Rev. A.J. Ogden

With millions dropping into Hell every month in this world, you would think a great majority would want to hear about Heaven and how to get there. But no, as a whole, they do not see. The simple plan of God’s salvation is the most needed and least appreciated of any message on earth by most people. The Bible says in John 1:11-12, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Then, as now, only a tiny few repented.

Many years ago a lady wanted me to preach her mother’s funeral in New Orleans. She said, “Now preacher, I want to make a request of you before you preach it.” I asked her what the request was. She said she did not want me to say anything about Jesus Christ, God, or salvation. I said, “Dear lady, I do not do that kind of funeral. If I preach it, Jesus will be the main thing, and eternal salvation in him and him alone will be my theme. She decided to struggle along without me and without God.

Like a score of other nations that fell to the dust, my country does not want me to display a Ten Commandments sign on any public property. The government forbids prayer in school and other places. My nation, which is trying to live without God, needs to review history and see how it caused others to crumble and fall. Sodom, Gomorrah, and almost countless others have been down that road.

Paul lived at a dark time in history when the Gospel was unpopular, unaccepted, and hated, but God told him to do the following: II Timothy 4:2-3, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”