Aerosmith: "Chip Away at the Stone"

This band rocked the seventies with many great songs. One of those was about a determined man trying to win over a woman he fancied. She wanted nothing to do with him but he kept up his charm offensive in hopes of winning her over. Check the song out here:

The world's most well-known scripture verse is the Lord's mission statement to humanity. John 3:16 in the Bible in Basic English reads, "For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life."

We also find in Scripture that God is a heart-transplant expert. Ezekiel 36:26 (BBE) explains, "And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you: I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh."

Of course there is surgery we must also perform. Deuteronomy 10:16 (BBE) reads, "Let your circumcision be of the heart, and put away your pride."

Naturally this heart operation is a spiritual one. When Israel demanded a king instead of having god as their sovereign, 1 Samuel 12:20 and 21 records what he said through his prophet. "Then Samuel said to the people, 'Have no fear: truly you have done evil, but do not be turned away from the Lord; be his servants with all your heart; And do not go from the right way turning to those false gods in which there is no profit and no salvation, for they are false.'"

God is still chipping away at hardened hearts. As Hebrews 3:15 (BBE) points out, "As it is said, 'Today if you will let his voice come to your ears, be not hard of heart, as when you made him angry.'"

A day will come when our Master will return and pronounce judgement on the wicked as well as bring rewards to the righteous. Christ said in Matthew 13:47-50 (BBE), "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net, which was put into the sea and took in every sort of fish: When it was full, they took it up on the sands; and seated there they put the good into vessels, but the bad they put away. So will it be in the end of the world: the angels will come and take out the bad from the good, And will put them into the fire: there will be weeping and cries of sorrow."

If that hasn't happened by Thursday, I hope to post about unintended consequences.

The Most Frightening Day in History

What would you say was the most frightening day in human history? I'm sure we all would have a list of those disastrous events. But a day is coming where billions of people will be panicking but it'll be too late for them.

Jesus said he'd come back in judgement of all people who ever lived. Matthew 13:47-50 BBE) reads, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net, which was put into the sea and took in every sort of fish: When it was full, they took it up on the sands; and seated there they put the good into vessels, but the bad they put away. So will it be in the end of the world: the angels will come and take out the bad from the good, And will put them into the fire: there will be weeping and cries of sorrow."

Notice that it's the Kingdom of Heaven which Christ was describing. The church has both saved and unsaved individuals in it. Jesus told a parable about a farmer sewing good seed and an enemy spreading weed seeds on the land during the night. But the weeds weren't pulled up lest they also root up the good wheat. At harvest time, meaning the end of this wicked age, the wheat was gathered up but the look-alike tares were burned. Matthew 13:40 (BBE) warns, "As then the evil plants are got together and burned with fire, so will it be in the end of the world."

Jesus likewise described the fate of the phoney Christians in Matthew 7:22 and 23 (BBE). "A great number will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, were we not prophets in your name, and did we not by your name send out evil spirits, and by your name do works of power?' And then will I say to them, 'I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.'"

But this most-frightening day also includes every sinner who ever lived on this planet. Revelation 6:15 and 16(BBE) declares, "And the kings of the earth, and the rulers, and the chief captains, and the men of wealth, and the strong, and every servant and free man, took cover in the holes and the rocks of the mountains; And they say to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Come down on us, covering us from the face of him who is seated on the high seat, and from the wrath of the Lamb:'"

When Christ comes again, every person will be separated according to their nature. The righteous will be on his right and the wicked on his left. As Matthew 25:31 and 32 (BBE), using a livestock metaphor, explains, "But when the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then will he be seated in his glory: And before him all the nations will come together; and they will be parted one from another, as the sheep are parted from the goats by the keeper."

Furthermore, hell is so horrific that the Bible uses metaphors such as fire, darkness, and worms to describe it's torments. Mark 9:48 and 49 (BBE) ends Christ's description of that place of eternal punishment. "Where their worm is ever living and the fire is not put out. Everyone will be salted with fire."

Even angels aren't immune to being exiled to hell. Jude 1:6 tells us, "And the angels who did not keep to their kingdom but went out from the place which was theirs, he has put in eternal chains and in dark night till the great day of the judging."

I hope you're a child of the Lord and not of your father, the Devil. So many folks assume they'll be paradise bound when they die but they'll end up incarcerated with demons eternally. That's why I'm writing my book, You Think You're Going to Heaven? I want none of my readers to end up in such a horrifying place.

On Saturday, I'll post about a sunken ship and that was immortalized in a song by Gordon Lightfoot.

What about the End Times Slaughter of Jews?

Up until a few hundred years ago, Christians uniformally believed in the sudden and total return of Jesus Christ. Then a man named John Nelson Darby ran with an idea by some obscure monk that there are two groups of people who God is working with, namely Jews and the church universal.

Worse yet, some Christians think that there will be a future slaughter of the Jews that will make the Holocaust seem like a paper cut. These people even worked to settle Jews in Israel while believing that most of them would be exterminated during the great tribulation.

I object to this end times notion. People who cling to that idea don't realize that they're reading their Bibles literally rather than literately. Proponents of end times prophecy assume that we who live nearest to Christ's return are somehow special and the Bible is written to us. Careful study and an understanding of Jewish history shows how wrong these people are.

The entire Bible is about humanity's fall and God's plan to save as many as will trust in the Saviour. Jesus himself said to the Pharisees in John 5:39 (KJV) that they should, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

Certain people also misread end time scriptures and come up with two resurrections in time. The verses they quote are actually two types of resurrection.

But we can see how the good and bad are separated in Matthew 13:47 to 50 (KJV). "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

I'll be writing so much more about eternity in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heven? Choosing to follow Christ is the most important decision we can make.