Are You Really Following Jesus?

 Are You Really Following Jesus?

Make Sure

 

What does it mean to follow the real Jesus?

Well, let’s look and see.

Jesus’s ministry was a ministry of healing. This should tell us something about what we believe in regards to the Gospel and how we are to serve God.

Because we want to be like Him. That is real godliness.

After Jesus fasted in the wilderness and was tempted of the devil.

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”— Luke 4:16-21

Is this how you are following Jesus? Are you preaching the Gospel to the poor? Are you healing the blind and broken-hearted? Are you setting the captives free? Are you fulfilling this mission in His footsteps? Are you letting the Holy Spirit do this work through you?

Let me show you something.

In the book of Matthew Chapter 25, Jesus tells us what will happen when He returns. One of the stories is the the Judgement of the Nations.

He asks about what we did for the hungry, naked, thirsty, strangers and those in jail?

Then He says, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”—Matt 25:40

He doesn’t ask about your sin. He doesn’t ask about your sexual immorality or your politics. Because if you know Him, those things are washed away. He asks about what you did with your talents, and your gifts. Did you serve others? Did you tell others about Jesus? Did you show love and help people? Did you help those people everyone else rejected?

Because when we know Him, that is what we do.

If we live our lives in church and never know Him we are virgins without oil. We never put our faith in Him.

Do you really follow Him?

Jesus gave most of his condemnation to the religious leaders who were all about forcing people to obey the law, but did nothing to help or love others.

He says,

“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”—Matt 23:13-15

He spoke consistently against the religious leaders while healing the sinners.

He drove out the money changers from the temple. Twice.

This is prophecy and shows us the persecutions of the early church and of these latter days, where the Lord will cleanse His temple of those who do not believe.

Jesus came to heal people and set them free. He did not come to preach the law, and condemn sinners.

When you understand what sin really is, your mindset will change to match what Jesus came to do.

Sin is a corruption that get into us and makes us commit sins. It came from Adam, it corrupts our nature and makes us totally depraved. There is nothing good in us because of this spiritual plague.

And it is a plague. We can look at the law and see the description of leprosy. Leprosy, blindness, and all of these diseases are pictures of our corrupted nature.

Leprosy like sin, is contagious. It makes us unclean and filthy. It rots our flesh and kills us slowly, and we no longer go around healthy people and cannot go to the temple.

Look at how the pharisees treated the lepers, and blind and poor. They treated all of them as sinners punished by God. Is that how your church leads you to treat people? Is that how you view others who are not as good as you? Be honest with yourself. This is important.

When was the last time you sat down and talked with a dirty, smelly foul mouthed sinner? When was the last time you gave money to help someone in need. Not sterilized giving, where you are twice removed from the wicked. But, actually helping someone? Looking them in the eye as they lie to you, and you love them anyway and give them money without judgement?

Just like Jesus gives to you.

Jesus came to heal us and set people free from the bondage of Satan and Sin.

He died for us, who do not deserve it.

Jesus said “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

That is what following Jesus looks like.

It’s a daily self sacrifice, to live to help others and tell them about Jesus. It’s a daily mission to fulfill what Jesus came to do. Save others, help others, and set them free.

Is that what your church leads you to do? Or do you just sit around singing songs?

There is no song singing crown in glory.

Our worship is based upon what He has done for us, it leads us to want to help others.

Time is drawing short. The Lord is coming.

Listen to the Holy Spirit as he guides you.

“My sheep hear my voice” Jesus said.

He will lead us into all truth and help us to know how to serve and follow. We often hear His voice, then let the devil or fear talk us out of what Jesus is calling us to do. He might want us to do something to help people. Then, we tell others and they talk us out of it, or discourage us.

We are at war. The devil doesn’t want you to follow Jesus. He wants you to sit at church and do nothing. Listen to that still small voice. That urging to help or speak or serve. Learn to hear Him and follow.

We are saved and called to be a part of His mission.

Are you really following Him?

or are you following the pharisees?

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Cover photo by pexels

I Am Legion

 I Am Legion

You are never too far gone. 

 

 

In the books of Luke, Mark, and Matthew we see the story of the Gadarene Demoniac. (Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-39, Matt. 8:28-34)

He had an unclean spirit, which called itself “Legion” because there were many of the demons inhabiting this man.

He lived in the tombs, crying out and running around naked. He attacked people. His family and friends had done everything they could to “Fix” him.

They even tried to hold him down with chains and lock him up, but he broke the chains and nothing could contain this man.

Often the Bible will give us a worst case scenario in order to show us that if God can help this guy with this terrible situation He can help me too.

Many of us have people we know or family members who are totally off the hook. Maybe even you are the one who refuses to live a normal life. Maybe addicted to drugs and alcohol. Maybe you’ve gone off the deep end over some terrible tragedy in your past.

We sometimes open doors into our lives that let demons come in and take root. They give us great ideas that end up in destruction and pain for ourselves and others.

This demoniac seems to be possibly mentally ill, but was he born that way? Did it get worse as he gave himself over to more and more.

Demons have no problem with attacking babies. As children we often do things innocently, which can open doors that lead to a life time of habits or oppression. Things can be done to us, that causes us to open those doors. Consider the serial killer who was abused as a child. Consider the kid who tortures animals.

This guy didn’t care what he looked like. He didn’t care what people thought of him. He didn’t care where he slept. He wanted to do his own thing regardless of what his loved ones thought or tried to get him to do.

He could have been a drunk who refused to live right. Maybe he was like the guy in the prodigal son story. He took his money and went and lived a crazy life, then fell on hard times. (Luke 15:11-32)

But, where the prodigal son heard the call of God and woke up. This guy refused to listen and continued to get worse, and let the demons lead him into even more evil till they had total control.

But even though this guy was really messed up, Jesus came to him.

We see that Jesus took a boat to the other side and all He did there was heal this man, and then He left.

He came for no other purpose but to save this man’s soul and life. He left the others and went for a man who could do nothing to save himself. A man that others feared and even hated. A man full of demons and a background of wickedness.

Then, through a drunken haze, full of crazy thoughts this man saw Jesus and ran to Him. Jesus was his only hope.

And what did Jesus do?

Did He preach a sermon and shame the man?

Did he give a dissertation on the sinful ways of man and sexual immorality?

Did he preach about going to church?

No.

He cast out the demons. He healed the man and saved his soul forever.

You don’t think the man understood what sin was or how sinful he was?

He lived it and saw what it did to him, he didn’t need to be beat down by guilt and shame.

What else did Jesus do?

He allowed the demons to go into the swine as they requested. He showed them mercy as well.

The swine went and drown themselves in the sea rather than have the demons in them. Swine are smarter than humans.

Because of this, the keepers of the swine demanded that Jesus leave their homeland because He had cost them their livelihood.

They cared nothing about the man Jesus had healed and saved.

We often encounter people who care more about money and profit than they do other human beings. They will let people suffer, die and go to hell because it might cost too much.

How many churches have driven out and ruined people who came to them. Because it was too much trouble or too much money to help?

How many churches could open a basement for addiction recovery or visit people in jail, or help poor families down the road? But, instead think that sitting around singing songs is holiness. They rely on traditions of men instead of the Holy Spirit.

What did Jesus tell the demoniac after he was healed?

Did he tell Him, “Go and tell all your friends to quit sinning?”

No.

Jesus told him to go and tell his friends about the good things God had done for him.

Jesus sent him to give his testimony.

To tell others about how Jesus had showed up, and healed him and saved him and gave him his right mind back, and filled him with a purpose and a hope.

Have you told others about the good things God has done for you? have you told people about Jesus and how to be saved?

Jesus said “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.”—Luke 12:8-9

In these last days, we shall over come those demons by the power of our testimony and the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. (Rev. 12:11)

Jesus comes to us and calls us, no matter where we are or how bad. Just ask Him. He will lift us up out of the sewer and set our feet upon the solid Rock of Himself.

Just like He did for the demoniac.

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Cover photo by pexels/Francesco Ungaro

Overcoming The Saints

 Overcoming The Saints

The saints will be overcome.

 

 

The scriptures are clear that the Anti-Christ will make war with the saints and overcome them. (Dan. 7:25, Rev. 13:7)

I want to point out how this is likely to occur and how it is already started. I am not giving a prophecy here. I’m just pointing out some things.

If you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, we will not be in agreement here. I believe the saints will be on Earth till the Lord returns and we will meet Him in the air at that time, as the scriptures teach and as the Apostles believed.

Once you toss out that pre-tribulation rapture false teaching. The Word opens up and you start to see Truth.

Understand that Satan is building his kingdom for the Anti-Christ right now, and has been working on it since he caused Adam and Eve to fall in the Garden. One of his tools, is the spirit of antichrist spoken of in First John. (1 John 4:3)

This spirit along with the fallen angels, demons and unclean spirits have enslaved humanity and used them to build the Luciferian kingdom, seen the image of Daniel chapter two.

When Jesus died and rose He broke their yoke of power in the spirit, and the Saints began spreading the Gospel to get people saved before Jesus Christ’s return.

Satan and his forces have infiltrated every human institution. They use everything to build his demonic kingdom on Earth to prepare for the Anti-Christ to come.

In the mean time, the saints have been disrupting this building and saving souls.

The forces of Satan have worked to corrupt the Church, and divide it and destroy it since it’s inception. But, the people in the Church who are really saved, have continued to serve Christ through all these years. Creating new denominations and new ministries, despite persecution.

Fast forward to today.

The spirit of antichrist has continued to break up churches and denominations over many things, women as pastors, homosexuals as pastors, gay marriage, abortion, politics, social concerns, vaccines, and the treatment of illegal immigrants.

These hot button issues, along with how churches have treated people in general because of false brethren being in leadership has created an atmosphere where there are two separate churches.

The Right wing church and the Left wing church. Currently, both are still united in Christ, because there are many on both sides who still confess Him as Lord.

But, there is great anger between these two sides. Satan has caused it. It is simply a divide and conquer strategy. The people in the various churches have ignored the Word and the Spirit and have let these things divide them and get them to take their eye off Christ’s true mission. Saving souls, and helping people. Love conquers all.

The American culture war has been brought into the Church.

So here we are perched on a cliff.

The scriptures say that the saints will be given over to the Anti-Christ to overcome them. (Rev. 13:7)

This is probably what Paul is talking about when He speaks of the restrainer being removed. (2 Thess. 2)

The Holy Spirit will not be removed in a rapture, but will stop restraining the Anti-Christ. Deception will increase, and the elect saints will only know the truth because they know the Word and listen to the Holy Spirit teaching them (1 John 2:27, Matt. 24:24)

That time has been prepared.

The Trump administration has interpreted laws and executive orders in such a way as to use them to fight against the Communists who seek to destroy America.

If Trump and the Right lose power and the Left comes to power. Those same methods could be used against the Right, and the Church.

By executive order churches who have tax exempt status can be forced to accept things they do not want to accept or lose the exemption. (It should not be hard to imagine what sorts of things churches would be forced to accept or do.)

This will require faith to resist and will destroy many churches financially.

Hate speech and disinformation laws could be enacted to silence preaching and the Gospel or go to jail. It has already been done world wide.

Homeschooling and religious schooling can be shut down, and kids forced to go to schools, colleges and universities where they are brainwashed, to prepare them to accept the Anti-Christ system to come. The indoctrination is already happening.

The hatred toward the Church can be amped up and certain Christian groups could be labeled hate groups or even terrorist organizations; unless the church has a government trained and licensed pastor, and accepts the things forced on them.

This is similar to what they do in China. They have two churches; the government sanctioned churches and the illegal underground church. The government churches have pastors who are licensed and required to report on church members who show signs of being real Christians, or who do not support the government. They will be beaten, jailed and killed. The underground church is hunted.

Along with the rise of the Anti-Christ, will come the False Prophet.

We do not know a lot about this guy, but from what I can tell he will create a religion that will serve everyone. It will incorporate the doctrines of all religions. It will answer questions people never knew. It will be spiritual but also scientifically accurate. But, it will reject Jesus Christ as Lord. Jesus will be taught. But, He won’t be considered Lord. They will believe there have been many christs, and Jesus is one.

People will flock to this religion and many people who have claimed to be Christian will turn to it as well. This could be the great falling away. This will be the Apostate Church.

When the Anti-Christ rises up, there will be large amounts of people in the church who have believed in the Pre-tribulation rapture who will be shocked. The Anti-Christ is not supposed to rise up yet, they will say. But, here he is.

Now, so the false teachers can keep their pride they will come up with some excuse why the rapture hasn’t happened yet. They will claim the Lord has delayed His coming.

Jesus said “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken”—Luke 12:45

These false brethren will turn back to the world, and join the Apostate Church and will join in the persecution of the saints when the Anti-Christ comes.

And the Anti-Christ will allow or sanction persecution of the saints.

As the Lord said “the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” (Matt. 10:21-22)

False brethren will betray the saints. Children brainwashed in government schools will snitch on parents. Fathers will betray kids who hear about Jesus, to cause them to be put to death.

We see cancel culture on the internet all the time. It will get far worse.

The saints will be forced into hiding, like they do in China and other countries.

The United States is the last country where we are free to preach, and spread the Gospel. Satan seeks to destroy that freedom, and stop the Word.

Throughout history Satan and his fallen angels and demons have caused human suffering. They tempt and twisted and lead humans to sin and fall. They have caused or twisted every bad thing in history.

It will get worse as the four horsemen do their work. (Rev. 6)

Now, the Anti-Christ will solve all those problems Satan created. The whole world will run after him. The false prophet will proclaim Him as a god, sent from above to help us, like many christs before.

And the Apostate Church who have joined with the False Prophet’s religion will agree and worship the Anti-Christ, and will receive the Mark. (Rev. 13)

While the Saints are in hiding, being murdered and tortured. Starving and suffering because they reject the Mark and cannot buy or sell anything.

The Mark will probably be connected to ID, Bank Accounts, Medical Records, Criminal Records, and not having the Mark will destroy a person and make them “illegal”.

Consider what happened during Covid when the government demanded people take the vaccine or get fired. Remember, how many businesses and companies agreed globally. That was a test by the Luciferian forces.

Do not be deceived. The time is drawing close.

And the saints will be wore out, and overcome.

I do not say defeated, because we have victory in Christ. Jesus does not allow us to be defeated.

Then, the Lord comes and destroys the False Prophet and Anti-Christ. He sets up His kingdom on Earth.

And this is when the false brethren will come out to meet Him with no oil. (Matt. 25)

They will have buried their gift in a napkin. (Luke 19:12-27)

They will say “Lord Lord, have we not done wonderful works?” and be told to depart because they never knew Him. (Matt. 7:21-23)

They will be sent into darkness, because they refused to help the least of these Christ’s brethren. (Matt. 25)

Probably during the persecution, and because these false brethren never had the Holy Spirit, so never really served Christ at all despite the works they did. They never really confessed Him as Lord.

The time is drawing near.

Turn to the Lord and ask Him to save you. Give yourself to Him fully and trust Him to save you. Not because you obey this rule or do this work, but because He promises to. (Rom. 10:9-10)

Turn to God and ask Him to save you. Confess Jesus is the Lord, and believe God raised Him from the dead. Get baptized. Take communion. Read and study God’s Word. Let the Holy Spirit guide you.

You can see the direction things are going.

Do not be caught on the wrong side of the fence. When the time of deception comes, it will be harder and harder to discern the truth and turn to God.

Eventually the door will be shut, and there will be time no more. Grace and salvation will end. Just like when God shut the door on Noah’s Ark. Just like when the angels shut Lot’s door, and struck those outside blind. (Gen. 7:16, Gen 19:10-11)

There will be a point when the good news of the Gospel is over, and the bad news comes.

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Cover photo by the author.

The Christian And Violence

 The Christian And Violence

 What is the truth?

 

I want to start with the ultimate truth, then talk about the current times, and prophecy.

If you want to know God’s will on any subject you can probably find it in the Garden at Creation.

There was no evil or death present. Nothing killed anything else.

The humans and animals all ate fruits, veggies and nuts. This did not kill anything. They ate the fruits and pooped out the seeds spreading more life.

There was no killing of any kind. There was no violence.

All creatures including humans had all of their needs met. There was no competition. There was no striving to avoid pain and death. There was no disease.

Adam and Eve had a purpose, and walked with God.

So, when you speak of God and political views and how things should be.

The Garden is God’s will.

That is Paradise, which will come again when Christ returns and the city of God is on the Earth.

We see the teachings of Jesus about love, forgiveness, turning the other cheek, loving our enemies and other lessons clearly speaking of non-violence.

We see him being brutally murdered by Satan, through religious, and civil leaders. While He submitted and forgave them, like a lamb.

He forgave and took upon Himself the sins of the world, to save us if we turn to Him. He did not violently destroy them, even though He had twelve legions of angels ready. (Matt. 26:53)

And when we turn to Him and ask Him to save us, He fills us with the Holy Spirit, which starts working to bring out the Fruit of the Spirit in us. This is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22-23)

Not violence. The violence in us is the flesh. Not the Spirit. It’s the old man. Not the new spirit man.

Christians are to love God and others. We are to help others and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Even if that leads to persecution and death.

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”–Psalm 116:15

Because when we die knowing Him and serving Him, we go home to Paradise to be with Him.

We die for God’s purpose and we die for others.

We die to ourselves and live for Him.

This is a fact. This is spiritual reality.

BUT…

Because of the Fall, we live in a world filled with evil, death, darkness and ruled by the enemy; Satan. We are surrounded by corruption, murder, robbery and all forms of evil wickedness constantly. People doing the most heinous things, being guided by demons and their own sinful nature. Even the saints are striving with demons who whisper to the flesh.

It’s every where.

Jesus prayed “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”– John 17:15

We are in this evil world, but we are protected from the evil corrupting our souls as well, if we know Him.

We confess our sins to Him and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness –1 John 1:8-10

He washes our feet as we walk in this filthy world.

He has given us the Law to show us we are sinners and need Him, but also to help us have order in this world ruled by evil.

In the Law and in the Old Testament we see plainly that because of the Fall; because we are surrounded by evil, in a world ruled by Satan. There are times when violence is required and allowed, lest the evil take over.

Of course, violence does not have to be killing.

There is all kinds of violence that can occur short of killing.

The Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill” it does not say, “Thou shalt not beat severely”

Just to clarify.

As believers we should not want violence. The Holy Spirit guides our heart toward peace. love and mercy.

But, there are various levels of violence.

According to scripture, we are allowed to kill humans and animals, for the following reasons.

War, Capital Punishment, Self-Defense, Defense Of Others, Defense of the Nation, Sacrifice (animals), and Procuring Food and Survival Needs (animals).

You will find that all reasons fit within these categories.

All of these are to be done truthfully, prayerfully and with righteous judgement.

We are not supposed to want to just go out and kill for no proper reason. To get land, or trophies or money. To exterminate whole groups. For hatred or revenge, or sinful reasons.

If we are saints our hearts are to be turned towards God and what His will is.

It’s hard.

Sometimes we show mercy.

But sometimes we must destroy evil, without letting the evil consume us.

The New Testament speaks of the ruler bearing the sword for the evil doer. (Rom. 13:1-8)

God set up government for the purpose of making things safe and good, so the saints can live in the spirit in this evil world.

God is our ruler, not humans.

God does not condone sin and corruption in government any more than He does in the individual. It needs to be dealt with.

There are those who think evil is fine, if it comes under the guise of government authority. That is not the case.

We are called to serve God. We are called to answer to Him.

Government is to be a servant of God, and should be doing right, and it is our responsibility to make sure it does.

But do we do it violently?

We are to use every means we can to change things without killing people.

It’s that simple.

But there is a time for everything. There is a time for war. There is a time to kill. There is also a time to heal, and a time for peace. We have seen these times, where war is needed to stop evil and to bring those responsible to justice. (Ecc. 3:1-8)

It’s up to God, when those times are.

We know His voice. If we know Him. He let’s us know.

He raises up people, for such a time as this.

The saint must understand that this world is being pushed by the spirit of antichrist and the forces of Satan, toward the building of the Kingdom of the Anti-Christ to come.

It is being prepared.

According to God’s Word, the saints will be defeated, and we will face persecution like nothing ever seen before. (Rev. 13:7, Dan. 7:25, Luke 21, Matt. 24, Rev. 6:9, Rev. 20:4 )

“Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.”—Psalm 44:22

“And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”— Dan.7:25

God allows it.

There will be people who have been in church claiming to be Christians, who actually never knew Jesus and will become the Apostate Church following the False Prophet; who will lead them into worshiping the Anti-Christ.

Those false brethren will betray the saints.

Their leaders at church will sell them out.

Their own children probably brainwashed in schools, colleges and universities, will turn their parents in to be jailed and killed.

And the Anti-Christ will wear out the saints and make war against them and kill them. (Rev. 13:7)

The saints waging war with violence will not matter, it will compound to more violence. It will add to the defeat of the saints. (Rev. 13:10)

We will see the enemy destroyed when Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom on Earth. Justice will come. (Rev. 14)

All of this is the doctrine of spiritual warfare. It is the truth from God’s Word, about the saints and violence.

“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;”— 2 Cor. 10:4

God’s Word teaches us how to wage war. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to wage war.

We overcome the enemy by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, and not loving our lives more than Jesus. (Rev. 12:11)

Our purpose is to Love God, Love others and to tell them what great things God has done for us.

We are saved. We are forgiven and called to protect the least of these and call them to Christ. (Matt. 25)

Get to work.

The time draws near.

Jesus is coming.

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Cover by pexels

Fear Not

 

Fear Not

God is with us 

 

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” –Luke 12:32

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”— 2 Tim. 1:7

“So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”— Heb. 13:6

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”— 1 John 4:18

“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”— Rev. 2:10

When we read these verses we can see that we are not supposed to fear anything. God is with us.

If we believe that God is right beside us, and even in us through His Holy Spirit, then why do we have fear? Our God is bigger than anything in this world, and anything the devil can throw at us.

These verses above indicate that there is a spirit of fear. A demonic entity which harasses us. It says in First John that we are tormented by fear.

Therefore battling fear is Spiritual Warfare. It’s something we can overcome.

The first thing needs to be faith and trust in God, His goodness and His Word.

Nothing else matters.

I harp on this idea of a relationship with God. When we know Him, we know where to turn. We can trust Him. Even when everything around us is terrible and we are in our darkest days we can trust Him. Even though the devil tries to get us to turn from God, and curse God, and doubt Him. We can trust Him. And that is power. For in our weakness we are strong when we turn to Him.

 God is not against us. It is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. He is for us.

Say it out loud. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

“God is with me! He wants to give me the kingdom, He is not out to get me. He is my helper, I will not fear.”

Believe it.

We can overcome fear in His Power, His Love and His Wisdom.

We can pray and know He hears. He promises that if we ask anything in His name He will do it. —John 14:14

No doubts. Trust Him. He hears and is moving.

Fear be gone! God is with me!

Love casts out fear. Confront the fear in love.

Do the loving thing.

When faced with fear, love others. Do unto others as you would have done to you. Loving others takes your mind off of self, and onto other people. Use the fear to fuel love. Overcome evil with good.

Remember that God loves you. If we are saved, then we are perfect in God’s Love. Remember this. He loves through us. Let Him love you and love others through you.

The devil threw some of them into prison. They were told to fear not. So, what did they do? How did they overcome fear?

They loved. They prayed for the guards and other inmates. They preached the Gospel and spoke faith to the other prisoners. They comforted the sick in prison. They helped each other. They loved, in the midst of fear and hate, and temptations for anger. They turned prison into purpose. That is how you cast out fear.

Love casts out fear.

Praise God. Loving Him and praising Him casts out fear. You cannot hold fear in your mind, while praising God at the same time.

We also overcome fear through a sound mind. We have a sound mind by knowing God’s Word. By seeking Him for wisdom and understanding and truth. By having faith in His Word. By prayer and His guidance.

We can look at how God has brought us through things in the past, and trust that He will again. We can go and seek out the truth. Study, ask, learn, seek answers. Fear thrives in the unknown.

We can ask ourselves, “What is the worst case scenario? Has God let the worst things happen to me? What if He does? He will be with me through it.”

Overcome and drive out fear through Power, Love and a Sound mind. We can drive it out through Him, and His Word, and Faith in Him and His Word. We trust that He is good and He is with us.

 Spirit of Fear be gone in Jesus name.

Say it out loud. Cast the spirit out.

Remember times when God was with you and saw you through. Trust Him.

Dark times are coming, according to prophecy.

We need to be able to wage spiritual warfare and cast out fear.

Remember during Covid, when the virus was everywhere and fear was running with it? Remember when the vaccine came out and they were forcing people to take it or lose their jobs?

That was a picture of what is coming.

They will say, take the Mark of the Beast or lose your job.

When you see saints being rounded up, and your own pastors turning you in for refusing to bow to the Anti-Christ.

Fear not.

Love not your life unto death. —Rev. 12:11

Fear keeps us down, and keeps us from acting in faith.

Drive out the fear, in Jesus name.

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Cover photo by pexels 

What Is Death?

 What Is Death?

It's important to know.

 

 

Death on its most basic level means separation.

It is not an end, as some suppose.

The Bible teaches that we are triune, like God. We are made in His image.

We have a body, a soul and a spirit.

When God created everything He created it good. Evil was contained elsewhere, and there was no death. Everything ate plants. Fruits, veggies and nuts.

We were created to live forever.

God loves us and wants us to love Him freely, so He gave us free will and a choice.

Adam was given dominion of the Earth to take care of it. He was free to eat of anything he wanted except for the tree in the midst of the Garden.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”—Gen 2:17

We do not know how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden together. But, Satan came and got them to do the one thing they were not supposed to do. Eat of that tree.

The moment they ate it, something happened.

“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”— Gen. 3:7

Their eyes were opened.

They were previously living in innocence like little kids, running around the woods naked. But, when they ate it they became aware of both good and evil. They previously only knew good. Now evil came flooding upon them, and into them. Their innocent nature became corrupted. They tried to fix the problem themselves, but only God can fix it.

This is where our corrupted nature comes from. That thing inside of us that leads us to commit sin and causes us to be unclean, and in league with Satan.

Now, notice Adam and Eve did not die.

This shows us that they died spiritually. Their spirits died. That living soul, that God breathed into them; left them. (Gen.2:7)

But we also know that Adam lived 900 years before he died in the flesh. That is one day for God. (2 Peter 3:8)

Because Adam had dominion he was in charge, and his failure opened the door for evil to flood into him and all humans after him. It also caused death to come into this world, and upon everything in this world. The entire creation groans waiting for this to end. (Romans 8:16-25)

Since he chose to follow Satan instead of God, the dominion was handed over to Satan, who has become the god of the world. (2 Cor. 4:4)

This is why death came. It is a separation. We are separated from our loved ones and from God, by spiritual death, physical death and eternal death.

God is a holy God. Paradise is a good, holy place. The corruption that plagues humans cannot be allowed to enter heaven. It cannot be allowed to enter eternity, or else the eternal will become ruined the same as this world. Imagine an eternity full of the suffering we have in this world.

God destroyed the Earth with a Flood, to wash away the evil. But, it rose back up. He knew it would. Now, the world waits to be purged with fire and burned up, before God creates a new heaven and earth. (2 Peter 2:3)

God Himself, in the form of Jesus Christ came to Earth and died on the cross to restore that which was lost. (Matt. 18:11)

When a person hears Gods call and turns to Him, confessing Jesus is the Lord, they are saved. They are filled with the Holy Spirit and they are brought from death (separation) unto life. Their spirit comes alive again.

Like Adam, when we commit our first sin, our spirit dies within us. Until it is resurrected into new life in Christ.

Understand that our spiritual separation makes us blind toward God. But, He still sees us clearly. There is no where we can hide from God.

When we die physically we become separated from this world and our loved ones. If we are saved and washed in the Blood of Jesus we are clean from the evil that plagues us and we go to be with the Lord in Paradise. (Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 5:1-8)

BUT…

If we die physically and are not washed in the Blood. We are full of the corruption which plagues all humanity. We cannot go to Paradise to be with the Lord, because we are plagued. Evil is like a plague that spreads. Our sins are a symptom of this plague. We sin because of what is in us. We are plagued and unclean. (Rom 7:7-25)

So, we have to go to Hell and eventually The Lake of Fire, where Satan and His Angels, Demons and Unclean spirits will be. It is a place of containment. It is a garbage dump for all things evil and foul and unclean.

It is eternal death. Or eternal separation. A quarantine.

All humans are raised from the dead and given new bodies. But, some go to live forever in Paradise, while others go to live forever separated in Hell/Lake of Fire. The second death. The second separation. (John 5:28-29, Rev. 20:5=6, Rev. 20:12-13)

We often look at this subject in legal terms. Laws, Sin, Judges, Punishment. These are the terms used for Satan and his rebellion. For all those who knowingly reject God.

But, the reality is that God loves us and seeks to save us from a plague that corrupts us and keeps us from knowing Him.

Jesus did not come preaching law. He came healing people. Healing the blind and setting people free from Satan and his demons.

That is what God is doing.

He is saving us, setting us free and opening our eyes, if we turn to Him.

Death for the saint is not separation. It is a homecoming.

We once were blind, but now we see. We were once dead, but now we live eternally.

When we give ourselves to God, He saves us and holds us forever. We are washed in the Blood, forever clean and able to enter His presence.

When Jesus died, the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51)

God Himself ripped that wall of separation apart so He could bring his kids home.

And when He returns, He will restore what was lost, and defeat death. (Rev. 21:4)

And we will be with the Lord forever.

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Cover photo by pexels/Pixabay

Matthew 25 Church

 Matthew 25 Church

Are we prepared for His return? 

 

 

Matthew Chapter 25 is a chapter in the New Testament that describes what will happen when Christ returns. It states that He will separate the sheep from the goats. It appears that this judgment is not the Great White Throne judgment, where the lost are judged. This judgment is the judgment of the nations. It seems to be a judgment of people who assume they are right with Christ. The sheep enter into the kingdom, and the goats go into fire. There are many verses that speak of this judgment.

      

The criteria in this judgment will be based upon how people have treated others. It will be based upon their charity, or love in action. In the Chapter Jesus says “ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” --- (Matt 25:40)
      

He takes it personally. Now we can say all kinds of things about Matthew 25. First, we can say that we are saved by grace, not by works. Our salvation is not based upon what we do, but upon what Christ did for us, and because we know Him, and He knows us.
      

This is true. But, it’s also true, that if we know Him, and He knows us, we will do the things He calls us to do. Not saying we won’t fail, or sin, but we will have an abiding desire to help and love others, which leads to action. This is the Fruit of The Spirit that grows in us. This is our warfare, our duty. It becomes who we are; if we are really saved.


If you'll notice the goats in Matthew 25, never knew Him. They were not really born again, or saved. This can be seen in other verses where Jesus tells us that many religious people will think they are saved, but are not. It’s not about works, it’s about being washed in the Blood, confessing Him as Lord, and letting the Spirit work in you and through you to teach, and tell others about Jesus. Saving people for eternity is the goal of everything we do.
      

There are justifications that people will give based upon the wording of Matthew 25 above. Some will claim that since it says “My brethren.” Jesus is talking about the Jewish people, and that this is a judgment against people or nations who have mistreated Israel.  Another view could be that it’s referring to Christians, because we are grafted into Israel, and become His brethren, and we are also His spiritual brothers. This justification attempts to leave out the gentile or the unbeliever as someone we do not need to show charity to. It’s an attempt to create a loop hole. But, all of scripture works against this concept. We are to show charity to those around us, even our enemies.
      

Another justification is that this is a judgment of nations not individuals. But, the actions of nations are made up of the actions of individuals. We can see this when God is talking to Abraham about Sodom. Abraham says, “Will you destroy it if there are 10 righteous?”  (Gen. 18:16-33)   There were not any righteous in the city, righteousness comes by believing God. Not believing in God, but believing what He has told us. Turning to Him, and confessing Jesus as the Lord, trusting Him. (Rom. 4:1-12) No one in that city, except for Lot put their faith in God. But, this shows that the Faith of individuals can save or affect nations. If only 10 righteous people existed, God would have spared all of them. The actions of individuals matter.
      

Some will claim that this judgment is describing how God will treat the Nations who do not support the nation of Israel, during the tribulation period, or the time of Jacobs’s trouble. We are called to support the nation of Israel and are blessed for doing so, but as shown above, this verse has more meaning than that.
      

But, let’s assume that every justification that is given by people who do not want to hear the truth of this verse is true. It still doesn’t change the fact that we are to love our neighbor, and that God is serious about it. Those who do not, regardless of how you justify or explain it will be thrown into the Lake of Fire with the Devil and his angels; because, that is who they have followed. Satan. Now, do not get me wrong. I am not making a political statement here. I’m not claiming that our nation needs to adopt certain socialistic or globalist ideologies. Or that churches need to adopt a social gospel. Those things are from the spirit of antichrist, in order to build the Kingdom of the Anti-Christ.
      

What I am referring to is that individuals and churches need to make a serious effort to change the foundation of church activity from entertaining music and constant milk filled teaching, to one of charity. The seriousness of Matthew 25 warrants that. Of course, we need to worship and teach, but charity and evangelism should be the basis for everything. Matthew 25 does not say that Jesus sends the goats into the Lake of Fire because they didn’t sing the right songs, or raise their hands high enough, or go to church to listen to sermons. Churches and individuals have placed too high of an importance on music instead of on charity. It needs to be flipped.
     

 God tells Israel, ^“ I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”--- (Amos 5:21-24)
     

 If we are not doing what God wants us to do, then He does not want to hear our worship. Our worship of Him comes through our service to Him and others, not by standing in a building singing songs. That is not real worship. We worship Him with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him. (Isa. 29:13, Matt. 15:18, Mark 7:6)
      

God does not want us sitting in churches singing praises to Him while there are people down the street in need who are going to hell. He doesn’t care about our gatherings, while families are breaking up and cannot afford the basic needs of life in this culture. How about instead of building mega churches, we build mega homeless shelters, or free colleges, or mega job centers. We complain about the cost of government public aid, but public aid exists because the church is not doing its job. The poor is not going to go away just because we refuse to help them, because we think they sin too much. Jesus says in Matthew, that in the last days, “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matt. 24:12)  Do not let your love for others grow cold. How many times have you failed God? How many times have you promised to do better? Has God given up on you? Quit worrying about someone taking advantage of you. How many times have you ripped off God? Can you ever pay Him back for what He has given you?
      

God lets the sun shine on the just and the unjust, we are to do the same. When Jesus returns he will judge. There will be people in that judgment who think they are saved but are unwashed, they have no garment, they have no talents to give the King, and they have no oil. You can twist or justify yourself all you want to, but these verses are clear. There will be those who think they are saved, but are not. Jesus said that Love fulfills God’s law. If you’re saved, charity will flow from you.
      

So, what does a Matthew 25 church look like? Well, a group of people would get together to form a church and that church will be based upon helping Christians and those in the community. They will be built around food pantries, homeless shelters, clothes closets, helping repair people’s houses, disaster relief, classes to teach basic living, visiting and praying for the sick, helping people pay bills, fundraising for causes, providing places to gather instead of bars, helping families, and on and on. Any sort of charitable ministry you can imagine. That would be the church; it’s all about charity and service, for the purpose of showing God’s love and telling people about Jesus so they will be saved. We must always remember that the purpose of it is salvation. We do not want our charity work to become like so many other Christian charity groups that have turned away from teaching the Gospel, while helping the others.
      

But, what about worship? We would worship before we go work in our ministry, before we open the food pantry, before we go visit the sick. We will have a praise service when we come back from the jails and the streets after preaching. We will sing praises outside the courthouses, and the statehouses as we call for national repentance, and for these governmental entities to turn to God’s Law. That’s how and when we worship. What if instead of putting the 10 commandments on the court house lawn, maybe we should stand there and sing praises, while preaching the Gospel?
      

What about teaching? We will have classes or sermons that teach believers how to wage spiritual war, and serve God, and others. We will have preachers who are famous for the amount of families they have helped rise up from poverty, instead of the number of watered down books they have sold. They will be famous for leading people to Christ, instead of for inventing some new doctrine that scratches peoples itching ears. On Sunday morning, they will be praised for the number of believers who follow them out into the community to help people and preach the Gospel, instead of for the number of goats falling asleep in the church pews.
      

Christ is returning. The church needs to judge itself, that we be not judged with the world (1 Cor. 11:31-32) we are saved by Grace, but we need to step up. God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are His. (Rom. 8:16)  How does that happen? When we are stepping out to follow and serve Him, He shows us that we are His, because our flesh would never have done the things we are now doing, and He is there feeding us, and growing us, and giving us more of Himself. Listen to His Spirit, as he leads you to go do things for the Kingdom. Trust Him. 

When we sit and do nothing for the Kingdom, we start to wonder and doubt. We become spiritually starved. Like Paul said, "If they will not work, neither shall they eat." We grow in Christ and faith by going out and serving and trusting Him.

Take up the Cross and follow Him. Do everything in His name.

Let Us Be Content

 Let Us Be Content

 Always more. More, More, More.

 

 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”— Heb. 13:5-6

We live in a world that constantly seeks to get us to spend more, buy more, have more, get better, more, more, more.

We are pushed to accumulate more and more debt.

It’s the culture of More

We feel like responsible people because we pay our debts (maybe), but we do not see the trap we are in.

Paul tells Timothy,

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.

 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”—1 Tim. 6:6-12

Godliness, is to treat people in the same way you would want God to treat you. Think about that for a moment. We get saved and the Holy Spirit grows us, and shows us how to treat others, by how God has treated us.

This helps grow our contentment as we learn to trust God and love others.

The Devil uses this world and our fleshly natures to get us to covet and lust over the things of this world. Things we cannot take with us. Things that rot and rust and require payments, and maintenance.

Things that require us to sell ourselves into slavery to maintain.

Things we don’t even really own. The bank, insurance companies and the government really own it.

We pay for houses we barely see because we are working all the time to pay for it.

These are some of the miseries Paul warns Timothy of.

Our mind becomes focused on Mammon instead of God. We cannot serve two masters. Who are we really serving? Do we plan to serve God when we retire?

Understand that the love of money is the ROOT of all evil.

What does a plants roots do? It feeds the plant.

Likewise, we develop a love of money, in order to pay for our lusts and greed. We might claim we don’t love money. But, let’s be honest.

We know that more money would solve our problems. But, when we look at the verse from Hebrews above, we see that God will never leave us nor forsake us. He is the solution to our troubles, not more money.

It’s a trap.

Consider an addict. He gets high and loves it. Then, he wants more. So, he seeks more.

And he finds more and more.

Now, he cannot help but have more. He is hooked.

He makes excuses, like it helps him do better work. It helps him deal with things.

Eventually, he finds himself willing to do evil things for the addiction.

He or she might say, “It’s just business.” or “It’s part of the job” or “It’s what the boss wants.”

Do we do the same thing with our jobs, and money? Are we willing to do bad things to keep our job or business running? Do we love money or God?

The fact is that we live in a country and world that requires us to have money to survive. God knows this.

God knows that we need money to provide for our families.

God knows that we live in a culture that requires certain things or you will be treated like a bum or even have legal issues.

If you don’t have a home and the basic things, you could have your children taken and charged with a crime.

If you don’t have a license or car, you can’t work in many places.

If you do not have a phone or computer access and internet you cannot even look for a job.

If you don’t have tools or clothes you can’t work.

There is nothing I have found in scripture that calls us to poverty. God, will take care of us and we are to be content with His provision. Not looking at the neighbors new car, or pontoon boat. Not looking at the giant house we don’t need.

As saints, we dial back those desires and focus on other things. We build up treasures in heaven by giving and helping others instead of accumulating things we can’t take with us when we die.

When we let God provide and be content, we will see Him move to help us when we are in need and our faith will grow.

When we are content it provides peace and time, that we can devote to other things.

Imagine being content and living within your means as a young person.

When you get older you have everything paid off, and have time to live life. You can spend time with the kids and grand kids, without trying to get time off from a job you have slaved away at for decades now to pay your debts.

Being content grows wealth over time, it also saves your kids from trouble when you pass.

Being content is freedom.

No one can use the things of this world against you, because it doesn’t matter to you. You know God will provide and you’ll be like Paul,

“I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”—Phil. 4:11

This is not a condemnation of wealth. I know wealthy people who are content. They have not always been rich, but they made some good choices, and avoided some pitfalls. Now they have wealth. They live godly and are content. They serve God and help people.

Honestly, when you are poor, you can barely do squat. The scriptures do not call us to be in poverty but to be poor in spirit and content.

God is with us and will take care of us and bless us. It’s a fact. Follow His Spirit.

The Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head. He trusted God’s provision completely. (Matt. 8:20)

This world is not our home. Our home is in Paradise with Christ. We brought nothing in to this world and we can take nothing with us, except people and the treasures we accumulate through His Spirit. (Matt. 6 :19-21)

When these last days get worse, there will be economic collapses and destruction. (James 5:1-8, Rev. 6:5-6, Rev. Chap 18)

Trusting the Lord, faith and contentment will help get you through these times. God will take care of you.

When the Mark of the Beast comes, there will be a choice people will have to make. Take the Mark to keep my job? Keep my home? Keep my life?

Consider this. If you cannot practice self control in the good times, how can you in the bad? If you cannot resist more and more debt. Or more and more things. How are you going to resist the temptation to deny Christ and get the Mark?

The Anti-Christ might promise to pay your debts and student loans, if you just get the Mark. He might create a new economic system that solves all kinds of problems, if you just get the Mark.

Learn to have self-control and resist the culture of More. Success does not mean more stuff. Ambition does not mean more debt. You can do more and still be content.

Contentment in all things will serve you greatly in tough times.

The Lord is with us and will protect us. We can trust Him.

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Cover photo by Pexels

As If By Fire

 As If By Fire

Will you have rewards? 

 

 

 

“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”—1 Cor. 3:13-15 (Chapter 3)

When God saves us. He saves us forever. I do not believe we can lose our salvation, and the scriptures do not teach that, despite any man made argument to the contrary.

If you know Him. If you are His. If you have turned to Him and asked Him to save you and confessed Him as your Lord. Then, He will not cast you away. He chastens us. He grows us. He breaks us and molds us. He refines us.

He does not cast us aside, because we broke one too many rules. Even if we reject Him. Still He is faithful and continues to keep His Word and do His work. (Romans 8:37-39. 1 Thess. 5: 20-24, 2 Thess. 3:3)

If we really know Him. If we have really given ourselves to Him. If we really confess Him as Lord. He accepts us and saves us forever. (Romans 10:9-10)

He saves us and starts working in us and through us. The law and any other rule becomes a guide for growth and confession. We are washed. We are clean. But, sometimes our feet get dirty in this world. The laws help us to know what to clean and pray about for growth and healing. The Law shows us our sin, and we know what to confess to the Lord.

As we live in Christ, we are to be Spirit led. We are to turn to the Lord (repent) and let Him save us and grow us. We are to acknowledge Him in ALL our ways and He shall direct our paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6, Romans chapter 8)

This means that we are to listen to His Spirit, and when we do this He works in us and through us. So, our work and our life, and our following Him; is done by His power, not ours. It’s Him doing it, not us. If we allow it.

Our works of righteousness are as filthy rags. (Isa. Chapter 64, Romans Chapter 1)

We cannot please Him in our own flesh. We are fallen. We have a corrupted nature. Even when we are saved, we still fail and sin. We cannot please Him in our own obedience or desire. No matter how great it is. If He didn’t do it, or call for it, or lead us in it. Then, it’s flesh. It’s hay, wheat and stubble. You can build a million orphanages and ministries but if He’s not in it or led you to do it, then it’s nothing.

When He returns, all of our work and all of our life will be tried in the all consuming fire of who He is. (Hebrews Chapter 12, Deut. 4:24, Deut 9:3, Matthew Chapter 25, 2 Peter Chapter 3)

Like in the days of Noah, the water fell and broke up from below swallowing the world and destroying it. Only 8 souls saved on the Ark.

Likewise, when He returns the Earth will be burned up in fire, and those in Christ will be saved as if by fire, receiving the rewards. He shall judge the quick (saved, living) and the dead (unsaved) at His appearing. (2 Tim. 4:1)

All that will remain will be that which can survive the fire. Gold, silver, and precious stones through God’s work in us.

But, all flesh. All hay, wheat and stubble will be burned up. Those things that were not from God, by God or commanded by God, will perish. All things not of your relationship with God. Burned.

We will be left with what God has done. Not what we did in our flesh. No matter how good. No matter how much we obey the Bible in our flesh.

Did we know Him and follow His Spirit? Did we abide? (John Chapter 15)

But, we ourselves shall be saved as if by fire. Only having the things God has done. And we shall cast them at His feet. Because He has done it all, not us. (1 Cor 3:10-15, 1 Cor Chapter 3, Rev. 4:10-11,)

He is worthy.

And there shall be a new Heaven and new Earth, where He dwells with us. A new Creation where there is no death, corruption, curse or sin.(Isa 66:22-24, Isa Chapter 66, Isa Chapter 65, 2 Peter Chapter 3, Rev. Chapter 21)

Now, several points need to be made. There seems to be different judgements. The Judgement of the Believers which is where our rewards are decided. The Great White Throne judgement, which refers to the lost, and the judgement of nations. We do not know exactly how these things will happen and when or in what order.

When He comes there will be Judgement. When He comes there will be rewards. We know there will be a fire judgement. We know there will be a millennium, and a thousand year kingdom. But, exactly how this works we are not told. (2 Peter 3)

But, if you are a believer then we are called to serve the Kingdom. We are called to abide in Him and endure the attacks of the enemy.

When Jesus returns, our works as saints will be judged. And the work that God has done in us and through us will remain as a reward.

But, Paul warns us that if we are saved and we have done nothing. If we have not let the Holy Spirit work in us, on us and through us. If we have lived as Carnal Christians. We will face that fire, and will have nothing to show for it. God, will keep His Word and save you. But, you will go into eternity with nothing. Like a man who ran out of his burning house naked in the middle of the night. Everything burned up.

You never stored treasures in heaven. You stored them all on Earth, and when its burned. It’s burned.

But, you yourself will be saved as if by fire.

Smelling of smoke. By the skin of your teeth, so to speak.

God keeps His Word.

Learn to listen to His voice and serve the Kingdom. There is no better place to be, than with Him.

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