Catholic's Question

Deeply grieving can elicit the response that my life will never be the same

One of the things that causes a life to never be the same is the death of a very close loved one.
In the case where much of your life was as you wanted it to be, then suddenly there is a passing, unexpected maybe tragic. Nothing seems to matter anymore. Eventually, most recover, but the best is gone.
Life for a child of God does not change because the best of things were always in the future after death. For the child of God there is sadness, perhaps seemingly unbearable loss, but not despair and a reasonably quick recovery. It does not mean that they love any less, are hurt any less, but they know WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT.
We live in a world where there is great confusion about everything. Maybe the world has always been that way. Indeed, there are periods of personal stability and sometimes very long periods for some, just as for some there are few such periods. We have “a lot” and we worry about “a lot” since we can lose it. Quite often we see the end of stability coming. Maybe it is a relationship, a financial problem, an illness or even some more global worry. One person is worried about climate change and another about the government spending vast amounts of money on climate change that could be used to help truly serious problems like hunger, education and health issues.
All those different things that you thought were important at different times in your life were NOT ultimately important. Life for you may have been about getting through school, then perhaps getting a good job and maybe marrying and having a family and then the education of your children and being a good parent. The important thing for much of the world is the next meal, a roof over their head and yet for others enduring the disease or ailment another day. Always changing and important things come and go. Life it turns out is not about any of these things, except temporarily. From the day of your birth to the hour of your death, life has always been about your soul and really about nothing else.
There are many things that happen that might make us think that life will never again be the same, in reality life is always the same inasmuch as it is always about the soul. All these other “sub-plots” are just distractions that have our immediate attention, but will all dissolve into something that will eventually be insignificant, irrelevant.

Certainty

Certainty is found in one place and that is where God says it is found. We could use the word “TRUTH” and say it is found only where God says it is found. God refers to the certainty and truth you need as coming from “THAT WHICH IS PERFECT” and it is the word of God. God’s word is seldom taught as being “that which is perfect” although clearly God’s word is perfect throughout the scriptures and in fact God points to that which is perfect in 1 Corinthians 13.10. It is what remains as the things that were used in the first century to confirm the word of God are no longer needed. God is giving humankind something better – the word of God, completed. For some strange reason the world wants to believe that God COULD NOT have His word delivered (through men) without error. However, nothing is impossible with God and this perfection of His word as truth is accurately delivered and was critical to His plan. Life will never be the same once you understand the power of God’s word, its accuracy and how all that God has said fits perfectly together to fulfill His purpose. You can look at what men and women teach in regard to spiritual matters and determine if it agrees with the word of God. We have all these religions, with all these different beliefs and it is easy to conclude that all cannot be right and then realize that perhaps none are right. God did not leave us in confusion and that is why we have the great differentiation – His word. His word is of no private interpretation – all things can be resolved easily. There actually should be nothing to resolve, if people spoke as the oracles of God – “God breathed speak” – the word of God. The inventions of humankind in terms of spiritual things are absurd in comparison to the simple, easily understood scriptures. There are some things slightly more difficult to understand in God’s word, but one of them is not how God saves, what God requires of a person.
The more difficult aspects are easily understood as you develop a familiarity with the fundamentals of His revelation. One might say developed a good understanding of God as He has revealed Himself. Things like understanding His purpose for creation, the certainty of His word, His “dealings” with humankind and why He dealt that way. One begins to see life as short and full of temporary things and the next life, although unseen as eternal and wondrous or potentially disastrous.
As we get older, mature some begin to realize there is no certainty in our world or jokingly some say certainty only exists in death and taxes. Taxes are not certain, but death will surely reach out and consume you at some point. The exception will be if you are alive when Christ returns. It will still be your end, your physical end – but different. So, your end is certain just as is the end of all things physical. As we talk about certainty, we see God indicating two certain things.

Hebrews 9.27

27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment

Death and judgement are certain as well as how you will be judged, namely by God’s word. The things God says in relation to sin and their consequences are certain. SOME of those things that will keep people out of the kingdom of God are in the verses below.

Galatians 5.19-21

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

We can see in life that many things APPEAR to be certain, however the only certain things are from God. Everything else is uncertain, everything in your life, all the physical things are uncertain. It may seem death is certain, but Jesus may return while you live. In any case, death is certain until Christ returns. When and where you will die, your health, your interests, your finances and on and on are unknowns. NOT only are they uncertain, but they are ultimately NOT important. This is why your life will never be the same when you know THE TRUTH and determine to live THE TRUTH. THE TRUTH no longer has you living your life for yourself, but for Christ and the gospel. Jesus told His disciples they need to lose their life to save it. He was talking about the soul and goes on to say, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” The world view is diametrically opposed to God, and largely influences people to doubt God’s existence. This guarantees the world will be amazed (no word will adequately describe their shock and terror) when their death comes or Jesus returns. God is not your enemy, but provides you the truth. It will be your choices that result in your demise (or glory). Paul wrote, “have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth.” Our enemies are those who lie to us and say things are fine as we reject God and His word – but we love them since they are saying what WE WANT TO HEAR.

Hope For Those Confused By People Who Twist The Scriptures

All of the so-called Christian religions use the scriptures to demonstrate their viability. There is no one way to demonstrate how the scriptures are twisted to teach error. Certainly, taking scripture out of context is a problem, not understanding the definition of words as the bible itself defines them, but most importantly truth is corrupted by respecting what people teach more than what God so carefully delivered. In general, the following might help to differentiate truth from error when the deceiver(s) use scripture to mislead.

1) You should understand each aspect of the scriptures from a knowledge of all scripture on a given subject.
This is not as hard as you might think, but the opposite. If you take God for what He says, it is quite simple. God says something is sin and humankind says, but love is great and surely God would not oppose this or that. This could be in relation to any issue, humankind likes exceptions and this always opposes God – God says what He means. Suddenly everything becomes complicated. The Catholic church is a great example. There is nothing like it in the scriptures. Now, we have the opposite to God’s word in every aspect of their organization. They have their apologists, but the truth needs no apologists. They violate every principle of the scriptures. Yes, every principle is violated. Do they not believe that Jesus is the Christ? They do in word, but in fact they cannot have Christ and God without the doctrine of Christ.

2 John 1.9

9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 

God has revealed a great deal about His nature and as you also understand His purpose and perfection you can see how the scriptures fit together such that all things are easily understood. The difficulty comes from those who misuse the scriptures to suit their own purposes, ambitions, and desires. There is one frequent and common thing in their deception and it is to make the word of God complex, confusing. The message from God in terms of the gospel is very simple and can be seen as consistent throughout the scriptures and in examples.
The scriptures say, “God is not the author of confusion but of peace.” God who is perfect in everything tells humankind the confusion does not come from Him.

2) You should take very seriously each scripture, understanding it as valid and consistent with all scripture and with God’s purpose and plan.
If you understand a scripture correctly, there will be no conflicts with other scriptures.
Here is an example: The scriptures indicate there is only one mediator between God and man – that is Jesus. A good rule is that if God pronounces something that it eliminates all other possibilities – unless HE specifically and clearly makes an exception. As you study the scriptures you will find support for its simple and direct teaching. Namely, there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus.
Here is another example. This is a case where one verse is used and assumed to provide the answer for salvation – and it does, but many assume it is the complete stand-alone answer. If you understand God as He has revealed himself and all scripture on the subject you realize this verse must be compatible with all scripture.
John 3.16 indicates that believing in Jesus is the answer to eternal live or we might say salvation.

John 3.16

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.

Then, the assumption is that believing is defined as a mental acceptance of Jesus as Lord and in so doing there is salvation. All scripture indicates that believe carries much more than a mental acceptance if one is to be saved. It is as simple as realizing that if you believe in Jesus, that you will do what He says, what He commands. It is ridiculous to say you are saved mentally believing in Jesus and refusing to do what He says. This is an unfathomable conclusion that nonetheless was reached by the early “reformers” like Luther. You can read “What Believe Means” and have a correct understanding of this widely accepted deceit costing the souls of billions of people.
Another example is from Matthew 16.16-19, when Jesus says He will build His Church and continues by telling the apostles that they will be given the keys to the kingdom to bind and loose. Jesus did not define the church He would build in any detail in these verses or tell HOW the apostles would bind and loose. Catholicism assumes many things from these verses, inventing an entire religion. If you look at all scripture, you can understand the church is spiritual and there is only one head, namely Jesus. Jesus goes on after this to define HOW the apostles are going to bind and loose. Catholicism assumes this means they can make the rules, but this cannot be since:

• 1) They would not know what to do and those who have done so are easily seen to be in opposition to the scriptures
  2) God’s nature as the only rule giver was not going to change
  3) God’s very purpose to reconcile humankind required the terrible suffering and death of is Son. God would not leave men and or women to make the rules related to completing His purpose.
  4) Jesus explains HOW they would bind and loose by telling them the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth
  5) We see the Holy Spirit does this and confirms the word of God
  6) We see the faith was ONCE delivered to the saints (Jude 1.3)
  7) We see Peter saying we have all things pertaining to life and godliness
  8) We see people added to the church by Jesus in their obedience
  9) We see the true fulfillment of Matthew 16.16-19 completed before the end of the first century. The apostles received the ability to bind and loose because they were given the Holy Spirit. There was no scriptural indication that the binding and loosing would be from their ideas or that there was to be a perpetual rule-making capability. The whole message to humankind was in relation salvation and that message was completed, confirmed and the obedient were added to the body of Christ by the Lord Himself.
  Perhaps the worst bible interpretation in terms of damage done to souls is Matthew 16.16-18 by indicating Peter was the one on whom the church would be built. Jesus said, I will build My church. The very most fundamental basis for the church would be the rock solid declaration just made by Peter as God revealed (to Peter) that Jesus was the Son of God. Indeed, this (Jesus is the Son of God) is what the church, what salvation was built upon throughout the scriptures. The idea of interpretation is too kind, as this is simply deceit and most blasphemous to our creator. From Genesis 3.15, Jesus was the answer and the only answer to reconciliation.
  10) We see before the end of the first century that which is perfect – God’s word was completed. There can be no additions or subtractions.

In ignorance, in lust for power, in arrogance, in pride, in disobedience and in the worst possible abomination we see men saying they have the right to add to and take away from God’s word. The whole of scripture denounces this pathetic reasoning and the respect is for men and not for God.

3) You should be careful when someone says, “Here is the understanding you need and the verse(s) that prove the conclusion.”
The truth has supporting verses, groups of verses that work together, fit PERFECTLY together to clarify any bible subject. You need to understand what you believe, it is not complicated. One reason people are misled is because they think the truth is complicated. The people in the first century understood the message, the gospel message and obeyed and lived it. Look at the conversions of the New Testament and realize its simplicity and realize that doing the same thing as they did produces the same result today.

4) You should understand the seriousness of dealing with God’s word. Understand it like this, “There is nothing more important in your life than rightly dividing God’s word.” Then you know what to do, how to live, how to worship.

Managing The Pain of Loss – Family, Friends or Just the Devastation That From Time to Time We Observe in Life

Many people who suffer these unbearable losses of loved ones never fully recover and sometimes go into a deep depression and live day to day with little hope, no enthusiasm. It is hard to imagine how this could be any different and yet it can be and is for those who know the truth. No tragedy can get them down and a good example is the story of Job. He suffered all those losses and then suffered all those terrible and painful ailments. His weaknesses were revealed, but he never gave up his allegiance with God. Today, here are the reasons a person can go on with vigor and enthusiasm and certainty.

• You have the full revelation from God, you know the future end
• You understand the shortness of life, God even referring to it as a vapor that appears for a moment and then is gone
• You understand God’s purpose and His goodness – no evil in Him
• You trust God, as you know He is in control and is faithful to His word
• You understand the relative importance of things, of earthly possessions in comparison to eternal life
• You see the foolishness of wasting your time in regret, in worry, in concern over various physical, personal losses
• Your knowledge of truth means you know God’s expectations for His children and that is where you must focus your efforts

The World Brings Such Confusion to People
Who Sincerely Seek The Truth

Many people interested in the truth will think their life will never be the same if they find the truth and they are right. However, it must be THE TRUTH otherwise essentially your life will be the same. Truth places you on the road to heaven and THINKING YOU HAVE THE TRUTH does not. You need to have a love of the truth, not just seek the truth being satisfied with something you think MIGHT be the truth. There is truth and there is error and error can provide a false hope in the lies that are skillfully told. A person needs to have a love of the truth, find it, obey it and live it. You can do this because God in His perfection has delivered that which is perfect – the word of God. All the things taught as truth are only true if they are consistent with scripture. There is this single standard so you can have the single truth and know it is true.

You sit in a building referred to as a church and someone teaches from the bible and uses more than a dozen verses to teach something that is not true. This is what happens in 99.9% of the so-called Christian churches. The one thing you never hear is the gospel message. You are indoctrinated and you indoctrinate your children and others – a sad cycle. The gospel message is simple and if this is not what is taught you have joined the 99.9% that believe they have a relationship with Christ, but are NOT in the body of Christ. These believe what God says is somehow trivial and does not have to be taken seriously. They would say that the scriptures are critically important to them and they believe them to be true and important, however that does not mean they have the truth. I would suggest that they believe what men have cleverly devised and they think it is from God. There is usually an element of they know, they feel, they are certain of God’s love, so certain they need not look any deeper. Jesus held that every word that comes from the mouth of God is important.

If you look at the teachings of Jesus, the gospel in the first century, the local groups of Christians in the first century you will see simplicity in the doctrine. You see consistency in the teaching as the word of God is gradually revealed and confirmed and we have before the end of the first century that which is perfect – the completed word of God. You need no more than what was taught in the first century, you need no more than the pattern of the first century. In fact, you are not allowed to add to or take away from the completed word of God. The world changes with the times, with the pattern of society, with the norms and innovations of the present time. That is fine as long as it is ethical, moral, but the word of God needs or allows no modifications to fit “modern times.”

Again, And It Cannot Be Said Enough Or Emphasized Enough

God was very careful to relay the message that His word, the gospel should not be changed – taken away from or added to. Today, what people teach for Christianity is confusing, complicated and involving much of the worldly things that are an abomination to God. The simple gospel message is that Jesus died to allow you to be reconciled to God and provided through the Holy Spirit what you must do and how you must live. Humankind often concludes that Jesus saved them by His death, burial and resurrection. The scriptures do not teach this, but that by His death, burial and resurrection He provided humankind the opportunity for salvation. That opportunity is stated succinctly in Hebrews 5.9, “He became the author of eternal salvation to all those who OBEY Him. Not surprisingly, this is consistent with all scripture. Throughout the New Testament we see exactly what this means and what is required. From the beginning, looking at Adam and Eve, God deals with humankind in terms of obedience to His will.

Since what you must do is NOT taught, people are NOT added to the body of Christ. They believe wrongly that their life has changed for the better in their man-devised relation with Christ, but they are wrong. Calling on the name of Christ or believing on Him as savior will not result in their sins being forgiven. Remove all the teachings of humankind in relation to God and let people hear the gospel preached and the difference is clear.

Matthew 7.21

21 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.

The religions of the world, such as Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, and all the others do not represent the “will of My Father” as revealed in the scriptures. Those who love the truth more than what they currently believe, more than the often attractive teachings of men and women can easily see the foolishness of humankind’s religions. Yes, easily because the religions are nonsense in view of God’s word. God’s means of sorting out those to spend eternity with Him is perfect, more so than His physical creation because your success was His purpose. The physical creation is just the stage for the humankind’s decisions. There is nothing greater than coming to a knowledge of the truth and indeed it will change your life.

What Is Really Important?

If one were to name the top issues of the day they would include wars and concerns of wars, terrorism in its many forms, disease, clean water, feeding a growing population, politicians lying about one another and lying about everything, sporting events, the environment, education, the media creating news instead of reporting it and lots of other things that are so very, very important. NONE OF THOSE THINGS ARE IMPORTANT! If only you could ask the person who just died, you would you realize that all these “important things” are ultimately meaningless. Did you have a relationship with God’s Son – NOW that is important. You are suddenly dead and you “instantly” learn you still exist. Everything you accomplished or failed to accomplish are non-existent. There is just one important thing and it is related to your ending. Unless you obey the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and lived in agreement with God’s word – you are lost. Forget the blaming and excuses that you might be considering, because you will realize in death they have no value – realize it now! If you can come to grips with this, then indeed your life will never be the same again, because you will be living it for Jesus and the gospel.
There is distaste over the bible inasmuch as it promises eternal punishment for those who fail in life and specifically those who reject God’s Son. Perhaps that punishment will include the awareness of how hard a person worked to exclude the God of the bible from their life. It is ironic that one works so diligently against the one thing needed in life and usually because of pride and selfishness. It will be a person’s shortsightedness and how they willingly chose to spend little to no time on anything except fulfilling their desires that has them dying clueless of life’s purpose. God in His wisdom does not require a great mental capability to find and live the truth, but the humble soul who loves the truth. The wise of the world, trusting in themselves are not the ones who discover the truth of God’s word, but in fact analyze the word of God dissecting it, changing it, doubting it and in effect end up rejecting it.

2 Corinthians 10.12

12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

There is tremendous irony in a world filled with people of numerous religious titles like clergymen, theologians, priests, pastors and so-on inasmuch as none of them provide truth to people who seek to find it. These life-long career religious people study, write about God and God’s word, and yet never understand the scriptures the same way or correctly. If they took God’s advice they could get it right. To the world it must seem like the scriptures are so complicated since all “these people of religion” see God and God’s word differently.

There is a nice parallel between magic and religion. Magic, is known to simply be “slight of hand” or “mirrors” and distractions all aimed at deception. Magic is full of lies in many performances. One the common lies is to hire certain people from the audience or in some cases the entire audience to be amazed as the airplane disappears right in front of them. Religion uses the same trickery in promoting their belief systems. Instead of focusing on the basic questions, the “foundation” evidence, they talk about a hundred other things and you assume the foundation is solid. You are distracted and become a believer in the various practices and rules of the religion. Every religion except the one that is the truth does this. Catholicism is likely the worst, but Protestantism, Mormonism and Islam all do the same thing, albeit somewhat differently. Certainly, Islam is a horrific religion in today’s world, yet these other religions are in the same category because they all lead to a final terrible end – failed lives, lost souls.
So, what is important? There is one constant and it is your soul, thus it is what is important. We can even see in our human existence that what is important one day may be different the next. Certainly, we realize what is important one year is different the next or even easier what is important one decade is different the next. After several decades we may not even remember much of what was important 40 years before. The soul was actually just as important on Day One as your last day on earth and on into eternity. This is because YOUR life was about YOUR eternal success or failure and not about the hundreds of things seemingly important to our physical life. Thinking about your soul means doing various things that promote your spiritual success. These then are important things because of their connection with your soul’s success. The “killer” of the soul is sin. Sin not forgiven (by God) brings eternal loss that is spiritual death versus eternal life. Jesus explains that you will never die if you have allegiance to Him.

John 11:26

And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

When you understand scriptures, you see that Jesus reference here is to spiritual death- that is what life is all about and not about physical death, which all we experience (save those alive when Christ returns). It is hard to understand how people can fail to see the seriousness of Jesus saying He was the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. He says unless you believe in Him, you will die in your sins. Jesus, speaks to His disciples and at times to the masses in parables. These are parables of the kingdom, which will be possible because of His sinless life and subsequent death, burial and resurrection. It will be a kingdom, which He says, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” Jesus was focused on the souls of humankind and doing the things needed and commanded of Him by the Father. Jesus knew what was important and it was the soul.

Working Hard Against Yourself To Assure Eternal Loss

Some people can exhibit extraordinary effort to get what they want. They seem relentless, using every waking hour to achieve some goal. This sort of effort can be a good moral, ethical and selfless thing. However, in a selfish world it is more likely to be simply getting all I can for me and may include others still in a selfish manner. These people can be very ruthless and cruel and there is an associated deceitfulness supporting what “I want.” The thing behind this selfless behavior is often seeing the world and our existence as godless. We live, we die and it is over. Yet, there are many people who believe in God and are equally selfish and cruel in getting what they want. Despite all their claims to love God, their outward actions are not in unity with God. Simply, those who love God will keep His commandments (John 14.15).

A large number of people defend their atheistic beliefs and partner with humankind’s science to support those beliefs. Children are taught a godless world and that comes in the form of assigning the creation of all things to the big bang or something like it. Additionally, the theory of organic evolution is taught as though it is fact. Everything is just a big and unlikely accident, nonetheless we are here for a while and then it is over. Such a world, such an existence is meaningless, eventually. This teaching of random events leading to humankind’s existence over long periods of time (billions of years) and with a likelihood of “LIFE” based on the size of the universe leads to some obvious conclusions. First, there are no rules, there is no test and thus what I see as right is right. The godless people adamantly deny that they are not sensitive to others, not compassionate and certainly much better than the selfless behavior they see in “religious people.” I would not disagree with their view of religious people, although it is not universal. Godless people vary in their compassion and at best it is limited and often leads to many poor decisions in regard to others. What godless people fail to see is that people who have a valid connection with God have a high standard for how they treat others (as or better than themselves). Ultimately, the problem of atheism and also agnosticism occurs at the end of their lives in a failed life. Just as it will for all those religious people, who have no actual relationship with God despite their claims.

A driving force behind the godless society is to eliminate what they see as threats contained in the bible and all those directions on how to live and how not to live. This motivation results in the acceptance of all sorts of abominable behavior. The killing of babies is one example – a pathetic, selfish and clearly immoral action. It is sold as a woman’s right to choose; it is all marketing. Abortion is framed to achieve acceptance and the masses accept the principle of a women’s choice. Keeping God out of the picture makes it easy to sell the idea. This is the principle for so many things that the scriptures refer to as sin and sin leading to final loss. Thus, no God, no problem – very attractive to the masses.

The “world” often recognizes (correctly) the effective indoctrination of those who become religious zealots. They must think of such people as terribly naive – they can’t think on their own. Yet, the world has indoctrinated the masses to accept the killing of babies and have done this so well that it is seldom questioned.

So, we have people fighting fiercely in defending “existence” independent of God (really the God of the bible is Who is feared). The irony once again is that all their effort brings them to a failed life. There is nothing more personal than your soul, nothing more valuable than your soul, but with all the confusion, all the deceit, most do not even believe they have a soul. There is God’s wisdom and the wisdom of the world and one has value and the other dread.

1 Corinthians 3.19-21

19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”;
20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
21 Therefore let no one boast in men.

The truth is that God is the creator and with a purpose FOR YOU. God wants you to spend eternity with Him, but He is very selective and designed a test to determine the ones who love Him.

The biggest lie about THE TRUTH is that there is no truth. There are hundreds of lies that the truth exposes. One critical lie for those who believe in God and the afterlife is the ease of attaining heaven. All you have to do is the best you can, stay out of trouble. The scriptures are clear regarding success (heaven). Regarding eternal life, Jesus pointed out the narrow way, the difficult way and that few find it. Also as you look at God’s nature in dealing with people, it is no-nonsense, it is ONLY God’s way, otherwise there is failure.
Your comparative “self-perceived value” has no value. You will be judged by your relationship with God’s Son. This means you had to establish that relationship and have your past sins forgiven and remained faithful thereafter. Not only is your comparative evaluation of yourself meaningless, but so is your good evaluation by others. God knows your heart, your actions, your true motives and also if you have a dutiful relationship with His Son.
Another significant misconception has people dependent on others for the truth and not being concerned about if what they believe and what they do is right. They follow the rules of their organization (religious or otherwise). We might say follow their faith or belief and often admittedly blindly. Blindly, and in fact that may be built into their doctrine – not to question, “It is wrong to question.” Someone may chuckle at the indoctrination of those in religion to accept the rules they follow. Yet, those who laugh accept the nonsense of the impossible existence of things including themselves by some accident.

Evil, is it evil to mislead another regarding their soul, their eternity? There is nothing more serious, more evil and it is the work of the religions of the world. The world does not see this, but frequently believe any belief system in God is better than none. God wants people to make choices, but the right choice is needed to achieve heaven. Religion is usually looked upon as a positive thing by most, but not all. Some, see all religions as evil in terms of their history of conflict and frequently murderous ways. Certainly, if a religion is not THE TRUTH, then it is not of God and one can expect anything including violence, cruelty and murder. Indeed, the religions of humankind rightly deserve the credit for much of the evil in the world. Much of the evil was in protection of their invented doctrines, which in some way was needed to protect their lies thus maintaining their power and “lifestyles.” There is incredible deceit built upon deceit all in protection of their paranoid fear of THE TRUTH.

Why Are There So Many Different Beliefs

It always comes down to those who respect the word of God and those who do not. Perhaps the highest risk thing in terms of a successful life is to teach about God. This is because you MUST get it right. The vast majority of teachers bring in their own ideas or the ideas of their predecessors and as a result we have all these religions. One of the early inventors that was able to sustain themselves was called Catholicism. Since then there have been others who have sustained such as Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and the list is very long. We have so many concepts of religion and God and always invented by men/women. Islam, Mormonism, Buddhism and other “inventions” and generally with prideful and selfish motives. It is no wonder those opposing religion can RIGHTLY claim, “what a mess,” while also seeing much of the world’s evil, wars and cruelties originating in some way or associated with these “religions.” There are so many “worldly” religions and none of them are right and none have a relationship with God. They are properly called idol worshipers since they are certainly not following God. NONE ARE RIGHT does NOT mean there is NOT truth, but means the ones that have been created by men/women are useless, confusing and costly to the souls of those who follow their inventions.

There are so many different beliefs because God’s single standard has been butchered to provide what people want. They want things that make sense to them and benefit them NOW and certainly do not limit what they want. God’s single message is spiritual and not directly benefiting their current existence, but indeed limiting it. Some people only want to trim the message from God slightly, while others make “wholesale” changes while many just take God out of their equation for life. The degree to which you change or accept changes to God’s word determines how difficult it is to recognize error. No matter the degree, error accepted will be costly to your eternity. Generally, the human devised religions are diametrically in opposition to the scriptures and yet they receive continued allegiance. The simple conclusion is that there is something that a person loves more than the truth.

Singularity

A singularity, or quantum singularity, is an extremely dense region of the space-time continuum which produces extremely powerful gravitational forces. Singularities can be produced both naturally, as in black holes, or artificially. In an effort to explain how “everything” is just an infinitely unlikely accident and explain certain observations (apparent expanding universe) this idea of a singularity evolved. The language of science in this regard is commonly called the big-bang theory and things like the ever-expanding universe, black holes, worm holes and hundreds of others all being fitted together into a complex explanation involving billions of years and billions of galaxies to draw a single conclusion that there is no God. As time passes all of this will change and there will be new theories that will also be just theories. There will be those who say there was no beginning (always existed) and those who say there was a beginning – but do not breathe too deeply because that will also change – again.
Another related term is the “initial singularity” which was the gravitational singularity of infinite density thought to have contained all of the mass and space-time of the Universe before quantum fluctuations caused it to rapidly expand in the Big Bang and subsequent inflation, creating the present-day universe(s).
Perhaps there is no larger mistake that a person could make than to believe these theories devised to eliminate God as creator. This whole search to understand where we came from is a sad distraction from what is really important – YOUR SOUL!! As usual, the basic question is never answered, namely, why does anything exist, why does this incredibly dense “piece” that contains all the mass of the universe exist? Why does time exist? If you remove the prejudice that has people arguing not scientifically, but to justify what they must believe, you have a creator. You have Genesis 1.1, “In the beginning God.”
Although there is no correlation suggested between the idea of singularity in quantum physics and the singularity of the truth of a single God, it is interesting. Science comes all the way back to a single event, but “they cannot get over the hump” as they fall short answering the only question that matters. Why does anything exist? They will never answer this because God did not provide humankind with that capability. God limited humankind to the laws that were associated with the products of creation. Laws that limit humankind just as WE are limited by the universe, by time, by our physical bodies that contain our spiritual nature.
God is singular – one God. God indicates that there are “SEVEN ONES” that are important and right in front of all people. Scientists can go just so far, and are quickly “dead-ended” with their theories. It should not be considered valuable, but pathetic to confuse people and assist in the destruction of the thing that matters most to every person.
The truth always has value and with God that is what you get, not theories, not supposition, not a dead-end. God provides purpose, a plan and the very best ending for those who love the truth. His “singularity” for you to know and understand includes these seven ONES. It is not a formula, it is not a puzzle. God wants you to understand “in this last age” the truth in a way you can be successful. So, consider the seven ONE’S from God.

• 1) There is one God and Father of all
• 2) There is one Lord
• 3) There is one Spirit
• 4) There is one faith
• 5) There is one baptism
• 6) There is one hope
• 7) There is one body

Ephesians 4.4-6

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

The unfortunate thing is that the Christian “so-called world of religions” seldom understand the seven one’s of God correctly. Different groups agree on different of these seven items. Is it important that you know these things? If you know these things correctly, you know what to do and how to live. You may never come across this verse as this just supports and is in agreement with all scripture, perfectly in agreement with the gospel message – it helps you understand. The religions of the world have many God’s, many beliefs, many bodies (Churches), many hopes, many baptisms, many lords, many “spirits” and various combinations of these things. God clarifies this by saying ONE. There is ONE God, and there is one hope of your calling, just ONE body referring to the ONE Lord who adds you to His ONE body as a result of obedience including the One baptism to the ONE faith (Romans 16.25) provided by the One Spirit. You can read about the seven ones of God at the “Seven Ones of God.”

Unlike the confusion brought by science and by the world’s religions there is no mystery here. There WAS a mystery, but in Christ it has been revealed. Various religions refer to the mystery of the faith and indeed those who do so are NOT in any way of the truth.

Ephesians 3.9-11

9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 
10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 
11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord

There is one God and He has revealed Himself as the Creator. If you understand the scriptures you know God’s message. The seven ones are exactly as God reveals in His word that is, there is just ONE of each. The mystery is “big bang” and the problem will always be, “WHY does anything exist, WHY does time exist.” The bible begins, “In the beginning God.” God tells us about the ONE hope you have of eternal life and that God cannot lie and then adds the promise was BEFORE TIME BEGAN.

Titus 1.2

2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began

Time is one of the limitations integral with God’s creation of a physical world. God’s purpose will be fulfilled on this stage as individuals make decisions. Sadly, many people’s decisions will be influenced by the indoctrination of a godless existence. They will trade something they do not understand originating from the wisdom of humankind for the truth from God.

Much of the scriptures, like the letters written to the churches (those in the body of Christ) are valuable reading that can help those “outside Christ” to come to the truth. The following verses tell the Christian that although day by day they are gradually “wearing out” their inward man is being renewed day by day. They know that this renewing occurs as long as they are faithful.

2 Corinthians 4.16-18

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The point here is an important truth from God. The things that are seen are temporary, while the things unseen are eternal. God reveals everything physical will be destroyed and that unfortunately is where the world places its trust, where the world lays up its treasures. God points out the uselessness of the things of the world as they will pass away, be burned up, be dissolved. God is saying, realize these things are temporary.

2 Peter 3.10-12

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 
11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

In view of this truth, God asks what manner of persons ought you to be? Here is God from the scriptures continually reaching out, motivating the hearer to realize the seriousness of how you live your life and specifically to live it in holy conduct and godliness. The vast majority of the world is not in the race for heaven, but believe one of the many lies. God’s children themselves face a difficult road and every day are in a war with sin.

1 Thessalonians 5.21-23

21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a spiritual war for God’s children that involves them rejecting sin in their life’s and bringing the gospel message to the world. God graciously provides His children with the armor to help them overcome and succeed.

Ephesians 6.13-17

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

The message from God is to GET INTO THE RACE and then realize it will still be a battle. The world and the world of religions paint quite a different picture regarding the ease of attaining heaven.
Over and over again, God pleads for His children’s faithfulness and warns of the consequences of going back into the world, back into perdition.

2 Peter 2.20,21

20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

Indeed, what sort of person ought you to be if the righteous are scarcely saved?

1 Peter 4.17,18

17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 
18 Now, “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

So, getting into the race by having your past sins forgiven is indeed the starting point and not the end. Paul would talk about the battle, saying he fought the good fight and finished the race.

2 Timothy 4.7,8

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Paul also expressed his concern of failing and thus the need to be continually vigilant.

1 Corinthians 9.27

27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

As you come to grips with THE ONE TRUTH your life will never be the same. God has told us there is a great deal to overcome and laid out the path to succeed and achieve heaven. Humankind rejects the God of the bible and humankind’s religions create other ways to succeed. The “so-called Christian religions” provide an easy road that is quite different than the scriptures indicate. Those people go comfortably through their life with one foot in what they think is a spiritual existence and one foot planted solidly in the world. Actually both feet are in the world as God says you cannot serve God and mammon (“wealth” or “riches” and also personified as the god of riches). This verse below from Colossians indicates how you need to live, how you need to look at life once you become a child of God. It is a necessary and seriously different perspective.

Colossians 3.1,2

1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

note: There is one God and He is the God of the bible. He cannot lie, there is no evil in Him and He resides in perfect justice. In order for God to be perfectly just, it required something to cover the transgressions against His laws.
The first transgression was when Adam and Eve went against His command not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the center of the garden. Sin is defined as a transgression of the law and from the garden forward there were various transgressions against His laws.
To “cover” the transgressions, God provided the only possible way in His sinless Son. There is no other way and there is no “casual way” to heaven. You should not think you can live in any way less than God reveals in His word and succeed. The enormity of what God defines as evil surrounds us. There is an accepted open disregard and disrespect for God in the world. Humankind has never gotten it right, but judge the goodness of men and women as greater than God. Religions do this by changing what God has delivered and saying, “What I tell you is from God or is acceptable to God.” Unless, what is taught is aligned with the scriptures, it is not the truth. There is only One God, One Lord, One Spirit, One Faith, One Baptism, One Hope, One Body.

The Enormity Is The Problem

Some things overwhelm people and one of them is the size of the “religious” organization and/or the magnitude of the deceit and/or the consistency of false information from for example the media and/or the trust placed in teachers and/or the theories of science taught as likely or the “best we know” and its acceptance by so many people. Many of these may come into play simultaneously and it is indeed overwhelming.
Yet there is one thing that can overcome the deceit and it is exactly as God says, “a love of the truth.” Sometimes you have to “dig” quite deep to uncover the truth. Religions that are false all have “foundation” problems. The media has issues with the God because of the limitations that the “God of the bible” places of the freedom of humankind to do, to say, and to act “just as they please.”

This continual pounding, indoctrinating from many different directions that oppose God and His word have taken their toll on the truth – but no excuse. God wants those who love the truth enough to search diligently for it and find it and obey it an live it. God pleads with humankind to seek Him and tells you how to find Him, but it requires your desire to succeed and thus your diligence.

Jeremiah 29.13

13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

The effort: Search for me with all your heart.

Acts 17.26,27

26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

The very reason for your existence is to seek God and the good news is that He is not far from us.

Hebrews 11.6

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

God ties faith to pleasing Him and your reward to diligently seeking Him.

In the process of seeking Him you discover faith and that faith comes from only one place, that is, from the word of God (Romans 10.17).

The enormity of the deceit is also delicious inasmuch as it is often what we want to believe. For instance, there is no God and thus no accountability, or there is a God and He wants you to be rich in “worldly things.” We lose heaven to have WHAT WE WANT by compromising God’s word to accept the religions of the world or reject God altogether.

God provides evidence in what we see (Romans 1.20) and in His word. The word is perfect in telling humankind God’s purpose and delivering what they must do to succeed. Instead of determining if God’s word is true (indeed perfect) there is time spent in God’s word searching for problems. If a persons goal is to discredit the scriptures they will find something that supports their goal. On the other hand if they are DILIGENTLY seeking the truth and will accept nothing less they will find it.

One of the ENORMITY ISSUES is the size (number of adherents, worldwide reach) of humankind’s religions. Catholicism has enormous resources and enormous presence around the world. People believe Catholicism is the truth even though it is the MOST DISTANT FROM GOD AND TRUTH. There are so many diversions, that their followers never really question their teachings. All of humankind’s religions have their stories that “sell their beliefs.” One of the Catholic stories is that they claim to be the only Christian religion that has a continuous history from the first century. The truth is any persons who align with the doctrine of Christ represent the continuous string of Christians back to the first century. Another diversion is to teach that faith is a mystery that is, hard to understand and people need help to understand, “Catholic help.” Perhaps the most obvious deceit is their creation of a physical religion. The body of Christ is spiritual albeit with a local physical group of those in Christ’s spiritual body. The church built by Christ has a spiritual head and only Christ is capable and so designated. There is spiritual direction via the word of God, written on the hearts of God’s children. There is spiritual worship that is in spirit and truth. Along comes Catholicism with rule-making, a physical head, a huge organization and physical presence, a physical priesthood and never-ending and changing doctrines. Catholicism is much like Judaism inasmuch as the Jews wanted a physical rule from their Messiah and thus rejected Jesus. Catholics create many of their physical practices from the Jews such as a priesthood, their sacrifice of the mass, and various aspects of the law of Moses including the continuation of the ten commandments. The church that Jesus said He would build is the kingdom that He referred to from the beginning of His ministry. Of this kingdom’s nature, Jesus made it’s spiritual character clear in the parables and the entirety of His message. Jesus would say that His kingdom was not of this world. His body the church was not of this world. The core, most basic and crucial understanding of the church belonging to Jesus is its spiritual nature. Catholicism and all the other churches of the world that refer to themselves Christian have a physical character – they are not the church belonging to Christ. As a result of casually dealing with God’s word, they take away from and add to and in effect create a different doctrine. It should not be a surprise that in the process they change the spiritual nature of the church to a physical church. They have a physical leader over a physical organization, physical attractive buildings, and on-going and changing rules and doctrines. This might remind you of the Jews wanting a king and God allowing this to their own destruction beginning with (king)Saul. It might also remind you of Jesus telling the Jews, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Today, the world in pride wants things their way and in religion it is not any different. The religious world wants physical things (impressive structures, symbols, talented speakers, musical excellence), comfortable doctrine, signs from God, while having the appearance of godliness. If they only loved the truth as badly as they want to live in the world, while also achieving spiritual success – then they would find it. Jesus brought the answer to sin, a spiritual solution and humankind’s religions changed that to a physical solution filled substitutions (making its value meaningless).

God is very clear in terms of His hatred of certain things and points them out in Proverbs 6.16-19. Four of the seven things He hates have to do with deceit. God also mentions some sins that are an abomination to Him since they oppose the very nature of His creation. These would be things like homosexuality, same sex marriage (an obvious extension), unlawful (in God’s eyes) divorce, and abortion (which qualifies as being against creation, being murder and the taking of innocent life) to mention some obvious ones. In the creation it was to be one man, one woman and this was the path for humankind to fulfill God’s purpose. These things all oppose God’s plan in some way.
Deceit is something God hates because it misleads others usually used to achieve a selfish purpose. Nothing is more deceitful than teaching different than God has directed. God hates this obvious means of destroying souls. The supposedly “nicest” people are going to cause you to fail in life – but it is always YOUR choice to follow.
What a mess these ginormous lies create in a world already plagued with sin and opposition to God’s word. The world, religions and the media all telling lies and sometimes they agree on the lie, other times they violently disagree. In any case, lies in our world are self justified if it is important to achieving a selfish goal. Some of those selfish goals may have been from many generations past, even centuries past and now carried forward. Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism, Mormonism exist because the the enormity of the deceit over very long periods of time. Today’s advocates just carry the lies forward and never realize the the selfish, greedy, proud character of the originators. However, they could know the true origins of their beliefs if they had a deep love of the truth. None of these human created religions make any sense in view of the scriptures, but qualify as idolatry.

Here Is The Understanding That Science and All the Critics of God as the God of the Bible Need to Comprehend

God provides this sort of information throughout the scriptures and it is the truth and in its clarity overwhelms the proud and prudent by putting them in their place. That is, God is perfect in wisdom and humankind in their pride place their wisdom above God. Thus the most important thing in their existence, namely the message of the cross is seen as foolishness. God in the process is getting just those He wants to share eternity.

1 Corinthians 1.18,19

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 
19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

God has no intention of spending eternity with the proud, with those who are the wise of the world. God’s plan perfectly sorts out the humble from the proud. Not surprisingly, God is infinitely more astute than those considered the brightest of humankind. These people are considered the brightest usually by each other, and in truth they seldom have anything right. Common sense and what was one time a reasonable “scientific” way forward in terms of theory, experiment, new theory and more experiment have given way to BUILDING ON TO theory never proven. Pride and the fear that there is a God and He is the God of the bible keeps science aggressively opposing anything that represents a “God-Based” view.

Note: Science is not the enemy, but bad science and in the area of our existence science would be wise to say they do not have the answers. Slowly, theory becomes taught as the answer to our existence. Especially, young minds are indoctrinated into the latest explanation for our existence. All too often in relation to the “big bang” or organic evolution of our species, I will hear, “Those things are proven facts.” Good scientific process was not and cannot be followed to reach such conclusions.

People often ask, “what is it like to be lost.” I do not know, except to say it will be very bad, worse than can be expressed. The one thing of value in your life will be to succeed in life ending in heaven. Those who spend their lives in pride opposing the one thing that they need to succeed will eternally regret their arrogance in the realization of what God had placed before them, namely the simple truth. One crushing aspect of being lost will be the realization there will be no one to blame except themselves. THEN the evidence, all the evidences from God will be overwhelming and their evidence opposing God will be insignificant and silly – indeed they will know that the fool has said in his heart there is no God.
A person has time for hundreds of things, but never has time for finding the truth about life, for testing what they currently believe. I should say that I do not even know in the lost state if you will be allowed to come to grips with your foolishness – you will know you are lost and it will be terrible. Every person, certainly including myself will have some degree of concern in relation to their final state. There is a way to lessen this concern and it is by living consistent with the word of God and in fact, perfect love (realized by living right every day) casts out fear.

1 John 4.17

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment

This boldness is not arrogance, but an assured confidence in the word of God. It must be doing God’s will and NOT WHAT YOU THINK IS GOD’S WILL.

God Did Not Place Us In the Mess Man Has Fashioned

The mess is believing we know the truth about life from within or from within the minds of men and/or women. Actually, the truth we need is hidden by what we currently believe and defend. It is always pride and that is exactly how God separates those who fail from those who succeed. The mess is getting everything wrong and I mean everything truly important, wrong. God brings clarity and certainty to THE TRUTH and everything else is easily seen for what it is, namely humankind’s version of truth. This may be a religious version of the truth or the denial of God’s existence. The creation of all things by speaking them into existence cannot be comprehended, because we were not created with such an intellect. Why not? Because, it was not in God’s purpose. God has provided us with what we need and understanding the TECHNICAL PRINCIPLES OF CREATION are not important. Specifically, they are not important in achieving the outcome God wants for us. Just as perfect as the creation, even more so is the process designed to determine humankind’s acceptability for heaven. So as much of humankind tries to understand existence independent of God, they invariably miss out on the solid evidence of God’s purpose and His message.

The Rote And Vitality of Failure in Life

Rote – mechanical or habitual repetition of something
Vitality – the state of being strong and active; energy

Nothing it seems has more of a ROTE character than religion. People go about doing what they have been taught in religion and go about it with vitality. It is the non-thinking person’s safety net in the world. Life always has its tough times and your religion is often a place to turn for help. You may feel your desperate situation is overwhelming, but then there is God, your religious beliefs. Ultimately, this is the solution and especially when you are dying. The fact that you do not know if what you have been taught is the truth, that you really do not understand or understand very well does not seem to matter. After all, who really knows about God and the afterlife?
We do not like being fooled or mislead or scammed. Sometimes being misled can be very costly financially or in relationships or regarding our health and might even cost us our life’s. Deceit is overpowering to many because the lie itself is something desired or because it is well conceived to convince or frequently both. If we only took seriously the truth about life, as seriously as we treat lies that can and have damaged our “physical” life’s; then we would be spending time to find out what life is really all about. It is amazing the effort that goes into defending our rote. People love the routine and ROTE BECOMES THE REASON we do things when really all it is, is a pattern that provides us comfort. Frequently, these are “propaganda patterns” DESIGNED to maintain our faithfulness in some belief system. The music, the singing, the beauty of the place of worship are things that appeal to our emotions. The most pathetic pattern or rote is very likely the Roman Catholic Eucharist (actual presence of Jesus), which is the centerpiece of the Catholic ceremonies. Every aspect of false religious practices is an abomination to God, but the Eucharist makes a mockery of the very purpose of God to reconcile the world – a mockery of Jesus and the word of God.

Knowledge of God in the Land

The world has an awareness of the bible. It would be hard to go through life without some knowledge of the scriptures and that should be good.
however, a little knowledge without understanding usually turns out to be harmful. Indeed, people select an aspect of the scriptures to support something they want or want to prove. Much of the time they use the scriptures to dispute the scripture’s validity by selecting passages to show the God of the bible as harsh or that the bible was authored by various people and is not from God. A husband or a wife may use the bible to show how they should be treated, honored or respected. Maybe they know nothing else (of the scriptures) and that being the case, neither will understand the deeper intended meaning. Atheists use the bible to support their beliefs by selecting certain passages or bible events to point to how wars and cruelty originate from those who follow the scriptures. If they had the correct understanding of scripture they would see God (as revealed in the scriptures) as absent of any evil and desiring the success of each person. The things God did that people twist to be problematic are often necessary things in terms for achieving the reconciliation of humankind. God has limited Himself purposely to achieve His goal of determining who is worthy of heaven – this “limiting” is related to providing humankind a free will. You can read about how this appears to be the case God Revealed I and God Revealed II.

The Surprise To END All Surprises

All the lies will be realized at the end of time. A person might expect to explain their circumstances to God when faced with a failed life. God knows your life, the truth about you, your real motives, your every thought and deed. You may have even fooled yourself, but not God. Your judgment will be perfectly correct, no excuses, no one to blame and no appeals. Every person can know how they will be judged. Jesus made it clear that it is God’s word which will judge.

John 12.48

48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. 

The bible is very exact about the coming judgment indicating that, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” There are details like, “I(Jesus) say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” There is such urgency in God’s word for people to grasp the critical nature of judgment as indicated for instance in 2 Corinthians 5.10,11 where it indicates, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad – Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”

God makes it clear that even those in the household of God – those who obeyed the gospel and consequently have a great responsibility to be faithful and fruitful ARE SCARCELY SAVED.

1 Peter 4.17,18

17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 
18 Now, “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

There should be fear of the consequences of judgment and there should be awareness of Jesus description of how many will be saved. The Father’s will is to be accomplished in the sacrifice of Jesus. God wants you to succeed, but you will only do that if you take seriously God’s directions.

What Jesus says just below is perfectly consistent with all scripture on the subject of the judgment. There is a judgment, there are high expectations for humankind’s response to the gospel message, there are certain things keeping one out of the kingdom and although we would have Jesus say many, most, everybody (will be saved) – He did not. God knowing all things knows that humankind of their OWN CHOICE will select the worldly road to destruction. He passes along this dreadful insight in Matthew.

Matthew 7.13,14

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Every person who believes they are so tough, so justified in their life will be in awe of God and in deep remorse regretting their life. Indeed, every knee will bow and the pain of losing the only thing that mattered in your existence will be devastating. Suddenly, everything in your life has no meaning and thus we proclaim, “life is about the soul.” Can you imagine how different your life would be if you knew this NOW and knew it for certain?