Sing a new song to the Lord

When I was young, my mother would drop me and my siblings off for Sunday School at the mainstream Protestant church down the street. My parents were not church goers. My mother had been forced to go to her mainstream Protestant church growing up, but was turned off by the hypocrites. My father had been forced, on occasion, to go to his mainstream Protestant church, but he got nothing from it. My mother thought it was at least important to drop us off until about the age of 12. I can remember when I was about 10, the Sunday School teacher at the church down the street was saying that we all get to go to heaven, and that there was no hell. I remember calling her down about that, even back then, because that wouldn't make sense. If EVERYBODY got to go to heaven, then why not all act as bad as we wanted to. There was no incentive to do anything for God. She kind of winced, and said that she really didn't know, but that maybe there would just be a handful of REALLY bad guys there, but then went back to her stance, that there was no hell.

I've thought about that a lot over the years, and have read what God says in the Bible. If you get to know God, through reading His word and talking to Him in prayer, you will see that He is a loving God, and a JUST God. It would not be fair for everyone to go to heaven; evil people would not deserve to. It's like this: God created man and woman (Adam & Eve) and told them the only thing they couldn't do was to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good & evil. But they disobeyed. They listened and believed the serpent (satan's) lies. The punishment was for them and all of mankind. After this, man is born into sin. Satan rules this world and has since that day. So, God sent His son, Jesus, to come to earth and die on the cross for our sins, and take our punishment for us. We have to: agree we are sinners, accept His gift, and walk with Him and take up our daily cross. We will still sin, but we must confess and repent (turn from) our errors.

There are lots of arguments about the 'once saved, always saved,' but, like when I was a child, I see that that wouldn't be fair either. How does it make sense or be fair, for someone to 'accept Jesus' some time in their life, and then go on to lead a disobedient lifestyle, and still think they are going to heaven because of some decision years ago. When you study the Bible, if you get the Greek Bible, the verb in most cases is continuous. For example, the verse, "Knock, and the door shall be opened, Seek and ye shall find," is the verb translated as 'knock and keep on knocking, and seek and keep on seeking. It is continuous. It's not some one time decision as most Protestant churches have watered down salvation. They have become almost all old traditions, and no new song, no new wine.

Most 'religions' these days have lost their way, both big and small. This is why most religions in America (and throughout the world) are losing people annually. They don't preach the entire Bible. They only cherry pick the verses they want to. And they are missing the most important part, the POWER, which comes from the Holy Spirit INDWELLING in them. Many churches (certainly not all) are just concentrating on the money, and telling people what they want to hear. The Bible says in the end times, that the churches will be 'tickling our ears.' Well, we are certainly there. Many American Christian churches are phasing the name JESUS out, as some find it offensive. What?! They phased the word 'hell' out years ago, and introduced 'greasy grace,' telling all that we all can go to heaven if we SAY we are Christian. THAT'S where hypocrites come in. You cannot be a Christian in name only. His word says, 'Faith without works is dead.' But then most churches don't even read from the Bible anymore...

If you REALLY want the truth, go back to the source - the Bible. Don't accept what most of these churches are selling. Remember, the truth will set you FREE...