A response of love

I have no desire to condemn or become judgmental when a person dies even if the person is renown. Whitney Houston died on Feb. 11 and of course we all knew her as a pop icon. What has concerned me is how quick so many ministers of the Gospel are putting her in Heaven. My question is "why?" What gave them the idea that she is? One minister made the inference because she sang "Jesus loves me" at her last concert. I don't believe singing a gospel song is the qualification for heaven. This happens every time (seemingly) when a singer dies everyone jumps blindly on the bandwagon of "they went to heaven" without paying any attention to the fruit of the life. When I put somebody in heaven after they die, I immediately make them a role model. Then, we have to ask the question, is this someone I want my children to pattern their life after? Certainly, Miss Houston was not someone I would want my daughter to pattern her life after. Drugs, alcohol, and a harmful relationship had destroyed her life and singing career. I would think that we would want to hold up people who truly lived a life of purity and holiness and died in that state. We shouldn't be holding up people like Michael Jackson and others who lived life with destructive behaviors full of sin and corruption. Someone will say "they are people that my friends can relate to." That's the problem, they are relating to the wrong people and behaviors and they need to change. I wonder if people related to Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, etc, who would not compromise their morals and did not dress down and try to be hip to relate to culture? The fact is, they changed a world by not changing and becoming like the world. These men left a legacy not of drugs, alcohol, adulterous affairs, partying, pedophilia... but of purity and sound doctrine. Paul wrote that you HAD to come out from among them and be separate. These individuals and those like them today should be who is held up as icons and people we would like for our children to pattern their lives after.

 I am not here writing a diatribe of hate and harboring some kind of glee at thinking she didn't make it to heaven. The contrary is true, my heart is broken every time someone goes into eternity and there is a huge question mark over their life. Why not let it alone and let the life speak for itself? One final point: we as Christians should be careful who we hold in esteem whether in death or life, because there are little eyes who are watching us. Just like a school guard at a cross walk - the kids watch them for signals to protect their lives - how much more should we be careful in looking out for dangerous lifestyles that shouldn't be mimicked by our own kids? Children watch their parents for signals of approval and disapproval, don't let them walk out into the middle of Satan's vehicles of destruction.