I am furthermore constrained by the Spirit of the Almighty God to declare at this junction the following.
Many, very many believers and their leaders believe, teach and preach that when a believer dies he goes straight to the Presence of the Lord. He “went to Heaven” or “he went to the Glory”, they say. REALLY? On what basis are we to believe such things? Just by reading 2Cor. 5:6-8? Are we willing to consider other facts from the Bible? Are we willing to admit that 2Cor. 5:6-8 may not apply to every believer? It may not apply even to some preachers who preach it. The Word in 2Cor. 5:7,9 may already exclude “half of the Church”! They were saved by faith, but they may not walk by faith and labour to be accepted by Him after their Redemption. “Old man”, old soul, uncrucified old nature does not and cannot walk by faith! True?
Paul is giving us a frightening example of this fact declaring that some believers did not hold their faith in a good conscience and had made a shipwreck, and two of them Paul personally “delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” (1Tim. 1:19,20) To deliver a believer to Satan would today be considered a highly unchristian-like, unloving and ungraceful act! True? Hello? Do you register also this Word of God and His Spirit in such judgments?
Let us go further and allow the Spirit of Our Lord to enable us to see this enlarged picture of the true spiritual reality.
After the Lord was resurrected, “…many bodies of the saints which slept (were dead) arose and came out of the graves…” (Mt. 27:52,53a) True? Yes, true – BUT NOT ALL SAINTS! “Many bodies” could have been a tiny fraction of all the dead saints from the Old Testament. And I believe that those that were resurrected were the Overcomers from the Old Testament, but not the rest of the Lord’s people. I might call them the “firstfruits of the future firstfruits”. (Rom. 16:5// 1Cor. 15:20,23; 16:15// Rev. 14:4)
Furthermore, the “many” in Mt. 27:52 is the same as “many” in Mt. 8:11. That means, that the children of the Kingdom in Mt. 8:12 will be cast out into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth! Is THAT the Presence of the Lord? Is THAT the “Glory”?
Furthermore, all those Lord’s people, which were bidden to the Marriage of His Son in Mt. 22:1-14 were NOT WORTHY TO ENTER IN! The Lord does not speak to pagans. Pagans are never invited to the Marriage Supper of the Son of God! Only the born-again Christians are invited and THEY THEMSELVES DO NOT WANT TO GO IN! Where, do you think, they go? They are bound hand-and-foot and cast out into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. They all are represented by the guest who had not on a wedding garment! For “many” are called but few are chosen. (Mt. 22:11-14) So, again, where do those “many” go? To the Presence of the Lord? REALLY?
Furthermore, all the foolish virgins were shut out from the Marriage of the Son of God because the Lord did not know them. (Mt. 25:10-12) Where, do you think, the foolish virgins go? Do they go “to the Presence of the Lord” when they were shut out from the Presence of the Lord? Are there foolish virgins in your congregations or fellowships? They are those that have “no oil in their vessels”, which means “no work and no fruit of the Spirit of God in their souls.” Many of them may have already died. Did they truly go to the Presence of the Lord? On what Scriptural basis would many of you believe and even preach or propagate such a theory?
Furthermore, where do all the unprofitable servants of the Lord go, when they are also cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? (Mt. 25:26-30) Do they also go “to the Glory?”
EVERY BELIEVER RECEIVED AT LEAST ONE “TALENT” FROM THE LORD AND EVERY BELIEVER IS, IN FACT, THE LORD’S SERVANT! True? Well… where do we stand in this Light?
In all the above passages of the Bible, the Lord is not speaking about pagans but about His own people, children, virgins, servants, saints. Why are then many pastors, teachers, preachers and other ministers deceiving “many” in their congregations and lying to them about their destiny after they depart from this world? How do they know, which saint is going to be with the Lord and which one will not? Which ones will go to outer darkness? Are all saints in their congregations “dying daily” as Paul was? (1Cor. 15:31) Do they all suffer losses of all things and do count them but dung, that they may win Christ? (Phil. 3:8) For Paul “to live was Christ and to die was gain”. (Phil. 1:21) Is it the same for all your congregations? Are they all Overcomers? They may all “look saintly”, but many of them may be judged as unworthy of the Lord! (Mt. 10:37-39) True? What do you believe, where do such believers truly go?
The Lord demands that all such ministers REPENT TO HIM AND START TEACHING AND PREACHING THE TRUTH WARNING BELIEVERS IN THEIR CONGREGATIONS OR FELLOWSHIPS AND DECLARING TO THEM THE ABOVE TRUTH! The Lord sees such ministers as those blind leaders of the blind that shall both fall into the ditch. (Mt. 15:14)
One more spiritual fact is desirable to be mentioned at this junction that also sheds light on the above matter. The two thieves crucified with Jesus (Mt. 27:38) represented:
(a) all pagans (the thief on His left hand side), and
(b) all believers (the thief on His right hand side).
After they died, THEY BOTH WENT TO HELL! The thief on His left went to the compartment for the condemned, and the thief on His right went to the compartment for the righteous. There is a gulf fixed between these two compartments, which no man can cross. The compartment for the righteous is called “Abraham’s bosom” (Lk. 16:22-26) and also Paradise (Lk. 23:43), especially when compared to the other compartment of torment. The thief that “called on the Lord” (Acts 2:21// Rom. 10:13) came with Him into Paradise according to the promise of the Lord. (Lk. 23:39-43) But this PARADISE IS NOT HEAVEN where the Lord ascended and has been for almost 2000 years!
After three days, the Lord left this Paradise, Abraham’s bosom, returned to the earth and then after some days was taken up to Heaven. (Acts 1:9) In my faith, the Overcomers from the Old Testament rose up from the dead after Him (Mt. 27:52,53) and were caught up from this First Paradise in hell, or Abraham’s bosom, into the THIRD HEAVEN which is the SECOND PARADISE, and is also the “heavenly place IN Christ Jesus”. (2Cor. 12:2-5// Eph. 2:6)
In my belief, here are also caught up all those that die as Overcomers, that are IN Christ and are ready for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb where they wait for the right time. I also believe that Apostle Paul was caught up here – “to be with the Lord” – represented by the Tree of Life in that place. (2Cor. 5:6-8// Rev. 2:7) Heaven is still polluted with the presence of Satan and his evil angels! (see more later)
All believers NON-OVERCOMERS go to the first Paradise, to Abraham’s bosom, to the compartment in hell for the righteous, to wait for the rapture of the Church at the last, seventh trumpet. (1Cor. 15:52) The Lord is not bodily present in this Paradise after He left it being there three days and three nights. So, when believers, who refused to overcome, die, they are NOT with the Lord more than they were on the earth, and THEY ARE NOT GOING TO ANY GLORY! These believers have been disobedient in the same way as were those at the time of Noah. (Mt. 24:37) And as only a small remnant (8 souls) were saved from the Flood, so also a small remnant (from the Church) will be saved from the Tribulation. (1Pet. 3:18-20// Mt. 24:40,41,50,51// Rev. 3:10)
The fact that Our Lord went to hell (prison) to preach to those who were disobedient at the time of Noah PROVES THAT HE GIVES THE DISOBEDIENT ANOTHER CHANCE AND HOPE TO OVERCOME AND BECOME OBEDIENT! (1Pet. 3:18-20; 4:6) The Lord would never preach to anyone, if His Words could not benefit or give hope in any way. (Is. 55:11) The same will happen now to those who will be found disobedient at the Coming of the Son of man. (Mt. 24:37-44) Whosoever has a heart to understand, let him understand.
There is yet much more to be said and discussed, but we have to cut this topic short as it is too large for this book.
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Let us go back to seeking the Lord…
If you were never seeking the Lord, what is it that is hindering you, standing in your way, restraining you from starting to seek Him right now? Let me put it bluntly to you: SATAN IS!
As I said before, Satan has evil wisdom, he knows that the Lord is the only Person, only Power, only Guide, Who can bring you through hell and death and into Life Eternal, Life that never ends. If, therefore, Satan can keep you away from the Person of the Lord, then…
SATAN HAS THE CHANCE TO SUCCEED IN KEEPING YOU IN DEATH INDEFINITELY!… PONDER THIS FACT IN YOUR HEART.
Would you like Satan to retain this chance over your life? Or will you DECIDE TO CARE FOR YOUR LIFE ETERNAL? It is your decision, not God’s and not Satan’s, but yours! And I encourage you to first believe it and then take it – in the NAME OF THE LORD – to be assured of your Eternal Life for yourself and your family. Do not trust even in your present religious life, what you know, what you do, what you hope for your future. You can only trust in the ASSURANCE that the LORD gives as a testimony into your own spirit and heart – your open heart, not your head. So, kneel down and ask Him to lead you to His Life. He will. I know it.
n) Let me now share with you my faith as well as my experiences concerning the truly mysterious question of “being IN Christ” and “NOT being IN Christ”.
Since my spiritual childhood, I was taught that “we are INChrist” and are thus new creatures because we believed and are born-again by His Spirit. There are many passages in the New Testament where it is written “IN Christ Jesus” in connection with believers. Also, it was God, Who put us into Christ Jesus (1Cor. 1:30), so, we all believers must be in Him. I accepted this fact for a long time without any reservations or enquiries. The above Word of God is true and the explanations given from It were all correct and also logical.
But that doctrine later on proved to be only a human understanding of God’s mystery and a “half-truth”! IT WAS “ONE HALF-TRUTH” THAT CAUSED EVE TO PLUNGE MANKIND INTO THIS SINFUL MESS, DARKNESS AND DEATH! (I state this as a matter-of-fact, not blaming Eve at all, but blaming Satan.) Hence, after some years, this doctrine did not “sit well with me” as it did not correspond with the reality in any way. I began to study the Scripture and enquire of the Lord about this issue. I was finding passages in the New Testament, which put this fact of us being IN Christ in a somewhat different light. The Lord then began to grant me some glimpses of the reality of this “mystery” and it fit the overall picture of God’s principles and of our Salvation process perfectly. My faith and understanding began to enlarge and today I am sharing them with you as follows.
Our Father had placed us into Christ Jesus both to die with Him and be resurrected in Him BEFORE WE EXISTED! (Eph. 1:4// Rom. 6:8// 1Thess. 4:14) True? We were thus placed into Christ by the WILL OF OUR FATHER and NOT BY OUR OWN WILL! This has been already declared when we talked about the Cross. The important question of our FREE WILL DECISIONS was discussed in the section “Our Old and New Will” and I beseech you to consider again the facts thereof very diligently in your heart and mind. Our free will is one of the very basic principles of the Creation of God. It is His gift to us and it has an everlasting importance and impact on all our earthly life as well as on our Salvation and our future Life or death.
There is one particular word, which I am definitely led to introduce at this point. I do believe that the Spirit of the Lord will through this word give us a mutual understanding and faith concerning this present issue.
The word is – POTENTIAL.
I not only believe, I am seeing and experiencing this word in everything touching my own Salvation and the Salvation of every believer, as well. The Word of God especially in the New Testament points to this fact quite clearly, namely, that…
EVERYTHING IN OUR SALVATION IS POTENTIAL!
SALVATION ITSELF IS AVAILABLE TO EVERY MAN ON THE EARTH AND EVERYTHING THAT IT OFFERS IS POTENTIALLY HIS AFTER HE IS REDEEMED. The New Man is his, the Kingdom of Heaven is his, Eternal Life is his, all the virtues of Christ, all His Character is his, all that Christ has is his, his place IN Christ is his, Christ’s Throne in Heaven is his, the New Jerusalem is his, all the promises of God are potentially his!… UNDER ONE CONDITION! What is that condition? Let us consider it as follows:
MAN MUST RECEIVE HIS SALVATION BY FAITH AND BY HIS FREE WILL DECISION TO DO–LIVE THAT FAITH. HE MUST OBEY THE WORD AND RECEIVE EVERY POTENTIAL ASPECT AND PROMISE AND INHERITANCE OF HIS SALVATION IN THE WAY PRESCRIBED BY GOD IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURE! MAN WILL RECEIVE NOTHING ACCORDING TO HIS OWN IMAGINATIONS.
THEREFORE, IF THE WILL OF GOD, BY PUTTING ME INTO CHRIST, IS ALSO MY WILL, THEN I MUST STILL BY MY FREE DECISION RECEIVE IT, EXPERIENCE IT AND LIVE IT ACCORDING TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURE AND DENY MY NATURAL, SINFUL LIFE!
NOTHING WILL FALL INTO MY LAP JUST BECAUSE I MENTALLY “AGREE” WITH GOD, HIS WORD AND HIS WILL. YOU MAY KNOW, AGREE AND BELIEVE EVERY WORD OF GOD IN THE BIBLE AND BE LOST… IF YOU DO NOT DO IT, IF YOU DO NOT OBEY IT! THE LORD HAS BECOME THE AUTHOR OF ETERNAL SALVATION ONLY TO THEM THAT OBEY HIM, THAT ALSO MEANS, OBEY HIS WORD! (Heb. 5:9// Jn. 1:1+14)… NOT TO THEM THAT ONLY KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT HIM AND BELIEVE IN HIM.
SATAN AND HIS DEVILS ALSO KNOW AND CAN FREELY QUOTE THE SCRIPTURE WHEN IT IS CONVENIENT FOR THEM; THEY ALSO BELIEVE IN GOD… AND THEY ARE ALL LOST AND CONDEMNED FOR EVER! (Mt. 4:6// Jam. 2:19)
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To be continued next week in part 6
brother Hanola
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