When discussing hardship people will say, “I’ve been though hell.” But guess what? That statement is false—they haven’t been though Hell. At the close of this life, they may end up in Hell, but they sure haven’t faced anything like Hell. You see, Hell is the final punishment for the devil and his angels, and since people love to do the devil’s work, they will join Satan there (Matthew 25:41,46).
Hell is a special punishment devised by God for that special Day which is the Judgment (Hebrews 9:27; 1 Corinthians 4:5; John 5:28-29). I understand that men can suffer badly in life, but that is just suffering, and we cannot compare it to the horrors that await the wicked at the end of time. Hell is a place of everlasting darkness, fire that won’t go out, pain explained to us in earthly terms like “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. etc. (Matt. 3:12, 13:38-43; Mark 9:43-50; Luke 16:22-25; Romans 3:4-9, 14:10-12; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. A preacher is a man who proclaims the irrefutable gospel of Christ (Romans 10:13-21; 1 Corinthians 1:17-31, 2:1-5, 3:1-10). And with so many lost souls in the world, a preacher has no time to be using the pulpit to talk about the campaigns of people running for public office (2 Timothy 2:1-4; Luke 9:60). And neither should a church open its pulpit for politicians to come and seek votes because the church is the pillar and ground of the truth and not a place for men to come and talk about Democrats and Republicans (1 Tim. 3:15). So a sound preacher realizes he has the commission to preach the gospel and woe be upon him if he doesn’t (1 Cor. 9:14-18; Acts 20:19-21:27; Ezekiel 3:16-19).
In church, you must demand that the preacher proclaims the word of God only, giving book, chapter, and verse for his teaching (Titus 2:1; 1 Peter 4:11). You must also demand that the preacher uses the word of God in the correct way (2 Cor. 4:1-6). If the preacher goes off on some kind of rambling speech about politics, or someone who is running for public office, demand that he get back to preaching the gospel or be fired (1 Tim. 6:3-5; Romans 16:17; 1 Tim. 1:3-4). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. When visitors come to a church, the members should make them feel welcome. There are people who would visit the church, but they might not know anything about church doctrine, or the people, so they feel apprehensive.
But the members of the church must realize that it is their duty to walk over and introduce themselves and make the visitor feel relaxed because no visitor should ever have to introduce himself. The church members shouldn’t smother the visitor with too many questions, nor should church members pressure visitors for phone numbers or addresses. The church may mention that visitors cards are available, but a visitor cannot be pressured nor made to feel obligated to fill out one. If a visitor wishes to become a member of the church, he should continue to visit in order to get to know the church members, and find out what is taught. So yes, there is no need to be afraid to visit, just come on in, and you will find potential friends (Micah 4:1-2; Psalm 122:1; 1 Corinthians 14:23-25; Genesis 28:16-17). Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. As people continue to depart from the Lord and get comfortable in things that are wrong, they then have no concept of what is right (Proverbs 14:12, 21:2). And when people are living according to what the Lord requires, there will be a clash of cultures (Amos 3:3; 2 Corinthians 6:14-15). In one corner will be people who are crying for a return to the way which God has given for man to live, and in the other corner will be those who cry: “it’s my life and I will live it as I want, and I don’t care what others think”(Jeremiah 7:1-34).
If this kind of mentality continues in a nation and the majority leans in the direction which is wrong, it could lead to persecution of the Christians within that land (Matthew 10:16-23). This same kind of stuff happened in ancient times when Rome immersed itself in heathenism and the Christians attempted to get Rome back on track. Instead of listening to their teaching of the gospel, the government arrested the Christians and threw many to the lions (John 16:2). America shouldn’t accept this shameful way of life where a Christian is attacked or sued for speaking out for what he knows is the truth. Hope to hear from you or see you at the services. |