The Word of God Outline

1) The Word (Jesus) and The word of God Go To This Page
2) Attributed To Jesus AND To The Word Of God Go To This Page
2.1) Creation Go To This Page
2.2 Judgment Go To This Page
2.3 Salvation Go To This Page
3) Life, Eternal Life Go To This Page
4) The Scriptures, Jesus, Eternal Life, the Gospel and the Holy Spirit Go To This Page
5) Salvation Is ONLY In the Name of Jesus, that is by the Authority of Jesus Go To This Page
6) Salvation Requires The Word (Jesus) AND the word of God Go To This Page
7) Understand The Importance of God’s Written Word Go To This Page
8) Your Last Day On Earth Go To This Page
9) Some Basics About The Written Word Go To This Page
10) Perfect – God’s Word – Our Final Message From God Go To This Page
11) Perfect Savior, Perfect Instructions Go To This Page
12) The Seriousness of Getting It Right Go To This Page
13) Fear God, Understand God Go To This Page
14) There is no mistake, but perfect synergy between Jesus and the word of God Go To This Page
15) Here Is What You Need To Know Go To This Page
16) Time To Wake Up And Follow God, God’s Word Go To This Page
17) Some Things Easy To Understand For Those That Love The Truth Go To This Page
18) Why Do You Exist? Go To This Page
19) The Way of Salvation is Through the Word (Jesus), Through the Word of God Go To This Page
20) Anger, Despair, Laziness and Pride Realized Go To This Page
21) Sanctification by God’s Truth-Set Aside For God-Holy Conduct By Following God’s Word Go To This Page
22) God’s Word, the Scriptures are Perfect Go To This Page
23) How Perfect Is God In Everything – Did You Notice? Go To This Page
24) Finding Excuses And False Comfort In Translations and Interpretations Go To This Page
25) Do Not Change God’s Word – Do Not Believe Private Interpretations of Scripture – Do Not Think You Cannot Understand Scripture Correctly Go To This Page
26) The Importance of Obedience Go To This Page
27) The Word of God is there for our salvation
And apart from God’s word
The world makes no sense Go To This Page
28) Get The True Perspective On Life – You Are Held Back By – What You Want To Believe – Read And Understand About Life Go To This Page
29) God’s Ways Are beyond Understanding, UNLESS Go To This Page
30) The WORD of God Summary Go To This Page
31) The Biggest Mistake Of Your Life Go To This Page

The Word (Jesus) and The word of God

1) The Word (Jesus) and The word of God

Indeed, Jesus as seen above is called the Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us in the first chapter of John. It is a title of the Son of God and word or logos embodies an idea that is defined in the first chapter of John and throughout scripture. Jesus as the Word is descriptive of much more than Jesus simply having a relationship with God. Jesus is always part of the creative power (“without Him nothing that was made was made”) and yet taking on the reality and totality of human nature. My best understanding of Jesus as the Word is God the Father expressing that Jesus (His only begotten Son) is God. This becomes crystal clear in John 1.1-14.

It Cannot Be Said Enough Times
That All We know
That Is True About Life
Comes From God’s Word, the Scriptures

The bible, the scriptures are the word of God. All we know about God, about our existence comes from what has been revealed in God’s word. All the things God does are perfect whether in the design of ALL THINGS or His purpose and His plan to achieve His purpose. God, being perfect made no mistake calling Jesus, the Word. All things true about life are known to humankind by the word of God. As you search the scriptures you will find many hundreds of references to the word of the Lord, the word of God and these things came to humankind either directly from God, or to the prophets and then to the people. Quite often the message came by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and was recorded and thus to this day we have the written word of God. Since the beginning, Jesus was there as part of making everything that was made, but was also to be the central component in God’s plan. Everything was focused around Jesus as the Word. We see this continual focus following the creation in Genesis 3.15. Beginning with Abraham and continuing for about the next 2000+ years, we can see the lineage, which would bring Jesus into the world. Abraham would be the first in that lineage in that all nations would be blessed through his seed. There would be Isaac and then Jacob who would be renamed Israel by God. His twelve sons would be the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel. This people was special to God’s purpose for only one reason – that is, to bring Jesus through their lineage. The people of Israel were frequently disobedient to God, but nonetheless Jesus came exactly as planned through the lineage. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and God’s plan continued with the centerpiece being Jesus. It was a plan to reconcile humankind back to Him with Jesus being the covering for the sins of humankind. In the course of just about three days, Jesus fulfills the requirement by being the perfect sacrifice, being buried and rising from the dead. All we know that is true about life comes from God’s word, likewise that word, that message revolves around just one thing, namely the Word, Jesus. It is so ironic how people reject the scriptures based on the negative things they hear from various people. People trusting people in spiritual matters and why would you believe them? You need to UNDERSTAND FOR YOURSELF the most important thing in your life. HEAVEN COACH is demonstrating that God is the God of the bible and you need God’s word to succeed. One of the great lies leading to the eternal ruin is that, “God’s word cannot be understood” or the many other “one-liners” like, “everyone interprets the bible differently” or like, “the bible is too harsh or too demanding and thus it cannot be from God.” A good heart is searching for truth and not having as a goal to discredit the scriptures.

Attributed To Jesus ….

2) Attributed To Jesus
AND
To The Word Of God

On a high level, lets look at just a few things attributed to the scriptures and see how they are also attributed to Jesus. Specifically, we will look at CREATION, JUDGEMENT and SALVATION and how Jesus and the word are in perfect agreement.

Creation

Creation

The world was framed by the word of God

Hebrews 11.3

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Psalm 33.6

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth

We see God as the Creator in Genesis 1.1 (In The Beginning God …) and learn in Genesis 1.26 God uses “Let Us” in describing Who is responsible for creation – yet there is one God.
26 Then God said, “ Let Us make man in Our image ……..

We know from all scripture that the one God consists of three distinct characters and each is described in the word of God as unique in some way. The roles they have differentiate them. There is God the Father and typically referred to as God. There is God’s Son (Jesus) who has creative power and is also the (obedient to the Father) Savior to redeem humankind. The Holy Spirit’s role is in relation to the word of God and one aspect of that will be the comforter to the apostles and his role in confirming the word He delivered to certain individuals in the inspiration process. It will be the gift of the Holy Spirit that is received by those who obey the gospel. The Holy Spirit is also part of the creation process (“Let Us” – Genesis 1.26) and as designated in Hebrews 11.3 and Psalm 33.6 since the His role is in relation to the word of God.

Jesus has completed His work and the Holy Spirit has completed His work. Their work was the same, but as mentioned different roles in the work of reconciliation. As a result of that work it is NOW possible for each person to be conveyed from darkness to the kingdom, that is to the spiritual church belonging to Jesus. That church consists of those who have received forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus in obedience to the gospel. ALL THINGS WERE CREATED THROUGH HIM AND FOR HIM, Jesus being the Firstborn over all creation.

Colossians 1.13-18

13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

It is beautifully said that we see all the things before us, but we cannot see how they were made. However, by faith we know all things were planned, designed by the word of God, that is by God. If we did not have God’s word, there would be no way for us to know that God was the creator and not just any God, but the only God to ever exist, that is the God of the bible. God has graciously given us His word and thus we can understand creation correctly or we might say as God wants us to understand creation.

Jesus was there at the beginning of creation and nothing was made without Him.

John 1:1-3

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

From these verses above (Hebrews 11.3 and John 1.1-3) we can conclude that what was attributed to the word of God (Hebrews 11.3) and what Jesus did (John 1.1-3) in relation to creation were the same thing.

Creation Matter-of-Fact Accuracy

Throughout the scriptures, God is describing various things in relation to His creation. Job describes things about God’s creation that He could not know except God revealed it to him as in Job 26.7.

Job 26.7

He stretches out the north over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing.

Hanging The Earth On Nothing

This statement of hanging the earth on nothing may not seem too profound until you realize the time it was written and the different ways the earth was considered to be supported even many years after this statement. Such ideas as the earth being supported on the back of four elephants who were standing on the back of a giant turtle swimming in a sea of milk, or the back of a giant catfish. These things seem ridiculous now, but then they were ways to explain the winds, the earthquakes and various physical phenomena. Even the “learned” Greeks at one time had the earth suspended on the back of a man named Atlas. Whenever men and women function on their own wisdom and knowledge they will arrive at conclusions, which make sense to them. God was not teaching a science lesson in Job 26.7, but just stating a fact – the earth hangs on nothing. All of God’s statements are true, all that God said would happen either did already occur or will in the future.
Thus the religions of men and women are just as silly as the explanations for how the earth is suspended – people do not really know anything spiritually unless God reveals it. Eventually man did progress sufficiently to conclude that the earth was suspended on nothing, but the spiritual things will never be understood correctly except from the word of God. So, indeed the religions of the world are every bit as silly as elephants/turtles and milk being the support for the earth.

note: the time of the writing of Job was very early and occurring sometime during the time of the Patriarchs (2200 BC to 1550 BC).

The Empty North

Job begins the verse (Job 26.7) by indicating God stretches out the north over empty space. Today, we know that if you travel out of our galaxy to the south you would be going along the equatorial axis of the galaxy and east or west takes you along the plane of the galaxy. In these directions you would be passing by billions of stars. Interestingly, traveling from earth to the north takes you on a voyage to nowhere. There are a few stars to the north and beyond Polaris and a few others there are billions of light years of empty space. There are no stars, planets, or galaxies. Truly the north is an empty space. How did Job know this? One needs to stop for a minute and realize that although God’s word is accurate in science and everything else this was never God’s plan to convert people. At best it could be supportive in the search for truth and not a deterrent. God’s power in conversion is the gospel. I find the accuracy of the bible in all matters to be comforting and fearful. It is fearful inasmuch as God’s word is accurate down to the least of matters. This places great emphasis on all that God says in relation to obedience, in relation to succeeding or failing in life.

Creationists, Despite Good Intentions Bring Confusion

It is easy to stray from what is important. Creationist’s often, if not always get caught up in scientific debate, naturally this is what they do. However, it is in no way necessary for a person to understand science to know God exists, to know that each person exists as a result of the Creator. There are many people who love a godless world and no amount of debate will change them. A creationist may feel, I must try. OK, but first focus on preaching the word and make understanding the scriptures your first priority. So often, the creationists do not themselves understand God, God’s purpose and God’s plan as well as God’s expectations for each person.

Those who oppose God, even denying His existence will learn the truth only when their life ends. The terror for humankind resulting from dedicated ungodly people is in their tenacity in convincing others, especially young minds. These purveyors of deceit drag their followers down to a similar unfortunate fate. Nonetheless, here is the word of God revealing the love of God as seen in the Word becoming flesh and obeying the Father unto death.
God’s word is what you need to understand your life and the loss of heaven will be a terrible punishment. The realization that you spent your life in the study of hundreds of different things, maybe read hundreds of books, honored such people as Darwin, and a long line of atheists and agnostics, sports hero’s, scientists and religious leaders, BUT never sought the truth for yourself will be devastating. The word of God was there and God’s Son was there, but apparently not important or we might say not as important as “something else.”

Judgment

Judgment

The world will be judged by the word of God
AND
The judge will be Jesus, the WORD of God

John 15.48

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. 

There is no need to be surprised on the day of judgment because you can know the criteria for judgment right now and thus do something to assure your final good result.

Jesus will be judging according to the word (the written word).

2 Timothy 4.1

1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:

Jesus makes it clear that those who do not receive His words will be judged by those very words in the last day. We see the judge is Jesus and thus we need to understand God’s word and obey the Savior BEFORE we stand before Him at judgement.

Salvation

Salvation

Jesus (the Word) talks about the nature of the word of God, that is the truth delivered to humankind in Luke 8

In Luke 8.4-15, Jesus tells the parable of the sower and how the seed is sown on different types of soil. The soil receives the seed differently and either grows or does not and either flourishes or does not. Everyone understood the physical seed reality of what Jesus said, but not the spiritual meaning. Jesus explains that the seed is the word of God and the soils represent how the word of God is received. It is clear from this parable the value of God’s word and how it must be received (with a good heart) in order to be saved. God’s word is spiritual, that is it’s revelations cannot be known any other way. Not a single person could know the truth about life unless it is revealed by God. The answer to, “What Is Life All About” cannot be known correctly unless God reveals it. The one-to-one correlation between Jesus and the word of God is of course by design. To those who understand God as He has revealed Himself, the design to accomplish His purpose is exceedingly more important than the physical design of all things – for instance the universe and all living things. God’s purpose has to do with YOU and YOUR success and God’s word is key to your success. Humankind has always been fascinated by the “HOW of creation” and there has been thousands of theories. Yet, a person needs to look no further than the word of God to understand that it is the “WHY of creation” that is important. The truth about the “HOW of creation” you can learn of on this page and it is infinitely beyond the capacity of our understanding per God’s design. That said, God does provide the truth of the “HOW of creation” that we can understand, but it is not a scientific explanation. The “scientific HOW of creation” is not only beyond our comprehension, but it is NOT IMPORTANT. Your soul, your eternity is what is important.

You might think a godless world is one filled with God defined sin running wild. Certainly, this is the eventual appearance of a godless society. However, that condition did not happen overnight. The process is gradual, but once there is a foothold the demise of the individuals living in and accepting what has become the norm is predictably bad. The typical road to the demise begins with the denial of God’s existence. Eventually more and more sin is accepted by the society. At the same time those who consider themselves religious are becoming more liberal. They are just one small step behind what society accepts and this has occurred because they were never truly grounded in the truth. The deceit of Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and others has never helped a single soul to achieve a successful life. They simply do not have or respect the tools to withstand the evil around them. The most basic tool is the word of God and although they claim allegiance to God’s word, they do not understand it or have they obeyed it. These “religious” people do not respect God’s word, but respect the doctrines of men and women. Of course, they think they are following God as they have themselves been well indoctrinated. Nonetheless, they are responsible for what they believe. So, in a world where pride and selfishness are common and many deny God’s existence AND the religions of the world are really the religions of men and women there is great difficulty finding salvation. Simplifying the situation, there is your way of living and there is God’s way and you need to decide which you will follow. Even those who are truly children of God are warned to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. God’s children are made aware of the tools to fight their personal battle with sin.

Ephesians 6.11-13

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
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; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit

Why are God’s children told these things? Simply because the world is evil or as Jesus says at enmity with God. A person cannot know spiritual things unless he/she has the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. If you indeed have the word of God, you will be neither Catholic or Protestant or any other of Humankind’s religions, but you will just be a Christian as defined by God – QUITE DIFFERENT!

Today, we live in a world headed down the road (once again) to depravity, to liberalism in everything, where God is an impediment to how people want to live. Young people are taught theories from prejudiced people or weak minded people who will not raise their objections for fear of loss. People know more about and are more concerned about “saving the planet” than saving their souls. People die and they have not saved the planet, they have never learned the truth and have done more damage than good. Standing right before you is the truth and this wonderful unity between Jesus and what you need to believe and obey can be yours. You can take advantage of what Jesus accomplished. The world is full of deceit about life and its purpose and the world distracts you from the one thing you need – the salvation of your soul.

In So Many Ways God Provides The Answer You Need And
It Comes To You Through His Word

You become a child of God by being born again not of human seed by which you were physically born, but by spiritual seed that is by the word of God. In the most fundamental way you are born again as Jesus told Nicodemus of water and the Spirit. The Spirit is the truth delivered in the word of God that tells you what to do and how to live. The water is baptism and that is the partaking in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. In baptism you are buried with Jesus unto death, that is you die to sin and are resurrected into a new life. The way that God “ties together” the WORD (His Son) and the word of God is quite complete.

1 Peter 1.23

23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever

Jesus makes everything crystal clear to those who love the truth, to those who have good hearts.

Yet, those who reject Jesus, by rejecting His doctrine, that is by rejecting the truth God has so graciously and meticulously delivered will suffer the loss of the only meaningful thing in life – their souls.

2 Thessalonians 2:10

10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Surprisingly, to those who “care less” about the truth, God does not bring clarity, but brings strong delusion allowing them to wallow in their sin, in their pride, in their selfishness and their life ends, poorly. As seen below God allows them to believe the lie since they choose to seek pleasure in the things God condemns. Perhaps until their end they live being deceived and then as the scriptures indicate, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

2 Thessalonians 2:11,12

11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Life, Eternal Life

3) Life, Eternal Life

Below Jesus explains the relationship between life (eternal life) and the Spirit by saying the words that I speak to you they are spirit and they are life. Jesus would promise His apostles the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth (John 16.13) and also to recall what Jesus had said and done while He was with them. God was bringing His final revelation to humankind. We might say the revelation of reconciliation, which God foretold in Genesis 3.15.

John 6:63

63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

The Spirit gives life, the words spoken are life and we see below Jesus is the life.

John 14.6

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The Spirit gives life and that is through the word. The words spoken are spirit and life and Jesus is the life. The life being spoken of is eternal life and you need the word of God to achieve eternal life. You need to be born again of water and the spirit by incorruptible seed, that is by the word of God. You are born of the corruptible seed of your mother and father and as such you will go the way of all people, that is the “physical you” will die. The word of God is incorruptible seed and being born of that seed enables you to achieve eternal life, which is a reference to heaven. Indeed, the scriptures testify of Jesus and tell you how to be born again. The word of God is your instructor for achieving eternal life and there is absolutely NO OTHER WAY! So, the world ignores, laughs at and blasphemes the word of God and it is their only hope. Fortunately, some do search the scriptures for answers and that is where eternal life can be found.

John 5:39

39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

The Scriptures ……….

4) The Scriptures, Jesus, Eternal Life, the Gospel and the Holy Spirit

God delivers to humankind the truth, the word of God (the scriptures), the gospel and the focus is Jesus. Jesus in fact is the truth and is referred to as the WORD of God and obeying the gospel is obeying that form of doctrine (Romans 6.17), namely the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. It is the gospel we must obey and that is thoroughly explained in “OBEY THE GOSPEL.”

Paul declared, “first of all” the gospel and defines the gospel as the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

1 Corinthians 15.1-4

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures

There is one hope for every person and it is the word of truth of the gospel.

Colossians 1:5

5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel

When you see the word of truth, you are seeing God’s will and as with all scripture it relates to God’s purpose and as stated here, that you can be the firstfruits of His creatures, obtaining eternal life.

James 1:18

18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

This page will help you to understand God as does much of Heaven Coach. There should be no misunderstanding about the scriptures, Jesus, eternal life, the gospel and the Holy Spirit. These things are tightly woven together by God as the gradually revealed specifics of what was promised in Genesis 3.15. Those who understand God correctly understand the relationships between these words. First, Genesis 3.15 was all about Jesus and the unique way God would bring about reconciliation. The Spirit would deliver the scriptures, the word of truth of the gospel. The reconciliation allows each person to obey God’s word and achieve eternal life.

Salvation is Only ……

5) Salvation Is ONLY In the Name of Jesus, that is by the Authority of Jesus

There is such a contrast in the world between people who seek the truth and those who live for selfish gain. The latter essentially have no hope and time passes and they stick with their long held philosophies about life until they die. It does not matter what you were taught, you need to seek the truth and it is only found in Jesus, in the word of God. Every person needs to seek truth with their whole being, with great diligence and the path to heaven can be realized. There is a great emphasis on seeking God, on seeking truth in the scripture. God’s ways are quite different than how humankind would envision them. God is purity, perfection and truth whereas humanity of their own choice is self-seeking and proud. When a person has the right attitude displaying such things as humility, selflessness, kindness and a love of the truth they begin to view life differently more like God. Their counterparts might believe that if they never knew what to do they cannot be held accountable for not doing it. Deep down that is an attitude that derives from pride, from short term gain seeking and often laziness. God’s plan is that you diligently seek Him and the pride comes in when a person says, “that is not the way I see it” or “that would not be fair” or “no one tells me how to live” or “I have found all these problems with God’s word.”

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.

Jeremiah 29.13

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

The reason those with the right attitude will succeed is because the word of God is perfect in converting the soul. Those who do not care or those who believe but without the appropriate commitment will never look into the God’s word with a good heart, with a love of the truth and will fail in life.

Psalms 19.7

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

God has not abandoned you, but wants you to succeed and provided the answer in His Son. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice and is the central element in the conversion of every person. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. The word of God tells us how that can occur. You can unite with God by obeying that FORM OF DOCTRINE and receiving forgiveness of past sins.

Romans 6.17

17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

Now, with sins forgiven you are on the hope road and you need to stay there all the way to eternal life – heaven.

Why does the vast majority of the world want to make life so difficult and as a result be lost for eternity? I suppose it is for the same reason that Jesus could do miracle upon miracle and they still crucify Him. Jesus, the only hope of humankind, the chief cornerstone and only by His name (His authority) is there any salvation. So, why, why, why miss out on the only thing that is important in life? Of course, the answer was then and to this day, “because we believe and we selfishly seek that which provides the best for us RIGHT NOW, in the present.” In such a life, sin abounds as we let nothing stand in the way of our success, of our happiness. It turns out that God designed sin to be alluring to the selfish, the proud as part of their relentless pursuit of the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh. If lies are required, then lies are told. If a person desires a relationship that God forbids there is no hesitation to violate God’s laws. If murder or stealing is required to achieve your desires some will go that far. Sin is sin and any sin will keep you out of heaven. A life of sin drags one down so far that they never care to know anything different and they seek the truth that can change them and save them.

Following Jesus death, burial and resurrection and a brief time with certain persons, Jesus is seen by the apostles raising into the sky to sit at the right hand of God’s power – Acts 1.9. Jesus had told His apostles in Matthew 28.18, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
We act as though some person has authority in spiritual matters other than Jesus. God did not leave humankind to the whims of any man or woman or any group of people, but the Holy Spirit guided the apostles into all truth. The truth is very clear, very consistent and fits perfectly together to accomplish God’s purpose. Jesus is the answer and God’s word tells us how to succeed. The world sadly worships the creation, but not the creator. They honor the ideas of men and women (the creation of God) with their various religious hierarchies and never come close to the truth they need.

Acts 4.10-12

10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The purpose of life, your life is to achieve heaven and that is what God wants for you, but it will only happen through His Son.

1 Thessalonians 5:9

9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ

Paul understood that life was about the soul and today God’s people seek to help others to eternal glory often enduring a great deal.

2 Timothy 2:10

10 Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

The common thread to please God since the beginning of creation has been obedience. You or I cannot give God anything of value, although people try to invent ways to worship God, ways to serve God. There is one way to serve God and it by choosing to do what He says and those that do so, those that have such an attitude will discover the truth, which will instruct them in how to achieve eternal life. Jesus, in becoming a man set the example by being perfectly obedient to the Father even unto His horrific death.

Hebrews 5.8,9

8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him

Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, King Saul, Naaman, Nadab and Abihu, Jesus and Paul all either made decisions to follow God or to follow something different. You will also make such decisions and at stake is your soul. In this short list, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Naaman, Jesus and Paul all chose to follow God. Jesus, perfectly followed God during His time on earth and was the only one to live a sinless life. You see we are getting down to what is really important and it will be your choice and there will be absolutely no one else to blame. Do not think you can blame those who taught you error so convincingly or the influences of your parents or your friends. Just as surely as the Jews awaited the Messiah for thousands of years so also considerable time has passed since the death of Jesus (nearly 2000 years) and He is coming again to bring an end to the world. The Jews as a nation and certainly not their leaders ever recognized Jesus as the one they waited for all those years. They never cared to look into the scriptures to learn about the Messiah. They essentially created their own way of doing things, by their traditions. Now, about two thousand years since the gospel was first delivered it has been grossly changed and all sorts of religions created. People consistently throughout history want to do things their own way and it is a critical mistake in terms of the salvation of your soul. Unlike Jesus coming and the Jews not recognizing Him, the next coming of Jesus at the end of the world will happen in a way that every person will see Him and every knee will bow.

Romans 14.10-12

10 ……… For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written:
“As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”
12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

Salvation requires ……

6) Salvation Requires The Word (Jesus)
AND the word of God

It is the perfect sacrifice of Jesus (the Word made flesh) that covers your sins. It is the scriptures (the word of God) that instructs a person what to do to achieve forgiveness and how to live their remaining life to be successful, that is achieve eternal life – heaven. The world is confused about religious truth and have invented many doctrines and yet there is a single standard, which clearly takes you down the road to heaven. God did not leave those seeking truth without clarity.

The doctrine of Christ is the word of God and you cannot have God unless you abide in 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. 

In order to have Christ as your savior you must abide in the doctrine of Christ – The word of God.

We often love people who have been kind to us, but we also love some people because of their relationship to us, maybe our family or our friends. At least we love them during the good times in the relationship. God’s love is not conditional, but He loved us while we were in sin. All sins are ultimately against God and even in that state He gave His own Son to suffer the terrible death to be a covering (propitiation) for our sins.

1 John 4:10

10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Romans 5:8

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

You see people only know about Jesus because of the scriptures. Otherwise, Jesus would at best be an historical figure, but no one would know how to “connect” with Him. There would be no reconciliation, no salvation, but of course God knew this from the beginning and has seen to it that we have the scriptures. The scriptures themselves tell us that heaven and earth shall pass away, but that God’s words will remain.

Matthew 24:35

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

It is interesting how the scriptures of God are before us, but only those with a good heart, a love of the truth will look into them for the answers to life. This design by God to fulfill His purpose is exceedingly more intricate, more carefully defined by God than the creation of all other things. People will argue that the word of God cannot come accurately down through time since God involved unreliable humankind to bring the message. Yes, it would seem impossible, but nothing is impossible with God. So whether it is, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” or “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will be by no means pass away” both are true and both are easy for God. God’s delivery of His word came from God through the Holy Spirit, that is the inspiration of God to certain individuals.

Understand ….

7) Understand

The Importance of God’s Written Word

You can understand the importance of God’s word as God defines its importance. The scriptures are clear in describing their importance very specifically FOR YOU! Yet, only as you grow in the knowledge of the truth will you have complete confidence in the critical nature of respecting God’s word. We live in a world where our capability to understand certain temporal things is limited in a way God designed to fit His purpose. We know physical laws as God designed them, such as the laws of Chemistry, Genetics and Physics. These laws and all laws of our physical existence were designed by God and are part of the stage on which God’s test is being “played out.” Our four dimensional world limits our potential for understanding things such as the creation. God however, has not withheld anything that is required for us to be successful in life, that is to achieve heaven.
We are all living souls and humankind carries the burden of a physical existence, that is a physical body in a physical universe and held captive in time.
Our spiritual existence is on an exceedingly higher level and God is on an infinitely higher level within the spiritual realm. We see God describing His creative ability as He creates simply by speaking things into existence, i.e. “let their be light.”
Despite living on a beautiful planet in an incredible universe, humankind is at the bottom of God’s intelligent design, but at the top of His priority in terms of His purpose. So, God SPEAKS everything into existence and in our very limited capability it is impossible to understand the “How’s of creation.” God clears this up somewhat by explaining not all things are meant to be known to humankind and clearly humankind’s limitations would not allow our understanding. Better Understand How God Limits humankind, Go To This Page

Mark 10:27

27 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

Deuteronomy 29:29

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Why are some things hidden and other things impossible to understand? Let’s go back to God’s purpose for humankind, that is to have worthy (as defined by God) individuals spend eternity with Him. God devised His test such that human beings make decisions to follow God or to follow after their own desires, to be proud or humble, to be selfish or unselfish, to be courageous or a coward, to be unforgiving or forgiving, to be lovers of truth or lovers of whatever best fits their life desires. Jesus spoke in parables because as He explains:

Matthew 13:13-15

13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.’

God has revealed certain things to humankind and timed their occurrence in relation to specific events to fit His purpose. Jesus spoke of the kingdom, but it was only gradually revealed. The beginning of the revelation God planned came on the day of Pentecost following the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Then there was a gradual revealing of the new covenant throughout much of the first century. We learn in the New Testament that there is no longer a mystery, that we now have all things that pertain to life and godliness and that which is perfect – God’s word is complete. The word of God is perfect in conversion and exceedingly better than signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. These have ceased and now we have what God intended for this last age. What do people want, well, they want signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Things have not changed much to this day, but are similar to what Paul indicated to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

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.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

God’s wisdom was to provide His word as the perfect way to determine those who are worthy to receive the crown of righteousness. He has purposed to save those by preaching the word and observing how people respond to that which is perfect.

We mentioned that we have received God’s final revelation. God’s word is complete and now what will each person do with God’s word? Every person should realize there are many excuses for ignoring, rejecting or simply not caring about truth. Ultimately those grasping for excuses will fail in life having never come to a knowledge of the truth. There is no other way to God and heaven than through His Son and obedience to His gospel. It is serious business because there are NO EXCUSES and many will love their excuses instead of having a love of the truth.

Your Last Day On Earth

8) Your Last Day On Earth

Finally, the last age has arrived and the revelation from God is complete, when YOUR last day on earth finally arrives and death overtakes you, then you will know your fate.

Hebrews 9.26-28

26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

So we see at your death, your fate is finalized. Most of the world having lived ungodly life’s will immediately be aware that they still exist and then the fate of the ungodly will be sealed. Although God did not appoint us to wrath, it is wrath those who die in sin will receive. Yet, to those who eagerly wait for His appearance in the sky, that is the godly, those who are children of God will receive the reward. Your fate will be sealed at death or for those who are alive sealed when Christ returns at the end of the world.

Know Your Fate And
The Delicate and Precarious Nature Of The Road to Heaven

You can know you are safely headed for heaven before the end arrives. However, even God’s children seldom are comfortable in their fate since they know they can stumble(sin) or fail to do all they could be doing. As Paul told the Corinthians, that is he told the children of God in the church at Corinth, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” God’s children dare not become complacent and even Paul said, “knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” That verse can be seen as Paul knowing the fate of those who are lost and not wanting any to be lost. It can also be seen as Paul understanding His responsibility given him by God to carry out the work given to him. We learn that persuading men and women is the work of every child of God. One of the parables of Jesus, applies very well to how God views the blessings He provides. The greatest blessing is the gift of God to reconcile humankind. The parable of the talents is a principle for the kingdom and it is to take what the master provided and multiply it and not return with only what was given.

The world is filled with people who have decided they are going to heaven. It may be because they think they are comparatively better than others or better than most. This of course, is just their idea or many have been told by others that if certain things are done they can be assured of heaven. However, you need the truth and to obey it and to live it. Therein lies your confidence and absolutely no place else.

At the time of your death or when Christ returns, it will be too late to do anything about your final destination. Now, as the scriptures indicate, today is the day of salvation – because you are alive.

Do Not Underestimate The Deceit That Surrounds You
Or Your Ability To Overcome Deceit
God’s Word Is There To Help You

Jesus’ part in creation is clear since without Him nothing was made that was made. Peter below speaks of being in the last times and how Jesus is now being manifest by them. Essentially, the last times, or the last age began following the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Now, the Apostles and the disciples of Jesus are making Jesus manifest or known to the world with the Holy Spirit guiding them into all truth. During this time the Spirit is confirming the word of God with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 2.2-4). Finally sometime before the end of the first century the word of God is completed. Peter announces that God has provided all things that pertain to life and godliness. To this point in time the world has continued in the last times for about 2000 years. The last age will end with Christ returning in the air and taking those in “His body” (alive or in the grave) to be with Him forever (1 Thessalonians 4.15-17). The judgment follows and all that is physical including all the works therein have been destroyed (2 Peter 3.10-12).

1 Peter 1.20,21

20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

The religions of the world want you to believe that your faith and hope is in God, but it is really faith in humankind’s doctrines. This is because you have placed your trust in men and women and consequently in their doctrines and that is almost always different than God’s word. There is no nice way to tell a person they have been deceived and often deceived by people or groups they hold in the highest esteem. So, we just preach the gospel, God’s word and spend as much time as people are willing to give to provide answers. It is not surprising that the truth is strongly opposed since it is so different than what people have been taught. Additionally, the religions of men and women are much more palatable, acceptable because they portray the way people would like God to be, like religion to be. One example of this is the way religions present an escape for people from the wrath that awaits those who fail. Perhaps it would be better called, a second chance. You have one life and then as the scriptures say, “It is appointed once for man to die and then the judgment.”
You can read about how the scriptures are exceedingly clear on the subject of second chances. God is serious and nothing quite emphasizes that more than the necessity of the horrible suffering and death of His Son. Almost flippantly, men and women invent things they want to believe and teach it as a matter of fact. God is clear, you will accept His word as truth or you will accept your way of thinking or that of others and along these lines your eternal fate will be determined.

Jesus was made manifest after His death, burial and resurrection by the Apostles and His disciples and not just for those times, but manifest today by the word of God. The word of God was carefully delivered at the beginning of this last age and deceitfully handled since that time. The truth is still there and you can overcome all the religious inventions of humankind and those that love the truth can succeed.

Some Basics …..

9) Some Basics About The Written Word

The scriptures are God’s means of communicating what humankind needs to succeed and the only means. As we will see, it is the perfect way of communicating according to God. In the past, God communicated in different ways. God did not change, but He always intended as part of His purpose to reveal things exactly as He has done.

God’s Singular Message Throughout Scripture

Initially, God communicated with humankind directly with certain persons. He also at times used angels to bring messages. He communicated through prophets and since Moses there has also been recorded, written communication. Regardless of the type of communication or the time and place of the communication, the things recorded for us today, the scriptures were inspired by God, by the Spirit of God. There have been about 40 different human authors who received the inspiration to record the word over about 1600 years. Actually, there is only one author, namely God. There is perfect consistency between the 40 authors over the 1600 year period. There is a single message, and it is associated with God’s purpose. The first direct communication was from God to Adam and Eve. As we move forward in time, at some point we begin to see God’s chosen people having the written word of God. That communication always had a single focus consistent with bringing the reconciliation God indicated in Genesis 3.15. There was a consistent marching forward to the time of Jesus. The lineage of Abraham’s seed would bring Jesus through Joseph. We know that Jesus would be conceived of the Holy Spirit and Mary would carry the Son of God. Joseph representing the lineage would be Mary’s husband and thus the apparent earthly father of Jesus. Everything told of Jesus in the scriptures would be fulfilled by the time of His death. Jesus, before His death told His apostles that they would be sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to bring to their remembrance the things that occurred during their time with Jesus. They are also told the Spirit will “Guide Them Into All Truth” (John 16.13). This happens beginning in Acts the second chapter. The Apostles now know what must be done to bring people from darkness to light, into the kingdom – which is the Spiritual church.

Now, a part of the inspired revelation in Hebrews indicates that in these last days, God has spoken to us by His Son. There is a new covenant, replacing the old and it is a covenant in the blood of Jesus. It is properly referred to today as the New Testament. It is to be recorded by various persons during the first century as they are directed by the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 1.1-4

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

It is the new covenant that the Apostles receive, guided by the Holy Spirit and it will be recorded and completed during the first century. When it is completed, it will be the last message from God to humanity. It is all that humankind needs. God brings great clarity in the scriptures and it should, if people care, clear up the many misconceptions. That is, all the misconceptions invented by humankind, which amounts to a myriad of excuses for not respecting the word of God.

Our Final Message …….

10) Perfect
God’s Word
Our Final Message From God

There is a time during the first century when the word of God is being delivered and during the process confirmed. Namely, the word of God is being preached accompanied by signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. That time ended in the first century and all that remains is the written word of God. God refers to this as that which is PERFECT. Few come to this basic understanding, although it is carefully described in the scriptures. It would be the recorded word of God that God has left to humankind where the answers to life exist. That which God left behind had to be PERFECT to fulfill His purpose. His Son was the perfect sacrifice – sinless. His word had to be perfect, accurate and a separator of good and evil, attractive to those who love the truth and hidden to those who love the world. “If our gospel be hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” 2 Corinthians 4.3,4

It is no great discovery to understand that the word of God is that which is PERFECT and if it were not for all the enemies of truth it would be universally understood. Those things in part are completed (miracles, gifts of the Holy Spirit and tongues), they served to confirm the word of God.

1 Corinthians 13.8-10

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

Peter says that we have all things that pertain to life and Godliness and Jude indicates the faith has once been delivered to the saints. This is what God planned for the last times, that is for this last age. The age could be called the Christian age or the New Testament age, but in any case, God has completed His revelation to humankind. It is a PERFECT revelation to fulfill GOD’s PLAN. It is PERFECT in converting the souls of those who love the truth and just as PERFECT in condemning those who reject His word.

The New Covenant went into effect following the death of Jesus. That is, the old law had been nailed to cross. Following the death of Christ, beginning with the kingdom coming into existence in Acts 2 the testament of Christ was being revealed. As we have seen that revelation would be completed before the end of the first century. Jesus lived during the time the old covenant was in effect and kept the (old)law perfectly. Few of the Jews were keeping the law at the time of Jesus, but were as Jesus indicated, “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15.9). There were hundreds of things in the law which were “against” or difficult for the Jews and even so the law provided no permanent forgiveness of sins as the sacrifice was imperfect. Nonetheless, the law was right for bringing Christ, who was the perfect answer for sin.

Colossians 2:14

14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

We can see that God has been preparing the way for Christ to accomplish His work of reconciliation and the law played an important part, being a shadow of the good things to come.

Hebrews 10.1

1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

The time for the New Covenant to go into effect was at the death of Jesus. At the death of Jesus the law is nailed to the cross and the new covenant goes into effect. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law and all that was prophesied about Jesus has occurred. There begins a period of about 60 years when the details of the new covenant are being revealed. Finally it is completed and we see the various declarations of its being completed. Peter indicates, “we have all things pertaining to life and godliness.” Jude says, “the faith once for all delivered to the saints.” 1 Corinthians was written about 55 AD or about 18 to 22 years after the death of Christ. We are somewhat less than half way done with the revelation of the New Covenant. The word is being confirmed and Paul writes about a coming time when it will be complete. He calls that time, “when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.” There will no need for that which in part – namely the miraculous things that confirmed the word.
Thus, God revealed when the old covenant was completed, when the new testament revelation begins and when the new covenant, God’s final words to humankind will be completed.
The law was nailed to the cross and thus was completed at the death of the Testator. The New Law was in effect since the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and would begin to be revealed shortly thereafter on the day of Pentecost.

Hebrews 9:16,17

16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.

The first revelation of the New Covenant comes in Acts 2 when the Apostles receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and are able to answer the question, “What must we do.” The gradual revelation continues as mentioned for about 60 more years until the word of God is finally completed that is when that which is perfect has come. God’s word is perfect in converting the soul, so much so that miracles are not needed. A person might say, miracles would help me believe, but the people God seeks will be moved by the love of God as seen in the sacrifice of His Son. God’s word is perfect in achieving HIS PURPOSE.

Perfect Savior ….

11) Perfect Savior, Perfect Instructions

The scriptures point to Jesus as being Divine and yet He came to earth and became a lowly human being. The goodness of God and the responsibility of God towards His creation could not be greater. God has chosen to use the written word to tell the story of The Word – His Son. Humankind cannot be saved without the blood of the Lamb, The Word of God, Jesus. Humankind cannot be saved without the truth of the scriptures telling them what they must do and how they must live. Jesus says, He is the way, the truth and the life. The word of God, the scriptures are the truth, the way and lead to eternal life. God has done everything possible within framework of His purpose to provide reconciliation for humankind. Humankind has the perfect savior and the perfect instructions.

The Seriousness Of ….

12) The Seriousness of Getting It Right

God’s word is unchangeable, it will not change, but humankind will make changes and teach those changes came from God. Nothing has actually changed, just some men and women creating their own doctrines in opposition to what God delivered. Typically, they do this because deep down they do not believe in God and/or God’s word, or because they do not like the message, or because there is certain power in claiming you know something new. You can name any sin, but none will be as grave as changing God’s word. How do I know this? In Proverbs 6.16-19, God indicates there are seven things He hates and four of them relate to lying, false witness, pride and anxiousness in terms of running to evil and sowing discord. Also, life is about the soul and changing the scriptures or using your private interpretation means you and those you affect will be unsuccessful in life. Nothing is as valuable as the soul and you in effect by changing the scriptures are working against that which God’s Son suffered and died to accomplish. Of course, the condemnation from God regarding changing the word of God as seen in the Old and New covenant represent strong and powerful reasons to deeply respect God’s word.

Fear God, Understand God

13) Fear God, Understand God

Respect for God’s word grows out of fearing God, as the scriptures teach the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The respect for God needs to be so deep that you will do everything God commands and for the reason He commands. The so-called Christian leaders whether Catholic or Protestant have zero respect for the word of God. Hundreds of millions of people believe the lies from these religions. They honor Jesus with their lips, but follow the doctrines of men and women. Jesus condemned the Jews because they taught for doctrine the commandments of men. So, now in the Christian age we can make exactly the same claim against the religions of the world – they teach for doctrine the commandments of men. YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND what you believe, because ultimately you are responsible for your beliefs and the subsequent actions taken in following those beliefs.

God has provided a considerable number of examples in the scriptures to help people achieve heaven. Let’s look at the example of Achan. Achan took of the spoils from the battle of Ai and knew this was not allowed. He saw the wonders of the spoils from their victory and had to have them. It is easy to understand the temptation in front of Achan and he gave in and secretly buried them in his tent.

Joshua 7.20,21

20 And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done:
21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”

The punishment was severe and immediate and involved his family.

Joshua 7.24,25

24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor.
25 And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

God is serious about what he says and time after time God’s actions demonstrate that seriousness. In the case of Ananias and Sapphira after Ananias and Sapphira have both fallen dead, we are told in verse 11 of Acts 5 that, “great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.”

Indeed, the people fear God and it might be the case of Achan, or Ananias and Sapphira, or when Elijah destroyed the worshipers of Baal in very dramatic fashion, or it might be how God stopped the Pharaoh at the Red Sea. Those who want to place themselves on the level of God will be alarmed by God’s severity and distance themselves from God’s word. Those who understand God, His purpose and His plan will be moved to take God even more seriously. Paul indicated the things written before were for our learning. Achan and the many others who disobeyed God were examples of the severity of God and the lessons are for us.

Romans 15:4

4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

God is perfect and we might say, perfectly fair in His judgments and always in accordance with HIS purpose. There is no way for you to know God except from the scriptures. So, as mentioned one person observes the examples of God’s seriousness, His severity and humbles himself/herself to the point of obedience, while the proud person turns away from God. We are dealing with God and not with some person and He gives and takes life because He is God. God’s focus is on the soul, your eternal spirit and that is quite different than a person whose focus is on realizing all they can during their lifetime. It is easy to understand how a person will never understand God if they fill their live with selfish ambition, the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes and lust of the flesh. They stand on their “pedestal” looking at the scriptures and cry out, “this cannot be God.” Unfortunately for them God is the God of the bible and all He reveals in His word will come to pass.
In the process of life, God gets exactly the the kind of person He wants for heaven. He offers access to the scriptures to all that they might achieve heaven. It is easy to see that the world rejects the truth from God and chooses many sinful ways. In the present time the continual rejection of God’s word represents a spiritual epidemic. Healing can only be achieved by the word of God, which directs all of humankind to the Word of God – Jesus.

There Is Perfect Synergy ….

14) There is perfect synergy
between Jesus and the word of God.

We wonder where we can find truth, what should we believe, what should we do and how should we live? Someone might say their trust is in Jesus and if that is true then they have trust in the word of God.
God defines His Son as the Word and delivers to humankind the word of God. It is in the word of truth of the gospel where we find the truth. Jesus is the Savior and God’s word tells humankind how to take advantage of what God has done in Christ. Jesus tells His apostles that when He is gone they will be sent the Holy Spirit (the Comforter) to guide them into all truth. Jesus’ sacrifice will be wasted unless people come to the truth and obey it. Indeed, in Acts 2 the Holy Spirit comes and Peter preaches Jesus and answers the question as to what they must do.

Acts 2.36-38

36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

There is a beautiful consistency in the scriptures that allows a person to always come to the same answer for salvation.

Hebrews 5.8,9

8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

God has not left us without answers to our most basic questions and below and many other places it is clear your faithfulness is not for a moment or for some period of time, but it is for your lifetime.

Revelation 2.10

10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be FAITHFUL UNTIL DEATH, and I will give you the crown of life.

Here the word of God explains the idea of a faithful life and the one (“I will Give you the crown of life”) providing the reward is Jesus.

Here Is What You Need To Know

15) Here Is What You Need To Know

The material above and below on the subject of God’s word leads to a single important conclusion. If you are one who loves the truth more than what you currently believe and is willing to do what it takes to get to heaven, then this is the summary. This is what can help you to decide if what you believe is true and what is being taught here is true. Furthermore, you can know with 100% confidence that you have found the truth. You can test it everyday for the rest of your life and only become more certain. However, it very well may not be easy for you to obey and live the truth. It will take all your courage, all your strength and perseverance to live as God wishes. At the end of every life it will be the life every person wished they lived because it is the only way to heaven. It will be a life that is NOT a “worldly life.” This very fact is why few want to know the truth, because they want what the world offers more than what God requires. Yes, in such a world most will never even come to know what God requires.

God Is Holy And
Acceptable Worship Must Be According To His Direction

The world is filled with religions such as Catholicism, Mormonism, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism and many others. None of these will allow you to be successful. I realize that this is where we may lose about 90% of the people. The world belief is let everyone worship as they please and also the world hates those who think they are the only ones who have the correct knowledge, who have the true God. God’s children have no wish to be viewed in any special way, and no wish to feel they are better than anyone else. God’s children preach the word and some will accept it while others will not.

Jesus was very clear in indicating FEW will follow the narrow road. The idea that humankind will pick and choose their God and make rules about worship and about everything else is the single most obnoxious thing to God. Success in life is about obedience to God and we see this in terms of God’s requirement for worship in John 4.24.

John 4.24

24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Groups of people get together and say this is how we will worship God and it could be Catholics, Protestants or the people of Athens in Paul’s day as he describes in Acts 17. Paul says God needs nothing that man can give him, but we learn that God is pleased by that which seems so hard for man to give, that is obedience. Obedience to God means doing things God’s way and that will mean doing something different than YOUR way. It will mean doing something different than what you want, even changing YOUR life plans in a very significant way. Amazingly, it is along these lines that your eternal fate will be decided. (King)Saul and even many before him tried to please God by doing things their way. Saul would say the things he did differently than God directed through Samuel were done to provide sacrifice to God. To this day, people believe if they can say, “It is for God” that God will be overjoyed. Samuel told Saul it was better to obey than sacrifice and indicated Saul would lose his kingship and Saul went downhill from that point.

There is a world of different so-called Christian religions that bring their followers day by day closer to their personal terrible day of reckoning. I have indicated that if you love the truth you can easily differentiate truth from error and get yourself on the road to heaven. Let’s look at a person who calls Jesus their Savior and is so certain of that relationship and of receiving their eventual place in glory and NOTHING could ever change their beliefs. Sounds wonderful, but who has this person believed? They have been convinced that they have believed God. They may carry their bibles with them, perhaps everywhere and they read and study the scriptures everyday. Even so, there are hundreds of different groups that believe hundreds of different things. That does not sound like they are using the same book. Closer examination may indeed reveal that they are using the same book. What does this mean? Let me suggest that it could mean that they are following some person’s direction or guidance and not the word of God. God is NOT the author of confusion and the so-called “Christian” world is terribly divided even on the most basic issues. We know that God’s word is not of any private interpretation. There is a singular meaning and it should scare every person who opens the “BOOK” to be fearful of teaching differently than that meaning.

Time To Wake Up …..

16) Time To Wake Up
And Follow God, God’s Word

So you think you have Christ, yet as we have shown Jesus and the word of God are PERFECTLY aligned. You cannot have Jesus unless you have God’s word. We have seen that unless you have the doctrine of Christ you cannot have Christ. Yet if have the doctrine of Christ you have both the Father and the Son. If you believe there is some way you can have Jesus without having His doctrine then you have been seriously misled. Did you obey God to have a relationship with Jesus? Did you obey the ideas of men and women and believe you obeyed God? You did if you believed Martin Luther or Billy Graham or hundreds of other Protestant preachers. If you believed the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, you have not believed or obeyed God. God has brought clarity in His word and as you are influenced by men or women you need to determine if their teachings align with the word of God. Yes, it will take strength, courage along with a love of the truth. Can you love God, that is obey His commands even if you have to change the way you live? Can you keep the faith until death? If you want to make heaven your home you must make the distinction between what men and women teach versus what is in the word of truth of the gospel. The best advice requires you to question everyone, believe no one, but believe God because your eternity is at stake.

Some Things Easy To Understand ……

17) Some Things Easy To Understand
For Those That Love The Truth

God’s Word is so incredibly different than the writings of humankind that it is easy to see it is from God. We do not have to make this distinction between what is from God and what is from humankind at some high and complicated scholarly level. In fact, as we have mentioned the “wisdom of the wise” comes from proud intellectuals who make a mess of God’s word to fulfill their own ideas about God and life. The large religious organizations of the world are the product of what people WANT and out of this they create their god and their doctrines. Buddhism is an example of a religion with little to no evidence of a connection with deity, yet they have a huge following. Buddhists are very humanistic yet not materialistic. They attempt to be in control of their emotions and have a peaceful non-violent focus on life. They are humanistic because their life solutions are related to the betterment of a person, becoming a virtuous person and exercising strong self-control. Their manner is refreshing when compared to the violent, cruel, power-seeking hierarchical world religions. Nonetheless, it is the thinking of peaceful, men in relation to life and appealing to many for that reason. As much as religions like Buddhism draw people by being the good thoughts of typically moral people who want to be thoughtful, kind, selfless and austere, it is not what life is all about. They stand out as something better than the worldliness of the societies that surround them. Yet, it is NOT hard to see that their origin is purely man-made and thus they offer nothing of eternal value.

For Many Evidence, Truth Not Required

It amazes me how gullible people can be when it comes to believing fervently without any evidence. Frequently, a large population of believers gives credibility to a religious group. This is especially true if they are seeking something “spiritual.”
The influence of families who have believed a certain way religiously is often the only reason the other family members believe similarly. All the worlds large religions benefit in on-going growth from a large number of adherents. There can be considerable pressure in terms of good consequences for believing and often bad consequences for disbelieving. Thus, it is easy to understand why so many people associate with a certain religious group for reasons different than a love of the truth. These “large religious groups” are capable of shutting the door to inquiry for most of their members by methods that are violent, cruel, threatening while some methods are inspirational and portray the goodness of the religion. The point is that persons who love the truth more than all the influences that have closed their minds will be able to identify all the problems. They will be able to do that because of the word of God.

Many People Never Give Serious Consideration To What They Believe Religiously

Islam is quite interesting because it accepts the Old Covenant and some of the New Testament. The Bible points directly to Christ from Genesis 3.15 and throughout the Old Testament there is a single focus pointing to Jesus coming through the lineage of the Jews. Ishmael was not the son of promise, but Isaac was Abraham’s son through whom the promise would be fulfilled and the blessing was Jesus. Ishmael was of course, the beginning of a great people that would be the Arab nations. Mohammed would create the Quran, but not with the help of an angel. The Quran is totally in opposition to the scriptures and despite continually trying to clean it up, it remains simply the writings of Mohammed. Any slight appearance to the truth in the Quran comes from Mohammed using the scriptures as a “format” for ideas. The bulk of the Quran consists of the ideas of Mohammed, his beliefs, his nature. Thus, the Quran is violent, sensual and physical simply because Mohammed never understood the underlying spiritual nature of the scriptures. Life is about the soul and the war was a spiritual war between each person and sin. Mohammed saw Christianity as Catholicism and knew that such could not be associated with God. He was right and Catholicism was and is the exact opposite to the scriptures. The so-called holy wars were no more than the many violent wars between two ungodly violent religions. The Catholics had become a rule-making body claiming the power to make the rules. Interestingly, their rules are in direct conflict with the scriptures beginning with their concept of an earthly head to the church. Muslims carry on with powerful propaganda, indoctrination and intimidation as has been the history of Catholicism. Mormonism has its similarities to Islam with their books coming from Joseph Smith via the angel Maroni. Smith and Mohammed wrote the books that so many follow today as the truth. Mohammed and Smith were quite different and their differences are reflected in their writings/doctrines. Mohammed had a warring character and thus his writings reflect a physically aggressive nature that includes “holy” wars and all sorts of violence. Mohammed calls God Allah and all is done in the name of Allah. Allah, seems weak in that Muslims must continually protect him with violent responses against the “infidels” or any person who speaks in opposition to the Quran. Joseph Smith was a person who sought gratification by continually violating his marriage vows. Not surprisingly, an important tenant of Mormonism was polygamy.

Something Very Different Between God’s Word
and The Religions Of Humankind

God’s word does not look like all the religions of the world with their clearly worldly elements and containing the personal beliefs and desires of their “inventors”, which they molded into doctrines. The scriptures are written from the point of view of God’s purpose, which is a spiritual purpose. The word of God shows us who is the head and that head resides at the right hand of God and is God. There is a consistent picture of God, creation, and God’s purpose and plan since the beginning. God’s means of evaluating humankind involves free will choice in relation to God-defined sin. God indicates that Vengeance belongs to Him in relation to those who live in opposition to Him.

Romans 12:19

19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

2 Thessalonians 1:8

8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s children are not out fighting physical wars, this is purely a humankind idea of helping God – God needs no help , but wants your obedience. God provides a spiritual solution to the dilemma of sin in the person of His Son. Mohammed describes heaven in terms of having the best earthly sensual things he can imagine and interestingly it fits his earthly pursuit of immorality and his complete indifference to women. Mohammed is the author of the Quran. A Muslim will find this hard if not impossible to believe, nonetheless the word of truth of the gospel is their only hope of heaven as it is for every person.
On the other hand, God describes heaven in the most beautiful way as the place for the people of God. God understands physical beings (humankind) cannot understand spiritual explanations, so he uses physical things (Revelation 21) and indicates the difficulties of the present physical world will be non-existent in heaven. God also makes it clear that the wonder of heaven is beyond our comprehension and thus missing out on heaven is the greatest of tragedies.

Revelation 21:4

4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

God in His word tells us how heaven is worth the trials, the difficulties we will suffer on earth as His children.

Romans 8.18

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

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.

At the same time God makes it clear that those who overcome will have an amazing relationship with the creator, while those who are overcome (by God-defined sin) will have their part in the lake that burns with fire.

Rev 21.7,8

7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Mohammed describes the final abode for Muslims just as any worldly man might do by imagining how he would envision the best place to be. Thus heaven is described in terms of the physical pleasures Mohammed desires. Mohammed had an additional reason describe heaven as this “pleasure palace” in order to have the soldiers fight without fear and thus his description was very appealing to men. They could leap from death to a greatest wonder of pleasures they could imagine.

Catholicism in the days since its inception somewhere in mid 300’s AD or early 400’s AD was every bit as violent in building its power base and expanding itself throughout the world. Catholicism was the perfect foe for the armies of Islam and indeed those groups would fight bloody battles in seven crusades from about 1096 to 1291. History and historians never make the distinction between Christianity and Catholicism and thus define the crusades to include Christians. Christians are those who are added to the church (spiritual) by Christ when they obey the gospel. Calling Christ your Savior and having Christ recognize you as a child of God are entirely different things. Once a person becomes a child of God they follow the doctrine of Christ and that is a doctrine diametrically opposed to Catholicism.

The Cost Of Being A Child Of God

You will never understand God without the word of God, because there and only there is where God is revealed. The cost of being a disciple of Jesus is much more than humankind wants to believe or that the religions of the world teach. Jesus taught the following in relation to where HE must be in YOUR life to succeed.

Matthew 10.34-39

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;
36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’
37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

God is serious about what is said here in Matthew 10.34-39 because life is about the soul and not about families. There are certain responsibilities to families, but ultimately you will be before God all alone. Here is the war you fight and it is you versus sin. Following Jesus is a life choice where even your family and friends may reject you. Thus, instead of peace in the family and with friends the sword may separate you from loved ones. It is interesting that the sword of the Spirit is the word of God (Ephesians 6.17) and ultimately it is the word you believe and your family and friends reject that causes the separation. This idea from Jesus follows the pattern of something hard to understand, maybe some would say impossible to accept, except for those who love the truth.
The things from God are never what man would devise. Humankind could not conceive the need for Jesus to suffer and die to provide humankind the opportunity to be reconciled to God.

Mark 8:35

35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

It would seem God’s requirement for His Son was inconceivable. You should not think that as a result your need to lose your life to save it is excessive service, but simply God’s requirement for humankind. These are God’s ways and they are not naturally aligned with the thinking of people or will many people accept them. Losing your life in terms of the entire bible context means living for God – obedient to God. You lose the life you want to live and replace it by living your life for Christ and the gospel. The life lived for Christ will be quite different and difficult. You can live that life, because you know the final outcome of those who do well and the final outcome of those who do not. In addition, from God’s word you see how badly God wants you to succeed.

2 Peter 3:9

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Attacking The Silliness Of The World’s Religions

Many people not under the control of Islam read about the nature of the final abode for Muslims as found in the Quran and are disgusted and they should be, but the same thing can be said of Catholicism from the view of all the souls they have destroyed with their deceit. Protestantism is not far behind in terms of the destruction of souls with their butchering of the truth to the point heaven is not a possibility for their converts. Protestants (unlike the Catholics and Muslims) do not have the horrific history of cruelty and murders, but they have destroyed the souls of many. The crime of these different Protestant groups has been to “pick and choose” what they like from scripture. We might say it began with Martin Luther when he selected a part of the gospel and made it the whole gospel. The Protestant “denominations” have continued this practice and created their own plans for salvation, changed the bible idea of the church, created many ideas about the end of the world and the return of Christ and in general butchered God’s word to fit the concepts of certain individuals such as John Calvin. In addition, at their beginning they decided to keep certain aspects of Catholic doctrine.
Above, we talked about the seriousness of God’s word in relation to how you choose to live. Namely, you need to take God’s word seriously because it is truth and it must not be compromised. All the different religious groups secure adherents by various means of indoctrination and propaganda. Protestantism seemingly does not use these methods since they are less openly and less threateningly pressuring people to believe. Nonetheless, they tie together verses to promote their doctrine and violently attack (not physically) anyone who objects. Catholicism and Islam have a historical violent and murderous history as well as sanctions of various severity brought against those who question.

There is one thing that all religions who claim some association with the bible have in common. Namely, there are parts of scripture they cannot believe, or use because there is a conflict with what they teach. God’s people find no such problems because God’s word fits perfectly together and by using all the scriptures you can see how the scriptures explain themselves. In the book, What Is Life All About? there are many examples of how the totality of the scriptures work together to help your understanding as well as many examples on the pages of Heaven Coach.

Why Attack The Religious Beliefs of Others
Leave Everyone Do What They Wish

God’s people are tasked to teach the word of God and that may, almost certainly will require answering questions about a person’s present beliefs. Preach the word is the instruction and be able to answer questions ……. convince, rebuke and exhort. God’s people in no way force a response from any person, but simply work with a person or group as long as they are willing to listen. It is essential that people make free will decisions as this is a basic element of God’s purpose. This is quite different than the religions of the world which provide differing degrees of indoctrination, propaganda, fabrications and historically a great deal of deceit and violence.

God’s children do the following in relation to conversion: Answer questions, Preach the word and Pray God’s help in the process and at the same time they are living godly in accordance with His will.

Answer, give defense

1 Peter 3:15

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

Preach the word

2 Tim 4.2-4

2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Pray

James 5:16

16 ….. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Keep yourself holy

1 Peter 1.13-16

13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.

People deeply involved in the RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD are without hope and without God. If this is true, do you think these people headed for a failed life would like to know? I have always believed and still do that hearing and diligently studying the word of God can eliminate a person’s belief in man-made religions. God’s word is perfect in converting the soul. The power and the cunning used to convince people of the validity of the various man-made religions has been very effective. Indeed, it takes a love of the truth to find truth. So, warning people to think about what they believe by pointing the many flaws in the religions of the world will be helpful to some. Above, I said the silliness of the religions of the world, because it is not that difficult to determine the man-made nature of these invented religions. Of course, the holding power of these religions is seldom the doctrine, but other influences such as selecting a belief system that interferes little with HOW I WANT TO LIVE. God wants you to make choices and I am pointing out your need to make the singular correct choice.
You may have heard the statement regarding a diagnoses of a serious illness that you should get a second opinion. In the most important thing in your life, that is your soul you ought to get a second opinion. I am pointing out there are different choices and one is much better than others, actually only one will provide the cure (for sin).

God emphasizes the singularity of Himself and continually indicates that there is one God throughout the scriptures. In Ephesians 4.4,5, He reveals that there are different aspects of the define nature and for mankind there are certain important singularities for humankind to understand. The Divine nature has one God and Father of all, one Lord (Jesus) one Spirit (Holy Spirit) and for humankind there is one faith, one baptism, one hope and one body (the body of Christ) – His church. God’s word is thus pointing to one doctrine, one way to heaven. There is one faith and it is in Jesus and those who graciously accept all religions are in opposition to God. They usually accept all religions because they know or suspect that their beliefs are no better than anyone else’s. So, some religions are very tolerant of other “faiths” and they teach fairness. They unwittingly support the right of each person to believe religiously what they wish, which is contrary to the one faith of Ephesians 4.4,5. Certainly, I also support the RIGHT of each person to believe whatever they wish, God clearly also supports people choosing whatever they want to believe. God’s purpose is all about individuals making decisions to follow His will or that of others or their own. Those choosing God’s way will see the uniqueness of God and the one path for humankind to be successful. In this framework, God will have exactly the kind of person He desires for heaven. God’s plan has humankind making choices that determine their eternity. Thus, we tell people, suggest to people that what they currently believe may not be true and not only not true, but effect their eternity.
Thus, do God’s people attack the religions of others? The doctor needs to inform the patient of cancer. It is news the patient does not want to hear. Yet, if there is going to be any help for the person the truth is told. The doctor is attacking the patient’s present condition by saying although you think your health is just fine, you need the news of your cancer. Now if the doctor is bringing the wrong diagnoses, he/she is not helping, but just bringing confusion. God’s children have the truth so they are bringing the correct diagnoses and if they cannot bring evidence, do not believe them. Those who obey God will learn that the evidence from God will continue to become stronger day after day and year after year simply because they are growing in knowledge of His word.

One might say faith not evidence is the way of the God of the bible. That is true, but Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10.17). As you grow in knowledge from God you will be grow in faith. You would know nothing of God in terms of who He is and His purpose for you were it not for the word of God. Thus, how do you understand God correctly? You do that by better understanding God’s word. How can your faith be stronger? You will have stronger faith by better understanding God’s word.

Many, even the vast majority of individuals are happy in their current state and do not want to hear what they believe is wrong and so seriously wrong that it will be eternally costly. There is no need for the truth to be hesitant in pointing out the errors of man-made religions, after all the basis for those beliefs was the creation of the deceit often hundreds of years ago. Along the way, many people have come to accept the well developed lies as truth and did so with little or no evidence.

Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost and in that process continually made the Jews aware that they were not keeping the law. He held nothing back, calling their religious actions hypocritical.

Matthew 15:9

9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Matthew 23:15

15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

Matthew 23:13

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Luke 12:56

56 Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?

Jesus’ attacks on false religion were severe, and today God’s children should be no less aggressive in their words and writing in pointing out error. Of course, those who teach differently than the word of God are the most despicable. Unless, you come with the truth you should in no way be teaching anyone or pointing out the error of others. It is serious business to teach spiritual things.

Jesus attacked the Jews disobedience to God’s law often by replacing it with their tradition. Nonetheless, the bulk of Jesus teaching was in relation to the kingdom that was coming. This is a good model for God’s children – Preach the word, be prepared to give an answer to those who ask and especially do not be afraid to point out error in their present beliefs.

People may not want to hear the problems with their belief system and may be quite angry at anyone who attempts to point out religious error. Nonetheless, when the end comes they will cry out, “why didn’t some one tell me!”
To exist for an eternity in a lost condition when you could have easily known the enormity of the difference between God’s word and the invented doctrines of men and women will be devastating. There is such a difference and NOW is the only time for you to a come to a knowledge of the truth.

It is easy to understand what is from God and what is not if you care to look, if you have the courage to question driven by a love of the truth.

Why Do You Exist

18) Why Do You Exist?

One of the most important things you can understand about life is, WHY You Exist, What Is Life’s Purpose? Those on the road to heaven know the answer and to various degrees understand God as He has revealed Himself. Those who have obeyed God in accordance with the word of God have absolutely no desire the condemn the lost, but their mandate from God is to help the lost. Very specifically their mission is to Preach The Word and it will either be heard or fall on “deaf ears.” The fields are white and ready for harvest as far as one can see. There is no need to condemn, although God’s word does convict sinners and that may help or it may drive a person deeper into opposition with God. So, God’s people preach the word and help those who want help and shake the dust from their feet and move on when God’s word is rejected. Indeed the fields of people needing truth are almost beyond imagination.
If we look for root cause for the pathetic failing condition of the world it is simply pride, selfishness, and a love of the world. Whereas, success is characterized by humility, selflessness and a love of the truth. Pride destroys because it is MY WAY, certainly not God’s way. You exist because God’s purpose is to find those to exist for eternity with Him. It must be your choice to follow His will instead of your own will. Thus life, your existence is a free will test that occurs very personally for each person during their lifetime. We know this because God has revealed it to us. Life ends up being about only one thing, that is life is about the soul, where you spend eternity. It is a personal battle between YOU and SIN. Life is absolutely about nothing else!

It Will Be Difficult To Be Lost Realizing God Was So Close
And
You Let Pride and Selfishness Overcome You

Right in front of you during your lifetime was the word of God, the answer to your life, but day in and day out there was something more important, namely what you wanted! You, along with assistance from the world, have developed numerous excuses for ignoring the word of God. They seem pretty good, reasonable and coincidentally do not interfere with how you want to live. Over time your excuses, in a world that supports your excuses have become more powerful in defining who you are and you are so certain of your beliefs. It amounts to no more than building a house on a weak foundation and it looks pretty good, but there is no long term value and it will soon crumble. The world is evil because it deceives you and supports your ungodly beliefs. For many people, your rejection of God’s word originated in the popular doctrines of the world in relation to God. It seems so right and with no limitations on your life, life is just perfect. The reality of life catches up with you in the form of suffering and death. Momentarily, you may re-think your beliefs, but with a wasted life you do not know where to turn. You are alive, turn to God, to God’s word, to God’s will for you, and to the correct understanding of God and His purpose. I would suggest, it will NOT be easy, yet once you understand God is the God of the bible and you learn about God and about your opportunity to succeed you will find what God asks to be very achievable.
So, what do you need to know? You need to know that in God’s word is the truth, the truth you need. The truth you need to reach heaven, the truth you need to overcome life’s problems, and the truth you need to have a relationship with Jesus. God has provided His word so you can avoid the terror of realizing that Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, Islam and all the other religions, save one, have brought you to a terrible end. You can know that NOW! You will find none of these man-made religions in the scriptures. It will be very clear THEN (when it is too late) and you will realize and be devastated at the wonderment of how easily a good heart could have discerned the truth.

The Way Of Salvation Is Through The Word Of God

19) The Way Of Salvation Is Through The Word (Jesus), Through the Word of God

There is no salvation without the sacrifice of Jesus (the Word) an there is no path to salvation unless you know what to do from the word of God. You might say, I know Jesus, but unless you know how to take advantage of what Jesus accomplished you will not receive salvation. There is absolutely no excuse for not coming to a knowledge of the truth. If you say you believe in Jesus as the Son of God, does that mean you will receive salvation? Of course, it does NOT despite the fact that many men and women teach such a doctrine. Those who love the Lord will do EVERYTHING that He requires. They will want to keep ALL of God’s commands. God was serious about salvation and it required the brutal suffering and death of His Son. The whole of scriptures teach the necessity of obedience as an integral part of faith. Jesus made it clear in Matthew 7.21 that, not everyone who says to Him Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of God, but those that DO the will of the Father.

God’s Power To Save Is In
The word of God
God’s Criteria In Judgement Is In
The word of God

There is Power to Save In the word of God. That power exists because of what the Word (Jesus) accomplished.

Romans 1.16

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

God’s word discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart and acts like a sword in dividing those who will be saved and those who will be lost.

Hebrews 4:12

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

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.

So, how important is the word of God to you? Your hope lies in the word of God, in knowing it and obeying it. God’s word reveals God and reveals your purpose. God’s word allows you to understand God inasmuch as He has revealed Himself.

Anger, Despair ……….

20) Anger, Despair,
Laziness And Pride Realized

It all begins for you at the end of the world or the end of your life – whichever comes first. To your surprise you still exist and God is the God of the bible.

You were a teacher and you taught the assigned curriculum – what choice did you have? You taught that the existence of the world, the universe came about by “natural processes” over billions of years. As you explained various things in relation to the world you would credit nature or mother nature or mother earth, but never God. You taught that life evolved from non-life and then intelligent life (human beings) evolved from lower forms. You have just passed from the physical world and now you say, you never believed what you taught and certainly you did not understand with any confidence the things you were teaching. You put your trust in human teachers. It is too late, your fate is sealed. It is clear you never understood what you taught. You might be surprised to know that neither did those who taught you or those who taught them and so-on.
All things will be apparent at the end of life in relation to how you lived your life. There will likely be anger and probable blame for others, but ultimately the anger will be turned inside. There will be despair, hopelessness beyond anything you thought possible and much of your failure you will blame on your laziness, on your interest in everything except the truth. Behind most everything you will recognize how pride destroyed your soul. Oh, how you loved the ideas of humankind because they allowed the life you wanted. There it is, God’s word available for all and you never cared to learn, cared to know and now you know all the answers were there. Fortunately, you are alive or you could not be reading this and the end of your life can be one WITHOUT ANGER OR DESPAIR – it is up to you.

There is a parallel in religion as generation after generation has taught man-made doctrines, which are now believed by so many. Those religious teachers never rightly divided God’s word, but taught many who also became teachers. It is critical that a person understand what they believe. God’s word is capable of helping any person with the right attitude to find the truth. On this page, we will provide you with an understanding of God and God’s word. There is great evidence throughout “Heaven Coach” on understanding God. We are teaching in a way that requires you to understand what you believe. Everything should fit perfectly together in a way that your belief will be certain, if not, reject it. A good way to do this is to understand what God refers to as the Word (Jesus).

The clear meaning from the word of God is that Jesus is the Word. It would seem that the word of God is the scriptures and Jesus is the Son of God and referred to as the Word. This is true, but the word of God is the God breathed truth that focuses on the reconciliation of which and Jesus is at the core. Again, the word of God (the scriptures) is not God, but if you respect God that means you respect the word of God (the scriptures). If you respect what God says to do, you will keep all of God’s commands.

God’s word is powerful. God’s word is unlike any other book or collection of writings. First it is God’s message, that is it has divine authorship. It is the truth, perfect in its content and it will never pass away. There is no other book like it. The Word of God is the person of Jesus, revealed and made known for humankind through the inspired word of God.

Revelation 19:13

13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

Jesus is not merely in complete agreement with the written word – He is called the Word of God. So, are Jesus and the scriptures the same thing? Of course not, Jesus is the Son of God and the scriptures are the inspired written record from God. We do not worship the scriptures, but we respect the word of God since the scriptures came from God. We know nothing of God or life that is meaningful without the word of God. There is PERFECT agreement between the scriptures and Jesus. The scriptures tell us of Jesus and His Divinity. If we examine God’s word closely we can see the things attributed to the word of God are also attributed to Jesus. We have done this above for the cases of Creation, Judgment and Salvation.

We are not familiar with perfection or perfect agreement in our human existence. However, it is the characteristic of God’s nature. In Ephesians 4.4,5 the scriptures show the “precise nature” of God. There is just one God, although there are three distinct persons – Father, Son (one Lord) and Holy Spirit (one Spirit). The body is the church belonging to Jesus (“My Church” of Matthew 16.16-19) and there is just one. There are three other “ones” and they relate to faith, hope, and baptism. These things are all associated with your salvation. Our knowledge of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit all derive from God’s word. God is perfection, His plan is perfect and the word of God is perfect in converting the soul. There have been great efforts made by “Christian” teachers to separate God from His word. This is done in many different ways, such as saying God is love and He will look past your sins if you accept His Son. The truth is a person who wants heaven will demonstrate their love by keeping the commands of God. God is love because of what He did in Christ and that love is on the cross of Christ. The point is how will you respond to “God is love.” How can you look past the unity of God and the perfection of His word and accept anything less than doing what God requires. You should not think there is a different pattern for your salvation such that one faith, one hope and one baptism are not in perfect agreement and fit together perfectly within God’s purpose. You should not think that the Spirit of God delivered something different than Jesus and God the Father had in mind.

Ephesians 4.4,5

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.

A person who loves the truth can find great security in the singularity of God’s word. There are not many doctrines – but one, there are not many gods – but one. You can find, obey and live the truth and know for certain you are on the road to heaven. The word of God is singular and there is one gospel and one way to obey the gospel.

Sanctification By God’s Truth ….

21) Sanctification By God’s Truth
Set Aside For God – Holy
Holy Conduct By Following God’s Word

Everything we know and understand correctly about life is because it was revealed by God.

You are Purified by the Word of God. Jesus is Your Savior. In obedience to the gospel, He cleanses you from your sins. The Bible describes this cleansing by the word of God.

Ephesians 5:26

26 “That He might sanctify and cleanse it (church) with the washing of water by the word”

The church is not a building, but people are added to the church by the Lord when they obey the gospel (Acts 2.47). You are cleansed from sin and sanctified by the washing of water (baptism) and you have this knowledge only because of God’s word. Sanctification is the idea of holiness, that is set aside for God.

John 17:17

17 “Sanctify them in truth, thy Word is Truth”

The word of God is the truth, and Jesus is also the WORD of God and you are sanctified because of His sacrifice, you have become a saint. You are part of Jesus’ church, a spiritual church. So, the Word of God is truth and indeed, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

Hebrews 12:14

14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

The idea of holiness is being set aside for God and it applies to those who have been added to the church by the Lord. Those who have reached this state are expected to act accordingly. It is far from the world’s idea of being holy. The world defines a holy person using the idea of one who sacrifices and does good works as they define such. However, holiness is characterized in the scriptures as one who upholds the truth and obeys God. Certain religions like to call out certain of their number as being holy people. NOTHING, for instance could be further from the truth than the “holy father” of Roman Catholicism.

1 Peter 1:15

15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

There is no written word without Jesus in the sense that in Genesis 3.15 God put in place a plan for reconciliation that as we NOW know required Jesus to be the sacrifice. There would be no need for revelation without Jesus – no word of God. There would be no covenant with Abraham and no gospel to obey. Of course, Jesus did fulfill Genesis 3.15 as expected since everything God indicates in His word comes to pass. You have God’s word that you may believe Jesus is the Christ.

John 20:30,31

30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

God’s Word, The Scriptures Are Perfect

22) God’s Word, the Scriptures Are Perfect

The world is filled with people who cheat to gain advantage. In that process there is also a strong desire by most of those cheaters, those deceivers to appear as innocent. Their outward “speak and actions” seen by others may be the opposite of what they have done to achieve gain. Quite often after some time they may come to believe they are the person they pretend to be outwardly. They have become selectively forgetful of the evil they have done and perhaps the people they have hurt. Nonetheless, God offers to all men the answer to sin, to being reconciled and to achieving heaven. The path is open to all and by following that path, heaven can belong to every person regardless of their past. It turns out that those who sear their conscience seldom recognize their need for forgiveness and thus never seek to understand the requirements for forgiveness. On the other hand, some come to believe that what they have done cannot be forgiven. Also, there will always be some who believe they can fool God, just as they have fooled so many others, but now they are dealing with God and He cannot be fooled. God knows your heart.

RED Here Are The Answers, Here Is the Sword Of The Spirit

So, here are the scriptures with all the answers and few in the world will ever know and act in accordance with what God requires for heaven. There is nothing terribly difficult for a person who loves the truth and who faces up to sin in his/her life to come to a knowledge of what is required for a successful life. Such a person can repent (turn from sin) and can forego the sinful things of his/her past. However, to the proud, the selfish and those who live in God defined sin there is little or no chance of finding, obeying and living faithful until death. The scriptures, the word of God, the sword of the Spirit accurately separates those for heaven as well as those for eternal destruction. In the word of God, there is no lack of warnings regarding the seriousness of what has been written. I cannot think of anything more alarming than the condition of the world in relation to the truth. The “world” is at enmity with God and the RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD are even MORE DESTRUCTIVE to the souls of humankind because they give people false assurances. Indeed, God’s word is perfect in fulfilling HIS purpose inasmuch as each person makes choices that define their eternity.

Humankind Is Not Used To Perfection In The words People Speak
God’s Word Is a Shock In Its “Matter Of Fact” Proclamations

Humankind is not used to perfection or used to people doing exactly as they say or having the words of people describe things in a complete manner. When people use superlatives, that is describing the highest order, quality, or degree of something it is often considered excessive or exaggerated. In school, I was taught that when tested such words as never, always, everyone, and everything were typically signs that the true/false question was false. For example, “it is never correct to raise your voice in class.” Anything that indicated something or someone was the best ever, should be considered to be false. I do not know of the validity of what I was being taught, but it seems correct and I have found it generally to be true. As human beings we get used to people exaggerating and expressing things with certainty when it is obvious that there superlatives are false. Eventually, people expect the superlatives, hoping it might be true or simply thinking everyone exaggerates. Others are more severe and call such exaggerators, liars.
Now, when you read God’s word there are many things where God speaks in the superlative and He can do this being God. In John 1 we see that Jesus (the Word of God) plays an integral part in creation, in fact “without Him NOTHING was made that was made.” Nothing means nothing, there was not a single inanimate or animate thing created without Him. When Jesus says no one comes to the Father except through Him, it means no one. When Jesus says unless you believe in Him, you will die in your sins, it applies to everyone (everyone who has sinned). Everything God says in His word will come to pass – not just some things. We learn that God cannot lie and that does not mean there might be one or two lies, it means no lies. God indicates everyone will be judged by His word – it means everyone. As always, a person must understand the scriptures in order to speak as the oracles of God.

1 Peter 4:11

11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.

The way we avoid offending God by teaching a false doctrine is by speaking as the oracles of God, that is God breathed speech and that can only be done by speaking from the word of God.

We know sin separates a person from God and thus a person could not achieve heaven. Yet ALL HAVE SINNED and thus none could achieve heaven. However, God planned to have the sins of humankind be covered by His Son and we learn by obedience to His Son (Hebrews 5.9). So, although God’s superlatives are true, namely sin separates all from God and indeed all sin, yet God provided a way for all to escape the ultimate result of sin. Thus, you can understand, “God means what He says”, and by correctly knowing scripture (understanding God as He has revealed Himself) you can know the full and deeper meaning. That is, you can know God’s purpose and consequently your purpose and most important to your eternity, what to do, how to live.

God says He will destroy the world and all His physical creation and even the works therein. There is no exception, no relief given for the ultimate fate of humankind. God’s children know very well the final day for all existence approaches, but they have no idea when this will happen. They also know there will be no warning. If you understand the scriptures correctly you know the word of God was completed sometime late in the 1st century. There are no more revelations from God. A verse, used frequently on this subject is 1 Peter 1.3.

1 Peter 1.2-4

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

God has given to humankind ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS. What more is needed for humankind in terms of a person achieving heaven? A person can know the mind of God in regard to the spiritual church, the local church, the definition of sin and all that God requires in terms of initial obedience and all that is needed to live faithfully. There were other revelations being completed before the end of the first century, but all YOU need had been revealed. Life is about the soul and where you spend eternity and we can say life is about the personal battle between you and sin and you can be successful because you have ALL you need. People were successfully saved from their past sins during the time beginning in Acts 2. What in the world is the need for all the inventions of humankind in terms of rule-making, in terms of all the various churches. There is no need, there is no value and there is no authority. Those teachers simply make their followers “twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

How Perfect Is God In Everything

23) How Perfect Is God In Everything,
Did You Notice?

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus was with God in the beginning and was God. Most people know how God (Jesus) became flesh. It was through the Virgin Mary. The Spirit of God would come to Mary and she would conceive a child. You might ask, why go to all the trouble? God could just speak Jesus into existence. God who can do all things could not simply speak Jesus into existence, because God cannot lie. In Genesis 3.15 the manner of Jesus coming into the world was defined – it would be through the seed of a woman. About 4000 years after the promise in Genesis 3.15, Jesus suffers the terrible death fulfilling the promise of the Father that the seed of Mary would receive a bruise to the heel (a serious, non-fatal blow), while the actions of Jesus would mean a fatal blow to the head of Satan. The scriptures (the word of God) are perfect even down to smallest detail. Even in the smallest detail there is a great deal of knowledge to be gained about God. For you and me, we need to take God’s word seriously. It is the most serious of all messages, being designed to allow us to take advantage of the perfect, sinless sacrifice.

God’s word is unlike anything humankind can write. Throughout the word of God there is evidence of God. Let us look at three verses from 2 Corinthians, but you can look anywhere and if you love the truth you will be impressed.

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.

Notice the view of life God is providing His children in this letter from Paul to the church at Corinth. Times were difficult in the first century for those who were committed to Christ, that is His children by obedience. Paul’s life was also exceedingly difficult and he tells those in Corinth not to lose heart. The encouragement that follows reveals a great deal about life and the next life. The distinction Paul makes is between their outward (physical) being, which is perishing and their inward person. We begin the road to death of our outward physical being from birth and some roads are long and some are short. Paul describes the inward man and how the opposite of perishing is occurring. Namely, the inner man is being renewed day by day. God’s people understand that the inward man/woman is the real you and as we say frequently, “Life Is About The Soul And About Absolutely Nothing Else.” These Christians were aware of their spiritual nature, but likely understand very little about it. So, Paul is providing information as he does throughout his lifetime after his conversion. As Paul said, he received the revelation from Jesus (Galatians 1.12). The renewing of the inward man/woman is occurring as they grow in the grace and knowledge of God. This is the result of their faithfulness and the spiritual things, which are being revealed to them.

Paul is addressing their present suffering, which is the theme of these three verses by telling them not to lose heart. He compares the afflictions of this present time, which is for a moment to the eternal weight of glory. Paul indicates this in a similar way in his letter to the church at Rome.

Romans 8.18

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Paul ends by making a very strong distinction. To the world, it may seem strange, unbelievable, but it is the essence of God’s creation and the understanding you need. He says, “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. God’s children, those in God’s kingdom (Colossians) are told this otherwise unknowable distinction.

Colossians 1.12-14

12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Although the worldly will never understand or believe, those in the kingdom of the Son of His love are well aware of their spiritual existence. It is very powerful how God very concisely says the things seen are temporary and the things not seen are eternal. The things not seen are spiritual, they are for instance the fruits of the spirit, they are your relationship by faith in Christ, they are your sins forgiven, they are your life lived in obedience to God’s word. Amazing, everything we know seemingly is the things seen and yet all those things have no permanent value (2 Peter 3.10). It is the things unseen that are truly valuable and eternal. So, Jesus says, “lay up for yourself treasures in heaven.”

Matthew 6.19,20

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Jesus was speaking in parables, parables of the kingdom and that kingdom He states was not of this world. Of course, it would not be of this world because the world can be seen, it is physical and temporary. The Lord added those who obeyed the gospel to the church. It is a spiritual church, the body of Christ. There is a local physical church consisting of those who are in Christ’s spiritual body and it has an organization and mission defined by God in the word of God. At the end of the world the physical church will no longer have a purpose and what matters will be if you are in the (spiritual) body of Christ.

Finding Excuses ……..

24) Finding Excuses And False Comfort
In Translations and Interpretations

Of course, we are talking about WHICH bible is correct or said another way, WHICH translation is correct? People have been hiding behind this human logic for a very long time in an effort to say that no one can know what is correct from the scriptures. Again, if you love the truth more than what you want to believe or what you currently believe, this is not an issue. This can become a very complicated subject, but it does not need to be. God, as we have seen indicated His words would not pass away. There is Divine assurance the word of God would “come through” to humankind. This occurred and initially there was good consistency among different translations. The same early manuscripts were used in making the translations. There was agreement on the meaning of most of the words and how things were phrased. There were also quite a number of spurious books that were claimed to be part of the revelation from God. Few, if any people except among the religious group that benefited from such books accept these Apocryphal books. Interestingly, as I read some of these spurious documents they failed to be reasonable or fit with the other revelations from God and usually they were rather clumsy as they attempted to imitate the inspired texts. As numerous as these “discovered” texts seem to be, few people take them seriously. Thus for practical purposes, they are non-existent and not a threat to the truth – except for the groups “held captive” by these translations – i.e. the Mormons bible or the Jehovah Witnesses bible.
However, the more serious, misleading and damaging aspect to the truth lies in changing or removing certain bible verses. It is a process of very selective changes or translations targeted at verses or ideas that are problematic for the beliefs of some groups. These highly prejudiced versions of the bible claim scholarship, but closely examined come from persons with existing pre-conceived beliefs. You will find that if you look outside the group that promoted the new version of the bible, that there is little or no support for the translation. I do not know of anything more serious than to change the word of God from its intended meaning. A honest scholar should be terrified to create a new teaching and as suggested it would be a good idea to check if the new translation supports the previous beliefs of the “author-scholar(s).” How much of the translation was prejudice? The Jehovah’s Witnesses have their own bible and it was changed exactly in a way to support their teachings. The extreme dishonesty of their early leaders is well known, although typically not known to their members.

The Catholic bibles are reasonably close to the original manuscripts, but they have added some apocryphal books. Those books add nothing to our knowledge or are they even helpful in supporting Catholic doctrines. Catholic bibles are often filled with notes indicating you cannot understand the scriptures without their help. The basic Catholic translation is usable. Of course, the problem with Catholicism is their claim to have the right to change whatever they wish and so it is not necessary to change the scriptures. Catholicism simply changes the word of God by creating many new documents, edicts which are invariably in opposition to God’s word. These originate from their councils or their hierarchy. The strange part is the scriptures clearly teach THE OPPOSITE of their invented doctrines and rules and there is absolutely no authority for their existence. The “Catholic” damage done to God’s word by their rule-making has possibly been more costly to souls than any other thing. Even movements like Protestantism hold to many of the doctrines, beliefs, and practices invented by Catholicism. Islam potentially would not exist if Mohammed had not seen the evil in Catholicism, which he interpreted as Christianity. Christianity as found in the bible is radically different than what people understand as Christianity.
The Mormon bible is just one of three books they use to teach their doctrines. They have their own version of the bible and it contains teachings not found in the bible, but developed to support MORMON doctrines.
Perhaps the most dangerous translations are those coming out of the Protestant arena where there are certain doctrines they have held since their inception without any solid support and now they selectively make changes or place notes in these bibles to support these doctrines. It is interesting that they held those doctrines before they created their new bibles. So, are people lost in a sea of deceit? Well, not really since any person can choose to reject the deceit if they have a love the truth. It is not hard to determine the problems with translations since the bible itself sets out certain principles that are consistent from Genesis to Revelation. There are quite number of translations which are not translations, but paraphrases and these should receive no consideration. Unfortunately, they do receive consideration, which indicates how little people respect the word of God or how little effort goes into determining the value of a translation. It is one of the pathetic cries of those seeking excuses for their disbelief, namely, “which translation is correct? or my interpretation is as good as yours.” Below are some helps when dealing with various translations which might help clear up some of the confusion.

Does the translation use the early manuscripts and other reputable materials from the first, second and third centuries? The copying of scripture by persons in the early (1st and second) centuries have produced documents that are consistent between authors. The New Testament documents are better-preserved and more numerous than any other ancient writings. They are so numerous, they can be cross checked for accuracy and are found to be very consistent. That consistency is not found in the many writers who created the various spurious books that some would like to include in the bible.

Did the translation originate from a group or individual with previous association to the doctrine now being touted in this new version?

Do not be impressed by those who say this is a great scholarly work.
Scholars in matters of your soul should not be your criteria for judging a translation. God warns us about the wisdom of the wise.

Scholars (in science) teach you evolved from a lower form and that everything was formed by a great explosion of nothing. Religious Scholars are every bit as prejudiced in what they currently believe and make claims, but are seriously inconsistent with the “whole of scripture.”

A great deal of the world laughs at God’s word indicating it is just the babbling of religious people and nonsensical. The actions and diverse beliefs of THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD make it easy to convince people of the absurdity of Christianity. Of course, as we frequently mention the world has never understood the word of God and thus Christianity. God’s word unlike anything else fits together God’s purpose and everything about God and humanity in a perfect manner. God is perfectly logical in accomplishing His purpose. Thus, it is easy to differentiate God’s word from the exceedingly weak, confusing, self-serving doctrines of humankind.

The word of God is consistent IN ITS TEACHING and that consistency is lost when there are bad translations and this (lack of consist doctrine) is a clue that the teaching originated from a man or a woman.

There was a time when the word of God was respected, but that time is now past. People feel perfectly free to write what they wish and say it was from God. Often, it is no more than some personal insight they discover and want to pass it along to the world. Today, there can be as many translations, interpretations as there are people. Nonetheless, the word of God is still there for those who want the truth.

The single most important thing in ascertaining the correct translation does not lie in the claimed scholarship behind the translation. God’s word is more powerful than the wisdom of humankind. You do not need to be a scholar to determine this matter, but just one who loves the truth. The truth is singular and consistent in the many verses of the bible. Your love of the truth, your open-mindedness and your attitude to accept things problematic for your life are needed to come to a correct understanding of God. This latter point is one large reason why people change the word of God and teach others it is from God. Some of the difficult things to accept in God’s word become a stumbling block to correctly understanding the most basic principles from God as relates to your salvation.

Peter talks of some things Paul wrote as hard to understand for the untaught and unstable and they change the word of God to their own destruction. Today, the scriptures which are holy have been changed numerous times to fit the whims of certain people and groups and it is to their own destruction.

2 Peter 3:16

16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

God is PERFECTLY clear in regards to changing, twisting His message to humankind and it is not surprising the severity of the penalty in view of its impact on God’s purpose. We might also say in view of its impact on Jesus mission to seek and save that which was lost.

Do Not Change God’s Word

25) Do Not Change God’s Word

Do Not Believe Private Interpretations of Scripture
Do Not Think You Cannot Understand Scripture Correctly

God has strongly emphasized in scripture that the word of God was not to be changed. When you look at the things God hates (Proverbs 6.16-19) there is an emphasis on deceit, false teaching. Regarding interpretation, God makes it crystal clear that scripture is not of any private interpretation. The world is very enabling when it comes to interpreting scripture and says, “that is your interpretation and this is mine.” It is as though interpretation is very private – IT IS NOT PRIVATE OR PERSONAL ACCORDING TO GOD!

2 Peter 1:20,21

20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

God prepared the stage for His purpose. The stage is all the physical world and living things of His creation. The object of His purpose is men and women who were created in His image. He made no mistake in the means to reconcile humankind. His word was delivered by inspiration, that is, holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Again and again, God warns about changing His word and the seriousness is very simply the loss of your eternal soul. The word of God has been changed when it is being preached, changed in various documents, changed in books people create and also as discussed here changed in the creation of new translations. “No private interpretation” is a way of saying there is truth and there is error. God’s word is truth and as the scriptures indicate let God be found true and every man a liar.

John 17:17

17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

Romans 3:4

4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.

Thus, it is clear why the scriptures indicate if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God – that is God breathed speech. God’s inspired word is the God breathed speech.

1 Peter 4:11

11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.

If you consider it is the word of God that formed the world, judges us and by which were are saved, it should not be surprising that God assured we have His word accurately. It also should not be surprising that as you understand God, you realize that the truth is available for everyone, that is everyone with a good heart, with a love of the truth.

2 Thessalonians 2.10

10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Many “walk” casually through life, living in pride and selfishness and never care about truth. They have little or no concern if what they were taught was true or false. More specifically, there is no concern about how the word of God has been mishandled and changed.
God is indeed serious about changes to His word and below are some verses that can help you understand how serious. If you think it is serious to jump out of an airplane at 10,000 feet without a parachute in terms of your health, it is much more serious to change God’s word in any way because it involves your soul. The following are some ways that God relates the seriousness of changing His word:

Deuteronomy 4.2

2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

Deuteronomy 12:32

32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

Galatians 1.6-9

6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,
7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

God’s word is what is to be preached, not some man’s or some woman’s private interpretation of the scriptures. Paul warns that people will WANT to hear something else (have itching ears).

2 Timothy 4.1-4

1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Paul brings great clarity to many subjects in his brief discussion with the Athenians. In this short discourse you can gain a reasonable understanding of God – see Acts 17.16-34.

We learn the worship of God is to be in Spirit and Truth (John 4.24) and Jesus points out that worshiping God is useless when it is after the commandments of men. The whole idea of worship is tied directly and inseparably to obedience. That is, worshiping God requires you to be spiritual (a child of God) and it must be in truth. This is how God designed worship.

Matthew 15.9

9 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

It should not be a surprise that there is strong condemnation for those who change God’s word, for those who privately interpret the meaning of what God has revealed.

Revelation 22:19

19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

We are talking about people who obeyed God, obeyed the gospel, but now have decided to change God’s word, to teach in opposition to the truth. God will take away their part from the book of life. Many people are never added to the Book of Life because they were taught and believed another gospel, and thus were never added to the church by the Lord. People need the truth, no one will be saved by a “changed” word of God. We fail to realize how many people are distant from God as a result false teaching in relation to salvation (i.e. all Protestants and all Catholics).

Apparently, many people believe God’s word can be taken lightly, casually. It is extraordinary that humanity can be so far from God that the word of God and its seriousness are not understood. Humankind ignores, discounts, and changes God’s word whereas God sees the word as Jesus indicated”

Matthew 4.4

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’

It is the admiration of men and women as opposed to respecting God where the problems originate. If we had a correct understanding of the church both spiritual and physical we would not be struggling with who we should trust. One would never place their trust in the scholarly because what you get is their private interpretation of scripture and thousands of different interpretations. God’s word is uniquely aimed to appeal to those with good hearts, those who seek the truth and yet we follow those who God points out as problematic – by admiring the wisdom of the wise. The church is the ground and pillar of the truth and that points to what God delivered – His word. Those that follow God’s word are in the local church. There is no position of scholar in the church and the local church does not have educational attachments to universities and the like. All the direction in every matter comes from the scriptures. The churches directly associated with universities simply teach and enhance the beliefs of that group. So, you have Catholic higher education creating and enhancing Catholic doctrines, the same is true of Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Mormons and so-on. There are higher educational places for Muslims and they become leaders and scholars for Islam. We have a proliferation of religions and religious doctrines and confusion reigns. The church however being void of all this human-developed religion uses the word of God and not surprisingly those with a good heart, loving the truth understand the scriptures the same way.

The Importance of Obedience

26) The Importance of Obedience

Throughout the dealings of God with humankind, obedience has been essential to pleasing God. In fact, disobedience was dealt with harshly in specific cases – i.e. Adam and Eve, Nadab and Abihu, Ananias and Sapphira and many others. When a person transgresses God’s law it is called sin – it is disobedience. This idea may seem difficult for people to understand in an undisciplined world. Even in religion, there is a strong tendency to emphasize love in a way that missing the mark or having a casual attitude regarding God’s word is acceptable. Many people look at God and say I see the harshness, the severity of God in some instances, but say, “God for me is Love.” Indeed, God is love and the scriptures make this clear, but if you ignore God’s word you will never understand what God reveals about His love. In just the next four sentences, there is a summary of what love is in relation to God.

First, God loves His creation and sent His Son to allow humankind’s sin to be forgiven – this is God demonstrating His love for humankind.

Second, God defines what is sinful and sin separates a person from God’s love. God and sin cannot exist together and thus for humankind this is most serious. Your sins can be covered, but the cost we learn is the blood of Christ. It needed to be a perfect sacrifice and that meant Jesus would have to live a sinless life. Jesus succeeded in living without sin and each obedient person is IN CHRIST and in effect reconciled to God and God’s love.

Third, there is only one way to love God and the scriptures are exceedingly clear on this and that is if you love God you must keep His commands (John 14.15).

Fourth, God makes it clear that in order to benefit from His love that you must obey His Son (Hebrews 5.8,9).

This hardly covers the subject of God’s love, but the value of God’s love for you requires considerably more than passively acknowledging, “God is love.”

It may help to understand the necessity of Jesus to become a man and live and die the horrible death. Jesus was the perfect example of obedience to the Father. He was to live a sinless life and then go to the cross. He was always doing the Father’s will – it would be an example for all humankind. If there was no obedience there would be no reconciliation.

Hebrews 5.8,9

8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 
9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him

Above in Hebrews 5.8,9 we see Jesus was obedient to the Father and then the necessity of each person to be obedient to Christ.

Beginning with Adam and Eve obedience was critical – they failed. The scriptures from the beginning to end demonstrate that it is obedience that differentiates success from failure. Abraham’s test was one of the most difficult tests of faith requiring his obedience and he passed the test. King Saul would fail to obey God in his destruction of the Amelkites and Samuel would tell Saul that it is better to obey than sacrifice. This was a reference to Saul’s lame excuse that he was disobedient because it was to bring sacrifice to God. God does not need anything and we act as though we can give God something. Yet there is one thing He does not have and deeply pleases Him, namely our free will decision to obey Him.

God reveals that His word MUST NOT be changed and MUST be followed. Yet, much of the religious world ignore God’s word and live in disobedience. A large number of so-called Christians hold to something called, “accepting Jesus as their personal savior.” A person who loves the Lord will do everything He says and for the reason He says. They will be faithful, that is obedient unto death. A part of the gospel, the saving gospel of God is believing in Jesus as the Christ. This idea is contained in “Obeying The Gospel.” Believing (mentally accepting christ) is not the whole of the gospel even in terms of initial obedience. Your initial obedience provides forgiveness of your past sins, then there must be a life of obedience. Who has the right to teach less than the scriptures teach in terms of what is required of a person to achieve heaven? Apparently, there are many people willing to teach LESS than God requires to others, thus bringing condemnation to student and teacher.

The Word of God Is There For Our Salvation ….

27) The Word of God Is For Our Salvation
And Apart From God’s Word
The World Makes No Sense

In the beginning, God – These first words of the bible make perfect sense!
According to science, in the beginning NOTHING exploded and all we see and know resulted, but this makes no sense, nonetheless it is what the world believes and it is what is taught. Actually, science would say primordial soup (undefined) exploded, but then fail to define how it came into existence.
Why does the worldly explanation make no sense? Because there is design everywhere, in everything and that means our existence, the existence of anything is not something that just happened. There is no reason or logic that can be used to explain why anything exists, why living beings and intelligent beings exist, why time exists. However, “In The beginning God” takes us to a plausible answer, that is an exceedingly higher intelligence, God.
We may not understand it, but we can be sure it is correct if we deeply care to know. Look into the word of God with the intention of finding truth, and do that because you will accept nothing less than the truth. The “world” looks into the word of God looking for problems and they find them. The problems are NOT REALLY THERE, but with an attitude that seeks to deny God and the scriptures the much sought after problems are discovered. A person might say, “there must be a way to satisfy my conscience in a way that the scriptures are seen as being without merit.”
We believe that given the time, maybe 13.5 billion years and knowing the size of the universe anything is possible. It is pathetic logic. Again, there is no reason anything exists, even the smallest sub-atomic particle. If there was something say an atom or a rock and you sat and watched it for 13.5 billion years what do you think would happen? Would there be the formation of planets and the universe, would life and intelligent life appear over time? It might be logical to think nothing would happen! Well, that is too simplistic and the arguments for the primordial soup exploding and creating an ordered universe and then life and then intelligent life are just RIDICULOUS. You need to understand what is behind (the motives) of those who support these theories that are taught as fact. It is simply pride in what we believe and what we want to believe. It is an absolute necessity for many people to offer an explanation other than God and certainly other than the God of the bible. Simple logic sees there is not just design, but design that occurred from an intelligence beyond the comprehension of humankind. The scriptures fit everything together in a perfect way and it is not describing the science of creation, but telling you about God’s purpose and THAT PURPOSE IS YOU! The creation, the existence of life and of intelligent life occurred as God indicates in the scriptures, but it is not a scientific explanation. In fact, God limited humankind in terms of what they can understand. You are undergoing a test and you have been distracted by the wisdom of man. Man says there is no God and therefore you do not seek God. In the days of Moses, they worshiped a golden calf and today men and women worship science, mass media and others who support a godless world. I really think most people deep down realize the subject of the existence of anything is in a realm that truly cannot be understand. In the case of those in Moses time worshiping the golden calf as with the modern world, people do what they want to do and for the reasons they want to do them. Yet, you can understand the truth about life in God’s word – In The Beginning, God.

Get The True Perspective On Life ….

28) Get The True Perspective On Life
You Are Held Back By
What You Want To Believe
Read And Understand About Life

Where You Are
What You Are
Why You Exist
and What Will Be Your Final Outcome

These are things we know because of the word of God, namely where you are, what you are, why you exist and of course what will be your final outcome.
You are a PRISONER because your spirit, the ETERNAL YOU is “locked” in your physical body. Your body is “locked” in a physical world and all things you can experience and know are carried out in a time existence. Thus you are “locked” in a time existence. These things are this way because life is a test and the stage for that test has you “locked” in these ways. The length of time for the test is your lifetime and that will end at your death or when Jesus returns at the end of the world.

You were created as a spirit, but due to being locked in a physical body, in a physical time-based world you are a captive spirit. In the next life, you will be spirit and not physical and thus not living in a physical world with notions of past, present and future. So, in summary you are:

… A spiritual being locked in a physical body
… A physical body trapped in a physical world
… A physical world that is trapped in the time domain or we might say trapped in a forward moving of sequential events

You have a physical body, living in a physical world/universe, and in a physically related time domain. All these physical things are at a corruptible level of existence and all will be destroyed. Your body will wear out or some other catastrophe may occur before you just break down and die from old age. The earth, the universe and the time domain will all be destroyed when Jesus returns.
Life is about the soul, that is, where you spend eternity and your life amounts to a war between you and sin. The choices you make will lock YOUR eternity, one way or another. All of humankind will make bad choices, that is do things that God classifies as sin. There is a choice you can make that can keep you from a failed life, but there is only one such choice. As above, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by Jesus. The word of truth of the gospel is what you need. Although obedience to the gospel will remove your sins, you still need to live faithfully in a world that will not support your choice. Nonetheless, if you are a person of courage, able to withstand the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and live godly, heaven can be your home. Now, is that difficult? YES IT IS, but it can become increasingly manageable in proportion to your attitude, and your continued obedience. Your trust in God will either grow or diminish and by staying close to God’s word you will grow in knowledge and better understand God and your confidence in the God of the bible will greatly increase.
You can have a pretty good idea of the heart of a person when they question the fairness of God. In the complete absence of knowledge about God a person will doubt God’s ability to judge perfectly, or doubt God’s method is the best or is fair in determining the fate of each person. We only correctly know and understand where we are, what we are, why we exist and our final destination from the word of God.

Those who understand God’s might and His purpose trust God completely and know with 100% certainty that God can handle all the little excuses humankind can invent for denying God as the God of the bible. We can even fool ourselves into disbelief, but God perfectly knows our heart and the real reasons behind our unbelief. Usually, the problem lies with selfishness and pride and that is keeping us from knowing where we are, who we are, why we exist and where we are headed.

Looking In All The Wrong Places
There Is Just One Place To Find Truth

The word of God is the key to open the door of heaven in its truth, in its advice, and in the understanding you can gain about God and life. The word of God, so maligned, so disrespected serves God’s purpose in its power to save. The word of God also serves God’s purpose by defining how each person failed. Those who fail are those who die in sin. They are frequently those who believe in God, but do not respect the word of God. You are a Muslim, a Catholic, a Protestant, a Mormon and although you claim belief in God and often accept the scriptures or parts of the scriptures their misuse will ultimately cost you your soul. God’s truth is exceedingly different then what these groups teach. Nonetheless, you make the decision to believe their doctrines. Undoubtedly, you were indoctrinated and possibly done in a powerful way. Perhaps “all” that surrounded you even from your youth were these or other such doctrines and you strongly embraced them. Of course, this is very understandable, but is it in any way acceptable to God? God does not accept false God’s, false doctrines and certainly none of these groups teach the gospel message you need. Some will say they do, but it is not consistent with the word of God and interestingly the gospel plan of salvation is rarely taught by those who carry their bibles from place to place. Specifically, they do not teach, “Obey The Gospel.”

God’s Ways Are …..

29) God’s Ways Are Beyond
Understanding,
UNLESS

Indeed God’s ways are beyond understanding, unless He reveals His ways. There are so many things that we cannot understand because of how God limited His creation of humankind. In some areas, God gives us insight albeit not a full understanding and again a full understanding (of some things) is inherently beyond our created capabilities. Creation is an example of something revealed, but beyond our understanding. Time is a God created thing such that humanity cannot imagine existence without time. Yet, God indicates a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. There is no explanation, but we realize time is another limit placed on humanity. As mentioned humanity is locked in a physical body in a physical universe and in a time domain. These are all temporary things that play a part in the test of humankind.

Now, imagine God providing the answer to humankind’s problem of sin, so it is accessible to every person. The word of God is there for everyone and God wants none to perish, but come to a knowledge of the truth. On the other hand God wants people with good hearts, humble persons, persons that are courageous and can endure and remain obedient, faithful until death. The person living in God defined sin can be rescued by being obedient to God’s word (requires changing) and achieve heaven – thus a successful life. This is fine, because it is sinners who REALIZE their sin that can find the path to heaven. Jesus said He came to save sinners and yet all have sinned, so what did He mean? The sinners Jesus can help are those who admit their sin and not every sinner has the humility, the courage and the perseverance to repent and keep the commitment required in leaving sin.

Perfection Means God Will Make No Mistakes

There will be no mistakes as God knows who belongs to His Son as well as the heart of every person. God’s test includes the word of God, which provides the answer to sin and is available to every person. God’s word by design does not attract persons who are selfish, unkind, proud, unforgiving and a variety of other things, which God finds as root reasons for failing in life. As an example, God says, “pride comes before destruction.” In many cases, these people never care, never seek truth and are just filled with themselves. People will be lost eternally because of their attitude and never take advantage of what God offered in Christ. Many will have good attitudes up to a point, but will not be able to overcome their pride in what they currently believe or in other words never have a love of the truth. This latter group account for most of the man-made religions. In today’s world most people are caught up in the world, i.e. they are worldly people. They are trying to pack their dreams into their lifetime and marvel at what HUMANKIND has done. They work everyday to get more and there is no consideration of a hereafter. They are so sure there is nothing after death. This is the religion that the world teaches. It might be called atheism, agnosticism or one of the many religions of humankind. So, the word of God is there and few care and as Jesus said the world is at enmity with God. We have the revealed word of God available to all and interestingly few will look into it. There are certain types of people who God does not want for heaven – not any specific person, but those who by their choices reveal certain unacceptable characteristics. Those unwanted characteristics are fundamentally pride, selfishness, envy, greed, short term satisfaction, and a love of their earthly pleasures. Even if they do not reject God they look for a religion that suits them and thus clearly do not have a love of the truth. God wants all to come to a knowledge of the truth, but as Jesus indicated FEW will travel the narrow road that leads to life.
The end result is that God will have exactly the kind of persons He wants to share eternity with Him. God’s ways are beyond understanding, yet he has revealed enough to understand the seriousness of life, the importance of truth and the kind of person (character, attitude) God seeks. That kind of person can overcome sin and be forgiven and have the courage follow God’s direction the rest of their life’s.

The Word of God Summary

30) The WORD of God Summary

The way to know Jesus and the doctrine of Christ is through the word of God. The truth that God promised when He indicated His words would not pass away is available to you. It is not what is frequently taught as the gospel, but that “gospel” in reality is the doctrine of men and woman. Such people have provided you their interpretation of God’s word and created a logical way to convince their followers. These teachings can easily be dismissed by those who love the truth. You are ultimately accountable for what you believe. Thus, do not take a verse here and there, but understand God, understand the scriptures. Almost every person will experience deception in religious matters. No, you do not have to be a scholar and in fact “scholars” teach many different doctrines. Jesus condemned the wisdom of the wise because it indeed was their wisdom, not God’s. It is a good heart that will accept nothing less than the truth that gains the needed understanding. In scholarly circles, there is so much prejudice, closed-mindedness that the work of scholars focuses on finding support for what they already believe. A frequent goal of scholars would be to demonstrate the relevance of the scriptures in today’s world and provide modern interpretations. The word of God is holy and the message never changes. It was obey the gospel in the first century and that remains today. Modern scholars often talk about the church and its mission today, but they do not even understand the church’s most basic elements as revealed in scriptures. On every bible issue the word of God has been mishandled and manipulated by men and women over the centuries and now there is such confusion. The answer is available and known to some and that is, “speak where the bible speaks and be silent where the bible is silent.” It is God’s word and changing it or manipulating it to teach what you wish, perhaps what people want to hear is seriously wrong and eternally costly. Romans 15.4 tell us that the things written before (the old covenant) were written for our learning that through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. God’s word fits perfectly together and with one purpose, whether the old or new covenants they are for our learning, for our hope. The “learning” that comes through consistently page after page is respect for the word of God. The new covenant in Christ’s blood is what God intended since Genesis 3.15 and the answer to receiving reconciliation with God. Regardless of old or new covenant the emphasis is on respect for the word of God. That is much different than respecting what men and women say the word of God teaches. You speak the truth when you speak as the oracles of God – that is, God breathed speech. The instrument you need to obtain eternal wealth is the word of God. The problem: your pursuit to fulfill “earthly wealth” allows no time to invest in eternal wealth. You live “adjacent” to the truth, but never even know there is absolute truth or eternal wealth.

How Do You Respect God, How Do You Love God?

You respect God by respecting Him to the point of obedience, living by his inspired word. We know that if you love God you will keep His commandments.

John 14.15

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

How else could you respect God? Maybe you can show your love by respecting and loving God in your own way. One of the fundamentals of understanding God is to know that God needs nothing, but is pleased when you obey Him. All the false religions of the world try to please God in their own way. In that process they twist/change the scriptures, perhaps selecting/combining verses that better make their case, that support their belief. We see the case of Samuel sickened by the actions of king Saul and all of Saul’s excuses are met with, “it is better to obey than sacrifice.” Earlier Cain learned this lesson when He provided God with a substitution. Nadab and Abihu provided a strange fire to God – their idea of a better way. Paul preaching to the Athenians, would today have the same words for the present religions of the world.

Acts 17.22-31

22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;
23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
24 “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
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;
28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.
30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Paul’s words to the Athenians are perfectly consistent with a fundamental principle of God found throughout scripture. The Athenians were trying to satisfy all the gods and to make sure they did not miss any they made a statute to the unknown god. Paul points out God needs nothing that men can provide for him and that men cannot shape God by the art of MEN’S DEVISING. Yet, there is something that will please God and it has always been obedience. There is no pride in obedience, but a humble response to God’s way. Paul makes it clear there is just one God and it is this one God who they should seek and this is the God of the bible.

As they say, “the list of examples goes on” and the message is the same – obey God. Throughout history men and women have changed God’s word to fit their needs and this has been going on in regard to the new covenant since the first century. The only way you can please God is in obedience. The only way you can know what to obey is from the word of God. The basic problem is a lack of respect for God and it shows as people clamor for fairness, for a more entertaining message, and for more liberality in these modern times. So, we will continue to evolve more and more different organizations (churches or whatever) that are distant from the truth. Of course, much of the impetus for these things began back in the first century and has evolved into such names as Catholicism, Protestantism and so-on, which are exceedingly distant from the truth and with time grow more distant.

The Biggest Mistake Of Your Life

31) The Biggest Mistake Of Your Life

Failure To Understand
That God Is The God Of The Bible

How can anyone fail to see the differences between the word of God and the religious words of men – such an enormous difference – day and night. Eternity is at stake and it will be pride and selfishness that are your downfall. The differences between what comes from God’s word and the imaginings of humankind can be seen by anyone who loves the truth.
If you look at the word of God you can see the importance of God’s word and its purpose to guide truth loving people to God. The importance given to the word by God, by Christ and the use of the Holy Spirit to deliver and confirm it is seen throughout the scriptures. Where is Catholicism and its doctrines? They exist in opposition to the scriptures and in claiming their right to make the rules and without any evidence of their authority. Indeed, this is your choice either to follow Catholicism or God’s word – you cannot do both.

It Is God’s Word
Where Your Hope Of Heaven Exists
Not in Any Man-Made Religion

The verses used by Catholicism as a proof text for their existence are in Matthew 16.16-19. Those verses clearly teach something much different than Catholicism’s claim. You can go to Catholicism and gain a correct understanding of the Catholic deceit and the meaning of Matthew 16.16-19 that fits perfectly with ALL scripture.
You might say you are Protestant and know Catholicism is a curse to the soul of every person. However, do you know that in the hurry to leave Catholicism, the reformers maintained portions of Catholicism and invented doctrines that fit their poor understanding of the scriptures. All Protestants remain with this curse because they trust the “reformers ideas” more than the word of God. “What Is Life All About” discusses what is seriously wrong with the many different religions.

Final Thoughts

Where is the emphasis in scripture? It is on Jesus and the word of God. The word of God is where the issues of truth and error are resolved. Is Catholicism there, is a pope there? No, not in any way, but the word of God is there to provide you truth and consistent and perfect in every way in terms of God’s purpose. God’s word is the “one solid thing.” The Catholic church is the opposite of God’s word in that it is highly physical. The Church belonging to Christ is spiritual in the universal sense and local and independent in the physical sense. There is only one head and that is Christ. The local church has a bible defined organization and purpose with limited authorized work. It is independent with local-only oversight and the only guide/rule-book is the bible. Now, why is this information important to this subject of differentiating truth from error? God’s plan for His local church was that of independence from any other local church. The church could be no larger than the local church with the only authority being elders and deacons with defined qualifications and duties. The primary work of elders and deacons is that of servants to grow the members, that is edify them for the work to be done. That mission was evangelization or we might say the same mission as the head of the church – Christ. Namely, to seek and save that which was lost. This is a spiritual activity in relation to the soul of humankind, in relation to each person’s battle with sin. That work is defined in more detail as preaching the word and allowing each person to make a free will decision regarding following Christ. In such an organization with such a mission there would be no build-up of an organization with world wide reach pooling resources for wars, for murder of those who opposed and having the appearance of a royal rule-making hierarchy.
Apparently Protestants liked the Catholic Church pattern well enough that kept pieces of it, to their own demise. Islam about 1000 years before the Protestant reformation in the person of Mohammed saw what he thought was Christianity – but he was viewing Catholicism. The picture of Christianity (Catholicism) of his time was despicable, immoral, cruel and murderous under the the auspices of doing service to God. Mohammed realized this was not from God, and combined his ideas with scriptural phrasing and ideas to write the Quran.
The result of not respecting God’s word has been devastating to the world. All these false gods and all these false doctrines have resulted in a large number of religious groups that in the end will be eternally lost. Some individuals throughout history, often with grave consequences have lived by God’s word. You can do that also and the only question is how badly do you want heaven.

It is a scary thing to understand God, because then you understand God’s seriousness about life and that there is no other way to achieve heaven than changing your life. Those that deny God as the God of the bible can live without fear and do whatever they wish. Their fear however, will come suddenly when they die or when Christ returns (if they are alive when that event occurs). It is far better to fear God now and obey Him than to come before God and understand the ultimate and eternal fear of failing in life. All this information, all this truth for you in the word of God.