Life or Death
"They’re in a better place now."
"I know they’re smiling down on me."
"Heaven got another angel."
How many times have we heard things like this? As a Christian,every time I hear something like this from unbelievers about a deceased person who was not saved, I have to grit my teeth and forcibly restrain myself from not contradicting them and saying that people who never accepted Christ are actually doomed to eternal torment. Am I just too blunt? Maybe. But maybe the problem is that Christians do not preach the Gospel in terms of life or death, and the Gospel is life or death news. If we walk around and smile and agree with these people that dead loved ones are in a peaceful place when they did now know Jesus, we are forsaking our responsibility as disciples. We are disrespecting God. We are NOT showing love to people if we don’t open our mouths and warn them as if it were OUR OWN eternity on the line. It does not matter if somebody finds it offensive or not. The truth is that Christ is the only way to Heaven and the only reason a person should want Heaven. If a person does not accept Christ, they are going to Hell. This is not an unloving this to say. The truth does not change because we don’t like it.
As somebody who was into witchcraft, was an atheist, and openly denied Jesus and hated the idea of Christianity, I am forever grateful to the people who unashamedly told me the truth when I did not want to hear it. If they had stopped telling me the truth because I was offended, I would be doomed to Hell. Their persistence and devotion to spreading God’s word brought me to the light. I love God’s people too much to not tell them the truth because I’m worried about offending them or “forcing my beliefs” on them. Christians don’t preach the Gospel in order to get people on “their side.” We don’t gain anything by bringing people to Christ. There’s nothing selfish about it. The Bible is not MY opinion or beliefs, its the word of God.
Christians: We need to love each other so much that we are not unwilling to preach because of persecution. We need to treat salvation as life or death, because it is. That’s our call and our responsibility.
"I know they’re smiling down on me."
"Heaven got another angel."
How many times have we heard things like this? As a Christian,every time I hear something like this from unbelievers about a deceased person who was not saved, I have to grit my teeth and forcibly restrain myself from not contradicting them and saying that people who never accepted Christ are actually doomed to eternal torment. Am I just too blunt? Maybe. But maybe the problem is that Christians do not preach the Gospel in terms of life or death, and the Gospel is life or death news. If we walk around and smile and agree with these people that dead loved ones are in a peaceful place when they did now know Jesus, we are forsaking our responsibility as disciples. We are disrespecting God. We are NOT showing love to people if we don’t open our mouths and warn them as if it were OUR OWN eternity on the line. It does not matter if somebody finds it offensive or not. The truth is that Christ is the only way to Heaven and the only reason a person should want Heaven. If a person does not accept Christ, they are going to Hell. This is not an unloving this to say. The truth does not change because we don’t like it.
As somebody who was into witchcraft, was an atheist, and openly denied Jesus and hated the idea of Christianity, I am forever grateful to the people who unashamedly told me the truth when I did not want to hear it. If they had stopped telling me the truth because I was offended, I would be doomed to Hell. Their persistence and devotion to spreading God’s word brought me to the light. I love God’s people too much to not tell them the truth because I’m worried about offending them or “forcing my beliefs” on them. Christians don’t preach the Gospel in order to get people on “their side.” We don’t gain anything by bringing people to Christ. There’s nothing selfish about it. The Bible is not MY opinion or beliefs, its the word of God.
Christians: We need to love each other so much that we are not unwilling to preach because of persecution. We need to treat salvation as life or death, because it is. That’s our call and our responsibility.
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