The Parachute

Condensed from www.detailshere.com/bible.htm I am also making this into a tract booklet.
Contact berry@detailshere.com   52-333-772-4027 in San Miguel Cuyutlan, Jalisco, Mexico
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Why concern yourself with this Bible stuff?   Because we are out of time!
  click on the timeline graph at the left for a BIG picture and find the "you are here" point on the graph. We can't show it any plainer than that. Jesus is coming soon, like possibly within the next ten years. There's things you need to know.  If you still get a small image you can't read well then put your mouse arrow in the lower right hand part of the picture and an orange blowup button with arrows in all 4 corners will appear. Click on the orange button to get the readable big picture that takes up a third of your screen. Then scroll at the bottom all the way across to be able to see the whole graph from start to finish.

What you need to know about getting to heaven and staying out of hell
This page is the result of thousands of hours of research and study to determine the important things we need to know about our life here on earth as well as our life in the hereafter. Our life on earth is very short, but our life in the hereafter is infinitely long. There are things we need to know in order to make that transition successfully, ensuring we end up in the right place; heaven, and not hell.  It is not an issue to be taken lightly nor one to be ignored. This information is strictly non denominational.

I used to start out with  how we know God exists  and how do we know the Bible is truly God's word.
But there are lessons on my website and Bible lesson CD’s that discuss that and as time is short and the world becomes more twisted by the day I have to change focus to the parachute; why you need it, how you get it, and how you keep it.  The Bible does not preach a gospel of prosperity and good times.  It preaches the good news of hoped - for redemption. We want to address the redemption issue as that determines our fate at death; whether we end up in heaven or in hell.

Do all good people go to heaven?
Can you get to heaven on your own good deeds and by being a good person? Did you ever wonder just how good you would have to be to make it to heaven without Jesus as your Savior? Well, God has told us how well we would have to do to get into heaven. He has revealed the passing grade in His class of life. Do you know what it is?  Jesus said: "Be perfect, therefore as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect" (Matthew 5: 48).  There it stands! That's the passing grade! The amazing thing is that God doesn't grade on a curve. God says, "Be perfect"!   Is that possible?  Well, no; in fact it is absolutely impossible.  But God HAS provided an “out” for us sinners, through His son Jesus, Yahshua the Messiah.

The “out” – another way to get heaven without having to be “perfect”.
If you willingly accept Jesus as your savior (one who does for you what you cannot do for yourself), His righteousness is substituted for your sinfulness in the eyes of the Father. This is called grace, a free gift that can’t be earned and isn’t deserved.  But you DO have to accept this gift and show your belief in that acceptance by your changed thoughts, words, actions, and deeds regarding your behavior.  Grace is not a license to freely sin and there is a difference between knowing Jesus and knowing ABOUT Jesus. But putting your faith in Jesus is the pathway to heaven.

What does it mean to "put your faith in Jesus Christ?"
It means to personally trust in Jesus the same way you’d trust in a parachute if you had to jump 25,000 feet out of an airplane; the parachute being the only support device that would allow a safe landing.  You wouldn’t just "believe" in the parachute; you would put it on and keep it on until you reached your destination on the ground! In the same way, the Bible says, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ..." and you will be saved. There are millions of people who "believe" Jesus exists . . . but they have not put on the Savior; there’s a BIG difference. And the difference will be obvious when you “jump” through the door of death. That's our focus now; the parachute. Little else is important except the parachute and learning why you need it, how you obtain it, and how you keep it.

 What is the parachute?
The parachute is Jesus of course, the substitution of His righteousness for our sinfulness in the eyes of the Father. If you don’t accept Jesus as your Savior and show that belief by your changed behavior; your thoughts, actions, words, and deeds; then you will go to hell and either stay there or be burned up and annihilated in the lake of fire at the end of the millennium – the only two recourses. Being a good old boy doesn’t get you to heaven because you are not perfect; God’s only passing grade. Only having the parachute on gets you to heaven and keeps you out of hell. Less than 10% of the people who obtain the parachute, keep it on. That means 90% of all those who make the altar call to accept Jesus as their savior take their parachute off at some point in time afterwards and backslide into sin. That's sad. 

I will give you the punchline here, why that is, on this page, as most will never make it past this page into the study guides on my website links or Bible lesson CD’s and will therefore pass through the door of death without their parachute on and land smack dab into the middle of the jaws of hell. Once in hell, there is no escape. From those who have been there and have come back to tell about it; hell is a hot, dark, place of burning and torment by demons of all sizes and disfigurations with an unbearable stench. It's a one way ticket only, no recourse, no changing travel plans. You either have your parachute strapped on before death on earth, or you lose everything.  Depending upon interpretation of Rev 20:14 you will either stay in hell until you are terminated in the lake of fire at the great white throne judgment at the end of the millenium; or you will suffer “everlasting punishment”; Mathew 25:46.  The play on words is; does that mean everlasting punishing or annihilation in the lake of fire that is permanent extinction and final? No one knows for sure. Can you afford to find out?

Forget about religion, forget about which affiliation teaches what, forget about praying to your angel or the saints or the Pope (you are only supposed to pray to Jesus or God the Father anyway), or buying crosses and necklaces and pictures and figurines to show your allegiance (the second commandment forbids that also), or learning everything there is to know about the Bible. That is only nice to know information. And learning about the Bible may help you to keep the parachute on after you get it, but it doesn’t get you saved. Getting to heaven and staying out of hell is simple. Just understand what is on this one page. It is all that matters when all is said and done. Learn the parachute and teach the parachute to others. Especially stay away from religious arguments regarding interpretations that can poison you with doubt and tempt you to remove your parachute.  Focus on what gets you saved and keeps you saved. That’s what this page is all about.

Heaven or Hell?
Please know, Heaven is real and Hell is also real. These are not mythological places. Both realms exist today. Purgatory is a mythological place, invented by Rome to extract more money from people. Great concept, but it doesn’t exist. Nowhere in the Bible will you find the word purgatory or even the concept of purgatory as a stopping off place to be purified in before going to heaven. Even Catholic priests today admit there is no such thing as purgatory. You will not go to some middle ground prison in purgatory to work your sins off; you will go to either heaven or hell upon death, period.

We are comprised of spirit as well as flesh and blood. One minute after you die on this earth, your spirit will arrive at one of those two destinations, heaven or hell, and there is no changing travel plans once you arrive at the wrong destination.

There is strong evidence to believe our spirit goes to heaven or hell when we die even though we do not have immortality at that point in time.  Our immortal resurrection body is not part of the package at the time of death if our death is prior to the first resurrection. Only God Himself has immortality at this point in time (1Timothy 6:16). 1 Corinthians 15:50-54 tells us when immortality is given to us; at the second coming, not at the end of physical life, unless the end of physical life occurs also at the second coming when we are “changed in the twinkle of an eye”.   Others preach that body and spirit (soul) remain in the ground unseparated, knowing nothing until the second coming. I now seriously doubt that. My research into near death experiences has shown me otherwise. Although you will NOT have a resurrection body at the time of death when your spirit departs, you will have all five senses. You will be able to see, smell, hear, speak, touch and feel pain if you end up at the wrong destination. Your free will, your acceptance and belief in grace and salvation, and how you handle your life now and show that belief, especially regarding keeping the ten commandments and forgiving others and your treatment of others, determines your travel destination right here; right now, on earth, before death.  It is just as important to not get the ticket to hell as it is to get the ticket to heaven. Eternity is a long time. I am going to tell you outright how to make sure your journey at death takes you to the correct destination.

Journeys of others to heaven and hell
At www.spiritlessons.com and www.bibleprobe.com/nde.htm  and in the folder “Libros de Cielo Y Infierno” on my Spanish Bible lesson CD  and Heaven and Hell books on my English CD are many documentations of near death experiences which lend strong evidence to a Hell that exists today, deep within our own earth, has souls being tormented, tortured and burned there today, is receiving new occupants daily and is expanding everyday. In fact, just as the Bible states, MOST of the people that die on this earth every day go to hell.   Why? Because these people did not accept or believe in Yahshua (Jesus) as their Savior.  They may have known ABOUT Jesus, but they did not believe that Jesus IS God, that He came to earth in human form and died for our sins on a wooden cross, and was resurrected on the third day after death as was prophesied, and ascended back into heaven. These people are not covered by His shed blood. Their sins are not substituted by His righteousness. They do not understand the concept of what a savior does. And because they are not perfect and flunked God’s Class of Life, Satan gets them by default. Contrary to popular opinion, there are not multiple paths to the Father and His Kingdom.  There is only one; via Yahshua (Jesus).  False religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, New Age Spiritism and false deities only take you via the wide road to hell. Read about a Buddhist’s near death experience at www.bibleprobe.com/nde.htm  entitled "Back from the Dead" where he met Jesus in the afterlife, not Buddha.

The whole message
of the good news of the Gospel is that we have a pathway to God’s Kingdom through Jesus.  Each one of us has broken every one of God's ten commandments; His law. You say, but I haven’t murdered anyone; but the Bible says to have anger and hatred is akin to murder.  Ever been through a divorce or child support issue? You say I haven’t committed adultery; but the Bible says to look at a person with lust is the same as the act. Have you not ever wished for something your neighbor had that you lacked? Have you not ever told a lie, no matter how small?  Have you ever not minded your parents? Have you not ever, even as a child, taken something, no matter how small that was not yours? Have you never cussed? The Bible says that if we break just one commandment it is the same as breaking them all. We cannot get to the kingdom on our own deeds.  We are simply not perfect, God’s only passing grade. God is a just judge. He is not a corrupt judge. He will not let sin go without just punishment. Thinking that your God will let you in with sin on your soul because you were basically a good old boy is worshipping a false God. The real Yahweh won’t do that. Someone has to pay for those sins; whether it be you; or someone who paid that price for you. No other alternatives. That's why we need a savior. That’s why we need to accept Jesus as our savior. Jesus paid the price for our sins for us with His own death on the cross, because we simply cannot keep God’s laws, all of them, no matter how hard we try. His righteousness is substituted for our sins in the eyes of the Father. That’s what a savior does. He does for you what you cannot do for yourself. He paid for our ticket with His death on the cross. We just have to accept it, and show that we have accepted it by changed behavior reflected by our thoughts, actions, words and deeds reflecting the Holy Spirit working inside of us.

Grace versus works – which is it; it can’t be both, right?
Our works, no matter how much we try to do good on our own, will never get us to heaven; grace is the only thing that gets us to heaven. Grace is the gift of God, undeserved and unmerited by us because of our sinful nature.  As a gift it is unearned. But grace is not a ticket to freely sin. It is NOT a free ride. “Grace only” churches today are preparing people to go to hell. Backsliders after being initially saved still end up in hell. Accepting grace comes with responsibilities; repenting of our past sins, and being careful about committing new ones. We show our belief in God’s grace and our acceptance of the salvation of Jesus as our savior by our works; allowing the Holy Spirit to work within us. If the Holy Spirit is truly in us, our behavior changes. If no works or fruits of the Holy Spirit are evident, it means we do not really have the belief. We have not really accepted the offer of grace; and no belief, no salvation. Head knowledge doesn’t cut it. Only knowing Jesus, allowing Him to be our Savior and to work within us and help us follow the narrow path leads us to heaven. And there’s more to it than just repenting our past sins, forgiving others and accepting grace.  Full immersion baptism to be born again and witnessing our faith to others so they might also be saved is part of the package if you want to do it right

Beware of “grace only – once saved, always saved”
churches who preach that the new testament covenant doesn’t depend on promises or obedience from us. A covenant is a contract involving two parties, not just one. God is one side of this contract; we are the other. These people teach that Jesus “fulfilled” the law with His death and nothing is required of us in this contract. A careful analysis of that word “fulfill” from Greek using a concordance shows that word should have been more accurately translated “establish”. These people are claiming Jesus did away with the law by “fulfilling” it. The truth is, He came to “establish” the law, the ten commandments; He didn’t do away with them. In fact He clarified the law even further by stating that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us; which is in essence what the last six commandments require of us in relating to our fellow human beings.  In the new covenant God’s blessings are ours when we place our trust in Jesus. True. But the teaching that our own behavior and performance are not involved in our acceptance into the new covenant is a dangerous erroneous teaching. Jesus IS our salvation; our ONLY pathway to the Father. But again, if our changed behavior doesn’t reflect that belief, it means we have head knowledge only. We know ABOUT Jesus, but we don’t really KNOW Jesus and we have not really accepted the offer of grace in order to be saved.

Accepting Jesus means you have a lot of freedom. It is not expected that you will lead a sinless life. It is expected that you will sin a lot less than before though and that you will resist sin and temptation much more so than before. It lets you focus on getting others their parachute without worrying about your own salvation any more. When you slip and fall, Jesus makes up the difference, picks you back up and you continue on. Say you’re sorry and you’ll try not to do that again and move on. When your own salvation is secured, you are better able to focus on helping others get saved also.

Again, it is more important that you know Jesus than to know facts about Him!
If you believe that Jesus is coming again, you will watch for His coming. If you earnestly watch for His coming you will purify yourself before Him by being obedient to His commandments, loving your neighbor, and witnessing your faith to others so that they might be saved also. You will commit some of your time and financial resources to that end also.  You WANT to be part of the bride He is coming for. The door the five wise virgins who carried extra oil for their lamps entered through is a symbol of the rapture on the last day; at the second coming. Remember five of the ten didn't get to enter. They weren't ready. The wedding banquet is the wedding feast of the Son of God and His Bride. Not all Christians get to go to this feast, therefore, not all Christians are part of the Bride of Christ. Only those that have taken the time to get to know Jesus will be allowed in. That is why he said, "I do not know you." These Christians will be left to be refined as gold during the great tribulation that is about to unfold instead of being protected by Yahweh by having His seal or mark during this time period.  Yahweh states that He knows those who belong to Him to seal because they keep His commandments and keep His Sabbaths (plural) ; the weekly – Saturday, the 7^th day of the forth commandment, as well as the 7 annual holy feastdays.  Some Christians obey God; and some do all the things the world does, even the evil things. Those who obey now will be rewarded. The rest will discover that they should have. If you are not praying, giving, and working in the "Harvest Fields" for Christ, YOU DON'T BELIEVE HE IS COMING, no matter what your Church doctrine teaches! If you believe there is a literal Hell, where men and women go that do not know the forgiveness of sins, and you are not making some attempt to warn them, YOU don't believe He is coming back.

Many people know little about Jesus,
correctly named Yahshua, which means “Yahweh saves”.  Yahweh is God’s proper name. Yahshua is Jesus’ proper name. J didn’t even enter the English language until around the 15^th century. Who is this man Yahshua, translated as Immanuel, and presently known as Jesus?  Why is He so important? Why is He the most written about person in the history of mankind? If He died here on earth 2000 years ago why will He affect where we end up after we die?  If you don’t know the story about Jesus, I strongly suggest you go to http://www.jesusfilm.org/languages/index.html  and watch a 2 hour video of his life. It is available there in hundreds of different languages and many speed options from a slow dial-up connection to T1 speeds. You need to know the story of Jesus to understand His importance as your Savior to you. If you do not have a computer or internet access, contact me and I will copy you a VHS movie of the Life of Jesus. Free.

The near death experience documentations found in
the Heaven and Hell Books at www.spiritlessons.com, at www.bibleprobe.com/nde.htm, and in the folder “Libros de Cielo Y Infierno” my Spanish CD, and in the Heaven and Hell Books folder on the English CD support the concept that hell is a very real place; a place we don’t ever want to go to. It also supports the glorious life that awaits us in heaven.  One of the most intriguing realities to come out of studying the Near Death Experience  cases is just how important our ability to forgive becomes in pleading our case. Preachers, men of God, who were dying and repenting of their sins as they were dying, did not have their prayers listened to because they harbored unresolved forgiveness issues. You HAVE to forgive if you want to be forgiven. Once saved, always saved does not work.  It takes a daily walk with Jesus to stay on the narrow path to the kingdom.  I want to teach you the daily walk, either by blatantly showing you the realities of hell, or by showing you the incredible life that awaits us in heaven.

Modern medicine
has reached a point where some people who are pronounced clinically dead; no heartbeat, no brain activity; can be brought back to life in a 4 to 6 minute period after true death.  And others have come back to life after even longer than that. The stories of where these people went and what they experienced show a different scenario of what happens to our souls at death than the soul sleep version being preached by churches who don’t want you to step out of your comfort zone today.  I have to hold the distinct possibility that one minute after we die our souls or spirit will enter heaven or hell and once there, there is no changing travel plans.

One of the strongest reasons for a Christian
to believe in hell is that Jesus Himself believed in it, and taught about it strongly, clearly, and frequently. Jesus Himself talks about Hell over 70 of the 162 times it is mentioned in the New Testament. Free will is one of the most convincing reasons for the existence of hell. Jesus Himself, in Mathew 25:46,  tells us, in the same sentence, that the righteous will have life eternal and if you don’t choose that door your other option is everlasting punishment; “ And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.” The question becomes: will hell be a permanent annihilation as some interpret Rev 20:14 to say or will it really be everlasting torment for eternity????  Do you want to wait until you die to find out?

According to Sam Bacchiocchi, a respected Adventist theologian (see his whole chapter on “ Hell - as eternal torment” in the Hell folder) : The "eternal punishment" of Matthew 25:46 is eternal because its results are permanent. It is a punishment that results in their eternal destruction or annihilation.  The only way the punishment of the wicked could be inflicted eternally is if God resurrected them with immortal life so that they would be indestructible.  But according to the Scripture, only God possesses immortality in Himself (1 Tim 1:17; 6:16).  He gives immortality as the gift of the Gospel (2 Tim 1:10 & 1Corrinthians 15:50-54) to the righteous at the second coming, not to the wicked.  In the best known text of the Bible, we are told that those who do not "believe in him" will "perish [apoletai]," instead of receiving "eternal life" (John 3:16). The ultimate fate of the lost is destruction by eternal fire and not punishment by eternal torment. But even with this version, mortal souls will suffer torment in hell from when they die until the Great White Throne judgment at the end of the thousand years.

However, according to Erwin Lutzer, in his book “One Minute after you Die”, the fire does not annihilate the wicked but torments them. There will be no periods of rest during which the wicked are unconscious of torment.  The beast and the false prophet were thrown in the lake of fire BEFORE the millennium at the second coming. But Satan, who was chained in the abyss during that time period was also thrown in the lake of fire to join them AFTER the millenium. Notice the beast and the false prophet were NOT annihilated in hell during that thousand years. Eternal conscious torment is clearly taught; there is no other honest interpretation of these passages.

Hell may not be a politically correct topic
these days, as many churches sweep the issue under the rug, but many people enter hell everyday. Out of the 150,000 people that die on earth everyday, most end up in hell. Hell is a real place despite the fact that people laugh and say that they want to go there. They simply don't understand how terrible hell is. Just because you've never seen hell doesn't mean it doesn't exist. If you only have time for one book, read Katherine Baxter’s “Divine Revelation of Hell” in the “Libros de Cielo Y Infierno” folder. Yahshua took her to hell 30 different times to make sure she got it right and that she explained it right for you. Hell is intricately described there in very blatant graphic detail.

Did you know that
if you do not belong to Jesus Christ you belong to Satan, by default? You don't have to be a card carrying Satanist to serve Satan. You don't have to be a murderer, drunkard or drug addict, either. He will punish all the rapists, murderers, and thieves...But he won't stop there. He will also punish all liars, the lustful, adulterers, fornicators, idolaters, and blasphemers.  You’ve already broken all of God’s ten commandments and all you have to do is ignore Jesus Christ; or fail to have a relationship with Him and call upon Him to be your savior.  He isn’t big on lip service.  If you don't have Jesus in your life and in your heart today, you are deceived and hell bound--you are a child of hell, a child of the devil. And hell is the place where you are punished if you fail to have your parachute on when you die.

How many times have we heard
someone say, "A loving God wouldn't put His creatures in hell." Well, God doesn't put anyone in hell--their sins put them there. God is a just judge and sins require sentence. The Bible tells us all have sinned. ALL! Not ONE of us can get to heaven by our own accord. Satan gets you by default if you don’t have a savior.  Know ye not that hell was not created for man? Hell was created for the devil and his angels—but it is also home to unrepentant sinners who have not called upon the shed blood of Jesus to save them. That’s what we need to teach you; that not having Jesus as your savior to keep you out of hell at death is simply not an option unless you want to toast and roast.

Savior – Why do we need one? 
Savior – derived from salvare – to save
Refers to a person who is a redeemer, deliverer, rescuer, who saves someone else from danger, harm, loss, peril, or destruction. A savior is someone who can do for you what you cannot do for yourself.  Jesus, as our savior, allows us to achieve salvation, which we cannot achieve on our own. Salvation gets us into the kingdom and keeps us out of hell.  Salvation is the act of being saved from the fires and torments of hell. Salvation buys us the ticket to pass through the pearly gates  into heaven. And yes those huge gates, all twelve of them, are each made of one huge pearl.

Example: In the United States from the 1640’s until 1865 when laborers were needed to plant, nurture, weed and harvest the cotton, sugar, and peanut plantations of the deep south, Negro slaves who had been purchased or shanghaied from Africa against their will were shipped across the Atlantic to the South to provide the large workforce to do this. These people were bought and sold just as we handle cattle, pigs or chickens today. The internal slave trade became the largest enterprise in the South outside of the plantation itself.  A Negro slave at that time had virtually no money of his own and was essentially bought and paid for by the plantation owner. He was considered property. He was in servitude to that plantation owner until he died or could buy his way out of slavery. For most, that was never a possibility. But for some fortunate slaves, someone else came to their rescue; a savior - a relative, a friend, a person who didn’t believe in slavery, and paid the plantation owner whatever sum it took to buy their freedom so they were no longer slaves, but could become free men. The vast majority of black slaveholders were free men who purchased members of their families or who acted out of benevolence to free their compatriots.  They were the saviors of that era.  They did for the slaves what the slaves could not do for themselves. If you will remember history, the civil war was essentially fought over the issue of slavery and human rights and ended with the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all the slaves. But the point is; without a savior, the slave could never escape slavery.

We are in the same boat as those black slaves.
Different set of circumstances, same need for a savior if we want to be emancipated from our sins in the eyes of Father Yahweh. We CAN’T get there on our own accord. We do not achieve His passing grade of being “perfect”. We have broken every one of His laws; sometimes unknowingly, sometimes accidently, sometimes in anger, sometimes in rebellion, sometimes in sorrow and oftentimes in remorse; but we have done so.  We need someone to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We need to exchange our sinfulness for our Savior’s righteousness in the eyes of the Father or we simply aren’t allowed into His kingdom. If we don’t get into the kingdom, our sins send us to hell. No alternative.  Please take this seriously, your afterlife depends upon it. "You shall not steal."   "You shall not lie."   "You shall not make for yourself any idol."  "You shall not take the name of God in vain."   "Honor your father and your mother."   "You shall not murder." The Bible says, "He who hates his brother is a murderer," (1 John 3:15).  We can violate His Law by attitude and intent.  "You shall not covet."  "You shall have no other gods before Me." Have you ever failed to put Him first in your life? How many of us can honestly state we put God before our spouse?  Another tough one.  "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy."  "You shall not commit adultery." I say to you that whoever looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  The Bible says that adulterers (having sex with someone other than your spouse) and fornicators (those who have sex outside of being married) will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Who can say that they are not guilty of breaking these Commandments?
All of us have broken ALL of them at one time or another no matter how hard we’ve tried not to.  The Bible tells us that everyone has sinned.  There is nobody that is without sin.  This is what the Bible means when it says, "All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God."

Can you see our predicament?
You are guilty of sinning against God Himself, and, because you have a conscience, (con-with, science-knowledge) you have sinned "with knowledge." Isn't it true that every time you lied, stole, or lusted, etc., you knew it was wrong?

Does the fact that you have sinned against God scare you?
It should. You have actually angered Him by your sin. The Bible says His wrath abides on you, that you are an "enemy of God in your mind through wicked works."  Perhaps you think God is good and because of his goodness He will overlook your sins?  But if you knew of a human judge who turned a blind eye to the crimes of a guilty murderer or rapist... would you describe him as a "good" judge? No.......... That would be a "corrupt" judge. God could never be a corrupt judge.  He will punish all the rapists, murderers, and thieves.  But he won't stop there. He will also punish all liars, the lustful, adulterers, fornicators,idolaters, and blasphemers.   The place of eternal punishment is Hell.

God does not want you to perish.
He is rich in mercy and compassion, and has provided a way for you to be forgiven. He has invited you to come to Him for a full pardon and receive the free gift of Eternal Life. You cannot earn it, and you do not deserve it, but God is offering it to you as proof of His love for you.   Imagine you are standing in front of a judge, guilty of multiple serious crimes. All the evidence has been presented and there is no doubt about your guilt. Your apologies and good works cannot erase your crimes; therefore you must be punished. The fine for your crime is $500,000 or imprisonment, but you don’t have two pennies to rub together. The judge is about to pass sentence when someone you don't even know steps in and pays your fine for you! The court accepts the money and declares that you are free to go. The law has been satisfied, your debt has been paid in full, and the stranger’s sacrifice was a demonstration of his love for you. That’s what God did for you 2000 years ago.   The Bible says that the God of the Universe became a man (Jesus Christ), and suffered and died on the cross for your sins and mine so that we could be set free. It's as simple as this.... we broke the Law, and Jesus paid our fine. "God demonstrated His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)   "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us."  (Galatians 3:13)

Do you see God’s great love for you?
Do you see your need for His forgiveness? Do what He commands and “Repent…that your sins may be wiped out and times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)  You must turn away from sin and turn to God. Desire to have NOTHING to do with sin, and surrender your life to the One who can save you. Jesus died to set you free, and then he rose from death to be your Lord. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If you will confess and forsake your sins (repent) and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, God will forgive you and you’ll pass from death to life.  If you are not sure how to pray, read Psalm 51 and make it your prayer.

You can pray something like this
Lord Jesus Christ, I know I am a  sinner and do not deserve eternal life. But I believe you died on the cross for my sins and arose from the grave to purchase a place in heaven for me. Lord Jesus, come into my life and take control of my life. Forgive me my sins as I forgive others who have sinned against me and save me. I repent of my sins, and I will turn away from sin, and I will place my trust in you for my salvation. Please forgive me, and grant me your gift of everlasting life.   In Jesus’ name, amen

There is nothing magic about these words
It is the attitude of your heart that God cares about.  God will transform you from the inside out. You will think and feel differently as you learn to trust and obey Him. God will give you new strength to live right and love Him above all else. Read your Bible daily and obey His Word. You can trust God—He loves you and will always be faithful.  If you've decided to reject the gift of forgiveness and you die in your sins, there is no hope for you. There is no purgatory. The wrath of God abides on you and you will spend eternity in Hell. Please take the time to read the Heaven and Hell Books in the “Libros de Cielo Y Infierno” folder, translated into Spanish there so you know what to look forward to in hell.

What does the Bible say about Hell?
Hell is a place of eternal damnation for those who rejected the Gospel of Christ. It is described as a horrifying place. Matthew 18:8-9 describes the eternal fire of Hell.  Matthew 3:12 speaks of unquenchable fire. Revelation 20 describes the lake of burning sulfur and place of perpetual torment. Mary Baxter describes Hell’s burning pit in her visitations to hell. Hell is a place of constant agony, unbearable heat, great stench, darkness, and ugly grotesque demons of all shapes and sizes whose job it is to torment the occupants. Hell is set aside for all of those who reject Jesus Christ. No person on earth would willingly walk into hell. But so many people are doing just that. Despite warnings, people continue to live in denial and are walking straight into Hell at death.  If this is you, please consider heeding the warnings of Scripture and answering the call of the Holy Spirit by accepting Jesus as your personal Savior.  1 John 1:9 promises, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Why would a God of love send someone to Hell?
Many people waver whether or not to become a follower of Jesus because of this question. How can a God of mercy allow people to go to Hell?  Each and everyone of us is born with a sinful nature. The sad thing is we are destined for Hell. The Bible says “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"   But..... What if God has provided the way of escape?  Wouldn't that display mercy?  It is God's desire that no person would suffer an eternity in Hell. The Bible says, "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9).   God could not allow sin to go unpunished. But being merciful, God sent His very own Son to be the final payment for the sins of those who believe. It only takes faith. God gave so much but required so little. That is the epitome of a God of love.

Will the person who goes to hell cease to exist?
The body of the person who is lost or refused to accept Christ as Savior will be resurrected from the grave at the second resurrection after the thousand years. Some say this body is barely put back together enough to be tossed into the lake of fire, and the lake of fire will be permanent annihilation, that body and spirit will then cease to exist forever and ever.  But others say that this body will be supernatural and indestructible. It will join with the person's soul for eternity in “everlasting punishment”.  "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:12-15). It is a state of dying eternally, but death will never be achieved. Jesus warned about those headed for eternity apart from God and the second death.

Is Hell eternal?
We are brought into this earthly world as eternal beings. Our life here is simply a stop in God's plan.   We can't even begin to get a glimmer of what Heaven and Hell are really like. The only thing that we can comprehend is that each and every single one was created by God the Father. God wishes that "none of us should perish."

Because of God's great love for us, his children, He gives us free will.  We are given the choice to either accept or reject Him.  Just as we want our children to come to us willingly and lovingly, God wants us to come to him that same way, and as much as we love our children God loves us, plus more. The choices are either Heaven or Hell, accepting what His son Jesus did for us on the cross or not. It is that simple and each is "forever".

God doesn't send anyone to hell,
we choose our final home. Hell has to be forever because Heaven is forever. What would be the reason for anyone to choose Heaven if we knew we would eventually "get out" of Hell? Hell is a consequence of a choice we make.  The Bible refers to the fate of the unsaved with such fearful words as the following:  “Shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2)   “Everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46)   “Weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:51)   “Fire unquenchable” (Luke 3:17)  “Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish” (Romans 2:8,9) “Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 1:9)   “Eternal fire...the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 7,13)  Revelation 14:10,11 tells us the final, eternal destiny of the sinner: “He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone...the smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day or night."

Honestly, I don’t know today
whether hell will be annihilated in the lake of fire at the end of the millennium as some interpret Rev 20:14 to say, or if it will go on forever and ever somewhere.  Both views are a matter of interpretation using the same scriptures. It makes sense to me that a loving God wouldn’t punish people forever for their short time of disobedience here on earth. But then purgatory makes sense also except that it simply doesn’t exist. What makes sense to us is not always how it is. The point is, can you afford to gamble and find out the hard way when it is so simple to just get your parachute, keep it on, and ensure your salvation today and everyday?

Are you beginning to get the jist of this salvation thing?
Wow – we inherit this sinful nature from the first humans, Adam and Eve, who first sinned in the garden of Eden, so it is our nature to sin even if we don’t want to. God gives us His law to obey if we want to be considered righteous but as simple as these ten little rules are, we just can’t seem to follow them. We end up breaking all of them at one time or another during our lives. We know that if we are not righteous we will not enter the kingdom of heaven when we die.   If we don’t go to heaven, we know we will go to hell.  We know that hell is real and a very, very bad place to end up at, a place of everlasting punishment. There is no purgatory in the Bible where we can work our sins off. What a dilemma!

The Problem and the Solution
Let’s go over this one more time to make sure you get it right!  If you want to get to heaven on your own good deeds without the Jesus parachute, you have to be perfect, God’s only passing score. That’s not a possibility for any of us as we have broken ALL of God’s ten commandments; ALL of them. Every one of us.  Romans 3:23 “For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  Sin is transgressing God’s law, and includes such things as lying, lust, cheating, deceit, anger, evil thoughts, immoral behavior, and more; essentially breaking His ten commandments.   And because of this man cannot save himself.  If you wanted to save yourself by good deeds, you have to be as perfect as God Himself?  Mathew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.”  With such a high standard, no one can save himself.  However, in spite of our sin…

There’s ONE solution.
No other options. That solution is the Jesus parachute. You put on Jesus and you keep Him on until you jump through death’s door. The Bible tells us how we can know for sure that we will have eternal life and will be with God in heaven. 1John 5:13  “These things I have written unto you…that ye may know that ye have eternal life.”

Eternal Life is a FREE gift.
Romans 6:23 “…the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  And because heaven is a gift, like any other genuine gift,  it is not earned or deserved.  No amount of personal effort, good works or religious deeds can earn a place in heaven for you. Ephesians 2:8-9  “For by grace are ye saved by faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”  sin…

God is merciful
And therefore doesn’t want to punish us, and He says….Jeremiah 31:3  “I have loved thee with an everlasting love”.  But the same Bible that tells us God loves us also tells us that God is just and must punish sin.  He says:  Exodus 34:7 “…(I) will by no means clear the guilty”   Ezekiel 18:4 “ … the soul that sinneth, it shall die”.  We have a problem.  God loves us and doesn’t want to punish us.  But He is just and must punish sin.

God solved this problem in the person of Jesus Christ;  Yahshua our Messiah.
Who is he? The Bible tells us clearly He is the infinite God-Man, God the Son.  John 1: 1,14  “In the beginning was the word (Jesus), … and the word (Jesus) WAS God. And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…”.  Jesus came to earth and lived a sinless life, but while on earth he died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and arose from the grave to purchase a place for us in heaven.   Isaiah 53:6  “All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, every one of us, to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him (Jesus), the iniquity (sin) of us all.”  Jesus Christ bore our sin in His body on the cross and now offers you eternal life (heaven) as a FREE gift.

This gift is received by FAITH, saving faith.
Faith is the key that opens the door to heaven.
Many people mistake two things for saving faith.

a.     Saving faith is not mere intellectual knowledge, like believing certain historical facts. The Bible says that even the devil believes there is only one God, so believing that there is one God is not saving faith.

b.    Saving faith is not mere temporal faith, that is, trusting God for a temporary crisis, such as family, financial or physical needs. These are good and you should trust Christ for these, but they are not saving faith.

Saving Faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and eternal life.
It means resting on Christ alone for what He has done rather than in what you or I have done to get us to heaven.  Acts 16:31  “Believe (trust) on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”.  You have just read the greatest story ever told, about the greatest offer ever made, by the greatest person who ever lived;  Jesus Christ.  The question that God is asking you now is:  Would you like to receive the gift of eternal life?

Because this is such an important matter, let’s clarify exactly what this involves.  It means that you need to:

1.       Transfer your trust from what YOU have been doing to what Christ has done FOR YOU on the cross.

2.       Accept Christ as your savior. Open the door to your heart and invite him in.  Rev 3:20  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice, and opens the door I will come in to him…”.

3.       Receive Jesus Christ as Lord; give Him the “driver’s seat” and “controls” of your life, not the “backseat”.

4.       Repent of your sins.  Be willing to turn from ANYTHING that is not pleasing to Him.  He will reveal His will to you as you grow in your relationship to Him.

You can go to God in prayer, right here, right now, right where you are.
You can receive God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ right now.  Romans 10:10,13  “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  If you want to receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, then call on Him, asking Him for this gift right now.

Here’s a suggested prayer.
Lord Jesus Christ, I know I am a  sinner and do not deserve eternal life. But I believe you died on the cross for my sins and arose from the grave to purchase a place in heaven for me. Lord Jesus, come into my life and take control of my life. Forgive me my sins as I forgive others who have sinned against me and save me. I repent of my sins, and I will turn away from sin, and I will place my trust in you for my salvation. Please forgive me, and grant me your gift of everlasting life.

In Jesus’ name, amen

If this prayer is the sincere desire of your heart, look at what Jesus promises to those who trust and believe in Him.  John 6:47  “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

Welcome to God’s Family!
Today is your spiritual birthday; a day you will want to remember. The Bible speaks of those who receive eternal life in these words. John 1:13  “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”.

Are we done???  Is that all there is to it???  Well, no. It isn’t.
Consider the term “Backsliding”.
Out of every 200,000 people that make the altar call and ask God to save them and give them eternal life, only about 15,000 to 18,000 keep the parachute on and stay with Jesus and remain saved.  That’s less than 10%. The rest backslide back into their sinful ways and forget all about Jesus; some thinking that grace is a free license to sin now and others because they just become caught back up with the materialistic world we live in and the sinful influences Satan has provided to steal their salvation.  I personally believe a large reason for this is that the people were never taught from the git-go the truth about the torments and fires of hell or the truth about how being good does not get them to heaven.  They never went through the presentation you have been shown above.  The evangelists that brought them to that altar call preached about the glory of God, how good God is, how loving God is, how God would not send them to hell; but they didn’t talk at all about how God is a just judge and the punishment for sin is hell.  They didn’t tell us just trying to be good doesn’t work. They preached nice instead of necessity. They didn’t properly explain what the term savior means and exactly why Jesus as our savior is absolutely necessary to our salvation. No savior, no parachute, no heaven, we go to hell; no alternatives. Keep a daily walk with Jesus and don’t be a backslide statistic.

Grace is not a license to freely sin.
It is not easy to explain to someone that although our works will not get us to heaven; if we do not show good works by our thoughts, actions, words, and deeds; it simply proves we lack the belief that we have been saved.  James 2:17 says "In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action; is dead".  Mathew 7:21 is pretty explicit ," Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."  Whoever has the faith can't help but show it by his/her actions.  Logically, eternal salvation is provided for man solely by God's grace through the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Man is saved through faith alone in Christ alone, independant of his works, but good works are a necessary result of true faith;  like doing the rest and worship thing on Sabbath, keeping the ten commandments as well as you can, treating your fellow man with respect and forgiving his faults against you, witnessing your faith to others, and being baptized by full immersion are all part of being born again.

Slipping into sin occasionally
like a white lie here or a slip of the tongue there, staring too long at a low cut blouse, wishing that yellow corvette across the street was yours, or getting angry with your kids but realizing it and reconciling soon thereafter; these things are expected. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect like He is. We are covered by Jesus’ righteousness as long as we continue to wear the parachute and we pick ourselves back up, quickly repent, and try not to do it again. We keep His commandments as best we can.  We forgive our fellow man when he trespasses against us. We treat our fellow man as we would want to be treated.  This is MOST important in retaining your status of saved. We put our relationship with Jesus above all else. We pray daily. We open our Bibles and study some daily. We don’t just ask Jesus to grant us grace and then put Him on the shelf.

Baptism
If not already, you need to be baptised; full immersion Baptism to be specific. Full immersion means going completely under the water, just as you see John the Baptist doing at the river Jordan in the Jesus movies, not sprinkling. See the document “Baptism”  for a full explanation of why this is also a necessary requirement to get into heaven.  Christ emphasized, baptism is necessary! It's in the Bible. (See John 3:5).  " I am telling you the truth," replied Jesus, "that no one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without being born of water and the spirit". 

Baptism demonstrates true repentance.
Such repentance is a turning to believe, follow, and obey Jesus Christ, and is the only kind of repentance that will save us. True repentance must lead a person to the waters of baptism. In baptism we identify ourselves with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Jesus died, bearing our sins and paying the penalty for them in Himself. He was buried, taking our old life into the tomb with Him. He was raised from the dead, that He might give to us by the power of God, His new life, a supernatural resurrected life of peace, joy and victory over all that previously bound us.

Are there any prerequisites for it?
Among the prerequisites for baptism noted in the Scriptures are belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God (Acts 8:36,37) and repentance (Acts 2:37,38), and being of sufficient age (usually ten or older) to know what Baptism is really all about. Baptism isn’t about being dunked in a pool of water. It is about taking off the old self, getting rid of all sin, and starting anew; giving your life over to Jesus, letting Him have the helm. It’s about letting God’s Holy Spirit come upon you and show you what to do.  It’s a serious step in your life. Being baptized lets you show that you understand what the parachute is all about and you have made the decision to put it on and wear it.  God’s Holy Spirit working within me allowed me to cast out demons in a possessed woman in Jesus’ name; a day in my life I can never forget.

Witnessing to others
Are you ashamed of your new status of being saved? Do you want to keep it a secret? Do you think your friends will laugh at you if you tell them you asked God to give you eternal life so your spirit doesn’t go to hell when you die?  God never promised easy. In fact He says you will be mocked and scourned because of Him.  Don't keep it a secret because people might think you are a little strange talking about God and what's right and what's wrong. When he tells us to share the good news; he means just that.   I get angered at the people who badmouth the Jehovah's witnesses or Mormons for their house to house tactics.   I certainly don't agree with everything these people had to say to me over the years, in fact both groups have serious flaws in their doctrine and belief system, but I have to give them an A for effort in trying to share the "good news"; because many people are just downright mean to them and slam doors in their faces; or issue profane words at them for bothering them, or call them kooks and cultists; it takes a lot of guts and fortitude to continue witnessing under those demeaning circumstances. With that, why would you want to witness about the salvation of Jesus to others?  Maybe a better question is; knowing what you now know about hell; why wouldn’t you want to keep others from going there?

If you are not praying, giving, and working
in the "Harvest Fields" for Christ, YOU DON'T BELIEVE JESUS IS COMING, no matter what your Church doctrine teaches!  If you believe there is a literal Hell, where men and  women go that do not know about eternal life as a FREE gift and the forgiveness of sins, and you are not making some attempt to warn them and teach them about salvation, YOU don't believe He is coming back. Witnessing your faith to others is all a part of knowing Jesus. See tracts  at http://www.detailshere.com/tracts.htm for more about witnessing along with sources of witnessing tracts to hand out.  In fact, in the book The Divine Revelation of Heaven by Mary Baxter, which you can read in the “Libros de Cielo Y Infierno” folder on the Spanish Bible lessonCD, she was shown that angels are actually keeping track of who and how many each of us bring to Jesus through our witnessing efforts. Witnessing to others may not only affect getting into heaven but may well affect what your reward is once there.

Entering into the Kingdom of Heaven is by grace only,
but the test of that faith in the salvation of Jesus, manifests itself in obedience to the will of God.  "Not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven."  "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves," James 1:22

The kingdom of God is a Spiritual realm, attained by walking in the Spirit, and producing the fruit of the Spirit; which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

We need to study the love walk
and how we're to walk in love as if our Kingdom citizenship depended on it, because it does. Why does citizenship depend upon love? Because if we don't learn how to forgive and love, we can't claim to know Him. Pay particular attention to the word documents on this cd  or on this website “Saved – How do I know” and “Saved – grace or grace plus works”. It’s a touchy but important subject. You must learn that works cannot save you, only faith in salvation can save you; but if works are not manifested in your life, it also then shows you don’t have true faith but only head knowledge.

Que Dios le bendiga – may God bless you,
Ber  
berry@detailshere.com   
www.detailshere.com/bible.htm