Tag Archives: torment

What In Hell Do You Want?

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Fire1The old comic character “Casper the friendly ghost” and the later show “Casper” as well as many other comical movies about the paranormal have subtly crepe into our society and helped form a false belief system of hell. We have made hell glamorous and light hearted. We have kept a mindset of hell as nothing more than a friendly club in the hereafter. White sheets draped over children with holes cute out for eyes and mouths running from door to door looking for candy just adds to the sweetening of a bitter deception. But the reality spoken of in the scripture is anything but light and fluffy.

            The Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study has recorded that 58% of U.S. adults believe in hell as a place “where people who have led bad lives and

We have made hell glamorous and light hearted nothing more than a friendly club in the hereafter.     (tweet)

die without being sorry are eternally punished.” Yet, the reality of a devil’s hell is far from most peoples thinking and understanding. Even the church has avoided or at most has softened the message of hell.

There’s a story of a president of a seminary who once heard two students out side his office flippantly joking about hell. He put his arms around them and took them to a window over looking the city and said softly “don’t joke about hell, people are going there… people are going there!

We read about the end of the age in Rev 20:10 where it says, “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the

Let’s not glamorize Hell but warn people of a Devil’s Hell!    (tweet)

false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. “ We read a couple of verse later in Rev 20:15 where it says, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Jesus says a lot about a place many would say is a myth or just a scarecrow for religion. In Matt. 18:2 Jesus describes Hell as outer darkness and a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In numerous places Jesus himself refers to hell Continue reading →

The Paralyzing Grip of Fear!

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Fear1Ten out of the twelve spies who went into the Promised Land saw the inhabitants and were gripped by fear. It was a tormenting fear that not only skewed their vision but spread to many others. The Biblical account that we read in Num. 13:26-30 continues to let us know that the other two, Joshua and Caleb, had an attitude of a warrior. These two did not succumb to spreading fear but kept their eyes on God’s promises and declared with boldness, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it,”. Their tenacious heart revealed their victorious attitude for the battle that lay before them. Yet, the majority of the spies were affected by fear just like a big part of God’s people.

Let me share with you six facts about fear that every believer should know: First, fear is a tactic of the enemy that will grip and paralyze you. Fear is your imagination running wild. It asks the question, “What if?” and answers with the worst-case scenario, picturing a future without God’s Intervention.

Fear is a lack of understanding in who God is, as well as, a lack of trust in Him. (tweet)

     Second, fear will stop you from being effective for God. Have you ever seen someone who is afraid to try anything new? What about your child and broccoli? All the disciples were in the boat but only Peter ventured out and walked on the water (Matt. 14:29). Fear held the others back from having that same supernatural testimony. Too often we are hindered from moving forward in God because of this enemy.

                  Third, fear can spread to other believers and limit their impact. In Num. 14:1 it reads, “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried”. Why did they cry? Because fear had spread to everyone who heard the spies say that they lacked the strength to go up against their enemy. Fear will sweep across others like a wildfire on a dry prairie.

Fear held the other disciples back from having the same supernatural testimony as Peter who walked on the water.   (tweet)

              Fourth, fear is a serious defect in a warrior. In Deuteronomy 20:8 the commanders were suppose to ask their troops, “What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.” Being fearful and faint-hearted will affect and impact many. The fainthearted Christian will melt in the face of a spiritual battle.

Fifth, fear brings bondage. Romans 8:14-15 declares, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear…” Many Christians walk around in bondage because they live in fear. Fear is a lack of understanding in who God is, as well as, a lack of trust in Him.

                  Sixth, fear is a torment that can hold you back from fulfilling God’s purposes. Elisha’s servant was overcome by fear when he thought he was outnumbered by the encircling enemy (II Kings 6:15). The apostle John assures us, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love,” (I Jn. 4:18). A Christian who is tormented by fear is a Christian who is not grounded in God’s love.

Knowing these six crucial points about fear will help you not be distracted from serving the Lord. A prayer warrior must be aware of the effects of fear in the realm of intercession. If fear grips us as we move into spiritual warfare then we will be limited in our prayers and impact to those around us.