Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

“...the wages of sin is death...” (Romans 6:23a) You and I, and everyone else, are sinners and that is why we die. No amount of bible study, church attendance, witnessing, walking the aisle, or baptisms will change that. The cross of our Lord Jesus did not change that fact. The human race are still sinners and "the wages of sin" is still "death" . All of the saints of bygone eras have passed away. It is the destiny of human beings - ALL of us - Christians, Muslims, Atheists, and everyone in between - even Christ Jesus himself died. What followed the cross is the gospel, the good news which revealed God's plan for sinful humans after we die. For it was after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus that God revealed to Paul the good news of what follows death... "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive…" (1 Corinthians 15:22) And after the cross and resurrection of Jesus, God revealed to Paul why a world of sinful people will...

"God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19). The secret to worthwhile faith is figuring out whom we believe - God or man. That is no easy job. For who among us has actually had a two way conversation with God? We pray but it is always one sided. We talk to God, He doesn’t talk back…does He? What most people believe God has said comes from a man or women who claims to have spoken with God. If we have not heard from Him directly ourselves, we must then decide whether the person who is preaching to us has…or simply thinks he has…or is actually conning us knowing he hasn’t. So what are you saying Robert? Well, first of all I am saying I have NOT directly heard from God, and it is my conviction that I have NEVER met or listened to someone who has. What I have done is to assume that God spoke to men of old, inspired to do so, and wrote dow...

“For us, who love God, who are the called according to His purpose, there is an awareness that He is working all together for good” (Romans 8:28). God is working ALL together for the good of all. This truth is so refreshing to me in a world of religious, political and journalistic fabricators. Truth has become what they perceive it to be, or would like it to be.  But when people discover an absolute truth about God, they will find that it is always working things out for the good of mankind, all of them.  Yet it is my experience that only those who love God have the “awareness” that God is working “all together for good”  in this world.  All who have lived on this planet - even the religious, political and journalistic fabricators among us - will discover the truth that they have been saved by the grace of God. “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…this is good and acceptable in the sigh...

“Then Jesus called out in a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit My Spirit...It is finished…and when He had said this, he breathed his last.…with his own blood he entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." (Luke 23:46; John 19:30; Hebrews 9:12) “It is finished” - “Eternal redemption” - “once for all” Rejoice!

“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.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB) After studying the Greek I think the Aramaic Bible in Plain English captures the truth better than some of the other English translations… “For it is by his grace that we have been saved through faith, and this faith was not from you, but it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8 Aramaic Bible in Plain English) So from where does this saving faith come if this faith “was not from you” ? Glad you asked... “Because we know that a man is not justified by works of The Written Law, but by the faith of Yeshua The Messiah, we also believe in Yeshua The Messiah, that we should be made right by the faith of The Messiah, and not by the works of The Written Law, because no one is made right by the works of The Written Law.” (Galatians 2:16 Aramaic Bible in Plain English) Did you catch that – it is not YOUR faith, but the fai...

“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says...I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals!" (Ezekiel 14:21) DEATH by various natural phenomenon are God's four dreadful judgments. Note that there was not even a hint of eternal conscious torment after death.God has and will continue to send those four judgments ending in death during this present evil again which we live. At the Cross, however, God through Christ Jesus revealed His plan to save all from the DEATH caused by His judgments. This salvation is the result of the LOVE of God for the "ungodly" , all of whom are "powerless" to save themselves from His "wrath" - DEATH. ”You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much mo...

"And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matthew 10:28 CLNT) Your translation of the Bible probably renders the word "Gehenna" as “hell”. That is unfortunate and an example of how the Bible was translated into English according to the bias of the translators to promote the vain "directions of men" rather than the Word of God. "Yet in vain are they revering Me, Teaching for teachings the directions of men." (Matthew 15:9 CLNT) "Gehenna" refers to the garbage dump outside of Jerusalem where trash and dead bodies of animals and criminals were burned. Among that garbage, the worms did not die and the fire was not quenched until it had accomplished the job of destroying the body. "And if your hand should ever be snaring you, strike it off. It is ideal for you to be entering into life maimed, rather than, having two hands, to come away i...

Jesus said… ”...is it not lawful for me to do what I want with what is mine...is your eye evil because I am good..." (Matthew 20:15) Muslims believe they are the only ones destined for heaven. Christians think the same thing. The reason is that both want their good deeds or faith to determine their salvation. Nevertheless, the world has only one Savior, and his salvation is a free gift, according to the Bible… “For by Grace are you saved...For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life...For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive...The last enemy that will be abolished is death… so that God may be all in all.” (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28) Christians and Muslims alike have leaders whom they believe are men of God. They follow their teaching and trust and put faith in those men. They may think their faith is in Allah or God, but it is really in what their leaders have told them about Allah or God. Neverthe...

If heaven is real, if it is the utopia that we hope for, if it is a place of eternal bliss in an immortal, powerful, spiritual body, then experiencing the uncertainty and trials that we face now is in fact a “light affliction” in comparison. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (2 Corinthians 4:17) The way our “affliction” is “working for us” is simply that in order for us to get to heaven, we must be born into this “present evil age” and go through some time in this hell of a world in which we live that ends for us all in death.  The path to heaven is through this "evil age" to be rescued AFTER we die to an "eternal weight of glory" . “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father…” (Galatians 1:3-5) It is God’s “...

"The Word became flesh...the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of GRACE and truth...The law was given through Moses; GRACE and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:14-17 NIV) As righteous as the Law of Moses was, it came to us through Moses and the result was that it put us in bondage and we all die as sinners. "For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the Law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death. But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the Law, so that we serve the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code...the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death" (Romans 7:6-11 NASB) Jesus came to earth with the GRACE of God, to save all sinners with the free gift of eternal life. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord...as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall ...

"For the saving GRACE of God made its appearance to all humanity..." (Titus 2:11 CLNT) The "saving GRACE" of God is for ALL. It is NOT offered to mankind but has "appeared to all humanity" as a free gift.  And because it is freely given by GRACE, none of us sinners have any say in the matter... "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23-24) You will not find this truth in a church but you do find it in the Bible, and when you find it, and believe it, you start "training" to become a better person... " For the saving GRACE of God made its appearance to all humanity, training us that, disowning irreverence and worldly desires, we should be living sanely and justly and devoutly in the current eon..."  (Titus 2:11-12 CLNT) The knowledge and faith that we are saved as a free gift of God's gra...

"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 4:16-17) All of us have an outer shell that is decaying. In other words, it is dying. And as we grow older our "outer man" will suffer all kinds of aches and pain. But it will only seem a "light affliction"  when we receive what has been promised in the next.  The promise of this  "sequel"  enables us not to lose heart as we see loved ones suffer, or experience affliction ourselves. "No trial has taken you except what is human. Now, faithful is God, Who will not be leaving you to be tried above what you are able, but, together with the trial, will be making the sequel also, to enable you to undergo it." (1 Corinthians 10:13 CLNT) So we just have to suck it up and trust that it is necessary to suf...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth....The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen." (Genesis1:1 - Revelation 22:21) I enjoy reading the Bible and meditating on what it says. I cannot tell you why but it has been my passion for more than 40 years. It is is the most controversial and talked about book in the world.  Millions of people meet each week all over the world claiming to follow its teachings yet never seem to come to a consensus of what that teaching is. As much as I enjoy it, it has been time consuming for me to distinguish between what it actually says and what the church proclaims it to say.  And after all those years of study it is clear to me that the above verses, representing the first and last verses of the Bible, is what I want my grand kids to know for sure. 1.  God is the creator of all things 2.  The Grace of Jesus, the Son of God, is with all mankind. I do not want my grand kids to get their understanding of God and...

The church in which I was raised has a meeting each Sunday morning which is called “Sunday School”. It is assumed that we attend to study the Bible. However, the truth is that it is a place where the denominational beliefs are studied and various bible verses are read to attempt to prove that doctrine. This teaching method is true of every church group I have read about, whether Catholic or Protestant. We are not taught to think and reason with regard to the truth, but to simply believe what we are told is the truth.  "Thinking and reasoning" about what we read in the Scripture is very rare among Christians today. If people would actually think logically about what they are told is truth we could eliminate the horrible false doctrines in our churches. The following is an example: The doctrine of “substitution” is taught in most churches. We are taught that Christ Jesus is our substitute in regard to judgment for sin.  It says Jesus paid for sin so we do not have to pay fo...

"But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe." (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) Let’s be clear about some terms used above. 1. The "gospel" is the good news that there is life after death. 2. That good news is "veiled" to those who think in death they or others perish. 3. The term “perishing” means to die and stay dead. 4. Those "blinded" are those "who do not believe" that there is life after death for mankind. The good news was and will always be hidden (veiled) to those who do not believe in life after death (the gospel). They are blinded by the present age where life does in fact come to an end in death. They do not believe that there is life after death. The good news is also hidden to those of the various religions of the world. Though most adhere to some form or another of life after death, they limit the scope of that life...

“We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God”. (2 Corinthians 4:2) Have you ever heard someone complain that “the preacher is just preaching what people want to hear”? Generally it is when the preacher is focusing too much on the love and grace of God and not enough on “hell fire and brimstone”.  Really? Now exactly how can someone overemphasize the love and grace of an omnipotent God who is characterized over and over as a FATHER - full of love, grace and mercy? “The LORD'S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning…Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever...I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor...

"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Corinthians 3:17) Ponder the above outside of some religiously constructed box because the bible is not the instruction book for some religion, it declares itself to be the very word of God, and if it is, which I have chosen to believe, then we should let the words in it speak for themselves to us without commentary from religious gurus. So, “the Lord is Spirit” , and “He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being . ” (Acts 17:27-28) So every day we are living and moving and having our being in God.  And where God is there is liberty - again - “liberty” , not bondage to some religious man made box of doctrines. “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you...did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? ... It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of s...

“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”  (Romans 7:24) In the hilarious 1980 film Caddieshack, a mentally challenged greenskeeper played by Bill Murray summarizes his situation as follows: "I may not have all, or even some, of my ducks in a row, but they are in the same pond, which is nice, I've got that going for me"  As we watch someone we love, or experience for ourselves what getting older does to our bodies, we sometimes become depressed and find it hard to look for the good in it all.  In this temporary earthly “tent” in which we live, it is our destiny to struggle with sickness, pain and ultimately death. However, the bible promises us a new eternal “house” which will be ours at our resurrection from death. “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1) It will be “glorious” , not “wretched...

“For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 2:17) The above word “peddling” in the Greek is only used one time in the Bible. Here is Strong’s definition: 2585 kapēleúō – properly, to act as an unscrupulous merchant, i.e. "a huckster" who profits by "peddling the Word of God" for personal gain. 2585 /kapēleúō ("peddler") is only used in 2 Cor 2:17 – of people "marketing the ministry" (the Word of God) for fast gain. When I see or hear TV and Radio evangelists asking for money this is what always comes to mind. They are “peddling the word of God” for personal gain. Avoid them like the plague. If you want to help someone just look around. I am sure you have neighbors who need help from time to time. But don’t be coned by the Hucksters who “subvert whole households for the sake of dishonest gain” . "There are many insubordinate, bot...

"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ…that I may know Him." (Philippians 3:8, 10) Sometimes we have to lose our religion and be willing to suffer the loss of the esteem of others in order to have the true excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus and what he has done for mankind. Religious men teach that their particular thoughts and doctrines are the truth, and one is welcomed within that religion as long as he or she accepts that teaching. The few who are willing to abandon misleading religious doctrines will gain the knowledge of Christ Jesus. They will be...  "...set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God " (Romans 8:21) That is how Paul came to know Christ. The esteem he ha...