| IN SEARCH OF " TRUTH" ! | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Study of MATTHEW Chapter 7 verses 13-27 Taught by Yeshua/Jesus Christ |
***MATTHEW*** 7:13-27*** In searching for the Whole TRUTH and nothing but the truth so help us God!!! The texts used herein are the: -New American Standard Bible NAS- (said to be the most 'Literal translation from the Original (first, earliest) Text, -Strongs "Greek" word Dictionary -Websters Dictionary -DuTillet, the Hebrew Version of Matthew (some say may precede the Greek.) 13 ENTER BY THE ([Greek word] stenos, [Strong's Reference #] 4728- [means] NARROW, straight & continuing) GATE; FOR THE GATE IS WIDE, AND THE WAY IS BROAD THAT LEADS TO (apolia 684-DESTRUCTION, damnable, die, perdition, perish, waste, pernicious ways, ruin, loss~physical, spiritual or eternal), AND MANY ARE THOSE WHO ENTER BY IT (go there). 14 FOR THE GATE IS SMALL, AND THE WAY IS NARROW THAT LEADS TO (zoe 2222-LIFE, heart, mind, life, soul), AND FEW ([Webster=w.]-a special limited number, a small number, few, some, but not many) ARE THOSE WHO FIND IT. 15 BEWARE (Be warned) OF FALSE PROPHETS (pseudoprophetes 5578-pretend fortellers or religious imposter), WHO COME TO YOU IN SHEEP'S (w. as a timid or defenseless person) CLOTHING(w. character), BUT INWARDLY (they are as full of deceit as) ARE RAVENOUS (w. greedy, hungry) WOLVES (w.a man forward/eager/bold direct/point out the way/cause/reason, and zealous/keen/gung ho in amorous/to arouse sexual love or desire pursuit/quest of women, chasers, mashers/a man who makes passes at women, philaderers/to make love with out serious intent/flirt, womanizers/to have relations with many women). 16 YOU WILL KNOW THEM OR RECOGNIZE THEM BY THEIR FRUITS (See Galations 5:22-23) (w.-growth, result~of their ways/actions). GRAPES ARE NOT GATHERED FROM THORN BUSHES, NOR FIGS FROM THISTLES, ARE THEY? 17 EVEN SO, (pas 3956-EVERY, always, daily, whole) (agathos 18-GOOD, well) TREE BEARS (kalos 2570-GOOD, beautiful (w. delightful, well-favoured, valuable, precious, priceless, virtuous, moral principles or set values, habbits, manners, effective, efficient, pure, righteous, conforming to a standard of what is right and good, moral, ethical, noble, principled, conformed to a standard of right behavior, capable of right actions, high~moral mindid, honorable, worthy, chaste, clean, decent, conformity to ideals of right moral conduct, honest, meet, well, worthy) FRUIT (Galations 5:22-But the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love (w. genuine, fond, one who is dearly beloved~often used as a term of endearment), joy (w. feelings of happiness, from a sense of well-being, pleasure, delight, fruition~realization accomplishment expecting of something good), peace (w. a state of calm & quiet, freedom, end of hostility), patience (w. capability to endure without complaint something difficult or disagreeable, showing self-control, calm, steadfast, persevering, loyal, firm in belief), kindness (w. pleasant in nature, gentle, considerate, good-hearted), goodness (w. sound, whole, helpful, useful, proper, suitable, high standard of morality and virtue, pure, a blessing, competent, worthwhile, respectable, highly acceptable to the mind and senses, grateful, nice, welcome, decent, all right, just, merit moral approval, straight, right), faithfulness (w. firm in adherance to what one is bound to by duty or promise, loyal, true, worthy of acceptance, credible), gentleness (w. free from all harshness, roughness, or intensity, having pleasant easygoing nature, amiable, agreeable, friendly disposition, good-tempered, obliging, helpful, genial, cheerful, kindly, gentle, marked by kind courtesy, gracious, sympathetic, consisten, gracious, hormonious, friendly) and self-control (w. power of controlling/exercising restaint or regulate/ruling over ones own actions deeds, doings, impulses, emotions/mental response or reactions, or acts, will, discipline, will power, self-command, self-discipline, self-government, self-restraint...); BUT THE BAD TREE (w.-geneological tree) BEARS BAD FRUIT. (Gal. 5:19-The acts (w. deeds, behavior, actions, doings, affects, shams, conducts) of the sinful (w. wicked, deserving reproach or punishment, rejecting or deviating from teh dictates of moral or devine law, wrong, bad, evil, immoral, vicious, refuse to accept~whatis right) nature are obvious: sexual immorality~adultery (w. sexual unfaithfulness of a married person, disloyal, not observant of vows, allegience or duty, untrustworthy, betrayl of moral obligation), incest, fornication (w. human sexual intercourse other than between a husband and wife), impurity~mean, dirty, and debauchery (w. seduce, corrupt, unprincipled, impaired in quality or character, demoralize, pervert, to lead astray); sensuality (w. worldly, devoted to pleasures of the senses)~lewd (w. disregarding sexual restraints), lustful (w. sexual desire often to an intense or unrestrained degree, an intense longing/persistant desire, sexual urge or appetite, sexually excited, sexual drive, passionate sex desire), undisciplined (w. not showing self-control), merciless (w. not showing compassion, unfeeling), cruel; idolatry~image(w. statue, picture, idea, concept, lifelike imitation, represent of) worship (w. love, admiration, devotion, tenderness for), and witchcraft (w. the use of means~as charms or spells believed to have supernatural power over natural forces, magic, bewitchment, enchantment/fascinates, hex spell, voodoo, charm, allur, captivate, incantation/spoken word said to have magic power, necromancy/conjuring spirits from the dead for purposes of magically revealing the future, wizardry, thaumaturgy/the performance of magic), sorcery (w. witchcraft, spells~such as looking into glass, or mirrors, cards, so forth to see future); enmities (w. ill will)~hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, strife~debate, quarell, jealousy~envy, anger arroused by something unworthy or unjust, factions!heresies, disputes, dissensions; drunkenness (w. faculties impared by alcohol, excessive drinking, habitual use of alcohol)~intoxicant, orgies (w. gathering marked by unrestrained/uncontrolled indulgence/tolerance~as in alcohol, drugs, or sexual practices), carousing (w. drunken party or celebration)~letting loose (w. sexually promiscious~usually used of a woman, fast, wanton, undisciplined, immoral person, whorish, a woman who engages in promiscious sexual intercourse esp. for hire, unchaste~not pure or innocent, not virtuous, indecent, stained, defiled), revelling, rioting and the like~similar in appearance or character (w. mark, sign or symbol, feature, point, trait, ways), like manner (w. kind, sort, ways, conduct, behavior). I WARN YOU AS I DID BEFORE, THAT THOSE WHO LIVE LIKE THIS WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM GOD. 18 A GOOD TREE CANNOT PRODUCE (poneros 4190-BAD, evil, refers to rather to essential character (ways), diseased, vicious, mischief, the devil, sinners, grievous, harm, lewd, malicious, wicked, malace, deeds of flesh, lustful, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, strife, anger, envying...) FRUIT (w. growth, consequence/condition or effect, outcome, the quality or state of being~of noteable worth, stature, quality, virtue, value, worth, result, mark), NOR CAN A BAD TREE PRODUCE GOOD FRUIT. 19 EVERY TREE THAT DOES NOT BEAR GOOD FRUIT IS CUT DOWN (out) AND THROWN INTO THE (w. FIRE, burning, inferno, holcaust). 20 SO THEN, YOU WILL KNOW (recognize) THEM BY THEIR FRUITS. 21 NOT EVERYONE WHO SAYS TO ME, 'LORD, LORD,' WILL ENTER THE (932-KINGDOM, royalty, rule, realm, reign) OF HEAVEN; BUT HE WHO "DOES" THE WILL (w.wish, desire, willingness, customary or habitual actions, a disposition to act according to principles or ends; power of controlling ones own actions or emotions; to determine by an act of choices, intent, purpose, 'choose!') OF MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN (the same will enter with me into the Kingdom of Heaven. of My Father who is in Heaven.) 22 MANY WILL SAY TO ME ON THAT DAY, 'LORD, LORD, DID WE NOT PROPHECY IN YOUR (onoma 3686-NAME, authority, character, called), AND IN YOUR NAME CAST OUT (daimonion 1140-DEMONS, demonic beings, devil), AND IN YOUR NAME PERFORM MANY MIRACLES, WORKS OF POWER? 23 AND THEN I WILL (3670-DECLARE, promise, acknowledge..) (profess) TO THEM, 'I NEVER KNEW YOU; DEPART (withdraw) FROM ME, YOU WHO (ergazomai 2038-PRACTICE, toil, task, effect, be engage in or with, occupation, commit, do, labour for, minister about, trade, WORK) (458-LAWLESSNESS, legality, violation of law or wickedness, INIQUITY, transgress the law, unrighteousness).' 24 THEREFORE (WHOEVER)(pas 3956-everyone, all, any, every, whole..) WHO HEARS THESE WORDS OF MINE, AND DOES/ACTS UPON THEM, MAY/WILL BE COMPARED TO A (phronimos 5429-WISE, thoughtful, cautious character, intelligent..) MAN< WHO (oikodomeo 3618-BUILT, construct, confirm, edify) HIS (oikia 3614-HOUSE, home, residence, abode, family) UPON THE ROCK (Yeshua/Jesus Christ, the corner-stone!). 26 AND EVERYONE WHO HEARS THESE WORDS OF MINE, AND DOES NOT DO/ACT UPON THEM, WILL BE LIKE A FOOLISH MAN, WHO BUILT HIS HOUSE UPON THE SAND, 27 AND THE RAID DESCENDED, AND THE FLOODS/RIVERS CAME, AND THE WINDS (pneo 4154-BLEW, breeze), AND (4350-BURST AGAINST, trp up, BEAT UPON, dash, stumble) THAT HOUSE; AND IT (pipto 4098-FELL, fail, to fall down) AND GREAT WAS ITS FALL. " Galations 5:24 - Now those who are of Messiah/Christ Yeshua/Jesus belong to Messiah Yeshua/Christ Jesus have (4717-crucified, to impaleon the cross, to extinguish~subdue passion or selfishness; crucify) the (4561-flesh, the body as opposed to the soul, or as the symbold of what is external, human nature~with its frailties~physical or moral, and passions, carnal minded, fleshly) with its (3804-passions, something undergone, hardship or pain; an enotion or influence, affection, affliction, motion, suffering) and desires (w. to long, hope or wish for, covet, craving, sexual urge or appetite). If we live by the Holy Spirit/Ruach HaKodesh, let us also follow the Spirit/walk by the Holy Spirit. Let us not be boastful, challenging one another, envying (w. hatefully, spitefully, grudging, animostiy, jealousy, malice, resenting~one anothers advantages) one another. ****************************** | |||||||||||||||||||
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Therefore thus says the LORD God/YHWH, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested (976-Stongs Hebrew Dictionary-trial, tried, examined, proven) stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly/well laid placed (3245-appoint, take cousel, establish, instruct, lay, ordain, set, sure). He who believes (539-to build or support, to rnder firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet; mor. to be true or certain; hence assurance, be faithful~of long continuance, stedfast, sure, surely, trusty, verified, turn to the right) in it will not be disturebed/in a hurry. And I will make (7760-appoint, bring, call, care, cast in, charge, commit, determine.., leave, mark, ordain, order, place, preserve, purpose, regard, reward, work...) justice the measuring line, And righteousness (6666-rightness, rectitude, justice, virtue, prosperity, right~in moral or forensic sense, cleanse, clear self, just..) the level (4949-a weight, plummet,~weight numerically estimated, hence weighing the act; full weight); Then hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters shall overthrow (7857-to gush, inundate, cleanse, gallop, conquer, drown, flow, rinse, run, rush, throughly wash away) the secret place.... Isa 28:16 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness (1343-equity of character, justification, equitable in character or act, innocent, holy, just, meet, right-eous), attained (2638-to take eagerly, seize, possess, apprehend, come upon, comprehend, find, obtain, perceive, take) righteousness, even the righteousness which is out of/by faith (4102-persuasion, conviction~of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God.., reliance upon Christ for salvation; constancy in such profession; the system of religious Gospel truth itself; assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity); but Israel, pursuing a law (3551-through the idea of perscriptive usage, regulation, a principle) of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it out of/by faith, but as though it were out of/by works. They stumbled over (4350-strike at, surge against, stub on, trip up, beat upon, dash, stumble at) the stumbling stone, just as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of Offense (4525-shake, move, disturb..); And He Who BELIEVES (4100-to have faith~in upon, or with respect to, to entrust~espec. one's spiritual well-being to Christ; believe, commit~to trust, put in trust with) in HIM will not be disappointed/put to shame. Galations 9:30-33 And that Rock is Jesus Christ! 5 MINUTES AFTER DEATH? Where will you be? 5 Minutes After Death ~Author Unknown, An article cherrished by my Grandfather, who now has seen exactly what was 5 minutes after he died. A man told of an old military officer who had returned from India. He was telling a group of friends the story of the Indian Mutiny. His audience hung in breathless interest onhis words. Suddenly he stopped. They looked at him, waiting for the next wrod. He quietly continued, "I expect someday to see something much more wonderful than that." His friends were surprised. He was an old man-over 70. He was retired from the Army. He would scarecely travel any more. "Something more wonderful than that." "Where?" they asked him, "and when?" He quietly answered, "I mean the first 5 minutes after death." The first 5 minutes after death, What would he see? Where would he be? Do we know that he would be? Do we know that he would see? What would the first 5 minutes mean to him-and to you and me? Ian MacLaren once said, "One must be afflicted with spritual stupidity, or cursed with incurable frivolity, who has never thought of that new state on which he may any day enter, nor speculated concerning its conditions." Charles Kingsley was one of the brightest and liveliest Christians that ever lived, but he often dwelt on the thought of death and what lay beyond. Not long before he passed into the unseen world he said, "I have looked forward to this hour all my life with a most intense and reverent curiosity." That, I confess, is my own attitude toward this absorbing subject, and taht, I find, is the attitude of a host of people as witnessed by the large crowds who come to hear sermons on the after-life. What happens after death? The answer to this question no man knows by One can tell us, for no man but One has come back from the dead with information on the subject. It is true that Lazarus died, and his soul for 4 days ranged the realm of the world beyond. But when Christ brought him back, He forbade him to speak of where and what he had seen. You remember Tennyson's lines: "When Lazarus left his charnel-cave, And home to Mary's house returned, Was demanded--if he yearned To hear her weeping by his grave?" "Where wert thou, brother, those 4 days?" There lives no record of reply, Which telling what it is to die, Had surely added praise to praise. Behold a man raised up by Christ! The rest reamineth unrevealed. He told it not; or something sealed The lips of the Evangelist." There was one man who returned from the dead to tell of the life beyond--the Man Christ Jesus. And He did not have to die to learn about the world unseen. He had lived there from eternity. He saw both worlds at once. His eye of omniscience saw the invisible as well as the visible world. And so to this authoritive source, not to human speculation, however reasonalbe and profound; and certainly not to table-rappings and tilted chairs in the darkened room of the spirits; but to the pur WHITE LIGHTS OF GOD'S WORD do we come to ask--What happens after death? Let me ask and answer 3 questions concerning the dead: 1) Are they? 2) Where are they? 3) What are they? 1-ARE THEY? Does life persist beyond the grave? Do the dead live on elsewhere? Is man only 6 ft. of clay, a mere body; or is man a living, conscious personality over and above his body, so that he lives on when his body, his house, has gone into ruins? God's Word give very definit answer. It shows that not only does death not end existence; it does not even interrupt existence. I will produce 4 witnesses to prove this. The 1st is PAUL THE APOSTLE. What do you say, Paul, concerning the dead? Are they? And Paul says: "Whether we wake or sleep (live or die), we live together with HIM" (I Thes 5:10). Well, that is plain. 'Whether we wake or sleep we live!' If we leave the body-we live. If we depart from this world-we live. Though the body lies down in the grave, the man himself, the tenant of the body, lives on. The 2nd witness is JOHN. He describes in Revlation 6 a scene in heaven. He sees souls of martyrs crying out to God. They speak to God, God speaks to them. John hears the Lord comforting them. These martyrs died on earth. Their bodies filled a martyr's grave. Was that the end of them? Oh, no, John tells us their souls are in heaven. He declares they are alive, apart from their earthly bodies. They continue to live after death. The 3rd witness is DAVID. He laments the death of his child. He has asked God to spare him, but God thought it best to take the child unto Himself. What did David say? "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." David believed the sould of his child was in the other world alive, and that he, his father, when he died, would join his little one there. If David had believed that the dead are not, how could he have spoken of meeting his child after death? The 4th witness is David's Son--JESUS CHRIST. There was a cult in Jesus' day who denied the resurrection and the life beyond. They said: "When a man dies he utterly perishes; ceases to be; the dead are not." But Christ met those Sadduccees one day, took their teaching and nailed it down to the counter as a monstrous lie. He said: "Listen, you, who teach that the dead are not, listen to this-- "GOD is the God of Abraham, and the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living!" Here is the bold, clear statement of Jesus Christ that the dead are, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive at that moment; although their bodies had been in the grave for hundreds of years. In Luke 16 our Lord tells of an unbelieving man who died and was buried. Was that the end? Did the funeral terminate his existence? Hear the testimony of the Faithful and True Witness: "The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torments." He saw. He spoke. He remembered. He suffered. Could anything be plainer than that? The dead continue to live, whether believers or unbelievers. The body is not the man. 5 minutes after death the soul, the personality, the man, lives on in the other world, as much alive as when he dwelt in the world. Whe we ask, therefore, concerning the dead--Are they? God's WOrd replies that they are. Now, my friends, before we go further, do we all believe this? I have quoted 5 passages of Scripture concerning the life beyond. I could have quoted 50. After death we live, we continue to be. DEATH IS NOR MORE THAN IF YOU WALK OUT OF ONE ROOM INTO ANOTHER. The body is only our temporary home. One day we shall move out of it. But we shall continue to live, even though this body may die and resolve itself to dust. When John Quincy Adams was 80 years old he met on the streets of Boston an old friend who shook his trembling hand, and said, "Good morning, and ho is John Quincy Adams today?" "Thank You," replied the former President, "John Quincy Adams is quite well, sir, but the house in which he lives at present is becoming dilapidated. It is tottering upon its foundations. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its roof is pretty worn out. ts walls are much shattered, and it trembles with every wind. The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable, and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon; but he himself is quiet well, sire, quite well." That is the splendid testimony of a man who saw and believed that the dead are, and that death does not interrupt our existence. 2) WHERE ARE THEY? They continue to live, but where? Let us remember that the dead in the world, like the living in this world, are in 2 classes--the believers and the unbelievers, the saved and those who would not be saved. Let me first trace the history of the believing dead. In the Old Testabment the place where the soul of the believer went at death was called Sheol. In the New Testament this same place is called Hades. This place, it would appear, was in 2 divisions--one compartment for the saved, the other for the lost. Between the 2 divisions of Sheol or Hades there was a great gulf, uncrossable. The part where the sould os the righteous went was also called Paradise and Abraham's bosom. It was to this part of Sheol that the souls of the righteous went until the ressurection of Christ. It was in this part of Sheol that David expected to meet the sould of his little boy. It was to this part of Sheol that the beggar Lazarus went at death. It was to this part of Sheol that the soul of the dying thief went when he expired on the cross. "Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise" Luke 23:43. It was to this part of Sheol or Hades that the soul of Jesus Christ went for 3 days after the crucifixtion (Acts 2:31). From the beginning of human history until the resurrection of Christ, the soul of the believer entered an intermediate state, going down to a place called Sheol, and in that part of Sheol called Paradise they were joined by Jesus Christ when He died on the cross. WHERE IS PARADISE NOW? Where is the dwelling place of the believing dead today? We know that they are waiting for the resurrection, the redemption of the body. But where do they wait this sublime event? In 2 Corinthians 12:2 Paul said that he was caught up into the 3rd heaven into Paradise. How can Paradise be both down and up? The answer is taht when Jesus Christ the Lord of death (the body) and Hades (the soul) at His resurrection and ascension came forth from Sheol, He did not come alone, but led forth with Himself the souls of the Old Testament believers and transferred Paradise to heaven. In Revelations 1:18 Christ says, "I am He that liveth and was dead... and have the keys of Hades and of death." On that first Resurrection/Easter Sunday morning Christ on His ascending to the Father He led forth and upward with Himself every believer waiting there and took them into heaven. In Ephesians 4:8 we read, "When he ascended up on high he led forth a multitude of captives." Who are these captives led from captivity by the ascending Christ? The answer is, who could they be but the Old Testament believers who had been waiting the coming of Christ Who would die for their sins--"the remission of sins that were past" Romans 3:25. WHERE ARE THE CHRISTIAN DEAD WHO DIE TODAY? The Bible is plain and emphatic in its answer. The Bible is plain and emphatic in its answer. The moment the soul of a believer leaves the body, that moment he is in heaven with Jesus Christ. Paul says, "Absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." 2 Cor 5:8. He says also, "Whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him" I Thes. 5:10. He speaks of "the whole family of God, in heaven and earth" Eph. 3:15. He definitely states that if a Christian departs this life, he is "with Christ which is far better." The soul of every believer is therefore at the moment of death taken to heaven to be with Jesus Christ. WHERE ARE THE UNBELIEVING DEAD? In the Old Testament times they went down to that part of Sheol reserved for the unrighteous. This place is described by our Lord in Luke 16. The Lord Jesus shows the unsaved waiting the final judgment. And that is where they are today. The death and resurrection of Christ brought no change to the lost in Hades. Peter tells us, "The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust into the day of judgment" 2 Peter 2:9. And that is where they are now. From the days of Cain who slew his brother, right down to the last man who died on earth rejecting Christ, all are in Hades, the underworld of the unsaved dead, waiting the last judgment. 3) WHAT ARE THEY? The saved and unsaved continue to live. The saved are in Heaven. The unsaved are in Sheol. In what state do they live in these respective places? THE CHRISTIANIN HEAVEN IS WITH THE LORD. What a word is that--"with the the Lord?" All the comfort and joy of Christ's presence is theirs. When Christ was with His disciples on earth how His presence comforted and gladdened them. It is so with the believing dead. They are with Christ. The state is FAR BETTER than the state of Christians here. We have a happy time here with Christ by faith. I am sometimes so happy in the enjoyment of an invisible Christ that I could almost shout. What then must it be to dwell in His immediate and visible presence to see His Face, and to be with Him? It is "far better." And this is the state of the Christian dead even now. They are with Christ, and this state is far better than their earthly condition. The soul of the believer is conscious in Heaven. It must be, or Paul would never have said his state at death would be "far better." Nobody would say that unconsciousness is far better than the radiant joy of the Christian life here and now. Lazarus was conscious in the other world, and Abraham also. The souls of the maryrs are conscious, John tells us. There are some who teach that the soul sleeps at death, but the Bible knows nothing of soul-sleep. It pictures the lying down of the body in the grave as a sleep from which that body will awake in resurrection. But nowhere in the New Testament does it speak of a soul sleeping. Always sleep refers to the body. IS THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEN COGNIZANT OF THINGS HAPPENING ON EARTH? Revelations 6 tells us that the martyred dead are intensely interested in things on earth. They are speaking to God concerning people and events belonging to the earthly realm. And God answers their questions and tells them of happenings taking place on the earth. Our Lord tells us, "THERE IS JOY IN HEAVEN OVER ONE SINNER THAT REPENTETH!" Who are they in heaven who rejoice over sinners saved? The Christian dead in heaven. The mother who died praying for her son. The wife who passed into heaven praying her husband would follow her there. The knowledge of loved ones converted will not be kept back from those in heaven who prayed for their salvation. If there is rejoicing in heaven over every individual soul saved, then we may be certain that those in heaven, who, next to the Lord Himself, are most interested in that conversion, will hear from the Savior the good news. Can we on earth communicate with the Christian dead? Spritism says, "yes." GOD'S WORDS SAYS, "NO!" (we are not to!) Ask yourself if God would allow the Christian to come back from heaven at the request of some unconverted medium? The Scriptures explicitly forbid our trying to communicate with the dead. If, therefore, a Christian came from heaven to earth to speak through a medium, that Christian would be breaking the commandment of God and encouraging others to do to. Moreover, it is impossible for the Christian dead to leave heaven without God's permission. Would God give permission for a Christian in heaven to do what He has expressly forbidden? No. The death of King Saul is God's striking WARNING to Spiritism. God put Saul to death because he trie, through a medium, to hold communication with the dead (I Sam. 28:16). In closing let me ask, 'IN WHAT STATE ARE THE UNSAVED DEAD?' Alas, we know only too well where and what they are. In Luke 16 Christ boldly throws aside the curtain and gives us a glimpse into the other world. An unbelieving man dies and is buried, and in Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment. In this place, the Son of God solemnly and plainly tells us, the soul of the unbeliever is conscious; he suffers, he thinks; he thirsts, he feels, he remembers. And the one supreme thought in this man's mind, this man who is in hell, is that the cardinal mistake of his earthly existance was to have left God out of his life. 5 Minutes after death this man sees the true meaning of life. 5 Minutes after death he wants to be a home missionary. He looks ahead a few years and sees an addition to his mental torment. For unless something can be done to arouse his family, there will come toppling in upon him 1,2,3,4,5 brothers to add, if possible, to his misery. 5 Minutes too late it dawns upon him he was sent into this world for -- to know God and to bring others to know Him. My dear friend, in God's great mercy that 5 minutes has not run out for you. There is still time to turn, and still time to turn others. Why leave Christ out of your life, and go out after death into the outer darkeness, drawing others with you by your example and influence? Right where you now sit reading this message open your heart to Jesus Christ. Spend the rest of your days in His glad service and fellowship. And when your call come to leave this world you will find yourself, 5 minutes after death, looking upon the Face of the King-- "They shall see His Face." Loved ones will weep o'er my silent face, Dear one will clasp me in sad embrace, Shadows and darkness will fill the place, 5 minutes after I die. Faces that sorrow, I will not see; Voices that murmur will not reach me; But where, O where, will my spirit be, 5 minutes after I die? Here I have rested and roved and ranged, Here I have cherished--and grown estranged; There and then it will be all changed, 5 minutes after I die. No way to repair the good I lack; Fixed to the goal of my chosen track; No room to repent, no turning back; 5 minutes after I die. Now I can stifle convictions stirred; Now I can silence the voice oft heard; Then the fulfillment of God's sure word, 5 minutes after I die. Forever joined to my chosen throng, Long is Eternity, Oh so long! Ah, woe is me, if my soul go wrong! 5 minutes after I die. Oh, what a fool, hard the Word, but true, Passing the Savior with death in view, Doing a deed I can never undo, 5 minutes after I die. If I am throwing a fortune away, If I am wasting salvation's day, Just is the sentence, my soul will say, 5 minutes after I die. But thanks be to Jesus for pardon free; He paid my debt on Calvary's tree, The Lord's loving Arms shall enfold even me, 5 minutes after I die. Oh, marvelous Grace that has rescued me, Oh, joyous moment when Jesus I'll see, Oh, happy day when like HimI'll be, 5 minutes after I die. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| What is the Truth of our Heritage in America, In God we Trust |
John Adams said: Our (U.S.) Constitution was made only for a Moral and Religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. And Suppos a nation in some distant Region, should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. What a Eutopa, what a Paradise would this region be! | |||||||||||||||||||
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