Introduction:

This is probably the most important page I will have ever written in my life. The reason is that this information is so important to everyone on the planet. So, please, if you have gotten to this page take the time to read it all the way through. It may be just the information you needed to hear. Also, if others have told you that you are not deserving of God and heaven or you feel that you aren’t or you are caught up in something that you know the church stands against DO NOT STOP READING. This message is for every single person on this planet wherever they are in their life and whatever they may be involved in. God already knows all about you and HE WANTS YOU TO READ ON! So, please read this page to the end. It is the only thing I will ask you to do on my webpage.

‘God Loves You!’ This is most definitely one of the most overused and abused statements; however, that does not change the fact that it is absolutely true. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ (John 3:16) This verse from the Bible flat out states that God loves us so much that He sent Jesus. WOW! That is a lot of love, and it is important that you know this. Of course, there is more to know about what God tells us, but this is a good place to start.

Who is God?:

As I started to say, God loves you. This should go without saying, but many people do not understand this today. God loves you so much that He has given Heaven as a FREE GIFT (Be careful to not stop reading here). So, if heaven is a free gift as I claimed, how do we get it. Well if I was to hand you a free gift of a $100 bill, you would have to reach out and grab it or take it from me. Well, the free gift of heaven is the same way. The rest of this page just gives you all the information you need to reach out and grab it. That’s it. Simple and after you have read this, you will see that it is easy and yet the hardest thing any one of us has before us.

Before I go on, I need to backup and bring in the Scripture (another word that means God’s Word the Bible). That way you don’t have to take my word for it, you can take God’s. ‘But the gift of God is eternal life…’ (Romans 6:23) God tells us himself that he has given eternal life in heaven with Him as a FREE Gift. That is COOL. I think this is an awesome statement to know that the one and only God of the whole universe has given us (and me) eternal life with Him in heaven which is a paradise. Now, you may have noticed the word ‘But’ in this sentence. It is there for a reason and we will get back to it in a moment.

Ok, so far we have that God loves us and that Heaven is a FREE gift, but that does not answer the question of who is God? God is the Holy and Just creator of the universe. That is a mouth full, but what does it mean? In a nutshell, it means that God must punish sin. Sin is defined by the Bible as any act that goes against the Will of God. In other words, God tells us not to lie (Exodus 20:16); therefore, it we lie then we are committing a sin. The following illustration will show this more clearly.

Suppose you robbed a bank and stole one million dollars. Also suppose you were caught red handed with video surveillance and eye-witnesses. You know you did it and the evidence it too overwhelming. You come before the judge and he states the charges. You plead guilty because there is nothing else you can do. The judge must now sentence you and carry out justice.

God is that judge and your crime is not bank robbery it is the collection of your sins or disobedience to God’s will (it is irrelevant the exact nature of your sins). Now, if the story ended here we would be in BIG BIG trouble. Especially, me, just take a look at my testimony. Remember what I stated at the beginning, God loves you. So, there must be more to this and more to God (boy is that an understatement). I will get to that in a moment. First, it is important to see who we are in the Biblical view. This will help further pave the way to understanding the rest and final part of the picture.

Who is Man?:

First allow me to state that the Biblical definition of man is the human race. Therefore, most of the time that the Bible states ‘Man’ it means the human race.

We are an interesting bunch of people on this planet. We do the most amazing and bizarre things imaginable. We can build buildings that reach high into the sky and we can kill one another like it was nothing. We can love with the greatest compassion and hate with the strongest of wills. It is amazing. But with all we achieved and with all the horror we are capable of, we are still loved by God.

From the very beginning, we were created special. In Genesis chapter one, God tells us how He very loving formed us in His image (meaning we are spiritual beings). We were His perfect creation given the ability to choose (Free Will). And from the beginning, we chose to do wrong. Adam and Eve (and yes, both) chose to eat of the forbidden fruit. So when Adam and Eve chose to go against what God had told them they sinned, and SIN entered into man.

Today, we are no different. Just take ten people and have a person in front of them drop a $100 bill with no one anywhere in eyesight. Statistics show that 9 out of 10 will take the money if they believe they will not be caught. Those people will also make no attempt to catch the owner. This is not unusual if you look at what God’s Word has to say about man. ‘As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one…” (Romans 3:10) -AND- ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23) Just these couple of verses clearly state that everyone is a sinner (the Bible has a lot more references, but I know we get the idea). So we as a race are sinners.

Now let’s look at this on a more personal level, because this is where the Bible becomes important to you. Every one of us have sinned. Some a few, some a lot, some right this second in time. To God it does not matter how many sins, or what specific sins or even how good we try to cover them up. God knows them and according to His word, it only takes one. Why? Well, God tells us that his standard is perfection. ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father [God] is perfect.’ (Matthew 5:48) Now we all know that we can’t be perfect. As soon as you slip up once (lie, disobey your parents, disobey God, cheat, gossip, slander, swearing, etc.) that is it you are not perfect anymore. And once you have committed one sin, ‘For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles [breaks] at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.’ (James 2:10) What this verse says is that once you have committed one sin, you might as well committed thousands. The reason is because God’s standard is perfection.

I wish to make one more point here. Unfortunately (and I have been guilty of this until I grew up and to those I wronged, I am sorry), many Christians have the attitude that somehow we have to ‘Clean’ these horrible sinners up first before they can become Christians. If they smoke, we got to get them to stop it first. If they drink, we got to get them to stop it first. If they swear, we got to get them to stop it first. Then once all that sinful behavior is gone, they can become Christians, but not before. Well, if you have experienced this kind of attitude allow me to inform you that is NOT GOD’S ATTITUDE! Jesus went to people where they were and shared the love of God with them. I am reminded of an unnamed woman in John Chapter eight. She was ‘Caught in the act of adultery.’ (John 8:4) She was brought to Jesus and the crowd was ready to stone her to death. Jesus dispersed the crowd by stating, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ (John 8:7) Once the crowd was gone Jesus asked the woman where everyone had gone. She told Jesus they all left. Jesus then said, ‘Then neither do I condemn you …’ (John 8:11) What Jesus did was not condemn her for what she had done. He just loved her with the love of God. All this to say that we are all sinners. God knows that and He still loves us. So, don’t think you have to be cleaned up to hear the rest of this message. Just keep reading the best is yet to come.

So What?:

Ok. So, we know that we are all sinners and that God judges. You may be thinking so what or well God is not worried about all those sins. Or you just might have the opinion that God is a jolly-old-saint-nick-type that will just let us in to heaven anyway (after all I did say heaven was free). I can understand all of these feelings that you may or may not be feeling right now. It is important to realize at this point how all of this exactly pertains to you. The Bible says, ‘For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,’ and ‘For the wages of sin is death …’ (Romans 3:23, 6:23) To put this in a more personal form it says, ‘For YOU have sinned and the payment for those sins is DEATH.’ Death here in the Bible refers to what is known as the second death. It is not the death of the flesh, but the death of the spirit which is eternal separation from God in Hell. COOL right. After all TV would have us believe that just about everyone is going to Hell and it will be THE happening place in the after life. Well, before you go off and pack your party hats, lets take a look at what God’s Word says about Hell. ‘He, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angles and of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those…’ (Revelation 14:10-11) Here is a somewhat graphics description of what hell will be like (And there are more verses that are just as graphic). Most important is that those who are going will be tormented FOREVER. That is a really long long long time. I don’t know about you, but I would rather a second option. Fortunately, there is a whole lot more to God’s word. Let’s take a look at what the second option is.

The Second Option - JESUS CHRIST:

Jesus Christ (and yes, Jesus Christ had to come into this at some point, but don’t
worry no aliens or abductions or anything really weird) is the second option. Almost
two thousand years ago Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth with a single mission. He came to give us the second option. God tells us that, ‘Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.’ (Hebrews 9:22b) To sum up for a second, We are all sinners and this will cause us to be separated from God because God is Holy and Just and must judge sin. That judgement is that the wages (or payment or sentence) for sin is death (or hell). God also tells us that the only way for forgiveness is for the shedding of blood. In Jewish tradition, the shedding of blood meant a sacrifice not a cut like blood brothers today. Therefore, something or someone had to shed their blood for forgiveness to take place. Simple answer: use an animal, right? Wrong, ‘Because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.’ (Hebrews 10:4) In the old testament time frame (before Jesus), God allowed animal sacrifices for the covering of sin, but not the taking away of sin. For that God needed someone special. Someone who was perfect. ‘And in Him [Jesus Christ] was no sin.’ (1 John 3:5) Jesus was born into this world without sin and committed no sin while he was here. Therefore, he was innocent. God allowed Jesus to be lead to the cross where all the sins of mankind for all time were laid upon Him (’He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.’ 1 John 2:2). Jesus thus paid the penalty for our sin. Jesus paid the debt we owe to God for our sins. Jesus and God love us that much that God would send His only son to die on a cross and that Jesus would go to that cross and die for us. There is one other point here. Jesus did not stay dead! Jesus rose from the dead several days later breaking the chains of sin and death on mankind. It is the fact that He rose that makes everything that follows possible.

What Do I Do?:

‘Ok, that is great. Jesus died and paid for all my sins, and I am going to heaven.’ Not yet. There is one more piece of this whole puzzle, YOU! God has given Heaven as a free gift because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. There is no but to that. It is true. The thing that is missing comes from what we have to do with this information. If I was to hand you a present (or God was to come down and hand heaven to you in a beautifully wrapped box) would you just stand there. Of course not, you would (as any of us would) reach out and ACCEPT that gift. Well, the gift of heaven from God is no different. We now know now the who (God and Jesus Christ), why (to save us), when (2000 years ago), where (at the cross), and what (forgiveness). The only thin missing is how. How do we accept the gift of heaven. This is the easiest step. All you have to do is take a step of faith.

Faith?:

‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ (Hebrews 11:1) God by mercy (not giving us what we deserve) sent Jesus so that we might have the grace (giving us what we do not deserve) of God which is heaven (and spending eternity with Him). Faith comes by believing this. Faith comes by knowing this in your soul. Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.’ (Matthew 17:20) Faith is the key and it doesn’t have to be a big faith. As a matter of fact, none of us take a step out in faith and are immediately faithful giants. It takes time for that. For right here and now, all you need is a very small bit of faith that believes that God (the same God that created us) will stick to His promise of giving us Heaven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. If you can truly believe that right now in your heart then you can be saved from hell. All you have to do is pray. Below is a simple prayer that tells God you believe that He will stick to His promise.

Trust?:

Before we get to the prayer, there is one other thing that I think I should mention. TRUST. When we accept the above believe we have to put our TRUST is God by faith to do what He said he would. This trust is very important to you and to God. It is also important to understand this trust. When we accept and put Trust is God, He enters our life and becomes our God and Lord. In others words, by putting trust is God we state that, ‘You are my God and I have faith and trust in you and you alone to save me.’ The reason I want to mention this is because you can’t have faith without trust. I cannot have faith that my wife will not cheat on me if I do not have trust in her. So, if you pray this prayer you will be placing your trust, faith and life in the hands of the one that created you, and that is really cool!

The Prayer:

Read the prayer, if you can honestly say you believe (And God knows if you don’t because he looks at your heart. So don’t try to fool Him) it pray it to God. One other note, this prayer is not magical. The words are not special. It is just how I would express to God that I believe in Him. You can use your own words as long as you believe it and don’t change the general meaning.

Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I deserve to go to hell, but I also know that Jesus paid the debt for me on the cross. I now accept what Jesus did for me and ask you to come into my life. I thank you for sending your son and Jesus I thank you for going to the cross in place of me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Now What?:

‘I don’t feel any different?’ When I first said this prayer, I expected voices from heaven. Angels to appear before me and all of heaven to sing praises that I found God. Well first, God wasn’t lost, I was. Faith and trust in God is not a feeling thing. Emotions are a totally different part of our person in a totally different compartment. Allow me to take a moment to reassure you about what you have just done. ‘That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord.’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.’ (Romans 10:9-10) So, if you prayed and believe what you prayed you are saved. Once again, we go back to faith and trust here. Faith tells you that your Trust in God is not misplaced and that you are saved (which is short hand for accepted Jesus’ sacrifice and not going to hell or going to heaven). There is an adversary the devil that will try to whisper in your ear and tell you otherwise. Remember, ‘For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord [Jesus] will be saved.’ (Romans 10:13) This is important because it is a promise. All who call WILL be saved. There is nothing any one or any thing can do and you must believe this in your faith and trust in God.

‘Consequently, Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.’ (Romans 10:17) I placed this here to just let you know that there is one thing that you need to do. You need to read the Word of God, the Bible. The reason is that by reading what God says your faith will be strengthened. At this point, you are like a newborn baby. You have been born again in spirit, but you don’t know how go live in this new life yet. That is where the Word of God comes in. If you read regularly and pray (which is a fancy religious word for talking) to God, He will talk to you. Don’t believe it, just try it for a while and keep yourself open to hear from Him.

What’s Next?:

God tells us that the assembling and fellowship of ours believers (fancy word for someone who has been saved like you) is invaluable to all of us. The next thing that you should do is find a church. The best way to do this is the following:

1) Pray and ask God to guide you to the right church. God wants you to have many friends that like you have become believers. So, He will most definitely help you.

2) If you don’t know of any good churches ask some people and see what you find out. Keep in mind that you might be hearing gossip, but also listen. There are many people who do go to good churches and would be glad to help you. Also, if you know someone who has spoken to you before about being a Christian approach them. They may be able to help you find a church.

3) Look up churches in you area. The phone directory can be helpful. Also, many areas now are having free Christian guides published that list churches and business and such. You can find one of those and look at the churches listed there.

4) When you are considering a church, make an appointment and meet with the pastor and talk with him. Let him know what you have done and listen to what he has to say. He will be your best source, because he is your potential possible leader. He should be very friendly and open to sharing all the information you want know.

If these don’t help, keep praying. God is your absolute best source for information here and He will let your spirit know.

A Final Thought:

Congratulation!! You have entered into a whole new world. I would love to hear from you either here or when I see you in heaven. Drop me a line when you get a moment. I also want to express thanks for visiting my website.

May God Bless You!!

Love in Christ

Patrick Aquilone