Sorry for the scary title, but it's true. Hell is alive. Hell is well populated. Hell is ready for you if you are not ready to make a decision to follow Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
Yesterday at church (we go to Bellevue Baptist Church), Brother Steve Gaines preached about the reality of hell and it just really hit my heart like a shot gun! Even though I know for a fact that I will spend eternity with my Gracious Heavenly Father in Heaven, I am sure that I have friends and acquaintances who will spend eternity in the lake of fire...Hell. Here are a few notes from the service yesterday that I want to share with you all. Folks, it is not too late to make a decision to follow Christ today. Right now. This instant. Think about it. Pray about it. Do it.
1. The reality of hell...Jesus believed in hell!
-The Universalists believe that there is no way a loving God would send people to hell. To them, everyone goes to heaven! It's the "feel good" religion in my book. If you're a good person, if you have done good things, if you smile in life...you're joining everyone in heaven. No consequences, no slap on the wrist, no problems. Everyone's in heaven. Yeah right is all I have to say. Heaven is not our default destination.
Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
-The wide gate is obviously the road to hell. And it leads to destruction! It is a wide gate because there are SO MANY who enter through it. Do not be one of those people! Be wise and enter through the narrow gate. The narrow gate leads to LIFE! That is eternal life with our Lord and Savior in Heaven!
Matthew 13:41-42 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
-The furnace of fire is hell. This is not a luxurious place filled with the appealing sins that we commit here on earth. Hell consists of fire, crying and gnashing of teeth. Why in the world would you want to spend eternity there? It's not to late to make a decision to follow Jesus. On the day that the Son of Man sends His angels, do not be one of the many that gets sent to the lake of fire! Be the one to go with the angels into Heaven. Which one sounds better to you?
Matthew 18:7-9 "Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire."
-This does not mean that you will go to hell if you sin or stumble. What this is saying is, if you know you have a certain struggle with a sinful desire and you continue to fall for it and act on this sin, then you obviously do not have Jesus in your heart and will spend your life in the eternal fire. But if you do your best to get rid of that sin, then you have that godly conviction within your heart and soul that will allow you to spend eternal life in Heaven.
-If you struggle with porn, GET RID OF THE COMPUTER! Quit subscribing to the magazines! You're better off without a computer and those awful magazines when you enter into the gates of heaven than fully equipped with all of that garbage when you fall into the fire.
-If you are tempted with food and tend to be rather gluttonous, QUIT EATING EVERYTHING IN SIGHT! Practice self control. It's one of the fruits of the spirit! God gave us our bodies to use it as His holy temple. Don't weigh it down with fats and sweets and then sit on it. Take care of it. Gluttony is a sin (Titus 1:12).
-If you struggle with alcohol, GET IT OUT OF THE HOUSE AND STAY OUT OF THE BARS! I'm not saying that having an adult beverage is bad if you are of age. But what I am saying and what Jesus is saying is, if you struggle with alcohol and cannot control your intake, stay away from it. It is better to act alone and not drink with everyone else who will enter the wide gate. Make wise decisions. Enter through the narrow gate. Get rid of the alcohol.
-Do you get it now? If you struggle with something. Cut it out of your life and run away from it!
Matthew 25:41, 46 "The He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.These will go away into eternal punishmen, but the righteous into eternal life."
The name "He" is God. He looks to those who chose not to follow him and told them to join the devil and his angels. God believes in hell. Do not be fooled by those who say He is too loving to send people to hell. He is not sending people to hell. People make their own decision not to follow Him and are then sent to hell by their own choice. Hell is real, you guys. Wake up. Choose Christ and follow Him forever in the pearly gates in Heaven. Or choose sin. Choose Satan. Choose fire. Choose hell.
2. The Road to Hell
-It has a wide path (Matthew 7:13-14)
*Colossians 2:8 "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."
-Do not be part of the crowd. Rise above it, because you ARE above it. What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right. Sometimes following Christ is tough and lonely, but it is worth it! I'd rather have a few lonely moments now and get to spend the rest of my life with Jesus than have some popular moments in sin and spend eternity burning. Your choice.
-It has a deceptive path that leads to destruction.
*Revelation 21:8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
-It has a crowded path.
*Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven WILL enter: Many will say to me on that dy, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'
-I don't know about you, but that thought is absolutely frightening for me to even ponder. I can't imagine having that conversation with God on judgment day and then getting sent to the lake of fire. I don't want to join the crowds into hell. I want to be one of the few to enter into Heaven. And I know I will. Please join me.
3. The Redemption from Hell
-The road away from hel is available to ALL!!!!
*Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, ALL who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
*1 Timothy 2:3-6 "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires ALL men to be saved and o come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also bettween God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time."
-The road away from hell has only one gate.
*John 10:9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."
*John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, ' I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.'"
-The road away from hell is narrow.
*Matthew 16:24-25 "Then Jesus said to His desciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his lfe for My sake will find it.'"
-The road away form hell is rewarding.
*John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
*Matthew 25:21 "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'"
-Don't you want to join in the joy of your master, Jesus Christ? I knwo I do.
-The road away from hell is lonely.
*Luke 13:23-30
I realize that the road to Heaven can be intimidating and scary and lonely, but so worth it. I have spent many lonely days and nights by myself, because I was the only one not drinking and partying and all kinds of craziness, but I know that will be rewarded once I enter through the gates of Heaven. God rewards us for our good behavior and good choices. Please join me. I have no idea who is reading this or even knows me, but if you have any questions or concerns or want to talk more about having a personal relationship with Christ, ask me! Make a comment and we'll talk! Your salvation with Christ means more to me than anything else. Don't risk going to hell. Run towards the life that leads to heaven! Run now!
Your fan and hopeful sister in Christ,
Abby
For Bellevue information click here:
http://www.bellevue.org/
Things I’m Loving Friday #591
4 days ago
Hey! Found your blog! :) Great post!!
ReplyDeleteHey Abby, I am so happy you are blogging. I love it! Its a great way to keep up with friends lives. I also love you are opening up a dialogue to Christians and Non believers on the net about your man and mine, JC! I shared your post with Bill, my bro, we had long discussions about it and this is what we came up with.
ReplyDelete1. Point - The assumption here is that Jesus was referring to the afterlife. I might question this interpretation. Matthew seems to put an afterlife spin on this, but Jesus could have been talking about the Kingdom of God. I interpret the Kingdom of God as the community in the here and now (how we live today) – not some eternal reward after we die. The Kingdom does not operate with worldly logic or cultural ideals. That is why the gate is narrow for the Kingdom. Not many people will subscribe to the Kingdom principles and therefore the wider gate is where people position their lives in the here and now, because they operate in terms of the world and not in terms of God. There are also a couple of scriptures in Matthew that talk about many who will be “saved” (8:11 and 20:28)
Point #2: This teaching from Matthew is not directed at the God-less or the non-Christian. This is directed at his Christian community. In Matthew’s theology, one needs to constantly be dedicating one’s life to God. This teaching is for the followers of Christ (people that have already made a commitment to follow like you and me) that have fallen by the wayside like so many other Christians we know. Matthew is very dualistic in his approach to Christianity. You are either in or out! Again, this is Matthew putting his stamp on this message from Jesus. Matthew actually wrote his account 50 years after Jesus was crucified.
The Luke version of this saying is a little closer to the historical Jesus as we know today (Luke 13:24).
Continued....
ReplyDeleteAgain, I think Jesus is referring to the Kingdom of God or the Imperial Rule of God. This is not an afterlife concept but an earthly, present reality. Right above the passage in Luke, Jesus gives the parable of the leaven being like the Kingdom of God. The parable hides the Kingdom so that few people know where it is or what it looks like. Since the Kingdom is governed by love and devotion to God, it is quite evident that this parable aptly describes the present age. Not many people allow love, mercy, or selflessness to rule their decision.
This is not a reward for good living or a punishment for bad living. This is an attempt to uncover God’s purpose for the faith community RIGHT NOW.
To address the Matthew 13, I don 't know.
I have two thoughts on this one:
I am highly skeptical of this text originating with Jesus of Nazareth. The same person who preached love of neighbor, turning the other cheek, and helping those that have been down-trodden by society does not throw people in fire by way of angelic creatures. It doesn't add up to me.
This portion of the text does not have a parallel in the other canonical gospels. Matthew’s community was faced with persecution from both Rome and from the Jews of the time. By the time Matthew writes his gospel (about 80-90 CE), the Temple had already been destroyed by the Romans. The people who rose up in the Jewish faith and took leadership were the Pharisees. This is a commentary about them. Matthew is trying to solidify his community by informing them who was in and who was out.
A modern interpretation of this teaching needs to understand who is being “thrown in the fire.” In most of the parables in Matthew, the bad example was the established religion (in this case Judaism). The modern church likes to put itself on the winning side of this teaching, but it needs to take a closer look at it! I would submit that there are more stumbling blocks within present-day Christianity than from the outside.
continued...
ReplyDeleteAddressing Matthew 18,
Matthew gets this material straight from Mark. Mark has altered the teachings of Jesus by placing an Apocalyptic ending to them. The material such as “If your hand causes you to sin, then cut it off” probably came from Jesus, but the eternal fire stuff comes from Mark. Also, 1st century Palestinians thought and acted in terms of community. This teaching actually referred to the community as a whole. If a member of the community is causing others to sin, then cut them out.
While I agree with your examples as far as a modern application of the teaching, it is interesting to note that you went for food, sex, and alcohol. For some reason, modern fundamentalists interpret Jesus as the individualistic moral police. Jesus was much more concerned about help for the poor and the marginalized. He would rather someone be addicted to porn and work at a soup kitchen then someone who refrains from alcohol and is very rich. Jesus taught more about money than anything else. I wonder why we never hear that being preached out of our fundamentalist churches? Its so odd. Jesus really did harp on a love of money and possessions rather than any other sin we talk about today. To follow the teachings of Jesus Christ is to give and love others. Very interesting don't you think?
Basically Jesus was not concerned about the end of time. He was all about the here and now. The redemption from sin is so we can participate in the Kingdom of God RIGHT NOW! Some of the biblical authors were focused on the end of times, and that is why we read about Jesus saying these things. It is not that he said them, its that the author’s portrayal of Jesus leads us to that conclusion.
We do believe a God of Love does not eternally punish. It doesn't make sense to us. Punishment is intented for correction (as what you use with your students) But there doesn't seem to be anything corrective about an eternal consuming fire.
Just a few things to ponder from the "Hemm" percepective!
I enjoy different points of view and feel like that is what blogging is all about. Please tell me if I am way out of line. I do enjoy a constant research on my outlook of my Christian religion to continue to learn and gain from my walk and relationship with JC! Much Love Sweet Friend, Katie Hemm Kinder
What do you think?
ReplyDelete