THAT DIRTY "H" WORD!

• 

  Dangerous pastime!

  I posted this today in response to a God Journey broadcast called:Ultimate Reconciliation: The Hell with it! podcast of 8-5-2009. With Rob Bell's recent book it seems as Hell is being hushed up again (not a good idea). I'm genuinely not into Christians sniping at each other so lets be declare here how much I love the God Journey and if they veer off the road a wee bit...Bless them Lord!! I hope they'd bless me and not blast me if I too were to drift onto dodgy ground. Here's the text:
  Brad / Wayne, I love the God Journey but I wonder have you swung the pendulum too far on this one. The greek mindset speaks of either/or while the Hebrew mindset speaks of on the one hand this/ on the other hand that. It is in this context that we can begin to understand the reconciliation between the Love of God (which suggests all go to heaven)  and the Holiness of God (which suggests hell for all). The cross brings sense to all this (while being an offense to the universalists). Jesus went to hell, like all who died before him (though some were kept safe in Abraham's bosom) and the hope of escape is in Him alone. When you raise children you seek to lovingly encourage and coax them to do good but there are times of severe warnings also. Such warnings do not deny our love for them but recognizes the grave consequences of ongoing defiance. We live in an unredeemed humanistic world where God is simply seen as a means to an end (happiness and heaven) and not an end in HImself (to be worshipped). The average unredeemed person has no desire for an eternity of worship. SIn brings punishment to people on this earth and many call it their hell yet the truth is that this is their heaven while for those who follow Jesus in the new life this beautiful but fallen planet is their hell (relatively speaking). I understand where you are coming from but would respectfully suggest that we should not only warn of hell while speaking of the wonders of our saviour but do so with love in our heart and tears in our eyes. God takes no pleasure in seeing any person ending up in  a Christless place which was not even created for them, a place of no grace. I met Jesus at aged 23 and I know that I deserve hell and would have gone there had I died before my new birth ("perished' as referred to in John 3:16) I was drawn in by God's love but stepped into HIs kingdom over the threshold of a godly repentance from sin (all by His grace).  Let me know your thoughts. Keep up the good work. Your brother in Jesus from Ireland Anthony

Denied Access

I didn't go fishing today even though I had friends who witnessed in Tralee, Dublin and elsewhere...Instead I visited some neighbours who were at the centre of the awful murder that happened on our doorstep 2 weeks ago when we were on holidays. Tragic is an understatement. My deep sympathies go to the family of the victim as well as the mother of the perp. Our community is in shock.

All of this focuses my find in a sharper way on the great commission. I was in Dublin airport last week leaving a friend off and as I was calmly strolling away through the crowded terminal there was a lady who was in utter panic looking for her "lost" boarding card as she retraced her steps through the crowds with husband in tow. God showed me that this panic will be typical on judgement day when people will shockingly realise that they have lost their last chance of salvation and that the religion they trusted in is inadequate to gain them access into the presence of God. There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved but the name of JESUS. Whoever calls upon themane of the Lord shall be saved. While on holidays over the last 2 weeks we had the honour of lifting up His name and witnessing in both Dungarvan and Cork. When in Cork (outside McDonalds at the end of Patrick Street) we spotted the above sign and this then became the subject of some street preaching by my friend John. All the glory belongs to HIm!!

Will you join me in getting this mesage out to the people of Ireland and the multitude of internatonals whom God is sending to Ireland to hear the Gospel at this time? Let's not sleep during this harvest! Oh yes...by the way... the lady eventually found her boarding card (in her hand!). Ant

Heavy stuff eh? You bet!

John, my friend from Limerick rang this morning and said that following the mowing of an injured Methodist minister's vast lawn he was so wrecked, still in bed, (God's undercover agent) and wouldn't make it to Dublin today to join us in witnessing and preaching on the street, instead he thought he'd go fishing (for souls) on Cruise's Street Limerick. So off I went this afternoon on my own but that didn't last for long as God brought a free P bro to join me momentarily and then I met up with my friend and brother Maurice from Dundalk (remember the shirt!). The streets were packed and numerous witnessing encounters ensued including a time of preaching at Temple Bar Square. God gave me a clear word to preach as follows: We have taken the matchless name of Jesus, the only name by which we are saved and the name of the precious son of God and we have dragged it down to the same level as the word for human excrement, a fourletter "s" word used as a curse! How can we be such idiots to expect this blasphemy to go unnoticed on judgement day. Heavy stuff eh? You bet, but how would you respect a surgeon who knew that you had a fatal disease and failed to mention it for fear of "frightening" you or "offending" you. I publicly declared that I deserved Hell and separation from Holy Creator God but I was forgiven because of the shedding of His Son's pure and sinless blood at calvary. After preaching Maurice shut his eyes and prayed out a public prayer that penetrated the throne room of the Living God...all the way from hedonistic stag and hen party filled Temple Bar...What a moment! A hardened African Muslim, soft spoken but unwavering in his rejection of the new testament engaged us. We showed him old testament scriptures testifying of Jesus (Isaiah 9 and 53) and even though he was willing to receive prayer in Jesus' name for his neck, which our gracious Lord healed, he stubbornly persisted in his rejections. Heartbreaking. Many other encounters today though and last night have encouraged me. Ant
So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.Isaiah 55:11 (Amplified Bible)

I deserve to go to hell!

"But we're Catholic" the two chaps said to me as I offered them a gospel tract on Grafton Street on Saturday afternoon. Without delay or even thinking I said to them "What's that?" Then they stopped in their tracks and struggled to find an explanation for their beliefs. They explained briefly that they were following the teachings of "the church". "Are you Born again?" I asked. "No" they both said. "But Jesus said you must be Born again...", "Ah but we were born again at our baptism..." one of them replied. "It didn't work , did it? I mean we still have a heart that belches out sin in thought word and deed after baby baptism". The main talker replied "Oh yes but we go to confession..". "If you told the priest all your sins at confession you'd keep the poor man half his life, but you just tell him a selected few off the top. Confession of sin is biblical but it is for believers after they have entered into God's kingdon through a genuine repentance and trust in Jesus at the cross" I replied. The 2 chaps said earlier in the conversation that they were seminarians but I was left grieved in my heart at the thought that the traditions of man had nullified the word in God in their lives.

Was I any different? Absolutely not. They said nothing that I didn't myself believe in the past until the day I let go of my pride and stuborness and sin and asked Jesus to forgive me for living for myself. Only then did God intervene and come into my life, that was on Ash Wednesday in 1985 at Belfield Church. I am certain that in myself there is no good thing and that I DESERVE TO GO TO HELL becuase I offended a Holy God, I slapped my creator in the face and poked my arrogent fingers of sin in his loving eyes. I trampled underfoot the precious spotless blood of Jesus. I joined the mocking crowd in spirit calling for the death of Jesus. Even his name was offensive to me...but now, by His miraculous and wonderful grace I loooove the name and I proudly lift it up on Saturday afternoons for all to see (again by His grace). If you are reading this and have not yet turned to Him in repentance (180 degree turn) and faith than go to the sidebar of this blog and click on "Good enough for heaven?" for your wee test. Following this shut the door, fall on your knees, and call on the name of "Jesus". You can e-mail me then if you wish . Click on "View my complete profile" to get to the e-mail. Respond to the voice of God, not that of the enemy!

Oh yes, the photo!! That's Maurice who joined us on Saturday afternoon wearing the shirt I told you about. When you think of the utter nonsence of most logos on clothing today it nice to see a shirt that has an eternal message...even if the colours clash a bit! Maurice was in his mid 50's and had wasted his life,wife and family in gambling before he met the One who paid everthing so we could have a free gift of salvation.