Good people can go to hell

There are plenty of good people that are headed for Hell. Maybe not today or tomorrow but later on down the road because of wrong ideas of what gets you to Heaven. I was going to be one of them.

I grew up Catholic and was made sure that we attended Church at least on Easter and Christmas (We did attend a lot more and I went to Catechism until fourth grade). After elementary school we attended church at everything from a Catholic church to a predominantly black pentecostal church. I knew who Jesus and God were but I gave up on Church mentally. I thought everyone was a hypocrite, lived one way on Sunday and different the rest of the week. I believed in Jesus, but didn't go much further then that.

I thought faith was so much more then believing in Jesus. I figured there was a scale that mattered. If I did more good deeds then bad deeds, not only would that show up the people that claimed faith, it would gain favor in the eyes of God. So in high school, I rarely drank, never smoked, never had sex and tried to be nice and a good person to everyone. I didn't think I had any enemies and never tried to make enemies. Certainly I was way ahead of some of my so called Christian friends that partied, tried to have sex with everyone, drank like a fish and smoked anything they could get their hands on. I was better then them. Man was I wrong.

God tells us this in Romans 10:1-4...
"Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.  For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

We can think we know what gets us to heaven, but it could be our own understanding. The Scripture above tells us the people of Israel at the time were zealous, "the God intoxicated people." They might have been for God but not for God. They thought they had their understanding of faith and it was not right. The majority of them did not believe in Christ. Therefore they thought the good things they were doing and the rules they were following (Obeying the 600+ rules God/Pharisees gave) were the way to live. They were wrong.

Faith in Jesus gets you to heaven and it's the only way. Israel did not submit to God and acknowledge who Jesus was. The result would be a tough pill to swallow at death, Hell. This is one of the biggest lies today and a lie I believed for a long time. Just because you are a good person doesn't mean you will go to heaven. If you think you are going to Heaven because you know of Jesus, shoot, the devil knew who Jesus was and what he did, yet he won't be in Heaven. A lot of peole in Israel missed this, but you don't have too.

A drinker, smoker and someone who had a ton of pre-martial sex changed my thinking on faith. This friend was a Christian and went to church every week when I didn't. He told me Church is about worshipping God and Jesus. Everyone who goes to Church is messed up in one way or another because we all sin. He told me God expects us to be perfect. I couldn't grasp this. We aren't perfect people I told him. Exactly he responded. He went on to tell me this is was Jesus did, he died on the Cross for you and your sins/mistakes, when you have faith in Jesus you accept who Jesus is as your personal Lord and Savior he covers the area you fall short and as a result you get to go to heaven. I remember telling them, "I'm a good person." He told me, "Not good enough."

It took a little while before this sank in. Finally on November 5, 2000. I finally got the point and was baptized. I realized something a lot of Israelites didn't, Jesus paid the price for my sins on the cross and he was my savior. He died for me. Recognizing this and having faith in him allowed me to go to Heaven. No matter what good things you have done, it's not good enough, God wants to see perfection when you have your one on one meeting with him after your earthly life ends.

Faith isn't about doing more good deeds then bad deeds, it's about a relationship with Jesus.  What is your relationship with Jesus? Who is he to you? Christ wants to take you in, but you have to make the decision. The ball is in your court, what are you going to do with it? If you never made that decision, find someone you can talk to about this. If you have friends that have struggled with this, maybe God intended you to be the person they would talk to about this.

Have a great day.

Free Paranormal Research

It’s amazing what you can get for free.

Hailee and I recently went to a restaurant and were treated to a free breakfast.

Why?

A cockroach ran underneath our table.

It completely freaked Hailee out and she sat with her legs up on the booth seat across from her.

We weren’t mean or angry, we let the manager know quietly and she said the meal was on the house.

Nice.

People offer free stuff all the time.

Just check out the free listing at Craigslist.

This is one of the things you can get for free….

“Hello there. I posted this under free. We are a non profit organization, a qualified, well trained, experienced and very professional paranormal research team. We are looking and accepting cases, whether it’s residential, public or any place that u believe to be haunted. and if these issues are causing fear amongst family friends and household we are trained to verify. prove or disprove and collect and analyses evidence to support or make your mind at ease. We are a team that has been in the same seats as most clients. in fear and searching for answers. so with that said if u or any one u know needs help or answers this is my cell ….. only serious inquiries please. also we are looking to build our team.”

Interesting….

Often even things that are free come with a price.

If it usually sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Even with faith, someone had to pay the price.

Jesus said this in John 8:31-32…”If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus was talking to a group of Jews who believed in what he was talking about and this is what he said afterwards.

If you hold to the teaching of Jesus, you are his followers.

The truth will set you free.

I have heard a lot over the years.

By parents, teachers, leaders and I know I have said it through the years.

There is a cost when you tell the truth.

Sometimes it doesn’t make people happy.

The truth can hurt, but there are benefits to this.

A burden gets lifted off your chest when telling the truth.

The disciples told the truth and had to face the consequences.

All they had to do in their lives was denounce their faith and what they saw Jesus did.

If they lie, they would be allowed to live otherwise face some strong punishment….death.

They told the truth and died in painful ways.

Yet they were free.

When we carry guilt and lies around, it might not show, but we are a struggle inside.

What Jesus did and said was the truth.

When we recognize that he died on the cross and was risen from the grave three days later we are telling the truth.

Living life for Jesus is an amazing challenge.

It is very hard to live out our faith sometimes, and we fail more than we succeed.

But if you believe Jesus is the truth, he will set us free from our sins and reward us with eternal life.

Jesus can set us free.

Have a great day.