hell

July 24, 2022

“The Tongue Is A Flame of Fire,…”

6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.  ​  – James 3:6 ​NLT

James 3:2-6 NLT

We all know the old saying: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” Or as I learned in my childhood “words don’t bother me”.  Either way, it is wrong. With our tongues, we can speak words of life or words of death. Death might be a relationship or a lost opportunity. We can speak words of peace or words that stir up anger. We should always consider our thoughts carefully because those thoughts turn into words that can buildup, tear down or completely destroy. We can think of our thoughts as a text message we are about to send, once we hit the send button, there is no way to recall the message regardless of how much we regret the words. Our words can truly fan a small spark into a raging wildfire causing damages that may not be repaired. Regardless of how we feel about any  situation, it is our duty to speak words of peace and restoration. 

9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. ​ – Matt. 5:9 NLT​

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

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August 18, 2017

Speak the Truth

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“You certainly spoke the truth!” – 4:18b NLT
John 4:15-18 NLT

Jesus makes a statement that leads to this woman speaking the truth about her situation. When we encounter Jesus, we are brought immediately to the point of truth. Jesus knows the truth about each of us. There is never a chance encounter with Jesus. Each one is planned to bring us face to face with the truth about ourselves. To receive salvation, each of us must admit that we have sinned and need forgiveness. Just as this woman realized that Jesus was more than a mere stranger, we must realize that Jesus is different from anyone we have ever encountered. Every meeting with Jesus requires us to make a decision. When a non-believer meets Jesus, their decision will leave them one step closer to hell or take them all the way to heaven.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 08-18-2017

April 19, 2017

“Lord of All”

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10 God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.
— Hebrews 2:10 NLT



Why does the Creator even consider the created? Why would God create us knowing that in the future, He would have to give His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins? He caused His son to give up the glory of heaven and become lower than the angels He had created. This is love that human beings cannot understand. Through His kindness, God allowed His son to suffer and die for us. Then, because Jesus was obedient even to death on that cross, God crowned Him with glory and honor and established Him as ruler over all things. When Jesus returns, He will use the authority given to Him to rule and reign. At that time, those who have refused to bow before Him will be cast into an everlasting hell. Those who have chosen to receive His salvation will be with Him in the new heaven and the new earth forever. We will cast our crowns at His feet and He will be crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords.


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 04-19-2017

June 30, 2016

What A Mighty God We Serve!

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5 But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.
— Acts 12:5 NLT
Acts 12: 5-11 NLT
Jesus had instructed Peter to feed His sheep. He was basically appointing Peter as the leader of the church after His ascension.  He had also told Peter that satan desired to “sift him as wheat”.  That is a metaphor meaning that satan wanted to separate Peter from the others like a farmer separates the chaff from the wheat when he winnows it.  By stirring up King Agrippa to have Peter arrested and put in jail, satan was attempting to sift Peter.  The leaders of the Jews were recruited by satan and joined by encouraging Agrippa in his acts of persecution.  Peter was chained in prison with sixteen guards assigned to do nothing but watch him.  God sent an angel to free Peter from his chains and they walked right past all of those guards.  Peter thought it was a dream or a vision until they gates to the city swung open of their own accord and the angel left Peter.  I can imagine that about the time Peter realized that it was for real, he probably remembered that Jesus also said “but I have prayed for you”.  Jesus  had prayed, was now at the right hand of God praying and the whole church was praying late into the night.  God had a plan for Peter and Jesus had prepared Peter for that plan.  The enemy’s plans to thwart God’s plans were defeated because of prayer. All the demons of hell and the earthly recruits were not enough to overcome the prayers of a handful of saints.  We need to be prayer warriors and spend more time praying fervently for God to rescue our nation and keep our families safe. God is able to protect us and provide for us when He selects us for Kingdom work.  We will not be defeated!
Post 06-30-2016
September 26, 2015

Our Job Description

even-smaller-bug-light118 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. — 2 Cor. 5:18-21 NIV

​When we ​accepted Christ as our Savior, we were born again and became new creations clothed in the righteousness of Christ.  All of this is a gift from God because He wanted us to be reconciled to Him.  He had made us in His image to have fellowship with Him. Sin had broken that relationship. God fixed the relationship by sending His Son as the perfect sacrifice.  He no longer sees us as sinners, but as the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  Once we are reconciled to Him, we become His ambassadors here on this earth. We are aliens living in a foreign country. As His ambassador, God wants to use us to make His appeal to others.  For that to happen, we need to talk to others about our country, Heaven, and about our King,  Jesus Christ.  That is what ambassadors do.  They tell others the good things about their country in the hope that their leaders will gain favor in the eyes of the other peoples.  So, as God’s ambassadors, we are to tell His story in the hope that the other people will want to know Him.  The BIG difference is that, in this case, each person does have to choose and their are only two choices.   We will all soon be leaving this country and there are only two destinations and they are permanent.  One is hell and one is Heaven.  It is our duty as ambassadors to spend our time and resources in getting people to make the right choice.  Today is the day of salvation. Jesus is our example and here, in His own words, is the job description He gave for Himself and for us as ambassadors.
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,  because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,19  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” — Luke 4:18, 19  NIV
Post 09-26-2015
November 3, 2014

Condemnation or Conviction?

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”—John 3:18-21 (NLT)
​God has not condemned anyone and He doesn’t send people to hell. People are condemned when they reject Jesus, That is a personal choice and they have to earn their way to hell; “the wages of sin are death” (Romans 6:23) It isn’t God’s will that any should perish/go to hell. We each make a choice to accept the gift of eternal life or work our way to hell. A Christian cannot be condemned since we don’t “practice evil” We certainly fall occasionally but that is not our lifestyle. Condemnation comes from satan but conviction comes through the Holy Spirit. The feelings of guilt that a Christian has are not condemnation but conviction for failing to live up to the standards that Jesus has set for us. Jesus died once for all our sins, He is not going to the cross again. So, if you are feeling conviction and we all do at some time or other, don’t wait, ask God for His forgiveness and start to walk with Him in joy once again.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.–1 John 1:​8, ​9 (NLT)
Post 11-03-14

October 15, 2014

Further Warnings About False Teachers

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

5 So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful. 6 And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. 7 And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.​ 8 In the same way, these people—who claim authority from their dreams—live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings.—Jude: 5-8 (NLT)
​Jude​ continues his warnings to the early Christians and to us to stay alert for false prophets and those teaching false doctrines. When we look around us in today’s world, we see the same things happening. We often wonder why God allows it to continue. God’s judgment may not come on these people when we think it should, but we can be sure that it is coming in His timing. The people who deny God’s existence will be punished as surely as these people in the Old Testament. There is a heaven and there is a hell. There are angels and there are demons. Those who do not believe this live immoral lives and tempt others to do the same. We must continue to stand firm. The end will come and the earth will be consumed by fire. Of this, we can be sure. We don’t need to focus on how or when this will happen. We just need to keep our eyes on Jesus and know that one day we will see Him face-to-face.
Post 10-15-14

July 16, 2014

No Body or No Thing Can Hide From God

God is waiting to show you the way.

God is waiting to show you the way.

12 God’s word is living and active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword and cuts as deep as the place where soul and spirit meet, the place where joints and marrow meet. God’s word judges a person’s thoughts and intentions. 13 No creature can hide from God. Everything is uncovered and exposed for him to see. We must answer to him.​ ​–Hebrews 4: 12​, 13​ (GW)
We are told in the first chapter of John that “the Word became human and dwelt among us”. That Word was and is Jesus Christ. He is still alive and active. He stands at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us. His Holy Spirit searches our hearts and minds and knows our very thoughts. We can all “talk the talk” but only each of us and God know whether or not we are “walking the walk”.
27 All of our thoughts are known to God. He can understand what is in the mind of the Spirit, as the Spirit prays for God’s people.–Romans 8:27 (CEV)
​He knows our thoughts and judges our intentions. We cannot fool Him, we cannot hide our thoughts from Him and we cannot physically hide from Him. He sees all, hears all, and knows all about us. And one day, “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess” that He is Lord. We can do it now and spend an eternity with Him or we can wait until judgment day and spend an eternity in hell. Jesus wants everyone to go to heaven, but He knows that not every one will choose to go. The choice is ours.
Post 07-16-14

July 9, 2014

Everything Will Be Placed Under the Control of Jesus

God is waiting to show you the way.

God is waiting to show you the way.

6 Instead, someone has declared this somewhere in Scripture:
“What is a mortal that you should remember him,
or the Son of Man that you take care of him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels.
You crowned him with glory and honor.
8 You put everything under his control.”
When God put everything under his Son’s control, nothing was left out.
However, at the present time we still don’t see everything under his Son’s control.9 Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, but we see him crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death. Through God’s kindness he died on behalf of everyone. 10 God is the one for whom and through whom everything exists. Therefore, while God was bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was the right time to bring Jesus, the source of their salvation, to the end of his work through suffering.​—Hebrews 2:6-10 (GW)​
​Reading this passage, I am reminded of these words from Isaiah:
8 “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways,” declares the Lord​. ​9 “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways,​ and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”​–Isaiah 55:8,9 (GW)
Why does the Creator even consider the created? Why would God create us knowing that in the future, He would have to give His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins? He caused His son to give up the glory of heaven and become lower than the angels He had created. This is love that human beings cannot understand. Through His kindness, God allowed His son to suffer and die for us. Then, because Jesus was obedient even to death on that cross, God crowned Him with glory and honor and established Him as ruler over all things. When Jesus returns, He will use the authority given to Him to rule and reign. At that time, those who have refused to bow before Him will be cast into an everlasting hell. Those who have chosen to receive His salvation will be with Him in the new heaven and the new earth forever. We will cast our crowns at His feet and He will be crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Post 07-09-14

July 6, 2014

Jesus Christ is the King of Kings

God is waiting to show you the way.

God is waiting to show you the way.

6 When God was about to send his firstborn Son into the world, he said,
“All of God’s angels must worship him.”
7 God said about the angels,
“He makes his messengers winds.
He makes his servants flames of fire.”
8 But God said about his Son,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter in your kingdom is a scepter for justice.
9 You have loved what is right and hated what is wrong.
That is why God, your God,
anointed you, rather than your companions, with the oil of joy.”​-​–Hebrews 1:6-9 (GW)
​All​ the angels and every other creature must worship Jesus Christ as Lord of Lords. We are all made for one purpose and that is to glorify God. Some will say, “Not me!”. But
Scripture says, “As certainly as I live, says the Lord, everyone will worship me, and everyone will praise God.”​–​-Romans 14:11 (GW)
10 so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven, on earth,
and in the world below will kneel
11 and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God
the Father–Philippians 2:10, 11 (GW​)
His Kingdom will be forever. We cannot choose whether or not, we will bow, but we can choose when we bow. We need to humble ourselves and do it now. so that we can spend an eternity with Jesus in heaven. God doesn’t send people to hell, if we end up there it is because we worked hard to get there. Salvation is free but the “wages” of sin are death. Wages implies that we earned it, it is what the devil pays those that serve him.​
Post 07-06-14