When Adam sinned, the Lord our God, creator of all, cursed the ground.
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; (Genesis 3:17)
I live in a rural area. Not every place on earth looks like this, I know. But I’m astounded that ANY place looks like this, after the curse.
EPrata photo
EPrata photo
EPrata photo
EPrata photo
If God’s earth is THIS beautiful after the ground has been cursed, then imagine the beauty of heaven! Look toward the reward- being in God’s family, perfected in glory, and seeing the face of Jesus, amid inexpressible sounds and sights of beauty of such scope that we cannot even imagine! (2 Corinthians 12:4)
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— (1 Corinthians 2:9)
I work as a teacher aide. Some of the children I work with are in kindergarten. I was working in my small group, and they noticed that some new decorations had gone up. There was a large chick coming out of an egg hanging on the door, and around the school were other eggs, in pastel colors and with some rabbits too. One girl asked about it and I said it’s Easter decorations.
That got them talking about Easter and of course Easter egg hunts. Easter egg hunts are huge for kids. They burbled and chatted.
EPrata photo, Recreation Department Easter Egg Hunt, years ago
When’s Easter anyway? asked a girl. April! answered a boy. Another child asked “What is Easter about?” They all explained; “It’s when you hide eggs with candy in them and hunt for them all around”. I followed up. But what else is Easter for? Again they explained that the “Easter Bunny comes and you find candy and eggs in a basket”. Anything else? One girl explained, “When you go to church…” Yes, yes? I eagerly leaned forward. “…and you hunt for eggs and find candy.” But isn’t it about Jesus? The girl said, “Of course. He lays out the eggs.”
The most beautifully decorated egg pales in comparison to the beauty of Jesus
It’s charming and sad all at once. Seeing the world through a child’s eyes is always funny and they say unexpected things but they also have more truth in them than we like to think. Kid life is all about getting to the next candy bonanza. To them, Easter is just another fairy tale that has fantastical, magical creatures like a rabbit that delivers candy and eggs in a basket filled with fake grass.
It’s one reason not to depend on a child’s assertion that he or she has ‘accepted Jesus into their heart’ because to become a true believer one must understand sin, our position before Christ, His anger over it, and repentance. This isn’t possible with kids who still believe the tooth fairy flies in to your bedroom and takes the tooth from under your pillow. They still believe in Santa.
I never liked Easter Egg hunts. This was because I never found any eggs. Even as a kid I didn’t enjoy competitions, I was slow and ungainly, I didn’t quite understand the point, and there were always lots of bullies intent in shoving you down to get that egg first. I left a grass-stained mess with bruises, hurt feelings and an empty basket.
I did enjoy the wonderful Easter baskets my parents left by the fireplace. They always held crinkly grass, chocolate, and pretty little jelly beans and more. They were always both artful and bountiful.
I enjoyed dyeing the eggs too, a lot. There was always a new dress to wear, with hat and gloves, for Easter. It was one time per year (of the two) we attended a church. The point of the day was the dinner afterwards.
Me, all dolled up for Easter
Yes, it’s all about Jesus. The crinkly grass, baskets, egg hunts, dyed eggs, ham dinners, and Easter outfits aside, the power of the resurrection is a wondrous event to contemplate. We take a special day to praise our Father for His power and His love in resurrecting His son.
I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17b-18)
So…hunt for eggs if you must. But look for Christ.
While preaching the Gospel to the crowd in front..this man slipped in behind to listen. #SneakyGospelListenersWelcome
What a beautiful photo. A man the Lord has raised up, preaching the Good News fearlessly to a hostile and dying world. But one man is drawn by God to hear His words of everlasting life. Again, a praise. Will the seeds planted by the word fall on hard ground? Thorny ground? Soft ground?
Meanwhile we don’t know where the wind blow. So we preach His Good News everywhere. The Spirit knows.
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)
Street preaching, or preaching openly in a public area, has been a method used throughout the history of Christianity for the purpose of evangelizing people who would not typically enter a church. Ever since the apostle Peter preached in the streets of Jerusalem in Acts 2, Christians have used this method to lead many to faith in Christ. Despite the long-standing tradition of street preaching throughout church history, some believe that the practice should no longer be used. They have a variety of reasons for their opinion…
And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. (Luke 14:23)
Harken An engraving, ca. 1740, of George Whitefield preaching in the Americas. Photo: Granger, NYC / The Granger Collection. Source
In 1739, Whitefield set out for a preaching tour of the American colonies. Whitefield selected Philadelphia—the most cosmopolitan city in the New World—as his first American stop. But even the largest churches could not hold the 8,000 who came to see him, so he took them outdoors. Every stop along Whitefield’s trip was marked by record audiences, often exceeding the population of the towns in which he preached. Whitefield was often surprised at how crowds “so scattered abroad, can be gathered at so short a warning.”
The crowds were also aggressive in spirit. As one account tells it, crowds “elbowed, shoved, and trampled over themselves to hear of ‘divine things’ from the famed Whitefield.”
Once Whitefield started speaking, however, the frenzied mobs were spellbound. “Even in London,” Whitefield remarked, “I never observed so profound a silence.”
When he returned to London, he found many churches closed to his unconventional methods. He then experimented with outdoor, extemporaneous preaching, where no document or wooden pulpit stood between him and his audience.
The Gospel is always unwelcome, sometimes by those inside churches hearing it from pulpits, usually outside in the world by passersby to whom the message of Life is the aroma of death. No matter. For the one person who is later converted by the words, it will be eternally welcome.
Jesus prayed for us, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:1-5).
While on earth, Jesus sought the mind of God every moment and lived a perfect, sinless life. He did this out of love for His Father, obedience to Him, and to be prepared as the sacrifice for sin. When He was glorified, He would send the Holy Spirit to us so that we could be act in a manner bringing glory to Him, who by then was in heaven. When we reach heaven we will be glorified too, with a sinless body and the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:53-54; 1 Corinthians 13:12).
Jesus continued, “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” (John 17:9).
He has given us His words, straight from heaven, lived out in perfect truth from a sinless life, and verified as truth through His resurrection. His word, now our bible, is absolutely true from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.
It always starts and ends with Jesus, who is the Word.
“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” (John 17:14-18).
If you are going through trouble due to the world hating you because Jesus is in you, take heart! He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world! (1 John 4:4). Jesus is praying to God as our High Priest even though His trial, death, and resurrection was still in the near future. He was headed to the garden of Gethsemane, and His entire body would be wracked with tension so great that drops of His precious, heavenly blood would fall on the dirty ground as He prepared himself for the torture. He pleaded with the Father for us! He is still interceding. (Romans 8:34).
Look what He gave us! His mind, His life, His sacrifice, His body, His blood, Himself.
“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.” (John 17:22.)
I find this entire chapter so moving. Submit your mind to the Spirit so that we can be ever closer as one to Jesus, and that even more glory can be given to Him! Perform honorable actions in the world so He may be glorified by others seeing His light in us. Honor Him on this Lord’s day, and every day. He is worthy to be praised!
I look at this website called MyModernMet. My Modern Metropolis “is where art enthusiasts and trendspotters connect over creative ideas.” There is some beautiful art, amazing photography, travel photos of exotic places, and interesting and thought-provoking concepts at the site.
I watched an 8-minute video at My Modern Met of a photographer named Sasha who spent an inordinate amount of money and incredible amount of time to reach an unreached people group in northern Siberia…so he could take their photograph and give them the picture. If you think about it for a second you realize he is giving a paper product to a nomadic people living in a wet and cold climate who don’t typically store things. Okey dokey then.
Here is the MyModernMet blog entry about it:
Beautifully Rare Portraits of People Living In Remote Siberia “Camera phones and social media make it quite easy to see photographs of yourself on a daily basis. However, there are some areas that don’t have the same advanced technology and Chukotka, a remote region in Siberia, is one of these places. … Leahovcenco photographed local individuals in their everyday lives and, immediately after taking a photograph, he would make a print and hand it directly to his subjects. For many, this was the very first time they had ever had their photograph taken.”
Photo source/credit: Sasha Leahovcenco
Here is Sasha’s explanation about his trip: Two years ago I had the amazing opportunity to go literally to the end of the earth to photograph people who never had their photo taken. At schools, churches, homes and hospitals I could give people a moment to forget their troubles and just smile for the camera. But while shooting with nomadic reindeer herding families it was me who was most deeply touched by the experience. For although my hosts had few material possessions they shared with me something rare in the world – a sense of peace and satisfaction with life. We hope to engage humanity’s deep rooted fascination with nature and desire to understand humanity. Perhaps by getting a glimpse of this nomadic way of life we will reflect on this modern world and what in our lives is truly important.
We have within us this innate desire to connect. To explore, to find out why. We long for answers as to life’s questions, and we love to explore this world and see the unique aspects of this planet which supports our very life. Since after the Fall, we have congregated and collected and tried to find out why and where and who. (Genesis 11:4)
God put in us this desire to know and seek. (Ecclesiastes 3:11). It’s a given that His children yearn for Him.
“My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” (Psalm 84:2)
But does the lost soul also know that which he does not know? Yes, they do. Romans 1:19-20 states it, God’s general revelation of Himself is made plain to them through His creation.
“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
Gill’s Exposition explains General revelation as opposed to Specific revelation. Specific revelation is hidden from the pagan.
“There are some things which could not be known of God by the light of nature; as a trinity of persons in the Godhead; the knowledge of God in Christ as Mediator; the God-man and Mediator Jesus Christ; his incarnation, sufferings, death, and resurrection; the will of God to save sinners by a crucified Jesus; the several peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, particularly the resurrection of the dead, and the manner of worshipping of God with acceptance: but then there are some things which may be known of God, without a revelation.“
General revelation as shown in Romans 1:19-20 is given plainly to every living person on earth just by virtue of being alive on earth and experiencing its majesty. And so they are without excuse. Here is Gill again:
“…even the very Heathens have some notion of him, as that there is a God; and by the light of nature it might be known that there is but one God, who is glorious, full of majesty, and possessed of all perfections, as that he is all powerful, wise, good and righteous: and this is manifest in them, or “to them”; by the light that is given them: it is light by which that which may be known of God is manifest; and this is the light of nature…“
It is this drive which propels explorers to deduce the machinery of the eternal, to peek behind the administration and organization of the world’s tribes to examine what connects us in our common humanity. It is God which connects us, but the specifics of that revelation are hidden from most. Yet they seek, scout, search and scrutinize. Even to the uttermost parts of the earth.
If you have specific revelation of Jesus today, gained from insight from the Bible, then that is your Thanksgiving. It is the knowledge of all things, He who is the only important person in the universe, He who is creator and King. He made you and holds your soul in His hand.
If you wonder about the deep things of the world, they whys and wherefores, if you have a seeking yearning heart, then you are alive with general revelation. You can pray to God for more, for the urge to repent of your sins which are the blinders on you preventing you from seeing Jesus in His glorious specific revelation. Humanity is all the same, all one kind in the sense that we are all made in the image of God, (Genesis 1:27) and that we were all made by the same hand-
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” (Colossians 1:16)
And one more thought, the most important thought and the whole point: the photographer went to a lot of expense and effort to reach people so he could take their picture. He gave them a hard copy of a perishable item. How much effort do we go through to offer people the ONE imperishable thing in the universe, the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren made headlines again this past summer 2022 when he opined at the Southern Baptist Convention about how wonderful he is, listing alleged spiritual and ecclesiastical accomplishments for which he took credit, not giving glory to the Lord at all.
In May 2021, he made headlines again, when he, at his church, ordained three women pastors.
I dug this one out of the 2015 archives, when Warren co-preached at a Catholic Conference. The Bible says not to be unequally yoked with false religionists in spiritual pursuits.
We should also not forget that in 2008 Warren prayed the prayer at the US Presidential Inauguration, praying in the name of the Muslims’ false god ‘Isa’, and had been partnering with Muslims in spiritual pursuits, even claiming they worship the same god as our God. Warren has been false for a long time.
I wrote the essay below in 2014. Eight years ago is a lifetime on the internet, and many people do not know this about Beth Moore. I publish it again now after a short conversation with a few people on Twitter brought it back to mind. I hope to show:
1. Publicly available information on the internet consistently shows Moore as an unbeliever in what she says and does,
2. Moore talks a lot and writes a lot, but is an expert at obfuscating even the largest and most obvious details about her life. You come away after reading 153 pages of this book more confused about it when you started. See section below about true Christian transparency,
3. As always, my refrain is, though 2.8 million people follow Beth Moore on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, don’t you be one of them. Beth Moore is a false teacher who seeks to disqualify you from the prize.
I attended High School in the mid 1970s. It was an excellent high school, offering high-end academics, a thriving sports program, a beautiful campus, and star teachers. To us, though, it was just high school, and the best thing about it was none of those things.
It was Senior Privileges.
Seniors were allowed entry to spaces in the school that no other students were allowed to enter. These spaces were severely restricted, and anyone who was not senior was barred.
For example, the Health Room was once a senior-only room, and was furnished with couches, a television, and refrigerator, if you can believe it. Even more unbelievable in this generation’s health-conscious era, of the area of the school’s inner courtyard where three brick walls connect was once reserved as a smoking area for students. Smoking is now banned on the entire campus.
I never took advantage of those privileges but there were two others that I enjoyed.
Seniors during the 1970’s and 1980’s could sign themselves in and out of school. If we had a study hall first period of the day, we were able to come in late. We were able to sign out of school in the case of a last period study hall. I used to sign out and go to McDonald’s and get breakfast, which was a new offering back then. McDonald’s introduced the Egg McMuffin in 1972 and a full breakfast in 1977. The novelty of the McMuffin and hash browns was too luscious to resist. I signed myself out of study hall and drove to get breakfast a la McD’s style, also bringing back orders for friends who didn’t have a car.
But the greatest privilege to me was that seniors-only could use the courtyard. The courtyard was not an arborist’s dream. It was a scrubby place, not really a greenspace, just well-worn paths amid gasping grass, concrete benches, the aforementioned smoking area, and some trees. But the school was large and being able to cut down travel time between classes to beat the bell was extremely compelling. Plus only seniors could go there.
All the Freshmen knew about senior privileges. We’d look upon the seniors emerging from the courtyard with awe, and excitedly talk about the day we, too, would be allowed entry into this most prized restricted area. I don’t have enough words to relate to you the thirst, angst, and yearning for senior privileges. WE were blocked out, but THEY could go hang out! They could go in and come out! They could remain in a private area just for them! We wanted that!
Courtyard at Hotel Inca Real, Cuenca, Ecuador. EPrata photo
The parallel to God’s courts is the point I want to make here. Do we possess the same fervency to be in God’s courts? Do we yearn for the privilege of being in His courts?
The Psalmist said,
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. (Psalm 84:10)
The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the LORD, They will flourish in the courts of our God. (Psalm 92:12-13)
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! (Psalm 100:4)
I know when the time comes to enter His fabulously luxuriant and holy courts, it will be with thanksgiving and praise. But until then, do we yearn for His home, which is our home? Do we look with joy and anticipation when it will finally be our turn to enter the restricted area, the private area reserved for only those chosen? Do we crave to be there, enjoying the privilege of being in His court?
I can’t imagine what it will look like or what it will be like to enter His courts. The Bible tells us that we can’t conceive of it. My juvenile mind could not conceive of any privilege or any courtyard sweeter than the High School Courtyard reserved for those of a certain age. Just as now, my juvenile Christian mind cannot conceive of a courtyard sweeter or more tranquil that, say, the one at the Hotel Inca Real in Cuenca Ecuador, adorned with plants, tiled floors, resting benches, beauty and peace.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”– (1 Corinthians 2:9)
But I can and do joyfully anticipate His courts even without being able to visualize them. It is quite humbling to think of Jesus preparing this place for us.
*I wrote this in 2015. by March of 2019 we were all pondering these things more immediately…
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:29-32).
I heard a good sermon on the aspect of Jesus as Prince. On Expositor.fm my usual morning line-up to which I dedicate some time in the AM includes wonderful sermons from Barnhouse, Boice, MacArthur, Lloyd-Jones, Sproul and more. A sermon from Acts 5:29-32 delivered by Martyn Lloyd-Jones struck me. Two Lines of History, looked at Jesus as Prince over governments.
We must obey God rather than men is not a license to run amok and freely break the law and become rebellious, of course. God instituted Governments. He is sovereign over them. What is meant here is that where a choice comes to obey God OR man, we obey God. That was the choice given to Peter and he chose wisely.
The concept is, Jesus is savior but also Prince- Governor of nations! He is the Prince of the Universe, the only one who can govern, the only one who has a right to govern, the only one who is going to govern. But the world rejects this. It needs to be convinced of this, convicted of it.
Of man’s history, man’s government, what are the characteristics of this? It is quite clear in history and in the Bible that God’s government has been rejected by man who rejects the voice Divine. Despite all of man’s efforts to produce order, the jungle is always encroaching. Man sweats, labors, cuts back the jungle of immorality and yet strife, lawlessness, dictatorships, wars always encroach.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon is a monumental work. He listed five reasons why civilizations decline and fall.
1. The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.
2. Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace.
3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports are becoming more and more exciting and brutal every year.
4. The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within the decadence of the people.
5. The decay of religion–faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life, and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people.
(Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1787).
Geographically, Paul was a resident of Jerusalem but a citizen of Rome. Spiritually we are residents of Georgia (or Kentucky or Washington) but our citizenry is in heaven. We owe respect and allegiance to those whom God has set over us in government, but our highest loyalty is toward the Prince of Governments.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
Let us sort out out our loyalties and allegiances. Let us look inward in order to prepare for a moment which may come to us as it did to Peter, and make our decisions regarding God and man.Will we obey man, or will we obey the Prince of Government?
A polling station, with watchful Jesus over the government…EPrata photo
Darkness is a primal thing. No one likes it. No one seeks it. We think we have beaten our ancient fear of it, but it is only the fragile light bulb that makes us think we are less primitive than we are.
Darkness is disorienting, you cannot see the ground ahead of you nor the prey sneaking up on you. As a child, the prey is the alligator living under the bed. As an adult, the darkness is a thing to be laughed at in the light and a thing to be dreaded while in the dark.
For generations and centuries, man hated to see the sun set, having no candle to ward off the night spirits. Even with a candle or kerosene lamp, its flickering glow seemed too meager to combat the oppressive night.
Sailors for millennia will tell you that the night watch from 2-4 am is the most chilling. Terrifying is the night, especially if there is no moon and the stars are obscured. Samuel Taylor Coleridge captured this in the stanza about sailing at night in his famous Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
The Sun’s rim dips; the stars rush out; At one stride comes the dark; With far-heard whisper, o’er the sea, Off shot the spectre-bark. We listened and looked sideways up! Fear at my heart, as at a cup, My life-blood seemed to sip! The stars were dim, and thick the night, The steersman’s face by his lamp gleamed white; From the sails the dew did drip— Till clomb above the eastern bar The hornèd Moon, with one bright star Within the nether tip.
The River Styx is the Greek mythological river that separates the outer world from the underworld. It is a kingdom lorded over by Hades, and guarded by Cerberus the three headed dog. Charon is the ferryboatman who brings the lost souls across the river to their eternal doom. The term ‘stygian darkness’ comes from the Styx.
In Stories of the Ships, author Lewis R. Freeman described ‘the darkness you could lean against’ … so apt!
I was in total darkness once. I do not mean the dark night, or even the dark when I was sailing, though that is very dark. I mean under-the-earth kind of dark where there is no spot of light nor any particle of brightness nor any beam of luminosity…just oppressive dark. It was when we toured the Queen Copper Mine in Bisbee Arizona. The tour takes you down under the earth and as you go along, they explain about mining. Sitting in the little rail car, the tracks clacking, we rattled further and further away from the sun, from the warm light, into gloom that closed in upon us with the earth.
[I]f thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.
~Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil/Chapter IV
When we got to the bottom, the tour guide told us to turn off your headlamps, and for 5 to 8 seconds we sit in a darkness so black is it alive. It suffocates, and permeates the brain to the extent that you want to scream and scrape your way out. It is a darkness that is palpable, suffocating you with its wild dementia. It is a darkness that claws at your sanity. When the lights come back on your mind relaxes at the soothing balm that brightness brings.
In darkness such as this, your eye has no opportunity to grasp a single detail, and instead, the mind is floating as a raft upon the darkness, free-wheeling and unhinged from the anchoring light.
The Bible frequently uses light and dark to contrast truths. John 12:35 says “So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; also, the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.“
Sin is darkness. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11)
The LORD spoke much in the Old Testament about the Day of Darkness. His judgment brings darkness.
“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light” (Amos 5:18).
But Jesus IS THE LIGHT!!
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
How wonderful we can follow Him, a Light that never goes off and never dims. We will never walk in darkness if we follow Him. He knows the way, because He IS the Way!
If you do not follow Him, O, my heart aches in sadness to say, but there the person will remain in outer darkness all their lives throughout eternity. A person who dies in their sin, will remain in that clawing, palpable, screaming darkness forever- in hell.
Hell is a place of outer darkness (Matthew 22:13) where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12). I dare not even try to imagine the stygian darkness of the hellish place Outer Darkness is. That it is named for its very absence of light indicates how dark it is, indeed.
But people, the precious Light has come!
“Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” (John 12:36)
What an inexpressible joy to know we will have the Light, we will be in Light for all eternity, pure, bright glory Light, brighter than the sun and shining forth from the face that looked down upon his people and took pity on us, with compassion died for us, rose again to minister to us, and saved us from the terrible darkness.
the-end-time.org 
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