FALSE IDEAS

"I must work," said one, "to reach that place;"
Another said, "not so,
For all are created works of God,
And will all, to heaven, go."

Another said, "Just let us be,
If we're destined we'll be called";
And yet another said, "It's bosh,
There's no such place at all".

"I'm living right", another said,
"I'm committing not a sin,
And when I reach those pearly gates,
St. Peter will let me in."

And then said one, "I've joined a church,
It matters not its name,
For by joining any church,
We'll get there, all the same."

Then came another with a knowing glance,
"What rot!" this person said,
"When a man is buried, he is gone,
And he's completely dead!"

Then came a man with boldness,
Who said, "Repent, and live;
Have faith in the blood of Jesus,
And to God, the glory, give."

With laughter, they all scorned him,
While one replied and said,
"This Jesus was a good man,
But we all know he's dead."

Years pass and they meet again,
In the bottomless pits of hell;
But one of them is missing ,
He had served his master well.

He had preached to all the others,
And lived right, while on earth;
But the thing that took him to heaven,
Was the new and heavenly birth.

The others wept and wailed and mourned,
As in their pain, they cried,
"Oh, why didn't we heed the gospel,
Before on earth we died."

"I worked so hard, the first cried out,
But all to no avail;
I didn't have the blood applied,
Now I'm tormented in this hell!"

The second with a swollen tongue,
Cried out in anguished fear,
"Satan, not God was my father,
Now I'm suffering with him here."

The third with eyes aburning,
Looked and saw the fourth,
Who claimed there was no place like this;
They wept in their remorse.

The fifth, who said he had no sin,
Rose up in the flame;
He had trusted his own righteousness,
And not in Jesus' name.

The sixth man said, "I joined a church;
My name was on its book;
I trusted that instead of God,
To the cross, I never looked."

The seventh said, "On earth, I died,
They placed me in a grave;
I had heeded not the gospel,
Nor Christ, my soul to save."

"Indeed, I said I had no soul,
And the Bible was a lie;
A myth for the feeble-minded;
A tale of a by and by."

These men in their untold pain,
In the flame, rose up and down;
While in heaven the faithful witness,
Received a golden crown.

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