Wednesday, December 12, 2012

"PURGATORY" Is STILL HELLish!

...between us and you a GREAT CHASM has been FIXED, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us. (Luke 16:26)
Because i was born into the RELIGION my family subscribed to, i believed that after death, my soul would first go to a place to be purged of any remaining UNconfessed, UNforgiven sin before entering Heaven. Purgatory was the biggEST LIE i was EVER taught as a child! Today many of my loved ones continue to believe in this LIE...a lie that gives empty comfort and a false sense of security. It's a demonic LIE from satan -- the Father of Lies.

Read for yourself what JESUS taught about death, about where a person's soul goes after he (or she) sheds the physical body, about the realities of Heaven AND Hell.  In the Book of Luke is a parable about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. (Luke 16:19-31) Would JESUS, the greatest and holiest TEACHER who ever lived -- teach a LIE?
Both the rich man and the beggar died.  Lazarus is in the bosom of Abraham -- in Paradise...in Heaven -- being comforted; the rich man is in HELL, already in torment. (v 23) The rich man is not in Purgatory -- a condition of purification or temporary punishment by which those who die are believed to be made ready for Heaven. As is written in the Holy Scriptures, that rich man went immediately to HELL, not to a separate compartment in HELL. The rich man went to HELL, separated from GOD -- separated from all the goodness and the loving presence of GOD...forEVER.

Believing in a Purgatory means believing that prayers (from those still alive on earth) is a means to influence GOD to remove a soul from Hell (or to at least shorten the period of painful purification) and to gain his entrance into Heaven. That prayers to Mary, the mother of the SON of GOD, can do it. That prayers to the apostle Paul, or the archangel Michael, or saint James -- JESUS' earthly brother -- can do it. That those saints already in Heaven can ask Almighty GOD for a soul to be removed from Hell because of their "highly privileged proximity" to JESUS (mother, brother, apostle, saint, angel).

If Mary or the saints or the living sinners on earth can pray a dead man's soul out of Hell into Heaven -- why did GOD the Father send GOD His Son to be excruciatingly tortured on the cross? Wasn't JESUS' SACRIFICE enough? Wasn't His Precious BLOOD enough? Wasn't GOD's Plan enough

For the sake of argument, let's say that there really is a "Purgatory." Would anyone still risk not being SAVED -- being tormented for however long it might take to be completely PURGED of SIN -- to be totally cleansed from so-called Venial Sins -- those UNforgiven "forgivable" sins? And Purgatory is still IN HELL; therefore, it would still be HELLish. It would still be without the Presence of GOD -- without Light, without Peace, without LOVE. Purgatory would still be an utterly HELLish place IN HELL.
And what if those you've trusted to pray you into Heaven stopped praying for you? After the 40th or 100th day of mandatory prayer, can you trust them to continue praying for you?  What if those loyal friends all died before you got prayed into Heaven...and there's no one left to pray for you, and you are still in Purgatory, and you are still not purged clean of all your sins... what then? Who will then ask Mary to ask her SON JESUS to speak to GOD The FATHER?

Do you really believe that Mary herself is that instrument of GOD, endued with the SUPERnatural power to intercede like an advocate (lawyer) to pray a soul OUT of Hell? Isn't THE ADVOCATE, Whom GOD The FATHER had ALREADY sent -- JESUS -- GOD the SON? Isn't CHRIST GOD's Instrument of PEACE, for He is the very Prince of PEACE?

Do you really believe that Mary likes being made much of more than her Beloved SON, Who is her GOD, Who is her Savior? Do you really believe that Mary feels honored when you pray to her instead of directly praying to GOD The FATHER through JESUS, Who is Himself GOD, Whom the Holy Scriptures calls our HIGH PRIEST? Do you really believe that Mary enjoys your adoration that makes her EQUAL (or more) in your affections towards her GOD, her MESSIAH JESUS?

IF you DO believe in a Purgatory (which is nowhere to be found in the HOLY Bible) where your soul will be purged of any remaining SIN -- then it must follow that you ALSO believe that JESUS' TOTALLY sinless Life and FULLY completed Work on The CROSS was NOT ENOUGH... that His BLOOD poured out for us sinners was NOT ENOUGH... that JESUS being nailed on the CROSS was NOT ENOUGH -- that JESUS, Who IS The SON of GOD HIMself, IS not powerFUL ENOUGH... IS just not ENOUGH to SAVE sinners from going to HELL. This (UN)belief says: JESUS + Purgatory = ENOUGH!

Purgatory is a myth...it does NOT exist in word or principle or parable in the Holy Scriptures. GOD's WORD says there's NO such thing AND there's NO such place.

NO where is it written in the Holy Scriptures about a special department, a separate "holding tank," for those waiting to be purged, cleansed, purified of their sins. Only IN CHRIST -- through HIS BLOOD, through HIS CROSS, through HIS DEATH -- can we be ALL-together lovely...purged, cleansed, purified of all SIN.
Heaven is SIN-free. INcredibly, INcomprehensively without sin of any kind. FREE of ALL sin -- Hallelujah! Do you truly believe that you can pass through Heaven's gates with even an ATOM of pollution STILL clinging to your soul? Heaven is where GOD dwells in UNnapproachable LIGHT -- do you think you can approach His Throne with even the slightest shadow of SIN STILL darkening your soul?

When you meet GOD, will you say to Him, "Your SON's BLOOD was NOT ENOUGH!"?

Through His WORD, GOD has already said, continues to declare, and will forever proclaim -- "MESSIAH JESUS is exceedingly abundantly infinitely sufficient!"

Be "purged" totally, completely and eternally -- forever and forevermore -- today...now...at this very moment! TURN to JESUS, the CHRIST, the SAVIOR of ALL sinners who would receive Him as their Risen LORD. ASK to be forgiven. REPENT of your SINS -- commit to turn away from them.  CONFESS to GOD -- sincerely agree with Him that you are a sinner, deserving only HELL after physical death on earth. TRUST IN Him ALONE. Receive His FORGIVENESS.  Receive HIS PERFECT  RIGHTEOUSNESS. Receive your new Citizenship in Heaven. Receive the SUPERnatural indwelling of the Holy SPIRIT of GOD. Receive your Adoption into GOD's Family.  Receive your right as a child of GOD to enter into Paradise -- into the Kingdom of your Almighty FATHER in Heaven!
Receive this VERY moment, THE most valuable, most precious, most NECESSARY Gift you and i will ever receive, and never ever will ever deserve -- the utterly amaZZZing grace of GOD -- the wonderFUL, AWEsome, fanTAStic, UNbelievable, INcredible, breathtakingly lovely and glorious, and infinitely worthy... LORD JESUS Himself!


2 comments:

  1. Compelled by the LOVE of CHRIST and sisterly love for ALL my Filipino kababayan, Fijian and Latino friends -- i shared this post on facebook today, knowing it may not be well received by many. But our LORD CHRIST JESUS Himself said, "NOW is the time for TRUE worshipers to worship The FATHER in spirit and in truth. GOD is SPIRIT, and those who worship Him MUST worship IN spirit and IN TRUTH." (John 4:23-24) We are to worship GOD HIS Way, AS taught and commanded by CHRIST JESUS Himself in the Gospels -- not as we ourselves prefer to worship in our OWN way.

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  2. 2024 is just around the bend! May GOD The Holy SPIRIT use this 10+years-old write-up to draw others to SAVING Faith IN CHRIST JESUS, GOD The SON of The Most High, so that they also be made NEW and walk the rest of their Life-101 in the NEWness of The Risen LORD JESUS' Resurrection LIFE, all the way INto The GLORY! AMEN. \o/

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