You Better Get Saved Right Now!....
By Rev. Johnny Lee Clary....
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| .. As an evangelist, I cannot count how many times I have heard someone say that they believe in God, they believe in Jesus, and they know they need to give their life to Him in order to be saved, but now just isn’t the time. They always say they will do it later. Many people say they have a lot of ‘living it up’ that they still need to get out of their system, and then they will get saved. They say they do not want to be a hypocrite and when they do get saved then they will give up the party life, sex, drugs, etc.; but until they are ready to do so they will not get saved. Why do they have this philosophy? A lot of it is taught by religious man-made doctrines. They teach that in order to be saved, you have to quit this or stop that and then one can be saved. The trouble is that type of teaching is wrong. Jesus accepts people just as they are. You have to clean the fish before you eat them but in order to clean them, you must first catch them. These religious doctrines are trying to clean the fish before catching them, and in the words of Bill Clinton, “That dog ain’t gonna hunt!” Many churches that teach that type of philosophy, are being hypocritical because they stand and sing the song “Just As I Am, Oh Lamb of God I Come,” while giving an invitation to the altar. That song implies and correctly so, that Jesus accepts you just as you are, when you come to Him; so for a church to teach that you have to give up this or quit that, before you can come to Jesus is just plain wrong. .... I have had people say they won’t come to Jesus until they stop smoking. I quickly tell them that is lame to think that way. There are no scriptures that say smoking will send one to Hell. Smoking might make you smell like you have been to Hell but it does not send you there. Many well known Christians, and even evangelists and preachers smoked throughout time, especially back in the 1800’s. No I am not justifying smoking, as I think it is a filthy habit and I don’t like to be around it, but I certainly do not believe that one is disqualified either from salvation or serving God because of it. The same goes for those who take a little nip of wine or go play the slot machines. Some of the churches have been so wrapped up in playing ‘church cop’ and checking to see if someone is smoking, gambling or drinking; that they forget about the real sins that do keep one out of Heaven, such as gossip, judging, backbiting and bearing false witness. Those sins if left un-repented will defiantly buy one a ticket on the “Hell bound Train,” whereas I can find no scriptures that say that one will go to Hell for smoking, drinking or gambling. .... In order to be saved, one must repent, which means not only saying they are sorry for their sins, but that they want to turn from their sins as well. We ask Jesus to forgive us and He will. He comes to live in our hearts when we give our lives to Him. Some people think salvation is so cheap that they mistakenly think they only have to say, ‘I give my heart to Jesus,” but they don’t have to be sorry for their sins. .... Case in point was the perverted porno magazine smut publisher Larry Flynt. He claimed to have been ‘born again’ back in the late 1970’s when then President Jimmy Carter’s evangelist sister, Ruth Carter-Stapleton, supposedly led Flynt to Christ. Flynt might have told the world that he was saved, but he continued to peddle smut and had whores working for him. Not only did he corrupt the minds of people by publishing sex magazines and putting filthy whores out in the business word selling their bodies to the public; but he made a mockery of Christianity by appearing on Christian TV shows and networks, selling his smut and using the Lord to do it! The late Rev. Jerry Falwell, sued Flynt when he published a disgusting ad in Hustler magazine with a photo of Falwell supposedly endorsing whiskey and saying that he got drunk while having sex with his mama in the outhouse! Falwell won the suit and was awarded $150,000.00 in damages, only to have Flynt appeal it to a higher court and win because the court ruled that First Amendment free-speech prohibits awarding damages to public figures to compensate for emotional distress intentionally inflicted upon them. Thus, Hustler magazine's parody of Jerry Falwell was deemed to be within the law, leading to a reversal of the jury verdict in favor of Falwell. .... Flynt became an atheist and renounced his so-called ‘Christian conversion’ after the Ku Klux Klan shot him and his lawyer as they were leaving a courthouse. (Many feel that the KKK was justified, including some law enforcement which is why to this day, in spite of a confession by Klansman Joseph Paul Franklin that he did the shooting in 1978, no charges have ever been filed.) Flynt’s lawyer recovered but Flynt was paralyzed from the waist down. He claimed that there was no God and if God really existed then he wouldn’t have been left paralyzed so he became an atheist. He became a dope addict and even disowned his daughter when she became born again and began a crusade against pornography and prostitution. She later revealed that Flynt is a child molester, molesting her when she was a little girl. That is not surprising given the fact that people in the sex industry have no morals and wouldn’t think twice about molesting a child. Flynt was never born again or he would have been sorry for the smut he continued to publish and the whores he continued to pimp out after he received his so-called salvation. If he was born again then he never bothered to study the Word of God. .... When one is living a sinful immoral lifestyle, they can still receive salvation, but if they are really born again they will make every effort to change after they receive Christ. How long will that take? Well only God and the person knows that for sure. God is patient but he isn’t blind. He knows the person’s heart and He knows what their true intentions are. That is what the Holy Spirit is for. The Holy Spirit leads us to conviction to let us know right from wrong. God works with each individual in His own way and timing. When one becomes born again they need to renew their minds in God’s word and that is when they will begin to feel the need to change some things and give some things up that they feel comes in conflict with God’s way. That is why it is wrong to expect someone to give up anything before coming to Christ to receive the gift of salvation, because they can’t receive the Holy Spirit until after they receive salvation..... Many that say they will put off getting saved until later are taking a risky chance. Salvation should never be taken for granted. How do you know you will have the opportunity to get saved right before you die? You may say, “Well I know of people who received Christ on their deathbed after living a sinful life of debauchery.” While that may be the case with them, there are no guarantees that will be the case with you. You could die in a split second and never have the time to repent and get things right with God. Case in point, on September 11th, 2001 when the Muslim terrorists hijacked the airplanes, over three thousand people were murdered that day. Many of them died the second the planes exploded into the WTC buildings. They were not given time to say a prayer or to repent or anything. It just happened. Boom! They were gone. How many people take the days God gives them here on earth for granted? I know for sure that anyone who says they will get saved someday but not now, are certainly not only taking their lives for granted but they are taking God for granted also. We should want to turn away from sin when we realize that without God we would not be alive and that we need Jesus and His free gift of salvation in order to have eternal life. Mohammed, Buddha, or Larry Flynt will not get you into heaven. You can’t go to heaven unless you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. God does not send you to Hell; you send yourself there if you die without having received Christ as your savior. Jesus made a way for you to get to Heaven and it is your choice whether or not to chose that path. You need to make that choice right now while you still can. If you think you will have plenty of time left here in earth, and will have time to say the prayer before you die, then you had better be right! .... "Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow" (Psalm 144:4). Jesus once told about a rich successful man, who decided he'd live the rest of his days in luxury, being shiftless and lazy. However that very night his life came to a tragic end as he was not prepared to meet God. Luke 12:16 "A rich man had land that produced good crops. 17 He thought, 'What should I do? I don't have enough room to store my crops.' 18 He said, 'I know what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones so that I can store all my grain and goods in them. 19 Then I'll say to myself, "You've stored up a lot of good things for years to come. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself."' 20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! I will demand your life from you tonight! Now who will get what you've accumulated?' 21 That's how it is when a person has material riches but is not rich in his relationship with God." Don't let this happen to you! .... You need to keep in mind also that the more times you reject the call to salvation, and keep putting Jesus off, the easier it becomes to say no to Christ. Eventually your heart becomes hardened and you will no longer feel the knock of Jesus upon your heart’s door. It like the first time a person cheats on their spouse; they feel conviction and know they did wrong. If they have any feelings for their spouse they will feel terrible about what they just did. However, each time they go back to the Motel Rendezvous for another night of cheating, it gets easier and easier, and eventually the person feels no remorse whatsoever. That is the way a person will feel if they keep rejecting Jesus. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”.... Jesus loves you but He is a gentleman. He is not going to make you get saved. If that were the case, there would have been no need for the cross and there never would have been sin if everyone including the Muslim terrorists and Hitler all get to go to heaven regardless of their deeds and actions. People eventually stop hearing the knock at the door. It is kind of like the guy who keeps asking out the girl and she keeps telling him she can’t because she has this or that to do. Eventually the guy will go away and find someone else if he is normal and not a whacko stalker. The girl them loses all opportunity for that fellow. He might have been the one true love she was waiting for but she’ll never know it because she rejected him one too many times. It is the same thing when one keeps rejecting Jesus knock at their heart’s door..... Do not believe the lies of the Devil when he says that you have plenty of time, because you don’t. You could go at any time. If you want to go to Heaven, just turn right and THEN go straight! Don’t put it off until tomorrow because this could be your very last day here on Earth. .... NOW IS THE TIME FOR SALVATION! .... Tomorrow may never come, so you better get saved right now!.... Say this prayer: .... Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I know that you love me and want to save me. Jesus, I believe you are the son of God, who died on the cross to pay for my sins. I believe God raised you from the dead. I now turn from my sin and, by faith, receive You as my personal Lord and Savior. Come into my heart, forgive my sins, and save me, Lord Jesus. Teach me to live in ways that please you, helping me to know right from wrong and to overcome any struggles I have in life. In Jesus name I pray, Amen..... ©www.johnnyleeclary.com.... Johnny Lee Clary.... |
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