Search For Jesus

Contrary to the popular Hollywood formula, God and the Devil are not on a soul-collecting contest to see who can collect the most souls. If such a thing had been the case, one might conclude that Satan is much more powerful because he seems to have collected exponentially more souls than God. In order to understand this, you must start to think outside the box. To get it right, we will refer to the handbook for life, the Bible.

There are three requirements if you would like to be on Christ’s headquarters team. It is summed up in three simple words: called, chosen, and faithful (Revelation 17:14).

The part of being called is the Father’s activity of giving us salvation as a free gift (Ephesians 2:8). No one can come to Christ unless the Father calls (draws) him (John 6:44). Salvation is a gift that can be kept or thrown away. If we look at today’s world and the world of the past almost 6000 years we have to conclude that only a moderate percent of the world’s population (both present and past) are called. This is according to God’s plan. He wants us to select good in spite of the fact it is not popular in this evil society.

People coming into the real knowledge of God are compared to harvests. There are two harvests: the small Spring harvest which is tiny and the large main harvest in the fall which is huge. The first-fruits are harvested first because they are the first to receive adoption (son-ship and daughter-ship) from the Father (Romans 8:23). The calling is not the only part that cuts down the percent of the population. The choosing also cuts down the percent even more. Many are called but few chosen (Matthew 20:16). And, of course, being faithful to the end is a requirement that cuts down the percent even more (Matthew 10:22). Who chooses? Christ does!

“You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. And ordained you…” (John 15:16).

Jesus (Yoshua in the Hebrew) is the only name under heaven whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:10-12).

How can you know if Christ has chosen you? The first component of that step is to become a disciple of Christ. How do you know you have become a disciple of Christ? It’s simple. Check to see if you have love for others.

“By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another” (John 13:35).

We have to love everybody, even our enemies!

“But I say unto you which hear, love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you” (John 6:27-28).

This does not mean: be a chump. We live in a hostile world. Don’t hate people. If they have done you wrong, don’t let them get by with doing you wrong again. Christ said we should turn the other cheek. The word “cheek” is singular not plural. Christ does not want us to become door mats. But he doesn’t want us to hate either. If you can love your enemies, then you, in essence, have no enemies. The process of having no enemies is the doorway through which you become a disciple of Christ.

The truth about the plan of God is so much more than most have ever imagined. It is important to see past the hype of commercial religion. Now, you know that the Father calls you and Christ, his Son, chooses you. The third step is in being faithful. That is your part. Don’t get sidetracked like so many billions have been. In being faithful, there are two basic types of faith, a dead faith and a live faith. Faith without works is a dead faith (James 2:26). Works are expected.

What Works?

Then what happens to the billions who have lived and died and never even heard the name Jesus Christ? They are simply not being called at this time.

When Christ returns to this planet the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:16). This is the first resurrection. These will be resurrected into bodies that do not die (1 Corinthians 15:52-53). These are the first fruits. What about the second resurrection?

The main harvest will come over 1000 years later, after the 1000 years of peace. The billions who never had a chance for salvation will be in the second resurrection. This will be a resurrection back into physical bodies. This is exemplified by the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel chapter 37). This will be a time of judgment for them. If they accept the sacrifice of Christ and become faithful they will also be given eternal life and bodies that do not die. However, if they reject Christ and salvation they will be burned up in the lake of fire in the second death from which there is no resurrection (Revelation 20:11-14). Everyone who has knowledge of the truth should strive to be in the first resurrection, which causes the second death to have no power over them (Revelation 20:6).

“…he that overcomes and keeps my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations” (Revelation 2:26).

Ask Scripture

Wily Elder

Read also about EFT (emotional freedom technique) - this practice has helped many people to get into spiritual balance.

Contrary to what is commonly known, here is a revelation that is taking place right now. There are a limited number of people that the Father has chosen to work for him. Each of these individuals will receive a penny. Contrary to popular perceptions, this is a great reward.

“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the middle of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see that you hurt not the oil and the wine” (Revelation 6:5).

The ultimate fulfillment of this prediction is here and now. More workers are being called with each passing day. It would be a good idea to find out the meaning. A measure of wheat is going to cost a penny. Three measures of barley will cost a penny. The other three horsemen had something very negative to bring to this earth. Why is the third horseman giving us a bargain?

It only looks like a bargain because we are using the modern meaning of the word penny. What it really depicts is extreme hyper-inflation. The penny spoken of here (a denarius (”denarion” in the Greek)) was a coin that was given to people for working a day’s work. So you may work for a day and get one penny. Therefore, “…three measures of barley for a penny…” means you are trading a day’s wages for a small loaf of bread. This borders on slavery. And, there will be slavery in the last days (Revelation 18:13).

The denarius (the penny) was a Roman silver coin. This is the coin Christ held up when he said, “…render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s” (Luke 20:24). This was in response to the trickery of the people asking if they should pay tax to Caesar or not.

The Parable of the Penny is, as follows:

This prophecy is being fulfilled now. A few men and women are working for the Father. Others are being drawn into service with each passing day. Will you become one of them?

“…the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man, [that is] a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard” (Matthew 20:1).

It is about a man who is a householder. Christ said that in his father’s house are many mansions (offices, positions of employment). If it were not so he would have told us so (John 14:2). Those jobs, as we will see, will be right here on this earth.

“And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard” (Matthew 20:2).

So the first people he works with know exactly what they are getting. They are getting a day’s wages for working a day. They are getting a penny. Remember this penny is a denarius, which is worth a day’s wages.

“And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place” (Matthew 20:3).

This is symbolic of the Father drawing people to the Son. No man can come to the Son unless the Father draws him (John 6:44).

“And he said unto them; Go also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way” (Matthew 20:4)

Notice he was not detailed in what he promised. So those called in later are working with less knowledge and understanding than the earlier laborers.

“Again he wentout the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise” (Matthew 20:5).

So he continues to bring people in to do the labor. This is reminiscent of another parable in which people invited to the wedding didn’t come, so invitations went out to the highways to get people to come in (Luke 14:15-24). Realize there may be laborers dropping out. Those laborers will need to be replaced.

“…about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and said to them, Why stand you here all the day idle? They said unto him, Because no man has hired us. He said unto them, Go you also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, [that] shall you receive” (Matthew 20:6-7).

Late in the day (symbolically close to the end) the Father allows more to become laborers. These have the least understanding of all the labor pools. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.

“So when evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the laborers, and pay them [their] hire, beginning from the last unto the first” (Matthew 20:8).

Notice the sequence. Many of the last will be first and the first, last (Mark 10:31).

All of them received a penny (Matthew 20:9-10). But the laborers who worked all day complained that the people hired later received the same wages (Matthew 20:11-12). The reply was: “I do you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a penny?” (Matthew 20:13). God does not have a seniority system. Some of the people had the spirit of competition and pride.

“Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is your eye wicked because I am good?” (Matthew 20:15).

Everyone who labored received a penny. What does the penny represent?

The Penny represents a day’s wages. If the Father has drawn us, he wants to give us a penny. The reward given, the penny, represents one day.

“…one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).

The day the Father is giving us as a reward lasts 1000 years. He is seeking out laborers right to the end.

“Blessed and holy [is] he that has his part in the first resurrection. On such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6). This will be a one thousand year utopia.

And the thousand years can be just the beginning. For more information go to Ask Your Bible.

“…he that overcomes, and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations” (Revelation 2:26).

Bible Questions

P.S. Find out how emotional freedom technique has helped people to find the path to spirituality.

The gospel of the kingdom of God is the message that Jesus brought to this earth. Much of it is spelled out in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And the message is proclaimed by the apostles in the book called the Acts of the Apostles.

What most people fail to notice is that Christ brought a message that was not a spiritual puff peace designed to pull people up by their bootstraps. It is a message about a literal kingdom, with Christ ruling over us as King of kings and Lord of lords. The gospel is the good news that this corrupt world, this corrupt society, is coming to an end, and man’s rule of this planet is coming to an end. The good news is that Christ will not return to be crucified over again. He will rule. And this planet will become a paradise like nothing that the imagination can conceive of. The good news Jesus brought from the Father is how a human being, of the human kingdom, can be born into the God kingdom, the Kingdom of God.

He who overcomes and maintains Christ’s works unto the end will be given power over the nations (Revelation 2:26).

The gospel of the kingdom of God is a practical pragmatic solution to all the problems of this planet.

But what happened to that gospel? It is practically unheard of in today’s world. Is it possible for most of the population of the world to be blind as to what the real gospel is?

It’s not only possible. In this twenty-first century it is an incontrovertible fact! The majority of the population of this world is in absolute ignorance of the real gospel, the message brought to this world by Jesus Christ! You may not believe that. And that factor alone accounts for the fact that most people do not even take time to investigate the truth of the matter.

In today’s world you will see a variety of gospels: the gospel of prosperity, the gospel of grace, the gospel of salvation, the gospel of politics, and the gospel of the kingdom.

In today’s world of relativism and secularism, one might question “Does it really matter?”

Most have no idea how much it matters!

“…if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9).

Yes, it matters!

What gospel did the Messiah teach?

“Now after John was put in prison, Jesus arrived in Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14).

The message Christ brought was the gospel of the kingdom of God.

The gospel of the kingdom of God, the message that Christ brought to this planet, is the only gospel Christ brought. And the apostle Paul said a person should be cursed if he preaches another gospel (Galatians 1:9). Why would Paul say that? It’s because the other gospels distract a person from realizing the plan of God. And that distraction has contributed to the spiritual blinding of the majority of the world’s population. Most of the world is blissfully unaware of what the real gospel is.

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, instructing in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23).

Jesus taught the gospel of the kingdom. It is called the kingdom of God. It is also called the kingdom of heaven because it refers to a kingdom coming down from heaven to this planet earth. For example, the New Jerusalem is in heaven now. But it will be on earth after the establishment of the kingdom of God on this earth.

“…New Jerusalem, which comes out of heaven from my God…” (Revelation 3:12). Christ will make all things new. The New Jerusalem will bear no resemblance to the Old Jerusalem.

That’s the reason the kingdom of God is, at times, referred to as the kingdom of heaven.

The first part of accepting the gift of salvation is to repent and believe the gospel.

Jesus said, “…the kingdom of God is at hand: repent (you), and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15).

You cannot believe the gospel unless you find out what the gospel is.

The gospel is sometimes called the gospel of Christ because it is the gospel Christ brought to this earth. This gospel that Christ brought, the gospel of the kingdom of God, is the gospel that has been hidden from most of the population of this world.

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3).

-wilyelder

Bible Question

Ask Your Bible

Read also about emotional freedom technique as it has helped many people to find the way to spirituality and self empowerment.

A major part of proving the Bible to be the word of God is the fact that multiple prophecies have been fulfilled. This is what differentiates the Bible from other holy books. The other holy books available to people contain very few prophecies; most of them contain no prophecies at all.

Sometimes people are skeptical about the Bible even after realizing that the Bible contains prophecies that have been fulfilled. The thought is: “That happened centuries ago. I need to see something that is happening how that is a fulfillment of prophecy.”

There are prophecies of scripture that have been fulfilled and there are prophecies of scripture that are yet to be fulfilled. Here is a prophecy that is starting to be fulfilled during our time.

“And another parable spoke He unto them; the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. All these things spoke Jesus to the multitude in parables, and without a parable spoke he not unto them: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 13:33-35).

Matthew was a Jew and he used the term, “kingdom of heaven”, whereas Luke was more specific, using the term “kingdom of God”. The kingdom of God is the kingdom that will come from heaven to this planet.

“And again he said, To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Luke 13:20-21).

What does the leavening signify? The leavening signifies doctrine. When Christ told the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (the religious leaders), he was warning them to beware of their doctrine (Matthew 16:11-12).

So the doctrine of the kingdom, the gospel (the good news), is compared to leaven. Unlike the dogma of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, this doctrine of the kingdom, this good news of the kingdom, is a good doctrine.

It is starting out tiny so that less than one thousandth of one percent of the world’s population has even heard of it. Most of professing Christianity has heard only a gospel about the messenger - not the message itself, the message Christ brought. However, logically, its influence will not continue being small. It must grow like leavening. Leavening is yeast.

There is no name under heaven whereby men must be saved other than that of the true Messiah (Acts 4:10-12). Therefore it is imperative that the doctrine of the kingdom, the gospel, must spread (like yeast spreads through meal), until the entire world is fermenting with the knowledge of the gospel. And, of course, this is exactly what will happen right up to the end.

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14).

Ask Your Bible

Scripture Study

Read also about emotional freedom technique - it has helped many people to find the way to spirituality and self empowerment.

Of all the different services available on the Internet today, online dating is surely one of the most popular. Currently, a typical online dating website is likely to provide a user a very wide range of useful, entertaining and specialized services and most of them are absolutely thrilled with them. With the number of Internet users rapidly increasing with every passing day, the need for online services with a more specific focus is becoming increasingly stronger. There are many such services today of which it seems that the dating sites for Christians have become particularly popular.

If you have always felt shy about going out and meeting new people in public places (such as bars and pubs), you will find these website just the perfect thing for you. The fact is, it sounds very romantic, but it may be unsafe to go out with a person you have just met at the bar. With online dating on the other hand you can maintain a distance and your privacy and try to know more about the other person – it is you who decides when to come closer, and that too only if you feel comfortable.

And that is why, dating sites for Christians are a great place to make new friends and acquaintances, be it for a casual cause or a long term relationship. There are thousands of people who are members at these websites – so you will surely find someone who is just right for you.

One might presume that a dating sites for Christians is a place where people only talk about religion and nothing else. Actually, these sites offer plenty of secular fun and entertainment, along with a great opportunity to talk freely on anything under the sun – why, even those who are not Christians themselves sign up to become members here. Most of these websites carry a free-to-use section and a paid member area as well. However some of these sites may require a simple registration before you can view all the posted profiles or start using all the offered features. Though you can view the profiles free in most websites, be ready to become a paid member when you want to make contact.

Finding and meeting new people on these websites is much safer than taking a wild chance with a perfect stranger that you meet in a local bar. These sites, besides giving one the opportunity to find and meet new friends, also strengthen the religious ideals of the person by showing him that there is a whole community of people out there who share his beliefs. Do remember however, that even though there’s no dearth of Christian dating sites on the Internet today, only a handful of them are really worth your while.