Some Don’t Believe

If you don’t believe

There is going to be a hell

Then believe this, my friend,

There’s one the Bible tells.

 

Jesus said more about it

Than he spoke about heaven,

We don’t have to dread it

If we’ve been forgiven.

 

There is a fancy I know

We can argue things away

But believe God’s word

It is here to stay.

 

 

Hell was created;

In the Bible you’ll find this

So it won’t go away

However hard you wish.

 

Interesting enough,

It wasn’t created for man

But for the devil and his angels,

This was the plan.

 

However, all who reject Christ

Will be cast into hell

And it is not a place of comfort

But a place of dread.

 

I have heard it said

Hell is right here right now:

Some manner of retribution

God has avowed.

 

Death will end it

It won’t forever abide,

Perhaps this is the reason

Some commit suicide.

 

There is a hell

That many go through here

But for this type of hell

It is man we must fear.

 

 

 

His selfishness and greed

Is responsible for this

But there is no comparison

If heaven we miss.

 

God’s great salvation

Is the only way of escape,

If you are on the broad way

Hell is your fate.

 

I know some will laugh

And call this baloney

But I say to all naysayers

Hell is a reality.

 

God does not operate

After the fact,

Oh no, my friend,

He’s not a God like that.

 

That god is human

Spelt with a common ’g’,

Certainly not Almighty God

That exists eternally.

 

God is not reactive

As humans tend to be.

The entirety of life’s future

Is God’s history.

 

 

History is different though

From His story,

God’s narrative is man’s redemption

In the Bible that’s what we see.

 

A narrative of hope

But also, one of dread:

Heaven for the spiritually alive;

Hell for the spiritually dead.

 

I will be too busy

Shaking hands with friends

Was what one critic said

Of his destined end.

 

He doesn’t believe

But this doesn’t change the fact

That hell is a real place

And there's no way back.

 

Stewart Russell © March 16, 2024

 

Will I?

 

 

Am I going to make it?

Sometimes I doubt,

There are those who make me feel

I could be left out.

 

They point me to scriptures

That appear to point this out

And I must confess after I read

I still sometimes doubt.

 

God is able, they tell me

And plus, we do have a choice,

We could be obedient to Him

Or ignore His voice.

 

The moment we don’t listen

Could spell disaster for us

And the ravenous wolf

Could snatch us from Jesus.

 

Or, maybe I myself

Could take me out of God’s hand,

At any point I could decide

I am finished with His plan.

 

 

Am I going to make it?

Sometimes I doubt,

There are those who make me feel

I could be left out.

 

But it seems strange to me

That after being rescued

One would abandon his rescuer

To go back to that stew.

 

Picture a drowning person

That is pulled to safety

And dives back into the deluge:

That is insanity.

  

From what are we rescued?

That is the question,

And until we can truly answer it

We will have this problem.

 

Sin is the spiritual terror

From which we are saved

And the transformation that occurs

Dictates how we behave.

 

 

It is the initial choice we make

When we say yes to Christ

And by faith our born-again miracle

Results from his sacrifice.

 

It can happen only once

Just like in our natural birth,

The second birth is from heaven

The first is of the earth.

 

Am I going to make it?

Sometimes I doubt,

There are those who make me feel

I could be left out.

 

But having been born,

That is, having been born of the flesh

I am in this world until I die-

That is, when I am laid to rest.

 

 

Similarly, having been born again

That is, born of the Spirit,

I am a child of God forever

And in heavenly places I sit.

 

Whenever I am in doubt

I remember who my Father is

And since none can snatch me away

I will always be His.

 

It is very hard to be lost

A very good friend once said

And the friend was referring to someone

That was spiritually dead.

 

The Bible shows it is impossible

To foil God’s redemptive plan

And I know most definitively

None can pluck me from His hand.

 

Stewart Russell © October 9, 2020

 

Loving Shepherd of Thy sheep,

Keep Thy Lamb, in safety keep;

Nothing can Thy power withstand;

None can pluck me from Thy hand.

 

From the hymn:

Loving Shepherd of Thy Sheep

Jane Eliza Leeson