Wednesday, May 20, 2009

What if? An article by Kim Josephson

What if it's true? What if there really is a hell? (Matt 10:28) What if that place is a place of eternal torment? (Rev are not figurative but are literal flames (Luke 16:24) that actually burn and torture everyone in them? (Matt 13:41,42) What if the smoke of those torments goes up eternally? (Rev 14:10,11) What if it's a place of eternal darkness? (Matt 25:30) What if you fall forever and ever in a bottomless pit? (Rev 9:2) What if as you are totally cut off from God (Matt 7:23) you are totally cut off from every other human form? What if you are lost forever, burning in physical torment but also burning in lust that will never ever be satisfied? (Luke 16:24,25)

What if the day comes when the Son of God takes His place on a great white throne and sits in judgment on every individual that has ever lived? (Rev 20:11, Eccl 12:14) What if He separates the sheep from the goats? (Matt 25:32) His friends on the right and the hypocrites on the left? (Matt 25:33) What if He actually condemns all those on His left to the Hell fire prepared for the devil and the fallen angels who dared to defy God? (Matt 25:41) What if this place is a place where the only sound you hear is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth? (Matt 13:50) What if there is nothing that can stop the eternal roar of the screams? What if it really is everlasting fire? (Mark 9:45) What if that fact alone is the greatest torment of all?

What if it's true that your memory will be keener than at any time on this earth? (Luke 16:25) What if for time and eternity you remember every time the Holy Spirit begged you to repent (Rev 3:20) and you loathe yourself for rejecting Him?

What if in this place you realize that you were ashamed to say yes to God because you were afraid of what your friends would think? (Matt 10:33) What do you think you will think of those friends then? While you grieved away the Spirit of God (Gen 6:3) to appease your pride, how will you stop the hellish ringing in your ears that cries "You Fool - you fool - you fool." You won't be remembering the good times you had in sin. No sir, part of your hell will be remembering how you couldn't be bothered with Jesus, how you had no time for God on earth (Prov 1:24) - but now you have time. You have eternity and now when God won't hear - (Prov 1:26) all you do is pray - Oh God - Oh God - Oh God have mercy. But He doesn't hear and he won't have mercy? (Prov 1:28) Your every thought will be on how you rejected the mercy of God. (Rom 2:4-6) Your every remembrance will be of those who wept over your soul (Ps 126:6) - that mother who prayed for you (Prov 10:1) - that friend, that son, that daughter who begged you to repent and surrender to Christ but you would not! You'll remember every detour that God put up on your road to hell and how you kept on running through the road- blocks to your own destruction. You'll remember laughing with your friends at the things of God (Prov 14:9) and then you'll curse yourself and them because of what has happened to you.

You'll remember how you drank what you pleased - when you pleased but now you'll beg for just one drop of water to quench your burning tongue (Luke 16:24) but you'll never know a moments reprieve. Every blasphemous utterance that ever came out of your mouth will haunt you now - those jokes about seeing all your friends in hell and having a big party will make you loathe yourself and your friends for the sheer stupidity of it. (Prov 14:9) There will be no music - no rock and roll - no friends - no party - only weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

What if it's true? What if now you are in a place that God has ordained for the refuse of His universe? (Matt 13:41) What if you're there and you thought you'd be in heaven? (Matt 7:21) What if you allowed some preacher to soft pedal God's truths (Jer 6:14) and somehow you didn't take care of your own salvation? (Phil 2:12) What if some denomination taught you that if you just went to church and took communion you'd be OK? (Luke 13:25-28) What if you bought into the humanistic lie that said "I'm OK and you're OK" when really neither one of us was OK (Ps 14:3) and what we both desperately needed was a Savior? (Rom 3:23) What if you simply didn't believe what Jesus said (Matt 7:21) and you actually thought that you could get to heaven by being "good" or just some other way than what He said? Do you think it will make the flames cooler?

What if its true? What if Jesus really meant it when He said "Not everyone who sayeth unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father"? (Matt 7:21) What if it's not a matter of a prayer that accepts "Jesus Christ as your personal savior" but it actually requires a bowing of your knee to Jesus Christ as your Lord? What if you really have to take up your cross and follow Him? (Luke 14:27) What if you have to repent of your sins (Luke 13:3) and follow Jesus (Mark 8:34) with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength? (Mark 12:30) What if you must be born again by the Spirit of God? (John 3:7) What if you actually have to abdicate the throne of your heart and give the kingship of your life to Jesus? (Luke 6:46) What if you couldn't be ashamed of Jesus and make heaven your eternal home? (Matt 10:33)

Well, the fact is that's the way it is. Many are deceived because in our generation preachers have twisted the scriptures to accommodate their denominational doctrines. Today preachers preach what people want to hear. (2 Tim 4:3) But that's not what Jesus did. He is the one who told us about an eternal fiery hell and He also told us how to avoid it. It would seem to me that nothing would be more important than missing such a place and taking as many as we can out of it too! In fact such truth should rally the church into action as never before. We should herald the truth unceasingly and pray for a mighty move of the Spirit to turn men's hearts from sin and to the Savior. But instead, I'm afraid these truths have been so long neglected and so watered down that many have been deceived and will be eternally damned because they believed not what Jesus actually said but what somebody said He said. (Jer 23:22)

Is Jesus Christ your Lord? Have you surrendered your life to Him? Do you consistently say no to your will when it conflicts with the Word of God? Are you saying yes to God and no to your lusts, not only with your mouth but with your actions? Have you turned from sin? Are you following Jesus? If not then in Jesus' name don't pretend to think you're saved. (1 Cor 6:9,10) If you are your own Lord - your own King - your own Boss, then Jesus is not your Lord nor your Savior and you will be damned. (Luke 6:46) Let no man deceive you. If you do not repent and surrender to Jesus you will split hell wide open. In Jesus' name repent and surrender now. Put down this letter and beg for the mercy of God this instant.

Now, you say you've made Jesus your Master - then act like it. (1 John 2:6) You know that everything I've written in this letter is the truth, so stop messing around and begin to do the job Christ gave us to do. Reach the unreached. Tell the untold. Don't send money to get the job done. Do your job!!! Warn the wicked of the wrath to come. (Matt 3:7) Jesus said go and tell every creature. (Mark 16:15) So you go and you tell. Simple isn't it - no excuses - Just do it!


Live holy, preach Jesus!

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