HELL
Currently, Youtube features many video testimonies by people who had near-death experiences (NDE) that took them to HELL. Though their stories vary about how they lived prior to their NDE, what they saw, smelled, heard and felt when they were in hell are terribly similar. Bottom line: Hell is a place to avoid at all costs!
The realness of hell as an actual place is played down by today's society. The word "hell" is ued as a curse word or mindless expletive by lots of folks. Hell's awfulness is minimized by jokes about it or with light-hearted remarks about "playing cards together down there" or other such familiarities. Hell is hardly mentioned by pastors or churchs anymore, almost as if it doesn't exist. But it does!
Hell is REAL. Hell is HORRIBLE beyond description. Hell is the destination of most of earth's population. That is why the Church sent missionaries to other countries and peoples to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the only Way to escape the condemnation of HELL.
The twentieth-century was fraught with fear: We had two world wars and other smaller ones. The atomic bomb ended the war with Japan. The Cold War with Russia kept us all tense. The advance of communism against the free world caused mistrust and suspicion among allies. In all, so many tensions came and went that people became immune to holy fear. What an effective tool of the devil!
In some respects, people were tired of being afraid. They quit worrying about those things they couldn't touch or feel. Hell is one such place, one such condemnation, one such possible eternal destiny. Ignoring or making light of hell eased their minds.
But it shouldn't! Hell is forever. Hell is eternal. Hell is void of God and all His goodness. It is a place of torment and suffering, heat and thirst, darkness and hate. It should be avoided at all costs!
Jesus is the answer to the question of where you will spend Eternity. He is the ONLY WAY to heaven. Heaven is hell's contradiction. But avoiding hell will demand everything of yours if you are to go to heaven. And that is the rub!
How dare anyone use Jesus as a fire-escape from hell! It won't work! He isn't all that easy! He is not cheap merchandise and a pass to go free! His death for your sins and mine cost Him everything. To know Him as your Savior will cost you everything, too, or it isn't true salvation!
If escape is your motive for seeking Jesus, you won't find Him! If getting a ticket to go to heaven free is your position, forget it! God declares that you are a sinner destined for hell! It's that plain and simple.
While it's true that Jesus died to make possible your living forever in heaven, He is not a free ticket to golden streets and the River of Life. You may think that repeating a prayer for salvation after a preacher or evangelist is all there is to it, but you're mistaken.
II Corinthians 7:10 says:
"For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death."
In order to wipe off the books the guilt and debt sin created against you, you must repent of your sins. You must own your sins and confess them to God. You must be sorry for committing those sins. Crocodile tears shed during an emotional jag won't do it. It must be heartfelt sorrow and a change of heart--that is repentance.
Pay attention to the Bible words quoted above; your sorrow for your sins must be God-generated. You can only really repent or turn from sinning to believe in and serve God when God brings that sorrow and determination to your heart.
You have a will. God gave it to you to use as you choose. You can will to repent or you can treat the call of God to repent very lightly and brush it off.
It's true. Repentance doesn't feel good at the time. It hurts your pride. It humbles you before God, because it is then that you recognize and confess that God is greater than you are and holds your destiny in His hands.
He is not being unreasonable with you. Your sins have separated you from God, because He is holy and pure, and sin isn't. You must come to Him on His terms, not yours. But Jesus is His term.
Jesus loves you. God loves you. God the Father sent His Son to earth in human form to walk this sod as the perfect GodMan. He took the punishment that you deserve for your sins. He suffered more than we can comprehend so that you and I could be forgiven.
But forgiveness isn't the end of the story. It's the beginning. Once you are forgiven and have really repented for your sins and determined not to sin anymore, God will transform you in your heart and make you a new person. You will be like a new-born baby. God says then you will desire the Bible, the word of God, so you can feed on its words and truth and grow up as a believer in Jesus.
It means that you must die to yourself and all your desires and directions in life. You submit to God and His Holy Spirit to direct and guide your steps from then on. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit to give you the power to live a life dedicated wholly to God. He will teach you from the Bible and He will show you how to live your life moment by moment in ways that please Him.
So, you see that you can find and know God if you are willing to quit following the devil to hell. It was created for the devil and his angels, not for human beings. But God won't prevent you from going there if you make that choice.
If you ignore this message to you about not going to hell and serving God instead, once you get to hell and realize you made a horrible mistake, it will be too late to change your mind. You will face torment and pain for all eternity---and it's impossible to imagine how long that is because it is not measured by time, but by intensity.
Consider carefully where you are headed. Be sure you know what you're talking about. If Jesus isn't the One you are servant to, you ARE on the road to hell, your days ARE numbered, and you don't know when the final one will be here.
When you stand before Jesus at the Great White Throne judgment found in Revelation 20, you'll not be able to tell Him you weren't warned. You have read the plea for you to avoid hell. If you take it lightly, you will be thrown like trash into the lake of fire that burns forever! That is called the Second Death, far worse that hell is!
You'll never be able to say you weren't warned!