unPHILtered: The Way I See It (20 page)

The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

Now, use your own judgment about what was just said there. I have an idea: God is going to resurrect and make another Earth, one in which we’ll have eternity with God. Simply put, God created it all, created us, waited, and no time has passed for Him. Then He is going to step back in and destroy it all. But the ones who put their faith in Jesus will live eternally like Him, and we’ll get a new heaven and a new Earth. God, in His love and mercy, has made human beings so they can live eternally like Him, instead of being swept away forever and ever.

Being cast to hell is missing the opportunity to live eternally. Whether you believe that hell is an actual burning fire or that the descriptions of hell in the Scripture are metaphors, the bottom line is that you can live forever with God, or you can be separated from him for eternity.

Because of my faith, I’m not one who cries at funerals and mourns a loved one’s death. Sure, I hate that they’re not here on earth with me anymore, but I know one day soon we’ll be together again with Jesus. I believe Jesus died and rose again, so I believe God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. I don’t think He’ll take our bodies from the cemetery. When Jesus makes His final return, He’ll bring back our souls and spirits, whether our earthly bodies were laid to rest one thousand years ago or ten years ago. Our souls and spirits will be reunited with a glorified body, an eternal body. I don’t think there’s any doubt about it—we’ll have some kind of body. That’s why Jesus came back from the dead bodily. His disciples touched Him and fed Him fish. Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended from the earth and returned to the heavens. His eleven disciples were looking in the sky, saying, “Good grief. That’s a glimpse of the body we’re going to get when Jesus returns.” That is the story the Bible tells us, and I personally think it’s a little too wild for humans to dream up.

When we physically die on
earth, our heart stops beating and our loved ones bury our bodies in a cemetery or cremate us. We leave our bodies behind, but we’re still alive in soul and spirit. No time will pass as we wait for Jesus to return.

A few years ago, I underwent surgery to have a kidney stone removed. The kidney stone was pretty painful, so I finally relented and had it surgically removed. I usually have a pretty good pain threshold, but that sucker was painful.

As I was lying on the operating table, the doctors gave me anesthesia and I closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was waking up. “How long did that take?” I asked the doctor.

“About an hour,” he told me.

“Now I understand the resurrection,” I said.

The doctor looked at me and then turned to a nurse.

“He’s hallucinating,” he said.

“I’m not hallucinating,” I told him. “I lost that hour because I was dead asleep. Look, it could have been ten hours. It would have been the same thing. I would have closed my eyes and then woken up. I would have still been dead asleep. It wouldn’t have made any difference because no time was passing for me.”

Honestly, it might have been one thousand years, no difference. You close your eyes and then open them. That’s resurrection time. No one is sitting in their grave, twiddling their thumbs, waiting for the second coming of Jesus. They’re dead asleep, but their soul is alive and waiting. When is Jesus
coming? I don’t know and neither does anyone else. Let’s look at 2 Peter 3 one more time. It tells us never to forget one thing:
“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance”
(verses 8–9). Jesus is waiting, and He wants more of us to turn from our sins and repent. He doesn’t want anyone to perish.

As I think about the second coming of Jesus, I’m reminded of the recall notices I find in my mailbox from time to time. It seems like automobile manufacturers are recalling their vehicles more than ever before because of safety concerns. If we’re spending an arm and leg to purchase a new car or truck, you would think the automobile companies would build them safe the first time. In 2013 alone, auto manufacturers recalled twenty-two million cars and trucks in the United States. Jesus’ return is like a recall on mankind. We don’t know when it’s coming, but don’t believe that it won’t happen. Eventually, we’re all going to have to stand before God and give an account of our lives. And make no mistake about it: He’s going to recall us because we’re broken. We’re all sinners, but it’s not too late to turn from our sins and come to Christ Jesus.

I
n the last two chapters, we’ve talked about the bad news: sin and death. We can’t really understand how good the Good News is until we understand how bad off we are without it. But there is a way out of our sad predicament. Are you ready for it? Here it is:
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
(1 Timothy 1:15).

If this statement isn’t true, then you can pretty much disregard everything I’ve written in this book.

But I’m going to warn you: we wouldn’t be better off for it. We’d be far worse off, because if Jesus didn’t die to save us, then we have six-foot holes waiting for us and that will be the end of us. However, if the statement is true—and I certainly believe that it is—then we have hope beyond the grave. If Jesus didn’t
die for us, then we all lose, and the grave ends it. If He did, then some of us will win, and sadly, the people who don’t place their faith in Him will lose.

After reading this book—especially the last two chapters—I hope I’ve helped you reach the conclusion that there are two problems we can’t fix. We can’t solve them for ourselves, the government can’t solve them, and medical technology can’t solve them.

The first problem is sin, and it’s what’s plaguing the world today. When we come from our mothers we don’t yet have a sense of right and wrong. But when we reach a certain age and know right from wrong, we all violate what we know to be right (see Romans 2:15). Romans 1:20 says that through His creation, God has made Himself known to everyone:
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
When we’re old enough, we violate whatever law we know in some form or fashion. In fact, most of us violate it over and over again. Once we commit the first violation, we die spiritually in the eyes of God. All we have to do is never violate what we know to be right, and we’ll have nothing to worry about. Well, since we’re all humans, we all sin and none of us are perfect. So the bad news is: sin is a real problem.

But sin isn’t our only problem. After we’ve sinned, we walk around the rest of our lives waiting on
physical death
. The first problem is spiritual death, and then physical death comes along. But if we’ve accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our problems are solved. Jesus Christ is the solution to sin and death. He is the one we count time by—ever since He came to this earth 2,014 years ago. He is the one who was, in fact, God in flesh. God was born to a human mother, just like we were. The difference between Jesus and us is that He never violated the law. God, in His kindness and love for us, chose to fix our sin and death problems—which would have separated us from Him for eternity—by allowing Jesus to take our punishment on Himself and become the perfect sacrifice.

God decided He would make us perfect, but we have to come to Him through Jesus to be viewed as perfect. When we place our trust in Jesus, God doesn’t count our sins against us.
“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit”
(Psalm 32:1–2). God provided forgiveness of our sins through Jesus by sending Him to Earth and allowing human beings to take His life. Now, a lot of people were crucified in the first century. But Jesus was God in the human body and was crucified for the sins of the world. The price paid by God to remove your sin and mine was the blood of a holy, perfect God who was in a human body. Jesus died so our sins would be removed.

Jesus solved our first problem—sin—by dying on the cross. And He’s also the solution to our second problem—physical death. In the first century they did the same thing with their deceased that we do in the twenty-first century. They buried them. They buried Jesus, and then three days later, our second problem was solved when Jesus came forth from the grave alive. He came out of the grave bodily and He was alive. They thought He was a ghost, which makes sense to me. So He had them touch Him, feel Him with their hands, and He told them,
“A ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have”
(Luke 24:39). A dead body went into the tomb, and then that body stood back up on earth. When I first read what happened to Jesus, it opened my eyes. The story convinced me that if there was ever any way to escape the grave, the escape route was right there—Jesus of Galilee. Jesus removed our sin and was raised from the dead. He convinced Constantine of it back in about the fourth century, and He convinced me of it about two thousand years later.

It’s our way out of here; I’m wholly convinced of it. The Good News is that all you have to do is believe, and it’s free of charge. It’s the grace of God personified in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It is the gospel. It won’t cost you anything. The only thing you have to do is believe it, turn from whatever sins you have, and change your mind. You want
change and hope? Change your mind because of Jesus and put your hope in His resurrection from the dead—that’s the greatest hope anybody can have. The gospel and the grace of God are the source of change and hope—and they’re about the only free things you’re ever going to find while you’re living on planet Earth.

Escaping your grave isn’t hard. Repent of your sins and confess Jesus as Lord. Then follow through by having somebody take you to a pond, creek, or pothole and baptize you. The reason you do this is the one Who died and was buried and raised from the dead said,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
(Matthew 28:18–19). Those were His marching orders—some of His last words after His resurrection and before He ascended back to heaven. Jesus’ disciples did exactly what He instructed them to do. More than two thousand years later, as a follower of Jesus, I too am doing what He said to do. I’m doing the exact same thing. You can research all of it. The gospel is the same, Jesus is the same, and the response is the same. I’m not saying anything that you can’t document, read, and verify on your own by simply picking up a Bible and reading it. I strongly suggest you do so.

Jesus told us to go forth and tell people the Good News, and that’s what I’m doing. I condemn no one, and you don’t have to judge anybody. Just go forth and tell people about Jesus. The power to save people is in the
story
. Just tell the story. I say with the Apostle Paul:
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it
is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes”
(Romans 1:16). The gospel will change people’s hearts and lives, and others need to hear the Good News from our lips to their ears. I’m convinced of the power of the gospel to change.

You wouldn’t believe how many people come to White’s Ferry Road Church in West Monroe, Louisiana (where we attend), because of the popularity of
Duck Dynasty
. People drive in from all over the country to worship with us. They’ll attend my Sunday school classes, and many of them will ask to be baptized in our church. Shortly after the flap over my interview with
GQ
magazine went viral, two people came to our church and told me they were upset about the way the media and other groups were portraying me.

My son Jase had baptized one of the men in the river many years earlier, but he had fallen away from God. We hadn’t seen him in many years. The guy told me he was sitting in a bar, drinking heavily and snorting cocaine every thirty minutes, when he saw my picture on TV. He said he became enraged when he learned that people were giving me a hard time for reading a list of sins from the Bible. When he started yelling, other patrons in the bar scolded him. “How are you going to defend him?” someone in the bar asked him. “You’re the sorriest guy around here.” Those words convicted him. The man told me he was a drunkard, an adulterer, and sexually immoral.