The noted Baptist preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon, was once asked, “If you had a choice, where would you locate your church?”
“Just ouside the gates of Hell,” replied Spurgeon, “so that every sinner would have at least one last chance before he entered the eternal fires of Hell.”
The Pharisees had a far different point of view. They believed that God danced and rejoiced on the coffin of a dead sinner, heading to Hell. No last chances for sinners in their theology.
As a young Christian, I sort of agreed with the Pharisees. You know, “Get right with Jesus or go to Hell. No skin off my nose!”
Then, the Lord gave me a vision of people laughing and skipping their way into Hell. Each acted like a young first grader on a class outing, full of energy and excitement. Thousands and thousands of them were on the path, each following the person in front of them.
At the front of the line, a man dressed in a religious outfit led the whole group. Everyone trusted him. He knew the right direction. And yet, the path ended in a dark hole. The people paid no attention to the ominous cave-like entrance and gladly skipped through it, into the eternal abyss of Hell.
I didn’t see the inside of Hell, but I heard the cries and screams of its occupants. There was no hope for them. Just pain, agony and screaming for all of eternity.
Since the vision, I can think of no one that I would want to see ending up in Hell for eternity. No one.
Maybe you think,”What about Saddam Hussein? Don’t you think that he deserved an eternity in Hell?”
Of course, Hussein deserved to go to Hell, but so did I! My sin of unbelief was every bit as wrong as his. And yet, by the Lord’s grace, there was a church located just outside the gates of Hell that stopped me from entering its hopeless abyss.
The church’s name: Bill. He was a businessman. (See testimony.)
Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It will contain a little of this and a little of that to encourage believers in their Christian jouneys.
Larry Who 