Jeremiah, I have a simple question for you. Why does your God listen to some prayers and ignore others?
My first wife did not remember her childhood until she was in her 30s. Knowing the situation at home, we assumed her mind had blocked some for her own good. When she remembered it turned her world upside down. One of the things she remembered was being raped and sodomized against a stone wall in the basement. That wall collapsed and was replaced when she was 4 or 5 years old. Another thing she remembers was going to church and praying constantly that her father (and later her uncle) would stop touching her, beating her and beating her mother. She prayed fervently and believed with all her might that God would listen. The abuse stopped when she left home at 17.
So why does your God bring back a kid who wouldn't even take the time or make the effort to wear a helmet, but ignore the prayers of a little girl who only asks not to be beaten and raped??
Any person or deity who has the power to stop that and doesn't is not worth my time, much less my worship.
Winterborn, I am truly sorry to hear about what happened to your first wife. The truth is Satan is the author of rape, sodomizing children - it's actually part of what happens in Satanic rituals because he offers his followers more power from demons for participating in such acts - also drinking blood / eating human flesh sacrificed to him - Satan is a cruel taskmaster and his works on this earth have devastated mankind from the beginning in the garden with Adam and Eve. I recall one story online of a Satanist - called confessions of a Satanist in which he admitted being present at a Satanic meeting where they kicked an infant around the room like a football. What he was trying to ask himself - I believe - was - why didn't he have any conscience left - what should have horrified him - no longer did horrify him. His conscience was seared. If that gives you any idea of what Satan is capable of - that should do it.
As for these men - you have not yet seen the end, Winterborn. Neither has your first wife. You see, there is a judgment coming in which these two men are going to stand before God and every act they have done is going to be seen by the entire world - all will be present at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Every single person will be present, Winterborn. From Adam and Eve to the last person born on earth. Imagine it. Billions and Billions of people present at the judgment Seat of Christ.
Not a single person will be able to call in sick and say - can't make it - go ahead without me. No. All will be present in that day. ALL will be there. It will be the final judgment. There will be no court of appeals in Heaven. This will be the final judgment.
These men will have their lives played out before them and the whole world will see what they have done. We are all going to see what they did and they are not going to have any excuse in that hour. If your first wife is a born again Christian - the bible says she will be one that will judge the world along with all the other Overcoming Believers. (Believers who do not overcome will not rule with Christ)
For the evidence that it is the Believers in Christ who shall judge the World I will give you 1 Corinthians 6:1,2,3 for a source. (we shall also judge angels)
The Apostle Paul writes:
Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to the law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know
that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
1 Corinthians 6:1,2,3
I'm not sure why some Believers do not realize this or speak of it. Perhaps because the world might accuse them of being mad? Or they don't know their bibles? Nevertheless, it is the truth. It is the Born again Believers that shall judge the world - because we are destined to rule and reign with Christ. What your 1st wife suffered is horrific. I agree with you it was terrible - but the end of that story has not yet to be seen.
You see, to my knowledge neither you nor your 1st wife have ever had a vision of hell or a visitation there by Christ to know what these men shall suffer in the future judgment. If the world saw the reality of hell they would behave very, very differently, Winterborn.
They have been deceived by Satan into believing there will not be a day of judgment. But there will be. Hell is a real place. I must also tell you that even if these men sought Salvation on their death beds in order to avoid hell - there is no guarantee they would be granted salvation at that time.
There are many stories of atheists who sought to be saved on their death beds but having rejected the offer of salvation at an earlier time in their lives - the door was no longer open. The Bible is very clear that the Spirit of the LORD shall not always strive with man. One must come when they are called to come. Otherwise there is no guarantee for a latter reconciliation to God through Christ.
I'm going to add your wife's name to my prayer list under - Winterborn's first wife. You are already on my prayer list as you write on this board. I prayed for you last night along with others here.
This is a video of one man's vision of hell to give you an idea of what hell is like: