Heaven Coach

Life and the way you live it is exceedingly more serious than people think. You do not want to be one who says, “I Did Not See That Coming.”

Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5.1-11

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.
2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.
6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.
7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
8 And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?”
She said, “Yes, for so much.”
9 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.
11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

If you read the pages at this site you will see that the scriptures teach God’s hatred of liars, of deceivers and especially if done in a religious context. It might appear to you in reading this page that the reason for people saying, “I Did Not See That Coming” is God’s anger and His hatred. As you often hear, God loves the sinner, but hates the sin and in a sense this is true. God certainly hates sin (transgression against His laws) and certainly wants the sinner to be reconciled. However, if you fail to receive the gift of God through obedience and maintain it by continued obedience you will suffer eternal loss. This is where God loving the sinner is sometimes interpreted to mean God will look past sins – but of course, He will not. Let me take a small sidebar and point out God’s hatred and then the obvious conclusion.

Proverbs 6.16-19

16 These six things the Lord hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.

The obvious conclusion which was eluded to above is that God’s hatred is focused on liars, false witnesses and the reason should be just as obvious. Namely, people need the truth in order to be reconciled. The terms above such as:
> “A lying tongue”
> “A heart that devises wicked plans”
> “A false witness who speaks lies”
> “Sows discord among brethren”
> Even “Feet that are swift in running to evil” could mean hurrying to carry a rumor, propagating something that is not true, anxious to carry some “word” that hurts others

So, what does God hate? God hates lies and liars. If we look a little deeper, God emphasizes the damage done by those who teach falsely regarding scriptural matters. Adding to or taking away from God’s word, changing the gospel of Christ are highly condemned.

Those who stand before people and claim to teach the truth, but indeed are deceiving people are an abomination to God. Here we have Ananias and Sapphira who are in the local church in Jerusalem and they lie about their giving. This is a disgrace to the church His Son died to establish. There was swift justice.

See What Is Coming

In all the examples on this page God is providing important information about His nature. These examples emphasize the shocking experience many people will face that will cause them to claim, “I did not see that coming.” Heaven coach wants to help you avoid this tragedy. There is a very clear pattern in scripture regarding spiritual things and unless you understand and obey God you will not see what is coming. A central element of the test God has devised is related to believing God as opposed to believing, trusting in YOUR way or the way of other persons. If you fail to see what God has delivered to mankind in terms of truth, you will be surprised, amazed and as the title of this page indicates, “I did not see that coming.” Just as certain, the surprise will be personally devastating. You failed in life and now face the horrific eternal consequences. One of those consequences is that you missed out on the most wonderful, beyond your current comprehension eternity. An associated consequence will be an eternal existence where you will understand that your pride kept you from the truth. This will be additionally agonizing because the truth was easily understood and you avoided it because of attitude.
In the bible, you have example after example of God’s actions that are not what people expected. Moses obeyed God and fled Egypt only to come up against the Red Sea where the pursuing Egyptian army would trap the Israelites – there was no way out. Neither Moses or the Israelite’s knew what was about to happen, but Moses knew God would deliver Israel – somehow. The events that followed were shocking and deadly for the Egyptians and amazing to Moses.
Noah listened to God and built the ark exactly as God requested. Noah and his family would escape the flood, but the rest of the world (who were the reason for God’s anger) “did not see the pending devastation.” They are just another group of people who can say, “I did not see that coming.”

Today, Few Are Close To The Truth
Like The Days of Noah

Perhaps the most significant thing that many will not see coming is their existence after death. Again, how do you know about the next life? The scriptures reveal your nature is different than any other component of God’s creation. You have been uniquely created in God’s image and one of those characteristics is your spiritual being. You will exist past the time your body ceases to exist. People like Carl Sagan will say, “I did not see that coming.” Carl Sagan and millions of others should have realized that they could not answer questions of a spiritual nature. By assuming there was no spiritual nature, they gave answers based on what they observed physically along with some guesses, many assumptions. However, if they thought without prejudice they should have seen something was missing. There was something beyond the physical – there had to be! They could not explain why ANYTHING EXISTS so here come the theories. Einstein knew there was something else, he called it the “cosmic intelligence.” He believed, really hoped the “cosmic intelligence” was not a moral judge.

Today, most of the world does not see the end coming or the nature or meaning of the end of the world. Very few know the truth about the end of the world, but you can know because God has revealed a great deal. As usual men have made a mess of God’s word in relation to the end of the world. Providing the truth on this subject is quite easy, but refuting all the man-made nonsense takes a lot longer. I suspect there will never be a “louder” cry of, “I Did Not See That Coming” than there will be when God brings an end to the world. There will be no rapture as taught by many Protestant groups or will there be a Purgatory conceived by Catholics or the “Eastern religious” idea of reincarnation. You face exactly the judgment defined in scripture and you can know that NOW and act accordingly and consequently avoid the shock and terror.

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve never saw their failure coming, but it happened. They were given instructions, but fell easy prey to Satan, well actually to their own desires to be great like God. All they had to do was keep the commands of God and the loss could have been avoided. Just this one restriction was given in Genesis 2.

Genesis 2.16,17

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Humankind is very susceptible to greed, pride, covetousness and every person would transgress God’s law and thus be a sinner. Adam and Eve were the first to sin. You can study this event and learn God’s purpose by reading, “Adam, Eve, the Devil and the Purpose of Life.”

Saul of Taurus – The Apostle Paul

Paul in his persecution of Christians never thought he was wrong, but was ferocious in his pursuit of Christians. Certainly, he could say, “I did not see that coming” when Jesus knocked him to the ground with a light from heaven – blinding him.

Acts 9.1-6

1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

People like David, Moses and Saul(Paul) all responded well to the transgressions they committed against God. David had a long list of serious errors but faced up to them and accepted the blame. Moses summoned up courage to speak and lacked patience in receiving what God promised and became angry, but never abandoned God. Saul immediately responds to Jesus, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” God knows the heart of people and makes no mistakes and thus when He moves swiftly in condemning a person, He is perfectly correct.
Cain, Pharaoh and many others responded to God’s admonition with resentment. Today, the world resents the bible because of its admonitions, its rules. The vast majority of those who carry bibles typically are just as confused about the truth as those they attempt to teach. These modern day Christians do not have a deep, sincere love of the truth, but a strong love of what they already believe.

Nadab and Abihu

Nadab and Abihu fall into a category like Ananias and Sapphira, like Cain, like Uzzah, and like others where people criticize God for being too harsh and not being more patient/more tolerant, and not more enabling, not more loving and in the end these people will all say, “I did not see this coming” in reference to their failure in life. As Romans 15.4 says:

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.

In other words if you are wise you can learn from the examples God has provided.

So let us learn about the failure of Nadab and Abihu, so we may better understand God and not make the same mistake.

Leviticus 10.1-3

1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.
2 So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
3 And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying:
‘By those who come near Me
I must be regarded as holy;
And before all the people
I must be glorified.’”
So Aaron held his peace.

The profane fire or strange fire or perhaps it is best understood as the “unauthorized fire” was a decision made by Nadab and Abihu and represents a willful disregard for the instructions from God. God is demonstrating the seriousness of worship. Worship cannot be valid if it is done YOUR WAY, the essence of worship is honoring God by doing everything HIS WAY. Worship is not going to a specific building, bowing your head, kneeling, listening to others talk, having fellowship with others or any other thing but it is obeying God. It is as God says, “If you love Me keep my commandments.”

Humankind has better ways to worship and of course it makes perfect sense to others. All that is lost is the value of worship – it is mo longer worship. So, today when you see what goes on in the thousands of worship ceremonies, all the humanistic ideas you observe are something totally abominable and perverse to God. God will not strike you down as He did Nadab and Abihu because that was an example for you of the seriousness of worshiping God’s way – 1 Corinthians 10.11.
The scriptures simply indicate that, “those that worship God must do so in Spirit and Truth.” That worship is defined in the New Testament and was delivered to the apostles by God’s Holy Spirit, just as Jesus told them, “the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth.”

Uzzah

Here is a story that few understand, but has tremendous value for each person who wants the truth about life. As mentioned above people struggle with God’s severity because of incidents like the one here in 2 Samuel with Uzzah. The great lessons of Uzzah for YOU are missed and when you walk away from God because of His judgments you walk away from eternal life. Even David was angry with God over Uzzah, but David did not walk away from God.

2 Samuel 6.6-8

6 And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.
7 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.
8 And David became angry because of the LORD’s outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day.

The Great Lessons Of Uzzah

First, if you understand God you realize He is the almighty and indeed He does not answer to you or does He need to provide you the reason for His actions. However, God is very gracious in that regard in relation to His creation and with a little work you can get to the truth. Yet, God points out that there are secret things and they belong to Him (see Deuteronomy 29.29).
The case of Uzzah is pretty straightforward, but the deeper lessons can have tremendous value for any person who is serious about heaven.
God was very specific in how the Ark was to be transported:
1. Poles were to be used to carry the Ark – Exodus 37:5
2. The ark had to be covered so no one could gaze at it – Numbers 4:5-6
3. Only certain families were allowed to carry the ark and touching it, “they shall die” – Numbers 4:15

David is angry with the Lord at His action against Uzzah as seen in verse 8 above. However, later on he comes to understand that he was actually to blame. After the incident, the Ark is left at the house of Obed-Edom for three months. David will move the Ark of God correctly this time in bringing it from Obed-Edom to Jerusalem. In 1 Chronicles 15.13 David has come to realize the previous mistake, “For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order. It was David that should have not allowed the pulling of the Ark on an Ox cart. Apparently, he got the idea of using an ox-cart from the Philistines, when they captured the Ark and moved it around using an ox-cart.

1 Chronicles 15.12-15

12 He said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it.
13 For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order.”
14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel.
15 And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by its poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.

Someone might say, “what is the difference if the Ark is carried on the poles or by an ox cart?” Ultimately, when the ox cart was used the trip was not successful and Uzzah died when he touched the Ark as it appeared to need steadying. Fundamentally, God defined the method and when God defines the method that is what is acceptable and nothing else. The story of religion is one of inventing carts that differ from what God requires. Once a cart appears, others want to use a cart and then variations of the cart appear until eventually no one knows what God initially specified.
God has not left a stone unturned in His admonitions for humankind by providing examples of His character and His seriousness in relation to sin and judgment. Paul makes this point to the church at Corinth.

1 Corinthians 10.6-11

6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;
9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;
10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

There are many people who feel that the good intentions of their heart will justify them before God. Indeed, God does know your heart and your actions (doing or not doing God’s commands) DEFINE YOUR HEART TO GOD. Likewise those actions define FOR YOU, your status in the eyes of God. The scriptures emphasize doing as opposed to thinking about doing or good intentions. Jesus could not have made it any plainer than Matthew 7.21.

Matthew 7.21

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Saul, in the case of the Amelkites had good intentions, Paul in binding the Christians had good intentions and the list of good intentions is very long and includes the vast majority of humanity to this day. God is saying, If you love me keep my commands. Jesus is saying, He is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him. The world is saying we have good intentions, but the scriptures are saying, Jesus died so you could be reconciled. Apparently, Jesus death was not necessary, since all it took for salvation was your good intentions! Well, Saul and Paul were both wrong in what they thought and Saul lost his kingship – Saul’s actions like Nadab and Abihu intentionally disregarded God’s directions for their own ideas. Paul was given a great opportunity after asking Jesus what He wanted him to do.
God is serious about your salvation, but few see past their current existence. God cannot lie so everything will come to pass just as the scriptures record. Many, especially in the religious world deceive you with their many “different carts” and this will not be acceptable to God no more than will be your good intentions. Much of the bible is warning you about these things. The only answer to assure your success in life is to find, obey and live the truth.

Achan

Joshua 7.20-25

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.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.
23 And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.
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.

First, we can see Achan knew he had done wrong (v 20), and if he truly understood God he would have known that God also knew of this sin. Nonetheless, he likely thought he might escape having done a good job hiding the stolen property. The things of value from the conquest of Jericho were to be taken to the house of the Lord. His loot was a mere pittance of the bounty of Jericho – surely it will not matter. How many Achan’s live today as they justify their wrongful actions? Religious groups often try to qualify the magnitude of sin and in every case they deceive people.
How much damage can one sin do? The bible is full of examples of the devastation caused by one sin and you can begin with Adam and Eve. Here in Achan’s case there is a series of damaging things all directly related to his sin.
> Israel failed in the battle with Ai and 36 men were killed as they retreated
> Joshua and Israel were demoralized by this defeat at Ai
> God rebuked Israel for their failure, but tells them the source of the problem, namely sin within their camp
> The final damage would occur to Achan and his family as they were stoned to death

So Adam and Eve’s sin affected all of humankind, while Achan’s sin in addition to himself impacted Joshua, the nation of Israel and his entire family.
A great lesson in relation to spiritual matters is that the magnitude of the offense in human terms may be small, but in the eyes of God there is either obedience or disobedience. The smallest sin not covered by the blood of Christ will be sufficient to condemn a person for eternity. Here is the problem. Many people cannot accept such a scenario and they reject God as being the God of the bible. You are not God, but you reject God as though you have the wisdom of God. You do not like how God directed the many battles in the days of Israel or His requirement in some cases to utterly destroy everything/everybody. You know so much, more than God. You cannot accept that God can take a life, but if a man takes another life, God condemns them. Obviously, you do not understand God and one day you will say, “I Did Not See That Coming.”

Religion Today:
I Did Not See That Coming

The best words to describe the state of religion today might be surprising, amazing, stupefying, staggering, stunning, overwhelming, astounding, beyond belief, shocking, sudden wonder, incredible, breathtaking, eye-opening, striking, startling, jaw-dropping, bewildering. There is this huge gap between God’s way and the religion of men and women. The very fact that most of what is discussed on this page might be shocking to most people of religion is evidence of that gap. God’s purpose and His associated plan was to get you to heaven and the religions of man/woman are pulling you to eternal destruction. Most people trust their religious beliefs, but seldom understand what they believe and thus will some day say, “I Did Not See That Coming.” You should have seen it coming and you could have seen it coming, if only you trusted in God and not in men and women!

Catholics/Protestants/Muslims/Mormons /Eastern Religions

Catholics seldom doubt the validity of Catholicism, even if they see all the problems.

Luther saw the many serious evil’s of Catholicism, but never realized Catholicism/Popes were never in God’s plan. He just believed that evil men were acting in opposition to God. He never saw the total absurdity of the very existence of Catholicism.

Those of Islam for the most part will never see the true nature of Islam, namely it was the creation of one man and has no relation to God.

Mormonism like many invented doctrines teach young minds that they are the all-knowing people of God. Seldom do the well-indoctrinated see the “train-wreck” coming. That is, the eternal “train-wreck” of their souls. The whole idea of Mormonism is ridiculous in view of scripture and also fails logic and common sense. On the other hand for anyone dedicated to truth, they will find increasingly more assurance as they dig deeper and deeper into His word.

Eastern Religions are admittedly man made, man conceived and one should not expect anything beyond this life, although it is suggested as reincarnation. As in all religions there are many nice people and the Eastern religions by their nature require a certain calmness, a meditative demeanor and this can be peaceful. Unfortunately, this is NOT what life is all about.

Religion The Answer and The Danger

You can lump all these into the amazing, unbelievable religions of men and women and assign them a value of less than zero. The value is less than zero because they all pull you in the direction of something that is not true and do it well enough to gain your loyalty. In each case, there are multiple man-conceived doctrines and you should see the obvious coming, namely the destruction of your soul.

We want to help you avoid losing out on heaven. You need to know NOW before you die that Jesus is God’s Son and the central figure in man’s reconciliation. Also, you need to understand that God is the God of the bible. You need to know that few will succeed because few will see past the “things” of the present life to envision “sacrificing” their wants and desires to achieve heaven. You need to know that most of what is taught in “so-called Christianity” cannot be substantiated and is in fact an abomination to God. You can reach this understanding by believing God and not me or anyone else.

The world has moved so far from the truth that for many who “buy-in” to the ideas and doctrines of the world it will be very difficult to overcome. Every generation accepts more in terms of being liberal and typically NEVER regresses, but grows exponentially as sin gains acceptance. The “churches” follow the world in this regard. Churches want members and will sacrifice what truth remains to improve their membership. So, the truth from God is far, far away from the world and from world’s churches or religious establishments. The truth seems silly and progressively more old fashioned generation after generation. In this process of “moral and ethical decay” the true hearts of people are being exposed. This is the differentiation God wants to make, that is to see each person’s character.

The scriptures define the correct behavior for mankind, because God is the creator and makes the rules. Humankind has never done very well with the rules beginning with Adam and Eve. It seems to be an automatic consequence of having a free will to fail, but in reality you choose your course and that can include following or disregarding the rules. The attitude God is looking for is one where you keep the rules.
Few possess the right attitude, because the “space” where those characteristics could exist is filled with “bad” attitudes such as greed, covetousness and selfishness.

The Perfect Test From God

The perfect test designed by God is not a “true/false” test or “fill in the blanks.” God’s test is compresensive and involves the things you do or fail to do during your lifetime. Your character has the time to develop to the point where you learn the truth, obey and live it. A poor character will never come to the truth and this is why it is a perfect test. God wants to sort out the proud, the selfish, those who covet things that are not theirs, the unforgiving, the self-righteous, the closed minded, and of course the deceivers/liars. These will not seriously enter the race for heaven.
You might think that God’s creation of heaven, earth, living things and intelligent life are just beyond comprehensible, but albeit wonderful. However, it is God’s plan to FULFILL HIS PURPOSE and that is really as we might say, “High Tech.” God’s plan is the most significant, intricate and elaborate design to fulfill a purpose. The design of all we see exists to achieve God’s purpose. In the process, God will sort out good from evil, right from wrong as God defines those things. God knows all will fail, so He provides a covering for your sins, that is Jesus.

People Really Miss The Point
God Is Not The Problem
Behind God’s Tough Actions Are People’s:
Pride, Selfishness, Covetousness

Heaven Coach is always pointing to pride as the root cause downfall for each person, since God indicates pride comes before the fall. There is something else and in the case’s we just studied and others we can see that covetousness plays an important role.
Ananias and Sapphira: Coveted their money but also coveted looking good to the church, enough so to lie
Adam and Eve: Coveted the knowledge of God, enough to disobey God
Saul of Taurus: Coveted the favor of the Jewish leaders and of God but found out these two were in opposition
Nadab and Abihu: Coveted the priestly power and authority of their father, Aaron
Uzzah: Coveted his position and decided he could touch the untouchable especially when the opportunity appeared justifiable
David: Coveted the wife of another man
Achan: Coveted the riches he found during the attack on Jericho

Today, what do people covet? They covet the same things as people thousands of years before.

Covetousness is sin and is one thing that will keep you from being successful. Paul writes to the church at Corinth:

1 Corinthians 6.9,10

9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

Yet, as bad as these things are in the mind of God, the next verse gives the solution. A even a small sin in the eyes of man could receive an eternal condemnation in the eyes of God, if not forgiven. The sins mentioned above would seem to be much more serious and they are, but in verse 11 we see like all sins they can be handled, forgiven.

1 Corinthians 6.11

11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

All sins need forgiveness, but these more serious sins very frequently drag a person into the depths of depravity and they often never recover, much less seek the truth.

As you look around the modern world, do you see much covetousness? People want what they cannot have and pride plays a big part. The problem is not only coveting things you cannot have, but includes a insatiable focus to get what you want at all costs. That cost is frequently placing everything else such as God way down the list of what is important. The extent that people will go to get what they want will invariably lead one into many additional sins. One of the great understanding’s about God is how in the imperfect Old Covenant that ACTION was required to be sinful, but in the New Covenant it is a matter of your heart, that is your mind.

Mark 7.21-23

21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

It used to be in the old covenant to be guilty of murder you had to commit a murder, now the intent of your heart defines your guilt. The same is true of adultery.

Matthew 5.27,28

27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

You do not have to actually take what you covet, but God knows your heart – maybe the opportunity just never occurred. You might even consider it lucky that you never had the opportunity, but God knows your heart. Luck will not play a part in your final outcome.
Is it any wonder that few will achieve heaven? Do you see the damage done by religion in telling you just do this or that and all will be fine? In truth, living your life in dedication to God requires great diligence, effort, sacrifice and God will have those who do so eternally with Him in heaven.
Dying in sin will eventually lead to the dreaded, “I Did Not See That Coming.” Just as it did for the people in this lesson. However, some escaped, like David because of his sincere repentance. God, of course, knows precisely of your sincerity or lack thereof.

The Conclusion

You do not want to be surprised at the end of your life, because if you are it will not be good. The only ones not surprised at their fate, although always amazed are those who know God, love God, and keep His commandments. Today, that means having a relationship with God’s Son, Jesus. Multitudes of religious leaders will face the wrath of God as they added to or took away from God’s truth. They needed the seriousness of Noah, Abraham and Naaman in terms of doing EXACTLY as God directed.
The lost will be surprised, terrified as they transition out of this physical life. The things you might consider as trivial, you will find were very serious to God. You may have thought, even been taught that it does not matter how we worship God. We all have our own way and God will understand. You absolutely do not understand God and yet you could understand God.
We have looked at several examples from the bible and hopefully learned something about God.
1) God is serious about His directives and about HOW they are achieved.
2) God at times acts swiftly in relation to disobedience and can give the appearance of being unfair, although He is perfectly fair.
3) God wants you to succeed, but God’s love is associated with His Son and if Jesus is rejected, you will receive God’s wrath.
4) God’s test to fulfill His purpose is exceedingly difficult and will require your best effort and then even more. Nonetheless, it is the only thing that will bring you real peace on earth, because it is the only way to realize you are on the path to heaven.