I don’t know a lot about Steve Jobs. I watched Pirates of Silicon Valley and have bought a few iPods. I had never met the man: so how do I propose to know his last wish?
First we must review Luke 16:27-28.
27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’
I believe that Steve Jobs’ final wish is that God’s law and gospel be proclaimed to those he loved the most in this world. Whether Steve Jobs is currently suffering the condemnation of God or worshiping the Creator now because he is in Christ Jesus – I trust his hope is that others will know who the One True God is. So where is Steve now?
I don’t know for sure. God knows each man’s heart; I do not. But what I do know is that if he was never born-again, if he never repented of his sin against God and trusted Jesus Christ as the only provision for the basis of forgiveness of those sins, then he is suffering the just punishment for his life of enmity with God – and so will you, without Christ. It is also possible that due to the mercy and grace of Christ, that Steve was covered by His sacrifice and is currently enjoying communion with his Savior. Enemies of the gospel of grace will call me callous for even using a recently deceased person as an example; and I am sure some Christians will find my take on the eternity of Jobs too weak, since he never publicly professed Christ and, in fact, professed a false religion (Buddhism, if my research is correct).
I cannot help Steve Jobs anymore. I cannot pray him into Heaven (a false doctrine of Catholicism called purgatory), and I cannot preach to him or plead with him to repent and believe the gospel. Josh Harris sent him the gospel a while back. I suppose Steve died with knowledge of how to be saved and we can all live with the hope that God had mercy on him late in life. What we cannot say is that anything we know about him indicated regeneration. We cannot just arbitrarily assume that Steve was “probably a Christian” because it makes us feel better, or because we lack the courage to allow people to believe that we think Jobs’ hellbound life remained uninterrupted by God’s grace. For we know the truth is that EVERY man and woman is hellbound. Every man and woman has fallen short of God’s standard and is accountable to God for their own sin. The question is not “Where is Steve Jobs?” The question is – “Have you been born again?” John 3:3-7.
I am sure many will think it is wrong to even refer to Jobs so soon after his death, especially concerning eternal matters. I, of course, would disagree. Assuming this dissension would come from people outside Christiany, the criticism is unwarranted, irrelevant and inarguable. There will be no convincing non-Christians of Christian things with clever arguments or sound logic. These folks simply deny the foundation of Christian beliefs (God’s Word), and, thus, can prove or disprove anything they want, arbitrarily. But let’s look at the Christian response: Are you a Christian who thinks there should be some waiting period before we discuss the gospel after someone dies? Or maybe you think the person’s name should never be used? I’d ask you this: how many people are you ok with perishing to eternal torment while you wait for the right time to begin discussing spiritual matters? Because you do not know, (as Jobs did not), who will be next, or when? What arrogance you have to believe that your non-believing family and friends and coworkers have even another breath in them.
So please, share the gospel NOW. Be gentle and meek, patient and humble – yet bold and confident in the power (Romans 1:16). Refer to the gospel not as your message to humanity, but rather the message of the Bible. Make sure your hearers understand that if they disagree with you, they are actually disagreeing with the Bible. And don’t take it too personally when they reject you and sling accusations at you, for if you properly share it – if you accurately express the message of condemnation of sins and hope in Christ’s righteousness instead of self-righteousness – your earthly existence ought not be too much better than the life of Jesus and John the Baptist.
Dear brothers and sisters, I beg you and command you in the name of Christ: “Go ye therefore.” You may impact someone for Christ who impacts someone for Christ who Steve Jobs desperately wants saved. You will certainly be showing your gratitude for what Christ did for you.
Amen, brother. I reflected on this verse this morning from Ecclesiastes 7:2,
Better to go to the house of mourning
Than to go to the house of feasting,
For that is the end of all men;
And the living will take it to heart.
There is no more important time to talk about death than when death is freshest. I’m hoping to bring people’s attention to this very topic tonight using the death of Steve Jobs. Great article, bro, may God’s sheep find it and repent.
http://cyberbrethren.com/2011/10/06/isad/
This is an interesting article. Apparently he was raised in the faith (LC-MS) then by those adoptive parents, and I pray like the author here that he repented at the end. He seemed to live a life that was not full of any memorable controversy and scandal like we see from many other businessmen.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Paula. For the record (and this has been amply discussed on FB now), I do not pray that Steve repented at the end.
Prayers for past events, of course, are useless. I trust that you meant the word pray in the conventional sense of hope. But for the purposes of my blog, I just wanted to clarify.
🙂
Another perspective:
http://cyberbrethren.com/2011/10/06/isad/
From all accounts I have read, Jobs was a committed buddhist up until his death. That being said, I agree with you, no one can truly judge a man’s heart because we cannot see into it. I posted on my facebook page that I could not celebrate Jobs’ life because I don’t believe he ever repented. How can one celebrate another who was so gifted but missed the most important decision one can make in his life? I hope somehow he reached out to Christ, but as I said, by all accounts, he did not.
God is merciful and loves Steve Jobs. God was merciful to my unbelieving father also. My father died from cancer too. He was given three months to live when they diagnosed him. If he had died in a car wreck or had a heart attack and died suddenly, he would not be in heaven right now. But because he had three months to think about what was going to happen to him when he passed from this life to the next, he accepted Jesus into his heart and accepted that Jesus died for his sins and my father became Born Again. He is now in Heaven. He was a good, outstanding man that no one would ever say anything bad about. He had many friends and helped many people by giving them jobs and houses and many other things. But he thought being a Christian was a crutch and he made fun of people that were Christians. He was always saying funny things, that was his personality. Finding out that my father was dying was the worst thing that ever happened to me. But I will always thank God that he gave my dad time to reflect on his life and knowing that every breath was precious and was counting down the clock of his life, he gave Jesus another look. All our prayers were answered and a miracle happened, he is now in Heaven for eternity. I know God loves Steve Jobs and he gave him years to know he was dying. I hope he reflected on his life and impending death. I was praying that he would be saved and I’m sure many others all over the world were also. I am mourning him today just as a I would a close friend. Only God knows what happened those final moments. But I do believe in miracles.
Repose and Comfort By GOD His Will Be Done
i don’t think the catholic ‘doctrine’ (which some may not even hold closely to anymore) of purgatory is a ‘fan vote’ of how many people can pray you into Heaven, etc. Lord Forgive be i wrong or offbase, but *still* God Willing pray for these souls past on and those left behind, pray that maybe mr. jobs found The Way Truth N Life, repented if need be, etc. prayer is a powerful thing because God Is So Powerful! praise The LORD!!!! Lord Forgive be i wrong or offbase!
i liked the ‘arkansas truth to liberals blog’ comment on ecc. as a whole, on the author looking for something that’s not ‘vanity’ and that life absent of God is fickle and empty-seeming, again Lord Forgive be that wrong or offbase
we’ve all need of The LORD, let’s not judge the past or others, but indeed be aware and discerning of any situations which we can be, Lord Is Judge God Willin, but share The Way Truth N Life for the future PLGB
http://www.alpha.org
http://www.everystudent.com
http://www.usccb.org/nab
http://www.Bible.cc
http://www.40daysforlife.com
also, God Willing (Lord Have Mercy be i wrong or offbase)do realize that God Willing His Spirit and Law are in our hearts (jer.31 thanks be to GOD), we should follow Christ and allow God to be Lord, we *should* ask Him to reveal Himself in our hearts, God, Christ in us, and Spirit, in our hearts wholly and fully. because when our eyes are Open to such, repentance if need be is a known need God Willing, PLGB Lord Forgive be i wrong or offbase. so let God in/ask Him, but indeed be not shallow about it but truly open to His Changing And Transformative Power that is Rebirth (jn.3) Praise God Amen
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a12.htm
intercessions for those passed away God Willing are different perhaps from what actually goes on in that ‘testing/purifying’ fire we see (not sure how canonically God Willing i regard maccabees 1+2 either, but apparently there is other support for such intercession), Lord Forgive if we’ve any misunderstanding or be i wrong or offbase PLGB
ultimately, God Willing, it’s He And His Word that matter, for all we know that ‘purgatory’ is actually our trials here on earth if we’ve any. or maybe some are tried ‘at that final hour’, or Beyond, Lord Knows, Lord Forgive be i wrong or offbase PLGB
not sure, n Lord Forgive apparently purgatory for some i shoulda meant in my previous comment isn’t a physical thing (jpii, ‘apparitions’ of mary that some/many? regard (Lord Forgive be these wrong or offbase), etc) but rather a state. maybe it’s that state of ‘by your words’ that Jesus Mentions in mt.12(thanks usccb naB, etc. n thanks be to GOD) Gospel, or that folks on the left n right moment in mt.25 praise GOD PLGB
Lord Forgive be i wrong or offbase PLGB
some interesting queries here
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090214105845AAfGw5m
Lord Have Mercy on them folks fighting over 2mc, etc., jered’s answer there, etc. n Lord Forgive be any of this stuff wrong or offbase PLGB Amen thanks for the ministry friend keep sharin The Word, The LORD, Way, Truth, Life, And Light Amen