All over the world during the Easter season, multitudes will gather in churches to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and hear about life after death. Many will suppress a yawn and attend their "yearly church service" to please their spouse. Others will attend out of curiosity; still others, because it makes them "feel good" to think about the cycle of life and new things growing out of death.
Pastors will wax eloquent before large crowds, families will don their finest clothes and the children will gather Easter eggs. Easter is a time of joy and promise as the first blades of grass begin to peek through the shroud of winter. In the pastel climate of spring, eternal life is a popular subject. Yet, how many people will really stop to think about how they can obtain eternal life? How many people will actually know the truth about how to receive it? How many will give their heart and lives to God so they may understand who Jesus Christ really was and who He still is? What does His death and resurrection actually mean to mankind?
A remnant of believers will celebrate Resurrection Day, knowing the real meaning of this season, but many more will simply be going through the tradition of a religious service. Religion cannot save anyone. Only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ the Son of God can give us life after death.
In today's world, most people do not have a problem believing in the fact that the spirit is eternal. Even those who do not consider themselves "religious" often believe in some form of life after the grave. They just aren't sure what it is, and many do not want to know. Hell is an unfashionable topic. New Age teachings have settled in almost every facet of our society with vague, cozy feelings of the "afterlife."
We have read many documented accounts of people who have died in their physical bodies and have given testimony that they entered into a spiritual dimension beyond this life. Life did not cease for them. They then returned to their bodies to tell of their experiences. Some tell of seeing a "white light," others give descriptions of hell; still others see Jesus or angels. What awaits us on the other side? This will be determined by what we did in this life. Just because people report they saw a "white light" does not mean they will go to heaven when they die. Proverbs 14:12: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." There is only one way any of us will go to heaven and it is through accepting Christ as our savior. This is the message of the cross. Jesus died so that we could live and have eternal life. It is not our works that will save us. We must repent of our sins and ask Jesus to come into our heart and change us. Then we shall live and not die. John 14:6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
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