I once heard a story from a young English evangelist. He told me about the day Charlie Peace, a well-known criminal in London, was hanged—February 25, 1879. The Anglican Church, which had a ceremony for nearly everything, even had a ceremony for hangings.
So, when Charlie Peace was marched to the gallows, a priest walked behind him and read these words from a prayer book: “Those who die without Christ experience Hell, which is the pain of forever dying without the release which death itself can bring.”When these chilling words were read, Charlie Peace stopped in his tracks, turned to the priest, and shouted in his face, “Do you believe that? Do you believe that?”The priest, taken aback by this sudden verbal assault, stammered for a moment and then said, “Well … I … suppose I do.”“Well, I don’t,” said Charlie. “But if I did, I'd get down on my hands and knees and crawl all over Great Britain, even if it were paved with pieces of broken glass, if I could just rescue one person from what you just told me.”
I think this author is fuzzy on some things and wrong on many things, but on this I absolutely agree.
We strongly desire to see people saved from eternal punishment.
“‘There is no peace,’ says the LORD, ‘for the wicked’” (Isaiah 48:22).
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