I will greatly rejoice in the Lord , my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Isaiah 61:10-11 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/isa.61.10-11.KJV
It seems to be happening more and more today. Fewer people are even claiming to be Christian in today’s society. Today less than fifty percent of Americans even attend church services and likely less than that belong to a church whether they attend services or not. Fifty years ago America was a Christian nation with more than seventy percent claiming to be Christian and also belonging to a church as well. Today that percentage is very different because of the younger generation who don’t want to be identified with any religion at all. This is truly a sad time for our country and those who claim to have no religion at all.
Why do I say it is sad? Because politics and some other “hot” topics have been part of the cause of this. It is also troubling because those of us who are Christians know that choosing to be a non-believer will have terrible eternal consequences. But for many, it seems that the choice has already been made. Life will go on whether you attend church or believe in God or Jesus or whether you choose not to but on the day when God calls the church home…what will you believe then?
At that point, it will be too late to change your mind. But you can still become a believer during the Tribulation although it will be a hard decision to make. Even harder than it is now. Because at some point you will be told if you don’t take the mark or a chip to be able to buy or sell. If you take it you are aligning yourself with the anti-Christ and your soul will be lost because you are on his side. Even if you think you are a Christian and you take the mark, whatever it is, you will lose your soul.
The seven years after the church is taken up will be a terrible time for those on Earth. It will truly be hell on Earth because there will be more demonic activity and there will be judgments coming from God Himself. These are all outlined in the book of Revelation and whether you believe in Jesus or not you should read it and seek Him soon because the world will be much worse during that time than it is today.
Many great men have lived and died in the world. Some of them lived on the side of evil like Hitler or Stalin and some were on the side of good like Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy. Each of them meant to do what was right in their own eyes and sometimes they tried to do the best thing, whatever it was, for their people and their nation. In the end each of them died. Some died due to war or suicide and others because of other evil men and their intention to kill or assassinate them before they could do everything that they felt was needed at the time.
Even religious leaders in the past like Buddha or Muhammad died. The only One Who died and then rose from the grave was Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. He taught His disciples for a little over three years before the religious leaders of the day finally had enough and convinced Pilate to have Him crucified. His resurrection is the victory over death that we, as Christians, celebrate today. His grave or tomb is the only one that had no evidence for His body except for the burial cloths that were wrapped around Him prior to His burial.
Historians of His day recorded that He died on the cross and was buried according to Jewish law. But He didn’t stay in the tomb. Over the next forty days He was seen by many people, once by as many as five hundred, then just prior to Pentecost He was taken up from the Mount of Olives to sit at the right hand of God the Father. The angels who appeared to the disciples after His departure told them that “this same Jesus will return in like manner“. Our Savior and King is coming back to set up His kingdom on Earth. What a glorious day that will be!
Jesus also told His disciples that “I am going to prepare a place for you“. He is coming back to take the Church to the home that He has prepared for all of us who have given our hearts and our lives to Him. That is the hope that we have because He isn’t in the tomb. Our hope is in Him and His return for His Bride, the church. There is nothing left on God’s prophetic calendar until He calls us to be with Him except maybe one or two more people that will accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It could be more or it could be only one more person, only God knows the date and the hour that the call will go out for us to come up here.
The definition of the word “holy” is a life devoted entirely to God or the work of God. Sometimes you read that God is holy and He is, but we are set apart for God’s work when it’s used about us. When we are saved through the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts, God’s work is our work! Your life is given to you by God and we are on this Earth to do His work especially for His purpose and He has given each of us the ability and the talent to do this each and every day!
Consider this: you have the answer to eternal life that will save each person from an eternity separated from your Creator and your Savior. Why would you keep that information from someone that needs to know that they are loved beyond measure by the Creator of everything? There are so many people today who have taken their lives because they feel unloved, unwanted, and depressed because they don’t know about the Savior Who gave His life so they could have life into eternity.
Your life can be changed by Jesus with one simple prayer and your belief in Him and His work on the cross for you. A child can understand it, even one that isn’t very old at all. God loves you and He has loved you since the beginning, even before the Earth was created. Why do people continually think that everything came about by accident? You and your eyes and the elephant in Africa and the smallest bird were all created by God. Not one of these came about by some accidental coming together of molecules in some primordial soup.
Eternity is a very long time and it is where we all go after this life is over. Your destination in eternity is determined by your decision about Jesus and whether you have asked Him to come into your heart and bring salvation to your life. When you feel the touch of the Holy Spirit that convicts you that you need Jesus as your Savior, you have to make that decision. Will you accept Jesus as your Savior or will you tell the Holy Spirit that you aren’t ready yet so come back next week or next month.
What if you don’t have a week or a month? If you had a wreck in a car tonight or tomorrow night and you haven’t settled this before you die then you will go to hell. Not because you are a bad person. Not because you forgot to give a tithe to the church last week. You will go to hell because you didn’t ask Jesus into your heart when you felt His touch and you knew that you needed Him as your Savior. A decision to put it off is a refusal of God’s grace and mercy through the blood of Jesus and that decision is the one that will send you to hell.
If you have a chance to tell someone about Jesus and His sacrifice for their life and yours, you have to do it. Even if they won’t accept it or they get mad and walk away, tell them that Jesus loves them and He died so that they could have eternity ahead of them. This life doesn’t last forever. We only have seven decades or maybe eight if we have good health, but just consider how long eternity is and how short our life actually is in comparison.
..___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The periods at the beginning of those lines is how long our life is in comparison to just a small portion of eternity. Think about it.
The Living Message of Christ 