Such have been the advances in computerised technology that almost any experience in life can be simulated with terrifying authenticity and alarming realism. By using flight simulators pilots can be trained to fly different types of planes and land at any major airport, without having to leave the building in which the simulator is housed. The film industry has harnessed this technology to produce special effects which a few years ago would either have been too costly, too dangerous or downright impossible to create.
It is now easy to dismantle the barrier between fact and fantasy, between reality and unreality and step from the ‘real’ world into the realm of make-believe. All this may be calculated to dilute reality and deceive people into thinking that they can, with ease, escape reality and take refuge in a world of dreams and deception.
Be warned, my friend, there are realities from which you cannot run away and the mere thought of even attempting to escape from them is greatest folly.
SIN is a reality. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;" Romans 5.12. Its power, its presence, its consequences, its chaos, its evidence on every hand make it a fact undeniable and irrefutable. Your sins are being chronicled, every day you live, and if not pardoned, must be punished eternally. Many try to make excuses, while accusing others, but it is your responsibility and yours alone, to ensure that your sins are forgiven before you leave this world. Do not try to dodge the issue, no exceptions will be made and none will be exempt from the eternal consequences of unforgiven sins. There is a remedy — " The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1John 1.7
LIFE itself is a reality; we are not mere actors, nor are we rehearsing, but on a one-way journey from birth to death and from time to eternity. Did not Queen Elizabeth I grasp something of life’s precious reality in her dying moments when she cried out to her assembled physicians, "A million of money for a moment of time"? Have you discovered, dear friend, the preciousness of these passing moments with their passing opportunities, and made preparation for the world to come?
SALVATION is a great reality. It will mean all the difference between Heaven and hell, between eternal gladness and eternal gloom. Do you possess it, for "How shall we escape if we neglect (reject, make little of) so great salvation…?" Hebrews 2.3. It can only be obtained by faith in Christ, the Son of God, who died on Calvary’s Cross to provide salvation for those, who, neither by riches, reformation nor religion, could provide it for themselves. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…" Acts 16.31
DEATH is a great reality. Many have tried to minimise its seriousness and finality, humanists attempt to paint a rosy picture to obscure the reality of this solemn event and philosophers, agnostics and atheists hope, against hope, to persuade themselves that death is the end, the cessation of existence, with no hereafter to be enjoyed or endured. The Bible says, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Hebrews 9.27. Coupled with death is the reality of ETERNITY, with its endless duration and inescapable destinies — Heaven and hell, in one of which you will be forever. Time ends and then eternity.
Do remember that while the truth may hurt, it will never harm and in due course "will make you free." Deception, on the other hand, is dangerous, detrimental and damning and is characteristic of the devil himself, according to Revelation 20.10, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire…" Do not listen to his lies, do not share his fate and eternal abode but trust Christ and know the blessed reality of sins forgiven and peace with God.