Do you think that you’re a good person? Good enough to go to heaven?
Do you think that God sees you as good enough to enter heaven?
If so, then answer these questions honestly and carefully:
1. Have you ever told a lie? Even if it was a little “white lie.”, exaggerating the truth to make a point(like saying there’s a billion bees in a swarm instead of saying there’s a lot of bees in the swarm), or half-truth. Anything not 100% truth is a lie, and all liars will go to the Lake of Fire(Revelation 21:8).
2. Have you ever stolen anything? Regardless of the value of the item. Even if it was one 5 cent piece of bubble gum from the gas station.
3. Have you ever used God’s name as a curse word or to express disgust? Ever used God’s name lightly or irreverently? Like, “God, this sucks.” “Jesus Christ!” That’s blasphemy, and God warns that He won’t hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name. Also, failing to give God the glory for your success is a form of blasphemy.
4. Have you ever made a god in your mind to suit yourself? Have you ever had any idols? A god that tolerates ‘white’ lies or a fib here and there? A god that won’t punish anyone with the Lake of Fire? Any other god to suit yourself? If your god isn’t the God revealed in the Bible, than it’s a false god, an idol, and God warns that Idolaters will go to the Lake of Fire(Revelation 21:8).
5. Have you ever seen something that someone else had and thought, “I wish I had something like that. I wish I could afford the stuff they get.” This is called coveting. And the Bible also says that covetousness is Idolatry, which is a violation of the 2nd commandment, so you’d also have to say yes to question number 4. In addition, wanting something to the point of being willing to go into debt, hurt someone, or commit some other kind of wrong is also covetousness. Wanting more and more and more of something, like money, is also covetousness.
6. Have you ever disobeyed your parents? Have you ever been rebellious towards them, or in any other way failed to honor your parents? Did you ever delay in obeying your parents, or only obey partially? Delayed and partial obedience is really disobedience. Doing things they wouldn’t want you to do in secret is also disobedience, and God knows all about it, and hasn’t forgotten the sins of your youth.
7. Have you ever hated anyone? God sees hatred as murder. See 1st John 3:15.
8. Have you ever looked at another person with lust? God sees that as adultery. See Matthew 5:28.
9. Have you obeyed God concering the commandment to Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy? That means you are to set aside ONE day in Seven and rest and worship God. Don’t pursue your hobbies on the Sabbath. Don’t play your video games, play golf, or whatever your hobby is on the Sabbath. Only do that which you absolutely must do, like save the life of someone or a sheep if you find yourself in such a place on the Sabbath.
If you have done any of these things, then by your admissions, according to God’s standards, you are not good enough to go to heaven. And these are only 9 of the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20 in the old testament of the Bible! The other commandments are “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”, which is the First Commandment, which means we are to love God above all else, which the Bible says in Psalm 14:2-3 that all have turned aside and become corrupt, which means that NO ONE has kept the First Commandment. So it was already determined from the beginning that you would be guilty.
So, if on Judgement Day, God judges you based on the 10 commandments, do you think you’re going to be found innocent or guilty?
Well, you say, “I’ve done more good things than bad in my life”. That doesn’t matter. If you were in a trial of court, the Judge would punish you on the basis of breaking the law, and the fact that the law demands justice. Your good deeds wouldn’t mean anything.
By the same token, God’s law still requires that a penalty be paid. Good deeds can’t pay the debt.
However, what if during that trial, what if someone you didn’t even know came into the court room and took the punishment for you so that you could be set free from the penalty of the crime?
That’s what Jesus Christ did for you when He died on the cross for your sins, taking your punishment for you so that you could be forgiven and set free from sin and God’s wrath. Your part is to turn from your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Don’t put this off, as you don’t know what the future holds for you(Proverbs 27:1). There are probably many people who have put off coming to Jesus Christ who are now screaming, wailing, and gnashing their teeth in hell right now because they didn’t take the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
If you want to make a decision to accept Jesus Christ as the atonement for your sins, then sincerely pray this prayer:
“God, I admit that I am a sinner and that I need you. I realize that my good works will not save me. Right now, I turn from my sins, and I put my 100% trust in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Please forgive me of all my sins and cleanse me from them. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” If you just prayed that prayer, and sincerely meant it, then you’ve been made whiter than snow and forgiven of your sins. To start out your Christian life, you need to pray to God everyday, read your bible every day, and get into a good Bible-teaching Church.
Now, God's grace isn't so that you can just turn around and do your old sins with a blanket slip license to just indulge in sin all you want and go to Heaven, because that isn't the case.
Proverbs 28:13 says "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and FORSAKETH them shall have mercy."
So it isn't enough to just confess your sin and ask God to forgive you. You have to forsake that sin and try sincerely not to do it anymore. God can tell if you're sincere in asking for forgiveness, or if you're just looking for a way by which you can sin and get by with it. There's no such way, and if you keep indulging in sin, thinking that you can keep asking God to forgive you while you keep wallowing in the mud of sin, you're only fooling yourself. However, if you ask God to forgive you of that sin and are serious about turning from it, then you will receive God's mercy.
God doesn't leave Christians to fend for themselves and find out for themselves if they've sinned, as He sends the Holy Spirit to live in them, who will in turn prick their conscience(you can call it "feeling bad", if you will) when they have sinned(kind of like a "sin detector", if you will, to let them know that they have sinned and need to repent of it), and if they turn from it and ask God's forgiveness, God forgives them. If the Christian decides He's going to live in sin, God will discipline the Christian at first and do things to get his attention, but if the Christian decides he wants nothing more to do with Jesus Christ and is going to love in sin, in spite of God's goodness and mercy, and in spite of God's discipline, then God turns them over to their sin, and they lose their salvation because Ezekiel 3:20 says
"Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand."
So, that means that a Christian can lose his righteous standing before God if he turns his back on God to seek him no more and insists on sinning after God disciplines him(note the stumbling block). I'm not saying that salvation is maintained by good works, because it's not. It's not gained by good works, and not maintained by good works. It's maintained by continuing to follow Jesus Christ and when you sin, you repent of it, turn from it, and ask God to forgive you and give you the strength to resist the temptation the next time you're tempted to do it.
Well, you might ask, what if I refuse Jesus’ offer? Well, that’s what I’m going to discuss now.
If you refuse to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and die without accepting him as Savior, then you’ll end up in
A PLACE CALLED THE LAKE OF FIRE!
God originally made Hell for Satan and his band of Demons(Satan and his demons are former angels who turned against God, so God kicked them out of heaven), not for us humans, and God doesn’t want us to go there. But, if you don’t accept Jesus’ offer of Salvation, then Hell is where you will go. God takes no pleasure in this, but this is YOUR CHOICE. You might say “God wouldn’t send anyone to hell”. Your “god” wouldn’t send people to burn in the Lake of Fire for eternity because your “god” doesn’t exist. It’s a figment of your imagination. That’s called Idolatry, and God warns that all idolaters will have their part in the Lake of Fire(Revelation 21:8)
Here’s what The Lake of Fire is like:
1. THE LAKE OF FIRE IS A REAL PLACE! IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU BELIEVE IN HELL OR NOT! IT’S STILL THERE AND YOU’RE STILL GOING IF YOU DON’T ACCEPT JESUS AS SAVIOR!
2. THE LAKE OF FIRE is a place where you will burn forever and ever in a blazing fire. Your suffering will NEVER end, and it NEVER stops. You will never get even one NANOSECOND of rest from the pain. Revelation 14:11 says that “…and they have no rest day nor night…”, which means that your torment will go on forever and ever.
3. You will wail, weep, and gnash your teeth over the simple fact that accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and then faithfully following Him no matter(because if you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and later on decide to turn away from Jesus Christ to follow Him no more, then you lose your salvation) what would have kept you from this awful place of never ending pain, suffering, agony, and regret.
4. You won’t even get a DROP OF WATER to ease your pain(Luke 16:24). Nothing. Your pain is NEVER eased. NEVER. You will remain in mind-numbing thirst throughout eternity.
5. You will hear the blood-curdling screams of the other tormented billions who are in the Lake of Fire with you, screaming for mercy, which in hell, you will NEVER get. Because you rejected God’s mercy when He offered it in this life, you will suffer God’s never-ending wrath.
6. You will suffer MENTAL torment, as you remember your life on Earth and all the good things on Earth that you took for granted, such as smiling faces you once knew, beautiful sunsets, rolling hills, the people who loved you, and will weep with appalling sadness and anguish that you will NEVER again experience or see any more blessings. No more love, no more beautiful scenes, no more smiling faces. Only regret, anguish, agony, thirst, and extreme torment as you burn and burn, forever in the Lake of Fire.
7. Also, it’s important that you understand WHO will be in the Lake of Fire with you, if you go there. Those people in the Lake of Fire with you will be drunkards, murderers, thieves, homosexuals, whoremongers, adulterers, hypocrites, rapists, idolaters, Satanists, witches, people who mess with magic and other forms of sorcery, which God says is an abomination to Him(Deuteronomy 18:9-12), and in addition to this, there will be liars, greedy people, swindlers, among other people who will be in this awful place of torment, begging for mercy and never getting it.
8. You will remember the times that people warned you about the torments of hell and you chalked it off, saying that you’d get to it later or that you didn’t need God. You will regret for all eternity those moments, wishing you would have turned to Jesus Christ. And you’ll know that now, in hell, it’s too late.
DON’T LET THIS CHANCE TO ACCEPT JESUS SLIP BY!
You might not get another chance! This might be your last chance to accept Jesus as Savior, since you really don’t know when you’re going to die! Don’t think “Well, I’ll just wait until I get older”, because you could die before then! You could even die in 2 minutes! And if you die without Jesus, then you will go to hell. There are many people who have said “I’ll accept Jesus Christ as my Savior later in life when I’ve done what I’ve pleased” who are now wailing, weeping, and gnashing their teeth in agony they’ve never know in this life in the everlasting flames of the Lake of Fire, regretting that they didn’t accept Jesus Christ when they have the chance. Proverbs 27:1 says “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” So, you see, you don’t know if you will have another chance to get saved, so heed this warning now!
But you say, “I don’t believe the Bible/in God/in Christianity”
Well, first off, your lack of belief in the Bible doesn’t change the facts. If you ran into a freeway with an 18-wheeler semi-truck coming at you and you said “I don’t believe in trucks”, you would still pay the consequences for stepping in the freeway in the way of the truck. A building is sufficient proof that there was a builder, a painting proof that there was a painter, and creation proof that there was a Creator(Almighty God).
Also, there are quite a few scientific facts that are in the Bible and were in the Bible long before man discovered those scientific facts.
# Jeremiah 33:22 (written 2500 years ago): "As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured."
The Bible claimed that there are billions of stars ("host of heaven" is the biblical term for the stars). When it made this statement, no one knew how vast the numbers of stars were as only about 1,100 were observable. Now we know that there are billions of stars, and that they cannot be numbered.
# Job 26:7 (written 3500 years ago): "He stretches out the north over the empty place, and hangs the earth upon nothing."
The Bible claimed that the earth freely floated in space. Science then thought that the earth sat on a large animal. We now know that the earth has a free float in space.
# Hebrews 11:3 (written 2000 years ago): "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."
The Bible claims that all creation is made of invisible material. Science then was ignorant of the subject. We now know that the entire creation is made of invisible elements called "atoms."
# Leviticus 17:11 (written 3000 years ago): "For the life of the flesh is in the blood."
The Scriptures declare that blood is the source of life. Up until 120 years ago, sick people were "bled", and many died because of the practice. We now know that blood is the source of life. If you lose your blood, you will lose your life.
# Leviticus 15:13 (written 3000 years ago): "And when he that has an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean."
The Bible said that when dealing with disease, hands should be washed under running water. Up until 100 years ago doctors washed their hands in a basin of still water, resulting in the death of multitudes. We now know that doctors must wash their hands under running water. The Encyclopedia Britannica documents that in 1845, a young doctor in Vienna named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who were dying after giving birth in hospitals. As many as 30% of those giving birth died. The Doctor noted that doctors would examine the bodies of those who had died, then, without washing their hands, go straight to the next wards and examine expectant mothers. This was their normal practice, because the presence of microscopic diseases was unknown. Doctor Semmelweis insisted that doctors wash their hands before examinations, and the death rate immediately dropped down to 2%.
# Job 38:35 (written 3,500 years ago. God Himself speaking): "Can you send lightnings, that they may go and say unto you, Here we are?"
The Bible here is saying a scientifically ludicrous statement -- that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. But did you know that radio waves move at the speed of light? This is why you can have instantaneous wireless communication with someone on the other side of the earth. Science didn' t discover this until 1864 when "the British scientist James Clerk Maxwell suggested that electricity and light waves were two forms of the same thing" (Modern Century Illustrated Encyclopedia, Vol. 12).
# Isaiah 40:22 (written 2800 years ago): "It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth."
The Bible informs us here that the earth is round. At a time when science believed that the earth was flat, it was the Scriptures that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world. He wrote: "It was the Lord who put it into my mind. I could feel His hand upon me . . . there is no question the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit because He comforted me with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy Scriptures . . ." (From his diary, in reference to his discovery of "the New World").
# Job 38:19 (written 3500 years ago). "Where is the way where light dwells?"
Modern man has only just discovered that light (electromagnetic radiation) has a "way," involving motion traveling at 186,000 miles per second.
# Genesis 1:1,3 (written 3,450 years ago): "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth . . . And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space, matter, power and motion. "In the beginning (time) God created (power) the Heaven (space) and the earth (matter) . . . And the Spirit of God moved (motion) upon the face of the waters."
# Why did the dinosaur disappear? This is something that has modern science mystified, but the Bible may have the answer (written 3500 years ago. God Himself is speaking):
"Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eats grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moves his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. He lies under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinks up a river, and hastens not: he trusts that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He takes it with his eyes: his nose pierces through snares. (Job 40:15-24).
This was the Largest of all creatures He made.
It was plant-eating (herbivorous).
It had its strength in its hips.
Its tail was like a large tree (a cedar).
It had very strong bones.
Its habitat was among the trees.
Drank massive amounts of water.
His nose pierced through snares.
Then Scripture says, " . . . He that made him can make his sword approach to him." In other words, God caused this, the largest of all the creatures He had made, to become extinct.
# Psalm 8:8: "And the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the seas."
What does the Bible mean by "paths" of the seas? The sea is just a huge mass of water, how then could it have "paths?" Man discovered the existence of ocean currents in the 1850's, but the Bible declared the science of oceanography 2,800 years ago. Matthew Maury (1806- 1873) is considered to be the father of oceanography. He was bedridden during a serious illness and asked his son to read a portion of the Bible to him. While listening, he noticed the expression "paths of the sea." Upon his recovery, Maury took God at His word and went looking for these paths. His book on oceanography is still considered a basic text on the subject and is still used in universities.
# Jonah 2:6 (written 2,800 years ago): "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet have you brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God."
When Jonah was in the depths of the ocean, he spoke of going down to the "bottoms of the mountains." Only in recent years has man discovered that there are mountains on the ocean floor. The greatest ocean depth has been sounded in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana's Trench, a distance of 35,798 feet below sea level. Mount Everest is 29,035 feet high.
# Amos 9:6 (written 2,800 years ago): "He . . . calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth; the Lord is His name."
The Mississippi River dumps over six million gallons of water per second into the Gulf of Mexico. Where does all that water go? That's just one of thousands of rivers. The answer lies in the hydrologic cycle, something that was not fully accepted until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 2500 years after the Bible said that God takes the waters of the sea, and pours them upon the face of the earth.
# Job 38:12, 14, (written 3500 years ago) God Himself says: "Have you commanded the morning since your days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It [the earth] is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment."
Modern science has come to understand that the earth's rotation on its axis is responsible for the sun's rising and setting. The picture here is of a vessel of clay being turned or rotated upon the potter's wheel -- an accurate analogy of the earth's rotation.
# Psalm 19:4-6: "In them has He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. His [the sun's] going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof."
Bible critics have scoffed at these verses, saying that they teach that the sun revolves around the earth. Science told them that the sun was stationary. Then they discovered that the sun is in fact moving through space at approximately 600,000 miles per hour. It is traveling through the heavens and has a "circuit" just as the Bible says. It is estimated that its circuit is so large, it would take 200 million years to complete one orbit.
# Job 38:22 (written 3,500 years ago). God says: "Have you entered into the treasures of the snow?"
It wasn't until the advent of the microscope that man discovered that each and every single snowflake is uniquely a symmetrical "treasure."
# Genesis 2:1 (after creation): "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them."
The Hebrew word used here is the past definite tense for the verb "finished," indicating an action completed in the past, never again to occur. The creation was "finished" -- once and for all. That is what the First Law of Thermodynamics says. It states that neither matter nor energy can be either created or destroyed. There is no "creation" ongoing today. It is "finished" exactly as the Bible states.
# Hebrews 1:10,11 (written 2000 years ago): ". . . And, You, Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands: They shall perish; but you remain; and they all shall wax old as does a garment." The Bible tells us that the earth is wearing out. This is what the Second Law of Thermodynamics states. This wasn't discovered by science until comparatively recently.
# Genesis 17:12: "And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed."
Why was circumcision to be carried out on the eighth day? Medical science has discovered that the eighth day is the only day in the entire life of the newborn that the blood clotting element prothrombin is above 100%.
# Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
This verse reveals that a female possesses the "seed of life." This was not the common knowledge until a few centuries ago. It was widely believed that the male only possessed the "seed of life" and that the woman was nothing more than a glorified incubator.
# Isaiah 40:12 (written 2,800 years ago): "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand . . ."
We are told that God has measured the waters and set a proper amount of water on the earth. Modern science has proved that the quantity of water on earth is just enough for our needs. If the sea became three meters deeper, the water would absorb all the carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and no creature could live any longer.
Job 26:7 (written 3500 years ago): "He stretches out the north over the empty place . . ."
Less than 200 years ago, through the advent of massive telescopes, science learned about the great empty space in the north.
# Isaiah 40:22 (written 2,800 years ago): "It is He that . . . stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in."
Scientists are beginning to understand that the universe is expanding, or stretching out. At least seven times in Scripture we are clearly told that God stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
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