|
About Me - And My Best Friend (cont.)
Would you like to know how to receive eternal life? Then you’ve come to the right place! However, unless you have repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Saviour, you don’t have eternal life right now. In fact, you’re on your way to Hell, the second death, a place of eternal torment! There is a fairly well-known rock song called Highway to Hell, and if you don’t know Jesus, that’s exactly the road you’re on right now. It’s the broad way “that leadeth to destruction” (Matthew 7:13). If you end up there after you die, it certainly won’t be the party described in that song! Even if “all your friends are there”, you DON’T want to join them, because it’s a place of eternal suffering and torment! But it’s possible to escape this most awful of fates. However, there’s only one way to do that. Or rather, one Way.
You may well be asking at this point, aren't there many ways to get into Heaven? What about those in other faiths? Aren't they going to Heaven too? And what about attending church every Sunday, being nice to other people, giving to charity etc. etc.? Well, this is what the Bible says:
"Jesus saith unto him, 'I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.' " John 14:6
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12
The fact is, Jesus is the only way to God. He's the only way you can get to Heaven. He is also the only way you can be saved from your present sorry sinful condition. Religion won't do it for you. You can go to all the church services you like, do as many good deeds as you want, perform as many and varied rituals as you please, but it won't save you from your sins, or from the eternal fires of Hell. Yes, going to church has its place in the Christian life, but it's not what gets you saved. Good works won't do it either. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 (Emphasis mine)
You can be as good, kind and honest as you want, give millions of dollars to charity even, but as long as you’re trusting in that to save you, it won't make one iota of difference in God's eyes. "(W)e are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6) Our own righteousness doesn’t count for squat. God judges us by a much higher standard than we judge ourselves or others. However “good” you might be, or think you are, at the end of the day, you're still a sinner. And so am I. We're all sinners, naturally given over to wickedness and iniquity.
What makes us sinners? Transgression of God’s Law—the Ten Commandments and all the rest of it. “(W)hosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10) You see, you only have to break one of God’s laws to be a sinner. It actually works the same with human law. If you break any one law, great or small, you’re a lawbreaker and subject to the penalty of the law. So it is with God’s Law. Break it, and you come under its penalty—separation from God, first in this life, and then in Hell for all eternity after you die.
Now, you might think that you’re basically a pretty good and decent person, but the Bible makes it clear that every single one of us has broken God’s Law, and is thus a sinner:
"As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Romans 3:10-12
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
When the Bible says "all", it means all, people. Every person that has ever lived, is currently living and will live is a sinner. Sin means we rebel against the will of God. Instead of obeying His commands, we go our own way, do our own thing, follow our own morality and so on. God gave us His laws for our own good. He created us, so He knows what is best for us. But we, in our foolish pride, think we know better. We think the Ten Commandments and other Biblical precepts are "old-fashioned". And so, as it is written in the book of Isaiah, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." (Isaiah 53:6).
Rather than following God's way, we follow our own path, because it "feels good and so it must be right", or some other reason that we use to justify our wrongdoing. We act according to our definition of what's right, but the Bible says "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Proverbs 14:12). A popular saying these days is “Follow your heart”, but the Bible counters, “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool” (Proverbs 28:26) and also warns, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Because of sin, we all have wicked hearts, and our sins come “from within, out of the heart of men” (Mark 7:21). This is our core problem. We break God’s laws because of our deceitful, desperately wicked and rebellious hearts. Even people who might look pious and righteous have evil, sinful hearts. 1 Samuel 16:7 reveals that while we are swayed by appearances, God looks at our hearts. “(T)he LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” You might be able to act all sweet and nice to people, or impress people in various ways, but God knows what you’re really like inside.
The evidence and consequences of mankind's sin are all around us. In the world today there are untold amounts of wickedness, and we see murder (including abortion and euthanasia) and violence on the increase, the rise of STDs like AIDS due to sexual promiscuity (fornication - sex outside marriage - adultery and homosexuality are rife), a growth in the popularity of witchcraft (fostered especially by the likes of the Harry Potter and Twilight books, Pokemon and fantasy role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering), wars, and all kinds of general selfishness, greed, disrespect of each other and much worse besides. Planet Earth is in a mess. It's not in a mess because of the Greenhouse Effect, pollution or whatever. These are just by-products of the real problem. For the root cause of all the world's problems is that simple three-letter word, the "spiritual pollution" in our hearts, which significantly has "I" at the centre - SIN.
But the mess we and our world are in because of sin isn't the worst of it. As I’ve already alluded to above, the Bible makes it plain that those who die in sin will burn in Hell forever. Hell, like Heaven, is real, but unlike Heaven, it is a place of eternal suffering. Hell is worse than all the horrors of the Holocaust, Inquisition, September 11 and other past and present calamities put together. If you think you have it bad here, wait until you get to Hell. Because if you die in your sins, without Jesus as your Saviour, that's where you're going. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3) And if you do end up in Hell, the troubles of this world will pale into total insignificance compared with the torments that await you there. Many people are already in Hell, and billions in the world today are on their way there. And once you're there, you're stuck. For good. It's the "everlasting fire" (Matthew 25:41). The Bible says:
"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night […]" Revelation 14:11
"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Revelation 21:8
"Oh come on!" someone cries. "Enough with this 'fire and brimstone' nonsense already! You're just trying to scare us! There's no such thing as Hell. A loving God couldn't possibly send anybody to an awful place like that. Anyway, we all get reincarnated, don't we?"
If I were a lifeguard and didn't warn you of a rip, and you got drowned in it, I wouldn't have done my job properly. A lifeguard warns you to stay away from a certain part of the ocean to save your life. If you go against the warning, you do so at your peril. In the same way, I want to warn you of the dangers of Hell before it is too late. For there is such a thing as Hell. It is every bit as real as Heaven. Oh, and we don't get reincarnated. The Bible makes this quite plain:
"(I)t is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment". Hebrews 9:27 (My emphasis)
We only get one life, folks. One shot at it. Once you're dead, you go to one of two places: Heaven or Hell. (There's no such thing as purgatory; this is nowhere in the Bible and has been made up by the Catholic Church, which is guilty of many false and blasphemous doctrines and is certainly not Christian in any Biblical sense.) God is a loving God, but He is also a holy God, and cannot stand sin. "And there shall in no wise enter into it [Heaven] any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." Revelation 21:27
God is a God of love, but He is also holy and just. As such, He abhors sin, because it offends His holiness and also because it defiles us. It might "feel good", but it messes up our lives in so many ways. God doesn't want to stop us enjoying ourselves, but nor does He want us to do ourselves harm. And when we go against His will and sin, we do harm ourselves—spiritually first and foremost, but sometimes physically too. However, He gave us a free will, because He wants us to worship and serve Him with our whole hearts. If we just worshipped Him robotically, mindlessly, dare I say religiously, our worship would mean nothing, and we would have no real relationship with God. As it is though, our relationship with him is non-existent as long as we continue wilfully in our sins.
When God created Adam and Eve, they enjoyed a special relationship with Him, and got on pretty well with each other too. But they broke that relationship by sinning and rebelling against Him. You see, God gave Adam and Eve a choice, like He gives all of us a choice, and they chose to disobey Him. Instead of listening to God, they listened to the snake, "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan: which deceiveth the whole world" (Revelation 12:9). He told them the great lie that they could disobey God and it wouldn't matter. "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die". (Genesis 3:4)
But boy, did it matter, and it still does. "That old serpent" is still busy conning people today, leading them to think they can do whatever they please and it won't matter a jot. Look what a state the world is in because people believe this and many other lies that the Devil tells. "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44) You think you can do what you like and get away with it, do you? YOU'VE BEEN CONNED BY THE FATHER OF LIES! God said, "Ye shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). But outside of Christ, there is no one who is holy. Some people, especially religious leaders, might call themselves "holy", but if they do not know Christ, then they're liars. Only the God in Three Persons is holy. We His creation are full of sin and wickedness to the very cores of our being.
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Any of these sound familiar? Ever had sex outside marriage? (It's the "new morality" - old immorality, more like it!) You're a fornicator. How about sleeping with someone who wasn’t your spouse, or sleeping with someone else’s spouse? That makes you an adulterer. If you sleep with people of the same gender, this too is sin (don’t believe the lie that you’re “born that way”; God would not call something sinful that people had no choice about, but you DO choose whom you sleep with!). Ever had "one too many?" You're a drunkard. Called somebody names or slandered them? Then you’re a “reviler”. But whatever your sins may be, you're unrighteous and before long, you’ll be facing the judgement of God. It won’t be pretty.
“Is there no hope for me, then?” you may wonder. If you’re relying on your own “goodness” to save you, then no, there isn’t. But there is hope in Jesus Christ. And this is the GOOD NEWS! Yes, God is holy, and yes, He abhors evil utterly. But (oh praise God for this "but"!) He is also a loving God, Who loves each and every one of us more than we can comprehend. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 1:18
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:14-18 (My emphasis)
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, into the world, because of His love for us. Jesus was miraculously born of a virgin and was the only sinless Man to ever live. As such, He did not have to die. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" Romans 6:23. Death is the ultimate price we pay for sin. And after that, by rights, we should go to Hell. But of His own free will, Jesus Christ gave His life for us on a cross. He was crucified, had nails driven through Him and suffered a tremendous amount for us. He took our sins upon Himself; He was our substitute. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." 1 Peter 2:24
The following Scripture (Bible verse or group of verses) explains it in more detail:
"[H]e was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." Isaiah 53:5-9.
"Stripes" in the above quotations means whip marks or maybe scars. For our sakes, Jesus Christ was arrested, subject to a mock trial, had a crown of thorns placed upon His head, was whipped, spat on, made fun of, and finally crucified to die a cruel, agonising death. The only sinless Man who ever lived died a truly awful and totally unjust death. Why? To bear our sins and iniquities. He took our punishment, shed His blood for us. He was God's sacrificial Lamb, a final and ultimate sacrifice for our sins. "For he [God the Father] hath made him [Jesus Christ, God the Son] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21) But it doesn't end with His death. For Jesus Christ did something even more amazing - he rose from the dead!
"And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Matthew 28:5-6
In the Resurrection, Jesus Christ won a final victory over sin and death. "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Colossians 2:14-15
The "principalities and powers" referred to here are Satan and his kingdom of devils, sin and death; all the powers of Hell, basically. They rebelled against God originally, and Hell was actually prepared for them rather than us, but our own sin qualified us to go there as well. (The Devil knows he’s doomed, but he wants to take as many people as he can with him. That’s why he tempts people all the time, and also why he does all he can to prevent the Gospel from being spread or received. All the hostility towards Christianity today is the result of his efforts.) On the Cross and with His subsequent Resurrection, Christ triumphed over all of them, and broke their power over us, if we will only believe in Him and trust Him.
You see, through Jesus, we who are lost in our sins can be reconciled to God and made new. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17
"You don't really believe that resurrection stuff, do you?" someone says. "When you're dead, you're dead, aren't you? How can anyone come back to life?" Well, I most assuredly do believe in the Resurrection! Jesus rose from the dead because he hadn't sinned, and therefore Death couldn't hold Him. "Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him." (Romans 6:9) Moreover, as it is written:
"And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Corinthians 15: 17-22
So without Jesus' atoning sacrifice on the Cross, and even more His resurrection, we would still be doomed. But praise God, He is alive, and a conqueror over sin! Mohammed is dead. Buddha is dead. Confucius is dead. So are the likes of Joseph Smith, Ellen White and Mary Baker-Eddy. Not to mention several hundred Popes. But Jesus Christ is alive today, and waiting for you to let Him into your life.
Remember, "he that believeth on him [Jesus] is not condemned". "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved[.]" (Acts 16:31) That's all you have to do. Just believe in Jesus, God's love-offering to you. Believe that He died for you, that He paid the penalty for your sins by shedding His blood for you. Trust Him. He is the Mediator between you and God. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." Hebrews 9:14-15
God's grace, given when you put your faith in Christ, is all you need to get saved. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 "But without faith it is impossible to please [God]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Hebrews 11:6 You cannot save yourself by your own “good deeds” or whatever. This is where all the religions of the world, including many so-called forms of “Christianity” like Roman Catholicism, Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, get it wrong. They make you work for your salvation. Islam, for instance, has its “five pillars”. Catholicism adds its own sacraments to grace. If you follow any of these false religions, you just end up in bondage to all the rules, and the most tragic thing is, it’s all for naught. You’re wasting your life with it all. But the Bible says that salvation is a gift. You cannot obtain it through your own efforts. Jesus has done all the work on the Cross. Good works do come after you get saved. They are a “fruit”, i.e. a product of salvation. You get saved “unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10). But you cannot get saved BY good works.
First and foremost though, you need to repent of your sins. Repentance goes hand in hand with being born again. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you" (Acts 3:19-20) This involves acknowledging to God that you have done wrong in His sight, asking His forgiveness and making a commitment to start living righteously. It means turning from your path of sin and onto a new path that leads to life. To go back to the earlier lifeguard analogy, it means deciding to “swim between the flags” instead of going anywhere in the ocean you please. In short, to repent is to acknowledge that your current direction in life is wrong and that you need a new direction—God’s way rather than your own. It is also to acknowledge that you cannot save yourself and need Jesus.
"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:19-20
Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart today. He knocks, but He won't break the door down. He wants you to open the door of your heart and life to Him, but He won't force you to do it. It is your decision to make. But God loves you, and He wants to restore the relationship that has been broken by sin. Jesus Christ is the means by which you can know God. He is the only way to God; there is NO other! Anyone who tells you otherwise contradicts the Word of God, and is either a liar or deluded.
If, after reading all of this, you feel convicted of your sins and recognise that you need a Saviour, and if you are ready to turn from your sins and invite Jesus Christ into your heart and into your life, then say a prayer which goes something like this:
"Lord God, I come before You today to acknowledge that I am a sinner with a wicked heart. I have transgressed Your holy law and done many wicked things which have separated me from You. I do not deserve Your love, or Your mercy. But I thank You that You have given these to me freely. I thank You that sent Your only begotten Son to die on the Cross as a complete and final sacrifice to pay the penalty for all my sins. I put my faith in Christ’s finished work on the Cross. I now also turn from my own way and open the door of my life to You right now. Please come into my heart and cleanse me from all my sins. I ask you to forgive me for every wrong thing I have ever done. I turn my back on sin utterly, and choose to worship and serve You instead. You are now Lord of my life. As Christ freely gave Himself on the cross for me, so I now freely give myself to You in Your service. Thank You for setting me free from the power of sin and death, and for restoring me to a right relationship with You and granting me eternal life. In the name of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, Amen"
If you prayed that prayer (or something like it), sincerely repented and you truly believe that Jesus died, was buried, rose again and that only He can put you right with God, then congratulations and Hallelujah! You're saved! Your name is now written in the Lamb's Book of Life! That means that when you die, you will go to Heaven and be with the One who saved you from the awful torments of Hell. You will one say walk on streets paved with gold and know wonders and glories beyond your present comprehension. But until then, you've got a life to live here on Earth, a life in which you now serve God instead of sin. “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (1 Timothy 2:19) “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” (1 Thessalonians 4:7) So how do you start?
Well, a good way to begin your new life as a Christian is by reading the Word of God, the Bible. This will tell you how God wants you live your life. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Timothy 3:16-17. "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12.
The best version of the Bible is the King James, or Authorised Version (which turned 400 in 2011). All the Bible quotes in these pages have been taken from that. The AV, or KJV, is widely recognised by reputable scholars as the most faithful and accurate translation of God's Word there is. Because of its Elizabethan English, it may not be the easiest version to read, but you might be surprised at how straightforward and comprehensible most of the passages are. Modern Bible translations are well and good, and often easier to read. However, they are based on corrupted manuscripts and often water down or even remove key Bible verses! So be very careful of these.
I must admit, I myself used the Good News Bible (aka Today’s English version or Good News for Modern Man) for many years until I found out that it too is based on corrupted manuscripts and changes or removes key Scriptures. Indeed, when I compare it alongside the KJV, it doesn’t stand up too well. So these days, my own personal Bible study is pretty well exclusively based on the KJV. Of course, if you have a particular favourite modern version, you’re free to keep using it. First and foremost, God is concerned with your heart rather than what Bible version you have. But why settle for second best? Why use a version that may distort or cast doubts on key points of doctrine? (I don’t have the space to go into the Bible version issue in more detail, but I would recommend you read some of the articles and books on Way of Life Literature if you want to understand more about it. Chick Publications has a few good tracts and books about it too.)
Prayer is another very important aspect of the saved Christian's life. It is how you communicate with God. Communication is essential to any relationship, and this is no less true in your new relationship with God. When you pray, you talk to God. You don't need to use a specific formula. In fact, Jesus expressly warned against using “vain repetition, as the heathen do” (Matthew 6:7) Just talk to God, now your Heavenly Father, like you would to anyone, though be sure to show proper reverence and respect. After all, He is the King of kings and Lord of lords!
Start going to church, though be careful here. There are many churches, even so-called "Christian denominational" churches, which don't preach the true Gospel. They preach a “social gospel” or are so liberal that their teaching scarcely even resembles Bible truth any more! Some churches (especially Pentecostal and Charismatic ones) use quite dangerous practices (“slaying in the spirit” and suchlike that are not found in the Bible). Nowadays “contemplative prayer”, which is basically a Christianised form of New Age mysticism, is also becoming popular, and should also be strenuously avoided. If the church you go to does not preach repentance from sins and salvation through Christ alone, get out of it and find a church that does!
Last but most certainly not least, start sharing the Gospel with others. This is the “Great Commission” for all Christians, summed up in Mark 16:15, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” People need to hear the message of the Gospel. The reason for this is summed up in Romans 10:13-14. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” So for people to get to a point of believing and getting saved, they first have to hear the Gospel preached—or read it, like on this page.
Speaking of reading, another way you can get the Gospel message to people is with tracts. I like Chick comic tracts (available at www.chick.com). There are lots of different ones there that you can order. Some address specific issues, and some are a little controversial, but many present a good, basic and sound message. Start off with the best-known tract, This Was Your Life. Some others that I recommend are The Greatest Story Ever Told, A Love Story and The Choice. All tracts can be read for free online at the Chick site, so you can try them out before buying them. There are many different ways to get tracts to people (the Chick site has tips for this), but one of my favourite methods is to simply drop them in letterboxes. I’ll decide beforehand which streets I’m going to “target”, and then away I go. If you want to try this, start with your own street, then go the next street over, and so on and so forth.
Of course, not everyone will receive the message gladly, and you may even be rudely rejected. In fact, the Bible makes it clear that persecution comes with the territory of being a faithful Christian. That said, if someone makes it clear they’re not interested, don’t hassle them, but just move on. If they call you any rude names, don’t retaliate. The Bible tells us that we should not return evil for evil (something I have done at times and now regret). Again with tracts, not everyone will read them, and of those who do, not everyone will be saved. But those who refuse the Gospel message will be without excuse on the Day of Judgement. They won’t be able to say, “No one told me how to be saved”. And for those of you who have read this page and are now privately mocking and scorning it, you too will be without excuse. But it’s not yet too late for you. “(B)ehold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2) Don’t put it off! Tomorrow just might be too late. “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” (Proverbs 27:1)
|
