Yes, there is a life after death. Annihilation is a lie, deceit placed in one’s thinking about the afterlife, planted by Satan, the devil, the enemy of God, and man. People need to know the peace with God, the joy of expecting eternal life, this side of eternity before something unimagined takes their life on earth quickly. How can they hear and know without someone, yielded to God, willing to preach the good news, take God literally at His Word, and serve Him by sharing the true Gospel, the Way in God’s Plan of Salvation for humankind to be saved? Humans, who believe on Jesus are protected from the wrath of God to come. They become children of God. (John 1: 12).
Each Christian has been given the call to fulfill their God-given ministry of reconciliation (not just the pastors), but not all Christians believe they have accountability for their gift of reconciliatory ministry. Life or death can be a breath away. May all God’s blessing be upon you for taking up God’s “call” to be an obedient minister of reconciliation, while the opportunity for you remains.
The author has observed that all people have a question about life after death lurking, like a shark, in their heart, and it is ‘the question’ invariably in the heart, accompanied by fear, placed there by God. God is fair in giving a warning about eternity in His Holy Word. In all the author's experience as a minister of the Gospel and life-coach, seekers are overcome seemingly with and searching for a solution to, life after death. How can they know whether eternity will be favourable or sorrowful for them and, have time to choose? If God does exist, does He care? These and other questions are asked by many, if not outwardly, in their hearts and minds. Spiritual leaders need to be mindful of this fact and be able to broach the subject. Some do not understand salvation for soul-winning and therefore, blunder. When a person asks about matters related to the after-life, then the author can explore true Christianity with them and explain the importance of being ready for a surprise transition into eternity. People need a godly vision. How can people know and have this holy vision? Genuine followers of Jesus Christ do not teach false doctrine. They know love and explain the truth.
As the time and opportunity arise, would false teachers be willing to settle their account with God? May they realize that now is the day of salvation, (2 Cor 6: 2). Do they desire to believe God, and have access to Him through faith in Jesus? In a nutshell, they hear about Jesus and then are asked if they would like to repent of their sin and believe on and accept Jesus, in whom they are made complete, (Col 2: 10). What a joy is theirs to be had in looking forward to Jesus coming back as their Lord.
God wants them to know and believe they are made complete in Jesus Christ, alone. The author asks, ‘Would you be instrumental in the changing of one’s relationship to God from enmity with God, to peace with God?’ Faith in Jesus, empowered by God the Holy Spirit, is your strength. Jesus has prayed for the Father to give you the Holy Spirit in your heart, the moment you first believed on Jesus. Those, who choose to believe God, have a real sense of eternal perspective, love, peace and, joy, and begin to utter praise to God, and have a desire to love and serve Him as their Savior, Resurrected Lord, Master, Defender, Deliverer, and Coming King to bring others to receive Jesus by grace through faith. The joy, abundance of life, and desire to win others to receive Jesus are miraculous and remarkable in a new believer’s life. There is nothing as fulfilling as it offered on earth.
Recently, the author was preaching a Gospel message to a group, and a lady jumped up in the middle of his preaching and said, “What you are talking about is what I need right now for myself. I believe God, and could you show me how to receive Jesus, right now?” We stopped the message, and two of us prayed with her; she confessed her sin, received Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and new life. Immediately, she expressed love, peace, and joy of the Holy Spirit, whom the Father had sent into her heart. She thanked God in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We stood up, and she reached out and grabbed our hands and was joyful in her aggressive handshakes. Pastor went back to the pulpit, and as a congregation, they sang and prayed a closing prayer. She caught Pastor at the exit door. She was excited that God had shown her how she could stop smoking. She retook his hand, shook it hardily, and walked out the door.
God says that Abraham believed God, and God reckoned it unto him for righteousness, (Rom 4: 3). Our lady is sure happy that she found God; that she heeded His Voice. God had reckoned His righteousness unto her account. Jesus will present her blameless in eternity and welcome her into Heaven. God is real and trustworthy.
Believe Him. He will do the same for you when you believe, trust, and obey Him. His work of Salvation is through the Way, the Truth, and the Life: JESUS. He will forgive you and set you free from the control of sin, the world, and Satan, and give you abundant Life, freely, (John 16: 4, Ephesians 2: 8-9, Rev 3: 20).
The alternative, which is not to believe God, would not be pretty. She would
not be known by God in Judgment Day, thus turned away from Heaven into everlasting punishment, (Matt 7: 23). She was what God calls ‘born again’ of the Holy Spirit, without which no one will ever see the Kingdom of God, (Jn 3: 3). Believe God, and you will see. He will prove His Word is authoritative and powerful unto your salvation. He will give you a purpose for your life on earth, at the end of which you will dwell with Him forever in Heaven. That is a promise, God ‘s promise, (Ps 23: 1-6; Jn 3: 16; Col 2:10). Be circumspect (sensible). Make sure you are a child of God, yourself, then ask Him to lead and prepare someone with whom you might share the beautiful love of God and His Master plan of salvation for them as He did for you. Confess your sin, forsake your sin and turn to receive Jesus into your heart and you will be made complete in Jesus. No jibber jabber required.
Ronald Sider quoted Peter Gillquist as saying, “All the evangelism in the world from a church that is not herself holy and righteous will not be worth a hill of beans in world-changing power.”¹¹ So many born-again Christians are living just like the rest of the world that the world has lost respect for the Christ they proclaim and the profession of themselves as Christian and any desire for attendance at their church, which to them has lost meaning and relevance to their lives. So-called Christians are slow to the apprehension of their differentiation between living in the flesh vs. living in the Spirit.
THE ANSWER
Keep reading the Holy Bible, believing God by faith, discerning the truth, testing the spirits, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom you are made full (filled with the Holy Spirit, so the enemy of God cannot touch you)! You learn how to test the spirits in this book. Don’t let a day go by before you read, and study the Scriptures, intentionally, and diligently! “It is written,” says God, therefore He gives His Word legal authority. Believe God, Elohim; God the Father, God, the only-begotten Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God has the power to cast body and soul into Hades in Judgment Day. God’s decision, to cast someone into hell, is a sobering thought. Be sure that you know the Truth and are known by God this side of eternity. He loves you and me, and gave His only begotten Son for you and me, to save us. As a gift, God enables you to love God and love your neighbour. Show compassion to your neighbours, so some are rescued from the pit. Whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life complete upon receiving Jesus, (Jn 3: 16; Col 2: 10). That is indeed a fantastic promise for you and me to know, this side of eternity, we will have eternal life in Heaven, based on faith in Jesus Christ by God’s grace. Shout this message from the mountaintops.
When you receive Jesus, the Christ, you become seated spiritually in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus, (Eph 2: 6). Your eternal life has begun and is secured in Christ. Jesus has a place prepared for believers, (John 14: 1-6). Why not love and serve the God (Elohim), who has given you eternal life upon receiving Christ, His only begotten Son? Why not choose Life, instead of death? Sider adds that the pulpit has ultimate accountability for their example, their non-Christian philosophy, or lack of sound biblical teaching, and their deeds that fall short of God’s expectations of called shepherds who are to feed the sheep.¹² Take time, to feed the sheep.
Dr. Martin Luther, in his Enchiridion, writes of pastors, that their preaching and teaching in the churches of his day is deplorable destitution.¹³ Today, in many respects, there is no difference. Sider explains why in his book entitled The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience. He reveals that salvation without ethical transformation