Daily Devotional for Thursday October 31, 2013

Man Knows He is Living in Rebellion to God and that God's Judgment is Coming

(2 Chronicles 7:14; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Peter 3:3-4; Matthew 24:3-14)

***ASK BILL: About two years ago my dad passed away suddenly. I am unsure where he is spending eternity. My question is how can I live the rest of my life with the knowledge that my dad could be spending eternity in hell? I know the Bible says every tear will be wiped away and there will be no more sadness once we are in heaven but how can this be if I get there and my dad is not there?

ANSWER: The sad reality of this journey through life is that some of those we love and care about the most, who make the choice to reject faith in Christ, will be lost for all eternity. That is why I share often how critical it is for us to share the Gospel with those around us who have not embraced the Lord as their Savior by faith. However, it is ultimately a choice each person must make for themselves, a choice only they can make. The most difficult funerals I have preached over the years are those where the departed clearly had rejected Christ. I will never do a funeral without including an invitation for people to accept the Lord, and have found that the families of someone who died without accepting Christ are happy for me to do that. In the end, only God knows if a person might have made that choice even seconds before they died. While it is not likely, it does allow me to share with those who attend that if it did they are forever with the Lord. However, if they chose not to do that, they are forever separated from their Creator.

Man KNOWS that he is living in rebellion to God and His Word and man KNOWS that God's judgment is coming! Let me say that again because I don't want you to miss this critical point. You see my friend, man knows what is really happening today is that we are living in rebellion to God and His Word and that God's judgment is coming. That is why man tires so hard to explain simple acts of fallen nature when they occur are God's judgment for our sin and rebellion. Man knows, even those who may not even believe in God, that judgment is not only due, but coming!

Listen, you don't have to be a Bible scholar to read the words of Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy Chapter 3, the words of Peter in 2 Peter Chapter 3, or the words of our Lord in Matthew Chapter 24 as they describe the signs of the "last days." No man knows the hour the Lord will return but the Bible is clear He may come back at any moment in the "twinkling of an eye." We are in the last days, Christ is coming back at any second, and because of our gross sin, wickedness, and rebellion to God and His Word we are DUE His judgment.

I laugh when the news media who proclaim during the coverage of many natural disasters that they are of "Biblical proportions." Please know that when God does bring His judgment on this nation, whatever method He may use, you won't have to wonder or speculate if this was God's judgment or not. It will be death and destruction on an unprecedented scale and of a magnitude EVERYONE will know without a doubt THIS WAS GOD'S JUDGMENT!

When it is God's judgment death and destruction will hit 20, 30, or 50 major cities over many states and affecting the lives of 80 to 100 million people. There will be trillions of dollars of property destroyed, the complete infrastructure of transportation, electric, communications, water and sewage obliterated, hundreds of thousands of people dead, and the entire economy of the nation crippled and brought to a screeching halt.

My friend, there won't be any response by all the governments of the world nor all the resources on this planet that will be adequate. Life as we know it today will cease to exist. Just like in the isolated tragedies we see on our TV from time to time, people's lives will be reduced to simply trying to survive from one day to the next. Living will be the biggest challenge each day for tens of millions of people.

I love you and care about you so much! I assure you that I am not trying to scare you today, only be honest with you. If God spared not His judgment on His very people for their sins, why do we think He will spare us His judgment for our sins? We not only deserve but are due, no OVERDUE, the judgment of God for our gross wickedness. Unless this nation repents, turns back to the God of the Bible and follows Him, it is not a matter of if, only when God's judgment will be unleashed on this nation. When it happens, there won't be anyone speculating if or if not this was the hand of God.

Let me encourage you today. I tell you often that the only thing you will take from this life into eternity is your relationship with Jesus Christ. You can lose your home and all your possessions, you can lose you business, you can lose your job, you can lose those you love so much, but the one thing that can never be taken from you is your relationship with Christ. That is the ONE THING that you can't lose or have taken from you. That is why I stress so much each day how critical and important that relationship is to each one of us.

Plan of Salvation: http://www.liveprayer.com/plan.cfm

Let me share this insight with you. When God does judge this nation and unleash His wrath upon it, it will be those who know Christ as their Savior who will rise up and be the lone beacon of light in the darkness. Gone will be the beautiful multi-million dollar churches, those who become the voice for God no longer will be living in mansions, flying around in private jets, and acting like Hollywood celebrities, all of the ways we have found to divide ourselves will no longer exist as the body of Christ truly becomes one, and the basic Truth of the Gospel will be the sole hope left for the people who will be looking for answers.

It will be one of the greatest harvest of souls in human history as millions cling to the only answer they have left, JESUS CHRIST!!!

I will be praying for you today. Praying that you will take time to pray for this nation God has blessed us with. Sadly we have taken for granted and squandered our blessings. God is not going to sit back and watch us continue to slaughter over 4,000 innocent babies every day. God is not going to sit back and watch His Holy Institution of Marriage be redefined. God is not going to sit back and watch His plan for the family perverted. God is not going to sit back and watch the gross sexual perversion that exists today. God is not going to bless us for being involved in giving away the land He personally gave to Israel.

At some point, God's patience will run out and He will unleash His wrath on this once great nation that used to honor and follow Him!!!

Pray with me today that as a nation we get on our knees, repent, ask God to forgive us for our sins and that we will turn our hearts and lives back to Him. This is why I am working so hard to expand the Liveprayer TV program. I know in my heart that the program will be a major instrument to bring the lost masses to faith in Christ, and help led this nation back to God and Biblical Truth. If we don't then it is only a matter of time before we see the wrath of God poured out on this land and the life we know today will no longer exist. God is giving us one last chance. Will we take it?

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller