Gems for the Week
November 12
"Except ye repent ye shall . . . perish."
(Luke 13:3)
"Three die at sight of missing stop sign," read a headline. Workers were on their way to replace a sign which had been blown off a pole by a 60-mile-an-hour wind. The sign was blown down at 11:10 a.m. At 11:18 a.m., a truck hit a small car, killing all its occupants. On the road of life God clearly warns: Except ye repent ye shall perish. His warning signs never blow away. Heed them and trust the Saviour today.
(Arnot P. McIntee)
N.J. Hiebert # 3521
November 13
". . . they shall never see light!" (Psalm 49:19)
There is a certain horror about absolute darkness that throws a chill over the human soul; for man was made to live in the light! Heaven is always depicted as a place of eternal brightness where there is "no night." The psalmist, however, declares that the wicked shall "never see light"; and Jesus warns that they shall be cast into "outer darkness"! What a horror of blackness that will be when each doomed soul is curtained off from every other in an eternity of utter loneliness.
Recently I was in a cave in Kentucky. When we had gone deep into the bowels of the earth through many winding passage-ways, the guide suddenly turned off all the lights and said, "I alone know the way out. If I were to leave you in this dark chamber, you would probably never make your way to the surface. Those who have been lost in this cavern have become insane inside of a week from the oppressive loneliness and the maddening, incessant drip of the water from the roof. Be quiet for a moment and feel the darkness!" I remember my youngster clutching my arm. Soon terror began to edge its way into all of our hearts. After about thirty seconds, someone in the party could endure the ordeal no longer and whimpered piteously, "Turn on the light! I'm going crazy NOW!" The guide laughed, but none of us will ever forget that eerie experience. I thought of the "outer darkness"
of an eternal Hell and shuddered!
An evangelist once encountered a skeptic who, when asked to receive Christ, said, "I am not afraid of Hell - all the Hell we get is here on earth!" The preacher's reply was quick and devastating, "I'll give you three reasons why this cannot be Hell.
- First, I am a Christian, and there are no Christians in Hell!
- Secondly, there is a place just around the corner where you can slake your thirst, but there is no water in Hell!
- Thirdly, I have been preaching Christ to you, and there is no Gospel in Hell!"
Friend, would you escape the eternal darkness of Hell? Receive Christ who is the Light! (H.G.B.)
O do hot let the Word depart,
Nor close thine eyes against the Light.
Poor sinner, harden not your heart;
Escape God's wrath - be saved tonight!
(E. Reed)
"Unbelief is the door to Hell!"
(G.W.)
N.J. Hiebert # 3522
