In Mark 16:15-16, Jesus says to his apostles "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." *

Allow me to begin by clearly defining, from the Greek, a couple of phrases within this verse. Our word 'believeth' is taken from the Greek word 'pisteuo', which means "to have faith in, upon, or with respect to a person or thing, to entrust."

'Shall be saved' is used in place of the Greek 'sozo' and means 'to save, deliver, protect (literally or figuratively). 'Shall be damned' is used for 'katakrino' and means "To judge against, to sentence". **

So in other words, Jesus has told his apostles that everyone that places their complete faith and trust in the gospel will be delivered and protected. Those that do not will be judged and sentenced. This raises a couple questions, such as: "what does it mean to be damned, judged, sentenced...what will the saved people be saved from? What’s going on?"

The answer to this can be found in Revelation 20:15, where the apostle John writes "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." This, my friends, is that "eternity in hell" that is heard from believers like myself. This leaves us with the most important question: What is the gospel? Well, the word Jesus used in the Greek is from 'euaggelion' and means "a good message, or good news."

Ok, so apparently there is a bit of good news that, if trusted and believed in, will lead either to an eternity in Heaven or an eternity in Hell. So what's the good news? Well, the answer to that question begins in Genesis 1:1 and encompasses the entire Bible.

Most stories begin with the words "once upon a time." God's story begins with the words "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." Unlike fairytales, this story is true. We see the literal account of creation taking place in the book of Genesis. We also see the fall of man. Within the Garden of Eden there was one particular tree that Adam and Eve, the first two humans to ever live, were forbidden to eat from. This tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God’s instructions were simple: "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17).

Fairly simple, right? Adam and Eve had it made. They communed with God, they had the serenity of a more beautiful garden than the world has known, and life was good. Shouldn't be too hard to obey one simple instruction, right? Wrong. At this point in the story we have three characters- God, Adam, and Eve. Here is the forth: the serpent. Identified as Satan in the book of Revelation, the serpent goes to Eve and tells her that, contrary to what God has said, she should go ahead and eat some fruit. He says in Genesis 3:5 "for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

In other words, Satan led Eve to believe that God didn’t want her and Adam to eat that particular fruit merely because God didn't want them to become God-like, as He was. Well, Eve fell for it and ate the fruit. We see in the same verse (6) that Adam, who was with her, also ate it. The rest of Genesis chapter 3 details God’s confrontation with Adam and Eve, their weak attempts to excuse their sin, the curses that God placed on both of them (as well as Satan), and then their exile from the Garden of Eden. Now sin has entered into the world, and with it death- both spiritually and physically.

I'd like to stop here and try my best to answer a question that has entertained scholars and theologians for quite possibly thousands of years, and it's a question that I believe most of us have asked within ourselves. The question is: "Why?"

Why would God create mankind, knowing we would fail? Why did God create Satan? If God is perfect, how could He create a less-than-perfect being? Why did God create people, knowing they would go to Hell? Why, why, why?

I’ll tell you why. It's because He loved us. Now let me explain, because I know that on the surface this explanation sounds bizarre. My reasoning is simple, though. We must first realize that God truly does love us all. John 3:16 tells us that God loves the entire world. Indeed, 1 John 4:8 tells us that God IS love. What does this have to do with our inevitable sin? Everything.

See, God absolutely will not force anyone to love Him. He will not force anyone to obey Him. He will not make us do things we refuse to do. Will He chastise and correct us? Of course. But does He force us to love Him? No, He doesn't. God created the angels, and He created man, but He also created them with free will, or the ability to choose whether or not to serve and accept Him. Satan chose to rebel against God. We can read this in Isaiah 14. Because of his sin, God cast him and his followers out from Heaven. Revelation 12:4 tells us that 1/3 of the angels in Heaven also exercised their will and chose to side with Satan. Likewise, Adam and Eve chose to sin. God could have made the angels incapable of sin. He could have made Adam and Eve incapable of sin...but had He done this, He would have removed their freedom of choice from the equation. He would have had nothing more than robots designed and built exclusively to serve Him without thought or question, and there is no love in that. True love demands a choice, without it you have a dictatorship.

So now we have sin, and with it separation from a righteous, holy God. How do we fix this chasm that has occurred between us and our creator? How do we as sinners convince a God of pure Holiness to let us back into His presence? Well...we can’t. Not without a sacrifice, anyways. See, God demands sheer perfection. And because He knew we were unable to live perfect lives, He devised a way for His followers to have their sins forgiven. This method is found in Exodus 29:36 as God tells Moses that "thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement." In other words, a bull free of blemish was to be sacrificed daily as atonement for the sins of God’s followers. The price of their sins was death, and they appeased this punishment by way of a sacrifice.

This is a process seen throughout the Old Testament as the Israelite tribe of Levi carried out the duties of the priests and interceded for the people. Then, various prophets began to speak of a Messiah, one who would once and for all become a sacrifice for the people, one that would pay for their sins and reconcile them to God. Isaiah 53 speaks in great detail of this. Earlier in that book, Isaiah prophecies about a sign concerning the coming Messiah. He says in chapter 7, verse 14 "therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

A little more than 400 years pass by with silence from Heaven, as far as the Bible goes. We have no inspired books of the Bible written during these four centuries. We find now in Matthew chapter one that a young woman named Mary, a virgin, finds herself pregnant. Her soon to be husband Joseph, while in the very thought of what to do about his now-pregnant fiancé (bear in mind he knows that the child is not his. He and Mary had not been intimate yet), is visited by an angel.

Matthew 1:20-23 says: "But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.' Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

The Messiah had arrived.

Jesus of Nazareth was an amazing man. 100% man, yet 100% God, he lived about 30 years before beginning his ministry. His first recorded words in the book of Mark are "the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye, and believe the gospel."

There's that word again, 'gospel.' Even then, Jesus was preparing people for it. There are so many roads I could hop on with this, so many ways to summarize the next three years of Jesus' life. Please bear in mind as you read this that I am presenting a bare-bones summarization of the Bible. I'm condensing into a few pages what my Bible says in 2500 pages.

Jesus lived a flawless, sinless, perfect life. He spent the last three years of it teaching and loving those around him. He taught about Hell and eternal life. He taught how we're to behave towards each other. He taught repentance, and to be born again spiritually. A huge part of his ministry was working miracles to demonstrate his love and power. The first four books of the New Testament record over 35 miracles that Jesus performed. This was just a small fraction of the works that He did. In fact, the last verse in the book of John says "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."

These miracles included healing the deaf and blind, feeding thousands of people from a small amount of food, healing lepers and paralyzed people, and even raising the dead. There was no doubt that He was indeed the son of God. Jesus told us in John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

Jesus told us that He came to earth so that we could be saved from God's punishment of our sins. There was only one way this could be accomplished; through the shedding of His blood. Hebrews 9:22 teaches us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, or forgiveness, of our sins. The validity of His words and teachings would be proven through His death, burial, and resurrection.

Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19 detail the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Betrayed by Judas, one of his disciples, found 'guilty' in a bogus, illegal trail, Jesus was sentenced to die by crucifixion, deemed to be one of the most excruciatingly painful ways to die. But He did it. He hung on that cross for hours, bearing the punishment for every sin that has ever been or ever will be committed. He suffers the separation from God, His own father. He cries out in Matthew 27:46 "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He finally died after uttering the words "It is finished." It doesn't end there, though. Those same books continue to show that on the morning of the third day after His death, Jesus was resurrected. Before His ascension back to Heaven, He was seen by over 500 people, thus proving His deity and ability to defeat death.

This, my friends, is the Gospel. The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God, defines the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."

Does this mean that everyone is saved? No, it doesn't. Salvation is indeed offered to all, but not all will accept it. Jesus himself told us this in Matthew 7:14. In fact, the majority of people that has ever lived or ever will live will reject this gift of salvation. They do this because they refuse to acknowledge several Biblical truths. These truths have to be believed in order to truly accept what Christ did. These truths are these:

1. You are a sinner. Romans 3:23 tells us "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." You, me, everyone alive past or present has missed the mark. We have all sinned.

2. Punishment for this sin is death, both physical and spiritual. There's simply no getting around this on our own. Romans 5:12 says "for as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all had sinned." Romans 6:23a says "for the wages of sin is death...."

3. You do not have to go to hell. Romans 6:23b continues on "...but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Christ died so that you wouldn't have to.

4. You must choose whether or not to place your trust in Christ to save you from hell. There isn't a thing you can do for yourself; it is already done by Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 declares "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

That's the gospel, guys. Christ shed His own blood and died so that we could have eternal life if we truly believe on Him. The choice is yours. Salvation or damnation is entirely up to you. What's it going to be? If you're reading this article and you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, there’s a good chance that the even now the Holy Spirit is telling you in your heart that what you've read is true. God is knocking on the door of your heart. Will you let Him in, or will choose to reject the Truth? Will you by faith accept this gift and spend an eternity in Heaven, or throw it away and suffer an eternity burning in Hell?

If any of you at all have further questions about salvation or would like clarity on any of the aforementioned issues, I encourage you to confer with your pastor, myself, or another Christian. Those of you reading this that have already accepted the gift of salvation, I ask that you might pray for the un-saved readers that are reading this.

*The words "and is baptized" were relatively ignored in this blog because true Christianity is based on faith, not works. It is easy to take the entire verse and think that baptism is a necessary ingredient to salvation, but an overview of the Gospel shows that baptism is a sign of obedience to Jesus Christ and of identification of the new Believer. As explained, faith and faith alone is what saves us. For more information on this, see http://www.carm.org/questions/baptnec.htm

** I would like to acknowledge that the Greek words that I've presented are in their root forms and may not appear in the actual Greek New Testament. My software defines the word by its root and not by the root + tense. Irregardless, to my knowledge the definition remains the same.

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