Pastor warns of hell, urges Bible reading as American ‘bedrock’

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Hieronymus Bosch, "The Harrowing of Hell"

Prayer was my topic of discussion the last time I wrote in ThePerryNews.com. But that post mentioned something else that is key to revival. That post stated that true revivals are a back-to-prayer movement and a back-to-the-Bible movement.

I want to finish that post by encouraging you to make not only a back-to-prayer movement. I want to encourage you to make a back-to-the-Bible movement. The Bible is essential for your life.

There is something amorous about reading a hard copy of the Bible. Yet every generation of Americans seems to grow more and more Bible illiterate. I can remember people thinking that reading physical books would fall out of existence when the internet was just becoming popular.

That has proven to be false. Paper books are selling at faster rates every year. But there is one book that deserves our attention more than any other book. That book is the Bible.

Jordan Peterson recently called the Bible the “bedrock of agreement,” which has built the beautiful way of life those in the U.S. share. That does not mean America is perfect. It means that there needs to be a certain level of agreement among people if they are to get along, build something worth fighting for and continue to exist.

The Bible is the only book that establishes such a consistent point of agreement. The Bible is indispensable to the flourishing of any nation. And it is indispensable to your life.

The Bible gives us four reasons why you need to read the Bible every day. First, “The law of the Lord is perfect, bringing back the soul” (Ps. 19:1a.). The truths found in the Bible bring you back to God. Read the Bible if you want to hear from God. They are his words.

Second, the Bible makes “wise the naïve person” (Ps. 19:1b.). It is easy think that we have it all together. The challenges of life prove otherwise. We are more naïve than we are willing to admit.

God knows the truth, and he loves us so much that he has given us his wisdom in the Bible. Read the Bible if you want to make wise decisions.

Third, “the instructions of the Lord are right, rejoicing the hear” (Ps. 19:2a.). You are always happy when you know with absolute certainty that you have made the right decision. I am happy every time I think about the woman I chose to marry. Marrying Mandie is the second-best decision I have ever made.

The Bible says that you will be a happier person when you know what God has to say in the Bible because knowing the right thing always makes us happier people.

This leads us to the fourth reason why you ought to read the Bible every day. The greatest decision I have ever made was not marrying Mandie. It was coming back to God for salvation from sin, eternal death and Hell.

Hell is a real place no matter who denies it. Psalm 19:11 says, “by them (the judgments of the Lord) Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward” (NASB95).

What does the Bible warn us about? The Bible warns us about a place called Hell and the Lake of Fire. The Bible says that God will send you to a real place full of eternal torment in fire called the Lake of Fire if your name is not found in his “book of life” (Rev. 20:15).

Now many who read this will immediately complain and say that God is unloving for punishing anyone. And it is not my purpose here to offer a defense of the truth. What is true is that God would be unloving to not tell us about a place called the Lake of Fire and how to escape that damnation.

Would you be loving or unloving to tackle your friend who was about to walk off the side of a cliff and fall to his death? You would be loving to save his life. In the same way, God has shown a great deal of his love by giving us the Bible, which warns us about his wrath to come so that we would escape that wrath. That is the ultimate reward for keeping his “judgments.”

When you keep “the judgments of the Lord” (Ps. 19:9b.), by reading the Bible, the Bible warns you about the eternal Lake of Fire. The Bible also tells you how you can be saved from that Lake of Fire. Your reward will be eternity in heaven with Jesus when you die if you heed the call to the answer for salvation from the Lake of Fire.

Death is coming for all of us. No matter what trials you go through in life, heaven will be your home if you heed the warning and obey God’s judgments. No matter how scary the times are, eternity with Jesus will be your resting place if you heed the warning and obey God’s judgments.

Salvation from sin and its consequences in Hell will be your reward.

How do you attain the reward? The Bible says, “call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:2). You can have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven if you place your faith in Jesus Christ. He alone can save you.

The Bible says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31a). The Bible says, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, NASB95).

You can make the greatest decision you will ever make today by trust in Jesus Christ to forgive your sins, save you from The Lake of Fire and promise you heaven when you die.

Call out to Jesus today, and be saved. And if you do trust in Jesus to save you, let me know at pastorandyfbcperry@gmail.com.

The Bible is essential for your life.

The Rev. Andrés Reyes is the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Perry.

1 COMMENT

  1. It is fantastic that the writers of the Bible understood the people they were writing for. They were able to capture the Secular Humanistic values necessary for community into a religious doctrine. They understood some people need the dichotomy of damnation and redemption to do the right thing.

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