The Description of the Fate of the Unrepentant

  I just sit here in amazement as I read Scriptures on how people, when being punished by God, have no intention of repenting or turning from their evil ways.

  The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire.  They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. Revelation 16:8&9 ESV

  Contrast the attitude of these heart hearted proud God rejectors to a rich man who ends up in hell and wants to get out.

  The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’  Luke 16:22-28 ESV

    The point is, I am amazed at how, even when in the torment of being in hell, there are some people who will still not repent and desire a way out.

  The rich man in the story above, wanted out. When he realized there was no way out of hell, he requested that someone tell his brothers about the fate that awaited them. But in the other example from Revelation, those people hated God's authority so much that, even in torment, they were unwilling to change, or to even ask for or desire change.

   Both the rich man and the proud, hard-hearted God haters ended up in hell. People do not end up in hell because they are rich, although riches can keep us from wanting to know God. As with all of us, the rich man and the proud, hard-hearted people ended up in hell because there was no covering for their sin. They did not repent of their sins while living on earth. They closed their hearts to God and refused to open up to Him. They never saw their need for a Savior while living on earth.

  There is hope for us, as long as we have breath. If God is working in our hearts, we can turn to Him in repentance and faith. We can put our trust in Jesus Christ, and His blood will cover over our sins. We will have clean and pure hearts when we turn to Him in repentance and faith. He will never turn us away when we put our trust in Him to save us from our sins.

  Of course, this scenario does compare with people today. We can see politicians who are trying their best to destroy the country, yet, God is working against them. They just keep on with their marching orders from Satan, regardless of what God is doing to oppose them. There is no fear of God in their eyes, whatsoever. They are bent on evil, much like those described in the book of Revelation.

 

Will We Run Out of Resources In 12 Years?

  Years ago, back in the early 70s, I was looking for different places to order tracts from. Many of these companies sent out samples of their tracts. Sometimes, I would just order whatever sounded interesting and useful.

  There was a tract that was in comic form, and in many ways, it seemed like a scare tactic. I think we need to be careful, for on the one hand, we have to warn people about the 'wrath to come'. We need to tell people the Gospel message, so they don't have to spend eternity in hell. But on the other hand, we can so easily spend time using information in such a way that it is scary to people. We do that to get people to respond to whatever the message is that we are giving.

  The tract basically was pointing to the end of the world, and how bad things were going to be. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that in itself. People need to be prepared. But one of the things in this tract that was concerning was how it explained that we would run out of water in 10 years because of some condition going on in the world.

   I was not a very mature person at that time, but I did have enough common sense to ask myself what would happen if we did not run out of water in 10 years, and if other people read the tract, would that discredit the Gospel message?

  It's been forty-some years now since I read the tract, and we haven't run out of water yet. The point is though, that when we write something, it needs to have credibility. It needs to not be written from a wishful thinking viewpoint.

  We are now hearing reports about how we are going to run out of resources in 12 years. Many are predicting that life on earth will be way different 30 years from now. I get emails with people panicking from the concept of the damages of climate change and how we need to stop using things like gas and coal. There are people who believe this story and are preparing everyone to get ready for living in a primitive way again.

  First of all, God knows how many resources we still have available to us. He has provided us up to this point with the resources that we need to live on.

  Second, God calls us to be good stewards with everything we have been given. We are to take care of the earth, in the sense that we are responsible for what we have.

   In early American days, people used to hunt. But the people were wise enough to know that if we killed all the animals off, there would be nothing left for us to eat! So, some rules were made to protect the animals from being hunted at certain times of the year.

  It's true that people today, in many cases, do not do their part in taking care of their environment. They litter and do whatever is easiest for them, instead of cleaning up after themselves and putting garbage in the right places. Plastic bags have been found at the bottom of the depths of the ocean. This is the result of laziness and lack of being responsible people. This is totally wrong.

  Thirdly, there are places that replant trees that have been taken down. This is a great idea. It will help us to have paper and wood in the future (as well as Christmas trees!).

  The whole Climate Change narrative is just not accurate. It is a scare tactic to make us become overly concerned for something that isn't going to happen.

  We can mark this day, and in 12 years from now, let's see how much of this Climate Change scare tactic has come to pass.

  Let's be credible in the predictions we make.

The Moralist

As I feed upon God's word and His thoughts, I realize that in a certain context, there are three groups of people. There are those who know the Lord and are saved from their sins, there are those who are unrepentant, and have turned their backs on God, and there are those who have a good moral standing and would call themselves Christians possibly, and think that they are saved. It is this last group that concerns me. I call these people, 'moralists'.

I do not condemn these people. And I actually admire their zeal for the truth and integrity. They stand up for what they know is true. They have an almost perfect sense of justice. They seem to see into the spiritual realm like anyone who has the mind of Christ. But I am concerned. And they don't necessarily seem arrogant.

I care about these people and don't want them to miss having a relationship with the true and living God.

It is easy to see where a person who lies or slanders, or is immoral, stands in their relationship to their spirituality. You know when a person is on the wrong side of eternity. If they had eyes to see, they would be able to see their sins clearly and repent of them. But with a moralist, it is different.

Often, I listen to or see moralists. I wonder how many of them sit in our churches every Sunday and have no clue of their need for a Savior? I wonder how many of them are in our families or our neighbors? What's even more concerning is, how we might just assume they know the Lord, just like we do.

Don't get me wrong, I really do appreciate the love that these people have for the truth. My concern is that if you were to ask them questions concerning the Gospel message, they would admit to believing that they are good people (not sinful). They don't see their sinful condition before a Holy, pure God, who they will stand before, one day. If you were to ask them if they believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins, they would answer in the affirmative. Yet, do they really see their need for salvation?

These moralists take a strong stand against abortion. They see it as murder. They fight for religious freedom in our country. They see each person as a human being created in the image of God. They see through the lies and deception of evil people. On the outside, they look perfect. And I am concerned.

Moralists are in our churches, social arenas, and in the media. They blend in with the rest of us who are fighting for the truth. I thank God for their stand and fighting for the truth. But I would be very sad if these people miss the boat when it comes to responding to the Gospel message.

May God help all of us to see Him more clearly and may God convict the moralist of his or her sins and reveal to them their need for a Savior.