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Reply to "This Moment In Eternity"

Hi Al,

Your writings seem, to me, to be part Urantia Book (New Age bible), part Oprah, part Shirley Maclaine, part Doreen Virtue, part Marianne Williamson, part Deepak Chopra, part Wayne Dyer, part John Edwards, with a large dose of Eckhart Tolle thrown into the mix.

Al, although David, our atheist/secularist Friend, in his bitter attacks against God, is distressing -- he is not really a threat; for it is so obvious that his hatred of God stems from something much deeper than the words he writes. And, it is easy for even a non-believer to see through him; so, the probability that he will lead a new Christian or a new seeker onto the wrong path is neglible; virtually nil.

Yet, your New Age religion, when you mix words and phrases from true Christianity into your attempt to sell your New Age beliefs -- is most definitely a danger to these people. You throw in just enough true Christianese to lull folks into complacency, lowering their guard -- and, then, wham! -- you hit them with your New Age false teaching. You, my Friend, are a definite danger to all new believers and to new seekers. But, in all fairness to you; it is not just you -- but all New Age proponents who do this. They are more evangelical than the atheists or the Christians.

You tell us, "I say that everyone on this planet will have the right to choose to survive death. And that right does not include subscription into this or that particular theology or belief in this or that particular religion. I say the you and everyone else is in complete control of your destiny. The way is open to all, but each of us has to make the decision to take it. And you don’t have to have a relation with Jesus to go there. You don’t even have to BELIEVE in Jesus. If you choose love rather than hate. If you choose goodness over evil. If you gravitate towards beauty over ugliness, then you are pointing your life towards real and eternal values, and hence towards God. And knowingly, or unknowingly, you are also gravitating towards Jesus when you do these things."

No, not toward God nor toward Jesus, but toward gods -- New Age gods. It is very obvious that you totally disregard the Bible and any of its teachings; yet, you talk about God and Jesus Christ. God only gave us ONE source of revelation about Himself -- the Bible -- and you toss that into the trash can. So, how can you know about the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- the Triune God? How can you know about Jesus Christ when you have tossed out the only revelation He has given of Himself?

You say we do not have to acknowledge nor even believe in Jesus to have eternal life. Yet, Jesus Himself tells us, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; NO ONE comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6). You say that Jesus is not the Way; He says He is the Way. How do you explain that difference of opinion?

Then, you tell us, "Jesus did not ask us to believe IN him, he asked us to believe WITH him. He did not demand uniformity of belief, only unity in belief of those things which stand for real and eternal values. Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, these are the things which really matter, not whether you believe in a volcano sprite or in the love of the Universal Father."

Let's take a look at exactly what Jesus did say. In John 3:3, Jesus tells Nicodemus and us, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

In John 3:16, Jesus tells Nicodemus and us, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

In John 5:24, Jesus tells the Jews and us, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

In John 6:35, Jesus says to the Jews and to us, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst."

And, In John 6:47 He tells us, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life."

To me, it is very clear that, to attain salvation, we have to believe in Jesus Christ; not just with Him. Although, in another sense, if you believe in Him, you will believe with Him. So, even though you were attempting to twist the teachings of Jesus Christ, you have stumbled onto a truth without knowing it. Still, following His teaching in Scripture -- "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36). Sounds pretty clear to me: believe and have eternal life with God; do not believe and have eternal life without God, but with Satan.

Next, you tell us, "Jesus came to this world to proclaim that all men and women are the sons and daughters of God, and, because the priesthood of those days was unwilling to lose their power and authority, they hung him on a cross for it!"

You say that all men and women are children of God. Yet, in Romans 8:14-17, we read, "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you (brethren) have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, . . ."

This passage tells us that only those who have believed and are called Christian brothers and sisters, i.e., brethren (Romans 8:12), are children of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Although we are all created by God; not all are children of God. Only those who believe.

Yes, He died on the cross to atone for the sins of all the world -- you, me, David, Deep, Skeptik, Miami, Crusty, even Oprah and Shirley -- but, keep in mind that this atonement, this salvation, is a free gift -- and must be accepted. Regardless of the cost of a gift or the value of a gift -- if you do not accept it, you have gained nothing. So, His dying on the cross offers that free gift of salvation to everyone -- but, we must open the door of our hearts and invite Him to come in (Revelation 3:20) and we are told in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Jesus holds out His hand, offering the free gift of eternal life -- but, unless one accepts that free gift -- he has gained nothing except condemnation, personal condemnation.

Finally, Al, you tell us, "Basically, I say that it will work like this. If you want to survive death, you will. If you don’t, you wont. If you really don’t want to find God, no one is gonna make you. See, everyone is a winner! Even you. Even Bill. Even me."

Actually, if you mean by surviving death -- that a person will have an eternal, immortal life -- you are correct. Jesus assured this by His resurrection. However, one must choose, before death, where he will live that eternal life: heaven or hell.

No, not everyone is a winner. Receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior -- and you are a winner; you will spend eternity with God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and all other believers who have been born since Adam and Eve were created.

On the other hand, reject Jesus Christ and we are told, by Jesus Himself, in John 3:18, "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

And, He continues, "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." (John 3:19-21).

As Joshua tells the Israelites (and it is still applicable to us today) -- "If serving God is disagreeable to you, choose the gods you want to serve. But, for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." This is my paraphrase of what he told us in Joshua 24:15.

So, if following and serving Jesus Christ, the Light which has come into the world, is disagreeable to you; choose your own god, Satan. But, praise the Lord, my family and I are following Jesus Christ.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

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