Hell Bound
11/29/2012
“The
fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they
have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” Psalm 14:1. Only a fool would say “There
is no God”. That’s like saying there is no sun, there is no moon; the
stars in the sky are only a figment of our imagination. Such words would
be a blatant disregard for truth. The word for “fool” in the Hebrew is “nabal”, which essentially means brainless. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Proverbs 12:15.
The folks who claim to be atheist are those who foolishly say “There is no God.”
They are illogical and completely deceived, but they do have a
conscience. The Holy Spirit works on every human being and is always
pointing to Jesus Christ. “For we
ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various
lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one
another,” Titus 3:3.
Just like the rest of us who were once blind to the truth, but who now
see, the atheist is being convicted by the Holy Spirit of God that he
might recognize the truth.
Everyone
has been deceived at some point in their lives. Although some come to
know and believe the truth, many never will. They will remain in some
form of deception right up until the end. In the not so distant past, I
myself was in that category of being deceived. Although I never said
there is no God, the way I lived my life was a declaration that God was
irrelevant. Thankfully the Holy Spirit sent a wonderful woman into my
life who had been a follower of Jesus Christ for many years. We were
married and soon afterward my life began to change. The change was
subtle at first, almost imperceptible. But my wife could see the signs
of change. Then one day it became obvious to me that I had been a fool,
and for way too long. I then came to the realization that I needed Jesus
Christ in my life. What began as an imperceptible change was soon
replaced with a profound desire for action. I wanted more than anything
else to please God.
We
can go about our lives pretending God doesn’t exist. Although God
Himself has revealed His truth to us the atheist ignores the truth.
Unbelief is a cancer that has spread to millions of people throughout
the world. Many of the world’s inhabitants simply dismiss God as a myth.
As
they are growing up, many children aren’t taught about God by their
parents. In our not so distant past, children were taught in schools
that God is and
that He’s given mankind His commandments to live by. Of course, in our
secular humanistic public schools that particular teaching is gone,
replaced by the teaching of sex education, how to use a condom, and that
homosexuality is a normal and fully acceptable lifestyle. Forget about
the teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic, the dumbing down of
all of mankind, especially in regards to the One true God, is the agenda
of the enemy.
As
each new generation comes along there is less and less taught about the
One true God. It’s not just in our public schools that God is
conspicuous by His absence, but also in many homes across America, there
is no mention of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now days any
mention of Jesus Christ – our Creator God, the propitiation for our
sins, our coming King – in public brings swift and sometimes extreme
condemnation from not only atheists but all those in the PC crowd.
We
who believe in Christ have no doubt as to who is behind all this
rebellion. Satan is intent on keeping the truth from all of mankind; he
is in direct opposition to the Creator of the Universe, and he has had
great success. The truth is Satan hasn’t changed his tactics since his
lie to Eve in the Garden. In the same way he deceived Eve his deceptions
continue today. “Did God really say…,” and “You shall not surely die” and here’s the one that so many have come to believe just in the past few decades “…and you will be like God”.
Isn’t it interesting that the obviousness of Satan’s lies has stared
mankind in the face for many millennia, and yet a huge majority still
listens to the father of all lies?
Mankind
supposedly has so much knowledge and wisdom that many people now prefer
to follow the advice of a man instead of following Almighty God. Just
take evolution for example. This terrible insidious lie has been
instrumental in placing doubt in people’s minds. From its inception this
lie has been responsible for many people turning away from God and
condemning themselves to Hell. In this writer’s opinion, evolution is
the lie which runs just behind the two lies Satan told Eve. Of course we
all know that the teaching of evolution as fact is still going strong
in most nations’ public school systems, even though it has been proven
to be nothing more than a deception by the enemy and the fanciful
thoughts of mankind. Even the scientists, for the most part, don’t
believe in evolution. Yet they promote it because the alternative is too
unbearable for them to consider. Only the foolish believe in evolution;
sadly that includes a majority of humanity.
Why does Jesus tell us to “Enter
ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:” Matthew 7:13? Because He knows all too well that
only a few will enter in through the strait gate which leads to Heaven,
even so, He doesn’t wish that any should perish. Sadly, instead of
changing their minds regarding God, many will listen to the enemy and
follow the broad way which, Jesus plainly states, is Hell bound.
There
are untold millions being led to believe in anything and everything
that opposes God, and opposition to God ultimately leads to destruction.
God tells us there is an alternative – we aren’t predisposed to choose
the wrong way. People end up on the “broad way” because they’ve chosen
it over the narrow.
Satan
always opposes God while applying lucrative, even sensual, pleasures to
tantalize and lure the masses away from the truth. But everyone knows
there is a God since He has made Himself known through His creation. “For
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” Romans 1:20.
Never underestimate God’s adversary. Many are Hell bound for this one
simple reason, they’ve allowed Satan to infiltrate and corrupt their
lives with this one lie: “There is no God.”
Atheists
and agnostics, both are equally deceived. One says there is no God,
while the other says you can’t prove God exists. Either way, God,
through His word, has said they’re both foolish and condemned. “…but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18.
That’s the rub folks; to God, all who reject His Son, Jesus Christ, as
Savior and Lord have already condemned themselves to Hell.
You
see, God isn’t interested in our excuses for denying Him; He’s
interested in our faithfulness and relationship with Him. He will never force
anyone to believe in Him. He’s given mankind all the proof we need to
come to an understanding of who He is, and that He has laid out His plan
of salvation as well as the consequences for unbelief. God doesn’t want
a bunch of robots either. He wants genuine loving children who have
made a choice to believe in Him and to follow Him and His precepts. God
wants our love and He wants it more than anything else. For those
millions who have given themselves to His adversary (Satan), He is still
waiting for them to change their minds and make their choice one of
belief instead of rejecting their only hope for eternal life. But time
will soon run out for the Christ rejecters.
Many
of God’s children have stopped witnessing to the lost of this world.
Why? Where’s the fear of our family and friends ending up in Hell?
Where’s the burdened hearts? Where’s the love for our fellow man? If we
don’t get the message of the cross to the lost, who will? Here’s a
question every born again believer in Christ should be asking
themselves: Will God forgive my apathy?
There
are many reasons for unbelief in a person’s life, but they all boil
down to excuses. Atheists have no desire to be accountable to God, so
they invent sometimes elaborate excuses. Even though God is the Creator
of the universe, the giver of life, and the Savior of man, atheists
still reject His truth. The enemy’s lies are powerful stumbling blocks;
the children of the Most High God must never give in to Satan’s
treachery or give up witnessing for Christ.
Adam
and Eve’s rebellion resulted in all of humanity being under a curse.
That curse is the sin nature we all inherited from the first man on
earth. That same sin nature is in rebellion to God even today. We are,
in all actuality, spirit. That spirit is in direct conflict with our sin
nature. When people die after a life of standing in rebellion to God,
they have condemned themselves to an eternity without God. We understand
that God is ever present in the lives of those that belong to Him
through faith in Jesus Christ, but God is also just as present and
active in the life of every atheist. The atheists don’t realize it but
God’s blessings are upon them just as they are upon His children “…for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:45.
The
burden of Hell is upon every atheist. At the point of the atheist’s
death, God’s continual presence in their lives will be no more. Since
they ignored and rejected Him while they were alive, God will give them
what they desire, an eternity without Him. Everyone in Hell is there
because of the decision they made regarding God’s Son while they were
alive. You might say, “I’ve never made a conscience decision to go to
Hell.” Perhaps not, but did you ever make a conscience decision to
accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? If your answer is no then
by not making the correct conscience decision you have automatically
chosen the alternative. Making a decision to follow Christ means you’ve
allowed the Holy Spirit to do the work in your life that led to that
decision. But a lifetime of calling the Holy Spirit a liar results in
being Hell bound for eternity.
Atheists
need only change their minds about God by believing in Him. This means
they have turned away from God’s adversary and joined the rest of God’s
children who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It’s not
difficult, only humbling.
I’ve
often asked myself “What keeps people from accepting the truth of the
Gospel of Christ?” Then I remember my previous life before Jesus Christ
took me out of that bondage. Did God send me some great revelation so I
could make the ultimate decision that would change my life? No, no great
revelation, no special angel, no pastor came to my door, none of that.
The simple fact is He sent me one of His children, a believer in Christ,
who at one time was just like me, lost.
Jesus
Christ paid the highest price that anyone could pay for another. He
went to the cross with one goal in mind. He came into this world to die
for mankind so that mankind could be reconciled to their Creator. It was
our punishment that He received. He was and is perfect, He never sinned
and yet He took the punishment for all our sin. The only thing He asks
of us in return is that we believe in Him, believe in what He
accomplished for us; believe in His death, burial, and resurrection.
That’s it. Once we cross that threshold He’ll take care of the rest.
There’s
something so amazing about God’s grace. His grace is poured out on the
wretched just as it is on the righteous. But time is quickly slipping
away for the atheist, the agnostic, and the “I don’t care” crowd. Hell
Bound for eternity – what a horrible end.
God bless you all,
Ron Graham
www.straitandnarrowministry.com
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