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by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2013. "For the Lamb who is on the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them to living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." (Rev 7:17) In heaven, the Lord will wipe away all tears. Now some of those tears may be from sufferings that people endured while they were on earth. There are some Christians who are not aware that healing for their bodies belongs to them, along with their salvation. (Psalm 103, Ex 15:26) There are some Christians who haven't been taught about spiritual warfare against Satan and his demons. (Eph chapter 6, Matt 16:19, Luke 10:19, Mark 16:17,18) But in some cases, I suspect that there will be tears to wipe away because once in heaven, some of the people will realize that they didn't do such a very good job for the Lord while on earth. One thing that some will discover is that they could have been stronger Christians on earth by getting from the Lord the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, as in Acts 1:8, & chapter 2, & chapter 10, & chapter 19. Some will probably say, "Well, my church didn't believe that way." But the Bible believes that way. God the Father, the Son (Jesus), and Holy Ghost believe that way. Christians need to study the Bible for themselves so that if someone tries to teach them contrary to the Bible, they won't receive the false teaching. John Osteen was Pastor of a Baptist church. He had not received the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues (languages.) But as Osteen was studying the Bible, he said, "Well what's wrong with it? It's scriptural." So Osteen got the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues from Jesus. As Osteen began to share about it some with his people, he was kicked out as pastor of that church. But some of his people went with him, and they started another church, Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Last I heard, they had grown to thirty thousand members. Osteen did the right thing. But clearly, Osteen did have another choice. He could have said, "Well yes, I see that the Baptism with the Holy Ghost is scriptural, but my denomination doesn't believe that way. I have friends at my church. How will I pay my bills if I have to leave this church?" (You can see where this is going.) Proverbs 29:25 says, "The fear of man brings a trap, but whoever puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe." Osteen could have chosen the fear of man, but instead he chose the fear of God, and boldly proclaimed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preacher Willard Cantelon told about a certain Evangelist who used to hold big tent meetings across the United States. Cantelon didn't say the man's name. The Evangelist would get a lot of people healed in his meetings. The Evangelist had a board. The men on the board said to him, "Brother, we believe you would reach more people if you didn't emphasize the Holy Ghost (or, Holy Spirit) so much." The Evangelist followed their advice, and he lost his healing ministry. If you're an Evangelist, and your board advises you like that, fire your board. And tell them, "I'm not going to preach what you think I should preach, I'm going to preach what the Lord has for me to preach." But even some Christians who have received the Baptism with the Holy Ghost might have some tears when they get to heaven about things they could have done, and should have done for the Lord, but didn't do. In Matt 5:16 Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they'll see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." The Lord wants every Christian to be a witness for him. And some Christians are doing that, testifying to people, passing out salvation tracts. But some Christians do very little witnessing. If you go to work every day at a certain company for ten or twenty years, and then find out later that many of your co-workers wound up in hell, will it be partly your fault because you never mentioned Jesus to them? What did God tell Ezekiel? In Ezekiel chapter 3, verses 17 "Son of man, I've made you a watchman to the house of Israel, therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to the wicked, you'll surely die, and you don't give him warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his sin, but I will require his blood at your hand. 19 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn't turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his sin, but you've delivered your soul." If you tell people about Jesus, and they still choose to go to hell, their blood is not on your hands. But if they went to hell because Christians wouldn't witness to them, then God will find fault with those Christians. By the way, after receiving the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, we're then supposed to pray some in unknown tongues every day. Paul says, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all..." (1 Cor 14:18) And in 1 Cor 11:1, Paul says, "Be followers of me, as I also am of Christ." Are you following Paul by praying every day in unknown tongues, friend? I mentioned before about a man who had been a Christian, but later went back on the Lord. He thinks (incorrectly) that he caught the Lord lying. But back before this man told me he had stopped being a Christian, the subject came up in conversation years ago about world evangelism, and he said, "Not my job." Well, O.K., maybe the man wasn't called to the ministry. But every Christian is supposed to care about world evangelism. If you don't go to the mission field, you can help missionaries financially. You can pray for world evangelism. In Matt 9:38, Jesus tells us to, "Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest, that he will send out laborers into his harvest." So even if he wasn't called to go to the mission field, it was not appropriate for the man to say, "Not my job," at a time when he still considered himself to be a Christian. In Matt 7:16 Jesus said we would know men by their fruits. It seems to me that for a Christian to say that world evangelism is not their job is fruit of less than the best kind. Of course Judgment Day will come, and we'll see what the Lord says about those words from that man. Possibly the Lord will choose to overlook that. That man doesn't have to worry about tears in heaven. At the rate he's going, he won't make it to heaven. I wrote about that man in my book, "Can Christians Lose Their Salvation?" My Dad doesn't have to worry about tears in heaven. He professed to be an Atheist. And then he died and went to hell. What a pity. But I made efforts to get him born again. Now that he's in hell, I'm sure he has figured out that yes, there is a God. But, you see, the devil and his demons deceived the man into believing the lie that there's no God. I guess if you think there's no God, then there's no need to get right with God, and no need to fear God. But the Bible teaches that, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, all of those who do his commandments have a good understanding, his praise endures forever." (Psa 111:10) Atheists say there's no God. But God says about Atheists, "The fool has said in his heart there's no God." (Psa 14:1) I mentioned before about the news item where a man in his bed went down into a sink hole. His shouts for help could be heard, but they weren't able to save him. That's why people should take it seriously when the Bible says, "...now is the accepted time, see, now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor 6:2) People who won't get right with God now might not have another opportunity. Scriptures quoted are from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version and the New Testament, Hoehn Version, copyright 2011, both are available as ebooks for the Kindle readers from Amazon.com.
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