salvation

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: When He returns it will be too late

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Had a talk with a brother in Christ the other day. As is usual there is slight differences in belief and concepts of how to interrupt the Bible. I have come to accept this.
His hope was that when Jesus does make His reappearance that many would plead and beg for forgiveness, and be welcomed. The former will happen, but the latter. Depends on when you perceive His return.
This is why I am of the group that believes in a pre-Tribulation Rapture. Why this is will address my point for this article.
First off, I have come to the conclusion that the amount of people going in the Rapture will be much smaller than I and most others have considered possible. This will be the chance my brother in Christ is hoping for.
This is made clear within Revelation, where it shows the “great multitude, which no man could number” is dressed in white before the throne of God. (Revelation 7:9-17) This I see as the mid-point Rapture. For this vast number of people from “all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues, will have been killed just in the first three and a half years of the Tribulation. They will be killed because they did see the first Rapture and saw it for what it was. Their last chance at redemption with the Lord. The price for this realization will be at a cost though. For it will require starvation and beheadings. For they will refuse to take the mark of Satan, which will include if not just be the implantation of a chip in their skin.
But the question is asked. “What of those that have or will die before the Rapture occurs?”
That is already spelled out within the details given in the first Rapture. Those that were faithful. Both dead and alive will be caught up and taken before the throne of God. Any that were not. Even if they thought they were, will be left in heaven or hell till the end of the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ, which is to come.
At this time they will stand for the Great White Throne Judgment, and face the weight of their sins against their righteousness. Praying they have more of the latter than the former. For it will be easier for those that never heard of God than for those that have.
So it is better to commit yourself to Christ and His Father now. Not only in faith, but works. For either extreme leads only to death and possibly damnation.

I know this is a re-hash but it is that important: Why Christians should never vote for Trump

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I start straight from the Bible:

2 Peter 2:1 – But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
Trump has made it clear He is unrepentant. He has made it clear that he has committed adultery many times and would never stop committing adultery. Luke 16:19; Exodus 20:14; Proverbs 6:32
1 John 3: 7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 10 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.
Isaiah 29:13 – And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote
2 Peter 2:2 – And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
The other day John Boehner called Ted Cruz Satan and then turned his support to Trump.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
NLT – In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money
Trump tax plan – All other Americans will get a simpler tax code with four brackets – 0%, 10%, 20% and 25%. If you make less than $25000 … zero taxes ($0 to $25000 = 0; $25001 to $50000 = 10%; $50001 to 150000 = 20%; 150001 and up 25% but major corporation loop holes still in place). So since tax loop holes in place approximately 19% of the American public would carry the tax burden for the nation… those making between $50001 to 150000.
Cruz tax plan – Under the Simple Flat Tax, the current seven rates of personal income tax will collapse into a single low rate of 10 percent. For a family of four, the first $36,000 will be tax-free. The Child Tax Credit will remain in place, and the Simple Flat Tax Plan expands and modernizes the Earned Income Tax Credit with greater anti-fraud and pro-marriage reforms. As a result, the Simple Flat Tax will ensure that low- and middle-income Americans have greater opportunities (all major corporation loop holes removed) tax burden even across the board.

4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
NLT – Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.
Trump delights and is proud of his lies and makes no attempt to hide them.
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
They are empty vessels filled with nothing but themselves and their lies. And what is the fate of those that call themselves “Christian” that continue to follow them?
NLT 18 – They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 20 And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. 21 It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. 22 They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”
They are following the road to damnation and no longer salvation and as a result they shall suffer more for they once knew the salvation of Jesus Christ.
DO NOT SUPPORT TRUMP FOR YOUR OWN SALVATIONS SAKE!!

Signs

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The Bible states that there will be signs that can be seen by those that know the Bible.
Now I don’t mean have the Bible memorized for those that follow the father of lies can know the Bible. This has been demonstrated many times throughout history and even in recent events. For someone that carries lies upon their lips follows him that causes all lies, yet they can quote from the Bible and make you believe they are a servant of God when by the mere fact that they spit out lies left and right shows themselves for who they really are.
To truly know the Bible first and foremost you must know God and accept that His Son the Lord Jesus Christ is the one and true Messiah. Now there are those that do accept this as well, but do not know the Bible. Why? Because they are allowing someone else to tell them what is written within it.
We are not to allow other humans to inform us what is and what is not within the Bible. This allows false prophets to rise up which is one of the signs that it is getting close to the return of Jesus.
There will be a great falling away due to those allowing others to tell them what and what is not. I encourage everyone to read the Bible and not to even take my word for what I say. Why? Because I am human. I am fallible, I can and have made mistakes. This is true of all humans for sin comes from within us not from an outside source once we reach the age of accountability. This is why it is important to not only teach ourselves the Bible but our children so that they too can see the signs and know that they must fix their ways before it is too late, especially when the age of accountability come into effect.
I know that at this time these words will fall upon deaf ears, but I feel the Holy Spirit is guiding my words today to be able to reach someone in a not too distant time where they will see one of the ultimate signs and wonder why they are still here upon this earth.
The answer to this is simple. They did not truly learn the Bible. They thought themselves prepared and ready yet they lived in sin. After the ultimate sign millions if not billions will awaken to the truth, but it will cost them dearly in what time they have left upon this current earth. They will suffer anguish and pain for that is the cost of their neglect in not learning the Bible that they must face.
So, to learn the signs you must learn the Bible. Learn what it means in the Greek for the New Testament and learn what it meant in the Hebrew for most of the Old Testament. Then come to realize that a sin is a sin if the Bible says it is and then repent of your sins, striving never to do them again, and pray unto God through the Lord Jesus Christ for your true salvation.

What is more important?

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Why did I pose this question?
It is very simple. I know several within Christendom that feels it is more important to add as many names to the book of life as is possible. They have the mentality of get them in the door and get them to accept Jesus. This is extremely prevalent in Baptist. For they are of this man-made doctrine of once saved always saved. Yet I have never found anything in the Bible to support this. Now I have found in John 15, in 2 Peter 2, and Revelation 3, where there are those that were once counted in the book of life, yet they have fallen away choosing the world over God, deciding to bear no fruit, and living a lukewarm existents. All of which is made very clear that these shall be spit out thrown into the fire and wishing they had never been saved at all.
It is a clear message. It is in the Bible. There is no way to mistranslate the meanings for they are clear:
You can lose your salvation.
So what is important?
It is not just adding people to “salvation.” It is teaching them TRUE salvation, so that they will be an image of Jesus Christ their Savior. Teach those that ask God into their lives. For it is better to teach them to fish than to hand them one.

What is repentance?

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To repent means to turn from your sin. Basically to do a one-eighty. It means you stop doing that sin. This is not what is being taught if taught at all though. Many going about living their life’s doing as they wish. Usually contrary to the Bible, otherwise known as living in sin. Yet many go to church on Sunday and feel that their mere effort to show up at church is enough to redeem them in the eyes of God.
Well…….
Ummm…..
That ain’t how it works.
That is no repentance. To be blunt that is not even salvation.
To live a selfish life is totally opposite the teaching of the Bible. We are taught within the Bible to place God first and foremost and to do so every single day, not just Sunday. We are told to be humble and not to try and show ourselves as better than anyone else. Yet millions do just that and thousands of them call themselves “Christian,” again this is not repentance.
True repentance is a shattering of your very personality you have lived with before you asked Jesus into your life, yet many do exactly the same thing they did before they asked Him in. Some do change, but then something happens and they return to their old way of life. I know this for a fact because this happened to me, so don’t say that isn’t true when having lived it I know that it is true.
True repentance is painful, hard and something you beg and plead God to take from you. Gee, where did I see that take place in the Bible? Oh yea in an orchard just before the Pharisee’s men came to arrest Christ. Christ has been where you are, but He did not take the out He was given for His love of humankind and His selfless act was the greatest gift of all. What He accepted can easily be taken from you, but can still be emotionally painful and agonizing. In some cases you will be asked to leave that which you love, a person, money, and a lifestyle. It will hurt and it will take time for this pain to pass but it is something that must be done. But remember you cannot do it alone nor can you. For Christ Himself will help you through it. Reading the Bible will help you through it. Talking with those that have been though it can help you through it and praying can help you through it.
True love hurts and only through a true love of God and Christ will you ever get to truly understand that pain and why it is needed.

It is truly life changing.

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When you ask Jesus to come into your life you change. This is something many have not experienced yet they say they have Jesus into their life.
There is a singer songwriter I once met. He was in a world famous hard rock band. He used drugs, he drank alcohol and he enjoyed the company of many a groupie. One day he reached a low point in his life and upon that day He asked Christ into his life. The next day when he awoke he no longer was addicted to drugs, alcohol made him want to vomit and he became faithful to his wife. He now writes and sings about God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the most extreme example I know that shows how instantaneously and complete Jesus coming into your life can be.
In my own life I remember entering into the age of accountability at thirteen and seeing the boy I had been no longer exist. I become a liar and I lusted after women and thought only of myself and my own needs and desires. Not caring if I hurt anyone. When I accepted Jesus into my life I knew form the moment it happened to this very day that the boy I had been to the age of twelve was now the man I am today. I could really see the change in my personality back to the one I had before the age of accountability came upon me.
If you think you have asked Christ into your life and yet you are exactly the same. Still living a life filled with sins as they are called and described within the Bible. Then I must ask: “Are you really saved?”

It is time for a revival

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Too long has those within the “church” gone about thinking they are saved and blessed and going to heaven. To long has this belief been handed down to the next generation to the point that these generations see the hypocrisies and so turn away from God. Not truly understanding that it is not God they are turning away but from man-made doctrines.
It is these same type of doctrines and behavior that faced the Jewish religion two thousand years ago when Christ came to fulfill prophecy. The religious leadership was so blinded by their lust for power and control that they failed to recognize the true Messiah.
This is how the “church” is today. Too few are truly “Christian” and most of these struggle to maintain their beliefs. Bombarded from inside the “church” as well as from outside it. Many that were “Christian” have fallen away back into a life of sin. Many that think they are “Christian” live on day to day not realizing that they are actors in a play and in reality are hypocrites.
But who will be the leader to come forward and challenge all to set forward and change not only for their own good, but for the sake of the children and their children’s children? I have no answer. For I am but a voice in the wilderness of the internet. A voice upon the wind that some will hear and others will ignore, but this is my destiny, this is my calling, and I will not shirk it, for I know it is what God wishes me to do.

Confessions of a screwed up middle aged man: Only through Christ

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I use to be a liar. I use to lust after women. I use to be a selfish self-centered piece of garbage. I use to think people owed me something. I had a few other sins that are even too heinous to place into this post.
Throughout my childhood and teenage years I looked at and read the Bible as well as watched movies with a Biblical theme, but I never REALLY asked Christ into my life. I was like most out there in the world, thinking myself to be a Christian but in reality I was not. I was at the most a hypocrite at the least an ignorant male. I thought myself to be a good person, but I saw more than once how I hurt others, was it intentional? Sometimes I would have to say yes.
On June 24th 1986 everything changed for me. On that night I asked Jesus Christ into my heart. On that night I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I stopped being a liar that day and I stopped be selfish and self-centered. Did I mess up? Yes I did. Did I totally stop lying? No I did not, but I was no longer the liar that I was. Living a lie within a lie to hide a lie. No that person died that night and the person I was when I was twelve returned to live within me and so lying become something that happens very rarely.
Do I still do selfish acts? Yes I do, but not to the degree that all that is important to me is me. I am quick to realize that I have done a selfish act and I feel remorse and sorrow over my actions and when possible I ask forgiveness from the person I have wronged. (Which is usually my wife). I have a conscience now where before I did not.
Not all my sins died that night. Some sins are still with me, but as each day passes these sins fall away dead and useless. It was not till a few months ago that I stopped lusting after women. As for my more heinous sins those did die that summer night in 1986, but I know for a fact that they did cross my mind once or twice in the last twenty-nine years but I turned it over to God through Christ and soon those thoughts fell away dead once again.
I know it is Satan testing me. I know it is also God pruning me and making me into not only a better servant unto Him but a better person.
I write this confession hoping it will shine a light unto to those that are like I was. Thinking they are “Christian” when in reality they are not. Through Jesus there is truly a removal of sin. You are no longer the person you once were. You are truly born again and you no longer think like you did just a short time before you asked Christ into you. I know that I become the person I was before the age of accountability took over and I fell deeper and deeper into sin. That person of sin is dead as are the sins that were within that version of me.
As I stated before. I am by no means perfect and any that say all your sins are taken from you when you are born again are not being honest; not only with you but themselves. It is an ongoing journey. One that will have no ending till God calls us unto Him.
As I said the other day to someone that posted “I thank God that I have awaken to another day.” my reply to them was “God let you wake up because you have forgotten to do something for Him.” Each day I awaken here in this temporal life I strive to understand what it is I have not done for God that makes Him say “It is not his time to come to Me.” Someday He will call me and it is then through my continued struggle to know and learn more about Him and His Son and their ways that I will know that I have done well for Him and I will look upon Him with joy and happiness, for I feel he will say unto me “You have done well.”

A false salvation

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One of the issues in today’s churches throughout the United States is a believe that you are saved just by showing up at church either weekly or time to time. Many go about professing to be one with God yet their actions and lifestyle say the complete opposite.
In Revelation chapter three God address the church in Laodicea. Here many within the church behaved exactly like most within today’s churches in the United States. In revelation they are called the “lukewarm” I call them the “grey.”
Many say that the lines have been blurred within Christianity and I would agree to that in this nation. Most walk in the grey, sinning and even knowing they are sinning but not caring that they do so. In verse seventeen it is spelled out in detail their sins:
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing”
Many in most churches say the exact same thing. They seek after the materialistic life of the world not truly caring for their spiritual wellbeing. Yet that is exact what they should be working upon, for as the verse continues:
“and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”
This is the false salvation of which I am referring too. It is important that you open your heart and hear these words. It is imperative that you think hard upon them. For before this verse Jesus made it clear of your standing with Him in verses fifteen and sixteen:
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
Jesus makes it clear that He would rather you be either Hot for Him or Even cold for Him. Do you truly understand that meaning. He would rather you live in sin then to be a grey (lukewarm). He makes it all very clear that you will not be welcome into this His house by stating He will “spue thee out of my mouth.”
To have Jesus spit you out!! Do you truly understand the concepts of that?
Think upon it, do what is right in the eyes of God.

The Blood that cleans

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Humans are corrupt beings. They are this way due to the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve. No human on their own can make themselves clean. How can filth clean filth? It is impossible for there will always be filth left behind when this is done.
That was why God created the blood sacrifice. For centuries, it was the blood of the lamb. Then God allowed His Son to come amongst humans. He lived without sin, but witnessed sin. Then it was the humans that called for His death, His sacrifice, and so He went to the cross and shed His pure and clean blood. This Blood is so powerful that it cleaned all the filth from those that called upon Him as their Savior.
This salvation makes people change. That which gave them pleasure before no longer does and so they turn from that which was their old live in the filth. Sometimes though they do get dirty, but they ask God for His forgiveness and blessing and He gives it.
But humans are corrupt beings. They are told within the Bible that they must abide with Jesus. Live in His word and His teachings, but most do not. Soon they find themselves returning to those sins and forgetting to ask Jesus for His cleansing. Therefore, they falter and fall, until one day they are merely paper Christians. Their month says they are but their actions say they are the sin they once were.
Jesus called these the “lukewarm” and He said he would spew them from His month for they are no longer one with Christ or God and no longer worthy to amongst the counted.
Can they fix this? Yes they can, but many are so blinded they do not realize that they have faltered and fallen away. There are those that cry from the wildness calling upon them to repent and return to Christ. Some may listen, but most do not.

Mark Chapter 7:20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
John 15: 1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Revelation 3: 14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.