And This Too Shall Pass…

It’s now one o’clock in the morning here in the U.S and what am I doing? Drinking coffee, and writing. This is my outlet, my steam valve so to speak, the process by which I allow the excess pressure of life to be released. We all have one, mine is writing. The pressure is inevitable, unavoidable, and often insurmountable. We live in a fallen world, period.

The other day I was watching a video of a street performer who had built this pretty elaborate puppeteer routine. He was amazing, but I can’t lie, I was too consumed in examining the backdrop of where he was performing. The street had cracks throughout, the buildings behind him had damages to the roof and awning and it looked as if there were old signs peeling off inside the window. The street needed swept and it just had this overall appearance of being run down and in need of many repairs.

It made me think about heaven.

Our world is so much different from heaven, so run down and disease infested. It’s in a constant state of decay. Everything is always on its way out, nothing stays pristine forever. If you have ever held your newborn child you will understand what I mean, their skin is so perfect, even the soles of their little feet seem absolutely fresh and untainted. I remember looking at the contrast of my mother-in-laws aged hands against the freshness of my new-born sons face. His face was so smooth and glowing with life, and her hands were so wrinkled and liver spotted the difference was remarkable. People assume it is time that takes its toll on us, and it’s not, it’s this sin infested, sentenced to death world, in which we live.

I live in the mountains of West Virginia and the trees are just now starting to turn colors. Soon the mountains will look as if some impressionistic master has dabbed his brush in clumps of reds, yellow, and oranges across the rolling hills. Soon after, the leaves will slowly fall, and the landscape will look naked, brown and depressing. The entire world is fallen and the process that we call life merely cycles through the phases of death. One day at a time we slowly move towards the grave.

Soon our hands and faces look like those streets the puppeteer was performing on – deeply cracked, weathered and wrinkled with age. Slowly the death of the flesh creeps up on us. Some will suffer from sickness and disease all caused by this sinful, fallen world. But what do we have as Christians that sets us above this world and pulls us away from its death grip? We are spiritually alive! Our Spirit has been made alive in Christ Jesus! Inside us, after we are born again, lives a spirit that is not effected by the sinful fallen world. That spirit is as pristine as a newborn babies foot, even more perfect than the tiny little folds in their ear, and it will never die.

Since the very beginning of life on earth, generation after generation of humans, animals and plants have burst onto the planet in life, decayed for a lifespan and eventually decayed back into the dust of the earth. The human soul is the only thing that lives on, for believers in heaven, and non-believers in hell.

The sin that entered the world effects humans and through the laws of physics the entire world. I’m going to add a link to a BRILLIANT article on physics and sin by Dr. Hugh Ross. It is somewhat lengthy but absolutely brilliant. The Physics of Sin by Dr. Hugh Ross 

Briefly lets talk about hell – hell is eternal death and decay – those that are not born again do not escape death. They go to a place that is eternally dying. Psalm 9:17 says “The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God.” It is a place the worm does not die, it is the eternal rotting of the body. 2 Thess 1:9 says “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” Acts 2:29 says “because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.”  And lots of burning in hell Mathew 13:42 says “They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Hell is all the things we hate about this world, in their rawest most unbridled and perverted forms. Hell is darkness because God is light. Hell is hate because God is love. Hell is fear because God is peace. Hell is hopelessness because God is hope. Hell is anger and rage because God is longsuffering. Hell is everything that can come about with the absolute absence of God, it is torment, pain, death, decay and agony without any hope of it ever stopping. Hell is eternal death and Heaven is eternal life. We see death as just the end of life, but that is not true. Death is a state of decay and destruction, so when I say eternal death I am not talking about you are just gone, lights out shows over, no it is an eternal decaying that never ends. You will live through the transfer from this life to the next, whether you go to the place of eternal life or eternal death is absolutely your choice.

“See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;”‭‭ – Deuteronomy‬ ‭30:15‬ 

Let’s move onto the good news now…

What is heaven going to be like? Glorious. Beautiful. Perfect. Without a stitch of death or decay or destruction. No longer will we be surrounded by things that are falling apart, and our bodies will be full of life forevermore. No more tears, no more fears, worries, or cares just absolute peace in the presence of God. As you go about your day I want you to notice the magnitude of the destruction you see in this earthly world. Notice the dead trees along the road, look at the litter of leaves, look at the elderly persons hands in line before you at the grocery store. Death isn’t something instantaneous and confined to the last second of life – death penetrates every fiber of this world. Physical death eventually defeats physical life. But thank God we are spiritual beings and if you are born again, death cannot defeat you. You have eternal spiritual life through Jesus Christ!

We have always lived here, so we are are blind to its imperfection. I imagine Jesus looking out on the landscape of this world and I try to imagine how it must have looked to him coming from absolute perfection in heaven. When he looked at the people, crippled lepers, the blind, the bent over and aged, I wonder how he saw them and I can’t help but understand why he had such tremendous pity on them. His extreme compassion was coming from the ability to see how infected we are with sin. He had a different vantage point than us. He came from a place of no sin or decay and here he was, living in the squalor of earth amongst people riddled with all manner of afflictions from that original sin. He had such mercy on us, humbling himself to put on this fleshly human body, entering into the decaying and sin infested world – what a contrast that must have been to being in heaven in Gods glory. To go from perfection to purdition.

But he did it willingly…

That cross, ohhh that blessed cross and what it means for us. We are crucified with him on that cross when we are born again, the old sinful man dying, and the new spirit man being resurrected into sweet eternal life with our merciful Savior and Lord. He gave us the way out of this world, away from death and decay, and we will live forever in glorified bodies with our heavenly Father forever more – because he beat death for us. He came down here to beat the works of the devil and those works my brothers and sisters started in Genesis when Adam and Eve allowed death to enter this world through their original sin and disobedience to God.

“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” – ‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:8‬ ‭KJV‬‬

I look up at my ceiling above my desk and I see that the plaster is beginning to crack. I think forward to my heavenly home that Jesus said he was going to prepare for me. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ do not look to this world for perfection because you will never ever find it here. We crave it though don’t we, because we long for our true home, our final destination on heavens perfect shore. Our last breath here, is our first breathe there. All darkness, disease, pain or affliction will fade from us like a distant memory we just can’t quite recall and we will be enveloped in such perfection the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

Earlier today I posted three seperate articles in the Chicago Statements on Biblical Inerrancy, Hermeneutics, & Application for my readers to enjoy at their leisure. I posted them because I want you to be biblically literate. I want to equip you with information that makes your walk with the Lord less confusing. There have been thousands of Godly Christians that have walked before us that we can learn from. I have shared my love for historical christian writings and classic sermons with you before. I love the strong biblical teachings of the past – I think especially in this current day and age – they are absolutely priceless. The more informed to the truth you are the less likely you will find yourself being decieved. Being biblically literate is an absolute must. If I can provide you with information that will help you to understand the Bible better or how it applies to your life I feel privileged to do so. That’s why I started this blog. I want to see you all in heaven someday!

It is a biblical truth that at the end of the day the Bible says that each man must work out his own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). That means YOU are responsible for taking this seriously. You do not even know how uneasy the thought makes me of every day 7 billion people waking up and playing spiritual russian roulette with their eternity. 7 billion people, pick up that gun, and twirl the chamber and pull the trigger. Every day, day in and day out, each one of us pulls that trigger. Everyday some go to heaven and some go to hell, and according to the Bible more are going to hell than heaven.

Matthew 7:13-14 – “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

They just don’t understand, going to hell is easy, in fact it takes no effort on your part what so ever. You don’t have to do anything you were born a sinner and unless you change that through being born again in Christ, you will die and go to hell. So the truth is you truly will go to hell by simply doing nothing. Hell is full of “good” people. This misconception that hell is reserved for murderers, rapists, and pedophiles is incorrect. Hell is for all that reject the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life no man comes to the Father but by me” thats the rules and they don’t change because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. I praise God he doesnt change, because that means we can trust that all of the promises he gave us are still valid today and tomorrow.

On facebook tonight a girl I know through a friend put a picture of her hand holding some runes with a bunch of tarot cards spread out on the table with a cold can of beer and a couple candles for ambiance. Her hashtags read “meditation” “myspirituality” “tarotreading”. Just looking at it made my stomach sick. I commented and told her to please stay away from that stuff, she was inviting the devil into her home and her life. Another lady commented after me saying that she should sleep with them under her pillow to really get “connected” to them. The whole thing made me spiritually nauseated.

You cannot shack up with the devil and ask God to pay the rent. It just doesnt work like that. This friend complains constantly that she can’t find a good man. Do you know why? Because a good man is a Godly man, and he isn’t going to be interested in all that nonsense, nor would God want him too be. Drug addicts that beat on her is what always seem to come her way. They often use her for money and she resorts back to complaining on facebook about how terrible men are. The devil is tormenting her, and he uses men under his influence to hurt her, she really is stuck. I prayed for her. I placed my hand on her picture and rebuked every evil spirit that is afflicting her and asked God to open her eyes before its too late.

I will repeat you cannot shack up with the devil and ask God to pay the rent. 

We truly live in a sinful, fallen, world. And when you look around at these precious people, people made in Gods own image, who are suffering you know that you are sent to be a light unto them. A light that points to the cross of Jesus Christ so that they can escape the grips of death and have eternal life. The world has such a precious gift waiting to be received, all they have to do is ask, he came to save us. He is lifting us out of all this mess and planting us in perfection. What a great and mighty God we serve! What a perfect and wonderful Lord. Beauty and compassion, mercy and grace, he humbled himself so greatly coming to rescue us. Oh dear reader, humble yourself before the Lord and make him your King today!

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