The Battlefield

Today is a day that I have willing and consciously made a decision to stand up and be counted amongst my friends and contacts, but before that can be accomplished I have a duty to seek out your forgiveness for living a life so close to the edge of worldliness that it has brought much disrepute to the message of true salvation and the way a man ought to live after having his eyes opened to “the actual meaning of life”.

Over a period and at times I was wrong to live in such a way that after claiming to understand Christianity and what it is all about I lived with one foot in the world whilst the other was firmly planted upon Christian principles.

I came to understand at the age of 21 that I was a sinner and that I needed rescue from my sin. I truly found that reality 29 years ago, my life changed and it was obvious to all that something had happened, I did a 180 degree turn, the life I once lived, “wine, woman and song” was no longer what drove me but rather my new found understanding of who God is and what He is all about became my obsession. The Bible was by far my most prized possession.

Years went by and before long I decided to dabble back in the areas I had been saved from, with a warped idea that I needed to take the truth to others who were unreachable, those outside my closed nit circle of friends, who had already turned the corner and come to the light and were now Christians.  So I ventured into bars and clubs with music blaring and I would find a willing ear with a glass of soda in my hand and go about declaring my conversion to them. Over time, I was doing that with a beer in my hand and before long I was no longing sharing the Lord Jesus’ mercy with the masses but running with them. And as this may well have affected some of you, I ask for your forgiveness, I was wrong.  

Since then my life has run in circles, cycles of Christianity and then secularism with my odd habits running riot. Again some of you may have witnessed that madness, having been apart of that mayhem and for this I am also sorry as it has not stood you in good stead of a conviction of what true Christianity is all about, but rather the evidence of hypocrisy obvious to all. For this I too seek your forgiveness. Some of you have witnessed my entire life and the foolishness of it with two failed marriages and much more and there is nothing I can do about the past, except own the error of my ways and seek out forgiveness from all who have been offended. I was wrong!

In hindsight for those who think there was no price attached to my rebellion, I would remind them that if a man takes fire to his bosom he will be burnt. I have the scars in my body and how that will play out in eternity, God knows, but what I do know is that there will always be consequences attached to any form of rebellion.

 I have personally looked deep within my soul and owned my folly and I have confronted those closest to me and mostly found their forgiveness, but there may be others that I am unaware of that I have offended and I pen this post in the hope that I will reach at least some of you apologising for my past, a poor example of Christianity. However for some time now my soul has been at peace; by God’s grace I have made up my mind to be counted amongst God’s children and as a Christian my prayer and wish is that those of you, whom I have reconnected with via technology, Facebook and the like, may contemplate these truths. There is nothing else attached to this appeal and I have no hidden agenda, aside from, just as the goodness of God found me out, even in spite of all my weaknesses, I pray that He too will find you and help you see the light. That through the eyes of faith He will reveal Himself unto you as you see Jesus high and lifted up, seated at the right hand of God in heaven.

With that now out in the open for all to witness I must now declare that by the grace of God I have finally been brought to my senses and I am willing to stand up and be counted amongst the Children of God, come what may. Even if it costs me my life here on earth, I know in whom I believe. The reward which will be ours as Christians is far greater than any sequential damage that a Christian may need to face here on earth. The time for childishness has most certainly run its course in my life. When I was a child I spoke as a child, but as a man it is time to put aside childish things; it is time for men to stand up and be counted.

Some are driven to be doctors, others teachers and the like, I on the other hand have surprisingly been summoned onto the front lines where the battle is fierce. It’s not a battle where the blades of honed steel clash but rather a playground filled with lies, dressed as truth, as people blow out their opinionated ideas about the happenings of life after death on a whim.

Regardless of your take up until now on what you perceive as your truth, at least lend an ear to what I have to say; I do not speak on my own authority but I come in the name of Jesus Christ the (my) Lord.

  

This is now what I have to declare to all those who have been sold the lie that if we are good and decent people that God will accept us into heaven once we move from this life into the next. The bible is very clear that after death our spirits (souls) will live on and for some, they will escape the “second death” but for others, that death will drive them into a place of torment for eternity. That torment will never end; it will be heaven or hell, one or the other with no exceptions. Some may ask, on what authority can I make such a claim? On the power of the inspired Words of God found in the Holy Bible! I am not fabricating my own opinionated ideas but will have the decency to declare the truth to you even if I am hated for it; there are far too many people who believe the lies sold out in this world today, its time to take a hard look in the mirror! Do not take my word for it if that’s too much to ask, test what I say and examine the scriptures yourself.  

Here is the truth on the matter at hand; “And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15) – This verse is very clear regarding all those who are not found in heaven’s register, they will all end up in the Lake of Fire and there is no wiggle room or loop holes to what that verse teaches us. Like I have already established, this is not an opinionated idea that I conjured up but rather a direct quote from the inspired Word of God, the Holy Bible! With millions if not billions of copies of this book, which God has allowed most of mankind to get their hands on and seek out His truth.

God could have held His truth from us but He hasn’t! And yet so many of us have a copy of the Bible somewhere in arms reach but all it does is gather dust. It’s like a man who sits on a treasure chest of jewels with the key somewhere not too far out of reach, but all he does is dream about what his life could be like, not knowing that all he needs to do is open the trunk and there will be enough value in it to cover all his debt and more.

It’s often the bad news we face in life that drives us into action. All I am endeavouring to do is bring out some pertinent verses that topically relate to the voices of this world. One of which is for those who believe that if you are a “good person” then you will make it into heaven’s register, sadly you are wrong according to the Bible’s teachings; “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) – Therefore every single human being outside of the man Jesus has been classed as sinners, guilty of their breach towards God and His requirements. One may ask will I be classed in the same category as a murderer, the answer is in the text, we all fall short of God’s glory in one way or another and therefore we must all own our sin, understanding that we are in trouble before we will ever seek out salvation and without that mind-set we will never reach the desired place.

It’s only a sick person that seeks out the doctor’s aid and not the healthy. God’s love has offered a lifeline to all. How was this accomplished? In and through His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, God became a man, the creator came down to the level of His creation as He understood their dilemma and lived a life without sin and yet He was treated as the scum of the earth, go figure! Tried and then crucified for a crime he never committed, classed amongst sinners, although guiltless of any sin and punished as if he had sinned. Why did God allow this to happen? The answer is simple: to free men and women like you and me. Many have and some will continue to find salvation in Him and escape the exact point I have originally raised, the Lake of Fire! Will you be amongst that number?

The man Jesus was able to meet every one of God’s requirements and the penalty of our sin was placed upon Him, allowing sinners to call upon the name of the Lord and to be saved from the looming judgement. Outside of His sanctification (to perform a ritual or other act intended to free somebody from sin) we will all stand guilty before a holy God and be cast into the Lake of Fire. It’s simple mathematics! The only way a person will enter heaven is to have their name written in the Book of Life and for that to happen we must be born again. Let us not be thrown by that cliché, a phrase that has been discredited by so many, all it simply means is that we need to repent of our sin and in faith ask God to forgive us of our sin and believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. Here is the proof; “Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."” (John 3:5-8) – And we have already established that only those whose names are written in the Book of Life will avoid the Lake of Fire.

In conclusion the shout that is reverberating across the globe, which is “be good” in your own righteousness, is most certainly a different message to the one of the Bible. We are now left with a decision to make, will you believe the voices of those created or the voice of the creator. I have made up my mind, as for me and my household we will serve the only true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I leave the sceptics with this thought, for there is a day coming where this will materialize according to the scriptures teachings; “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-14)

Signing off

Tyrone