Forever

I've been thinking about forever a bit lately.

Forever.  That's a long time.

With all of the natural disasters that have been happening lately, I have heard the end of the world used as a possible explanation for it all. 

Earthquake in Haiti.
Earthquake/Tsunami in Japan.
Earthquakes in other parts of Asia.
Deadly Tornadoes throughout the Southeast United States.

In addition there are wars in many parts of the world.

Here is what Jesus has to say about all of this in Matthew 24:3-14:

 ³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
 ⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.
   ⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

Perhaps we are in the beginning of birth pains; however, one doesn't know when the end will come.  It could still be years from now.  Or, it might not be.

In any case, it makes me hurt for those who don't know Christ.  Those who, if the world ended tomorrow, would not spend forever in Heaven.  I hope that there is time to welcome so many more into the Kingdom of God.

Yesterday, when I woke up to NPR (it's the alarm), I heard them talking about the fact that Osama Bin Laden had been killed.  As I was getting ready that morning, I began to think about how one ought to respond to such a thing (they were also talking about this on Big Fish Radio).  Yes, he did horrible things.  But you know what?  

So did Saul (of Tarsus).

Saul persecuted the church.  He sought out Christians in order to arrest them.

Then, he encountered Christ and was saved.  Saul changed his name to Paul and, during the rest of his life, spread the Gospel throughout the world.

I know it's too late now, but what if Osama Bin Laden had come to Christ?  That obviously wasn't in God's plan, but what if?  That conversion just might have flipped the Muslim world upside down.

However, what did happen is this terrorist was killed.  And now he is in Hell.  For forever.

This is not something to rejoice in.  It's simply reality.

The thing is, many so-called "innocent" people who were killed by Bin Laden's schemes are also in Hell.  For forever.  Because they didn't know Christ.

The same Jesus who was crucified, died, was buried, and who rose from the dead three days later for me, also did all of those things for terrorists, kings, queens, teachers, military personnel....  everyone.

Everyone has sinned in some form or fashion.  Whether by thoughts or actions, murdering or lying, etc.  However, Christ died for the world.  God can save someone no matter their religious past, their ethnic background, familial background, or their past sins.  If someone simply acknowledges Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and believes that He died and rose again from the dead, that person can be assured of spending forever in Heaven.

This message has to get out.  The end of the world is coming and we might not have much time to reach the world.