| REFUSED ENTRANCE |
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In another ‘Challenge’ I mentioned that my wife and I visited New Zealand because of accumulated free air miles. We went via Singapore, an amazingly clean, safe and attractive city.
"But hang on! With a friend we visited as many ‘must see’ places as we could in the time available. One was the world famous Raffles Hotel. We wanted to look around it, but had no plans to buy anything. You need to mortgage your house to buy a cup of coffee there! Excluded! We took photos outside and then approached the imposing front doors, flanked by immaculately uniformed doormen. Our friend and my wife entered, but when I tried to follow them I was stopped! Why? I was wearing shorts! ‘No-one is allowed in wearing shorts,’ I was told. I pointed out that a man at the reception desk also wore shorts. The reply was that he was a resident! I wondered if the real issue was that he had enough money to stay there, but I did not! Anyhow, I was excluded. I waited outside in the shade, while my friend and wife went in and looked around.  Legendary high standards They told me it was fascinating inside Raffles. Everything was at an extremely high standard – far above ‘normal’ hotels. It was spotlessly clean, and the well groomed staff were exceptionally professional and helpful. People in shorts had to be excluded to maintain Raffles’ legendary high standards. An even more magnificent place There is one place which far exceeds the cleanliness, beauty, style and character of the Raffles Hotel. Raffles’ smartest butler or waiter looks extremely shabby by comparison with all who are there. That place is unique. It is glorious, splendid and infinitely more interesting than Raffles or any other hotel, however famous. In the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 21, it is figuratively described as ‘New Jerusalem’ and described as ‘a bride adorned for her husband’. The place is Heaven. It is graphically pictured in terms of light, jewels, gold, and pearls. We are told that there will be no night and that ‘nothing unclean will ever enter in.’ Also excluded are tears, death, mourning, crying, and pain. In short no wrongdoing or wrongdoers will enter there. Just as a surgeon will insist that all dirt is excluded from an operating theatre, to prevent infection killing the patient, so God has said that He will allow no sin into Heaven. He will have it neither spoiled nor contaminated. Excluded again? But hang on! I was excluded from Raffles Hotel simply because I was wearing shorts. So how can I, as a sinner, be allowed into Heaven where no sin of any kind is allowed? How can I avoid being excluded from Heaven forever? This question is vital, because the Bible teaches that after death I will spend eternity either in Heaven or in Hell. My sin excludes me from Heaven. Unless Christ saves me from it, I will spend eternity in Hell. Is there a solution? - Gerard Chrispin |
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