What about those who have never heard of Jesus? What happens to them?

This would be another of one of those age-old questions, wouldn't it? If someone has never been preached the gospel then obviously they cannot believe what they do not know. They can neither accept or reject the truth. So, what has to happen? God has to manifest Himself in some other way to them. When one refers to those who have never heard of Christ, often we are talking about people who live in the most remote parts of the world, far from what we regard as normal civilization. 

God has left His handprint all over the place - on the earth and in the heavens. This is what is known as natural or general revelation. God made absolutely sure all mankind could know Him in the natural sense. The Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament His handiwork (Psalm 19:1). God has also made Himself known through the conscience. Romans chapter one tells us the things that are made - that we see clearly tell us that the invisible God is real because without Him none of what we see could exist. So scripture shows by two pieces of evidence that God exists: 1) His creation. 2) Through conscience. That leaves man without excuse. If man understands and receives these revelations, then, of course, God can shed more light to him. The Lord has placed in every man the innate ability to get to know Him in a personal way. The Bible says if someone seeks the Lord with all their heart they will find Him (Deut 4:29; Jer 29:13). Most men suppress the truth they know about God so they replace the worship of the true God with falsehood thus sealing their doom (Romans 1:21-23).

What about those with mental incapabilities. How can they believe when they do not understand the gospel?

Many regard someone mentally challenged like an infant. Babies cannot comprehend anything so someone, lest say mentally retarded, cannot understand Biblical truth. Depending upon the severity of their mental disability would determine if they could understand the gospel. If they are unable to, they can never reach the point of moral accountability where they understand the need for repentance of their sins and placing their faith in Christ. I believe God places special grace on them when they die and takes them to heaven. Why do I believe this? Because trusting in Christ is a faith-based decision as well as a moral decision to believe. Adults or children with minds of infants do not even know their right hand from their left or even their name sometimes so how could they be held responsible to choose something they could never understand? You see people in this type of condition are what I call morally neutral. They can neither accept nor reject the gospel due to their mental ineptitude.

Their curse I believe ultimately is their blessing because I am convinced a divine exception is granted to them.

Let me provide a Biblical reason why I believe this.

In II Samuel 12 we read about David's sin of adultery with Bathsheba who was the wife of a man named Uriah. Bathsheba becomes pregnant as a result of the affair. David has Uriah killed in battle so he can marry Bathsheba. When the child is born, the prophet Nathan rebukes David for his sins of adultery and murder. The worst part is Nathan tells him that their son will die. The son becomes ill by God's hand (not due to the child's sin because he had none, but as a result of David's sin which was forgiven, but he suffered painful temporal consequences the rest of his life). As a result, David fasts and prays hoping the child will get well but he dies. David then gets up washes and anoints himself changes his clothes and worships the Lord. Afterward, he eats. His servants see this behavior as strange - why he is eating now? David said to them, "While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that my child may live?' But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me" (II Samuel 12:15b-23).

Why did David make that statement? Because he knew where his deceased son went and where he was going when he died. It was David who said in Psalm 23:6, "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."  David's son went to heaven and that is where David is now. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (II Corinthians 5:8). David is in heaven because he was a righteous man. His son was granted a divine exception and taken to glory because he had no mental or moral capability to believe God regarding anything.

Jesus said in Matthew 19:13, "Let the little children come to Me and do not forbid them; for such is the kingdom of heaven." Children who have not reached the age of what is called accountability are extended grace and granted salvation by God if they die very young. It does not mean they deserve salvation because they are still sinners by nature, but for whatever reason(s) unknown to us, their lives are cut off prematurely due perhaps to an illness suffered at birth or they are tragically killed.

Concluding, those who have never heard the gospel will eventually receive it in one form or another; through creation, conscience and finally the full gospel itself (Christ). God will hold a person responsible for what light and truth has been revealed to them. God saved the Old Testament saints without them hearing the name of Jesus Christ. How they were justified is they believed the word of God they heard and knew at that time (Genesis 15:6). Their justification is just as valid as those of us who have received the full gospel truth. The only differences in their justification and ours are time, and amount of revelation presented. Their justification was granted to them as a credit because it was before Christ went to the cross; Jesus had not come yet (pre-incarnate) to purchase their redemption and physically pay for their sins (again Genesis 15:6). Our justification was granted to us as a deposit because Christ  (incarnate) has already died and risen and paid the price for our sins with His blood (Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; Heb 9:12;13:12; 1 John 1:7; Rev 1:5). The Old Testament saints were looking forward to the cross anticipating the redeemer; while we in the New Testament are looking back at the cross loving and praising the redeemer for what He has already done for us.

If God is so good…

A subject my wife and I discuss frequently is that if you're looking for flaws in people you're sure to find them - guaranteed! That is the view of the pessimist. They always look at life from a negative point of view. Think about it for a moment, if people criticize God 24/7 and He is absolutely perfect in every way, how much more do you think we will be criticized? 

Just a thought.

Back to the subject at hand, "If God is so good, then why"....everyone can fill in their own blank(s). This is an age-old question that for most has not been answered satisfactorily. I recently heard a person on social media raise this question from those who do not attend church because they do not see the need to worship a God who allows death and tragedy every day. Believe me, I understand the frustration and disenchantment people are experiencing. We want things to be better. We want the world at peace and harmony. We want to cure every sickness and disease and get rid of world hunger and poverty. We want to save the planet and protect wildlife. We need to stop polluting our air and oceans. We must preserve and protect our natural resources. We must go green and be Eco-Friendly. We want everyone to love one another with all of our religious, philosophical, political, and ideological differences. Unfortunately, the extremists will try to do this at any cost - even to the point of killing those who resist their agenda. Of course, we call those type of people terrorists.

Well, none of the things I mentioned above has happened completely. Guess what? It will never happen by the hands of sinful mankind. We cannot make things better. Sorry to burst your bubble. We are masters of making things worse though. That is why we must call on God. But what is God's problem? If He is so good as you Christians say, why is He taking so long to fix things? He must not be real or He simply does not care, or He does not have the power to fix the world's problems.

It is amazing to me how blind and short-sighted the world is. We are definitely the offspring of our first father Adam. Let me explain.

When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God asked Adam did he eat the fruit the Lord commanded him not to eat. Adam responded, "The woman who You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate" (Genesis 3:12).

 Do you see what Adam did? First, he blamed his wife then God for what he did wrong. Not once did he blame himself for disobeying the command of the Lord. That is what scholars call the "Adamic (pronounced A-da-mic) Nature" or the sin nature. You see the sinner blames everyone for their problems except themselves. So it is natural or in our nature to blame God for the problems of this world. Just like it was Adam's fault he ate the forbidden fruit, it is our fault the world is in the misery and pain it is currently in. Sadly, we cannot and will not get out of our own way and call upon the Lord in humility and contrition to deliver us from the pain we are in. The world keeps trying to fix what it was never designed to fix. What has been the net result, we are making things worse and worse. Who gets the blame ultimately? God does.

The world is defiantly saying to God after continuing to ruin things, "Why don't You fix this mess You have made?" When He does not fix it on demand, God is not good in the eyes of those who are usually the greatest offenders in the world.

Is God serving us or should we be serving Him?

Understand this, the Bible says God is good and His mercy endures forever (Psalm 136). That is forever true because God is immutable. So when someone says, "If God is so good why does He allow bad things to happen" etc, that is not God's problem, It is ours. Evil in this life never diminishes the goodness of God, rather evil is the magnifying glass that should show the world clearly its own wickedness. Sadly, it usually does not which reveals to the writer the abysmal depths of man's hopeless depravity apart from divine intervention.

The idea that God sent His only Begotten Son to pay the price for our sins is the ultimate love.  Better question(s) we should be asking is, "Why does God cause wonderful things to happen to us when we do not deserve them? "Why would God send Jesus Christ who was/is perfect die for those who are hopeless and guilty and deserve to go to hell? Why would a good God send His perfect Son to die for wicked human beings; forgive their sins when they trusted in Christ and adopt them into His family as sons and daughters? On top of that, why would God give them an eternal inheritance and seal them with His Holy Spirit claiming them as His own (Ephesians 1:5-14)? Why in the world would a good God do all of these things to those who hate Him?"

Answer? God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son. That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

You see God has already taken care of all of our problems when we trusted in Christ. We are victorious and more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). We as believers realize that the way things are now will not remain. This hopeless world is passing away with all the evil that is in it. We as Christians are looking forward to new heaven and earth where eternal peace will dwell (Isa 65:17;2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1).

One must have an eternal perspective to see there is a blessed eternal hope past this life of sin. When one has this hope, they have victory because this is not all there is. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says that we are not to look at the things that we see, but on the things that we do not see. For the things that we see are temporary, but the things we do not see are eternal. That is our blessed future inheritance for those of us who are children of  God.

My God is so good that He promised that the present sufferings of this life are not to be compared to the glorious future that awaits us (Romans 8:18).

So the pessimist will continue to ask, "Why does God allow bad things to happen?" The writer's reply is, "Because of the wickedness of man and sin has to run its course". One can also think of it this way, as long as evil exists, it is a clear indication of God's mercy on full display toward sinners. God can very easily get rid of evil. You know how? Get rid of everybody and immediately evil would be gone! Do you see the point I'm driving at? Evil and calamity exist because we are here. Want evil gone? Then we have two choices: 1) stop sinning completely or 2) die.

So, what do you think about evil now?

You want your evil forgiven forever? Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for your soul salvation. Once you have been forgiven, you can then look at the wickedness in the world and not blame God for the evil that He graciously allows because He desires that all men repent and not perish.

God has already solved the problem of evil forever through the sacrificial atoning death of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. There is no other solution to mankind's problems. This is what makes God not only good but what I would call Omnigood (or all good)! One day God will get rid of all evildoers so that this world will return to Eden paradise it was in the beginning.

In God's timing, all will be made right. Just wait on Him (Isaiah 40:31).

What is Justification by Death?

I realize this is a question that many are not familiar with so I will explain it. When someone dies and they are eulogized at their memorial service, what you often hear is "Well they are in a better place." Sometimes this is true, but it is not always true.

In other words, if we believe that everyone goes to heaven when they die, we believe in a false doctrine called universalism, or justification by death. What this means is many believe that a person automatically goes to heaven because they are dead - their death justifies or makes them righteous in the sight of God. Why do so many people believe this? Because of their ignorance of Biblical truth. In the world's eyes, their loved one who was a loving, kind, giving soul who would not harm a fly is just the type of person God would (or perhaps in their eyes should) welcome into His kingdom. While this is a novel and heartwarming sentiment, it is a master deception by the enemy. Mankind continues to make the perpetual mistake of thinking they have the right to determine for God how His kingdom is to run.

There is no such thing as justification by death. It is a false doctrine whether someone knows it or not.

I understand those who are not Biblically minded will emotionally and mentally default to this pseudo-ideology.

Justification is the act whereby one is given a declaration of righteousness by God when one trusts in Jesus Christ as their sin bearer. We are given a divine pardon and acquittal from God. In God's eyes He treats us as if we had never sinned! How? Because Jesus took the punishment for our sins (Isaiah 53:5). An incredible reality! 

We have to realize the implications of such a belief system. For those that believe in justification by death, you automatically deny the reality of the clear teaching on the doctrine of hell and eternal separation from God which is undeniably taught in scripture. Who taught on hell more than anyone else? Jesus! While I can cite numerous passages that teach the reality of hell, I will only point out some. 

Mark 9:45-46

• And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched - where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

Matthew 23:15,33

• verse 15: Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
• verse 33: Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the damnation of hell?

Matthew 25:41-43

• Then He will say to those on the left hand (the goats), Depart from Me into the everlasting fire prepared the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me no food. I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and did not visit Me.

While I understand that it is heart wrenching to many - including Christians who are unfamiliar with this truth, there is a really horrible place called hell. Anyone who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ will end up there when they die. Don't hate me because I told you the truth (Galatians 4:16). Love always tells the truth (Ephesians 4:15).  We should be way long tired of fake news by now. We also need to stop telling ourselves lies about death and the afterlife to make us feel better. Like someone wisely said, "Eternity is a very long time to be wrong!"

Let's know the truth and be set free (John 8:32). 

This is one of those sacred cows I needed to kill. Those of you who have been following the blog should know my pedigree by now. My endeavor is to bring nothing but the truth.

To believe that everyone automatically goes to heaven when they die destroys the entire Bible. There would no point in preaching the gospel. Jesus came to the earth to preach repentance and ultimately died in vain. There would no need for the church, missionaries or pastors. Christianity would not exist. Why bother with any of this if when we die we go to heaven anyway? We can do whatever we want if justification by death is true.

You see how the world is hopelessly duped? Why? Because lies are more alluring than the truth. When Biblical truth goes against someone's worldview, they take the path of least resistance - the popular path, the wide gate which is the path to destruction (Matthew 7:13)! 

Let's be willing to uphold Biblical truth even to the point of ridicule, and persecution by all. This position will distinguish between those who are true soldiers in the Lord's army and those who are not.

Remember, we are in a truth war. It ain't for the faint of heart!