Tom Short is here once again. No doubt this article will be sandwiched between articles that denounce Tom as a hateful man. I would counter that Tom speaks out of love. Tom believes that every word in the Bible is true. That is why he has chosen to commit his life to speaking on campuses across the country.

Tom believes that we were created by God to be in relationship with God. However, we have all made the decision to follow our own will instead of following God. That decision has separated us from God — we are no longer able to have the relationship we were created for. Not only that, but the penalty of our decision, a so called “independence,” is death. Worse still, there is nothing we can do to restore that relationship or avoid the death we deserve.

We are in pretty bad shape, but there is good news. God was not content to let us be apart from him or to let us die. So, he sent his son Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a life in relationship with God, always following God’s will. Jesus did not deserve death, but he died in our place. He paid our debt for us. His death was the payment we needed to be able to once again be in relationship with God. But, we must recognize our debt and inability to pay it and that Jesus is the only way for it to be paid.

Unless we do this and choose to follow God’s will, we are doomed to “everlasting destruction” and to be “shut out from the presence of the Lord.”

This is why Tom speaks. He wants you to have a restored relationship with your creator. Will you listen?