Time has wings; and it flies at a great speed. This is the third month of this year. Yet it still seems like yesterday that we congratulated ourselves for making it into the new year. Many people made resolutions. If you promised to give your life to Christ, have you done so? One month has gone by – just like that! I want to beg you: Please, now is the hour to fully give your life to Him who died that you might go to heaven. Even if you do not die now, somehow, the days are running faster. Each day that passes brings you closer to old age and to death.
Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27 says: “It is appointed for men to die once. But after this, the judgment.”
God has said it clearly in the book of Hebrews that it is appointed for man to die once. In other words, the surest thing on earth is death. It is amazing how the word of God comes across to us on this issue. We seem to ignore or not really understand what this is about. “It is appointed unto man once to die.”
If I ask you now when you are going to die, what would be your answer? Do you know when you are going to die? But we live as if we know when we will die. Who told you when you will die? Are you better than the dead? One thing we should know is that belonging to a church does not stop people from dying, especially when their appointed time has come. What the Church (i.e. the body of Christ) does is that it prepares people to face death and judgment. Everybody should be ready to die at any point in time. You must be ready always to go back to your Maker and give account of your life to Him.
The second part of the scripture quoted above says something important. It says: “After death, judgment.” People do not live in the tomb – that beautiful place prepared with marble, granite and expensive stones, well decorated for burial or resting place. Nobody lives in those things. That is just a place for the body that is already dead and rotten. The tomb is not where you are going to live. The real you, your spirit, is going somewhere else; either to hell or heaven. Hell is a terrible place. It is said that the worms in hell do not die. The fire is not quenched. It is forever burning and there is torment non-stop. Hell is a place that God does not want you to go to; but the devil is luring you there with sin.
Friends, I want to tell you what will make you to avoid hell. The Bible tells us that “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”
The message I bring to you every fortnight on this column is not about joining any particular church, but it is about the Kingdom of God. It is about reality; it is about the truth, and it is about what happens to your soul when you die. God wants to give you rest on earth so that when you die, your soul comes back to Him in heaven, because it is appointed unto man once to die and after that, the judgment.
You are not just the body that you are seeing. The real you is a spirit; you have a soul and you live in a body. Your body is what houses your spirit. It is a covering. Your body is not you, but it is what houses you. One day your body is going to die. Your body is what permits you to operate on earth as a human being. What happens is that it is easy for the devil to take charge of you through your body, because it is weak and lusts after the sinful enticements of the devil which are: “adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lasciviousness, idolatory, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling and such like.” – Galatians 5:19
The Bible tells us that these are the things that will take us to hell. And these are the things that the devil packages to attract people. So, what should we do? It is not easy to stop the lust of the flesh, but your sure step is to accept Christ Jesus who died for you that your past sins would be forgiven, and He will give you the grace to defeat Satan and the power of sin.
Once your body dies, your real you, which is your spirit, shows up for judgment and it will either be taken to heaven or to hell. What determines where you go is your relationship with Jesus while you were alive. You may have heard this before: If you reject Jesus, you are going to hell. If you accept Christ and you work according to Biblical precepts, you are going to heaven. After judgment you are going to where you deserve.
My assignment is to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to you to stop you from going to hell. Hell is not a place of party. I have heard people say that when they get there, there will be all kinds music and fun. Wrong! I do not know when you are going to die, you do not know when you are going to die; I am not praying for your death, but that when you die, you will go to Jesus in heaven. If you do not accept Jesus and live by His way, you will not enter heaven.
“It is appointed to man once to die…” There is going to come a day, whether you like it or not, that you are going to die. But what is important is this: Do not die without Jesus in your life. Two thousand years ago, He died a sacrificial death for you and me so that when we die, we would not perish in hell, but have everlasting life in heaven. What good news!
You can do something about what Christ has done. Nobody can change where you are going once you die. There is no High Mass or Low Mass or Requiem Service or Service of Songs or anything that can change your destination. You determine where you are going here on earth. If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, thank God that you are still alive. It is dangerous to live one more minute without accepting Him into your life.
Friends, this is the time for you to make the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. If you make up your mind to have Him, then say this prayer. God is calling you. It is time to make peace with Him. Say: Lord Jesus, be merciful unto me. I am a sinner. Have mercy on me, come into my life. Be my Lord and Saviour. Be my Master. From today, I repent. I say yes to you; and I say no to the devil. I reject sin, I reject Satan, I reject sickness and I reject disease. Lord Jesus, from today, I am your child. Thank you for saving me and for writing my name in the book of life. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, you are becoming a Christian. There are three things I always say to new believers:
1. Get yourself a Bible and begin to study it, starting with the Gospel according to John.
2. Pray in the name of Jesus.
3. Look for a good Bible-believing church where Jesus is preached in spirit and in truth as Lord and Saviour, go and worship God there and you will be blessed.
NB: First published February 2014