Category Archives: Heaven

Is Hell a Laughing Matter

Posted in Heaven, Hell, Hell's Best Kept Secret, Jesus Christ, Salvation by

One of the emails I receive on a regular basis is from One Million Moms, a group that notifies mothers and families when there is immorality, profanity, vulgarity, and violence promoted in the media.  They pass along links so people can contact companies to let them know their concerns.

Today, I received a notification that TGI Friday’s has a new ad campaign in which use profanity in their advertisement to promote appetizers customers can get during their happy hour.

I wasn’t able to send an email communication to Friday’s via their website.  So instead, I left a message on TGI Friday’s Facebook page.  I let Friday’s know that I didn’t appreciate their use of profanity in their commercial.  I asked them to please pull the ad and said that if didn’t we would no longer be customers.

A short time later, a man left a rude response and called me a hypocrite.  He had gone to my blog and found instances in which I had used the word hell.  My first inclination was to leave a comment back with a disparaging remark.  Am I a sinner and a hypocrite…yes I am.  But I’m not a hypocrite about this.

Obviously, the person who left the comment calling me a hypocrite didn’t’ seem to be exercising discernment.  He didn’t acknowledge the difference between a company using profanity to promote their company and someone writing about hell to warn people about the realities of hell.

Am I just being uptight?  Should I just loosen up and not worry when companies use profanity and make a joke out or the word hell?

Well I could do that.  I’m sure there’s been times when I’ve buried my head in the sand and ignored something that wasn’t right.

But on this one…on a company casually using the word hell to promote happy hour…I’m glad I spoke up because I know about the realities of hell.

Hell is a real place.  It’s a place of eternal punishment, suffering and torment for those who refuse to acknowledge and repent of the sins.  Hell is for those who reject Christ Jesus.  Or for those who think they can get into heaven based on their good deeds.  They know they are not perfect…but they are better than the next guy.  Hell will have people who didn’t believe in God.  Those who didn’t realize that they will have to give an account for their lives.

So what does the Bible say about hell?

  • But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Revelation 21:8
  • They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. 2 Thessalonians 1:9
  • Hell is a place where the fire never goes out. Mark 9:43
  • They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:42
  • ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ Mark 9:8

Hell is a real place.  A place unimaginable suffering that does not end.  I have loved ones who were sinners just like me.  But they died rejecting Christ or didn’t believe in God and recognize they will give an account for their lives.

When you know the realities of hell…it’s not a joke.  It’s not something to take casually.  It’s not a laughing matter.

I’m a sinner…there is nothing good in me that deserves to go heaven.  I don’t deserve forgiveness.  I can’t be good enough to earn my way to heaven.  But through grace of God alone, I have been forgiven of my sin because of Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross.

That promise of forgiveness is available for all who put their faith and trust in Christ Jesus the Lord.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. – John 3:16-18

If you would like to know what the Bible says about hell and about how you can be forgiven of your sin…click on this link and read these Scriptures:

What the Bible says about hell.

 

Ray Comfort – Hell’s Best Kept Secret

 

Five Minute Friday – Together Again

Posted in Five Minute Friday, Gospel Message, Heaven, Hell, The Gypsy Mama by

Recent days and months have had their share of sorrow in the death of precious friends.  I’ll tell you, there is a world of difference when a Christian dies and when an unbeliever dies. 
As a Christian I have confident hope and assurance that I will one day see my believing family and friends again.  It brings joy to think that I will once again see their face, hear their laugh and feel their warm embrace.  We will be together in heaven, a place where there is no more sin, sickness, sorrow or death.  We will be with our Savior and see Him face to face.  A place where worship and praise will never end.  Halleluiah, I long for that day.
But when someone dies who has not received Jesus Christ as their Savior, when they haven’t repented of their sin, when they haven’t cried out to the Lord for forgiveness…it’s not good!  It’s a place of eternal punishment, retribution, unrelenting suffering that will never, ever end. 
It almost feels more tortuous when I don’t know if my loved one is in heaven or hell. 
There’s not a day that goes by I don’t think of my precious friend.  I may hear some whose laugh sounds just like her laugh, or see someone who looks like her and I wonder…where is she today?  Will we ever be together again? 
Lord forgive me please for not being more bold in sharing the Gospel message, for worrying more about offending her rather than being concerned about the place she will spend eternity.  
This post is being linked to 5-Minute Friday courtesy of The Gypsy Mama, where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it’s right or not.  Head on over and take the challenge today.
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Little Do They Know

Posted in Gospel, Heaven, Hell, Jesus Christ, Salvation by

My family laid my body to rest today
Little do they know
My soul will never find rest

I spent months fighting this wretched disease
On my death bed
Suffering day and night

They couldn’t take it any longer
Eventually they prayed
That I would suffer no more

They whispered in my ear
It’s okay, you can let go now
You are going to a better place

Little did they know
Where I would spend eternity
Now my soul will never find rest

I was never too religious
Thought that Jesus’ claim as being the only way to salvation
Absurd and narrow minded

Surely all roads lead to heaven, don’t they?
I was a good person, not perfect, but good in comparison to others
Don’t all my good works count for something?

Well, I was wrong, dead wrong
Not that it makes any difference
But I’m a believer now

If only I could send someone to warn them
Repent!  Receive Christ for the forgiveness of your sins
Lest you suffer the same fate as me

Susan Bunts Wachtel
July 18, 2011
I had started this poem on July 16, 2010, but finished it a year later.

How many times have you heard people say when a loved one has died, “Well at least they are not suffering anymore.”  While those words are meant to bring comfort, as Christians we know the truth that when an unbeliever dies their suffering has just begun and will last for eternity. 

May we be unapologetic and bold in sharing the Gospel message so that our family, friends, co-workers and even strangers may have the assurance that their sins have been forgiven and that they will be in heaven for eternity, not suffering in hell.

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Before the Throne

Posted in Forgiveness, Heaven, Jesus Christ by

As we are nearing the end of our study in the book of Revelation, we are learning about the New Jerusalem.

I’m not sure I can fully imagine what it will be like to stand before the throne of God with a multitude of believers and the heavenly hosts worshiping the Lamb of God and God the Father.  To finally see my Savior face to face…the One who bore my sins so that I would be forgiven and clothed in His righteousness.  What will it be like?

Then my thoughts turned to forgiveness.  How many people have I held a grudge towards?  What about my friend who hasn’t forgiven me?  If they are believers…we will one day stand before the throne of God together.  At that time the things of this earth will have long since have been forgotten and forgiven.  In heaven I won’t even remember the hurts and offenses that I choose to hold on to this side of heaven. 

In light of heaven, in light of the forgiveness of Christ for my sin…how can I not run to the throne of grace and freely abundantly forgive?

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Go and Sin No More

Posted in Forgiveness, Go and sin no more, Heaven, Hell, Repentance, Salvation, Sin by

Why is it that it’s so easy to tell people that God loves them and that they should turn to Him so that they can go to heaven, but it’s so very hard to tell them that they are a sinner?  It’s hard to tell people…family, friends and neighbors that they need to repent of their sin and believe in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross for their sin and be saved?
 
Jesus loved the sinner, but He wasn’t soft on sin.  He didn’t try to make people feel better in their sin.  He didn’t say that it was all okay because God loved them.  Instead He had the perfect blend of repentance from sin and the message of salvation provided by God and motivated by His perfect love for them.  (John 3:14-18)
 
Think of the woman caught in adultery…after her accusers left one by one…Jesus asked her, “Where are your accusers?  Has no one condemned you?”  (John 8:4-11)  She responded, “There are none.”  The only One who could rightfully condemn her because of her sin, said, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.”  The reason Jesus could do that is because He knew that He would bear her sin on Calvary’s cross.  That His blood would be shed to pay the penalty for her sin.  That her sin would be removed as far as the east is from the west.  He came to pay the penalty for her sin and mine.
 
One reasons that I have a hard time telling people that they are a sinner in need of a Savior is because of my own sin.  Not only am I not perfect…there are times when I willfully choose to sin.  I may have a wrong sinful attitude and don’t want to repent.  Or I may have a good faith walk with the Lord these days…but never far from my memory is a past sin…a big fall.  I’m afraid to bring up someone else’s sin because they may call me a hypocrite. 

When I’m focused on my sin, instead of my Savior and the forgiveness that He wrought on the cross, I’m walking in unbelief.  Doubt and unbelief is a sin too.  It’s the sin that kept the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years. 
 
While sin is wrong and horrible it may be something that the Lord can use in my testimony with others.  I can be tender and delicate in helping them remove the spec from their eye because I had to remove a log from my own eye.
 
God is so good at redeeming things…and even using my past to help me gently but directly deal with someone else who is sinning.  To let them know that there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ and they can have peace with God and know with assurance that they have been forgiven and will go to heaven.
 
What a sobering reminder that I need to be a clean vessel.  I must be quick to repent from sin…ready to die to my own self will, directed by my sinful selfish nature. 
 
If I can’t tell people the bad news that of sin and the eternal consequences of hell, how will they understand and appreciate their need for a Savior and the good news of forgiveness and salvation found in Jesus Christ.
 

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In Passing

Posted in Dead in Christ, Death, Heaven by

When you hear the news that I have passed from this life
Please do not grieve as those without hope
For I am truly home
 
My faith has given way to sight
That which was dim, I can now see clearly
What was once my hope, is now reality
 
Absent from the body, I’m now present with the Lord
From my Savior’s lips I heard the words I longed for
Well done good and faithful servant
 
I have now entered in to the joy of my Master
Where I am there is no more sin, sickness, sorrow or death
I’m forever more in the presence of Christ Jesus my Lord
 
 
Susan Bunts Wachtel
July 8, 2010

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Eyes on Jesus

Posted in Confidence, Faith, Forgiveness, Heaven, Hope, Jesus, Peace by

When I have my eyes on Jesus
Instead of myself
I have hope that does not fade

When I have my eyes on Jesus
Instead of being overcome with fear
I stand firm in faith

When I have my eyes on Jesus
Instead of my circumstances
I have a peace which passes all understanding

When I have my eyes on Jesus
Instead of focusing on my enemies
I believe that He will deliver me

When I have my eyes on Jesus
Instead my weaknesses and limitations
I pray with confidence that He will do the impossible

When I have my eyes on Jesus
Instead of remembering my sin
I have the assurance of God’s forgiveness

When I have my eyes on Jesus
Instead of the here and now
I have the promise of heaven that will never pass away

Susan Bunts Wachtel
September 23, 2009

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His Glory Descended

Posted in Glory of God, Heaven, Kindred Community Church, Pastor John MacArthur, Pastor Philip De Courcy, Praise God, Presence of God, Worship Music by

Standing in His presence,
His glory descended upon Kindred,
One body united in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A small taste of heaven,
Oh Lord I humbly pray,
Never bid me to leave Thee.

Worshiping before Your throne,
I now know,
Your glory alone is more than enough.

Our hearts bursting,
With the fullness of Christ,
Oh my Lord, You can not be contained.

May this be my Ebenezer stone…my remembrance,
May I never leave Your presence dear Lord,
Your glory so divine.

by Susan Bunts
November 5, 2007

This poem is dedicated to Christ Jesus our all sufficient Savior and Lord and to the body of Christ at Kindred Community Church.

And for my precious Pattie and Robyn Bolton…after experiencing a small taste of heaven and what it will be like worshiping before His throne…we can know that your precious husband and father Bob is complete and whole as he stands before his Savior Christ Jesus. One day we will join him…and Chuck and Hugo and worship our Savior truly as one body in Christ. Praise Him!

The above poem is my meager attempt to capture last night’s installation ceremony of our new precious and beloved Pastor Philip De Courcy.

The poem misses the mark…but by golly last night at Kindred Community Church God was present and made His presence and His glory known. Thank You Jesus!

Below are some slide show pictures that captured the ceremony. Welcome Pastor Philip…we thank God for bringing you to this body of Christ at Kindred!

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Reflections on Worship

Posted in Heaven, Praise, Worship Music by

Just think…we won’t need to glance at lyrics printed in a hymnal, nor shown on a screen in heaven. They will be in our hearts and on our lips. Even better…we’ll be in harmony. There will be no disagreement on what praise and worship music we sing. Everyday in heaven…will be a day in which we want to…desire to give praise and worship to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We won’t be distracted by the events of the day. People will understand, appreciate, agree and join in with our worship…not look at us like we are crazy. Our hands will be lifted high or held in prayerful thanksgiving. We will not be self conscious on our style or what we are doing.

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