Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

“…For his mercy endureth forever.” (Psalm 136:1 KJV) In Psalm 136 the Lord’s mercy is said to last forever 26 times. If so, what are we to do with the doctrine of eternal torment in hell, or eternal separation from God? Here is what someone suggested is the answer to that question?  "In God’s mercy and loving kindness He wants to forgive and save, however, His Justice requires Him to eternally separate unrepentant sinners from Him and torture them forever. BUT He will graciously block it from the memory of those who make it to heaven." That to me makes no sense!   Justice from the God who has revealed Himself in Nature, as well as the Bible, loves His creation and deals with sin in perfect  righteousness, not with cruel and unusual punishment. "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands...For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen...

"...when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power." (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 NLT) Dang Robert, what's that "eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord" all about? I  thought you said God will save all people, not eternally destroy and separated some of them from Him. I did not say it, God said He is "the Savior of all people" ... "This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people..." (1 Timothy 4:9-10 NLT) OK, so how are we supposed to reconcile the two passages. They seem to contradict each other?  You are right, the above English New Livi...

There is only one way this wicked world of sinners gets saved, and that is by the grace of God through the faith of Jesus Christ, as a free gift from God. "For in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is not out of you; it is God's approach present, not of works...for the ration of sin is death, yet the gracious gift of God is life eonian, in Christ Jesus, our Lord." (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 6:23 CLNT) There are no Scriptural exceptions. But the good news its that God "wills that all mankind be saved" and so they all will be. The Scripture says it this way - "...our Savior, God, Who wills that all mankind be saved, and to come unto a realization of the truth; for there is one God, and one mediator of God and mankind, a man, Christ Jesus, who is giving himself a correspondent ransom for all, (the testimony in its own eras).. ." (I Timothy 2:3-6 CLNT). Do the most wicked among us deserve to be saved?  Not from my perspective, but that is what...

“O foolish Galatians! Who bewitches you…” Some Scripture translated into English from the oldest Greek texts have errors …and no one seems to care as long it fits church dogma predating the translation. One EXAMPLE from Galatians 2:16 reads in the King James Version... “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but BY the faith OF Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith OF Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” This is a place where the King James Version was right. But look at the New American Standard Version, one of the modern versions of the same verse. “…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but THROUGH faith IN Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith IN Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” So, you tell me, is there ...

“God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31) There have been thousands of men, women and children who have ran down the isle of the church after hearing a version of the 1741 sermon of Jonathon Edwards entitled “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” based in part on the above verse in the book of Hebrews. It may be the most famous sermon ever preached – and the most heretical blasphemy against God ever preached. It is not that fearing God is not commanded in the Bible. Mankind has forfeited the blessings which come from keeping His commandments because he did not fear God, but our eternal salvation is not “in the hands of an ANGRY God” , but in the hands of “the LIVING God” , Who has righteously judged sinful mankind to chastening in this life and eventually death for our sins.  "The wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23) ...

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever… And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire…And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death...” (Revelation 20:10, 14,15) The phrase “the lake of fire” is an obvious metaphor. But what is it to consume? It will consume our enemies which are the the adversary (devil), the governments of men (beast) and the religions of men (false prophet), death and the grave (hell -grave).  They will all experience "the lake of fire" . What about those not found in the book of life?  Two things to remember, first,  both the "righteous and the wicked" are to be resurrected, and second, death, including "the second death" , is to be "destroyed" . "...there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and t...

"Lo! a secret to you am I telling! We all, indeed, shall not be put to repose, yet we all shall be changed, in an instant, in the twinkle of an eye, at the last trump. For He will be trumpeting, and the dead will be roused incorruptible, and we shall be changed..." (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) Secrets, or mysteries, are not unknowable, but are things left unrevealed until the proper time. The "secret" revealed above was that all "the dead will be roused incorruptible"  by the "grace" of God. The Apostle Paul received the above "secret" and other secrets that were hidden from all others that went before him... "...since you surely hear of the administration of the grace of God that is given to me for you, for by revelation the secret is made known to me according as I write before, in brief, by which you who are reading are able to apprehend my understanding in the secret of the Christ, which, in other generations, is not made kno...