How Does Someone Qualify for Hell?

Isaiah 46:9-10 ~ "Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still t come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please."

We need to know history or His-story, God's dealings with the world if we are ever to have any hope of understanding that God is a God of love. We need to understand that God knows the future. He is not wringing His hands with worry when something happens in the world. He knows everything. Nothing surprises Him. So why do we worry?

When we worry, we are assuming a responsibility that God has never intended to be ours!

As we continue our study into the Book of Revelation, we need to remember that Chapter 14, is a parenthetical insert. God's giving us snippets of things that will happen during the Tribulation period but not in chronological order.

Revelation 14:8-13 ~ "A second angel followed and said, "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries." A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. Then I heard a voice in the heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."

The final verse in Revelation 14:13 is the most exciting thing in these study of the Scriptures and we will learn more about that in our future study. Today we will study and answer the questions, "Will people really be tormented in fire for rejecting God? How can God, who is a God of love, send people to hell?

We need to understand that God doesn't want anyone to go to hell, but there are those who will inherit hell based on their own choice. 

How does God justify hell and eternal torment regarding humans? How does a person go to hell? There are 4 ways.

1. Mankind's rejection of God's rule in his life. It's saying you don't want God in your life. Every human will at least have one prayer answered by God before they die. That one prayer is to those who say, "Get out of here Jesus. I don't want anything to do with God, Jesus or the Bible." Guess what? God will answer their prayer, tragically.

Understand this. God is no terrorist. He doesn't force His way into your life. He will never force Himself on someone. You have to chose.

2. By mankind's rejection of God's will for our life. God's has engineered our lives for a purpose. Some find it early in life. Some find it late in life. Some find it just before they die. But all of us have been uniquely created for a purpose.

3. By mankind's rejection of God's Son, Jesus. Jesus is no joking matter. Neither should His name be a cuss word. He is a living person. He is real. He lived the life that we can all read about in history. Even ancient Rome does not deny that Jesus existed.

4. By mankind's rejection of God's Word. It includes all of the above... when you hear the gospel, if you reject it, you are rejecting God and all He offers.

How can God, therefore, justify sending someone to hell?

John 3:16 ~ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life."

Insert your name in the place of world and whosoever. Even if no one else existed in this world, God loved You!

So what is wrong with accepting that invitation of accepting Jesus into your life?

Nothing, it's perfect! It came from the mouth of God. We apparently don't understand the price that was paid for our sins. Why?

Because we have a very low view of our offenses. Whenever we do something wrong, we don't see it as so bad. We can simply apologize for it and it's over. Never under-estimate man's own ability to justify his sins. It just doesn't look so bad in our own eyes. But if we see someone else do it, it looks really bad. Our own sin just doesn't look so bad to us, until someone else does it.

Sin, put Jesus on the cross. That's how bad our sins are. We have a thought, no one heard it but God, yet it still put Jesus on the cross. Even if you were the only person created by God, your sin put Jesus on the cross. We can't escape it. People fail to understand, what price Jesus had to do. Because it is free, we think it's cheap.

It took God to the brink, Jesus Christ died for us as God in human flesh. Every single one of us is sinners. No one is perfect except for Jesus. He lived a perfect life and it cost God everything. That is how hideous the debt to sin is, and only God could pay it.

Jesus Christ's offering was so precious. He was like a Lamb, innocent, but He never defended Himself, because He has nothing to defend Himself for. That is why He said nothing. He had to pay the price in His own blood to set us free from sin. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Without Jesus' sacrifice as payment for those sins, all of us would die forever. Jesus set us free!

By faith, sin is so bad, that He sent the perfect offering in my place, that I have to accept this offering in faith alone. The offering of Jesus cancelled the debt, but we all have to make a choice. No one can do it for us.

Most people misunderstand God. They picture Him as a God of wrath, angry all the time, but He is a just and holy God. When man rejects God, there are consequences for our actions. He wants to save you. He doesn't wish that any should perish but all should have eternal life, but we have to be the ones to chose that. Why would anyone give that up?

You have to qualify for hell, by rejecting God every single day. It is harder to qualify for hell than it is to qualify for heaven. We must accept what Jesus has done for you and asking His forgiveness of your sins. That is a whole lot easier, than waking up every single day and pushing and kicking God away.

But more on that tomorrow. Today I hope and pray that you will choose Jesus and eternal life. If you want Jesus as Lord and Savior in your life today, simply pray this prayer and believe it with all your heart.

Lord Jesus, 

I know I am a sinner, and without Your sacrifice and payment on the cross I would have no hope. You came to save me from my sin and from death and I ask for forgiveness of my sins. I believe that You came to earth, died on the cross for my sins, was buried and was raised again to life on the third day and I surrender my life to You. In Jesus Name ~ AMEN!!

That is all you need to do. Your life has been redeemed by the only one who could save you. Welcome to the first day of your new life in Jesus. If you have prayed this prayer, I would love to chat with you and welcome you into the family. Please email me at Stevenkat27@gmail.com.

All Roads Lead to God!!!

No matter where you look in the world today, people are attempting to look younger and live longer. Supplements, vitamins, diet programs, nutritional aids and even surgery all promises results but those results are all external and they are fake. You can look 10 years younger, but are you really? No, you are still the same age you would have been without all that stuff. So why the constant struggle to appeal to the masses then? It simply doesn't change anything except that you might be the best looking dead person around. This is man's desperate attempt to locate the true "Fountain of Life" but we have a fatalistic view.

We are forgetting the primary goal in all of it. True eternal life. Ah, to possess it would be the greatest thing at all. How much would you pay for it if you could be guaranteed you could live forever? How quickly would you sign up? This is the eternal life that never fades away and is 100% authentic.

What if not only to living for all eternity, in perfect health, in a perfect place, without every having to worry about ANYTHING? Never dying, never getting sick, never watching those around you get sick or die? Never being sad? How much is all that worth?

What if you got one of those "and if you act now, we'll even throw in a mansion for you designed just for you, for absolutely no cost, but you have to act now. Would you?

You might be surprised at how many people pass up that offer every single day.

You know how much this all costs? Just your acceptance that Jesus Christ, died for You, that He was buried, rose again on the third day, and now extends this offer to you at no charge to YOU!

Bet you most people would scoff at it. Laugh it off as unbelievable. In fact most sadly do. But it is the only 100% authentic offer of eternal life offered to any person who have be born of this world. There is no other solution that will offer the gift like Jesus does.

As we continue in our study into the Book of Revelation, Chapter 14 is a bit out of the ordinary.

It contains snippets of events of the Tribulation that are not in chronological order. Verses 1-5 were a parenthetical pause from the events we had witnessed up to that point in the Tribulation and give us a glimpse at future events prior to the Millennium. Today we will examine verses 6-7 which will bring the Great Tribulation to a conclusion.

People often believe that Jesus can't not come back either in the Rapture of the church or during the Second Coming until every single person has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, but that it not true. It is the churches mission and we should be attempting to do just that, but Jesus will come when He is supposed to. God has other plans for how every single person will be without excuse for hearing the Gospel message.

Today we learn about one more way. We have already heard that 144,000 witnesses will be dispatched during the Tribulation period to spread the Gospel as well as the two witnesses in Israel, but here in Revelation 14, we learn about another one.

God will dispatch an angel to flying through the atmosphere in a circuit around the globe proclaiming the Gospel to those upon the earth. Every single one of us will have an opportunity to respond to it when we hear it.

What about you? Are you going to heaven? Will you have eternal life? What should God let you in? On what grounds is anyone let in?

Every single Christian should be able to answer those questions with perfect confidence and certainty!

Revelation 14:6-7 ~ "Then I saw another angel flying in the midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth - to every nation, tribe, language, and people. He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water." 

No one is exempt!!!

The gospel was given by a divine source. God gave us the gospel. Every other religion aside from Christianity is man's attempt to reach God. Christianity is God's attempt to reach man,. You can be religious all you want, but without a relationship with Jesus it is all for nothing. You are simply trying to win you way to God by what you do, say, or think. It is all for nothing. No amount of religion will get you into heaven.

So what is the gospel?

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 ~ "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I have preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,"

It is initiated by God = It's God who's spoken to man. The source is God.

Luke 4:16-21 ~ "He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written; "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

The "poor" means poor in spirit, those who see their need. "Prisoners" is someone so depressed that they're almost without hope. The "blind" are those who need spiritual awakening.

The gospel is orchestrated by God. It is God who made the terms.

It's like playing Monopoly with someone who has made up their own rules instead of the ones supplied by Milton Bradley. It's hard to play with someone who does things like that. It just doesn't make sense.

God has placed eternity in our hearts. Man needs to believe in something. That is what this is true, that all roads lead to God, but only one leads to heaven. One day, every single one of us will stand before God and give an account of the life we lived. After that is judgment. The only way to get that eternal life we all so desperately want is ONLY through JESUS CHRIST!!!

Jesus is the only way!