What happens after death? Part III

We live in such a political correctness time that articles like this one go against all types of beliefs and are considered judgmental, hateful, and hypocritical because how dare pastors like me say such hateful things. And how could we be serving a loving God when all we say are hateful things that go against society and against the common belief system that “we are all o.k. with God and that God is a God of love that doesn’t condemn any type of lifestyle, sin, or belief system.” No doubt that there are many people out there that would like us all to hold hands and sing “we are the world, we are the children...” while swaying back and forth with a false grin on our face. But we cannot afford to fall prey to that type of thinking because it will affect our eternal destiny because failure to believe in “all” that the Bible says, not only on death, but also on everything else will cause us to not believe in the sole truth, but will also cause us to believe in lies and false opinions of man.

If we are going to believe in a God, why not believe in the true and living God which is the God of the Bible? Why say that we believe in God when we are not willing to believe “all” that the Bible says? An unidentified reader responded to this series by saying that he/she believes in “Almighty God” but does not believe in the Bible by saying that, “you base your preaching’s on a book that you have no idea who wrote it...For all you know, it could have been delusional people or very creative writers.” So in what “Almighty God” does he/she believe in if not the God of the Bible? Oh and by the way Mr. or Mrs. unidentified reader, because I have done my homework through the study of history, archeology, apologetics, hermeneutics, cults and religion, etc. and have read an indefinite amount of times the Bible from Genesis through Revelation I believe what I believe.

We must believe what the Bible says on what is going to happen after death. As previously stated, we cannot afford to ignore it under the political correctness banner or “I have my own religion and my own set of beliefs” banner. Because man is willing to “sincerely believe” in something does not mean that it is true. Many are sincerely deceived. We must believe solely on what is written in the Word of God. Once again, we cannot afford to ignore it because our eternal destiny is at stake!

So how do we know what happens after we die? And how do we know that what the Bible says on death is true? Well, we must look at the one who died for our sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead. Paul said that Jesus, “...declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:3). Since Jesus rose again (1 Corinthians 15) His Words are therefore true to the fullest sense and so He knows exactly what happens when an unbeliever and a believer dies.

My fullest and political correct intentions with this series is that you might honestly and truthfully investigate for yourself the truth about the subject matter so that you might not be believing in something that is not true because of the fact that death will one day be knocking down your door. You don’t believe me? Don’t just believe in something because it is the most common belief or because you were handed it down as tradition from your fathers. Know what you believe and why you believe it and because you have investigated the truth for yourself, because you have done your homework, because you have studied history and archeology, and because you have read the Bible for yourself many times and is currently reading and studying the Bible faithfully.

So what happens after we die? Do we just go to sleep? I don’t think so. Do we stop to exist? Of course not. Do we go to a place called purgatory where we have to pay for our own sins?

No way! Why else do you think that Jesus died on the cross for us? Is not the blood of Jesus sufficient to forgive us? Of course it is!

Rangel is senior pastor of Borderland Calvary Chapel. You may contact him at 956-399-3534 or through e-mail at: gregrangel@msn.com. His services are at 11 a.m. on Sunday and 7 p.m. on Wednesdays at 299 E. Heywood St. in San Benito.