The Fall, the Offer, and the Decision.

by Jim Minch

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Falling...

 

Arms flailing, you scream in horror as you desperately try to grab substance to stop your fall. Your mind desperately gropes for an answer, because the last thing you remember, you were lying ill in a hospital bed. As you descend, you feel a steady rise in temperature. You hear a loud, continual screaming and at one point, you realize that these sounds are coming from your own throat. You seek and answer, and a loud reply booms within your heart. You have been falling all of your life. Falling away from the acceptance and truth of Jesus Christ. A lifelong descension into the bottomless pits of apostacy and sin.

 

Impact...

 

At last, after what was beginning to seem like an endless descent, you hit a hard, hot surface. The pain you feel from the impact is beyond comprehension. Yet, what should've shattered every bone in your body, you discover that you are unbroken. Much like in your life, where your pride and rebellion was so strong, you could not be broken to the point of seeking the healing gift of salvation from Jesus Christ. You had assumed you were so strong, so tough, so in control, but you now realize that you in fact lived a life in complete reverse of these veiled assumptions. In part, you were right. The eternal body you now dwell in cannot be harmed, but you feel everything that your old body felt. You will never again be broken, Neither will your screams.

 

Luke 6:39 - And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

Proverbs 10:8 - The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.

 

The dark.

 

While standing within the flames around you, you realize that while there is evidently a massive fire burning, you cannot see any light. You recall something the Bible said about hell being a place of burning sulfur and brimstone. The acrid stench of sulfur now enetering your burning nostrils gives you an unquestionable confirmation about how true God's Word was about this. You then remember something you had learned in science class about how brimstone burns. It burns very darkly, shedding no light. Apparently being at the bottom of a very deep pit now, you cannot see a hint of light as you look up, desperately seeking escape. During your worldly life, you likewise never really looked up to see the Light of Jesus shining brightly in the heavens, begging your attention. Your main focus was either straight ahead seeking worldly riches, while at times looking down on others who weren't as fortunate as you in acquiring worldly riches and possessions. In fact, you now realize that many of these less fortunate people you seemed so disgusted about were driven to the point in their lives where the only direction they had left was to look up to Jesus for His help and deliverance from their own sorrows. Sorrows on a far lesser level than what you are feeling now. Like a hot knife through the heart, you now understand that these have gained such incredible heavenly riches through the temporary fires of trial in their lives, while you surrendered such heavenly riches in trade for temporary, worldly riches of lesser trial and suffering. Now, you are likewise poor and naked, dwelling in eternal fires of trial and suffering. You refused to see the truth of Christ in your life then, and you will never again see anything of clarity again. These verses boom within your mind:

 

Revelation 19:20 - And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

 

Mark 9:45,46 - And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

The thirst.

 

Amidst your screams and torment, your mouth and throat quickly becomes dry and caked. You become so desperate for even a a few drops of moisture upon your tongue. You grope blindly in the dark, seeking anything moist, and your flaming fingers find only more burning coals. At this point, you realize that throughout your life, your supressed soul continuosly thirsted too. But the strong-willed dam of your mind relentlessy kept the Lord's waters at bay. As the pressures increased, your stubborness only increased further. Not a drop of the Holy Spirit offered to you so graciously ever entered your now-aborted soul. Likewise, Jesus was so thirsty for your fellowship with Him. He too groped, begged, pleaded, and even screamed on occassion. You denied Him entry, and in doing this, you denied His reaching Fingers from ever touching your heart. Now realizing this, you have a profound sense that the very dam you yourself created will hold all waters back for eternity. It was built with the concrete of your own pride. And the dryness you now feel is not so very unfamiliar to you now. Your soul remained dry throughout all of your life, and it will now be this way into eternity, forevermore. Yet, this Scripture now drips into your tormented mind:

 

Matthew 25:42,43 - For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

 

John 4:11-15 - The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

 

Luke 16:20-25 - But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. "Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.

 

The Hunger.

 

A new discomfort arises. You find you are now hungry. At this point, you do not even try searching in the dark for food. In your life, you always ate heartily, but you were never really fed properly. Yet, in your steady denial and scoffing, you were starving to death. An infant child must eat yes, but you never even made it through the birth canal entry into a new life with Jesus Christ. Being unborn spiritually, you could not drink the Milk, nor were you able to grow into maturity to enjoy the delicious, rich meat of Jesus Christ and His nourishing Word. Some hungry ones in your life were sent before you, and you cast them away, condemning them for their poverty in such harshness, you even wished within your heart that they suffered and died of their hunger. Some of these found food later, however. The food which the Lord offered your way. Not only was it available by way for the askance of prayer and repentence, His Book of nourishment rested on many store bookshelves, hospital desk drawers, in hotels, and countless other means He set before you. But you consistently turned away His Platter and chose the food of fiction and deception instead. He's certainly feeding you right now, but it dwells in your gut bitterly, and any nourishment now is a moot point. You are now swallowing these verses:

 

Luke 6:24-26 - "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

 

John 6:35 - And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

 

The Prison.

 

Desperate for a deliverance from your torment, you wander about your imprisoned chamber seeking to climb out. Your hand is singed upon the dark wall before you, and you instictively pull it away. Much as your fleshly mind instinctively pulled away from the rope the Lord tried to throw down to you in life. The truth singed your offended mind and you backed away from it. Always learning yes, but you never rose to the truth of Jesus Christ. Never before did you attempt a climb into freedom and righteousness, so your attempts now are in vain. In your tormented silence and darkness, you get a sense that there are many other chambered prisons in the pit you now shift miserably in. Indeed there are, even if none of the occupants cannot hear nor see each other. None saw the need in each other before either. Some who dwell with you have been here for thousands of years. But in your realm, time really has no direction. No meaning. But at this point, Jesus affirms to your heart that you have now spent just a single day here. And an endless eternity of much of the same lies ahead forever with just one temporary reprieve. This will come on the day, (1,000 plus years from now) when God will raise all you residents of Hades to stand in judgement before Him at His Great White Throne. Here you will be sentenced for the rest of eternity. Like a prisoner awaiting sentence in a county jail for a very long and promising prison sentence, you will hereby be judged according to all your sins and convicted with perfect justice. Only this Courtroom will be a bit different from the ones you often attended above on earth in your time. Here, there is no need for lawyers nor a jury. All your sins, thoughts, motives, and devices have been perfectly recorded within the Books in this Court, and God Almighty will hit the playback button when you stand before Him. You will then have no defense, no argument, and no excuse. When you lived in your fleshly prison, He offered His pardoned to you, but you steadily denied it. Now you face the condemnation of His Law in which you violated so many times, in so many ways. Apart from your begging pleas, your only voice will be of wailing and gnashing of teeth, as it is written. You will then be sent to a somewhat different prison froever. The Lake of Fire. His Law and truth will steadily flow into your eternal and perpetual realizations in direct proportion of your torment, much as it is doing now.

 

Your Pardon.

 

If you have read this, then it means you are still alive, walking upon the earth. Your heart is still beating, and your lungs are still breathing. Please, do not be in gloom or despair about all I have written here. Because there is a pardon for you. A very simply one at that which is entirely free for the asking. There are no tricks, deceptions, red tape, or hidden words which is associated with this eternal contract into eternal life, peace, joy, and comfort in Jesus Christ. Nothing you can do beyond having a mustard seed of faith and asking Jesus for forgiveness to allow Him into your heart can give you entrance into eternal life. Simply ask, believe, and accept Him in. After that, He will begin working in your heart. The ordinances written within His Word are given to you to gain a better relationship with you after this point. While He does want you to make your nest effort to obey His ways and Laws, you will no longer be under the condemnation of your sins against His Law. It is a one time pardon which shall never be revoked. God sent His only begotten Son to earth to die for all our sins to be saved by His grace. Once saved in Him, the victory and deliverance from hell is already determined for you. He then will offer you His Holy Spirit which will give you both incredible understanding, and a new hunger to always have it. He will give and teach you great things like the power of His love, patience, wisdom, fellowship, praise, the power of prayer, and so much mkore which I could not possibly write in full here. You see, to accept Christ is a desire to deny everything which is bad and harmful. His desire for you to grow properly into righteousness are not just for the good of everyone else, but also for the good of yourself. To deny Him is to deny everything good and accept everything which is bad and horrible, as depicted in this analogy to hell. And He desperately wants to save you from such a horrific eternity, but He will not interfere with your free-will choice. You see, He is raising a family of free-will children who seeks to love Him as He most assuredly loves us all. He has enough servants in heaven who are not so free-willed. They are called angels. He also wants children to love and fellowship with. To give great rewards to in accordance to your obedience to Him and His rules. Some will make it to heaven, but they will be very sad because they did not receive much reward. Because they cared little to make efforts in their lives for His desires put in place for only good. But at least they will have escaped the burning fires below in hell. Other will receive great, unimaginable rewards who did make better efforts in their lives for Him, under His leading. But this judgement is still far better than the ones who died in their sins will forever endure.

He offers all this to you freely. Your past has no bearing on anything, and your slate will be wiped totally clean.

 

Will you now accept His free gift of salvation, or will you instead place your bets without Him in which you will most assuredly lose? You are His child, and He is your Father. He wants to show a love and forgiveness so great, in which this world will never offer you. For the world would rather drag you down into the pit and into destruction with no further afterthought. He stands knocking at your door, and only He knows when the time for this astounding opportunity will run out for you.

All you have to do is answer the door.

 

And what you will discover after you open the door will make you want to run out and embrace Him forevermore. It sure beats the place of torment below.

 

Come and see!! He's so beautiful!! Are you ready?

 

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

 

Revelation 3:17-22: Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

 

John 14:1-3 - "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

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