God Wants to Save You

God wants to save you, but you must make a choice: an eternity with Him or an eternity without Him.

The Lord doesn't force you to choose. He leaves it up to you.

He also doesn't hide anything from you; He openly tells you the result of each choice.

• An Eternity with the Lord - An abundance of life (Matthew 25:46; John 10:10; I John 2:25). No more death and no more tears (Isaiah 25:8).  There is a specific place prepared for you akin to a mansion (John 14:2).  You will be clothed in righteousness and covered by the presence of the Lord, to worship Him night and day (Revelation 7:13-15).  You will never be hungry or thirsty again and Jesus will comfort your every concern (Revelation 7:16-17).  There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore and you will receive all that is in the Kingdom of God as your inheritance (Matthew 25:34; I Peter 1:4; Revelation 21:4-7).  Priceless riches permeate the city, made of pure gold and precious stones (Revelation 21:18-21).  There is no concept of aging and you will enjoy the fruits of your own labor, for every work you perform will be productive (Isaiah 65:19-23).  There will be no more curses, no more night time at all, and no need for any light outside of the light that comes from Jesus; you will reign with God in the Kingdom (Isaiah 60:19-20; Revelation 3:21; Revelation 21:22-25; Revelation 22:3-6). You will have fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).
• An Eternity without the Lord - Everlasting fire, everlasting contempt, everlasting punishment, and everlasting destruction (Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:41-46; I Thessalonians 1:9). Eternal fire where the worm never dies (Mark 9:44-49; Jude 1:7).  A resurrection unto damnation (John 5:29). Eternal torment in a lake of fire and brimstone causing weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:42-50; Luke 16:22-24; Revelation 14:10-11; Revelation 21:8).

Just consider these options at face value.  No one in their right mind would choose an eternity of torment in Hell fire over an eternity of joy, peace, and love. Yet people do every single hour of every day. Why? Because they have fallen for the okey-doke.

Satan knows that he is destined for eternal damnation and there is nothing he can do to change that. All he can do is try to delay this reality (which would never happen because God goes by His own timing) and take as many down with him as he can.

Have you ever seen a bunch of crabs in a pot? The ones at the bottom will claw at the ones on top to drag them down just to be sure that they do not escape the demise they face. That is the mentality of the devil.

Yet here is the kicker; Hell wasn't even made for you! God's plan for mankind was to enjoy the blessings of eternal life.  Hell was designed for Satan and his angels.

"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Matthew 25:41

So how does he do it?  How does Satan get multitudes of people to choose an eternity in Hell over an eternity with the Lord?  Here is the trick Satan has played.  He gets people to focus on the here and now so that they will never perceive nor enter into the reality of life after this world.

Satan knows that people aren't going to openly choose the destiny he faces, so He leads people into making this decision by default. They don't have to directly choose this fate; all they have to do is neglect the things of eternity.

"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation..." Hebrews 2:3a

God openly manifests the truth and gives you a choice.  Satan has to blind you to the truth and use slight of hand to get you to choose this world...not only because that is his character, but because no one would make such a choice otherwise.

Satan works overtime to make 50, 60, 100 years in this life feel more real than eternity by erecting a type of Fantasy Island. He beckons you with smoke and mirrors, making things appear to be what they are not.

Remember, Satan is the god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4).  The systems he puts in place (judicial, economic, educational, media, political, etc.) all work to keep you captivated with, and enslaved to, life in this world.

captivate: to capture and hold prisoner the attention of another by being interesting, pretty, etc.; to dominate by some special charm, art, or trait and with an irresistible appeal; owned or controlled by another concern and operated for its needs,
while giving the appearance of independence.

"And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." II Timothy 2:26

Take for example the recent "Celebrate Pride" image released by Facebook, where members could place a rainbow overlay on their profile pictures in order to show support for sexual perversion. It has been rumored that this was simply another Facebook social experiment as they test whether they can influence and incite human behavior.

Whether or not such is true, it worked. Many people changed their profile with this image. Yet consider this, in response, many professing Christians also changed their profile pic to show a cross overlay supporting Christianity. In either case, Satan succeeded.

Look, Satan doesn't care how you react to him, he just wants you to respond. It is like a child, give me positive or negative reinforcement, but just give me a reaction.  Some might say, "But I did this for the Lord!"  Regardless of your motives, it was done in response to the devil.

We should never react to the devil, rather we should always be on the offensive against him as directed by the Lord. Satan doesn't care what religious activity you pursue, he just wants to be the one to inspire you instead of the Lord. Don't you know that Satan will inspire you to perform even seemingly good deeds?

inspire: to make someone want to do something supernaturally; to give them an idea about what to do or create; to affect, motivate, or spur on; to spread by indirect means or through the agency of another

What the devil accomplished in this instance was simply the equivalent of getting two people in a room shouting at each other. Nothing about it destroyed or damaged his kingdom, but it makes you feel like you are doing something.  The devil is getting you to fight a war with blanks; no ammo, no power. Such is the danger of religious works.

Satan's deception is a brilliant plan really, because it even works on those persons who would deem to try and seek Christ! Go to church. sing in the choir, give food to the hungry, read your Bible, just focus your attention on earthly things. As a result, you get "churches" whose focus is bringing about civil rights and equality for the disenfranchised.  You get churches preaching how you can be rich and have your best life now.  You get Christians who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof (II Timothy 3:5).  All under the guise of serving the Lord. If you are listening to a preacher who focuses on events in this world or your life in it, then know for sure that you are listening to a minister of Babylon.

So then, you see that the answer to escaping Satan's plan is to drop out of this world.  Don't focus on this present, evil world and don't even respond to it.  Set your mind on eternity.

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Colossians 3:2

It is only as we bring the power of eternity to bear upon this temporal world that we are destroying the works of Satan. How do we do that? Like Jesus did.

"But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." Matthew 12:28

The Kingdom of God is not of this world, but it is eternal (John 18:36; II Peter 1:11).  When we walk in the powers of the world to come, we are bringing the eternal power of the living God into manifestation to those in the world (Hebrews 6:4-5). This is the one thing which frightens Satan, and this is the only thing which destroys his works: you filling up with the power of the Holy Spirit to be a living witness for Christ.

The Scriptures do not say in vain that signs will follow those who believe such as casting out devils, speaking in tongues, healing the sick, etc. (Mark 16:17-18).  So I ask you, where are your signs? Don't neglect eternity trying to focus on some temporal war in the earth, for no man who wars gets caught up in the things of this life, if you have any hope of pleasing the Lord who has called you to be a soldier in His Army (II Timothy 2:4).

"And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen." Mark 16:20

Additional Resources
The Matrix
Getting Out of the Matrix
The Magicians of the Matrix
Life Outside of the Matrix
The Religious Matrix