PIC: the-Dead.the-Book-of-Life.and-eternity. Pete Garcia. rev310.net
Religions are quite predictable.
You know? Religions are mostly quite similar: You have a set of dogmas, rituals, practices, and always are doing things to appease an angry God and control his evil spirits. Many unReligious peoples hold moments of silence — as if that works. Folks are always wishing to God, prayin’ and a’hopin’ you’ve got it right.
That’s the key with religions: you have to keep God happy. And you never really know how you’re doing. You’re in a certain system (whatever your religiousness is), and you learn to do certain constant appeasing behaviors, hoping God will be pleased with you.
The Christian faith stands apart. It’s based on the Bible. You can read it, and God’s Words lead you to Himself and His specific parameters for salvation. And when (if) you accept His offer of salvation — you’re in, if you are real and sincere. No wondering. You there yet?
Being Christian is odd.
It really is odd – Christian faith. Maybe that is because God brought this faith to us Himself, in the Godman Jesus the Messiah.
In comparison with just plain “religions” – being Christian is really odd. Have you seen that?
Jesus said, “In the world you have tribulation.” John 16:33 And: People will hate you, like they hated Me. Matthew 10:22 – John 15:18
John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]
Being “odd” in a conforming world, is not an easy road. Christians are odd, not copying the lifestyles and worldviews of those around them. 1
How are Christians odd? Let me list the ways:
#1. Christians are 100%
Not 98%, or 50-50, not whatever. 💯
There is not a one “there’s nobody” who is just part-time, quarter-time, just in-it to try it out, sampling salvation, sharing the throne of their life with Jesus. If that describes you, well then, you are not really a Christian – just so’s you knows.
Being Christian? It’s all or nothing. Christians are sold out to Jesus. Odd how that is. 2
I am terrified for those who think they are saved but are not. What horror awaits them.
#2. Christians don’t add-on to it
Can’t add-on to it
Only apostates add-on to the Christian faith…imagining new revelations, new doctrines, making God speak….
Strange: you’d think if you have a good thing… you could make it even better by adding even more good things to it. Right? Wrong.
What an odd Christian thing. If you add to it — it’s not it anymore!
Adding makes them less. In fact — adding makes them something other than Christian! Odd how that works out.
Talk to a chemist. He sees this in his chemistry. For example take water. This is simple enough for me to understand: It is H2O. Not H3O. Not HO2. Can’t be water otherwise. Can’t be water if it’s not that: H2O.
Add to it … and it makes it something else. It morphs into some other chemical. And then…it’s not water.
Nothing odd about that reality. It is what it is — — or it’s something else!
In the same way: Nobody can add their own ways into “the Gospel” of Jesus Christ and continue to have the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s just the reality.
Adding to the faith changes what Jesus told us. And by so doing — it is not The Gospel anymore. And doing that is like adding to the book of Revelation. Bad as bad can get: “God will take away his part from the tree of life”. 3
All that which false teachers add to the faith, imagining new revelations, new doctrines, making God speak…they are adding.., and “God will take away his part from the tree of life”. Scary thought.
You get some other gospel when you add-on. What do you have then? The term is “apostate”. They are that!
The ones who seem to be…but aren’t
For the NARther Christian, this is the scariest verse (because they are it). They went out from what is the only saving grace, and are now in what does not save them:
“They went out from us
[seeming at first to be Christians],
but they were not really of us….”
– 1 John 2:18-19
#3. Christians have all they need “for life and godliness”. 2 Peter 1:3
No need to seek for more. We got it all. We don’t need someone else to come along and bless us more.
We do not have to seek further enabling and anointings, and hidden secrets from God (which only they have!?). Is your church doing that? Walk away! No place in Scripture does God tell us we are inadequate unless we get what these false prophets have.
What Jesus did, saving us and filling us with His Spirit — is enough. Therefore I am enough. He saved me, filled me, and now I am empowered.
Don’t put guilt trips on me because I have sinned again. You sin, we all sin – so we all need cleansing… again and again.
More of me…yeilding
Jesus saved me. So therefore I am enough for Him – for eternity. We never need more “filling of the Spirit“. Ephesians 5:15-21 God is there all the time. He wants “more of me”.
What? Is He a liquid that runs down – and so then we need to re-fillup again?!
What we need “more of” is …”yeilding“. We can get stuck and wallow in sin, but what we need then is “yeilding to His Spirit”: confessing sin, repenting, rejecting our sin.
Confess – Repent – Reject
…I am short of holy
in need of His cleansing
so what I do is
confess anew….
– Source: When I pray I always want to have no sin
God never leaves us. So we don’t need more of Him. He is there. Throughout our living — He gives us “grace to help in time of need” Hebrews 4:16. He’s calling for more of us, a yeilded spirit. Got the attitude?
“the attitude of the righteous
…is to seek and submit to the will of God”. 4
Saved – Filled – Empowered
Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].…
– Hebrews 4:16
Excerpt from Salvation and Receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit
The dawning of a new era of grace
So: What happens at the exact moment of salvation in Christ? 5 We are made brand new! And salvation starts with the Holy Spirit coming inside us – to permanently reside in the born again. He makes your spirit alive.
– Source: Salvation and Receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit
2 Peter 1:3
For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
That verse doesn’t seem to indicate there is anything missing. Christians have “absolutely everything necessary” because of God’s divine power that has been “bestowed on us”. And how is this? It is “through true and personal knowledge of Him”.
No need for someone to give us more. Don’t go changing the “true…knowledge” into false revelations. When we get saved – His Spirit comes inside to reside inside our insides. That’s all we need “for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness”. 2 Peter 1:3
The Bible has eyewitness witnesses. They were there. And these supposed “prophets” of today? They were not. Who you gonna believe?
Scripture warns us time and again: Don’t believe anyone that tries to convince you otherwise. That is what false prophets do – what they are like. They are sons of the Deceiver.
#4. All Christians work at holy behavior and godliness.
There is no other way to live – for the Christian. God’s divine power is in us through the dwelling of the Holy Spirit inside. He gives us the power to live “a dynamic spiritual life and godliness”. 2 Peter 1:3
We’re not perfect yet. We are workin’ at it. Who else on earth does THAT? How odd. Paul said,
Philippians 3:12
“Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on [a]so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own.“
2 Peter 3:11
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be [in the meantime] in holy behavior [that is, in a pattern of daily life that sets you apart as a believer] and in godliness [displaying profound reverence toward our awesome God]
Elisabeth Elliot put it this way: “One does not surrender a life in an instant…”
Salvation itself happens on the spot. But then comes a lifetime of growing. Surrendering your will to God, to become more and more like Christ? That is a little by little lifelong process called “sanctification”. We are “living it deep“.
“That which is lifelong
can only be surrendered
in a lifetime.”
– Elisabeth Elliot
See: Living the good life
#5. Christians are the best conformers. They conform to Jesus Romans 12:2, undoing what they used to do 1 Corinthians 6:11… which was a constant conforming to the world loving the world. I guess you could say we are professional unDoers.
We start “un-becoming” (un-doing) what we were before Christ — and little by little “conforming” to Jesus. The “pre-Christ” conforming to the world starts getting undone as we begin our journey with Christ. Has that been your experience? – Source: Un-becoming
“According to the Bible, if you accept the Lordship of Christ, having accepted Jesus as your Savior, having repented of your sins and asked God to forgive you… then you are “in Christ”, and everything is new for you.”
– Source: 301 things you are in Christ
How odd is that?!
Excerpt from: What you think and practice as compared with what Jesus thinks
Faith always has works…of one kind or another
Your acts of “conforming” are your works (as in Romans 12:2, Philippians 3:10, 1 Peter 1:14, Romans 8:29, and Job 22:21) Your “works” are of one kind or another (as in “faith without works” bible search): your works either follow Jesus or they deny Jesus. See this very interesting passage on works: James 2:18-26.
What you “do” – those acts are your works. And you show yourself (your real “you”) by what you do and think and desire and run after. Those are the works that you produce.
Do your works show faithfulness to Jesus? Or, are they your shifting sand Matthew 7:26 conformation to the ways of the world? Conforming is “works”. And faith without works of righteousness is a dead faith that has the works of sinful disobedience.
– Source: What you think and practice as compared with what Jesus thinks
So here’s a thought. Therefore: If you are not conforming to Christ by the ways that you live and opine, not conforming even in increments, little by little – then, are you perhaps not even saved? If I were you, I’d get it clinched real quickly. Don’t wait another minute.
“…faith without [good] works is useless….”
– James 2:18-26 (verse 20)
#6. Christians are always fruitful.🍇🍊🍍🍏
You’d think that some would be — while others would get by without producing any, you know? But no, they all have fruit. Every one of them.
🍉 🍎 fruit🥝🫐
“the result of His presence within us”
True Christians all have a life fruit of agape love. They are producing fruit of the Spirit.
See all in one link, or: Galatians 5:22, Romans 8:23, James 3:17, John 15:5
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Christians are not perfect, in the sense of “we all continue to sin after salvation”, but Christians have “a perfect standing” with God The Judge as being “made perfect spiritually”, positionally, as He has already declared us forgiven, “free of guilt”. Fruit is inevitable…unless you’re not on the Vine. See John 15:5 and Luke 13:6-9. Got fruit?
#7. Christians are made brand new.
— but they look exactly like before. Their looks don’t change a bit. Odd how that is.
Christians become Christians by getting born again. This new birth makes them brand new. They become a completely new creation. Odd, no?
#8. Christians always keep on sinning
— even though they are called to be holy. Odd thing.
Even though born of God Himself, where He makes them brand new, clean through-and-through, ready for His Holy Kingdom… they keep on sinning.
They don’t make a practice of sin (habitually sinning), but, for as long as they are on this Temp world, they will continue to sin — though Christ has forgiven their sins, past-present-and-future. How odd is that?
#9. Christians never keep their sin
They are always repenting of their sins, what they fall into. Christians will definitely struggle constantly against the enemies of our soul (the world, the flesh, and the Devil). The difference with them and the world folk is – they refuse to keep their sin. Their practice?
Confess – Repent – Reject – Renew
#10. Christians are hated by the world.
They hate Christians for no reason in the world – except for this feable reason: just because Christians follow Jesus’ Way. Jesus said, “I am the Way….” And because of that, they hate.
John 15:18-19
“If the world hates you [and it does], know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love [you as] its own and would treat you with affection. But you are not of the world [you no longer belong to it], but I have chosen you out of the world. And because of this the world hates you.
Those in the world system declare themselves “just and upright“. But what the world highly admires, what they practice, “is detestable in the sight of God”.
“but God knows your hearts – your thoughts, your desires, your secrets”
Luke 16:15
“So He said to them, “You are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts [your thoughts, your desires, your secrets]; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”
#11. Christians are copied the world over.
So many want to be “Christian” that they try to copy it and make it their own. They make their own brand.
Though the world hates Christians, some religious folk really really want to be Christian. They want Heaven! So they call themselves Christian, try to copy the Christian way, try to “get in with God”, but fail miserably (according to the Bible). Got a special brand yourself?
#12. Christians are all forgiven forever.
All is forgiven forever. That is His Work. It’s not through our efforts that we keep ourselves forgiven!
Or, what? Is He going to unForgive you later when you sin just a bit too much, like, more than 70×7? Matthew 18:21-22 Not even a weak chance in Hell. 6
Otherwise how could any human ever be found in His Holy Holy Kingdom!? He is not a rolly-poly Santa Claus god. He is God Almighty, and He never changes. And He forgives us all much much more than just 490 times! 7
#13. Christians cannot lose their salvation.
IF they got saved – they ain’t losin’ it. There’s no turning back. God did the saving, not you. And He did it perfectly, forever.
But that is the question: IF. Was your confession accepted by God? What was it like – your confession to Jesus? Got a Cracked Heart of insincere faith?
Did you end up in Hell? That’s the last place I’d ever go!
#14. Christian salvation is protected by God Himself.
So, what do you think? Can God do something that fails? Can He save you for all eternity – and then say,
“Hold it! Back up the truck.
You sinned way to much.
I am unForgiving you.”
– Said nowhere in Scripture
If you were truly saved, God secured your eternal home – your salvation. Is Holy God going to renege on His salvation promises? The promises God makes about your salvation – were made by The God who never changes. You cannot lose what God keeps secure for us.
What God secures – You cannot “lose”
We know what we know because we know what God has said to us. God can be trusted. When He says it, that’s the way it is. This in 1 John 5:18-21 (verses 18-19) is a strong statement for believers to believe: Jesus keeps us in our faith, and protects us so that “the evil one does not touch him“.
18 We know [with confidence] that anyone born of God does not habitually sin; but He (Jesus) who was born of God [carefully] keeps and protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know [for a fact] that we are of God – Verses 18-19 of 1 John 5:18-21
Read again 1 John 5:19
“We know [for a fact] that we are of God, and the whole world [around us] lies in the power of the evil one [opposing God and His precepts].”
#15. Christians do not need Jesus!
They already have Him.
Every new believer is filled by the Holy Spirit when born again. Thus we have “absolutely everything necessary for a dynamic spiritual life and godliness” 2 Peter 1:3. What Christians always seek is to be more and more conformed to the image of God.
See: What you think and practice as compared with what Jesus thinks
#16. Christians are special to God,
— so special, that He has secured their Heavenly Home – forever.
God’s Word is full of warnings to those who would make their own standards for faith in God. “You must be born again” Jesus said. You must be “Born of God”, made into a totally brand new creation — after you are born in the flesh. Two births. One gives you life on earth, the other gives you a brand new life 2 Corinthians 5:17 in preparation for Eternity.
Have you been born again? Or are you still merely in the flesh?
So there you have it: 16 Odd Christian Things. I’m sure there are more. Maybe I’ll add to this list someday.
“Odd” means being different. And Christians are different from mere puny human mortals who are without Christ. 8
Are you a mere mortal, or have you found hope and peace with God in Jesus?
FOR MORE:
There are a lot of odd things about what Jesus set up here on earth for His Church to start. A lot of odd Christian things. Want to look at them here with me?
_________
The Bible is the standard for Christian thought and practice. Not me. Not you…It’s based on the Bible
God is “faithful and absolutely trustworthy” to you in your salvation
Oh my God so mighty and beyond comprehension
It is what it is: The Bible Is God’s Word To Us
Believing Eyewitness Witnesses…The Bible has eyewitness witnesses that were there.
Divine Mysteries revealed by the Godman Jesus
Salvation and Receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit
What you think and practice as compared with what Jesus thinks
Specific salvation parameters Jesus absolutely requires
No wondering – Know that you know you know
Being Christian Excerpt: What’s it like these days to be a Christian? Really a Christian. For many, what the Bible teaches is generally okay, but, when it comes to certain specificities, what it says, they reason, needs to be interpreted in the light of today’s enlightened realities. But — will that work in – The End – when we stand before Him, physically? Stop and think about that Day.
Stop and think about that Day. God will be the Judge, and He will not use your 21st century ¨rational thinking¨. Nothing PC there. (He will be the only PC!) He will use His Word – not ours.
It behooves us to think as God thinks, because He will judge us by His thinking. Now, AND then, what matters is what He thinks.
Think like God Almighty…think as God thinks
We are in God’s era of hope – grace, love, and forgiveness in Jesus’ Name…Have you found hope and peace with God in Jesus?
Every waking moment
every day anywhere
my mind is on
my heart stays open
my soul is listening
my inner voice speaks
and God is there and speaks to me
every day anywhere I go
God is there He hears He listens
never gone never rushed
with endless patience
loves me always
even when I go astray
and when I do in many ways
He never ever leaves me
I’m forever not condemned
for He gave me life eternal now….
Living the good life – with courage and confident hope
First Repent Excerpt: “yeilding to His Spirit”: confessing sin, repenting, rejecting our sin.
Confess – Repent – Reject
Forgive me oh Lord, for I know I have sinned
I have stumbled like a drunk…stuck and wallowed in sin
It may be that I have offended God – so I have ineffective prayers and am wimpy…I stumbled and failed
Brand New Creature…made brand new
A New Creation…made brand new
Your “New Leaf”…once you have repented
My Sparkling Clean Soul…clean through-and-through
I’m not what he says I am…Satan lies about us
Growing into our natural new life in Christ
16 Happenings on your spiritual journey
God’s biggest warnings to us today Excerpt: The very clear warning to “believers in Jesus” is: Do not turn away from the faith given to us by the written Word of God.
“…in later times
some will turn
away from the faith,
paying attention instead
to deceitful and seductive spirits
and doctrines of demons….”
So you think you are a Christian saved by His amazing grace
Charisma Seekers Beware…Is your church doing that? Then…walk away from that. They mess with your salvation.
Bible Warnings against false teachings and their false teachers Excerpt: We are to teach and encourage others “in sound doctrine” and “refute those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9).
According to Scripture: These who we are to warn against are “conceited and woefully ignorant [understanding nothing]”. They are “corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth” (1 Timothy 6:3-5). John goes as far as to say:
“They went out from us
[seeming at first to be Christians],
but they were not really of us….”
– 1 John 2:18-19)
Transgenderism as seen from the Bible
Take a stance on homosexuality – like Jesus did Excerpt: How does Jesus respond to those who willfully practice sin?
Homosexuality is pushed nowadays as “okay by God”. But actually, it is listed in the Bible right beside many other practices that are not pleasing to God.
15 So He said to them, “You are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts [your thoughts, your desires, your secrets]; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
– Luke 16:15
See: Caught-up with a practice God has said not to practice?
Pleasure and bad behaviors we love to fall for
Warnings by Paul to Timothy about falling away
I biblically tut these apostate imposters
I didn’t choose a religion… I chose a way of life that healed my spirit | Article by Siouxsan Robinson | Excerpt: Robinson said: “Years ago when I first became a believer in Jesus, I remember my mama, a Residential School survivor, screaming at me, calling me a traitor, and asking me why I chose a religion that hurt my people.
The fact is, I didn’t choose a religion . . . I chose a way of life that healed my spirit. The religion I can do without, but I can’t do without Jesus. Yes, I love Jesus and I love our Native way.”
Only God’s Way leads to Himself…a way of life with Jesus
A God Damn Excerpt: Have you ever tried to grasp the deep intensity of God’s feelings against your sin?
PIC: pia20700-NASAgov
Do you know how much He hates sin?
Sin is: anything done contrary to God’s will. And His will is made quite clear by God in the Bible. His will is unavoidably laid-out clearly for us to understand: God hates sin. He loathes sin. He cannot co-exist with sin. He will not put-up with it. He immediately cast Lucifer out of Heaven because of sin, and He immediately condemned man to eternal punishment when Adam and Eve disobeyed His command.
References about the Holy Spirit
How do I get to Heaven?…to God’s Home Heaven
The Moment of IF…did you actually get saved?
What was it like – your confession to Jesus?
Was your confession accepted by God?
Sincerity and truth…real and sincere
God hears us and wants us to approach Him with sincere and honest prayer Excerpt: Accepting His Salvation
At whatever age, anywhere, anytime, God will respond to any seeker — if he/she comes before God in a prayer of repentance — with sincerity and honesty.
However, if we come before God in prayer for salvation with a cracked heart, with something not yielded to Him, with unrepentant sin, with an unrepentant heart… does God answer your prayer and save your soul?
I’m afraid not. The question becomes: Were you fully yielded when you prayed for Him to save you? (Not sinless, but yeilding sincerely and in truth.)
Those who like it but don’t live it
Don’t be a sorry loser – one of The 94%er Losers
Where have you put your trust forever?
Fake faith gets you nowhere you want to be
When God warns you…about your practices and beliefs He is against
The Seed of the Word was sown. What happened to yours?
False Prophets…what they do
What false prophets are like Excerpt: Here are many biblical texts about false prophets, false spirits, and their false teachings. The Bible warns us about the increasing danger of false teachings creeping into our churches, of false teachers among us. False teachers are church leaders who reject the Bible or portions of the Bible. They reject the gospel preached by Jesus and His disciples like Paul… and begin to teach “another gospel” which is not the one from Jesus.
I biblically tut these apostate imposters
Pretending their word is God’s Word…imagining new revelations
Weird unBiblical NAR beliefs…new doctrines, false doctrines, erroneous thinking
The New Covenant did not abolish any previous covenants of God…contrary to NARers
That moment of IF when you choose your own thinking…add their own ways
So you think you are a Christian saved by His amazing grace
Running with sin and calling it “just fine with me” Excerpt: What is “just fine with me” may not be “fine with Me”. God has the final say about what is or is not “sin”. We need to pay attention to Him. You think?
God’s Sin List…what the world practices
The sudden flash of realization saying “Oh Damn!” Excerpt: What kind of sinner are you?
For all the unForgiven, the truth will finally come into focus and then they flop-drop into God’s Court for that final judgement. They will have a flash thought: “That God really is a Damning God! And here I am in front of Him.”
The “sting of death” will not just be the punishment of the fires of Hell. It will be the anguish of having known of God’s love and mercy long ago, and rejected it.
Hell is my last choice, last on my list, not what I really want
That’s the last place I’d ever go!
Why on earth will God accept you, a sinner?
What are the odds of you going to Hell?
I just want to go to Hell, don’t you? Satire
Welcome Home to Hell…when Hell is Home
Being saved means forever never again condemned
I’ve been “declared free of guilt”
Specific salvation parameters Jesus absolutely requires
Christ secured our eternal home
What God secures – You cannot “lose”
Why we never lose our salvation in Christ
Promises God makes about your salvation
You cannot lose what God keeps secured for us
Being saved means forever never again condemned
Never again – ever!
Footnotes
- Thank God He did not require a sinless heart. Who on earth then would survive God’s condemnation! (Romans 8:1)
You do not have to get sinless to get saved, but God does want a fully committed heart that then grows little by little to be more and more like Christ, less and less sinful. He called us to walk “blameless in His sight” – not to keep a love for the world in our heart. That would be “serving two masters”.
Jesus said only this kind of heart given-over to Him will enter heaven: Luke 10:27
– Source: Exposing a dichotomous heart.
- … accepting Jesus- plus some other is totally rejected by Jesus. That “other gospel” faith is the road that leads to the other place, not to God’s Home Heaven. See: Matthew 6:24. (See both: 2 Corinthians 11:4 and Galatians 1:7.)
– Source: Accepting Jesus- plus some other.
- Revelation 22:18-19
“18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and [j]from the holy city, which are written in this book.” - Got the attitude of the righteous?
Luke points out, “the attitude of the righteous …is to seek and submit to the will of God”.Luke 1:17 “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous [which is to seek and submit to the will of God]—in order to make ready a people [perfectly] prepared [spiritually and morally] for the Lord.”
Here on earth God is preparing a people to be “spiritually and morally” ready for His Return. Are you ready? It is of upmost importance to prepare for Him. Prepare as if your entire afterlife depended on it. Because it does.
- “There is a certain moment in time when everything changes, when a mere human is transformed by God into a completely different type of human. It is that life changing moment when a sinner accepts God’s free gift of forgiveness, bowing before God in repentance, acknowledging Christ as Lord of all.
That moment changes everything for that person. Nothing is the same anymore. A new creature has been born – really and truly “born again” into new life in Christ. This magic moment!” – Source: That Moment in Time.
- Let it go
In Matthew 18:21-22 Peter asked Jesus:“Lord, how many times
will my brother sin against me
and I forgive him
and let it go?
Up to seven times?”How many times?
Jesus answered, perhaps facetiously, that he was to let it go and forgive 70 x 7, which equals: 490.Verse 22 Jesus answered him,
“I say to you,
not up to seven times,
but seventy times seven.”Jesus did not mean that we are to keep count and stop forgiving after 490 times! He was saying:
Give it up Peter!
Let it go.
Forgiveness has no limits.That is what forgiveness is all about. Jesus is implying: I forgive you of all of your sins, both of the past, of the present, and those in your future.
– Source: The Work of Salvation.
-
There is no salvation if there is no sincerity of heart.
The Santa Claus god
However, many today want a belly laughing “ho ho ho”, roly-poly MerWeb Santa Claus god. This modern day god:has no predilections, no predispositions, and never gets upset with anything we do or ask for. This god goes with the flow. This god of ours accepts it all, whatever we want. He has no bias, no prejudice against anything. He has no fixed, predetermined intolerances. What you are, whatever – he’s down with that! This “Claus God” has been created for our convenience.
We fool ourselves so easily. Anything we kind of like, or really like, or really really are into… is fine with our “Claus God”. It’s easy to follow this “god”. Claus has no limits on us!
The Bible teaches about a holy God, not a Santa Claus god. Not a fabricated, conjured-up imaginary figure we might want to relate to on our own terms – but the real, actual Holy God of the Heavens, the One and Only Creator God who made all that exists anywhere — He who still is in control.
In terms we can somewhat grasp, God shares with us in the Bible what He is truly like. And our modern day culture just really hates that. Do you see that?
– Source: A God Damn. -
I stand amazed
looking at
the arrogant mud-man
shaking his puny little mud-fist
— at God, the Potter!
At God! Ha!
What impudence.
What futility, despair, regret.
– From The Damning God.
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