But Does It Matter When?

I was just browsing through some news articles and saw one about a guy who had been a habitual criminal most of his life, including armed robbery. What most caught my attention was the fact that just a few days after being sent to prison, before he'd even gone to trial (he was denied bail because he was a flight risk), he began attending church and he "found God." He even had the prison pastor write a letter to the judge explaining that this particular criminal was "a joy to have in church."

This got me thinking about Heaven and the rules God must have in place for figuring out who gets in. I mean does it matter WHEN in your life you profess your faith?

Let's consider some examples. Start with me. As a child I attended church regularly - every week - including Sunday School. As a teenager I sang in the church choir, I was in the youth group at church, I baby sat for the minister and his wife. I believed in God and the Bible. But then the church and I came to a parting of the ways (why is not important for this story.) Since then I have given up on the church, but I have lived a good life. I'm kind to my neighbors, I contribute to charities, I spent my life involved with children (teacher), I've never been arrested and the worst crime I have on my record is 1 speeding ticket. See - I'm a pretty nice guy.

Second scenario. Taken from the story I opened this post with - a guy lives his childhood and early adult life as a criminal - stealing cars, armed robbery, drug abuse, mistreats women and children. Gets sent to jail at age 35 and suddenly finds God. From this point on he begins to behave himself and goes to church quite regularly. Is he perfect? Probably not - but he believes in God.

Third scenario. Sort of a mixed bag here. A made-up character for the purposes of posing my question in the next paragraph. This fella grows up in a good family, but there's no church or God in his life. As a young man attending college, he finds God and goes to church until he turns 45. He loses his job, finds drink and drugs, he quits the church and his belief in God. He winds up living on the street, commits some minor robberies and dies a debtor.

Here's the question that my news browsing brought me to - which one, if any, of these guys is going to heaven? Is there a time in our lives when a belief in God is most important for getting past the Pearly Gates?

Refer to the second scenario above. The religious crowd would have you believe that the most violent criminal of the bunch is going to heaven because he believes in God at the end. The rest of us, who've actually lived better lives, are toast (get it - roasting in hell? toast?). I mean, can we wait until the last five-minutes of our life to profess belief and still get in? I need tio know how this works.

What do you think? Even though all three of these scenarios describe people who've had about equal portions of their lives involved with God, only one makes it in. And he's the worst of the lot.

I'd like some more input on this from someone who's actually talked to God about this.

Thanks.