Hell is a Choice

Brothers and Sisters who are loved by God,

One of the most important things I heard as an unbeliever was this:

"One of Satan's greatest deceptions is making people believe he doesn't exist."

I wish I could tell you it was the thing that pointed me back to God but it wouldn't be true.  However, it was a statement that would start to niggle in the back of my mind, "Am I one of those who have been deceived?" 

The greatest road block to my believing Satan could exist, was hell. Why would God send good people there? If God is love and nothing is outside of His reach, how could He allow a place like hell to exist?

The stark truth is this:  God doesn't send people to hell. People choose it.

Hell is a place where God does not make Himself present because the people there deny His presence.  How can He be among people who didn't recognize, over a lifetime, His existence? If we don't see Him now...while miracles happen, while surrounded by nature, while the Bible is AVAILABLE, while we FEEL God-sized needs in our lives...when will we do it once we're apart from the evidence  this world provides?  For too many, there is a deliberate walk from God to oblivion.

Whatever you believe hell to be, an abyss, a fiery pit...the worst thing is this: The complete absence of God.  Not only have these souls denied the One to cry out to but He's no longer there to hear them. The thought of it makes the air catch in my chest.

I have heard of people praying with contrition, acknowledging God's presence, accepting Jesus as savior and receiving the Holy Spirit in their final breath. It's never too late. God would have not one perish, NOT ONE...but free will offers choices. My prayer is there will be a stampede to pick the door that remains wide open. We don't have to guess what's behind it:  LIFE. Oh beloved, enter that door into the waiting arms of a Father whose gaze has been fixed upon the horizon, anxiously waiting for you to come home. (Luke 15:20) All of Heaven waits to celebrate.