He wants that same Peace for us, two thousand years later. In the midst of a world full of turmoil and war and financial uncertainty and injustice and lack, in the midst of our pain and regret, where anxiety follows us and fear watches our every move, Christ brings us His peace and protection.

With His peace comes rest  – freedom from fear and it’s “yoke of bondage”. Our peace comes from knowing we are loved. Few understand the suffering and sacrifices of real love. For most, love is most often marketed in movies and media displays as lust and infatuation and first kisses.

Real love is compassion. It is kind and longs for reconciliation. It works for the restoration of “peace and good will” between two people. Real love forgives, mends, and does not keep a record of wrongs. It is not easily offended, does not try to get even and is humble. Real love dies so another can live. Real love is not jealous, hateful or insecure.

Real love does not need to boast of its greatness. Real love is not pretentious. It does not put on airs to impress or demand things of others. It is not conditional. It does not use guilt to prove a point or provoke to control another.

Real love does not seek its own, but rejoices in the good things that happen to others. It weeps with those who are sad and hurting. It laughs with those who are merry. It waits for the fulfillment of what it desires. It does not provoke another, or wish them evil. It does not meditate on evil.

Real love comes from God. It cannot fail. It will never loose heart or falter before the desired end for which it has endured all things. God’s love is real love.

My prayer for you this Christmas is that your love will not fail; that you will love your children whether they come home for Christmas or not. That you will have strength to forgive the one you are or were married to that has walked out on you and left you alone. And if life has left you alone, and you have no one, that you will reach out and find someone to love with God’s love this year.

Do not waste these brief and precious moments on the grief of what is not or what has been lost or what could have been. Look up for our redemption and reward draws near. Find someone to love, to pray for, to walk along side of, to help, to comfort, to be with. Invite someone into your world and be their friend.

For simplicity sake I will break down each statement in my response.

Dear Marjorie,
I believe as a born again believer in Christ we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, but if a born again person willfully sins continually can they ultimately grieve the Holy Spirit & God at some point could remove the Holy Spirit from them because their heart gets hardened from sin and they can no longer repent? I have thought that we must walk in the Spirit & not walk in the flesh for if we walk in the flesh we will die – so it seems even born again Christians, if they go back & remain in a state of sin, can lose their salvation, but if they repent & walk in the spirit they shall live. My thought being that we are eternally secure as we walk in the spirit. It’s hard to explain, hope you understand what I am asking. Thanks!

- “I believe as a born again believer in Christ we are sealed with the Holy Spirit,”

That is true. II Cor. 1:22 confirms that it is God “who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a deposit.” Ephesians 1:13 also says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Being sealed as a result of believing in the gospel brings with it a personal guarantee by the Holy Spirit. As long as He abides and resides and is present in us, His work goes on to complete the work of redemption begun by Christ on the cross.

Make note here that the Spirit is given as promised by Jesus in John 16:12-13 as His role as their teacher was about to change and He was to be crucified. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…”

- “but if a born again person willfully sins continually”

Sin is defined in many theological terms, with the result being defined as anything (action or behavior) that in doing, will separate us from God, ourselves or others. Sin separates. That separation causes death. That is why the bible tells us that “The soul that sins shall die.” (Ez. 18:20).

Sin comes, not from depravity, but as a result of being deceived. Eve was not depraved, but she was deceived. (Gen. 3:13). She had no concept of sin or Satan, or evil itself for that matter. Her innocence and naivety made her a prime target for the deceiver. She believed the lie told to her by the Liar, who was the Father of lies, as described by Jesus in John 8:44, and believed the lie and lost her freedom. She became enslaved by fear and condemnation. (For more see: Cravings manual)

When we believe lies, either before or after salvation, we sin. Just because we are saved does not mean we automatically stop doing sins nor does salvation make us immune to the spirit of deception or his lies. (For more see: IF I’M SAVED-Why Do I Still Sin?).

Before we can understand the role of sin or determine if it has the power to cause us to lose our salvation, however, we must understand the difference between salvation and sanctification. God does not see salvation and sanctification as the same thing. In order to “rightly divide” the Word of God, and answer the question of sin and what is too much sin in a believer’s life and can too much sin cancel out our salvation, we must separate these two issues.

The bible does not teach that our getting to heaven is based on good works, or the absence of sin. We “get to Heaven” by accepting God’s invitation to partake of Christ’s death and resurrection. We are saved simply by accepting His death and the shedding of His blood as the atonement for our sins, (Rom. 10:9-10).  Accepting His death and resurrection as the full atonement for our sin is what saves us and causes us to be “born again”.

Sanctification follows salvation, just like life follows birth. The sanctification process is a process of making us more like Jesus. It allows us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. Through faith in Him, we receive His promises, (II Pet. 1:3-4). It is through those promises that we partake of the divine nature. Jesus likened our relationship to Him as that of a vine to a branch. As we abide in the vine we cannot help but become like the vine. (Jo. 15)

It is the work of the HOLY SPIRIT to oversee our sanctification and the transformation God has intended for us. As we cooperate with HIM, the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. All too many are trying to “figure out” what is the will of God and how to stay saved by themselves. They take on the burden of keeping their own salvation by try to manage their sin through the crucifixion of their own flesh. They  end up struggling on the torture rack of ”try harder – never enough” in a futile effort to avoid condemnation and  perfect themselves.

Psalm 138:8 tells us that God will “perfect that which concerns us”. Paul committed the keeping of his salvation and the sanctification of his soul to the One Who was able to keep him until that day. (II Tim. 1:12).  In Philippians Paul again reassures his disciples, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” (Phil. 1:6).

Jesus tells us to “follow Him, and make disciples”. How that works out specifically for each believer is the job of the Holy Spirit. Too many of us are trying to “be good enough” to get to heaven even after we are saved and have confessed that it is the blood of Jesus that is our righteousness. We are still wearing ourselves out trying not to sin and keep the commandments to get to heaven even after God has proven to us that “there is none righteous, no not one”. (Rom. 3:10).

Jesus proved in His conversation with the rich young ruler, that “there is none good, but One and that is God”. And though Jesus acknowledged the young man’s effort, He went on to define more clearly the “sin” that yet remained in his life. “Then Jesus looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack; Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” (Mk.10:21).

The commandments could not identify the sins of omission as determined by Love. The covetousness of keeping his riches and relying on them kept the rich young ruler from freely following Jesus. His faith was built upon himself. He was still in control although his life looked clean.

The Bible also proves over and over that neither those whose stories are recorded there, or we, are able to keep the Law. God would not ask us to do something that He had already deemed impossible and make it the requirement for salvation. That is why Jesus came to fulfill the Law and open up the door of salvation to “whosoever will”. Salvation is given as a free gift, a gift of grace. It is not earned by merit. We do not go to Hell because we are “bad” or because we “sin”. We do not go to Heaven because we are good! We go to Heaven or are cast into Hell according to our response to the work of Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb of God sent to take away the sins of the world. Rejection of Him condemns us to Hell.

SO,

If you understand that we are not saved and sealed for heaven because of good behavior, the converse is also true. We are not lost and go to Hell because of bad behavior. The matter of salvation has NOTHING to do with sin or the absence of sin. It has everything to do with accepting the free gift of God’s grace as given in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity.

If our salvation then is not determined by sin or based on the absence of sin, the keeping of our salvation is not decided by absence or presence of sin. Our performance is not periodically reevaluated nor is our salvation status recalculated according to some final “goodness profile”. The Holy Spirit does not come and go in a believer’s life, depending on how responsive and victorious we are that day. He is here to keep Jesus Christ’s promise that He will never leave us or forsake us, no matter how intense the battle for truth rages inside of us (Heb. 13:5).

So, if getting to heaven, one of the main benefits of being “saved” or “born again” is not determined by good works in the first place, why would God make it the final requirement in the end? He would not! And if it is the Holy Spirit that is working in all who “walk in the Spirit”, as opposed to walking “in the flesh”, (Gal. 5:16), then the SANCTIFICATION of the believer is HIS JOB!

Too many of us think we have yielded to the Holy Spirit because we are now more conscious of our sin and commit ourselves to trying harder to be good and not sin. If you are still managing your own sanctification, you will be unsuccessful in completing the distinct command made by God to “rest” found in Hebrews 3:7 – 4:11. We are like the rich young ruler, still trying to control our own spiritual sanctification and development. To not let the Holy Spirit control and captain our lives is still to live in our own strength. This by far is a greater sin and more often committed than any of the ten listed in the original commandments!

Though we are in no way advocating the practice of sin,  we must understand that salvation does not make us immune to sin or keep us from being tricked by the Tempter, to sin. We will still sin, even after we are saved. The Apostle John addresses sin in the believer’s life in his first epistle.

I John 1:8-9 is written to and read by believers. John takes a look at sin and the believer and says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not is us.” Verse 10 presses the point, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” To deny our sin is to call God a liar! God does not tell us to deny our sin, but to deal with our sin by confessing it. By admitting we sinned, we admit we believed and came into an agreement with a lie. That lie brought us into bondage. Confession cancels out the agreement we made with the lie and releases us from the authority that agreement had given the Devil to enslave and control us.

In other words, believers still sin. Why? Because believers are still “deceive-able”. All sin starts with two things; having a need and  believing a lie. Getting saved does not whisk us up into heaven. And even though we are now “seated with Christ in heavenly places”, (Eph. 1:3), we are still caught in the rush hour traffic. We will still have needs and still face situations that are not exactly heavenly.

Salvation does not make us “fool-proof”, though we now have access to the Holy Spirit Who knows the truth and is present to bear witness to it. Having access to the Holy Spirit gives us an option the unsaved do not have. We can now choose to walk in the Spirit as opposed to using the old, corrupt, soul soft-ware that guides the unregenerated. The “flesh” is a word used to identify both the body, the vehicle that carries the soul, and the soul which is the operating system used by the person to determine what to do based on prior knowledge and experience. Much of that information has been programmed by the Liar and downloaded into our minds as part of the “body of death”, (Rom. 7:24) operating software from Hell. (For more see: Cravings manual)

The soul is made up of the mind, will and emotions. (For more see: Who Am I? cd) The soul has compiled and cataloged the events and experiences of our lives according to categories. Fear colors our perception of those experiences and creates an internal grid of information from which we judge current events and anticipate outcomes. We use those perceptions to make choices to act. We are using our free will to chose between the options fear has given us. We make “bad choices” not because we want to do the wrong thing, but because we were tricked into believing the lies. Because we do not realize the power fear, and the lies fear tells, has over our mind and will and emotions to control us, we are swept away into sin and separation from God and His holy, righteous plan for our lives. The strength of our faith diminishes as our feelings or thoughts run with fear. Fear’s main objective is to override our faith.  In an unbeliever’s life, the “candle of the Lord” Pr. 20:27, has not yet been lit. They have not yet been “quickened”, (KJV) or “made alive”, (NKJV) (Eph. 2:1-3). Their spirit is yet unresponsive to the Holy Spirit.  They have no other choice but to sin, though their deeds may appear more righteous than those of the saved. If “whatsoever is not of faith is sin”, (Rom. 14:23),becomes God’s standard definition of sin, then there are none who have not sinned, even after they have become believers. It is a very good thing our salvation is not based on or kept by our sinless conduct.

- “can they ultimately grieve the Holy Spirit & God at some point could remove the Holy Spirit from them because their heart gets hardened from sin and they can no longer repent?”

Repentance means to “change your mind”.  It is the job of the Holy Spirit to lead us to the truth which then gives us the opportunity to “change our minds” about some of the things we have believed, i.e., the lies, that are not true according to what God says. Every time we “see or hear or understand” that what we have believed and acted upon is not the truth, we are being led by the Holy Spirit to change and conform to the truth. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Rom.12:1).

The Enemy resists that transformation in tempting us to not make the decision to change or worse still, forcibly resist the changes we desire to make for God. (See Rom. 7: 16-24). Distractions, old mindsets, fears, other people’s opinions, confusion about God or who I am, are just a few of the many things the Devil uses to hinder our conversion, which is different that our salvation. Peter was already a chosen disciple who did miracles in the name of Jesus when Christ told him to “strengthen his brethren after his conversion.”  (Lu. 22:32). (For more see: Untangling The Lies Of The Enemy)

- “I have thought that we must walk in the Spirit & not walk in the flesh for if we walk in the flesh we will  die”

To walk in the flesh means we continue to believe the lies of our old nature and practice doing the works of the flesh, (Gal. 5:19).  “Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal. 5:22). This means there is a place where God must judge sin. There is, however, also a promise, that even “if my heart condemns me, God is greater than my heart and knows all things.” (I Jo. 3:20-21). The final determination of my heart is made by God. I am not able to rightly know or judge my own self and Paul so clearly points out in I Corinthians 4:3-4. “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this, but He who judges me is the Lord.”

We are not called to define the edge of the cliff or those who walk too closely to it. The truth and justice of the fine line between life and death is determined, by the ignorance of those who frequent it and second, by the unbiased power of the cliff itself to destroy those who casually disregard it’s dangers. Those who get too near, even once belong to destruction.

From these passages we see the intensity of the “war” that goes on in a believer’s soul; mind, will and emotions. If Jesus makes a promise, which He did when He said, “I will never leave you or forsake you”, “I will not leave you orphans”, (Heb. 13:5) and (Jo. 14:18), then He is obligated to keep it.

-”so it seems even born again Christians, if they go back & remain in a state of sin, can lose their salvation, but if they repent & walk in the spirit they shall live. My thought being that we are eternally secure as we walk in the spirit.”

Judas’ heart was overcome with grief and the fear that his sin was unforgiveable. His desperation drove him to take an untimely death and commit suicide. We often see that scripture used to warn believers that they could suffer a similar fate. But before we conclude that this is an appropriate application of this example, let us listen on Jesus talking to the Father in the presence of his disciples, (Jo. 17:12). He said, “Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Judas was definitely “lost” as one of the twelve in the final list of apostles. He no longer operated in the office of an apostle. But because he lost his place, was he condemned to Hell, this “son of destruction”?  The fate of Judas’s soul is hardly one we could conclude without presumption. His judgment is not ours to make. (Rom.14:4). To conclude he went to Hell or apply our understanding of what happened to Judas to today’s believers who have been given the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth, may be just as presumptuous. Many, however, would use Judas’ assumed fate to intimidate others to “behave”, and keep the rules and not sin too much, lest they also be lost.

If getting to heaven is not accomplished by good works, but by the working of the Holy Spirit in us, and we are called to follow Christ out of love and not fear, why would we even wonder how close to the edge of the cliff we could run and play before we slip over the edge? Salvation is determined, not by degrees, but by a definite set of criteria. You are either saved or you are lost. We cannot be “sort of saved” anymore than we can be “sort of pregnant” or “sort of catch the bus”. You either catch the bus or you miss the bus. Those are the only two options for any given moment, though you can take the measures necessary to catch the bus next time, even if you have never done so before.

A salvation based in fear of going to Hell has no power to keep us from  sinning. A salvation based in works has no power to comfort us or keep us from fear. A salvation based on works is not one based on grace. (Rom. 11:6). A salvation not based in grace continually examines our works and puts the burden of proof of worthiness back on us. It cancels out the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross and redefines God the hall monitor of Heaven. It makes man’s behavior the criterion for entry. It erases the one and only thing that God desired in creating creation in the first place; a family. “We love Him because He first loved us”. (I Jo. 4:19). That love has no condition other than that required by His Justice, which was fully met by His Mercy. Justice says that the soul that sins and is cut off will die, but His Mercy says that whosoever will, can come to Him and receive pardon and forgiveness because of the generous provision He made by His Grace in making full payment for the sins of the whole world. The only contingency that remains is “whosoever will”.

To say that we can lose our salvation one must disregard the words of Jesus Himself where He says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My  Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” (Jo. 10:27-29).If we are kept eternally secure by the Good Shepherd, whom shall we fear? Our salvation is kept by Him.

Sins of commission and its counterpart, those of omission and lack of faith, determines rewards or the lack thereof, not salvation. Sin determines fruitfulness, ” But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop; some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (Mt. 13:8).

The only acceptable motive in approaching God is love. It is His love for us that causes us to get up when we fall, and keep going when we fail, and  continue “practicing righteousness”,  when we hit a sour note. (I Jo. 3: 7).  And just as absolutely as John declares in I John 1:8 & 9, that we will sin, he just as astonishingly declares in I John 3:9 that “whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him and he cannot sin, because he had been born of God.”

Is this a contradiction or a sacred mystery? Or is it neither. Are we only invited by John to see sin from two different and distinct perspectives, ours in 1:8 & 9 and God’s in 3:9. God has told us He has forgiven us and cannot see our sin, past, present, or future, through the Blood of His Son.  The only one that sees our sin is the one who authored it! That is the Devil, who then comes to use it as evidence to bring us into the place of condemnation, as far from the place of our Father’s love as he can find.

-”My thought being that we are eternally secure as we walk in the spirit. It’s hard to explain, hope you understand what I am asking.”

You have asked a good question, but as you can see from the length of this answer, not a simple one. Paul wrote about his fear for the Corinthians when he said, “But I fear, lest  somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (II Cor. 11:3). The Enemy would have us worry and fret and take on the position of the captain of our own salvation or wonder if the Judge of all the earth will be Just. If we follow Him out of love and obey the Holy Spirit as He teaches us out of the Word of God, we can rest that “It is well with my soul”.

- “Thanks”

You are welcome!

Marjorie Cole  – Founder of Life Recovery, Inc. a counseling and discipleship ministry
For more information and a full line of teaching tools go to www.liferecovery.com or call us at 763-785-4234

Love, justice, happiness, being good, getting rid of my sin and the presence of God are all near the top of the list of things desired by believers. (Even unsaved people want these things. Go figure? Maybe we were not created as depraved as we were taught to believe, after all!) These are the same things that top the Devil’s list of most useful and effective tricks in deceiving the people of God into believing the lie. He baits the hook with a counterfeit and gets us to bit into the lie, using the hook of destruction to bring us into bondage.

And what sweet success the Enemy has had in substituting feelings and the desire to experience the presence of God for the infallibility of the Word and faith in His faithfulness. Spiritual absolutes are considered old-fashioned and out-dated. This modern generation requires a sign, which, according to Jesus, identifies them as wicked. “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” (Mt. 12:39). “For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Mt. 24:24).

Christ calls those who seek a sign “wicked”. They are unwilling to receive the Word of God or take the Testimony of Christ Himself at face value. They need additional proof, gems falling from heaven, feathers floating in their meetings, signs and wonders dished up by who? –  God? Who considers the  need for signs and wonders to be the mark of wickedness? Or the Devil, who delights in the opportunity to deceive us with these special signs and wonders. Served up by the dimi-gods from Hell, whose only agenda is to separate us from our Father, these supernatural signs and wonders are used to create doubt and bind those who seek them with even more deception.

The Devil, whose glory is proclaimed through all the Halloween festivities success rate in capturing the hearts and souls of naive and unsuspecting believers is phenomenal. All of which in not surprising. The rise in sign seekers, as well as signs sought is actually a sign in itself, of the end of the age and the Second coming of Christ.

But what is the point of needing a sign or the manifestation of the supernatural if I already believe in the Word of God? Do I need more proof that He is Who He says He is, or more confirmation that He keeps His Word?

One of the wonders of the last days would be wondering whose really who and who is just impersonating the Spirit of God. The cross-pollination of the church with the world has succeeded in the crafting of a look-a-like lie for every truth God has. There will be false prophets, antichirsts, false miracles, psychic healings, counterfeit signs, and angel of light floating in and out of everywhere to convince Believers to believe…not in the true, holy, pure and majestic word of God, but in the Self and its infatuation with itself. Magic and mirages and mystical encounters satisfy the hunger and curb the appetite for the supernatural in the natural man.

But what is wrong with wanting “more of God?”  Who can find fault with one who would want more of God or His justice or His presence? Who would suspect anything so “praiseworthy” as experiencing more fully, the presence of God, to be a trick or a trap? Ask the Serpent who used Eve’s very desire for God to beguile her into sinning against God. Ask Eve, who saw the forbidden tree as “desirable to make one wise”, (Gen. 3:6). Ask Saul, who chose to give God more than what He wanted in saving back the Amalekite’s sheep to sacrifice as an offering to God. (I Sam. 15:9-11).

Ask those who burned the spell books out of which they practiced “magic” to renounce the hidden works of darkness what it took to be free. It takes cutting ties of having a fascination with the supernatural. It takes setting your face like a flint, like the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace saying, and declaring, whether He delivers us or not, we will not bow down to the worship the gods of the heathens.

It means taking a step or two back from searching for what seems good or feels good, to stand or sit or sing in prison, like Paul and Silas, no matter what it seems like or how you feel. It means doing what is right and truth-worthy thing no matter what you’ve experienced or how you were wronged or what other people will think.

It means dying to the expectations of the soul and letting the Holy Spirit captain your life. It means being skillful in the knowledge of the Word and rightly dividing it in every situation. The banker does not train the tellers to recognize the counterfeit, but to know the real. Study the real Word of God and see how closely the version of the gospel you are looking at lines up with the true Gospel. Paul said if anyone, even he himself, came preaching any other gospel than the One he had given them, “let him be accursed”. (Gal. 1:8).  The Word of God is the real and the standard with which all other words or signs or gospels are to be judged, not our interpretation or personal preference of that Word.

Look into the Word of God  as you would look into the mirror and let it show you the truth. That truth will register in and with your spirit as the “Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are Children of God.”  (Rom.8:16). “…let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith…” (Heb. 12:1-2).

And finally, let us be resolved “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 by which they lie in wait to deceive, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ- (Eph. 4:14-15).

The first order of business is to REPENT. We must admit we have used, abused and misused the testimony of Jesus Christ and His Gospel to sell everything from investment opportunities to cemetery plots. We have turned the body of Christ into a business corporation. We have submitted the cause of Christ to voting bodies and church boards and subjugated the Kingdom of God and the will of God to the well-intentioned promotion of too many of our own good ideas.

We have substituted fads and programs for passionate pleading in prayer, and rewarded ourselves for a job “well done” that was not even the right one, much less, done right. Jesus’ simple command to “follow Me and make disciples” has fallen by the wayside, discarded in favor of organizational structure and behavior modification borrowed from the world and brought into the church by well-meaning leaders under the guise of pastoral care.

Nothing of the world, no matter how repackaged by the church, will ever become God’s substitute for love and compassion.

God’s ways are not our ways. Dressing up our ways in the pious rhetoric of theology and religion in what we have come to identify as the “church”,are so far removed from God’s original intention that even the unchurched can see it. And what has become of the simplicity of the Gospel Paul talks about in II Cor. 11:2-3?

There is very little that we tout as holy that even slightly resembles the opening acts of the first church. There is very little of what God requires that we even honor as mentionable suggestions.

The Gospel has evolved into liturgy, and vestments, and rituals, and sacraments and discussion groups very much like any other activity endorsed by the world. It has emerged looking nothing like anything Jesus or Paul or any of the New Testament writers outlined for us.

Our new gospel is laced with options and, as Jesus described,  “burdens too grivious to be born”.  This counterfeit Christianity substitutes social justice and doing good for Repentance and the Blood of Jesus Christ. It uses words like “peace” and “love to promote a tolerance of sin that elevates ethnicity and social acceptance to a place above the Truth as defined in and by Jesus Christ.

It colors the gospel green and yellow and pink, when the only color it comes in is red. The gospel most of us are following today bears no likeness to that preached by Jesus in the Beatitudes. It rejects the heart and the hand of the One Who healed and delivered and preached the Good News of the Kingdom that “whosoever will”, could be saved!!

We may not notice any extreme consequences for all this error right now, but nothing that rules here and now, including the lie, will prevail or protect us on the day of reckoning. Please consider for yourself, the seriousness of our present condition. May God grant us Repentance and a quick and deep change of heart.

Our utter desensitization to the pain and bloodshed ought to be the most SHOCKING thing of all! Our hearts have become hardened. Our minds have chosen to ignore the critical needs all around us, as evidenced by our indifference to do anything about it. But before I blame you, I would invite you to blame me, because we, like many “called to the Kingdom for such a time as this”, have not provided you with the leadership and direction you have needed to get involved.

“Without a vision, the people perish”. How could anything be seen to be more true!! More than ever, we need to know and follow the strategy God is laying out before us. This strategy for human salvation and discipleship is not one of our own making. Therefore, we do not need to explain, or apologize for it. We do not need to convince or beg. We do not need to “sell” you on the idea. If it is of God, those of you who know God will recognize it as being from the Holy Spirit, and not just another good idea.

Our problem is that none of us seem to reverence or fear God enough to do what He commands, whether it is to feed on His Word or follow Him in our daily walk. The Good News is that this can change! This is great news. We can finish well and not be afraid to appear before God someday. We can look forward to “seeing Him face to face” and hear Him say, “well done, good and faithful servant”.

Some are talking about the annihilation of the earth while others are still touting belief in a return to the old American dream; the pursuit of (personal) happiness and success. Which will it be, survival or success?  And are either of these really what life is all about?

When was it ever true that you can have anything you want if you just work hard enough or believe in yourself, or want it bad enough? Does anybody out there notice how that is not what’s really happening? The “good old days” have gone by the boards, cast out along with honoring the One True God, morality and loving our country.

I would not look for any of it to return until we RETURN to The God of Heaven and Earth, and seek to do things according to His Word. To avoid unnecessary pain and useless arguments and get swallowed up in the daily talk-show babble, consider this; We are in a time of war, not peace. We are in a time of intense spiritual battle. This is not a time for retreat, but a time for resolve and personal sacrifice. This is a time to focus and follow the direction of the Holy Spirit as if our lives depended on it, because they do!!

The bottom line is sincere and absolute repentance. We need the Revelation of Jesus Christ to understand the urgency of that Repentance, noting that the first public sermon Jesus Christ made when He walked among us and surveyed the damage and human carnage left by sin was “ Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand”, (Matt. 4:17).

Few of His followers today could argue about the urgency and nearness of the  being closer to coming than when He first spoke it. But the danger is that we have heard of talk of His coming for so long that it is like it will not ever come really, and therefore has no weight in our daily decisions or life directions.

But even if it would be yet 300 years away, all of us reading this will see the kingdom of heaven come before then and will give an account of our lives as lived on this earth, to the ONE who made us. That account will tally up what we have done with our lives, our time, our energy, our talents and our money.

Actually, Jesus said He was coming in a day when we did not think He would. It will be an ordinary day. So, let us not worry about when it is. If you are ready, (suitcases will not fly), there is no way you can miss the bus. So get busy doing the Lord’s business till He comes back.

As far as yesterday being the “end of the world” or the end of the world system, the Bible indicates that the wrap up of earth and its inhabitants is a process that will happen in stages.

Evil men and seducers will wax (grow) worse and worse, getting more violent and fierce against God and His people. There will also be a great falling away among believers. (Both of these are in full swing right now).

Churches and church leaders believed to be Christians, will pursue doctrines and agendas of their own, under the guise of social justice, unity, ecumenism, and PEACE that are not from God. The primary color of that gospel is green and not red. It calls for the preservation of earth and the preparation of earth for the return of the King. Do not be fooled. 

These are pretexts for setting up a religious order climaxing in enthroning of the anti-christ, who will come to “save”the world from itself. (Of course, his workings are after the lawless one who is also about to be revealed, but not until the Restrainer, the Holy Spirit, is taken out-of-the-way, (See II Thess. 2: 7 ff).

The Gospel of God is a gospel of grace and forgiveness. God is a God of mercy, but He will not be bribed or mocked.

What a man does will be required of him. Rewriting the gospel, adding and subtracting from it, is not okay with Him. One of the most important things you could do for yourself and your family in these “last days” is READ YOUR BIBLE for yourself.

Read a real and correct version. I’m not being nit-picky, but some of the newer ones do not give an accurate interpretation of the true gospel and if you do not know the real, how will you ever spot the counterfeit?

There are also counterfeit Christians and counterfeit clergy, people who are not servants of the Most High God. These are treacherous days. Only the Word of God as He gave it and intended it to be made known, is able to free us. The Holy Spirit was sent to lead us into all truth, and keep that truth, in the midst of an onslaught of demonic confusion.

A few more stages in the ending of earth will include Israel being fooled or intimidated into making a treaty of peace with the antichrist. This little deal will start the clock ticking on the last Seven Years, also known as the Tribulation. Half way through the Tribulation, they will realize they have been set up when they see the “abomination of desolation” (the antichrist offering a wrong sacrifice) in the temple.

At that point all Hell will break out and they will start getting converted in mass to Jesus Christ. Two witness will pop up in Israel and at least 144,000 will get saved and begin to preach to the rest. They will do this for 2 years and be killed. They will stay dead for 3 days and all the world will party, (even send presents to one another they will be so happy). But these 2 were left laying where they had been killed, so they came back to life and were resurrected.

Meantime, in heaven, the wedding is going on and those of us who made the first resurrection, (the raptured) will become the “Bride of Christ”.  After the feast, we will mount horses and Jesus will Ride his white horse back to earth in time to intervene in the Battle of Armageddon to turn the tide and give Israel the victory.

The forces of darkness, including the Beast, the anti-christ and Satan will be chained up for 1000 years. Jesus Christ will set up His government in Jerusalem and rule there. Those who did not make the Rapture, but refused the Mark of the Beast will rejoin the rest of the resurrected and rule with Christ.

At the end of the 1000 years, (people are still being born, and those alive will live longer), the Devil will again be unchained for a season, and get to tempt those who have not ever met him. WOW! What an ending. Can you believe he will still be able to find some “takers” who will again come up against the Lord of Hosts. Only this time Jesus will slay them with the breath of His Mouth and throw the Devil and his gang into the bottomless pit. Never to be heard from again. THEN, Jesus will roll up the old heavens and earth and recreate a new one where we will all live happily ever forever after!!!

THIS IS THE VERY SHORT VERSION OF THE END. Read it for yourself in the King James, New King James, or Amplified Bibles. There may be some other okay versions, but I’m not willing to guess as which ones they are.

How many times have we heard the alarms of the Bible sounded without there being any apparent danger? Life in our part of the pasture was fine, or at least manageable. We were busy getting ready for something or trying to recover from it or rewarding ourselves for being so good or clever or successful or pulling ourselves out of some bad mood or relationship dysfunction.  

We have frittered away our lives on most of what does not matter, at least, in light of eternity. God calls those activities wood, hay and stubble. (I Cor. 2:12-15). ( They will not withstand the fiery trial or the examination of the truth.  And there will be NO EXCUSES!!!

But the alarm, though sounded very clearly over 2000 years ago by Jesus Christ and some of His most prophetic disciples, rings as true and current today, as it did on the first day it was given. If you are hearing the sound of God’s warning, in the natural disasters, the political events, the budding of the fig tree, (Israel), and the hardening of the hearts, you know we have come into perilous times. (II Tim. 3:1-7).

“Evil men and seducers (imposters ), NKJV, will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” ( II Tim. 3:13).  Your first response might well be one of deep sadness or fear. Personally, I live in a mixture of joy and urgency over what has happened to us under the rule of fear.

Fear of rocking the proverbial boat, fear of what people might say or think, as if there is any lasting value or permanence in anything mankind does or thinks, becomes our guide to christianity. We are afraid to step up to the plate, step out, be seen, speak up, or  get shot down.

The only thing that is certain is that for which we cannot take a stand is evidently not worth dying for either. I would wonder if, for some of us, that might include our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, His Word, and the eternal life He died to give us.

I am saddened to see how even the most straight forward passages of the Word of God have been so twisted as to endorse the very sin God hates (Rom. 1:20-32) and  we have been so silent to defend it. (I want you to notice, that the war against all that is holy is so vicious that if we would even mention or name any specific “sin” or “behavior that God would disapprove of”, we would be in jeopardy of being publicly shamed and held in reproach and called haters or bible-bangers.)

The time is upon us when all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. All of us who espouse the love of God and loyalty to another kingdom, a kingdom not of this world, are the designated enemy of this world. All those so  identified as ”enemies of the state”, will be dealt with more harshly than  with a mere slime-ing of the biased media  or a political betrayal with slap on the hand. And although persecution is not new to the followers of Jesus Christ, it is time to step across the line fear has drawn in the sand of your life to intimidate you and say, ENOUGH!

How has it come to this? That God would call the righteous to take a stand against evil? How could He ask us to leave our “nice, safe little niches” to sound the alarm? Jesus’ opening statement in beginning His public ministry was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 4:17).

Actually, “Repentance” is the perfect place to start, or to start over. Repentance means change your mind. The truth is worth dying for if it is God’s truth. Any other opinion under any other name or endorsed by any other system is not God’s truth but the counterfeit. The counterfeit of truth is better knows as the Lie. Satan is the author and originator of all lies, and is the power behind those of us who tell or believe them.

It is pretty simple. There are only 2 kingdoms, and they are at war. We cannot serve God and mammon. (Matt. 6:24). “No one  can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

This was His declaration of war. Did He not say, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” (Matt. 10: 34).  He goes on to say, “and he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matt. 10:38-39).

I wonder if Jesus would be treated any differently on earth today as He was the first time He came? For all the talk we hear, even among ourselves about revival, we are not interested enough in revival to repent, or to make the personal sacrifices called for in the procuring of either.

There’s a little saying that says, “when nothing changes, nothing changes.” The truth is doing nothing changes everything, - usually,  for the worse. All of us will have to give an account of those things we did and did not do. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” ( II Cor. 5:10)

How many more times will we dismiss God’s warnings about Hell and cast off God’s Word as merely Him crying “wolf, wolf”?  How much longer will we delay in our obedience?  How many more times will we reject the truth about the danger of rejecting Him or His return because it has not happened yet? What will it take for YOU and ME to take a stand?

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?

What has He called you to do?

Read your Bible? Live a god-fearing, holy life? Love your wife? Honor your husband? Train up your children is righteousness? Speak up to defend the truth? Repent?  Turn away from evil, including the indulgences of the appetites?

Allow God to search your heart and deliver you from lies that the enemy has used to control you? Turn away from those things that erode and contaminate your faith? Love one another? Stop participating in things God warns against, those little sins and white lies? Take a stand with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? Turn your eyes away from the  perverted images, games, show, and movies?

Contact your congressman? Blog? Vote? Pray? Forgive? Put your financial house in order? Speak kindly to your kids? Teach them the truth about Jesus Christ and His salvation? Help the downtrodden? Participate in the war against evil? Give of your money to support those called to devote their lives full-time to the cause of Christ? Support and pray for the other people of God, the Remnant of believers?Pass this blog on to your friends?

Check out our website for more information and ideas, training materials and support.

In Him,

Maranatha, Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Marjorie Cole

Is the problem one of confusion, condemnation or fear? Do we let fear rule where the love of God would feed?? When will the time be convenient for us to heed the warnings? An alarm never go off at a convenient time!!!

“Times” in the Bible often speak of years and “seasons”, would denote the time in the year. We all have our opinions about where we are at on the timeline of Judgment and none of them are sacred or necessarily right.

The most important thing to know about the Rapture is that the Bible gives strong evidence that there will be one, (See I Cor. 15:51-52) and (I Thess. 4:13-18). Both speak of the “shout” and “the trump of God”, (sound of the trumpet) that will signal the resurrection of the righteous dead and the righteous who are still living to join the Lord in the air, being “caught up together with them, (the dead) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

It is the grand snatching away that Paul connects with the reveling of the Antichrist in II Thess. 2:7-12.

It says: “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out-of-the-way. And THEN the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the  working of Satan,with all power and signs , and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. “

According to this, the Restrainer would be none other than the Holy Spirit Who indwells the followers of Jesus Christ. When He is called back to Heaven, all Hell will break out on earth. (You think it is bad now!) Upon the removal of the Holy Spirit from the affairs of men, there will be no stopping the forces of evil.

Those who followed and believed in Jesus Christ, as vessels that carry the Light, will be taken with Him. Jesus said,”You are the light of the world.” (Matt. 5:14). I doubt that He would leave us behind if He is allowing the world to be plunged into darkness.  There must therefore, be a sudden shift in the minds of men and the status quo of the daily affairs of earth. The Rapture will be the catalyst for the end days events described graphically in the Gospels.

Our absence will send the world into economic chaos greater than the collapse of the Twin Towers. Tax payers, good upstanding citizens, taxi cab drivers, teachers, corporate executives, and children, people from every walk of life, will be gone “in the twinkling of an eye”, leaving emergencies everywhere.

World resources to stop the bleed will create perfect conditions for the Enemy to send forth his designated savior, the Anti-christ. (Do not be fooled by rhetoric, not everyone who says they are a christian is a follower of Christ.) The Bible distinctly says that “the Lord Knows those who are His” (II Tim. 2:19), so there will be no confusion or mistaken identity about who is left behind or unfair treatment for any one of us.

God’s decision will be based upon our decision to love and trust Him and follow His Word. I would suggest, if not strongly beg you to consider your allegiance with the Word of God and choose to submit to His provision for your forgiveness and eternal salvation before it is too late and you are left behind.

Those left behind will be forced to take the Mark of the Beast before they will be permitted to buy or sell anything, (no more trips to the grocery store). If they refuse the Mark they will be beheaded for their resistance. There is a happy ending for those left behind, however, as indicated in Revelation 20:4, “I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

All events, end days signs and Biblical information, including the technology to broadcast that information simultaneously around the world is in place. Though the Rapture is happening and its occurrence is eminent, (eminent means that there is nothing more scripturally that needs to happen before the Rapture can), except one thing. Are you ready to go?

The Rapture is not for everyone. Many will be left behind. Some despise God and would not want to be forcibly snatched away from their lives in this world to join Him at the Marriage Supper of His Son. Others have been riding the fence to see who is going to win this thing. Both will be left behind. Those who see what has happened and decide to join Christ will have to cast their vote with their head. (See Rev. 20.4).

We are definitely in perilous times. That is without dispute, unless you are kin to the ostrich. The shot has been fired that was heard round the world, only those who heed the warning seem to be a select few. But then, did not our Lord not say,”he who has ears to hear, let him hear” because ” many are called, but few are chosen.”? (Matt. 20:16). Why? Because few chose to heed the call and R.S.V.P. to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Ro.10:9-10)