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Posts Tagged ‘am I going to hell’

Does This Seem Harsh to You?

Posted in religion, tagged , , , , on June 2, 2020| 4 Comments »

“Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed. The Lord is king forever and ever! The godless nations will vanish from the land. Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.”(Psalm 10:15-18)

This Psalm is King David’s and it is essentially a prayer. Does it seem harsh to you? That’s because it is harsh, so it deserves an explanation.

First, keep in my mind that God has told us that vengeance is His, not ours, but He is not saying we can seek justice through our legal system when we are wronged. The vengeance being spoken of (and implied in David’s Psalm) is as severe as it can get and the type of punishment only God is able to dispense. It is also eternal.

Second, we don’t know who is deserving of this kind of punishment. We think we know, but only God knows. For example, we look at Hitler and think, “Surely he should go to hell,” but the truth be told we ALL should go to hell; Hitler could have ‘sincerely’ repented and came to believe in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, just as we did. Let us not waste our time in pondering that that was highly unlikely. Accept these 2 facts: we do not know and Jesus does know. Consider the Apostle Paul. The guy was a mini-Hitler. Instead of Jews, he exterminated Christians, but yet he saw the light and repented. Aren’t you glad that some vengeance-minded posse didn’t take him out?

I am.

King David’s prayer reflects his understanding of God’s sovereignty in this regard. And since we cannot inflict our own sort of revenge, and since we don’t know who will be damned (by God) and who will not, our call is to love our enemies, that is to say to love them enough to share the Gospel message with them, wearing our faith and ambassadorship on our sleeves. We surely don’t condone evil behavior, but if given the opportunity (by the Holy Spirit, mind you) we attempt to side-step evil to reach the soul of the one doling it out.

In summary:

1) If you’re wronged, try to settle it in a Biblical manner. If you don’t know what that is, ask your pastor or google it.
2) Protect yourself and others as the law permits.
3) Call the police, a lawyer, etc. if necessary.
4) Vengeance is God’s. Don’t go there. Pray has David did.

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Nothing Has Changed

Posted in Bible, Christianity, discipleship, evangelism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2013| 6 Comments »

“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.” (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)

I had a discussion with a man the other day on the street. He was a nice fellow; a banker type, and he professed to be a follower of Jesus Christ and also a Hindu. He shared how Heaven was a place bound within the confines of his mind and that all mankind is on a quest to unleash some kind of inner joy, peace, and knowledge. Our chat was friendly enough, but when I told him that Jesus Christ was the only way, he responded, “Our God is too loving to limit our choices to just one god.”

I hear that a lot.

The truth of the matter is that God has not limited our choices in order to make Christianity exclusionary, but rather to keep the selection process as easy as humanly possible. Our Father in Heaven has made it simple. As the Deuteronomy passage proclaims, there are 2 possible choices: a blessing or a curse. Here we sit thousands of years later and nothing has changed! Vanilla or chocolate; black or white; light or darkness; good or evil; Heaven or Hell; the narrow road leading to life everlasting or the broad way that leads to destruction…

Which do you want?

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

What you may perceive as exclusiveness, God presents as simplicity.

Why?

Well for one reason, the Father knows our covetous frame. God knows that if He provided ten ways, we are wired to want eleven; if He gave a hundred ways, someone would rise to his feet and demand a hundred and one. We know this to be true; I hear it almost every day — the guy who says, “Our God is too loving to limit our choices to just one god,” is really saying, “Why aren’t there a hundred and one ways?”

These folks typically counter with something like, “You mean to tell me that all Muslims are following a false god and are going to Hell?”

The reality is that I’m not sharing my opinion on the matter; I’m telling you what God has declared in His word, the Bible. I’m also telling you that I am very grateful that God has provided One way and that He took the time to tell me about it! And I’m telling you that I understand and appreciate that God kept the choices incredibly simple. And finally I’m telling you, God never changes; He is not swayed by public opinion or our emotions.

God is truth.

God is just.

God is right.

“God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19)

As of right now, this decision you face is not about anybody else; it’s about you — what are you going to do about your eternal future? Are you going to continue to roll the dice and defend the freedom choiceto choose false gods; false gods by the way that you’re not even following (what do you care)? Or are you going to face the reality that Jesus Christ died for you in order to save you for eternity and that His resurrection is proof positive that He is the real deal?

It’s time to decide. Today is the day of your salvation. You are not promised a tomorrow where choosing is still an option. If you die today, where you end up will be based on the choice you make right now.

Choose Jesus.

Ask me how.

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If you enjoyed the blog please like, share it, subscribe to it, or leave a comment. If you’d like to know how receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, drop me a note and I’ll get back to you. God bless!

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How to Master the Toughest Situations

Posted in Bible, religion, Salvation, tagged , , , , , on April 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. Hebrew 6:4-6

Have you ever read this portion of scripture and thought that you were most certainly doomed [because] you walked away from your God-given faith for a season? I know I have. For me, it is the toughest piece of scripture in the Bible and I know it is for many of you as well. I suppose there is someone, somewhere that these verses don’t apply to, but I don’t know any of those people.

Before we address it, we first need to know that the passage means exactly what it says, “It is impossible for those…(that fell away)… to renew them again to repentance.” We also should know that the word impossible (adunatos in the Greek) is translated:

  1. without strength, impotent, powerless, weakly, disabled
  2. unable to be done

In other words, impossible means impossible.

So What Do We Do?

Some people address the issue by reading into the verse doctrine that isn’t there. ‘This passage is making reference to those who were never saved to begin with,’ they might say.

Stretching the vocabulary to make it fit a particular situation (real or imagined) is entirely the wrong approach and at best it only serves to sidestep the solution. The best way (again) is to take these words at face value.

For whom are we told it is impossible?

For those who fell away; they are the powerless ones unable to do anything to renew their repentance. That should remind of us something; weren’t we also powerless to save ourselves initially?  What does Titus 3:5-7 tell us again?

 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

But Wait!

That certainly addresses when we first came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but the writer of Hebrews said after we fall away it was an impossible feat to accomplish. How can we possibly get around the impossible?

The solution is so easy, you’re liable to smack yourself in the forehead when you read it.

(Jesus) said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Luke 18:27

Yes! Let the Master handle it!

Nothing has changed. As it pertains to our salvation, our works are as filthy rags.  However nothing is impossible with God! At this juncture, there is only one question left to ask on the matter, “Is God a liar?”

…It is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18b)

  1. What do these verses tell us about God?
  2. What do they tell us about ourselves?
  3. What changes do we need to address?
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