I Do Not Know!

28 “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” ~ John 5:28-29

Have you ever looked at your child and truly have no clue what they’re thinking? Have you ever looked at a co-worker and thought, “This person has totally lost their mind!” Have you ever wondered what makes people do the things that they do? In today’s special blog posting I wanted to put forward an idea that is not new but rather very straightforward and more logical than we would like to admit. That simple idea is that none of us have any clue of what’s going to happen in our future or what happens after we die. And that idea scares the hell out of everyone of us! Sin is such a major part of our lives and we hear almost on a daily basis from so called men and women of faith which sins will get us condemned forever. I was thinking not to long ago how thinking about sin is equal to walking in a mind field, take the wrong step and bam you are gone forever! Shortly after I had that thought I heard on the radio ministers talking about after life, and how some people have had “life after death” experiences then wrote about them, only to later admit after selling thousands of books and making hundreds of thousands of dollars that they made it all up. In that I know those authors may have been influenced by money but even still is money worth risking your immortal soul? “What are they thinking if death is not the end of life?” John tells us very plainly that those of us who have lived good honest lives even though dead will come to life once more to God and eternal happiness, but those who have done evil will come back to a life of judgement. If this is true then we must also assume logically speaking that when we die we are dead, or asleep as Jesus puts it, and only until we are all called do we live again at some future date. For the critics why believe in this crazy idea of judgement or even life after death or salvation of the soul anyway? I mean doesn’t that make a person live under a gloomy cloud always knowing that sin is real but is the punish also real? Death in a way is a punishment for sin isn’t it? Or is death just a natural process of life as scientists like to tell us? What should we believe in this age of technology and modern day miracles anyway? What I would like to assert on these points is history. We should believe in the resurrection of Christ as an example of our own impending resurrection, because John himself faced death for his faith in the risen Christ by being boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. But yet through his faith was he delivered, only to later be sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. It was here that John has visions of what life was like after death, and what the ultimate judgments of sin where within the Book of Revelations. Being set free John then became the Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. John was the only apostle saved from martyrdom. John was once a fisherman catching fish, and was transformed into a fisher of men! I use John as the example because it was John who told us what to expect after we die and he got his information directly from our Lord Jesus Christ who was risen on the third day.

28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” ~ Matthew 10:28

“Because the Bible says so doesn’t make it real!” How often have you heard this? I would be rich if I received a penny every time someone said this to me. The idea that John would be willing to die for his faith in Christ allows me to make that jump in faith that indeed there is life after death and because I tried all my life to do good, I will be resurrected to life and not judgement. But, I can not prove it true and that very fact is what faith is all about. Matthew’s testimony is also very appealing because it assures us that no man no matter how powerful or cruel can not take away or kill our life force, or our immortal soul. The cloud of impending gloom and doom of judgement should be lifted with this assurance, because again Matthew, like John got his information directly from the risen Christ Jesus. Matthew also goes one step further however and gives a purpose of there being a Hell, which is to destroy both resurrected body and soul. I think what also makes these scriptures relevant in our age of technology is that no matter how smart we get as a species we will never unlock all the mysteries of God. Thus, I would argue in the light of this truth it is easy to understand why all the disciples of Christ never once denounced their faith in Jesus even when it was obviously leading them to martyrdom. In fact they all did exactly what Jesus had also done years before. Faith was the core to their strength and unity and it was based on truth because a lie about the resurrection would eventually fall apart and be discounted, yet the truth has span two thousand years and is still a matter of faith for millions.

13 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.” ~

I tell you now my brothers and sisters that the time has not come and we have a sliver within the eternal calendar of God to get our lives right before God. We who are alive have a responsibility to build the best model of faith for our young, to be the greatest generation leaving behind a better place than what we found it. We are called to leave behind the negative attitudes of our ancestors, walk away from their petty differences and prejudices and instead live as one race with God and rejoice in His splendor for He is our creator and our Lord of Lords, King of Kings. We do these things without doubt as we have all the teachings before us to have ample faith in God, and it is assured over and over that live does not end after death, but what I and you shall find I will admit I do not know, but yet I still believe and so should you. Never again wonder about what others do, think, or feel as there is a reason that is a mystery kept from us as God Himself has kept some things as a mystery known only to Him.

Amen,

If you enjoyed “I Do Not Know!”, I invite you to stay in contact with me through the following ways and please do not forget to rate this posting below.

IMG_3941

Email: listeningfaithfullyblog@gmail.com

Facebook: CLICK HERE

OTHER BLOGS I WRITE:

Chronicles of Common Core: Click Here

Reflection 1: Spiritual Accountantcy

” 15 And he said unto them, ‘Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.‘” ~ Luke 16:15

Life is a journey of immense struggles pitted with many victories and defeats. It is a race to the finish line of judgement, once there many will have ran a good race but will have done it without moral conscience and will be damned to hell for all eternity. Many will have ran the same race but prevailed with great love, faith, and ethics, and will be allowed passage into the Kingdom of God. The difference between the two is incalculable if coming from the filter of modern life, celebrating our many luxuries and comforts afforded those with what is termed as the good life. But if viewed from the prism of our Lord and Savior then it becomes more personal, deeply ethical, riveted with countless moral guidelines that help to forge a sinner into a born again child of God. It is not an easy path, in fact it is filled with much sacrifice and with many painful defeats. For to choose to be a child of God is not for the faint of heart and in the end, within the very hour of our death, Jesus promises for the faithful that they shall never taste death.

47 Verily, verily, I say to you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” ~John 6:47

For many of us it is hard to put into place a moral life while being surrounded with such temptations which we find at our fingertips on a daily basis. It is hard to not give in to the world of excess and comfort with so many voices telling us we don’t have too. The prevailing belief advertisers drown us with daily is, “Life doesn’t have to be so hard” and “Why wait when you can have it now!” We have become a society of capitalistic carnivores devouring everything while ignoring the implications it places upon our life and our immortal soul. We make recluse justifications to explain away why we can, when the Holy Bible has clearly stated we should not. A world that places more value on things, property, and money, over relationships, love, honor, ethics, and that of our christian savior, who is the savior of every man, women, and child on planet Earth as we know it, is an abomination in the sight of God. There are so many sins, so many fruitless attempts at winning Gods favor while pleasing the flesh. People can be so awesomely good, and in the same breath find ways to be just as evil and destructive. When we look hard at who we have become, the choices we have made, the justifications for actions which caused countless others to suffer, it is then that our deeds will be told, despite the lies of our mortal legacies. For you can preach good all the days of your life, but in private do evil, it is in your heart and therefore God see’s the truth of your life. He can discern the proper judgement from the web of misleading, randomness and noise of sin which has permenantly blacked your heart.

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”~ Luke 14:33

Jesus warned against collecting wealth and then not sharing it but rather hording it. He warned against ignoring your own sins while calling to the carpet others sins. He warned against hypocrisy for in the eyes of God it is nothing more than “lip service”. Jesus warns against denying the poor food, clothes, shelter, and mercy. He warns against not raising your child up in the ammunition of the Lord thy God. For he also warned against excess of all kinds, depravity of all kinds, blasphemy of all kinds, and evil works of all kinds. Yet we do them daily, we ignore Him daily, and in doing so we mock Him daily!

32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” ~ Matthew 10:32-33

Be on guard for those who refuse to speak the truth of God, who refuse to hear you speak the truth of God, be warned they are filled with Satan. There are people who get upset when they are shown their immoral ways and are convicted by the light of God, and by His son’s moral teachings and inwardly repress God, reviling against all righteousness, for they are filled with the spirit of Satan. Stand firm and do not waver from the light of God for instead bask within its glorious rays for it shall purify thy soul. Profess daily the miracles of God in your own life, for each day is a true miracle as it was not promised to you before you went to sleep the night before. Be on guard of those who would manipulate your words, the words of others, and the words of God to suit their lying ways, for such is the arch tool of Satan himself. Walk away from profane, perverse, corrupt, immoral, and impure people as they will as soon suck you down with them than to see you happy and free in the light of God. For to disown God is a rejection of the miracle of ones own birth and life; for Satan does not hold the keys to these things; for only God can create life and can bring about death; for only God can destroy thy very soul. Be on guard of those who wish to systematically take from you all the things in your life which bring you happiness, for they have no conscience, no remorse, no ambivalence to using deceit to accomplish their goals. For these people are expert in their disguise and can make the most illogical thing sound logical, the most profane thing sound holy, and the most hurtful thing look to others as self-defense. For God has no tolerance for them and though in the moment they grasp victory, in reality they have only clutched defeat because what God meant for you and was stolen, he will give to you in abundance in Heaven, a reward they shall not reap for they chose a selfish and self serving path.  

21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have I not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?  23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you: depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” ~ Matthew 7:21-23

It is truly important to not just know which side of the tracks you are on, but to also profess it, teach it, embrace it, and above all love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul; to do all things for God with all your strenght and might. It is simply not enough to say you love God to close family and friends then in private do wicked, but rather love God enough to always do good in public and private, for there should only be one message of your life, because there is only one God. Be sure to never take credit for the things which you have accomplished in your life for each accomplishment was first a gift from God, to do so would be to say you willed it to be so and that is a lie. For remember Moses who took credit for the miracle of the rock which sprang water; for the rod was from God, the power was from God, and the very words which Moses spoke to bring forth the water was from God, for such a sin he was denied entry into the promised land. Remember also King David who committed adultery and who God took from him the first born son in payment of the life he had stole from Bathsheba’s first husband Uriah the Hittite. Rather be like Christ who complied with the will of God even until the point of his own death.

1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1

Spiritual accountantcy is the means which we review our own place with God, it is the act of asking where are we in our relationship to God. “Have I done things which God disapproves of, am I saved?”, is the question we need to ask daily and then we need to repent daily. Be assured God loves you, wants you, cares for you, and will never leave you if you never disown Him.

Amen.

If you have been moved by this blog I urge you to continue to come back and become a subscriber. Please do not forget to also visit us at http://listeningfaithfully.org.
May God bless you and keep you all the days of your life. Amen

Please Donate to Listening Faithfully and help spread he words of God around the world.

Please help support Listening Faithfully!Give