If you want to get to heaven -- ask a Southern Baptist (or NOT)

Not too long ago, I encountered a man that told me that the Southern Baptists were the only ones with the true doctrine of God. 
Hmmm...

I'm a born skeptic, but I don't think it takes a skeptic to find doubt in such a statement. Yes, I spent a couple of decades on the SBC evangelistic circuit, but I was never so sold on the one and only true doctrine bullshit. Forgive me if that sounds too sacrilegious for your liking, but that's what it is. Whenever someone says that the bible clearly says or that they know the mind of God, it's time to back-up and see what their motivation is. 

Today I learned that there are 46,400 different Christian denominations around the globe.
FORTY SIX THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED different denominations of Christians. That adds up to a whole lot of wrong thinking followers of Jesus. I think maybe this guy that is positive that he has it right is likely one of them. I have seen far too many people hurt by that one denomination to consider it to be anything like the Jesus of the Bible. 
Each one of these 46,400 denominations teaches their own version of Jesus.

I have a feeling there will be a lot of surprised souls at the people that God chooses to let into his heaven. I think there will be more than a few that might be surprised to see me, heretic that I am. I wonder how many souls I have guided away from God by my poor example of living like Jesus.

Today I do very little in the way of spreading the Word of the Bible.
I don't preach. I don't teach. I don't lead altar calls or have people repeat a magical incantation that will guarantee their eternal salvation. I don't believe that God needs John Hill to gather people into his heaven. I think God is way smarter than giving the task of filling heaven to me or to a single religious denomination under the direction of a bunch of power hungry, greedy, control freaks.

A couple of years ago the cover pic for my Facebook was a saying that I wrote that said:
The farther I got from religion, the closer I got to God.
Sorry, but that Old Time Religion isn't good enough for me. I don't want a religion anymore. If that makes me a heretic, I can live with that. It really doesn't mean anything to me that others might not think that I get to go to heaven. Until God gives them the job of Gatekeeper, it just doesn't matter what their opinion is.

I may be a fool destined for eternal hellfire, but I am quite honestly in a good place spiritually speaking. I'm enjoying some background music from a friend of mine on Spotify while sitting on the deck. I just finished a good cigar, and the afternoon is slowly fading towards evening. The land around me is starting to get green as the trees are budding and the grass is coming out of its winter dormancy. 
I am connected to the world around me and I sense the presence of the Creator in the chirping of the peeper frogs, the evening activity of the birds and in the potential of the seeds I've planted and am watering.

Yeah, I went to church today, but this is my religion. 
This is my peace.
This is where my soul is rested and restored.
This is where I connect with God.

I don't know what the Southern Baptist's heaven looks like, but I'm okay with not being included there. I have my heaven. The presence of God is evident all around me. God is all around you, too. Over and over, Jesus said that heaven is here. Open your spiritual eyes and look around you.
But don't take my word for it. I'm just another seeker on this road of life.

John