March Newsletter 2022

Hell No?

Is Hell too much? I hear this objection as I am out ministering on the college campus. How can a loving God send someone to hell for all eternity? Does a temporal life of sin merit an eternity of torment? The modern mind recoils at this thought. But perhaps we aren’t considering hell in the proper light. Perhaps hell is entirely fair and just. And perhaps hell is even hardly enough punishment for the evil we have done.

An agitated young lady at the University of Florida told me that the idea of hell was one of the prominent reason that she left her childhood faith. She said to me, “Does 80 years of sin merit an eternity of torment?” For that matter, would a million years of sin (if one could live so long) merit eternal torment? I told her, “Yes, it does, because an unrepentant sinner who has resisted the grace and mercy of God over and over in favor of sin has demonstrated that they would sin for all eternity if they could.” And indeed they will. Sinners will sin all they can in hell, in whatever way they can (mostly in the form of wicked thoughts and blasphemy). If they sinned now, when God’s grace and mercy cover the earth, how much more in a place of the absence of God’s grace? And if they could keep on living, wouldn’t they keep on sinning? It’s only the mercy of death that stops them from their madness. I also told her that sin deserves eternal punishment because the evil of sin doesn’t stop at the deed that is done. The effects of sin go on and on–forever. The consequences are everlasting, going from generation to generation and increasing in it’s destructive power as it goes, unless, indeed, God’s grace intervenes. And praise God, it does! And it will! But men so often resist that grace so they can go on sinning! Is hell even enough for such people!? Is hell enough for those who fight against Him who seeks the good of all mankind? They rage against their Maker, spreading destruction and death, when they should be spreading truth and life. Not only do they produce much evil, but they fail to produce any good. They fail to ‘gather’ with Prince of Life, and instead they ‘scatter.’ For he who does not gather, scatters abroad. “He who is not with Me,” Jesus said, “is against me.” Besides, what will God do with those immortal beings that sin so obstinately against Him? They will serve an important service. They will serve as an everlasting reminder of the evil of sin to those who possess the New Earth. The righteous will “go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me (God). For their worm does not die, And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24). Hell is very just indeed, especially in light of the fact that God’s grace is so abundantly available to ‘whosoever will,’ and in the light of the fact that He takes us just as we are. Let us not refuse His gracious offer of pardon. It only stands while we live now. When we see Him, it will be too late.

Working with Others

This past month I have continued to preach and speak to both students and others, both on the campuses and the streets. I visited Tampa for the first time where I was able to pray with a young man to receive Christ, among other good times of ministry. I joined up with some fellow ministers to preach at basketball games, downtown streets, and by the beach. I’ve also continued at the University of Florida, where I have constant conversations with students about faith in God. But what has been most exciting for me is that fact that Christian students have used me to engage with their fellow students! I simply have provided the means of bringing up the subject, and they have jumped on board. Lately I have seen Christian students following up with students that I speak to, or else helping me to make my point to a contentious objector. Sometimes they do a better job of making a point then I do! I love it!

I have also begun to see repeat students come back to engage with me. I have been able to connect some of them to Christian campus clubs; others simply wish to engage further. Pray for me as I try to remember names and faces. I see and talk to so many that it is hard to keep track!

I Need Your Prayers

As I mentioned in my last few newsletters, I have a need to amp up my fundraising. This has stalled do to slow progress in my denomination’s process of commissioning me as a missionary. It isn’t their fault, nor my fault, (nor anyone’s fault for that matter), but circumstances have made the process delayed. I can’t itinerate among my denomination until this process is complete, which will be my primary method of fundraising. But I also am open to the possibility that God has been the one delaying this process. Perhaps He is working something that we are not aware of. Whatever the case may be, please keep me in prayer. And if you wish to support me finically, you can give via this link: Click Here to Give.