God's Purpose

Posted by triumphantloveinchrist.blogspot.com Labels: Saturday, June 14, 2014


God’s Purpose  

It is a sad fact that the vast majority of Christians are ignorant of God’s ultimate purpose for His creation. This is due mainly to Christendom’s leaders’ false teaching concerning the present evil in the world, and the future punishment of the lost. It is the failure to recognize God’s complete control over ALL circumstances in His universe that has led to a belief in “dualism”. This was the belief of an ancient Iranian religion founded in the 6th century BC, Zoroastrianism. Its founder, Zoroaster, imagined a universe in which an all good Spirit created the pleasant things in the world, while another powerful, all evil Spirit, created destructive counterparts, such as snakes, flies, and other noxious things to combat the good Spirit’s creation.
 
It is the concept of two “Gods” battling for control and victory over the created universe that Christian leaders have unwittingly portrayed to those in varied denominational assemblies worldwide. According to their dogmas, Satan is the evil god that has successfully overthrown the true God’s purpose of perfection for His creation. By ruining His original pristine universe, Satan has forced God to resort to a “Plan B”. In this scenario, an impotent creator, frustrated by the “free will” of mankind that follows Satan in his rebellion, is feverishly working to counteract Satan’s devices in order to convince mankind to follow Him. 

However, because Satan’s widespread Evil is more desirable than God’s Good, God will lose the vast majority of mankind to Satan, and must placate Himself with the rescue of a small minority of the billions of men and women created in His image. By Satan’s subtle intrigue, God, because He is holy, will be forced to banish most of mankind to eternal torture in Hell and then the Lake of Fire. God will ultimately neutralize Satan by imprisoning him for 1000 years, and finally confine him to the fiery Lake, at which time He will declare victory. But what a costly and hollow victory that will be! Satan will have claimed the lion’s share of souls that will remain forever hostile to their Creator. Evil will not only continue to exist, but will thrive and multiply as the realm of the damned is filled with curses for God eternally!
Thankfully, although the above scenario is the popular religious teaching today, it is completely contradicted by Scripture. A view of all world events gives the impression that the creation is a giant, slow-motion train wreck, having veered off the tracks of God’s purpose and headed for certain and final destruction. 

However, Satan is a created being, and as such, his power is limited to that invested to him by his Creator. The Adversary does not make policy for the universe, nor does he devise any plan of his own in order to thwart God’s purpose. He is merely God’s agent of evil, a pawn in the hands of the all-wise Creator. Although he certainly thinks he is free and autonomous, (just as men believe themselves to be free moral agents), all of his ways were known beforehand, and ordained by God to accomplish His mysterious purpose.

But, doesn’t this make God the Author of sin? No. God is the Author of evil. Evil is not sin. Sin is a mistake, an error, something God is incapable of. Evil is the counterpart of Good. God created Evil in order to reveal Good. Good would have no meaning without Evil, just as Darkness is essential to understand Light. Evil is a temporary tool of contrast being used by The Master Craftsman of the universe to reveal Himself to all His creatures. At the consummation, after God’s purpose is realized, evil will be discarded forever. 

The purpose for God planting the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden’s Garden is puzzling to many students of Scripture. Why would God deliberately place it centrally in His garden of perfection? Why would He not place cherubim to guard it from Adam as He did afterward for The Tree Of Life? Why was Satan given free access to God’s Garden to spread his rebellion and infect humanity? Why were there not two trees, one of Good and another of Evil, but conflicting things in one tree. 

The answer is that Adam did not know Evil before he ate of its fruit, but NEITHER DID HE KNOW GOOD! The Garden with all its wondrous delights, the delicious fruit, the perfect climate, the harmless animals, the daily walks with his Creator-Father was to Adam just “another day in Paradise”. He knew no other scenario. All these wonders were taken mundanely as a matter of normal life. The only way he could really appreciate Good, and therefore his Creator, was to be shown its opposite, Evil. The contents of the fruit did not infect Adam & Eve with sin; that came from their disobedience to the commandment to abstain from eating it. 

It is surprising to many that God knew Evil before Adam. He confirmed this fact after Adam sinned: “And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” {Gen. 3:22}

Man’s first sin, which Christendom teaches began the eternal doom of most of Adam’s progeny, was in fact the first essential lesson for an immature creature that his Creator was teaching him. This painful lesson was given in order to enlighten him to God’s essential Goodness. Adam now had the ability to compare Good with Evil, and therefore could enter the gateway of appreciation for his Father’s Goodness and Love. If this was not God’s purpose for Adam; if He created him with the determination of perpetual perfection, then God failed, He missed His mark, God sinned. This is our only recourse if we believe that God’s plans for Adam failed. If The Creator is reacting to man’s free will, and constantly adjusting His Plan in order to accomplish His purpose, then who is really in control? Free will makes man into God, and God into less than omnipotent.

But the Scriptures assure us that God is not adjusting to man’s decisions, and is in complete control. Neither are there two “Gods” battling for control of events.
“That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.I form the light, and create darkness: I MAKE PEACE, AND CREATE EVIL: I THE LORD, DO ALL THESE THINGS.” {Isa. 45:6,7}

God has a reason for all events in His universe, a definite purpose toward accomplishment of His ultimate goal. This goal is the revelation of Himself, and afterward, taking up residence in ALL His creatures. He will realize that goal in due course, and cannot be thwarted. He is The Almighty!
“Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.
  Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
  I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘MY PURPOSE WILL STAND,
AND I WILL DO ALL THAT I PLEASE.’ {Isa. 46:8-10}

In order for man to exercise his “free will”, he would have to be totally free. But the Scriptures declare that man is not free at all, but is completely enslaved to sin, as is Satan. Satan and mankind make choices according to their limited knowledge and ability. They choose to do one thing or another only from what has been decreed concerning them or revealed to them.

 We have no “free will” options concerning our time or place of birth, our genetic make up, our family, our aging, inherited diseases, our involuntary bodily functions, etc. I cannot jump over my house or lift 10,000 pounds even if I freely choose to do so. Our choices are also limited by our lack of knowledge of the future. I cannot confidently “will” to be a millionaire or a professional athlete, for even if I have an iron will and determination to accomplish these goals, tomorrow may bring an unforeseen bankruptcy or a debilitating injury making such things impossible.

Only God has “free will”, for He alone is omnipotent. He alone is able to accomplish any and all goals He has determined. The creature not only does not fathom his Creator, he does not understand himself! A careful assessment of all known factors in a situation does not insure a man of the desired outcome of any decisive action. He cannot contemplate or make choices in things that he does not even comprehend! Scientific discovery is constantly amazing man about himself and his surroundings, things which his Creator determined and ordained to be there and function as He designed them according to His Free Will and Purpose.

Men are responsible only for God’s REVEALED WILL. Adam erred in his failure to obey his Father’s revealed will. This is the determining factor in God’s judgment of any person’s works. How faithful were we to the light we received? However, God had a SECRET WILL known only to Himself. His Secret Will determined that Adam’s disobedience would, instead of derailing God’s Plan for perfection, act as an essential step in revealing Himself to man. This is how God wields His tool of Evil in order to bring about His Good purpose. 

Take the example of Joseph in his trials. After his own brothers, because of their jealous hatred of him, sold him into slavery, we can only imagine the pain and despair of his broken spirit. However, through this great family tragedy, Joseph was eventually to rise to the position of ruler over all Egypt, under Pharaoh alone. God had a Secret Will concerning Joseph known only to Him. God ordained these circumstances in order to accomplish His purpose. Listen to Joseph’s assessment of all that befell him:
“His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? YOU INTENDED IT FOR EVIL, BUT GOD INTENDED IT FOR GOOD to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.” {Gen. 50:18-21}

The greatest Evil ever to occur was perpetrated on God’s own Son. When Satan entered Judas to betray The Savior, did he not think he was acting autonomously in devising this plan of evil? When the Jewish leaders had Jesus arrested and brought to trial, did they not think they were acting on their own? When the crowd, worked into a frenzy, screamed “Crucify Him!”, or Pilate condemned Him to an excruciating death on a cross, or the soldiers cast lots for His robe and mocked Him, and the scourging, and crucifixion. 

Did not all these individuals believe they were doing exactly as they determined to do? And yet, they were only acting out what The Father had predetermined concerning His Son. The prophet Isaiah had foretold these things hundreds of years before any of these actors were born:
“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities (sins).” {Isa. 53:10,11}

A glaring error of men is to confuse God’s process with His goal. There used to be an artist that painted nature scenes on canvas on a weekly television program. With broad strokes of his brush he would spread paint on his blank canvas in a seemingly haphazard manner. Mixing colors on his hand held block, he continued smearing and blending colors without any apparent order or sense of urgency to finish his work. Just when I began to see some order, he would partially cover a recognizable object with more broad strokes of his brush. Only when the program was near its end, did the awe-inspiring scene emerge from the seeming chaos of colors. The master painter knew exactly what he was painting, I did not. In the end, I could appreciate the perfectly placed brush strokes and the beautiful scene they produced. 

It is this way with God. Although there seems to be raging chaos at work in our world, the universe’s Master is methodically bringing order out of the seeming disorder. In the end, He will reveal a masterpiece produced by His marvelous Love and Grace, made possible by Calvary’s Cross.
God’s purpose was to use man’s Evil hatred of His Son to pay the sin guilt of all creation! The Father’s love for all His creatures drove Him to it. Pure love knows no other way but self-giving sacrifice for the beloved. Jesus willingly yielded to His Father’s Will, knowing that man’s supreme Evil would result in The Father’s supreme Good, salvation and deliverance of His lost possession. Contrary to religion’s doctrines concerning damnation and eternal torment, The Cross of Christ accomplished God’s purpose and goal, to save each and every one of God’s beloved creatures. His suffering assured the ultimate rescue of all the lost. 

Although limited future punishment awaits much of mankind, it is for the purpose of discipline and restoration, not perpetual torment. Mankind’s alienation from his Creator was necessary for him to appreciate his reconciliation to Him. God’s message for mankind today is one of reconciliation. He implores us to accept His Son’s sacrifice on our behalf, and to abandon any prideful attempts to gain His acceptance through our own religious works. A gift cannot be earned, it can only be accepted. Any attempt to earn it nullifies it as a gift. Christ alone earned it for humanity. When God reveals Himself to His creatures, all will humbly worship Him and ultimately respond to His love that conquers even the hardest heart. Then God will take His place in each of His creatures and become ALL in All! 
“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him,  and through Him TO RECONCILE TO HIMSELF ALL THINGS, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” {Col. 1:15-20}


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Posted by triumphantloveinchrist.blogspot.com Friday, February 28, 2014



BIBLICAL "DESTRUCTION"

Many readers of the Bible are willing to admit that the scriptures present the teaching of mankind’s ultimate reconciliation to his Creator, but are disheartened to find so many seemingly contradictory statements concerning the "destruction" of all unbelievers by God.

That these verses exist cannot be denied. The pertinent question being: What is meant by the term "destruction", and how can men be both "destroyed" AND reconciled? To put it bluntly, does the Scripture contradict itself concerning the lost of mankind?

Plainly, both outcomes for unbelievers cannot be true, if we rely on the common English understanding of the words "Destroy" and "Destruction".

However, the "New Testament" was not penned in English, but in Greek. So what is the meaning of these original Greek words, translated consistently to give the reader the idea of a horrible outcome? It appears from these verses that the unbeliever will be subjected to an end from which there is no possibility of recovery, but of a perpetual hopeless condition. Let’s take some verses that employ these words to see if we can gain a better understanding of the original meaning and intent of these texts.

The best way to determine the meaning of a Greek word is to trace its use throughout the rest of the Scriptures. By far, the most common word rendered "destroy" is the Greek word ‘apollymi’. It is often translated by the old English word "perish". The most famous verse employing it, being {John 3:16};

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting ( Gk. aionios, age-pertaining) life."

We understand "perish" to mean something that will decay and rot, such as food that is "perishable". Here, as in other passages, "perish" is perceived by the reader to indicate a state from which no return is possible; a permanent, irretrievable condition of destruction and separation from God. This deduction is due in large part to the teaching of "eternal punishment" which all of us have been exposed to in our varied church experiences.

However, when we see that "apollymi" is used in other passages that also clearly indicate the RESTORATION of the person or thing, it forces us to rethink our previous conclusions concerning the intent of the use of this word. For example, from Luke chapter 15, Jesus’ parable of the woman’s "lost" (‘apollymi’) coin, we know that after a thorough search of her house, her previously lost or perished coin is found, and restored to her possession.

The same is true in the companion parables of the "lost" (‘apollymi’) sheep, retrieved from it’s lost condition, and restored to safety within the shepherd’s fold. And most notably, the "lost" (‘apollymi’) son, who, after living a foolish, self- indulgent life, and reaping its harvest, is ultimately restored to his rejoicing father, even after his father considered him dead, and lost to him permanently.

"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost (‘apollymi’), and is found. And they began to be merry." {Luke 15:24}

In Paul’s writings, we find "apollymi" being employed in the case of a believer’s behavior toward another believer with a weak conscience. Paul exhorts believers in Corinth not to "sin against your brothers" and "wound their weak consciences", and asks:

"And through thy knowledge, shall the weak brother perish (‘apollymi’), for whom Christ died?" Similarly, Paul addresses the Roman assembly with this same issue; "For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. destroy (apollymi) not with thy meat him for whom Christ died." {Rom. 14:15}

Are we willing to believe that a brother in Christ can cause another brother to become eternally lost or destroyed? Can a believer "undo" the work of God in another believer’s life, and put him in danger of eternal punishment? Of course not! The "destruction" is in callously offending a brother weak in his faith, so as to send him "off course" in his walk with Christ and setting back his spiritual progress toward maturity.

'Apollymi' sometimes gives the idea of being marred or ruined. 

"And no man putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will perish (‘apollymi’)." {Luke 5:37} 

The danger in this verse is the loss of the wine through the ruination of the wine containers. The containers are not lost, destroyed, or annihilated, but simply flawed, marred to the point of no longer being suitable to function for which they were designed. It may be possible for them to be repaired so that they again could contain wine, but in their present condition, they are unfit for their intended purpose, they are useless to their owner.

Similarly, the idea of being ruined or useless is in the account of Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the multitude with only a boy’s lunch. We read: "When they were filled, he said unto his disciples:

 "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost (‘apollymi’)." 

If the leftover food was not gathered, it would spoil, therefore being ruined and being of use to no one. Only by collecting the leftovers could they be rescued from certain "destruction".

In many passages, ‘apollymi’ clearly refers to the death of an individual. An example is found in {Luke 13: 2-5}

"And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish(‘apollymi’).  Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish (‘apollymi’)."

However, it is unwarranted to project these or any other "perished" persons into a state from which it is impossible for them to be recalled. They may be temporarily "ruined" by physical death, but this does not mean that they are irreparably destroyed or lost to God.

Would there be anyone who believes that Jesus Christ perished upon His death? Yet, that is exactly what the Scriptures aver:

"Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’  Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish (‘apollymi’) outside of Jerusalem." {Luke 13:32,33}

Does the death of any person create an insurmountable difficulty for their Creator? Does not the Scripture plainly state that ALL persons will be resurrected at some point in God’s future timetable? Far from being God’s purpose for never ending torment, each resurrected person will receive a just sentence which will conclude in his repentence and reconciliation to God.

Another Greek word always translated "destruction" is ‘olethros’. A passage that some point to, which seemingly supports their concept of eternal punishment is     {2 Thes. 1:7-9} which says:

"Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting (Gk. 'aionios') destruction (‘olethros’) from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power."

It is clear that these who will experience "destruction" at the 2nd advent of the Lord will be shut out from Christ’s presence when He returns in glory to establish His earthly righteous kingdom. Two words must be defined for the truth of this passage to become clear. The first is "everlasting". As many will recognize from our previous studies, this is the Greek word ‘aionios’. Although mis-translated consistently by the KJV translators as "eternal" and "everlasting", this is a TIME RELATED word meaning "age pertaining", which has both a beginning and an end, which is not the case for something truly eternal or everlasting.

The second word which we must define in this passage is "destruction". Once again, we will get a clearer meaning of this Greek word by tracing its use in other passages. This word ‘olethros’ is used only 3 other times in the Bible. The first is in reference to a believer refusing to turn away from a disgraceful, public sin in the assembly at Corinth. Paul admonishes them:

"For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction (Gk.‘olethros’) of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." {1 Cor. 5: 3-5}

Whatever this "destruction" is, Paul is not threatening this believer with a bodily destruction that cannot be reversed, for we know from this same letter to the Corinthians, that all believers will receive a resurrected, vivified body at the Rapture {15: 50-55}. This fleshly "destruction" being threatened is therefore temporary, not permanent. It has no lasting effects on his future state of perfection or presence with Christ.

The next occurrence of ‘olethros’ is in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian assembly. 
"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction (‘olethros’) cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." {1 Thes. 5:2, 3}

It is interesting that Paul likens this "destruction" of unbelievers, to the labor of a pregnant woman. Once begun, there is no deliverance from the fear and pain until the child is born, then the woman finds relief for her mind and body. This gives us a strong indication that this "destruction" of these unprepared people is also of a temporal nature. Their destruction comes suddenly, without warning, and with no present escape to be found until God’s purpose for them has been accomplished.

The last occurrence of ‘olethros’ is found in {1 Tim. 6: 9}:

"But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction (‘olethros’) and perdition (‘apoleia’)."

It should be noted that the word ‘perdition’ in this verse, is the noun form of ‘apollymi’, which we discussed previously. We learn from this verse that it is due to the desire to become rich in material things, that leads a believer into this "destruction" and "perdition". We refer to certain individuals that partake in "destructive behavior". We are not intimating that they are being annihilated, or destroyed beyond the realm of hope, but only that their actions are ruining their lives!

Is it not plain to see, after our consideration of these passages with ‘olethros’, that Paul is speaking of ruin, marring, and a general chaos enveloping foolish individuals to their harm? But in none of these cases must we deduce that their condition is beyond remedy. Even the passage which seems so ominous, translated as "everlasting destruction" by the KJV translators, it is simply "age-related ruin".

Does not Paul clearly teach that every knee will bow before Christ, and every tongue give praise to Him {Phil. 2: 10, 11}? Does Paul not teach by the Spirit of God that it pleased The Father to unite all beings in heaven and earth in His Son, and to reconcile all to Himself through Christ’s Cross sacrifice? Are we not told specifically that although, at present, God has taken up residence in the hearts of only believers; a time is coming at the consummation of His Plan when He will become All in all His creatures? {1 Cor. 15: 22-28} 

Yes, He is able to elicit the heart-felt devotion of every one of His creatures, so that none remains ruined, useless, and lost, but all are restored, blessed, and found, by the omnipotent Lover of souls, and Seeker of the destroyed.

It is high time that church leaders put an end to the false teaching of eternal torment. Letting go of vain tradition is difficult for all of us. However, we must allow the pure sunlight of God’s truth to illuminate our hearts to the true character of our Creator and Savior. 

Let us rejoice together in His overwhelming and perpetual Love for ALL His creatures. Then, we will be enabled to jettison man’s false and devilish doctrines of hate, and to grow in the grace of our Lord of Love, and be conformed to His image.

　


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Life from Death

Posted by triumphantloveinchrist.blogspot.com Wednesday, December 25, 2013

                                                LIFE  FROM  DEATH

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” {Gen. 1:1,2}

We see in this primordial account of the disruption of God's original creation, a stark picture of DEATH. None of the figures of life are present in these opening verses of the Bible. Yet it is from this cold,... dark, formless emptiness, made such by the rebellion of Lucifer and his celestial followers, that The Spirit of God begins His transformative work to produce life in its fullness. This is always God’s modus operandi, FIRST Death, THEN Life. We are inclined to think the opposite order is true, i.e. - Life begets Death. But as we study the Scriptures, we are confronted with the inescapable principle that Life PROCEEDS OUT OF Death. 

Adam was the epitome of this biblical truth. The Creator formed him out of dead material... the elements of earth. Even when his formation was complete, he was dead. His lungs, heart, brain, and all other organs were perfectly formed within him... yet he was dead. His blood lay still within his arteries, awaiting the pulse of life to be given by the breath of his Father. Yes, Adam was DEAD before he received LIFE from God.

Death is not the end, but the beginning of God’s ways. As a matter of fact, Death is the essential state in order for Life to emerge! God Himself is LIFE. All His creatures must be made aware that their life is found ONLY IN HIM. It is impossible to enter the realm of Life, without first having passed through the dark corridor of Death. Death is God’s mandated pathway that is dark and fearful indeed, but by faith we can be assured that it leads to a better and higher state of resurrected Life.

 We have a picture of this truth in the birth of a child. From the dark “grave” of the womb, the unborn child transforms into a more complex and higher form of life to prepare it for the new and brighter world it must enter at the end of the appointed days of gloomy darkness. The birth of a baby liberates it from the blackness of its entombment, bringing it into the freedom and light of this world.

The natural world echos this same principle. A caterpillar enters the sarcophagus it builds for itself, and must “die” there in order to be resurrected as a beautiful, transformed creature, in order to break the confines of earth, and to soar to new heights in the heavens. As an annual reminder of The Creator’s way, the stark and barren tree of winter without a sign of life, transforms into the lush and thriving shade tree of summer. The dry and shriveled corn seed, lying buried in the cold, dark earth, when the appointed season beckons, bursts forth in newness of life, rising high above the soil which held it, and bearing no resemblance of its former self, and producing multiple seeds of goodness in the ear it bears.

Our Savior used this very example to express the certainty of His resurrection from Death to Life:

“Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and DIES, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it PRODUCES MANY SEEDS. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates (loves less) their life in this world will keep it for eternal (eonian) LIFE.” {John 12:23-25}

There is a great truth in this passage for those that have eyes to see, and ears to hear. The death of an individual life brings life to many. While this is preeminently true of our wonderful Lord’s death and resurrection, there is truth here applicable to all. None of us “lives or dies to himself”, but we who have received Christ’s Spirit through faith in Him, are all vessels of blessing and life to others. It is when we die to self, that as members of His spiritual Body, we, by the operation of His Spirit at work within our lives, become channels of life and love to many!

Even that which we call ‘Life’ is really ‘Death’ in its various stages. We are born into this world dying, our bodies producing new cells to replace those that have reached their terminal stage. Even the replacement cells are themselves dying, and will need to be replaced by newly formed cells if the body is to remain "living". If this process in our bodies would stop at any point, our real state of death would become quickly apparent to all!

We are all existing in the realm of Death, which will finally claim each of us, some sooner, some later. Death is as near to a young man's back, as it is to an old man's face! Thankfully, The Son of God entered into our Death state, in order to impart His Life to us! Through faith, we enter into HIS DEATH and emerge into His RESURRECTED LIFE, believing that His death delivered mankind from a bondage we could never break free from ourselves. Through God's mandated pathway of FAITH, we receive His Spirit of grace, and are transformed incrementally into His likeness, as we grow in the knowledge and appreciation Him. For, "Without FAITH, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God." {Heb. 11:6}

BELIEVERS in Him and His Cross accomplishment, receive His Life BEFORE we finally experience our physical death! In this way we are united to Him in spirit and need not fear our coming physical death, knowing that we will be resurrected by Christ’s power over Death to live with Him always and bask in His Love and Grace! The Grave will give birth to its children of God's Kingdom of Light!

Believers in our Savior's defeat of mankind's Nemesis, enter into the enjoyment of His resurrected Life ahead of the remainder of Adam's race.
The apostle Paul explains:
“Now if we DIED with Christ (through faith), we believe that we will also LIVE with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin ONCE FOR ALL; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves DEAD to sin but ALIVE to God in Christ Jesus.” {Rom. 6:8-11}

Not only do believers in Jesus' sacrifice of Himself for all humanity, DIE to self, but through that same FAITH, are resurrected NOW, to walk with Him in newness of His LIFE!
Listen to our apostle:
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ (through faith), set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For YOU DIED, and your LIFE is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, WHO IS YOUR LIFE, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” {Col. 3:1-4}

Not only do we experience Jesus' life in our daily lives NOW, but we will live with Him in TRANSFORMED, VIVIFIED BODIES when He returns to resurrect His own:
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a Man. For as IN ADAM ALL DIE, so IN CHRIST ALL WILL BE MADE ALIVE (vivified). But each in turn: Christ, The Firstfruit; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him....” {1 Cor. 15:20-23}

Paul continues:
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who SLEEP (IN DEATH), so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus DIED and ROSE again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have FALLEN ASLEEP in Him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have FALLEN ASLEEP.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and THE DEAD in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still ALIVE AND ARE LEFT will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord always. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” {1 Thes. 4:13-18}

Let's rejoice together in the fact that Jesus Christ has been transformed from the earthly Man of flesh, into the glorified, vivified, celestial Man! He IS our LIFE! However it will require our metamorphosis at our resurrection or rapture, before we can join Him in our glorified body made to be like His. As we await that joyous Day, let us put off the DEATH of sinful living produced by the flesh, and live with Him BY FAITH in the celestial realm of LIFE at the right hand of His Father and ours! Come soon, Lord Jesus!


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God's Forgiveness

Posted by triumphantloveinchrist.blogspot.com

“Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
19 You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
20 You will be faithful to Jacob,
and show love to Abraham,...
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
in days long ago.” {Micah 7:18-20}

Why are Christians so willing to believe that the God they worship will one day forgive the nation Israel her many heinous sins against Him, but refuse to believe that He will extend that same forgiveness to the rest of humanity?

Israel is but a microcosm of all the nations of humanity. God purposely separated Israel out from all the other nations on earth, not because they were better than the rest, but because He wanted to reveal His abundant grace to all mankind, through the MOST rebellious of all Adam’s descendants!

In fact, Jesus declared that the residents of Sodom would have believed and repented of their wickedness had they seen His miracles.

“Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.” {Matt.11:20-23}

If the residents of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum will ultimately be rescued from Hades (The Grave), and given their inheritance among the redeemed of Israel, then we can be confident that God will do the same for all His wayward sons of mankind. He chose Israel as the greatest example of His longsuffering grace, so that all men would be assured of their ultimate rescue from sin and death.

Even those of Sodom will one day repent before God’s awesome presence and be forgiven their perversion. This is not God OVERLOOKING sin, but the forgiveness of all based upon the death of His Son upon Calvary’s Cross. The price for their sins was paid. Sodomites will take their place among all those of Adam’s race, to declare the glory and redeeming love of their Creator.

Does this statement offend the reader? Read the following verses slowly and deliberately, and allow The Spirit of God to reveal their truth to your heart.

“Your (Israel’s) older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom. 47 You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. 48 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.
“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
51 Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done. 52 Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters.
Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
53 HOWEVER, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them, 54 so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort. 55 And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before.” {Eze. 16:46-55}

Restoration is always God’s purpose. It was the self-sacrificing love of God for His creatures that brought The Son of God to earth. The same spirit of superiority that infected Israel because of their special access to God, has sadly taken up residence in the hearts of Christians today. God has given us clear statements from Paul’s pen, that He will save every child of Adam in the end. May we be delivered from the unforgiving spirit of the Older Brother of the Prodigal Son parable.

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him ALL THINGS were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; ALL THINGS have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before ALL THINGS, and in him ALL THINGS hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in EVERY THING he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to RECONCILE TO HIMSELF ALL THINGS, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace THROUGH HIS BLOOD, shed on the cross.” {Col. 1:15-20}


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What is Love?

Posted by triumphantloveinchrist.blogspot.com

                                             CAN LOVE EVER FAIL?

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as ...an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” {1 John 4:7-10}

What is love? The Scripture answers this question simply and profoundly, God is Love. Apart from Him, love does not exist! The horrendous scene of Calvary’s Cross was the self - sacrifice of Love on display for the universe to witness. Love always gives, not because it expects to receive in return, but simply because that is the essence of Love. It is what true Love does. There is no such thing as “conditional love”, for these words are mutually exclusive. Love has no “conditions” for its existence or display, even when such proffered love is deemed to be unwarranted or is rebuffed.

Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God’s Love. He came to earth to reveal Love to humanity. Religion views God’s Love through the distorted lens of man’s invented "conditional love”. In order to justify this perverted view of love, they affirm that God’s Love was only really meant for the obedient among His creatures, those that return His Love. They conclude that God’s “unreceived love” is transformed into distain and hatred for those that ignore, reject, or simply fail to respond to God’s Love, resulting in “eternal torment” for all those once “loved” by God.

So, according to Christendom, as long as an unbelieving person is breathing, he is loved by God. But when that person takes his last breath, God no longer loves him! Does He ANNULL His Love? “Oh”, some say, “God loves all, and Jesus came to save all, but if God’s love is spurned, He will withdraw His love and there will be hell to pay!” And then, God's VENGEANCE on that individual will replace the "love" He once had for him! So The Savior, according to this doctrine, is not really The Savior of the world, as the Scripture affirms, but The POTENTIAL Savior of all. This is a shallow, fleeting love indeed, a "love" that evaporates like the morning dew! Does this teaching accord with REAL Love? Is God’s incomparable Love erased by unbelief, and replaced with a torturous hatred more intense and overwhelming than His original Love? If God ever CEASES TO LOVE, then He ceases to be GOD.

Man’s religion has put God in a box. Men have limited the omnipotent Master of the universe by their small, cruel, and heartless CREEDS. Christendom’s doctrine of Eternal Torment supposes that God’s Love is limited to a person's lifetime, whether short or long. Christendom's "hell" is filled with untold BILLIONS of Adam's race, children and adults! It is the failure to understand Love that declares an end of God’s work in a person's life at the grave. John The Baptizer, filled with The Spirit of God declared: 
“ Behold! The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!” Was he mistaken? Christendom declares that he most assuredly was! Religion's blind teachers declare that most of the world’s sin will remain FOREVER, unforgiven, the price being paid with TORMENT in a fiery “hell", with “The Savior” outside,  locking it's red-hot gates and withholding the keys... FOREVER!

Hell is a myth, a word not found in the original languages of the Bible, a cruel sword of hate, invented by the clergy to instill fear, and to maintain psychological shackles on the people. Christendom has created an eternal torture chamber of fearful agony to elicit the mindless obedience of the masses to its clergy. The mere thought of such endless torture overwhelms the sane mind. It presents the very OPPOSITE of the true character of The Father; that of endless, limitless love, grace, and tenderness.

It is undeniable that scripture teaches that God punishes the disobedient among mankind. The question is: “How, and for what PURPOSE?” For what purpose do we punish and chastise OUR children? Is it not with the goal of correction and reformation? Is this out of our HATRED for our children, or our LOVE for them? Is it not for THE GOOD of our beloved sons and daughters that we impose painful correction? Do we impose ENDLESS PUNISHMENT on them? Is our love for our children GREATER than The Almighty's love for His? Do we suppose that The Almighty is UNABLE, or worse, UNWILLING to accomplish the same for His created and beloved, foolish children?

We need only to read the parable of the selfish prodigal son to get a glimpse of how God is able to restore even the most insolent of His children. It was only the humbling of his proud heart that restored him to his father’s bosom. Does the grave create an impassable chasm that His Love can never bridge? Would the fires of an eternal furnace melt the cold hearts of those created in His image? Will not rather, the REVELATION OF HIMSELF to the lost sinner have the desired effect on the rebellious or the simply uninformed among men? As Job exclaimed when confronted by The Almighty: “My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

Were we left with no clear statements from Scripture as to the goal of The Creator for His creatures, we might be justified in believing in “eternal” punishment. We know from our previous study of the Greek word 'EONIAN', that it is not "ETERNAL". It is a refusal to believe Paul’s received gospel from JESUS, of what Christ came to accomplish at Calvary, that has led to such a sinister doctrine. Paul penned much of the “N.T”, yet NEVER ONCE mentions “hell”, much less threatens anyone with its torments! Please don't take my word for it, check it for yourself! The next question that should arise is: WHY NOT? Why would the apostle Paul NEVER warn his readers about "hell" if, like he affirmed to the Ephesian elders,.... "I have not failed to declare the WHOLE counsel of God to you"? 

To Paul was given the secret blueprints for the consummation of The Father’s Plan for His creation. He reveals in his writings that mankind was ALIENATED from God, Christ’s Cross RECONCILED them! Mankind stood CONDEMNED, The Cross JUSTIFIED them! He teaches us that IN ADAM, mankind was LOST, but IN THE LAST ADAM (Christ), they are SAVED!

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. LOVE NEVER FAILS."{1 Cor. 13:4-8}   Christendom's leaders proclaim that LOVE will fail to reach God's objective in most of mankind... but I believe God!                

“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him (Jesus),  and through Him to RECONCILE TO HIMSELF ALL things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” {Col. 1:19,20}


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From Death to LIfe

Posted by triumphantloveinchrist.blogspot.com


Death is essential for new and higher life. This principle can be seen all around us. Nature gives testimony to this all-encompassing truth. A small, dry, seed, with the God-appointed germ of life within its hull, when b...uried in soil, gives birth to a new, and much greater entity, its roots expanding outward and ever deeper, established in the earth, and reaching upward toward the life sustaining rays of the sun.

The lowly caterpillar, drab and unnoticed, confined to the ground, and venturing not much beyond the locality of its birth, when it emerges in vibrant life from its spun sarcophagus of death, has no resemblance of its former self, and soars with graceful ease through the heavens above, its beautiful, higher form evident, observed and admired by all.

The seasons themselves speak of resurrection from death. Deciduous trees, with their lush, green leaves of summer, in the autumn, morph into new, colorful versions of themselves. Their life seemingly ebbs away and finally succumbs to the cold and barrenness of winter’s death. All seems lost, until at last, the warmth of the spring resurrects their life and begins the annual cycle once again.

Jesus said: “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” {John 12:24, 25} This is the spiritual principle and counterpart to that which is visible to us in nature. Jesus often used parables concerning the natural world to introduce higher spiritual truth.

In the same way that a single buried wheat seed produces a stalk with dozens of life-giving seeds, a life lived out of loving sacrifice, and to the glory of God, results in death to the desires of self, and produces a cornucopia of spiritual abundance. This was the path chosen by our Savior, His selfless life and death securing mankind’s redemption through His resurrection, in the abundant power of a vivified life.

However, a seed never planted, that is, a life lived to the gratification of self, and a refusal to die to self-will, generates great shame, and future remorse when summoned before the judgment throne of The One Who sacrificed His all out of His great love for mankind. The self-willed unbeliever struggles blindly through his days, refusing God’s treasures as he holds tenaciously to that which has no lasting value. The SECOND DEATH will provide the only means of remedy for such a person, a necessary cleansing of ethereal fire, provided by The God of Love, to prepare the lost child to receive His resurrection Life.

Fire is used by man for the purification of any unburnable substance, and the elimination of that which is impure. Metals of all types are subjected to the furnace in order to purify, and eliminate any dross from the crucible. The Lake of Fire will not be God’s eternal torture chamber as Christendom teaches, or the means for the annihilation of those entering its spiritual inferno. It is rather the Master Craftsman’s REMEDY of reconciliation for those who entered physical death, not having died to self-will. This burning lake represents His Flames of Purification, fanned by His infinite Love, to prepare those He created and redeemed, through the death of His Son, for their spiritual cleansing, and a new, resurrected life with Him.

Those yielding to the Spirit of God in their lifetime on earth, are joined to, and united in the Death and Resurrection of Christ now. It is this spiritual life that produces love and joy in the believer, and teaches him to discard the empty hull of his dead former Adamic self, and seek after those higher spiritual treasures secured for him by his Savior’s blood. It is the triumph of Love producing a harvest of grace within him. This God-required and God-supplied faith, transfers the believer into the very life of Christ experientially through the in-dwelling of His Spirit.

It is the privilege of the believer to suffer the rejection and distain of those around us. In doing so, we join in our Lord’s heartaches experienced during His days on earth from those He loved and ministered to. Let us suffer now with Him, without bitterness or regret. Let us keep our eyes focused on Him, and pray that we may be conformed to His Image as we gaze on His perfection, so that we can say with our apostle Paul:

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” {Phil. 3:7-14}



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Did Christ Succeed or Fail?

Posted by triumphantloveinchrist.blogspot.com

                Did Christ Succeed .... Or Fail?

At first glance, this seems to be a ridiculous question. Of course Christ succeeded! He is The Son of God! He was and is incapable of failure! He asked the question of His accusers while on earth, “Who of you convicts Me of sin?” And we have the steadfast testimony of Christ Himself, “I always do that which pleases The Father.” 

At the beginning of His ministry, we hear The Savior say, “My food, is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work." At the close of His earthly ministry, Jesus triumphantly declared, “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

So, if Christ never missed the mark of perfection, but always accomplished the task for which He was sent, why does Christendom claim that He failed in His objective to SAVE HUMANITY? This was THE WORK for which He was sent.  Jesus testified, “For the Son of Man came to SEEK and to SAVE the lost.” And who are “The Lost”? Is it not every descendant of Adam’s race? And what was the means by which Christ was to save the Lost? Was it not THE CROSS? 

The Son Of God, called "The Second Man" came into the world to undo the disastrous results that the first man, Adam imposed on humanity, SIN & DEATH. The testimony of Scripture as to The Son of God’s success is overwhelming. He accomplished His goal by way of His suffering, death, and resurrection. Mankind's deliverance was only possible through the suffering of a sinless sacrifice. Here are a few passages proclaiming this glorious victory of Jesus Christ:

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!” {John 1: 29}

“They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.” {John 4:42}

“I (Jesus) will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I WILL REACH MY GOAL” (Crucifixion). {Luke 13:32}

“When He had received the drink, Jesus said, “IT IS FINISHED!” With that, He bowed his head and gave up His spirit.” {John 19:30}

“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD” {1 John 4:14}

“That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, WHO IS THE SAVIOR OF ALL PEOPLE, and especially of those who believe.  Command and teach these things.” {1 Tim 4:10,11}

“His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two (Jews & Gentiles), thus making peace, and in one body to RECONCILE BOTH OF THEM TO GOD THROUGH THE CROSS.. {Eph. 2:15,16}

Consequently, just as one trespass (Adam’s disobedience) resulted in condemnation FOR ALL PEOPLE, so also one righteous act (Christ’s obedience) resulted in  JUSTIFICATION AND LIFE FOR ALL PEOPLE. {Rom. 5:18}

“For as IN ADAM ALL DIE, so IN CHRIST ALL WILL BE MADE ALIVE.” {1Cor. 15:22}

“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him (Christ), and through Him to RECONCILE TO HIMSELF ALL , whether on earth or in heaven, BY MAKING PEACE THROUGH HIS BLOOD, SHED ON THE CROSS.” {Col. 1:19,20}
Dare we say with apostate Christendom that Jesus failed in His objective? Are we to honestly believe that it is orthodox to hold to the idea that He was unable to rescue the vast majority of humanity? What of the Hindus, Muslims, and apostate Christianity? This vast group is composed of BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS of humans for whom Christ died and was resurrected. Will they all be lost to the flames of “hell”? 

Such a dogmatic creed of religion reveals the blindness and unbelief of those that claim to wear the mantle of the Church’s “clergy”, and are eager to damn all other fellow sinners, in total disregard of the contrary message of the Scripture’s “Good News” for all. They confidently affirm that man has the final say in the matter, whether to believe or not. Some sects of Christendom even teach that God elected this unbelieving group for eternal torment before He created them!! 

As a teacher of scripture, I was once guilty of blindly swallowing this poison pill of religious pride, believing this destructive doctrine of eternal punishment. The sheer multitude of trained theologians attesting to the reality of “hell” and “eternal damnation”, suppressed the testimony of my heart and conscience. I somehow was able to ignore the evidence of the scriptures concerning our Lord's total and complete triumph over sin and death. I foolishly and arrogantly declared that man’s iron will would prevail over God’s divine will, and that in spite of The Savior’s work of redemption, Christ would ultimately fail in His unequivocally stated goal to save ALL HUMANITY.

A real danger in believing Christendom’s common creed concerning “eternal punishment” is the necessity of the existence of sin and death FOREVER. For, if unredeemed men remain forever lost to the fires of The Second Death, then their sins will remain upon them, and indeed multiply exponentially through their hatred and cursing of God. Their hatred of their would - be "savior" turned eternal "torturer" would make SIN an ETERNAL blight! Instead of the elimination of sin, THE LAKE OF FIRE would only serve as a nursery for more sin, multiplying its growth and strengthening its grip on those desperately needing release from it's unrelenting stranglehold on them. 

Thus, Christ would be found to have fallen woefully short of His goal to save mankind. His title “Savior Of The World” would prove to be ridiculous, and would be a legitimate cause for Satan's mockery, a false title of shame that Jesus would be forced to bear throughout all eternity. Christendom has declared that Jesus is merely a "wanna-be savior", unable to attain His title, stymied by man's unbelief, never to reach His goal as THE VICTORIOUS SAVIOR OF ALL of Adam's lost race. The First Adam's power to doom the race would prove to be more potent than The Second Adam's ability to undo the results! (It brings me pain to even write such rubbish that Christendom has espoused!)

Therefore, when the Scriptures declare that Christ indeed came to earth to eliminate sin from His creation, and not just transfer sin to another location, namely, “hell”, and The Lake Of Fire, we have a very real conflict with Christendom's dogma of eternal torture. But if the accepted tenets of Christendom are true, then the following verses MUST be false, and we should burn our bibles, and instead cling to the accepted religious creeds of men!

Look, the Lamb of God, WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!” {John 1: 29}

“But He has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages TO DO AWAY WITH SIN BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF. {Heb. 9:26}
“He (Jesus) is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD.” {1 John 2:2}
The Church's hierarchy have made this blunder in their doctrine of an impotent "savior". Multitudes have suffered unbearable emotional torment at the thoughts of their lost loved ones experiencing unspeakable, endless torture in “hell” at the hands of “The Savior”, for remember, Jesus is The One Who stated: “I have the keys of death and hell.” (Gk. 'Hades' = Grave). Instead of giving our Lord His rightful title of ‘Victor’ over the grave and Savior of His creatures, they have portrayed The Lover of mankind as “Hell’s Gatekeeper”, having the keys, but callously refusing the inmates ultimate release and relief from their unspeakable torment!!

Our leaders have mistakenly taught that all opportunities for salvation end at the grave, a teaching NOWHERE FOUND in Scripture. On the contrary, we have direct, clear statements assuring us that God will reconcile ALL HIS CREATURES unto Himself. They believe the spiritual enlightenment of believers before death to be the only ones delivered. They mistakenly think that they are members of an eternally exclusive “Salvation Club”, where members are ONLY admitted BEFORE death, and that only they will enjoy the benefits of the accomplishments of The Savior’s victory over sin and death. 

Christendom's leaders confidently state that believers ALONE will receive The Creator's love and mercy, all others being repudiated and tortured by God for eternity. They mistake the gathering of God’s FIRSTFRUITS with His full harvest of humanity. They fail to see the significance of the FIRSTBORN in scripture, viewing them instead as the ONLY BORN! The unbeliever will indeed be chastised for his unbelief and wicked deeds, which will prepare him to be illuminated to God's truth and righteousness. 

God's judgments are for the PURPOSE of producing illumination, humility and repentance from the disobedient sons of stubborness, not endless torture. That would serve no purpose and would be inconsistent with God's Plan for reconciliation. God is The Just Judge, He will not exact limitless agony on the lost of mankind, for a life of limited disobedience and unbelief. Eternal damnation is an evil, narrow, self-serving doctrine that must be repudiated by believers if we are to make any progress in the understanding of how LOVE behaves and in humble service for our Lord, Who is indeed....... The Savior of The World.
 


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Resurrection vs. Vivification

Posted by triumphantloveinchrist.blogspot.com

Vivification is different than simple resurrection. There were several instances in The Bible where dead individuals were returned to physical life after expiring. The son of the widow of Zarephath was resurrected through the prophet Elijah, Our Lord resurrected a ruler's daughter, and also the son of a widow in the town of Nain as he was being carried out for burial! And who can forget Lazarus who was brought back to life after being entombed 4 days. All of these examples eventually succumbed to the processes of death again, and remain in their graves to this day awaiting The Creator's summons from deathdom.


However, when Jesus was brought out of the grave by the power of His Father, He came forth glorified, that is to say, His body of humiliation was transformed to a  spiritually empowered body of flesh and bone. His vivified body was capable of appearing and disappearing at will, and able to transport instantly to any desired locale. This was possibly the same type of body as that of Adam before his fall in Eden, clothed in the bright aura of  perfection from the hand of his Creator Father. He was empowered with supernatural vitality, and having God infused knowledge of the natural world, he was able to perfectly name all animals according to their varied characteristics. All of this wisdom was forfeited upon his disobedience to The Almighty's prohibition. He was stripped of his innate vitality, and was brought  into a slow, progressive march downward, which culminated in death's unyielding clutches.

This is what The Second Adam freed humanity from! Because our Deliverer defeated Death in His glorious exit from the grave, He remains forever in a transformed, VIVIFIED body which can never be touched again by death! He now embodies the power and glory of The Father. As believers in Him, this is our destiny as well! We will share His likeness with glorious power and endless vitality. We will experience a metamorphosis upon our vivification to life. Never again will we grow weary, or need sleep to revitalize our frame. For the ages to come, and then eternally, we will serve Him with loving devotion with praise to Him constantly on our lips!

The dead that are RESURRECTED to face the sentence of The Lake Of Fire are not yet VIVIFIED, but will be after their sentence is completed. Although they are resurrected to stand before God, they are not yet immortal. They have simply been returned to consciousness to judgement. This will result in their “SECOND DEATH”.

But as final as this appears, with God, death in scripture always precedes life! Far from being a finality, death is merely the necessary preliminary state in anticipation of the life to come! This was Adam's state before God breathed into his nostrils life's breath. He was fully formed in God's image, a perfectly formed man, with a heart ready to beat, lungs ready to expand with air, and blood ready to course through his veins....yet lifeless, dead. He was dead before he was alive.

This is God’s final ultimate purpose and unwavering goal, to VIVIFY ALL His creatures. God saves humanity, not FROM death, but OUT OF death, that they might know and worship Him eternally, out of grateful hearts of love. Vivification is God's end goal for all His creatures, and He never fails to complete His goal! This is the outcome of perfect Love, the reconciliation of every earthly and celestial creature, restored to The Creator's presence and bosom.

“I am charging you in the sight of God, Who is VIVIFYING ALL”.. {1 Tim. 6:13 CLT}

Most of us have been so programmed by our various religious backgrounds, to believe that God will ETERNALLY punish those that reject His Love in their short lifetime on earth. This belief and teaching runs deep throughout Christendom.

Our hearts simply cannot believe that God’s love could go beyond the grave to save ALL Adam’s progeny created in His image. Or, even if we believe that He desires to save them from their suffering, we imagine that His holiness will not permit Him to do so.
So, we have imagined a hopelessly controverted, bi-polar god, who struggles against himself. His ‘LOVE NATURE’ desires to do good to his “children of disobedience”, but is prohibited from doing so by his never-forgiving ‘HOLINESS NATURE’. How we have limited The Omnipotent God of the universe by our superstitious religion! God is Love, and Love never fails!

“...because we hope on the living God, who is THE SAVIOR OF ALL MEN --especially of those believing.” {1 Tim. 4:10}

Our Bibles begin with these words: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
The Creator made both realms, and therefore owns both, and all life that He made to dwell in them. The Slanderer has been given temporary custody of both, but his rule will be terminated soon, when The Crucified One returns to take to Himself His purchased possession. 

The eons were created by The Sovereign in order that He could put on display for His creatures their utter weakness and depravity apart from Him; but also, to reveal what counteracts man’s doom, His redemptive Love and Grace. It is His goal that both realms, heaven and earth, be filled with beings from His creative hand, to respond instantly to His Heart of Love. The Cross of Christ made this goal a sure and certain reality!

The first man was made from the soil, made in the image of God, and as such was God’s representative over the Earth. This first ADAM failed in his commission to administer righteous rule and dominion over it. Instead, he brought chaos and destruction to himself and God’s planet.

And so, due to the failure of the first man, a second Man was needed to correct the failure of the first, and save him and his descendants from destruction. Christ is The Second Man, as if there were no other men between Adam and Himself. These two men alone bore the unsullied image of The Father. The first man had lost that image through disobedience. The Second Man regained it.

The Second Man was The Son of The Father, Who came out of the heavens, with the mission to reconcile all that was ruined back to The Father. Through Christ’s obedience even to the death of The Cross, He accomplished deliverance for all of those the first man had lost through his failure.

In His resurrection into vivified life, Christ Jesus brought ALL of the first man’s children with Him. Their Life is in Him, even as it was in Adam. All of The Father’s creation is safely back in His possession forever, because of The Cross of our Savior. His subsequent vivification to life safely secured creation's destiny.

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him (Jesus),  and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” {Col.1:19,20}

Let’s rejoice together in the VICTORY of The “LAST ADAM” and revel in His accomplishment of rescuing and reconciling ALL HIS CREATION!

This is our message to our unbelieving family and friends: “God is conciliated toward you, not counting your sins against you. He placed all your sins on His Son at Calvary’s Cross. Believe today that He has accepted His Son’s blood sacrifice for your complete deliverance from sin. By your faith in this good news, you are reconciled to God and delivered from any future separation from The Creator, The all-powerful Master of the universe, but most importantly, your loving Father.”

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made Him (Jesus), Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” {2 Cor. 5:17-21}

 http://triumphantloveinchrist.blogspot.com/p/the-two-adams.html


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KNOWING GOD

Posted by triumphantloveinchrist.blogspot.com Saturday, August 10, 2013


KNOWING GOD

We have a common phrase in society to describe a beloved figure that goes as follows; “To know him is to love him”. When we really get to know a person through our constant interaction with them, varied nuances of their character is revealed to us. “Love at first sight” is an impossibility. One may be attracted to another at first, but it requires much more time together to cause that attraction to grow into love. Often, that initial feeling of fondness, is completely reversed after a more intimate relationship reveals serious character flaws in that person that cause the initial infatuation to be changed into revulsion.

The goal of any relationship is to become more and more of one mind. In order for this to be possible, self interest must be set aside in the more noble quest to enter into the beloved’s realm of interest. It is only when we pour our energies and interest into the life of another that a new appreciation for that person takes form, and love is deepened to a greater degree.

Our Creator desires to have a fulfilling love relationship with each and every one of His created sons and daughters. The astounding thing is that God would love any one of us. We are all hopelessly flawed, with no capacity within, to perfect ourselves. Yet, the scriptures declare that, having complete knowledge of us, God loves us anyhow, and proved it by giving the best He could offer, His Son.

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” {Rom. 5:6-8}

The reason that the bulk of humanity does not love God, is that they do not KNOW Him. Notice, I did not say “know about Him”, for few indeed are those that do not have at least a rudimentary knowledge of God’s existence and power. But, this is a far cry from having a personal relationship with The Lover of our souls. Even believers do not “know” Him in the way that they will ultimately, in future glory.

 However, we can yearn for that future knowledge of our Lord even now! This was our apostle Paul's deep desire when he exclaimed:

 “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of THE KNOWLEDGE of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from The Law (of Moses), but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may KNOW Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” {Phillip. 3:7-11}

 Paul wanted to experience Christ’s resurrection power in his everyday life. Paul’s desire should be our desire as well. We should have an insatiable thirst for an ever increasing intimate knowledge of our God, so that we proclaim with King David of old:

“As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?” {Psa. 42:1,2}

To many, the mere thought of being in God’s presence evokes an uncomfortable feeling, perhaps even a sense of fear or dread. But, for the one who has tasted the presence of His Spirit as the wellspring of life, it becomes his heart’s yearning goal! It is the final blessed apex of a feeble and imperfect love of the creature for The Creator, to embrace Him in heartfelt love and gratitude for all He has lovingly given to us.

Another popular saying is: “Knowledge is power”. While this may carry truth in the world of business, it becomes eminently more so in matters of the heart. A more mature UNDERSTANDING of our God:  WHO He is, WHAT His Plan was, and HOW He accomplished it through His Son, unleashes the unlimited power of His Spirit of love within us, and a burning desire to be with Him in prayer and meditation of His Word. It is the result of this awakening of the heart, that we are able to love even our adversaries, just as God has done; and then we are emboldened to proclaim His love and grace to all, reaping love’s harvest: overwhelming JOY!

Jesus, our Lord, stated His purpose for entering humanity’s realm:

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the LOST.” {Luke 19:10}

It is this same Greek word “Lost” (‘Apollymi’), that is translated “Destroyed” in {Luke 17:29}:

 “People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and DESTROYED them all.”

 The wicked inhabitants of Sodom were “destroyed” due to their willful lack of knowledge of The Almighty. They were "LOST" to God due to the IGNORANCE of Him, that resulted in their selfish, perverse deeds. This is the harvest of lives that are worshipping SELF, instead of God. This same spirit of "SELF-WORSHIP" is alive and well today, the fruits of which are evident in our chaotic world.

The nation Israel was given the marvelous privilege of an intimate relationship with The Almighty. God singled them out from all the other nations on earth to be a Light to the rest of the love of God. Their dismal failure to return God's love was a testament to man's depraved hearts. The prophet Hosea mourned over the nation Israel, saying: “My people are DESTROYED from lack of KNOWLEDGE.” {Hosea 4:6}

 But the same prophet implores Israel's rebels:

“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has TORN us to pieces but he will HEAL us; he has INJURED US but he will BIND UP OUR WOUNDS. After two days he will REVIVE us; on the third day he will RESTORE us, that we may live in his presence. Let us ACKNOWLEDGE the Lord; let us press on to ACKNOWLEDGE Him.” {6:1-3}

This is Love’s goal, to save the lost or destroyed among mankind, mostly through much pain and hardship. This is how God draws His creatures to Himself. We all must come to the end of our own futile efforts to deliver ourselves. Whoever lacks the love for The Almighty, which only His Spirit gives, is lost. All mankind was lost, until The Lover of mankind appeared to save ALL. Love conquers all obstacles, including mankind’s hatred or a general disinterest for God. Pure Love overcomes EVERYTHING, and will save ALL men.

 The argument presented by many goes thus: “But God will not FORCE anyone to be saved.” True!, but remember, the reason any person does not love God, and come to Him in humble faith, is due to the fact that he does not KNOW God. An ILLUMINATION will occur within every mind, of Who God is, and His Sacrifice of His Son for their rescue from darkness. Therefore, there is coming a time when ALL will know Him, and therefore ALL will love and adore Him!

Listen to the prophet Jeremiah:

 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ because THEY WILL ALL KNOW ME, from the least of them to the greatest,”  declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”   {Jer. 31:33,34}

Israel was chosen by God to be put on display, for all mankind to see the miserable failure of even a privileged group of humanity. They were a microcosm of all humanity, a test case to display the wickedness of the human heart. Although they were lovingly given special blessings from The Almighty, their foolish hearts led them to spurn God’s goodness, and in their revolt against His love, commit unspeakable evil, including idol worship, leading to prostitution, persecution of God's prophets sent to warn them of their evil, and even murder in the form of child – sacrifice to pagan idols! Yet, as we see from the above passage, God will shine His Light into their dark hearts in the coming era!

 The fact that most of humanity die never KNOWING Christ, does not mean that God is through with them. Christendom’s doctrine of “eternal damnation” only proves how little they know of Love, and of Love’s power. This evil tenet of religion supposes that the lost of humanity will remain FOREVER obstinate, proud and unrepentant, even as God subjects them to the fires of hell for eternity as a retribution for their rejection of Him!

But the scriptures declare that “Love never fails”! Once brought into the presence of PURE Love, every heart will melt before Him, and although they must pass through the fire of God’s correction, Love will rescue every last one. This was the purpose of the Cross of Calvary! Will Christ succeed or fail in His mission to “seek and save the lost”? Will we believe the scripture that plainly declares:

 “And being found in appearance as a Man,
He (Jesus) humbled Himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the Name that is above every name,
 that at the Name of Jesus EVERY knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 and EVERY tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.” {Phillip. 2:8-11}

 I believe God's promise of universal reconciliation to Himself through Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of His love, is the greatest news mankind could ever hear! This is what makes the GOSPEL of The Cross the "GOOD NEWS" that it is! It is not just good news for SOME, but for ALL! Let us enter into that KNOWLEDGE OF HIS LOVE today by faith in the accomplishment of Jesus' ONCE FOR ALL sacrifice for ALL HUMANITY! 

Yes, "KNOWLEDGE IS POWER"! Never a truer statement has been made. Our knowledge of The Omniscient One, and His grandiose Plan for His created beings, can only be understood by those that have received His Spirit through FAITH in His Son's accomplishment of The Father's Purpose at Calvary's Cross. Only then can we obtain spiritual POWER. Then we will KNOW Him.

"Because of this I also, having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and the love to all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and REVELATION in the RECOGNITION OF HIM, the eyes of your UNDERSTANDING being ENLIGHTENED, for your KNOWING what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints..." {Eph. 1:15-18 YLT}

 

 


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Being raised in a Christian home, I heard the Bible read in our family devotion after dinner each day. My heart was stirred to accept Jesus as my Lord at an early age. I have always had a thirst for spiritual truths and a greater understanding of God's future plans for His creatures. Since coming to recognize Apostle Paul's teaching concerning God's secret goal of universal reconciliation made known to The Body of Christ, I have had an unquenchable desire to make these truths known to fellow believers and those disillusioned by Christendom's false dogma of eternal torment in hell. I pray God will use me to be His instrument to reveal these long neglected truths from Paul's epistles to seekers of higher scriptural understanding..

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