'While getting ready for work one morning, I was listening to a morning talk show on my radio. They were taking calls from listeners with "interesting secrets" and one lady called in with hers. I was ready for anything but what she said:  "I am a member of the satanic church."  I was stunned.  You could tell the disc jockey was too. There was an awkward silence. Then he said, "Why?"  "Well," the lady answered, "I know I'm going to hell anyway, so why fool myself like some Christians do?  They think they are going to heaven, but they aren't, so why bother?" Interesting food for thought, I mused, but oh, so lost.

Ironically, God used this lady to sound a wake-up call for me. There are many people I come across daily, who no doubt feel they have no hope of ever entering heaven, so why try.  But the Bible is replete with hope. Second Peter 3:9 (KJV) says, "The Lord is ... not willing than any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." God also tells us as believers to "Stir up the gift" that is within us (2 Timothy 1:6, KJV) and "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature"  (Mark 16:15, NKJV). The enemy is doing his part to "evangelize for hell" --so what on earth are we doing for heaven's sake?'

(The Secret Place, Summer Edition, August 25, 2007)