MESSAGES
The Bible speaks of a place called hell over and over again. In fact, Jesus spoke of hell more often than all the other writers did together. He spoke more about hell than He did about heaven. Why? Because He is the One who created hell. He knows that hell is real, and He doesn't want anyone to go there. Yet, that's exactly where many people chosen to go, and where many more are headed.
The Bible tells us that hell is known as the "lake of fire" (Revelation 20:14). It is a place of torment, misery and pain (Revelation 14:10-11), as well as a place of thirst (Luke 16:24). The gospels of Matthew and Mark tell us that it is a place of "unquenchable fire" (3:12, 9:44). It's not a place where anyone in their right mind would choose to go to, and yet, many people choose just that.
The Bible tells us that in hell there will be "gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:42). The word gnashing means, "to grind the teeth together as an expression of rage, hatred and frustration." Perhaps you've had to deal with people who are in such a fit of rage that they literally gnash their teeth together. It can be a very frightening thing to observe.
As a firefighter, when I think of gnashing of teeth I imagine it being an attempt to relieve the misery, pain and torment of unbearable and unimaginable heat. Gnashing, in order to somehow get a cool swallow of air in order to lessen the intensity of the blaze.
To give us some idea of how hot hell is, ponder the following known facts. Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees; water boils at 212 degrees; wood ignites at 600 degrees; aluminum melts at 1215 degrees; glass softens at 1400 degrees; silver melts at 1760 degrees; gold melts at 1945 degrees; cast iron melts at 2200 degrees; sand melts at 2900 degrees; an acetylene torch produces 6000 degrees; and the sun's surface is 10,000+ degrees.
As hot as these temperatures are, they don't even compare to the temperature of hell. Due to such extreme temperatures, those in hell will be in such agony and torment, they will wish they no longer existed. Under normal circumstances they would just vaporize. However, the Bible tells us this not the case.
In Luke's gospel we read the story of the rich man and Lazarus both died. Lazarus went to Abraham's bosom, but the rich man went to Hades. In verse 24 we read, "Then he (the rich man) cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.'"
Those in hell will suffer eternally, excruciating pain with no way out and no one to help them (Luke 16:19-26). The Bible says, "It is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). There are plenty of opportunities to avoid hell before we die, but there are none (not even one) after we die. Hopefully by now, you're asking, "How do I avoid hell?" Very simple! We avoid hell by putting out faith in Jesus Christ and then following after Him.
The Bible tells us that God loves us very much, and has a plan for each of our lives. He wants us to experience His love and peace in our lives (Romans 5:1). He wants to give us an abundant life (John 10:10), and He wants to give us eternal life with Him (John 3:16).
However, there is a very big problem that stands between us and God—SIN! The moment we are born, we are born in sin (Psalm 51:5) and separated from God (Isaiah 59:2). The Bible says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). The Bible also says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). As long was we remain separated from God, we are standing at the threshold of Hell's door.
What must I do to remedy this separation? What works must I do in order to be in fellowship with God? What religion must I follow in order to go to heaven? What philosophy must I learn in order to be a good person? To this I say: "I have some bad news and some good news."
The bad news : There is nothing we can do to save ourself. The Bible says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death"(Proverbs 14:12). No matter how hard we try, we will fail. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, to go to heaven and avoid hell. There are no good works we can do, no religion we can follow, no philosophy we can learn that will even get us close to heaven's gate.
The good news : There is nothing we can do to save ourself. In other words, Jesus Christ has done it all for us. He died on the cross and paid the penalty for our sin in order to break down the wall that separation us from God. The Bible says, "God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Jesus Christ is the One who bridges the gap between a sinful man and a holy God. The Bible says, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Salvation is received, and hell is avoided, as we receive Jesus Christ into our life as Savior and Lord. The Bible says, "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). John's gospel tells us, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12).
If you would like to avoid spending eternity in hell, have your sins forgiven, your guilt removed, and the assurance of going to heaven, I encourage you to invite Christ into your life as your personal Savior and Lord.
Pray this simple prayer: Lord Jesus, come into my life. I know that I am a sinner. Please forgive me of my sins and cleanse me of all my unrighteousness. I believe that you died for me, were buried, and that you rose from the dead on the third day. I invite you into my life as Savior and Lord. Help me to turn from my sins and follow You from this moment on. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!
Allow me now to speak to you as a Christian, for I pray you have accepted Jesus Christ into your life.
When I was in the fire service, I can recall being on fires where the temperature reached well over 1500 degrees. I fought fires where we spent as much time watering each other down with the hose line, in order to keep cool, as we did putting water on the fire. There were fires where our protective clothing had became so hot that when water was applied to it, it began to steam. Other fires were so intense that afterward our bodies looked like we had been lying out in the sun for the past six hours. I recall fires where our earlobes blistered just from the radiated heat.
Sadly, there were those fires where we had to remove the charred remains of a person(s) who were not protected, and who were overcome by the intense heat.
As a firefighter, I was involved in successfully fighting and extinguishing every fire that I encountered. Some fires were extinguished within a matter of a few seconds, while others a few hours. But no matter how long it took, we were always able to conquer the scourging heat of fire, and stop it from destroying any further.
It was my duty to protect life and property from the destruction of fire, just as it is your duty. I knew that God had given me this responsibility (Romans 13), and I tried to fulfill it to the best of my ability.
I realize that some of you reading this article are not firefighters, but rather you are police officers. However, spiritually speaking, as Christians, we are all Spiritual Firefighters. As spiritual firefighters our job is to do all we can in order to protect the life and property of the people we come in contact with. We are to do all we can in order that they will not have to experience the torment and pain of hell. How do we do that?
As most of you are well aware, in the fire service there is what's known of as the fire triangle. This means that in order for there to be fire, there must be heat, fuel and oxygen. A fire cannot survive without all three components being there. Therefore, there are basically only three methods used to extinguish a fire. We must 1) remove the heat, 2) remove the oxygen, or 3) remove the fuel.
The method is the same in spiritual firefighting. First, we must remove the heat. In the fire service, our most valuable asset is water. When water is applied to a fire it will eventually cool it down to the point of extinguishment. As a spiritual firefighter we are to apply the Living Water of God's Word upon those who we come in contact with, as well as upon ourself daily (John 4).
Second, we must remove the oxygen. Oxygen is the life source of a fire. The more oxygen, the faster and hotter the fire can burn. If we can remove the oxygen supply we can choke out the fire. Often times, we do this by smothering the fire with different chemical agents, depending upon the type of fire. As a spiritual firefighter, we are to smother out the life source of the enemy—sin. This occurs as we smother people with the love of God. We do this not just through our talk, but more importantly, through our walk (James 1:22). We're to show them that God truly is the answer. I often tell people that, "The tongue of our mouth and the tongue of our shoe must always be going in the same direction.
The third way of extinguishing a fire is to remove the fuel. If there is nothing to burn, there can't very well be a fire. As a spiritual firefighter, we are to remove ourself from things that are impure and in conflict with the Word of God. We must flee from things that could cause us to sin.
As Christians we are not sinless, but we are to sin less. Paul tells us in Romans 12 that we are to, "abhor what is evil and cling to what is good" (vs. 9). We are to, "trust in the Lord with all of our heart, lean not on our own understanding; ... and in all our ways acknowledge Him, and let Him direct our paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6), and we are to constantly encourage others to do the same.
As a firefighter I believe that the Lord gave me a very small glimpse of what hell is like. And to be perfectly honest with you, I have no desire to see anymore of it. Though I have been saved by the grace and mercy of God, and know that I will one day be with Him in heaven not ever having to fear the torment of hell, my heart is grieved for those who are headed there. I pray your heart be grieved as well; grieved enough to be willing to tell others about the way to avoid hell's eternal torment.
God bless you,
Pastor Steve |
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| SHIELD OF FAITH |
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Attention Juanita
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