spirit children,” who eventually become earthly the most worthy Mormons become gods. The humans. They also sired other “spirit siblings”— standard of righteousness is undefined. How Jesus (the firstborn, known as “Jehovah”), the does anyone know if he is god-material or not? Holy Ghost, and Lucifer (Satan).

COMPLIMENTARY PDF COPY | NOT FOR PRINT Jehovah’s Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Jesus “invisibly returned” in October 1914. Any day now, Jesus Witnesses and his angels will destroy those outside the true church—those who are non-Jehovah’s Witnesses. What Is Heaven? Jesus will then bring his heavenly kingdom to Jehovah’s Kingdom Earth for 1,000 years, during which the 144,000 To Jehovah’s Witnesses, heaven is not a anointed will rule. All other Jehovah’s Witnesses physical location but a spiritual existence. will be awakened from their “soul sleep.” They However, it is an existence that cannot must then preach to the millions who lived before accommodate any more souls because the Jehovah’s Witnesses were founded, whom Jehovah “144,000 anointed” have already filled it. These will re-create. These re-created beings must then 144,000 souls earned their salvation by faith in be baptized and work with the other Jehovah’s Watchtower doctrine and by doing good works— Witnesses during the entire 1,000 years—helping as prescribed in Watchtower publications. These to restore the earth. Anyone who does not blessed ones now exist with the spirit of Jesus continually work will be annihilated. At the end (who is not God but the archangel Michael) of the millennium, Satan will be released to try to ruling Jehovah’s kingdom. deceive many, causing them to lose their salvation and be annihilated. Those who pass the 1,000- How to Get There? year test and resist Satan’s last temptation will live You Can’t forever on the restored Earth—as long as they The limited god Jehovah created Michael by keep obeying the 144,000. This is not heaven, his “holy spirit”—his “active force” (not God however, since heaven is already populated by the the Spirit). Michael, in turn, created everything 144,000. Nevertheless, it is the second-best thing. else before he was born as the man Jesus, who lived a perfect life. Jesus was killed on a stake and was spiritually—not bodily—resurrected. His death provided salvation and the means to heaven for the 144,000—as long as they worked to keep their salvation. And Jesus’ death provides salvation (though not heaven) for today’s Jehovah’s Witnesses—who must also work to keep their salvation.

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Notes 1. What is presented here reflects the official writings Unwin, 1955); and Usama Dakdok’s, The Generous Qur’an of the founders and leaders of the various religions (Venice, Florida: Usama Dakdok Publishing, 2009). For highlighted—teachings that may differ from what a discussion on the problem of English translations of the individual practitioners of these religions believe. Quran, see http://www.meforum.org/717/assessing-english- translations-of-the-quran. (For an example of how poor 2. Many English translations of the Quran are poor or translations leave out parts of the Quran, compare sura misleading in nature, often reflecting sectarian and 78:33 from the translations listed above, with those found political biases of the translators. However, two good at http://www.clearquran.com/078.html and http://www. English translations of the Quran are A. J. Arberry’s, quranexplorer.com/quran/.) The Koran Interpreted, A Translation (London: Allen &