Which of the following will
get you there?
1.
Believing in God
2.
Being a good person
3.
Giving money to the
church
4.
Keeping the Ten
Commandments
5.
Having Christian parents
6.
Living for God
7.
Doing your best
8.
Being a church member
9.
Obeying the church
10.
Getting baptized as a
baby
11.
Praying to God
12.
Dying for God and
country
13.
Loving your neighbour
14.
Going to the
confessional
15.
Helping the poor
16.
Taking Holy Communion
17.
Doing good works
18.
Having the last rites at
death
19.
Going to church
regularly
20.
Being devoted to Mary
21.
Doing many penances
22.
NONE
OF THE ABOVE
Read
every word carefully –
It’s a matter of YOUR eternal life
....or eternal torment.
The
correct answer is
22. Dear Friend, the others may make you “feel good” or even
“spiritual” but they
can’t get you into heaven. Please read on:
LET’S
START AT THE BEGINNING:
HAVE
YOU EVER:
1. Told a
lie?
2. Taken
something that wasn’t yours?
3. Had
sexual thoughts about someone else? (not your spouse)
If
you have, the Bible says that you’re
a
LYING, THIEVING ADULTERER!
You
may be thinking – “I can’t be that bad! There’s a lot worse than me –
I’m no
axe-murderer!”
At
each end of the scale you’d have Hitler & Mother Teresa and you’d
be
somewhere in between, right? And maybe you’re just crossing your
fingers -
somehow hoping that God will let you into heaven with a 50% pass mark,
right?
Now,
we rarely think of ourselves as being bad, because “Every way of a man is right in his own
eyes:” (Proverbs
21:2). In fact, most criminals in jail think they’ve been unjustly
sentenced.
As
we can see, our standards vary and the Bible says we are not wise to
compare
& measure ourselves against each other (2 Corinthians 10:12).
HOW
FAR SHORT?
God’s
standards are so high, He says even the GOOD THINGS we do are like
FILTHY RAGS
in His eyes - not the bad things but the good things! (Isaiah 64:6)
WHAT
ABOUT LITTLE SINS?
Has the thought entered your mind that a loving God should overlook your sins and only punish the serious criminals like murderers, child-molesters and rapists? The Bible says, quote: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). There are no big or little sins in God’s eyes. If you’ve done one – you’re guilty of the whole lot. Just one poison will kill you.
BUT
WAIT ... THERE’S MORE!
WILL
GOD JUDGE SIN?
The
Bible says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, BUT AFTER
THIS THE
JUDGMENT.” (Hebrews 9:27) and “...he hath appointed a day, in the which
HE
WILL JUDGE THE WORLD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS BY THAT MAN (Jesus)
whom he
hath ordained...” (Acts 17:31)
WHAT
IS GOD’S PENALTY
SO
WHAT’S HELL LIKE?
It’s
not a place where you can “party-on” with friends. Jesus spoke more
about Hell
than Heaven and with good reason - He didn’t want anyone to go there!
It’s a place of damnation, bondage, darkness, weeping & torment... EVERLASTING burnings ...the FLAMES never go out & wailing, their WORM NEVER DIES... & gnashing of teeth... with NO TRANSFER OUT! (Luke 16:26; Matthew 22:13, Matthew 13:41-42; Mark 9:44; Isaiah 33:14)
YOU
WON’T BE ALLOWED TO KILL YOURSELF TO END THE PAIN.
THE
TORMENT WILL BE SO BAD IN HELL!
When
you die, you will find yourself in heaven or hell for eternity.
PURGATORY is a
lie made up to give relatives false hope in order to get more money
from them
through fear. Your family can’t pray for you in purgatory. WHY? You
won’t be
there! IT DOESN’T EXIST! There
is no
purgatory in the King James Bible. There’s no re-incarnation (Heb
9: 27)
or `6 foot under’ either (Matt 25:46 ;)
WON’T
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
GET ME INTO HEAVEN?
CAN
I EARN MY WAY TO HEAVEN?
The
Bible says, “NOT BY WORKS of
righteousness which we have done, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY he saved
us.”
(Titus 3:5). If we could earn our way to heaven then Jesus didn’t
need to
die for us.
Dear
friend, you can’t get right with God by leading a good life, church
membership,
sacraments, baptism or anything else. If you try to earn it or do
something for
it, it’s called “SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS”.
FAITH
IN JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY
TO
GET INTO HEAVEN
Faith
is complete trust and dependency upon someone.
The Bible says that Jesus shed His blood to pay for your sins and
purchase your
right standing with God. You can’t earn it, buy it or work for it but
you must
“put your complete faith in Christ” to receive it.
The
Bible says, “But TO HIM THAT WORKETH NOT, but BELIEVETH ON HIM that
justifieth the
ungodly, HIS FAITH IS COUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Romans 4:5).
You
won’t fear Judgment Day because you will, “Be found in him, NOT HAVING
MINE OWN
RIGHTEOUSNESS ...but THAT WHICH IS THROUGH THE FAITH OF CHRIST, the
RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS OF GOD BY FAITH.” (Philippians 3:9)
IF GOD IS LOVE, WOULD HE SEND ME TO HELL?
HE
HAS NO CHOICE!
You’ve
sinned and owe a debt you cannot pay.... but Jesus
paid your debt He didn’t owe! If you reject Jesus -what else can God do
for
you? The Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH,
but
have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
DOES
SATAN RULE & REIGN IN HELL?
NO! Hell
was made to
cast Satan & his angels into for eternal torment - along with the
unsaved
(Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10,15) You’re not handed over to Satan
for
punishment for sins – he was defeated at the cross.
No
my friend, HELL IS GOD’S EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT FOR THOSE
WHO REJECT
JESUS.
YOU
HAVE A CHOICE!
Very
simple indeed - which will you choose?
GOD’S
LOVE –“Jesus
died for
my sins” OR
GOD’S WRATH –“I reject
the sacrifice of Jesus” No choice is a choice and not choosing won’t
make it go
away. Every minute you delay is a minute closer to your eternity in
hell.
Instead
of coming to God and promising Him you’ll “clean
up your act,” He’s waiting for you to say:
WILL
EVERYONE GET TO HEAVEN?
God
says He is “...not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance.”(2 Peter 3:9). But the Bible also
says,
“...broad is the way that leadeth to DESTRUCTION,
AND MANY there
be which go in ... and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto LIFE,
AND FEW there
be that find it.”
WHICH
GROUP WILL YOU BE IN –
THE FEW OR THE MANY?
WHAT
WILL STOP YOU?
Your
love of
sin, pride, unbelief, delay, your plans or
fear of friends will stop you trusting Jesus as Saviour.
THIS
IS YOUR ONLY HOPE.
Even doing all those 21 things on the front of the Article to get saved, will still see you in Hell for all your trouble, i.e. baptism, confessionals, sacraments, good works, penances, being good, church membership, religion, last rites, Saturday worship or church rules CANNOT SAVE YOU. Will you stop trusting in your “self-righteousness” & put your trust in Jesus Christ alone and “His righteousness”?
ETERNAL
LIFE IS A FREE GIFT! YOU
CAN’T EARN IT, WORK FOR IT OR BUY IT!
The
Bible says, “...the GIFT
of
God is eternal life THROUGH
JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.” (Rom6:23).
The Bible says “...Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners ...” (1Timothy 1:15)
and
it also says, “For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord SHALL
BE SAVED.” (Romans
10:13)
Eternity
is forever and hell is real, but if you want to be
saved, trust alone in Jesus and pray from your heart:
“DEAR
GOD, I’m a
sinner & deserve Your everlasting wrath in hell. I believe Jesus
died for
all my sins, and His shed blood was payment. I completely trust Him
alone to
save me. Thank you for forgiving me of all my sins.
AMEN.
Harley
Hitchcock
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