Pandemonium

But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.

Yes, I tell you, fear him! - Luke 12:5

The other side of paradise
Aftermath of the afterlife
Where darkness falls
And madness reigns
Never again to see the light

Never again to make it right
Never an end to the constant fright
Never to find a hiding place
From the terrible things
That go bump in the night

That's just the way it is
When you're livin' in Pandemonium
The strife is never-ending
And you'll forever feel alone in here

Worse than any inner city
Our feeble minds
Could conceive of -
An inner sanctum of the departed
The end of the line
For the unbelievers

The deceived and the deceivers
The disconsolate and fire-breathers
Such a high price to pay
To say you did it your way
Now there's no way
For you to flee from here

The hurt...
The pain...
The wrath of YHWH being sorted
With the fury of a thousand wars
And he's only just begun
To get it started

Altogether torn asunder
By a sorrow that forever plummets
'Til the feet touch down in Gehenna
Never again to see the Summit

Nightmare of nightmares
The hounds of Hell
Constantly on the attack
"Abandon hope all ye who enter"
As the heat from the lake of fire
Licks your back...

And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.  - Revelation 20:13


Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Heaven Underground

"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water." - 1 Peter 3:18-20 ESV

"For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does." - 1 Peter 4:6 ESV

 

Heaven didn’t just come down… 

It went underground 

We couldn’t go and get it 

It had to come and get us 

Because we were held hostage 

In the darkness…slaves to the dust 

A bunch of guilty as charged 

Criminals at large 

Conspiring since the beginning 

To assassinate God 

And if you find that statement offensive 

It’s understandable 

But you still have no defense against it  

And you know it –  

Your fingerprints are showin’ 

And herein lies the biggest problem 

Because even if you’re Robin Hood
You’re still a thief –
Because you’re robbin’
No sob story is good enough
To regain that trust
Our red-handed antics
Have left us stone cold busted

And in case you couldn’t tell
We’re disgusted with the outcome
But too prideful and bitter to ask for help
So we put our roots down firm
And build ziggurats wherever we dwell

But how we gonna reach the Kingdom
When we don’t even speak the same language amongst ourselves?
And when our stairway to Heaven was vanquished
It all came crashing down in an epic fail…

The most frightening attribute of God’s character
Is that He is good and a Just Judge
So He will always rule in favor of righteousness
Not based on what I think I am
Or who I thought I was

Truth is…
I’m a lying, cheating
Backsliding heathen
Full of murderous intent
And I’m stealing by just breathing
With no plan to give up the lifestyle
Anytime soon
So the mercy of the Court
Will have to be way more than prevenient
Because I’m already doomed…

Therefore grace has to intrude
As the Kingdom manifests the expanse
Of its territorial boundary
To dig us up out of our whitewashed tombs
And shut down all of the foundries
‘Cause the Devil’s melting down the metal
Turning plows and pruning hooks into swords

But the Kingdom of Heaven came among us
To suffer the violence
So Death can never have the Final Word


"From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force."  - Matthew 11:12 ESV

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Descending Man

Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. - Isaiah 14:9-11 ESV

 

Sin sells while bells ring

Like dinner time in Hell…

The taste of forbidden fruit over time becomes telling

Rebellion against conventional wisdom

Led to decisions based on indifference

And humanity is left searching for its significance

Life now is nothing more than forensic

As gender is now gone into oblivion

And a mother’s womb 

Has become a tomb for a countless number of infants

Between assisted suicide, ethnic cleansing genocide

Peace through superior firepower

And religion cloaked in deceit 

Hiding behind a military façade

Wars and rumors of wars

As we beef about same sex, safe sex

“Who’s to blame for a tanking economy?”

Or “Who should America attack next?”

We take one step back

When it comes to human trafficking

Global warming burning us up like a sauna

Our souls have grown cold as we ready our beds

God truly must be gracious

Because for reasons unbeknownst to us

He didn’t just destroy all in a flood

And He hasn’t left us for dead…

 

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.  - 2 Peter 2:4-10 ESV

 

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

How to Kill and Be Killed 101: The Real Reason That People Go To Hell

Often times, you will hear Christians say that the reason that people go to hell is because they failed to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and the One true Lord and Savior. However, if we examine the scriptures carefully, we will see that this is just not the case. I know this statement may seem a little confusing at first glance, but let's unpack this notion carefully.

It is safe for all who are Christians to affirm and proclaim that if you don't believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ that you will go to Hell. What is not safe to affirm or proclaim is that this is the reason that you are going to Hell in the first place (which is the implication that the statement seems to lend itself). We must remember that Jesus' life and death were sacrificial, not damning. Jesus died to bring us to God, not to further solidify our condemnation. I think that one of the problems for the confusion is that we have a strong tendency to read John 3:16 and then stop there, never paying attention to how Jesus explains the implications of it in the verses that follow (John 3:17-18). People end up in Hell, not because the don't believe in Jesus (first and foremost), but because they are in fact sinners deserving of punishment.  When a person rejects Christ as the Messiah and the salvation of their soul, it simply shows that God is just in his judgement in sending anyone to hell, due to their hostility toward him (John 3:19-20, Romans 8:7).

This may just all sound like an exercise in mere semantics or hair-splitting, but it is much more than that.  The implications on the way we do evangelism and view sin (both our own and that of others) run very deep.  First of all, as far as evangelism is concerned, a misunderstanding of what Jesus actually accomplishes in life, death and resurrection will serve to diminish the threat of our already existing condemnation.  In other words, people will never truly understand what they are being saved from.  This ties right into the second point; since our condemnation doesn't proceed salvation under these implications (i.e. "God loves you, and has a wonderful plan for your life"), the need to accept Jesus will be diminished as well.  After all, if you don't know that you're sick, why would you need a physician?  This leaves wiggle room for us sinners to run to our "works".  We are all rich young rulers at heart - ready to deceive ourselves into believing that we are good enough on our own.  Therefore, accepting Christ becomes superfluous.  This is where true danger lies; as we have seen in passages of scripture above, natural man will sooner leave it than take it.

We must remember that there is no good news without the bad news first.  But, the bad news is not that unbelief will surely send you to Hell.  The bad news is that we're going to Hell already (and rightfully so!).  But a prodigal God has been gracious and has provided a substitute in his own son, and laid the punishment due squarely on his shoulders.  All we must do is repent of our sins and believe in him who has paid the debt for us (Isaiah 53:5, Acts 17:30-31, Romans 5:12-21).

When you hear it put that way, why would you ever want to screw that up?  It's our only hope...at the Cross is where we are forgiven, not condemned (John 12:31-33, Romans 3:21-26, 1 John 2:2; 4:10).

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon