CONFRONTING THE GATES OF HELL VII -UNBELIEF & WRONG BELIEF

Rev. 21:8 – “But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”.

The fearful, unbelieving, abominable and all those listed above are all heading to hell, their final destination. Unbelief is a very wide gate. Think of the billions of souls trapped in unbelief and wrong belief. Every step a person in unbelief takes is taking him further down to hell. Billions of souls are trapped in unbelief.  Think of the atheist – those who say, there is no God, the Bible says they are fools; think about the agnostics- those who say that there is no certainty/proof that God exists. Think about the occultist, think about the religionists, etc. Many religions are leading people to hell. Every manifestation of unbelief and wrong belief is demonstration of deep-seated ignorance.

One of the definitions of ignorance that I love so much is that “ignorance includes all erroneous beliefs and all true beliefs not amounting to knowledge, it is lack of knowledge regarding solution to unsatisfactoriness of things, it is lack of knowledge regarding the time of cessation of unsatisfactoriness of things, it is lack of knowledge regarding the cessation of unsatisfactoriness of things”.

God treats unbelief the same way He treats wrong belief – the unbelieving and the wrong believer are classified under the same category. Why? It is because they are going to the same destination.  Why does God take unbelief seriously? The answer is John 3:16 “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”. Think of a loving Father Who has made wonderful provision for His children and all He is asking is ‘belief’. Why is it so difficult to believe?

Every unbeliever is faithless and without faith, it is impossible to please God. God does not want anyone to perish that is why He has made ample provision for the salvation of all and it was out of His love that He made man to be a free will, free moral agent. The true meaning of love can only be found in Gen 1:26 “and God said, Let us make man in our image and after our likeness”. This is a case of a Creator elevating His creature to his level. True love makes, true love takes you from nothing and makes something out of you. True love ennobles, true love elevates, true love promotes, true love beautifies, true love transforms, true love is built on truth. True love is selfless.

Christianity is true believing that produces right living. If you believe truly and your belief is not producing right living, then something is wrong. Check yourself. The easiest way to grow a Church now is to tell people what they want to hear so that they will keep coming. This is a serious error.

John 17:3 “and this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”. Knowledge of the true God and Jesus Christ. This is life eternal. True Christianity is relationship. Religion is fallen man’s attempt to find God while true Christianity is a Living God’s attempt to find a fallen man, and all He is telling you to do is ‘believeth’. Believeth means to make a habit of believing. Where you stop believing, God stops.  Salvation is free but not cheap. Why? Someone paid for it. It cost God His very best to procure our salvation.  That is why it is a very serious offence for one to reject so much love. Anyone who rejects Jesus has opted for hell. Every decision has a price.

The greatest weapon for confronting unbelief/wrong belief is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. That is why we need to be soul winners. If you want heaven to acknowledge you, become a soul winner. Align with the purposive will of God.

TO BE CONT.