You Can Correctly Understand God
How Badly Do You Want Heaven?

This can be a valuable page for truth seekers, for anyone who wants to understand their existence now and the next existence. Thus we will cover what to expect in heaven and what to expect in hell. A great deal about God is revealed as He divulges His purpose for humankind. The vast majority of people would like to know the truth about these things. Humankind has done a lot of guessing, sometimes wishful guessing and at other times being very pessimistic or just taking the easy way out and saying we go out of existence – the atheist conclusion. Why do we exist and what is God’s purpose for us? Does our existence continue past death?
As we go through the topics below we will be revealing God commensurate with what He has revealed to humankind. We will see God’s singular focus on His purpose and His perfection in all things and how everything predictive in His word has happened or will happen. God can and did have His word accurately delivered and with the same precision that He created all things. Today we have the truth and it does not reside with the religions of the world or in any associations with those institutions such as their colleges. The church of the scriptures is not the church seen in the world, but something much, much different. God’s church is first spiritual with a physical local group that has a defined (by God) organization and purpose. The Lord Himself adds each person to His body, which is the church. It is rightly referred to as the kingdom and as Jesus said a kingdom that is not of this world. The addition occurs when a person obeys His death, burial and resurrection. There is no mystery, there is no complexity, but the truth you need to be successful.

Outline of topics for:

God Revealed1

1) The Seriousness Of This Matter
2) Limitations For Understanding The Next Existence
3) Do We Correctly Understand This Existence?
4) The Next Existence
     •  Success = heaven: what will it be like?
     •  Failure = hell: what will it be like?
5) What Could Have Been – The Cost of Pride, Greed Called Religion

1. The Seriousness of This Matter

The validity of the scriptures can be realized within the content. God was every bit as careful in providing the scriptures as He was in the creation of all things. One might say even more so since the magnificence of the physical world was only the stage for His purpose. The message from God is at the core of that purpose. God’s word provides what is needed by humankind to succeed and there is no other way to achieve heaven. Namely, by making the right choices. The accuracy of God’s word can be seen in how everything fits PERFECTLY together inasmuch as every event is associated with God’s purpose. There are hundreds of ways to demonstrate this and one is to realize that everything God said would happen has happened. Jesus, Himself was bound that all things mentioned in the scriptures about Him would be fulfilled. In His last moments He would say that all those things written about Him were completed and we can find the fulfillment as described in the things delivered to the apostles by the Holy Spirit.
Most people are very uncertain about what the next life holds. The things we can know with certainty come from what God has provided in His word. At a high level this includes how to live life in a way to achieve heaven and what will happen at the end of time. God describes the end of all things, but does not tell us WHEN except to say there will be no signs of the end. The remaining events consist of the return of Jesus to take His body (the church) with Him and out of the judgment, the destruction of all things physical including the works therein and the judgement itself. The outcome for souls – the real us – will be eternal life (heaven) or eternal destruction from the presence of the God (hell). In addition, the scriptures reveal the character of those who will succeed and those who will fail. God describes the utter destruction of all things physical in 2 Peter 3.10-12 and the question is asked of God’s children what manner of persons ought you to be? In another place He says if the righteous one is scarcely saved where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?

2 Peter 3.10-12

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

1 Peter 4.17,18

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

The day of the Lord could be today or thousands of years into the future. Every eye will see Jesus coming and every knee will bow. This amazing event itself will be of little interest to you. Regardless, if you are alive or “in the grave” when this occurs it will not be your prime concern. The question you will have is, “what happens to me.” Your fate is already sealed by the life you lived. Even though this is just before the judgment, at that instant each person will likely know their fate. After all, here is Jesus and suddenly all the things that were so important are meaningless. Your job, your school, your family, your hopes and dreams and particularly for most the thought that life was about something else, and that something else they never took very seriously. Yet for a “FEW” it will be an anxiously awaited, beloved day. The scriptures differentiate them as loving the coming of the Lord and in the last verses of the bible say, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” The study of “God Revealed” is understanding God in a way that you will know your purpose and more importantly how to succeed.

What A Difference THIS Day Will Make

At the point of Christ’s return and the end of all things, first those who belong to Christ are taken from their “graves” and then those alive “in Christ” at His return. Their fate will be as it says, “to always be with the Lord” – heaven. Now those that remain will face the judgment and that means in some way they choose the love of the world, the things of the world.
They choose (or default to) the world as a result of rejecting God and His ways. Now, finally when it is too late it is serious. They never believed it would come to this – life really was about the soul, and just exactly as the bible described. God’s Son was the answer to salvation and the truth of the scriptures was what was needed.
The works that are in the earth will be destroyed. Regardless of your status in life, the things you attained in terms of prestige, wealth, possessions – THEY WILL ALL BE GONE. Many people thrive on what they have attained in terms of various honors, awards, fame, titles and their positions of power and/or their wealth, but in an instant they are gone. All these things we worked hard to obtain WILL BE GONE and not just the physical aspects of those things, but possibly any consciousness or awareness of such things. If the lost retain consciousness of such things (of their life) it will be an unwelcome reminder of how they wasted their life on things that indeed were not important. All honor belongs to God and there is none for those who are lost.

Answering A Typical Question / Concern

The world might wonder how a person can have this perfect next existence when loved ones have failed. Yet, God’s people put God first in their life and honor God and His judgments. Heaven is hard to describe to physical beings except in its wonder, and its perfect peace relative to the physical world. There is no discussion of being with friends and family in some sort of earthy manner, but as Paul who looks to being with Christ. Is it possible that we will know others (who succeeded) from our physical life? Certainly it is possible, even likely, but in what manner or we might say, how that will work we cannot know. This is discussed in more detail further down this page.

On the other hand, being lost eternally (in the way it is described) is a lonely existence because it is void of God. Besides the descriptions given of hell as a terrible, awful place the details are not known. There could be degrees of punishment and there are some indications of such. It is the one thing in life to avoid and that can only be done by achieving heaven. So, life is very serious and it needs to be lived in harmony with God’s will, in following His instructions. God’s seriousness in the matter of souls is seen in the necessity to send His Son (to the terrible suffering and death) as the solution that opens the door allowing humankind to choose eternal life.

2. Limitations On Understanding The Next Existence

How Much Can We Correctly Understand About The Next Existence?

We only know what God has revealed about the next existence and it must be carefully, accurately divided. All scripture fits together and never should pieces be taken from here and there and made into something different than God intended. A difficult task and one that weighs heavy on this writer. Teaching on the subject of this existence and the next is an overwhelming responsibility and nothing more frightening. One must get this right or they should not be teaching. We teach the gospel message and part of that truth is pointing out what awaits in a way that encourages seeking truth and Godly directed living.

How does God describe heaven and hell to physical beings who will be spiritual? God describes them in physical terms and for heaven it is the BEST a person can imagine – yet it is far beyond since it is spiritual.
The transition to a spiritual existence will be one of great release from a bondage we currently do not always see as a prison. That is, a bondage of our soul in a physical body, in a physical place (the universes), and restrained in a time domain (which itself is created as part of a physical world).

This author will be trying to help end the confusion about God for those who seek the truth in the only way that is possible. That is, by being true in handling God’s word. God’s existence itself is something that is directly and clearly revealed in the creation and in His word.

Romans 1.20

20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

In the fullness of God’s perfect revelation there is an obvious conclusion that God is the God of the bible. There is nothing like the scriptures and yet with the most powerful thing “before us” it is typically ignored and/or carelessly misused. Many people to their own demise mislead themselves inasmuch as they focus on their objections to God and His existence. Much of that has to do with an incredibly poor understanding of the scriptures. As mentioned, this page is not what you ultimately need because all a person needs is the gospel message. All we need is the scriptures, unfortunately humankind has created much deceit in the area of religion. People who care about the truth can be helped by Heaven Coach as long as it is consistent with the word of God. The help here is to provide a feasible, rational view for, “the WHY behind God’s actions.” I can only suggest this because I have a good understanding by the the grace of God and always only by correctly dividing His revealed word. “Only by His revealed word” sounds like less than it is. There is NOTHING more powerful than the word of God. It is what God intended and He reveals a great deal about Himself and about our existence now and in the next existence. The truth about life is of high interest to those who desire heaven and perseverance and a “love of the truth” will bring them to the importance of the gospel message. So, it is the hope that each person comes to understand the seriousness of life so they can live it well that is, be successful. It will be serious if you understand all the things you see are temporary and it is the unseen things that are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4.18

18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

It will be serious when you realize life is about the soul and ultimately about nothing else. It will be serious when you understand the cost of your eternal success required the suffering and death of Jesus. It will be serious when you see the certain end that is coming for each person either in death or when Jesus returns. It will be serious when you realize there are no second chances – no purgatory, no rapture of the saints associated with life continuing (for “those not taken”), no reincarnation, no other planes of mental existential existence or any such idea. There will be NO SECOND CHANCES, but it is appointed for man once to die and then the judgment. To clarify, when Christ returns – it is ALL OVER, the end of all things physical and God’s children are taken and judgment for the rest. The scriptures are exceedingly clear on this – read “The End of The World.”

The limitations of our understanding of God, of the purpose for life, of the next existence are all restricted in the same way. Namely, our knowledge is limited to what God has revealed. It would seem the majority of the world likes to create, “fill in the blanks” and define things in their own way, and to give their twist on things they cannot know. Many people are apparently comfortable with the logic of humankind in spiritual matters. Taking liberty with God’s message is thought to do little or no harm. This is the great error of humankind that is, carelessly handling the word of God.

“Logically” Going beyond God’s Word and the Outcome

Just because something appears logical to me from the scriptures does not mean I have it correctly. The better I understand God, the more likely I can reach a conclusion consistent with the truth. Many people believed they have found something in the scriptures that was perhaps logical (to them) and began to teach this as doctrine. The well-established principle from God is to not go beyond or take away from the word of God. People need to take seriously God’s directions in this matter, specifically 1 Peter 4.11, “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.” In Deuteronomy 4.2 and then again at the end of the bible (Revelation 22.18,19) as well as throughout the scriptures (e.g. Galatians 1.6-9) there is the strongest admonition to not ADD TO or TAKE AWAY or CHANGE God’s word. 2 Peter 1.20,21 tells us that the scriptures are not of any private interpretation. In other words, God has a meaning and that meaning is not up to you or anyone else to describe differently. Thus, speak as God spoke – as the oracles of God – God breathed speech.

The entirety of Catholic and Protestant teachings is based on fundamental errors as the result of changing the word of God. Carelessly conceived doctrines built upon a mixture of misuse of scripture and the desire to reach personal conclusions are the true source of most all pertinent Catholic/Protestant doctrine. Catholicism indicates two roads to truth, the bible and their man-made decrees and as might be suspected they are very far from the truth. Whereas, Protestantism claims the bible as their only authority, but privately interprets it in many different ways. Century after century these “so-called” bible based teachings grew even further from the truth and as Jesus said to the Jews in Matthew 5.9, they were teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. The resulting carelessness is not the word of God, but gradually it became and becomes to this day something Jesus would call tradition.

Note: Tradition is used in two senses as something good when it is consistent with the word of God, like in 1 Corinthians 11:2, “Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just AS I Delivered Them To You.” Most frequently, tradition carries a negative sense because it replaced the teaching from God, such as in Mark 7:9 when Jesus said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.” Likewise in Mark 7:13, “making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down and many such things you do.” The situation of error built on error as we have today is said to be cheating you in Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the TRADITION OF MEN, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. This is the state of so-called “bible” religion today.

Two examples of men’s/women’s logic, philosophy, empty deceit – Authority and Judgment.

Authority

There was no need for authority before free will and after Jesus returns and presents the kingdom back to God, there will no longer be authority. God has revealed this and yet it is not understood, but believed. People get into trouble by going beyond what is revealed thus opening the door to error. I will give an example in this case of authority. The scriptures necessarily infer the following things and they all fit together in the big picture of God’s purpose. Namely, that there will no longer be physical things (true), there will no longer be laws (true), there will no longer be evil (true), there will no longer be time (true) and all the joys of heaven are there and thus why would there be a need for authority. This is reasonable but the rationale for no authority are not revealed. Yet God reveals that authority will cease in the end. God provides so much about Himself and the next life that is His way of being gracious, but actually more. The person who loves the truth will see that their ideas about life are very far from the truth.

1 Corinthians 15.24

24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

Undoubtedly, this cannot be properly understood and it is also not necessary to know to succeed in life. God’s children accept what God has said and add nothing and take away nothing. Instead of trying to understand things I cannot, it is best to live right focusing on the mission and developing a character (walking in the Spirit) as mentioned in Galatians 5.22-24. Although, my conclusion for “the reasons authority will no longer be needed” is logical they are not doctrine, likely not complete and not specifically revealed. However, many despicable teachings have evolved by being careless, prideful in telling others their beliefs, which thought to be logical BECAME DOCTRINE. Martin Luther thought it logical that faith (unto salvation) refers to a mental belief in Jesus as the Son of God and then also concluded that nothing else was required. Luther was inferring that the salvation consisted only of a mental acceptance of Christ. In any case, Protestantism accepted this concept and to this day it remains the core of their belief system. Luther’s logic is not the word of God and actually the OPPOSITE of the teaching from God. Mental acceptance of Jesus as Lord, as the Son of God, as the one who died, was buried and resurrected is critical and is the beginning, but not all that God requires for the forgiveness of past sins. In fact, as Luther wrote “Sola Fide (by faith alone)” he did not understand faith was NEVER mental acceptance only, but always was accompanied by obedience (Hebrews 11 is full of faith examples). So, in this teaching Luther added to (mental belief only and defined faith as such) and took away (all that God requires for salvation – forgiveness of sins) and it did not end there. A tremendous number of doctrines and practices (based on this premise) would be added by John Calvin and others. There is eternal danger in careless handing of God’s word even when it is well-meaning and “seemingly” logical. There is truth and there is error and error will not help you, but has effectively fooled the masses.

A second example is regarding the judgment.

Judgment

The scriptures teach that all will appear before the judgment seat of Christ in relation to whether one has done good or evil.

2 Corinthians 5.10

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Jesus also explained that the judgment will be according to His word.

John 15.48

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

Thus, it is logical to teach that ALL will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged by the word spoken by the Lord. Yet, although God said this, one might wonder from all scripture why those in Christ (the obedient and faithful until death) would need to be judged. Nonetheless, we accept this as truth and that would be correct, however we see Christ returning and taking those with Him at the end of time (before the judgment). Somehow, there must be a “time” for their judgment. The correct teaching is that those “in Christ” will NOT be judged. God declared an exception to the “all” and clarifies how those taken by Christ at the end of time will not be at the judgment. Those in the body of Christ had their past sins forgiven and via their continual faithfulness they remain in the graces of God. The word of God clarifies judgment for those “in Christ” as follows:

John 5.22-24

22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 
23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Note: There is a sense where “all” are judged, but perhaps some just before the final judgement. Jesus at His return takes those in His body (the spiritual church) in the graves first and then those alive at His coming and this infers Jesus has judged their life’s consistent with the word of God.
Also, the idea of “believes” is frequently defined as a mental acceptance, yet God defines believe in terms of a commitment, in terms of showing that commitment in obedience. See God Defines Believe.

I picked these two examples, aspects of authority and judgment because neither would seem to be directly damaging to the understanding we need for success. They are supposed logical conclusions really private interpretation from selective verses, or in the example of judgment teaching without full knowledge of all God revealed on the subject. They go beyond or fall short of the truth, we might say slightly beyond or slightly short in a logical way and yet this is the point. If I am slightly careless in these seemingly harmless ways, seemingly consistent with scripture, but still have concern I might be wrong – then what has the world done? The world has taught as doctrine things much different than the word of God. It was mentioned that Martin Luther used his logic to create something that may have made sense using select verses to teach something that is in no way CONSISTENT with the word of God. Yet, it was all very logical to him and down through the centuries apparently very logical to billions of people. Terrible things result from good intentions when we decide to speak differently than the “oracles of God” – that is God breathed speech – the word of God.

Note: We should understand the serious damage one can cause by speaking different than the scriptures. It is safe to speak where the bible speaks and be silent where it does not speak. In the case of Luther and the teachers that followed his “faith only” premise, he changed the basic gospel message – devastating! In the case of the Catholic Church they used Matthew 16.16-19 to teach there is a human head of the church and claimed authority to make the rules – devastating. Apparently, such liberties bring a wave of many new doctrines as others feel free to interpret God’s word in hundreds of similar careless and erroneous ways. It is fair to say neither of these vast organizations (Catholicism and Protestantism) look anything like what the Holy Spirit delivered as the truth.

Sometimes what we say/teach might be innocent as my thoughts on understanding WHY authority will no longer be required in the next existence. There were good and logical reasons suggested based on God’s word for that conclusion. As mentioned, discussing what God has revealed on a subject is fine and may be helpful. One needs to be prayerful about teaching from the scriptures and also point out the potential that the conclusions may not be correct. We do not know if what we teach may lead to something that changes the basic gospel message or leads a person to draw “un-scriptural conclusions.” Many Protestant groups teach about the coming of Christ in a way that is very different than the truth. People become enthralled with the amazing things taught regarding the rapture as they define it, the tribulation, the various things involving physical warring – Armageddon, and the literal 1000 year reign of Christ on earth to mention a few. People can be converted as a result of these things. So, what is wrong with that? First, it is not the truth, and sadly they are converted to a different gospel. Error is seldom singular, but one false teaching can be the foundation for many to follow. Once there is carelessness in handling the word of God it is easy to become one who picks verses to teach what they want. It is easy to interpret scripture in just slightly different ways. Many people are converted by well-conceived teachings that seem right. They do not become children of God, but become teachers themselves of the same false, baseless doctrine. It turns out to be very much like Jesus told the Jews, “For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte (convert), and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” So, we are back to the seriousness of rightly dividing the word of God. We might say that a person shows respect for God or disrespect on the basis of how they handle His word.
(Reference for this subject of future prophecy, rapture, 1000 year reign and others is, “The End of the World.”

The Wisdom of The Wise and Understanding of The Prudent

As is frequently mentioned at Heaven Coach, the word of God fits everything together perfectly and it is the only place where truth is found. Thus, it cannot be said enough that you must rightly divide the word of God – never add to or take away from it. This is indeed God being revealed to humankind in the seriousness of what has been delivered – the word of truth of the gospel. In this section, discussing the limitations of what we can understand about the next existence we are restricted by being perfectly consistent (as always) with God’s word.
One more thought to further clarify this idea of using our logic versus accepting what God says and how He said it. God is perfectly logical, and we can be correct in our logic if we submit ourselves to the fundamentals provided by God. God in fact wants us to be logical, but in the framework of His word. It is logical to search out all that God says on a subject to be certain we properly understand it. It is logical to see God in creation. It is logical to learn and apply the principles God reveals. One of those principles delivered to humankind in many ways and examples is to not change His word. The true unselfish, humble person logically seeks and finds God and carefully obeys Him. God speaks to this differentiation between the truth of the gospel and the wisdom of humankind.

1 Corinthians 1.18,19

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

The wisdom of the wise or we might say the logic of the wise perhaps used in the process of becoming wise will be destroyed. Associated with that is the understanding of the prudent and both of these will be respectively destroyed and brought to nothing. The wisdom of the wise is their self-developed wisdom, perhaps what they want to believe, perhaps through rigorous thought. The rigorous thought is close to the idea of the “understanding of the prudent.” Through much human consideration the conclusion has been reached, however only what God says is the truth and it does not need to be filtered. The scriptures reveal the following truth, which Jesus delivered to the apostles namely John 14.6.

John 14.6

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

Here is the logic God wants us to use:

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that eliminates all other ways, all other truths and all other ways to life (eternal). Jesus is the only route to the Father.

Here is the logic and prudent thought God abhors:

If we consider that some people may never hear of Jesus, we must believe there are other ways. We need to consider the deeper meaning and decide if there are exceptions. Certainly there will be those of other beliefs who succeed in life. Such logic leads to many new doctrines, many new associations and eventually to accepting other beliefs instead of teaching that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him.

Over-Analyzing

It is this over-analyzing as opposed to accepting God’s word that brings much error. The simple things of God in relation to salvation are complicated by over analyzing God’s word. The “deep-dive investigation” done by many people with their prejudices, pre-conceived ideas and the ungodly nature of their educational training will lead to many different conclusions. This is exactly the state of religion – many doctrines, many “denominations,” many groups without the truth of the scriptures. All because so many have not taken God’s word as it is, but feel the need to analyze it, filter it and embellish it. One of the reasons so many reject the God of the bible is because “Christian religion” is so varied that people ask, which one? This is no excuse, but it does “logically to me” explain a lot of the confusion in light of God’s clarity to humankind.
A person should not wonder why God will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Men’s wisdom and deep thinking brings error and error thwarts God’s purpose. During the time of God’s oversight in bringing Christ in fulfillment of Genesis 3.15, there was little respect for God. God demonstrated His love in the sacrifice of His Son. Humankind’s disrespect is seen in the careless, selfish, prideful mishandling of God’s word and the creation of doctrines in opposition to God’s saving message – thus destroying souls!

Attending Buildings, Going To Church
Wasting Time, Adding To Confusion

We have “so-called Christians” attending buildings where the teaching may be referred to as “bible-centered,” but in reality there is a building full of people who need the truth of the gospel. Usually, the one speaking needs the gospel message and for some strange reason those listening believe that person is of sound doctrine. Although, it varies greatly the message usually has some social context and may use a few bible verses to support the idea being presented. “Going to Church” is believed to have some sort of spiritual value, maybe worship, maybe encouragement, maybe helps on how to live and even the attendance itself is believed to provide some merit in the eyes of God of your commitment. You might as well go to a movie or go out to eat or attend a sporting event. There is NO VALUE without truth. There can be no worship unless it is in spirit and truth. Sadly, the outcome of teaching differently than the scriptures week after week is to bring a person into compliance with error and you become complacent in a wrongful confidence.

Pause for chart below – The Truth May Not Be What You Think

The Truth Only Comes From God!

Worship Is A Heartfelt Choice Motivated By The Desire To Please God
Worship Must Be In Spirit and Truth
You Cannot Worship God If You Are Outside The Body of Christ

Everything about God and creation works towards His goal with an essential ingredient of providing humankind with choice. The right choice will come out of a love of God and truth and thus God is worshiped in obedience. The world creates ways to worship God when the most fundamental aspect of worship is to follow God’s directions. Paul explains how God looks at worship when he was faced with the Athenians honoring their gods.

Acts 17.24-27

24 “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 
25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

God needs nothing in worship, there is nothing you can offer Him – EXCEPT – your love as shown in your obedience. John 14.15 says if you love Me keep My commands. So, when God says worship must be in Spirit and Truth that is how it must be. God’s church is never a building, but is spiritual with His laws written on the hearts of His children.

God limits worship to those in spirit and in this last age that means being “in Christ.” One cannot just “drop down on their knees” and begin worshiping God (note: the position for worship is not specified). Certainly you can “drop down to your knees” and seek God, pray for wisdom, seek the road to God’s blessing and that can lead to obtaining forgiveness of your past sins. Those outside of Christ, do not know how to worship God and it must be in truth and they need to first know the truth. God is holy and does not hear the unrighteous (John 9.31). FIRST, you need to get right with God, specifically you need to be “in Christ” then you can worship Him. The only way to approach God in prayer, in worship is by being “In Christ.” This is a distinction that apparently very few make and thus worship and prayer is done a “thousand different ways” and there is no association with God. The magnitude of error is beyond belief in terms of all the organizations, all the church buildings, all the ceremonies, all the places of higher religious education and on and on and all to the glory of men and women and not to God. It is as though humankind is saying to God here is how we worship and GOD, YOU need to accept what we are providing. They effectively provide worship to God that is neither in spirit or truth. In fact, it is not worship – it is having another god before God. The few Jesus spoke of is indeed FEW (Matthew 7.13,14).

So Many Fundamentally Wrong Assumptions About The Bible

A great deal of the scriptures applies only to God’s children. This is obvious as the letters to the churches are addressed to the saints (those “in Christ”) in those local churches. Below are a few introductions at the beginning of letters to the churches at Philippi, Colosse, Corinth and Rome. The gospels are a record of Jesus time on earth, while the book of Acts is a record of the church and covers a variety of things in relation to the beginning of the church, conversions and key information God desired to transmit in the record of the early church.

Philippians 1.1,2

1 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1.1,2

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1.7

7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1.1-3

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

John in Revelation is writing to the seven churches in Asia.

Revelation 1.4

4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:

Since the majority of the world use the scriptures to make application to themselves – there is great confusion (please read, To Whom Does The Bible Apply). It cannot be said enough that the BIBLE IS FOR EVERYONE TO READ, TO STUDY, TO LEARN as it contains the only path to success, to eternal life. However, if you follow all the principles and learn the scriptures very well and never obey the gospel you will be wise in many things that matter, but miss what matters most. It is very possible in making application to yourself you may think you have a relationship with God through Christ and YOU DO NOT! Those letters to the churches are there to help those “in Christ” to remain faithful – doing the will of God. Let me give an example from 1 John 2 and 1 John 1.

1 John 2.1

1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

1 John 1.9

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Application of these verses are to God’s children, those “in Christ.” They obeyed the gospel and were added to the spiritual church by the Lord. They now reside in a local church and the letters were to the local churches. The world does not have an advocate with the Father and thus confessing sins in the prescribed manner such as, “repent and pray God that the thought of your heart may be forgiven” has no meaning. In obeying the gospel your past sins will be forgiven. Now, as a child of God if you sin Jesus is your advocate with the Father such that sins you commit as a child of God can be forgiven (that is, potentially forgiven – God knows your heart).

Note: More on who God will hear and why, see discussion on miracles, healing and prayer.

As we go down this page we will come to some things in the scriptures which are difficult for many to accept and some of those rejections are because of God’s apparent harshness. That apparent harshness applies to all those who fail and that includes some who obeyed God, but did not remain faithful. In general, the message from God to His children is how to live to avoid failing after getting themselves into a relationship with God through Christ. The visual below is one of hundreds of places filled with good advice for God’s children. Again, this advice although helpful to all is there to help God’s children remain faithful.

Note: Here is a little insight into God’s reason for the letters to the saints in the local churches. I can imagine someone saying that by having the letters to the churches being uniquely for “the saints” that it is showing some favoritism. Of course, the letters are available to everyone and highly recommended for EVERYONE as you can see the wisdom of God and His consistency throughout – great advice and encouraging for you to become a child of God.
The saving message has been left by God to be brought by the saints to the world and there is no other means. God does not interfere. Since creation God has spoken in various ways at various times to humankind. Now in this last age God speaks through His Son and the Son made sure the message came to the apostles by the Holy Spirit and it was confirmed. God’s intent in this last age was that the doctrine of Christ would come through the saints to the people. This is the best way, because we have that which is perfect – the whole revelation of God. The work of the Holy Spirit was completed sometime in the latter part of the 1st century. We have all we need and the best way to deliver it is via God’s children. Humankind may not see it as the best way, but in terms of fulfilling GOD’S PURPOSE it is not only the best way, but it is perfect. The message will bring exactly the kind of person God is looking for to spend eternity with Him. An important element is the devotion of God’s people “In Christ” to bringing the message. The letters to the saints in the churches as well as all scripture are there to help and encourage those in the body of Christ as they bring the gospel message to the world. Every child of God knows the mission and its importance to a lost and dying world as well as to their personal success. The mission is the same as Christ spoke regarding Himself in Luke.

Luke 19.10

10 “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

This is the reason there is a local physical church. An integral part of worship is growing in the knowledge of the scriptures – in this we are pleasing God in our growing capability and dedication to God’s purpose. The members (added by Christ to His Body, the spiritual church) are edified and prepared to teach as an authorized activity of the local church. Each member is devoted to diligently making the best use of their time in evangelism. God’s children must live right themselves and some in the body of Christ struggle with that and this is never acceptable. It is like the seed Jesus described that grew up, but was choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life. Demas was one who loved this present world and there were sins mentioned especially at Corinth and the seven churches in Asia of Revelation were generally lacking. We have that which is perfect – God’s word. A good, honest heart seeking God and truth can find it and achieve heaven. The duty and privilege of participating in the critical plan of God in relation to the souls of humankind is overwhelming – one can never do enough. One might think that being the head of large corporation, or the president of a country carries a lot of responsibility, but nothing compares to bringing the gospel message to the world. All other responsibilities are minuscule, insignificant, temporary and will be forgotten.

As mentioned, below is just a little advice to the Saints – in this case written to those in Christ at the “Philippian church.” Again, good advice for all on how to live, but specifically to help God’s children to fulfill their mission.

It is obviously a critical distinction whether you are in Christ or not and making the decision to obey the gospel and live for Christ can be difficult – difficult because of our attachments to the world and WHAT WE WANT. Thus, the decision may be seen as difficult and there are usually things to overcome – nonetheless it is the most important decision in your life. One thing you can understand from the scriptures is that all the blessings God provides are only for those “in Christ,” or we might say for those in His body – the church. These truly meaningful blessings are spiritual blessings, eternal in heavenly places in Christ.

Ephesians 1.1-3

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ

God’s plan to achieve His purpose has at its core allowing His creation to make choices that are indeed THEIR choices. Only such choices have meaning to God. Along the way, God in His word reveals the correct choice for heaven, but on the other side of the coin there may be a stronger desire to do WHAT WE WANT and ignore the plan of God for our salvation. Many religions coerce people into their belief system and the indoctrination and propaganda may be very powerful. Often young children receive strong indoctrination and are allowed no choice. After conversion to a belief system there may be continuing emotional, and even forceful pressures to follow the teachings. Over history and to this day the “plea to adherents” may be to disassociate from the non-believers and at times to kill them. This was the Catholic way in the past and remains the way of many in Islam to this day.

Note:People “soft sell” Islam by referring to some as radical Islam, when the entire religion is or can become prone to various degrees violence and/or cruelty. The tenants of Islam are to kill the infidels, and this is throughout their beliefs as seen in the Koran. This should not be a surprise as Mohammed was violent, cruel, warring, murderous and was the initial author of the Koran (not from some angel). His character is stamped on the Koran. Certain young people of Islam are convinced from the Koran to become terrorists. Many of the less radical Muslims(those who would oppose terrorism) are devoted to overcoming nations by their numbers and instituting Shariah law as soon as possible. Eventually they envision nations becoming Islamic states. Violence against non-Muslims, especially associated with non-Muslim religions in those nations will eventually become apparent if they achieve their goal. People in their ignorance to protect the right for people to worship as they please mistake Islam as a religion when it is really a political system (at best a religious/political system) designed to overthrow governments and then impose their “religion-so-called” on those they have conquered. Religion is core, but part of their religion is to gain power over the entire world – sort of to win the world for Allah. Ultimately, violent and non-violent Muslims want religious world domination. Look at nations with Muslim rule – are there freedoms? – NO! How amazingly naive are nations to this pattern. Catholicism was the same since its beginning sometime in the seventh century and slowly took on a different character to sustain itself as it was losing control over nations. A common thread in Catholicism and Islam is the “religious” acceptance of lying to defend/promote their religion.

Lying Justified – Should Tell A Muslim Something Is Wrong

Muslims lie when it is in their interest to do so and “Allah” will not hold them accountable for lying when it is beneficial to the cause of Islam. They can lie without any guilt or fear of accountability or retribution. A lie in the defense of Islam is approved even applauded in their “holy” books.

Muslims are permitted to lie for a variety of reasons. They are even permitted to disavow Islam and Mohammed if it is not a genuine heart-felt rejection. Muslims will tell you that concealment of a truth is not an abandonment of that truth if it benefits Islam. Catholicism allowed this lying to protect their teachings, all of which cannot be defended. The modern version of Catholic lying is in the form of their apologists. Over their history Catholics have not hidden their doctrine of mental reservation (allowing lies without imputing sin) and even as late 1929 they were defining its meaning for Catholics.
“The following is a quote from a well known Catholic publication of the time in relation to their doctrine of mental reservation. “When impertinent people, either maliciously or stupidly, endeavor to wrest these secrets from us, we are perfectly justified in using mental reservation to meet their rude and ill-bred questioning. Mental reservation is allowable only when you are driven into a corner by captious questions about a matter that we have grave reason and a right to keep ‘secret,’ and when we have no other escape” (Question Box, 1929 ed., 433–434).
There is a great similarity between Islam and Catholicism in how they use lies to protect their teachings. The lies themselves are not as revealing as the reason they need to lie. The truth requires no lies or apologists, (Catholics and Muslims both have a large number of apologists) who develop reasonable sounding support for their doctrines and in defense of their atrocities. Catholicism sought to rule nations and did so for centuries. Islam has been a more effective in this with no end in sight. The ability of both to achieve this control was the religion’s claim to have association with God, really the absolute necessity to be Catholic or Muslim to achieve heaven – very powerful to those who believe.

Those who seek truth can see the desperation for these religions to forcibly maintain their grip over people as their evidence is pathetic. Whereas, God must have people making a free-will decision to follow the truth. God’s truth is clear from the scriptures – no apologists required. The true magnitude of the atrocity here is the destruction of billions of souls who never come to the knowledge of the truth.

The Need For Free Will And Its Cost

God’s plan cannot be accomplished by coercive means. This whole idea of forceful conversion is the exact opposite of what God must have. It must be a free will choice. Some will make free will choices to serve God. Others choose to reject God because they love THEIR truth, THEIR short-sighted version of truth that fits THEIR life. God’s test of humankind is all about choices and the correct choice is to follow God’s ways. In these last days (last age) in order to save your life you need to live for Christ and the gospel and not for your selfish desires. We have just enough information to see that the angels, who had choice succeeded while some failed and it appears the failure was rooted in pride. Now, humankind is being tested and choice is the central element to determine those fit for the kingdom, for heaven, for eternal life. Interestingly, humility is a core value associated with those who succeed and pride the great destroyer as the scriptures teach, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.” In the context of this discussion it could be the pride you have in the religious group/doctrine you support.

We See God’s Determination and His Love for His Creation
Inasmuch As He Limits Himself
Inasmuch As He Allows Choice and
In That Framework He Knows There Will Be Rejection of Him and of His Designed Solution for Sin

God is almighty in every way and yet He must give up something to achieve His purpose. People need to make free will choices and that is central to God’s plan. So, an essential aspect of God’s creation of humankind is that they can reject Him. God, apparently for the second time, first with angels, now with humankind relinquishes His control and out of this many wonderful and terrible things are possible. God is interested in where you place your trust, namely in yourself or in Him.
Although God is not limited in any way, He can put limits on Himself and because He is perfectly honorable He perfectly abides in those restrictions – the most notable one is that God cannot lie (Titus 1.2). He places that restriction on Himself. It is fair to say that God is perfect in every GOOD WAY. We might say perfect in love, in justice, in honorable things and is the perfect absence of evil. God did not create evil, but it is a consequence that comes from free will choices that are against God.

One might say that if God did not create beings with free will there would be no evil AND that would be correct! People blame God for many of the terrible things that happen and yet they are not because of God, but come from the bad choices human beings make. God gave up the perfect goodness of His existence and since then He endures terrible, evil things that His creation often does to themselves and others.

One might say if God can do all things and do them perfectly, why did He have to give up anything? I might be able to give a reasonable answer to this based on what has already be discussed. There were certain things needed to be in place in order to achieve God’s purpose for humankind. There would be consequences good and bad from humankind’s choices.

The basics of God’s plan to achieve His purpose begins with the creation (at a high level) of four things:

• A time domain that allows events to go “forward”

• A physical stage: universe(s), and of course planet earth

• The creation of living things (animals, plant life, etc.)

• His special living creation – humankind – in His image
      Being in the image of God was essential to His purpose
        Humankind would be:
        Spirit beings “within” physical bodies
        Have intellects, be creative, make choices
        Unique personality – no one else quite like you

Some characteristics of creation required to satisfy God’s purpose in relation to WORSHIP, and THE TEST and aid your understanding of God are:

WORSHIP

   •   Without free choice there can be no meaningful worship
  •   Humankind would need to be in the image of God in some sense to worship God
  •   Worship is a deep honoring of God and in the process
the building of a trustful relationship between God and humankind

THE TEST

  •   The test has certain boundaries – a physical body traps the spirit, which itself is contained in a physical universe and all trapped in a time domain
  •   The ability to make choices are a characteristic of being in the image of God. The sum total of each person’s spiritual nature are the things that define the free will and thus the ability to make choices. The quality of those choices depends on the characteristics each person develops in their life.
  •   THE TEST will reveal the people with whom God will share eternity and also reveals those who make poor choices
  •   The test occurs on the physical stage and is limited to the lifetime of each person and the criteria for passing is governed by the laws of God. Consequently God provides the rules gradually evolving to the perfect law of liberty in Christ – the doctrine of Christ

Humankind is now present by the end of Genesis 2 in the form of Adam and then Eve and the test will begin. The initial test is in relation to a single rule and that was something they should NOT do – namely not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the center of the garden.

These are very basic understandings about who we are and roughly describe what life is about, and with the correct perspective. You are the creation and God is the Creator.
We should see our position as the created and God graciously provided for us an opportunity to exist and then to share the marvelous next existence.

Romans 1.25

25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

In this verse, God is making a point in relation to those who exchanged the truth of God for a lie. God differentiates Himself (Creator) and humankind (creation) very precisely. It is interesting that He mentions worship – the very reason for creation and the choice of humankind (in this case) to worship “themselves” and that is done because they took God’s truth and discarded it for a lie. Lies are the very thing that will (in most, if not all cases) be associated with separating good from evil. Lies are typically in the background of disobedience. Lies are spiritually devastating and characterize the lost – they are hardly trivial in the eyes of God.

Revelation 21.8

8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, AND ALL LIARS shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Yet, there is a consequence (for God) associated with His purpose that requires God to give up something. Allowing choice – a necessity, brings the potential for evil, almost I would say the inevitability of evil. In a sense what God gives up with “free will” for His creation is control. God is perfectly moral, righteous, of perfect integrity and there is no evil in Him. God cannot go against this perfection – evil is distant from Him, really non-existent for God.

You Control Your Future – Not Predestined

The future for humankind, for each person has been revealed in the following sense:
Many teachers have used the word of God to teach that each person is selected by God in some special direct manner in the conversion process. God speaks of predestination and in the careless private interpretation of religious logical, prudent scholars they claim some are predestined for success. Of course, God says He is not a respecter of persons, but those who choose to do His will are blessed. God in His perfection, in His purpose looks for those who of free will choose to live for Christ and the gospel. Seek God, find Him and obey Him – being forced or selected in some way is against God’s very purpose. Indeed, God predestined THE PLAN (not specific persons, but a specific way) for the reconciliation and that fits perfectly with all scripture. So, the future for each person is in their control predestined by their “free will” choice to live for Christ and the gospel or to live for themselves. One should not take any liberty with the word of God, because God will not and cannot change it. God is bound in ways we do not understand to the truth, to His perfection and in those things exist God’s love, God’s justice, and God’s mercy for humankind. There is no separate mercy that somehow we can hope will save us. God’s mercy is as the scriptures indicate in His Son on the cross and that is said in many ways. Such as, Jesus being the propitiation or covering for our sins demonstrating God’s righteousness.

Romans 3.25

25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,

Throughout the scriptures we see why handling God’s word correctly is so serious. The magnitude of changing God’s word of adding to it or taking away from it will come at the cost of souls. God has set the course for salvation and it is unchangeable and will not vary from that process by one jot or tittle (using a bible phrase that described how everything was fulfilled in Christ). The expectation of humankind seems to be that God in “love, for instance” will change what He has said about “many things.” The distortions of God’s word to satisfy the wishes of humankind have brought us to this point of confusion and loss. You are responsible to correctly divide the word of truth and not to find some loophole, some way to justify what you want. In so doing you would be following all those who have perverted the word of God to this point. God’s word is perfect in converting the soul(2 Samuel 22.31) and is referred to as the perfect law of liberty in James 1.25.

James 1:25

25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

This does not mean you can do whatever you wish and it will be just fine. It actually means do the will of God and in that there is the liberty. God since Genesis 3.15 planned your freedom from sin. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free – free from what, well of course, from sin. God’s perfect law brings liberty, freedom from sin for those who choose to obey God. Jesus being the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him – Hebrews 5.9.

God cannot change His word any more than change His character. Certainly the idea of God acting differently than He said should be considered impossible.

The Truth Regarding Things We Can Know and
Who Can Know Them

1 Corinthians 2:10-16

10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

God has taken great care to provide us with the truth and warn us of changing it and telling us that some can discern the truth while others cannot – and why not. We could say because they are proud, selfish and love this world. We could say they love the wisdom of men and the things of God are foolishness to them. Paul is telling the church at Corinth that no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God and then ends with … but we have the mind of Christ.
It should be clear that anyone can know the things of God and holding them back from the truth is very simply, THEMSELVES. We might say their choices hold them back, and specifically choices in relation to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. It is quite amazing that God can reveal such detail regarding how a person will fail to know the things of God and still few act to put themselves on the road to eternal life.

Now, in the process of revealing Himself to humankind, God provides rules as a necessary part of the test. In the absence of rules there would be no test, no means to differentiate those who succeed from those who fail.
As a result of rules/laws there can be disobedience and indeed humankind reveals their willingness to reject goodness. God defines the transgression of His laws as sin and it is sin that separates a person from God. God understands that all will sin and thus it appears that none will succeed – however, God immediately reveals in Genesis 3.15 the solution to sin.
It will be a time in coming and during that time certain things must happen. God acts with various persons such that those things will occur. Humankind can potentially derail God’s plan because they have a free will and of course Satan, a fallen angel will be there to derail God’s plan. One might ask, how can God’s plan fail? It would seem that if no person succeeds then God’s purpose to find some to share eternity with Him would be unfulfilled. From Genesis 3.15, God takes various steps along the path to assure Christ’s coming to earth. This Godly intervention continues throughout Jesus earthly life to assure the reconciliation.
Today many of those steps appear as the harshness of God, the cruelty of God when in fact they are part of the plan to bring Christ. Specifically, to bring Christ in birth and on to the cross. The details of many things are not revealed until after the fact (Ephesians 3.9-11) and even Jesus kept secret who He was after God revealed it to Peter. Jesus telling the apostles they should not tell others at that time. Today, all things regarding life and godliness have been revealed since sometime in the latter part of the first century.

Satan must have thought he would thwart God’s plan. The weakness of humankind to select selfishly what they wanted was so apparent by the time of Noah that there seemed no way for humankind to succeed. Providing humankind with a free will had failed beginning with the sin of Adam and Eve and then the sin of Cain. Certainly all the world was in sin and this attempt of God to find in humankind those to share eternity would fail – but there was Noah. God would destroy the world, but spare eight souls as Noah was righteous.

Transition To A Better Understanding – To The Spiritual

God’s part was finished with the death of Christ except for delivering the saving message, which was now possible as a result of His death, burial and resurrection. The message that will allow you to get to heaven.
You can trust God for heaven and all those things that happened where there was apparent cruelty were for a divine reason and now on this side of the cross the nature of God is revealed. The physical battles were part of what was needed to bring Christ, as were the physical laws and unique strict and “physical” worship. Jesus brought a spiritual solution to the real problem – SIN. The transition has been made to a spiritual existence for those who follow Christ. There is a spiritual law written on their hearts, a spiritual worship and a spiritual warfare. Those who are spiritual can discern these things of God and live accordingly. Jesus pointed out to the Jews from Isaiah how people fail to hear with understanding and the world has not changed in this regard – thus they never become spiritual so they can understand the ways of God.

Matthew 13.14,15

14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.’

Today, the people’s hearts have grown dull and seek what they want and it is not God. Look at what people want and indeed it is vanity. Compare this with those who seek God with all their hearts and we have those who succeed and those who fail in life.

3. Do We Correctly Understand THIS EXISTENCE?

Explaining Our Human, Physical, Temporary and Time-Bound Existence

We can understand our existence in terms of its purpose as God has revealed it. There is nothing elaborate in God’s purpose and other than revealed it is not necessary or God would have provided it. One thing we might understand is that God is not like man in terms of thinking. God simply says His thoughts are not man’s thoughts.

Isaiah 55.9

9 “For the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

God sees the big picture; the accurate big picture and humankind often gets the simplest of things terribly wrong. The problem is commonly thinking God will see “things” as we do. For instance believing God will judge a person as a “good person” because humankind so judges this way. Some people think God’s judgement will be “on a curve” with many, usually the majority of people finding heaven. The result of such thinking leads to comparing ourselves to others and this can be devastating. In every case, the correct view of God’s judgment comes only from what He has revealed. Success in life is tied to a relationship with God’s Son beginning with obeying the gospel and continuing to live in accordance with the Doctrine of Christ.

Since the beginning of time you can see God’s focus was always towards the end goal. Everything since the beginning of revelations to humankind, God is focused on the eternal. Those people who exhibit the characteristics God seeks will find Him, find the truth, and live accordingly to achieve heaven. This side of the cross there is a distinct difference (compared to before His death, burial and resurrection) in how a person views God – although God has not changed. God’s plan has unfolded gradually in accordance with achieving His purpose. On this side of the cross, the mystery has been revealed and clarified in various verses such as below in Ephesians.

Ephesians 3.9-11

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

The church was in the eternal purpose of God, of course that is the spiritual church, the body of Christ. God planned the mystery that was first mentioned in Genesis 3.15 and is now revealed in Christ by the Holy spirit to the apostles and can be understood by the whole world.

Romans 16.25,26

25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began 
26 but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—

God reveals more of the mystery in relation to the gospel of Christ and how that mystery is known to all nations (reference to Jews and Gentiles) and how it is connected to obedience to the faith and this is consistent with “obey the gospel.” Indeed, God has revealed all we need to know to succeed in life – now available – now revealed – no mystery!

Note: There is a common question in regard to those who lived before Christ, before the gospel. God graciously provides answers to many things that are helpful for us to know. This question is answered on a page entitled “Saved and Unsaved Through Time.”

There were many things God did beginning in Genesis 3.15 to assure the reconciliation would take place. The first priority was to bring Christ into the world and this would take about four thousand years from the time of Adam and Eve.

Note: One might say, why did it take so long? I can only say that to God a day is as one thousand years and a thousand years as a day. Basically, that means time does not matter to God. Bringing Christ was the intent and the time (really the events) God required to happen were related to His purpose – the reconciliation of humankind. Four thousand years seems like such a long time to a person, but for God who is not limited by time it is not a factor. Of course, I cannot understand this, but it MIGHT be something like a book and God sees the beginning and the end and everything in the middle all at the same time. Then even to me four thousand years would not be a long time. Like so much, this is not important for us to understand. Four thousand years was the approximate time for God to accomplish those things gradually bringing Christ to be successful in the way He planned.

Again, the number of years required to bring Christ are not important. It was important to God that a certain series of events occurred leading to the birth of Christ and then to His death. God is revealing Himself during this time in various ways and humankind is learning God is the God of the bible. During this time, God is revealing a great deal about His character. God is revealing the seriousness of obedience, of His singularity, of His power over all things, and the character of those who please Him and likewise those who displease. The last thing to be delivered was the completed word of God via the Holy Spirit. The work of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit have been completed and we are left with that which is perfect. The things that could have interfered with God’s plan by those of free will are now past. I do not understand all that God did to assure the reconciliation – I can see what He did and I am just wise enough to realize these things all played a part in the how, when, where and why of the reconciliation. Starting with the sin of Adam and Eve the need to be reconciled was established. The events provided in scriptures are often familiar and can be understood in terms of God’s plan. God interacted to assure this gradual path to Christ. Following the death, burial and resurrection of Christ all that was left was to deliver the message. Now that Jesus had completed His part, the Holy Spirit (promised to the apostles) would bring the final message to humankind. The gospel of Christ provides what is needed to individually be reconciled and achieve heaven.

God is allowing us to understand His purpose and His character in a way that helps us to be a better servant. We should be wise enough to be humble, and never think we are more than the creation. We always relent to God’s will and never doubt His wisdom and judgments.

Indeed The Wisdom of God Is Beyond Our Understanding

Romans 11.33

33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

More On Bringing Christ Through The Lineage

God would interact with certain persons (i.e. prophets) and work supernaturally (i.e. bringing Israel out of Egypt) to assure everything kept moving towards the reconciliation. At times He would do things that people to this day might look on as cruel or harsh. Mixed in with these God directed events would be powerful lessons needed to assure a smooth running of all things toward the ultimate goal.

Note: Many of those events and lessons are as Roman 15.4 indicates for our learning that through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

The path bringing Christ consists of many events beginning with Adam and Eve. There was an important revelation in Genesis 3.15 and skipping ahead there was the revelation to Abraham. Surely, neither understood the details of what God had revealed. Abraham would have believed God, but it would be well into the future before these things were understood. Jesus was at the center of the revelations of Genesis 3.15 and Genesis 26.4.

Specifically, Jesus death, burial and resurrection would be the price of reconciliation and the reason for the promised blessing through Abraham’s seed. Indeed, that blessing would be for all nations per Galatians 3.26-29.

Galatians 3.26-29

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

These two significant revelations in relation to God’s purpose are given below:
• God reveals to Satan the solution to the problem of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in Genesis 3.15. It appears Satan would not understand the revelation except perhaps thinking the bruise to His head was problematic.

Genesis 3.15

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.

• In Abraham’s seed all nations would be blessed (Genesis 26.4)

Genesis 26.4

4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

Many of the other events gradually bringing Christ through the lineage revealed important principles with some events that people judge to be harsh. Some of these things are mentioned below:
•  God destroys most of the living things

Genesis 6.5-8

5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

• Moses would bring Israel out of Egyptian bondage and the ten plagues in their apparent harshness were used to achieve Israel’s “escape.”

Exodus 12:29 29

29 And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.

•  God’s anger against an “apparent” act of concern by Uzza.

1 Chronicles 13.10

10 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.

• Nadab and Abihu would die as a result of substituting something different than commanded in worship.

Leviticus 10.1,2

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.

•  The stoning to death and burning of Achan, his family, and all he had for “his disobedience.”

Joshua 7.25

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.

•  Following the lie of Ananias and Sapphira, God struck them dead.

Acts 5.4

4 …… Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Understand That You May Not Understand

Somehow, God in His infinite wisdom was NOT doing these “harsher” things EXCEPT to assure all would come to pass in Christ. Disobedience was usually associated with these “harsh” actions. Other times, God would be working with Israel in positioning this people to carry out His purpose. I can tell you what I have come to believe about the big picture in relation to God and His purpose. This is just what I have gathered from my study of God’s word and it is not in any way “doctrinal.” I only present it because it might help some to better understand God. I can provide what follows if nothing else than a way to help people who are bothered by these severe things we sometimes see in the Old Covenant. People rush to judgment and do not have any knowledge of God and His purpose, or do they understand they have the wisdom of an ant in relation to God. God is not in need of any excuses, but all He does is with a Divine purpose and believe it or not is in your best interest. God is not capable of evil, but responded to it by providing in Genesis 3.15 an escape from its consequences. The evil choices of humankind, specifically sin, can be covered and will also bring justice to those who reject His offer. It is perfect love and justice and I barely understand this sufficiently to mention it. My basis for speaking of it is God’s goodness and the sadly mistaken notion people have of God in any way being less than the loving perfect God to whom we owe everything.

Getting It Right – Doubtful, But helpful – Probably

There is no way I can get this right, because it is God and all we have is what is revealed. Am I correctly dividing God’s word? What follows in this section is something I consider to be in agreement with what we know and it may help you to better understand God and His purpose. The things written here are not doctrine and likely considered innocent, however as part of “God Revealed1” of first priority is having the highest respect for God’s word. There are many possible interactions and things I do not understand very well, such as somehow Satan is in the middle of this and how did that affect the way God interacted with the Jews? Satan goes from an outcast before time began to one seeking to keep God from fulfilling His purpose with humankind, then finally defeated exactly as God described to Satan in Genesis 3.15. Now, until this day Satan remains (although defeated) until God brings an end to all things. Satan goes about (as a roaring lion) bringing deceit that will keep people from finding, obeying and living the truth. This is just one interaction that God accounts for in His actions that I leave out of my consideration of the why’s of spiritual matters.
In order for God to achieve His desire that His creation worship Him, it must be a free will choice. It would seem that forcing worship can never be worship. Forcing love can never be love. Thus, a necessary characteristic of His creation must be the ability to choose to do the right thing and do it over other choices. These other choices may seem more attractive, perhaps considerably more attractive and yet some will choose the unseen things of God. They will do so because their senses indicate there is a creator and they seek Him. This total effort of body, mind and spirit reveals God to be the God of the bible. They see in the word of God, GOD!

Gradually, In A Free-Will World
God’s Plan To Bring Christ Succeeds

Giving humankind a free will means things can go wrong and God knows this, and they go terribly wrong with Adam and Eve’s choice and as time passes the world’s choices are poor, and evil is everywhere. God destroys the world – save eight people. How in the world can God’s plan to reconcile the world through Christ be achieved in a world of free-will people who do just what they want? We see God working with various individuals and specifically the descendants of Abraham in this process. In the framework of this specific group of people, following a specific set of rules will come the Messiah. God sustains these people for this one purpose even though there is considerable disobedience. There are miraculous events, there are victories and defeats and captivity. Nonetheless, there is a forward moving towards Christ coming through the seed of Abraham.

Finally after 42 generations from Abraham, Jesus comes through the lineage as promised. He is of the seed of woman and not of man, but conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit. He is the Son of God. The fulfillment of Genesis 3.15 is approaching. God the Father has been interacting with humankind and specifically with His chosen people and indeed Jesus, born through the lineage is a Jew. Jesus would now continue to the carry on with the plan of the Father and along the way there would be many obstacles even from His birth. Herod would kill all the babies following Jesus birth and before His “ministry” Jesus would be tempted by Satan. Jesus being God and Man would have to overcome Satan and many other things(i.e. living a sinless life) on the path to fulfilling all that was written concerning Him.
Satan may have believed He had destroyed God’s plan when Christ was taken by the Jews from the garden of Gethsemane and the next morning taken to Pontius Pilate. Then Jesus was delivered to the Roman soldiers and to the cross where He would be murdered. Instead, this was God’s plan as He told Satan in Genesis 3.15. Of course, this was not understood by humankind or apparently by Satan. There was victory in the cross for God’s purpose and for humankind and Satan’s fate was sealed – the blow to his head. All was fulfilled in Christ and now the mystery was revealed and would be explained and documented after Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. The Holy Spirit promised by Jesus to the apostles would come and all that was needed by humankind would be revealed.

God Is So Precise In His Word
We Ought To Take Seriously All He Says

Luke 24:44

44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

One of the things fulfilled by Christ was the prophecy of Isaiah and it was at the core of the reconciliation. The Jews themselves, by whom the Messiah came through the lineage had created their own rules or traditions and looked for a Messiah, who would bring them to “earthly” glory. Instead, once again in disobedience they fail to see Jesus as the Messiah so much so that they murder Him through the hands of the Romans.

Isaiah 53

4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

So, here we have the Messiah bruised for our sins and in effect bringing the means to have those iniquities forgiven. Jesus suffering and death was the price paid for reconciliation. Just as God revealed in Genesis 3.15, salvation would come through the Seed of woman and that Seed would be bruised (His heel) by Satan and Satan’s head would be bruised by that Seed. Now as the event is fulfilled we see the bruising of the Seed would be the suffering and death of Christ, but this would be a minor blow to His heel. This blow was minor because Jesus would raise from the dead on the third day, whereas the blow to Satan was fatal in terms of permanently sealing his fate. God reveals this long held mystery since the time of Adam and Eve. Now in this last age of humankind, the mystery even disguised by Christ as He spoke in parables of the kingdom was finally revealed as all planned by God was fulfilled.

Throughout the scriptures we see that changing the word of God or ignoring it has its terrible consequences and in this case the Jews murder the Messiah. Throughout the centuries to this day there remains those like the Jews who add to and take away from the scriptures to the destruction of souls. Yet, the salvation brought by Christ remains for those that receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Note: In 2 Thessalonians 2.10 God is speaking of those that, “perish because they DID NOT receive a LOVE OF THE TRUTH that they might be saved.”

God Reveals So Much About Himself
How Fortunate We Are To Have Such Love
How Foolish We are To Be Anything But Grateful and Obedient

At some point a person may ask, if God can do all things and nothing is impossible for Him, why did He have this difficulty in bringing Christ and then the necessity of His suffering and death? I can only attempt to answer this in the same way as above. There can be no valid worship unless people of their own free will choose to do so. God, being perfect in every way is willing to give up control to be worshiped in a meaningful way. God is unlimited, unless He limits Himself and this is exactly what He has done. God being this perfect being is perfect in justice, perfect in love and perfect in every characteristic you can imagine. God could lie, He can do anything, however being perfect “in goodness” He cannot lie. Thus we would be right to understand that God limits Himself and even reveals this to humankind.

Titus 1.2

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

These words seem wrong that is, “God, who cannot” but just like God can do anything, He can also prohibit Himself from doing something and in this case He reveals He cannot lie. God cannot be evil in any sense. God is the source of good and evil originates from those who make poor free will choices as previously explained. It is wrong to think God made humankind with some sort of “evil in-born” and God points this out in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 7:29

29 Truly, this only I have found:
That God made man upright,
But they have sought out many schemes.”

Note: This subject of God in some way being the source of evil has brought much error from those who create their own religious doctrines and we have such nonsense as “original sin” and “inherited depravity.” These pathetic “cornerstone” doctrines are the inventions of Catholicism and Protestantism and are scripturally revealed as such in the following analysis: The fall of Catholicism and Protestantism in one simple lesson

Good Versus Evil – The Way Of The World

People frequently reject good for evil and initially battle with their conscience, but over time sear their conscience and are no longer bothered. Even going back to Adam and Eve, Satan offered them an understanding of good and evil as a result of eating from the fruit of the forbidden tree. Satan said they would be like God. Good versus evil has been an issue since that initial disobedience in the garden. God is limited in His character to be perfect in goodness, which can be thought of as the absence of evil. God did not create evil, but evil is a consequence of free will choices and it began with Adam and Eve – actually before that in the form of free-will fallen angels.

We are very fortunate to have such a God (GOODNESS) and in this we can love Him. In actuality the phrase, “have such a God” might mean there are other gods, but there is no other God. The one God is the God of the bible, the Creator of all things seen and unseen. God has done everything for His creation and reveals the pain it has brought Him. In the days of Noah He regretted having made humankind, He endured the disobedience of King Saul and many others and finally with His Son going to the cross. To this very day, we see all the disobedience to His laws and there are things He abhors even referred to as abominations. In that regard, one thing of apparent abomination and in opposition to His purpose would be mothers murdering their unborn. This pathetic selfish action will bring devastation to those women and equally so to those who support such a travesty. God’s purpose has procreation as a fundamental piece and interfering with that is against God. God provides humanity with a spiritual nature in a physical body. God has awareness of a person from conception. Regardless, whether the world accepts evil choices or not God holds people responsible for their actions. A woman might logically try to find an excuse for taking the life of a baby and indeed it is a choice, an evil and pathetic choice. There is no way that going against God and His way, His creation, His purpose will ever lead to anything, but failure in life. The things God hates, he refers to as abomination and there are seven things and one is the taking of innocent life. Humankind has found ways to justify every sinful thing regardless if it is an abomination to God such as homosexuality or telling lies. Sins are always evil choices and amount to things we want in opposition to God’s way. One excuse may be as foolish as claiming not to know God’s way, not knowing what is sin and what is not. In the time before Christ, the Gentiles (non-Jews) did not know the Law of Moses, but they will be judged by the natural law – sort of an innate law that can tell good from evil. God knows the heart of each person and He can judge in this manner. It is not the world that judges people, but God. People happily accept the approval of the world for certain sins, but this is a short-lived regrettable folly. Today, the law of Christ is available to all and in various ways people avoid God’s truth yet “all” will be judged by the word of God.

God simply warns it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and vengeance is mine says the Lord. As the scriptures teach God will be found true and every man a liar and so when God “speaks” and men/women oppose they are found to be liars. God uses this idea of liars and lying as a most despicable thing saying that the devil is the father of lies. Then as the scriptures are ending God provides the following:

Revelation 21.8

8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all LIARS shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

The Subject Of Lying Can Be Clarified – God’s View Not Mine or Yours

Essentially, every person who changes the message from God is lying and lying about the message is most despicable. All lies are bad and ALL LIARS as mentioned above will fail in life, but of course can be forgiven. Repentance is needed as part of what God requires to get into Christ. Repentance is a commitment to leave sin and that of course would include lying. Jesus points out how a person defiles themselves in Matthew.

Matthew 15.16-18

16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 
17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.

Lying of course, is likely the most common way a person defiles themselves in their speech, but also vulgar language or using the name of God inappropriately. Spreading rumors could be spreading lies and the problem is just as God says, these things come from the heart. Defile is the idea of making filthy, dirty, or spoiling something. In the eyes of God the things coming out of the mouth if improper makes the person filthy, dirty or spoiled.
The world takes liberty with the idea of lying by saying they just “stretched the truth” or they told a harmless lie, or there was a good reason to lie, or it was just an exaggeration and there are endless inventions to make the liar more comfortable. At least you should know that God will not agree with your interpretation. It is like stealing where one ties the value of what was stolen to its seriousness – not a good idea. It has been obvious to me that once we begin justifying lying, we fall into a trap that allows us to routinely have the option of misrepresenting the truth. I seldom give advice separate from using scripture and this advice is likely in some scripture principle – but here is the advice. Make a commitment to yourself to be slow to speak (which is bible advice) and carefully consider what you say questioning yourself in relation to accuracy. This needs to be on your mind all the time! Sometimes things come out of our mouths that are not accurate – immediately correct yourself or simply say, “I am not sure.” The bottom line is do not underestimate the damage lying does (even something one might consider to be a small lie) to others or to yourself and ultimately leading to your failure in life. Lies have no size, but are just lies.

God Continually Reveals Himself
Keep On Studying
You Will See How Everything In God’s Word Fits Together To Achieve His Purpose

The short time we have in this existence is wasted sitting in buildings called churches where there is no truth. Instead you receive EARTHLY COMFORT believing you are doing the right thing or that all will turn out to be fine, placing you eventually in heaven. Error will never allow a person into a relationship with God and so in the list of things God hates, that are an abomination to Him there is an emphasis on deceit (Proverbs 6.16-19). People need the truth to achieve God’s goal for them and just like sin destroys that opportunity God’s word provides the obedient person the “covering” for sin. It does no good to follow erroneous teaching as there is no forgiveness there. There is this wonderful opportunity for the person in sin to be saved from the ravages of failure in life. Standing in their way are two apparent things, 1) error that requires a love of the truth to overcome and 2) sin itself (perhaps the love of a particular sin) that has overcome a person such that they do not seek God and truth. All sin will keep a person from heaven, but in the process of living a sinful life a person digs a deep hole and cannot find their way out. The things God mentions as an abomination would seem to be things that make it unlikely or very difficult for a person to recover. This may be to some extent because they reject the God of the bible (i.e. His laws), eventually denying His existence.
Once false religion has control of a person (similar to sin gaining control) they no longer seek God and truth – since they already have the truth.

Free-will opened the flood gates for all sorts of things that are in opposition to God. God began by telling Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden.
Later, in the early process of bringing Christ, God would bring the Law to His chosen people and there would be all sorts of disobedience. Sometimes called the Law of Moses or the Old Law, it was there as a necessary part of bringing Christ and was a shadow of what would come later in Christ. The Old Law was preparing for the coming of the Messiah. Earlier we read, “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.” Of course, now in (scriptural) hindsight we can see and generally understand that the things happening in those ancient times were with purpose – a Divine purpose. All things were fitting together, funneling down into Christ coming by the lineage and when He arrived there needed to be certain things in place. The Jewish people continually of their own free will violated the laws of God and changed it by their traditions. Now, here is Christ and not what the Jews had come to expect. They did not recognize Jesus as Messiah. This could be expected of a proud people who had carelessly handled the word of God. Their mistake is exactly the same as religions make today, namely looking for a physical answer to their problems and Christ brought and to this day brings a spiritual solution to the spiritual problem.
So in conclusion, the many things that God did were the result of humankind’s free will choices that in some way could of thwarted God’s purpose. Specifically, keeping Christ from coming to bring the reconciliation. God knew in His wisdom what must be done and He took those steps. We do not have His wisdom and so we cannot understand and consequently some reject God for His severity. In reality, you are rejecting God for His love. He says His way and thoughts are higher than His creation and indeed they are infinitely higher. Will humankind every get it right? Yes, but just those who love the truth and interestingly those are the ones God wants for heaven as they make the free will choice to follow after the unseen and eternal versus the physical and temporary.
Most everything seems to fall in place (for me) as I study the scriptures and you should not believe them unless in the course in your study you reach the same conclusion. Here is what I can tell you and be certain of its validity – OBEY THE GOSPEL – OBEY THE DEATH, BURIAL and RESURRECTION of CHRIST. Remain faithful until your death and receive the crown of life, enter into eternal rest, into heaven.

The Fear Of The Lord – Its Value For Those Who Succeed
Its Excuse For those Looking For An Excuse

One of the things coming from this period leading to Christ’s arrival during the time of the Old Covenant was the value of having a fear of the Lord. It was a lesson the Jews never learned and thus never applied to themselves or they would have recognized the Savior. Today without it there is little knowledge in the land (in the world). Instead, in pride people look at the God of the bible and reject God because He is threatening them. People often say, “the God I WANT would not use fear.” How could anyone possibly define God, who is so much higher than humankind and perfect in all things? God uses fear, just as He carefully oversaw the bringing of Christ and people do not understand that process, but routinely criticize God’s methods. All I observe is that God knows the VALUE of fearing Him and the CONSEQUENCES of acting in opposition to Him.
I think of a person dying and realizing God was the God of the bible. They are in a lost state and also realize how they rejected the chance(s) to understand the scriptures. I have no good idea of that moment, but for the lost it will be exceedingly difficult. Then they might wonder why didn’t God bring more clarity to the true nature of our existence – well, HE did. The fear of the Lord will help a person when they realize what is personally at stake. Maybe you can be moved by fear to knowledge and then to obedience. If a person is lost, THEN the seriousness is finally understood and they might think why didn’t someone “hit me over the head with a hammer” and tell me about the seriousness of life. God does this with fear and so often it is not appreciated, but becomes the reason for rejection – SAD! It is quite amazing how one person can be affected in a positive way by the fear of the Lord, while another becomes bitter and rejects the God of the bible. One thing that plays a part in how a person views the fear of God is associated with their character. A proud person is unlikely to accept the idea of fearing God because they think “no one threatens me.” God is getting exactly those He wants for heaven and it all comes out in the choices people make. In the background of making those choices is their character.

More On The Fear Of The Lord – Some Repetition

It has always been important for humankind to have a fear of the Lord – for one thing knowledge begins there (Proverbs 1.7). As just mentioned, this is seldom acceptable to humankind as pride dictates that no one has the right to scare me into submission. I would suggest that if we think of God as some man, having the thinking processes of humankind then you might potentially have a point. God is infinitely wiser and does things in relation to humankind that fit perfectly with His purpose and that in various ways are beneficial to humankind. Many people reject God, even His existence for this reason of fear. If you do believe in God, why in the world would you question Him? God in His love for humankind does not want you to go through life thinking all will be fine if you live as you wish. Thus very simply, the fear of the Lord is something that helps bring a person to the truth. Solomon towards the end of his life concluded the whole duty of man was to fear God and keep His commandments. Fear of the Lord brings a person to God and keeps them there. Read, “Fear and Understand God” for a correct view of how God uses fear.

A Terrible Thing To Reject God Out Of Wrongly Interpreting His Actions

Somehow, God in His infinite wisdom was NOT doing these “harsher” things EXCEPT to assure all would come to pass in Christ. Disobedience was typically behind these so-called “harsh” actions.
There is a natural consequence of providing humankind with a free will and it is the opportunity for disobedience. The blessings came to God’s people (the Israelite’s) and also a great deal of the harshness. God’s purpose for Israel was singular and that was to bring Christ and they were not special in any other way. Steven in Acts 7 (verses 1 to 53) was very direct in this long dissertation to the Jews wherein the truth about their stewardship was revealed.

Acts 7.51-53

51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

Man continues in His free will to make decisions in opposition to God as well as those who freely choose to follow Christ, the doctrine of Christ. As time finally runs out there will be an end of all things physical, an end to the works of humankind, an end to authority. Authority and the associated laws were needed for those of free will to provide direction, to provide guidance from the One who had authority. In the next existence, authority and the associated laws are no longer needed. We may not be able to understand that or can we understand existence without the physical or without time. Trying to understand why God did certain things is not always revealed and thus unknowable. There is plenty revealed so you can be sure of what is truth and what is error and be successful.

Note: We have proposed that what people see as harshness from God in the scriptures leading up to Christ’s fulfillment of Genesis 3.15 was in fact needed to assure fulfillment of that promise in a world of free choice. This is reasonable and seems obvious, however it is not something to be taught as doctrine as it may be incomplete. The point of this probable scenario is to provide people with one good explanation of God’s actions. Actions that demonstrate God’s determination to help humankind out of an eternal dilemma. Humankind has frequently turned from the God of the bible because of this perceived version of God (the God of the bible) as cruel, harsh. Well, here is a reasonable description of God’s motive for the actions He took. Compare that to the irrational view of the world in ignorance of the scriptures that categorically rejects God for His apparent harshness.

The Irony of Religion

One thing about this “existence” is the variety of religious thought in the world. A person can go to church, might be called going to worship or to the church building or in other religions going to the synagogue or mosque. A person might go to that one place all their life and consequently listen to many lessons and/or worship for endless hours. Perhaps thousands or many thousands of lessons on many different topics. Yet, in a “Christian setting” never once hear the gospel preached. The teachers devise clever subjects to talk on that may include social issues laced with some bible verses or hundreds of other things. In general, no one including the one teaching understands God and His revelation to humankind. In a Christian setting a person may be in the same location on a Sunday from their birth until they are over ninety years of age and never once hear the gospel preached. Now, that is ironic! What in the world did they learn of value, learn of the truth? They learned NOTHING that places them on the road to heaven. What are people thinking? Do they believe God’s word is trivial or inaccurate or that it could not be perfect? Do they discount the precise nature of it because there are different translations? Anyone who loves the truth can sort through the translations, some of which are nonsense and many of which vary only slightly from other translations. The beauty of God’s word is its consistent theme and how everything fits together and that is helpful in making distinctions in translations. What an easy way to discount the bible by saying, “which translation” or “which church” or “which interpretation” or any other convenient thing. These things are not the real problem, but a love of the truth. The vast majority of those who know the bible contains the truth still listen to some person, who is supposedly an “expert.” The plea is to understand what you believe and not have someone understand for you. There may not be anything more amazingly devastating than the magnitude of a person’s participation and involvement in some religion that has nothing to do with God. God promises that the truth will set you free and people like to think that something CLOSE TO THE TRUTH will be acceptable. It is not that the truth is difficult, but that it has been twisted (no longer the truth) and then built upon in ways to convince people of its efficacy.
There is truth and there is error and religion in the world is problematic in that it is dominated by error. Below is a brief summary called the problem with religion.

The Greatest Is Love

We have just talked about “free will” in relation to how God seeks those who truly love Him more than they love anything else. God can see love in humankind as individuals keep His commandments. We might say as they freely keep His commandments. The test of God for humankind is tied to a free will choice to show your love in obedience to God’s Son just as He did to the Father.

Hebrews 5.8.9

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

As we understand God better, we can bring clarity to a world confused by religion – the religions of humankind. The nonsense of Islam – not from God, but from man and a man who certainly did not understand God. God wants those to freely choose Him and Islam wants to kill those who are heretics and is threatening to non-believers as well as their believers. How far they are from God!
Catholics also fought in the wars in the name of their God, the God whom they did not serve. The popes called for the crusades. Their popes also executed those who denied the Catholic beliefs killing many at the stake and murdering large groups of those who opposed them.
Protestants, like Catholics have no respect for God’s word other than their claims to respect it. In reality they create doctrines different than the gospel and change all that God so carefully delivered.
Mormons follow nonsense inasmuch as they follow books created by Joseph Smith which are entirely different document than delivered by the Holy Spirit to the apostles – they also use the bible revised in places to fit their doctrines as do the Jehovah Witnesses.
Buddhists have no connection with God, but look to man as having the answers and promote peaceful ways and inner peace – very appealing in a world of “crazy” religions. Yet, without the message from God they cannot know anything about spirituality, but only surmise a good way to live an earthly existence.
Atheists are better than most who have created their own religions and see the world of religion as pathetic – because it is. In the end they are just as God says, fool’s.

Psalm 14.1

1 The fool has said in his heart,“There is no God.”

Harsh, no, God is truthful and provides an accurate description of how each person rejecting God WILL view themselves in their failed state. I think that even an Atheist would admit that a fool would be the proper description of themselves if at the end of their life they learn that God exists and He is the God of the bible. Indeed, all was available during their earthly existence for every person to know the truth and know it convincingly.

Atheists usually have a reason or many reasons for rejecting God. Life is serious and there is no good reason for rejecting God. Many of the reasons for rejecting God are related to what they see in the world now and throughout history as being religion. Atheists make three significant mistakes:
1) They do not understand God’s actions, but only have limited knowledge of events and little to no effort is exerted to understand the scriptures
2) Much of the “religion” they see has nothing to do with God, but is the inventions of and teachings of men and women that are totally in opposition to God
3) Lastly, they make the same mistake as the religions inasmuch as they do not have a love of the truth – but in pride they love the world.

Note: The world has become so bizarre as people strive to protect their beliefs. Really to protect the things they want by becoming visibly upset at anything that could harm their views. When someone disagrees with another or points out error in religious groups, they are labeled as being hateful, maybe racist, or at least stupid and very biased. In reality, the one creating these labels is undoubtedly harboring such a character. God’s people in teaching truth do so because God requires it and do it out of a love for people and not wanting them to be lost. They hate the origins of false religions that will result in the failure of so many, but love the people caught up in grave error. As Paul wrote, “knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Despite seldom being recognized as one who cares deeply about people who have been misled, they are despised. Paul said in Galatians 4:16, “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” The message is simply what God requires for heaven and as always each person chooses. God, as discussed must have people freely choosing Him. A wise person seeks God and finds God to be the God of the bible, wants heaven and wants to avoid hell. There is no pressure from any person, including myself, but there is truth which contains love, heaven and hell. In this life you choose. In truth you might feel pressure, but it is spiritual, not physical and it is in love not hate. Obviously, the masses of people have been moved to believe what they believe religiously under various physical and emotional pressures from the religions of humankind, from family and friends. Apparently, those things are more effective and accepted than the fear of the Lord, which they complain about. They are not really more effective, but offer more NOW of what we want. Our world is one of complacency and philosophies such as “I never discuss religion or politics.” Those lost will wonder how they could have so meticulously avoided the truth during their lifetime. The answer in some way will be that they loved the world more than the truth. It might be the world (sensual), or the religions of the world that they loved, but somehow they found ways to avoid the truth during their lifetime.

The religious world are really lost on the subject of love and they translate love to mean forgiveness independent of obedience to God. This would make God and God’s word out to be dishonest since such a teaching opposes the doctrine from God. God ties our love for Him directly to obedience. In our life on earth in relation to others, love is tied to being humble, unselfish and specific things are mentioned in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 13.3-7

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love is greater than faith and hope and that is likely because the faith and hope we have is properly motivated by our love of God and others.

Final Thoughts on This Existence

It is worthwhile to talk about the nature of the CURRENT existence. I doubt many really understand this present life. The scriptures clarify our lives in truth. The futility of this life was finally arrived at by Solomon – the world’s wisest man. Solomon would write near the end of his life that all was vanity and He certainly experienced that vanity. People live in desires for this or that or rather for both for this and that. Greed and selfish pursuit seem to fill the world and the need for power and control is obvious in nations and in individuals.
This Existence is:

• Temporary
•  Short and often painful
•  Seems at times to be never ending, especially in difficulties
•  At times can be joyful, yet difficult to maintain the happiness
•  Unexpected things occur and often devastating
•  Not properly understood apart from God’s revelation
•  Obvious in its eventual certain end for each person
•  Daily struggles and challenges
•  The time of God’s test
•  Yearning, hoping for something beyond that is better
•  Emotional
•  Characterized by seeking peace, security, stability and love
•  Disappointment as well as anticipation
•  All too frequent sorrow and regret
•  Fear of underachieving or of losing what is achieved
•  The time for revealing a person’s character
    •   Humble or Proud
    •   Selfless or Selfish
    •   Brave or Cowardly
    •   Lover of Truth or Lover of the World
    •   Forgiving or Vengeful
    •   Kindly or Cruel

Perhaps the most important thing to know about this existence is that it is a test – it is YOUR test. It is YOUR time, YOUR lifetime in which YOUR eternity will be determined. It is the time to believe God and not men or women and God has graciously provided His word – for YOU.

4. The Next Existence

     •  Success = heaven – what will it be like?
     •  Failure = hell – what will it be like?

What Will Heaven Be Like

People are very curious about heaven and if it exists want to be there. Of course, those who question its existence do not understand God or the scriptures and need to be very, very determined and diligent to achieve heaven. The promises of heaven are many and we can envision something most wonderful, infinitely better than anything ever envisioned as ideal in our lifetimes.

First, we will state the obvious from the scriptures that can be represented in descriptions of heaven and hell. The following contains scattered short sections from the book, “What Is Life All About?” specifically from Chapter 37.1
37.1 The Reality of Heaven and Hell
Hitler, Nero, every bully, every murderer who ever lived and has died still remains in existence as well as their victims. All of mankind will exist forever. There is no choice. The time of your choice regarding your eternal destination is during your lifetime. Man’s eternal existence is one of the key things that make men different than all other living things and is exactly why there is a heaven and a hell. Man will live forever and the quality of that eternal existence is dependent on how he/she lives the human existence. The fact that man might be responsible for his actions to a higher being is something that many do not want to believe. In fact, only those who get to the truth will fully understand the seriousness of living this life correctly. God describes heaven and hell in ways we as physical human beings can understand by providing the character of that eternal existence. God in His perfection provides a description that is accurate in its representation to human beings. The likelihood is that heaven is far better, but due to its spiritual nature not understandable to physical beings. We are so limited in the physical realm inasmuch as we can suffer physical and emotional pain, require food and sleep to sustain us and eventually wear out (assuming nothing catastrophic occurs first) and die. God uses many different descriptions of heaven and below are some of the most notable.

Heaven is real and consists of certain characteristics, some of these are:

1) Eternal and incorruptible (see Reference 1,2 at bottom of this section)
2) God will be there. He’s everywhere now, but He will be there in some real understandable way.(Reference 3,4)
3) It will be an existence greater than anything that can be imagined in terms of: (Reference 5,6)
   •  Beauty
   •  Peace, no worries or concerns
   •  Happiness
   •  Perfection in every way

4) You will have great knowledge and understanding.

Reference verses for above:
1 Matthew 25.46 [righteous to eternal life]
2 1 Peter 1.3-9 [heaven reserved for God’s children, incorruptible]
3 John 14.2,3 [with God]
4 Revelation 21.3 [with God]
5 Revelation 21.4 [heaven]
6 Revelation 21.9-27 [heaven]

Seemingly Important Concerns About Heaven – One Example

It seems like one of the concerns regarding heaven is in the form of a question like; How can I be happy in heaven if my loved ones are not also there? I cannot say with accuracy, but I would suggest the following:
   •  With God all things are possible
  •  If you put God first in your life you will accept and agree with His judgment
  •  The question although reasonable now, in view of all we will know then will be “resolved”
  •  A more valuable question and something we can actually do to help loved ones might be, “am I currently doing all I can to help my loved ones spiritually?”
We do have a lot of questions about the next life, about heaven and yet we know all we need to know. We will not have answers to all the concerns we can imagine. Our only valid concern is to succeed in life and help others to do the same.

Do you understand the purpose of God and the certainty of His word and that each person will make choices to determine their success or failure (you cannot make choices for anyone or can anyone make choices for you)? Despite the fact we have family, friends, children we are really individuals and those around us who we love dearly are good fortunes of our earthly existence. We thank God for them. Those persons could have been different persons and we might have also had happiness and love and maybe more, maybe less. Ultimately, our attitude should be a concern for all people. The bible is relatively silent on the subject of having continuing associations from the earth on into the next existence – although there are some inferences. I do not know about such things as they are not revealed. There is no clear description leading one to believe there will or won’t be such associations (from the earthly life) in the next existence. It MIGHT be fair to say there will be associations with those who also succeeded, but again not clearly revealed. The scriptures emphasize the next life in terms of individuals and their actions whether they are good or evil. It is typical for people to comfort those who have lost a loved one by saying they are in heaven and perhaps with other loved ones. The bible is silent on this subject, but clear on the nature of heaven and clear on who will succeed and who will fail. The prime relationship for a person achieving heaven is being with Christ, with God. Paul would write:

Philippians 1.23

23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

God describes something very understandable and desirable for human beings in Revelation 21.4.

Revelation 21.4

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

You can be certain this is true and you can be certain that you will not be in eternity with God and be sorrowful about those loved ones who failed. Every person will be judged and receive PERFECT JUSTICE and there should be no doubt about this.

What Will Hell Be Like

The one thing that strikes me the most about hell is that God will not be there. The magnitude of distress experienced by the absence of God is difficult to comprehend as human beings. On this earth, God is actually here and is seen in the creation and exists in the hope we have of something better. The awful condition of being lost is a hopeless eternal existence and in some way those who fail will understand that it is eternity lost.

Pain as we understand it is physical – but the physical will be over. Yet, the descriptions of hell are in physical terms. How else can they be described to humankind – I believe we understand. As with all things from God, the descriptions are accurate in making the point and there is an “equivalent” condition in the lost non-physical state.

The works therein (the events of the world) will be gone and very possibly the memories. The awards, “halls of fame,” all sorts of honors and the various things that guaranteed a person’s “mark on history” are gone and left is the foolishness of thinking they were important. Life was always about the soul and absolutely about nothing else. The important thing is how did you do in your relationship with God through Christ?

There will be no arguments at judgment – you are dealing with God and He makes no mistakes. He knows all you have done and you either have His solution to sin or you do not. Faced with almighty God there will likely be no disagreement. You might be confident in your skills expressing your excuses, your difficulties with “just about anyone,” but now you will be judged by God, specifically God’s Son. God knows your every thought, your every action and whether or not you have a relationship with Him. He knows if He added you to His body and if so whether you remained faithful. He knows if you bore fruit or hid your talents. You may think you can argue with God now, but very, very likely in His presence your condemnation will be certain – even to you.

Those who call themselves Christians, but were not added to the body of Christ by the Lord are not Christians. These were usually mislead and were happy with what they accepted and were closed-minded to further investigation.
These “so-called Christians” have been indoctrinated and some of the following applies to different ones of them.

1) Most were promised a good end by doing what someone told them, but without any VALID scriptural support of their teachings.
2) Some end up being liberal in their understanding of the scriptures taking what suits them and rejecting other less desirable doctrines and there is no sincere questioning of beliefs.
3) Many were vulnerable to worldly possibilities of science that promotes alternatives to God. They are trying to live in both worlds and become the lukewarm people referred to in Revelation.
3) Some were impressed by certain religious leaders with fame and/or fortune or credentials that the world respects.
4) Over the course of time they become impressed by the goodness of people more than God’s way – the scriptures.
5) Also with time they become close-minded to other than they have been taught.
6) They accept and embrace the many different non-scriptural ideas of the rapture, purgatory or other concepts that provide some comfort.
7) They have been taught that God’s word is perfect and then assume what they are being taught is in agreement with the scriptures.
8) There is great variation in the beliefs of “so-called Christians” from what is called “evangelicals (bible directed)” to the more structurally organized hierarchies. Neither provide what a person needs for salvation.
9) They count on the “love of God” to handle their short comings, but in no way understand the love of God.

God Is Serious About Truth
Humanity Seems Casual, Hopes Things Turn Out Well

The things above are mentioned here in relation to hell because all these things are problematic, but considered not critical to salvation. There is a very liberal attitude in the “so-called Christian” churches and it began in Protestantism with Martin Luther. Think about Luther’s conclusion of salvation by Faith only and how he places a mental belief in Christ above all other things delivered by God and seals salvation on this one point. Belief is essential as are other things in the process delivered by God and once “in Christ” there needs to be continued faithfulness. How can I or anyone else declare this (or that) part of the gospel message is more important than the entire message. Indeed, out of this came a continual growing pattern of liberalism. Eventually some headed back to the bible – the so-called evangelicals. Almost universally they did not completely return to the scriptures, but hold to many of the old Protestant teachings. Whenever, speaking of Luther, one should realize that he came from a place where there was no correct understanding or respect for the word of God (being a Catholic priest). He attempted to find truth in the scriptures and he moved powerfully away from the tyranny and abomination of the popes. Unfortunately, in his excitement he got it very wrong.

So many people have an interest in religion and often it is to avoid the potential of hell, just in case it does exist. That curiosity and attempt to associate with religion “just in case” will not help. God separates people along the lines of truth and error and your “good” character will play a big part if you are to succeed. I would be less than honest if I did not say to save your life you need to lose it – live it for Christ and the gospel as Christ so-directed. That is quite different than a casual interest in religion, but much like Paul ran into in Athens when to “cover their bases” the Athenians created an edifice to the unknown god.

There are people who like to use their logic to comfort themselves and count on “the God of love” to save a decent, well-meaning person such as they consider themselves – it will turn out OK. Hell is not OK and its characteristics are described below and they are not OK. One might have their excuses prepared – very foolish when facing God. One might believe that their successes and good actions can overcome a great deal of problems. You have great memories and are well liked, even loved by many.
You call yourself Christian and read your bible and you support the “church” and are involved in helping others to Christ, but you never obeyed the gospel. Your personal conversion consisted of mentally accepting Christ as your personal savior and there may be associated beliefs such as you are saved once and forever. Your worship follows a pattern invented and overseen by men and women. There is no reason to think anything is wrong. You are confident in your life. Many millions believe like you and family and friends have died with these beliefs. It would be worth your time to read, “Most Christians Are Not Christians.”
Then if your love of the truth is aroused read, “The Word of God.” Finally, it could be helpful to read, “The Conversions of the New Testament.”

About Hell
I Do Not Know
But Know Enough

I have no idea what the next existence in failure will be like except it will be awful. You should not try to think of some way it will be pleasant. It would seem that the absence of God in your life and the awareness you foolishly used your life for everything except God will be key elements of the lost condition. God may not even allow any of your pleasant thoughts, but just leave the lost without anything other than they are lost for eternity. After all, the works therein will be destroyed with all physical things. There may be degrees of punishment related to your lifetime – I do not know. How many people die HOPING they will go to heaven and never do any more than hope? As usual they count on their own wisdom; They reason somehow heaven will follow their present existence – they hope.

1 Corinthians 15:19

19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

This was the message Paul preached – the gospel message. It moves a person from hope to being in Christ.

Hell is real and God describes certain characteristics of hell, some of these are:

1) Eternal, no escape (Reference 7, see reference list below)
2) Darkness (Reference 8)
3) Great suffering, misery (Reference 9)
4) There is no rest (Reference 10)
5) A place of fire (Reference 11,12,13)
6) A place of terror (Reference 14)
7) Extreme loneliness because there is no one to comfort
8) Realization of hopelessness since you will likely understand that your fate is eternal and that indeed you were responsible for your eternity.
9) Eternal regrets for your pride: (Reference 15)
      •  Pride: Kept you from searching out the truth
     •  Pride: Was associated with how you treated others poorly, perhaps for selfish reasons
     •  Pride: In doing things your way and avoiding anything that interfered with how you determined to live
      •  Pride: Placed you in a position of rejecting the God of the Bible because you did not like the restrictions. Nor did you accept the concept of eternal retribution since God loves us and He needs to be fair as YOU defined fair
    •  So indeed pride does go before destruction (Proverb 16.18) and indeed it deceives you (Obadiah 3) and its regret will stay with you through eternity

References for above:
8 2 Peter 2.4, Jude 13, Matthew 25.30 [darkness]
9 Matthew 25.30, Luke 13.27,28 [weeping, gnashing of teeth]
10 Revelation 14.11, Revelation 20.10 [no rest due to torment]
11 Mark 10.33,34 [eternal fire]
12 Revelation 21.8 [burns with fire and brimstone]
13 Matthew 13.42 [fire]
14 2 Corinthians 5.11 [knowing the terror of the Lord]
15 Luke 14.11, James 4.6, Proverbs 16.18, Obadiah 3 [pride kept you from the truth, came before your destruction, pride deceived]

God has used this terminology to provide the concepts of heaven and hell to be understood by humankind. One can easily realize the magnificence of heaven and the terror of hell. God wants us to generally understand the next existence in the framework of our limited, finite and physical minds. It is what we need to know, as mentioned at the beginning of this page – The Seriousness of Life. Yet, by way of helpful explanation He gives other insights to the next existence. We mentioned 2 Peter 3.8-10 in terms of not only the destruction of all things physical, but all the works therein being destroyed. The whole of existence has to do with a test and the many things considered as so important along life’s path are ultimately not important. The way we lived in relation to doing good or evil and our relationship with Christ will be there and known to God. It would seem that most of life’s day to day things, which seem so important now will be seen as so trivial in the next existence, such that they do not exist – in fact they MAY NOT even be in any way part of the next existence. They are likely part of the works therein that are destroyed. Actually, the explanation of the works therein is neither important nor necessary. God graciously provides some insight about the relative importance of this short life to the next never-ending/timeless existence.

One of the important things to understand about the next existence is how badly God wants us to succeed.

1 Timothy 2.3,4

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3.9

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

God’s effort on our part is substantial because He wants us to succeed.

Understand More About God
Be Convinced Of God’s Perfect Word
Begin To See The Next Existence Now
Act Accordingly NOW – Get On The Road To Heaven

It is reasonable, for a person to ask why failure must be so awful. I could say, I do not know and that would be correct. However, there is insight here as we better understand God. It is quite against the nature of MOST people to be fundamentally mean, hateful and cruel. Unfortunately, those who feel this way often choose in selfishness and pride to do things to get what they want and end up being mean, hateful and cruel. The person may even say that, “I am not really a bad person.” Even more unfortunate is how selfishness and pride lead us away from God or to selecting a religious system that lines up with WHAT WE WANT instead of seeking the truth. God wants us to succeed and we want to succeed in life (heaven), but NOT at the expense of giving up WHAT WE WANT in the world. Yes, you CANNOT have both, but you must reject the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life and live for Christ and the gospel. So many become experts at fooling themselves into believing they can live for what they want from life (and often at any cost) and still achieve heaven.

The Certain Cost Of WHAT WE WANT

Here is the God of the bible and He seems to be vengeful against those who die in sin and there is a continuing retribution throughout the next existence. When we think of God as we would some person that can lead to a poor and inaccurate understanding of God. We say God must be this way or that. We use the knowledge of God’s love to draw certain desirable conclusions, such as God will be merciful beyond what is written. God is love, but God is also perfect in justice and cannot lie. God has made the rules and is precise in their meaning. People look at the verses below in relation to things that will keep them from heaven and say, “yes that is me.” Then they say, “This cannot be God, perhaps there is no God.”

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.

Galatians 5.19-21

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

The character of the person God wants has courage to do the right thing, because they see the reality of God and seek God with all their heart, soul and mind. They see the things that will keep them from success and seek what they must do and in that process they see they must change. Are they willing to change? It is an easy choice for those who want heaven badly enough – for those who can see beyond this existence.

1 Corinthians 6.9-11

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.
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.

A person looks at the sins mentioned above and says yes that was me. That person can be one referred to by the Lord as “such were some of you.” Instead of “not inheriting the kingdom” that person has been begotten again to a living hope, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. This is an infinitely different outcome compared to one who dies in sin and it is all up to you.

1 Peter 1.3-5

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 
4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

We should understand that all God has revealed will come to pass for He cannot lie.

Titus 1.2

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

Now, in the next existence there is no time, but existence will be “before time existed.” We live in a frivolous world where there is little to nothing of real goodness and compassion, and truth is rarely honored. We accept the morality of humankind and accept the awful nature of cruelty and unkindness. We accept (to give one example) the taking a life before birth. You see, we respect men and women more than God. In fact, for the most part we do not want the God of the bible (the one and only God) in our life’s because He limits WHAT WE WANT. We reject God and with all He has done for us (in Christ) and we are horrified at the concept of eternal punishment. Many (most) people who are considered religious have in fact rejected God’s message. It is serious to teach incorrectly that is, to change the word of God. Souls are lost in the process – thus the seriousness of correctly dividing the word of God. We can easily understand the punishment that God describes for those who fail. Yet we are careless handling God’s word and hide behind the excuse that a loving God could not punish in the manner described. Your excuses, your reasoning can hold you back from seeking the truth, from living godly lives. Certainly, we can know what is coming and God warns us in many ways. You can see how God will view those who reject His ways for their selfish, prideful life. There will be surprise, terror and then you will understand the seriousness – understand it now!
Proverb’s description of how God will deal with those who rejected His wisdom, His laws define a view of the Creator that many would not like or ever accept.

Proverbs 1.24-29

24 Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
25 Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your terror comes,
27 When your terror comes like a storm,
And your destruction comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
And did not CHOOSE THE FEAR OF THE LORD

Yet, those who love the truth see the seriousness of God and the absolute requirement to live according to God’s ways. They see the necessity of helping all to the truth. Paul wrote powerfully and without apology of this in second Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 5.10,11

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

Clichés To Hell
We Might Say
Clichés To Comfort And To Avoid Truth

What a sad thing to realize in the lost state that instead of learning the scriptures a person put their trust in a certain cliché or clichés. Often in attempts to talk to a person about spiritual matters they blurt out some cliché or “known saying” and it is their defense or way of saying “Go Away.” Actually, the root cause problem is, “not having a love of the truth.” Instead they love the world and what they want. They know just enough to believe the scriptures would interfere with their life. Their clichés will not protect them when the end comes. Potentially, their cliché defenses will just remind them of their shallow, nonsensical self-created way to avoid, justify their position. Some of these common clichés are in the table below and all are false.

The column labeled the truth relative to each cliché might be considered a cliché itself, except at this website there are detailed studies in principle of each “cliché.” In fact many of the answers are on this page “God Revealed1.”
People use an endless number of clichés to avoid facing up to potentially something they envision as unpleasant when it comes to the subject of God. Many people use the cliché as a short form for I do not have time or interest. There is nothing fundamentally wrong or offensive about this and we all make choices regarding the best use of our time. However, one of your priorities should be to understand your existence, its purpose and if there is a certain way you need to be living.

It might be good to reconsider the “axioms” that are directing our life. God places emphasis on the truth and a love of the truth and it is His Truth and not our version of the truth. Clichés can be our apparent uninterested version of the truth. Jesus is defined as the way the truth and the life. The truth sets us free from sin and God ties the necessity of truth to salvation. On the other hand God points out the end for those who do not receive the importance of the truth in 2 Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians 2.10-12

10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 
11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The point is, “take life seriously,” don’t downgrade life with all the clichés to avoid responsibility, but seek God with all your heart. Taking life seriously means taking God’s word seriously. All those “NOW important things” will be gone and what is left is how you lived your life and it needs to be “In Christ.”

Current Existence, Future Existence and Non-Existence

We have a lot to understand about our current existence and we can be certain in some things and the most important is to find the truth, obey it and live it. If you do this you will succeed and the other supposedly very important things will not matter. The future existence is somewhat more nebulous, but God has revealed the right amount of information to realize missing out on heaven would be a terrible tragedy. Failing in life is something you must avoid and since you must be alive to be reading this – there remains the opportunity to achieve heaven.

Finally, There Is Non-Existence

Many people believe this is the final state of a person that is, they die and then non-existence. Of course, the scriptures say it is appointed for men to once die and then the judgment (Hebrews 9.27). Nonetheless, let us contemplate non-existence for a moment. Non-existence is nothing, a blank piece of paper and not even that. There would be no memories, if there were it would be some sort of existence. You are gone – no history, no future, no thoughts of ever existing. There is not even a space where you reside – actually non-existence is difficult to contemplate. There are some that hope if it is not heaven that it will be non-existence. God created humankind with an eternal “character” and the reason was to have them go beyond their physical life. At death the body including the physical brain are dead, yet you live on, you exist. It is interesting how this is planned from the beginning as one would expect from God. As mentioned, a part of being created in the image of God is being spiritual, eternal. The bible you might note accounts for everything even in its earliest inspirations. There would be no reason for God to define heaven or hell if there were non-existence following death. Someone might say that after the judgment, the punishment for the lost would be non-existence. However, the scriptures provide some detail on the subject of the punishment and that would seem to eliminate the idea of non-existence as the punishment.
I hope that one consistent theme comes across as “God Revealed” has been discussing on this page and that is there are things we can know about God and with various levels of certainty. All of the important things regarding our success or failure are easily understood and exceedingly certain. God has not left us without what we need. The other things we might want to know exist in the scriptures, but we may understand them somewhat differently. These things may be the Why’s and How’s of God. Do not misunderstand, sin is perfectly defined, success is perfectly defined as is failure. Many things like the body of Christ, the local church and its organization and how to live faithfully and the many helps provided to get us to the truth and stay there and on and on are defined and easily understood. Today the old scriptures are there to provide us learning, better understanding of God and hope. The New Covenant is the current and final rule-book from God and the only place of truth from when it was delivered until God brings an end to all things.
Paul taught many things by the revelation of Christ (Galatians 1.12), but made it clear to the Corinthians what was important.

1 Corinthians 2:2

2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Knowing a little more about God can be helpful and on this page there have been caveats and limitations on the certainty of subjects whenever there are no direct statements. Clearly God exists as we observe, clearly He is perfect in everything and clearly He is Creator and His purpose involves you. You may also say that God is the absence of evil and cannot lie and wants you to succeed. He provided the solution to sin in His Son and delivered the truth via His Holy Spirit. There is a “place” prepared for those “in Christ” in the next existence and a “place” for the wicked. Clearly, you can obey the gospel, live faithfully and achieve eternal life.

The Amazing Existence We Have
Beyond Our Comprehension
The Focus God’s Children Need

God has indeed revealed Himself to humankind in a way we can understand His purpose and what is ahead for us. It is not complicated, but designed for you to achieve heaven. Stop and reflect for a moment that the path to success in life is clearly before us in the scriptures. There is this inconceivably wonderful prize awaiting those who succeed or the terrible consequences of failing. Surely, all will do what is required or more correctly surely all want to succeed, but may not do all that is required. God in His infinite wisdom is able to reveal the solution, but designs the solution such that only those who possess certain characteristics will find the answer. It is NOT a puzzle to be solved, but involves your heart. Those who are successful will be those who have the character God requires. It is a character that leads people to seek God, to be forgiving, to love the truth, which exhibits courage and the will-power to change their lives. It is a humble, kindly and unselfish character. The person God seeks sees sin in their lives, realizes they are not perfect and can say that IS ME the one who has sinned – no excuses. You see people can have many of these characteristics and fail because they do not have a love of the truth more than a love of what they currently believe. They fail because pride rules their life and there are many things THEY WANT.

2 Thessalonians 2.8-10

10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they DID NOT RECEIVE THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH, that they might be saved.
11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

It is quite amazing how all these characteristics fit together to produce a soul that pleases God. A proud person will not move away from what they currently believe. An unforgiving person is specifically disqualified, and they cannot be forgiven (Mark 11.25,26). A selfish person may obey God, but then live for themselves and fail to bear fruit or try to live in both the world and in Christ. You see, it is your character that leads you to the truth and keeps you living faithfully. There is an admonition for those in Christ to grow in the grace and knowledge of God. God provides so many things to encourage since you need to be “Faithful Unto Death.” At the beginning you come to Christ in humility and once “in Christ” there are many blessings and you can grow in the grace and knowledge of God.
Indeed, God has revealed Himself and we learn that life is about the soul and God wants you to succeed. In “God Revealed” we see that we are at the center of God’s purpose.

Note: The seriousness of rightly dividing the word of God is something that is hard to grasp for many people. Especially for those who are involved in teaching from the bible. It was discussed how dangerous trusting our logic can be and how dangerous being prudent can be leading to changing God’s meaning. God wants us to be logical in the framework of His word. Those persons teaching from the bible frequently feel the need to be inventive in their teaching perhaps in order to be interesting, perhaps to embellish their reputation. Religious institutions often demand such scholarship and thus one of the many inherent difficulties of such institutions. One might then say that all religious scholarship is questionable including “this” writing. It would be “questionable” if it varied from the truth of what was revealed. So for teachers there needs to always be this awareness of being consistent with the entirety of the scriptures. In this subject of “Revealing God” and trying to give some of the “why’s” of God and His purpose and how He went about assuring Christ would come, the scriptures are used a consistent manner and always consistent with God’s purpose. However, the point is I do not know the “why’s” in a doctrinal way. I do know that God is perfect in goodness and almighty in everything and thus the actions He took were consistent with His purpose. I would be unwise to think any different. God has completed His part in relation to Genesis 3.15 and all that remains is the end of this present age. Here is what I know for sure:
You need to seek God with all your heart (Jeremiah 29.13)
You need to find God and obey the gospel
You need to live faithfully
You need to be developing your skills and think in terms of the fruits of the Spirit – develop them in yourself
You need to worship God as He directed
You need to be prayerful, thankful, kindly and forgiving
You need to study the scriptures and always be thinking in terms of bringing the message to others

I write about many things at this website with the purpose of being straightforward, truthful and as easy to understand as possible. My hope is that you come to a knowledge of the truth and obey it. God has revealed a great deal about Himself and a better understanding of God will be an encouragement.

The child of God in the world has a lot to overcome to remain faithful. Focusing on the following will be helpful and each person can determine from the scriptures what would be most helpful for them. The visual has value and the point is to FOCUS on the things that will help you remain faithful – the format here is asking how are you doing in these areas. Focus on godly things and not on the world with its confusion and deceit – for those things can “bring you down.”

5) What Could Have Been – The Cost of Pride, Greed Called Religion

The religions of humankind represent the idolatry of the world throughout the centuries. Today’s religions are the product of centuries of humankind’s inventions in opposition to God, while appearing and claiming to be of God. Of particular disgust are Catholicism and Protestantism because they use the bible as a guide. The bible is used to legitimize their religions. In effect, by claiming association with God they provide a sense of security to their followers. The truth is straightforward and simple and these organizations bring confusion in their many different doctrines. In order to control people and keep their positions of authority they make the truth complicated with their rules, with their additions and subtractions from the word of God. The net effect is a different gospel message – which as Paul would say is not another, “but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.” The children of God live a simple life with the scriptures as their guide. They understand that each day is for the Lord and they are to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. The religious world lives in error, not being “in Christ” but often believing they have such a relationship. Their leaders do not understand the seriousness of God and His word and typically promote or condone living in the world in addition to a spiritual life. So, we see everything that God abhors in the lives of their membership, admittedly to varying degrees. Many times their membership associates a single day of coming together as their part in a process that will get them to heaven. The other days of the week they may live in all sorts of selfish and often cruel and unkind ways. The vulgar language and actions of the world are not foreign to these religions. Often they accept the worst sorts of evil as though there is no harm – abortion and immorality for example.

Note: The things that God condemns and will keep people from heaven are sins and any sin a person dies in will result in a failed life. God’s people do not campaign against this sin or that, but focus on the gospel message and part of that message requires a person to repent or change their life such that they leave all sins behind. The world, as mentioned earlier likes to refer to anyone who points out a particular sin as a hater of those who participate in it. Not true, God’s people have no interest in hating anyone and hate no one. Disagreement is not hating, pointing out that something is a threat to someone’s future is not hating, but much closer to being loving and sincerely concerned. The Lord’s people typically spend little time on any one sin, but focus on preaching the word. If the question comes up in relation to a particular sin, then it is chapter and verse – really all chapters and verses on the subject. Sin is not well understood by the world. We have mentioned that any sin (not forgiven) will be sufficient to result in a failed life. Did you know that to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin (James 4.17). Did you consider that the things God hates should be considered as associated with sin and all those hated things fall under some specifically mentioned sin – that should be apparent. Did you know that changing the word of God is condemned, and Paul mentions cursed in reference to those changing the gospel message? Many of the apparently very serious sins carry the extra burden of burying a person so deep in that sin that they cannot find their way out. Certain things God mentions as an abomination carry that added burden and need to be avoided. When God mentions the seven things He hates they are called an abomination and lying is in the background of four of them. Lying is underestimated by humankind but God is revealing its deadly character.The world lives in sin and needs forgiveness, whereas those in Christ must work to avoid sin, while doing God’s will.

The ways of the world with its cruelties, selfishness, immorality and lies are not acceptable for God’s children. The scriptural principles for the child of God would not allow these things in their life. The religions of the world claiming to be from God do not hold to the principles of Christ except at times in word (verbally). It should be no surprise, that these religions represent true evil in the eyes of God. They have no authority from God for their teachings, yet speak as though their teachings are from God. In this last age since the complete revelation of God to humankind there could have been a much better world than we see today and throughout the centuries. The strange thing is that the religions invented by humankind contribute to and support evil. They are most evil in causing the ultimate loss of innumerable souls. God’s people exist and live for Christ every day and although not perfect “by in large” they work every moment to avoid sin and strive to live how they are directed. They live for God first even above their family and friends. They see every person as important, more important than themselves, they forgive everyone, they must reject hate and seek to be kindly to all. They have an active and aggressive mission regarding bringing the truth of Christ to the world. In all things they have a humble spirit. They grow in the true knowledge of God by living by the single rule-book, the scriptures. What would the world look like if more people were of this character? The world might answer that by saying, “it would be boring and no fun and people would be self-righteous.” In the eyes of what the people of the world want, they might be right. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes have a powerful way of differentiating the attitude of godly people versus worldly people. It is quite dramatically different and shows how different your life needs to be “to get on a course to heaven and stay there.”

Proverbs 16:19

19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Ecclesiastes 7:2

2 Better to go to the house of mourning Than to go to the house of feasting, For that is the end of all men; And the living will take it to heart.

These are very strong contrasts and they represent the wisdom of God. That is the wisdom from God to you. Specifically, the God of the bible who wants you to succeed.

God’s people “in Christ” are not self-righteous, but go through life being righteous as long as they follow the truth. That truth has none of the characteristics that promote self-righteousness. In fact self-righteousness would be condemned. Where is the self-righteousness in kindness, concern, love of others more than self? God will not reward the person who is self-righteous, puffed-up we might say. These would be proud people and the opposite of what God wants, instead His children MUST BE in every way humble, thankful for what they have in Christ.
The world sees self-righteousness in the teaching of truth and the confidence people bring to their teaching. It is not self-righteousness as long as it is the truth. This is why the religions of the world ARE SELF-RIGHTEOUS because they teach THEIR righteousness as truth.

Carelessness In Handling God’s Word
Driven By Pride, Selfishness and Greed
Resulting In The Current Religions Of The World
Confusing Generation After Generation

Religions such as Islam and Mormonism originated with just one person and they each taught THEIR righteousness. There is simply no truth in either. There is one God and that is the God of the bible and if you respect His word, you respect God and if you create different doctrines it is idolatry.
A religion like Buddhism is also from one man (a claimed “enlightened” man, but not God) and has no connection with the bible, but also no connection with God. Buddhism tries NOT to be self-righteous compared to the traits they observe in the religions of the world and also to live by principles that are logical to have a peaceful life. This can be very attractive to people as such a world would be quite a good place devoid of the many conflicts that exist in religion, in families and so-on. There is no path in Buddhism to eternal life. Their heaven is more of a mental state with various existential planes of achievement, in which an enlightened mind can “travel.” Of course, this is not true and one might ask, “how did they conceive of this?” Well, a human being named Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) has this concept in his writings. The peaceful life they seek is available in Christ by following the bible. Buddhists do not see this in the “so-called Christian” religions and rightly so because it is not there. The distinction we are talking about is between truth and error. Knowledge from human beings versus knowledge from God.

There is another aspect of peace that Jesus describes when He said He did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Early on this page it was mentioned that God’s focus was singular, namely on the soul and throughout we indicate that life is about the soul. God’s message is critical to achieve His purpose and that purpose is YOU. The message brought by Christ can separate people, even families. We are individuals and some want to live without any rules in the way they want, according to the way they see things. Clearly such people can be family and friends and thus there can be separation (hopefully not) during our earthly existence and that can be painful and must be endured by God’s children.

In summary, the “religions of the world” have done and continue to do much harm to the life’s of so many people. It is amazing to think how much better the world could have been if people respected the word of God. Imagine, if instead of the violence of religion seen since the mystery was revealed that people lived honoring the word of God. There would have been no religious rule coming from human sources, but just the scriptures. There would have been no central physical church, but instead local independent physical churches with qualified elders/deacons per the scriptures. The local church would be authorized for evangelism (looking for people to freely choose the gospel). In support of that evangelism they would build up the local saints in the truth and how to live. They would provide benevolence to the local church as needed. One local church could never exercise authority over another local church and there would be no central church, but the head was Christ and by obedience to the gospel people were added to the spiritual church by the Lord Himself. They would worship God in Spirit and Truth, remembering the sacrifice of the Lord each first day of the week. They would sing praise to God in spiritual songs and hymns making melody in their hearts and provide funds in support of the local church as they purpose in their heart. The character of God’s people would be as Ephesians 3 below:

Ephesians 4.31,32

31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

The character of God’s people would NOT be:

Ephesians 5.3-5

3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 
4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 
5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

God’s children look at these things and know these are not optional things. They must avoid bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and no evil speaking and gone is malice. Instead you must be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving.
They also know that fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness is not fitting and those who do such will not inherit the kingdom of Christ and God. Heaven is not for those who display pride and selfishness and Philippians makes this point.

Imagine a world where people lived by Philippians 2.3.

Philippians 2.3

3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

“Let nothing be done” in the ways mentioned and there are people who live this way and in the fear the Lord and are certain of what is coming. They are not arrogant, but are concerned they are doing all they can for the cause of Christ living as God has directed. They know there is only one hope, one life and are exceedingly grateful to know the truth. They understand God knows their heart and thus go through life in truthful sincerity. They make mistakes, but have an advocate with the Father and can potentially be forgiven as told to Simon in Acts 8, “Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.” God is no fool and knows the heart of each person and can see through insincerity. Think of people who live in accordance with, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” When people are unselfish and esteem others better than themselves; where are the fights, where is the anger, where are the wars, where is the cruelty?

Someone might say, this is just idealistic. There will never be people like this, much less whole groups of people living this way. Here is the bad news – you need to live this way if you want to succeed – heaven. Here is the good news – you can do it, how badly do you want heaven? All those who think it would be impossible are not even going to try and are supported in this by people who think the same way. People living a godly life are called self-righteous usually because the do not run to the same excess as those around them. It seems that condemning those who are trying to live righteously brings some comfort to those who know they cannot. What a terrible thing to underestimate God’s seriousness – so short-sighted.

God Left What You Need In The Scriptures
People Cling To Humanly Devised Religions
The Scriptures With Divine Evidence, “The Religions of the world” Void Of Evidence

Now, had the scriptures been respected the world would indeed be different. The religion of God would be known to all and there would be no Catholicism, no Protestantism, no Islam, no Mormonism, no Buddhism (today) and so on. WHY? Because it would be clear (not confused) that everything in God’s word fits together with a single purpose. There is decency, moral character in God’s ways that appeals to those with a good heart. The purpose of human existence makes sense, there is something wonderful in the future and a person can be confident in the God of the bible delivering just as He promises. There is no human being or worldly organization involved in the process and the rules have not and will not change.
The scriptures reveal God and in so doing they reveal the impossibility and lack of authenticity of the world’s religions. Religions reveal their man-made nature by their inconsistent/disconnected doctrines and the need to apply coercion of various types as opposed to free will choice. There is another aspect of God that He reveals in His word and became apparent as the mystery was revealed in the New Testament. It is the very thing that the Jews failed to see and that we see to this day in the major religions of the world. Jesus was sent to solve the problem of sin. It is a spiritual problem and it required a spiritual solution. Instead of coming with armies of angels, He came as a sacrifice to turn the hearts of people to the solution. Everything about the solution is spiritual with the Lord Himself adding those obedient to His death, burial and resurrection to His spiritual church. There are local, fully independent churches with only a spiritual mission. Every aspect of their authorized work is spiritual. They worship in spirit and truth and have a single rule-book that was carefully delivered through the direction of the Holy Spirit. The religions of the world are physical and claim spirituality. They are so brazen to even seek to exercise control over nations, over a person’s life. Life is about the soul, about the battle between good and evil and very personally the battle between you and sin and success requires a spiritual solution. The complex and physical solutions of the religions of humankind bring confusion and leave you in sin.
Some references here at Heaven Coach that might help:
Gods Existence Purpose and Plan
Will Only A Few Achieve Heaven And If So-Why

Note: Before Catholicism there was error even as Paul preached and Jesus warned. Catholicism was just a more organized formal beginning of horrendous error and without it there would be a different world. Assuming the scriptures were followed it would have been much, much better. If there was no Catholicism, Luther would not have been a Catholic priest and the reasons for protesting Catholicism would not have existed. No Catholicism would likely mean no Islam. Mohammed saw great evil in both Judaism and Christianity (which at the time was really Catholicism or becoming Catholicism). The fervor of Mohammed would have been tempered if he saw the people of Christ acting in accordance with the scriptures living those virtues. Also, if he correctly understood that the Jews were no longer God’s special people very possibly Islam would not have been born. Yet, admittedly it would be hard to predict the actions of such a violent and confused ego. His ego was such that he believed it was necessary for him to kill people for God. Islam like all man-made religions needs a vibrant story to gain support. Mohammed’s story was his selection of by God (Allah) of him to be the last and most important prophet of God. Mohammed learns this and receives a message from God via the angel Gabriel which would eventually become the Koran. Again, if people saw no wrong or evil in Christianity, there is a very good chance Islam would have never existed. One thing for certain there would have been no holy wars (crusades) called by the popes – No popes! There would also have been no reason for such wars. Mormonism was born partially out of problems Joseph Smith found with the teachings of Methodism and Presbyterianism. However, Smith also had various problems with some aspects of a physic nature, a wild imagination and a variety of other moral issues. The Buddhist religion originates from Buddha Shakyamuni, a royal prince born in 624 BC in northern India – now Nepal. The teachings of Buddha are drastically different than these of other religions. Buddhism occurred before Christ was born and yet the influence of true Christianity with a real attachment to God and a peace loving self-sacrificing virtuous people could have changed the attractiveness of Buddhism. Truth would have a strong influence on those following Buddha whereas the “world of Christianity” as seen in Catholicism or the world of Islam would be obnoxious. So it is very possible that the influence of Buddhism today would be quite insignificant with Buddha being just a good man with high ideals.

There would still be many that reject the scriptures for personal reasons such as the required moral/ethical aspects and limitations God places on “lifestyles.” People would not be creating religions because of the evil they see in religion, but because of the rules they did not like. There would be no conflicts with government with God’s children because God defined a Christian’s relationship to government. I can summarize that as obedient to “the laws of land” and to those in authority. However, they would not support things that were immoral, sinful things. The taxes may be too high, even unfair, but they are to live peaceable in their short life. God’s people do not cause trouble. Individual Christians could become part of the governing process, but in no way associated with the local church. In the framework of the local church there is preaching of the word, and edification for the members. However it is not in any way a social forum. The goal is spiritual – souls, and not to fix the secular problems of the world. The fear of the Lord is always present and includes extraordinary care in rightly handling the word of God.

The “World” Is In Opposition To God

Now, there is much conjecture here in relation to what COULD HAVE BEEN in terms of the world. Changing the word of God resulted in very bad things in contrast to what was possible if truth were preached. The physical world was and remains full of tyranny, hatred, self-seeking, deceit, murder, immorality and so-on. The critical issue is how changing God’s word results in a terrible outcome for the souls of people. What has happened in the world in terms of religion results in the daily massacre of souls that is, people die and then eternal loss. One would be exceedingly naive at this point to think the world will change – Christ pointed out those who followed Him were very much different from the world. The “world” is used by God as the opposite of godly things and Jesus spoke of this to his apostles in John 15 indicating the world hated Him and they would hate those who follow after Him. This is highly undesired, but it is the way it will be because the world chooses to get all they can and the gospel of Christ requires a changed life. Jesus preached the truth and they killed Him. Shortly thereafter, Stephan would preach to the Jews and they would kill him. Paul would preach and they would stone him (leaving him for dead) and the record of first and second century Christians is filled with horrible deaths. People do not like what is preached – too personal, too limiting! Some of the things the scriptures say about the world are: don’t be conformed to the WORLD, the wisdom of this WORLD is foolishness with God, but the sorrow of the WORLD produces death, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present WORLD, denying ungodliness and WORLDLY lusts, having escaped the corruption that is in the WORLD through lust, they have escaped the pollution of the WORLD and then John 2.15-17 is a good summary of the WORLD in terms of its danger.

1 John 2.15-17

15 Do not love the WORLD or the things in the WORLD. If anyone loves the WORLD, the love of the Father is not in him. 
16 For all that is in the WORLD—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the WORLD. 
17 And the WORLD is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

God is pointing out the enemy in terms of influence, that is influencing your decisions. Indeed, it is the WORLD that people love and obtaining the things of the WORLD. Seems so innocent, but life is not about the WORLD, but life is about the soul and God through Christ is pulling one way and the WORLD is pulling in the opposite direction.

Note: One might say the world is inanimate, how can it be the enemy?
Indeed, the world is not a living force, but its attraction is the result of sin in the world. Thus the world stands for something, symbolizes something and it is ever changing and usually for the worse. Conversely, people often see the world as getting better in a physical sense. The world accepts all sorts of things that God defined as sin. These restrictions were divinely conceived to fulfill His purpose. The world has become increasingly against God, increasingly attacking the bible. It is ironic that what people need more than anything in their life they oppose, they disrespect, and they try to minimize to eventual cost of their souls.

Does Satan play a part here? In terms of going around like a roaring lion; it would seem he does. People frequently associate Satan with the world. I do not know how that works, but we are told in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” In some way Satan seeks the destruction of souls and the world appears aligned to support that very thing and thus the association. Satan began by tempting Adam and Eve, then tempting Jesus and the world represents an ever-increasing rejection of godliness as seen in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
In the sense that Satan is the father of lies, it is the lies of the world that deceive and that should be your concern, not some supernatural being who was defeated. Satan, suffering the blow to the head by the Seed of woman as God promised. Gradually, by rightly dividing the word of God we understand God, His purpose (and even things like Satan’s role) and of course, the way to succeed in life.

It does not take a genius, but a rational person to see where the allegiance of people exists – namely in self-seeking. God-seeking is typically not high on many people’s list. God’s plan has always been saving people one soul at a time and thus the very personal gospel addressing the very personal sin of each person. At the heart of saving souls is the truth. One of the key understandings about God is how opposing God is always a very bad choice and that is the same as opposing His word. God delivers truth and men and women change it and in the process they destroy themselves and others.

God has left us with that which is perfect – the truth. He said heaven (the heavens) and earth will pass away, but His words will not. Just as sure as God created the heavens and earth it is just as sure that He will destroy them. God’s word will remain and His purpose will be fulfilled in those who obeyed His will. It will be His word that judges each person.

John 12.48

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

Humankind cannot know God’s way unless He reveals it. We see the magnificence in the heavens and the earth and the intelligence in the design of everything – it is sort of all we know (unless we are spiritual). The physical existence is with purpose, but temporary. God’s word, however, is eternal and unlike the heavens and earth will not pass away. Thus, the wisdom in following God’s word more than the things we value in the present life provides the one thing that is meaningful in life – the salvation of YOUR soul.

Matthew 24:35

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

Throughout the scriptures, we can see the world, which we so highly value is passing away. It seems nothing will move people to the truth and all because of WHAT THEY WANT in the world, from the world. Life is a perfect test of humility versus pride and selfishness. 1 John 2.15-17 was used previously, just above in reference to the WORLD being a powerful influence in our choices. The emphasis here (1 John 2.15-17) is that the WORLD IS PASSING AWAY and you need to be influenced (NOW) by what will be left – The word Of God.

1 John 2.15-17

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 
17 And THE WORLD IS PASSING AWAY, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Yet, in the simplicity of God, Jesus would say in John 12.32:

John 12.32,33

32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.

“God Revealed1” can be said to be, “the revealing of God’s Son as the answer YOU need.” As bad as being lost is, on the other side of the coin is this wonderful eternal existence. The one who chooses to serve God has the correct knowledge of God and His ways and indeed in this life is most thankful.

Nothing New, Nothing More Important

The title “God Revealed” might lead someone to believe that there would be something new about to be revealed.There is nothing new, but the truth is the same since it was delivered. The “world of religions” is continuously providing new interpretations which being different than God’s intended meaning are always incorrect. In order to reveal God correctly there must not be anything “new.” The carelessness in handling God’s word is so commonplace in religion that it is hard to believe. How could so many be so wrong and typically wrong in different ways? The scriptures have been privately interpreted resulting meanings different than God intended. This demonstrates how people do not understand God or His purpose.

There is only one source of knowledge about spiritual things and it is God, God’s word. He has chosen to reveal Himself in the scriptures and no place else. The title is “God Revealed1” because for so many they do not understand
God and His purpose.
This document is about bringing clarity to the scriptures. This is only needed because men/women have distorted the truth to fit their needs, beliefs. If nothing else, the hope is that you might see God’s unwavering, consistent and critical emphasis on carefully handling the TRUTH and the total unacceptability of changing God’s word.