Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead. Acts 17:31

Sometimes these essays sound more like a civics lesson than a religious essay, and for good reason. The kingdom of God is a real government, and so is the kingdom of Satan. You are either the citizen of the one or of the other, with no third option.

Did you know that there is no such thing as a neutral position in this war? You are either on God's side or Satan's side, whether you are an active participant in the war or passively involved in other pursuits.

Most people would rather avoid facing this issue altogether. They have lots of things to do for their jobs and families. They think they are doing the best they can just keeping up with their busy schedules, and hope that if there is a God and a Heaven, that living as good a life as possible will get them in there after they die.

Unfortunately, life now and in the hereafter doesn't work that way. Because our first parents Adam and Eve joined Satan's rebellion against God, you were born into the physical realm of the kingdom of darkness. Your citizenship is there unless you actively choose to join God's kingdom instead. This isn't a philosophical issue that you can choose to consider when you find a bit of time in your schedule, any more than the earthly citizenship you hold in your country of birth is a philosophical issue. Both are real citizenships determined by your place of birth, and both have to be changed by a real choice and application for emigration to a different country. Only people who can't rationally understand the situation and make a declaration of their wishes to join God's kingdom at some point in their life, like very young children, are exempt.

Since God made everyone and everything, He has the right and responsibility as Creator to decide where you end up for eternity. He created us to be loving, responsible children in an emotionally healthy relationship with Him, but one where we are free to make choices. True love isn't possible if it isn't freely given and received. God wants us to grow up spiritually into self-controlled beings who love justice and mercy and walk humbly with Him and each other. He wants us to choose His ways of peace, righteousness, and love voluntarily. If you refuse this and choose to follow Satan's ways of war, sin, and hatred, God must confine you with Satan forever to protect His family.

Satan wants to be the absolute ruler of everyone, with no regard to his followers' well being. There is no reasoning with Satan to leave you alone, since he is determined to gather as many followers to fight God as he can by any means possible, and to neutralize God's children to eliminate as much opposition as possible. Even people who don't intentionally follow Satan are used as weapons to hurt God whenever and however possible.

There would never have been a Hell created to confine Satan and his family if Satan hadn't caused the civil war in the first place. It is his eternal refusal to stop his lawless, sinful, murderous ways and his followers refusal as well that is the reason that there must be a place for them to be confined in eternity. God does not want to have to punish his creatures, but He can't let their sins go unpunished. Even small sins lead to bigger ones eventually if the sinning being refuses to repent of them and let God cleanse him of them.

Satan and his followers have committed worse sins as time has gone on and he has tried new tactics to fight God. He will undoubtly continue to grow worse with every sinful deed he commits. Just look at the way a child goes from small sins to a full fledged criminal as an adult if he refuses to repent of his lesser crimes and just goes on to worse ones to see what God is having to deal with. Try to imagine what Satan and his followers could turn into if allowed to have free choices to continue warring against God, and it is quite clear why there must be an eternal prison with an eternal punishment to put a stop to sin once and for all. Just as we eventually lock up a hardened criminal for life without parole, God is going to lock up the hardened criminals among the fallen angels and fallen humans.

Please don't let the daily cares of this life entangle you to the point that you never make the application for citizenship in God's kingdom while you still have time. You are in the middle of the civil war whether you want to be or not. Satan has already been defeated in the highest Heavenlies and at the Cross on Earth. He is thoroughly enraged because he can see that he doesn't have much time before his final defeat on Earth, and the flood of evil on this Earth is from his desperate attempts to do as much harm as possible while he still can.

It does no good to protest that you would rather not take part in any of this, that you would choose to have another religion or no religion at all. To do so makes as much sense as to deny citizenship in the Earthly country which claims you by reason of your place of birth. Just try to avoid obeying its laws, paying its taxes, or fighting in its wars if your government summons you to duty. You'll find real policemen arresting you and taking you to court or the psychiatric hospital to find out why you are in denial of the reality of the country in which you live.

The question of personal accountability is one where a lot of people balk at becoming Christians. They somehow think that if they don't become a Christian, in fact if they deny that there is a God at all, they won't be accountable to Him. They think that their freedom of thought and action would be limited by obeying God's commands, and that they can govern their own actions just fine on their own.

One of Satan's favorite lies is that Christianity is a legalistic system that binds people with a host of unfair laws. He likes to say that it will ruin any fun in your life with burdensome regulations that you can't possibly tolerate. He likes to say that he is the great liberator of mankind, freeing us to develop our full potential just like he did.

A little thought about how that worked out in the Heavenlies and on the Earth shows what a hollow sham that is. Because the fallen angels followed Satan in his ways, they were freed from peace of mind, which is far more precious than any material possession. They were freed from their peaceful homes with plenty of whatever they needed to meet their needs, too. They liberated the rest of the heavenly host from peace of mind with a war in the heavens which is still going on here on the Earth, liberating us from peace of mind and lives and limbs and homes and material possessions as well. All this "liberation" doesn't sound like a good thing to me.

God's laws can be summed up by saying that you should love Him with everything in you and love your neighbor as yourself, because love does no wrong to anyone. Just as law abiding citizens on Earth do not find their country's laws binding if they are accustomed to following them by habit, God's laws are not binding to the Christian.

To the lawless man, however, the law is a constant irritant, telling him not to do what he wishes and threatening punishment if he does it anyway. Because so many criminals insist on committing crimes, the law abiding citizens of Earth have their liberties curtailed by the measures necessary to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our property and to deal with the problems that arise when our liberties are violated by the lawless.

Ironically, criminals complain when they are locked up for crimes, but see no problem when we must lock ourselves up in our homes or restrict our travels and activities in our own community for our protection against them. It is the same complaint Satan makes against God's laws. He is in rebellion against them and rages when he is stopped from carrying out his plans. Whenever you are tempted to violate God's law of love by sinning against someone else, ask yourself if you would want that done to you. If you wouldn't, don't do it. God's ways are that simple.

Those who repent of sin against Him and join His family will give an account of themselves to determine their rewards for their service. Those who continue to oppose Him will be brought before Him to be judged for their actions in this life. They won't have to actively worship and serve Satan to be declared part of his kingdom and confined with him in Hell.

Christianity is founded on the historical record of the God who created us and everything else and His desire to have a relationship with you. It isn't a man-made philosophy of life which you can take or leave if you choose. It is the real message of the real God who is one day going to end 6000 years of punishment of the human race because our first parents joined in the rebellion led by Satan against God. He loves you and wants you to rejoin His family before He must arrange the final judgment of your life in the Heavenly courts.

Jesus Christ came not only to redeem mankind, but to redeem the Earth as well. Adam and Eve were the first rulers of the Earth for mankind, only to lose legal ownership of it to Satan when they joined his rebellion against God. Since then, we have been living as prisoners behind enemy lines on a world that was supposed to be ours to rule and make our homes.

At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus will return with the title deed to the Earth and reclaim it for all of us. All of the wicked will be gathered from it and judged. The 1000 year kingdom that follows will be one of absolute peace, mercy, and justice. Everyone will be able to live in his own home without fear of attack or theft. The curse on the Earth will be lifted. The animals will become tame, and the thorns and thistles will be replaced with bountiful harvests. We'll be able to see for ourselves what God intended for mankind on the Earth, just as it was before Adam and Eve rebelled.

Sadly, even that won't be enough to convince some people of God's good will towards mankind, and there will be one more rebellion against Him before the final judgments of all the rebels. Then there will be a new Earth where there will never again be sin, bloodshed, sickness, and any other evil we now experience. The only people on Earth will be God's children, and we will never again experience war, famine, pestilence, or any want.

Just as He kept His other promises to us, He is clearly getting ready to keep His promise to return. He will surely keep His promise of a Judgment Day as well. Don't be left behind to face that judgment as His enemy. Sincerely pray this prayer, and you will be saved:

Dear God, I'm sorry for my sins. I want to join your Heavenly family and I submit to King Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I renounce anything to do with Satan, his kingdom, and his ways. Please save me and adopt me as one of Your children. In Jesus' Name, Amen