I’m not going to play games with you. There will be no holding back so that you read this to the end. The word I am referring to is Hell.
More people are offended by this word than any other. Even some who profess to be a follower of Jesus find this word uncomfortable. They are scared people will hate them for saying their butt will burn if they don’t change their heart.
Think of two of your scariest fears. Even though there may be practical things you can do to prevent them from happening, you know deep down that you have no power at all to protect yourself. Millions in your bank account can pay for the best doctors and the most advanced medical treatment, but that is no guarantee against an aggressive form of Cancer that is already eating away at your organs. State of the art CCTV, electric fences and quadruple deadbolt locks cannot give you peace of mind that somebody isn’t already in your house, hiding behind the wardrobe. You lie in bed hearing low breathing noises and imagine being bludgeoned to death by a Houdini intruder who scaled past your wall of highest voltage. No amount of Valium will bring you peace. Kiss the bible all you like – it’s not a Harry Potter charm. You need to read it and do what it says.
So, here’s some Christian jargon to help you on your way:
Sin / transgressions/ iniquity / unrighteousness / ungodliness
Sin in it’s simplest form, is living a life independently of God. But it is more than just ignoring him and it’s more than just murder. Sin is willingly or unintentionally doing or thinking something that displeases God. It is also refraining from doing the right thing. It can be obvious, such as a wrongdoing that warrants civil punishment because in the country where you committed the crime, it was considered against the law. Theft, murder, rape, fraud, drug dealing are some of the most common ones. But a large variety of other actions / inactions also count as sin, such as: jealousy, pride, arrogance, gluttony, drunkenness, indifference to people’s needs, selfishness, selfish ambition, unforgiveness, lust, rage, bitterness, revelling, perverted sexual activity, lack of self-control, bad attitudes, judgmentalism, criticism, unbelief, gossiping, laziness and *idolatry. (*worshipping a possession, person or pastime, to the point that they are in a higher regard in your mind than God is.)
As you can see, living without God’s spirit to guide us and help us, makes it impossible to please him and even when we give our lives over to him, we still need his strength to help us daily live a life that brings him honour.
Even an innocent baby has an inbred proclivity to sin and that is why they have tantrums, and refuse to share their toys. It is because all mankind were born as sinners, and nobody can make themselves right with God without first acknowledging that they are in need of his forgiveness.
Sin originates from satan – the devil – and he often is the one who tempts us to disobey God. Other sins come from our own minds and hearts as we allow ourselves to be enticed. Our degenerate world is the other entity that causes us to dishonur Godin our thoughts and deeds.
Sin is a power that will never give up. It wants to control us. Even Christians struggle daily, especially with wanting to gratify our feelings and appetites for comfort, perverting our natural desires, working on what we see, and how important something makes us feel. It works on the mind, seeking to bring us back into captivity by enticing us with what it knows our natural beings love.
We all want to look great, feel great, do great things and be thought of as great.
The good news is, that God has made it extremely easy for humans to put things right and come back into his presence once more, and be completely clean.
Religious groups in Jesus’ day tried to deceive people into thinking they had to perform loads of rituals and sacrifices in order to be spiritually cleansed, and this deception is still practiced all around the world, under various religions.
God never intended for anybody to go through rigorous sacrifices in order to get into his good books. He simply sent Jesus to die in our place as the once and for all sacrifice for our sins.
So, you don’t have to cut your skin, wear ragged clothes, live in deprivation, or starve yourself to win his favour. It won’t anyway, because those activities are not part of his plan for salvation.
Holiness
God is perfect, righteous, holy. He has to punish sin. Just how like a decent parent would chastise their 14-year-old son who crept out the house, stole the car, drove to a wild party, crashed the car on the way home, then laughed about it, God needs to do something about our disobedience to him.
Punishment
If someone was facing a long-term prison sentence for murdering your child or pet, would you be okay if the judge changed his mind and let him off with a small fine?
We are all guilty of breaking God’s rules and causing him sorrow. We can never match up to his standards, that is why we are called sinners and that is why we deserve to pay the penalty for our wrong doings, no matter how nice we think we are.
Repentance
This is being so truly sorry for our sin that we make the decision to completely turn- around from the way we were going, to walk in the other direction, relying on the help of Jesus to keep going. It is recognising that the state we are in is going to lead to destruction. It’s like thinking we are okay while heading towards a deep crocodile pit, then realising we have deceived ourselves into thinking we were walking towards a shallow ditch of hamsters. A wise person will turn around and run the other way.
Hell
Imagine being in agony and the intensity of it never subsiding? Imagine you couldn’t even faint to forget the pain? Imagine a darkness so dark, screams so loud, loneliness so intense, fear so frightening, but there was no way out? Like a nightmare you could never wake up from? That is Hell, but God did not make that dammed place for you. It’s for the Devil, but if you chose to continue going his way, you will end up residing there with him. It is a place where God is not present, so there is only evil. No matter how bad this world can be, God is still in our midst, creating light and beauty and miracles of life and peace and hope. Hell is devoid of anything good.
The Devil and demons
The Bible never describes him as a red creature with horns, forked tail and pitchfork. Nor does it say he has a scary face. On the contrary, before the Devil was kicked out of God’s realm for being too proud, he was very close to God and therefore one of the most beautiful beings. He was responsible for leading worship to God and musical instruments were part of his body. He knew how beautiful he was and over-stepped the mark by trying to take God’s place. For his vanity, pride and arrogance, he was banished from Heaven forever and he took a few angels with him who are now referred to as demons because they are his stupid little cohorts.
The Devil knows that if he comes to you and says, “Here, take this, do this, say this, because I want it to make you addicted, obsessed, ruin your relationships and cause you to feel so bad about yourself you will never go to God for forgiveness.” you would resist. But he is a great deceiver and temps you with what looks good. And for a while, it seems like it is. Like a lion who closes his eyes pretending to be asleep while he is really planning to eat you alive, the Devil will try to appear harmless and cute. He is not. He hates you and wants you take you with him to Hell.
Salvation / being saved.
Being forgiven of our sins. Jesus forgave us when he died on the cross, but we have to then accept his gift of salvation by repentance. We are saved from punishment of our sins, the devil’s hold on our life and from spending an eternity in Hell.
Judgement Day
I don’t own a wooden sandwich board. We laugh at the thought of a miserable old man adorning a heavy block that has, ‘The end is nigh!’ written on the front and back while he paces forlornly down the road. But there is a time when we all will have to stand before God and give an account of how we lived our life. That’s going to happen more quickly than we realise. I mean, do you know if you will be alive in the next 60 minutes? 60 hours? 60 days? Six months?
Nobody wants to admit that they know the sandwich board guy. If he’s a relative or member of our church, we’ll claim we have nothing to do with him because he is crazy. But despite his odd attire, he’s right. Our end is just around the corner, so we need to sort out our souls before it’s too late.
Your own choice
Friends, I make no apology for repeating myself. The choice has been left to us. You may be holding back because you don’t want your boyfriend to leave you or your dad to disinherit you or your friends to mock you or your mother to abandon you. But just like you came into this world on your own, you will die alone. You will face God on your own. No disrespect to your loved-ones, but they are not worth risking your soul for.
God will not force anybody to accept his free gift. It’s up to you – yes or no – accept or reject – Jesus or Satan – salvation or damnation – peace or torture – Heaven or Hell.
Open My Ears
Someone dies and I dress in black,
Then I say a polite farewell.
Open my ears to hear the cries
Of souls being dragged into Hell
*****
My friend has holiday homes
In Australia and Dubai.
She loves her comfy life.
I’ve never seen her cry.
*****
He says God is for the weak,
And Jesus is for wimps.
A laugh is heard from Satan,
His demons and his imps.
*****
So obsessed with their lifestyles,
They cannot see the map
That shows their souls are heading,
Straight towards his trap.
*****
While she buys another handbag,
While he polishes his car,
They can’t see they’re in the water,
And have waded out too far.
*****
Someone dies and I dress in black,
Then I say a polite farewell.
Open my ears to hear the cries
Of souls being dragged into Hell.
*****
His business plan is nothing
When it’s in a brain that’s dead.
Her dresses are now worn
By someone else instead.
*****
I only see the world around me.
And I hear no constant wailing,
Of souls who are stuck in Hell,
Whose agonies are prevailing.
*****
My friend’s in a lovely house,
I see no demons on her wall.
I know she loves her life,
So, I pay no attention at all.
*****
She goes to see a clairvoyant,
And pays her for some advice,
But wisdom about salvation
Was not included in the price.
*****
She was told about her past,
To make her believe the rest,
So, deception was quite easy,
And she came home quite impressed.
*****
Now she was ecstatic,
But while in the bloom of youth,
She died only three weeks later,
Because she wasn’t old the truth.
*****
Someone dies and I dress in black,
Then I say a polite farewell.
Open my ears to hear the cries
Of souls being dragged into Hell.
*****
At the funeral, I sing some hymns
Like the ones we sang at school.
The vicar says, “She’s now at peace.”
Satan says, “She’s with me you fool!”
*****
Death, death, death.
You cannot just avoid it.
But you can take out insurance
With the man who has destroyed it.
*****
When you die, your soul lives on,
With a smile or grinding teeth.
You either go up to Heaven,
Or be tortured way beneath.
*****
Oh, give me more compassion
For those who need to hear
The truth of where they’re going,
When their last heartbeat draws near!
*****
Someone dies and I dress in black,
Then I say a polite farewell.
Open my ears to hear the cries
Of souls being tortured in Hell.
