Saved ignoble

So Jesus, the very Son of God, stood before His creation, in front of Pilate and the crowd that wanted to kill Him.  Pilate questions Jesus on this.  The Son of the living God could have responded in any way, He could have called angels to fight his battle, He could have gathered his followers to start an uprising, He could have asked God to take Him away.  Powerful people of that day and today, respond by using their power.  Jesus had power and yet He did not use it.  Instead, Jesus responded, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”  In essence, the world of Jesus’s time and the world we live in today is not the kingdom of Jesus Christ.  Really, Satan is the prince of this world.  Jesus and God’s kingdom is yet to come both in the millennial kingdom and in the new heavens and the new earth.  Therefore, the world is upside down and inside out.  The way the world operates today is not how it will operate when Jesus sets up His earthly and celestial kingdoms. 

So I ask the question:  If the one I worship, Jesus Christ, said that His kingdom is not of this world, then how can my kingdom be of this world if Jesus is my king.  It cannot.  Therefore, I make the same statement about this world; my kingdom is not of this world.  I believe the closer you are to Jesus, the further you will feel from the world.  That does not mean that one cannot enjoy things in this life as there are lots of beautiful and good things.  However, belonging to the systems and mentalities of the popular world, lead people far from God and the world that His spirit will one day rule.  Again, I understand the importance and the beauty of many things today, but when people put their faith in systems of the world, especially any church system, instead of God, then all things run askew. 

Here are just a few of the systems of this world: 

You ever watch professional football games?  Watch fans that do not even know any of the players or coaches personally, yet dress up in team jerseys and cheer as if their life depended on it?  Have you ever gotten sick of people on TV and the radio talking incessantly about what celebrity is dating another celebrity?  How about the disgusting hypocrisy of television evangelists and the church, people worshipping these people, and the pope?  Are you an outcast because you are unfamiliar with online dating or don’t meet the popular quota of facebook friends? …or worse yet, don’t even have a facebook account? 

Have you seen the Catholic Religion?  The pope sitting on a throne and all these men in robes living in palaces while the world starves.  Yet, so many people rely and live on every word from these Satanic Jokers.  Other Christian denominations are no different.  People fill churches and worship every word of their pastors without scrutinizing their words with the truth of scripture.  Modern day Pharisees, no kidding these people would not have time for Jesus if He were here today.  People treat these pastors and priests as gods hanging on every word like they are the ultimate authority above God and scripture.  All it takes is one look under the covers, below the surface and people could find the truth.  But, most refuse to do it.  They would rather sit and lean on every lie that the wolves in sheep clothing spit out of their mouth because afterwards they can give out hugs and get coffee and cookies.  As long as they get coffee, they will continue to believe that god will torture his creation eternally and believe that god is not sovereign. 

I can rant forever on this.  I am not sure whether I am just out of touch with this world because it is not my kingdom or if failures in my life have just left me bitter.  However, I am sure that the world that crucified Jesus Christ is alive and well today; therefore, making friends with the systems of the world is a very dangerous thing to do.   It seems that so many people do the things they do to conform to whatever group of people they want to impress.  Church leaders do it, house wives do it, teenagers do it, grown men do it in their jobs, and the list goes on and on.  Society says buying into the system is normal and that is what we should do.  However, in Jesus’s day as today, society and the masses are always wrong.  Society and the norms crucified the Son of God.  Yet, today people want to buy into these systems more and more. 

If you were new to this earth and never had anything to do with it:  What would you observe?  I, personally would think that cell phones where little gods to the humans.  Every time this thin, metal box buzzes, rings, beeps or blinks, these humans come running to check this device.   They are on it all the time and rely on every word it says.  People post things on it, people are happy and upset based on what it says.  It could be a facebook post or a text, it has the attention of human beings at all times.  People cannot be without this device and they hinge on all that it does.  Heck, they even obey it.  This must be their god.  Now, recent commercials on the television encourage people to watch television shows on their phone while they are walking from place to place.  People can’t even look at the world around them because they need to be entertained by this device every single moment. 

In another observation, I would think that professional football players were gods.  Thousands of people line stadiums, their living room and bars to cheer and hang on every action of these players.  They plan whole weeks or even months around watching these games and then continue to revel in what these players do not just on the field but off the field as well.  They wear jerseys with player’s names on the back of it and are experts on stats and believe it or not, they create fantasy teams to try and make it even more real to them.  I am a sports fan and enjoy playing and watching sports, but the obsession that people have for this creates a system that allows these players to make millions of dollars for playing a game.  It is because fans allow and promote these people above being just average people that they are.   

Don’t even get me started on politicians.  Talk about a world that is upside down!  The people running the world, from those international criminals that own the Federal Reserve to the local, state and especially federal politicians in the U.S. and around the world, these are the real criminals that belong in jail.  But, instead they are the leaders of our world, sorry, Satan’s world.  Recently in America, we had an election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.  Hillary Clinton lost the election and her supporters, democrats, were actually crying because they were so upset.  What?  This woman is insane and belongs behind bars.  Just do a little research and you would find out why.    However, people in the United States so identified with her that they would do all in their power to get her elected.  This is the same with the republicans.  People spend so much time supporting their candidates that support a system of bondage and destruction.  Our political and governmental system is backwards.  Rich, powerful people claim to represent the masses and yet they have no clue of the issues facing common folk.  In fact, they have no idea of the struggles of normal, everyday Americans.  That, or they just do not care as long as they maintain power and control.  One look under the covers in this area would reveal that politicians are actually put in place by outside entities that control the world’s wealth.  These entities only care about controlling people and maintaining their own power.  These powers create an illusion of choice where people choose between candidates that appear to give them opposing choices but serve the same purpose. 

It is like a hamster in a cage that has a choice on whether to piss in the right corner or the left corner.  If this hamster were an American, he would say that he was free because he had the choice to piss in the right corner but decided on the left.  In reality, people are boxed in a cage and they are told they are free. 

Back to religion, people think that they can only find God in buildings called churches and through people who have been trained in the world of God.  Even if people have a genuine experience of God, it is soon choked out of them because they join a church or talk to people who have been trained by the establishment.  The establishment is against the truth as it was in Jesus’s day.  The establishment is against all things that are true and will never point to the true God of scripture.

Jesus is found in the wilderness my friend.

So, if you find yourself not fitting into these man made systems of religion and society, if you believe that God is loving enough to want to save all creation and the cross of Christ is powerful enough to do just that, then take heart, your kingdom is not of this world!!!!!  You are in good company!!!!!

Jesus Christ was persecuted by people who did not believe that He was the very Son of God.  The apostle Paul, on the other hand, received a lot of his persecution at the hands of believers in Jesus Christ.  Paul said that he received his message through revelation of Jesus Christ, not from any other man.  This means that Paul did not get his message from the Lord’s original disciples but indeed, from the risen Jesus Christ directly.  The message Paul received was radically different from that of Peter, James and John. The disconnect was the difference between a message mixed with faith and law (Peter’s gospel) and a message of pure, radical grace (Paul’s message).  This does not mean that God is confused.  God simply has a different message and destiny for different groups of people.  Namely the Jews and the Gentiles.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul was addressing the reality that these people originally accepted his message of grace in spirit and then began trying to complete themselves through fleshly acts or in other words, by following the law.  Paul calls them foolish for doing this.  Paul explains the purpose of the law as he tries to convince the Galatians of God’s plan.

So that the law has become our escort to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.  Now, at the coming of faith, we are no longer under an escort, for you are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3: 24-27).

Every religion in the world seems to have various rules that you must follow in order to be right with god.  Even Christian denominations, mix law and faith into their rituals.  I can’t count the number of church signs that tell people to follow the Ten Commandments or follow the other commandments of God.  Many people, inside or outside of religion, do not understand the purpose of the law given in the bible.  

In the letter to the Galatians, Paul explains that the purpose of the law was to be our escort or point us to Christ.  In Romans 5:20, Paul explains that the law was brought so that the trespass might increase.  But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.  So we were never required to follow the law as mentioned in scripture.  The law was given by God to reveal our sin and need of a savior.  If you believe that you will be saved by following rules, 10 commandments, or any other law, than you must follow them perfectly, your whole life because if you break one iota of the law, scripture says you are guilty of all.  Following the law is impossible, that is why we needed the very Son of God to do it for us.  Jesus Christ did follow the law perfectly, therefore, through faith in Him we are justified because we take on Christ’s life and His perfection is imparted to us.  Law points to Christ and our need for Him, it was never meant to be a self-righteous accomplishment of our own will.

In fact, the very reason Paul was getting on the Galatians was because they were reverting back to law after they came to Christ Jesus through faith.  In chapter 5, verses 2 thru 6 in Galatians Paul explains that if we go back to rule following or following the law then we are a debtor to do the whole law.  This means that if you want to follow any part of the law, then your standard for salvation is the entire law.  However, if your standard for salvation is Jesus Christ, then you are exempt from the whole law.  There is absolutely no mixing the two.  Law and grace do not go together in Paul’s message, not one bit.  

Falling from Grace

I often heard it asked:  If we are saved by Jesus by pure grace, is it possible to fall from grace?  This very topic is discussed in Galatians 5: 4-6.  Paul says the Galatians are exempted from Christ were you who are being justified in law.  You fall out of grace.  For we, is spirit, are awaiting the expectation of righteousness by faith.  This falling from grace does not mean that one can lose their salvation.  These Galatians were believers so they will have a special salvation and Jesus Christ will eventually save every person that ever existed.  But, this falling out of grace simply means that the Galatians received the message of salvation in Christ alone and then tried to mix that with following certain rules that aided Christ in that salvation.  

People do that today all the time.  They claim that Jesus alone saves them, but then they begin to mix law as to aid Christ in being their savior.  People believe in Jesus then say you must go to church, you must be baptized, you must make a free-will faith choice, you must complete sacraments, you must not drink and have sex, you must not do this or that, you must tithe, and the list goes on and on depending on the denomination.  These people fall from grace not as to lose salvation, but that they are adding self-righteous law abiding to do their part to allow or help Jesus to save them.  Therefore, following the law nullifies the pure grace of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ alone saves us, adding anything to it denies the full work of the cross.

This is a radical message that the apostle Paul preached.  That is why he was persecuted by the very believers of Jesus Christ.  The ancient Jews knew law and wanted to earn their way to God.  Paul’s message was different; it was one of pure, radical grace based on the sovereignty and love of the Almighty God.  

God gave the law to a specific group of people at a specific time in history.  God gave the law to the house of Israel and it was operating until the Savior was born from the Jewish race, lived, died and was resurrected.  That event entered the era of grace.  From that time until now, God has changed His dealings with humans.  He has not changed, but He has changed the operation.  We are saved purely through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  There is nothing we can add or take away from this.  If we try to be good enough by following rules or refraining from evil, then we take this grace away and are back under law.  Jesus will save all of mankind.  Those that come to the realization that Jesus, without the aid of human will power, saved us on the cross, will have a special salvation.  The vast majority that cannot come to this realization and add their own good works to the cross, will be saved at a later time.  In the end, all will be with God because of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ only!!!  He is our savior, we are not.

Our response to grace?  Live a life of gratitude as best you can for what the Lord Jesus Christ has already accomplished for you! 

A pastor once told me that God loves me infinitely more than I love my own son.  I was amazed, for I can’t even imagine a love deeper that what I have for my son and daughter, 6 and 7 years old.  There is nothing I wouldn’t do for them and they could do nothing, I mean absolutely nothing that would make me stop loving them.  But I processed the statement made by this pastor, god claims to love me more than what is humanly imaginable, but, if I don’t make a faith choice or act right, he will torture me in eternal hell forever.  The unimaginable love turns into unimaginable torture at the hands of God if I cross him.  Burning, flesh eating locusts, demons having their way with me, sick pain, unbearable for even a minute, but god does not stop there, he does not let me die, for all of eternity, not 1 day, not 10 days, not 100 years, not 1,000,000,000,000,000 years but for all eternity, with no chance of ever correcting my behavior.  

Then, I thought back to my kids.  My love, believe me, fails more than it succeeds but I would never even punish my child if it did not work to correct his or her behavior or make their lives better in the future.  Yet god, because I didn’t make the right choice in a finite life, would torture me infinitely just for being born.  I don’t care how you look at it, that is sick, and it is not love.  Love me or else I will torture you.  That’s god’s love?  Notice I refer to this god with a small “g” because this is not the real god.  Thank God, the real God, that I began reading scripture for myself and learned the truth, the truth that God is love and that His plan concludes with every single human being that has ever walked the face of the earth being home with God in heaven.  Thank God that eternal hell and eternal death are gross, sick, heresy perpetrated by religious folk that follow sick, can’t think for themselves, prophets, priests and pastors.  

Though most pastors have lied to me, one did make a statement that made a whole lot of sense.  I am going to paraphrase, but there are very few people on this earth that I would die for.  I can count them on one hand, I would die for my kids and a few other people, I think.  However, how many people would I send my son to die for?  ABSOLUTELY NO ONE, NOT ONE, FOR ANY REASON, EVER!  I can’t even imagine what happened when the Almighty God sent His only begotten Son to die a torturous and humiliating death on the cross at the hands of His own creation.  I am not going to get into that here, but that pretty much convinces me that a love that is beyond my comprehension was at work here.  There is no religion that harbors this kind of love or truth.  Mohammed, Buddha, all of them, they did not step into my pain and die for me.  The only one I would ever believe is someone who took my place, jumped into my pain, and came and saved me.  End of story.  Anyway, my only objective in this paper is to get you to think and to study scripture yourself to find the truth.  The truth that God is Love and that His love will not fail one single person or entity in the fullness of time because all will be reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Here is some scriptural proof:

The bible says God is Love.  So let’s look at a few attributes of Love and see if God could be Love if He does not save everyone and sends anyone to an eternal death or an eternal hell:

1. Love (God) never fails.  If one person is lost forever, then God failed that person.  Christians want to insert free will into the equation saying that God loves so much that He would let them choose to be apart from Him for all eternity.  Well, if we read scripture we will know that God is sovereign and man cannot make decisions independently of the Almighty.  Free will is a myth that gets god off the hook.
2. Love (God) is not taking account of evil (1 Corinthians 13: 5-6).  I think if God sentenced anyone to an eternal doom than He is indeed taking account of evil, whether in the form of actions or unbelief of that person.  The truth is that evil and death will one day be destroyed and all will be saved.  
3. Let’s look at Jesus’s mission on earth, because His mission was showing the world God’s love. Jesus Christ had a stated mission to accomplish while He was on earth.  The Son of God appeared to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8), to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10) and to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).  Now, Jesus says that He has accomplished this will according to His own words.  “I have brought you (God) glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do (John 17:4).  The scripture says that Jesus completed the work of destroying the devil’s work which is sin and death, seeking and saving the lost and saving sinners.  Therefore, if one sinner remains or one person is lost forever, this verse would not be true.  However, John 17:4 is true because through Jesus, every man woman and child will be saved.  Every lost sinner that is the victim of the devil’s work will one day be with God.
4. Once again I just want to emphasize the fact that Jesus Christ was tortured for hours upon hours, and that He died loving the very people that were killing Him.  There is no way that the Lord will let any of His children escape His grasp, no matter what.

Okay, I could go on and on with respect to the scriptural proof of God’s love.  However, let’s look at God’s will for humanity.  God, Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).  So God wants everybody to be saved but Christianity makes this a weak, unattainable, impossible, to difficult for God to pull off despite the death of His Son because of man’s free will is too strong for Him, pathetic wish.  God can’t save everyone as He wishes because of free will or evil choices from humans.  Wait, let’s look at what God can do with His will, is it a weak wish or will God do all that He wills?

• All My counsel, it shall be confirmed, And all My desire shall I do (Isaiah 46:10).
• Indeed I have spoken; Indeed I shall bring it to pass!  I have formed the plan; Indeed I shall do it (Isaiah 46:11).
• Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11 says: In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.   
• All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

 – Daniel 4:35

Those scriptures above are just a few examples, I could fill 10 pages but I am not going to.  Do those scriptures seem like God having the will to save all mankind as being a weak, pathetic, unattainable stretch, or does it seem that if God wills and wants something, that it will happen?  THE WILL OF MAN IS NO MATCH FOR THE LOVE AND PURPOSE OF GOD!

I encourage you to read Corinthians 1, chapter 15, verses 22 to 28.  I am going to summarize God’s plan presented in these verses.  Remember, God says that He formed the plan and He shall do it!  HERE IS THE PLAN THAT GOD WILL EXECUTE BECAUSE MANS WILL IS NOT TOO DIFFICULT FOR HIM AND NO MAN IS FREE FROM INFLUENCE, CIRCUMSTANCE AND HUMAN NATURE, IN WHICH GOD IS IN CONTROL:

All men and women have sinned because of Adam and Eve and all will die.  However, all that will die because of Adam and Eve will be made alive because of Jesus Christ. But, those who believe in Jesus Christ in this life will be resurrected first.  Those who do not believe will be resurrected at a later time.  Most, will be resurrected after Jesus officially abolishes death and as a result, nothing is left but life.  I think it is interesting to note here that most Christians believe that many will perish in the lake of fire for all eternity.  However, the lake of fire is specifically referred to in scripture as the second death.  DEATH!  So, Christians, what happens to these people when death is destroyed, made inoperative?  If they are in the lake of fire or are annihilated, then death is still operating.  SCRIPTURE destroys this lie as Jesus destroys death.  

SO HERE IS THE SALVATION PROCESS AND IT IS NOT AN ALTER CALL:  WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?–NOTHING!  JESUS CHRIST SAVED YOU OVER TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO!!!!!

Jesus died for every single human being and thus completed, finished the act of saving all mankind.  Our faith, good deeds, prayers, nor any other work can save us just as any evil act or indifference can unsave us.  Basically, Jesus died for us whether we like it or not, whether you hate him, lie about him like Christians, whether you are Buddhist, Muslim, whether you’re from Hollywood, or any other walk of life.   

Okay, so is belief and faith necessary?  Yes, but faith is a gift from God and all will eventually come to faith in Jesus Christ, whether in this life (special salvation) or in the next life (at the consummation when all are saved).  

Here is the kicker—a truth so seldom taught:  JESUS CHRIST SAVED YOU, YOUR REALIZATION THAT HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION IS THE SOLE REASON FOR YOUR SALVATION IS THE FAITH NEEDED TO MAKE THIS SALVATION ACTIVE TO YOUR HUMAN EXPERIENCE.  JESUS COMPLETED AND SECURED YOUR ETERNITY, WHEN GOD GIVES YOU THIS REALIZATION, THEN YOU HAVE TRUE FAITH.  YOUR FAITH COMES AFTER AND AS A RESULT OF THE CROSS, YOUR FAITH DOES NOT MAKE THE CROSS EFFECTIVE.  THE FAITH AND REALIZATION OF WHAT JESUS DID ONLY DETERMINES THE ORDER AND REWARD THAT WILL AWAIT YOU IN HEAVEN!!!  ALL WILL COME TO THIS REALIZATION SOONER OR LATER!!!!!!!! THAT’S THE PLAN AND GOD WILL EXECUTE IT!!! WHY???

BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE AND LOVE NEVER FAILS.

I lay unconscious in a burning building.  My friend runs in, pulls me out, revives me and saves my life.  I wake up in the hospital with no recollection of these events.  My friend saved me!!! Whether I believe it or not.  However, when I come to the realization through faith that he did save me, then I can thank him for the rest of my life.

Jesus either saved us or he didn’t, whether we believe it or not.  Not believing that he saved us does not change the fact that he did save us, just as my friend still saved me whether I believed or not.  But, when we come to a realization through faith that Jesus did save us, then we can live a life in thanksgiving and love with no pressure at all!!!

My prayer is that you come to this realization!!!

Skittles are my son’s favorite candy.  I decided to test him one day on his love for me by using the small candies as bait.  He was ten years old at the time and I left him in the house alone as I snuck out back.  Before I left, I told him that he can eat any food in the house except for the package of Skittles that I left in the middle of the house on the kitchen table.  If he ate of the Skittles left on the table, then he would be punished.  I peered through the kitchen window as my son walking up to the package of skittles on multiple occasions.  Each time though, he refused the urge to eat the forbidden candy.  Then, I saw my son’s best friend sitting outside and asked him to come over.  I paid the friend ten dollars to go in the house and test my son by convincing him to eat the skittles.  He gladly accepted and was given entrance into the house after knocking on the front door.

     Wow!  Look at those skittles the friend exclaimed excitedly.  Let’s eat them he shouted.  My son calmly explained that they could eat anything in the house except for the bag or skittles.  Otherwise, he would be punished by his dad.  The friend said, “Is that really what your dad said, will you really be punished?”  The friend continued to chip away at my son’s defenses and the urge to eat his favorite candy combined with his neighbors encouragement, became too much.  My son ripped open the bag of skittles and ate.  He gave some to his friend as well.  As soon as I saw him eat, I jumped through the back door and said, “Why have you eaten of the skittles that I told you not to eat?”  I angrily sent his friend home and banished my son to his bedroom where he would stay for the rest of his life.  He died an eighty year old man, never once leaving his room. 

     Of course, the only truth to this story is that my son does like skittles.  The rest is fictitious and completely ridiculous.  But, I have a story that is even more ridiculous and even more untrue.  It is the story that is told in religion today.  It is a story of a loving God that would put His creation that He loves in a situation that would lead to failure, and then apply this failure to every creature leading most of creation to eternal separation from Himself.  However, the reason why this story is such a believable lie is that, as religion skillfully always does, it contains some truth.  For instance, God did put Adam and Eve in a situation in which they would fail.  Also, this failure or sin did spread to all of creation though it was a part of God’s plan from the very beginning.  This will be discussed later in the book.  Unfortunately, the true parts of the story lead to one of the greatest lies of all:  The unscriptural lie that anyone, let alone most of creation will spend an eternity burning in hell. 

     Did you think punishing my son for the rest of his life for eating skittles was a ludicrous punishment?  Well, how about Adam and Eve eating of the fruit?  This was a sin committed by a finite human being that has eternal consequences?    How about the people that were born after Adam?  What about us today?  We will sin because we inherited this sin and death from Adam.  Therefore, all humanity is heading to eternal hell as a default at birth.  This story is infinitely worse than me punishing my son and separating him from my presence for the rest of his life for eating skittles.   The truth, the full truth, is that God intended for Adam and Eve to sin and consequently bring sin and death to all humans.  Then, through using sin and death, God will shape all humanity into His perfect creation.  We will look into this more later.  For now, it is important to not add words to scripture.  The eternal hell as we know it, does not exist anywhere in scripture.  The consequence for man’s sin was always and will always be death.  For the wages of sin is death…(Romans 6:23).  The wages of sin is not eternal torture, but death.  We would remain dead if it were not for Jesus coming to death and providing the way out through His suffering, death and resurrection.    Jesus saves us from death because He experienced death for us.  He did not experience eternal hell because it is not what He is saving us from and the popular hell that has been taught in religion is simply not what people think.  The place of eternal torture of flames and suffering simply does not exist. 

      So to play devil’s advocate, I ask the question:  When was hell created?  In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth…(Genesis 1:1).  There is no mention of creating hell at any point throughout the scripture.  The bible says that Jesus was slain since the foundation of the world in Revelations 13:8, so sin was already part of God’s plan.  Yet, God did not mention the eternal place of torcher.  Then God created Adam and Eve and told them not to eat from the tree in the midst of the garden or they would go to ETERNAL HELL!  This was perfect timing to threaten Adam and Eve with this awful fate so maybe they will listen to God.  Wait a minute; this is not what God said.  He said that if they ate from the tree then they would die.  Adam and Eve touched the tree and ate from the tree.  This is it, the first sin of mankind!  What a great time for God to introduce the concept of eternal hell for sinners.  However, eternal hell was not discussed, but like God said, Adam and Eve would die or begin to die when they ate of the fruit.  DEATH, not eternal hell, is the destiny of all mankind because of the actions of Adam. 

     Okay, now I got it.  God would certainly introduce the eternal hell concept after the first murder ever recorded.  Cain and Abel were the offspring of Adam and Eve.  Cain was angry that God accepted his brothers sacrifice over his, so he lured Abel to the field and proceeded to kill him.  Cain took the life of his brother in a hot rage of jealousy.  Now, God will speak to Cain about his future destiny in eternal hell.  Indeed, God did speak to Cain: Now you are cursed, away from the ground which has opened wide its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand.  When you serve the ground, it shall not continue to give its vigor to you.  A rover and a wanderer shall you become on earth (Genesis 4: 11-12).

     In Genesis 4:13, Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear.  This was Cain’s response to God punishing him.  How did God punish him?  God punished Cain by not allowing the ground to yield crops for him anymore and making him a wanderer on the earth.  If this was too much for Cain to bear then how is he going to respond to the knowledge that eternal hell awaits him?  Well, the truth is that God never mentioned eternal hell because it does not exist and has never entered His mind.  Eternal hell, if it were real, would have been introduced right from the start, don’t you think?  God never threatens anyone with this torment.  Death is the enemy and the end result of man’s mortality and sin, not hell.  There is no passage of time or sensations in death and we would remain this way forever if it weren’t for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Jesus will one day destroy death for every last human being.

     Follow the rest of the Old Testament and you will find no mention of the eternal hell that is taught in popular religion.  Did you know that the apostle Paul, in his thirteen letters, never mentions hell at all, not even once!  The book of Revelation mentions the Lake of Fire, but this is not hell and does not serve the purpose of the eternal hell taught by religion.  The Old Testament uses the word ‘Sheol’ which simply means the ‘grave or abode of the dead.’  People go to the grave and are unseen when they die.  This word ‘Sheol’ is translated in the bible to mean ‘hell’ but this simply is not the eternal hell of popular belief.  They do not go to eternal hell but simply go to the grave.  That’s fine that the Old Testament does not threaten humanity with the eternal flames of hell or that the Apostle Paul doesn’t mention it in the New Testament.  It doesn’t matter one might say, Jesus spoke on hell so it must be real.  Well yes, the word hell is found in the four gospel accounts of the New Testament but that word does not mean what you think it does. 

     Jesus Christ did not speak English while He was on Earth.  Therefore, His words have been translated in any given English bible.  The word ‘Hell’ that is attributed to coming from the mouth of Christ has been translated from a Hebrew word ‘Hinnom.’  This is a location of a valley near Jerusalem.  The word ‘Gehenna’ is the Greek word used in the gospel accounts and was derived from this Valley of Hinnom.  Samuel G. Dawson sums up the origin of ‘Gehenna’ in his article Jesus’ Teaching on Hell:

Gehenna, the name of a valley on the south and east of Jerusalem…which was so called from the cries of the little children who were thrown into the fiery arms of Moloch, i.e., of an idol having the form of a bull.  The Jews so abhorred the place after these horrible sacrifices had been abolished by King Josiah(2 Kings 23:10), that they cast into it not only all manner of refuse, but even the dead bodies of animals and unburied criminals who had been executed.  And since fires were always needed to consume the dead bodies, that the air might not become tainted by the putrefaction, it came to pass that the place was called Gehenna.

     So, the word that Jesus actually used was Gehenna not hell.  Gehenna was actually a physical place near Jerusalem where trash and the bodies of dead criminals were thrown.   It has nothing to do with an eternal place of punishment.  The people that Jesus spoke to would have known this because this place was used to sacrifice little children to idols such as Molech.  Jesus was speaking of earthly punishments and death, just like the entire Old Testament punishments.  Jesus was talking about a garbage dump in each of the twelve passages that he preaches on hell.  This hell, rather Gehenna, is on the earth and physical.  It is not under the earth nor eternal. 

     God’s destiny for humanity is to create sons and daughters?  What about all those who will be in hell?  Well, the fact of the matter is that the word “hell” as defined to be an eternal place of torment, simply does not exist in scripture.  Yes, the word “hell” exists in the bible but that is a gross mistranslation and it is simply not found in the original Hebrew and Greek scriptures.  I encourage anyone to do a concordant, or any, word study on the word “hell” each time it is used in the bible.  The most common words used for hell are “Sheol” in the Old Testament, “Gehenna” and “Hades” in the New Testament.  The meanings for these words are as follows:

Sheol – Grave, pit or abode of the dead.

Hades – unseen

Gehenna – actually a physical location in Jesus’ time.  It is actually a valley south of Jerusalem. 

     These words have nothing to do with life after death and certainly do not refer to a place of eternal torment.  The eternal torment deception entered the church through mistranslation and corrupt leadership.  It is a lie that deceives millions and keeps perhaps even more at an arms distance from God.  I would have to write page after page to fully explain how the work ‘hell’ crept and slithered it’s way into the bible.  The mixture and influence of Greek Mythology and Ancient Egyptian folklore is where thes corrupt leaders learned of hell.  Then, they used the fear of hell on people so that they could control the masses through fear and deceit.  This has been passed down from generation to generation in nearly every religion.  However, nothing, no teaching at all could be further from the truth of who God and Jesus Christ are than the teaching of eternal hell.  This teaching of hell tarnishes the true love of God and makes him a sick, “love me or a will torture you forever,” lunatic. 

      This false teaching of eternal hell, I believe, is the number one reason people run from religion.  After all, how can humans fully trust a God that would torture most of his creation?  The answer is:  they cannot.  But, the glorious truth is that God will not torture anyone in hell forever but will save each and every human being.  The scriptures that support this truth are too numerous to count. 

     George Carlin, the late comedian, and a man I admired for speaking out against the corrupt elite who run our governments and world, once did a bit on how ridiculous religion is.  He stood up in front of his audience and said that religion has actually convinced us of the most absurd thing in the world.  I can’t quote him word for word, but he told the audience that there is some creator high in the sky who wrote down a bunch of rules on stone tablets and commanded people to follow them.  However, the comedian goes on the say, if we break these rules he will send us to a place where we will be tortured, humiliated, burned and we will be experiencing unimaginable pain and suffering, and we will be in this place for all eternity.  But…..God loves us!  When Mr. Carlin said these words the audience burst into laughter and applause.

     Most Christians would condemn this comedian; however he and many like him see the absurdity of an all-loving, all-powerful god sending people to such a place as the eternal hell described.  Many people do not believe in God because they cannot justify how He is portrayed as love and then creates the most terrifying place imaginable and then sends most of His creation there.  Or, they look around the world and see starving children, murder and death that can make the world such a terrible place.  This is the opposite of love unless, one day, God sets every wrong right, and makes the best possible everlasting good out of every evil, for each and every human being.  He will!

     Back to George Carlin, I respected this man very much because he looked, like many today, beyond the phoniness of today’s world and exposed the elite agenda of corruption within our governments, corporations and media outlets of the world.  I just wish he, and others, would be able to look past the curtain of phoniness and lies of religion to see the truth.  George Carlin takes the god of religion for what he is, an absolute joke, but never bothered it seems, to find out the truth about God.  There is little truth in religion, about as much truth as in our governments and television programs. 

    How can Christians and people of various faiths love a god that loves so conditionally?  If you toe the line, the Christian god will love you and be there for you.  But, if you don’t believe the right way or do the right thing, this god will torture you forever.  How can a person put their trust in a being like this?  I trust God because I know He will bring me home and I don’t need to perform for Him to stay on His good side.  It may be a brutal process, but I know when it is all said and done, I will be a Son of God.  This will happen because of God, not because of me. 

Comment sent to me: Scott Hicko No, it is quite clear in many verses that the destruction is permanent. What you are referring to is ademic death, the first death inherited from Adam. From this death Jesus shed blood redeems us. The second death is the opposite, that’s why Jesus warns of it so sincerely, there is no resurrection from the second death. The second death is judgment from God not death we were born into because Adam sinned. What is the purpose or nature of a judgment that all are saved from anyway? If all are saved then no judging is needed, there would be no other outcome no decision to make. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 says eternal eternal αἰώνιον (aiōnion) Adjective – Accusative Masculine Singular Strong’s 166: From aion; perpetual. Psalms 37:38, Psalms 52:5 So you think God says repeatedly that the wicked are done away with but the truth is exactly opposite of that? Is that a logical position to take?

My response: You confuse the means with the end, my friend.  Death is ‘permanent’ for all without the resurrection of Christ Jesus.  Psalm 68:16 and Job 36:7 use the same Hebrew word for ‘permanent’ to describe the rule of kings and God dwelling on a mountain.  Does God dwell on the mountain forever and do kings rule forever?  Nope, all authority and power is nullified by Christ (1Cor15:25) when all is subjected to God.  Either way, the psalmist did not have access to the full scope and accomplishment of the cross as revealed to the apostle Paul.  Job 14:14 asks if a man dies, will he live again?  They were sealed up in the permanence of death and nobody, even good people, had a hope of getting out of this state.  Eventually, Christ Jesus justifies, gives His righteousness to humanity…in order for all humanity to be vivified, each in their own order of course.  In the end, salvation does not rely on your righteousness, but only on Christ’s. 

As far as 2 Thessalonians 1:9, αἰώνιον (aiōnion) is used in Titus 1:2 to describe God’s promises before eternity αἰώνιον (aiōnion) began.  How can something happen before eternity αἰώνιον (aiōnion) began?  Not possible, but it can happen before the ages began. You must translate these words consistently, not just mix and match them to fit your interpretation.  ‘Aion’ means age… αἰώνιον (aiōnion) is the adjective, as you stated, of ‘aion.’  The adjective form of the noun cannot have an opposite meaning of that noun…like hour, hourly, day, daily. 

God will be all in all as 1 Corinthians 15:28 says.  The context of the all in all is ALL that die in Adam.  So, scripture is saying that God will be all in all that die in Adam and yet, you say many will be lost forever?  Scripture says that death is abolished by putting on immortality, yet you say Christ made no provision for the second death?  Romans 5:18:19 says that those that die in Adam are justified by Christ.  1 Corinthians 15:22 says that all that die in Adam will be vivified in Christ.  Vivified means being made alive beyond the possibility of ever dying again…the process is described in verses 54 and 55.

Jesus never spoke about the second death, ever.  His earthly ministry spoke of the patriarchal promises of Israel ruling the earth.  Those out of that Kingdom would miss out on that kingdom, not eternity in the second death.  You ask ‘What is the purpose or nature of a judgment that all are saved from anyway?’  The result of judgement is described in Isaiah 26:9 when those that are judged LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS.  See, God is the Savior of all mankind, especially of believers (1 Timothy 4:10).  Believers have a special salvation in that they are vivified first, unbelievers will come to a realization of God and Christ’s cross through judgement.  You fail to see that Paul’s revelation is ‘to whom the consummations of the eons have attained (1Cor10:11-12).’  Paul describes the completion of Christ’s work at the end of the ages…which is…God being all in all…the same ‘all’ that die in Adam are the same ‘all’ justified by Christ (Rom5:18-19)…the same ‘all’ created by God through Christ (all creation), will be reconciled to God through the blood of the cross (Colossians 1: 15-20).  Any mention of destruction, death, casting out, weeping and gnashing of teeth, having a part in the lake of fire…etc….occurs before God saves everyone through Christ, each in there own order as many will have to go through judgement. 

PJ, God wills all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth and He works all according to the counsel of His will (eph 1:11).  You end the game at halftime and deny that God will complete the four quarters.  In the end, you will see that God’s judgement is part of His love and that we are saved by God, through Christ…and not by human achievement.  You see, death is our curse and Christ Jesus entered it and gives us His immortality to save us from it.  Your belief that Christ does not actually save us from death because the second death is too powerful for the cross, makes no scriptural sense.  You cannot see the forest through the trees as you cannot see God’s complete plan, His complete love, nor His complete sovereignty through your own self-will.  Good luck to you. 

Email:  You’re right that God is love, but God is also holy, righteous and just. The bible says only the devil, the beast and the false prophet will be tormented forever and ever. But the dead whose names are not found in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death. Psalms 42:7 says that that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever. We can’t know who will face judgment. People are free to do as they wish and we can love them even if we know they may end up freely doing something that results in their death, or even eventual judgment. We love people because God has commanded it and because we’ve been saved and because we just might save others – not because we know anyone’s final disposition. But God will repay each person according to what they have done – Romans 2:6. Read Ezekiel 18. When God says men will die for their sins, do you think he’s referring to the same natural, bodily death we will all experience? If so, what would be the point of the text? If not, then he’s clearly referring to a death that will last forever. The lesson is to be like the man in verses 5-9 and live

My Response to this email:  God’s righteousness and justice are a part of His love, not separate from it.  He dealt with sin on the cross and therefore is still righteous while justifying humanity.  You think that what Christ went through on the cross was not enough to deal with sin?  You do if you think your works add to it.  That’s the self-righteousness Paul talks about.  Isaiah 26:9 says that when God’s judgements come upon people, they LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS.  How can the devil, the beast, and the false prophet be tormented forever and ever?  Are there two eternities?  No…there are two ages though.  The 1000 year kingdom and the new heavens and the new earth age are the future ages of the ages and this verse should be translated ‘ages of the ages.’  The word that you use to translate as ‘eternity’ is the Greek word ‘aion’ which means ‘age.’  A simple concordant study and bible text usage of the word, proves this.  At the end of the ages, all are saved through the death, entombment, and resurrection of Christ…Colossians 1: 15-20 and 1 Corinthians 15: 21-28.  What happens to those humans in the SECOND DEATH when Jesus abolishes death in 1Cor15:27?  Well, v. 54 and 55 of the same chapter answers that…they are made alive in Christ.

You want to quote psalms and Ezekiel that speak of the permanence of death?  The truth is that everyone is locked up in death, even the good will die.  This is a permanent condition if Christ didn’t do what He did.  You said, ‘People are free to do as they wish and we can love them even if we know they may end up freely doing something that results in their death, or even eventual judgment.’  Yet, scripture says that God does WHAT HE PLEASES WITH PEOPLE ON THE EARTH (Daniel 4:35), He works ALL ACCORDING TO THE HIS WILL (Eph 1:11).  Romans chapter 9 through 11 ends any possibility that humans act independent of God.

You continue to quote Romans but are missing the entire point.  The first three chapters, up until 3:21, Paul is saying those that follow the law and do good works will have life aonion and those that don’t will be out.  He is setting up the standard of God’s righteousness.  But here is the kicker and what you don’t understand:  NOBODY CAN DO IT.  That’s why Paul says in Romans 3: 9-11 that NOT ONE IS JUST, NOT ONE IS SEEKING OUT GOD.  Then, he says ‘by works of law, no flesh at all shall be justified (Romans 3:20).’  There goes you salvation by works my friend.  Paul is setting the stage that through the law is recognition of sin (3:20) and NOBODY CAN ACHIEVE GOD’S RIGHEOUSNESS THROUGH THEIR OWN WORKS. 

So how do we attain God’s righteousness?  Now, Paul goes into the answer in the rest of Romans chapter three starting in verse 21:  A righteousness of God THROUGH JESUS CHRST’S FAITH FOR ALL AND ON ALL WHO ARE BELIEVING.  See, we are justified GRATUITOUSLY in His grace (rom3:24) which means we are NOT SAVED BY ANYTHING WE DO but are saved by Christ’s work.   Salvation is of God:  He gives faith to those that have a special salvation, the rest come to realization THROUGH JUDGEMENT (1 Timothy 4:10).  See, we don’t have to separate God’s love and judgement as His judgement is part of His love.  Now, we walk in good works and love BECAUSE we are saved, not in order to be saved.  Search the scriptures and you will see that you believe in ‘yourself’ for salvation and have denied the completed work of Christ on the cross.  Run from that and embrace what Christ has done for you.  All is of God. 

The following is a response to an email and video outlining common christian fallacies. Names have been deleted.

1)  The satanic belief in human free will:  Let’s call it what it is…salvation by human will power.  It is self-salvation and denies God and Christ Jesus.  Paul says to heathen Greeks that in Him (God), we live and move and are (Acts 17:28).  He gives to us life breath and all…and He gives this to all (Acts 17:25).  We are reliant on God for everything as we can give Him nothing that He has first not given to us (Romans 11:36).  This includes faith (Romans 12:3), repentance (2 Timothy 2:25), good works (Ephesians 2:10).  He is the Potter and we are the clay and though we can go against His stated will and disobey, we can NEVER go against His intention (what He planned for us to do).  Read Romans chapter 9 a hundred times if you have to and see if this is not true.  It is a dangerous thing to believe that Christ’s work needs your free-will addition to it.  Free will actually denies the completed work of Christ on the cross in favor of ‘self.’  

2)  Absolute vs. Relative:  One must understand these concepts to understand scripture.  The bible says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart and another scripture says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  Which is true?  Both.  God, in the absolute viewpoint, does everything.  In the relative viewpoint, humans make decisions and live/move.  Humans make decisions in the relative and in the absolute sense, God causes them to make every decision based on His plan from the very beginning.  For instance, 2 Timothy 1:9 says that God has chosen believers since before the foundation of the world…that is absolute.  Then, those who are chosen are born, live their lives, and eventually believe in the relative sense.   All caused by God.  

3)  Ages of time:  If one does not understand that God operates in ages of time and NOT ETERNITY then scripture will not be understood.  God is eternal, yes of course, but He does not operate with us in eternity.  He operates in ages.  The Hebrew word ‘Olam’ and the Greek words ‘aionious and aion’ mean ‘agelong, pertaining to an age.’  These are the words used by erroring bibles to mean eternity.  So every time you see the word ‘eternal’ it is actually ‘agelong.’  This can be proven easily by using the bible itself.  Jonah 2:6 says that Jonah was in the belly of a fish forever (Olam).  We know that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, not forever.  The word is olam and it pertains to time, not eternity.  It simply cannot mean eternity.  Aion and Aionious are the Greek equivalent to Olam. 

* Here is what the King James Version does: ‘Aion’ means age.  The adjective form of ‘aion (strong’s 165)’ is ‘aionious (strong’s 166).’  Aionious is the adjective form of aion.  King James Version translates ‘aionious’ to mean eternal.  The adjective form of the noun cannot mean something different than the noun it is derived from.  Example:  hourly and hour—daily and day.  Therefore, as proven in scripture, ‘aionious’ cannot mean ‘eternal.’  For instance, 2 Timothy 1:9 and Titus 1:3 say before times eternal(aionious).  How can something happen before eternity began?  It doesn’t, it happens before the ages were created.  In revelation, Jesus reigns for the eternities of the eternities if you translate this word consistently with the King James.  How can someone reign for two eternities?  Makes no sense, not to mention that scripture says Jesus’s reign comes to an end.  The word ‘aion’ means ‘age’ and the word ‘aionious’ means ‘agelong.’  God created the ages and every creature through Christ Jesus and when the ages end, every creature is saved by Christ and God is All in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).  Christ Jesus gives up His reign because there is no need to reign anymore because every creature is perfected.  He is a perfect Savior. 

* Greek is the most exact language on earth, that is why God chose it.  There is a Greek word that means ‘endless, unending’ and it is Strong’s 562 (aperantos), used in 1 Timothy 1:4.  If God wanted to say ‘endless’ then this word would have been used.  He didn’t because it is agelong, not endless.  Thus, aion and aionious used. 

*  We are in the 3^rd ‘wicked’ age as Paul describes.  The last two ages are as follows:

Age 4 (1000 years) – the weeping and gnashing of teeth are those that are excluded from this kingdom, not eternity.  This is followed by everyone being raised for the ‘Great White Throne’ judgement.  Then, heaven and earth are consumed with fire.

Age 5 (New Heavens and New Earth) – nobody knows how long this age is…could be thousands of years.  The curs, enchanters, paramours, murderers, etc. that have their part in the lake of fire are outside during this age, not for eternity. 

Consummation – this is the end of the ages when death is destroyed by Christ Jesus giving His immortal life to all creation.  This is what is explained in 1 Corinthians 15, Colossians 1, Romans 5:18-19, and many other places in scripture. 

4)  Eternal hell:  It has been said, you included, that Jesus spoke about ‘hell’ more than anything else.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Hell is an English word and was never spoken by Jesus or anyone in scripture.  The word Jesus used was ‘Gehenna’ or in the Hebrew, the ‘Valley of Hinnom.’  This is a physical place outside Jerusalem that burned the bodies of dead people.  This place was operational during the time of Christ and will be again during the 1000 year kingdom.  The fire of Gehenna burns the bodies UNTIL those bodies are completely consumed, not for eternity.  This place has nothing to do with eternal conscious torment.  Jesus warned about being excluded from the 1000 year kingdom, not torturing people in eternal fire.  While He was on earth, Jesus came for ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ only (Matthew 15:24).  He came to fulfill the patriarchal promises of Israel.  All this has to do with the Millennial Kingdom.  Paul’s message that he received from the glorified Christ explains the deeper meaning of the cross, beyond Israel. 

     *Therefore, those who are weeping and gnashing of teeth, are out of the kingdom and not in eternal hell.  

     * The curs, enchanters, paramours, murderers, etc. that have their part in the lake of fire are outside during the New Heavens and New Earth age, they are not in eternal hell.

     * You and pastor Matthew confuse the end with the means.  Unbelievers and the wicked are judged and many will be ‘out’ of the 1000 years and the ‘New Heavens and New Earth’ ages.  Missing out on the two glorious ages that Christ reigns is a BIG DEAL.  God doesn’t need to punish vindictively for all eternity, but instead, uses the ages of time to bring all under Christ.  That’s the God of power and love, not the christian god.  

5)  Death is death:  Death is not life somewhere else.  The ‘immortality of the soul’ is a pagan doctrine and it simply denies the work of Christ.  Ecclesiastes says that ‘the dead know nothing.’  Death is equated to sleep, unconsciousness, repose in scripture.  There is no sensation, passage of time, nor any experience in the death state.  It is non-existence.  Scripture says the dead ‘cannot praise God,’ so they are not in heaven or anywhere else, because they are dead.  In fact, 1 Timothy 6:16 says that Jesus ALONE and no one else is with Him has this immortal life.  This was after the cross.  Hence, we are not with Christ until the resurrection…from the dead.  Daniel 12:2 – From those sleeping in the soil of the ground many shall awake, these to eonian life and these to reproach for eonian repulsion.  Heaven and hell is not located in the soil, these people are dead. 

     The wages of sin is death, not eternal hell.  We inherit death from Adam, not eternal hell.  Jesus entered DEATH for us, not eternal hell.  Death will be destroyed by Christ Jesus because of His death for our sin, His entombment, and His resurrection.

The book of Colossians begins with talk of an expectation reserved for believers in the heavens.  Then, in the first two chapters of this letter the words realize and realization are pelted upon the reader of this scripture.  Why?  I think this is because the truth spoken of is so rarely realized by people and it is a truth that transcends all. 

AN EXPECTATION IS RESERVED FOR YOU IN THE HEAVENS – This is a special reward for those who truly know God.  Yes, all will be saved, but some will have a special reward in heaven based on a realization that has been given to them by God.

Colossians 1:6 — …from the day on which you hear and realized the grace of God in truth.

Colossians 1:9 — …filled with the realization of His will…

Colossians 1:11 — …bearing fruit in every good work, and growing in the realization of God…

Colossians 2:2 — …realization of the secret of the God and Father…

Alright, so what is this secret realization that God gives to a select few?  A realization that brings certain people to a special salvation that is at the core of truth revealed by our creator?  What is this realization that Satan and his minions in the church and all over the world fight to keep people in the dark over?  For the answer, I think we need to look at the major verses within this mighty letter to the Colossians.  Those verses are Colossians 1: 15-20, which speak of just Who Jesus Christ is…Here it reads:

Who is the Image of the invisible God, Firstborn of every creature, for in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him, and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him.

     And He is the Head of the body, the ecclesia, Who is Sovereign, Firstborn among the dead, that in all He may becoming first, for in Him the entire complement delights to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens. 

There, I believe, is the secret.  The above scriptures mention that all is created through Jesus Christ, whether they are in the heavens or on the earth.  This includes all beings, whether angels or demons, believers and non-believers, the whole lot!  Understanding that all is created through Jesus is part of this realization.  The second and most glorious part of this realization, one that most people do not get, is that through the blood of the cross Jesus will bring all of these humans and entities to God.  It is through the blood of the cross and through Jesus Christ that every last being will be saved.  This is based on nothing the human or entity has done, but based solely on the work of Jesus Christ.  This is the realization:  I am saved by Jesus Christ and will one day be a son of God, just like Jesus.  However, this is not because of the good I have done nor the bad I have avoided.  It is all of Jesus Christ. 

Philippians verses 9 thru 14 complements these scriptures in Colossians by exclaiming that God highly exalts Him with the name that is above every other name, that in the name of Jesus Christ every knee should be bowing, celestial and terrestrial and subterranean, and every tongue should be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God, the Father (Philippians 2: 9-11). 

So, in Colossians we are told that Jesus created all and will bring all to God through His death and resurrection.  Then, in Philippians, we are told that every knee in the celestial, terrestrial and subterranean will bow to Jesus and their tongues confess that He is Lord.  You can, like some church going people, believe that this is something that should happen but doesn’t or that it is some forced confession from an eternally defiant being.  However, neither of these two scenarios would be for the glory of God, the Father. 

You see, the fact that God created all beings through Jesus, His only Son, then put them through evil and brought them back to Himself through the blood of His Son so that each and every one of them will know His good works and bow with confession that Jesus is Lord, gives God glory.  A forced confession or talking about something people should do but don’t, does not give God the glory as scripture proclaims. 

So here is the glory that Colossians and Philippians proclaim.  God created His Son, Jesus Christ, then created all creation through Him.  At the appointed time, Jesus appeared on earth to live, suffer, die and be resurrected for all humanity and entities.  God uses this process of living, evil, suffering, death and resurrection to create humans to be His own Sons and Daughters, just like Jesus Christ.  Jesus is simply the first. 

So that, my beloved, according as you always obey, not as in my presence only, but now much rather in my absence, with fear and trembling, be carrying out your own salvation into effect, for it is God Who is operating in you to will as well as to work for the sake of His delight (Philippians 2: 12-13).

Therefore, our salvation is unique in the sense that we are all unique human beings.  God will save a select few with a special salvation and then the rest with salvation.  In the end, all will be saved and God will dwell in them.  However, each person will work through their own salvation, not that they will save themselves, but in the sense that each person will experience unique trials, sins, pain, triumphs, death and all God’s ordained circumstances and reactions given to them by God since the beginning of time.  God orchestrates it all, as the very next verse says that it is God Who is operating in you to will as well as work for the sake of His delight.  It is all of God, He causes us to do both the good and bad and directs our lives and circumstances to His desired salvation for us.  God chooses to bring us to the greatest possible eternity that we will enjoy even more because we went through our unique pain.  THE END GAME:  ALL SAVED THROUGH THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRST TO ENJOY AN ETERNITY TAYLORED MADE, HAND-NITTED FOR THEM BY THE ALMIGHTY GOD!

Written by Norman Labelle

                                                                                                                                                                                           

(A look into 1 Corinthians13 – the Love chapter)

What does “love believes all” mean? (vs.7)

1Corinthians13  (CLNT)

1 If I should be speaking in the languages of men and of the messengers, yet should have no love, I have become resounding copper or a clanging cymbal.

2 And if I should have prophecy and should be perceiving all secrets and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so as to transport mountains, yet have no love, I am nothing.

3 And if ever I should be morselling out all my possessions, and if I should be giving up my body, that I should be boasting, yet may have no love, in nothing do I benefit.

4 Love is patient, is kind. Love is not jealous. Love is not bragging, is not puffed up,

5 is not indecent, is not self-seeking, is not incensed, is not taking account of evil,

6 is not rejoicing in injustice, yet is rejoicing together with the truth,

7 is forgoing all, is believing all, is expecting all, is enduring all.

8 Love is never lapsing: yet, whether prophecies, they will be discarded, or languages, they will cease, or knowledge, it will be discarded.

9 For out of an instalment are we knowing, and out of an instalment are we prophesying.

10 Now whenever maturity may be coming, that which is out of an instalment shall be discarded.

11 When I was a minor, I spoke as a minor, I was disposed as a minor, I took account of things as a minor. Yet when I have become a man, I have discarded that which is a minor’s.

12 For at present we are observing by means of a mirror, in an enigma, yet then, face to face. At present I know out of an instalment, yet then I shall recognize according as I am recognized also.

13 Yet now are remaining faith, expectation, love — these three. Yet the greatest of these is love.

Before we start, I think it’s important to note that within the chapter, the “Love” factor is contrasted with the mention of the gifts of “speaking in tongues” and “prophecy” and “knowledge” (vs.1-2). It’s furthermore contrasted with the major part of the following chapter, for the very first words of chapter 14 befittingly start with “Be pursuing love” – it then continues to speak of those same gifts again.

I think it’s paramount to keep in mind what kind of “Love” is here being spoken of.

We agree that Paul was inspired by God when he wrote everything he wrote. We can also agree that it was God Himself expressing His will and intentions via Christ, through our apostle. That being the case, we must understand and acknowledge that God’s expressed will and intentions are always based on His particular and unique type of “Love”. This type of Love is in a class of its own. It defines the essence of His whole entire Being and that of His Son, Christ Jesus. As far as God’s Holy Spirit is concerned, it can only reflect and express that same love identically as God does.

What I’m talking about is AGAPE love. A Spiritual, Divine, Godly, altruistic, empathetic, sympathetic, all-encompassing love. This has nothing to do with the 7 other types of love that exist in the Greek language. Out of the 7 other “man-centered” love applications that exist, there are 2 which are most often expressed and frequently used throughout scripture – “Brotherly love” (Gk: φίλος Philos/Philia) and “carnal, erotic, sexual love” (Gk: ɛρως eros), which are both under the category of man-centered love.

 The eight different types of love, according to the ancient Greeks, are:

• Eros (sexual passion)
• Philia (deep friendship)
• Ludus (playful love)
• Pragma (longstanding love)
• Philautia (love of the self, ego)
• Storge (family love)
• Mania (obsessive love)
• *Agape (Divine, all inclusive)

* The first 7 are completely “man-centered”, the last one is God’s unique,

   all-encompassing outward love towards all of mankind and His angelic

   creation.

SPECIAL NOTE: When we see the word “love” in the chapter at hand, we must be fully persuaded that it’s talking exclusively about “agape” love. (Gk: ἀγάπη, ἀγάπην). Agape is used 9 times in chapter 13. Not once is the use of the word love applied with an another meaning such as those listed above.

SEE INTERLINEAR: 1 Corinthians 13 Interlinear Bible (biblehub.com)

We should consider 2 ways of interpreting the love Paul is talking about in this chapter;

Is Paul (thus God), trying to a) convey an “instructive” view of “God’s” agape love?

(i.e: how we must be loving and behaving towards one another, via His “Agape” love?),

or

b) is Paul (thus God), simply giving a “descriptive” view of the true nature and application of His agape love?

Either way, we benefit from a deeper, more profound perspective.

Before I proceed, I’ve cut & pasted 2 excerpts of explanations I’ve seen online. Maybe we can glean some additional understanding from them.

EXCERPT #1 (in relation to vs.7)

This word “belief” comes from the Greek word “pistis” which is usually translated simply as “faith”. There is some question whether this phrase refers to the Christian’s maintenance of their beliefs about God and Christ and the gospel. If that was the case, a more literal translation of “has all faith” would be more appropriate. However, in context we notice that Paul is explaining to the Corinthians what their regard for one another should look like. Paul is describing an attitude toward others that is manifested in action. As such, the expression “believes all things” is best understood as that attitude which assumes the best in others.

To “believe all things” means that we give others the benefit of the doubt. It means that we expect the best. It means that we are able to overlook the offences and failure of others. It means we believe that over time we can commit ourselves to one another. “Believing all things” means that we are willing to trust one another.

Perhaps you are struggling to “believe all things” about others in our church. Perhaps you are quick to expect others to fail. Perhaps you don’t believe that others will respond to things like they should. You doubt that they are capable of doing what they promise.

You believe they will fail. You believe they will fail you. Failure to “believe all things” is marked by suspicion; we suspect that others are being deceitful, hiding their true intentions and motives. You believe that despite someone’s own words, that they are up to no good. It is marked by stewing inwardly, dissecting the actions and remarks of others, interpreting their every act. We anticipate being offended and prepare our rebuttals. We anticipate being let down and prepare our scathing critique. We accuse the motives of others, assuming that their ultimate purposes are selfish.

Failure to love in this way is also a most hyper-critical thing. So many times, I have been so quick to note someone else’s sin, usually privately, to myself, and considered them a lost cause. I have considered entire persons on the basis of only their most recent actions. I have used words “always” to my expectations for others sin, and “never” meeting my expectations. In this way I have reduced others to a mere caricature of their true selves.

This sin has many consequences, but most notably it costs us friendship. When we sin in this way, we ultimately close ourselves to relationships with others. To protect ourselves from being hurt, we doubt others, and this prevents us from opening our hearts to them and forming the Christian bond of fellowship.

EXCERPT #2 (in relation to vs.7)

First, is this instructive, or descriptive? What I mean is, is Paul saying that to be loving, this is how we must behave? Or is he saying, someone who loves just naturally displays these characteristics?

Second, if this is instructive, what does it mean that love believes all things? (vs.7). Love hopes, and bears/endures, I get, but believes? Let me use a personal example: an adulterous spouse. I love her and she claims with great energy that it will never happen again. I believe her, but it does. And she claims again that it will stop. I believe her?? Every time? For how long?

If it is descriptive, then believes makes sense, because as the cliche says, “Love is blind” so of course love believes all things.

Now to get back to the difficult statement at hand, “Love believes all” ….

In Greek, the root word from which we get “faith”, is the noun PISTIS (Gk: πίστις), and the verb “believe” is PISTUEO (Gk: πιστεύω). Faith means Belief – a persuasion, an assurance, a firm conviction, faithfulness. The 2, (faith and belief) go hand-in-hand.

All is of God. Of this, we are sure. God is Spirit, of this we are also as sure. That means the Spirit we’ve been given by God, as a down payment, an earnest, gives us the ability to love as He loves – that is, in an “agape” way, an all-encompassing way. We have also been given our belief and faith by God. We therefore have faith and belief by God’s love, which trumps any limited, temporary gifts He provides along the way to build us up. (i.e: speaking in tongues, prophecy and knowledge). Having the agape love of God in us means we no longer need accompanying signs to prove our calling and standing. Just as God is all-sufficient, His love is just as all-sufficient.   

In vs.1, the “speaking in tongues” is an outward show of the Holy Spirit and an inward sign that confirms God’s operation within the one who has received this particular gift, but it’s incomplete in and of itself, if it’s not accompanied by love.

In vs.2, having the gift of “prophecy” and perceiving secrets and “knowledge” while all the while having faith, they too are incomplete, thus not all-encompassing, if they’re not accompanied by that same love.

In vs.3, even if you sacrifice your worldly possessions, even if you fast (denying your body), or even if you sacrifice your very life through martyrdom, all of those particular sacrifices are unsatisfying, incomplete and meaningless, if not accompanied with love.

In vs.4,5,6, we have a list of what love is not. The contraries are listed with the use of the word “not”, to point us toward the opposite of what love is. By listing a bunch of “is-nots”, it’s actually painting a broader picture of what constitutes “mature love” (the agape type). This is where God is directing our steps to show us more of His true nature. If we grasp what this list conveys, we grow in our appreciation of Him and His love. The intended purpose of the natural growth process is to bring us to maturity and have us bloom in the full realization of His Love.

When we believe that love is what motivated God to implement His plan, and that love’s full effect is to know God deeply and intimately, it is meant to bring us to a full and complete sense of His endgame. Love is the motor, the driving force that accomplishes His wanting to be All in all.

When we believe God, which is Love, we can actually believe all, thus “Love believes all” (vs.7). Believing “all” means believing the full potential behind God’s motivation and the full realization of His will.

If we believe that God will be All in all, we must also believe that “All” His love will also be fully transferred to inhabit “all” of His creation. This result can only happen when death is swallowed up, Satan no longer has a grip over others and Christ has subjected all to Himself and ultimately hands His Sovereignty over to our Father. When all of this will have occurred; lies and deceptions, carnal ambitions, hate, jealousy, boasting, pride, greed, self-centeredness, injustice, will have all vanished. Love will reign as God intended all along. It will be the driving force within all of His creatures.        

In vs.9-13, it speaks of “instalments”. I take that to mean an allotment, or earnest, or down payment – a foretaste and foreshadow of something much more meaningful and grandiose. In these verses, Paul is saying that while in a limited state of infancy, the gifts of speaking in tongues, prophecy and knowledge were given our early brethren while they were babes in Christ. The gifts God gave them were to accompany them in their growth process. Once having matured, these gifts were no longer necessary, therefore, as Paul would say, “to be discarded” (vs.10-11). Our early brethren were weaned off these crutches as they transitioned in their growth towards maturity.

If we are given a .001% or even a full 1% of His Holy Spirit as an earnest, I also believe we’ve been given the exact same corresponding ratio of His agape love.

Our Loving God believes in all that He put into motion – the tangible and the intangible (including Love).  Love is believing all that encompasses His qualities and attributes. Through His inspired and revelatory Word, we can determine His Greatness by terms such as; Light, Wisdom, Eternal, Omniscient (all-knowing), Omnipotent (all-powerful), Truth, Good, Just, Righteous, Holy and Perfect.

All of the preceding qualities and attributes are proof of His uncontested Sovereignty. Because we know Him in this way, we can trust him wholeheartedly with an unwavering assurance that He wants us to share those same qualities. That being said, we know that His/our “Love believes all”.   

What motivates us to reverence God so much???  Why do we trust in Him so blindly and unconditionally???  What makes us so confident of His Love for us???   What else can possibly explain our urge to want to honor Him???  Remember, He loved us first, before we loved Him. How can we explain the love we have for Him???

How can we reciprocate the Love He has for us???

For now, it can only be done through the 1% down payment He gave us through His Holy Spirit. Just as God told Paul that His grace was sufficient, so now, this allotted, apportioned Love we’ve been graciously given is also sufficient. However, to compensate, God also gave us our blessed hope and “expectation” (Titus 2:13) while we await the remaining 99% of His full-measure of agape Love.

HIS WHOLE PLAN from inception to consummation, from before the eons, to after the eons, was, is, and always will be motivated by the essence of His Being, agape LOVE.

God made sure His whole plan was Perfect and Flawless. When His plan was determined as such, He sealed it by the counsel of His Will – to withstand all of time.

Asking the question, what does “Love believes all” mean is a valid question, but to get to the root of the matter, the inquisitive mind asks an even more important question; “believes all of what?”. Love believes all that God has declared to be Truth. Love believes the Righteousness of God and all that sprouts from it.

Love has no boundaries. It isn’t limited by space or time, just like God. If love was restricted to believing only certain things (not “all”), it would have limits or boundaries. It would be prohibitive from knowing God fully in all His splendor.

I think understanding this, is what motivated/inspired Paul to write the following;  

Romans 8:35-39 –  Romans 8 Interlinear Bible (biblehub.com) – scroll down to vs.35-39

“³⁵ What shall be separating us from the (agape) love of God in Christ Jesus? Affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

³⁶ According as it is written that “On Thy account we are being put to death the whole day, We are reckoned as sheep for slaughter.”
³⁷ Nay! in all these we are more than conquering through Him Who (agape) loves us.
³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor messengers, nor sovereignties, nor the present, nor what is impending, nor powers,
³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, will be able to separate us from the (agape) love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord”.

In vs.38 & 39, Paul is focusing on the “boundless” power of agape Love. He expresses Love as having no boundaries for him, just as we should consider for ourselves. Our apostle is showing us by example that the Love he’s describing believes all. 

Romans 13:10 – Romans 13 Interlinear Bible (biblehub.com) – scroll down to vs.10

“Love is not working evil to an associate. The complement, then, of law, is love”.

As you know, we, the Body of Christ are His complement. Christ needs us, we need him. From this verse, we can say the same about law and love. They are complements of each other. When God/Christ gave the 10 commandments (the Law) to Moses, God/Christ did so out of their agape Love. This very same Law was later explained as being resumed into 2 commandments – to love thy associate as thy self and to love God with your whole being.

Matt.22: 37-39 – Matthew 22 Interlinear Bible (biblehub.com) – scroll down to vs.37-39

“Now He averred to him, “You shall be (agape) loving the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with you whole comprehension. ³⁸ This is the great and foremost precept. ³⁹ Yet the second is like it: ‘You shall be (agape) loving your associate as yourself.’”

God’s love is so “all-encompassing”, that He summed up the whole law into these 2 simple commandments. By God doing this, His Law/Love applies not only to Israel but to the Gentile nations as well, making His Love, “all-inclusive”.

I will close with a last example. It’s found in John 21:15-17 + vs.20

¹⁵ When, then, they lunch, Jesus is saying to Simon Peter, “Simon of John, are you (agape) loving Me more than these?” He is saying to Him, “Yes, Lord, Thou art aware that I am (philo) fond of Thee!” He is saying to him, “Graze My lambkins!”
¹⁶ He is saying to him again a second time, “Simon of John, are you(agape) “loving” Me?” He is saying to Him, “Yes, Lord, Thou art aware that I am (philo) fond of Thee!” He is saying to him, “Shepherd My sheep!”

¹⁷ He is saying to him the third time, “Simon of John, are you (philo) “fond” of Me?” Peter was sorry that He said to him the third time “Are you (philo) “fond” of Me?” and he is saying to Him, “Lord, Thou art aware of all things! Thou knowest that I am (philo) “fond” of Thee.” And Jesus is saying to him, “Graze My little sheep!

By the above text (vs.15-17), it’s evident that Peter never once told Christ that he “loved” Him in an “agape” way. Rather, he always answered Christ in a human way, with mere fondness. Why so? My theory on this, is that Peter didn’t have the Holy Spirit indwelling in him. He had the Spirit ON him but not IN him (as all Israelite Kingdom believers for that matter), as opposed to us, the Body of Christ, being indwelt with the Spirit.

I think our calling is more special than that. God and the risen Christ, choose to live within us. What a privilege! Because of that down payment, earnest of God’s Spirit, we can actually claim to “agape” our Elohim because He imparted that special privilege to us. Think about this – if Christ came down to visit you today and had the very same conversation with you, and if you were asked 3 times if you “agaped” Him, would you answer, that you were merely “fond” of Him? …or would you embrace Him and tell Him you agaped Him? This of course is a no-brainer to any member Christ’s Body.

In contrast, check out vs.20, of the same chapter, where John writes;

²⁰ Now Peter, being turned about, is observing the disciple whom Jesus (agape) loved, following, who leans back also on His chest at the dinner and said to Him, “Lord who is it who is giving Thee up?”

While penning this event, John obviously knew the difference between the words he was writing. He knew what Philo meant, and he knew what Agape meant. But he wrote vs.20 exactly the way God wanted it to be written. I think it’s to show us that they (including John), couldn’t (agape) love Christ the way Christ (agape) loved them. They, Peter and John were carnally man-centered, God’s love is more complete and comprehensive.

Norman Labelle

                                                                                                                   October 2021

Consider Wheat as Righteous Israel and Barley as the Body of Christ among the Nations.

Wheat and barley are both in the grass family.

Psalm 103:15 (CVOT)

As for mortal man, his days are like grass, like a blossom of the field, so is he blossoming.

The Differences

Wheat:

Grass and seeds are consumed by humans

This will be the case in the Millennial Kingdom.  Israel will feed the nations, both spiritually and physically, in health and wellness.

Field growth can reach 3 to 5 feet, or 1.5 meters.

Each head contains 30-50 wheat grains.

Barley:

Humans consume hulled barley.

Both grain and fodder are used to feed farm animals/Nations (curs, dogs).

Field growth can reach up to 4 feet or slightly over 1 meter, subservient to Israel in standing.

Top portion contains spikes that produce 20-60 grains.

Field Maturity

Barley and Wheat, in biblical times, were planted at the same time in autumn and ripened in spring.  Barley matured faster and would be harvested sooner. The first fruits of this grain were offered during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

Wheat ripens later than barley, in fact, seven weeks or forty-nine days later, hence, the Feast of New Grain, or the Feast of Weeks, on traditional Shavuot.

The most important cereal was barley. It was grown in fringe areas of the field due to its robust tolerance to harsh conditions.

Possible Foreshadow

Unleavened Bread, representing the nations, does not rise, as does Israel, in the eyes of God who are His chosen people.  At Passover, unleavened bread is served with bitter herbs.  These herbs could represent Israel’s bitter jealousy toward the nations and the evangel of grace which was rejected by Israel, delivered by the apostle Paul, over a period of years, as well as rejecting their Messiah at Pentecost on a national level.

Further thoughts

Barley, or the Body of Christ, is harvested first and snatched away.  

Wheat has its own Festival of New Grain.  The Wheat harvest pictures the gathering of Righteous Israel at the Second Advent of Christ.  They will reign in a 1,000-year Millennial Kingdom, Feast of the Lamb, and Wedding Supper with Her Bridegroom.

RL Buick

Thanks to Norman Labelle for article input.

March 2023