There are a lot of profane curse words that are frequently used everyday by many people, but I can’t think of any that are more OFFENSIVE even to many who profess christianity than the word….HELL. Yea I said it.
In early church history, It used to be only offensive to non-believers, but nowadays it’s a word that even believers wish wouldn’t get brought up.
I often wonder to myself why is that?
I believe this is one of the most successful tactics of the devil since the ascension of Christ. The devil and his subordinate demons for centuries have been getting people to believe it isn’t real or that it’s not as bad as Jesus said it was. Also by getting preachers to never bring it up and just focusing on the “positive aspects” of following Jesus. The side of Jesus that won’t offend people especially the ones sitting on Sunday mornings within the walls of the sanctuary. Jesus “the SAVIOR” mentioned and referenced Hell more than anyone in the whole bible. Over 40 times throughout the gospel accounts. How is it that Jesus knew so much about this place?
He created it…….
Yes you read that right. That was not a typo. And not only did he create it but he will be the judge of everyman and woman on judgement day and will cast some people into hell and will grant eternal life to others (Revelation 20:11-15, 21:1-8).
Hell was NEVER intended for people.
It was ONLY intended for the Devil and other angels like himself who chose to rebel against God. Several places throughout the bible give us a glimpse of the demise of the devil/lucifer (he has many names asserted to himself throughout the scriptures), but Jesus clearly states it in Matthew 25:41
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fireprepared for the devil and his angels“.
Many believe that because “God is Love” (1 John 4:8) that he would never send anyone to an eternal tormenting place of destruction away from Him. But the very people who believe this don’t have an accurate view of God and our sin that separates us from Him. They’ve created an image of God that works for them. The kind of god that they are comfortable with. This is called IDOLATRY.
Hell is not a place just for those really really really bad people like Adolf Hitler. Hell is also not an eternal SLEEP/NON-EXISTENCE the like Jehovah Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists teach. It is not a period of purgatory that you eventually get out of like the Catholics believe. It is not the “negative experiences” that we go through in our earthly lives as Buddhists, Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam teaches (www.noi.org/muslim-program). It also is not like I’ve heard from some people as a fun place where “all their friends will be having a good time”. All their friends might be there, but according to Jesus they won’t be having a “good time”.
I would looooooove to believe EVERYONE is going to Heaven as we hear at almost EVERY funeral and that Hell doesn’t exist. In reality, despite society’s belief, Hell according to Jesus is a real ETERNAL place and according to Jesus ALOT of people will go (Matthew 7:13-23, 13:3-23, Mark 4:2-20, Luke 13:23-28) and it’s the Christians job (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 5:11, Ephesians 4:11-16), not just the pastor as many believe, to let them know what Jesus has done so that they NEVER have to experience it and can in turn experience the rich, vast, and glorious love of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for all of eternity.
Imagine for a moment that you desire to take a vacation from work. In the past you’ve either stayed at home or gone to places relatively close to home, but let’s say this time you desire to go some where far away from home. Somewhere that you’ve never been. So you decide to contact a local travel agent named Ruth. You tell Ruth your desire to go to a different country from yours. The most popular destination in the world that people are wanting to go these days. Hearing your request, Ruth gets REALLY REALLY excited and mentions a place on the other side of the planet that you’ve never heard of. She tells you MANY people call her everyday wanting to go. She tells you that the King of this country is AMAZING and she begins to tell you a lot of information about the King and how prior to Him becoming King no one was allowed to enter, but now anyone is allowed to enter if they are willing to pay the cost. Ruth says the cost to enter is very high and when most people find out how much, they eventually change their minds. Ruth says if you decide to go and are willing to pay the price, it will be the best investment you’ll ever make!
Now by this time you have mixed feelings. On one hand you’re SUPER EXCITED because a lot of people want to go and meeting the King sounds very intriguing, but on the other hand Ruth has told you about this really high cost and you still have NO CLUE what you’re going to do when you get there. So you ask Ruth to give you details of this country and the people who have gone what do they do when they get there? Ruth pauses for a moment…..Ruth says she doesn’t know hardly any details other than she’s heard it’s a beautiful place and that there’s no crime, everyone is happy all the time and you get to spend time a lot of time with the King.
Now even though all this sounds nice “on the surface”, you still don’t really know anything about what you’re going to be doing or any real details of this “beautiful place”. There are a lot of other beautiful places that the cost to enter would be FAR less than trying to go to this country. Why should you invest SOMUCH in going to a place you know SO LITTLE or NOTHING about?
So is the case for many when it comes to the subject of Heaven. I’ve had the opportunity to share the gospel with many people in the last 11 years. Most people during that time frame professed that they were christians and on their way to heaven. Pretty much the norm living in the southern part of the United States in what is known as the “bible belt”, but in the last 4 years I personally started thinking about “the destination” and not just ONLY about the one who I am “destined to be with”. Now don’t think for a second that I am not longing to be with Christ for eternity. Matter fact there are days that I ponder while not even reading my bible about just beholding his presence for the first time face to face. Being in awe of the Holiness and Beauty of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I believe this should be our ULTIMATE focus as christians, but I don’t believe it should be our ONLY focus.
Now some reading that last statement would say that is blasphemous and in response like we see with the Pharisees throughout the gospels are probably ready to stone me. Before you do, the reason I say that is because then why does Jesus mention other things for me to think about throughout the scriptures?
For instance, just a few hours before Judas would come to betray him, Jesus has his final talk with his disciples and says this
“There are many rooms in my Father’s house; I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going” (John 14:2-4).
Now you’re probably thinking that I’m about to discuss some of the words and phrases that I made in bold, but actually I’m going to come back to that later. I want to give you the reason for this particular topic that I’ve studied in the last few years and decided to write on.
Like I mentioned earlier in the last 4 years I started thinking about “the place” called Heaven Jesus referred to in the passage above. I remember thinking:
“IfI’m going to be there with Jesus for ETERNITY, what are we going to be doing there? The people who have already died and gone to Heaven, what are they currently doing now?
I mean the average human life expectancy is around 75 years of age with the advancement of modern medicine, but let’s just say everyone lived to be 100. Even if we all lived to be 100, what is that in comparison to billions and billions of years times billions and billions of years times billions of billions of years and so on and so on (MY fingers were starting to get tired). I think you get the point.
So I started asking other Christians who had been in the faith longer than I, who I expected to quickly fill me in with plenty of information about Heaven. I started asking my close family members who are all christians, some friends, a few church members, and then just randomly when sharing the gospel. I started noticing a trend…
95% of the time I would get a brief 5 to 10 second pause
I double dog dare you to try it some time. I remember getting the sense It was kind of like the “forbidden topic” you weren’t supposed to ask questions about. Next, I kid you not the answer would be something like “well we will be with Jesus”. Then something like “There will be no more pain or death or suffering” and then that would pretty much be it. Sometimes I would just get straight honest answers like
“I don’t know. Just enjoy this life while you can”.
Kind of leaving me like “That’s it?” Now don’t get me wrong, not experiencing pain and suffering is very significant, but my family went to church every time the doors were open just like most of my close christian friends which was at least like twice a week every week for 52 weeks a year averaging 2 hours a service which at bare minimum was 104 times totaling 208 hours a year (That’s some serious math :). You would think with that much attendance not to forget personal bible study we would know more than 30 seconds worth of information on Heaven!
Another trend I would notice is that when sharing the gospel and I would come across either an Atheist or someone who doesn’t believe in Heaven. I would get ridiculed of course for believing in such a “crazy thing”, but come to find out they would throw out the same comments that my christian family and friends would throughout about things like “no suffering and pain” sarcastically but still. How is it someone who doesn’t believe in Heaven and has no desire to go, knows the same if not MORE than those who claim to be on there way? It makes no sense.
I remember growing up in church all my life NEVER hearing about the place we all desired to go called Heaven. Don’t get me wrong, I remember hearing a TON of sermons on what we needed to do to make sure we get there. I also remember hearing a TON of sermons on how we need to conduct our lives while living on earth, but NOTHING about the place itself.
I also remember hearing in a TON of sermons about the alternative place we would go if we didn’t become christians. The other “forbidden topic” that surprisingly gets brought up a lot called Hell. Now if you ask the average christian about Hell, although they might not get into EXTENSIVE details, they can tell you a lot more about that place with ease. Using words like FIRE, BRIMSTONE, TORMENT, DARKNESS, DEMONS, and etc.
How is it, including myself for a long time, we know more about the place we AREN’T going versus the place we ARE going?
Is the bible that vague of information about our future home of eternity?
Does Jesus expect his followers to be virtually CLUELESS when it comes to the place where he currently resides?
I’ll answer these questions and more on our next episode of…..THE TWILIGHT ZONE!
That was a joke. Like I tell my wife sometimes, you were supposed to laugh at that moment. Ha Ha Ha. A little “christian humor” ??? OK. Moving along
Seriously, in Part 2 I want to start listing scriptural details about Heaven. Key word there was SCRIPTURE, not Gavilan’s opinions. Contrary to popular belief, the bible does say a lot about heaven and what we can expect when we get there.
In Closing, I leave you with these words from C.S. Lewis,
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next… It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither”
When Adam and Eve sinned against God in the garden of Eden, the first prophecy given to mankind revealed God’s Plan to redeem mankind from the curse of sin.
“I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel”. (Genesis 3:15)
This prophecy spoke of the second part of the Triune God named Jesus. Many prophecies after this in which there are over 300 throughout the old testament scriptures are referring to Jesus.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-16).
He was the long awaited Messiah of the Jews. Described in scriptures as “the Lamb of God”(John 1:29), He would be the savior of Mankind from the curse of Sin. He is also described in the Holy Scriptures as
“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
His sacrificial death on the cross bore the sin of the entire human race for ALL TIME. He lived a perfect life and His Perfect life would be exchanged with the sinful lives of those who would trust in Him for their salvation as the payment for the penalty deserved.
Known by many as the iconic and successful billionaire philanthropist, humanitarian, talk show host and television network owner, Oprah Winfrey started airing last night a week-long series that she has been highly publicizing for months titled: Belief. It’s a series that will show according to her that all people around the world have an inward desire to connect with something greater than themselves. Her purpose in this is to show that all people truly believe in the same “Divine Being”. The show will display people from many different religions across the globe and document people in their search for “meaning and purpose”.
Oprah in the last 10 years has gone from being known primarily as a famous talk show host and has now gravitated to more of a “spiritual advisor”. Since she started her own television network, she has done many network premier shows called “Life Classes” and “Super Soul Sundays”. She brings “spiritual leaders” from various faith beliefs for interview and coaching sessions with the audience. Oprah will identify herself as a “christian”. She openly refers to her higher power as “god”, but will also say that it’s ok for me and you to call him whatever we want and believe whatever we want.
I need you to really hear me out
On the surface it sounds good matter fact REALLY GOOD, but it is very very deceptive. Just so you know I’m not making this stuff up I inserted a YouTube clip from one of her recent Life Classes below.
Oprah has even gotten WELL KNOWN and FAMOUS preachers who many christians follow to do these life classes with her. I know this will probably offend some, but I have no ill will towards any of the preachers. Matter fact I’ve listened to sermons and read books in past years, but just because I’ve listened to sermons and read books doesn’t mean that I elevate ANYONE on such a level that I won’t test what’s being said according to scripture and you shouldn’t either. They include T.D. JAKES, JOEL OSTEEN, AND RICK WARREN. If you listen to the life classes which you can find on YouTube that she does with them and there are many, you’ll notice Jesus is NEVER mentioned and the gospel is NEVER presented. The term “God” is mentioned rarely by them, but Oprah makes it clear to the audience you can call him whatever you want. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see it’s obvious she has made it understood to the three preachers what the topics and agendas are that can and can not be discussed. If you listen to various Life Class posts from Oprah with them which can be found on YouTube you’ll notice it’s general, “self-help, positivity, finding your purpose” type talks. Subjects that would NEVER offend anyone. Topics that constantly hit the New York Times Best Selling List. I’m sure many reading that will say whats’ wrong with that? Would you rather them talk negative degrading stuff? For one as a christian we don’t find worth & esteem in ourselves or what we can accomplish, but in what Christ has ALREADY accomplished. Two, the first and foremost PURPOSE for anyone in this world is giving your life to Christ, anything else before that is PURPOSELESS.
Here’s a short clip from Bishop T.D. Jakes on a panel with other “spiritual gurus” such as Iyanla Vanzant (New Thought Spiritual Teacher), Tony Robbins(Self-Help/Life Coach), and Deepak Chopra(New Age Spiritual teacher). Oprah calls them including Bishop Jakes her “Spiritual Squad”. They’re are discussing the topic of gratitude and how it is the main connection to a “greater spirituality”.
The World wants to hear messages and talks like this just as long as Jesus isn’t included. A preachers job is not to point people towards themselves, but towards Jesus. If I had the opportunity to talk with Bishop Jakes I’m sure he would say he’s reaching people for Christ in a way my “unqualified self” wouldn’t understand, but I would in turn ask how are you reaching people for Christ and you NEVER mention Christ? Jesus never said “Go into all the world and tell people about having GRATITUDE or how to become a BETTER YOU”, he said PREACH THE GOSPEL. In Matthew 10:22 Jesus states
“You will be HATED by everyone because of me…”
and in John 15:19 he says
“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world HATES you“.
Instead of being HATED, Jakes, Osteen, and Warren are being applauded by Oprah and the audiences in the various Life Class Sessions they appear on. Matter fact Oprah said she loves to attend Bishop Jakes church from time to time and text Pastor Osteen on a regular basis. That in itself is scary because if Oprah likes to attend your services and can send text messages on a regular basis and can still feel okay to spread her beliefs and feel led to have you come on the show and speak before MILLIONS. A sound minded person would have to ask What “version of the gospel” are they teaching? It’s some really eyebrow-raising stuff. Here is another short clip with Oprah and Joel Osteen talking about The Power of words. Oprah even quotes a famous MYSTIC TEACHER from the 13th century while Joel shakes his head in agreement.
Do you recall ever hearing Jesus or the Apostles ANYWHERE in the new testament tell unbelievers “Think positive about yourself or make your primary focus in life by becoming a better you”? When did we ever see Jesus being applauded and loved by the world in the gospels? If I remember correct I think He got crucified right? If Bishop Jakes, Pastor Joel, and Pastor Warren were FIRM in their beliefs and statements and made it clear to Oprah and her staff that they would share the gospel biblically before they share anything else, I GUARANTEE you they would not be on the show and Oprah would have gotten someone else instead like maybe these “ministers” below from one of her previous spiritual sessions who say things like “Being Gay is a gift from God”. Ummm yea that was NOT an accidental typo…
“Being gay is a gift from God- Rev. Ed Bacon”….. I told you it wasn’t a typo.
The apostle Paul told Timothy “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Oprah is pushing the New Age/Universalism movement. Someone probably just said New what/Uni Who??? The New Age/Universalism movement basically summing it up in short is that “All Faiths” lead to the same path. There are no right/wrongs as far as what you believe because eventually we will all end up on the same mountain. Its roots stem from eastern Mysticism. God is in all and through all.
Neil Anderson in his book, Walking Through the Darkness, writes this:
“The New Age movement is not seen as a religion but a new way to think and understand reality. It’s very attractive to the natural man who has become disillusioned with organized religion and Western rationalism. He desires spiritual reality but doesn’t want to give up materialism, deal with his moral problems, or come under authority”.
I know some will still say “Gavilan is just making that up because he’s an Oprah hater. Oprah doesn’t believe that. As long as we all believe in Jesus, that’s all that matters”. Not so fast!
Having a mental assent or intellectual knowledge about Jesus is NOT qualifications for “true saving faith”.
The bible even says,
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble (James 2:19)”.
But just so you know I’m not just trying to post some “made up stuff” to be an Oprah Hater, below is another short clip where Oprah lays out her beliefs and a Christian woman confronts her with the truth of Jesus being the only way to salvation.
Did you hear what Oprah said? If Oprah claims to be a christian, then I wonder what she or anyone else with like beliefs does when they come across scriptures like
“I am THE way and THE truth and THE life. No one comes to the Father except through me“- Jesus (John 14:6).
Notice Jesus did not say he was A way or one of MANY ways.
Also in Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved”.
The bible is clear in many more places than these that Jesus is the ONLY bridge that leads us back to God. God poured all of His wrath on Jesus on the cross making a way for us to have a personal relationship with Him. There is no other way. I don’t care how INTELLECTUAL, SPIRITUAL, and CONVINCING these “spiritual gurus” sound. I don’t even care if they quote a scripture or two, we have to use discernment which seems to be a “lost art” amongst some christians today. We base too many things on our feelings and not God’s Word and on another note just because someone may use a scripture from God’s word to justify a stance or belief doesn’t always make something true in the situation at hand. Satan tried to pull this on Jesus in the wilderness. He quoted a scripture trying to get Jesus to do something and it sounded good on the surface, but it was contrary to God’s will.
“Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone (satan got this from Psalms 91:11-12).” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Matthew 4:5-7)
The bible clearly tells us as Christians to “test everything; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Not good according to the world, but good according to scripture. The Apostle Paul once stated to the Galatians in his opening statements some very serious eye-opening warnings:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again:If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ (Galatians 1:6-10).
According to the Apostle Paul, even if we had an angelic being appear to us, that is not a qualification to accept what is being said to us. In the case of Oprah, even though we see some spiritual leaders who we might follow via Facebook, twitter, and television on stage with her we can’t allow our “affection for their teaching and wise words” to override God’s Word. We have to be like the Bereans who we read about in the book of Acts.
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 (17:11).
Now if they examined daily to check and see if the message what the Apostle Paul preached was true, you don’t think we should do the same with “christian leaders” of today? Paul wrote over half of the new testament, but that didn’t matter to the Bereans. Truth mattered to them. Even if it was at a time when the apostles were “turning the world upside down“(Acts 17:6). My goal is not to focus too much in this blog on Jakes, Osteen, and Warren collaborating with Oprah. Rather, It’s to focus on satan’s schemes and tactics to derail us from trusting in the TRUE CHRIST. The devil is subtly pushing us toward a Jesus that we are comfortable with and that society will accept. A Jesus that DOESN’T exist.
We have to get back to a place where the Bible is our first resort for everything. Not someone’s book or sermon series. Not some Youtube documentary. Not even this blog! We have to pray and ask Holy Spirit to help us remain sober and alert because scripture says
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour“. (1 Peter 5:8)
No matter your age, if you hear something that sounds contrary or slightly different to what you’ve heard in scripture, talk it over with your pastor or other mature christian friends.
You’re not an island, You’re part of the body of Christ that’s connected for the glorification of God.
To answer the opening title question if you haven’t already gotten my take by now: Should a Christian follow “spiritual advice” given from Oprah Winfrey? The answer is a resounding NO!
In closing I leave you with these words from the Apostle John.
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)
Live Now Live Later 