The sooner you learn that the goal of life is to be pleasing to God in every way you know how, the easier it becomes to connect properly with God and stay properly connected to Him.
Over time, the Precious Testimonies ministry receives a number of emails that read something like this:
“I feel so far away from God. I used to follow Him, but I went my own way, and now I can’t seem to find Him again. Please, I’m desperate. Can you help me find God again?”
Invariably … if a person like this will take the time to share much of their spiritual journey, and explain what was their understanding of “knowing God” earlier in their life, it becomes quite clear to us what the REAL problem is. A person like this didn’t either KNOW how to correctly play by God’s rules to properly connect with God the first time around, or they chose not to play by His rules if they DID know. Most likely, they “modified” God’s rules, and maybe added a few of their own “more convenient - logical” rules.
There is only one sure way to properly connect with God according to God so that you are fully pleasing to Him. You have to play by HIS rules. If you play by any other rules than the rules He says you need to play by, you will have a very joyless and essentially meaningless relationship with God. And sooner or later, you will find no real heart connection with God at all.
The rules God tells us to play by are contained in the New Testament Bible. However, those rules are not clearly written out in a neat, organized fashion, as if I’m telling you something you didn’t already know. That’s no coincidence the Bible is written that way. God never made it easy and logical to properly connect with Him, and stay connected. He did it that way to see who REALLY wants Him, and who is just playing games with themselves. Hence, It requires a great deal of diligence; a great deal of persistence; to properly and wisely connect with God, and then learn how to STAY connected to Him.
By God's help and grace, I’m going to do my best to help simplify God’s rules for you in this writing, to help get you on the RIGHT path, so you can firmly connect with God. This is not going to be an exhaustive directive by any means, but it will be a trustworthy writing to get your feet planted on solid spiritual ground.
I’ll repeat the very first sentence of this writing: The very first thing God is looking for out of a person is someone who truly wants to please God with their life. Have you come to a place in your life where that is TRULY the greatest desire of your heart? If it isn’t, you might be playing games with yourself about just how serious you ARE with wanting to fully connect to God, and STAY connected.
You will find very little meaning – very little true fulfillment – in a relationship with God if you only want to do it part-time … only dabble a little with Him. God will take what you invest in Him -- YES -- but don’t expect to have the best connection attainable with God if you aren’t prepared to give Him 100% of yourself.
I’m now going to share with you some crucially important facts. RIGHT FACTS. After I’ve shared with you these facts, I’m going to ask you if you believe these to be TRUE facts, or UNTRUE facts – hence, lies. What you believe about these facts, and are willing to confess to anyone who asks you from this point on about these facts … will help you to know whether you are truly connected or not to God, because the very first thing you are going to have to admit to yourself and God is that you are a sinner (spiritual rebel). You are going to have to admit that you have sinned against a holy God. You are going to have to admit that you have been more concerned about pleasing yourself than you have been pleasing God. And then you will have to admit that you need a Savior, to save you from being punished by God for your selfish sins on the Judgment Day. Let’s now look at some right facts.
RIGHT FACTS:
You were born a sinner. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin against God, (or disobedience to God; same thing) their sin nature was passed to every offspring that came after them, right down to include you and me.
God came from heaven to earth for one primary purpose. To be born to die for your sins and my sins and the sins of everyone else. The name given to God was Jesus Christ. He lived the life of a human being for 33 years before being murdered on the cross.
During his 33 years of living on Earth, he never sinned once. This made Him the only acceptable sacrifice that God the Father found acceptable to pay full ransom price for your sins.
Thus the punishment you deserve for sinning against God (disobeying God's commands) during your lifetime was taken out on Jesus Christ, so you could be FREED from God’s wrath against you for those sins, and not be sentenced to suffer for them in hell for eternity, but rather, spend eternity with God in heaven – fully forgiven – fully acceptable to God - fully righteous, because God gave you His imputed righteousness and took your sins, as promised in 2 Corinthians 5:21.
So what do you believe about what you just read about God dying for your sins and imputing to you His pure, Godly righteousness? Do you believe this is TRUE, or FALSE? Do you believe it to be FACT, or LIES?
If you believe it to be TRUE, you are on the right path to connecting properly with God. Here’s some Bible scripture to back up my claim. In Romans 10:9-10, reading from the New King James translation of the Bible, it states:
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.
This scripture may not make that much sense to you the way it reads, so please allow me to give you some understanding of what God wants you to understand about it.
“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus” … Let’s dissect what this is REALLY implying. If you will confess to anyone who asks you if you truly believe that Jesus Christ was God in human form, and He was the ONLY One acceptable to take full punishment for every sin you’ll ever commit against God (and others) while you live on this planet … you can be confident of your salvation ... confident that you are fully connecting with God.
“If you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead,” … What’s the importance of believing that God the Father and the Holy Spirit raised Jesus Christ from the dead, regarding assurance of your salvation and you properly connecting with Him?
The resurrection of Jesus is important for several reasons. First, it witnesses to the immense power of God Himself. To believe in the resurrection is to believe in God. If God exists, and if He created the universe and has power over it, He has power to raise the dead. If He does not have such power, He is not a God worthy of our faith and worship. Only He who created life can resurrect it after death. Only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting that is death and the victory that is the grave’s. In resurrecting Jesus from the grave, God reminds us of His absolute sovereignty over life and death.Second, the resurrection of Jesus is a testimony to the resurrection of human beings, which is a basic tenet of the Christianity. Unlike all other religions, Christianity alone possesses a founder who transcends death and who promises that His followers will do the same. All other "religions" were founded by men and prophets (false prophets) whose end was the grave. As Christians, we take comfort in the fact that our God became man, died for our sins, and was resurrected the third day. The grave could not hold Him. He lives, and He sits today at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains in detail the importance of the resurrection of Christ. Some in Corinth did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and in this chapter Paul gives six disastrous consequences if there were no resurrection: 1) preaching Christ would be senseless (v. 14); 2) faith in Christ would be useless (v. 14); 3) all the witnesses and preachers of the resurrection would be liars (v. 15); 4) no one would be redeemed from sin (v. 17); 5) all former believers would have perished (v.18); and 6) Christians would be the most pitiable people on the earth (v. 19). But Christ indeed has risen from the dead and “has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20), assuring that we will follow Him in resurrection.
Another important reason why Jesus Christ had to resurrect from the dead and go to heaven -- until Jesus Christ rose from the dead and went back to His rightful place in heaven, where He had been forever prior to coming to Earth in the form of a mere man … there was NO righteous and holy enough ADVOCATE that God the Father would accept in the highest heaven to sponsor, or represent, you and I there. To make it a bit more simple – the ONLY “lawyer - advocate” God the Father would allow to be in the highest heaven with Him to represent you as SPOTLESS – TOTALLY BLAMELESS - is Jesus Christ. Certainly no mere Godly angel could do such a thing, nor even want to try.
Had Jesus Christ not been raised from the dead, you and I would have no LEGAL ADVOCATE to represent us in that wonderful, glorious place. And that would then mean if Jesus Christ was NOT qualified to be translated into the highest heaven, neither could you or I be qualified.
There is a crucially important statement of fact found in Hebrew 7:25 concerning the role Jesus Christ plays for those who BELIEVE He died and resurrected, and is currently representing them, yet waiting to represent them in the highest heaven once they die here on Earth and change their address to there:
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
If you read the several scriptures preceding this above passage, you’ll have no doubt that this “He” being spoken of is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is in heaven “ever living” to make intercession for those who believe that He paid full penalty for all their sins by dying on the cross on their behalf, and imputed to them God’s holy, pure righteousness. In one sense - from our human perspective - God the Father is not “ever living” to do that, nor is the Holy Spirit “ever living” to do that. Jesus Christ was and IS the only One qualified to do that, by what He ultimately accomplished on the cross for sinners, by being 100% obedient to God the Father's will.
Now then, from the Hebrews 7:25 scripture passage, intercession means that Jesus Christ represents us before the throne of God and we do not have to represent ourselves. In fact, it would be foolish to even try!
If Jesus Christ doesn’t “ever live” to make intercession for even one sinner, do you know WHY that would be? Because He would still be dead, and can’t, or He isn’t qualified, or BOTH! Somehow He had to get from his grave to the highest heaven to represent those who have made Him their Lord and Savior. How did that happen? God the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead so He could GET there because God the Father willed it to be so!
Now, there are other reasons why Jesus Christ “ever lives to make intercession” for those who have placed their trust in Him to be saved from their sins by His sacrifice for them on the cross, and there are also other reasons why He had to be visibly raised from the dead so eye-witnesses could see Him for a short while, but let’s keep this as simple as we can for the sake of this particular writing.
Let’s do a bit of self-examination at this juncture. Please answer these questions as truthfully as you can. It’s very important that you do, if you’re truly serious about wanting to be 100% pleasing to God.
Do you believe Jesus Christ was fully God – fully One of the three persons of the eternal Godhead before He came to earth as a mere man? If not, why not? Because you were taught differently? Because it makes no "logical" sense to you whatsoever? If you are struggling to admit from your heart that it was none other than God Himself who died for you on the cross in your place, when He didn’t even HAVE to, but CHOSE to, to prove His love for you … what would be so harmful in admitting you believe it to be SO – believe it to be TRUE? You can’t prove it WASN’T true, I can guarantee you that.
Do you believe Jesus Christ is the HIGHEST Lord above all, over all, having full power and authority over all, because the Father decreed it to be so … or something a little less than that? If you believe He is NOT the highest Lord of all, over all, is that because you’ve never really thought much about it? Is it because maybe you’ve even been taught differently? Here’s the question you need to ask yourself, and never STOP asking yourself: “Can I prove Jesus Christ ISN’T the very highest most powerful Lord of ALL? No I can’t. Thus it comes down to what I choose to believe about the statement, isn’t it? It comes down to one’s faith – one’s trusting whether it be true or not true. This is the greatest reason why God wrote the following scripture:
The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
If you chose to believe and are willing to tell everyone who asks you what you believe about WHO Jesus Christ WAS and IS … exactly what the Bible says about Him is true … you can have peace and assurance that you are on the right path to be fully pleasing to God. It makes no difference what you feel about the matter; it makes no difference what others have to say about the matter. The only important thing that matters is that you agree with the TRUTH of the RIGHT FACTS that have been presented to you in God's Word.
Now then … is this the END of the matter as to one having assurance of one’s salvation – having full confidence that they are 100% pleasing to God? Fortunately, NO. It’s not that simple. It’s THE key to get you walking down the right path to God, so to speak, but it doesn’t assure you that you’ll get to the pot of gold in glory at the end of the path, so to speak.
Your confession and willingness to confess your belief about the RIGHT FACTS is only HALF of the equation – half of the “salvation test” of whether you are truly saved or not. It doesn't cement assurance that you are 100% properly connected with God. Let’s now look at the SECOND half of what is necessary to make you 100% properly connected with God.
If you are not soon to die, God says that those who truly belong to Him through trusting in Jesus Christ will start demonstrating visible evidence of OBEYING God’s commands in the New Testament Bible.
Confession of the RIGHT FACTS (Truth from God’s perspective, in other words) is all you need to have assurance that you will be saved from your sins, if you are soon to die. (Example: The thief on the cross who was promised he would be in Paradise with Jesus). But if God extends your life and you stick around awhile down here on Earth, God says you are to learn to discern who are the TRUE disciples of Jesus Christ by walking in Truth, and those who are not.
Seeking to not be a slave to sin like you were before you became saved is a critically important part of showing visible evidence that you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, but there is something else very important to be included with your pursuit to be 100% pleasing to God. What would that be? Knowing spiritual Truth from spiritual deception, and DOING something about it. Diligently seeking to know spiritual Truth from demonically inspired spiritual deception … or otherwise known as spiritual lies, and standing up for spiritual Truth no matter what it costs you, if God so requires you to do so, is tops on God’s agenda of importance.
A long time ago, Satan became deceived in his pride – his self-centeredness - and in his deception, he deceived one third of the angels who chose to believe his lies, and hence they too became deceived by being more concerned about pleasing themselves than pleasing God. From that deception came rebellion against God and the rest of the angels who remained pure in desiring to please God ONLY, and that got Satan and the angels that served Satan kicked not only out of the highest heaven, but will one day in the future be judged for and sent to the lake of fire to suffer forever for their rebellion against God.
God is NOT interested in having one other created being in the highest heaven with Him who doesn’t quickly thirst to KNOW the difference between truth and lies -- truth and deception – if they want full assurance that they are truly saved and fully pleasing to God. He had to put up with that once before. NEVER AGAIN will it be tolerated in His presence.
Who will those people be in heaven with Him, besides the holy, obedient angels? Those who have only ONE solitary desire; one solitary purpose in mind for existing. That purpose is to be pleasing to their Creator and Lord and King and Savior.
There is mercy, grace, forgiveness … for those of us who for whatever reason/s believed lies about spiritual Truth, and come to the sobering reality that we had been “conned” by demonic powers to believe things that were NOT pure spiritual Truth. But to the degree that one refuses to persistently believe they could possibly be deceived spiritually … the Holy Spirit often departs from that person and that person then becomes more and more deceived, essentially being nothing more than an open vessel for demons to do Satan’s ongoing deceptive work through. That person can be forgiven before they die, and become fully restored back in good standing with God, but it might be the most difficult thing they could imagine doing. God most likely would cause it to happen that way so that they NEVER AGAIN give into temptation to let it happen ever again -- learning their lesson well.
There is scripture passage of sober warning that we all need to ask God frequently if we’re guilty of violating it or not. Here’s that scripture passage:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who DOES THE WILL of My Father in heaven. (Emphasis mine).
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS!’” (Emphasis mine; Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV).
What is the significance of the last four words written in this sobering warning? “You who practice lawlessness!” Do you suppose God wanted to make it easy for us to understand every specific KIND of LAWLESSNESS He was talking about? No doubt in my mind. Back up just a few verses, to Matthew 7:15, to learn what is right at the top of God's list:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
God tells us in the Bible that leading right up to the very return of Jesus Christ for those who have made (and KEEP!) themselves ready for His return … the compromising of Gods Word and spiritual deception would be everywhere. False prophets teach false Truth about God and spiritual things. Oh yeah … they’ll tell you 99% Truth sometimes, to trick you into believing their 1% lie – their 1% spiritual deception.
False prophets try to convince everyone they represent God, but because they are so spiritually deceived themselves from believing the lies Satan handed to them, they have a burning desire to pass along their spiritual deception to everyone else they can … all the WHILE believing with everything in their being that they are pleasing to God. That burning desire comes from their REAL father, none other than Satan himself.
Jesus says about them in the spirit of Matthew 7:21-23, and I paraphrase: “I find nothing valuable in having a relationship with people who practice lawlessness; who seek ways to pass along their spiritual deception to others who are seeking to know spiritual Truth. It is one thing to believe spiritual error – spiritual lies. It is something much more serious to look for ways to pass that spiritual deception on to anyone else … especially putting the label of “Christian” and/or "Christianity" on it!
Spiritual lawlessness (spiritual deception) is the most lethal and serious kind. Acts of physical lawlessness are nothing more that demonstrating one’s core heart condition, otherwise known as “Fruit” – as is addressed one scripture later in Matthew 7:16: “You will know them by their fruits.”
Our sins were taken care of on the cross by Jesus Christ. Our ability to be spiritually deceived was NOT!
Thus the Holy Spirit is freely given to us when we make Jesus Christ our personal Lord and Savior to lead and guide us into all Truth (That Truth found in the New Testament Bible), and to help us understand that Truth and how God wants us to apply it, but we must diligently WILL to know the difference between accurate revelation of Truth and spiritual lies and deception disguised as Truth.
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-14)
This is a serious matter that we need to frequently take to God and ask Him to have the Holy Spirit show us clearly where we need our spiritual belief system “tweaked” if necessary to see accurate, spiritual Truth as clearly as we can discern it, and understand it, with a willingness to then walk in it by our confession and our actions.
Are you ready for a possible stunning revelation concerning hell? In numbers, there will probably be more tormented souls in hell who considered themselves “Christians” while on Earth than their will be TRUE Christians who make it to heaven. Why would that be? Because God came to save those who acknowledge to Him that they are sinners, and they need a HUGE and HOLY Savior to save them from the huge amount of sins they have committed, or WOULD have committed had they not feared of the retribution that might have came their way in case they got caught. Hell will be filled with God haters; truth haters; people who demanded to be and remain their OWN king rather than letting the TRUE King become their king; people who refused to admit they were sinners against God; self-righteous people filled with various levels of spiritual pride. It will also be filled with people who thought they were Christians, but were not the quality of Christians Jesus wanted to "know" -- Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit wanted an intimate, personal relationship with through eternity ... in other words.
Hell will be filled with “self-righteous people”. Self-righteous people become Satan’s most effective wolves in sheep’s clothing, to do his bidding – to help perpetuate his spiritual deception across this planet, to hinder people from comprehending the RIGHT FACTS – spiritual Truth.
Not one human being will ever be found righteousness enough in God’s eyes by what they have done while on earth to try to EARN that righteousness to remain with Him for eternity in heaven. Yet every person God will allow to remain with Him in eternity in heaven will be fully righteousness enough by God’s standards because of what they BELIEVE and demonstrate a willingness to confess when given the opportunity to do so, or called upon to do so if need be.
BELIEVE?! Absolutely! No one can come up with a way to make themselves righteous enough to meet God’s demands to remain with Him in heaven in good standing. Because God knows that – He simply gave true disciples of Jesus Christ HIS righteousness! Here is the proof of this claim – this promise:
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
We are righteous because we are clothed in Jesus Christ so when God looks at us He sees our perfect Savior, not all our flaws. Galatians 3:27 addresses this very issue:
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:30 reinforces this amazing truth about our position in Christ Jesus once we make Him our Lord and Savior:
By HIS doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. (Emphasis mine)
Here’s another helpful clue to understanding and BELIEVING this incredible Truth:
“For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13)
He came to call sinners, not the SELF-righteous. Called them to WHAT? Repentance. What does repentance mean? It means to recognize what is not pleasing to God and stop doing unpleasing things to God and others any more. What is the very most displeasing thing a wolf in sheep’s clothing does? Satisfy the lust in his/her heart. First – the wolf tries to rob the weak sheep of life (peace and joy; well-being). But – a shrewd and persistent wolf in sheep’s clothing will even tackle a healthy sheep, and three or four wolves or more working together can kill a lot of healthy sheep, if the sheep don’t stay on guard for their lives, and stay close to their master and protector – their Sheppard – trusting their Sheppard in doing everything he tells them to do to remain safe and secure.
How does a shrewd and persistent wolf best disguise his/her true nature and purpose? They work hard to look like a real sheep; smell like a real sheep; sound like a real sheep. When it’s time for the sheep to go to Sunday school to worship God, the wolf in sheep’s clothing follows right along … because as we ALL KNOW … there is no one you can trust MORE than a “man-sheep or a woman-sheep of God” … especially one or several million of them who carry a “holy” book around and prays a great deal with wonderful sounding words with hands folded and/or raised high and yet are willing to bow low.
God is not looking for “fruit pickers, but “fruit trees.” God is fully capable of assigning His angels to pick His fruit for Him. God tells each of us that He has given us the power to determine what kind of fruit our tree will grow. The fruit He is looking for ONLY grows in the life-giving soil of Truth.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1)
Then take special note: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. (John 17:17)
How can you really KNOW what Truth is, you might be asking yourself right now? Truth is a PERSON, my friend, first and foremost. And every word Truth spoke and the Holy Spirit recorded for us in the New Testament is Truth in print. You can’t prove it’s not.
And so we conclude: “I am the way, the Truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)
No truer words have ever been spoken than those. If you believe them, or at least WANT to believe them, you’re moving in the right direction in connecting properly with God. But if you are spiritual deceived, and are totally content to remain that way by not letting the Holy Spirit quicken to you any vulnerability to spiritual lawlessness that lurks deep inside … I can’t encourage you enough to do some real serious business with THE Lord who has all power and authority, and has been assigned by God the Father to judge every soul and execute His just reward or punishment.
This very same Lord had something very important to say to everyone who has spiritual ears to hear about the times leading up to His return back to Earth for those who will be alive at that time and truly belong to Him and are walking in DETERMINED OBEDIENCE to the FULLNESS His Word:
“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12-13) (Some explanation: People's love to please God fully will become less and less; their desire to please Him according to His New Testament rules will grow colder and colder; they will exist mostly to please themselves; they will pacify their guilty conscious's by following after spiritual deception).
“And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:22) (Some explanation: God's judgment to various degrees is promised against rebellion to Him. Part of God's judgment will be to allow Satan to have greater influence over humanity until Satan is bound up in hell. Satan rules by tyranny. You do things HIS way or you suffer his wrath. You obey his will no matter how evil his will may be. The same is ultimately true about God regarding wrath, but God never forces His way on a person, and He certainly never expects us to do something evil. God does everything in His power to try to entice us to obey Him willingly from the depths of our being; hence allowing us to operate in free will. That is love at its purest.
Now BECAUSE lawlessness is steadily going to increase, God says that for the elect's sake -TRUE followers of Jesus Christ alive at that time, in other words - God will shorten the time-span of His return for His true followers, rather than force them to be subjected to such unrighteousness - such evil. That is a POSITIVE for those who TRULY belong to Jesus Christ, but it will be major NEGATIVE for those who aren't, because after that, evil will be allowed to proliferate unlike anything most can fathom).
“For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24) (Some explanation: God allows spiritual deception to various degrees to give us a choice to choose spiritual Truth from spiritual deception (lies). Our final judgment will in some capacity incorporate how we lived our lives on this planet in accordance with Biblical Truth. In another sense, God allows spiritual deception because the Body of Christ becomes negligent in frequent personal and corporate prayer, which often is supposed to include Holy Spirit led fasting. Engaging in frequent spiritual warfare against demonic powers was never something a few Christians were to be engaged in. Way too many Christians in certain regions of this planet can't be bothered anymore to engage themselves in frequent spiritual warfare. They are quite content to let someone else do that. Many are so selfishly lazy and deceived they don't even KNOW they are supposed to be vessels of God to be actively engaged in effective spiritual warfare! A time is coming, and fast approaching, when they will greatly regret their slothfulness).
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Mark 13:31)
As we close this out, this bears repeating: The people God died for on the cross so they could be with Him forever are people who have one solitary purpose for existing. They exist to please God in every way in accordance with the guidelines – the rules - He has provided in pleasing Him. Those guidelines – rules – commands - are recorded in the New Testament Bible. They are to be believed, understood and obeyed. In so doing, God will walk hand in hand with you all the way to glory with Him the moment you purpose to BELIEVE, seek to UNDERSTAND, and OBEY those guidelines. He’ll lead you to the highest glory with Him and make certain you won’t stray off the RIGHT path during your journey in this life to eternal glory with Him.
Called By: Pst Obashun Tope Samuel
Monday, May 10, 2010
HOW TO GET PROPERLY CONNECTED TO GOD SO YOU CAN BE FULLY PLEASING TO HIM
The sooner you learn that the goal of life is to be pleasing to God in every way you know how, the easier it becomes to connect properly with God and stay properly connected to Him.
Over time, the Precious Testimonies ministry receives a number of emails that read something like this:
“I feel so far away from God. I used to follow Him, but I went my own way, and now I can’t seem to find Him again. Please, I’m desperate. Can you help me find God again?”
Invariably … if a person like this will take the time to share much of their spiritual journey, and explain what was their understanding of “knowing God” earlier in their life, it becomes quite clear to us what the REAL problem is. A person like this didn’t either KNOW how to correctly play by God’s rules to properly connect with God the first time around, or they chose not to play by His rules if they DID know. Most likely, they “modified” God’s rules, and maybe added a few of their own “more convenient - logical” rules.
There is only one sure way to properly connect with God according to God so that you are fully pleasing to Him. You have to play by HIS rules. If you play by any other rules than the rules He says you need to play by, you will have a very joyless and essentially meaningless relationship with God. And sooner or later, you will find no real heart connection with God at all.
The rules God tells us to play by are contained in the New Testament Bible. However, those rules are not clearly written out in a neat, organized fashion, as if I’m telling you something you didn’t already know. That’s no coincidence the Bible is written that way. God never made it easy and logical to properly connect with Him, and stay connected. He did it that way to see who REALLY wants Him, and who is just playing games with themselves. Hence, It requires a great deal of diligence; a great deal of persistence; to properly and wisely connect with God, and then learn how to STAY connected to Him.
By God's help and grace, I’m going to do my best to help simplify God’s rules for you in this writing, to help get you on the RIGHT path, so you can firmly connect with God. This is not going to be an exhaustive directive by any means, but it will be a trustworthy writing to get your feet planted on solid spiritual ground.
I’ll repeat the very first sentence of this writing: The very first thing God is looking for out of a person is someone who truly wants to please God with their life. Have you come to a place in your life where that is TRULY the greatest desire of your heart? If it isn’t, you might be playing games with yourself about just how serious you ARE with wanting to fully connect to God, and STAY connected.
You will find very little meaning – very little true fulfillment – in a relationship with God if you only want to do it part-time … only dabble a little with Him. God will take what you invest in Him -- YES -- but don’t expect to have the best connection attainable with God if you aren’t prepared to give Him 100% of yourself.
I’m now going to share with you some crucially important facts. RIGHT FACTS. After I’ve shared with you these facts, I’m going to ask you if you believe these to be TRUE facts, or UNTRUE facts – hence, lies. What you believe about these facts, and are willing to confess to anyone who asks you from this point on about these facts … will help you to know whether you are truly connected or not to God, because the very first thing you are going to have to admit to yourself and God is that you are a sinner (spiritual rebel). You are going to have to admit that you have sinned against a holy God. You are going to have to admit that you have been more concerned about pleasing yourself than you have been pleasing God. And then you will have to admit that you need a Savior, to save you from being punished by God for your selfish sins on the Judgment Day. Let’s now look at some right facts.
RIGHT FACTS:
You were born a sinner. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin against God, (or disobedience to God; same thing) their sin nature was passed to every offspring that came after them, right down to include you and me.
God came from heaven to earth for one primary purpose. To be born to die for your sins and my sins and the sins of everyone else. The name given to God was Jesus Christ. He lived the life of a human being for 33 years before being murdered on the cross.
During his 33 years of living on Earth, he never sinned once. This made Him the only acceptable sacrifice that God the Father found acceptable to pay full ransom price for your sins.
Thus the punishment you deserve for sinning against God (disobeying God's commands) during your lifetime was taken out on Jesus Christ, so you could be FREED from God’s wrath against you for those sins, and not be sentenced to suffer for them in hell for eternity, but rather, spend eternity with God in heaven – fully forgiven – fully acceptable to God - fully righteous, because God gave you His imputed righteousness and took your sins, as promised in 2 Corinthians 5:21.
So what do you believe about what you just read about God dying for your sins and imputing to you His pure, Godly righteousness? Do you believe this is TRUE, or FALSE? Do you believe it to be FACT, or LIES?
If you believe it to be TRUE, you are on the right path to connecting properly with God. Here’s some Bible scripture to back up my claim. In Romans 10:9-10, reading from the New King James translation of the Bible, it states:
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.
This scripture may not make that much sense to you the way it reads, so please allow me to give you some understanding of what God wants you to understand about it.
“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus” … Let’s dissect what this is REALLY implying. If you will confess to anyone who asks you if you truly believe that Jesus Christ was God in human form, and He was the ONLY One acceptable to take full punishment for every sin you’ll ever commit against God (and others) while you live on this planet … you can be confident of your salvation ... confident that you are fully connecting with God.
“If you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead,” … What’s the importance of believing that God the Father and the Holy Spirit raised Jesus Christ from the dead, regarding assurance of your salvation and you properly connecting with Him?
The resurrection of Jesus is important for several reasons. First, it witnesses to the immense power of God Himself. To believe in the resurrection is to believe in God. If God exists, and if He created the universe and has power over it, He has power to raise the dead. If He does not have such power, He is not a God worthy of our faith and worship. Only He who created life can resurrect it after death. Only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting that is death and the victory that is the grave’s. In resurrecting Jesus from the grave, God reminds us of His absolute sovereignty over life and death.Second, the resurrection of Jesus is a testimony to the resurrection of human beings, which is a basic tenet of the Christianity. Unlike all other religions, Christianity alone possesses a founder who transcends death and who promises that His followers will do the same. All other "religions" were founded by men and prophets (false prophets) whose end was the grave. As Christians, we take comfort in the fact that our God became man, died for our sins, and was resurrected the third day. The grave could not hold Him. He lives, and He sits today at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains in detail the importance of the resurrection of Christ. Some in Corinth did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and in this chapter Paul gives six disastrous consequences if there were no resurrection: 1) preaching Christ would be senseless (v. 14); 2) faith in Christ would be useless (v. 14); 3) all the witnesses and preachers of the resurrection would be liars (v. 15); 4) no one would be redeemed from sin (v. 17); 5) all former believers would have perished (v.18); and 6) Christians would be the most pitiable people on the earth (v. 19). But Christ indeed has risen from the dead and “has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20), assuring that we will follow Him in resurrection.
Another important reason why Jesus Christ had to resurrect from the dead and go to heaven -- until Jesus Christ rose from the dead and went back to His rightful place in heaven, where He had been forever prior to coming to Earth in the form of a mere man … there was NO righteous and holy enough ADVOCATE that God the Father would accept in the highest heaven to sponsor, or represent, you and I there. To make it a bit more simple – the ONLY “lawyer - advocate” God the Father would allow to be in the highest heaven with Him to represent you as SPOTLESS – TOTALLY BLAMELESS - is Jesus Christ. Certainly no mere Godly angel could do such a thing, nor even want to try.
Had Jesus Christ not been raised from the dead, you and I would have no LEGAL ADVOCATE to represent us in that wonderful, glorious place. And that would then mean if Jesus Christ was NOT qualified to be translated into the highest heaven, neither could you or I be qualified.
There is a crucially important statement of fact found in Hebrew 7:25 concerning the role Jesus Christ plays for those who BELIEVE He died and resurrected, and is currently representing them, yet waiting to represent them in the highest heaven once they die here on Earth and change their address to there:
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
If you read the several scriptures preceding this above passage, you’ll have no doubt that this “He” being spoken of is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is in heaven “ever living” to make intercession for those who believe that He paid full penalty for all their sins by dying on the cross on their behalf, and imputed to them God’s holy, pure righteousness. In one sense - from our human perspective - God the Father is not “ever living” to do that, nor is the Holy Spirit “ever living” to do that. Jesus Christ was and IS the only One qualified to do that, by what He ultimately accomplished on the cross for sinners, by being 100% obedient to God the Father's will.
Now then, from the Hebrews 7:25 scripture passage, intercession means that Jesus Christ represents us before the throne of God and we do not have to represent ourselves. In fact, it would be foolish to even try!
If Jesus Christ doesn’t “ever live” to make intercession for even one sinner, do you know WHY that would be? Because He would still be dead, and can’t, or He isn’t qualified, or BOTH! Somehow He had to get from his grave to the highest heaven to represent those who have made Him their Lord and Savior. How did that happen? God the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead so He could GET there because God the Father willed it to be so!
Now, there are other reasons why Jesus Christ “ever lives to make intercession” for those who have placed their trust in Him to be saved from their sins by His sacrifice for them on the cross, and there are also other reasons why He had to be visibly raised from the dead so eye-witnesses could see Him for a short while, but let’s keep this as simple as we can for the sake of this particular writing.
Let’s do a bit of self-examination at this juncture. Please answer these questions as truthfully as you can. It’s very important that you do, if you’re truly serious about wanting to be 100% pleasing to God.
Do you believe Jesus Christ was fully God – fully One of the three persons of the eternal Godhead before He came to earth as a mere man? If not, why not? Because you were taught differently? Because it makes no "logical" sense to you whatsoever? If you are struggling to admit from your heart that it was none other than God Himself who died for you on the cross in your place, when He didn’t even HAVE to, but CHOSE to, to prove His love for you … what would be so harmful in admitting you believe it to be SO – believe it to be TRUE? You can’t prove it WASN’T true, I can guarantee you that.
Do you believe Jesus Christ is the HIGHEST Lord above all, over all, having full power and authority over all, because the Father decreed it to be so … or something a little less than that? If you believe He is NOT the highest Lord of all, over all, is that because you’ve never really thought much about it? Is it because maybe you’ve even been taught differently? Here’s the question you need to ask yourself, and never STOP asking yourself: “Can I prove Jesus Christ ISN’T the very highest most powerful Lord of ALL? No I can’t. Thus it comes down to what I choose to believe about the statement, isn’t it? It comes down to one’s faith – one’s trusting whether it be true or not true. This is the greatest reason why God wrote the following scripture:
The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
If you chose to believe and are willing to tell everyone who asks you what you believe about WHO Jesus Christ WAS and IS … exactly what the Bible says about Him is true … you can have peace and assurance that you are on the right path to be fully pleasing to God. It makes no difference what you feel about the matter; it makes no difference what others have to say about the matter. The only important thing that matters is that you agree with the TRUTH of the RIGHT FACTS that have been presented to you in God's Word.
Now then … is this the END of the matter as to one having assurance of one’s salvation – having full confidence that they are 100% pleasing to God? Fortunately, NO. It’s not that simple. It’s THE key to get you walking down the right path to God, so to speak, but it doesn’t assure you that you’ll get to the pot of gold in glory at the end of the path, so to speak.
Your confession and willingness to confess your belief about the RIGHT FACTS is only HALF of the equation – half of the “salvation test” of whether you are truly saved or not. It doesn't cement assurance that you are 100% properly connected with God. Let’s now look at the SECOND half of what is necessary to make you 100% properly connected with God.
If you are not soon to die, God says that those who truly belong to Him through trusting in Jesus Christ will start demonstrating visible evidence of OBEYING God’s commands in the New Testament Bible.
Confession of the RIGHT FACTS (Truth from God’s perspective, in other words) is all you need to have assurance that you will be saved from your sins, if you are soon to die. (Example: The thief on the cross who was promised he would be in Paradise with Jesus). But if God extends your life and you stick around awhile down here on Earth, God says you are to learn to discern who are the TRUE disciples of Jesus Christ by walking in Truth, and those who are not.
Seeking to not be a slave to sin like you were before you became saved is a critically important part of showing visible evidence that you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, but there is something else very important to be included with your pursuit to be 100% pleasing to God. What would that be? Knowing spiritual Truth from spiritual deception, and DOING something about it. Diligently seeking to know spiritual Truth from demonically inspired spiritual deception … or otherwise known as spiritual lies, and standing up for spiritual Truth no matter what it costs you, if God so requires you to do so, is tops on God’s agenda of importance.
A long time ago, Satan became deceived in his pride – his self-centeredness - and in his deception, he deceived one third of the angels who chose to believe his lies, and hence they too became deceived by being more concerned about pleasing themselves than pleasing God. From that deception came rebellion against God and the rest of the angels who remained pure in desiring to please God ONLY, and that got Satan and the angels that served Satan kicked not only out of the highest heaven, but will one day in the future be judged for and sent to the lake of fire to suffer forever for their rebellion against God.
God is NOT interested in having one other created being in the highest heaven with Him who doesn’t quickly thirst to KNOW the difference between truth and lies -- truth and deception – if they want full assurance that they are truly saved and fully pleasing to God. He had to put up with that once before. NEVER AGAIN will it be tolerated in His presence.
Who will those people be in heaven with Him, besides the holy, obedient angels? Those who have only ONE solitary desire; one solitary purpose in mind for existing. That purpose is to be pleasing to their Creator and Lord and King and Savior.
There is mercy, grace, forgiveness … for those of us who for whatever reason/s believed lies about spiritual Truth, and come to the sobering reality that we had been “conned” by demonic powers to believe things that were NOT pure spiritual Truth. But to the degree that one refuses to persistently believe they could possibly be deceived spiritually … the Holy Spirit often departs from that person and that person then becomes more and more deceived, essentially being nothing more than an open vessel for demons to do Satan’s ongoing deceptive work through. That person can be forgiven before they die, and become fully restored back in good standing with God, but it might be the most difficult thing they could imagine doing. God most likely would cause it to happen that way so that they NEVER AGAIN give into temptation to let it happen ever again -- learning their lesson well.
There is scripture passage of sober warning that we all need to ask God frequently if we’re guilty of violating it or not. Here’s that scripture passage:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who DOES THE WILL of My Father in heaven. (Emphasis mine).
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS!’” (Emphasis mine; Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV).
What is the significance of the last four words written in this sobering warning? “You who practice lawlessness!” Do you suppose God wanted to make it easy for us to understand every specific KIND of LAWLESSNESS He was talking about? No doubt in my mind. Back up just a few verses, to Matthew 7:15, to learn what is right at the top of God's list:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
God tells us in the Bible that leading right up to the very return of Jesus Christ for those who have made (and KEEP!) themselves ready for His return … the compromising of Gods Word and spiritual deception would be everywhere. False prophets teach false Truth about God and spiritual things. Oh yeah … they’ll tell you 99% Truth sometimes, to trick you into believing their 1% lie – their 1% spiritual deception.
False prophets try to convince everyone they represent God, but because they are so spiritually deceived themselves from believing the lies Satan handed to them, they have a burning desire to pass along their spiritual deception to everyone else they can … all the WHILE believing with everything in their being that they are pleasing to God. That burning desire comes from their REAL father, none other than Satan himself.
Jesus says about them in the spirit of Matthew 7:21-23, and I paraphrase: “I find nothing valuable in having a relationship with people who practice lawlessness; who seek ways to pass along their spiritual deception to others who are seeking to know spiritual Truth. It is one thing to believe spiritual error – spiritual lies. It is something much more serious to look for ways to pass that spiritual deception on to anyone else … especially putting the label of “Christian” and/or "Christianity" on it!
Spiritual lawlessness (spiritual deception) is the most lethal and serious kind. Acts of physical lawlessness are nothing more that demonstrating one’s core heart condition, otherwise known as “Fruit” – as is addressed one scripture later in Matthew 7:16: “You will know them by their fruits.”
Our sins were taken care of on the cross by Jesus Christ. Our ability to be spiritually deceived was NOT!
Thus the Holy Spirit is freely given to us when we make Jesus Christ our personal Lord and Savior to lead and guide us into all Truth (That Truth found in the New Testament Bible), and to help us understand that Truth and how God wants us to apply it, but we must diligently WILL to know the difference between accurate revelation of Truth and spiritual lies and deception disguised as Truth.
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-14)
This is a serious matter that we need to frequently take to God and ask Him to have the Holy Spirit show us clearly where we need our spiritual belief system “tweaked” if necessary to see accurate, spiritual Truth as clearly as we can discern it, and understand it, with a willingness to then walk in it by our confession and our actions.
Are you ready for a possible stunning revelation concerning hell? In numbers, there will probably be more tormented souls in hell who considered themselves “Christians” while on Earth than their will be TRUE Christians who make it to heaven. Why would that be? Because God came to save those who acknowledge to Him that they are sinners, and they need a HUGE and HOLY Savior to save them from the huge amount of sins they have committed, or WOULD have committed had they not feared of the retribution that might have came their way in case they got caught. Hell will be filled with God haters; truth haters; people who demanded to be and remain their OWN king rather than letting the TRUE King become their king; people who refused to admit they were sinners against God; self-righteous people filled with various levels of spiritual pride. It will also be filled with people who thought they were Christians, but were not the quality of Christians Jesus wanted to "know" -- Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit wanted an intimate, personal relationship with through eternity ... in other words.
Hell will be filled with “self-righteous people”. Self-righteous people become Satan’s most effective wolves in sheep’s clothing, to do his bidding – to help perpetuate his spiritual deception across this planet, to hinder people from comprehending the RIGHT FACTS – spiritual Truth.
Not one human being will ever be found righteousness enough in God’s eyes by what they have done while on earth to try to EARN that righteousness to remain with Him for eternity in heaven. Yet every person God will allow to remain with Him in eternity in heaven will be fully righteousness enough by God’s standards because of what they BELIEVE and demonstrate a willingness to confess when given the opportunity to do so, or called upon to do so if need be.
BELIEVE?! Absolutely! No one can come up with a way to make themselves righteous enough to meet God’s demands to remain with Him in heaven in good standing. Because God knows that – He simply gave true disciples of Jesus Christ HIS righteousness! Here is the proof of this claim – this promise:
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
We are righteous because we are clothed in Jesus Christ so when God looks at us He sees our perfect Savior, not all our flaws. Galatians 3:27 addresses this very issue:
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:30 reinforces this amazing truth about our position in Christ Jesus once we make Him our Lord and Savior:
By HIS doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. (Emphasis mine)
Here’s another helpful clue to understanding and BELIEVING this incredible Truth:
“For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13)
He came to call sinners, not the SELF-righteous. Called them to WHAT? Repentance. What does repentance mean? It means to recognize what is not pleasing to God and stop doing unpleasing things to God and others any more. What is the very most displeasing thing a wolf in sheep’s clothing does? Satisfy the lust in his/her heart. First – the wolf tries to rob the weak sheep of life (peace and joy; well-being). But – a shrewd and persistent wolf in sheep’s clothing will even tackle a healthy sheep, and three or four wolves or more working together can kill a lot of healthy sheep, if the sheep don’t stay on guard for their lives, and stay close to their master and protector – their Sheppard – trusting their Sheppard in doing everything he tells them to do to remain safe and secure.
How does a shrewd and persistent wolf best disguise his/her true nature and purpose? They work hard to look like a real sheep; smell like a real sheep; sound like a real sheep. When it’s time for the sheep to go to Sunday school to worship God, the wolf in sheep’s clothing follows right along … because as we ALL KNOW … there is no one you can trust MORE than a “man-sheep or a woman-sheep of God” … especially one or several million of them who carry a “holy” book around and prays a great deal with wonderful sounding words with hands folded and/or raised high and yet are willing to bow low.
God is not looking for “fruit pickers, but “fruit trees.” God is fully capable of assigning His angels to pick His fruit for Him. God tells each of us that He has given us the power to determine what kind of fruit our tree will grow. The fruit He is looking for ONLY grows in the life-giving soil of Truth.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1)
Then take special note: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. (John 17:17)
How can you really KNOW what Truth is, you might be asking yourself right now? Truth is a PERSON, my friend, first and foremost. And every word Truth spoke and the Holy Spirit recorded for us in the New Testament is Truth in print. You can’t prove it’s not.
And so we conclude: “I am the way, the Truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)
No truer words have ever been spoken than those. If you believe them, or at least WANT to believe them, you’re moving in the right direction in connecting properly with God. But if you are spiritual deceived, and are totally content to remain that way by not letting the Holy Spirit quicken to you any vulnerability to spiritual lawlessness that lurks deep inside … I can’t encourage you enough to do some real serious business with THE Lord who has all power and authority, and has been assigned by God the Father to judge every soul and execute His just reward or punishment.
This very same Lord had something very important to say to everyone who has spiritual ears to hear about the times leading up to His return back to Earth for those who will be alive at that time and truly belong to Him and are walking in DETERMINED OBEDIENCE to the FULLNESS His Word:
“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12-13) (Some explanation: People's love to please God fully will become less and less; their desire to please Him according to His New Testament rules will grow colder and colder; they will exist mostly to please themselves; they will pacify their guilty conscious's by following after spiritual deception).
“And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:22) (Some explanation: God's judgment to various degrees is promised against rebellion to Him. Part of God's judgment will be to allow Satan to have greater influence over humanity until Satan is bound up in hell. Satan rules by tyranny. You do things HIS way or you suffer his wrath. You obey his will no matter how evil his will may be. The same is ultimately true about God regarding wrath, but God never forces His way on a person, and He certainly never expects us to do something evil. God does everything in His power to try to entice us to obey Him willingly from the depths of our being; hence allowing us to operate in free will. That is love at its purest.
Now BECAUSE lawlessness is steadily going to increase, God says that for the elect's sake -TRUE followers of Jesus Christ alive at that time, in other words - God will shorten the time-span of His return for His true followers, rather than force them to be subjected to such unrighteousness - such evil. That is a POSITIVE for those who TRULY belong to Jesus Christ, but it will be major NEGATIVE for those who aren't, because after that, evil will be allowed to proliferate unlike anything most can fathom).
“For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24) (Some explanation: God allows spiritual deception to various degrees to give us a choice to choose spiritual Truth from spiritual deception (lies). Our final judgment will in some capacity incorporate how we lived our lives on this planet in accordance with Biblical Truth. In another sense, God allows spiritual deception because the Body of Christ becomes negligent in frequent personal and corporate prayer, which often is supposed to include Holy Spirit led fasting. Engaging in frequent spiritual warfare against demonic powers was never something a few Christians were to be engaged in. Way too many Christians in certain regions of this planet can't be bothered anymore to engage themselves in frequent spiritual warfare. They are quite content to let someone else do that. Many are so selfishly lazy and deceived they don't even KNOW they are supposed to be vessels of God to be actively engaged in effective spiritual warfare! A time is coming, and fast approaching, when they will greatly regret their slothfulness).
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Mark 13:31)
As we close this out, this bears repeating: The people God died for on the cross so they could be with Him forever are people who have one solitary purpose for existing. They exist to please God in every way in accordance with the guidelines – the rules - He has provided in pleasing Him. Those guidelines – rules – commands - are recorded in the New Testament Bible. They are to be believed, understood and obeyed. In so doing, God will walk hand in hand with you all the way to glory with Him the moment you purpose to BELIEVE, seek to UNDERSTAND, and OBEY those guidelines. He’ll lead you to the highest glory with Him and make certain you won’t stray off the RIGHT path during your journey in this life to eternal glory with Him.
Called By: Pst Obashun Tope Samuel
Over time, the Precious Testimonies ministry receives a number of emails that read something like this:
“I feel so far away from God. I used to follow Him, but I went my own way, and now I can’t seem to find Him again. Please, I’m desperate. Can you help me find God again?”
Invariably … if a person like this will take the time to share much of their spiritual journey, and explain what was their understanding of “knowing God” earlier in their life, it becomes quite clear to us what the REAL problem is. A person like this didn’t either KNOW how to correctly play by God’s rules to properly connect with God the first time around, or they chose not to play by His rules if they DID know. Most likely, they “modified” God’s rules, and maybe added a few of their own “more convenient - logical” rules.
There is only one sure way to properly connect with God according to God so that you are fully pleasing to Him. You have to play by HIS rules. If you play by any other rules than the rules He says you need to play by, you will have a very joyless and essentially meaningless relationship with God. And sooner or later, you will find no real heart connection with God at all.
The rules God tells us to play by are contained in the New Testament Bible. However, those rules are not clearly written out in a neat, organized fashion, as if I’m telling you something you didn’t already know. That’s no coincidence the Bible is written that way. God never made it easy and logical to properly connect with Him, and stay connected. He did it that way to see who REALLY wants Him, and who is just playing games with themselves. Hence, It requires a great deal of diligence; a great deal of persistence; to properly and wisely connect with God, and then learn how to STAY connected to Him.
By God's help and grace, I’m going to do my best to help simplify God’s rules for you in this writing, to help get you on the RIGHT path, so you can firmly connect with God. This is not going to be an exhaustive directive by any means, but it will be a trustworthy writing to get your feet planted on solid spiritual ground.
I’ll repeat the very first sentence of this writing: The very first thing God is looking for out of a person is someone who truly wants to please God with their life. Have you come to a place in your life where that is TRULY the greatest desire of your heart? If it isn’t, you might be playing games with yourself about just how serious you ARE with wanting to fully connect to God, and STAY connected.
You will find very little meaning – very little true fulfillment – in a relationship with God if you only want to do it part-time … only dabble a little with Him. God will take what you invest in Him -- YES -- but don’t expect to have the best connection attainable with God if you aren’t prepared to give Him 100% of yourself.
I’m now going to share with you some crucially important facts. RIGHT FACTS. After I’ve shared with you these facts, I’m going to ask you if you believe these to be TRUE facts, or UNTRUE facts – hence, lies. What you believe about these facts, and are willing to confess to anyone who asks you from this point on about these facts … will help you to know whether you are truly connected or not to God, because the very first thing you are going to have to admit to yourself and God is that you are a sinner (spiritual rebel). You are going to have to admit that you have sinned against a holy God. You are going to have to admit that you have been more concerned about pleasing yourself than you have been pleasing God. And then you will have to admit that you need a Savior, to save you from being punished by God for your selfish sins on the Judgment Day. Let’s now look at some right facts.
RIGHT FACTS:
You were born a sinner. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin against God, (or disobedience to God; same thing) their sin nature was passed to every offspring that came after them, right down to include you and me.
God came from heaven to earth for one primary purpose. To be born to die for your sins and my sins and the sins of everyone else. The name given to God was Jesus Christ. He lived the life of a human being for 33 years before being murdered on the cross.
During his 33 years of living on Earth, he never sinned once. This made Him the only acceptable sacrifice that God the Father found acceptable to pay full ransom price for your sins.
Thus the punishment you deserve for sinning against God (disobeying God's commands) during your lifetime was taken out on Jesus Christ, so you could be FREED from God’s wrath against you for those sins, and not be sentenced to suffer for them in hell for eternity, but rather, spend eternity with God in heaven – fully forgiven – fully acceptable to God - fully righteous, because God gave you His imputed righteousness and took your sins, as promised in 2 Corinthians 5:21.
So what do you believe about what you just read about God dying for your sins and imputing to you His pure, Godly righteousness? Do you believe this is TRUE, or FALSE? Do you believe it to be FACT, or LIES?
If you believe it to be TRUE, you are on the right path to connecting properly with God. Here’s some Bible scripture to back up my claim. In Romans 10:9-10, reading from the New King James translation of the Bible, it states:
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.
This scripture may not make that much sense to you the way it reads, so please allow me to give you some understanding of what God wants you to understand about it.
“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus” … Let’s dissect what this is REALLY implying. If you will confess to anyone who asks you if you truly believe that Jesus Christ was God in human form, and He was the ONLY One acceptable to take full punishment for every sin you’ll ever commit against God (and others) while you live on this planet … you can be confident of your salvation ... confident that you are fully connecting with God.
“If you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead,” … What’s the importance of believing that God the Father and the Holy Spirit raised Jesus Christ from the dead, regarding assurance of your salvation and you properly connecting with Him?
The resurrection of Jesus is important for several reasons. First, it witnesses to the immense power of God Himself. To believe in the resurrection is to believe in God. If God exists, and if He created the universe and has power over it, He has power to raise the dead. If He does not have such power, He is not a God worthy of our faith and worship. Only He who created life can resurrect it after death. Only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting that is death and the victory that is the grave’s. In resurrecting Jesus from the grave, God reminds us of His absolute sovereignty over life and death.Second, the resurrection of Jesus is a testimony to the resurrection of human beings, which is a basic tenet of the Christianity. Unlike all other religions, Christianity alone possesses a founder who transcends death and who promises that His followers will do the same. All other "religions" were founded by men and prophets (false prophets) whose end was the grave. As Christians, we take comfort in the fact that our God became man, died for our sins, and was resurrected the third day. The grave could not hold Him. He lives, and He sits today at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains in detail the importance of the resurrection of Christ. Some in Corinth did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and in this chapter Paul gives six disastrous consequences if there were no resurrection: 1) preaching Christ would be senseless (v. 14); 2) faith in Christ would be useless (v. 14); 3) all the witnesses and preachers of the resurrection would be liars (v. 15); 4) no one would be redeemed from sin (v. 17); 5) all former believers would have perished (v.18); and 6) Christians would be the most pitiable people on the earth (v. 19). But Christ indeed has risen from the dead and “has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 20), assuring that we will follow Him in resurrection.
Another important reason why Jesus Christ had to resurrect from the dead and go to heaven -- until Jesus Christ rose from the dead and went back to His rightful place in heaven, where He had been forever prior to coming to Earth in the form of a mere man … there was NO righteous and holy enough ADVOCATE that God the Father would accept in the highest heaven to sponsor, or represent, you and I there. To make it a bit more simple – the ONLY “lawyer - advocate” God the Father would allow to be in the highest heaven with Him to represent you as SPOTLESS – TOTALLY BLAMELESS - is Jesus Christ. Certainly no mere Godly angel could do such a thing, nor even want to try.
Had Jesus Christ not been raised from the dead, you and I would have no LEGAL ADVOCATE to represent us in that wonderful, glorious place. And that would then mean if Jesus Christ was NOT qualified to be translated into the highest heaven, neither could you or I be qualified.
There is a crucially important statement of fact found in Hebrew 7:25 concerning the role Jesus Christ plays for those who BELIEVE He died and resurrected, and is currently representing them, yet waiting to represent them in the highest heaven once they die here on Earth and change their address to there:
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
If you read the several scriptures preceding this above passage, you’ll have no doubt that this “He” being spoken of is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is in heaven “ever living” to make intercession for those who believe that He paid full penalty for all their sins by dying on the cross on their behalf, and imputed to them God’s holy, pure righteousness. In one sense - from our human perspective - God the Father is not “ever living” to do that, nor is the Holy Spirit “ever living” to do that. Jesus Christ was and IS the only One qualified to do that, by what He ultimately accomplished on the cross for sinners, by being 100% obedient to God the Father's will.
Now then, from the Hebrews 7:25 scripture passage, intercession means that Jesus Christ represents us before the throne of God and we do not have to represent ourselves. In fact, it would be foolish to even try!
If Jesus Christ doesn’t “ever live” to make intercession for even one sinner, do you know WHY that would be? Because He would still be dead, and can’t, or He isn’t qualified, or BOTH! Somehow He had to get from his grave to the highest heaven to represent those who have made Him their Lord and Savior. How did that happen? God the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead so He could GET there because God the Father willed it to be so!
Now, there are other reasons why Jesus Christ “ever lives to make intercession” for those who have placed their trust in Him to be saved from their sins by His sacrifice for them on the cross, and there are also other reasons why He had to be visibly raised from the dead so eye-witnesses could see Him for a short while, but let’s keep this as simple as we can for the sake of this particular writing.
Let’s do a bit of self-examination at this juncture. Please answer these questions as truthfully as you can. It’s very important that you do, if you’re truly serious about wanting to be 100% pleasing to God.
Do you believe Jesus Christ was fully God – fully One of the three persons of the eternal Godhead before He came to earth as a mere man? If not, why not? Because you were taught differently? Because it makes no "logical" sense to you whatsoever? If you are struggling to admit from your heart that it was none other than God Himself who died for you on the cross in your place, when He didn’t even HAVE to, but CHOSE to, to prove His love for you … what would be so harmful in admitting you believe it to be SO – believe it to be TRUE? You can’t prove it WASN’T true, I can guarantee you that.
Do you believe Jesus Christ is the HIGHEST Lord above all, over all, having full power and authority over all, because the Father decreed it to be so … or something a little less than that? If you believe He is NOT the highest Lord of all, over all, is that because you’ve never really thought much about it? Is it because maybe you’ve even been taught differently? Here’s the question you need to ask yourself, and never STOP asking yourself: “Can I prove Jesus Christ ISN’T the very highest most powerful Lord of ALL? No I can’t. Thus it comes down to what I choose to believe about the statement, isn’t it? It comes down to one’s faith – one’s trusting whether it be true or not true. This is the greatest reason why God wrote the following scripture:
The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
If you chose to believe and are willing to tell everyone who asks you what you believe about WHO Jesus Christ WAS and IS … exactly what the Bible says about Him is true … you can have peace and assurance that you are on the right path to be fully pleasing to God. It makes no difference what you feel about the matter; it makes no difference what others have to say about the matter. The only important thing that matters is that you agree with the TRUTH of the RIGHT FACTS that have been presented to you in God's Word.
Now then … is this the END of the matter as to one having assurance of one’s salvation – having full confidence that they are 100% pleasing to God? Fortunately, NO. It’s not that simple. It’s THE key to get you walking down the right path to God, so to speak, but it doesn’t assure you that you’ll get to the pot of gold in glory at the end of the path, so to speak.
Your confession and willingness to confess your belief about the RIGHT FACTS is only HALF of the equation – half of the “salvation test” of whether you are truly saved or not. It doesn't cement assurance that you are 100% properly connected with God. Let’s now look at the SECOND half of what is necessary to make you 100% properly connected with God.
If you are not soon to die, God says that those who truly belong to Him through trusting in Jesus Christ will start demonstrating visible evidence of OBEYING God’s commands in the New Testament Bible.
Confession of the RIGHT FACTS (Truth from God’s perspective, in other words) is all you need to have assurance that you will be saved from your sins, if you are soon to die. (Example: The thief on the cross who was promised he would be in Paradise with Jesus). But if God extends your life and you stick around awhile down here on Earth, God says you are to learn to discern who are the TRUE disciples of Jesus Christ by walking in Truth, and those who are not.
Seeking to not be a slave to sin like you were before you became saved is a critically important part of showing visible evidence that you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, but there is something else very important to be included with your pursuit to be 100% pleasing to God. What would that be? Knowing spiritual Truth from spiritual deception, and DOING something about it. Diligently seeking to know spiritual Truth from demonically inspired spiritual deception … or otherwise known as spiritual lies, and standing up for spiritual Truth no matter what it costs you, if God so requires you to do so, is tops on God’s agenda of importance.
A long time ago, Satan became deceived in his pride – his self-centeredness - and in his deception, he deceived one third of the angels who chose to believe his lies, and hence they too became deceived by being more concerned about pleasing themselves than pleasing God. From that deception came rebellion against God and the rest of the angels who remained pure in desiring to please God ONLY, and that got Satan and the angels that served Satan kicked not only out of the highest heaven, but will one day in the future be judged for and sent to the lake of fire to suffer forever for their rebellion against God.
God is NOT interested in having one other created being in the highest heaven with Him who doesn’t quickly thirst to KNOW the difference between truth and lies -- truth and deception – if they want full assurance that they are truly saved and fully pleasing to God. He had to put up with that once before. NEVER AGAIN will it be tolerated in His presence.
Who will those people be in heaven with Him, besides the holy, obedient angels? Those who have only ONE solitary desire; one solitary purpose in mind for existing. That purpose is to be pleasing to their Creator and Lord and King and Savior.
There is mercy, grace, forgiveness … for those of us who for whatever reason/s believed lies about spiritual Truth, and come to the sobering reality that we had been “conned” by demonic powers to believe things that were NOT pure spiritual Truth. But to the degree that one refuses to persistently believe they could possibly be deceived spiritually … the Holy Spirit often departs from that person and that person then becomes more and more deceived, essentially being nothing more than an open vessel for demons to do Satan’s ongoing deceptive work through. That person can be forgiven before they die, and become fully restored back in good standing with God, but it might be the most difficult thing they could imagine doing. God most likely would cause it to happen that way so that they NEVER AGAIN give into temptation to let it happen ever again -- learning their lesson well.
There is scripture passage of sober warning that we all need to ask God frequently if we’re guilty of violating it or not. Here’s that scripture passage:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who DOES THE WILL of My Father in heaven. (Emphasis mine).
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS!’” (Emphasis mine; Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV).
What is the significance of the last four words written in this sobering warning? “You who practice lawlessness!” Do you suppose God wanted to make it easy for us to understand every specific KIND of LAWLESSNESS He was talking about? No doubt in my mind. Back up just a few verses, to Matthew 7:15, to learn what is right at the top of God's list:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
God tells us in the Bible that leading right up to the very return of Jesus Christ for those who have made (and KEEP!) themselves ready for His return … the compromising of Gods Word and spiritual deception would be everywhere. False prophets teach false Truth about God and spiritual things. Oh yeah … they’ll tell you 99% Truth sometimes, to trick you into believing their 1% lie – their 1% spiritual deception.
False prophets try to convince everyone they represent God, but because they are so spiritually deceived themselves from believing the lies Satan handed to them, they have a burning desire to pass along their spiritual deception to everyone else they can … all the WHILE believing with everything in their being that they are pleasing to God. That burning desire comes from their REAL father, none other than Satan himself.
Jesus says about them in the spirit of Matthew 7:21-23, and I paraphrase: “I find nothing valuable in having a relationship with people who practice lawlessness; who seek ways to pass along their spiritual deception to others who are seeking to know spiritual Truth. It is one thing to believe spiritual error – spiritual lies. It is something much more serious to look for ways to pass that spiritual deception on to anyone else … especially putting the label of “Christian” and/or "Christianity" on it!
Spiritual lawlessness (spiritual deception) is the most lethal and serious kind. Acts of physical lawlessness are nothing more that demonstrating one’s core heart condition, otherwise known as “Fruit” – as is addressed one scripture later in Matthew 7:16: “You will know them by their fruits.”
Our sins were taken care of on the cross by Jesus Christ. Our ability to be spiritually deceived was NOT!
Thus the Holy Spirit is freely given to us when we make Jesus Christ our personal Lord and Savior to lead and guide us into all Truth (That Truth found in the New Testament Bible), and to help us understand that Truth and how God wants us to apply it, but we must diligently WILL to know the difference between accurate revelation of Truth and spiritual lies and deception disguised as Truth.
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-14)
This is a serious matter that we need to frequently take to God and ask Him to have the Holy Spirit show us clearly where we need our spiritual belief system “tweaked” if necessary to see accurate, spiritual Truth as clearly as we can discern it, and understand it, with a willingness to then walk in it by our confession and our actions.
Are you ready for a possible stunning revelation concerning hell? In numbers, there will probably be more tormented souls in hell who considered themselves “Christians” while on Earth than their will be TRUE Christians who make it to heaven. Why would that be? Because God came to save those who acknowledge to Him that they are sinners, and they need a HUGE and HOLY Savior to save them from the huge amount of sins they have committed, or WOULD have committed had they not feared of the retribution that might have came their way in case they got caught. Hell will be filled with God haters; truth haters; people who demanded to be and remain their OWN king rather than letting the TRUE King become their king; people who refused to admit they were sinners against God; self-righteous people filled with various levels of spiritual pride. It will also be filled with people who thought they were Christians, but were not the quality of Christians Jesus wanted to "know" -- Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit wanted an intimate, personal relationship with through eternity ... in other words.
Hell will be filled with “self-righteous people”. Self-righteous people become Satan’s most effective wolves in sheep’s clothing, to do his bidding – to help perpetuate his spiritual deception across this planet, to hinder people from comprehending the RIGHT FACTS – spiritual Truth.
Not one human being will ever be found righteousness enough in God’s eyes by what they have done while on earth to try to EARN that righteousness to remain with Him for eternity in heaven. Yet every person God will allow to remain with Him in eternity in heaven will be fully righteousness enough by God’s standards because of what they BELIEVE and demonstrate a willingness to confess when given the opportunity to do so, or called upon to do so if need be.
BELIEVE?! Absolutely! No one can come up with a way to make themselves righteous enough to meet God’s demands to remain with Him in heaven in good standing. Because God knows that – He simply gave true disciples of Jesus Christ HIS righteousness! Here is the proof of this claim – this promise:
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
We are righteous because we are clothed in Jesus Christ so when God looks at us He sees our perfect Savior, not all our flaws. Galatians 3:27 addresses this very issue:
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:30 reinforces this amazing truth about our position in Christ Jesus once we make Him our Lord and Savior:
By HIS doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. (Emphasis mine)
Here’s another helpful clue to understanding and BELIEVING this incredible Truth:
“For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13)
He came to call sinners, not the SELF-righteous. Called them to WHAT? Repentance. What does repentance mean? It means to recognize what is not pleasing to God and stop doing unpleasing things to God and others any more. What is the very most displeasing thing a wolf in sheep’s clothing does? Satisfy the lust in his/her heart. First – the wolf tries to rob the weak sheep of life (peace and joy; well-being). But – a shrewd and persistent wolf in sheep’s clothing will even tackle a healthy sheep, and three or four wolves or more working together can kill a lot of healthy sheep, if the sheep don’t stay on guard for their lives, and stay close to their master and protector – their Sheppard – trusting their Sheppard in doing everything he tells them to do to remain safe and secure.
How does a shrewd and persistent wolf best disguise his/her true nature and purpose? They work hard to look like a real sheep; smell like a real sheep; sound like a real sheep. When it’s time for the sheep to go to Sunday school to worship God, the wolf in sheep’s clothing follows right along … because as we ALL KNOW … there is no one you can trust MORE than a “man-sheep or a woman-sheep of God” … especially one or several million of them who carry a “holy” book around and prays a great deal with wonderful sounding words with hands folded and/or raised high and yet are willing to bow low.
God is not looking for “fruit pickers, but “fruit trees.” God is fully capable of assigning His angels to pick His fruit for Him. God tells each of us that He has given us the power to determine what kind of fruit our tree will grow. The fruit He is looking for ONLY grows in the life-giving soil of Truth.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1)
Then take special note: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. (John 17:17)
How can you really KNOW what Truth is, you might be asking yourself right now? Truth is a PERSON, my friend, first and foremost. And every word Truth spoke and the Holy Spirit recorded for us in the New Testament is Truth in print. You can’t prove it’s not.
And so we conclude: “I am the way, the Truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)
No truer words have ever been spoken than those. If you believe them, or at least WANT to believe them, you’re moving in the right direction in connecting properly with God. But if you are spiritual deceived, and are totally content to remain that way by not letting the Holy Spirit quicken to you any vulnerability to spiritual lawlessness that lurks deep inside … I can’t encourage you enough to do some real serious business with THE Lord who has all power and authority, and has been assigned by God the Father to judge every soul and execute His just reward or punishment.
This very same Lord had something very important to say to everyone who has spiritual ears to hear about the times leading up to His return back to Earth for those who will be alive at that time and truly belong to Him and are walking in DETERMINED OBEDIENCE to the FULLNESS His Word:
“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12-13) (Some explanation: People's love to please God fully will become less and less; their desire to please Him according to His New Testament rules will grow colder and colder; they will exist mostly to please themselves; they will pacify their guilty conscious's by following after spiritual deception).
“And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:22) (Some explanation: God's judgment to various degrees is promised against rebellion to Him. Part of God's judgment will be to allow Satan to have greater influence over humanity until Satan is bound up in hell. Satan rules by tyranny. You do things HIS way or you suffer his wrath. You obey his will no matter how evil his will may be. The same is ultimately true about God regarding wrath, but God never forces His way on a person, and He certainly never expects us to do something evil. God does everything in His power to try to entice us to obey Him willingly from the depths of our being; hence allowing us to operate in free will. That is love at its purest.
Now BECAUSE lawlessness is steadily going to increase, God says that for the elect's sake -TRUE followers of Jesus Christ alive at that time, in other words - God will shorten the time-span of His return for His true followers, rather than force them to be subjected to such unrighteousness - such evil. That is a POSITIVE for those who TRULY belong to Jesus Christ, but it will be major NEGATIVE for those who aren't, because after that, evil will be allowed to proliferate unlike anything most can fathom).
“For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24) (Some explanation: God allows spiritual deception to various degrees to give us a choice to choose spiritual Truth from spiritual deception (lies). Our final judgment will in some capacity incorporate how we lived our lives on this planet in accordance with Biblical Truth. In another sense, God allows spiritual deception because the Body of Christ becomes negligent in frequent personal and corporate prayer, which often is supposed to include Holy Spirit led fasting. Engaging in frequent spiritual warfare against demonic powers was never something a few Christians were to be engaged in. Way too many Christians in certain regions of this planet can't be bothered anymore to engage themselves in frequent spiritual warfare. They are quite content to let someone else do that. Many are so selfishly lazy and deceived they don't even KNOW they are supposed to be vessels of God to be actively engaged in effective spiritual warfare! A time is coming, and fast approaching, when they will greatly regret their slothfulness).
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Mark 13:31)
As we close this out, this bears repeating: The people God died for on the cross so they could be with Him forever are people who have one solitary purpose for existing. They exist to please God in every way in accordance with the guidelines – the rules - He has provided in pleasing Him. Those guidelines – rules – commands - are recorded in the New Testament Bible. They are to be believed, understood and obeyed. In so doing, God will walk hand in hand with you all the way to glory with Him the moment you purpose to BELIEVE, seek to UNDERSTAND, and OBEY those guidelines. He’ll lead you to the highest glory with Him and make certain you won’t stray off the RIGHT path during your journey in this life to eternal glory with Him.
Called By: Pst Obashun Tope Samuel
Why did God Create me?
God’s intention for every person He creates is for each person to enjoy God for all eternity. That’s His highest intention for them. That’s His highest purpose for them.
Enjoying God for eternity is the same thing as eternal life. God tells us so in John 17:3 where Jesus is doing the speaking:
“And this is eternal life; that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (Jesus is speaking of God the Father when he says “the only true God”)
So many around the world are not hearing what God wants communicated to people about “eternal life” or “everlasting life” (it means the same thing).
Again Jesus speaking in John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Once again, Jesus tells us in John 10:10:
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Dear reader, don’t misunderstand what “life” and “eternal life” IS. It isn’t about living forever. It is about forever enjoying God. There’s a huge difference!
Eternity is...will be...about enjoying God, for those who are willing to pay the price to receive eternal life. Each of us were created with that solitary purpose in God’s mind: To receive eternal life -- to enjoy God.
And for most, this life we live right now on planet earth is our testing ground to determine whether we will be qualified to enjoy eternal life after we die, or experience eternal death. We all live forever. It’s just a matter of whether we spend forever enjoying God, or not enjoying God. God gives us a choice in the matter.
Here becomes the crucial test of how it will be determined as to whether we will spend eternal life enjoying God through eternity…or eternal death unable to enjoy God through eternity:
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)
Experiencing eternal life knowing God through eternity brings with it eternal increasing love and increasing joy. If you have ever had very strong feelings of love for someone, magnify that feeling a billion times a hundred billion times trillions, and that will give you a good idea of what it will be like through eternity enjoying God. Having feelings of love for God will know no end. Those feelings of love will only keep increasing…for all eternity, as will our comprehension of just how much God loves US keeps increasing!
As our love keeps increasing for God and as our comprehension of God’s love for us keeps increasing, so will our joy keep increasing…as God’s joy will keep increasing when He thinks of us, and spends time with us.
Before a person is created by God and given a chance to be born on this planet…the love and the joy God has intended for that person throughout eternity is at the forefront of God’s mind.
Yet because God is all knowing, He also knows whether that person will eventually choose eternal life…or reject it.
What will be the determining factor as to whether this person will experience eternal life enjoying God forever…or NOT enjoying God forever? The determining factor will be what that person chooses to BELIEVE and how that person RESPONDS to the words of Jesus Christ found in the Holy Bible.
For a person will find in the New Testament Bible that Jesus Christ is none OTHER than one of the three persons of the eternal triune Godhead. It is clearly stated in the New Testament Bible that all things were created by Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ, and through Jesus Christ. (You can read about this in the first chapter of the Book of Colossians, especially from verses 15-19. If you’ve never heard, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are the other two persons of the eternal triune Godhead).
Many people have a difficult time believing that God’s primary purpose for them throughout eternity is to enjoy God. They conclude: “Well, if that was God’s purpose for creating me and creating others, WHY is there so much pain and sorrow in my life? Why are so many little children suffering on this planet? Why is life so miserable and hard and unfair?"
First off, this life is a TEST – a testing ground. Some people need to be tested greater than others. In fact, only until some people have experienced tremendous amounts of either physical pain and/or emotional pain do they make a clear, determined decision to follow the way of Jesus Christ…or clearly reject following Him.
Secondly, the Bible clearly tells us that Satan has been allowed by God to have great influence over this planet at the present time. Between the deadly effects of sin since the time of Adam and Eve and Satan’s demons seeking to control the souls of men so they will choose to reject eternal life enjoying God…this life is truly not easy for anyone.
Yet the Bible lets us also know that those who are suffering greatly as Christians will be rewarded for it in eternity, because God has decreed that the sufferings of those who are following after Jesus Christ will not be WASTED sufferings at all!
Elementary in all this is the fact that Satan and the demons who serve him know full well they will never have an opportunity to experience eternal life enjoying God ever again as they once were able to do. And because of this, their love for God has turned to dark hatred for God, and that hatred is expressed in doing everything in their power to try to persuade humans to reject the way of Jesus Christ and the Truth He stands for. Simply stated: Because Satan and the demons can’t enjoy eternal life knowing God…they don’t want anyone else doing so either.
To make this life even more challenging, for those who choose to follow after Jesus Christ, these become the ones Satan and his demons hate the MOST. Followers of Jesus Christ are vessels God the Holy Spirit delights to use the most to tell others about the goodness of Jesus Christ and WHY God the Father sent Jesus to earth to die on the cross for the sins of humanity. (Sin is rebellion against God, in case you’ve never heard).
Thus for Christians, and for those who will become Christians…this life is about being TESTED and it is about SUFFERING. Satan launches attacks against them to hinder them in every way possible from being the most effective vessels they are capable of being for the cause of Jesus Christ - God the Father - God the Holy Spirit.
We’re at war, dear reader, as if you weren’t already aware. We’re at war for the souls of mankind. The greatest of all warriors came from heaven to Earth to do battle against the demonic spirits of darkness – spirits of eternal death. Whatever your thoughts at the present are of Jesus Christ, my hope is that you remember THIS about Him. He came from His throne in heaven to engage with the spirits of darkness to rescue YOU from eternal death…so you might enjoy eternal life with Him…enjoying God, and God enjoying you.
His greatest demonstration of love-heroism was to die for us in battle some 2,000 years ago on the Cross.
One of His greatest demonstrations of love-faithfulness will be when He comes back to Earth to rescue those who are eagerly awaiting His return. After that happens, all hell is going to break loose on this planet to deal with and eradicate evil.
If you desire to enjoy God through eternity, choose to follow after Jesus Christ, dear reader, and never STOP following after Him. God created you with that purpose in mind…but He loves you enough to grant you the power to choose what eternity will hold in store for you.
Called by: Pst Obashun Tope Smuel
Enjoying God for eternity is the same thing as eternal life. God tells us so in John 17:3 where Jesus is doing the speaking:
“And this is eternal life; that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (Jesus is speaking of God the Father when he says “the only true God”)
So many around the world are not hearing what God wants communicated to people about “eternal life” or “everlasting life” (it means the same thing).
Again Jesus speaking in John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Once again, Jesus tells us in John 10:10:
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Dear reader, don’t misunderstand what “life” and “eternal life” IS. It isn’t about living forever. It is about forever enjoying God. There’s a huge difference!
Eternity is...will be...about enjoying God, for those who are willing to pay the price to receive eternal life. Each of us were created with that solitary purpose in God’s mind: To receive eternal life -- to enjoy God.
And for most, this life we live right now on planet earth is our testing ground to determine whether we will be qualified to enjoy eternal life after we die, or experience eternal death. We all live forever. It’s just a matter of whether we spend forever enjoying God, or not enjoying God. God gives us a choice in the matter.
Here becomes the crucial test of how it will be determined as to whether we will spend eternal life enjoying God through eternity…or eternal death unable to enjoy God through eternity:
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)
Experiencing eternal life knowing God through eternity brings with it eternal increasing love and increasing joy. If you have ever had very strong feelings of love for someone, magnify that feeling a billion times a hundred billion times trillions, and that will give you a good idea of what it will be like through eternity enjoying God. Having feelings of love for God will know no end. Those feelings of love will only keep increasing…for all eternity, as will our comprehension of just how much God loves US keeps increasing!
As our love keeps increasing for God and as our comprehension of God’s love for us keeps increasing, so will our joy keep increasing…as God’s joy will keep increasing when He thinks of us, and spends time with us.
Before a person is created by God and given a chance to be born on this planet…the love and the joy God has intended for that person throughout eternity is at the forefront of God’s mind.
Yet because God is all knowing, He also knows whether that person will eventually choose eternal life…or reject it.
What will be the determining factor as to whether this person will experience eternal life enjoying God forever…or NOT enjoying God forever? The determining factor will be what that person chooses to BELIEVE and how that person RESPONDS to the words of Jesus Christ found in the Holy Bible.
For a person will find in the New Testament Bible that Jesus Christ is none OTHER than one of the three persons of the eternal triune Godhead. It is clearly stated in the New Testament Bible that all things were created by Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ, and through Jesus Christ. (You can read about this in the first chapter of the Book of Colossians, especially from verses 15-19. If you’ve never heard, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are the other two persons of the eternal triune Godhead).
Many people have a difficult time believing that God’s primary purpose for them throughout eternity is to enjoy God. They conclude: “Well, if that was God’s purpose for creating me and creating others, WHY is there so much pain and sorrow in my life? Why are so many little children suffering on this planet? Why is life so miserable and hard and unfair?"
First off, this life is a TEST – a testing ground. Some people need to be tested greater than others. In fact, only until some people have experienced tremendous amounts of either physical pain and/or emotional pain do they make a clear, determined decision to follow the way of Jesus Christ…or clearly reject following Him.
Secondly, the Bible clearly tells us that Satan has been allowed by God to have great influence over this planet at the present time. Between the deadly effects of sin since the time of Adam and Eve and Satan’s demons seeking to control the souls of men so they will choose to reject eternal life enjoying God…this life is truly not easy for anyone.
Yet the Bible lets us also know that those who are suffering greatly as Christians will be rewarded for it in eternity, because God has decreed that the sufferings of those who are following after Jesus Christ will not be WASTED sufferings at all!
Elementary in all this is the fact that Satan and the demons who serve him know full well they will never have an opportunity to experience eternal life enjoying God ever again as they once were able to do. And because of this, their love for God has turned to dark hatred for God, and that hatred is expressed in doing everything in their power to try to persuade humans to reject the way of Jesus Christ and the Truth He stands for. Simply stated: Because Satan and the demons can’t enjoy eternal life knowing God…they don’t want anyone else doing so either.
To make this life even more challenging, for those who choose to follow after Jesus Christ, these become the ones Satan and his demons hate the MOST. Followers of Jesus Christ are vessels God the Holy Spirit delights to use the most to tell others about the goodness of Jesus Christ and WHY God the Father sent Jesus to earth to die on the cross for the sins of humanity. (Sin is rebellion against God, in case you’ve never heard).
Thus for Christians, and for those who will become Christians…this life is about being TESTED and it is about SUFFERING. Satan launches attacks against them to hinder them in every way possible from being the most effective vessels they are capable of being for the cause of Jesus Christ - God the Father - God the Holy Spirit.
We’re at war, dear reader, as if you weren’t already aware. We’re at war for the souls of mankind. The greatest of all warriors came from heaven to Earth to do battle against the demonic spirits of darkness – spirits of eternal death. Whatever your thoughts at the present are of Jesus Christ, my hope is that you remember THIS about Him. He came from His throne in heaven to engage with the spirits of darkness to rescue YOU from eternal death…so you might enjoy eternal life with Him…enjoying God, and God enjoying you.
His greatest demonstration of love-heroism was to die for us in battle some 2,000 years ago on the Cross.
One of His greatest demonstrations of love-faithfulness will be when He comes back to Earth to rescue those who are eagerly awaiting His return. After that happens, all hell is going to break loose on this planet to deal with and eradicate evil.
If you desire to enjoy God through eternity, choose to follow after Jesus Christ, dear reader, and never STOP following after Him. God created you with that purpose in mind…but He loves you enough to grant you the power to choose what eternity will hold in store for you.
Called by: Pst Obashun Tope Smuel
Prophetic Signs that we are in the End Times
The Bible gives many examples of signs that should warn us of the coming end of the age. Six such signs are given by Jesus, two characteristics are given by Paul, and eleven other occurrences are given by the prophets to occur prior to or soon after the end of the age. While we are also told we will not know the time of the End, God obviously wanted us to know when that time was getting closer. As the Christian church is increasingly drawn into the interfaith movement, and as more and more churches go into isolation, preparing to sleep through the growing attacks on their faith, perhaps God knew it would take a few signs to wake us up and remind us that we have work to do.
Unfortunately, many Christians take the verses that tell us we won't know the time of His coming to mean they should ignore any and all scripture that might warn us of this time of tribulation. Others have fallen into the trap of fearing being labeled a "conspiracy theorist" should they display an interest in the Biblical prophecies about our future on Earth. My philosophy is simple. God included it in the Bible and, since God is all knowing, we should trust that it is something we should know and study along with the rest of His Word.
It is increasingly obvious that the time of our Lord's coming is drawing near. Prophecy is being fulfilled daily, and at a faster pace than ever before. Whether you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, or believe Christians will be witness to the full tribulation, wrath, and final judgments, matters not. The beginning of birth pains and the signs of the times should have the same effect on all of us. It should motivate us to save as many souls as we can in the time that we have left. The Great Commission tells us to be disciples to all nations, bringing the message of salvation through Christ to all people. If the Church is raptured before the tribulation, it is important that we leave behind an explanation for the trials and judgments those left behind will face. How else will they recognize the deception of the anti-Christ and seek instead the truth of the Bible? If we are to endure the tribulation along side them, we will need to be prepared to not only share the message of salvation, but share with them the reasons for God's judgment and hold it up as further proof of their need to be saved.
Below is a study of the prophetic signs God gave us as a warning of the approaching end of the age. Many of them are being fulfilled now and many will be fulfilled in the near future. I would encourage you to study prophecy, know what is coming and be prepared to share it with others.
SIX SIGNS GIVEN BY JESUS TO INDICATE HIS COMING AND THE END OF THE AGE
In Matthew24:3 Jesus was asked, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus told his apostles to look for the following signs prior to his second coming and the end of the age.
1. FALSE PROPHETS AND CHRISTS
Matthew 24:5 "For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will mislead many."
Matthew 24:11 "And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many."
In the last several years many have claimed to be the Messiah. Jim Jones and David Koresh are examples of these false christs as well as countless others who are not as newsworthy. These false prophets are a prelude to the ultimate false christ, the antichrist. Many New Age groups, some even NGO's working for the United Nations, are anxiously awaiting the antichrist, preparing the way for his acceptance as the head of the hierarchy of gods and the one who will usher in world peace.
2. WARS
Matthew 24:6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end."
Rumors of wars in all areas of the world now occur frequently thanks to instant media coverage and the availability of a multitude of 24-hour news sources.
Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."
More people have been killed in warfare in this century than at any other time in history. As the death toll rises in the Middle East, more and more countries work feverishly to develop devastating weapons of mass destruction. Add to that the expanding threat of terrorism and unpredictable dictators such as Saddam Hussein, and the potential for the outbreak of war exists in nations, kingdoms and places across the globe.
3. FAMINES
Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."
As white, Christian farmers are driven out of Zimbabwe in increasing numbers, and foreigners move in to replace life-sustaining crops with poppies that now supply 25% of the worlds drugs, famine spreads across the African continent. The undernourished are not limited to Africa, however. A large portion of the worlds 5 billion people suffers from a shortage of food.
4. EARTHQUAKES
Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."
The number and intensity of earthquakes this century is at a level higher than any other time in history. A staggering number of seismic events occur around the world daily. The earthquake seismic monitor IRIS shows all major earthquakes for the last year. Indicated by yellow and red circles, the seismic events of the last 15 days provides strong evidence of the fulfillment of Matthew 24:7 in our day. By contrast, in the years from 1890 to 1900 there was only one major earthquake in the world.
5. TRIBULATIONS
Matthew 24:8-9 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name."
Christians are under attack throughout the world today. In the United States Christians still enjoy freedom to worship God without suffering much more than ridicule, hatred, or discrimination at work and school. However in many other countries such as China, Sudan, Africa, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Russia, and many Muslim nations, Christian suffer much greater persecution and often times death for their faith. During the tribulation this suffering will be worldwide and will continue even to the point of martyrdom. These first 5 signs will increase in intensity and severity as the tribulation approaches, much like the birth pangs or contractions of a pregnant woman worsen as the delivery time approaches.
6. THE GOSPEL WILL BE PREACHED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come."
This prophecy has already been fulfilled through television, radio, missionaries, the translation of the Bible into many languages, and the internet. People all over the world now hear the message of Christ from missionaries who have the means to travel the globe, and via technology that allows us to communicate with people on the other side of the world right from our own homes, churches and offices.
TWO CHARACTERISTICS OF THE END OF THE AGE FROM THE APOSTLE PAUL
1. GODLESSNESS IN THE LAST DAYS
II Timothy 3:1-5,7 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
For anyone who has watched television, read a newspaper, lost a retirement to corporate greed and corruption, or just walked outside their front door, it is obvious this prophecy has been fulfilled by our generation. Our leaders are often corrupt; our cities are filled with crime, brutality, and neon signs proclaiming our sinful, godless nature. The New Age Movement brings in increasing numbers of mystics who claim to be the enlightened ones. They are some of the most educated and influential people in our societies, and yet the most lacking in real truth.
2. APOSTASY (FALLING AWAY FROM THE FAITH)
I Timothy 4:1-3 "But the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. By means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth."
Churches today are becoming more and more ecumenical, embracing the New Age interfaith agenda, and denying Christ as the only way to salvation. Giving in to the politically correct media and a corrupt society, they have embrace homosexuality as an acceptable alternate lifestyle and preach tolerance and compromise in place of God's truth for the salvation of the world. The environmentalist movement within the New Age movement lures them into a worship of mother earth, belief in past lives, reincarnation, and Karma while demonizing all those who would eat the meat God gave us as nourishment for our bodies.
ELEVEN FULFILLMENTS OF BIBLE PROPHECY REQUIRED FOR THE END OF THE AGE
1. EXISTENCE OF A 200,000,000 MAN ARMY IN THE EAST
Revelation 9:16 "And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them."
An army of that size had never existed until China's army reached that number in the 1960's.
2. REDEVELOPMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (EUROPEAN COMMUNITY)
Daniel 2:32-33 "The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay."
Daniel 2:40-43 "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have the toughness of iron, and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery."
The fourth kingdom of iron is the Roman empire according to Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The two legs are the division of the Roman empire into an eastern portion called the Byzantine empire which ended in the 1400's and a western portion based in Rome which ended in the 400's. The nations of Europe since the Roman empire dissolved have never adhered or formed one empire but continue as separate nations, however, the European Union now has 15 Member States and is preparing for the accession of 13 eastern and southern European countries.
3. RETURN OF THE ONE PURE LANGUAGE, HEBREW, TO ISRAEL
Zephaniah 3:9 "For then I will return to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."
Prior to the restoration of Israel in 1948, Hebrew was a dead language. Now Hebrew is spoken throughout Israel.
4. REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE, RESTORATION OF TEMPLE WORSHIP AND ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN JERUSALEM
For several end time prophecies to be fulfilled, the temple will have to be rebuilt.
Revelation 11:2 "Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the oly city for forty-two months."
Daniel 9:27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."
Daniel 9:26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary."
Some archeologists believe that the temple mount is actually 340 feet south of the Dome of the Rock site, putting the Dome of the Rock within the Court of the Gentiles. This may be the court outside the temple that is left out.
There are many groups already working on preparations for the new temple. The blueprints are already done, the temple garments have been made, and there have already been attempts to lay the cornerstone of the temple. The only thing standing in the way of the construction of the new temple is Islam's third holiest site, the Dome of the Rock and government support for such an undertaking. Some possible scenarios for the rebuilding of the temple are as follows:
1. The persuasion and performing of miracles by the Antichrist and False Prophet convinces the Islamic world to approve the rebuilding.
2. The United Nations will negotiate the rebuilding of the temple following a war with the armies from the North (Russia and Islamic forces). This assumes that the war with the armies from the North is not the battle of Armageddon as some feel and that this attack occurs before the rapture or tribulation period begins. The supernatural destruction of the Russian army and Islamic forces will cause an outpouring of Christian worship and zeal amongst the Jewish people who will reconstruct the temple.
3. It is determined that the site of the first two temples is actually south of the Dome of the Rock, and the court of the gentiles (Dome of the Rock) will be left out of the 3rd temple.
A group in Israel called the Temple Mount Faithful have obtained most of the clothing, instruments and other equipment required for temple worship and are actively preparing for the laying of the third temple's cornerstone.
5. APPEARANCE OF THE RED HEIFER AFTER 2000 YEARS
Numbers 19:2-7 "This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed. "You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. "Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. "The priest shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean until evening."
A red heifer will be required to be used in the process of purification described in the book of Numbers. In May 1997 the first Red Heifer was born in 2000 years. Another red Heifer was born in Israel in March of 2002.
6. INCREASE IN KNOWLEDGE AND TRAVEL
Daniel 12:4 "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."
Billy Graham was quoted as saying, "ninety percent of all the engineers and scientists who have ever lived are alive today." Air travel, space travel, DNA research and human cloning are all examples of the rapid increase in knowledge in our generation.
7. RETURN OF THE ETHIOPIAN JEWS TO ISRAEL
Zephaniah 3:10-11 "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, will bring My offerings. In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst your proud, exulting ones, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain."
In 1984, Operation Moses saw the airlift of 15,000 Jews who had already fled to refugee camps in Sudan to escape starvation. In 1991, Operation Solomon flew 20,000 Jews to Israel from Ethiopia itself. A further airlift began in June of 1999, aimed at transporting the last 3,000 members of the Quara Jewish community from northeastern Ethiopia to Israel.
8. THE RISE OF RUSSIA
Ezekiel 38:2,4,8 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords. After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them."
In order for some end time events to occur Russia will have to be a strong nation with a strong military.
9. RETURN OF RUSSIAN JEWS TO ISRAEL
Jeremiah 23:7-8 "Therefore behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, as the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I have driven them. Then they will live on their own soil."
In the 1970's and 1980's there was a mass exodus of Russian Jews out of Communist Russia. In 1999 the Associated Press reported a dramatic increase in the number of Jewish immigrants from Russia, bringing the largest number of Russian Jews to Israel since the early 1990's.
10. TECHNOLOGY FOR THE MARK OF THE BEAST
Revelation 13:16-17 "And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name."
On May 10, three members of a family in Florida became the first people to receive the biochip implant. Each device, made of silicon and called a VeriChip, is a small radio transmitter about the size of a piece of rice that is injected under a person's skin. It transmits a unique personal ID number whenever it is within a few feet of a special receiver unit. VeriChip's maker describes it as "a miniaturized, implantable, radio frequency identification device (RFID) that can be used in a variety of security, emergency and healthcare applications."
Is the biochip the mark of the beast to be used by the antichrist? We can't really know. What is significant is that people are being softened to the idea of a mark or an implant as a means of maintaining security, providing medical information, and regulating a more interdependent world. As attitudes change, fears subside, and people are convinced of the need for such a mark, the true mark of the beast will be easily introduced to the world by the antichrist.
11. PLANS FOR THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT
The United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Court, UN peacekeeping/police force, numerous UN NGO's, and other agencies are preliminary steps to the formation of a one world government. We now have the communications technology, transportation, and the pro-globalization media necessary to usher in the one world government headed by the antichrist. The increasing terrorist threat and the middle east conflict will only speed up the formation of this governing body as fear and promises of better security make more people willing to give up their national sovereignty for global governance.
12. INSTANT COMMUNICATION AROUND THE WORLD
Revelation 11:3, 7-10 "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophecy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth."
Television and the 24-hour news networks make it possible for people around the world to see the dead prophets and rejoice at their deaths.
Luke 21:28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Luke 21:32 "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place."
Culled by Pst OBASHUN TOPE SAMUEL
Unfortunately, many Christians take the verses that tell us we won't know the time of His coming to mean they should ignore any and all scripture that might warn us of this time of tribulation. Others have fallen into the trap of fearing being labeled a "conspiracy theorist" should they display an interest in the Biblical prophecies about our future on Earth. My philosophy is simple. God included it in the Bible and, since God is all knowing, we should trust that it is something we should know and study along with the rest of His Word.
It is increasingly obvious that the time of our Lord's coming is drawing near. Prophecy is being fulfilled daily, and at a faster pace than ever before. Whether you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, or believe Christians will be witness to the full tribulation, wrath, and final judgments, matters not. The beginning of birth pains and the signs of the times should have the same effect on all of us. It should motivate us to save as many souls as we can in the time that we have left. The Great Commission tells us to be disciples to all nations, bringing the message of salvation through Christ to all people. If the Church is raptured before the tribulation, it is important that we leave behind an explanation for the trials and judgments those left behind will face. How else will they recognize the deception of the anti-Christ and seek instead the truth of the Bible? If we are to endure the tribulation along side them, we will need to be prepared to not only share the message of salvation, but share with them the reasons for God's judgment and hold it up as further proof of their need to be saved.
Below is a study of the prophetic signs God gave us as a warning of the approaching end of the age. Many of them are being fulfilled now and many will be fulfilled in the near future. I would encourage you to study prophecy, know what is coming and be prepared to share it with others.
SIX SIGNS GIVEN BY JESUS TO INDICATE HIS COMING AND THE END OF THE AGE
In Matthew24:3 Jesus was asked, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus told his apostles to look for the following signs prior to his second coming and the end of the age.
1. FALSE PROPHETS AND CHRISTS
Matthew 24:5 "For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will mislead many."
Matthew 24:11 "And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many."
In the last several years many have claimed to be the Messiah. Jim Jones and David Koresh are examples of these false christs as well as countless others who are not as newsworthy. These false prophets are a prelude to the ultimate false christ, the antichrist. Many New Age groups, some even NGO's working for the United Nations, are anxiously awaiting the antichrist, preparing the way for his acceptance as the head of the hierarchy of gods and the one who will usher in world peace.
2. WARS
Matthew 24:6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end."
Rumors of wars in all areas of the world now occur frequently thanks to instant media coverage and the availability of a multitude of 24-hour news sources.
Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."
More people have been killed in warfare in this century than at any other time in history. As the death toll rises in the Middle East, more and more countries work feverishly to develop devastating weapons of mass destruction. Add to that the expanding threat of terrorism and unpredictable dictators such as Saddam Hussein, and the potential for the outbreak of war exists in nations, kingdoms and places across the globe.
3. FAMINES
Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."
As white, Christian farmers are driven out of Zimbabwe in increasing numbers, and foreigners move in to replace life-sustaining crops with poppies that now supply 25% of the worlds drugs, famine spreads across the African continent. The undernourished are not limited to Africa, however. A large portion of the worlds 5 billion people suffers from a shortage of food.
4. EARTHQUAKES
Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."
The number and intensity of earthquakes this century is at a level higher than any other time in history. A staggering number of seismic events occur around the world daily. The earthquake seismic monitor IRIS shows all major earthquakes for the last year. Indicated by yellow and red circles, the seismic events of the last 15 days provides strong evidence of the fulfillment of Matthew 24:7 in our day. By contrast, in the years from 1890 to 1900 there was only one major earthquake in the world.
5. TRIBULATIONS
Matthew 24:8-9 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name."
Christians are under attack throughout the world today. In the United States Christians still enjoy freedom to worship God without suffering much more than ridicule, hatred, or discrimination at work and school. However in many other countries such as China, Sudan, Africa, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Russia, and many Muslim nations, Christian suffer much greater persecution and often times death for their faith. During the tribulation this suffering will be worldwide and will continue even to the point of martyrdom. These first 5 signs will increase in intensity and severity as the tribulation approaches, much like the birth pangs or contractions of a pregnant woman worsen as the delivery time approaches.
6. THE GOSPEL WILL BE PREACHED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come."
This prophecy has already been fulfilled through television, radio, missionaries, the translation of the Bible into many languages, and the internet. People all over the world now hear the message of Christ from missionaries who have the means to travel the globe, and via technology that allows us to communicate with people on the other side of the world right from our own homes, churches and offices.
TWO CHARACTERISTICS OF THE END OF THE AGE FROM THE APOSTLE PAUL
1. GODLESSNESS IN THE LAST DAYS
II Timothy 3:1-5,7 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
For anyone who has watched television, read a newspaper, lost a retirement to corporate greed and corruption, or just walked outside their front door, it is obvious this prophecy has been fulfilled by our generation. Our leaders are often corrupt; our cities are filled with crime, brutality, and neon signs proclaiming our sinful, godless nature. The New Age Movement brings in increasing numbers of mystics who claim to be the enlightened ones. They are some of the most educated and influential people in our societies, and yet the most lacking in real truth.
2. APOSTASY (FALLING AWAY FROM THE FAITH)
I Timothy 4:1-3 "But the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. By means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth."
Churches today are becoming more and more ecumenical, embracing the New Age interfaith agenda, and denying Christ as the only way to salvation. Giving in to the politically correct media and a corrupt society, they have embrace homosexuality as an acceptable alternate lifestyle and preach tolerance and compromise in place of God's truth for the salvation of the world. The environmentalist movement within the New Age movement lures them into a worship of mother earth, belief in past lives, reincarnation, and Karma while demonizing all those who would eat the meat God gave us as nourishment for our bodies.
ELEVEN FULFILLMENTS OF BIBLE PROPHECY REQUIRED FOR THE END OF THE AGE
1. EXISTENCE OF A 200,000,000 MAN ARMY IN THE EAST
Revelation 9:16 "And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them."
An army of that size had never existed until China's army reached that number in the 1960's.
2. REDEVELOPMENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (EUROPEAN COMMUNITY)
Daniel 2:32-33 "The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay."
Daniel 2:40-43 "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have the toughness of iron, and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery."
The fourth kingdom of iron is the Roman empire according to Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The two legs are the division of the Roman empire into an eastern portion called the Byzantine empire which ended in the 1400's and a western portion based in Rome which ended in the 400's. The nations of Europe since the Roman empire dissolved have never adhered or formed one empire but continue as separate nations, however, the European Union now has 15 Member States and is preparing for the accession of 13 eastern and southern European countries.
3. RETURN OF THE ONE PURE LANGUAGE, HEBREW, TO ISRAEL
Zephaniah 3:9 "For then I will return to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."
Prior to the restoration of Israel in 1948, Hebrew was a dead language. Now Hebrew is spoken throughout Israel.
4. REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE, RESTORATION OF TEMPLE WORSHIP AND ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN JERUSALEM
For several end time prophecies to be fulfilled, the temple will have to be rebuilt.
Revelation 11:2 "Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the oly city for forty-two months."
Daniel 9:27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."
Daniel 9:26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary."
Some archeologists believe that the temple mount is actually 340 feet south of the Dome of the Rock site, putting the Dome of the Rock within the Court of the Gentiles. This may be the court outside the temple that is left out.
There are many groups already working on preparations for the new temple. The blueprints are already done, the temple garments have been made, and there have already been attempts to lay the cornerstone of the temple. The only thing standing in the way of the construction of the new temple is Islam's third holiest site, the Dome of the Rock and government support for such an undertaking. Some possible scenarios for the rebuilding of the temple are as follows:
1. The persuasion and performing of miracles by the Antichrist and False Prophet convinces the Islamic world to approve the rebuilding.
2. The United Nations will negotiate the rebuilding of the temple following a war with the armies from the North (Russia and Islamic forces). This assumes that the war with the armies from the North is not the battle of Armageddon as some feel and that this attack occurs before the rapture or tribulation period begins. The supernatural destruction of the Russian army and Islamic forces will cause an outpouring of Christian worship and zeal amongst the Jewish people who will reconstruct the temple.
3. It is determined that the site of the first two temples is actually south of the Dome of the Rock, and the court of the gentiles (Dome of the Rock) will be left out of the 3rd temple.
A group in Israel called the Temple Mount Faithful have obtained most of the clothing, instruments and other equipment required for temple worship and are actively preparing for the laying of the third temple's cornerstone.
5. APPEARANCE OF THE RED HEIFER AFTER 2000 YEARS
Numbers 19:2-7 "This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed. "You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. "Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. "The priest shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean until evening."
A red heifer will be required to be used in the process of purification described in the book of Numbers. In May 1997 the first Red Heifer was born in 2000 years. Another red Heifer was born in Israel in March of 2002.
6. INCREASE IN KNOWLEDGE AND TRAVEL
Daniel 12:4 "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."
Billy Graham was quoted as saying, "ninety percent of all the engineers and scientists who have ever lived are alive today." Air travel, space travel, DNA research and human cloning are all examples of the rapid increase in knowledge in our generation.
7. RETURN OF THE ETHIOPIAN JEWS TO ISRAEL
Zephaniah 3:10-11 "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, will bring My offerings. In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst your proud, exulting ones, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain."
In 1984, Operation Moses saw the airlift of 15,000 Jews who had already fled to refugee camps in Sudan to escape starvation. In 1991, Operation Solomon flew 20,000 Jews to Israel from Ethiopia itself. A further airlift began in June of 1999, aimed at transporting the last 3,000 members of the Quara Jewish community from northeastern Ethiopia to Israel.
8. THE RISE OF RUSSIA
Ezekiel 38:2,4,8 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords. After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them."
In order for some end time events to occur Russia will have to be a strong nation with a strong military.
9. RETURN OF RUSSIAN JEWS TO ISRAEL
Jeremiah 23:7-8 "Therefore behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, as the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I have driven them. Then they will live on their own soil."
In the 1970's and 1980's there was a mass exodus of Russian Jews out of Communist Russia. In 1999 the Associated Press reported a dramatic increase in the number of Jewish immigrants from Russia, bringing the largest number of Russian Jews to Israel since the early 1990's.
10. TECHNOLOGY FOR THE MARK OF THE BEAST
Revelation 13:16-17 "And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name."
On May 10, three members of a family in Florida became the first people to receive the biochip implant. Each device, made of silicon and called a VeriChip, is a small radio transmitter about the size of a piece of rice that is injected under a person's skin. It transmits a unique personal ID number whenever it is within a few feet of a special receiver unit. VeriChip's maker describes it as "a miniaturized, implantable, radio frequency identification device (RFID) that can be used in a variety of security, emergency and healthcare applications."
Is the biochip the mark of the beast to be used by the antichrist? We can't really know. What is significant is that people are being softened to the idea of a mark or an implant as a means of maintaining security, providing medical information, and regulating a more interdependent world. As attitudes change, fears subside, and people are convinced of the need for such a mark, the true mark of the beast will be easily introduced to the world by the antichrist.
11. PLANS FOR THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT
The United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Court, UN peacekeeping/police force, numerous UN NGO's, and other agencies are preliminary steps to the formation of a one world government. We now have the communications technology, transportation, and the pro-globalization media necessary to usher in the one world government headed by the antichrist. The increasing terrorist threat and the middle east conflict will only speed up the formation of this governing body as fear and promises of better security make more people willing to give up their national sovereignty for global governance.
12. INSTANT COMMUNICATION AROUND THE WORLD
Revelation 11:3, 7-10 "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophecy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth."
Television and the 24-hour news networks make it possible for people around the world to see the dead prophets and rejoice at their deaths.
Luke 21:28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Luke 21:32 "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place."
Culled by Pst OBASHUN TOPE SAMUEL
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Becoming Like Jesus
To become more like Jesus, we must be willing to give up ourselves
I don't know about you, but I want to become more like Jesus.
As a single person, I've developed a lot of habits that aren't very positive. I can indulge my selfishness at home, but sometimes I wrongly let it influence my relationships with others.
I can eat whatever I like, even if it isn't good for me. Sometimes I watch TV programs that are a complete waste of time.
Those don't seem like major problems, but on reflection, they also don't seem like things Jesus would do. The Bible tells us that he enjoyed a good meal and conversation with all kinds of friends. He told people not to sin, but I don't get the impression that he was a killjoy when it came to innocent funOver the years, I've discovered an important truth:
To become more like Jesus, I have to become less like me.
That sounds scary. It sounds as if we have to give up our personality and individuality to imitate him. But that's one of the great paradoxes of the Christian faith, because Jesus himself reassures us:
"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." (Luke 9:24)
If we want to understand that promise, I think we first have to recognize that what we think is the real us is not. We think that our personality, our quirks, our beliefs gathered over a lifetime make up who we are.
We're too close, though. We can't see that much of us is simply wrong. It doesn't conform to the character of Christ and never can.
Complete surrender--nothing less
The only way we can become more like Jesus is to surrender our whole being to him in complete, unreserved trust, and ask him to do a major makeover on us.
As he removes those impurities in our character, we come closer and closer to the real us, the person God has always wanted us to be. We're losing the old life in favor of the new, holy life.
Unfortunately, sometimes losing parts of our character can be painful, like pulling a tooth we've become very fond of over the years. When I had my last wisdom tooth extracted about a year and a half ago, the oral surgeon showed this giant tooth to me after he had pulled it. It had a black spot on the side of it, a cavity that would have eventually become infected.
Some character traits we need to have extracted from our life seem harmless enough now, but in the future they could cause major problems.
Be ready for a lifelong struggle
Becoming more like Jesus isn't an overnight event, even after we're born again. No, it's a lifelong struggle. We grudgingly give up ourselves a bit at a time.
Some Christlike Christians see the wisdom in this early, so God has less sanding and carving to do on them. Others of us require work from every tool in God's toolbox to get us into shape.
We couldn't make these changes on our own. We have to turn control over to God. Even in our pain, though, we can see that everything we're losing is being replaced by something so much better.
We want God to make us more like Jesus up to the very moment we die. When our physical life is lost, then our true, authentic life will begin.
OBASHUN SAMTOPE
http://talking-pointfound.blogspot.com/ or talkingpointfoundation@gmail.com
I don't know about you, but I want to become more like Jesus.
As a single person, I've developed a lot of habits that aren't very positive. I can indulge my selfishness at home, but sometimes I wrongly let it influence my relationships with others.
I can eat whatever I like, even if it isn't good for me. Sometimes I watch TV programs that are a complete waste of time.
Those don't seem like major problems, but on reflection, they also don't seem like things Jesus would do. The Bible tells us that he enjoyed a good meal and conversation with all kinds of friends. He told people not to sin, but I don't get the impression that he was a killjoy when it came to innocent funOver the years, I've discovered an important truth:
To become more like Jesus, I have to become less like me.
That sounds scary. It sounds as if we have to give up our personality and individuality to imitate him. But that's one of the great paradoxes of the Christian faith, because Jesus himself reassures us:
"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." (Luke 9:24)
If we want to understand that promise, I think we first have to recognize that what we think is the real us is not. We think that our personality, our quirks, our beliefs gathered over a lifetime make up who we are.
We're too close, though. We can't see that much of us is simply wrong. It doesn't conform to the character of Christ and never can.
Complete surrender--nothing less
The only way we can become more like Jesus is to surrender our whole being to him in complete, unreserved trust, and ask him to do a major makeover on us.
As he removes those impurities in our character, we come closer and closer to the real us, the person God has always wanted us to be. We're losing the old life in favor of the new, holy life.
Unfortunately, sometimes losing parts of our character can be painful, like pulling a tooth we've become very fond of over the years. When I had my last wisdom tooth extracted about a year and a half ago, the oral surgeon showed this giant tooth to me after he had pulled it. It had a black spot on the side of it, a cavity that would have eventually become infected.
Some character traits we need to have extracted from our life seem harmless enough now, but in the future they could cause major problems.
Be ready for a lifelong struggle
Becoming more like Jesus isn't an overnight event, even after we're born again. No, it's a lifelong struggle. We grudgingly give up ourselves a bit at a time.
Some Christlike Christians see the wisdom in this early, so God has less sanding and carving to do on them. Others of us require work from every tool in God's toolbox to get us into shape.
We couldn't make these changes on our own. We have to turn control over to God. Even in our pain, though, we can see that everything we're losing is being replaced by something so much better.
We want God to make us more like Jesus up to the very moment we die. When our physical life is lost, then our true, authentic life will begin.
OBASHUN SAMTOPE
http://talking-pointfound.blogspot.com/ or talkingpointfoundation@gmail.com
THE GIFTS AND FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The 9 Gifts Compared to the 9 Fruits
So many today seek the Gifts without first acquiring the Fruit in their life. We must have the Fruit of the Spirit at work, if we want God to entrust us with the Gifts of the Spirit.
Gifts of the Spirit
1 Corinthians 12
Fruits of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23
Word of Wisdom
Word of Knowledge
Faith
Healings
Working of Miracles
Prophecy
Discerning of Spirits
Different Kinds of Tongues
Interpretation of Tongues
Love
Joy
Peace
Longsuffering
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self Control
The Word of Wisdom supernaturally discloses the mind, purpose, and the way of God as applied to a specific situation. If we have the Wisdom of God, then we must have Love, for God is Love. If you search for the first gift of the Spirit, you must possess the first fruit of the Spirit.
The Word of Knowledge is a supernatural revelation of information about a specific thing and has to do with an immediate need. Jesus gave instruction to His disciples so His Joy would remain in them and be full. A Word of Knowledge will always be received with Joy from His disciples, so we must first strive to have the fruit of Joy in our lives.
Faith is a special outpouring of supernatural Faith for release of a miracle. Even a small amount of Faith in our Father will bring Peace into our lives. If we have the Peace that passes all understanding then we will be ready for the Gift of Faith when the need arises. So seek first to have the fruit of the Spirit: Peace.
Healings are those Healings that God performs supernaturally. If we are Longsuffering, then we have learned to be content in any situation as Paul was. He learned that in his weakness, Jesus strength was made perfect. So if we can learn to be Longsuffering in all, then we will be able to accept the supernatural Healing God has for us. Faith produces miracles, but miracles do not necessarily produce faith, unless we know how to rejoice in any situation. That we do not look for the Healing, but for the relationship with God that will bring about the Healing.
Working of Miracles is a manifestation of Divine power to perform something that could not be done naturally. Jesus performed many Miracles because He had compassion on the crowds and acted with Kindness. Without the Fruit of Kindness, we would not be able to use the Gift how God would want us to.
Prophecy is a supernatural disclosure, a sudden Spirit inspired insight that brings exhortation to the body of Christ. Goodness means to have decency, generosity, righteousness. To exhort and edify the body of Christ we must first possess the virtues and values which are synonymous with Goodness.
Discerning of Spirits is to detect the true spirit behind the acts and manifestations taking place around us. It is used to further build Faithfulness on our Lord and Savior. The fruit of Faithfulness is the foundation for being true only to our Lord, and the acts of the Holy Spirit. We may then seek the gift of Discerning of Spirits to further our perception of the workings of the true Spirit of God.
Different kinds of Tongues is praying or singing in a supernatural or heavenly language which has a specific message associated with it. James tells us about the things from above, that they are pure, peaceful, and Gentle. How can we seek the Gift which will deliver a message to God’s people if we first do not seek fruit of His likeness.
Interpretation of tongues is translating the message of tongues so that the heavenly message may be given. Would you trust someone translating for you that put their own thoughts and words into your message. You would want someone of great Self Control to be true and accurate. How much more would our Father want someone of Self Control to translate His holy message to His people.
So many today seek the Gifts without first acquiring the Fruit in their life. We must have the Fruit of the Spirit at work, if we want God to entrust us with the Gifts of the Spirit.
Gifts of the Spirit
1 Corinthians 12
Fruits of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23
Word of Wisdom
Word of Knowledge
Faith
Healings
Working of Miracles
Prophecy
Discerning of Spirits
Different Kinds of Tongues
Interpretation of Tongues
Love
Joy
Peace
Longsuffering
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self Control
The Word of Wisdom supernaturally discloses the mind, purpose, and the way of God as applied to a specific situation. If we have the Wisdom of God, then we must have Love, for God is Love. If you search for the first gift of the Spirit, you must possess the first fruit of the Spirit.
The Word of Knowledge is a supernatural revelation of information about a specific thing and has to do with an immediate need. Jesus gave instruction to His disciples so His Joy would remain in them and be full. A Word of Knowledge will always be received with Joy from His disciples, so we must first strive to have the fruit of Joy in our lives.
Faith is a special outpouring of supernatural Faith for release of a miracle. Even a small amount of Faith in our Father will bring Peace into our lives. If we have the Peace that passes all understanding then we will be ready for the Gift of Faith when the need arises. So seek first to have the fruit of the Spirit: Peace.
Healings are those Healings that God performs supernaturally. If we are Longsuffering, then we have learned to be content in any situation as Paul was. He learned that in his weakness, Jesus strength was made perfect. So if we can learn to be Longsuffering in all, then we will be able to accept the supernatural Healing God has for us. Faith produces miracles, but miracles do not necessarily produce faith, unless we know how to rejoice in any situation. That we do not look for the Healing, but for the relationship with God that will bring about the Healing.
Working of Miracles is a manifestation of Divine power to perform something that could not be done naturally. Jesus performed many Miracles because He had compassion on the crowds and acted with Kindness. Without the Fruit of Kindness, we would not be able to use the Gift how God would want us to.
Prophecy is a supernatural disclosure, a sudden Spirit inspired insight that brings exhortation to the body of Christ. Goodness means to have decency, generosity, righteousness. To exhort and edify the body of Christ we must first possess the virtues and values which are synonymous with Goodness.
Discerning of Spirits is to detect the true spirit behind the acts and manifestations taking place around us. It is used to further build Faithfulness on our Lord and Savior. The fruit of Faithfulness is the foundation for being true only to our Lord, and the acts of the Holy Spirit. We may then seek the gift of Discerning of Spirits to further our perception of the workings of the true Spirit of God.
Different kinds of Tongues is praying or singing in a supernatural or heavenly language which has a specific message associated with it. James tells us about the things from above, that they are pure, peaceful, and Gentle. How can we seek the Gift which will deliver a message to God’s people if we first do not seek fruit of His likeness.
Interpretation of tongues is translating the message of tongues so that the heavenly message may be given. Would you trust someone translating for you that put their own thoughts and words into your message. You would want someone of great Self Control to be true and accurate. How much more would our Father want someone of Self Control to translate His holy message to His people.
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