ARE YOU READY?

ARE YOU READY?

                                     

How many of us buy life insurance?  How many of us buy medical insurance and so on?  What does insurance mean? --- The root word insure means “To make certain or secure.”  

Have you made certain or secured who will inherit your property, money, etc.  when you die?  Many of us are more concerned about our wills than what will happen to us when we die. There are some that do not believe in an afterlife.  They believe that when you die you become dust and your existence ends there. 

According to the Bible, we were created by God to live forever.  Adam and Eve were created to live in fellowship with God.  They disobeyed God and ate from the Tree of Knowledge which was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  God had to ban them from Eden because if they had stayed in the garden and eaten from the Tree of Life, after they had sinned, they would have lived forever in the state of sin with no hope of redemption.  They would have been doomed to eternal damnation. 

If you do not believe in God, then eternal life is not an issue for you.

“I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.”
― Albert Camus 

In other words, if there is a God, which I do believe there is, then you will not live eternally with Him in heaven if you reject Him.  You will, according to the Bible, live in Hell which was not created for man but for demons.  God is just and the only way to the Father, is through Jesus Christ, His Son, who died on the cross, to take away your sins.  We have all sinned and Christ redeemed us by taking on our sins at the cross. 

John 3:16, “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

If you want to insure your eternal life by surrendering your life to God, through Jesus Christ, or want to rededicate your life to the Lord, say this prayer with me.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin.

I believe you rose from the dead

Please forgive me of all my sins.

Come into my life.

I receive You as my Lord and Savior.

Now, help me to live for you the rest of my life.

In the name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen.

HELL YES/HELL NO

                                                                   HELL YES/HELL NO

In 2014, a Pew Research Center poll found that twenty-nine percent of Catholics, eleven percent of Evangelical protestants, and 40 percent of mainline Protestants said they didn’t believe in the existence of hell.

“Two per cent of Americans firmly believe the Earth is flat, with interesting differences segmented by age, religion, income, and political affiliation.  A recent survey found that just 66 percent of young adults aged 18 to 24 years old have "always believed the world is round." Only Two-Thirds Of American Millennials Believe The Earth Is Round Trevor Nace Senior Contributor April 4, 2018

Just because you believe something or do not believe something does not make it a fact.  If you believe that the Word of God is truth, then you will believe what God says.  If you do not, then what God says is not relevant.

Even the demons believed in Jesus and God.   “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”  James 2:19 (NIV)   “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”  Mark 1:24 (NIV)

 “Of the 1,850 verses in the New Testament that record Jesus’ words, 13 percent of them deal with the subject of eternal judgment and hell. In fact, Jesus spoke more frequently about hell than He did about heaven.”  — Robert Jeffress, How Can I Know?

Jesus did speak about hell more than heaven.  The following are verses where Jesus gave warnings about hell:

 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.  Matthew 5:22 (NIV)

 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28 (NIV)

 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.  Matthew 11:23 (NIV)

 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades  will not overcome it.  Matthew 16:18 (NIV)

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Matthew 23:33 (NIV)

In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.  Luke 16:23 (NIV)

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  Matthew 7:13 (NIV)

 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  Matthew 25:41 (NIV)

It was never God’s plan for anyone to go to hell.  Hell was created for Satan and demons.  Sin separates us from having a relationship with God.  Because we are sinners, we are not automatically entitled to enter into God’s presence therefore we cannot enter heaven as we are.  “So heaven is not our default destination.  No one goes there automatically.  Unless our sin problem is resolved, the only place we will go is our true default destination…..Hell.” (“Heaven” by Randy Alcorn.)

So this brings us to the question, “Once you are saved, are you always saved?”  When you surrender your life to Jesus and ask for forgiveness of your sins you are saved.  What does saved mean?  It means that you have passed from death to life----spiritual death, but this does not mean we have a “get out of hell free” card.  We have to be in a state of constant reconciliation with God.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

There is a Nigerian pastor named Daniel who gave a testimony of visiting heaven and hell.  He experienced this on his way to the hospital after a car accident where he was dying.  This video can be seen on YouTube Nigerian Pastor Who Went to Hell by John Sturm at Eternal Productions.com.  When he went to hell he saw people in torment and agony.  He saw a pastor that said, “I’m a Pastor and I stole money from the church, I’m ready to repent.”  The Angel that guided him told Daniel that if the Book of his life was to be closed today, this would be his portion and Daniel said that it could not be because he himself was a pastor and born again. The Angel said, “Enough, enough, when you were on your way to the first hospital you were asking God to forgive you but you would not forgive your wife and your sins have not been forgiven.  It is a matter of reaping what you sow.  You cannot sow unforgiveness to your wife and reap forgiveness from God.”  The Angel also said that this would be the last warning for this generation.  Daniel was resurrected back to life because believers prayed for him and that is why he is spreading this message.  It is a true story that is well documented.

You may ask, “What about people that have not heard the Gospel message of salvation?”  God is a loving God.  If we truly seek Him, He will reveal Himself to us.  In many Muslim countries there are thousands of stories of people having dreams where Jesus appears to them and many are receiving the salvation message.  If God loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross, how can we not believe that He is reaching out to all of us? 

It comes down to a matter of choice.  Adam and Eve chose to disobey God when they ate from the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Abraham, Moses and Noah all had a choice to believe God and follow Him.   Mary, the mother of Jesus, had a choice to allow God to use her womb as a sacred dwelling place in which the Savior of the world would be conceived and be born through her.  The disciples had a choice to follow Jesus or not follow Him.  Early believers had a choice to live or die for Him.  Right now there are people all around the world that are being martyred for their faith.

What is your choice?  Will you choose to be born again and become a follower of Jesus Christ?  If you already are, are you making an effort to bring others into the Kingdom?  We each have a part in the great harvest of souls.  We each have a unique calling.  Have you ever heard the saying, “Bloom where you are planted?”  Wherever God has you at this moment, ask Him what He would have you do. 

If there are any skeptics out there, just consider this----Would you choose to believe in Salvation through Jesus Christ and avoid damnation or would you rather take a chance and then find out that Hell is real.  There are  no “escape” doors in hell.

For those of you who would like to surrender your life to the Lord or would like to re-dedicate your life to the Lord say this prayer:

Salvation Prayer

Heavenly Father, I know You sent Your Son, Jesus to die on the cross so that sins would be forgiven.  I believe that Jesus rose on the third day.  I ask You to forgive me of all of my sins as I forgive those who have offended me.  Jesus, I surrender my life to You.  Come into my heart and cleanse it and make me whole by the power of the blood you shed on the cross.

 

THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT

THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT

Have you ever noticed that Satan likes to package things in beautiful packages to hide the real truth?  He appears as an “angel of light” to deceive people just as he deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Genesis 3:1-5, “Now the serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made.  And he (Satan) said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?  And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden, Except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.  But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity.”  (The Everyday Bible Amplified Ed.)

It was a seed of doubt.  That is what he does.  He twists things around—half truths at best to deceive.  Some are being deceived by the New Age Movement of so to speak theology.  

According to an article by Lynn Stuter, Michael Beckwith, a supporter of the new age and the book, The Secret, stated “God is within,” God dwells within all people and man is divine, self-divination.  This defies the teaching of The Trinity and the ultimate higher Authority.  

People, including Oprah Winfrey, are pushing this agenda.  “In short, it is the intent, the agenda of these people that they will usher in a one-world religion based solely on the New Age world view!” The problem is that even though we may allow them to have their own views, they are not willing to allow us our views.  This view permeates government-run schools, the work place and even some churches.

Is your pastor telling you that contemplative prayer is okay?  This is worrisome because contemplative prayer is nothing more than transcendental meditation ™

Or Yoga, grounded in Eastern mysticism and is totally opposite of Biblical teaching because Yoga and TM use altered states of consciousness, are guided through visualizations to meet spirit guides (demons).  This is actually being taught in some schools.  Teachers in public schools are not allowed to speak about God or Jesus but Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism is allowed.  Of course, the schools are not the only place where God is being pushed out but in the work place, the media and politics.

This is all a part of not only destroying our Judeo-Christian beliefs, but also the Constitution, which is based on these beliefs, so that a One World Religion can be ushered in along with A New World Order which is Globalism. 

What is the most worrisome to me and should be to all believers is the fact that these New Age beliefs are in many Christian Churches.  There is a Catholic Church in my area that actually has Yoga classes. I know personally a friend of mine that was going to Yoga classes and as I told her the truth about Yoga, I told her she needs to renounce any involvement in it.  It appears that some of the problems she was having could have come from going to these classes.  

I also know of someone who is a Christian that has participated in Reike.  What is Reiki?  Moira Noonan who was a former Reiki Master wrote in her book, “Ransomed from Darkness says, “Reiki is a method of healing through the transmission and activation of a person’s spiritual energy…The symbolism of Reiki is deeply influenced by Buddhist traditions and invisible spirit guides.  These spirit guides are specifically invoked by name to confer their healing powers.”

We all need to be aware of how certain New Age practices are filtering not only into our culture as a whole, but our very own Churches.  We need to take a stand and spread the news because there are a lot of people out there who are unaware and are falling into the same temptation as Adam and Eve did with the deceit from the devil. 

If you have been involved in or are now involved in any form of New Age such as Yoga, TM, etc., the following is a prayer you can say along with me for deliverance and to renounce any involvement in the New Age.

 DENOUNCING SPIRITS

Heavenly Father, in the name of your Son, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I denounce the sin of idolatry, superstitious practices, and all vows of consecration that I have made to spiritual entities other than the one true God—the Blessed Trinity. I denounce the practice of offering prayers and worship to false gods and selling my soul along with the value of my good deeds to spiritual entities operating under religious-sounding names.

I denounce all forms of divination, seeking oracles from the dead, communicating with mediums, spirit guides, casting spells, automatic writing, astrology, tarot cards, horoscopes, fortune-telling, palm readings, magic charms, and anything associated with the occult or Satan. I denounce all of these practices in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who came in the flesh, and by the power of his cross, his blood, and his resurrection, I break their hold over me.

O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I confess all these sins before you and ask you to cleanse and forgive me. I adore you, love you, and need you. O good and loving Jesus, grant that I may always live in you, through you, and for you. Send forth your Holy Spirit and baptize me with power from on high, just as you baptized your disciples on the day of Pentecost.