There is No Purgatory Party

The most prominent place in hell is reserved for those who are neutral on the great issues of life. - Billy Graham


     We tend to focus on how things affect us instead of the whole picture.  I was thinking recently about Jerry Sandusky, who I believe to be a very sick man and I wonder what Satan did to him to make him this way.  Because he is a living soul, I hope he figures it out before it is too late.  I see beyond his sickness and even his victims, and lately, I think about his family, his friends and the people who proudly puffed out their chests and said "I know Jerry Sandusky."  Of course this was before his sickness was revealed.  This was before they realized when they dropped his name believing people would "awe" at the fact they called him friend, that he was more than just a great assistant coach.  A lot more.  He is a sexual sociopath.  He is a tool used by Satan to destroy many many lives.  He has damaged people far beyond those he put his hands on.  How many people are back peddling now, "I never really liked him" or "I really didn't know him that well" or even "I always knew there was something evil about that man". 
     The people who knew and ignored what he was doing to children, even if it was only a suspicion, they need to be charged.  We have a duty as adults to protect children, every child, no matter who their parent's are.  I get angry when I hear the stories about people who keep their mouth shut, for fear of...?  Fear of losing.  That's exactly what it is.  If you do not expose the truth it is selfish.  You are afraid of what you will have to suffer through or lose.  So let a child's life be destroyed, because you may lose your job?  You may lose your friends?  You may lose trust?  Things may be a little uncomfortable?  I wonder who would speak up if they saw something and when they turned to run away, ran smack into Jesus?  I believe this is why we don't walk with Him every minute of every day, because we don't want Him to see the decisions we make minute by minute.  News flash - He sees it, whether you acknowledge His presence or not.

     I see my life up to this moment as an obstacle course.  I had always seen Jesus off to the side with the more important people, talking, laughing, and teaching, totally unaware that I was fighting for life through what I saw as a very difficult course.  Now, I see it differently.  I see Him running along side me, cheering me on like a real coach.  He wants to see me succeed.  He wants to see me happy, but there are times, when it is best to suffer.  Not only did He step out onto the course and kick certain obstacles completely from my view, but the ones He chose to leave for me to conquer or merely survive, He coached me through, every step.
     Years ago, I decided I had too many fears and I wanted to beat one of them.  I drove to Deception Pass Bridge on a typical Washington misty rain day.  I drove across the bridge with my heart in my throat and parked on the other side.  I have a fear of bridges, water, and heights.  It took a long time, but I slowly made my way across the bridge on foot.  Toward the middle, my legs became like jello and I could barely pull air into my lungs.  I was sweating, but the misty rain kept me just cool enough that I made it.  I'm not somebody who jumps up and down with excitement, but I couldn't stop smiling.  Well, until I realized, my vehicle was on the other side now and I would have to conquer my fears twice in the same day.
     God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.  Anything that produces fear is of the enemy.  As I kept moving forward on my obstacle course, Jesus ran in front of me, "You can do this, keep moving."  Many times the enemy was off to the other side screaming discouragement and sometimes I gave up, I laid on the ground curled in the fetal position totally afraid to go on.  At these times Jesus stood over me, "Get up.  Get up.  You can do this.  You are my child and all things are possible through Me.  Get up."  Other times, He wrapped Himself around me and we wept.  When I couldn't see the finish line, He waited until I was calm and then whispered in my ear how awesome it will be.  He described it in a feeling better than anyone else could even imagine.  Jesus knows what the finish line is like.  Eventually, I always got up.  Through the course and still to this day, I have been screaming, "This is not fair!!"  My anger has helped me keep going.  "This world sucks.  This is not fair."  As God not only trains my body for the race and the future, He is training my mind and my mouth, but one thing He has given me that a lot of people don't like, is the anger and desire to speak up.  I will be speaking up for the oppressed until He takes me home.  If you don't want to hear it, don't listen.  But I will scream louder.  He is training me when to scream and when to be quiet.  As long as He is telling me to speak, I will speak as loud as I need to.
     I get this picture of the Jews in the camps fresh off the trains, all walking together quietly, without fighting, toward the crematoriums.  They are carrying their children and holding the hands of loved ones.  They have suspicions of what's ahead, but their minds try to convince them, it won't be that bad.  It can't be that bad.  This is how I see the population walking toward the gates of hell.  There were a few prisoners who risked their own lives to tell the group what was about to happen, what to say to be pulled from the line of death.  I choose to be one of them.
     I choose to hit people between the eyes with truth.  I pray I only hit the ones who need it.  But today we compromise too much.  We like to sit in the gray area where it's safe.  It's not safe.  

Revelation 3:16 (NKJV)

So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

 

     There are things that are black and white, whether we like it or not.  At the end of our lives there is either Heaven or hell.  There is no purgatory party where we get to hang out with those like us and take our time in deciding what we believe and want for eternity.  We are to have made that decision, because there is a moment when it will be too late.  We can't write hell out of existence.  The Bible doesn't say, even if you don't believe as long as your family wants you there, you're in.  There is a lot of gray area, but there are black and whites.  Though we are a spoiled nation, no matter who we choose to be president, he will not have the power to demand God form a purgatory or lower His standards for admission into heaven.  He will not be able to buy his way, or our way as Americans, in through the side door.  We are on our own.  This is our decision and our decision alone. 

     I heard a pastor tell a story once about a skit he saw.  There was an old man sitting in a chair in the center of the stage.  Bouncing around him was a younger man full of excitement and anticipation.  "Can I go get them Dad?  Please, Can I go get them now?  I'm ready to go get them."
     Then the old man in the chair, God said, "Not yet Son.  I am waiting for one more."

     We worry about our wants, while that one more, may be walking right by us.

 

 

 

How far do you want God to go in getting your attention?  If God has to choose between your eternal safety and your earthly comfort, which do you hope He chooses?  What if He moved you to another land? (Abraham) What if He called you out of retirement? (Moses)  How about the voice of an angel or the bowel of a fish?  (Gideon and Jonah)  How about a promotion like Daniel's or a demotion like Samson's?  God does what it takes to get our attention.  Isn't that the message of the Bible?  The relentless pursuit of God.  God on the hunt.  God in the search.  Peeking under the bed for hiding kids, stirring the bushes for lost sheep.  Max Lucado (The Gentle Thunder)