Hell is real and it exists as a result of disobedience, jealousy, and acts of rebellion. Plainly, SIN necessitated hell’s creation. Sin is anything against God and His will.

The never-ending inferno was created for the devil, his angels and followers (Revelation 12:7-9). Yet they are not the only ones who inhabit the blazes of hell. For example, in Matthew 23 the Lord denounces the Scribes and Pharisees, who will not escape judgment for their ways. Everyone who rejects Jesus Christ will be condemned when his or her day of judgment comes. According to Matthew 25:41 Jesus will say, “…Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Luke 16:13 and Matthew 6:24 tell us that we cannot serve two masters. All of mankind chooses if they serve God or Satan. (read more…)

Yes! You can be safe from going to hell. In fact, it is so easy that many people have great difficulty believing that there is not more they need to do.

We are all sinners. Therefore, we need to acknowledge that, and agree with God that we have sinned. God’s Word says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Since we are not able to make wise decisions on our own, we need to have someone who is much wiser than we are to help us through life’s struggles. There is only One who can do that and He is Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son.

When we agree with God that we are sinners and ask for forgiveness, He forgives us! Jesus Christ, God’s only Son comes into our heart and life to change us and help us live the way He would have us live. The Bible tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). (read more…)

This is one of those questions over which good people disagree. Some point out that both religions affirm that God is One and reject all other so-called “gods,” and that both Muslims and Christians worship only one God. They conclude that “Allah” and “God” must be one and the same. The logic appears inescapable. And yet, when you penetrate beneath the similarities you wonder. How can you reconcile the Biblical Trinity, for example, with Qur’anic passages like this: “Far be it from Him [Allah] that He should have a son” (4:171)? Hence, others (Muslims included) are equally adamant in affirming that the Allah of Islam is NOT the God of the Bible. (read more…)

“I will honor Christmas in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year.”
~Charles Dickens.

Then ye be glad, good people,
This night of all the year,
And light ye up your candles:
His star is shining near.
- Unknown

“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas;
Star and angels gave the sign.
~Christina Rossetti (read more…)

The violent grinding of brakes suddenly applied, and the harsh creaking of skidding wheels gradually died away as the big car came to a stop. Eddie quickly picked himself up from the dusty pavement where he had been thrown, and looked around wildly.

Agnes! Where was his little sister he had been holding by the hand when they had started to cross the street? The next moment he saw her under the big car that had run them down, her eyes closed, a dark stain slowly spreading on her white face.

With one bound the boy was under the car, trying to lift the child.

“You’d better not try, son,” said a man gently. “Someone has gone to telephone for an ambulance.”

“She’s not…dead, is she, Mister?” Eddie begged in a husky voice.

The man stooped and felt the limp little pulse. “No, my boy,” he said slowly. (read more…)

Christmas is for love. It is for joy, for giving and sharing, for laughter, for reuniting with family and friends, for tinsel and brightly decorated packages. But mostly, Christmas is for love. I had not believed this until a small elf-like student with wide-eyed innocent eyes and soft rosy cheeks gave me a wondrous gift one Christmas.

Mark was an 11 year old orphan who lived with his aunt, a bitter middle aged woman greatly annoyed with the burden of caring for her dead sister’s son. She never failed to remind young Mark, if it hadn’t been for her generosity, he would be a vagrant, homeless waif. Still, with all the scolding and chilliness at home, he was a sweet and gentle child. (read more…)

It happened one day at the year’s white end,
Two neighbors called on an old-time friend

And they found his shop so meager and mean,
Made gay with a thousand boughs of green,

And Conrad was sitting with face a-shine
When he suddenly stopped as he stitched a twine

And said, “Old friends, at dawn today,
When the cock was crowing the night away,

The Lord appeared in a dream to me
And said, ‘I am coming your guest to be’.

So I’ve been busy with feet astir,
Strewing my shop with branches of fir,

The table is spread and the kettle is shined
And over the rafters the holly is twined,

And now I will wait for my Lord to appear
And listen closely so I will hear

His step as He nears my humble place,
And I open the door and look in His face. . .” (read more…)

“Do you really expect me to go to Bethlehem?” Joseph banged down his chisel on the scarred bench.

Ephraim, his cousin, had just entered the low workshop. “You don’t have a choice, Joseph. If you don’t go the Romans will confiscate your house and your precious tools. Just try to carve a yoke with your fingernails.”

“What are we, cowards?” the carpenter retorted. “Mark my words, Ephraim, this ‘Enroll-in-your-ancestral-city’ business is nothing more than a way to squeeze more taxes out of us. If we give into those foreign tyrants now they’ll just be back for more money.”

“What’s more,” Joseph continued, “you’re crazy if you think I’d take Mary on a trip this month. She’d probably have the baby on the way!”

“Couldn’t you just leave her with your mother for a couple of weeks? She’d be all right. Nobody says the women have to go. It’s the heads of households who have to register.”

“Register, hah! Be taxed, you mean.”

“So why not leave her at home?” (read more…)

T’was the night Before Christmas, he lived all alone,

In a one bedroom house made of plaster and stone,

I had come down the chimney with presents to give

And to see just who in this home did live,

I looked all about, a strange site did I see,

No tinsel, no presents, not even a tree,

No stockings by the mantle, Just boots filled with sand,

On the wall hung pictures of far distance lands. (read more…)

Far away in Bethlehem, a Baby Boy was born;
Born with neither riches nor with fame,
Yet Wise Men came from all around to bring to Him their gifts,
And peace was felt by all who heard His name.
Angels watched Him as He slept, and gently rocked His bed;
Their voices singing softly in His ear;
His Mother and His Father both gave thanks to God above
For the greatest gift of all, their Son, so dear
They knew His life upon this earth would not be filled with wealth,
They also knew He would encounter strife;
But most of all, they knew that He would be a loving Child,
And teach the love of God throughout His life.
At Christmas, as we celebrate this Birth of Jesus Christ,
Let’s keep in mind the truth of Christmas Day;
For it’s not the Christmas wrappings, nor the gifts that lie within,
But our gift of love to others in every way..

In the days of Noah (in particular the pre-flood period), persons were eating, drinking, interacting with friends and loved ones, etc. This sounds no different than our daily activities. From the Genesis chapter 6 account, individuals were also violent, corrupt, and wicked. “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time . . . Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence” (Genesis 6:5, 11). One only has to look at our modern-day newspapers to get many examples of what passes for violence, corruption, and wickedness. Of course the instruments used to accomplish these activities would be different in the days of Noah, but the evil intent and the evil result were the same. Evil was their normal mode of operating. (read more…)

“What will eternal life be like?” This is an unusual question at first glance because it seems to be asking about something that is yet future, and thus, assumed, cannot be known. But eternal life is not a state that is future only; it begins in the here and now, and then continues.

To better understand this concept, we must first ask the question, “What is eternal life and how is it obtained?” All people will have eternal life. It is just a matter of where you will spend it - heaven or hell. This article will focus on eternal heaven. To read more about hell, click here.

One of the major speakers of eternal life was Jesus. In His final prayer before His arrest and trial, Jesus prayed for His disciples: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

Again, the Apostle John wrote in his first epistle: “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11).

Eternal life in heaven is received through knowledge of God, the Father, and is contained in His Son, Jesus Christ. We obtain this gift of life through salvation which God offers to all by the death and resurrection of His Son. When Jesus was massacred, beaten, humiliated, and crucified, the penalty for our sins was fully paid and we were given the opportunity to be reconciled to God. We receive this privilege by simply believing; God extends life to us when we have faith in what His Son, Jesus accomplished on the cross. (read more…)