|
What do
you say when someone asks you, "If I don't accept
your religion, am I going to Hell?" or "Are you
telling me that if I don't believe in Jesus, a
Jewish carpenter who died 2,000 years ago, I'm
going to Hell?" Have you ever been asked a question
that? Most of us have. How should we answer? Rich
Nichol and Jamie Cowen, leaders in the UMJC, were
recently asked by a reporter for the Jerusalem
Post whether Jewish people who don't believe in
Jesus were going to Hell. According to an article
that appeared last summer in the Jerusalem Post,
Rich responded: "Our primary identity is as Jews.
We're not evangelists. He said that the UMJC...
does not believe that Jews who have not accepted
Jesus are doomed to hell."
Here's
how I would have answered it: B'va-dai! Of course!
And, here's why:
Hell
Is a Reality
We need
to know that Hell is a reality. The divinely inspired
Word of God, which is true and contains no errors,
presents Hell, like Heaven, as a very real place.
Hell is described as a place of disgrace and everlasting
contempt (Daniel 12:2), and a place of fire (Matthew
5:22). In fact, it is a Lake of Fire that burns
with fire and brimstone - burning sulfur (Revelation
20:14, 21:8). It is a place of destruction ( Matthew
7:13). Messiah told us not to fear those who can
kill the body (the First Death), but rather to
fear God who can destroy both body and soul in
Hell. It is described as the Second Death - the
First Death being physical death in this world,
and the Second Death (Revelation 21:14) being
the final separation from God that takes place
after the Judgment. If anyone is cast into Hell,
there is no escape.
The
Need for Hell
Gehenna,
one of the names for Hell, gives us a fascinating
insight into its purpose. Gehenna comes from "
the valley of the son of Hinnom." It was a deep,
narrow area to the south of Jerusalem, where those
Jewish people who became idolatrous, burned their
children alive as sacrifices to Molech, (2 Chronicles
28:3; 33:6; Jeremiah 7:33). This valley later
became the garbage dump for the city. Here the
garbage, perhaps including the dead bodies of
animals and all kinds of filth, were cast and
consumed by fire. Over time it became the symbol
of the final destiny of the wicked, a place connected
to false religion, of things that are no longer
useful, but fit only to be burned and destroyed.
Hell serves
as the ultimate destiny of the Devil and his angels
(Matthew 25:41), and all human beings who have
joined them in their rebellion against God. God
is infinitely holy, pure and good. He is separate
from sin and evil. He will not allow the rebellious,
the wicked, the ungodly, the unrighteous, the
unrepentant, into His presence, and into the New
Heavens and the New Earth, and the New Jerusalem,
where only righteousness may dwell. Nothing unclean
or evil may enter it. It must be removed, forever
separated from the righteous God, the righteous
angels and the souls of men that have been made
righteous. That is Hell's purpose.
The
Whole World Is Going to Hell
We need
to realize that apart from the redemption and
salvation provided by God, by having faith in
God, and offering the appropriate sacrifice, first
at the Temple in Jerusalem, and then through Messiah
Yeshua, the whole world is going to Hell, and
here's why: at the very beginning of human history,
our first parents rebelled against God. After
being warned not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil, our first parents rebelled against
God. They sinned and ate from the Forbidden Tree.
They believed
the Father of Lies more than trusting in the word
of the Almighty. They sided with Satan, the god
of this world, more than the God of Heaven. By
doing so, they joined forces with Satan in his
rebellion. This one sinful rebellious act enabled
Satan, sin and death to take control of humanity.
The whole world came under the Devil's authority.
John tells us that the whole world lies in the
power of the wicked one (1 John 5:19). Human beings
in their natural condition are under the authority
of the domain of darkness, that powerful, evil,
demonic kingdom that is in rebellion against God,
filled with lies, deception, deceit, chaos, rebellion
and death. They share Satan's doom in the Lake
of Fire that was prepared for him and the fallen
angels that rebelled with him.
From the
moment that Adam and Eve rebelled against our
wonderful Creator, everything changed. Their sin
and rebellion affected every aspect of their nature.
Their body, their soul, their will, their mind,
their spirit, had become corrupted. Their orientation
toward God, who is HaMakor - the Source of Life,
changed for the worse. Instead of drawing nearer
to God, Adam and Eve ran away from Him. They were
alienated from Him. Adam and Eve were exiled from
the Garden of Eden, and forbidden to eat from
the Tree of Life. They were headed toward death
- the First Death and the Second Death - Hell.
The consequences that resulted from the rebellion
of our first parents were passed on to all of
their descendants like a deadly virus. That corruption
of body, soul and spirit was passed on like a
horrible degenerative disease to all of their
billions of sons and daughters. Here is the human
condition according to King David: The Lord has
looked down from Heaven (thoroughly searching
with His all-seeing eyes) upon the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand (they don't),
who seek after God (they don't seek Him sufficiently).
They have all turned aside ( and missed God and
salvation). Together they have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good, not even one (Psalm
14). Human beings are "sons of disobedience" -
disobedient children. By our very nature, by inherent
predisposition, we are disobedient to God. We
live according to this sinful world's corrupt
values, satanically empowered, indulging the lusts
of the flesh and the lusts of the mind - physical
sins and mental sins, and are by nature children
of wrath, deserving of the righteous wrath and
punishment of an infinitely holy God. Human beings
who are only born once in this world are mere
human beings - flesh - not spirit. They are of
this world, not of the next. They are perishable
- not imperishable. The entire world of human
beings is perishing, decaying and headed for destruction
like a spoiled meat or rotten fruit (John 3:16).
As is
true for all humanity, the Jewish people are now
lost. The Jewish people are without Temple, without
sacrifice, without atonement, basing their religion
on a broken covenant that cannot save. Non-Messianic
Jews have been broken off from the Olive Tree
of Salvation and Blessing. The Son of God said
to Jewish people who were immersed in Judaism
that, now that He had come into the world, He
was the Way - which means that there is no other
way. Non-Messianic Judaism is not the way. Can
Islam provide the Way? Buddhism? Being a good
person? The answer is, categorically, no! Yeshua,
who cannot lie, said that He is the Truth - which
means that there is not enough truth to save you
anywhere else. Having a zeal for God, but not
having the knowledge of the truth about Yeshua,
and the righteousness that believing in Him provides,
is not enough. It leads to Hell. Israel has pursued
righteousness the wrong way, and stumbled over
the Stumbling Stone, by not placing their faith
in Messiah (Romans 9:31-33). Yeshua, who is never
wrong, said that He is the Life, which means that
apart from Him you will not live forever with
God. Yeshua, who is infallible, said that apart
from placing faith in Him, no man could get to
the Father (John 14:6).
Yeshua
said to a group of Jewish leaders (men who believed
in God, who knew the Torah, who went to the Temple
in Jerusalem and offered sacrifices), "Unless
you believe that I am He, you shall die in your
sins" ( John 8:24). And if Israel, the Chosen
People, apart from Yeshua, is lost, where does
that leave Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and the
irreligious? Simon Peter stood before the Sanhedrin
and declared to the leading priests, scholars
and rabbis of Israel that there is salvation nowhere
and in no one other than Yeshua of Nazareth (Acts
4:12). It doesn't get much clearer than that!
Judaism apart from Yeshua can't save anyone. Paul,
perhaps the greatest theologian of all time (apart
from Messiah Yeshua) made it crystal clear that
if during our earthly life we personally confess
with our mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe
in our heart that God raised Him from the dead,
we will be saved. But, the inverse truth is equally
clear: if during the earthly phase of our life
we don't confess with our mouth and believe in
our heart, we will be lost. The Rabbi from Tarsus
had great sorrow and unceasing grief in his heart
because he knew the lost state of his Jewish people
who didn't believe in Messiah Yeshua.
The Jewish
people are more responsible to believe - not less
responsible. When Messiah came, He came to us.
He was one of us; and to whom much is given, much
is required. The more you know, the more is expected
of you, and the more you are punished if you fail.
We are entrusted with the Oracles of God, which
contain the Messianic Prophecies and all the symbols,
signs and principles that point us to King Messiah.
In our Torah, we were specifically warned not
to reject the great Prophet who would come who
would be like Moses ( Deuteronomy 18:15-19); if
we did, God would hold us responsible and would
severely punish us. Nat Finestone asks, "Why would
the apostles willingly suffer martyrdom for the
Gospel if it were unnecessary to believe? Why
would Paul be willing to be accursed - to sacrifice
his eternal destiny - if his Jewish brothers who
denied Yeshua were already saved? Paul affirmed
that the Gentiles are lost as well. They are excluded
from the commonwealth of Israel. They are strangers
to the covenants that contain the promises of
salvation and reconciliation. They have no hope
and they are without God.
We
Can't Save Ourselves From Hell
Not only
is the world alienated from God, utterly lost,
unsaved, unrighteous, under the authority of Satan,
without hope and headed to Hell, but we are also
completely incapable of changing this situation
on our own. Just as we are incapable of saving
ourselves from the First Death, we are totally
incapable of saving ourselves from the Second
Death. Sin has so alienated us from God, and so
corrupted our nature, that we are in a state of
spiritual death. We are dead in our trespasses
and sins. Dead people are incapable of giving
themselves life! Salvation cannot come from anything
having to do with human effort or how good a person
we are. We can never be good enough, or righteous
enough, or religious enough. There are not enough
good things that we can do, not enough money we
can give, mitzvahs we can fulfill, nor merit that
we can earn that will enable us to avoid the Lake
of Fire. Salvation from sin, death, Satan and
Hell, and restoration to God and life cannot be
accomplished by man. All human efforts will prove
inadequate. We can't redeem ourselves. We can't
restore ourselves to God, no matter how hard we
try.
Only
God Can Save Us
But what
we are utterly incapable of doing, God is completely
capable of accomplishing! God had a plan to make
salvation out of Hell possible. As soon as Adam
and Eve sinned, the Lord provided a substitute,
an innocent animal whose life was sacrificed and
whose blood was shed. Those who had faith in the
one true God, and offered a sacrifice, could be
forgiven. Centuries later, the Lord made covenants
with Israel. If we placed our faith in God and
obeyed His Word, and offered the korbanot - the
sacrifices that enabled us to draw close to God,
we could be forgiven. But those sacrifices were
temporary, and were effective only when accompanied
by faith, and only until the Final and Perfect
Sacrifice came - the Lamb of God, the sacrificed
Messiah, who is able to fully take away the sins
of Israel and the entire world. God the Father
sent the eternal, self-existing Son of God who
was with the Father, from Heaven to Earth, and
He became a man. He allowed Himself to be whipped,
beaten, spit on, humiliated, stripped naked and
crucified! By dying in our place, by bearing our
sins on the cross, by satisfying all the claims
which a holy God had against us, by taking on
Himself the curse for breaking God's laws, becoming
the ultimate sin-offering, the problem of sin
has been fully and eternally dealt with. Because
of the Son of God's ultimate sacrifice and the
perfect atonement He accomplished on the cross,
God's ability to forgive all of our sins is infinite
and perfectly complete. Because of His one, perfect,
final and complete sacrifice, whoever believes
in Yeshua has forgiveness for all his sins. Not
one of our rebellious acts is left that will be
held against us, that will drag us down to Hell!
When we
draw near to God by drawing near to Yeshua, we
are delivered from the domain of darkness, and
transferred to the Kingdom of His beloved Son
(Colossians 1:13). We are delivered from these
dark, demonic, deceiving powers. We are removed
from under the authority of the god of this world,
and given a new citizenship in a new kingdom under
a new authority. We no longer share the Devil's
final destination. When we draw near to God by
drawing near to Yeshua, our old sinful, willful,
God-independent nature, predisposed to rebel,
starts losing its power. We are no longer dominated
by the old human nature that was hostile to God,
but we are in the Spirit - led to do the will
and the deeds of God's Holy Spirit. When we are
born again, we are given new life, a new heart,
a new mind that is compatible with a holy God,
a new nature that wants to serve Him, and not
rebel against Him. Instead of being children of
wrath, children of disobedience, we become the
children of God - the Almighty's very own beloved
sons and daughters! Without being born again,
we can't enter the Kingdom of God - we will wind
up in Hell - but with Messiah's spiritual rebirth,
we will experience eternal life in God's Kingdom.
We draw
near to God by coming to know that Yeshua is the
Son of God, the Savior, who came into this world,
and died, and rose again. When we consciously
place our faith in Him, and believe in Him, and
trust Him, we identify with Him. We are immersed
into Him. We become bone of Messiah's bone, flesh
of Messiah's flesh. We are in Messiah, and Messiah
is in us, and God the Father is in Messiah Yeshua.
We are in the heart of Yeshua, who is in the heart
of the Father. We have the incredible privilege
of being joined to Him in whom dwells all the
fullness of God! The Father sees us joined to
Messiah and sees His dearly beloved Son! The Father
sees us joined to Messiah and behold, we are whiter
than snow! The Father sees us joined to Messiah
and He sees all the beauty and grace and righteousness
of the Lord Yeshua. The Father sees us joined
to Messiah and declares that we are righteous.
We
Must Bring the Good News to Jews And Gentiles
If we
do know the way to escape from sin, Satan, the
Second Death, Hell, and we enter into the atonement
the Messiah provides, and are born again, we must
devote ourselves to bringing the Gospel - the
Good News, the Message about the God of Israel,
and the Son of God who alone can save us, to the
rest of the world of dying human beings who are
headed to Gehenna, so they too can become sons
and daughters of our Heavenly Father. We are commanded
to be His witnesses, to give our testimony about
what we know to be true about Him. We are His
ambassadors. He has entrusted us with His mission.
Jews and Gentiles must confess that Yeshua is
Lord and must believe in their hearts to be saved.
They must call on the name of the Lord to be saved.
But, how will they call upon the name of the Lord,
who alone can save them from Hell, if they don't
believe? And how can they believe in the Savior,
if they don't hear about the Him? And how will
they hear about Him apart from our telling them?
We
Must Not Deny Him
We must
confess Him to all men. Yeshua warned us that
"everyone who confesses Me before men, I will
also confess him before My Father who is in Heaven.
But whoever denies Me before men, I will also
deny him before My Father who is in Heaven" (Matthew
10:32-33). We are warned that if we deny Him,
He will deny us. There are various ways to deny
Him. There is direct denial, like that of Simon
Peter, who, admittedly, when he was in a very
difficult situation, denied that he was associated
with Yeshua, and that he didn't know Him. I have
known quite a few people who have openly denied
the Lord. But then, there are other forms of denial,
indirect perhaps, but denial nonetheless.
When we
refuse to be identified with Messiah's Messengers,
we deny the Messiah. Paul laments that at his
first defense, no one supported him; everyone
deserted him; but the Lord stood with him. He
had to pray that it would not be counted against
them. Onesiphorus is commended for not being ashamed
of Paul's imprisonment, and was willing to be
identified and closely associated with him. The
author writing to the Messianic Jews tells them
to "remember the prisoners, as though in prison
with them, and those who are ill-treated" (Hebrews
13:3). Paul wrote, "Do not be ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with
me in suffering for the Gospel - the Message about
salvation through the Messiah. In our day, when
we don't identify with those involved in missions
and evangelism, we deny the Lord. In the summer
of 2003, Jamie Cowen, president of the UMJC, in
an article in the Jerusalem Post, emphasized that
the UMJC does not missionize. "We don't hand out
pamphlets. We have no association with the Jews
for Jesus, who have an entirely different mentality,
outlook and starting point." When we say, "I'm
only into 'friendship evangelism.' I don't force
my religion on others," what we are really doing
is trying to make ourselves look better by disassociating
from those who are boldly proclaiming the Good
News. All evangelism that is done honorably is
good evangelism, and we should stand with those
who are doing it. We must identify with those
who are at the forefront of evangelism. If we
don't, we are denying Him.
When we
don't identify with Messiah's Community, we deny
the Lord. When a Messianic Jew doesn't want to
identify with the rest of the Community of true
believers, particularly with the Evangelical Church,
something is wrong. Something is wrong with those
who say, "I am not a Christian. I am a Messianic
Jew. I am not a part of Christianity" - when the
reality is that Messianic Jews are 100% Jewish
and 100% followers of the Christ - or Christian,
and we are part of Christianity. It's okay to
identify as a Messianic Jew, but we must also
clearly identify with the rest of the true Christian
community. When people take every opportunity
to pick the splinters out of the eyes of the Christian
Church, and distance themselves from it, when
there are logs in their own Messianic Jewish eyes,
something is wrong. Could this disassociation
from our Christian brothers, who are our allies
and friends, come from the fear of incurring the
disfavor of the larger Jewish community? If so,
this is precisely the hypocrisy that earned Peter
a public rebuke from Rabbi Paul ( Galatians 2:11-13).
When we
don't identify with the Message, we deny the Lord.
The Good News, the Gospel, is predicated on Bad
News - that mankind is lost, alienated from God,
headed to Hell. Why preach a Savior if there is
nothing to be saved from? What is the need for
the Good News if there is no bad news? We must
identify with bold, aggressive proclamation of
the Message - evangelism. What He whispers in
our ear, all of us are to shout from the tops
of our houses. We must not be ashamed of the Gospel,
which includes the need for a Savior to deliver
us from Hell, because it's the power of God that
can provide salvation to all of humanity, to the
Jewish people first, and also to the rest of the
world. Jews and Gentiles - that covers just about
everyone, doesn't it? That tells us that Islam
is not okay. It will not deliver from Hell. Hinduism,
Buddhism, Shintoism are not okay. They will not
save anyone from Gehenna. Secular Humanism, Post-Modernism,
I'm-a-good-personism are not okay. Embracing these
religions and philosophies and worldviews will
keep you on your way to Hell. We don't fully identify
with the Message ...
-
"When we say, "I respect
your religion" but at the same time don't
make it clear that their religion won't save
them. What we should say is, "I respect your
right to have your own religion. I know it's
wrong, and can't save you from Hell, so I
advise you to accept the one true religion."
-
"When we are challenged
by an unbeliever about whether they are going
to Hell, and we say, "I'm not the judge. I
don't know what will happen to your soul"
instead of saying, "Based on the Word of God,
if you died now, I am confident that you would
die in your sins, and you would go to Hell.
Unless you repent, the Word of God assures
us that you will suffer this doom."
-
"When we say things like,
"I don't push the Gospel on people. I wait
until I am asked." And what happens if you
are never asked? Why not take the initiative?
Did the Emissaries wait until they were asked?
Don't wait until you are asked! You are commanded
to go into the world and to declare! You are
not commanded to go into the world and wait
until you are asked!
-
"When we invent theologies
that eliminate the need for all people to
place their faith in the only Savior: theologies
such as the Two-Covenant heresy, which teaches
that Judaism without Messiah is good enough
for Jews, or the "Unconscious Christian" heresy,
which says we don't need to consciously and
actively place our faith, trust and belief
in Yeshua, the only Savior, or some form of
Universalism - that everyone is basically
OK. One of the worst things we can do is come
up with a "theology" that negates or minimizes
the need for the declaring of the Message,
or attempts to rationalize our desire to be
accepted by the world, and encourages the
fear of man.
We must
not tone down any aspect of the Message, including
Hell. The truth about salvation and Hell should
not be "nuanced." We must be clear, strong, courageous
and bold. There should be no hemming or hawing,
no evasiveness or scholarly equivocation. The
Lord Yeshua was bold and clear, and He didn't
back down or tone down the truth. In fact, when
He was under pressure, He got stronger. Perhaps
the greatest example was when Yeshua was asked
by the High Priest whether He was the Messiah,
and the Son of God. He didn't reply, "well, actually,
you are the messiah, because you are the anointed
High Priest, and the prophets were messiahs, and
all the kings were messiahs, and we are all sons
of God, so yes, I suppose that I too am the Messiah
and the Son of God."
No, He
affirmed that He was the unique Messiah and the
Son of God, and went on to make it clearer and
bolder that He would be seen sitting at God's
right hand, in the position of greatest honor
in the universe, and then returning to Earth on
Heaven's clouds, surrounded with honor and glory
and power! Did He suffer as a result of His answer?
Yes. And here's the problem: we don't really want
to suffer along with Him, and be rejected along
with Him.
The New
Testament records this same boldness characterized
Messiah's Emissaries: "They began to speak the
word of God with boldness." "We use great boldness
in our speech." "Paul was in Jerusalem, speaking
out boldly in the name of the Lord." "Paul entered
the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly."
Paul asked the saints to "pray that I may make
known with boldness the Gospel... that I may speak
boldly, as I ought to speak." Did they suffer
as a result of their bold proclamation? Yes. And
here again is the problem: we don't really want
to suffer along with them, and be rejected with
them. If you say that people don't need to believe
in Yeshua in order to avoid going to Hell, you
eliminate the need for bold preaching of the Gospel.
Such equivocation is a form of denying the Lord.
Answers
to Objections
"But
what about those who have never heard the Message?
Will they go to Hell?" You know, most of
humanity will wind up in Hell. The gate is wide
and the way is broad that leads to destruction,
and many are those who enter by it. The gate is
small, and the way is narrow, that leads to life,
and few are those who find it. I am very concerned
for those who haven't heard. If they are truly
seeking after truth and God, God will help them
find Him. God will send someone to them. Let's
endeavor to be that someone. Maybe you should
go!
In the
book in the Bible where it may appear to give
some hope to Gentiles who have not had the written
revelation of God (Romans 2:14-15), Paul also
tells us that the Gentiles are expected to know
that there is only one powerful Creator. There
is no excuse for not knowing and believing in
Him (Romans 1: 18-20). God has written His moral
laws on their hearts, and they are expected to
live according to them. But all have missed the
mark and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans
3:23). No one is good enough. No one is moral
enough. No one is spiritual enough. The Gentiles
are "under sin" (Romans 3:9). Unbelieving Gentiles
are described as enemies of God (Romans 5:10).
They are disobedient (Romans 11:31), and shut
up in disobedience (Romans 11:32 ). Because they
have some of the laws of God written on their
hearts, and have a conscience, Gentiles may do
many good things, but not enough to save them.
However, the Lord is good and merciful, and "to
such persons God sends the Gospel" (Ryrie). Those
who follow the light they are given, are given
more.
What is
the solution to the Gentiles' dilemma? The acceptance
of the Good News about Messiah, for "whoever believes
in Him won't be disappointed." This applies to
Gentiles and to Jews, for "whoever will call on
the name of the Lord will be saved. And how will
they call upon the Savior, if they don't believe
in Him? And how will they believe in Him, if they
don't hear about Him? And how can they hear about
the One who can save them if those of us who know
the Lord don't tell them?" (Romans 10:11-15).
The Gentiles are shut up under disobedience, but
can receive mercy through embracing the truth
about the Messiah (Romans 11:30).
"What
about children who die young?" This is a question
about which the Holy Scriptures do not give explicit
answers, but let me offer some thoughts. I have
never found the phrase "the age of accountability"
in the Scriptures; but I have found where King
David taught, "I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin my mother conceived me" - that from
the moment of his conception he had a sinful,
rebellious nature. I trust in God, that He is
good and just, loves the little children, wants
the children to come to Him, and their angels
in Heaven are continually seeing the face of God.
Yet, I still want to reach the parents, and reach
the children, and help them learn about the way
of the Lord, and find salvation in the Messiah.
"But if
I do tell people that they are going to Hell,
won't I be told that I am intolerant?" Yes, you
will be told that you are intolerant, and narrow,
and bigoted, and mean, and unfair, because the
spirit of our age includes a twisted understanding
of tolerance. True tolerance means trying to be
gracious, and treating fairly and being at peace
with those who differ or disagree with us. But,
true tolerance does not demand that you believe
that there are no absolutes, no rights and no
wrongs, that all religions, all gods, all ideas,
all practices are equally valid and beneficial
and good and true. In an age of twisted tolerance,
we must be separate from the world and stand out
by boldly declaring that Hell is real and that
Yeshua is the only Savior, and there is salvation
nowhere else.
"But if
I do tell people that they are going to Hell,
and that Yeshua is the only way, might I not experience
rejection and persecution? Might I not suffer?
Lose my job? Friends? Family? Perhaps. But aren't
you willing to suffer a little for the One who
suffered so much for you? "Won't that make my
life harder?" It may. Is your goal to have an
easy life? Messiah's warning is for you: The one
who loves his life, and isn't willing to embrace
Messiah's mission, and witness, and as a result,
suffer persecution, will lose it, but the one
who hates his life in this world, who is willing
to rock the boat, stirring things up, being a
bold witness, will keep it and gain eternal life.
If you do suffer, be happy. You are in good company
with prophets, apostles, holy men and women, and
the Lord Himself. If you suffer for the sake of
proclaiming the Good News, you are doing what
is right. It shows that you are serious about
the Lord and His word. You will grow closer to
Messiah and share with Him in the fellowship of
His suffering, God will smile down on you from
Heaven, and you will be greatly and eternally
rewarded.
The world
has a right to know what we believe and why. They
have a right to a straightforward, simple, clear
answer to the question, "Are people who don't
believe in Yeshua going to Hell?" They don't
need nuances. They should not have to get a long,
complicated theological answer. There is something
seriously wrong when long, complicated theological
answers are required to answer a simple, if uncomfortable
question. So, when you are asked, "Are you
telling me that if I don't believe in Jesus, I'm
going to Hell?", boldly declare the truth.
You will find it liberating, for the truth will
set you free!
Shalom!
Rabbi Loren
|
