Those who rejected Christ and salvation are in hell
Those who rejected Jesus will face Him as a Judge at the hour of death. In a single gaze they will see that He is not their friend, that He is not their Saviour, because they rejected Him again and again, stifled their conscience, believed in lies, systematically resisted the truth, Christ and good, all connected with salvation and the Gospel that was distorted by them. In that single moment they will see the fruit. St Bernard says that the very sins they committed will cry out saying: “We are your work; we shall not desert you.” And St John Chrysostom: “The wounds of Jesus will accuse you. Your sins will reproach you. The cross of Christ, which was the means of bringing salvation to you, will rise up against you.”
So the principal cause of damnation lies in man’s refusal to believe, to receive God’s truth, and in his choice to believe the devil’s lies. As Jesus says in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus: “They will not believe, though one should rise from the dead!” Why not? Because they do not want to believe, do not want to receive the truth. And this is the sin against the Holy Spirit – rejecting the truth in advance. But that truth concerns everyone personally! It is about the salvation of the soul!
Example: It was about 1812 when Napoleon marched on Moscow. There were also two Russian officers in the war who made a pact with each other that whichever one of them died first would let the other know whether there was hell or not. They were a little drunk when they made the deal. They discussed and said: “There is no hell.” Then they shook hands and closed the debate with the words: “Ah, there’s no hell! Whichever of us dies first will come to say that it doesn’t exist.” A few months later, about four o’clock in the morning, one of the officers suddenly woke up, shuddering with horror at the sight of his comrade burning in flames. He looked at him and said: “Hell is real, and I’m there!” Then everything disappeared. About a month later, he received a letter telling him that this officer had died on the battlefield. It was the very day and hour when he saw him in flames. The officer had fallen at the front, and with him perished his soul. Once death comes, it is too late.
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