One Minute on Earth

I was walking in a cemetery recently when I thought: Surely, sadly, not every single person in that cemetery is saved. How much would one of those people in Hell give, to have one more minute on Earth? To be surrounded by flames, constantly burned, for years and years on end........... and then to suddenly be in that cemetery with me? To experience just a few of the things we take for granted every day? How glad would someone who had been burning in flames for 80+ years be to take a small drink from the water I had brought with me? How glad would they be to hear the distant sounds of a factory? How glad would they be to see the foliage again? How glad would they be to feel the breeze on their face? How glad would they be for the solemn quietness there? ... And yet that won't happen. I'm no expert on endtime prophecies, but as far as I understand, the only reprieve they will ever get is on Judgment Day. They will stand before God to be separated into "sheep" (the saved) or "goats" (the unsaved*), after which time they will be sent from the first death, to the second death. ... But how much would they give for one more minute beyond that? To have an eternity of punishment ahead of them, but to have that eternity interrupted for a brief moment in time to smell the air? Feel the grass? Read a tombstone in a cemetery? Yet so severe are their sins, according to the righteous judgment of our omniscient Lord, they will not be granted even this reprieve. And yet I'm sure they all yearn for it.

And I don't say this to mock them. I say it as a warning to those reading this. Despite the memes, the reality is that Hell isn't a party where you'll be in "good company" (unless you think Adolf Hitler is good company!) Hell is a place of torment where people will be punished severely for sins they knowingly committed. Every person in Hell was aware of the Gospel. They rejected it, sure, but they heard the message. They were preached to about Hell by many people in their lives. Given the years on the tombstones in that cemetery, the people from that time period would have lived during a time where Christianity played a crucial role in American culture. If you listen to stories from that time, you'll learn quickly that many of those so-called "Christians" were lukewarm chaff. Adulterers, drunkards, racists, abusers, ... who always made sure to have a Bible in the home and dress nicely for Sunday services! Regardless, you'll always hear of at least a few people in those people's lives who made a genuine attempt to live out the Gospel. The Gospel was always available to everyone who rejected it in favor of some prideful and/or hedonistic path into self-fulfilling destruction. If they had that one minute on Earth, I'm certain they would spend at least some of that minute warning those here on Earth. They would beg and plead (to an indifferent and mocking world) that they should turn from their sins and not go down the same path. And indifferent and mocking would the world be, even though the truth is right in front of their eyes. But because Christians can't take these people by the hand and lead them to the edge of Hell and show them Hell, they refuse to acknowledge it. They're certainly able to believe, but they refuse to. There's abundant proof everywhere around them, but until they feel the heat of the flames, they'll resist.

Why?

Judgment is coming, and there are so many who are suffering for following the same paths people are following on Earth today. There are people from the 1900s, the 1800s, the 1700s, even the 100s who are suffering for the same things people still do today.

How much would they give to warn the people of this world today, for just one minute?

... Will people wait until they're looking at the flames to repent?














* Obviously this is not meant to imply that goats, as animals, are evil. The use of "sheep" and "goats" is just a metaphor that Christ used when originally preaching to the Israelites.