Articles
Hell Is No Laughing Matter
I very seldom listen to broadcast radio while driving, but I was in a vehicle this morning and that was the only option I had. The morning show program is one of those silly talk shows, and they frequently have "special guests" (probably one of the regular hosts altering their voice) but none the less, for some reason, I turned it up and listened.
He was a fictitious 'preacher' at a fictitious 'church', but was making a funny parody about a real lawsuit that someone filed in California, against an online "christian" dating site. According to the program, the ones filing the suit sued because the site did not offer options other than "man seeking woman" or "woman seeking a man". According to the program, they won the lawsuit, about half a million dollars. The two who sued got $900 each, and their attorneys got the rest. Assuming any of that is true, you are free to draw your own conclusions.
I've actually heard this "preacher" before, and he always signs off the same way, regardless of what his topic of the day is. He says, "TURN BEFORE YOU BURN", which was a little humorous after hearing his satirical rendition of the lawsuit this morning. But it's also something we need to be telling the sinful world around us, because those are the words of Christ. As I said yesterday, it's not our job to demand people believe like we do, and we should not try to shove that down anyone's throat. But, "TURN BEFORE YOU BURN" is totally biblical, and that is part of the message we need to be spreading.
We certainly need to persuade people to change their lives because God loves them, and we want them to come to know and love God, and become part of His family. If that happens, the "turning" part is something that will naturally occur, from their own decision, and not because we talked them into it. But just as true, is the fact that God will punish those in a burning Hell, who refuse to obey Him. "Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire." Rev 20:15
Hell is a real place, and scripture portrays it in terms that describe fear, miserable hot pain, agony, punishment, sorrow, weeping, total separation from anything that is good, and no way to escape or find relief. We should certainly fear Hell and teach about it, because it's no laughing matter!
