Okay a reader wrote concerning my thoughts on the Mr. Camping/Rapture issue yesterday and questioned if Christians would be better to “love the heaven into people, instead of scaring the hell out of them”.
Hmmm… That is an interesting question for sure and timely as more and more churches are taking the “love-in” route and running off the preachers that rail about the earth burning up in fervent heat at the second coming. These same folks really get up in arms if their pastor mentions sinners spending eternity in hell, weeping and gnashing their teeth and being tormented by fire and choking on brimstone fumes because they would not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. Many people prefer to hear about God’s gentle loving nature, and the devastating judgment of sin is taboo.
What to do? I always turn to my Bible when in doubt about any theological issue, and I try to ask myself what Jesus would do if asked this exact same question. As far as I can determine the person who talked the most about hell and how devastating judgment will be at the Great White Throne of Judgment is Jesus Christ Himself. In Matthew He said, “They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. Throughout the Gospels Jesus warns us about hell which he describes in some detail.
I was interviewed on a radio station not long ago and the host all but attacked me for portraying hell as not only a place where we will be eternally separated from the love and light of God, but as being a place of fire and brimstone. She said she did not believe any of that “nonsense”. My comments to her were edited out, but I told her that we don’t have the luxury of believing the parts of the Bible that are appealing to us and rejecting the parts that we find distasteful. Why would an all powerful God allow part of His Holy Scripture to be inaccurate?
He wouldn’t!
So in Revelation when it states: “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur”; we can believe it and understand that hell ain’t gonna be pleasant!
I truly believe that God gave me a sneak peek of hell when I was in a coma in the hospital recovering from my devastating car crash. At the timeI had never read the Bible and didn’t even believe in God . What I saw was close to the hell that I later read about in detail in the Bible only worse. It scared me and still scares me just to think of that place. That fear is a good thing according to Proverbs: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”. I have no problem admitting that I definitely fear the Lord as should any sane person who has even done a cursory examination of the Bible.
So my answer to my friend is that perhaps we should do as Jesus did, love the heaven into people whenever or wherever we can, and if they need further encouragement then scare the hell out of them with biblical truths concerning consequences of sin too.
Jesus made no bones about it, Enter through the narrow gate.(The narrow gate is Him), For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
He also tells us of His love: “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.
“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”
So there you have it the carrot and the stick coming from Jesus Christ Himself. Now go forth boldly with fervor and without fear – Tell ALL biblical truths – Go tell it on the mountain, across the plains, and everywhere.
Matt. 7:21
Not everyone who says to Me, Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven….
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.