I was almost 35 years old when I came in to any kind of close relationship with a chiropractor. Diane and I were living in the Austin area when we met a chiropractor and his wife through a business connection. As we began working closely with this couple, we began to learn more about chiropractic care and the knowledge we received began to unwind the critical thinking and opinions we once had about chiropractors. As a child, I would hear my dad say things like: “Chiropractors are a bunch of quacks! They are fake doctors!” All throughout my life I would continue to hear other people say similar things; therefore, I came to accept and believe the same perspective. As we began to grow closer to the Austin couple, we began to trust the chiropractor to give us adjustments. From that day forward, our family’s health went to a whole new level! We learned more than I can address in this particular blog as this is merely an illustration of how preconceived ideas and mindsets can cause limitations and setbacks in your life. I missed my senior year of college football due to a lower back injury prior to our season starting. Knowing what I understand today, I believe if I had chiropractic treatment at that time, I may not have missed my senior season (something I had worked very hard for physically, and emotionally). It caused me great emotional pain and others, as I inflicted pain upon many others because of the anger and bitterness of missing my senior season.
Any soldier who has gone to war knows that what he doesn’t know can hurt him. He is taught every single tactic regarding what to look for in enemy territory and what to look for in the enemy as well. If a hidden land mine or IED lies ahead of a soldier traveling in a vehicle, what he doesn’t know could cost him his very life. It is important to keep your eyes wide open and your mind clear from preconceived ideas and notions that you may “have all figured out.”
I have had many conversations throughout the years with people about heaven and hell. I certainly do not have the answer to all of life’s mysteries; however, I have come to some conclusions with great confidence. We will live in eternity, either in heaven or hell. I am not going to quote a bunch of Scripture from God’s Holy Book as I want to leave research and studying up to you. I have done mine and will continue to do so. Hungry people find the food they are desperate for. When a shipment of dry goods gets dumped by plane over south Sudan, the people who have walked for days to get to the drop point will find food. When one is hungry for answers regarding the matters of life and death, he or she will search for food. I will say God’s Holy Book, the Holy Bible, is the final answer for any of life’s mysteries.
Throughout the years, due to my hunger for understanding eternity, I have read countless books on heaven and hell. I have read books about people’s near death experiences, actual death experiences in which they have been brought back to life, and stories about trips to heaven. I have also read countless books about people’s journeys to hell, where they were having a near death experience, or Jesus had taken them on a journey to hell and given them instructions to write about some of the things they had witnessed in hell. These books are intended to give the reader knowledge about eternity and the consequences of the choices we make during this life. In reading all of these books, I have found very consistent patterns in each author’s story, and also found each author to have a deeper understanding of God’s Holy Book as a result. Due to experiences they allegedly were a part of, every author came to an understanding of certain Scriptures many of us would read and not really understand, due to the lack of personal experience or revelation of that Scripture. This certainly does not make these books and these writings as authoritative as Scripture; however, these books and writings of people’s visits to heaven or hell surely give you insight as to what eternity for each and every one of us may look like, if were to die at this very moment.
I do know this: hell is a real place. It is a place of eternal torment, more gruesome than any human being can possibly fathom. God did not create hell for you and me; He created hell for Satan and his demons (you will have to search this one out for yourself as well). But many people do go to hell, and will continue to spend eternity in hell where the fire never goes out and the canker worm never dies. Every person who cares about where they will spend eternity owes it to themselves to study this topic! There’s not one person in hell who, if allowed to come back, would not quit spreading the love of Jesus to every living human being they were around each day, all day, until their life ended again. Unfortunately, those who are in hell are there permanently. Those who have taken a journey there, and were instructed to write books about it, cannot stop sharing this truth with others as they do not want to see any person to go to the horrifying place they witnessed. I just finished reading Mary K. Baxter’s book Divine Revelation of Hell for the third time over the past decade or so, and it is such a good reminder of why I do what I do, and why I don’t do what I used to do.
When I was 30 years old, one of my favorite songs was “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC. I was a hard core rock & roll fan and not a good person. At that time I thought I was a good enough; however, my thoughts, actions, and beliefs did not match up to God’s economy. There is only one true King, and that King will one day decide where each of us spends eternity. I hope that you do your due diligence to be sure you seek all the knowledge you can about eternity, so that you do not experience pain or suffering due to the fact that “What you didn’t know…ultimately will hurt you…forever.”
