Daily Devotional for Monday August 4, 2014

Why Amma the Hugging Saint is Heading to Hell - Part 1 of 2

(Romans 3:12, 23; Ephesians 2:8,9; John 3:16)

***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, a young Christian couple I know are getting married this year. Would it be all right in the eyes of God for the wife to work and have a job outside the home like her husband??.

ANSWER: Absolutely not, as long as she keeps her priorities in line. She is a wife and helpmate to her husband AHEAD of a job. When they decide to have children, God calls her to be a full time mother ahead of anything else as she loves, nurtures, and raises her child/children in the admonition of the Lord. At some point when the children are older, there is nothing wrong with having a job outside the home, again, as long as it doesn't interfere with her main role as a wife and mother.

PART ONE OF TWO

TODAY IS THE FIRST OF A SPECIAL TWO-PART DAILY DEVOTIONAL. PLEASE DO NOT MISS PART TWO TOMORROW, SINCE THIS DEVOTIONAL TODAY IS SETTING THE STAGE FOR WHAT I BELIEVE IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AND NEEDED MESSAGES OF OUR DAY! YOU WILL SEE THE VERY REAL IMPACT OF NEARLY TWO GENERATIONS OF A WEAK AND INEFFECTIVE CHURCH DUE TO GUTLESS PASTORS WHO HAVE WATERED DOWN BIBLICAL TRUTH AND THE GOSPEL, BECOMING LITTLE MORE THAN MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKERS AND CELEBRITIES BUILDING THEIR OWN KINGDOM INSTEAD OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD! THE RESULT ARE COUNTLESS MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO AREN'T IN THE STREETS, BUT IN THE CHURCH, WHO WILL DIE AND SPEND ETERNITY IN HELL BECAUSE OF THE APOSTASY OF THE CHURCH AND ITS' LEADERS!!!

Why Amma, the "hugging saint," is heading to hell! I already know that I am going to get hammered by some people today for being so cold to even suggest that this dear woman who the world loves and reveres could possibly die and go to hell.

Many are going to say that there is no way God would allow a kind, gentle, giving, loving soul like Amma to end up in the fires of hell. The fact is, this 60-year-old Indian woman follows the false religion of Hinduism, has rejected Jesus Christ as her Savior, and unless she repents of her sins and gives her heart and life to Jesus by faith, she will die and spend all eternity in hell.

THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO GOD'S PLAN OF SALVATION. THOSE WHO DIE WITHOUT JESUS WILL BE JUDGED BY GOD FOR THEIR SINS AND CAST INTO EVERLASTING DARKNESS. YOU CAN'T BUY YOUR WAY INTO HEAVEN, YOU CAN'T WORK YOUR WAY INTO HEAVEN, YOU WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH TO GET TO HEAVEN, AND YOU CERTAINLY CAN'T HUG YOUR WAY INTO HEAVEN! THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN IS THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST!!!

Mata Amritanandamai Devi is an Indian born spiritual leader who has been teaching people "spirituality" since 1981. She is revered by her followers as a saint, and is called Amma, derived from Ammachi or holy mother. Amma is best know as the "hugging saint." Over 3 decades she has given hugs to over 33 million people around the world. People claim miracles happen as Amma hugs them. Many see her as a deity.

Everywhere she goes tens of thousands of people line up for hours to receive a hug from her. She hugs to spread the idea of motherly love and compassion "felt not only towards one's own children, but all people, animals and plants, rocks and rivers - a love extended to all of nature, all beings."

Amma has addressed the United Nations and has also gained worldwide recognition for her humanitarian and philanthropic efforts. She has raised tens of millions of dollars for homes for the poor, hospitals, orphanages, hospices, women's shelters, pension disbursements for widows, community aid centers, homes for the aged, eye clinics, and speech therapy centers in her native India, for "Mother's Kitchen" in the U.S. where volunteers prepare and serve meals to the poor and needy, as well as for international disasters like the 2004 tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

So what could possibly be wrong with a woman who lives her life to serve others, who seeks to love people, to bring peace and comfort into people's lives through her hugs? What could possibly be wrong with a woman who selflessly uses her fame to raise tens of millions of dollars to help the poor and needy and those whose lives have been devastated by natural disasters. If there was ever a person worthy of Heaven, surely Amma would have to be that person, right?

Let me ask you a question. What about your Uncle Harry? Everyone has an "Uncle Harry" in their family. He is the guy who is your favorite uncle. He is the nicest, sweetest, most loving and gentle man you have ever known. He works hard, is a great husband and father, would never cheat on his taxes, always helps everyone out, doesn't kick the dog, and gives money every year to Jerry's Kids. The only problem with Uncle Harry is that he doesn't go to church or believe in Jesus, but he is a good man. Nobody is more deserving of being in Heaven than Uncle Harry, right?

Here is the problem Amma and Uncle Harry have. You see, the Bible declares that "there is no one who does good, not even one." It goes on to say that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." As "good" as Amma may appear on the outside, as "good" as Uncle Harry may appear on the outside, God sees the INSIDE.

We are all born with the sin we inherited from Adam. We all sin during our life. The book of 1 John tells us that if we say we are without sin we are a liar. For all the good they may do in her lives, Amma and Uncle Harry are still sinners like we all are and it is our sin that separates us from a holy and righteous God.

The Bible teaches us in Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9 that we are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ and God's grace, period. You can't buy you way into Heaven, you can't do enough good works to get into Heaven, there is only one way to be saved and that is through faith in Jesus Christ and Him alone!

Amma can't hug enough people or raise and give enough money away to earn her way into Heaven. Uncle Harry can't live a good enough life to ever make it to Heaven. The only way Amma and Uncle Harry will get to Heaven is the same way anyone gets there, and that is by putting their faith in Jesus Christ!!!

I love you and care about you so much. I know this message today is going to upset many people. Thinking about your favorite uncle or family member who has rejected Jesus, dying and going to hell for all eternity is difficult. Now maybe you understand my passion. People like your unsaved family members are dying and going to hell for all eternity every day!

The news media LOVES these "spiritual" people like Amma the "hugging saint." She loves everybody, never talks about sin or holding people accountable for their choices, and claims to have the answer for the universal need all people have to fill the "spiritual hole" in their life created by sin. The fact is the only thing that can really fill that spiritual hole is a relationship with Jesus Christ since He is the only way we can be connected back to God our Creator.

The truth is, Amma is actually no better than Joey Smith, L. Ron Hubbard, Mohammed, or any other cult/false religion leader. This "hugging saint" is actually a tool of satan since she is leading those who follow her to the flames of the very same hell she is going to. People have a need to be loved, to be held, to be comforted.

The church does a poor job of ministering to people's individual needs and that is why the masses flock to someone like Amma. It makes me sad to watch the masses lined up like lemmings waiting for her to hug them. There is only one name by which men can be saved, and that is the name of JESUS! He is the only road to God. There are no other roads to God!

Pray for this woman since if she would turn from the lies of Hinduism and turn to the Truth of God's Word and faith in Christ, she could be an incredible instrument in God's hands to lead many souls to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

She is giving people nothing more than the temporary love of this world instead of the everlasting love of God. She offers them hope in a sinful person of flesh and blood instead of the hope we have in Jesus for this life and all eternity. She comforts people for a moment with a hug from earthly arms when what people need most of all is the everlasting comfort of a hug from God's heavenly arms!!!

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY? The fact is you will die one day. At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your Creator. To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, pray and ask God to open you heart to His Truth and go to: http://www.liveprayer.com/plan.cfm

DO NOT MISS PART TWO OF THIS SPECIAL TWO-PART DEVONIAN TOMORROW AS I SHARE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AND NEEDED MESSAGE OF OUR DAY!!!

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller