In 1995 I was sitting in a church watching a dramatic performance of Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames. There were vignettes of good people who die and are dragged off to hell by demons, because their name was not in the book of life. I remember thinking "I'm going to hell" and that if we left the church and I got killed in a car accident, I would go to hell. Now, I had had many people tell me to go to hell before, but this was different. Frankly, the experience scared the hell out of me and I couldn't get to the altar fast enough (making sure I didn't trip, fall down the stairs and die).
Here is the fact, you have people in your family, people you work with, people you golf or bowl or play cards with, and people in your neighborhood who are heading to hell. You have the answer, so what are you going to do about it?
What if you were standing on the bank of a slow moving river, but you knew that about a mile downstream was a huge water fall. People are floating happily down the river in tubes and rafts. There goes your brother, sister, aunt, uncle, co-worker, next door neighbor. Are you going to let them float down the river to their death? Of course not, you would be yelling warnings to them.
Well that river represents the river of life and there are many people happily (or unhappily) floating down that river. The water fall death represents death and hell. Contrary to popular belief (which has been manipulated by Satan/the devil), hell is real. Jesus talked about it in Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33. James spoke of it in James 3:6 and Peter in 2 Peter 2:4. You have to ask yourself, if hell is not a real place, why did the Son of God talk about it so much? Read my article on Heaven or Hell for more biblical information about hell.
The point of this blog post is to get you thinking about warning all those people who are floating down the river of life to eternity in hell. You might be the only person who ever warns them. Let them know that according to the Bible, everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). That the wages (or penalty/punishment) for sin is death (spiritual death and eternity away from God in a place of torment called hell), but the good news is Jesus died and took our punishment and so the gift of God is eternal life (with God and Jesus and all other believers) in perfect and beautiful place called heaven (Romans 6:23). You can’t earn it by doing good or going to church. It’s a free gift given ONLY to those who receive it by faith in Jesus, as their Savior (Ephesians 2:8-9). Then ask if they would like to accept that gift. If they say yes, you just helped pull another one from the river of life and certain death. If you don’t do it, who will?