Monday, April 28, 2014
Thursday, April 17, 2014
End of Days...
In the end, there will only be two kinds of people-those that say to God, "thy will be done", and those whom God says, "Thy will be done."
Those words should scare you just a little bit. You are going to die and be judged one day. Also, there will be a time when this world will end as we know it. What's going to happen, where will you be? There's just two choices, right? Heaven or hell. Where will you be?
I do believe in these places literally.
Where are they? What are they for? Who decides who goes where?
Imagine (some easier than others) if you have an anger problem.
Anger problems would be all about your problem, because you can't control yourself. Too inwardly focused. Day by day this steadily gets worse and worse. Years go by and you choose not address it, maybe in 20-50 it's not too bad, but could you imagine a million, it would literally be hell. It's you totally focused on yourself. Your really a shadow of a human at this point, but a you are totally focused on you and you alone. Think of Lot's wife, she wasn't human after God's judgement.
So who goes to hell? Does God send people to hell?
Again, think of the person with the anger problem. There's so many other problems that come with anger, such as road rage, child abuse, treating employees poorly, etc...These could all qualify as being sins. These get worse as time goes on, and the person never wants help from his anger problem. He keeps on sinning against God. He can hear about Jesus forgiveness, but never can accept it. He doesn't want forgiveness. He likes his anger more. It has in fact become his identity. So this person
out rightly rejects the Gospel. As I said though, this happens over time. In Screwtape Letters, I wrote this, “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,...Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.” You see my friends, you choose to go to hell, you reject the gospel because of self sufficiency. Total reliability on your own part. Lace up your own boot straps. The door to hell is locked, but from the inside. So who goes to hell, the person who loves himself more than God. A person who denies God's help, a person who loves self more than anyone or anything else. A person to whom God says, "Thy will be done."
What about the person who bends the knee to Jesus? What awaits a Christian? Heaven of course. Don't worry about what some people call it "the pie in the sky" and other names as such. If there is no heaven, there is no Christianity. It is woven all throughout the scriptures. But also, it is not a bribe. Nobody can bribe you to heaven. You get it when you get God. And only the pure in heart want God.
What do love about life? Is it hobbies, the love of a great woman, food, or sex? I might say these are just glimpses into heaven. You desire more than just what you can see, taste, smell, or touch. You desire something outside you. That is heaven. You've never seen it, but you want it deeply. This is also called the God shaped hole in your heart.
Do you want to sing to and worship Jesus? Do you find yourself drawn to church? Do you know there's something more than just self to be fulfilled? There is something out there for you. There is an ultimate city of different members of one society. We will get to praise God with each other as one voice.
How do we find heaven? If we loved Jesus, we will go to a place inside heaven and have our sins be taken away. It is called purgatory. It is not like the Roman Catholic Church explains it as a place of suffering, but it is a a place of more magnificent than earth. We should want a place like to as we
should not want to enter the city with the stench of our past sins. We will enter the Great City pristine and white as the scriptures reveal. It will be glorious. God himself will guide us there. This is the person who says to God, "Thy will be done".
At the end of the Narnian series (I won't give everything away, just encourage you to read those books) I write, "But for them it was just the beginning of the real story...now at last they are beginning chapter one."
If you are interested in this subject let me encourage you to read the "The Problem With Pain" and "The Great Divorce". You will not be disappointed.
Your Friend Jack
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither
Those words should scare you just a little bit. You are going to die and be judged one day. Also, there will be a time when this world will end as we know it. What's going to happen, where will you be? There's just two choices, right? Heaven or hell. Where will you be?
I do believe in these places literally.
Where are they? What are they for? Who decides who goes where?
Imagine (some easier than others) if you have an anger problem.
Anger problems would be all about your problem, because you can't control yourself. Too inwardly focused. Day by day this steadily gets worse and worse. Years go by and you choose not address it, maybe in 20-50 it's not too bad, but could you imagine a million, it would literally be hell. It's you totally focused on yourself. Your really a shadow of a human at this point, but a you are totally focused on you and you alone. Think of Lot's wife, she wasn't human after God's judgement.
So who goes to hell? Does God send people to hell?
Again, think of the person with the anger problem. There's so many other problems that come with anger, such as road rage, child abuse, treating employees poorly, etc...These could all qualify as being sins. These get worse as time goes on, and the person never wants help from his anger problem. He keeps on sinning against God. He can hear about Jesus forgiveness, but never can accept it. He doesn't want forgiveness. He likes his anger more. It has in fact become his identity. So this person
out rightly rejects the Gospel. As I said though, this happens over time. In Screwtape Letters, I wrote this, “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,...Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.” You see my friends, you choose to go to hell, you reject the gospel because of self sufficiency. Total reliability on your own part. Lace up your own boot straps. The door to hell is locked, but from the inside. So who goes to hell, the person who loves himself more than God. A person who denies God's help, a person who loves self more than anyone or anything else. A person to whom God says, "Thy will be done."
What about the person who bends the knee to Jesus? What awaits a Christian? Heaven of course. Don't worry about what some people call it "the pie in the sky" and other names as such. If there is no heaven, there is no Christianity. It is woven all throughout the scriptures. But also, it is not a bribe. Nobody can bribe you to heaven. You get it when you get God. And only the pure in heart want God.
What do love about life? Is it hobbies, the love of a great woman, food, or sex? I might say these are just glimpses into heaven. You desire more than just what you can see, taste, smell, or touch. You desire something outside you. That is heaven. You've never seen it, but you want it deeply. This is also called the God shaped hole in your heart.
Do you want to sing to and worship Jesus? Do you find yourself drawn to church? Do you know there's something more than just self to be fulfilled? There is something out there for you. There is an ultimate city of different members of one society. We will get to praise God with each other as one voice.
How do we find heaven? If we loved Jesus, we will go to a place inside heaven and have our sins be taken away. It is called purgatory. It is not like the Roman Catholic Church explains it as a place of suffering, but it is a a place of more magnificent than earth. We should want a place like to as we
should not want to enter the city with the stench of our past sins. We will enter the Great City pristine and white as the scriptures reveal. It will be glorious. God himself will guide us there. This is the person who says to God, "Thy will be done".
At the end of the Narnian series (I won't give everything away, just encourage you to read those books) I write, "But for them it was just the beginning of the real story...now at last they are beginning chapter one."
If you are interested in this subject let me encourage you to read the "The Problem With Pain" and "The Great Divorce". You will not be disappointed.
Your Friend Jack
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither
Thursday, April 3, 2014
CHURCH is...
OK when we say church, I think there can be 2 meanings. I'll describe the one not really thought of first. Church can mean the body of Christ, all the Christians of all time. The church that is invisible to humans, and that Christ calls his own bride. The second more meaningful for today, and is just place of worship. The word church can be summed as either the church eternal or the church building
Why the 2 meanings, I think this word has been thrown around so much it has lost it's meaning. Guided by the enemy, people have changed what the word should be defined by Scripture.
The enemy wants to distort our our understanding of why we go to a building for worship. The enemy wants us to pick a building to suit our own likes and wants. I like this music at this place, but I like the teaching of that one better. There's a woman who always wants to sit in MY seat at MY church. There's a man who sits 2 rows in front of me who irks ME as he sings off key. The woman who sits in the front distracts ME because she always raises her hands at the wrong time during worship.
BUT we should look at Church from God's point of view.
God's view is more like the first definition. I will explain more if there are questions
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