Naked

Nope, don’t get your dander up (or your hopes up, depending on what you were hoping to read.) I am not going to write about naked bodies and the image that phrase seems to conjure up to people. The focus of this column, the nakedness I am writing about? Your future. The naked, unvarnished truth straight out of the Bible, about your eternity.

Sound totally boring? Okay, then simply go read something else that does appeal to you. You definitely have that right. But for those who realize down deep in their gut that they need to prepare for death and what will come next, this is written for you.

Yes, I realize this is a far departure from what I normally write in this column. And I also realize many will resent it, and maybe even lodge complaints with their local newspaper editor. Maybe I will even lose a few papers who will refuse to carry my column any longer. But although that will hurt, it will not kill me. And those jabs at me will be worth it, knowing that maybe, just maybe, someone who has never read the Real Truth about their death and the eternity that follows, will read this and believe. They will have a chance to see how their present life can be different. And that their eternity can be safe, happy, secure, alive, and filled with purpose. So, here is the Naked Truth:

*There really is one God and He created it ALL.

*Jesus Christ, God’s sinless perfect Son, really is alive.

*No person has ever lived an absolutely sinless life… except for Jesus.

*There really is a huge penalty to be paid for sin.

*But that penalty is paid. Real. Final. Done.

*Because Jesus really did let Himself be crucified on a cross to pay the penalty for all our sin.

*Our sin condemns us to Hell when we die.

*Because heaven is perfect, no sinner can enter its gates.

*To escape hell and enter heaven at your death, realize are a sinner, admit it to yourself, confess it to Jesus, and take Him up on His offer to pay your debt to God.

*When you do, you really will be totally forgiven in your Creator’s eyes, because Jesus will have paid your entire debt.

*Then you live the rest of your life for God, trying to live who you really now are…sin-free.

*But if you refuse His offer and decide there is no eternity, no Hell or Heaven, then you will have to pay for your sins yourself when you die.

*The Bible says that will mean an eternity filled with regret and pain, knowing that it could have been so much different for you.

*Eternity is like multiplying trillions and trillions of years by billions and billions of years –plus trying to empty one ocean into the other…one drop at a time. And that is only the beginning.

Sermon done. Naked bare truth.