Hell Awaits

I posted the following comment over at Mike Ratliff's Possessing the Treasure blog after reading his post entitled "Build Your House On The Rock":

Mike, I have to tell you in all sincerity brother that each and every post you’ve made recently with respect to “Christian Authenticity, Repentance and Obedience” has resonated deeply with my spirit - that part of me that the Lord of Hosts has seen fit for His own glory to save.

I also want to make it clear to any who read this comment that I’m not speaking these words to puff up your ego or serve as the devil’s little helper by stoking your pride, rather I’m telling you in the Spirit that what you’ve been writing over the past few days is EXACTLY what the Lord has put on my heart over the past six months or so.

The Spirit of God is speaking to those mired within the apostate emergent camp and crying “Come out of her”!

The Spirit of God is speaking to those mired within the apostate RCC and crying “Come out of her”!

The Spirit of God is speaking to those mired within the apostate Devil Driven Church and crying “Come out of her”!

The Spirit of God is speaking to those mired within the apostate Word Faith Movement and crying “Come out of her”!

The Spirit of God is speaking to those mired within the apostate liberal mainline denominations who are stumbling over issues as basic as homosexuality and crying “Come out of her”!

Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ,
if sinners will be damned, at least
let them leap to hell over our bodies.

And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stop,
and not madly to destroy themselves.

If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon


Mike has blogged several recent posts on the subject of conflict, contention and the division that are inevitably caused by genuine born-again believers in Jesus Christ. You see, the world knows the difference between a counterfeit and the "real thing", and the same holds true for religion. The worldly don't counterfeit paper bags because they're worthless, of no value. For this selfsame reason the perverse purveyors of counterfeit religion are irresistibly drawn to formulate a corrupt counterfeit gospel and a corrupt counterfeit Messiah in order to deceive and rend the flock.

The Word of God, which is sharper than a two-edged sword and much more sure, steady and precise than the finest surgeon's scalpel calls the Christian faith, "true religion". This is an important distinction because by this we know the myriad cults of Christianity and the other "faiths" that oppose the historical, orthodox, Biblical Christian faith and stand in stark and demonic contrast to the "faith that was once delivered unto the saints" are by definition "false religions".

Yet false religions always have a common denominator which the discerning Christian can easily identify. Religion is what man says God says, but the Bible is what God says. Hence at the poisonous root of false religion you will always find sinful man masquerading as god. The discerning Christian ought not be surprised by this basic truth since within God's created order there are really no other options. Either God is God, or man is god.

This is easily demonstrated by noting that a Christian is submitted to the authority of his Creator and Judge based on the self-attesting Word of God. For the believing Christian, God Almighty is the highest court of appeals and His Word is the final authority in all matters of day to day living, thinking, ethics, and philosophy. In other words the believing Christian's worldview is, quite simply, that God Almighty is the absolute ultimate authority, period. And since His self-attesting Word proclaims itself to be a plenary and infallible, (i.e. all that God has to say to mankind in this age He has perfectly said) and His self-attesting Word proclaims it is "God breathed" (i.e. God-inspired) then the believing Christian takes God at His Word, fully trusting in Him alone and therefore rightly believing that he has been fully equipped by God to process all information in the light of revealed scripture and thus has been given the ability to reason properly - according to Biblical truth. This is not to suggest that believing Christians are infallible logicians or thinkers, but rather to state that Christians are no longer subject to "the old man" - under the total domination of our sin nature - whereas the unbeliever indisputably is.

On the other hand we have wicked, depraved natural man who has usurped the throne of God in his heart and has elevated his own sinful reasoning as the ultimate authority in his life and his highest court of appeals. This wretched and perverse caricature of God's creation is perhaps the most abominable thing this side of hell. The natural man suppresses the truth of God in unrighteousness, reasoning according to the manner of the world and demanding "proof" of God. He sets his own sinful reasoning upon the throne of the Most High and stubbornly refuses to be submitted to God's authority.

Of course the Ancient of Days will never submit Himself to the inspection of sinful man. The Sovereign Creator and Judge of the universe will not be put on trial in the court of sinful man's depraved reasoning nor will He be subject to man's corrupted judgements. A type of this has already occurred prior to the crucifixion and natural man invariably screamed "give us Barabbas"! By nature we receive Barabbas. By nature we are Barabbas.

In the final analysis sinful man must be humbled before God Almighty and be submitted to Him as Lord and Savior in order that he might escape the wrath to come. Oh, that we who are called by His precious name would have the courage and faith to stand in the gap and boldly proclaim the victory of the Cross and the good news of the Kingdom! Oh, that we who are called by His precious name would be "always ready" with an answer for the hope we have within us! Oh, that we might be found worthy of the High calling of Christ and be found as faithful servants who might hear those sweet, wonderful words "Well done!"

And may we never, ever become complacent in our position in Christ and turn our backs on one soul that is on a one way trajectory toward hell. May we never, ever take a cavalier or flippant attitude toward the eternal horrors from which we've been spared. May we never, ever, while breath fills our lungs, stop fighting the good fight under the banner of our King, Jesus Christ.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!