Hell is not a laughing matter. ( John 3 v16

 I want to  borrow two stories I read in a book by ,' Dale Ralph Davis','Two famous preachers were talking,their names were Andrew Bonar and Robert Murry M' Cheyne, M'Cheyne asked Bonar what text he had preached on the previous Lord's Day, Bonar said,'' The wicked shall be turned into hell''( Ps 9 v17). on ' hearing that awful text, M'Cheyne asked,'were you able to preach it with tenderness?'. I read the following by someone who said,'That the righteous will laugh when the wicked are turned into hell',I think that is most awful thing anyone could say.Hell is no laughing matter, and anyone who thinks it is,is sadly wrong.I witnessed to many people,preached to many people and told them about hell, it was always with great sadness, That great minister George Whitefield said this,' You blame me for weeping, but how can I help it when you will not weep for yourselves, though your immortal souls are on the verge of destruction, and for all you know,  you are hearing your last sermon, and you  may never more have the opportunity to have Christ offered to you'.

                                                       'Where will you spend eternity?'

That evil trinity. ( Ephesians 6 v 10 -18)

 The Christian we are told face on their onward walk with God, an evil trinity, the ,'World',the 'Flesh,and the 'Devil'. It is in 2 Timothy 4 v 9 ,Paul writing from prison , conscious that he was going to soon face death,writes something very  painful and sad,a former colleague and friend called Demas had deserted him,why?, because he loved this present world.John Stott comments on this ,he writes,' The details are not divulged. Bishop  Moule may have been right  to guess that he was smitten by cowardice in that reign of terror'.The question we could ask ourselves is Christ worth dying for,? We could also ask is Christ worth living for,if it means suffering? ,Paul thought so. Now let us consider the,'Flesh', in Romans 13 v 14, we read,' Clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And don't let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires'.It would be interesting but sad to know how many Christians are involved in pornography.Let us not pamper our Flesh cp  Matthew 18 v7 -9, where our Lord stresses how severe we must be with ourselves(we must not take it literally).Last but not least the,'Devil',in 1 Peter 5 v 8, we read,'Be alert and of sober mind,your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion ,looking for someone to devour'.There is no telling where he will not attack you,or when he will attack,but what is certain he will attack ,of that you can be sure,so you have been warned.

                                             '   'Be strong in the Lord and in His

                                                            mighty power'

                                                           Ephesians 6 v 10.

The devil. ( 1 John 3 v 8 )

  He told me a lie,so said my friend about her brother,it has upset her, she is wondering why he did it. I  remember when I was young ,my friend denied that he been dinking the milk from the fridge,but alas he had ,as one could see a milky ring around his mouth.My mother use to say you cannot trust a liar,and of course it is true you cannot trust a liar.I wonder do you realize that all the trouble and evil we have in the world began when someone believed a lie. The one who told the lie was the devil,our dear Saviour  ( John 8 v 44) called him the father of lies,those words were spoken to very religious people.It all began at the very beginning of creation,Eve our first mother, chose to believe a lie and disobeyed God ( Genesis 3 ) ,and so sin entered the world ( Romans 5 v12 ),A great divide came into being,and as dear C Swindoll points out,'The universe  is sharply divided between light and dark, truth and lie, the kingdom of  God and the world'. The devil continues to cause havoc by his lies,consider the false religions,lies from hell,he blinds multitudes,with false promises (Matthew 4 v 8 ),gives people false hope.. But I will leave you with words from  James 4 v7.

                                                     'Submit  yourselves, then, to God. 

                                                      Resist the devil, and he will flee

                                                      from you'

                                           

God the Father. ( Nehemiah 9 v 17 )

I recently was looking at comments on a book that I was going to order,I found one interesting,it was a man in his early eighties.He mentioned his early Christian  experience,which he said was miserable,one of the reasons he said was ,he never felt he was good enough.He went unto write that the second half of his life was happier,because he was not living under the shadow of an angry God who would punish him every time he didn't get things right.I was very sad what that man had to say, I just wonder ,where this came from?,was it from his family ,or his church situation? or was it from both?.For the God he mentioned is not the God of the bible,When I was young ,school teachers were permitted to use a cane, to punish what they considered were  wrong doings, some had a reputation of being very severe,God is not like that . That persons religion appears to have been  very legalistic , like living under the law.I have never looked on God like that,He has always been my loving heavenly Father,and although I am 79 He still is my Loving heavenly Father.I have never been the perfect son,but He has been the perfect Father.Yes He will  like any loving father discipline us when we do wrong,(Hebrews 12 v 5-6 ),but He is not standing over us to beat us into the ground ,and  our acceptance by Him, is not on the bases of what we do ,but what Christ has done.

                                                         'There's a wideness in God's mercy,

                                                           Like the wideness of the sea.

                                                           There's a  kindness in God's justice,

                                                            Which is more than liberty'

                                                                 Words F.W.Faber.

Be ready ( 2 Peter 3 v 1 - 14 )

 A number of years ago I felt the Lord told me that I had so many years to live,I  told a few people,and it didn't happen,yes I'm by my sell by date. It's a bit like the Lord's coming we know He is coming , and like I did,there are those who have made forecast when He is coming.and of course it hasn't happened.The JWs have done it a number of times,instead of admitting they got it wrong they waffled round it,but that's the cults for you. Our Lord said in Acts 1 v 7, 'It is not for you to  know the times or dates the Father  has set for His own authority.In Matthew 25 13, our Lord said ,Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.' In Deuteronomy 29 v29,we read,'The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us'. So only God knows,it is His secret,people  still try to figure it out,and they say all sorts things,to  have us believe ,he is coming soon ,they point to certain signs.No let us not become members of the curiosity club. but let us take to heart the words of our Lord,'Be ready ' , ( Matthew  24 v 44) I apply those words in a two fold way,(1 ) If your are not a Christian you are going to die,the most important I would say to you,'Be ready',trust Jesus as your Saviour. (2 )For us who are  Christians live in the light of Christs coming,'Be ready'.

Holy ground. ( Isaiah 53)

A well known American actor,who served his country in the second world war,would speak at events for war veterans.He was at the D Day landing,were many of his colleagues and friends died. In going over these things he spoke of ,'The holy ground of our memories', of the many who who had died,and  who had shed their blood,to defeat a very wicked enemy.I never served in combat ,but I like all Christians have a holy ground within my memory,it is not about battle field as such, its an old rugged cross,on which a mangled body hangs,it is our beloved Saviour, Jesus. Those who put Him on that cross mocked Him, to them He was an imposter, one whom they hated,because He challenged their heartless ,oppressive religiosity.But scripture  tells us clearly who He was ,our Messiah, our Saviour ,who willingly laid down His life as a sacrifice for our sins, Calvary  will always be ,'The holy ground of our memories'.

He is leading (Psalm 18 v 30)

 Often I  look back on my life and consider how God has led  me,to where I am now,it was the servant  of Abraham, who was sent to get a wife for Abraham's son Isaac from his relatives.He had no satnav but was guided to the very girl, her name was Rebekah , He declared ,''the Lord has led me'',( Genesis 24 v27 ). On the day I was coming from Northern Ireland to come to England,God gave me two wonderful promise's,'He laid them on safely',(  Psalm 78 v53)/ Behold, I send an Angle before you to keep you in the way to bring you into the place I have prepared'. ( Exodus 23 v 20 ) ,so it came to pass.God is in the business of guiding us all the days of our lives. In Psalm 48 v 14, we read,'For this God is our God  for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end'.He does not leave us stranded, in fact He does not leave us.He will bring  us to that place, He wants us to go,He is a sure guide, He will make no mistakes,we can rely upon Him completely.  He guided the Israelites for 40 yrs in their wilderness journey,we read in Exodus 13 v21 -22, how God granted them a pillar  of cloud during the day, and a pillar of fire during the night to lead them . He is leading us to our heavenly country,this world is not our permanent dwelling, all that we look upon will be no more,and then we will enter into our glorious rest with our glorious Saviour.

                                            ' Jesus, still lead on till our rest be won;

                                              Heavenly  Leader, still direct us,

                                              Still support, console,protect us,

                                              Till we safely stand in our Fatherland.'

                                                         Jane Borthwick.