Sure As Hell

Jesus, sure as hell, didn't pull any punches when telling the truth. 

Think for a moment on the sentence you just read ... 

• Jesus is a surety, and so is hell 
• Jesus didn't pull any punches when telling the truth, so that you and I, upon hearing it, will be duly warned, so that we choose not to end up there

If Jesus came to set the captives free, and He died for the sins of the world to save souls from eternal hell, and a forever without God, then it makes perfect sense that He speak only the truth, and in such a way that jarred listeners.

I have come to the conclusion that most people prefer their feelings over faith. Feelings, sensitivities to others and how they perceive us, can get in the way of being faithful to the truth. The truth is self evident, and yet, convoluting it, twisting it to accommodate a biased point of view, is a common human indulgence. You cannot actually convolute or twist truth, but you sure can pretend you are speaking it to fit your circumstances, inclinations, or agenda. Lying to self is ugly work; you can't trust that person with your life. 

If I play on words, and say that I have killer instincts, this statement can be interpreted in a multi-faceted way. Am I a killer, with hunting instinct, or do I sense the ways of killers with my keen understanding of their wiley wickedness? Truth be told, most of us can sense danger, and at the same time, we have this self-deluding ability to override what we see, what we hear, what we know, in favour of believing that it isn't really that bad, a person couldn't be that cruel, but dear one, sometimes it is that bad, and they are, that cruel.

Let us return to hell. We are living it. People are dropping dead all around us, poisoned because they did not trust truth, but rather, preferred the lies they told themselves about the product injected into their arms, and the perpetrators that promised them something they could not with any amount of good reason, ever deliver. I think of Jesus, prior to beginning His earthly ministry. He was hungry, tempted, and was found tried and true, demonstrating for us what we too, can resist. 

The following is a shortened version of the conversation He had with the devil, taken from the fourth chapter of Matthew. Have a listen: 

1 If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God

2 If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash they foot against a stone

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God

3 All these things I will give thee, if thou will fall down and worship me

Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve 

Dear reader, if thou be the son or daughter of God, you can answer the tempter precisely the way Jesus did. Let us keep in mind that Lucifer is a created being, attempting to capture his Creator, and even used scripture to woo the Word. It is comical to think that a creature believes he can conquer the King of Majesty. Satan had nothing to offer the Author of life, but he sure does a good job of tempting susceptible humans with a slice of his demonic pie. 

Here I enumerate the sins as I see them:

1 Arrogant self-reliance

2 Denial of God's provision, protection, and blessings

3 Displacing God as Sovereign and putting trust in men; worshipping them as fleshly saviours. Believing what the devil has to offer is beneficial, by engaging with an anti-christ spirit

Is this not what people have done? Have they not succumbed to the temptations above, by acquiescing to the suggestive demands of the devil? They: 

• got injected to keep making their own bread (money to buy food) 
• took into their bodies an unknown poisonous potion, compromising the health God had provided, followed by a belief that He would maintain them despite their disobedience 
• bowed down to humans adoringly, as though men had saving powers that would maintain life abundant

We could blame the devil, saying "Satan made 'em do it", but that doesn't make sense, since he couldn't make me do it, or presumably, you do it. "It" could be the injections, or "it" could be lying to your spouse, cheating on a test, wrongfully accusing your neighbour, gossiping about a friend, getting high, drunk, fornicating, stealing. The devil can't make us do anything, and God sure can help when the tempter wants us to travel the dark paths he takes. 

The power of God had Jesus saying no. The power of God does the same when we rely on Him as our source of absolute strength. And dear one, it is never too late to say no to the deceiver and thief that destroys life, and yes to the One that maintains you still as you live, breathe, work, play, and read one more blog offered by this writer.

I will end here, with your empowering. You get to choose good over evil, right over wrong, truth over lies. Just because you haven't been proficient at these things in the past, doesn't preclude you from acquiring the necessary skill set now! We are works in progress, and with Jesus as our example, we don't really have any excuses to ride the grey fence that acts as a line of demarcation between the white and black of godliness over devilish self-indulgence. 

Do I simplify, dear one? Yes, I am guilty as charged. Since Jesus did not pull any truth punches, I get to follow suit. I am okay if you disagree with my take of how the world and its people work. I, after all, am not the Authority. If you want better guiding light principles than you find here, go to the Bible, "It" has the answers to all your stay out of burning hell questions 💖