I’ve been in church all my life, and according to my mom had given my life to the Lord when I was five years of age. I can’t say that I remember that, but what I do remember is how in 1979 God began to deal with me regarding my eternal destination. He began for what felt like six months to deal with me regarding my eternal destination and how I needed to make a commitment to follow and serve Him. I can’t say that He was convicting me of sin in my life because up to that time I had lived a pretty sheltered life, but what He was dealing with me in was the fact that I hadn’t surrendered my life to Him and to His will for my life. One of the ways He got my attention was through the realization of how close to death I was at times from near head-on collisions and being in a garage air-filled with explosive aerosols and a gas water heater. God was good to me and those with me to protect us, but these were some of the ways that God used to get my attention. During this time I experienced a growing fear of end time events and the tribulation period, which only heightened the impact of those experiences I just shared with you. After what seemed to be six months, I knelt beside my bed with my dad and I surrendered and committed my life to Jesus on March 29, 1980.
From that time on I do not remember a time when I was fearful of missing the rapture and going through the tribulation period. Granted, I have come to realize after searching the scriptures that saying a prayer and walking down an aisle does not guarantee admittance into Heaven, but it is what I do with my relationship with Him from that time on that determines if I will be prepared for when that shofar sounds the call to the marriage feast of the Lamb. Maybe you don’t agree, and that is okay, but that is where I came up with the title of this blog, Russian Roulette With Eternity.
Russian roulette with eternity is where we choose to gamble with our eternal destination by living and believing as we choose. Well, you can almost hear the arguments of people who decide not to believe Gods word in its entirety, who want to create another Jesus to their liking, or to reject God and His Son as the only savior of the world. Many feel that whatever they choose to believe to be true is true, and if they want to believe something to be false or non-exclusive (meaning that there is more than one way to heaven) then that is what it is. But, what if they are wrong? What if what they believe to be true is actually false, what they believe is false is actually true, and that there is really only one way to Heaven through Jesus alone? To echo others over the years, if we as Christians are wrong then what do we lose in embracing Christianity, and what do non-Christians gain? Also, if we as Christians are correct, then what do we gain and non-Christians lose? If the Christian faith and it’s source of written instruction, the Bible, is false, we obviously haven’t gained a thing, but we haven’t really lost anything either. However, if the Christian faith and the Bible are in fact true, then Christians gain an eternity in Heaven that defies imagination in its splendor, and those who are not Christians literally lose everything to spend eternity in hell for rejecting Christ as both the Son of God and the only Savior of the world.
I am concerned for people who take their eternal destination so lightly. It’s as if they are playing Russian roulette with their eternity, and that is very scary. Some like to think, at least subconsciously, that if they find after they died that they were wrong and made a serious mistake they will have the opportunity to say ‘sorry’ and enter into Heaven. What a lie from the enemy of our souls! He will say and do anything to get us to minimize the seriousness of making right preparations for our eternal destination, even to the point of getting us to either not think about it or to have an altered view of eternity. And, yes, he will even take and twist scripture to accomplish this if he can. After all, was that not the method he used in the garden when he spoke with Eve, taking and twisting what God had said to make her doubt and question God? What we fail to realize is that Satan knows the scripture, and he in fact probably knows it better than most, if not all, Christians, and that is one of his most powerful weapons. Heard it said that the best lie is the one that is 99% true, and Satan is an expert in promoting them.
Time is so very short in regards to the start of the tribulation period, which means it’s even closer to Jesus’ return for His bride. It is so imperative that we are in right standing with Him, waiting, watching and ready for the sounding of the shofar of His return for His bride. The first thing Jesus told the disciples when they asked him regarding the signs of the end of the world and His return, was a warning to not be deceived. Deception will be great leading up to His return and the tribulation period, and it is so vitally important that we don’t be deceived. Deceived about what? In a nutshell, deceived regarding Jesus, who He is, what He did, what He’s going to do, and that only through Him can one receive salvation prior to leaving this life.
Don’t be deceived! Hold true to the pure Gospel and good news of Jesus, and that when it’s all said and done the determining factor that will forever determine our eternal destination is what we did with Jesus in this life and the nature of our relationship with Him. We all have a relationship with Jesus, whether it is one that is a saving one through intimate friendship with Him, or one that is distant and independent of Him.
I trust that this will challenge you to re-evaluate your relationship with Jesus as time is running out, and that it will either be found in right standing with Him in relationship and according to His word, and if not that you will make the necessary changes to make it right.
John Johansson
