Time to Wake Up

Here’s a word for Universalists

Everyone will not be saved,

Don’t think that you will run free

Regardless of how you behave.

“No hell, I put that to you,”

Said the rich man to the poor.

“Christ died for one and all,

All will enter heaven’s door.”

It doesn’t matter how you live

You will still be saved,

Jesus died upon the cross

So everyone’s fare is paid.

Time to tell you of a case

In which that is clearly not so,

So let’s set the stage for that event

And to the Bible we will go.

Oh! That place was hot

But there was no doubt

That through a parched throat

He still tried to shout.

He had been rich, filthy rich

But all of his money was here,

It was of no help where he was

All he possessed there was fear.

Agony too was his lot

At his wasted opportunities

And he regretted in his anguish

That he frowned on one’s poverty.

Within his view while on earth

Was a man that was very poor

But him he treated with contempt

And blatantly ignored.

Like the poor man, he also died

But went to a different location

It appeared that they both were Jews

What an interesting consideration!

The roles were now reversed

Quite different from on earth,

The man that was rich was now poor

But the poor man had much worth.

A little water the rich man cried,

“Just a little tip for my tongue.

Send Lazarus, Abraham, please

To right my terrible wrong.

And while you are it,”

He begged, “Get a message to my brothers.

Don’t let them come down here,

This is very hot weather.”

On earth, Lazarus was the beggar

But in hell the rich man begged,

Which prompts the question I must ask,

To what is your eternity pegged?

Is it the riches of this earth?

Is it fame and status?

None of these can help beyond this life,

One’s only help is Jesus.

The rich man’s wealth ended at death

And so too Lazarus’ poverty,

Whatever the status in this life

Death will end it for both you and me.

Neither poverty nor wealth matters

Or whether one be a Jew,

If death finds you without Christ

There is nothing anyone can do.

Now is the time to wake up

My friend, while you still have life,

Do not ignore the love of God

And the fact of His Son’s sacrifice.

This poem is another opportunity

To help someone avoid hell’s fate,

The rich man’s account my friend

Is but a small preview of hell’s state.

Stewart Russell © February 2019

Hell: Not to be Taken Lightly

In Robert Morey’s book “Death and the After Life” its title

He draws our attention to a “discernible historical cycle”,

Starting with ACKNOWLEDGEMENT the first of seven stages,

It ends with affirmation; it’s been like this through the ages.

In acknowledgement most were clear on the doctrine of hell,

It was then an eternal punishment the Bible clearly did tell,

Sinners were warned to flee the wrath of God to come,

It was either an eternity in hell or forever in God’s kingdom.

But then came those who teach hell is not eternal just temporal,

INDIFFERENCE becomes the next stage in this historic cycle,

Sinners will be raised and judged and then be eternally dead,

No relentless consciousness of punishment, enough said.

God is a God of love; how dare one ascribes such hate to Him

To banish anyone to an eternal hell just for committing sin!

Why, how much sin could a person commit in his short lifetime

To warrant an eternity in a flaming hell with no chance of a lifeline?

This introduces IGNORANCE that sniffs at indifference heels

Since the biblical theme of God’s judgment is being repealed;

Now the people in the pew know not why to believe in hell

For little is said on the subject, apparently no one dares to tell.

Does God’s word really warn of an eternal hell? Of course not!

DOUBT rears up its ugly head and facilitates the devil’s plot,

“An eternal hell what!  Such a loving gracious God would be unkind,

Awhhh man, get that nonsensical folly clean out of your mind.

Think on this: a person who has had a short sixteen-year slice

Was never a bad fellow but had never accepted the Christ,

How could God in His mercy not only cast that youngster out

But commit him to an eternal lake of fire?  That I must doubt!”

The cults quickly advance universalism or annihilationism

Causing many to deny the true doctrine and accept their schisms

So that DENIAL becomes prominent since the orthodox teachers

Have not instructed their people, neither they nor their preachers.

The Universalists propagate, “Don’t worry, everyone will be saved!”

While the Annihilationists present hell not much different from the grave,

So that basically what will happen is the unsaved will be judged

Then punished in hell for a period, from this no need to budge.

At first orthodox theologians are not inclined to treat to the issue

Choosing to believe instead that theirs is still the established view

But then IRRITATION sets in as the opposing pressure begins to mount

And orthodox theologians see the need to put again the biblical account.

There is need for such irritation as we wallow in undue compromise

While accepting heresies that will contribute to our spiritual demise,

Heresies that will dull our spiritual sense and thus cause us to reject

The infallible word of God and the doctrine of hell it clearly projects.

Clearly the Universalists and Annihilationists don’t intend to go away

So AFFIRMATION is needed concerning this serious matter today,

There is dire need to reaffirm the biblical stance once taken on hell

And reach a lost and dying world before its final death knell.

There is a heaven to gain as certain as there is a hell to shun,

There is a common characteristic to both hell and God’s kingdom,

Eternal consciousness will be the fact regarding both destinations:

Eternal torment verses eternal bliss, heaven or hell the only two options.

After affirmation the Christian Church begins to acknowledge again,

Most are comfortable to propagate that hell is eternal conscious pain,

Such ACKNOWLEDGEMENT acknowledges that God is just though merciful

And has provided a way of escape from a horrid hell that is surely eternal.

Acknowledge with me to what God subjected His beloved begotten Son,

View with me his horrible death at Calvary and his tormentors’ fun,

Think with me concerning his resurrection and his subsequent ascension

To prepared a place for every born again believer in His coming kingdom.

God is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance,

Hell was not prepared for man but for the devil and his co-dependents,

Then shall Jesus say to them on his left, “Depart from me into everlasting fire!”

But what if some still don’t believe?  Let God be true and every man a liar!

Stewart Russell © 2016