Life Is About The Soul
The Single Most Foolish Thing In Anyone’s Life Is To Fail In The Only Thing That Matters – Eternal Life ….
Life is short and something for you to be continuously aware. So, let’s get to the bottom line. God exists and is the God of the bible. This is the most fundamental knowledge you need and need to believe and act on. Despite the apparent wisdom of various persons that create scenarios for God’s non-existence; Is there any reason you would believe them – how could they possibly know?
Here is God ‘s view:
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
Science is highly respected in the area of how all things began because they have constructed ideas that make sense (sort of) to a mass of people who are not scientific. Those people accept the ideas or theories as correct or the best man can do and often because they want to believe them. A questioning person, a truth seeker can easily understand that their ideas/theories are weak and the basic questions are not answered. It takes faith in science and it takes faith to believe in God. Actually, it does not take all that much faith to believe in God because God provides something believable, reasonable, logical and therefore for a person wanting truth not much faith is needed. A sincere, relentless pursuit of truth brings belief. Science on the other hand has a history of doing great things when combined with the practical application of scientific principles. Pure science requires many tests and iterations and finally the principle is established. Science when it comes to looking at the cause for our existence cannot perform real tests. They can look at data from space, they can theorize and build on theories that themselves are not proven and they can make assumptions, which the average person will never know about.
Science fails to recognize the truth about existence because they never look into the word of truth and the ONLY REAL CONNECTION with things beyond what humankind can ever know. So, the average person who loves truth, with little or no science background is closer to or has discovered the truth about the existence of all things while science is in a position of error built on error and far from the correct answer. The scientific community is to blame for the deception, but each person of science makes their own decisions. God’s plan is for individuals to make decisions, which determines their fate. Unfortunately the community of science individuals very heavily supports the accepted ways. This is similar to nations supporting a corrupt leader or a person accepting a given religion, “because not to do so” brings considerable angst or worse.
There are four words in the bible that provide the truth about the existence of everything and it is not the answer science presents. Science is so wrong. Those four word are:
“In The Beginning God”
This is the explanation of existence and life and it is something believable, reasonable, and logical. Here is why:
1) It eliminates all of humankind’s ideas about beginnings and their complicated and incomplete explanations
2) There is no argument against, “In the beginning God.”
All other explanations lead to many questions, such as why does anything exist, why does time exist. God by definition transcends all of those issues and someone might say, well that is convenient, but it is the perfection of what God has left in His word that assures truth.
There is really no more need to discuss science in relation to God. That is not the purpose as God declares:
Psalm 19.1
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Nonetheless, the confusion brought by science’s explanation of existence is well received and for some what follows can be helpful. Science confuses, religion confuses, family and friends confuse, teachers confuse and life ends up well, being confusing. So what is life about and the world in general does not know that life is about the soul – where you spend eternity. So the idea here in Heaven Coach is to help truth seekers move away from confusion and uncertainty to the truth.
God never intended a person to be convinced of His existence by scientific inquiry. As indicated, the evidence of God’s existence is clear to those who love the truth. Science has used its power over people to devise some seemingly possible explanations other than God. They go so far as to laugh and ridicule those who profess God – they say such believers are ignorant when in fact science is deceitful and ignorant of truth. Many people cannot accept God because that might mean accepting responsibility for their actions in the moral sense. Most in science accept the standard pattern of scientific explanation in order to be part of the scientific community. If they do otherwise they are in some way damaged, limited in their progression. Science should with each discovery be praising the Creator. The complexity of all things inanimate and living is the result of Divine design – this is beyond question. God is seen in everything, after all it is His creation. God describes the subordinate role of humankind in creating things as opposed to God’s creative ability in the simple verse below:
Hebrews 3.4
4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.
You do not need one ounce of understanding about science to know that God exists. If a person is dealing with one who does not believe in God, it is simply to preach the gospel – not argue science. People can hold all the silly beliefs of science’s explanation of the universe and the evolution of living things and eventually humankind (intelligent beings) – all to their own destruction. The crime of science is that here is a trusted community, but in the area of our existence they teach as fact a godless beginning to young people and to the world in general. Indeed, these teachings if accepted will keep a person from the truth of the gospel. This is God’s plan that the proud will fail in life. Humankind is full of inventions and the gospel is designed to separate the proud and selfish person from the humble and truth loving person. God allows people to self-destruct with their inventions that even reject His existence.
How science must hate the questions of why does anything exist, why does time exist?
All science does in relation to the existence of everything is to say, “it took a very long time – billions of years, then millions of years for certain things.” God talks of the hope one has of heaven and that your success was in His mind BEFORE TIME BEGAN (Titus 1.2). The science we have is just what God put in place and it is four dimensional (three physical dimensions and time) and thus very limited, so much so that we cannot even understand how God spoke things into existence. The one thing that should be obvious to every person who has some scientific interest is that the current theory of the big bang misses the essential ingredient of what existed before the bang or we might say, “what banged.” Now, this theory really gets absurd with the primordial “something” banging or the singularity of event mentioned or a hydrogen atom somehow existing. Why does anything exist? Even the hydrogen atom is extremely complex with its one proton, surrounded by one electron. It was designed, but God created everything and in the process provided man science. All science as we know it is from God. God created the laws of physics, chemistry, thermodynamics, genetics and every other science and behind the sciences is all that math, which is consistent with these sciences. All of science is of infinitesimal significance to the God of creation. Humankind will never get it right other than God has explained and that explanation was not scientific. If you understand God and His purpose, you might begin to see WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT.
Note: If you talk about the “big Bang” theory of existence there is a great deal of emphasis on what happens after the “bang” occurs and some of that may be feasible, but the missing ingredient is why anything exists and thus the theory is TOTALLY without merit. So, a reasoning person can accept the one and only possible explanation – “In The Beginning God.” We write about these things with the hope that people do not go into eternity with the pain of their foolishness in missing the obvious.
Ultimately, Science Is Just A Distraction
So, the science explaining the existence of everything including life is in the end just a distraction. The most fundamental understanding in your life is that God exists and has a purpose that you need to understand. The God of the bible is the Creator. After you come to this understanding, you remain a long way from having a successful life, but you are on the right road. Conversely, those that fail to see God as Creator are exceedingly distant from where they need to be and spend their life in fruitless pursuits. They will be seen as fruitless as one finally leaves the physical body to a place where they meet with the reality of God. One of the common reasons people reject God is that He seems harsh, that is harsh as people envision harshness. It is true God will be seen as incredibly harsh on those who reject His Son. Here are some verses you may or may not know in relation to the outcome for those who fail in life.
2 Thessalonians 1.7-9
7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
Yes, quite harsh and also the truth.
Hebrews 10.29-31
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Yes, quite harsh and God reveals His character in relation to rejecting His Son.
These verses can be looked at in various ways, but the correct way is that they are the truth and will come to pass like everything else God has revealed. God has not failed to warn humankind and the person who wants heaven will not put on their proud face, but in humility take seriously the word of God and live accordingly.
How You Choose To Fail In Life By Your Character
One of the strong warnings from God is in Proverbs 16.18.
Proverbs 16.18
18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.
Haughty is the idea of showing oneself to be above others and often denoting preeminent. It is an evil sense of being arrogant or disdainful. These people when it comes to God are stubborn and closed minded – we might say to their own destruction. So indeed, God’s plan to separate good from evil, those for heaven from those for the lost state of punishment is working. There will be no proud, haughty persons in heaven.
You Have “Arrived” At Truth When You Realize “Life Is About The Soul.”
All the things God has provided in terms of Knowledge about life and His purpose lead to just one conclusion and it is that Life Is About The Soul. It is fair to add that life is not about anything else. Anything you can name will undoubtedly fall under the category of temporary. God provides the distinction in 2 Corinthians 4.18.
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.
You will be left with the soul as it is eternal, as is heaven and as is God. There will be other souls, but you will succeed or fail on your own merits.
Perhaps the best description of life is to say life is about the soul and absolutely nothing else. Another way of describing life is as the battle between good and evil. Specifically and very personally, life is a battle between you and sin. God has a way of saying things that is very much to the point and Jesus in various ways refers to the uselessness of gaining all you want and then losing your soul. We say life is NOT about family and friends, about our house, about wealth, about cars, about pleasure, about education, about life insurance, about vacations or the hundreds of things we might believe are important – because these things are temporary. Our actions in life will likely indicate that we think life is about all these temporary things. Jesus provided a story of a man who labored to achieve much and now was going to sit back with his stored treasures and be satisfied with his wealth. He had what he thought life was all about, but Jesus pointed out this certain rich man missed the point about life.
Luke 12.16-21
16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’
18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
This parable is for you and for all of humankind so you get the message that life is about the soul – and about nothing else.
The messages of Jesus in relation to any subject are consistent and in fact all are in some way are related to God’s purpose. Over and over again, God provides to humankind advice on how to succeed in life. The advice is to see beyond the things that are so enticing and look to the real treasures of life. These are the eternal treasures found in heaven for those who seek to please God and forego the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.
Matthew 6.19-21
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
God knows your heart, every good or evil thought and everything in between. He knows all you have done, every noble deed and every selfish action. He accounts for every physical thing, every atomic particle and all the universes. God knows you beyond your words – he knows your hopes, your plans – he knows all about your past and future (He knows all things, but the choices you make are yours). God sees you as a spiritual being in a temporary physical shell, in a temporary physical universe and in a temporary time domain. It is true we cannot fathom God’s power and yet people discount Him. God has revealed Himself to the extent He planned to do so in the scriptures. We know about God’s nature and about His purpose for creation. His purpose simply stated is US – humankind.
How Will You View The World After Your Death
First, your existence will continue regardless of what you believe and if you fail in life, the WORLD will be seen by you as the cause. It will be a world that denied God and thus denied the obvious – now you know that and jointly you and “the world” were naive and a better word might be STUPID – a word that you might use to describe yourself. The bible word would be FOOLISH.
Psalms 14.1
1 The fool has said in his heart,“There is no God.”
Proverbs 12.15
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.
Similarly, the religious world (organization) to which you may have associated was influential in your final failed condition. It was indeed a religion of the world, created by the world – by men and/or women. For whatever reason you believed, and now you know it was not true. They may have used the bible extensively, but now you know you are responsible for what you believe. Now you know it would have taken a great deal of effort or as the scriptures indicate diligently seeking God.
Jeremiah 29.13
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Romans 2.7,8
7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;
8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,
Hebrews 11.6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
How can you assure failing in life? Seems like the wrong question – it should be assure succeeding in life. However, most people are on the road to failing in the only thing that matters. Life is about the soul. Here is Jesus in obedience to the Father going to the cross and knowing that FEW will take advantage of what God has offered in Christ.
Matthew 7.13,14
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Yet, God’s desire is also clear throughout scripture and clearly His purpose.
2 Peter 3.8,9
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
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 emphasizes His desire for us to succeed and associates it with a knowledge of the truth.
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.
Perhaps the most sobering thing in the scriptures is coming to an understanding of what Jesus said in 1 Timothy 2.3,4 and Matthew 7.13,14. This theme is found throughout the scriptures and simply stated, “God wants all to be saved, but only a few will find heaven.”
The obvious question is, “how many is a few” and one would be foolish to guess, but we can look at scripture to better understand the seriousness of life and then the FEW becomes clearer. God cannot lie and has said sin must be resolved during your lifetime. Jesus said, unless you believe I am He you shall die in your sins. All sin must be “resolved” and the way to clear your sins is to be “IN CHRIST.” If you indeed believe in Jesus you will do what He says to have your sins forgiven and continue to live faithfully. So, in light of that can you get an idea of the FEW? That is, how many are willing to live for Christ and the gospel and obey the gospel – obey the death, burial and resurrection of Christ? Well, the answer is a FEW. God’s children see every person as needing the truth and the most important thing in their life and also realize their own vulnerability. That is, their need to avoid sin and to avoid sin as the result of knowing to do good and not doing it. Few may be the end result, but their thoughts are on each person and helping them succeed – just as God so desires.
The Seriousness Of This Short Lifetime
Where did you spend your time, your lifetime of times? What did you pursue with vigor? Did your job, family and friends fill your life and were you dedicated to education, sports, hobbies, entertainment and vacations? Perhaps there were also many good and noble efforts that were central in your life. Where was God in our life?
How many people spend a great deal of time finding reasons to justify their belief, that there is no God? They smile wryly when hearing another contrived evidence that God does not exist. The haters of God shake their head when they see the violence in the world often with some religious association. They never stop to ask themselves does that religion really have an association with God? Those of supposed higher learning frown at the idea of God, it is not the place where intelligent people reside. It has to be one of the most amazing things of the world how people ignore the obvious and accept the ideas of exceedingly prejudiced men and women. In every case people accept the non-obvious because THEY WANT TO and they comfortably go through life in pleasant myopia.
Underestimating God
God is logical, perfectly logical and the message left to humankind is in every respect, perfect. It is perfect in bringing each person to the truth. It turns out not many people love the truth and for the usual reasons. They like what they currently know and do not want to be limited in their lifestyle. God’s plan for success requires the selfless seeking of truth with a person’s whole being. It is truly the test God has placed before humanity. The most illogical thing on the planet is the religions of humankind. There is no comparison between the powerful truth of the scriptures and the opinionated, unfounded religions invented by men and women. The “religions of the world” are perfectly illogical and have no solid foundation. Let’s look at the foundation of some religions and see their imaginative quality and correspondingly shear absurdity.
Catholicism:
Catholicism’s foundation is in opposition to the scriptures and covers that fundamental problem by claiming the right to make the rules. They devise a pope, which has zero justification in the scriptures. They become the most paranoid group the world has ever known, no atrocity is off-limits to protect the lies. As time passes, Catholicism is forced to adjust. Nations reject their rule, communications improve and the truth about Catholicism is gradually revealed. They adjust by strengthening their school systems to make Catholics for life. They provide an appearance of great interest in world peace, brotherhood and charity. Their ceremonies and music evoke faithfulness in Catholicism. Originally, they claim only those in the Catholic church can find heaven, but eventually even give up on that teaching. They placed the bible on the list of books banned for Catholics called the index, but eventually give up on that also.
They create a defense for everything and provide these answers to their membership as needed. The truth is much simpler, whereas the Catholic complexity of organization and rules is not only in conflict with the scriptures throughout, but in conflict with common sense. One of the claims designed to maintain their members is their Eucharist, and they claim to be the only ones who has Christ present and can be “partaken of bodily.” Of course, this is at the height of nonsense and totally against scripture and unknown to the apostles during the time of God’s final revelation. They invent this continual sacrifice, when the scriptures say what Christ did was once for all time. The purpose of the Lord’s supper is exactly as Christ indicated – a remembrance of His death, burial and resurrection until He comes again. So time after time humanity invents God and creates rules and NOTHING is as offensive to God as such arrogance.
Islam:
This religion was invented by a single person – Mohammed, who was totally immoral in character and he chooses to control people with the invention of a god, namely Allah. Allah was actually the name of one of the god’s of that area of the world. Mohammed made the announcement that there was just one god and that god was Allah. This one god idea is the core of Islam and of course was exactly what the God of the bible proclaims – nothing new here. Like Catholicism, the scriptures form a great deal of the basis of what Mohammed knows religiously. He simply twists the scriptures, adds to them and takes away from them to create the system of control he desires. Actually it is not known how much of the Koran (Qur’an) as it exists today came from Mohammed. Those who are allowed to study such things know of all the problems and changes made to the Koran. Mohammed’s writing or those who made all the massive changes none of which represent the will of God are deceitful, inconsistent and silly. Sometimes, Muslims when confronted with the problem of authenticity will say that a Muslim has the Koran in their chest. This would appear to come from a Christian having the word of God written on their heart. However, that is not a reference to the word of God literally contained within their being, but that they live by the principles of the scriptures.
The system of Islam is highly restrictive in terms of thinking on your own regarding “religious” beliefs. It needs to be confining due to its illogical nature. Violence is just one of the many threads that hold Muslims together. Another, is the goal to win the world for Allah and impose their laws on the world. The difference between those within Islam is only in the means to accomplish that end. One group does it via peaceful means always aimed at internally disrupting nations and that can be through increasing their numbers in countries around the world. Of course, the more radical Muslims see in the Koran the justification to murder and kill whoever stands in their way and glorify Allah in their terrorism. Illogical, cannot adequately describe the mind of Muslims as their God must kill those who do not succumb to his will. Quite a contrast to the God of the bible who wants a person to choose Him over the world of their own free will. Mohammed was not stupid in accomplishing WHAT HE WANTED, but achieved obedience and a fighting army that would go into battle not fearing death because of the reward of “dark eyed beauties.” The God of the bible uses the fear of the Lord as the beginning of knowledge, which can bring you to eternal life. Muslims often fear EACH OTHER and have a difficult life unless they conform. They will be outcast, be disassociated (or worse) if they disobey their leadership. Indeed the average Muslim has no way out and yet more than anything they need the truth at all costs.
Protestantism:
This religion has the worst possible basis for its existence inasmuch as they tried to reform something that had nothing to do with God. They did not understand this and thus their task was to reform Catholicism – the Reformation. The basis of Protestantism (protest Catholicism) to this day is what Martin Luther perceived as true and then was supported by many others. They supported the basic Sola fide (salvation by faith only) and did so in many different ways leading to the division that today carries many different names or denominations. They strayed from the scriptures in most every point, but not as badly as Catholicism and their claims to directly represent God. Protestants use the scriptures, but twist the basic fundamentals holding to the inventions of those early leaders such as Calvin. Over the centuries since those beginnings their lack of concern about rightly dividing the truth has led to many more variations of the truth. They have an incorrect understandings of faith, salvation, the church, the work of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom, the return of Christ and many others. In the end, the thing that matters is their influence on “what life is all about” namely, your soul. In this matter they fail at a cost of billions of souls.
Mormonism:
This religion like Islam comes from one man and like Mohammed, Joseph Smith was frustrated with the religions of the world. It is interesting how both decided to create a book of religion – their way. Both had angels appear to them and provide the material for their books. Gabriel for Mohammed and (the invented angel) Moroni for Joseph Smith. They both used the scriptures to guide their ideas that is to the point where they wanted to make changes. Eventually, just writing a completely new book or books with some thought processes from the bible. After this, Mormonism is much different inasmuch as Islam is outwardly a violent being characteristic of Mohammed. Joseph Smith’s interests were reforming religion and he had a very strong desire to be very anti-religious establishment. One of those things was related to his carnal nature by allowing multiple wife’s. Another one was the creation of a fantasy world with names and places involving Jesus being in the America’s. It is a little like the writing of any popular fiction novel and I can’t help but wonder if Joseph Smith thought anyone would actually believe it. Mormonism, Catholicism and Islam are the result of disrespect for the word of God and a very great imagination that helped to achieve their goals. Protestantism in accepting portions of Roman Catholicism got off to a bad start, but also highly disrespects the word of God while claiming it to be the source of their belief’s. The scriptures do not allow the private interpretation of any person and this was the downfall of all of these religions. Someone once said you can get people to believe most anything and Mormonism qualifies in it silliness. It is skilled indoctrination and propaganda that are succeeding and people close their minds to anything else.
Horrific Religions And The Solution
All four of these horrific (cost to soul) religions have spent a century or many centuries developing defenses for their religious doctrines. They have their apologists, who take any deceitful aspect of their belief and make it believable. They will not succeed with a person who loves the truth, but most of the world apparently loves to believe men and women. The religions of the world can all be categorized as physical, whereas the truth is spiritual. They will claim to be spiritual, but they cannot be unless the are of the truth. It is the truth that makes them spiritual (Acts 2.47) and it is only in the framework of spirit and truth that they can worship (John 4.24).
There were many different “religious” cults that “sprung up” after the death of Christ in relation to claiming Christ in some way. Some of their names were Montanists, Novatians, Donatists and the Paulicians to mention a few. Of course, there were those who carried the doctrine of Christ in accordance with the intent of the scriptures, but these were apparently few. They were few because of the persecution. Catholicism was the first to sustain (beginning about 606 AD with their first pope) it’s name and doctrines, but by the most violent of means. Protestantism followed much later in the range of 1000 years later. These different groups are today’s most significant threat to the gospel of Christ. Catholicism is so problematic in its origins and teachings that people only continue out of indoctrinated obedience. Protestant groups use the scriptures, but with a well defined set of doctrines associated with Martin Luther and others like John Calvin. All of Protestantism falls by simply bringing their doctrines into question. Those associated with Catholicism and Protestantism will need a love of the truth to reject their current beliefs.
Imagine the history of Protestantism and that everything depends on a few doctrines weakly developed centuries before. The same is true of Catholicism. Then realize that those teachings are totally without scriptural merit. You are left with the most paranoid and desperate of people, who at all costs must offer a defense. Any defense versus the word of God is futile. However, those defenses satisfy those who have no significant love of the truth. So religions like Protestantism and Catholicism exist in deceit and it is not harmless, but costs people their souls.
Truth is found one place and it is in the scriptures and God has delivered them in exactly the way He planned. The truth was delivered in the first century and within those scriptures there are warnings to the faithful.
Ephesians 4.14,15
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ
During the first century there was the concern and indeed the falling away that Paul eluded to as a different gospel (Galatians 1.6-9). The Head is Christ and the doctrine of Christ is the rule. Somehow, men and women have chosen to add to and take away from God’s word as they see fit. They do not take seriously God and what He has delivered.
So, what is solid, firm, and the foundation of truth? It is Jesus as the Head and His word as truth. What follows from humankind is a variation here and there because, “it was what God meant,” or “surely He did not mean,” or “here is clearly a better way.” These things are how religions have have invented themselves and there are so many different ideas. God abhors them and how do we know this for certain? Changing God’s word changes the eternal outcome for people even as they are misled and unfortunately it is their choice. Those misled often become advocates for the false religion. Doesn’t this seem unfair that certain people “overwhelm” others and cause eternal damage? Jesus taught, “The blind lead the blind and both fall into the pit.” God is very accurate in saying, “They did not receive a love of the truth that they might be saved.”
2 Thessalonians 2.10
10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
So simple, so powerful yet FEW care about the truth.
How Badly The World Needs The Truth And How Little They Want It
People often don’t know that what they don’t like or accept is not God, BUT RELIGION. They associate God with religion, but it is the religions invented by men and women. There is nothing more disgusting to God than lies in relation to His message. It is true that many may not like God’s message, but at least you ought to know what is from God and what is humankind’s version of God.
If there is only one thing you know as true, it is that death is certain. The Christian knows death is certain, but ALSO that Christ might come before their death and bring an end to all things physical. If you can avoid a deadly accident (the unexpected death), then at some time in your future you could be lying in a bed with your passing being very close. You are surrounded by loved ones or perhaps you are alone. You have many earthy possessions and they meant so much, but suddenly they have little meaning. Many have little or no possessions and soon like the person with many of life’s “things” you will both have the same things – nothing! Shortly, you will know that the one thing you could have taken with you is a relationship with Christ. It would have been the most valuable thing you or anyone else could have and yet now it is too late. You are still alive, but if your life has been void of God, void of His Son you will not know what to do. Now, there is no time to serve the risen Savior. Religions invent all sorts of ways to save the dying person. Catholics with their Extreme Unction or last rites and then also provide purgatory. Comforting, if you accept such inventions. Shocking, when you learn these things have no value. Long before your last moments you need to make decisions that provide you with the eternal weight of glory.
Then there is the faithful child of God. This person obeyed the gospel and received forgiveness of past sins and was faithful unto this moment of death. They may have stumbled, but had an Advocate with the Father and repented and sought God’s forgiveness. Now they can go boldly to their end and be with Christ and the boldness is not arrogance, but an assured confidence in the word of God.
1 John 4.17
17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
IT IS INCONCEIVABLE
It is inconceivable that everything happened by accident from nothing.
Time is fundamentally alien to God. He created it for humankind, but God is not limited in any such “archaic” way. It is ironic how humankind uses God’s creation of time to explain-away God by saying their theories are possible because of the billions years of time it took our planet to come into existence, and millions of years for living things and intelligent human beings to evolve. God’s creation was accomplished by speaking everything into existence, but this cannot be explained in a time world and a world with physical limitations/laws. Thus science is trying to figure out existence with infinitely less knowledge than is required. Time was created to provide various limitations for God’s test of humankind – for instance a lifetime, and a sequencing of events. God has no time limitations and time only exists as part of His plan to fulfill His purpose. God expresses how time in no way limits Him when He says, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
I do not think it is possible to describe how God sees time, but from what He has revealed it might be close to say that God sees time much as a book inasmuch as He sees the beginning and the end and anywhere in between. Yet, although that is likely true, it just raises more questions as we are, after-all, very limited by design. The point is life is truly about the soul and not about all these things we SEE or trying to understand how the things we see came about.
Indeed, time itself is a key ingredient in God’s plan and as Ecclesiastics says, “a time to every purpose under heaven.”
Ecclesiastics 3.1
1 To everything there is a season,
A time for every PURPOSE under heaven:
God initiates His revelation to humankind by, “In The Beginning God Created the heavens and the earth.” Time began and shortly living things and humankind as it was the time for God’s purpose to begin. There was sin with Adam and Eve and there was God’s plan for reconciling humankind back to Him in Genesis 3.15. The time for that fulfillment would be thousands of years later in Christ. It would all happen in God’s good time, God’s perfect time according to His purpose. Jesus would send the Holy Spirit to His apostles to deliver the truth – God’s final message to humankind would occur in its time. After the death of Jesus there would be this gradual and final revelation of God through much of the first century. The time since the death of Jesus would be referred to as the last age or last days or the Christian age when God spoke through Jesus. This is God’s final message to humankind.
Hebrews 1.1,2
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
This was God’s purpose and now (in this last age) there was a means by which a person could succeed in life – attain heaven.
Finally, it would be the time of THE END, and time would be no more. The last age was complete and there would be an accounting and all physical things destroyed. God’s plan was complete and His purpose fulfilled.
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?
Jesus will be the judge and every knee will bow at Jesus return. Yes, even all the proud persons will fear the might of God. It is an unfathomable end and no one saw the beginning, but now all (living at Christ’s return and the dead) will experience the end. Those who love His coming and those who rejected God and His Son.
2 Timothy 4.1
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
Paul, who sought to destroy those who followed Christ, obeyed God and was the apostle to the Gentiles. He was faithful, but mentioned his personal concern about failing. He pressed on through many difficulties and looked forward to receiving the crown of righteousness from Jesus at His appearing. Paul with a bad start made the best use of his remaining time in service to the Lord.
2 Timothy 4.7,8
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Time And The Size Of God’s Creation
So, time had its purpose and it was not to support scientists’ claim creation occurred by “natural” means. Quite to the contrary it was an essential part of God’s plan to achieve HIS purpose – your success or your failure.
You can know with certainty that in this last age there will be an end and there will be a judgment. You will know one thing and it will be that, “Life Was about the soul and nothing else.” The judgment will be exactly as Jesus spoke of and be according to the things that were written.
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.
It is indeed foolishness to come to that day and say, “I did not know how I would be judged.” The words by which you will be judged are the scriptures – the word of God.
Now at your end it will be clear why you needed to lose your life to gain it by living for Christ and the gospel. It was so you could succeed in life, so your soul would gain what Paul referred to as the crown of righteousness.
Science also likes to use the size of the universe as a possible way to explain “STUFF” like the possibility of there being life somewhere, because of all the possibilities. In truth, God had a purpose and it related to humankind and all was done for that purpose or we might say it was a special cause. Humankind is on the stage designed for them and the stage (physical earth, and all the universes) is not important to God, but humankind and their choices are important. The science that God provided for humankind eventually allowed the discovery of the size of His creation. Humankind can view this as the amazing power of God or use it to support a “no-God” philosophy. There are indeed strong delusions available and ready for itching ears to support what they want to believe. Even more powerful is the hope of heaven and its glory as one realizes that all the beauty and might of God’s creation cannot be compared to what He has in store for His faithful children.
It is inconceivable that a person can reject God’s existence. Science as mentioned, should be increasingly convinced with every new discovery of the intricate design of all things. Look at complexity in the oceans, the trees, the universe and the living things and intelligent life. These things God says provides the evidence of His existence. It is an existence that does not require all kinds of conjecture and assumptions. You do not need billions of years, you do not need some material to bang because God by definition needs no such things. Einstein knew there was a creator – to him it was obvious. He did not like the totality of the scriptures because they limited man in moral ways. As such, he is exactly like so many that will reject the God of the bible for the same reason. There is a one word description of this problem and it is called PRIDE. God describes WHAT we see with our senses and WHY in His account of creation. Additionally, He provides a purpose for life and His love for the creation even to the extent of suffering for humankind in demonstrating that love. It is inconceivable that anyone can reject God’s existence and yet most do just that because they want to. There is coming a time when those who have rejected God and His Son will mourn their foolishness and the obviousness of God that they rejected. Then they will finally see THEIR pride, THEIR selfishness, but God does not want this end for YOU. One day you will understand the seriousness of life. It will be the last day of the last age or when you personally die and then it will all be very real for you – understand these things of God, now!
“For God Is Not The Author Of Confusion But Of Peace”
(1 Corinthians 14.33)
It is inconceivable that God planned everything leading up to His Son’s death and then delivered something confusing in relation to what was required for salvation through His Son. God is perfect in creation of the physical world including living things and especially His purpose as related to humankind. God claims not to be the God of confusion and as such He delivered the very understandable scriptures and specifically understandable to those ho love the truth and have this humble, selfless character to accept it. People look at the DELICATE NATURE OF LIFE and even the planet where we live. Yet amazingly, are gullible enough to think all these extraordinary complicated things happened by chance and in some way evolved in this “perfect” way. Natural selection is the desperate invention used to explain how things get better and better. The truth is that natural selection is “selecting to lie” to protect what people want to believe. The nonsense is very sad in its eternal consequences and one of those consequences is to forever realize the silliness of believing anything other than God as creator. An associated silliness is to accept the religions of humankind’s invention. God is the God of the bible and realizing this leads to the truth you need to succeed. Life is not easy, in fact difficult as you must live for Jesus and the gospel and NOT for yourself. The difficult part is NOT living for the things you want. The bottom line is simply, “Life Is About The Soul” and nothing else.
Science fails to recognize the truth about existence because they never look into the word of truth and the ONLY REAL CONNECTION with things beyond what humankind can ever know. So, the average person who loves truth, with little or no science background is closer to or has discovered the truth about the existence of all things while science is in a position of error built on error and far from the correct answer. The scientific community is to blame for the deception, but each person of science makes their own decisions. God’s plan is for individuals to make decisions, which determines their fate. Unfortunately the community of science individuals very heavily supports the accepted ways. This is similar to nations supporting a corrupt leader or a person accepting a given religion, “because not to do so” brings considerable angst or worse.
There are four words in the bible that provide the truth about the existence of everything and it is not the answer science presents. Science is so wrong. Those four word are:
“In The Beginning God”
This is the explanation of existence and life and it is something believable, reasonable, and logical. Here is why:
2) There is no argument against, “In the beginning God.”
All other explanations lead to many questions, such as why does anything exist, why does time exist. God by definition transcends all of those issues and someone might say, well that is convenient, but it is the perfection of what God has left in His word that assures truth.
God never intended a person to be convinced of His existence by scientific inquiry. As indicated, the evidence of God’s existence is clear to those who love the truth. Science has used its power over people to devise some seemingly possible explanations other than God. They go so far as to laugh and ridicule those who profess God – they say such believers are ignorant when in fact science is deceitful and ignorant of truth. Many people cannot accept God because that might mean accepting responsibility for their actions in the moral sense. Most in science accept the standard pattern of scientific explanation in order to be part of the scientific community. If they do otherwise they are in some way damaged, limited in their progression. Science should with each discovery be praising the Creator. The complexity of all things inanimate and living is the result of Divine design – this is beyond question. God is seen in everything, after all it is His creation. God describes the subordinate role of humankind in creating things as opposed to God’s creative ability in the simple verse below:
You do not need one ounce of understanding about science to know that God exists. If a person is dealing with one who does not believe in God, it is simply to preach the gospel – not argue science. People can hold all the silly beliefs of science’s explanation of the universe and the evolution of living things and eventually humankind (intelligent beings) – all to their own destruction. The crime of science is that here is a trusted community, but in the area of our existence they teach as fact a godless beginning to young people and to the world in general. Indeed, these teachings if accepted will keep a person from the truth of the gospel. This is God’s plan that the proud will fail in life. Humankind is full of inventions and the gospel is designed to separate the proud and selfish person from the humble and truth loving person. God allows people to self-destruct with their inventions that even reject His existence.
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
These verses can be looked at in various ways, but the correct way is that they are the truth and will come to pass like everything else God has revealed. God has not failed to warn humankind and the person who wants heaven will not put on their proud face, but in humility take seriously the word of God and live accordingly.
Haughty is the idea of showing oneself to be above others and often denoting preeminent. It is an evil sense of being arrogant or disdainful. These people when it comes to God are stubborn and closed minded – we might say to their own destruction. So indeed, God’s plan to separate good from evil, those for heaven from those for the lost state of punishment is working. There will be no proud, haughty persons in heaven.
Perhaps the best description of life is to say life is about the soul and absolutely nothing else. Another way of describing life is as the battle between good and evil. Specifically and very personally, life is a battle between you and sin. God has a way of saying things that is very much to the point and Jesus in various ways refers to the uselessness of gaining all you want and then losing your soul. We say life is NOT about family and friends, about our house, about wealth, about cars, about pleasure, about education, about life insurance, about vacations or the hundreds of things we might believe are important – because these things are temporary. Our actions in life will likely indicate that we think life is about all these temporary things. Jesus provided a story of a man who labored to achieve much and now was going to sit back with his stored treasures and be satisfied with his wealth. He had what he thought life was all about, but Jesus pointed out this certain rich man missed the point about life.
16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’
18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
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 emphasizes His desire for us to succeed and associates it with a knowledge of the truth.
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Perhaps the most sobering thing in the scriptures is coming to an understanding of what Jesus said in 1 Timothy 2.3,4 and Matthew 7.13,14. This theme is found throughout the scriptures and simply stated, “God wants all to be saved, but only a few will find heaven.”
How many people spend a great deal of time finding reasons to justify their belief, that there is no God? They smile wryly when hearing another contrived evidence that God does not exist. The haters of God shake their head when they see the violence in the world often with some religious association. They never stop to ask themselves does that religion really have an association with God? Those of supposed higher learning frown at the idea of God, it is not the place where intelligent people reside. It has to be one of the most amazing things of the world how people ignore the obvious and accept the ideas of exceedingly prejudiced men and women. In every case people accept the non-obvious because THEY WANT TO and they comfortably go through life in pleasant myopia.
They create a defense for everything and provide these answers to their membership as needed. The truth is much simpler, whereas the Catholic complexity of organization and rules is not only in conflict with the scriptures throughout, but in conflict with common sense. One of the claims designed to maintain their members is their Eucharist, and they claim to be the only ones who has Christ present and can be “partaken of bodily.” Of course, this is at the height of nonsense and totally against scripture and unknown to the apostles during the time of God’s final revelation. They invent this continual sacrifice, when the scriptures say what Christ did was once for all time. The purpose of the Lord’s supper is exactly as Christ indicated – a remembrance of His death, burial and resurrection until He comes again. So time after time humanity invents God and creates rules and NOTHING is as offensive to God as such arrogance.
The system of Islam is highly restrictive in terms of thinking on your own regarding “religious” beliefs. It needs to be confining due to its illogical nature. Violence is just one of the many threads that hold Muslims together. Another, is the goal to win the world for Allah and impose their laws on the world. The difference between those within Islam is only in the means to accomplish that end. One group does it via peaceful means always aimed at internally disrupting nations and that can be through increasing their numbers in countries around the world. Of course, the more radical Muslims see in the Koran the justification to murder and kill whoever stands in their way and glorify Allah in their terrorism. Illogical, cannot adequately describe the mind of Muslims as their God must kill those who do not succumb to his will. Quite a contrast to the God of the bible who wants a person to choose Him over the world of their own free will. Mohammed was not stupid in accomplishing WHAT HE WANTED, but achieved obedience and a fighting army that would go into battle not fearing death because of the reward of “dark eyed beauties.” The God of the bible uses the fear of the Lord as the beginning of knowledge, which can bring you to eternal life. Muslims often fear EACH OTHER and have a difficult life unless they conform. They will be outcast, be disassociated (or worse) if they disobey their leadership. Indeed the average Muslim has no way out and yet more than anything they need the truth at all costs.
There were many different “religious” cults that “sprung up” after the death of Christ in relation to claiming Christ in some way. Some of their names were Montanists, Novatians, Donatists and the Paulicians to mention a few. Of course, there were those who carried the doctrine of Christ in accordance with the intent of the scriptures, but these were apparently few. They were few because of the persecution. Catholicism was the first to sustain (beginning about 606 AD with their first pope) it’s name and doctrines, but by the most violent of means. Protestantism followed much later in the range of 1000 years later. These different groups are today’s most significant threat to the gospel of Christ. Catholicism is so problematic in its origins and teachings that people only continue out of indoctrinated obedience. Protestant groups use the scriptures, but with a well defined set of doctrines associated with Martin Luther and others like John Calvin. All of Protestantism falls by simply bringing their doctrines into question. Those associated with Catholicism and Protestantism will need a love of the truth to reject their current beliefs.
Imagine the history of Protestantism and that everything depends on a few doctrines weakly developed centuries before. The same is true of Catholicism. Then realize that those teachings are totally without scriptural merit. You are left with the most paranoid and desperate of people, who at all costs must offer a defense. Any defense versus the word of God is futile. However, those defenses satisfy those who have no significant love of the truth. So religions like Protestantism and Catholicism exist in deceit and it is not harmless, but costs people their souls.
Truth is found one place and it is in the scriptures and God has delivered them in exactly the way He planned. The truth was delivered in the first century and within those scriptures there are warnings to the faithful.
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ
During the first century there was the concern and indeed the falling away that Paul eluded to as a different gospel (Galatians 1.6-9). The Head is Christ and the doctrine of Christ is the rule. Somehow, men and women have chosen to add to and take away from God’s word as they see fit. They do not take seriously God and what He has delivered.
So, what is solid, firm, and the foundation of truth? It is Jesus as the Head and His word as truth. What follows from humankind is a variation here and there because, “it was what God meant,” or “surely He did not mean,” or “here is clearly a better way.” These things are how religions have have invented themselves and there are so many different ideas. God abhors them and how do we know this for certain? Changing God’s word changes the eternal outcome for people even as they are misled and unfortunately it is their choice. Those misled often become advocates for the false religion. Doesn’t this seem unfair that certain people “overwhelm” others and cause eternal damage? Jesus taught, “The blind lead the blind and both fall into the pit.” God is very accurate in saying, “They did not receive a love of the truth that they might be saved.”
Then there is the faithful child of God. This person obeyed the gospel and received forgiveness of past sins and was faithful unto this moment of death. They may have stumbled, but had an Advocate with the Father and repented and sought God’s forgiveness. Now they can go boldly to their end and be with Christ and the boldness is not arrogance, but an assured confidence in the word of God.
It is inconceivable that everything happened by accident from nothing.
Time is fundamentally alien to God. He created it for humankind, but God is not limited in any such “archaic” way. It is ironic how humankind uses God’s creation of time to explain-away God by saying their theories are possible because of the billions years of time it took our planet to come into existence, and millions of years for living things and intelligent human beings to evolve. God’s creation was accomplished by speaking everything into existence, but this cannot be explained in a time world and a world with physical limitations/laws. Thus science is trying to figure out existence with infinitely less knowledge than is required. Time was created to provide various limitations for God’s test of humankind – for instance a lifetime, and a sequencing of events. God has no time limitations and time only exists as part of His plan to fulfill His purpose. God expresses how time in no way limits Him when He says, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
I do not think it is possible to describe how God sees time, but from what He has revealed it might be close to say that God sees time much as a book inasmuch as He sees the beginning and the end and anywhere in between. Yet, although that is likely true, it just raises more questions as we are, after-all, very limited by design. The point is life is truly about the soul and not about all these things we SEE or trying to understand how the things we see came about.
A time for every PURPOSE under heaven:
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
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?
Jesus will be the judge and every knee will bow at Jesus return. Yes, even all the proud persons will fear the might of God. It is an unfathomable end and no one saw the beginning, but now all (living at Christ’s return and the dead) will experience the end. Those who love His coming and those who rejected God and His Son.
Paul, who sought to destroy those who followed Christ, obeyed God and was the apostle to the Gentiles. He was faithful, but mentioned his personal concern about failing. He pressed on through many difficulties and looked forward to receiving the crown of righteousness from Jesus at His appearing. Paul with a bad start made the best use of his remaining time in service to the Lord.
8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
You can know with certainty that in this last age there will be an end and there will be a judgment. You will know one thing and it will be that, “Life Was about the soul and nothing else.” The judgment will be exactly as Jesus spoke of and be according to the things that were written.
(1 Corinthians 14.33)
