Life after death

Death is not the end; actually, it is just the beginning. Our life here is just a preparation for the real life. Our bodies have expiration date, but our soul is eternal. When our body dies, our soul will be taken to heaven or hell, there is no other place, and there is no purgatory, correction room or waiting area!

"There was a rich man that dressed in purple and fine linen, who enjoyed luxurious living every day. In front of his gate a beggar named Lazarus was placed, covered with sores, and hungering to be fed crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

The beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and while suffering tortures in Hades, he looked up and from a distance saw Abraham with Lazarus in his bosom. So he called out, Father Abraham, take pity on me and send Lazarus to dip his finger tip in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this fire.

But Abraham said, Son, remember that you enjoyed the good things in your lifetime while Lazarus had the bad things; now he is being comforted here but you are suffering anguish. Besides, there is a great chasm fixed between you and us, so that those who want to cross from here to you are unable; neither can they cross from your side to us.

Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ Luke 16:19-31

Salvation has nothing to do with your financial condition; you aren’t saved just because you are poor likewise, you are not condemned because you are rich; iniquities are responsible for one’s damnation. In this story Jesus Clearly shows that one person died and went to Hades while the other person died and went to heaven. Hades is a place of torment, a place of suffering where the rich man was being tormented by fire.

Hades is a place where all unsaved souls are in tormenting waiting for the GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT. Once they will be judged they will be immediately thrown into the lake of fire (the true hell).

One of the torments in Hades is that the person will have full understanding why she is there, and she will remember her family and friends. As we can see in this story, the rich man was so concerned with his family; he didn’t want his family to end up in torments like he is.

There is no turn back, no repentance, no forgiveness, no mercy and no grace for those who are sent to Hades. Once there, they will be tormented endlessness until their judgment to receive a worse torment: The Lake of Fire.

Then the master said, ‘Throw that useless servant outside into the darkness, where people will cry and grind their teeth with pain.’ Matthew 25:30

Hades is a place of cry and pain all the problems and sufferings that a person may have in this earth can’t ever be compared to the torment in Hades and consequently in hell.

The suffering there is indescribable to our human understanding; and the doors that lead to Hades is open wide as it is written: Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14

The door that leads us to perdition is large and usually good. Sins are not painful but its consequences are.

One of the worst torment for a person is man’s total isolation, the feeling of been completely alone. Man was created to relate, fellowship, live in society. Hades is described as: "darkness and thick, utter and dense darkness". This means that he will be suffering alone, without seeing other people, without getting console. He will hear cries, howls, but will be alone.

Don’t think that you will have a fellowship with millions of buddies there. Hades and the lake of fire is a place of total torment, fire and dense darkness.

In Hades the human body is dead but the soul is well alive and the Bible says: “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” Isaiah 66:24

Another terrible torment in Hades is that besides of being burned in fire forever and never there will be worms that will continually eats one’s soul and it will not be burned with the fire. A torment beyond comprehension!

Who will be there?

Millions of people! Not only unbelievers; but many who also knew the truth and even though inside of the church; they used to have a sinful life of gossips, lies, adultery, robbery and so on . Many preachers will be there also; especially the ones that refuse to preach the truth about salvation in order to do not “scare” their congregation!

The Bible does not classify sins, sins are sins and there is no such thing as big sins and small sins. The Bible give us an idea of those who will be left behind: Outside the city are all those who live like dogs—those who do evil magic, those who sin sexually, those who murder, those who worship idols, and those who love to lie and pretend to be good. Revelation 22:15 (ERV)

Some people thinks that Hades and the lake of fire are just for the “end of the world”; If you think like this, I have to warn you that it is for everybody who dies without being saved! The world does not need to end for a person to be thrown into hell. They just need to die anytime without Jesus!

If you are inside of a church and still live in iniquity, if you are not committed to Jesus and do not fully obey His Words; you are in danger! If you are a preacher and you just want to please your congregation by preaching only what they want to hear and consequently hiding the truth; you are also in danger!

We all need to consult ourselves before God and sincerely repent from all wrongdoings; we just don’t know when our soul will be demanded from us. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ Luke 12:20

God Bless you

The urgent need for a miracle

Have you been in a situation where you need an urgent miracle? A situation where you do not have where to go? A situation where if you look back it is bad and if you look ahead is even worse! I certainly believe so! All of us faced or will face situations where we need a great rescue; it can be a financial crisis, marriage, family, health or any other bad situation.

Moses faced a situation like that, behind him was a great army of enemies and ahead of him was the Red Sea. Moses wasn’t alone; he was responsible in leading thousands of men, women, elderly, children, animals and their possessions out of Egypt.

His situation was not easy, somebody may say: “Oh they just need to swim hard to the next shore”. Unfortunately that was not the case and they did not have enough time available for that, besides, the elderly, the small children and the animals would have a tough time to reach the other side.

Moses needed an urgent miracle! Immediately!

The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. Exodus 14:9-10

They were terrified by their situation; it was definitely a case of death! They had no rational way out! If they stayed, Pharaoh would have them all imprisoned again, and without a miracle from God, they would have died on the sea.

They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? Exodus 14:11

There are situations in our lives that we can’t see a solution. All that we can see is huge mountain of hopeless problems. That people were desperate just like sometimes some people become.

Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:13-14

On the dictionary the verb stand firm has two senses: 1. stand up or offer resistance to somebody or something 2. refuse to abandon one's opinion or belief.

They would only see the deliverance if they stood firm towards that situation. And it is the same for you and me. In times when there is no way out, we have to offer resistance against our problems and despite of the magnitude of our sorrows, we have to refuse to abandon our belief in God.

When things get so tough some people immediately stop believing in God, they start look for other alternatives in order to solve the crisis and instead of solution, they end up wrapped in a trap.

And these traps could be a divorce instead of fighting to save the marriage; it could be landing money from a moneylender instead of working hard and trust in the Lord in order to pay the debts and worse of all; some people even commit suicide in order to run from their problems!

When we do not trust in God, we always commit bigger mistakes!

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. Exodus 14:15-16

First thing we need to do is to TRUST followed by standing firm then the Lord will guide us to the kind of actions we have to take. In the case of the Israelites, the Lord said for them to move on and to divide the sea!

There is time to trust, time to stand firm and time to listen and follow God's instructions in order to take the right actions, if we want to see great miracles in our lives.

A simple example of that is when a person is unemployed, he needs to trust that the Lord will provide, he needs to stand firm against all doubts, fears and difficulties that he/she may face, then he/she needs to act according to the Lord's instructions, like keeping searching for a job, and surely the blessings will come.

For all kind of very bad situation that we may face, that is the order to obtain results. If we trust on ourselves we will badly fail, and if we trust on others we will get hurt and frustrated because Jesus Himself said: For without Me you can do nothing. John 15:5 NKJV

If you need a miracle, that is the only way.

God Bless you.

How to believe in God when there is no hope?

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be. Romans 4:18

How many of us are facing situations that are against all hope? Perhaps it is a debt, disease, financial crisis, marriage problems, family, depression, frustration, addictions and death of a beloved one to name a few. Some situations are so critical that we may lose hope towards a solution.

Though we may try hard with all our efforts and resources, we end up too far from the results we expect. The same happened to Abraham.

Each one of us has problems and none of us can judge if one’s problems are high or less important. My problems may seem to you small and your problems might seem to me small as well, but each one of us knows in our own flesh how painful it is despite of what others may think.

The wife of Abraham (Sara) was barren and they wanted so much to have their own child, but they were old and the period of Sara had long ago stopped. That was their problem and they were against all hope.

Genesis 18:11 says: Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.

Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Romans 18:19

Abraham had reason enough to believe that his case had no solution. Just like sometimes we have reason enough to give up a dream or to give up living because a certain situation seems to be completely helpless. When hard situation comes, some people has the tendency to weaken their faith and stop believing in God, they stop attending the church, they stop reading their Bible and consequently they become completely empty and weak.

But Abraham faced his fact and despite his body was good as dead and the womb of his wife was dead as well, he did not weaken his faith!

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. Romans 18:20

Abraham did not wave through unbelief despite his situation. His faith was constant it was not like the waves of the sea that are constantly up and down. It is common to see people strong when they come and listen to a message in the Church, but as soon as they arrive at home or at the work, they become down caste again and stop believing the promises of God.

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. James 1:6-8

Abraham believed in God’s promise, he believed wholehearted despite of his apparent situation; he lived by faith and not by sight. If we are like the waves of the sea, full of ups and downs; most certainly we are not going to receive anything that we are expecting to receive.

Abraham did not complain to God about his situation, on the contrary his strengthened his faith and gave glory to God.

I know that to wait for God’s time isn’t easy; however, God’s time is always perfect. When God promised a son to Abraham, Abraham was ninety years old, but his son only came when he was around one hundred years old. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. Genesis17:1

Abraham waited for ten years in order to see his dreams to come true! So many people give up believing because they are waiting for some days, some months or even some years. God’s time is always perfect even if it takes a bit longer. Abraham waited in faith, without weakening in disbelief.

His situation was against all hope, to have a baby was against all odds, but he believed in hope that God would fulfill His promise.

Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised .Romans 4:21

My friend, do not give up! Do not stop believing! Even if everything around you seems to be over. Remember that everything is possible for him who believes.

God bless you abundantly.