The scriptures made it clear that heaven has records of every deed or action of every man and every thought of the heart,be it good or evil from birth to death.Rev 20:12-"I saw the dead,great and small,standing before God,and the books were opened,including the Book of Life,and the dead were judged according to the things written in the books,each according to what he had done.V15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life,such was thrown into the Lake of fire."
From the above scriptures,it is clear that the most important book in which a person ought to ensure that his name is found in, is that Book of Life. But the question is,can a person's name,once written, be removed from the Book of Life?
As we have established,a person's name is written in heaven when He encounters and receives Christ Jesus as Master and Saviour. In other words,every follower of Christ MUST be Born Again before they are empowered with the ability to become christ-like or christian. Jesus said to His disciples "do not rejoice that the devils are subject to you but rejoice that your name is written in heaven". Such was Judas Iscariot,I mean, he was actually born again and his name,written in heaven before sin was found in him,leading him to betray Jesus .So What do you think happened to his name when sin overtook him? Of course,God removed it from the Book of Life.God's dealings with Moses explains further. "So Moses returned to the Lord and said,'oh,these people have sinned a great sin,and have made for themselves god of gold.Yet now if you will only forgive their sin-and if not,then blot me out of the book you have written'.And the Lord replied Moses 'whoever has sinned against me will be blotted out of my book"-Ex 32:31-33.God sure is both a WRITER and an 'ERASER'. You can see from this text that as early as the old testament,Moses and possibly others who knew God truly already knew that God was keeping records of the lives of men,that nothing was hidden in the sight of Him who dwells in unapproachable light, and that sin and disobedience causes a blotting out or erasure of a person's name from the all important Book of Life. Born Again has become a mantra with which many in the church give themselves false hope of assurance of redemption even when they continue in their sins. Many pastors fail to tell their congregation that unless they overcome sin,that they have no part in the kingdom of heaven simply because the pastor himself is still struggling with sin;anger,hatred,evil thought,etc and therefore does not believe in the overcoming life that Christ alone gives. One fact that you cannot wish away is that sin,no matter how small,will prevent a man,even a man born again,from entering into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is meant for the believer who overcomes the flesh with its sinful desires and nature,the world and the way they do their things and the devil. Another scripture that implies that a believer's name could be removed from the book of Life because of sin is Rev 2:5 -"Think about those times of your first love(how different now!) And turn back to me again and work as you did before,or else I will come and remove your candlestick from its place among the churches."In Rev 3:5 it says "Everyone who conquers will be clothed in white,and I will not erase his name from the book of Life,but I will announce before my Father and His angels that he is mine". That is clear enough. As I earlier stated the church recognised by God is not the one your eyes see, but the church within the church,those in the church within the church are those whose names are in the Book of Life.But sin takes a man out of that church,even though he may remain in the outer 'church' who are going nowhere, for Christ said that "whosoever commits sin is a slave to sin,now the slave has no permanent place in the house,but the son abides in it forever". In other words,the church within the church is comprised of sons who are free from the entanglements of sin and have their names written in heaven while those outside this church is made up of slaves,slaves who are not free to live in the liberty that Christ gives,slaves in the chains and bondage of sin,slaves under the command of another master; sin and consequently,satan. Dear Christian,dear believer,pastor,choirmaster, only one thing can root you out of the kingdom of heaven and make you lose your place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus,only one thing; S-I-N. My prayer for you and me is that the Lord give us understanding to live continually and till the end,the Overcoming Life. And that our candlesticks continually remain in the prescence of the King. That is my prayer,in Jesus mighty name. Amen.
Peace!