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Jesus Christ shed his blood for the sins of the
whole world, but only those who are washed in His blood will be
saved. There are myriads of denominations that seek to tell us how to appropriate his atonement so that through his death,
we might
have eternal life. There is the false doctrine of Universalism, which maintains that all
will be saved. Man is full of his own ideas about how to be made right
with God and religion is based upon
and perpetuated by such musings.
When we "lean unto our own understanding" we are trusting
in ourselves rather than the Lord Jesus Christ. We must trust in the
Lord:
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto
thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths."-Proverbs 3: 5,6
Leaning unto our own understanding is
what we are doing when we pass judgment on God
and his word rather than submitting to what he, through the Holy Bible,
has to say about US. When we
reason out what we think is fair and right concerning salvation (rather
than believe the Bible as written) we are leaning unto our own understanding,
which is a form of idolatry.
Hell: An Unendurable Forever
and Ever
Scripture teaches that most people will go to
eternal hellfire when
they die. This somber fact is one that I think about a lot. I feel
deeply sad when I contemplate the reality that people I know are suffering
the torments of hellfire at this very moment. One thousand years from now and
then a million years later they will still be there. Lost, without hope, and
suffering the wrath of God. If I can not stand to think about it, then how can
they endure being there? They can't. And yet they must. They have no way out.
Forever and ever.
Hell is an everlasting fire. I think the
awfulness of it is so overwhelming. I do not think we can fully
comprehend the
holiness of God and why he must punish sinners who do not repent and
come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether we understand it or not,
it is the most serious issue that faces mankind. God is a consuming fire. That is a
fact. Most people do not want to deal with this aspect of God's nature and push this to the back
of their minds so they can go on with their lives as they see fit.
They want to remain in charge of their own lives and thus spurn the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the salvation He freely offers.
God does not permit his people to "do what
thou wilt." That is the philosophy of Satan's followers. Yet we have in these latter days,
Christians who accept the teachings of Christ that are "user friendly."
They gladly accept the Bible's revelation about the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,
but they reserve the "right" to disobey his other commands which require dying to self
and taking up their crosses and making Jesus Christ preeminent in their lives.
The church of today excuses her spots and wrinkles and
refuses to heed the conviction of
the Holy Spirit. The church will soon find out that there is no such thing as a God
who will permit himself to be used as Savior but dismissed as Lord. The Lord
Jesus Christ will be loved and obeyed, but
He will not be used and made
light of. Those who think He will permit this will find themselves cut off as a
branch and cast into the fire.
Jesus said: "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there
be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the
way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
FEW find eternal life! Jesus Christ is the
way, the truth, and the life. He is not only the truth and the life, but
he is also the way...His way is the narrow way, and this narrow way of
denying the love of the world, the lusts of the flesh and the
temptations of the devil is explained in many of his teachings and is
taught as God's way for His people throughout the Bible.
You enter into the strait gate by admitting you are a
sinner and are on your way to hell. Call on the Lord Jesus Christ and
ask him to come into your life and cleanse your from your sins and give you
eternal life and a home in heaven. Be willing to forsake all your sins. Jesus
suffered, bled, died, and rose again to give you everlasting life. This is salvation! He will give you
the grace to live his life through you. Those who are saved now have a
new life to live...the life that is just like the one who saved them
from their sins—the Lord Jesus Christ!
The narrow way is only for those who have entered in at the strait
gate. Remember, the strait gate is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the narrow way is
living the new life he has given to us by his Holy Spirit. The narrow way is the "walking in the
Spirit" life that one is only able to do by a living faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The narrow way is everything Jesus requires of those
who are "disciples indeed": It is being led of the Spirit.
Against such (being led of the Spirit) there is no law. Baptism is one of the first things
a new believer does as he walks in identification with the Lord Jesus.
Walking in the narrow way means that
the Christian yields to the leading of the Holy Spirit in his life. The Holy Spirit
seeks to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. He requires your
cooperation (willingness to yield to Him in obedience) to do so.
This is not the same thing as trying in your own strength to do some good things and have God bless them.
That is
the way of the flesh, and much that is done in the name of Jesus Christ is done in this
ungodly power.
What About Those Who
Have Never Heard?
In response to the question:
"How else do you explain that individual in deepest
China who dies without ever even knowing anything about Jesus Christ,
how is that fair for them?"
Romans chapter one addresses this
concern:
"For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it
is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even by his eternal power
and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" Read Romans 1:17-32
True believers are also without excuse. They have been
commanded to "Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature."—Mark 16:15 We are
Jesus' body and as such must function as His hands and feet. We must do what He would do if
He was here physically. We must preach the gospel to the ends of the
earth; fulfilling this commission usually necessitates that we entrust monies to others who are directly
fulfilling this mandate in many parts of the world. I know the Lord Jesus Christ
does not permit his followers
to finance compromising ministries, period. God's people will be held
accountable for the spiritual help or harm that comes to others
through the result of their financial support. Giving to compromising ministries
is bidding God speed to their evil deeds. See: Billy
Graham and His Friends
Testimony: Anyone Can Be
Saved
I will testify personally in regard to people coming to Christ.
My husband, out of all the people I know, should NEVER have given his
life to Jesus Christ. His ancestors took great pains to ensure that he would
never ever come into contact with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that he would
never heed it if he did come into contact with it. These incredibly evil
and powerful satanists covered every angle. IF he did get saved, they
had curses waiting to go into effect that would cause him to have a miserable life.
These were in place until God revealed them to us and we took action to break
these demonic assignments in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Because
I am his wife, I have been targeted by Satan's cruel
snares as well.)
Does Satan have all this power? Yes,
If Satanism has been the family's
very identity from many generations back, and If the person who came
to faith in Jesus Christ was supposed
to serve Satan in a very influential manner—as Gary was destined to do.
So
much for destiny. Nothing is too hard for God. Do not believe
Satan's lies— that there is no hope for you. If you sincerely want
to be free from Satan's hold on your life and the fate of eternity in the Lake
of Fire—even if you are deep into the occult—you can be saved. . . and live to
tell about it. God will protect you from death at the hands of Satan's
demons and his followers if you
will fully trust and obey him without compromise. Gary did,
and you can too, by the grace of God—which is much more powerful than Satan.
I would never wish the demonic bondage and accompanying suffering
Gary and I have had to endure due to his evil ancestry on anyone, but God has
used it to prepare us for the ministry He has entrusted to us. We have learned much
through our trials...hopefully the most important lessons, which are
obedience and humility.
Why am I sharing this? I am sharing to testify that
anyone who truly wants to
be delivered from the bondage of sin and the penalty of sin (hell) can be saved. If a Chinese person who has never heard the name
of Jesus Christ sees the wonder of creation and seeks to find that one true
God who has made everything out of nothing, I believe God will reveal himself to that person. If that Chinese person does
not "worship the creature more than the Creator" and cries out
to the unknown one true God, then God will see that he receives a gospel
witness—somehow and
some way. God is more than just and fair. He gave
everything—even his only begotten Son—so that man could be saved
from sin and the horrible penalty of sin—Hell. God does not need to be excused
for anything because he is God, and we
are without excuse in his sight.
God provides this gospel witness through his
own people. We must be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and go
when and where he leads us to go. Someone—like the man in China—is waiting
for you to tell him of Jesus and his cleansing blood.
Jesus said to his disciples, "The harvest truly is plenteous,
but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,
that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." We must pray
that God will send forth laborers to reap His harvest of souls.
God's word says
"that which may be known
of God is manifest in them" so that "they are without excuse."
You, reader, are also without excuse. After death is the judgment. What have you
done with the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Bible declares is
God? Will you stay with your religion of choice or will you ask the Lord Jesus Christ
to come into your life and cleanse you from all sin and unrighteousness?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that you might be saved His way—which
is the only way that is valid in His sight.
I remember the day God revealed his Son to
me through a library book I had checked out that contained the
gospel. I
recall thinking, "That is the reason Jesus died on the cross! He died for my sins so I would not have to go to hell to suffer for them myself!"
The Father sent his Son to give me a new life now too, so that I could
live pleasing in his sight. That was the day I appropriated the atonement of
Jesus Christ. That was the day I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life
and save me.
Please read the book of John in the
King James Holy Bible and ask
God to reveal to you his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who came that you
might have life and that you would have it abundantly. (See: Jn. 10:10)
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