Well, let me tell you about part of my day. I saw David (from the Brentwood parking lot a couple weeks ago) on the train today, and I talked to him for a bit. He was with some girl whom he left on the train, so I asked her if he had told her about the Good Person Test. He hadn't (obviously), so I did. She didn't like it, saying that she was Catholic, and I should have found all that out about her before approaching her like that. Honestly, I disagree with her, and I told her why, and I will tell you why, too:
God does not care what religious label you hide behind, if you do not repent of your sins, then you are going to Hell. All liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire, no matter if they are Catholic, Protestant, Christian, Muslim, or Buddhist, etc. Jesus said, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5), so I don't really think it matters to Him, so it doesn't matter to me, either. I just don't want anyone to go to hell, so I am trying to make sure that everyone I can talk to knows how to escape the wrath of God on Judgment Day.
She was still not happy, but at least she understood.
Then I got up and got the shock of my eyes. This kid was wearing a T-shirt with a Cross, followed by a plus sign (+), followed by some kind of building, followed by an equal sign (=), followed by a skull-and-crossed-bones, a common symbol of poison. He apparently heard some of what I was saying to her, because he said, "I knew it!" when I reacted to the shirt. I said, "I'm intrigued," and sat down to learn.
He was a "secularized" man who had grown up in the church but had grown to hate it. He was willing to take the Good Person Test, though, so I gave it to him. There was a lady sitting across the aisle who was listening. When he was hesitant to admit that he was a liar, she helped him out. I think she had been on the train before when I was preaching. The reason I think that is that she had a "stump the Christian" question just waiting to be unleashed when I finished with the kid.
It was something like, "If a pedophile continued in his deviant behavior and at the last breath repented, he would get to Heaven. But other better people would go to Hell." My response was something from above (thank you, God): Luke 12:16-21.
"And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
Basically, no one, including a pedophile, should believe that they will have time to repent later. The best idea for a pedophile, or any other sinner, is to repent today. Because God might lose patience with the fool tonight. I earlier wrote an illustration of repentance on one of my other blogs, a summary of which I used to try to show this woman that God is just, even if He does forgive a pedophile on his last breath. Like He did for the repentant thief. And like He offers to do for you.
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