Paris Reidhead

If you'll ask me why I went to Africa, I'll tell you I went primarily to improve on the justice of God. I didn't think it was right for anybody to go to Hell without a chance to be saved. So I went to give poor sinners a chance to go to heaven. Now I haven't put it in so many words, but if you'll analyze what I just told you do you know what it is? Humanism. That I was simply using the provisions of Jesus Christ as a means to improve upon human conditions of suffering and misery. And when I went to Africa, I discovered that they weren't poor, ignorant, little heathen running around in the woods looking for someone to tell them how to go to heaven. That they were MONSTERS OF INIQUITY !!! THEY WERE LIVING IN UTTER AND TOTAL DEFIANCE OF FAR MORE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THEN I EVER DREAMED THEY HAD !

They deserved Hell! Because they utterly refused to walk in the light of their conscious, and the light of the law written upon their heart, and the testimony of nature, and the truth they knew! And when I found that out I assure you I was so angry with God that on one occasion in prayer I told Him it was a mighty ...... little thing He'd done, sending me out there to reach these people that were waiting to be told how to go to heaven. When I got there I found out they knew about heaven, and didn't want to go there, and that they loved their sin and wanted to stay in it.

I went out there motivated by humanism. I'd seen pictures of lepers, I'd seen pictures of ulcers, I'd seen pictures of native funerals, and I didn't want my fellow human beings to suffer in Hell eternally after such a miserable existence on earth. But it was there in Africa that God began to tear through the overlay of this humanism! And it was that day in my bedroom with the door locked that I wrestled with God. For here was I, coming to grips with the fact that the people I thought were ignorant and wanted to know how to go to heaven and were saying "Someone come and teach us", actually didn't want to take time to talk with me or anybody else. They had no interest in the Bible and no interest in Christ, and they loved their sin and wanted to continue in it. And I was to that place at that time where I felt the whole thing was a sham and a mockery, and I had been sold a bill of goods! And I wanted to come home.

There alone in my bedroom as I faced God honestly with what my heart felt, it seemed to me I heard Him say, "Yes, will not the Judge of all the earth do right? The heathen are lost. And they're going to go to Hell, not because they haven't heard the gospel. They're going to go to Hell because they are sinners, WHO LOVE THEIR SIN! And because they deserve Hell. BUT, I didn't send you out there for them. I didn't send you out there for their sakes." And I heard as clearly as I've ever heard, though it wasn't with physical voice but it was the echo of truth of the ages finding its' way into an open heart. I heard God say to my heart that day something like this, "I didn't send you to Africa for the sake of the heathen, I sent you to Africa for My sake. They deserved Hell! But I LOVE THEM !!! AND I ENDURED THE AGONIES OF HELL FOR THEM !!! I DIDN'T SEND YOU OUT THERE FOR THEM !!! I SENT YOU OUT THERE FOR ME ! DO I NOT DESERVE THE REWARD OF MY SUFFERING? DON'T I DESERVE THOSE FOR WHOM I DIED?"

The Most Important Survey You Will Take

# 1. Have you ever told a lie?

# 2. Have you ever stolen anything? (oh come on now, you just admitted you were a liar)

# 3. Have you ever looked upon someone with lust?

# 4. Have you ever taken the Lords name in vain?

Let's tally your score.

If you said yes to #1 you are a liar. You have broken God's 9th commandment. Revelation 21:8 says that all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire.

If you said yes to #2 you are a thief. You have broken God's 8th commandment. 1 Corinthians 6:10 says that no thief shall inherit the kingdom of God.

If you said yes to #3 you are an adulterer. You have broken God's 7th commandment. In Matthew 5:28 Jesus said that whoever looks upon a person with lust, commits adultery with them in their heart.

If you said yes to #4 you are a blasphemer. You have broken God's 2nd commandment. In Matthew 12:36, Jesus said that man shall give an account of every idle word spoken, when the day of judgment comes.

So, how did you do? We only looked at four of the commandments, there are six more. If God judges you on these ten commandments the day you die, will you be innocent, or guilty?

You see, if you end up in hell, it will not be because of this image you have created of a vengeful God waiting to burn anyone who will not bow down to Him. You like to raise up your chin and say, "I will not worship a God like that!" The truth is, you will not worship, because you love your sin and your sin is the reason you will face the outcome of this judgment.

But there is good news.......

God did something amazing so that you could walk away free on judgment day. To be a just God He must punish sin. We all have broken His commandments and deserve this punishment. In order that He could be merciful, without sacrificing justice, He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to be a perfect, sinless, sacrifice, to take our punishment, and pay our dept in full upon a cross.

If you will repent of your sin, and trust in Jesus Christ, He is faithful and just to forgive.

But.....

This is no get out of jail free card that you may continue in sin that grace my abound. The Greek word for repent, metanoeo, means this, "To change any or all elements composing ones life: attitude, thoughts, and behaviors concerning the demands of God for right living." Salvation is a free gift of God, but the result is a changed life, the clear meaning of being born again. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" John 3:3

If you think you can pray to the Almighty God only to attain fire insurance for future use, and not out of true repentence over the filthiness of your sin, all you succeeded in doing is mocking Him, and you can expect these words from Him one day "Depart from me, I never knew you."

Oh, but the love He bestows upon those who will humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways.