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Posted on 09/04/2014 6:53:59 PM PDT by Kartographer
“As I read the news, I can’t help but wonder if we are in the last hours before our Lord Jesus Christ returns to rescue His church and God pours out His wrath on the world for the rejection of His Son,” said Rev. Graham in a post on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) website.
“I don’t know if we have hours, days, months, or years—but as Christians, God calls us to take the truth of the Gospel to the ends of the earth,” said Graham. “Our job is to warn sinners of the consequences of sin and show them that God is loving and gracious, willing to forgive if we come to Him in repentance and faith.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
Not Christian bashing , but if heaven allows in Christians only I don’t wish to go there . My wife is Japanese and not a Christian , but a wonderful , kind , generous , caring and loving woman who deserves to go to any heaven that exists . I could say the same thing about a lot of other folks I know or have known . Excluding 90 or so % of folks who have inhabited the earth since the beginning of time is quite an exclusive club .
Read the comments on the article. It is sad that Progressives have nothing better to do than post such hate on a web site that they really shouldn’t care about.
I should have added she does believe in God . Not a Shintoist or Buddhist .
It sure looks and feels that way. Only God knows for sure exactly when, but the labor pains seem to be closer and harder all the time.
bttt
Notwithstanding his faults, and he has some, like all of us, you have to give Mr. Graham great credit for a lifetime of presenting the Gospel simply and directly.
>>who deserves to go to any heaven that exists
No one DESERVES to go to heaven, except Jesus. If your wife was living in 19th century Japan, I could understand your comments. But, it’s really you, a man who is (I assume) from a nation where Christianity is practiced by a majority of the people without fear of reprisal, who is sentencing her to hell by not being the Christian role model that you should have been.
Your wife sounds like a wonderful person. What is it about Christianity that she isn’t able to believe?
This could have applied to many moments in history. We’ve had plagues, influenza, genocides, world wars, cold wars, depressions, etc., yet the human race keeps grinding. I don’t know when the last days will be. No human does. It does seem, however, that we do play out the same conflicts over and over and over and over again. There is nothing new under the sun. There are differences based on time and place, but ultimately there is always conflict.
God is ‘not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9). In short, the exact opposite of an ‘exclusive club’.
And the words ‘any’ and ‘all’ do in fact mean everyone.
That only Christians are allowed into heaven .
Christians believe only THEY will go to heaven , hence my prior comments .
Labels aside, ANYONE who accepts Jesus Christ into their hearts as their Lord and Savior will be in heaven.
Now, about that label "Christian" .... It is used exactly TWICE in the New Testament. Jesus himself used the word "Disciples" and urged all to follow Him. Jesus used the word "Disciple" over 200 times.
What are the reasons that people are not Christian? God offers the free gift of forgiveness and salvation to anybody who simply believes they need forgiveness and will receive His blood-bought gift of redemption.
Why would anybody not want to be forgiven and washed of all the crud in our hearts and minds?
If people who thought they have no crud to get rid of, or don’t want to be rid of it, were in Heaven, how would Heaven be any different than here? As I’ve said to my kids, if I was allowed to enter Heaven with a diaper full of poopy sin, Heaven would soon begin to smell just like the load I carry with me. God desperately wants me in Heaven, but not smelling like that, because I would ruin Heaven for everyone else.
God did not make it an exclusive club. He makes the gift of salvation available to *anyone* who believes (John 3:16). I think that's a reason so many people get hung up on this simple message. It sounds too good to be true; they think one should have to do something to earn it.
Challenge God to reveal His truth to you. You won't offend Him. The fact that you're discussing this issue on any level at all is a good sign, IMO. Good luck.
Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father, but by me”.
Ethnicity, age, sex, or prior sin has no bearing.
Simply accept His finished work.
It sure looks and feels that way. Only God knows for sure exactly when, but the labor pains seem to be closer and harder all the time.
Obama is a sure sign. His actions are going to make some welcome the anti-Christ.
Rev. Graham, with due respect, I think you should know better.
None of us can predict the last hours.
Imagine yourself in a Nazi concentration camp or Soviet gulag surrounded by death and torture. Those terrified people also thought (or hoped) that the last days were upon them, but that was more than 70 years ago.
What about the Christian Armenians who were slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands by the Turks? They too, thought and hoped that these were the last days. That was a century ago and we are still here.
We haven’t even begun to suffer and we already start to hope for the end.
I hope I am wrong, but I fear that we have seen nothing yet. Why should we be spared the terror that earlier Christian generations have experienced?
Hoping that these are the last days is an escapist attitude. We are in deep trouble because we invited satan to live in our midst and we are still not willing to reject him.
Whether these are the last days is up to God and hoping for them is not going to hasten them.
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