Posted on 02/09/2014 7:01:10 AM PST by Kaslin
Last Sunday, as most of you know, the Oscar winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a heroin overdose. Strewn about the millionaire’s abode were sixty bags of un-used smack along with five empty/used bags of the “Ace of Spades”. According to the reports, those who discovered the dead thespian said he was found deceased with a needle in his arm. Not a pretty picture.
Later that same night, as the news channels began to report on Hoffman’s death, the various talking heads began to wax eloquently about how he was a great actor, a normal guy, who rode his bike around the neighborhood, loved his children and was an all-around good dude who was now “resting in peace.”
This left me thinking, “What the hell ever happened to hell?”
Did it get shut down?
Did I miss a Facebook alert about its closing?
Did it get defunded like ACORN?
Did Obamanomics also accelerate its demise?
I wonder this because I don’t hear much about the netherworld or the Prince of Darkness anymore and it appears as if, at least according to E! News, you can believe and do whatever the heck you want nowadays and upon your seedy expiration – boom! – you’re in heaven playing a harp, walking around in a white peignoir, sitting on a cloud, eatin’ ice cream with Jesus.
As a former self-destructive, narcissistic drug addict, my carnal man wishes it had that option available thirty-plus years ago, back when I was a hellion, because I never would’ve repented and started following Christ’s lead. Because, you know, he can be a real cosmic killjoy to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life; and what druggie doesn’t want to have his coke and snort it, too?
Just think about it. What a wonderfully convenient and fleshily appealing notion. Heaven without desisting from or believing anything!
Check it out, according to the glitterati …
- I can go to heaven without faith in Christ’s sacrifice
- With zero desire to follow God’s edicts
- I can screw everything that’ll hold still
- Shoot heroin
- Snort coke
- Fuel the nasty, despicable, murderous drug trade with my money
- Utterly wreck my parents', spouse's and kids' lives pretty much forever
And when I die during an O.D. of frickin’ heroin, when I come to, I will be rocking up instantly to the same place Mother Theresa calls home. Yahtzee! What a deal. Shoot, that’s better than the Toyota Sale-A-Thon.
Unfortunately for my flesh, back when I was a user the only option available for me to pull my head out of my backside and to bank eternal security entailed my putting my trust in Jesus’ finished work on the cross and doing a 180 away from all the things that caused him and humanity pain. As stated, there was not the option of doing whatever I wanted and still entertaining a hope of heaven when I was to take the big dirt nap.
However, as seen with the Hoffman situation, it’s now being afforded to us especially if you’ve won an Oscar or a Grammy. Or if you’re a fashion designer. Or any other BS profession that entertainment lackeys drool over. To them, if you dazzled us on the silver screen, the small screen or via the stage … then hallelujah, God loves you and abracadabra … you’re in.
Does it not strike any of you as strange that playmates, reality stars, rock stars, godless actors, mean old aunts and uncles who openly defied God and all that is holy, just and good are instantly sanctified once they die and they’re heading for the same place Billy Graham is?
That’s cuckoo talk to me. But if you’re comfortable with it, good luck. That’s definitely not a dice roll I’d bet on. But then again I could be wrong and the CNN entertainment reporter could be right.
I don't think that's the point of Giles' article. Giles is pointing out that the media and Hollywood version of what happens after death is inconsistent with Christ's actual teaching, and is also concerned about the obvious sinfulness of PSH's abandoning his kids to pursue an addiction, which Hollywood's version seems to forgive without bothering to give credits to the Author of salvation.
Giles contends that only by surrendering to the Savior was he himself able to overcome addiction, and that at least his journey was not further impeded by media and Hollywood claiming that you can bypass all that repentance stuff and just get straight to Heaven anyway, because to them it's all make-believe and computer-enhanced imagery written in a script that you can act, so, yeah! Junkie Dad's in Heaven!
The media has been conflating the fact that Hoffman was loved or admired for his works here on earth with his heaven-worthiness in God's eyes. It's a pernicious untruth.
Nevertheless, none of us knows what is in the mind of God regarding this troubled actor, or anyone else, for that matter.
The Bible indicates that until the Final Judgment, there is an interval wherein people who have died are in a state of consciousness after physical death, and will have to account for everything they did and said on earth. That being the case, perhaps Hoffman can still repent; I just don't know how that works, and have been trying to fit all the repentance I can into my conscious days on earth, even though the task is monumental when you stop to think about the misery of the human condition, mine and everyone else's in this fallen world. That is why we need a Savior, and our hope is in Him. Hoffman was raised Catholic, and one hopes that after death his mind is clear enough to see how badly he hurt his children and their mother and his own mother. Is that purgatory, or a descent into hell? I'm not seeing face to face, but through a glass darkly.
Maybe he made peace with his Maker before expiring, we’ll never know. But it’s difficult to imagine a guy who died with a needle in his arm resting in peace.
No disagreement. Thank you.
Well said.
Well, we know better, really. What really is crazy is this. Where were ALL his so-called “friends” when he was tanking? Where were they to encourage rehab, or to take time for him? It’s all well and good to eulogize someone who made a contribution to your trade, but why do so many of them unwind like a spinning top, anyway? We see daily proof of the wrecked lives of our current pop generation. Really, they could ALL do with a lot less attention to their every antic. Maybe some would have the courage to actually attend to them and try to help, but to openly do so these days is to taint yourself. WHat happened to compassion for a co-worker? Well, he got his praise and fame here, and I guess that is something, when you consider that it is highly unlikely he will find any in the next life.
Our culture is showing its death spiral. Those of us who are believers...we have a huge job ahead of us. Most are going to Hell, and we will be complicit if we are not sharing our faith. It may not be welcome to many, but that should not be a deterrent.
My own personal Hell would include Windham Hill records.
There is NO WHERE CALLED PURGATORY!!! Period. A purgatory means that there is like a “holding place” for unbelievers, where they might get this second chance to accept the LORD’s free offer of grace. Ain’t gonna happen. It is here and now. Before you leave this life. The Bible makes that clear. In fact, just today on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah, he spoke on this exact thing. His hour show comes on again on DirecTV tonight at 6 pm eastern. Watch it. He fully explains it. But, to have a purgatory means that you’d get a second chance. That is not true. It is accept the free offer here and now or forget it. For man is destine to die ONCE, and then judgment!!!! No purgatory. Watch Dr. Jemimah.
God alone will decide whom he shall give mercy.
“For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
Pray that he gives you mercy. Don’t expect it just because of something you think you did to earn it.
Exactly my thought. We are taught that our behavior is what sends us to one place or the other, but that choice is ultimately out of everyone's hands. It is up to God, and he doesn't share his choices with me.
Nope, drug addiction, like all other addictions must be first engaged in by choice. It is only later that the addicted realizes that they are not as free as others to take or leave the object of their addiction. Whether it is nature or nurture, can be disputed but the personality type that is more inclined to become dependent on chemicals needs to understand that to either blame others for their problems, or worse yet, be given leeway because they have a disease, just doesn't cut it.
We are responsible for what we do and the adult accepts that fact and either chooses to put themselves first overall, is one who demands to live life by a separate set of rules the rest of us must abide.
At least Hoffman died doing what he loved....heroin.
I've listened to David Jeremiah for years, and admire much of what he says. I've also read much of the Catholic catechism, and studied the Bible, and read the opinions of Luther and Wesley, and have found much to admire also in the Russian Orthodox prelate Hilarion. What I can tell you with certainty is that no human, neither David Jeremiah nor any other, knows the mind of God with perfect accuracy.
Christians need to stop warring with one another and be able to share the same Holy and Apostolic Church with one another without requiring that everyone share the exact same set of (mis)understandings at the same time. We all have one enemy, and that fact alone should bind us together and help us to be patient with one another as we seek Him in prayer and seek to understand His Truth fully, which can only be done one heart at a time over one's lifetime.
Believing is for many not an open-and-shut matter ("Lord, I believe! Help thou mine unbelief!"—Mark 9:24) The wide variety of understandings within the many sects of Christianity indicate that many believers are sincerely believing things that may not actually be true in God's eyes. Just because people believe that they believe correctly because they want to, or even because they have studied and tried to find all the answers, does this effort or trust in the words of another human's words (even those of a pastor) make all their beliefs absolutely accurate? No, it does not. None of us really, really knows all the Divine Truth; even the most ardent believer must proceed on faith in many areas, because we inhabit a fallen world and cannot escape participating in sin, no matter how hard we try.
So what happens to the ardent believers whose beliefs are inaccurate when they die? Are they believers, or are they unbelievers? Have they believed in a false sense of Christ, even with the best, most innocent intentions? Do they go to heaven immediatly because they wanted to believe, and get an A for effort? Or would the angels spend some time with them helping them to correct their misunderstandings, so that they could then enter the Final Judgment with a clearer slate? If the latter is the case, then that period of time might be what the Catholics are referring to as "purgatory." And yes, I know there is no such thing as "time" in eternity. There are many, many mysteries about which to have faith, once one has accepted the main gist of Christ's teaching of forgiveness, repentance, redemption and salvation.
Your’s is the best response!
The scriptures are clear......God’s word......Period
.....any other opinions are just feel good pretension, or inaccurate speculation
Wow! I’m glad I now know that Doug Giles is God and that he can send people to Hell.
Only God knows who is going to Hell. It could even be that the perfect Doug Giles is on his way there.
In the meantime, never forget: “Between the saddle and the ground is mercy sought and mercy found.”
The story of the onion is a classic...I believe even Dostoyevsky tells it.
His version is that this evil old woman’s one good deed was to give an onion to a starving person.
For that, an onion is lowered down to pull her out of hell, to which St Michael, weigher of souls, had first sent her. But when she grabs onto it, other souls try to get out with her. Instead of helping them, she kicks them off...which makes the onion break, sending her back to hell.
Doug Giles is not pretending to be God.
He is asserting his kinship with our Lord and Savior .......Giles is acknowledging his transformation by way of repentance and forgiveness.
He was originally Philip Hoffman, and added Seymour (a family name, a grandparent’s last name, I believe) to make it more distinctive. He was from Upstate New York.
Oh. So Giles can now read his own soul and knows that he’s perfect and can judge others? Convenient.
Amen.
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