Tag Archives: salvation

Finding Answers to Stuff Churches Don't Discuss, Finding the End of the World

The “A-B-C’s” of God’s Judgment

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God will judge everyone in the last days for reward or punishment. We, as followers of Jesus, are to judge the behavior of the Church – police ourselves, if you will (more on that in a future blog).

All will be judged by God at the end of our current age – even Jesus’ followers (see Romans 14:10-12 and 2Corinthians 5:10). The names of the obedient and faithful throughout time will be found in the Book of Life. For them, eternal life and unimaginable reward await. The rest (those whose names won’t appear in that Book) will be thrown into hell – the lake of fire punishment created for Satan and his fallen angels.

He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. —John 3:18.

Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. —Acts 17:30-31.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. —2Corinthians 5:10.

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. —Revelation 20:12-15.

Eternal life and reward await those who choose reconciliation with God through the Christ. All others will be judged and dealt with accordingly regardless of whether they’ve chosen to reject God or just not bothered to choose.

Life or death. Which is your choice?

 

Keep an eye out for “Finding Answers to Stuff Churches Don’t Discuss!” scheduled for a mid-2015 publication. There, you’ll find roughly 60 topics related to daily life (such as sex, religion, finances, tattooing, and everything in between!) along with practical application of God’s guidance for navigating those difficult waters!

And, for a very comprehensive and detailed study of the very important topic of God’s judgment to come and being rescued from it, feel free to read my 2011 guide titled, “Finding the End of the World” available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and from www.ronbraley.com in paper and e-book formats. In the guide, you’ll find roughly 500 pages of building blocks to help you do your own complete and unbiased study based on Scripture and history!

Finding Answers to Stuff Churches Don't Discuss

The “A-B-C’s” of Christianity

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Absolute Belief Creates action . . .

What True Christianity is NOT:

  • A self-centered culture focused on pleasing the senses through music, dress, and ear-tickling self-help messages.
  • Founded on blind faith.
  • A belief system without action.
  • Appealing to most humans in its truest form because of its narrow and difficult way shaped by discipline, self-control, and benevolence.
  • A gateway to the giant Jinni, slot machine, one-way gift-giver, or however most people look at God these days.
  • Entitlement for sinful ‘do-overs’.
  • Promises of an illness-free materially-prosperous life where we will never suffer consequences of our actions or the actions of others while we wait to go to Heaven.

What True Christianity IS:

  • Action out of faith.
  • Born of faith that comes from confidence.
  • Ever-increasing confidence gained from prayer, fellowship, discipleship, and study.
  • A system of ‘paying it forward’ whereby those who are mentored and discipled do the same while also proclaiming what God and our Christ Jesus have done for us.
  • Representative of those who have entered into a two-way marriage-like relationship with God through Jesus.
  • Potential hardship and death on earth; Reward and life later.

~ Getting There from Here ~

Belief is the first step to obtaining salvation, which is available to everyone – not just a chosen few (Mark 16:15-16 and John 3:16-18). If we believe with all our heart, then a change of heart that results in a change of behavior – repentance – must follow.

  • Repentance is absolutely necessary for being rescued from coming judgment (Acts 17:30-31)!
  • Sinful behavior keeps us from God; repentance allows us to draw near to Him (Acts 3:19).
  • True belief and repentance lead to good fruit that comes out of obedience (Acts 26:20).

We’re also told in the Gospel to be baptized by water.

  • A person is born initially of water (through the womb) but must be spiritually born as well to enter God’s kingdom (John 3:5-6).
  • Baptism has become the symbolic of the washing away of sin that Christ offered through His death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4).

Because true faith comes from the heart, a person must believe completely that Jesus died for them and then confess this belief. Faith – belief – is obtained and strengthened from experiencing the testimonies and fulfilled prophecies contained in the Word of God. They serve to ‘convince’ men of the truth and build faith (Romans 10:17 and 1 Peter 2:1-2).

To obtain and keep salvation (which, by the way, is a ‘rescuing’ from God’s wrath to come):

  • Believe in the gospel – the good news of salvation through Jesus. True belief will bring a new heart.
  • Repent by using that new heart to change sinful behavior.
  • Be baptized as an outward sign of your new faith.
  • Increase faith through continual exposure to teachings contained in the Bible.
  • Don’t practice sinful behavior – those things that are counter to God’s ways!!

While the gift of salvation is given by faith and not because of anything we can do to earn it, faith must lead to obedience and therefore production of ‘fruit’. In fact, James tells us that faith – or belief – without obedience (works) is useless (James 2:14-20). So, learn, grow, care for others, and follow God’s ways . . . and live!

 

Keep an eye out for “Finding Answers to Stuff Churches Don’t Discuss!” scheduled for a mid-2015 publication. There, you’ll find roughly 60 topics related to daily life (such as sex, religion, finances, tattooing, and everything in between!) along with practical application of God’s guidance for navigating those difficult waters!

And, for a very comprehensive and detailed study of the very important topic of God’s judgment to come and being rescued from it, feel free to read my 2011 guide titled, “Finding the End of the World” available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and from www.ronbraley.com in paper and e-book formats. In the guide, you’ll find roughly 500 pages of building blocks to help you do your own complete and unbiased study based on Scripture and history!

Finding Answers to Stuff Churches Don't Discuss, Finding the End of the World

Apocalyptic Misquotes . . . Part XII “Nothing can separate us From Jesus!”

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Misquote: “Nothing can separate us From Jesus!” This misunderstanding hinges on taking Romans 8:35-39 out of context and paves the way for dangerous doctrines. Here’s the abused reference:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? . . . neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 8:35-39.

Actually, WE can separate ourselves from the love of God (which is action – not emotion!) through disobedience and our own lack of faith-born action.

To understand and apply Paul’s intended message, we must answer these questions:

  1. “Who was Paul speaking to and in what context?”
  2. “What is the ‘love of God’?
  3. “Who are ‘we’ who can’t be separated from God’s love?”

Let’s tackle the question regarding Paul’s audience and the context of his letter to the Church in Rome first. Paul was speaking to both Jew and non-Jew (Gentile) believers, and the overarching theme of his letter was the gift of salvation and eternal life to those who choose to follow, being led by the Spirit. This theme included a reminder that nothing can keep the righteous from God’s mercy and protection. Here’s a breakdown of the first eight chapters of Paul’s letter.

Chapter One: The righteous live by faith; all others will experience God’s judgment (v.17-18).

Chapter Two: More about the judgment of the righteous, who “by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality” will attain eternal life (v.7) and the unrighteous who practice evil and will suffer God’s wrath.

Chapter Three: All – both Jews and Gentiles – have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Righteousness isn’t attained through works of the Law (note: this is a reference to the Law of Moses and NOT ammunition to claim that belief needs not result in action!).

Chapter Four: More about righteousness through faith (not works under the Law).

Chapter Five: The gift of redemption through our Christ. Also included is a reminder about what the faithful may need to endure and the growth that comes as a result: “. . . tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; . . . through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (v.3-5).

Chapter Six: God’s grace offers no leeway to continue in sinful behavior. We are to be obedient and not sinful (see “live by faith” in Chapter One; “doing good” in Chapter Two; perseverance in Chapter Five, etc.). “. . .  But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed . . .” (v.16-17).

Chapter Seven: Comparing and contrasting the law of God and the law of sin.

Chapter Eight: No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. By the way: the way ‘in’ is used implies that there’s no distinction between us and our Christ with regard to our behavior . . . “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” (v.9)  “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (v.14)

Next, we need to define the ‘love of God’ the righteous can’t be separated from. This is the action-based agape love made manifest by God’s grace through Jesus’ sacrifice. It has nothing to do with emotion and is the same kind of ‘love’ we’re told by Jesus to have for him and our God through obedience (John 13:34-35 and 14:15-31, James 2:14-26, and many others). This is the ‘fruit’ resulting from the Spirit at work in the lives of the righteous. No obedience to God and Christ’s commandments, no Spirit. No Spirit, no fruit . . .

Finally, although it should be clear now, let’s look at ‘who’ can’t be kept from God’s saving grace. As we saw in several chapters climaxing with Chapter Eight, they are the righteous – those who are led by the Spirit, live by faith, do good, persevere, and are obedient to our God and Christ. They don’t practice sin and aren’t those who only believe and yet don’t act.

In summary, these early chapters of the letter to the Romans establish a baseline of righteousness and unrighteousness and introduce the choice that can bring life. Those who choose to accept God’s gift of redemption through an ongoing covenant by being will be rescued from God’s judgment to come, and nothing can change that. Conversely, the unrighteous disobedient (including those ‘believe’ but are inactive) will experience God’s wrath. Be righteous and live!

For a very comprehensive and detailed study of the very important topic of God’s judgment to come, feel free to read my 2011 guide titled, “Finding the End of the World” available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and from www.ronbraley.com in paper and e-book formats. In the guide, you’ll find roughly 500 pages of building blocks to help you do your own complete and unbiased study based on Scripture and history!

Finding Answers to Stuff Churches Don't Discuss

It’s all About God, the Father of Spirits!

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It’s easy in our ‘Jesus culture’ of roughly the last 100 years or so to get lost in emotion and lose sight of “Why?”

The will – desire, by definition – of our God the “father of spirits” has been to reconcile with His creation from the time mankind walked away from Him in the Garden of Eden1. Covenant after covenant have been witness to this extraordinary effort by our God: first through Noah, then through Abraham and Moses, and finally through Jesus’, the promised savior.

Jesus voluntarily became our ‘one sacrifice for all’ at the request of God the Father as a way of accomplishing His desire to reconcile2. But, the ‘new covenant’3 made possible by our Jesus is still a covenant with our heavenly father.

We are to strive to be perfect like our God the Father is perfect4 as we await a heaven-bound gathering to be with Him. Our prayers are to Him, although Jesus intercedes for us. Those who enter into this final covenant do so by being obedient out of faith to God’s commandments. And we are brothers with Jesus in the sense that we will inherit the kingdom of God the Father5.

Believe in Jesus’ fulfillment of God’s promised covenant with mankind (the “Why?”) and then obey because you believe. There, you’ll find righteousness and the way to God the Father through our Messiah.

 

Scripture references:

  1. Romans 5:10-11, etc.
  2. i.e. John 6:38-40
  3. Luke 22:20; Romans 11:26-27; 2Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 13:20 -21; many others
  4. Matthew 5:48
  5. i.e. Matthew 25:34 and Revelation 21:7
Finding the End of the World

Weeds in Church?

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Satan, as the father of lies (John 8:44), has been deceiving the world since Adam and Eve occupied the Garden of Eden roughly 6,000 years ago. Those who learn from him to deceive others become children of the evil one as does anyone who becomes deceived and therefore follows attractive but unscriptural doctrine.

Deceivers take the form of spiritual weeds – tares – that come up alongside true believers in Jesus and often squeeze the life out of the body of Christ. They also come as false messiahs or false prophets. Many of these have been on earth since the time of Christ, but a special false Christ and false prophet will exist during the time of the end just before our Lord’s return and subsequent wrath of God (see my 2011 book titled “Finding the End of the World” for a comprehensive study of this important topic!).

How can we tell the tares apart from true followers? It seems that tares are made evident at the “fruit-bearing stage” when, at the same time, “the wheat sprouted and bore grain” (Matthew 13:26). This is verified by Jesus’ emphasis upon the good works that a true follower will produce in his/her life: “By their fruit you will know them” (Matthew 7:15-20). Thus, tares, as false wheat, look like wheat (even sound like wheat) but the fruit of their character will identify their true spiritual nature and parentage.

Test what you hear or see in the Church against God’s standards to avoid deception. Continual study of the Scriptures, fellowship, and discipleship will help you learn those standards and strengthen your faith. Don’t let church weeds choke the spiritual life out of you!