Human beings on their own are no more able to perceive the true nature of reality than the finite is able to embrace the infinite. Neither human intelligence, nor human reason, nor intuition, nor any other human endownment or capacity can discover ultimate truth or meaning. The rules of human logic itself demand this conclusion, while the Bible states clearly “You will see but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” (Is 6:9-10) What is astonishing, then, is the confidence that so many place in human reason.

What, then? Are we to settle for the pretence that we understand ultimate truth? Shall we subscribe to the flawed logic constructed by modern science, which sets out to explain the infinite by means of the finite, the eternal by the temporal and the Creator by the created? Or do we join the post-modernists and simply abandon the hope of knowing anything - truly? Am I convinced that I have been relatively good and will be probably be OK? Do I trust religion or the performance of certain religious routines such as the "sinner's prayer"? Do I trust my place in a Church or denomination or sect?

I am fully persuaded that to fail to come into personal and real relationship with the living God is to call down upon oneself a tragedy that is eternal in its scope, hopeless in its endurance, and unutterably horrible in its character. The stakes are just that awesome.

I was created to be in loving relationship with a holy and just and merciful Creator. Nothing can satisfy my longing to know the truth about my existence except God Himself, and knowing God means coming into right relationship with God. It means that I must begin by abandoning independence - as if I could exist or function separately from the source of all life, and it means I must set out to discover God's view of me and my situation. A way is provided for me to do just that. It is called the Gospel - the good news of a path that has been opened for any who will abandon the lie of human independence and return to God - a loving Father, a merciful Saviour BUT ALSO a just Judge. There is but one path to God and there is but one moment when that path is available - the moment that we call a human life, which we understand is but the beginning of an eternal existence. My moment will pass in a flash. It may pass long before I physically die.

Many pretend there is no such thing as eternal existence, others pretend that God, like some sort a benign Santa Claus, will wink at evil and save everyone, or that some religious formula or empty confession will make the difference. These are tragic deceptions which can only end in the situation that the Lord Christ described over and over - rejection to "outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Luke 13:26-28). The same One who reaches out in mercy and kindness now, will cast the unconverted rebel into eternal darkness if that mercy is scorned.

My hope and my prayer is that men and women - and especially those who call themselves Christian - will consider carefully the words laid down in the following pages - the Gospel of salvation declared by faithful men of God in all ages. I beseech God in the name of Christ that some at least who read these pages will turn and attend to a loving and merciful Saviour who alone can deliver from certain ruin to peace and fulfillment through the "glorious Gospel of the blessed God" (1Tim 1:11). The pretence of independence can only end in that terrible moment when the guilty must face the wrath of that same person - Jesus Christ the Lord - when he sits in judgment on the whole world - "the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev 6:16). From His wrath there is no deliverance, no salvation, no hope, no end.