DOES ANYONE GO TO HELL?

Does anybody go to hell any more? Interesting question, huh?

It seems every funeral I go to the deceased is said to be in heaven or at the very least in "a better place". It doesn't matter how much they snubbed their noses at God and the things of God, they are in heaven.

Here's a newsflash - NOT EVERYONE WHO DIES WILL GO TO HEAVEN! I wish things were different but that's the reality. We are given a free will and with that free will we choose whether or not we have a relationship with God.

Let's look at the words of Jesus, Himself, shall we?

Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23 "Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it....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 in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophecy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name? Then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you! Depart from Me you lawbreakers" (literally - you who work lawlessness).

Wow!  These are some pretty stern words from Jesus, Himself. He got straight to the point. There are a lot of religious people doing a lot of religious things, even invoking the name of Jesus. Yet He doesn't know them. That is, He has no personal relationship with them.  Without that relationship with Jesus, it doesn't matter how many good things you do or who you do them for. It doesn't matter how many sermons you preach (yes, there are without a doubt "preachers" who are not saved), how many lessons you teach or how much money you give. If haven't been through the blood of Jesus you are lost and bound for hell.

Of course, its always possible that the deceased could have had a death bed repentance and given their life to Jesus. Who am I to question that. That is between them and God.  Only eternity will reveal these things.

I encourage you today, don't wait until its too late to give your life to Jesus. Don't allow the "preacher" to lie at your funeral. Make certain you have received Jesus as your Savior and then make Him your Lord and follow after Him.

You see, hell is real. Hell is hot. Hell is for all eternity for those who don't know Jesus.

There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun!

Until next time...enjoy the journey.

Ray

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IGNORANT FORMAL CHRISTIANITY

I received this from a list I belong to sometime back.  I thought it was real good.  It appears to have been written by someone from Britain...in 1895.  This could very well have been written about America in 2012.

You talk about "fundamentals" of the faith!  That, in a nutshell, means basics.  I felt impressed of the Lord a number of years ago that "It's time to get back to the basics of the Word of God."  Since then we have done that and still endeavor to do that.

Let me know what you think.

Ray

Ignorant formal Christianity

(J. C. Ryle,  "What Is Needed?" 1895)

I am convinced that one of our grave defects today, is a most serious diminishing of the good old custom of private reading of the Bible. Between the growth of Christian periodicals and books, I have a strong impression that Bibles are not read as much and as carefully as they were two hundred years ago.

I am well aware that there are more Bibles in Great Britain at this moment, than there ever were since the world began! There is more Bible-buying and Bible-selling, more Bible-printing and Bible-distributing, than there ever was! But all this time, I fear we are in danger of forgetting--that to have the Bible is one thing--and to read it privately ourselves quite another!

I am afraid that the Bible of many a man and woman in Great Britain is never read at all. In one house, it lies in a corner--as stiff, cold, glossy and fresh as it was, when it came from the bookseller's shop! In another house, it lies on a table, with its owner's name written in it--a silent witness against him day after day! In another house, it lies on some high shelf, neglected and dusty--to be brought down only on grand occasions, such as a birth in the family--like a heathen idol at its yearly festival. In another house, it lies deep down at the bottom of some box or drawer, among the things not wanted, and is never dragged forth into the light of day--until the arrival of sickness, or death! These things are sad and solemn. But they are true.

I am afraid that many in Great Britain who do read the Bible--yet do not read it aright. One man looks over a chapter on Sunday evening--but that is all. Another reads a chapter every day at family prayers--but that is all. A third goes a step further, and hastily reads a verse or two in private every morning, before he goes out of his house. A fourth goes further still, and reads as much as a chapter or two every day, though he does it in a great hurry, and omits reading it on the smallest inconvenience. But each and every one of these men does what he does--in a heartless, scrambling, formal kind of way. He does it coldly, as a duty. He does not do it with appetite and pleasure. He is glad when the task is over. And when the book is shut--he forgets it all! This is a sad picture. But in multitudes of cases--oh, how true!

But why do I think all this? What makes me speak so confidently? Listen to me a few moments, and I will lay before you some evidence. Neglect of the Bible, is like disease of the body--it shows itself in the face of a man's conduct. It tells its own tale. It cannot be hidden.

I fear that many neglect the Bible--because of the enormous ignorance of true religion which everywhere prevails. There are thousands of professing Christians in this country, who know literally nothing about the Gospel. They could not give you the slightest account of its distinctive doctrines. They have no more idea of the true meaning of conversion, grace, faith, justification, and sanctification--than of so many words and names written in Arabic! And can I suppose that such people search the Scriptures? I cannot suppose it. I do not believe they do!

I fear that many neglect the Bible--because of the utter indifference with which they regard false doctrine--as if it did not signify much, and was all the same thing in the long run--whether one was a Roman Catholic, or a Socinian, or a Mormonite, or a Deist, or an Agnostic. And can I suppose that such people search the Scriptures? I cannot suppose it. I do not believe they do!

I fear that many neglect the Bible--because of the readiness with which they receive false teaching. They are led astray by the first false prophet they meet with, who "comes in sheep's clothing," and has a pleasant voice, a nice manner, and a gift of eloquent speech! They swallow all that he says without inquiry, and believe him as implicitly as papists believe the Pope! And can I suppose that such people search the Scriptures? I cannot suppose it. I do not believe they do!

I declare my firm conviction, that an idle neglect of the Bible is one cause of the ignorant formal Christianity which is so widely prevalent in these latter days!

Brethren! We are drifting, drifting, drifting--and what the end will be--no man can tell.

WHAT ABOUT SUNDAY SCHOOL AND THE YOUTH PASTOR?

I, personally, have never been a big fan of Sunday School.  In two of the churches we pioneered we did not have Sunday School.  We opted not to have Sunday School as I didn't find a precedence for it in the New Testament.  I have never liked anything that divides the Body of Christ - whether it be Sunday School divided into different age groups, men's meetings or women's meetings, senior's meetings, etc.  I'm often invited to a local men's group, but have graciously turned down the opportunity.  For me, it's a personal conviction.  For others it may not be. 

Now back to Sunday School.  Sunday School first began in the 1700's.  Robert Raikes, a newspaper publisher in Britain established the first Sunday School not for the purpose of religious education, but rather to teach poor children the basics of education in general.

Sunday Schools peaked when they began in the U.S. in the late 1700's.  Even in the U.S. the original purpose of Sunday School was to provide education to poor children in order too keep them off the streets.  In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many Sunday Schools operated separately from churches.

In the early 1800's Sunday Schools began to transition from an effort to help poor children to an evangelical outreach.  D. L. Moody popularized the Sunday School as an evangelical outreach in America.  The Sunday School became prime recruiting ground for the contemporary church - and it still is.

Today, Sunday School is a permanent program in most institutional churches and  is used to recruit new converts and to train children, as well as adults, in the teachings of the faith. Public education has taken over the role for which Sunday School was originally started.

One scholar noted, "There is no evidence to suggest that teachers divided groups on the basis of age and sex.  The responsibility of the child's early education and, in particular, religious education lay with the parents.  No special arrangements seem to have been made for children by the early church.  The Christian school was a long way off - the Sunday School even more so" (Norrington, To Preach or Not, 59).  Too often today, we want to cart our children off to someone else for their teaching about God and His church instead of taking the responsibility that we ought for our children.  It all should start at home.

What about the Youth Pastor?  The dedicated youth pastor came on the scene long after the Sunday School.  The youth pastor began working in large urban churches around the formation of Youth For Christ in the 1940's.  By the early 1950's literally thousands of professional youth pastors were on the scene working with young people in an attempt to meet their spiritual needs.

Today, Youth Pastors are considered part of the "professional clergy".  This contributes to the false and misguided notion that there is a division between teenager and everyone else.

According to Frank Viola and George Barna in their book "Pagan Christianity", "Put another way, the youth pastor did not exist until a separate demographic group called teenagers emerged.  In so doing, we created a problem that never existed - what to do for (and with) the young people.  It is not at all unlike the problem we created when a new class of Christian - the laymen - was invented.  The question 'How do we equip the laity?' Was never asked before the institutional church made them a separate class of Christian."

The New Testament is silent on how we should train and instruct our children and young people.  It does, however, suggest that the responsibility for the moral and spiritual teaching of our children rests on the shoulders of the parents (Ephesians 6:4; 2 Timothy 1:5, 3:15).

We can become creative in how we teach and train our children.  Some learn in different ways.  The bottom line, though, is that they are taught and trained by their parents.  Certainly they will pick up and learn things as they gather with the church, as well.

I cannot say Sunday School, in and of itself, is wrong.  I can say without hesitation there is no precedence for it in Scripture.  My personal preference is for everyone of all ages to be together and learn, fellowship and function mutually as a community of believers.  If it was good enough for the early church, it's good enough for us.

Until next time, enjoy the journey!

Ray

This blog post is another in a series looking at the practices of churches today and how they line up with the New Testament.  Perhaps this series could be better called, "Kicking Over Sacred Cows". For further reading and research, I recommend the book "Pagan Christianity?" by Frank Viola and George Barna.

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