The real world can be pretty scary, too. Criminals kicked in our front door last week. Several central Arkansas banks have been robbed in the last few days. National news stories tell of a woman who gave birth to twins then killed the infants.
What's even more scary is the vision Daniel had of future (to him) kingdoms that would devour each other ultimately leading to a future (to us) kingdom led by Antichrist - the most devious and powerful and vicious of any earthly leader. That won't be a good time. But it will end swiftly and decisively at the coronation of Jesus Christ, King of kings. He will defeat Antichrist, establish a thousand years of peace on earth, then send Satan to his everlasting punishment.
It's appointed to man once to die, then to face judgment. When I die I want to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus. Is it possible to know that I will? I talked with a man in the VA hospital a few weeks ago about this. He said there is no way to know. A person's only hope is that Jesus chooses to let him in, according to this man. He thinks his eternity is left up to an arbitrary decision. He will die not knowing for sure.
When I pastored a church in north central Arkansas, we took a survey of our community to determine ways we might minister to the people. One of the survey questions asked if they knew for sure they would spend eternity in heaven when they died. The overwhelming response from this heavily Catholic area was, "Oh, I hope so." They didn't know whether they would be in heaven or hell. Their only hope was to do as much good in this life as they could in hopes that the good would outweigh the bad when they faced judgment. A person with this belief will die not knowing for sure.
I know for sure! The Bible says it is possible to know. It's not an arbitrary decision that God makes for us while standing at the pearly gates. It's not a judgment of whether or not good outweighs bad. Instead, Jesus died for my sins so I can be forgiven. If I trust Jesus for my forgiveness and salvation then my name is on the reservation list for heaven. No doubts. No questions. No problems.
You can know for sure, too. But you have to believe the right things about God and salvation. Re-read the previous paragraph to get to the truth. And send me a message if you have questions.
I know. Do you?
I'm not scared. Are you?
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