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Were they Saved?

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many… (Hebrews 9:27-28 NIV) My wife and I were talking about a celebrity who we learned had died recently. One of my first thoughts (as is customary) was “were they saved”? Did that person accept that Jesus died for their sins so that they could live forever in Heaven? Though neither my wife nor I could know the real answer to that question, if we went by the “evidence” of how that person lived their public life, then it appeared highly unlikely that a salvation conversion would have occurred in their life. If so, then their death was indeed a tragedy. Acceptance of Jesus is indeed the difference between life and death (for eternity). Look at this diagram below (taken from a previous publication by author Bruce Wilkinson). The size of the circle denotes the average life span of our present life on earth. The length of the line denotes the first .000
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The Lord has Given them Over

In the Book of Revelation, we marvel at the implication of taking the mark (666) as seen in Revelation 14:9-11 , where such a person is condemned to eternal damnation unable to ever turn to the Lord as is available to most people still alive. However in Romans Chapter 1, the Bible also discusses the condition of people today, where as the scripture says three times because of their behavior, "The Lord game them over..." Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. Romans 1:24 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Romans 1:26-27 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not
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Scripture: An Intolerant God

(Exodus 23:24 NLT)   You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices. Instead, you must utterly destroy them and smash their sacred pillars.   God will not tolerate those opposed to him. He is God, creator of all things. He simply does not have to. Our decision is do we want to walk with Him or oppose Him?  The scripture above refers to an Old Testament directive of God to the Jews (His people) to destroy those nations and the people of those nations around them who God knew would never worship and serve Him. He is God. He knows who will or won't ever worship Him. If you haven't yet turned to God in worship. Do it today. Don't delay. Don't harden your heart because perhaps He might seem intolerant. He is actually VERY tolerant to those who love Him. He is very tolerant to those who don't fully know Him yet. He asked His Son our savior Jesus Christ to die in our place so that we can live forever wi
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Are You Willing to Believe?

One of the most searched for pages on this blog is a post titled "Funeral for Unbelievers" . I think it is obvious why this post is on search engines daily. People die everyday and unfortunately for most, they die as unbelievers in Jesus Christ as the savior for their sins. The Bible seems clear on the unfortunate fact that most who pass away die as unbelievers in salvation through Christ alone: Matthew 7:13-14 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. (NLT- italics mine).  I implore those who may be reading this post not to be among the larger group of the many mentioned in the above scripture; don't be one of the ones for whom someone will do a web search for your funeral for an unbeliever. Accept Christ's free gift of salvation. No matter how bad of a life you may
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Scripture: Eternal Life available only through Jesus

(John 5:21-14 NIV): ...For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life..." (John 6:35-40 NIV): ... Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of
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Funerals for the Unsaved or Unbelievers

I am not a leader of a church, but I oftentimes wonder how does one lead a funeral service for someone who dies without knowing Jesus Christ as Lord ? Admittedly I have not been to many funerals in my lifetime, though they are appearing to come more frequently lately, but the fact is that funerals are held daily throughout the world and as such this is a pertinent question to someone just about every day.   I’ve been to the funeral where the person lived a fairly routine life, taking care of their families and other responsibilities as best they could, paying taxes and doing the average things that we as human beings do on a consistent basis. They however had no visible relationship with God through His son Jesus Christ. When this person dies, the surviving family members are oftentimes left scrambling trying to find a person and a place to officiate the funeral services – generally because the deceased did not have a regular church that they attended. Funeral homes sometimes serve thi
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God Returns to Europe?

In my reading this morning I happen to come across an article called "Breeding for God" . It makes a case for the inevitable demise of secular (non-religious) societies but incorrectly uses among other reasons, the rise of Muslim and other so-called religious populations and their devote religiosity for part of the reason of such demise. To be certain, there is no mention in the Bible of the tenets of the Muslim religion as being a part of the spreading of God’s teaching. This is simply one of many errors in this article. However, the article is absolutely correct in forecasting the demise of the secular societies of Western Europe (as well as those elsewhere in the world), due among many things to simple population redistribution. For one thing, secular societies directly or indirectly promote behavior that suppresses population growth. Abortions do not increase populations - it suppresses them. Gay lifestyles do not produce children - it tangibly reduces the opportunity fo
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