The reality is that we do not know when our life will be demanded from us by God. It could be 50 years from now or it could be tomorrow. James describes it as such:
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. James 4: 13-14 (NKJV)
Just a vapor. Here today and gone tomorrow. There has to be more than this life and the Good News of Jesus Christ is that there is more! But it starts with telling the truth. It starts with not wavering from that truth. I saw a video from a popular Pastor this week espousing what essentially is universalism. He was taken aback by the notion that someone could say that anyone was definitively going to hell. Realize that this is the scheme of the enemy because without hell, there is no consequence for sin. Without having a consequence for sin, there is no need for a Savior. Thus Jesus Christ becomes a notable person in history but you have stripped the deity from Him.
Why would this famous Pastor choose to go down the universalism road and abandon the absolute truth he once knew? Because universalism sells a whole lot better than the Gospel message of sin and repentance. If you blur the lines enough and muddy the water sufficiently, then everyone can get to go to heaven. It no longer matters how you live your life. You have essentially recreated God in your own image to excuse your sin. But the true Gospel message is a convicting message. It shines a light on the soul of a sinner to show them how they have offended God and how they can repair that breach. Jesus understood His message was not going to be easily sold:
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 10: 34-39 (NKJV)
That is a tough message beloved. But it is a real message. When you
start to deviate from this message you are simply making it up as you go along.
Man has been creating his own Gods for thousands of years. The Old Testament is
littered with tales of false Gods which
Household gods give worthless advice, fortune-tellers predict only lies, and interpreters of dreams pronounce falsehoods that give no comfort. So my people are wandering like lost sheep; they are attacked because they have no shepherd. Zechariah 10: 2 (NLT)
But so many in this country have traded in the one true God for household gods that amount to nothing more than advice giving, fortune telling, and lies which provide no real comfort. The sheep are scattered, following whatever doctrine comes their way to tickle their ears:
