Psalms 2:1-5, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?Some scoffers work themselves up to believing that God is not good because he casts people in hell. They are simply following the lead of one of their mothers, Madelyn Murray O'Hair. It is a well-known that she spent her life raging against God as if he is not good. It is man that is not good. Madelyn's eldest son, William (now an evangelist), said this of his mother in his testimony (www.wjmurray.com)--
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. [The LORD is going to do his talking with his wrath.]
"I was born into a home of near constant rage and violence...As a result of my mother's constant angry outbursts she could not hold down a job and she, my brother and I lived with her parents and my unmarried uncle...My grandfather had never filed an income tax return and most of what he did do during his life was illegal or ill advised...My grandmother read Tarot cards and sent out demons by burning human hair. My uncle kept hoards of pornography in his room and my mother filled the house with statues of mating animals which she worshipped."
In reading of her life, it seems that Madelyn was a hateful person. Lest they be called a hypocrite, no atheist should call anything right or wrong--including Madelyn's reprobate behaviour--everything must be relative in their world because there is no ultimate lawgiver...but of course they do call certain things right and wrong--interesting how they don't even live out their own atheism. O'Hair did and she has been called Mad Madelyn (this was the name of a 1960's film documentary about Madelyn Murray O'Hair). She was atheism in its logical conclusion--every man does that which is right in his own eyes with nobody to answer to. Mr. Murray says this of his mother in another article (www.wjmurray.com/599statementohair.htm)--
"When I was a young boy of ten or eleven years old she would come home and brag about spending the day in X-rated movie theaters in downtown Baltimore...."My mother delighted in hiring unrepentant criminals to work in her atheist office. She particularly enjoyed hiring convicted murderers who had served their time but were unrepentant about what they had done....
"My mother was an evil person ... Not for removing prayer from America's schools ... No ... She was just evil. She stole huge amounts of money. She misused the trust of people. She cheated children out of their parents' inheritance. She cheated on her taxes and even stole from her own organizations. She once printed up phony stock certificates on her own printing press to try to take over another atheist publishing company. I could go on but I won't. All the money my mother made in this manner stayed behind. It did not go with her. 'For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out.' I Timothy 6:7
"My mother simply believed, 'Do what thou wilt shall be the only law.'"
Ms. O'Hair just lived out her atheism. No atheist should be ashamed of her and her profane life and words. They cannot judge based on any absolute standard (but there is an absolute standard, the law of God that they deny but which is so obviously what they need to live a reasoned-type life). According to Mr. Murray, the press stopped courting her because they had to bleep out so many of her curse words. Did you see the last sentence of Mr. Murray's comments above? My mother simply believed, "Do what thou wilt shall be the only law." Did you know that that is basically the creed formulated by famed Satanist Aleister Crowley? It basically says, "Do whatever you feel like doing." [Many church people are following that course as they ignore the scriptures and live like the world, now they are even chanting to the devil directly and are becoming magicians and workers with familiar spirits.]
(Feb 2001) O'Hair, her son, and her grandaughter have been missing since 1995. It is now believed that authorities have found their remains on a Texas cattle ranch. They were led to the remains by a former office manager for O'Hair. She liked hiring unrepentant, convicted felons--disobedient, lawless, reprobate persons--and it looks like one of them ended up stealing from her and killing her. Her mercedes, her mansion, her fine liquor took her down that broad way that so many people go down. I believe that there will be unrepentant persons that will read this treatise. They go through life living by the sight of their eyes--and when that time comes when those eyes are shut, they will awake in the horrors of hell...such frivolous way to live.
Atheist reader, you can't say O'Hair was deluded. What would be your standard? You can have none because according to you, there is no objective moral law. You can't judge no matter. Such is the life of the materialist. Proofs of divine law manifest all over the place and that is why an atheist can be upset about a matter. Proofs of good, evil, right and wrong cry out all over the place but atheists claim that there is no God.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. Psalm 14:1
What I find interesting is that you expect "justice". That's almost laughable. If somebody came and hit you up side your head, you'd want justice. If somebody stole your money, you'd want justice. What a hypocrite. Who are you to say anything is "wrong"? According to you, there is no Lawgiver. Nevertheless, you do know that these things are wrong, now don't you? Thou shalt not steal...Thou shalt not kill...Thou shalt not bear false witness against they neighbor... You know that it is not unreasonable to expect justice. This being the case, how do you know that there is right and wrong?
Beause God said it in his word and on your conscience, THAT'S why.
It is wrong to steal, to kill, to commit adultery, to lie, etc. Our earthly penal codes reflect this (Nobody came up with this out of their own head. The Bible teaches that the law of God is written on the hearts of men). I don't see you protesting on the courthouse steps because our police officers throw people in jail. Why? Beause you know evil doers must be punished, don't you? Alright then. Now let's talk about spiritual crimes...
God's penal code is found in the Bible and we have all BROKEN it! We're a bunch of criminals and we deserve God's holding pen. It's called hell. His penitentary is called the lake of fire. Notwithstanding the high stakes of disobedience, unrepentant criminals are committed to doing what they feel like doing (more crimes) and are resentful because God will judge them. They have great wrath because they are headed for hell and yet they do not want to admit that they criminals. They want to keep on doing dirt. They are obstinate, lawless, disobedient rebels.
There is one critical difference between the heavenbound and the hellbound--one repents and asks for forgiveness, the other decides he will go on in his trespasses still.
Heavenbound: They ask for forgiveness through the blood of Jesus that was shed for all the crimes that they have committed against God's law. They that they are guilty and lay themselves on the mercy of the Court. They believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, and repent--presenting themselves before God to do what is right according to God's holy word. And God gives them a pardon--his name is Jesus. He was slain on behalf of our sins, our trespasses. Not for ours only, but for those of the whole world. The Lord Jesus Christ did not die for himself, he had no sin. He died for every one of us criminals. When we repent, he helps us to obey his word.
Hellbound: When some hear the truth of the gospel, rather than repent, they stiffen up, and harden because they want to continue their criminal activities. They don't want a pardon! They want to keep on stealing, lying, fornicating, cursing, hoarding, exalting themselves, lusting, etc.--chasing the devil's dung! They don't want to be free. They reject the lawgiver for dung! Oh unrepentant atheist, oh unrepentant unbeliever, what utter bondage you are in. Persist and utter desolation will be your lot--you will be cast right into hell and, when the final judgment comes, you will not be found written in the book of life. At that point you will be cast into the lake of fire that burneth with fire and brimstone.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Many are like the church of the Laodiceans that say, "...I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." but they do not know that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. (ref. Revelation 3:17)
The Lord Jesus says this to the Laodiceans,
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." (Revelation 3:18)
The wicked say, "There is no sin. I just do what I want."
Fools make a mock at sin... (Proverbs 14:9)
My undiscerning friend, what is sin, but the transgression of the law? You obey laws everyday. Why? Because if you break them you will be punished! You keep man's laws but you get mad at God and breathe out against him because he has laws that you don't want to keep. You see, you hate God and love sin. You are an unrepentant rebel. That's why you unsuccessfully try to turn the tables around. In all actuality, you are the one that is hateful. You hate God and your blasphemies prove it. You will not prevail in your arguments. To spend a life raging against God Almighty is an exercise in futility and is the height of folly--the result of continuing on that course is an eternity of everlasting torment.
This whole article is essentially a discussion about God as the ultimate lawgiver. He is not unrighteous to cast rebels into the hell they worked to get into. Next, the words of Charles Haddeon Spurgeon concerning God as lawgiver and the punishment for sin--
First, we cannot expect that the God of the Bible would allow sin to go unpunished. Some may imagine it; they may dream their intellects into a state intoxication, so as to fantasize a God apart from justice; but no man who has any common sense, can imagine a God without justice.You cannot conceive of a good king or of a good government that could exist without Justice, much less of God, the Judge and King of all the earth, without justice in His heart. To imagine Him all love, and no justice, would be to make Him less than God. He would not be capable of ruling this world if He had not justice in His heart.
There is in man a natural perception of the fact that if God exists, He must be just; and I can cannot imagine that you can believe in a God, without believing also in the punishment of sin. It would be difficult to imagine Him elevated high above His creatures, seeing all their disobedience, and yet looking with the same composure upon the good and upon the evil; you cannot imagine Him giving the same reward of praise to the wicked and to the righteous...
This world is not the dungeon where God punishes sin...judgment is reserved for the next world...
Your own consciences will tell you that God must punish sin. You may laugh at me, and say that you have no such "belief." I did not say you had, but I said that your conscience tells you so, and conscience has more power over men than what they think to be their belief. As John Bunyan said, "Mr. Conscience had a very loud voice, and though Mr. Understanding shut himself up in a dark room where he could not see, yet he used to thunder out so loudly in the streets, that Mr. Understanding used to shake in his house through what Mr. Conscience said." And it is true so often.
You say in your understanding, "I cannot believe God will punish sin;" but you know He will. You don't want to confess your secret fears because to do so would be to give up what you have so often most bravely asserted. But because you assert it with such boasting and high-sounding words, I think you don't really believe it, for if you did, you would not need to look so big while saying it... I know that when you are dying you will believe in a hell. Conscience makes cowards of us all, and makes us believe, even when we say we don't, that God must punish sin.
We expect justice on earth--we want and expect criminals to be punished. Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? All men have sinned and done wrong, but God loved them and made a provision for them. He came here as a man to pay for man's sin. Those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are saved and become the sons of God.
In eternity, those that love their Creator will live with him. Those that do not love him, will not live with him. Every man has a soul, so therefore he must exist forever, whether in pleasure or in torment. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), but each man makes his own decision about what he wants to do--that choice is given to him.
There will be justice in eternity and there will be no misjudgments about a man's decision and his deeds. Wherever each of us ends up will be the place of our choosing. The stakes are high.
Using human logic to determine what God should be is dangerous and of fatal tendency. Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. God has left his word on record and it lights the way through the darkness for those who choose to believe him.
THE BREAKDOWN
Hell is like a specially prepared holding pen for criminals--like the county jail holds criminals until their trial. After they have had their trial on Judgment Day they will be cast into the lake of fire where they will serve out their sentence for all eternity--just like criminals serve their hard time in the penitentary (only in the lake of fire there is no parole, no cable tv, no water, no reprieve but rather a continual burning). Because Jesus rose from the dead, you will live forever. Death is not a deep sleep, it is everlasting consciousness. There are only two addresses in the afterlife--heaven and hell and the lake of fire. If you are unsaved when you die, you will go to hell
unless...
you seek after your Creator and ask for a pardon. There is only one way you'll get a pardon--the blood of Jesus. Jesus Christ left his glory in heaven and came to the earth to suffer and bleed and die on a Roman cross to pay for YOUR sins. He didn't have to do it, he didn't have any sins. He is God. But he loved you so much that he did it anyway--and he rose from the dead for your justification, believing in him, he will help you through this life. If you go to hell, you will have no one to blame but your own self.
Each man must make up his own mind. The consequences are eternal and the stakes are high.
The Stakes Are High
What will happen if you die
Rejecting the truth and trusting a lie?
Where will you go and what will you do
If the mouth of hell opens wide for you?
Cast into the fire that will not cease
There shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Everlasting torment and everlasting shame
To those who lived this life like it is one big game.
Rebels will not recover from their fatal error
An eternity awaits them full of terror.
Flee, flee from the wrath to come
You who have the gospel shunned.
The Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins so that you should not perish. Just repent of your sins and believe in his death, burial, and resurrection and obey his holy word (his commandments are not grievous)--the Lord Jesus helps his people to obey as they try to obey. God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world because he so loved the world. God is not willing that you should perish.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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