“Imagine, if you will, a place...”
So began a weekly TV show long ago in the 1960s. “The Twilight Zone.”
Each episode began with the host asking the viewers to suspend their ideas of what is possible, to accept instead the ideas that, though improbable, might be true.
I understand that many nightmares resulted from the material shown.
Yet, even today, there are many fans of the program who have even come to believe the impossible to be true.
Satan has used this technique for centuries, to propose impossible ideas about God.
Imagine, if you will, that the Story of Creation is just that, a Story.
The resulting belief might be that everything slowly evolved from spontaneous accidents – the whim of chance. No plan. No guidance. No Creator.
In this scenario humans are at the top of the evolutionary order. A comparison of how we began with what we have attained makes it look like we have done very well. And in the next stage we will reach an even higher existence.
This replaces the Creator God with a pseudo-science that claims that order can be achieved by chance, if given enough millions of years for atoms and molecules to shake and bump into each other.
If this is true, then we are at the top, no God needed, except the god we make of ourselves.
This view also eliminates the source of evil as an enemy. Some evolutions just turn out bad, which accounts for the evil in the world.
So there is no Satan, either.
The Reality is…
God, Who cannot lie, says, “In the beginning God created...”
This earth and its life forms did not just happen by chance.
God is the Creator.
Imagine, if you will, that God has not told the truth about death.
One of the first lies that Satan told on this earth was, “You won’t really die!”
Two views of death emerge from this imaginary scenario.
>In one, this life is all there is. Eat, drink, and be merry. Do what you can. Get what you can.
>In the other, you don’t really die. You just enter a different state of existence – a spirit, like the wind.
The Reality is…
God said, “...Disobedience will result in death.” and “The dead know not anything.”
God is the only Source of Life.
Imagine, if you will, that it is impossible to obey God’s rules, He knows that fact, then punishes us for doing what we cannot avoid – disobedience.
The impossible cannot reasonably be asked of us, so God must be unreasonable.
Since He knows it is impossible, He won’t really hold us accountable for our choices.
Satan presents his way as the reasonable choice and himself as the giver of gifts. “Choose me and I’ll give you fame and fortune – and you’ll have fun in life.”
The Reality is...
On our own we cannot obey – perfectly, as required by the Law.
That’s one reason that Jesus came and lived in perfect obedience to the Law of God.
Now, He will credit His perfect obedience to me and you so that we are counted as righteous.
Just ask and accept His offer.
Imagine, if you will, a place where sinners are sent to be punished for violating God’s Rules.
The Bible is clear in its presentation about Hell.
It clearly states: “The wages of sin is death.” Not eternal life among the flames of Hell.
There is no place of Hell Fire currently in the universe.
The Reality is...
But there will be. Revelation tells us about the event.
It will be a fire on this earth’s surface that accomplishes two things:
1. The earth’s surface will be cleansed of all the effects and evidences of sin, human pollution, and the damage done by the flood;
2. All sin and sinners will cease to exist.
Now, I want you to Imagine a Place where there is no sickness, no death, no pain.
Even though we have to imagine it for now, there is a real place, Heaven, where God lives.
Jesus specifically told us about Heaven so that we can know that it is true and it is real.
“In My Father’s house are many mansions” [one for each of you who choose to become My disciples].
How can we know that Heaven is not some “imagine” place?
The Bible record tells us of people who once lived on this earth, but have been already taken to Heaven. Their records are preserved within the Bible so that we can be sure – Heaven is Real.
God’s promises are real and true.
“I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again … that where I am, you may be also.”
Home with Jesus!
Want to know more? The Bible paints pictures of what Heaven is like.
Join us for our weekly Sabbath Services and learn with us.
University Parkway Seventh-Day Adventist Church wants to welcome you into our fellowship.
Each week we learn more about Jesus, and Heaven, and living on this earth while we prepare for The Second Coming of Jesus.
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