There is something about believing in hell which is repugnant to the modern mind. Heaven? Sure! That's consistent with the picture of a loving God, one who cares far too much about us to turn anyone away from His door. Yes, we can abide the thought that God may punish His errant children as we human parents have to do--at least for a bit; but the idea of fire and brimstone, smoke, and torment reminds us more of the graphic imagery of Dante's The Divine Comedy than of John 3:16.

When Peter came to the end of writing the second book which bears his name, he gave some very practical advice.  He ended by saying, "Be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men…" and "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."  Notice the two words: guard and grow.  That was the practical advice of a fisherman who knew that he had to defend his fishing grounds, but he couldn't spend all of his time keeping others out of what he felt belonged to him.  He had to fish.  He had to grow.

When Jesus called people, He interrupted their goals, their plans, their life works and their consciences as well.  The more they know Him, the more they came to understand that following Jesus was not a part-time vocation but an absolute, all-encompassing commitment.  And that is why on more than one occasion, some turned away and ceased to follow him.

Probably no other generation in history has been more committed to living for the moment than is our present one; or put in somewhat less refined terms, no generation has been more committed to squeezing every ounce of pleasure and fulfillment out of living than the present one.  Now all of this is not bad, but the constant emphasis on self produces a distorted picture of the individual's true worth. The end result is a selfishness that produces a marked disregard for others, and totally distorts a person's actual importance.  Nothing is much smaller than an individual's world who shuts others from the heart as well as the hand and purse.

As the darkness that shrouded Russia under Communism began to lift, thousands of people began to search for their spiritual roots.  The following letter was sent to a fellow Christian broadcaster: "I do not know how to address you, that is, I do not know your name; but I do not think that is important. The fact is that I want to know definitely whether there is a God or are you just deceiving the people. If you are as certain about God's existence as you preach and sing about Him, then I straightway would want to believe in Him the same way as you do." The listener then begged for a Bible so he could read the record for himself.

Only those who have been through very difficult hard times can understand the reality of knowing that God had his hand on their lives, that He is the one who sustained and preserved them. That realization, of course, is humbling because when you have been through the fire and you made it, you know it wasn't your cleverness or your strength that brought you through. It had to be God.

"What I believe about God," said A. W. Tozer, "is the most important thing about me."  He was right, but the problem is that most of us aren't really sure what we believe about Him.  Most of our knowledge and images of God are second-hand leftovers from our parents, or bad experiences that we conclude are reflections of God.

In 1904 a massive, bronze statue of Christ with his arms outstretched to the harbor of Buenos Aires was erected.  Known as the "Christ the Redeemer of the Andes," standing at an altitude of 13,000 feet, it towers over the whole area. Christ's left hand holds a cross. His right hand is extended in blessing.  On the base of the great statue is a quotation from Paul's letter to the Ephesians which reads, "He is our peace who has made both one."

You may have seen one of them yourself. A number of independent studies are showing a definite relationship between prayer and--are you ready for this?  Physical healing.  In some cases, individuals pray for themselves. In others elders in a local church lay hands on someone and the person is healed. But in some situations, reports a physician in San Francisco General Hospital, the individuals themselves who recovered didn't even know anyone was praying.

When God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and say, "Let my people go!" he was disheartened.  Anyone who has ever walked through the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and has seen the gold and the magnificence which decorated the courts of the pharaohs can imagine in a small way how this 80-year-old man, who for the last 40 years had been a shepherd with loneliness for a companion, would feel, striding into the palace asking that some two million slaves be allowed to take a hike out of the empire.