So I'm flickin' though the channels (air TV, kids, no cable!) and of course perusing the dozen or more "Christian" channels. Why that one was playing 'One Day at a Time' is beyond me.
Any way, there was a commercial for this website the tells"the truth about Hell!". I was curious, of course. I wanna know the truth, don't you?
What if I'm wrong?! Oh-my-goodness-heaven-to-betsy- sakes!
I hurried over to my laptop. I'm lying. It's already in my lap. But I do not pass go, do not collect $200 and look up the site immediately.
It reads real nice. It is really comforting!
You see, many people reject God because we've been teaching fallacies about Hell! It's our fault.
People who believe He will send non-believers to eternal punishment aren't going to follow Him because they don't want to obey a god who is vicious and mean.
If you re-read that several times, the asinine irony finally sinks in.
I have a friend who is not going to heaven because she doesn't want to worship a god who has a fan club. What can I say?
I digress.
This group of kinder, gentler Christians says those who are not followers get judged, serve a term of punishment according to the naughty things they've done, and then die. Poof. Gone.
God turns the earth into a lake of fire and toast all the bad people. DONE! Phew!
Oh, and when anyone in the Bible says "forever", it doesn't mean FOREVER, It's a colloquial term that means, and I quote, "for as long as time lasts in that specific case." Unquote.
Here's the deal. I would like it very, very, very much if Hell did not exist. It was created for Satan and his demons, not us. But according to a few folk in the scriptures, if I am not serving God, I am serving Satan. Pretty sure that makes me complicit with hell itself.
The Scriptures used are convincing, like most scripture is when taken out of context, used with agenda translation, and then sprinkled though-out an article with shoddy research data.
41 “Then 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; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not [e]take care of You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matt 25:41-46
In Mark 9, Jesus says the fires of hell are unquenchable. That means it does not burn out, by the way. According to our truth website, if the fire DON'T go out, God will FAIL to remove sin from the earth. (Buh-scuz He's not a magician, dad-gummit!)
Let me make the point of this rambling post clear; I want, more than anything, for you to know that God is real. He loves you. He watches you. He calls your name. He sacrificed for you in the form of the Son, Jesus Christ. He sent you a love letter full of history, adventure, pain and glory. He sent another part of Himself, the Spirit, to hold you close. To hold you in His arms. To whisper in your ear.
As days grow short before the culmination of time, I am encouraging you to not believe everything you hear and read about the Bible, and it's Author. Now is the time that the Enemy is trying harder than ever to monkey wrench the children of God. And unfortunately, he's going to succeed with a lot of people. Not because we have misrepresented hell to people. It's there, and it needs some understanding, but because we have not been teaching Jesus. It's all about Jesus. How else do you get to the throne room?
Have you been married a long, looooong time? Do you have love letters or little notes from the early days of your courting? When you read them now, doesn't your heart melt again, your pulse quicken, the years fall away?
Get back into your Bible. Let it all happen over again! Let others see the beauty of the Father in you. Let them see the love affair of the century. Then, hell won't even matter.
Oh. And eat a pomegranate.
(If you want the website, leave a comment and I'll give it to you.)
Good words Valarie, I was eating a pomegranate the other day and thought of you......God bless you.
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