Saved ignoble

There are two major things that stand out to me when I read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

1. The numerous statements that teach the fact that believers were chosen since before the world even began.
2. The extreme emphasis placed on believers sharing an active role with Christ in the celestial realm.

So much of this information is in chapter one of Ephesians, I encourage you to read this book, it is mind blowing and tears the chains off of the religion that holds us in bondage.  Ephesians talks about pre-destination to the fullest extent and explains that we have nothing to do with being chosen, it is all of God’s grace and sovereign choice.  God chooses some to be saved and have a higher calling, then at the end, His grace will eventually save every single person that has ever walked the face of this earth and more.  

I don’t have fancy words to relate this to anyone, so I am just going to present the scripture that says this so plainly.  I will be referencing a lot of scripture is this paper because there is so much that talks so plainly about our destiny.  I am going to underline and stress the importance of the scripture speaking of the celestial realm, God’s sovereign pre-destined choice (lack of human free will), and our relationship to Christ.  The scripture will be presented and I will make key points in relation to those scriptures.   

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who blesses us with every spiritual blessing among the celestials, in Christ, according as He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world, we to be holy and flawless in His sight, in love designating us beforehand for the place of a son for Him through Jesus Christ; in accord with the delight of His will, for the laud of the glory of His grace, which graces us in the ‘Beloved.’  — Ephesians 1: 3-6

1. This is the first of many times the book of Ephesians mentions believers in company with the celestials.  The celestials are a heavenly realm that seems to be a different destiny for believers than for the earthbound, Jewish believers.  More on that as we proceed.
2. In these verses, Paul says that God chooses us, in Chirst, before the disruption of the world.  This verse is talking about believers.  So, if believers are chosen by God before the world ever began, before they were born, before they did anything good or bad, before they even had any knowledge, then how can this be a human free will choice to come to belief?  Simple, it has nothing to do with human free will.  God chooses, before time began, who will believe and who will not.  Those who believe in this life will have a special salvation and a special purpose both on earth and as Ephesians attests, in the celestial realm.  Those who do not believe or have not been chosen by God, are still under the almighty’s control, but will be saved at a later time.  
3. Again, the last part of these verses say the believers were designated beforehand for the place of a son for the delight of God’s will for the laud of the glory of His grace!  Humans having nothing to gloat over but God’s grace.  He lavishes that grace upon us because it is His sovereign choice, not our reward for following rules or being good enough.  God really seems to enjoy lavishing His grace upon His creatures, and eventually, though in a certain order, that grace will touch all.  

The next scripture segment I am going to refer to also speaks of the destiny of the believer and again, the prefix pre- and the word beforehand are used to describe the decision of God as choosing people before they made any action towards Him.

In Him in Whom our lot was cast also, being designated beforehand according to the purpose of the One Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His will, that we should be for the laud of His glory, who are pre-expectant in the Christ (Ephesians 1: 11-12).  

So God once again makes it clear that He has pre-destined certain people to a specific calling.  In addition these verses speak of God operating all in accord with the counsel of His will.  You see, God has planned each and every moment of our life before we came to be.  Then, our lives are carried out to this end as God operates all, and absolutely all according to His will.  God has a specific calling for each individual and has a specific journey set up to get each of us there.  It is all of God.  Acts 17:28 says, “For in Him we are living and moving, and are …” We cannot escape God’s plan any more than we can operate without living, moving and being.  These things, God upholds and directs in all people. 

Okay, so now I am going to back track a little and go to the first line of the above scripture that says, In Him in Whom our lot was cast also… and I am going to talk about just what the destiny is for the believer and the manner in which Jesus Christ and His body of believers will complete God’s perfect plan of saving all humanity.  

So scripture says that the believer’s lot was cast also with Jesus Christ, in fact, the group of believers that have been pulled from the many to believe God’s truths are referred to as Chirst’s body.  Christ will not go anywhere without His body.  Therefore to know what the believer’s position is, we need to look at what Christ’s allotment or position is.  This is explained in Ephesians 1: 18 – 23.  The following are important parts from this portion of scripture:

• Revelation is the realization of Him, the eyes of your heart having been enlightened, for you to perceive what is the expectation of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of the enjoyment of His allotment among the saints … (Ephesians 1: 18 – 19).  This scripture says that the saints will enjoy Jesus Christ’s allotment.  They enjoy this allotment because they have been given a realization, by God, of who Jesus and God actually are.  The realization that Jesus is the savior of the entire world and that nothing can be added to His work on the cross.  It is of pure grace.  In addition to this, God orchestrates all according to His will and His delight to navigate all people on their personal road of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  All will come to this realization, but those who come in this life have a special salvation in which they are now to enjoy what Christ enjoys.  
• So what is Christ’s allotment?  … rousing Him from among the dead and seating Him at His right hand among the celestials, up over every sovereignty and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this eon, but also in that which is impending: and subjects all under His feet…(Ephesians 1: 20 – 22).  I don’t think this comes as a major surprise to a lot of people that Jesus is above all.  However, the next bit of scriptural understanding might come as a shock.
• This is continued from Ephesians 1: 22 — … and gives Him, as Head over all, to the ecclesia which is His body, the complement of the One completing the all in all.
• I am also going to add this verse in Ephesians 3: 10-11 which states that now may be made known to the sovereignties and authorities among the celestials, through the ecclesia, the multifarious wisdom of God, in accord with the purpose of the eons…Once again, we have the body of believers being used by God to teach beings in the heavens, whether good or bad.  

Okay, there is so much here.  This verse mentions that Christ is head over all, and then, and then, it mentions that He is given to the ecclesia (group of believers) and this ecclesia is Jesus Christ’s body!  Jesus goes nowhere without His body, that is why these people will share in all the glory that Jesus has.  In fact, as this scripture mentions, the body of believers are Christ’s complement.  The word complement means “the perfect completion of.”  Therefore, the believers perfectly complete Christ and will share in His glory and in His mission.  

What, then, is Christ’s mission that his faithful will partake in?  Jesus is the one completing the all in all, meaning that those who believe in Christ will be involved in completing the all in all as well.  In essence, believers will be involved in saving all beings in the celestial and earthly realms.   So here it is, the plan that God is using to save all mankind:

First, the bible teaches that many are called but few are chosen.  The few, very few chosen to be a part of the body of Christ are those who, in this earthly life, were given the realization that Jesus Christ is their savior apart from anything that they have or have not done.  Those that believe in the sovereignty of God and reject human free will completely.  Those that reject the doctrine of eternal hell and truly believe that Jesus Christ will save all of humanity.  These people have a special salvation and will join Jesus Christ in bringing the rest of creation to the realization of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world.  

Second, the bible teaches that Jesus Christ will, with His body and all, save all those that were unbelievers in their earthly life and all celestial entities that opposed God throughout the ages, so that God will be all in all.  First come the believers of the truth, those who were called out of religion to the glorious freedom of Christ.  Then those believers, along with Christ, will be used to bring everyone else to the true realization of Christ and God’s sovereignty, love, grace and perfect plan that will save every man, woman and child that has ever walked this earth.  That is Jesus’s mission, to reconcile all things to God through His death and resurrection on the cross.  He will not fail, not at all, He will not fail even one person.  

Alright, now we are moving on through the book of Ephesians.  Can you believe that everything covered so far was only chapter one?  Well now, in chapter two there is another mention of the fact that believers will be seated in the celestial realm.  

…and rouses us together and seats us together among the celestials, in Christ Jesus, that, in the oncoming eons, He should be displaying the transcendent riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2: 6-8).

Not only does the above scripture speak of believers being in the celestial realm but also gives the reason and process for these believers having this high honor.  First, these scriptures mention nothing of believers earning this calling as the next scripture will solidify, however, the reason some people are chosen for this destiny is because God is displaying unlimited, unimaginable riches of His grace.  Why?  Because He is showing believers kindness in Christ Jesus.  

Now, the next verses I really want to focus on.  For this is how all humanity is saved, both those who are saved now and those who will be saved later.  The next scripture blows the doors off of every single religion that claims to know Christ and then require its congregation to do works for salvation or maintain salvation through works.  Here it is:

For in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is not of you; it is God’s approach present, not of works, lest anyone should be boasting.  For His achievement are we, being created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God makes ready beforehand, that we should be walking in them (Ephesians 2: 8-10)

There it is, we are saved by grace through faith.  Grace is completely unmerited on the part of the human, it is imparted in us no matter what, at our assigned time.  Yes, this grace does come through faith, but that very faith is also given to us by God.  Therefore, it is not of you, not at all.  Even if the human had some little part, for instance, like accepting the gift or being smart enough to make a faith choice for Christ, then they could boast in their part in the salvation process.  However, this verse says that no one can boast, why, because they have done NOTHING to receive salvation.  It is all of Christ Jesus.  

Are you going to believe this scripture?  Here are some things that are taught that deny the saving work of Christ that the church and individuals directly boast in:

• Lie #1:  Jesus Christ died for us but you must make a personal decision to accept Him into your heart.  This boasts in self because the person must be smart enough or aware enough to make the proper choice.  This puts the ultimate responsibility of salvation on the person’s decision rather than on God.  This is human pride at its worst.
• Lie #2:  You must follow the Ten Commandments or any other rules presented in the bible or concocted by the church.  Rule following for salvation directly denies grace.  Rule following has a place with Israel, for believers, rules and especially the Ten Commandments were given to show our failure and point us to Jesus Christ.  The second someone puts doing or not doing a specific act a condition of salvation, they are denying the full work of Jesus Christ.  
• Lie #3:  Jesus is just one of many ways to God.  Although all will be saved in the fullness of time and according to God’s perfect plan, there are not numerous ways to God and it does matter what a person does.  The bible says that no one will come to the father except through Jesus Christ.  We will all be saved, yes, but we will all come through the door that is Jesus Christ.  All will come to realize Jesus Christ as savior and all will be with God because and only because of the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.  There is no other way, but all will find it in God’s timing and order.  
• Lie #4:  A man is self-made and works out his life and presents it to God.  The verses above mention that WE ARE GOD’S ACHIEVEMENT!  He creates us and showers His blessings upon us.  Just like in Psalms 139:16 where it is said that every day of our life was planned before one of them came to be, the plan is hand-crafted, specific to each individual and it is all of God, we have no say in the matter.  
• Lie #5:  We do good works of our own volition.  Ephesians 2:10 says that believers are being created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has made ready beforehand, that we should be walking in them.  God appoints who will believe and when, then He created good works for them to do before they had any say in the matter.  People do not do good or bad of their own free will, their works were decided beforehand and they must complete them as God has ordained.  

You see, God and Father of all, Who is over all and through all and in all.  Now to each one of us was given grace in accord with the measure of the gratuity of Christ.  Wherefore He is saying, 

                Ascending on high, He captures captivity and gives gifts to mankind (Ephesians 4: 5-8).

These scriptures attest to the fact that we are all given gifts of grace according to God’s choice.  Not all people are given the same amount of gifts or grace but given a measure according to God’s favor and delight.  However, in all the works of humans, it is God who operates because He is over all and through all and in all as scripture attests.  In Him, in the Almighty, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).  Indeed, God holds us in the palm of His hand until that day in which He perfects us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  

Paul spoke of the fact that he was given this grace.  A grace that has been concealed from the eons in God and now is being proclaimed.  God has created all and now, through Paul, God is letting all know of His transcendent grace that will be made known to even the celestials through the body of believers that receive this grace.  That now may be made known to the sovereignties and the authorities among the celestials, through the ecclesia, the multifarious wisdom of God, in accord with the purpose of the eons… (Ephesians 3: 10-11).  The ecclesia, the body of believers, will make known to the celestials the grace and love of Jesus Christ.  Believers have a great destiny to bring this message to entities of heaven, both good and bad, to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and just what the Lord has done for them.  Eventually, these chosen believers will have a hand in bringing all of heaven and earth, all who have ever lived, to the grace and perfect salvation that comes through the realization that Jesus Christ is the savior of all mankind and indeed, all of creation.

The last scripture we are going to look at in Ephesians again references the believers destiny with respect to the celestials.  Paul is talking to believers here when he says, for it is not ours to wrestle with blood and flesh, but with the sovereignties, with the authorities, with the world-mights of this darkness, with spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials (Ephesians 6: 12-13).

Paul, once again, talks about the believers work with the celestials, in fact, here he speaks of the spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials.  Notice that these evil forces are in the celestial realm or the heavens, not in some dark fiery underworld.  Believers will have a hand in redeeming these celestial beings.  Yes indeed, the beings of wickedness will be saved just as the most evil human beings, will one day be saved.  

If one compares Ephesians 6:12 to Colossians 1: 15 – 20, it can be seen that the same evil entities mentioned in Ephesians 6:12 are reconciled to God in Colossians 1: 15 – 20.  This is the plan of God, to set beings against Him for a time and once the drama plays out, He brings them back to Him.  How does He do this, by making peace through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20). 

I was once a typical Christian.  I went to church, tithed, went on short-term missionary trips, taught Sunday School, and went to ‘Outreach Events’ whenever possible.  Of course, there was always something missing, something I just didn’t get, but I could never put my finger on it.  However, I just did not realize that what ‘I didn’t get’ was so massive and life changing.  This revelation was the fact that the True God was the complete opposite of the phony god that I was worshipping in Christianity.  I first started to come to a true realization of the Real God when I read a verse in TIMOTHY.  This verse is in 1 Timothy 4:10 and states that ….God, Who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers. 

This verse sat in my mind and heart for a long time.  I was afraid to pursue this scripture because I thought I was abandoning my faith, I felt my pastor and church would shun me and perhaps I would fall into heresy and become a backslidden Christian that the bible talks about.  Old ladies, who seemed sweet, would condemn me to hell and would seem to be happy about it.  However, I continued to study scripture and realized that many verses and stories support the fact that through Jesus Christ, God would eventually save every single human being that has ever lived.    

The scripture mentioned above stood out to me because it says that God is the savior of all mankind and then qualifies the believers with the word ‘especially’ which means they have a special salvation.  However, this also means that if God saves all mankind and the believers have a special salvation then everyone else will have salvation.  There is no way this verse could mean anything else but the salvation of all.  Unless you want to take the position that God is a savior of those whom He does not save, then this scripture clearly teaches that God will save unbelievers while specially saving believers. 

There is another verse in First Timothy that resonated with me.   Saviour, God, Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).  Clearly, to me, it is that God truly does want every last human to be saved, lest He is not love at all.  But, if God wills something or wants something to happen, will it?  Or will the almighty God want something and not be able to obtain it?  This didn’t make sense to me because we are talking about a sovereign, mighty God.  Well, it doesn’t make sense in scripture either.  There are so many verses in the bible that speak to God accomplishing His will and all that He wants.  These verses are too numerous for this short paper but I will touch on a few. 

…One Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His Will…(Ephesians 1: 11-12)

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).

Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him (Psalms 115:3).

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ (Isaiah 46:10).

God does not contrive weak wishes that He wants and cannot bring to pass.  He wills it, plans it, ordains it, and BRINGS IT TO PASS!  God is not a man that He wishes and dreams only to have those wishes and dreams fall through His fingers.  He is God.  He will accomplish all that He wills and He wills to save everyone from death. 

People cannot shun the love of God forever.  In fact, 1 Timothy 1: 14-15 says that the grace of our Lord overwhelms, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.  This faith and love will overwhelm even the hardest of sinners.  This was the very example that the apostle Paul gives, that of God overwhelming the worst of all sinners, Saul of Tarsus.  This is what the apostle Paul had to say about the way Jesus Christ saves:

Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all welcome, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, foremost of whom am I.  But therefore was I shown mercy, that in me, the foremost, Jesus Christ should be displaying all His patience, for a pattern of those who are about to be believing on Him for life eonian (1 Timothy 15-16).

This is the pattern for salvation for us, we have done nothing to neither deserve nor desire it, but God overwhelms us and saves us whether we like it or not.  That is what He did to Saul of Tarsus and that is what God will do for us.  All humans will be knocked off their horse sooner or later and will come to the realization that Jesus Christ will save every man, women and child.  All humans will come to the realization that they had nothing to do with their own salvation, but that it is all based on the mercy of God and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Some will come to this realization now, some will come later.  However, in the end, God will be all in all, all will have the spirit of God.

     I hate funerals.  At funerals, people say stupid things.  For example, “Look at Aunt May, she looks so beautiful and peaceful.”  Mind you that Aunt May is dead and in a coffin.  But, people want to say that she looks great as a dead body?  Then, I would hear people say, “Well Aunt May is alive in heaven looking down on us right now.” I understand that people say things like this to comfort themselves and others because nobody likes death.  However, do people really want to comfort themselves and others with pagan doctrines of false teachings just because it’s easier to swallow?  The truth is that Aunt May and all our loved ones that have died are dead and will not regain consciousness until resurrection day.  We may not like death but it is part of the process that we must go through in order to put on immortality and everlasting life.  Jesus went through death to show us the way home, through death.  The resurrection is a big deal!

     Eternal hell is the most disgusting fable ever told!  But, Jesus is the savior of the world, the entire world.  So we must ask:  What does Jesus save us from?  Well, Jesus saves us from sin and death.  But, just what exactly is sin and death?  This question and many others are actually answered in scripture.  Let’s first take a look at the Garden of Eden and the modern concept of sin and death:

     Satan is the greatest liar of all time.  He is a master of deceit because he includes as much truth in a lie as possible.  God told Adam that From every tree in the garden you may eat, yea eat.  But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat from it;  for on the day you eat from it, to die you shall be dying (Genesis 2:16).  Notice that God told Adam this one and only rule before Eve was even created.  Therefore, Eve would have received the knowledge of God’s instruction from Adam.  So Satan, right off the bat, attacks the one who would have received the word from another human, rather than straight from God.  Otherwise, Satan would have started with Adam. 

     But the serpent said to the woman:  Not to die shall you be dying;  for God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be unclosed, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3: 4-5).  Now, the knowing good and evil part of Satan’s comments was actually true.  In Genesis 3:22, God said:  Behold, man has become like one of Us in knowing good and evil.  The “knowing good and evil” part actually happened and is part of the process of God developing us into a perfect creation.  Humans must have an experience of good and evil to have the contrast to fully enjoy the glory and goodness of God.  However, the lie of Satan was delicately woven into the truth.  The lie was that Adam and Eve would not die or begin to die once they ate of the fruit.  Sadly today, religion continues to teach this lie of Satan within church walls. 

     Scripture says that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).  Christians simply do not believe in the scriptural definition of death as will be shown.  For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing whatsoever (Ecclesiastes 9:5).  The bible says that the dead do not know anything.  Popular religious and Christian belief is that a part of the soul lives on and goes to heaven or hell immediately.  Thus, these religions confirm and teach the lie of Satan that surely we will not die, but continue to live in some other realm.  This lie diminishes the power of the resurrection and as we will soon see, causes people to deny the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ without even knowing it. 

     In the Old Testament death was very physical.  The patriarchs died and went away.  There was no mention of them or other humans living somewhere else after they died.  Jesus spoke of Gehenna which was a physical location.  The grave was referred to as a place people went after death where they were no longer seen.  The bottom line:  death is the absence and opposite of life.  There is no feeling, sensations, passage of time or anything else in death as scripture says the dead know not anything.  Death is not life for part of the soul in another form but is indeed death.  Death may be a brutal, horrible process but, being dead is like being in a deep sleep with no thoughts, emotions or anything else.  You will wake up at the resurrection and even if you were dead for 2,000 years it would feel as if you had just died.  Jesus suffered, died and experienced the death state for us.  God raised Him from the death state to show us how Jesus will one day raise us from the death state.  Jesus is not snatching our soul back from heaven or hell at the resurrection to put us in some different body.  He is raising us from the dead to have life.  Then, at the Lord’s appointed time, and only then, do we put on our immortality.

     We need to digress and talk about the false doctrine of the ‘Immortality of the soul’ and then look at the true definition of the ‘soul’ from scripture.  First, where does the belief that a soul goes to heaven or hell immediately after death come from?   I am not going to get into too much detail about this but it can be traced back to ancient Egypt.  Then from Egypt, the mythology of the soul living after death crept into Jewish and Greek thinking throughout the ages.  As a result, religion and churches injected this belief into their doctrines.  However, there is no scripture in the bible that teaches the immortality of the soul or that a part of a person lives on after death.  The church simply mixed pagan doctrines from Egypt that ran down the pipe to their own cultures and accepted it as truth.  Satan works in subtle ways.  The immortality of the soul denies death, the very thing that Christ came to save us from.  Not only that, the immortality of the soul denies the fact that Jesus ever died.  One way Satan attacks the truth is by denying what Jesus did and what He saved humans from by redefining the word death to mean something it doesn’t.  If the soul lives on and humans don’t actually die, then Jesus doesn’t save us from death and He never actually died Himself. 

     This is not what scripture teaches as all.  The Old Testament teaches that Adam died, Abraham died, Isaac died, Jacob died, Moses died and so on and so forth.  There is no mention of any part of these people existing somewhere else after they died.  Basically, they ceased to exist and have no thought, passage of time, or sensation at all as the dead know nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5).  So what is life and death?  Let’s take a look at what scripture teaches about what the soul actually is.

     God formed the human out of soil from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the breath of life; and the human became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).  Let’s break this down.  So God formed a body from the ground, it was a human body.  Then, God blew the breath of life into the human and the human became a living soul.  This teaches that the soul is the combination of a body and breath of life from God.  The body was not alive, it had no feeling or self-realization when God formed it from the soil.  Okay, God’s next step was NOT to create a soul and put it in the human!  No, His next step was to blow the breath of life into the body.  The breath of life came out of God and into the body.  Therefore, the fusion of the body and the breath of life became a living soul.  The Hebrew word nephesh (5315) is the word used for soul.  It is described as a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion.  The important point here is that the soul is not a separate part of a person that lives forever, rather a soul is formed when body and God’s spirit come together. 

     The word nephesh is used many times in scripture when God was creating living beings.  And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living soul (nephesh), each according to its kind: domestic beast, creeper and land animal, each according to its kind (Genesis 1:24).  Some bible translations sub the word creature in for soul in this scripture.  However, the Hebrew word used to describe all the creatures that God created, is nephesh, the same word meaning soul when God created the human.  So in essence, all living creatures have a body and when that body is combined with God’s spirit, they became a soul.  They do not have a soul! 

     When God blew the breath of life into Adam’s body, Adam had no consciousness or sensation when the breath was still with God.  God formed a lifeless body and it was not until He breathed spirit into Adam that he became aware and alive.  He became a living soul!  A soul was not but into him.  I’ll repeat this hundreds of times because it is so important.  If there is no body then the soul cannot exist, if there is not spirit or breath of life then the soul cannot exist.  The soul is only formed when there is a body and God puts a spirit or breaths the breath of life into the body.  The combination of the two is the soul.

     So what happens when people die?  And the soil returns to the earth just as it was, and the spirit, it returns to the One, God, Who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7).  People die and their bodies are lifeless, they become part of the earth, rot and decay.  The spirit (breath of life) of the person returns to God, Who gave it.  Now this spirit is not an immortal soul that goes to heaven or hell.  Remember, the soul or nephesh is the combination of body and spirit.  At this point, the soul no longer exists and the spirit of the human goes back to God just as it was with God before He blew the breath of life into Adam.  Adam had no consciousness or sensation until the moment God blew spirit into him, he was just a lifeless corpse.  For those of us that die, the spirit leaves our body leaving it lifeless and the spirit goes to God just like Adam’s spirit was the moment before God breathed life into him.  We have no consciousness, thought or anything else when our spirit goes to God.    For the dead know nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5).  This is death and we sin because we are going to die.  This is the destiny of all humans and creatures on earth and this is what we must be saved from. 

     The following are some excerpts from the book of Job chapter 14: 10-14:

But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more

So he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake

Or be roused from their sleep.

If someone dies will they live again?  All the days of my hard service I will wait for my

Renewal to come.

     There are many other verses in scripture that teach that the dead are dead.  There are no verses in scripture that teach that humans or their soul go anywhere else but the grave when they die.  The above selection in Job is one of many that relate death to sleep.  In fact, this passage teaches that humans will not be raised or awakened from their sleep until the heavens are no more.  We don’t go anywhere when we sleep, we are unconscious.  Death itself is a deep sleep and the bible does not leave any doubt about the teaching that no part of the human is alive anywhere else.  Then, the million dollar question asked in Job 14:14:  If someone dies, will they live again?

     As I was driving up the highway to Michigan, I saw a giant billboard that read:  If you died today, would you go to heaven or hell?  This seems to be the question that religion asks.  Little do they know that this question is blasphemy and contradicts the truth of the scripture.   Simply put, it is the wrong question.  The question that should be asked is in Job 14:14 that IF SOMEONE DIES, WILL THEY LIVE AGAIN?  Death is the problem!  We would remain dead forever and never rise from the grave if someone didn’t save us from this fate.  Death is what we need to be saved from, not eternal hell.  IF SOMEONE DIES, WILL THEY LIVE AGAIN?  YES, because Christ Jesus went to the grave and God raised Him from that grave.  Christ will do the same for each one of us at our appointed time.

     You see, the resurrection is a big deal.  It is the answer to the problem of sin and death; in fact, it will destroy sin and death completely.  The teaching of the ‘Immortality of the soul’ makes resurrection day unnecessary.  If people or their souls are in heaven and hell immediately after they die, then what is the purpose of the resurrection?  At resurrection, Christians would have us believe that souls are snatched from heaven and hell, given a new body at resurrection, and then returned to heaven and hell.  That makes sense only to illogical, unscriptural based, religious minds.  Nowhere in scripture is this taught.  God said man would die and Satan lied about it.  The church believes Satan and not God.  The bible says the wages of sin is death.  Moses died and went to the grave along with the patriarchs of the Old Testament.  Jesus died and was in the dead state for three days.  We all die and will be dead until the resurrection!  This is serious because if one believes that Jesus’s soul went somewhere else at His death then they are denying that Jesus actually died.  This leads to another great lie of the Christian religion, THE TRINITY!

     Satan is an evil genius because he tricks people into thinking they believe in Jesus when their own teachings actually deny Jesus.  The trinity is one of those lies.  Religion teaches that God is one in three parts, the father, son and holy ghost.  This is not true as scripture would attest and not only that, but it denies the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ when you follow this teaching all the way through.  First, from the mouth of Christ Himself:  I am going, and I am coming to you.  If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I (John 14:28).

     If one is greater than the other, then they are not equal.  No sense in getting into a squabble over who is greater, God or Jesus but these words from Jesus indicate that they are not the same being.  Jesus is God’s son and He has all the attributes of His Father but He is not His Father.  When we look at Jesus, the full representation of God is seen.  However, God and Jesus are not two equal parts of the same being.  In fact, Jesus Christ actually will give up His reign and subject Himself completely to God.  How many times have you heard that?  Yes, Jesus will give up His reign and subject Himself to God at the appointed time.  When will Jesus give up His reign?  Jesus will give up His reign after He destroys death and saves the last human being and the last bit of creation.  Christ Jesus will raise every, man, woman and child from the dead and give them immortality along with the rest of creation.  At that point, Jesus hands over the entire creation that He saved, including Jesus Himself, to God so that He will be all things to all creation.  Don’t believe me?  Here are the scriptures that prove it.

Thereafter the consummation, whenever He (Jesus) may be giving up the kingdom to His God and Father, whenever He should be nullifying all sovereignty and all authority and power.  For He must be reigning UNTIL He should be placing all enemies under His feet.  The last enemy is being abolished: death (1 Corinthians 15: 24-27). 

     The above scripture shows that Christ will reign until He puts all enemies under His feet.  This word ‘until’ means that at this point in God’s plan, Jesus ends His rule and completes His mission of destroying death and saving all creation.  Jesus gives up His rule and presents His accomplished work to God, His Father, NOT to Himself.  Then, the bible goes on to say that Jesus will subject Himself to God so that God will be all in all.  Notice it does not say that Jesus subjects Himself to Himself but to God.  Clearly, there are different roles between Jesus and God.  Jesus and God are not one.  They may be one in purpose but not in being.  God is Jesus’s Father.  Jesus is the Son of God as the bible says over and over. 

For He subjects all under His feet.  Now whenever He may be saying that all is subject, it is evident that it is outside of Him Who subjects all to Him.  Now, whenever all may be subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him, that God may be All in all (1 Corinthians 15: 27-28).

     Jesus will be subjected to God once He fulfills His mission of saving all creation.  He is a separate entity from God but always follows the will of God and is the perfect manifestation of the Father.  In this way, they are one.  However, they are not one being.  The trinity denies the work of Christ because if you follow the teaching all the way through then Jesus did not actually die on the cross.  The trinity says that Jesus’s body died but that He was still alive in the form of the Father.  If this is the case then Jesus never experienced the death state for us and is not our savior.  This is how subtle tricks from the devil get religious people to think they believe in the truth but deny it with their own false teaching.  However, Jesus did die; both His body and being, and God raised Him from the dead.  Jesus was dead like we will one day be dead.  So, we will rise as He rose because of His death.  We will follow Him in death and then follow Him in resurrection.  Jesus is our Savior that suffered and died for us!

     Now, if God is not a trinity then what is He actually doing with respect to His Son?  The truth is that God is expanding His family to have many sons and daughters just like Jesus!  God will give immortal, blissful life to all of His creation through the suffering, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.  However, Jesus saves some before others.  This is all a part of God’s will and foreknowledge.  God chooses to conform people to the image of His Son so that these people will become His very sons and daughters.  This is an expanding family and not a trinity.

     Certain people are called according to the purpose that, whom He foreknew, He designates beforehand, also, to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be the Firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8: 28-30). 

     Jesus saved the world and is going to be the Firstborn of many brethren.  This means that Jesus is creating people to be just like Him, His very brothers and sisters.  This would not be possible if Jesus was part of a trinity.  Christ Jesus did more than just save us from death; He was the first Son of God and is creating us to be sons and daughters of God as well.  We are sons and daughters of God because and through Christ Jesus!

The spirit itself is testifying together with our spirit that we are children of God.  Yet if children, enjoyers also of an allotment, enjoyers, indeed, of an allotment from God, yet joint enjoyers of Christ’s allotment, if so be that we are suffering together, that we should be glorified together also (Romans 8: 16-17).

     God gives belief to people that He designated beforehand to develop into the sons and daughters of God.  These people are the first fruits of those that will enjoy the allotment of Jesus Christ.  This is a special calling for selected human beings, but, if we continue reading in Romans 8 it is evident that all of creation is groaning for the revelation of the sons of God.  Why does all creation want to know who the sons of God are?  They also want to be freed from sin, corruption and death.  For to vanity was the creation subjected, not voluntarily, but because of Him Who subjects it, in expectation that the creation itself, also, shall be freed from the slavery of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 

     Then, as scripture says, the rest of creation will put on the freedom of the children of God.  You see, God is creating a family through Jesus Christ giving His creation the same attributes.  Jesus was the first, and through Jesus, God will bring home all of His precious humans.  Some He will bring into the family before others, but rest assured, God will one day be All in all.  We will all be children of God because of Christ Jesus.

     I would like to leave one final note on this topic.  There are instances in scripture in which Jesus is praying to His Father, God.  For example, Jesus prayed to God in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His death.  He also prayed on the cross.  If Jesus and God are equal parts of the trinity, then was Jesus praying to Himself during these times?  I don’t think so.  Now, Jesus does and did accomplish the will of God perfectly.  He is the image of the invisible God, BUT, He is indeed the Son of God.  Jesus is the Image of the invisible God, firstborn of every creature (Colossians 1:15).  Jesus prayed in Gethsemane that there be another way to save the world besides crucifixion but He put God’s will first.  He prayed on the cross that God would forgive those in the process of killing Him.  He did not run up to heaven to answer His own prayer.  Jesus prayed to His Father, not Himself.  Jesus died and did not exist for three days when He was in the grave.  He was not alive in the form of the Father or in any other form or realm of existence.  He was dead.  Jesus was dead, asleep, just like we will one day be dead.  Jesus was raised to new life and He will do the same for us at the resurrection…but not until the resurrection.

Drink this to cleanse you from your most recent church experience

There is a popular Irish Drinking Song with the lyrics “Whiskey you’re the devil, your leading me astray.”  Talk to most people and they think the devil’s playground is drugs and alcohol, strip clubs and wild living.  Satan does have a hand in locking people into over indulgence in certain vices; however, I am convinced that the Devil’s best work is in imitating the truth by disguising himself as the truth.  Satan is not the enemy standing outside the gate; he is the enemy that is in your living room.  Satan does not stand outside the church with a pitchfork and horns looking to devour saints.  No, he invaded the church thousands of years ago and disguises himself as priests, pastors, elders and church members in such a stroke of genius that these people do not even know they are doing the devil’s bidding.  You see, back to whiskey, you know what you get when you drink whiskey.  Whiskey does not hide itself.  The devil does.  In II Corinthians chapter 11 verses 14 and 15, the apostle Paul says, “For Satan himself is being transfigured into a messenger of light.  It is no great thing, then, if his servants also are being transfigured as dispensers of righteousness – whose consummation shall be according to their acts.  

Here we have definitive scripture that says Satan and his minions are disguised as good people doing good things.  However, these doers of good put their trust in their good works and not in God and not in the saving work of Jesus Christ.  Some might say they believe in Christ, but they put faith in their own ability to have faith or in some decision they have made and this becomes a work.  In addition, many people try to uphold some sort of standard of rule keeping that denies the pure grace of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection alone as being the only possible way to salvation.  What are these people denying?  Let’s stay in 2^nd Corinthians: 

Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ, and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation, how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them, and placing in us the word of the conciliation (2 Corinthians 5: 18-19)

Here it is, these phony humans who claim to know and work for God deny so many scriptures that talk about God’s sovereignty and His Godly love that will save every single human being.  The verses above say that all is of God and the message the saints must give is that He (not He and us) is conciliating the world to Himself through Christ (not any contribution of our own).  Jesus saved the world and the mission of believers is to tell the world that they are conciliated to God through Christ.  It is a done deal and Christ has saved everyone, the mission is to help people realize this.  However, the realization does not save the human being, Jesus Christ does.  As a result, every individual human that walked the face of the earth will one day be saved, but each will be saved in his or her own order based on coming to this realization.  Some will get in early and have greater honor in the coming eons, some will experience the second death in the lake of fire.  But the end game, when God’s plan is complete, He will be all in all and fill every one of His creatures because of the work of Jesus Christ.  

Why can’t people believe these truths?  Because this reality cannot be seen because Satan is the god of this eon and this present wicked world.  He deceives and imitates the truth to get people to discard God or subtly get them to believe in themselves while thinking they believe in God.  Satan fools some into not believing in Jesus at all, and some he fools by making them think that they are partners with Jesus in salvation.  For example, they must choose Him or act right in order to activate their salvation.  This self-righteous thought process denies that Jesus and Jesus alone is the savior of the world, not Jesus and I.    

In whom the god of this eon blinds the apprehensions of the unbelieving so that the illumination of the evangel of the glory of Christ, Who is the Image of the invisible God, does not irradiate them (2 Corinthians 4: 3-4).

Take the blinders off and realize that Jesus is the savior of the entire world, not the potential savior.  Take the blinders off and realize that God will one day be all in all through the work of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.  Jesus Christ has reconciled you to God and there is nothing you can do to earn salvation and nothing you can do to lose your salvation.  Trust in Jesus completely and deny the god of this eon (satan).  

Because of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is not reckoning the world’s offenses to them – 2^nd Corinthians 5: 19

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

• 1 John 4:14

God is Love (1 John 4:8)—How does eternal hell fit into God’s love?  It does not.  Eternal hell is nowhere in scripture.

Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8) and does not take account of evil (1 Corinthians 13: 5-6)—If people are in eternal hell for their unbelief or any other reason, that would be God failing and taking into account the evil of that person thus making these scriptures a lie.  

God wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4)—If God is love, then this desire to have all men saved would mean exactly that, that God wants all men to be saved.  If God is almighty He will accomplish His will.  This is not a weak wish that human free will can thwart.  God wills all men to be saved because He is love and all men will be saved because God is sovereign and all powerful.   

God works all in accord with the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11)—Man cannot act independently of God and each will be saved by the blood of Christ in his or her order.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before even one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16)

Why would Jesus Christ teach us to love our enemies if he is going to torture His enemies for all eternity?  The answer is that God’s judgements are a part of His Love, they are corrective, they are not eternal.  Once God’s judgement runs its course, even those judged in the most severe way will be reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement:  (Hebrews 9:27)

We will all die, unless we are a select few that are alive when Jesus Christ returns to snatch us away and/or face judgement.  In this brief paper, I want to hit on just what “death” and “judgement” mean according to scripture.  I will preface this with the fact that death and judgement as presented in scripture are very different from the common belief of most people. 

First, let’s discuss death.  The bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:5 that the dead do not know anything and Psalm 146:4 says that when a person dies, their spirit leaves, they go to the ground, and their thoughts perish.  It is a common mistake for people to believe that a person’s soul goes somewhere after death and to believe that person lives either in heaven or hell or some intermediate state.  The bible makes clear that the dead are dead!  They are sleeping until the resurrection.  The scriptures say that those who are dead, their very thoughts perish and they do not know anything.  There is no feeling, pain, suffering, or joy in the state of being dead.  If there was a conscious existence, then these people would have thoughts and they would know something.  However, just like the creation of Adam, we will not regain consciousness until Jesus gives us a new body and breathes our resurrected life into it.  Then, we will be alive for ever, passing through the state of death never to experience it again.

So after death, judgement:  Judgement seems to be such a negative term as used in our society and by religious people.  But, what does scripture have to say about judgement?  Is it always negative?  Is it ever negative?  Without a doubt, judgement can be a scary and painful endeavor; however, I contest that scripture clearly reveals that judgement is for correction not punishment and is always for the good of the person being judged. 

If judgement were evil or devised to punish those who are evil with pain, eternal torment or other nonsense, then one would figure that judgement would begin with evil doers and followers of Satan.  However, in 1 Peter 4:17, it says – for the judgement to begin in the house of God.  You see, judgement begins with God’s people because God corrects them first.  He corrects believers first, and then he will correct unbelievers.  Judgement is corrective and has an ultimate, good purpose, though the process may be unpleasant.  So what happens when people are judged?  What is the end result?

When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9).  So what happens when judgement is hurled at people?  The answer is that they learn righteousness.  So we can conclude that judgement is corrective and God uses it to teach, change and redeem as opposed to punish for all eternity.  Why?  For whom the Lord is loving He is disciplining, Yet He is scourging every son to whom He is assenting (Hebrews 12:6).

I don’t really want to but I feel I need to include a verse that many Christians will use to prove that judgement is eternal and not temporary as the bible proclaims.  I will show you that though Christians use this verse to support eternal torment, it actually proves that judgement is corrective and temporary and not eternal and vindictive. 

The verse is found in Matthew 25:46.  The King James version reads: Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.   This verse really deals with eternal punishment?  No way, thankfully the King James translators were drunk or something worse, just like every time they mistranslated words in scripture.  The literal Greek words read as follows:  And these shall be coming away into chastening eonian, yet the just into life eonian.  Please don’t take my word for it, do an honest study on what the original language and meanings of words used.  THE WORDS THAT ARE TAUGHT TO MEAN ETERNAL PUNISHMENT ACTUALLY MEAN AGELONG CHASTISEMENT.  This is a period of time that God uses to correct the evil doer.  The judgment is for the corrective benefit of the one being chastised. 

The all-loving, all-mighty God would not send any part of His creation to a sick, vindictive hell hole with no chance of ever getting out for all eternity.  He has a plan for each and every one of us that ends with all of us alive and full of His spirit.  However, for some it will take longer to get home and they may have to go through severe, horrible, judgement.  But, in the end, they will be home with God. 

I was at a party one night and out by the bomb fire, a Christian girl asked me how many people have I saved.  She asked me if I use Romans Walk, which was a name for following the book of Romans to help save someone.  I said no, but chose to explore the book of Romans to see what the apostle Paul had to say.  I am going to sum up what some of these verses say so please look up the scripture for yourself to get the verses in their entirety.  

The first verses that caught my attention were in chapter 3: 20-23 that said by works of the law, no flesh will be justified in God’s eyes, for through law is the recognition of sin.  Then, it is stated that the only righteousness we as humans can receive is apart from the law and only through Jesus Christ’s faith.  Again, in verse 28, it is repeated that man shall be justified by faith apart from works of the law.  

This didn’t make sense to me because so many religious people are all about rule following, following the 10 commandments, doing what is right, listening to the rules that Jesus and God have set forth.  But here, in Romans, the apostle Paul says that we are justified by faith and this is separate from law.  You see, law and following rules has no place in our salvation.  The only reason laws were given by God was to show us that we cannot follow them and that we are sinners.  In Chapter 10, verse 4, it is said that Christ is the consummation of law.  So Romans walk then, teaches us that we cannot uphold the law for all have sinned, but Jesus Christ upheld the law perfectly, so, by believing that Christ Jesus died and raised from the dead, we share in His perfect life and therefore we are saved.  So it is by the faith of Jesus Christ and believing in Him that we are saved, not by following any rules.  Salvation is of pure grace.

In verse 11:6, the apostle Paul explains that grace and works cannot mix.  In essence, if you believe that Jesus Christ died for you and then add works to it then you completely nullify grace.  Also, if you try to be justified by following the law and then believe in Jesus Christ, you nullify the works of the law.  To summarize, Paul is saying that you can only be saved by believing in Jesus Christ. Any human attempt to follow rules or come to some self-righteous act to aid the cross of Christ for salvation denies the work of Christ.  Therefore, by faith and faith alone, we are saved.  

So, that begs the question.  What must a man or women do to be saved?  The answer is to come to the realization that Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection has saved you.  Do you need to have faith, yes, but that faith is given to us by God in varying degrees (Romans 12:3-4).  Therefore, the entire process of salvation, from start to finish, is entirely of God.  God chooses some to come to faith now and He will choose the rest later.  All, every single human being is saved and will be with God in heaven, but each will be saved in his or her own order according to God’s sovereign choice.  Romans 11:32 states that God locks all together in stubbornness so that He could have mercy on them all!  As a result, all humans will be saved according to God’s mercy and grace, not according to their works, not according to their free-will faith choice, or anything else.  

I am going to close with the fact that in chapter 9 of Romans, Paul talks about Jacob and Esau.  God says that the destiny of these men was set before they were even born, before they did anything good or bad.  Therefore, it is not up to man but up to God’s sovereign choice.  We do not have free will but are chosen by God and then He orchestrates all for His desired outcome and in His timing.    In the end, God will be all in all!  Every single human being will be home with God and will put on immortality.  

Eternal Hell is a myth and is not a part of God’s plan.  Jesus Christ and God, through love and sovereignty attest to this fact that no man, woman, nor child will be separated from God in a fictitious eternal hellhole, but all will be reconciled through the cross of Jesus Christ.

     Do you have a loved one who has died without Jesus?  He or she had problems and never really overcame their sin.  They died without believing in the goodness of God.  They never accepted Jesus as their personal lord and savior and certainly never got baptized.  Where does religion say your loved is right now?  Burning in eternal hell?  Separated from God forever with no chance of salvation?  My goodness, the limits and sickness that religion puts on God is mind blowing.  I hope you don’t believe this nonsense.  I’m here to tell you that Christians and religion have lied to you.  This is not wishful thinking as scripture attests:  that as surely as your loved one is dead, he or she will be saved and with God forever.  God is the Savior of all men, especially those that believe (1 Timothy 4:10). 

     God’s love, according to religion, is limited, weak and conditional.  God only loves you if you do or believe certain things and that love runs out if you die before you figure it out.  Muslims and Jews believe that God will torture people for all eternity.  Christians believe that God will burn people forever as well.  Every religion on earth is focused on the human as the deciding factor as to eternal destiny.  Christianity for example, claims that Jesus died for sin but the deciding factor of a hellish or heavenly destiny is squarely on whether or not a person believes this message or performs certain works.  According to these religions, some will make it and some will not.  God’s love runs out on people that do not toe the line.  After all, if a person is burning and kept alive through this conscious suffering for all eternity, then that love has without doubt, ran out. 

     Christians want to quote John 3:16, for thus God loves the world, so that He gives His only-begotten Son, that everyone who is believing in Him should not be perishing, but may be having life eonian.  But according to these religious folk, that love of God runs out on people.  If a person does not believe, does not get baptized, commits certain sins, doesn’t perform sacraments or any combination of these things, then Jesus’s death does not apply to them and hell or eternal separation awaits them.  Therefore, depending on what denomination you belong to, a person must continually be in the right standing with God in order to be saved.  What happens if your belief wavers or you can’t overcome specific sins in your life?  You’re out! 

     Therefore, salvation is not a sure thing and is dependent on human action.  This means nothing is certain and you could lose your standing with God at any moment because of your behavior.  For me, this type of conditional love presented by the church is a farce!  Believe in my son or I will burn you forever is a sick, vindictive lie created by religion in order to control people and get the offerings flowing to the church.  God is not a bipolar, schizophrenic sociopath that loves you one moment and then pulls the rug out from you and tortures you forever if you fail.  How can anyone trust in a god like that?  Thankfully, this is not the true God of scripture.

     A woman asks a man:  “Will you still love me in the morning,” when the man is courting her.  The woman wants to know if the man will still love her when she is not as attractive and things become more difficult.  Personally, the only love I can trust in is one in which God loves enough to still love me even at my worst.  The love worthy of God is strong enough to love me even if I die in sin and unbelief.   Even if I hate God, He will still love me.  That’s the certainty of love that I need and thankfully, that is exactly the love that God has not only for me, but for all of us!  God’s love never fails.  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1: 15-16) not those that respond to Him properly or follow religious rules.  We all are sinners and Jesus saves us even while we are at our worst.  He saves us even if we die without believing in Him.  Jesus saves even the vilest sinner that has never repented.  He loves us when we are unlovable.

     The Apostle Paul, in chapter 5 of Romans, says that while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes.  For if, being enemies, we were conciliated to God through the death of His Son, much rather, being conciliated, we shall be saved in His life (Romans 5: 10-11).  The bible says that Christ made things right with us WHILE WE WERE ENEMIES!  God does not make us perform or believe for Him in order to save us.  Instead, through the death of Jesus, God makes things right with those that are enemies.  This is a huge and overlooked message of the love of God.  This scripture tells us that Christ has made things right between God and humans before the humans did anything to please God.  He conciliated us WHILE WE WERE ENEMIES. 

     We are all enemies of God at some point as scripture says For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all (Romans 11:32).  Jesus takes care of all sins as attested in scripture.  He (Jesus) is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).  Just as sure as death comes to all people and we experience it, so shall everlasting life come to all people and every last one of us will experience it (1 Corinthians 15:22).  You see, Christ’s death saved every man, woman and child that has ever walked the face of the earth.  However, not everyone realizes it.  In fact, most people do not realize it because they can’t. 

     The god (Satan) of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4).  Satan has used religion and its puppets to convince people that God only loves you if you come to the altar or otherwise perform for Him.  Church leaders twist the scripture to fit their bogus doctrines and push it on unsuspecting, trusting individuals.  This is brainwashing in the worst form.   Religion teaches that Christ’s death and God’s love are dependent upon and only work if humans contribute belief or works.  If they don’t contribute, then people forfeit the death and resurrection and consequently, God’s love.  Please!  That is Satan’s teaching if ever I heard it.  Don’t believe it!  Humans do not have the power to overcome or thwart the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ nor the love of God. 

     The church, religion and Satan have misrepresented Jesus Christ and God in the worst way.  Because of this, many believe that God will torture people forever and has no sovereign power or desire to ever rescue this part of creation.  The lies of eternal hell, man’s free-will and the teaching that the dead are not dead are taught in mainstream religion and society.  It is difficult to break free from these chains but God has given faith and a realization of the truth to some people.  These people that believe that Jesus died and will eventually save all mankind through His death and resurrection will have the privilege of ruling and reigning with Christ.  They will have a special salvation.  These people come in early to knowledge of the truth because God gave them the grace and faith to believe.  True believers did not earn or deserve this but instead God chose them.  For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2: 8-10). 

     God, Who saves us and calls us with a holy calling, not in accord with acts, but in accord with His own purpose and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time (2 Timothy 1:9).  God chose the people that would believe this message before the beginning of time, before they were even born.  It is God’s choice to give belief to and save a select few now.  The rest of humanity, He will save later.  So if your loved one missed the boat or did not come to Jesus in this life; the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus still saves him or her.  They will go through judgement and this is never pleasant, however, when God’s judgements come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9).   

     The title of this book is “The Story of You” because I want you to know that God has a unique and individual plan custom made for you and only you.  It is true that all people will be with God because of the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.  These righteous actions of God’s Son will save everyone.  However, each will be saved in their own order (1 Corinthians 15:23).  Also, each will go through their own set of evil and pain in this life.  This evil and pain is given to you specifically by God to shape, teach and prepare you for the future joy of God dwelling in you.  God states in Isaiah 45:7, “I create evil.”  He also created your inmost being and knit you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).  Your pain, struggles, failures and sin are all a part of God’s creative process.  He is shaping your for immortality and an eternal destiny that can only be fully enjoyed because of the unique evil and pain that you endured.  The joy will be that much greater because you endured so much pain.  You are God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) and your heart will be throbbing with joy forever!

     Your eternal destiny is set and unchangeable.  You will not remain dead but will be resurrected to eternal bliss because of Jesus Christ.  This fact can never change.  You can never do anything to lose your place in heaven because your place in heaven was never based on anything you did or didn’t do.  Your place in heaven is based on Jesus Christ and what He did!  Christ Jesus’s death and resurrection applies to you whether you accept it or not.  Now, God does give some people a realization of this truth now.  These people are members of a body that Jesus will one day use to help bring the rest of humanity to a place that realizes this truth.  It is wonderful if God gives you the faith to realize this now in this life.  But, if not, He will give it to you at a later time.  Your loved one that died without Jesus Christ will one day rise from the dead by the power of Jesus Christ.  This will happen after death is destroyed; however, it will most definitely happen.  God will one day dwell in everyone (1 Corinthians 15:28), for that is the glorious plan that fulfills and validates every evil that built up to this point.

     This book was written over years of studying scripture and looking into the proper meanings of the words used.  The purpose is to give my readers an introduction into the real truth of scripture that has been hidden by main stream society, Christianity and other religions.  Pastors do not teach these truths because they come from institutions that have relied lies for so long that they teach them as unquestionable truths.  Of course, I encourage you to look and study scripture for yourself.  The more you study these truths the more they will become evident to you.  It is my prayer that you search out the truth and put any religious or societal preconceived notions on the shelf.  Please look at the bible through what the words actual say not what others tell you they say.  You will see that every story and every verse in scripture taken in the right context, teaches that God loves all people and will save all people.   I may be repetitive at times but the lies have been so entrenched in the individual’s mind that driving the point home is very necessary. 

     “The story of you” is God’s plan for your life.  He has formed your being and has created your life and circumstances.  God has planned every moment of your life down to the tiniest minutia of detail and leaves nothing to chance.  Though there are some joys in this life, it is an experience of evil God has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it (Ecclesiastes 1: 13).  God does not waist any experience or pain that you go through.  We don’t know what will happen tomorrow and life unfolds for us moment by moment in a way we cannot know.  This is how we live as humans; God, however, declares the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.  God’s purpose will stand and He will do all that He pleases (Isaiah 46:10). 

     God has planned your life and the lives of your loved ones.  He even planned the failures and mistakes that you have made and the ones you will make in the future.  However, God also sent his Son to be slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).  This means that God provided the answer to your sin and infirmities before you were even born.  Christ Jesus will one day make every wrong right and the hole that evil and death has caused in your life will be filled completely.  Your heart will throb with joy and the experience of life that God created you to walk in will lead you into perfection.  Jesus will destroy sin, evil and death so that all is left is life.  Life filled with the glory of God for you and all your loved ones, no matter what happens!

     Some may think that believing that Jesus Christ will save every man, woman and child that has ever or will ever walk the face of the earth is some fairy-tale, made-up, new age idea.  Some may believe that eliminating the possibility of an eternal hell throws everything off balance.  However, this book is written to show the truth of what the bible actually teaches. 

     In fact, if serious research is done, one would find that the belief that Jesus would save all mankind was the predominant belief in the early church.  Theological schools in Alexandria, Antioch and other places taught this truth.  Many church fathers, such as:  Origen and Clement of Alexandria can be quoted clearly on their belief that Jesus would save all.  These early church fathers spoke the Greek language in which the New Testament was written, so they knew the language and meaning well. 

     It wasn’t till hundreds of years later, when the Romans got a hold of scripture, that words were mistranslated and corrupted.  These government officials and church fathers did not speak the language of the New Testament Greek.  Therefore, words that actually mean “age” or “ages” were translated to mean “eternal.”  Words that described physical locations like “Gehenna,” a valley just outside of Jerusalem or “the grave, unseen” were translated to mean “hell.” 

     The Roman government and church leaders chose to control the masses using fear and the threat of eternal torment, so they manipulated the scripture to fit their agenda.  As a result, years of tradition have sprung from this deceit and now these heresies are believed as unquestionable truths. 

     We need to explore what the bible actually teaches.  We need to know that the devil is not the enemy at the gate, but that he has invaded the church thousands of years ago and is disguised as an angel of light and his ministers as servants of righteousness.   I think it is important to understand that just because it seems like evil is running rampant, that God is still in control of it, and Satan can do nothing apart from the sovereign God.  Likewise, no human being can act independently of their creator using supposed ‘free-will.’  God is the source and cause of all things as scripture would attest. 

     I believe that if we look at the Holy Scriptures without the lens of false translation and tradition, to seek the truth of what is actually said, we will know that God would not devise a plan in which most of his creation would end up in an eternal hell.  However, God is powerful enough and willing enough to devise a plan that would end with all of his creation present with him forever.  I believe this is exactly what the bible teaches. 

     So, I pose the question, is everything you learned about God true?  God is beyond the limits of my imagination and comprehension.  His power and love are on levels that the human mind cannot fathom.  However, within our human limits, it is important to try to understand all we can, to seek the truth of the Almighty. 

     Over the past years, I have had a revelation similar to the main character “Hiccup” in the Pixar movie How to Train Your Dragon.  At a point in the movie, when Hiccup realizes that the dragons are not the evil beasts everyone has portrayed them as over the past 300 years, he says, “Everything we know about you guys is wrong.”  I have had a similar experience with what I have been taught about God through the church, Christians, religion, media and other sources.  Everything I have been taught about God is wrong. 

     It is popular belief in Christianity that Jesus Christ died for our sins to reconcile us back to God (which is true) but humans need to accept this gift or make a free will choice to believe in Christ in order to go to heaven.  If not, that person will go to hell.  Christianity teaches that an outside source called the devil created evil and invaded God’s precious, good creation.  Is this True?  I will discuss the Holy Scriptures and the support for the fact that humans do not possess free will, evil was created by God for a grand purpose, and that God will eventually save every human being.  The premise is that we as humans all make choices; however, we cannot act independently of God. 

     Who is responsible for man’s salvation?  Ask any Christian, who is responsible for your salvation?  They will respond, Jesus Christ!  Okay then, Mr. Christian, who is responsible for an unbeliever going to hell?  It is that man’s choice to reject Jesus, so it is his own fault, says Mr. Christian.  So, you need to be smart enough or spiritual enough to choose Christ?  Yes, says Mr. Christian.  Then, isn’t it man who is responsible for his own salvation?  No.  It is all of God.  Okay, if salvation is all of God, then not having salvation has to be all of God.  Then isn’t it all of God if someone goes to hell?  If man has to choose Christ then the deciding factor of salvation is in man’s control.  This is human pride, that we decide our everlasting destiny.  God is sovereign, He decides, and He alone is the master of our fate. 

     I often hear statements to the effect, “God is in Control” or “There is a reason for everything.”   Often these statements are made by well-meaning Christians, who in their next breath say that I must make a personal decision to accept Jesus Christ as my savior or I will not be saved.  So I rationalize, if I have to make the ultimate choice, then how can God be in control at all, wouldn’t I be in control?  Maybe God could persuade or nudge me, but I had to make the ultimate decision to be saved.  So again I rationalize, if it is up to me to make the most important decision of all, whether I accept Christ or not, then wouldn’t the less important decisions fall into my lap as well.  If I am in control of my endless destiny and given the free will to choose, then wouldn’t I be entrusted with lesser decisions?  Well then, how can God be in control at all?  Also, if God is not in control of everything, then how can I trust him with anything?

     These questions are important ones.  If I need to rely on myself, others or some creator who is not in complete and total control, then how do I know that things won’t spiral out of control in my life?  I make mistakes all the time.  In addition, if God defers his control to others, then how can I be assured that this world isn’t just one big random chance? 

     The answer that scripture gives is that we, as humans, do not have free will and God is in complete control of our lives now and He is in complete control of our eternal destiny.   Now, before everyone rushes at me and says, “What are you talking about, I make decisions every day and I do what I want!”  I don’t doubt that people make their own choices; we do it thousands of times every single day.  But, scripture says that these decisions, even our wants, especially our circumstances are all under the influence and control of the Almighty God. 

     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 of 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 torture His children in flesh burning fire for all eternity because Adam and Eve ate a delicious piece of fruit.  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 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.    

      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 or eternal.  Jesus warned the Jewish people of this physical valley located near them.  He never warned them of a place of eternal fire and torture. 

     God’s destiny for humanity is to create sons and daughters?  What about all those who will be in hell?  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 word ‘hell’ crept and slithered its way into the bible.  The mixture and influence of Greek Mythology and Ancient Egyptian folklore is where corrupt, religious leaders learned of hell.  Then, they used the fear and deceit of hell on people so that they could control the masses.  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 God and Jesus Christ 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.  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. 

     Eternal Hell is the sickest of all lies; I don’t know what else to say.  God will judge, but His judgements are for the good of the person being judged, like a loving father disciplining his child.  Judgements, though fierce, are a part of His love.  Translated properly, not one person in scripture, including Jesus, even uttered the word hell.  I encourage you to look up the Greek and Hebrew words that are improperly translated to mean hell and eternity in the bible.  However, you have to want to believe the truth and shun the lies of religion that only seek to control you with fear of a lunatic god; the very reason hell was invented.

     At any rate, do you have it in your heart to send people to an eternal hell?  Does your pastor condemn people to eternal hell because they are not smart enough to believe as he does?  Is your loved one in this God awful place?  Is it possible that you will go there some day?  Well, let me save the suspense.  You can go there right now.  The following is a picture of the hell that Jesus was talking about:

     This is the valley of Gehenna that Jesus warned about.  It is purely physical and you can go there today if you want to take a trip to Israel.  Hell has nothing to do with yours or anyone else’s eternal destiny!  Jesus Christ saves us all and there is no such thing as eternal hell and there never was.  Every part of God’s creation will be with Him for all eternity because of Christ Jesus.