Hell... No!

I remember thinking about Hell as a child. The preacher would talk about this place called Hell and I would be in such fear, which in turn caused me to be a good kid for that week! lol I do not want to try and scare the hell out of you, as they used to say, but I do want you to be able to make an informed choice of whether you want to go there are not.

There are two reasons for Hell.

The first one is so that God can deal righteously with Satan! Satan was cast out of heaven along with a bunch of his friends for trying to take over the place. God's not a fan of rebellion, and Satan will be dealt with for his rebellion! God prepared Hell for Satan and his angels, you can read it in Mathew 25:41.

Another reason for Hell... and we don't like to talk about this one. Is for the unbeliever. 

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.   They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power… 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9

It's pretty simple. If we do not accept Jesus into our lives and let His sacrifice remove our sins, we will be accountable for them ourselves! Here's a few scriptures to check out just in case you don't chose Jesus and decide to chose Hell! This is what Hell is like!

• Unspeakable Sorrow! You know how bad you felt when aunt Betty hurt your feelings last Christmas? Well that is nothing compared to the sorrow in Hell! In Hell everyone's gonna treat you like that! This sorrow can't even be described.

Matthew 25:41, 46; Revelation 14:10-11

• Unsatisfied Cravings! Ever had a craving? Peace, joy, happiness, so many wants that will never be fulfilled!

     Luke 16:24

• Unquenchable Flames of Fire! It continues to burn and burn, you think summers hot?

Matthew 13:41-42, 49-50

• Eternal Separation From Loved Ones! They won't even know you exist! Gone!

      Luke 13:28; 16:19-31

• Hell Is Forever! It will never end!!

   Revelation 20:10

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur…They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.  Revelation 20:10

One Bible scholar (Spurgeon) described it like this!

In hell there is no hope. The damned have not even the hope of dying - the hope of being annihilated. They are forever - forever - forever - lost. On every chain in hell, there is written “forever.”  In the fires there, blaze out the words, “forever.”  Above their heads, they read “forever.”  Their eyes are galled and their hearts are pained with the thought that it is “forever.”  

In Luke 16 we you can read a story of two men, it explains how they both lived their lives on earth and how both died and lived after death. One went with Abraham to paradise and the other went into Hades or Hell is another translation. There's four things we learn from the man who went to Hell!

1) He was fully conscious. Going through serious pain and knew what was happening!

2) His eternal destiny was irrevocably fixed. His chance to change things was over, he knew this was forever!

3) He knew what he was experiencing was just. He complained about the pain, but not that it was injustice! He knew he was getting what he deserved!

4) He became interested in missions. I cannot let this happen to anyone else! Please send someone to speak to my brothers!

God doesn't want any of us to go to Hell! We can  find this in 2 Peter 3:9 … (The Lord) is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

However... that being said, God must deal with rebellion and those who do not accept His son!

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.  Revelation 20:14-15

If your name is not written in the book of life, you go to Hell with Satan and his angels. Did you notice I under lined the second death?

I read once that we will all either be born once and die twice or born twice and die once!

You will either be born in the physical, die in the physical and then face the second death as mentioned above. Born once and die twice! Or

You will be born in the physical and then be born again in the spiritual and when your physical death takes place, you will not face the death mentioned above, but will live with God forever! Born twice and die once! The choice is yours!

One Minute After You Die!

One minute after you die the body and soul will separate. There's a difference between body and soul, Jesus spoke of it.

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Matthew 10:28

Within minutes of death, the soul and the body will separate! While your friends and family are picking out your coffin and making funeral arrangements, you are stepping into your eternity! Some have came close to it and then came back to talk about it.

Many say they have had out of body experiences, we hear them all the time. Some have seen bright lights and even heard the voice of God. Then there are those who say they experienced what hell would be like. I remember my dad telling me about his experience with this. He is on a mission to see people saved because of the vision God gave him concerning hell. But we hear this stuff all the time!

Paul spoke about an out of body experience in 2 Corinthians 12:2, 4. Paul may be speaking of his own experience, I find that 14 years prior he was left for dead after going through a very trying event!

Also I find that Steven may have had this right at the moment of his death while being stoned! 

Look…I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”  Acts 7:56

Are you ready to face eternity? Check out the blog titled "Which side of the cross are you on?"

This is the most important decision you will ever make! This is the one you will have to live with forever, and I mean forever! We would love to pray with you concerning your eternity, feel free to contact us at 810-479-9731

Hematidrosis - Sweating Drops of Blood!

Now that we have kids, we celebrate Easter with the bunny who lays eggs, my kids go hunting for these eggs and hopefully they find them all. It's not good to hit one with the lawn mower months after the holiday! lol We always wake up in the morning and our kids go find their baskets and then we sit down and tell them about Jesus' death and resurrection. They seem to really enjoy this early morning time before church.

The holiday kinda past by pretty quick this year and I missed it, well the point of it anyway. With pastoring the church, working a business and the whole Easter dinner thing with family, I really missed the point. So... I thought it would be appropriate to write this blog titled "Sweating Drops of Blood."

I find it very interesting that Luke is the only writer to record Jesus' account of sweating drops of blood. Luke 22:44 (King James Version) And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. The reason this has sparked some interest for me is that I found that there is a medical condition for what Luke is describing and with Luke being a doctor it brings new light to this scripture for me.

This condition is known as - hematidrosis - . It has been recorded to happen to those facing the death sentence, it also has happened with someone who is faced with a very stressful event! Hmm, do you think that while Jesus was praying in the garden, knowing what was about to take place he may have been a little stressed? He did ask for this event to pass Him by if possible, but went on to say "not My will, but Your will be done!"

What happens is this stressful event causes the pours of the body to contract and let out small amounts of blood that in turn mixes with the sweat! Oh and guess what? This Blood is for You! Jesus praying, knowing what is about to take place, prays so hard and with such intensity that His very body begins to leak blood. Now most of us know the rest of the story, how He is beaten and hung on a cross and that Blood is for you as well!

If you haven't done so yet, may I suggest you take the time to watch The Passion? If you have seen it, then this is a great time of year to watch it again! Easter just past, but His blood is still here. Easter is an event that has become very commercialized and I for one got caught up in the holiday and forgot to get caught up in Him!

I am only trying to bring some words to grow by!