by Nathan Smelser<\/p>\n
An aged gentleman says, “Well, I believe in God, what else is there?”<\/p>\n
His health is dire; I had asked if he knew the Lord.<\/p>\n
Folks: Observe the disastrous consequences of “easy believism.”<\/p>\n
This gentleman had likely been assured that as long as he believed in God, all was well. There is no need to go further, to learn the Word, to follow the Lord diligently.<\/p>\n
But what does the Word say?<\/p>\n
God will ultimately deal out “retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus<\/em>.” (Excerpt from II Thessalonians 1)<\/p>\n There is a God to know<\/strong>. There is a gospel to obey<\/strong>. It therefore needs to be read or heard and understood. And then there is a life to live in Christ because one believes His promises (e.g., Hebrews 11, etc.).<\/p>\n Is God cruel to punish? Not at all! Every good thing we have and enjoy is a gift from Him! If we are the least bit understanding and grateful, we ought to want more of His goodness and to be willing to do the hard things that He asks of us to become what His grace is instructing us to become (Titus 2:11-14).<\/p>\n He created us, He suffered and died for us, He fills our lives with many good and beautiful things. But if we think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads to repentance, do we think that we will escape His righteous judgment? (Romans 2:3-4)<\/p>\nGiven all that He has done and continues to do to draw us to Himself, God is not cruel to punish those who think little of His goodness toward us. Don’t be separated from the God of all good!<\/p>\n May God give this gentleman and all of us even more time to learn and obey, and may we all diligently seek Him.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Nathan Smelser An aged gentleman says, “Well, I believe in God, what else is there?” His health is dire; I had asked if he knew the Lord. Folks: Observe the disastrous consequences of “easy believism.” This gentleman had likely been assured that as long as he believed in God, all was well. There is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[53,1008],"class_list":["post-88300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith-alone","tag-faith-only"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40692,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/those-strange-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":88300,"position":0},"title":"Those “Strange People”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert F. Turner Years ago I shared a seat on the train with a \"missionary\" returning from work in Alaska. He told me he met some \"strange people\" up there who thought they could work out their own salvation. I said, \"With fear and trembling; Philippians 2:12.\" \"No, No!\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21421,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-ii-thessalonians-17-9-referring-to-two-groups-of-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":88300,"position":1},"title":"Is II Thessalonians 1:7-9 referring to two groups of people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In II Thessalonians 1:7-9,\u00a0are those who know not God, and those who obey not the gospel two groups of people, and if so what groups is this verse referring to? Answer: \"...\u00a0and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25034,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/of-course-god-sends-people-to-hell-but-hell-doesnt-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":88300,"position":2},"title":"Of course God sends people to hell, but hell doesn’t exist!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Your article that God does not send people to hell falls way short of giving any real and meaningful answer.\u00a0 True, people have a choice to some extent and God will not force Himself on anyone, but it most\u00a0certainly\u00a0says in the Scriptures that no one can come to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47349,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/obeying-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":88300,"position":3},"title":"Obeying God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Stackhouse On one occasion King Saul had been given a direct command from God to utterly destroy Amalek, including men and women, children and infants, as well as all the livestock (I Samuel 15:3).\u00a0 However, Saul and the people spared Agag, the king of Amalek, along with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-must-i-do-to-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":88300,"position":4},"title":"What Must I Do to be Saved? 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\nHowever, teaching “belief only” is a cruel, cruel lie that leads to wasted lives, regret, and sorrow. Without correction, it leads to eternal separation from the God who is the source of all good things: Those who do not believe and obey “…will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power<\/em>” (II Thessalonians 1:9) What a description of hell!\n