My Dying Request with Phenomenal News

 Introduction

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My Dear One,

          Today I'm leaving you the greatest Treasure the world has ever known.

Just imagine--you have such endless wealth that you can live a luxurious life as fabulous as anyone anywhere--far better than you've ever dared to imagine. But, of course, there's a tiny string attached. You have to accept this gift and agree to enrolling now in an orientation course to acclimate you to this indescribable life. You would be unable to right now handle such luxury in the present state you're in and, thus, the orientation course. 

GOOD NEWS: YOU are now being offered this unimaginably joyful, endless life.

BAD NEWS: If you don't accept this offer, you will certainly experience endless sorrow and regret.

I have the most urgent request you will ever receive from me or anyone else.
          Time is slipping away for me—and you. I have exceeded my life expectancy, now in my 80^th year. I am reminded constantly of this horrifying danger to many of you of turning down the best gift ever offered.
          Turn-down consequences: The darkest, most frightening, ghastly, appalling, unthinkable-but-very-real curse that has threatened you and me: never-ending, everlasting torment.
          Nothing—nothing—is more urgent than for you and I to escape this awful, certain curse.
          My dying request (which I will flesh out in the clicks below): that you fully understand and take immediate, aggressive action to escape this otherwise never-ending curse, embracing instead the most glorious, fulfilling, joyous, exhilarating, purposeful eternity far beyond what you could imagine. Click on solution and questions below for answers.
         
OK, Pappy, spill it--what is your vital, life-or-death request?

Who's to blame for the curse I'm under?

Pappy, are you actually dying?

What garbage does the devilish world pawn off on us?

Is Hell as bad as they say--burning torture forever?

Am I good enough to go to Heaven?

Where does happiness fit in?

What's wrong with my current worldview?

What's the good news?

Pappy, what kind of life has your faith given you?

What do I get out of this and how soon?

Do I have to be Goody-Goody-Two-Shoes?

Doesn't the Bible say "Judge not?"

I know some so-called Christians who are the worst examples of their faith

I've seen some goofy things and crazy people on supposedly Christian TV

I've found things online that say your faith is all fantasy 

What do you say about LGBTQ+?

Won't I be dead anyway from climate change in 10 years or less?

Isn't the Bible outdated on sex?

All preachers want from me is money at church and on TV

What will my friends say?

What do I have to give up?

So, it's a smooth ride on the down escalator?

What's a Hedonist and how can I get in on it?

How do you vote, and what is your position on abortion?

What about older, more inclusive religions, New Age and such things as reincarnation?

Hold on, Pappy! Didn't you have a checkered past?

What’s your identity?

Get lost, Pappy! I want to have fun, and Jesus would be a stick-in-the-mud 

Some favorite Gospel music, websites to answer your questions & eye-opening books

EARTHSHAKING CONCLUSION

      

 

OK, Pappy, spill it--what is your vital, life-or-death request?

 

Please don't just take my word for it. A group called the Bereans listened to what Apostle Paul, the greatest missionary of all time, said, but they were sure to fact-check what he said according to the authoritative standard of the day:

"Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." Acts 17:11

What is YOUR universal, objective standard? Mine goes back to the beginning of time, it is objective, universal and has followers in virtually every part of the civilized world--it is God's Word, the most documented book of antiquity. It is most urgent to tell me if you've found something better!

Let's put it this way. If you tell me you do not believe in the Judeo-Christian God and then say to me that I should brake for animals, or pay women equally, or help the poor, or buy an electric car, on what basis are you making such an appeal? If no standard for objective truth, law, wisdom, justice, charity, kindness, compassion and fidelity exists in the universe, then what you are asking me to accept is an idea that has taken hold in your head but that has all of the moral compulsion of a bowl of cereal. You are a sentimentalist, trying to persuade me to a point of view based on your feelings about the subject and not rooted in the fear of God or some other unchanging earthly standard. —paraphrasing Cal Thomas

Here's what God says in His Word: "For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God....for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
--Romans, Chapter 6

This means you and me. Unless we accept God's gift and live our lives according to His best and beneficial will for our lives, God's Word says we are doomed.

Matthew 5:17-20 concludes with Jesus saying that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good, not even one.” --Romans 3:10-12

So, my dying request for you includes this: spare no effort* to assure yourself that you will spend a joyful eternity with Jesus and avoid the curse that sin has put on all of us. This essential knowledge is as urgent as what the merchant sought in Jesus' story parable:

The parable reads as follows: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

What does the Pearl of Great Price mean in Matthew 13:45-46?

Likewise, a pearl dealer trades all his wealth in exchange for a pearl of enormous value when he finds it. Both stories show that inclusion in the kingdom of heaven is worth any amount of sacrifice. Whatever is lost in pursuit of the kingdom of heaven is a small price to pay, considering the value of what is gained.

*I say effort, but this easily can be misunderstood. In God's perspective, effort is good as a matter of gratitude, but earning is irrelevant when it comes to His gifts. For by grace you have been [or will have been if you accept] saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works [as gratitude after we have accepted the gift], which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-9

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What's the good news?

 

The Good News is that we can exchange our doomed life for a joyful, meaningful, purposeful, fulfilling eternal life in Christ starting now!

The Bible's Book of Romans gets us started, if we are truly sincere, ready to completely turn over our life to Jesus:

Chapter 10

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

We don't wait to surrender to Christ by trying to clean up our lives beforehand. Do it now. Today!

Pray a prayer like this (use this or your own):

Lord Jesus,
I believe You came to earth to save someone like me. I believe you died as a once-and-for-all sacrifice in order to wipe away my sins, known (name them), and unknown. Today I seriously commit to turning away from my sin, with Your forgiveness and help. If I fail from time to time, please prompt me to again seek your forgiveness. Thank You, Lord! You are worthy of praise, honor, Glory and power!
In Your Mighty Name,
Amen

Psalm 16

This is a song King David wrote after he was sorry for committing the sins of adultery with Bathsheba and murder by having her husband killed. With sincere regret and sorry for his sins, he confessed them, turned from them, and God forgave him, calling David "a man after My own heart"!

1 Keep me safe, my God,
    for in you I take refuge.

2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
    “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
    I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
    or take up their names on my lips.

5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
    you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
    even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
    With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence,
    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

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What about older, more inclusive religions, New Age and such things as reincarnation?

 

Christianity is exclusive only if you reject your Creator, the God of the Bible. God's Word says He is not willing that any should perish (but some will, because they reject Him). 

Jesus told us that "God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes (trusts, relies upon) Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Other religions are exclusive, too, if you don't believe as they do.

To say that there are older, more informed religions than Christianity is to not understand that Christianity had its roots before the beginning of time. God's Word, the Bible starts out, "In the beginning..." There were no religions before that! Jesus existed before the Creation of the world. In John 1:1, He is called the Word: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Old Testament Is The New Testament Concealed; The New Testament Is The Old Testament Revealed.

Everything that humans knew about God was revealed to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. After the flood wiped out humanity except for one family, it was Noah and his family who taught others about God. People had their roots in God's truth, but they kept distorting the straight, pure Word from God, and so He created a new nation fathered by Abraham to preserve God's truths and to birth the Savior of the world, Jesus.

Jesus has had more influence in the world than any other. The founders of other religions are all dead, but Jesus lives today and seeks to love us into His Kingdom. 

New Age says we are gods, which goes against everything the perfect, objective, universal standard of God's Word says.

As for reincarnation, I can't think of anything more stressful. Can you imagine waking up as a beetle or slug? And God's perfect standard says it's false: "Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment." Hebrews 9:27

I'm staking my life on God's perfect Word and His Son Jesus, who saved me from Hell (originally made for fallen angels, and expanded to include all rebels against God) and, instead, gave me a new, joyful life! My dying request is that you would, too. I WANT TO SPEND ETERNITY WITH YOU!

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Hold on, Pappy! Didn't you have a checkered past?

 

Yes, and God says that all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. So, you too are included in that bunch--"all."

I even belonged to a Bible study men's group called "The Church of the Checkered Past"--it met in a coffee shop named Checkers!

That's the whole point of why Jesus came to die for our sins. We all have had a checkered past, but Jesus offers forgiveness for our past.

How? By praying to our Heavenly Father or Jesus, something like this (or your own):

Pray a prayer like this (use this or your own):

Heavenly Father,
I believe You came to earth to save someone like me. I believe you died as a once-and-for-all sacrifice in order to wipe away my sins, known (name them), and unknown. Today I seriously commit to turning away from my sin, with Your forgiveness and help. If I fail from time to time, please prompt me to again seek your forgiveness. Thank You, Lord! You are worthy of praise, honor, Glory and power!
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

Prayer is not one and done. It's a daily habit. Jesus' disciples asked Him how to pray, and He gave them this example in Matthew 6:9-13 (some repeat this word-for-word, but I have reason to believe that it is an example, and we should use our own words to cover the same thoughts):

“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’
(Some translations add the beloved ending:)
For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever.

Amen

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What would I have to give up?

 

In my youth, I was asked to give up a lot of things. Christians discovered the evils of smoking before the Surgeon General. Movies were rare, and alcohol was out. So were dancing, bowling, pool and some forms of skating.

Here was the problem. People would go to revival meetings, be convicted by a great move of the Holy Spirit and commit to behavior changes. Later they would impose these changes in conduct on others who hadn't gone to the revival meetings, resulting in conflict and rebellion.

As it turned out, people were following man-made rules (as the Bible warns against) and not just God's.

The Bible is the most trustworthy book there is, thoroughly documented by thousands of manuscript portions, further verified by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It contains everything we need in terms of essential doctrinal beliefs and our life's conduct.

As I said elsewhere in this blog, one man I know thought about what he'd have to give up in order to be a follower of Jesus, but he discovered so much more that he gained.

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What will my friends say?

 

You may lose a few, but not those who are truly friends. And you will gain far more than you lose. 

I think of friends I had in school who were not of faith. None are around today. But, in my Saturday morning Men's Roundtable, adult Sunday School, Friday prayer breakfast, not to mention many friends in Indiana, I am blessed with dozens of friends, along with three close ones I call my lifelong friends.

When you have fellowship with people who have the same ultimate goal as you--Heaven--you have much in common for a lot of fellowship and whatever strikes your fancy: fishing, football, eating, traveling, or just sitting around and talking.

Proverbs 18:24 (NET)

A person who has friends may be harmed by them, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

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Isn't the Bible outdated on sex?

 

No. I know from a lifetime of observation and marriages that it's up-to-the-minute relevant and instructive.

I've known many couples in my long lifetime--both Christians and non-Christians. And the ones who have the most joyful love lives are those who love as the Bible instructs. There's a reason the Bible restricts sex to within a loving marriage relationship, and that's because marriage offers the highest and most fulfilling love and sex, not to mention its mystique and surprises!

There's no greater gift you can give to your future spouse than the gift of sexual purity.

Throughout the Old Testament, it’s assumed that God designed sex for marriage. Deuteronomy condemns a soon to be wife who has had sex before marriage (Deuteronomy 22:13-19), and the love poetry contained in the Song of Songs delights in the joys of sex but reserves it for a husband and wife. Extra-marital sex is never looked upon with divine approval in the Old Testament, no matter how bright the love-flame burns.

 Sex before marriage was clearly condemned in Judaism, and the same goes for Christianity.

For instance, Paul—a Jew—argued that the only proper outlet for sexual desire is within marriage: “because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2). Again, if unmarried people can’t control their sexual desires, Paul doesn’t tell them to head to the brothel, or to their boyfriend, or their betrothed loved one. Rather, “they should marry” since “it is better to marry than to burn with passion” (1 Corinthians 7:9). In other words, we should not satisfy our sexual passion with someone other than a spouse.

Paul says in another passage: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5).

Paul’s words here can’t be limited to adultery. They clearly include all forms of sex outside of marriage. We know this because the Gentiles of the Roman world Paul refers to actually abhorred adultery and considered it a crime. However, sexual activity outside of marriage was perfectly fine—as long as it wasn’t with another man’s wife. So when Paul tells Christians to not engage in “the passion of lust like the Gentiles,” this can’t be limited to adultery. What separates Christians from other Romans was that Christians, like their Jewish brothers, believed that sex outside of marriage was sin.

Many other passages in the New Testament confirm what we see in the letters of Paul. Revelation 14:4 assumes that unmarried Christian men who desire to be faithful are not having sex. Matthew 1:18-19 celebrates the chastity of Joseph and Mary. And Hebrews 13:4 considers sex outside of marriage to be immoral: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” This verse can’t just be limited to adultery, since both “sexually immoral” and “adulterous” are listed.

God loves sex. But He’s designed us to have sex within the boundaries of a marriage covenant. To violate God’s design in an effort to lay hold of creation’s pleasure is not just foolish, but actually rejects the delights God wants us to enjoy. Sex outside of marriage mocks the Creator’s will and elevates human desire over God’s wisdom.

Christians can mess up and receive God’s free pardon. God’s scandalous grace covers all of our wrongdoings, and He dishes out such grace liberally. But it’s one thing to struggle and fail, and quite another to call sin good and wrongdoing righteousness. Christians—genuine Christians—must strive to live in line with the Creator’s intentions and celebrate the good gifts He gives to His people.

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What's a Hedonist and how can I get in on it?

The dictionary describes hedonist as "a person who believes that the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life; a pleasure-seeker.

"She was living the life of a committed hedonist."

Ancient books or catechisms on Christianity instruct us that "the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Prominent Christian author John Piper, in Desiring God, questions the word and. Are we to glorify God sometimes and enjoy God sometimes?

Throughout his book he convincingly persuades us that glorifying God--tapping into His indescribably joyful existence and presence--provides the ultimate in our enjoyment, thus, we can be Christian Hedonists.

How do you think you get pleasure? I'm convinced, through the writings of many Christian scholars and my own experience, that there is no greater pleasure than that of glorifying God and participating in all His glorious activities, such as giving to and serving others.

Christian hedonism is a philosophy of life built on the following five convictions:

1.     The longing to be happy is a universal human experience, and it is good, not sinful.

2.     We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy, as though it were a bad impulse. Instead, we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction.

3.     The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God. Not from God, but in God.

4.     The happiness we find in God reaches its consummation when it is shared with others in the manifold ways of love*.

5.     To the extent that we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure, we fail to honor God and love people. Or, to put it positively: the pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue. That is: The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever.

*I should say something important here about love Languages other than English can better describe different kinds of love, and the Bible describes the highest forms of love. Unfortunately, most of us do not read the languages the Bible was written in, which describe three kinds:

·       Philos means warm affection or friendship. ...

·       Agapē is the sacrificial, unconditional love of (by and to) God.

·       Eros refers to physical or sexual love. The word eros was commonly used in the Greek-speaking world of New Testament times.

Jesus commands us: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul 
and with all your strength and with all your mind, 
and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

 

Wow!!! That’s a mouthful. How do you and I do that?
Two concepts I found helpful:
--Love is an action word. And,
--An African American pastor taught me that most of the time the word love is found in the Bible, it means commitment. Yes! I can commit fully to Jesus, without reservation. And you can, too, because the Holy spirit will help us.

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Won't I be dead anyway from climate change in 10 years or less?

 

Countless people warning of the end of the world in 10 years have been wrong. The 10 years have come and gone. We're still here. Other graphics have predicted the end of polar ice caps and icebergs. They're still here. What's happened is that climate-change panic-shouters are not only wrong but they keep spouting this information to fatten their wallets.

Weather Channel co-founder John Coleman said “climate change is not happening.” It's changing, but no one can prove it's because of humans.

I grew up hearing teachers warning that air pollution would block the sun and we should prepare for the coming ice age. Over the centuries, the earth has alternatively warmed and cooled.

Actions speak louder than words. Both Barrack Obama and John Kerry, the climate czar, hve waterfront homes on Martha's Vinyard. They talk about oceans rising and wiping out cities. I don't believe such talk when they live in multi-million-dollar waterfront homes.

Bottom line: only God can control the climate. If He can't nobody can. But, we can be His earth. We all believe in clean air and water. But let's quit enriching the climate-change false prophets.

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I've found things online that say your faith is all fantasy

 

These are uniformed people looking for an alternative. Maybe they want to keep getting drunk every night. Maybe they desperately want a series of one-night stands. Maybe they're into pornography or pedophilia. Or maybe they want to scorn or flip off their neighbor.

So, they've gone online and found similar skeptics who make up lies and exaggerate passages in the Bible to make God's Word sound like fiction. It's true that you can prove anything you want from the Bible by taking a passage out of context. The Bible usually proves itself by explaining or contextualizing a passage elsewhere in the Bible. A text without context is a pretext for a proof text.

Since the Bible has been attacked more than any other book and found to be genuine in every case, you can rest assured that there is a legitimate answer for every objection you think of your find.

Two quick thoughts:

A woman decided to read the Bible for herself after being told it was nothing but fantasy. She came across listings of names tracing ancestries back from Jesus to King David and back further to Adam. She became a devout believer, saying, "I was told the Bible was full of fairy tales. These are real people in history."

Another woman escaped from Communist Soviet Union and people learned she had become a devout Christian. She explained that her teachers taught her that religion was phony and an "opiate"--meaning Christians often endured hardship rather than try to violently overthrow dictators. But she said that those same teachers assigned Russian novels by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. In those novels were the Gospel story, and she learned to trust Jesus through those novels.

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So, it's a smooth ride on the down escalator?

 

Let on one mislead you. Jesus said we'd be subject to possible ridicule and devilish temptation. It's not necessarily an easy life, but the rewards are out of this world! 

It's more like fighting your way up a down escalator, saying "STOP" to temptations and obstacles to the best Jesus has for us. He promises to never leave us--to walk with us through every storm. 

Whenever Jesus closes a door, it means He has a better YES for us! 

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I've seen some goofy things and crazy people on supposedly Christian TV

 

Some preachers on TV may have started out with pure motives. But then greed took hold of them, and they're now in it for the money. As discussed elsewhere in this blog, this goes against God's teachings. Pay no attention to these shysters.

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I know some so-called Christians who are the worst examples of their faith

 

So true! Either they were not genuine Christians in the first place (false converts), or they are straying from God's plan for their lives.

Let me ask you: Imagine you know a lawyer who is the biggest scoundrel you have ever met. But you found out that a relative that you didn't know left you a fortune. To your chagrin, this relative used the scoundrel lawyer to manage the will and distribute the money, millions of dollars designated to you.

"No! I'd rather die in poverty than do business with that scumbag!"

Makes little sense, eh?

"But, Pappy, I know of a PASTOR that is a dirtbag!"

And as God's Word reminds us, "All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God."

You can't go wrong by trusting Jesus fully TODAY and let Him give you His brand new life!

On a lighter note, that reminds me of gangster twins in Poulsbo, Ralph and Rod. Rod died, and Ralph came to my pastor and said he'd donate $10,000 to the church if my pastor would conduct the funeral and call Rod a SAINT!

To my surprise, Pastor accepted. I decided to attend the funeral to see if he actually went through with it.

During the funeral, Pastor got up and said this:

"Rod was a scoundrel, a thief, a liar and a cheat. But compared to his brother Ralph, Rod was a saint!"

AN IMPORTANT REMINDER: You could die tonight. If Jesus should ask you why He should let you into His Heaven, what would you say?

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Who's to blame for the curse I'm under?

           We can blame our forebears for this mind-blowing curse, starting with Adam and Eve, our relatives who had everything going for them and chose to absolutely blow their and our paradise life by turning their back and disobeying (sinning) against their/our loving Creator and suffering the consequences of spiritual death and ultimate horror by turning God’s wonderful gift of love into anger. Why? Because you can’t have a loving God without a wrathful God—in other words, a just God. Think about that. Would you want your best friend or your mom to be treated in the same way as Hitler or Stalin?

          But God came up with a plan to save our ancestors, as well as you and me.

          What if someone handed you a reading that would give you the key to banishing your greatest fear…but you refused to read it?
          My greatest fear is that you will ignore the greatest gift anybody ever got, presented in this request you have begun to read.
          This very well be at least the second most important reading you will ever encounter.
          It should scare you spitless.
          Then it will provide the most thrilling good news anyone ever heard of, designed with you in mind!
          I hope you will click and read to the end. But just in case you are a typical young person, I’ll pull out the tools of my 40-year journalist’s career when I was a media spokesperson under nine presidents. A reporter could get an answer from me packaged as a 10-second soundbite…or opt for 30 seconds, 60 seconds or the full meal deal.

10-second soundbite
          You and I have been facing a certain ghastly, grotesque, terrifying and endless future of our own doing.
          Without a radical and total turnaround, we’re utterly doomed forever and ever.

          How’s that? We have no choice but to get it fixed now!

30-second soundbite
          Our Creator has offered us the best gift in the universe: a most beautiful, everlasting, joyfully productive, exhilarating adventure “above and beyond all that we could think or imagine.” Only if we accept his free gift of eternal life with Him by changing our mind about our wrongful, selfish ways and inviting Jesus into our lives to completely take over and give us new life.

          It keeps getting better.

60-second soundbite
          A friend put off committing his life fully to Christ, thinking about all that he thought he might have to give up. Instead, he was astounded at all the joys and peace he gained when he surrendered his life to Jesus, the One Who gave up His life in our place to rescue us from certain torment and destruction. “The thief [enemy, devil] comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].” --Jesus
          Why not accept His free gift of eternal life today by telling Him that you repent (turn from your sinful ways) and want to live for Him from now on? [Sin means evil and selfish thoughts, words and actions that displease God, which only He can help us overcome in the midst of our challenges and setbacks].

          Some of you may be thinking, “I’ve heard all this before, but people have convinced me that it’s all fairy tales and exclusive, leaving out billions of people." 

I’ve lived long enough to have learned answers (the hard way) and also researched some of the objections and alternatives, and I fervently hope this book will provide answers. Do you want to learn the hard way...or a better way?

WARNING: Becoming a follower of Christ is not necessarily easy. Some think it must be like riding down an escalator, a smooth life free of trouble. More likely it is like struggling your way UP a down escalator. Here comes an evil temptation! NO! The devil is trying to hassle or accuse me! STOP! But, here’s the GOOD NEWS: Jesus will walk with you through any difficulty, and He will never leave you. He will be the best friend you ever had!

          I’m sure you’ve heard some opposition to God or His Son Jesus along the way--from friends, relatives, teachers or online. Stick with me, and I’ll give you God’s answer to these objections.

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What do you say about LGBTQ+?

 

Love them. 

When Suzanne and I stayed in New Orleans and Albuquerque, some of the staff were gay. We treated them with respect and they went out of their way to make out stay enjoyable. Example: they would call us about a special dinner and say they put two dinners aside for us before they ran out.

Nevertheless, all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. As in Am I good enough to go to Heaven, I would share the Gospel by first asking them how they've kept each of the 10 Commandments. 

Read the first two chapters of Romans in the Bible. I know of several gay Christians who keep from sin by making a firm decision to be non-practicing gays. The same with certain straight people who, as mentioned in the Bible, choose not to marry or have intimate relations. Instead, they want to do more for the Lord.

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Do I have to be Goody-Goody-Two-Shoes?

 

If you mean someone who speaks nothing but churchy-language and looks down their nose at you...

NO!!

Some of the wittiest, funniest, most fascinating and compassionate, caring people I know are Christians. Most branches of science were founded by Christians.

Here are some short takes of fascinating Christians:

Michael Jr. 

Chonda Pierce 

Mark Lowry

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Doesn't the Bible say "Judge not?"

 

Who Are You to Judge Others? by Paul Copan 

Hands down, Matthew 7:1 is the most frequently quoted Bible verse today: "Do not judge, so that you won't be judged." It's been twisted to mean we can't say someone's action or lifestyle is wrong. However, when someone says, "Don't judge," he's judging you for judging someone else. You've done wrong by saying someone else has done wrong!

Clearly, we can't escape making moral judgments. Furthermore, in the same context of the oft-quoted verse, Jesus made a moral judgment about certain persons, using metaphors about "dogs" and "pigs" (Mt 7:6), stressing that we shouldn't continue to present God's grace to those who persistently scoff and ridicule. At some point we must shake the dust off our feet and move on to the more receptive (Mt 10:14; Ac 13:51).

On the other hand, Jesus commanded, "Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment" (Jn 7:24, emphasis added). How do we resolve the apparent tension? By taking note of the spirit in which we make judgments. Do we think we're superior (the attitude Jesus condemned), or are we assessing actions or attitudes with a spirit of humility and concern, recognizing our own weaknesses (1 Co 10:13; Gl 6:1)?

In Matthew 7:5, Jesus told us first to examine ourselves (removing the log from our own eye), then we can help our brother or sister (taking the speck out of his or her eye). So there is a problem to be dealt with—but only after self-examination.

The wrong kind of judging is condemning. The right kind of judging is properly evaluating moral (or doctrinal) matters with a humble, helpful attitude. (In 1 Co 5:5, "judging"—even excommunicating—is required in light of a church member's shameless sexual misconduct.)

We should treat others the way we would want to be treated (cp. Mt 7:12), thinking, There—but for the grace of God—go I. So when discussing judging with others, first clarify what you mean by the word "judge." This can serve as the context for clarifying right and wrong kinds of judgment. Further, we must take care to avoid the "Who am I to say So-and-So is wrong?" mentality. We can't shrink from making moral judgments, nor can we escape them—lest we declare it wrong to say another is wrong.

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What do I get out of this and how soon?

 

How about right now? 

2 Corinthians 6:2

For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

God doesn't promise you a trouble-free life, but Jesus will walk with you through any storm. And the good news is that you would be free of guilt and start a life of joy. 

Psalms 103:12 (NET)

As far as the eastern horizon is from the west, so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us.

A pastor found out that a woman in his congregation had conversations with God. He pulled her aside and asked if this was true. She said yes. So he suggested that she ask God what the great sin was that he had committed in Bible college. "It's all under the cleansing Blood of Jesus--it's forgiven, but just ask Him what it was."

The next week, the pastor spotted the woman and asked her, "Did you ask God what my sin was?"

"Yes, of course."
"What did He say?"
"He said, 'I don't remember!'"

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