“You will one day stand trial in God’s courtroom. Are you prepared?” said attorney Bruce Kugler, a featured speaker at the upcoming Sept. 4-7 Southeast Arabic Christian Conference at White Oak Conference Center in Winnsboro, S.C. The conference is expected to draw Christians involved in Arabic ministry from South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and Florida.
Bruce Kugler |
As Kugler, a lawyer for more than 25 years, read and studied the Bible, many legal terms and concepts began to catch his attention. He noticed the Bible presented God as the “Supreme Judge of the World” and that everyone will one day appear before Him in a heavenly courtroom. Kugler stated, “I basically explain the gospel from a legal perspective.” He rejects the notion that good people go to heaven, and bad people go to hell. According to Kugler when people are tried in God’s courtroom the standard for “not guilty” is absolute perfection – a standard that no one can achieve. “If that is the standard I would definitely be found guilty; there are no good defenses.”
He suggests that the only reason a person can enter heaven after they die is on a legal principle that Jesus Christ paid the death penalty on the person’s behalf. Basically, the person enters a plea agreement with God and accepts a pardon. “Only the guilty need a pardon – not the innocent,” says Kugler.
At Valparaiso School of Law in Valparaiso, Ind., where he earned a Juris Doctorate, Kugler received honors in scholarship and was a member of the executive board for law review as an articles editor. He is admitted to the State Bar of Texas and Illinois Bar and was formerly a trial attorney with the United States Department of Justice. Kugler is now a member of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists (COSBE) and resides in Illinois.
The presentation is the basis of a documentary film that has aired nationally on major Christian television networks including the TCT Network, NRB TV Network, and TLN Network. Internationally the film has been aired in India, Nicaragua, Argentina and Guatemala. Copies of the Arabic version of the film are being distributed by the Palestinian Bible Society in the West Bank and Israel.
The Arabic version of God's courtroom is also scheduled to be aired on the Aramaic Broadcasting Network (ABN) in September. ABN was the first Arabic Christian channel to be launched in North America to reach people in the Arabic language. ABN has air satellite in North America, Australia and New Zealand.
The film can be viewed in its entirety at godscourtroom.org. Individuals and churches can also request a free DVD of the English or Arabic version of the film by contacting Pastor Zohair “Steve” Hanna at (864) 907-8414 or [email protected].