Preconcieved thinking about eternity
People often "pick and choose" churches & groups that accommodate their preconceived thinking.
Years ago I watched a documentary concerning a small town where the local Sheriff was making drug related arrests. In time the townspeople voted in a new Sheriff, and mysteriously, not one single drug related arrest was ever made again. I suppose some may say that the first Sheriff did such a good job of cleaning up the town, but I suppose differently.
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Hell appears 54 times in the Bible. In the New Testament, (ie:Matt. 5:29) it is called "Gehenna", (A valley of Jerusalem used figuratively as a place for everlasting punishment). Also, it is referred to (Rev. 20:13) as "Hades" (a place of departed souls). In the Old Testament, the word is "Sheol" which is an "underworld" place, ie:grave or pit. There is an increasingly popular viewpoint that Hell does not exist – at least not as a place of literal and everlasting torment of souls. An alarming percentage of churchgoers are leaning more and more in this direction in "these last days".
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Over the years I have come in possession of messages by five individuals who have had a vision of Hell. Anyone interested can obtain any of these on audio CD by visiting my website www.DavidFilm.com and clicking on "free gifts". One of these was an individual who spoke at my church recently, also available on DVD as a free gift. I videotaped it myself. If you cannot visit my website, let me know and I will email you a list of titles.
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In addition to my own experience, which happened in 1991, one of the five mentioned above is someone I know personally. I know that these people did not have some nightmare from indigestion before going to bed the night before. They were not experiencing a traumatic emotional turmoil in their lives. The person I know had this happen years ago during a church service as a young girl at the time.
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In any case, my writing here is not to discuss the subject, but to notice an interesting observation. There were many who came to my church to hear this individual. There were those who usually come who did not show up. For whatever reasons, many people I know do not believe that Hell is a literal place of torment, even though it is clear that it is: Mark 9:44 "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Rev. 14:11 "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: And they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."
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Obviously, I am not saying that those who don’t want to hear about it are going there, any more than those who do listen are not going there. We know that Acts 4:12 says "Neither is there salvation in any other: (Jesus) for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." .The point I am making here is this: We as individuals often go into denial regarding subjects we encounter in life, and join that church or group that comes as close to that theology.
Over the years I have met parents – often single mothers – who have been divorced, remarried, or still single – and have young children with wrong last names. By that I mean that the mother may have had a promiscuous affair, got pregnant, and did not want the father to have any rights to the child. For that reason she refused to give the hospital the father’s last name for the birth certificate. So the child grows up with the last name of the mother’s first husband. The sad part is that one day the child is going to ask his mother "who is my father?", and she will simply say "shaddup and eat your breakfast". The lie that had been going on for years will finally fly in the face of truth. I cringe at these situations I know personally, for it is going to create bitterness, disappointment, and lack of respect for the one who had lied to them for years. My heart breaks for these children, and tens of thousands of others I have met in door to door ministry over the last 20 years.
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Individuals who I have confronted concerning something that happened between us, and I want to rectify a relationship - often deny it ever happened. It is simply an issue of honesty (or lack thereof), pride, and refusing to admit a fault. Those same people often live a lie similar to the one described above. How do they go to bed at night and have any kind of relationship with God? Do they deny these facts when talking to Him as well? There is a paramount importance of being honest to God, to others and to ourselves. "To thine own self be true." Anything less than that is a life of living a lie, and "Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;" (1Tim. 4:2 ). And to who is this talking to? 1Tim. 4:1 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils."
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Let us not "vote the Sheriff out" of our lives.
-
www.DavidFilm.com
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Hell appears 54 times in the Bible. In the New Testament, (ie:Matt. 5:29) it is called "Gehenna", (A valley of Jerusalem used figuratively as a place for everlasting punishment). Also, it is referred to (Rev. 20:13) as "Hades" (a place of departed souls). In the Old Testament, the word is "Sheol" which is an "underworld" place, ie:grave or pit. There is an increasingly popular viewpoint that Hell does not exist – at least not as a place of literal and everlasting torment of souls. An alarming percentage of churchgoers are leaning more and more in this direction in "these last days".
-
Over the years I have come in possession of messages by five individuals who have had a vision of Hell. Anyone interested can obtain any of these on audio CD by visiting my website www.DavidFilm.com and clicking on "free gifts". One of these was an individual who spoke at my church recently, also available on DVD as a free gift. I videotaped it myself. If you cannot visit my website, let me know and I will email you a list of titles.
-
In addition to my own experience, which happened in 1991, one of the five mentioned above is someone I know personally. I know that these people did not have some nightmare from indigestion before going to bed the night before. They were not experiencing a traumatic emotional turmoil in their lives. The person I know had this happen years ago during a church service as a young girl at the time.
-
In any case, my writing here is not to discuss the subject, but to notice an interesting observation. There were many who came to my church to hear this individual. There were those who usually come who did not show up. For whatever reasons, many people I know do not believe that Hell is a literal place of torment, even though it is clear that it is: Mark 9:44 "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Rev. 14:11 "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: And they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."
-
Obviously, I am not saying that those who don’t want to hear about it are going there, any more than those who do listen are not going there. We know that Acts 4:12 says "Neither is there salvation in any other: (Jesus) for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." .The point I am making here is this: We as individuals often go into denial regarding subjects we encounter in life, and join that church or group that comes as close to that theology.
Over the years I have met parents – often single mothers – who have been divorced, remarried, or still single – and have young children with wrong last names. By that I mean that the mother may have had a promiscuous affair, got pregnant, and did not want the father to have any rights to the child. For that reason she refused to give the hospital the father’s last name for the birth certificate. So the child grows up with the last name of the mother’s first husband. The sad part is that one day the child is going to ask his mother "who is my father?", and she will simply say "shaddup and eat your breakfast". The lie that had been going on for years will finally fly in the face of truth. I cringe at these situations I know personally, for it is going to create bitterness, disappointment, and lack of respect for the one who had lied to them for years. My heart breaks for these children, and tens of thousands of others I have met in door to door ministry over the last 20 years.
-
Individuals who I have confronted concerning something that happened between us, and I want to rectify a relationship - often deny it ever happened. It is simply an issue of honesty (or lack thereof), pride, and refusing to admit a fault. Those same people often live a lie similar to the one described above. How do they go to bed at night and have any kind of relationship with God? Do they deny these facts when talking to Him as well? There is a paramount importance of being honest to God, to others and to ourselves. "To thine own self be true." Anything less than that is a life of living a lie, and "Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;" (1Tim. 4:2 ). And to who is this talking to? 1Tim. 4:1 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils."
-
Let us not "vote the Sheriff out" of our lives.
-
www.DavidFilm.com
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