Asset Preservation

Everyone Included

Whether you are young or old, rich or poor, it does not matter as this message is for everyone. You need not have a large bank account or own a home or investments such as real estate or stocks and bonds. This does not involve owning silver and gold or knowing all the tricks to beat inflation or deflation.

What is the most important issue in life? What is your most valuable asset? We buy insurance to cover loss of life, medical care for our health, fire and theft insurance and liability insurance to protect from claims against us by others. While I could continue to list tangible and intangible treasures of great value, I have not even come close to your most important possession—one whose destiny will determine whether it is an asset or a liability. What can this item be with which every human being is endowed?

Possession Revealed

Your most important possession is your eternal soul or spirit. This is what makes humans the crown of God’s creation! The Bible, in Genesis 2:7, tells us that, “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” When God bestowed His breath on humankind, He made us eternal beings like himself. Our spirits—or souls—are indestructible. That is why the destination of our souls is so important; they are a blessing to those who trust in Christ and a curse to those who reject Him and are doomed.

This is more important than what happens to anything you will ever possess or own. We will spend eternity either in heaven with gates of pearl and streets paved with gold or in hell in a lake of fire that does not consume, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Do you realize how long eternity is? An example goes like this: if it was possible for a bird to fly to one of the far-away planets and back again, and it took one billion years to make the round trip, how long would it take the bird, carrying one grain of sand on each trip, to transplant all the grains of sand on the earth to the other planet? After these uncountable billions upon billions of years, eternity would have just begun! There is no end! Our finite minds are incapable of comprehending heaven’s glory or hell’s eternal torment. 1 Corinthians 2:9,10 explains our human limitations: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.”

For the atheist, a disbelief in God and hell do not provide an escape from God’s wrath. In other words, disclaiming the fact there is a hell will not keep you from going there. Fire, as we know it, consumes and destroys everything in its path. Hell fire torments without end. Says Revelation 20:10, “They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” And Revelation 20:15 says, “If anyone’s name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

The destiny of our souls is, as you can see, an important asset if it is spent with God in heaven. Or it may be an unending punishment that will make any human experience of pain, illness, prison, or war, seem like pleasure in relation to this separation from God. People fear nuclear attack, loss of their health, and the thought of living their old age in poverty, but Matthew 10:28 tells us what to fear: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Asset Security

So far you’ve read scripture that is downright frightening. The reason for this is that we need to know we are sinners in need of a savior. You need help to find peace. Please join in prayer, as we need the Holy Spirit to make this clear and understandable for you.

Almighty God, we ask that you send your Holy Spirit to open the heart and mind of this reader so that the good news of Jesus Christ dying for our sins can be made clear. We ask that Satan will depart from the soul and body of this, your loved one, so that Satan will not continue to blind their mind and allow his lies to mislead them from the truth. This we ask in the name of Jesus, who died and rose again so that we too may live eternally with you. Amen.

What do you have to do to be eternally saved? The answer is to believe in the Lord Jesus. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” God’s love for you is so great that even if you were the only person on earth, God would still have sent Jesus to die on the cross in payment for your sins. We do not understand how God can love us who are so disobedient and full of sin. God is the God of free and faithful grace. Grace is everything for free, for those who don’t deserve anything. God freely gives us His forgiveness and salvation without our doing anything to earn it. God freely gives us the gift of eternal life, and all we need do is accept His gift. God does not accept our money or deeds as payment for our sins. We cannot use our influence or buy our way into heaven. Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” We are as helpless as though we were slowly sinking away in quicksand.

God is no stranger to us, as He has known us since before the earth was created. He knows our every thought and has the hairs of our head numbered. All He asks is that we graciously accept Jesus as a gift and let Him become the Lord of our lives. The devil will not let this happen easily and will use all kinds of lies to say you are not good enough to become a Christian. He’ll tell you that first you must stop doing this or that, and later on, when you have been a better person, Christ will be willing to enter your life. But we read in John 6:37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” Since we are continually sinning, we must continue to ask for forgiveness and maintain a humble, repentant attitude towards Christ.

Growth

It is my sincere hope that you can see clearly that Christ has paid the price for all of your sins. As Jesus was dying on the cross, He said, “It is finished.” He was not referring to His ministry here on earth being complete, or that He had been defeated by death and the devil. This was His way of stating clearly that everything necessary had now been done for us to be on our way to heaven. He had paid for all our sins, not with silver or gold, but with His own precious blood. Genesis 3:15 says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” At the time Adam and Eve first sinned, God already had decided His plan for redeeming mankind. This Bible passage tells us that Satan would bruise Jesus’ heel, and that Jesus would crush Satan’s head. The significance of this is that Satan has limited power, and Christ will crush him with a death blow. So when Christ returns, Satan and his followers will be cast into the flame of hell. There has been no truce negotiated, as Christ is and will remain forever victorious. We should not doubt, as God’s grace is sufficient for us. Once you put your trust in Christ and become convinced that your sins have been forgiven, share this with your friends.

I strongly urge you to seek a church where you can hear God’s word in its purity, so that you may grow in your faith. Ask if the church believes that the Bible is the inerrant and verbally inspired Word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16 teaches us, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” It is sad to say that many large church organizations deny that the Bible is authentic and the sole authority governing the ministers and lay people in their walks here on earth. Evolution is made to appear more logical than a six-day creation, and there are other ways to get to heaven than through the redeeming grace of God. They teach it is possible to save others and ourselves through humanistic love and concern for others.

As a new Christian, you will experience a shift in your attitudes towards the activities of your non-Christian family, friends, and anybody with whom you come in contact. Remember that Jesus loves the sinner and hates the sin. With God’s help you will be able to grow in strength to say no to temptation and you will find no pleasure in former, sinful activities. This doesn’t mean Christians can’t or don’t have any fun. Pleasure from sick, diabolical activity is not really fun, but the devil cheering us on that his lies are working. Each time we rebuke the devil we grow stronger in our defense and gain the knowledge that Christ is with us and in us to help us overcome temptations. Jesus promises us in Matthew 28:20: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jesus is the only one that can protect us from the devil because He himself won the victory. Your growth may seem slow, but be confident it will be worth it all when we meet Jesus face to face.

May I Wait?

You may wonder, “If God is forgiving, can’t I live like I want to and then repent on my deathbed?” Do you dare gamble with your soul at stake? To illustrate this, let me share a couple of incidents which took place while I was in the hospital. One afternoon, a wife who was visiting her sick husband routinely said goodbye, with a promise to see him in the morning. She had no more than crossed the street when he took his last breath, and his soul left this world. There was no two-minute warning or time out for final repentance before the clock stopped on his life here on earth. The second situation occurred when the staff brought in a new patient crying out for something to relieve his excruciating head pain. Amid his screams for relief of the unbearable pain, the doctors and nurses tried to explain they needed to make a diagnosis before they could treat him. In time they gave him medication, and his body and conscious mind relaxed in sleep. Morning brought a staff of doctors and nurses, and with my limited medical knowledge I understood that the man had suffered a brain hemorrhage and was in a coma. Kidney function and other physical systems had stopped working, so oxygen and other life support were administered. Despite good medical care, just days later the man’s body was wheeled out a corpse.

This in no way predicts or states the destiny of the souls of these men. The point is, none of us has a guarantee of when our last breath will come. We may believe that the end of the world is near, but to the accident victim, that end comes unexpectedly. The man crying for relief of pain was concerned only about the here and now. The purpose of this writing is to have you consider where you will spend your future. Face the truth now; each day we live we either procrastinate away the time or we live with purpose, knowing where we are headed.

Experience an Eternal Miracle

You can know for certain now that you will inherit heaven. Give this serious thought and positive action before it is too late. Turn to God as a helpless sinner, trust the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as payment for your sin, and ask Christ and the Holy Spirit to rule over your heart and life. Then if you should die today, tonight, or years from now, your soul is securely anchored with Christ as the solid rock. When God asks you why you should be permitted to enter His kingdom, you can tell Him Jesus paid the price for all your sins with His blood on the cross. This plan has a return on investment that defies calculation. Where else can you get something for free—fully paid for—that offers comfort and bliss forever? The paradise without suffering and sorrow is beyond our comprehension.

Philippians 3:20-21 says, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”

Believe and trust this, and you can be assured of a glorious forever. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Amen.