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June 19, 2006 The question was posed: “Whatever Happened to Heaven and Hell?” by Richard N. Ostling of the AP. I would have to admit that nothing has happened to either place. What has happened is the attitudes of people have drastically changed over the centuries about those two places. I will put the polls aside because polls have nothing to do with facts. Opinions are nice and wonderful to hear, but Jesus did not deal in speculation about heaven or hell. Jesus taught these as real destinations; one for those who found grace from God and the other for those who rejected known truth. There may be those who suggest that heaven begins on earth and at one time in the history of men that might have been true, but no more. The cursed earth is not even a shadow of what the original creation contained. Christians today have no inkling into the actual nature of the Messiah and what it was that enabled him to endure all the world’s sin even for a few moments. We look at the world today and wonder where God is. God dwells in those who acknowledge his Son Jesus. The thing is, the world can see that and openly reject the spiritual Christian as the one anomaly of the human race. The scripture is plain that the Christian may be in the world but he is not necessarily “of” the world. The world knows its own and the Christian does not belong. The article is right in that there is very little preaching or teaching of hell and heaven anymore. These places have been relegated to the world of the myth. This, of course, is a mistake. For those who understand the term “physicalism”, it is this naturalist ideal that dulls the senses to the spiritual ideas of morals and the supernatural. The Christian who has trusted Christ and claims salvation in this age of men understands that his home is already established. He also understands that his position in the God-head cannot be removed. This is a promise by God that God remembers even when the human does not. There is no real need to preach “heaven” to those already destined to go to heaven. There is no need to threaten hell to those who can never be sent there. The preaching of heaven and hell is something that unbelievers may need to know so they might better understand their dilemma before they die. Once they die they only have one judgment to face and that will not be pretty should they die in unbelief. None of that affects heaven or hell. These are real destinations and every man should take it upon himself to understand that the choices he makes in his one physical life will determine which of these two destinations will hold his eternal existence. All men have been created to live eternally. That is part of the “spiritual” that is dulled by the physical. That day is coming when Jesus will return. The return will be preceded by an event called “the catching away”. This event will see the extraction of the true church from the world and then Satan will be given his dominion for a short span of seven years. I believe that short span of years will see countless decisions concerning heaven and hell as a personal destination. I also believe that those alive today, should the “catching away” be tomorrow will have lost their last chance at belief and will succumb to the “delusion”. They will believe, or continue to believe the lie. No matter. The Christian understands that as the prophets of the Old Testament were vindicated in their words by the actual advent of the Son of God, the prophets who spoke and recorded the events of the second advent (many being the same fellows) will also find vindication. They all spoke words given by the Spirit of God who is the chief testifier for Jesus. My point is that Jesus spoke of heaven and he spoke of hell. That has always been good enough for me. ------------ About the Author: Michael John McCrae has contributed over 500 articles to Useless-Knowledge.com. Email: macswordV@hotmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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