LOCKED DOORS
OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH
Non-believers
Chapter 19
This book is for the person who does not believe in Jesus or has never been told about Him. I must apologize to you for our (Christians) lack of interest in saving you. As you can see from reading this book, we are all guilty of not doing a good job of sharing Christ with you. You are right when you say that “if we truly loved God” why are we not out in the streets proclaiming Him to everyone? To be honest with you, I am not sure I can answer that question. As Christians we feel compelled to pray for you and to be there if you need us. But for some reason we just do not get out of our churches to meet you. It is as though the doors are locked “after” we get “in” the church. Our Christianity is locked inside the church. We know that we are supposed to get out and make disciples for Christ but we always assume that someone else will do it for us (or for Christ!).
While we Christians shamefully keep our faith to ourselves: while the only place we truly serve Christ is within the doors of the church: we are losing ground. There are thousands upon thousands of “Christians” who have not repented of their sins. The Bible clearly states that no liar, adulterer, murderer, whoremonger, effeminate, fornicator will ever inherit the kingdom of God.
Does that mean that if you are guilty of one or more of these sins; you will go to Hell? Many people want to hear an answer of “no” of course not. They say that my God is a loving God and He would never send me to Hell because I believe in Him. He will forgive me of all my sins. Will He? What if you continue in the same sin day in and day out? What if you never repent of your sins and never try to change your ways?
If that is the case then you do not truly love God. The answer to the Hell question is – Yes. You will go to Hell. Because God is a just and loving God, He will and must judge each person. If you repent and confess your sins to God then you will be saved. It is when we put off the old self and put on the new self that God will change our hearts and our ultimate destiny.
Have you repented of your sins? Are you humble and truly sorry for not following Christ? There are people out there right now as you read this book that are doing a job that every Christian should be doing. They go out knocking on doors and talk to people about Jesus. Unfortunately, they are leading people to Hell because they are proclaiming a false gospel. They use Christian words and they read the Bible but Satan has confused their mind. They do not seek the truth and when it is spoken to them, they ignore the Truth. Earlier in the book I showed you what they believe about God and the Bible. The longer it takes you to get out of the church and out into the streets where the sinners/lost souls are, then the more people will be deceived and ultimately headed for Hell.
Dan Arnold said, “the gospel has not been clearly preached if the hearer doesn’t know that not to make a decision is a decision.”
What decision have you made? Take a look at the Ten Commandments again and see if you are guilty before God.
Ten Commandments
1. You shall have no God before me.
2. You shall not make any graven image.
3. You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.
4. You shall keep the Sabbath Day Holy.
5. You shall honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not kill. (Hatred for brother)
7. You shall not commit adultery (lust)
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not lie.
10. You shall not covet.
Go back to the beginning of the book. Look at each one of these Commandments in depth. If God were to judge you for breaking His Commands, would you be innocent or guilty? Would you go to Heaven or Hell?
Are you willing to go to Hell just so you don’t have to give up your sinful ways? You know what sin is now so you have no excuse when you face God. (The same is true for all believers!)
Imagine if you will, you are on top of a tall mountain covered with snow (not you, the mountain!). You are going to attempt to ski down the mountain. You start out well enough but you gradually pick up speed and it is going too fast for you. You try to stop but you can’t. All of a sudden you lose your balance and you start to tumble down the mountain. You can’t keep yourself from doing somersaults and flipping over and over. You crash into some rocks and bang your head a few times. You break your leg and then your arm. The pain doesn’t hit you yet. It won’t really hit you until you hit the bottom of the mountain and come to a crashing stop. Death is certain and it will not be a painless death. Those that loved you will have the memory of watching you fall down that mountain and there was nothing they could do to save you. You do not die right away, you wish you could but the pain just stays and gets worse and worse through time.
Now suppose you are at the top of the snow covered mountain and you are going to attempt to go it alone. You begin downward and the speed starts to go faster and faster. It is faster than you can handle. You try to stop but you can’t. You lose your balance and start to tumble. You do several flips and are about to crash into the rocks, which will certainly break at least one of your arms. Right as you are about to hit the rocks an arm reaches out and is able to pull you to safety. It pulls you to a tightrope that leads back to the top of the mountain. You grab hold of the rope and hold on with all your strength. The person who saved you is right behind you to make sure you make it up the mountain safely. You are relieved that someone cared enough to reach out to save you. You are on your way to a safe haven. As you go back up the mountain you look out onto the mountain and see a loved one trying to go down the mountain alone. They run into the same problem you had and are starting to tumble.
What would you do? Would you ignore them? Or would you reach out your hand and bring them to safety too?
As a non-Christian, you are attempting to go down the mountain by yourself. You are confident in your own abilities but whether you feel the pain now or not does not matter. When life comes to an end you will feel pain. Not just a temporary pain: but an everlasting tormented pain!
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
If you are tumbling down the mountain right now and don’t know how to stop it, the thing to do is to acknowledge your sins to God and repent of them. Do it right now! As you do, you will receive the hand that will save you from your fall. Look up to God and give Him thanks. Praise His name over any other name on earth. Jesus died on the cross so that you will not have to suffer the pain of death (eternity in Hell). He loves you so much that He is not willing that any should perish. Won’t you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior today? Confess your sins and truly repent of those sins. No longer be a slave to your sins but take charge over your life with Jesus as your pilot (or the lifeguard on slopes of life)
OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH
Non-believers
Chapter 19
This book is for the person who does not believe in Jesus or has never been told about Him. I must apologize to you for our (Christians) lack of interest in saving you. As you can see from reading this book, we are all guilty of not doing a good job of sharing Christ with you. You are right when you say that “if we truly loved God” why are we not out in the streets proclaiming Him to everyone? To be honest with you, I am not sure I can answer that question. As Christians we feel compelled to pray for you and to be there if you need us. But for some reason we just do not get out of our churches to meet you. It is as though the doors are locked “after” we get “in” the church. Our Christianity is locked inside the church. We know that we are supposed to get out and make disciples for Christ but we always assume that someone else will do it for us (or for Christ!).
While we Christians shamefully keep our faith to ourselves: while the only place we truly serve Christ is within the doors of the church: we are losing ground. There are thousands upon thousands of “Christians” who have not repented of their sins. The Bible clearly states that no liar, adulterer, murderer, whoremonger, effeminate, fornicator will ever inherit the kingdom of God.
Does that mean that if you are guilty of one or more of these sins; you will go to Hell? Many people want to hear an answer of “no” of course not. They say that my God is a loving God and He would never send me to Hell because I believe in Him. He will forgive me of all my sins. Will He? What if you continue in the same sin day in and day out? What if you never repent of your sins and never try to change your ways?
If that is the case then you do not truly love God. The answer to the Hell question is – Yes. You will go to Hell. Because God is a just and loving God, He will and must judge each person. If you repent and confess your sins to God then you will be saved. It is when we put off the old self and put on the new self that God will change our hearts and our ultimate destiny.
Have you repented of your sins? Are you humble and truly sorry for not following Christ? There are people out there right now as you read this book that are doing a job that every Christian should be doing. They go out knocking on doors and talk to people about Jesus. Unfortunately, they are leading people to Hell because they are proclaiming a false gospel. They use Christian words and they read the Bible but Satan has confused their mind. They do not seek the truth and when it is spoken to them, they ignore the Truth. Earlier in the book I showed you what they believe about God and the Bible. The longer it takes you to get out of the church and out into the streets where the sinners/lost souls are, then the more people will be deceived and ultimately headed for Hell.
Dan Arnold said, “the gospel has not been clearly preached if the hearer doesn’t know that not to make a decision is a decision.”
What decision have you made? Take a look at the Ten Commandments again and see if you are guilty before God.
Ten Commandments
1. You shall have no God before me.
2. You shall not make any graven image.
3. You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.
4. You shall keep the Sabbath Day Holy.
5. You shall honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not kill. (Hatred for brother)
7. You shall not commit adultery (lust)
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not lie.
10. You shall not covet.
Go back to the beginning of the book. Look at each one of these Commandments in depth. If God were to judge you for breaking His Commands, would you be innocent or guilty? Would you go to Heaven or Hell?
Are you willing to go to Hell just so you don’t have to give up your sinful ways? You know what sin is now so you have no excuse when you face God. (The same is true for all believers!)
Imagine if you will, you are on top of a tall mountain covered with snow (not you, the mountain!). You are going to attempt to ski down the mountain. You start out well enough but you gradually pick up speed and it is going too fast for you. You try to stop but you can’t. All of a sudden you lose your balance and you start to tumble down the mountain. You can’t keep yourself from doing somersaults and flipping over and over. You crash into some rocks and bang your head a few times. You break your leg and then your arm. The pain doesn’t hit you yet. It won’t really hit you until you hit the bottom of the mountain and come to a crashing stop. Death is certain and it will not be a painless death. Those that loved you will have the memory of watching you fall down that mountain and there was nothing they could do to save you. You do not die right away, you wish you could but the pain just stays and gets worse and worse through time.
Now suppose you are at the top of the snow covered mountain and you are going to attempt to go it alone. You begin downward and the speed starts to go faster and faster. It is faster than you can handle. You try to stop but you can’t. You lose your balance and start to tumble. You do several flips and are about to crash into the rocks, which will certainly break at least one of your arms. Right as you are about to hit the rocks an arm reaches out and is able to pull you to safety. It pulls you to a tightrope that leads back to the top of the mountain. You grab hold of the rope and hold on with all your strength. The person who saved you is right behind you to make sure you make it up the mountain safely. You are relieved that someone cared enough to reach out to save you. You are on your way to a safe haven. As you go back up the mountain you look out onto the mountain and see a loved one trying to go down the mountain alone. They run into the same problem you had and are starting to tumble.
What would you do? Would you ignore them? Or would you reach out your hand and bring them to safety too?
As a non-Christian, you are attempting to go down the mountain by yourself. You are confident in your own abilities but whether you feel the pain now or not does not matter. When life comes to an end you will feel pain. Not just a temporary pain: but an everlasting tormented pain!
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
If you are tumbling down the mountain right now and don’t know how to stop it, the thing to do is to acknowledge your sins to God and repent of them. Do it right now! As you do, you will receive the hand that will save you from your fall. Look up to God and give Him thanks. Praise His name over any other name on earth. Jesus died on the cross so that you will not have to suffer the pain of death (eternity in Hell). He loves you so much that He is not willing that any should perish. Won’t you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior today? Confess your sins and truly repent of those sins. No longer be a slave to your sins but take charge over your life with Jesus as your pilot (or the lifeguard on slopes of life)
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