20 DEC 08: THE OTHER PLACE

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: You may find the following item humorous, serious, or a little of both - but we offer these thoughts from time to time, as we keep a seventh-day Sabbath.)

We were planning to take a Saturday rest from blogging. But an e-mail about Friday's main topic spurred us to change plans....

Schweiger IS a villian alright. He reminds me of the scrooge. Maybe he should rent the move "A Christmas Carol" and see what everyone around him sees in him. I have been reading a book by Bill Wiese called "23 Minutes in Hell" In the book Mr. Wiese says he was taken on a journey to hell. The book is fascinating because it describes the horrors that will befall those who do not know God. Robert Schweiger does not know God and he is in misery here on this earth too. I hope that you will post this comment because I would like everyone who reads this blog to start a prayer chain for him. I believe that God doesn't want any of his creations to be tossed into the everlasting pit of fire. The prayer I am praying is that Robert know that Jesus is real and loves him and that heaven and hell are also real. As joyful and happy as heaven is hell is just the opposit. It is my understanding that Robert is an athiest. If he dies without Jesus and God he will be lost forever. I hope he will buy the book I mentioned above and read what hell will be like. Actually he can buy a Bible and read it. I think the descriptions of hell are very vivid in there too.

Sam Smith

Regular blog readers probably have figured out I'm a Christian, but I don't keep Christmas. For one thing, how did the "scary ghost stories" of Dickens and Andy Williams songs get mixed with a "most wonderful time of the year?" Are people supposed to serve leftover Halloween candy at December parties?

The Bill Wiese book is unfamiliar to me, but the title admittedly doesn't scare me. After all, Nolan Richardson used to tell his Arkansas basketball teams to play 40 minutes of it....

Bill Wiese has a web site promoting his book and his ministry. But a simple Google search Friday found he has Christian critics, who say his 23 minutes were not Biblical. And I suppose some ministers would reject any vision which doesn't last as long as their sermons.

I'm admittedly so old-fashioned that on most days, I would have covered up part of that "H-word" with stars. It was an expletive when I was a boy. And it's still a word I avoid using today -- even though I've heard my own Pastor declare the world is going there in a handbasket. Why no one is going to heaven in a handbasket, I'm not really sure....

But that word admittedly is in the Bible dozens of times, and I choose to trust the Bible more than human visions. Isaiah 14 says an angel named Lucifer was "brought down to hell" -- but the Hebrew word there is "hades," which is translated elsewhere in the Old Testament as the grave. There's no verse saying he made all the way to the earth's core, or even dug through to China.

My Bible indicates good people are NOT in heaven now, except for Jesus. In fact, Jesus said in John 3 that no one has ascended to heaven except the One who came down from there. I think everyone in Hurtsboro would agree that Messiah was NOT Mayor Rayford Tapley. Hopefully even Mayor Tapley agrees with that.

In contrast, my Bible indicates all people currently are in "Hades" -- as in the grave. A verse in Ecclesiastes 9 says the dead "know not anything." It's tempting to add a redneck joke here, but I won't....

But make to mistake - a resurrection day IS coming. In fact, Revelation 20 indicates there will be more than one. Believers in Jesus will leave the grave first, and will reign with God 1,000 years. Now that's the ultimate "get out of jail free" card.

Later in Revelation 20, another resurrection is indicated - for "the dead small and great." People who don't have their names in the "book of life" will be cast into a "lake of fire." And no, it does not appear to be like Bob Seger's "Fire Lake" with bronze beauties lying in the sun....

The lake of fire is described in Revelation 21 as "the second death." That's death, as opposed to surviving eternally in flames of torment. After all, magicians like Criss Angel would consider that no big deal.

This can be a complicated and emotional topic, so I'll direct you to a booklet on the subject if you want to study it further. But I certainly agree that Robert Schweiger needs to know God. In fact, we ALL need to know Him better -- even me. That's why I spend time in Bible study every day. Someone wiser than I once called it "God's Little Instruction Book."

I don't know Constable Robert Schweiger's religious background. But I see nothing wrong in praying for him. Come to think of it, I don't recall him ever criticizing any churches in Hurtsboro. Maybe if they held fund-raising bake sales, to pay for pothole repairs and new police cars....

SCHEDULED SUNDAY: We question a planned upgrade in South Commons.... and our Blog Year in Review resumes....

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