Why Love?

Love is not only limited to personal relationships but to every aspect of life. There is nothing in life that can be done that isn’t done best with Love.

Think about it.

If one Love’s his or her job they do it best.

If one Love’s others “as themselves” they cares for them.

If all governing officials Love their constituents they make and enforce just decrees that aid the people and give them confidence in the future.

Without Love life is cruel and only offers different degrees of hopelessness on all levels, physical, mental, and spiritual.

True Love has its roots in Christ as the one who Love’s Unconditionally. Once we accept that we are Loved by Him for no other reason than that He created us, and we exist just for that purpose, then we can “pass it forward” to others just as we have received.

The proof that Love is one of those “True Spiritual Seeds” is that when planted it grows continually through life, and offers its branches for rest and comfort to whomever desires to embrace its strength.

Always keep in mind that as God is Love, and God is Truth, then if we can receive it “the Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”.

St. Francis of Assisi was purported to have said: “Preach the Gospel to every creature, and if you must use words.”

You preach and prove the Gospel by your actions and words.

The enemy is defeated by “the blood of the Lamb and the words of our testimony.”

True (God’s) words. (God’s) Loving actions.

Love – Always and All Ways!

Love (God) never fails.

Love in Christ

J&E

Faith through "Eyes that See"

Thru

“Eye’s that See”

Many people miss the application that Scripture is a “continuous” revelation with all topics flowing from Gen. 1:1 to Revelations 22:21. “All Scripture is God breathed” and thereby God applied from start to finish for the same understanding with like subject matter. Faith being one of these subjects.

Heb.11:1 says “now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen.” “All” mankind has need of faith, first for “salvation”, then for “application.” Both “kinds” of faith have only one performance and that is to produce miracles. Saving faith for the miracle of salvation in Jesus Christ, and application faith for all the rest of the miracles that the Holy Ghost would perform thru us for the Glory of the Father.  Miracles in the name of Jesus, miracles thru prayer, miracles thru prayer cloths or the laying on of hands. Faith is involved in all miracles. “Aside from faith it is impossible to please God”. So all applications of Christian faith lead to miracles and please God.

There are different levels of faith, they are:

No faith: The unbeliever or believing ignorant: 1 Cor 14: 23, “ If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?” In this Scripture the unlearned Christian, (or one who doesn’t believe in, or has never been instructed in the gifts of the Holy Spirit), are put into the same arena as the unbelievers. They are saved but like the unbelievers they have no faith that will make a difference when it comes to “Glorifying their Father in heaven.”

Matthew 17: 17, Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

Mark 9: 19, He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. 

Both Matthew and Mark bring out the fact that the disciples were faithless (in some things) after walking with Jesus for several years and having been sent out to “work miracles” with success, they still didn’t have faith in some situations. These were called by Jesus “faithless and perverse” because they perverted the Word of God and couldn’t manifest His power allowing satan in this situation to be victorious. No wonder Jesus used such strong words on His disciples. What would He say to this generation?

 Little faith: When someone says that they believe and cannot manifest the Glory of God:

Matthew 8:26, “Oh ye of little faith, why are ye fearful? Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the seas”.

Matthew 6: 29-30,  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Luke 12: 28, If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Matthew 16: 28, Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

Little faith happens when you know the promises of God and fret over whether or not God will bring them to pass. Food, rainment, finances, protection, and divine guidance are part of the promises that quite frankly make most of us “of little faith”.

Then there is great faith: These are those who hear the Word of God and believe without understanding or reason, just because God said it “so be it”.

Matthew 8:10 KJV When Jesus heard it, he marvelled , and said to them that followed , Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in all of Israel

Matthew 8:26 KJV And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose , and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm

Matthew 15:28 KJV

Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt . And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Luke 7:9 KJV

When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about , and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Isreal.

Great faith takes place when one who “talks” with Jesus, and hears His voice, acts on His words whether alone or in a crowd. Every Christian (that means all who call upon His name) is required to develop Great Faith. It is our promise from God and a command to perform at that level. What part of “go ye into all the earth” performing miracles and defeating every bondage of the enemy is a suggestion? Are we willingly part of a perverse and faithless generation? Does doctrine disarm us? Does fear bind us? Or do we just not believe the Word of God and know better. Oh, some say, that ended with the Apostles. Well if breaking one of these commands makes you a sinner in the same manner as all sinners then God breaking/ending one command makes all His commands void and thereby salvation is of no effect. Excuses don’t work in the Kingdom of God. Let’s look at it in another way, God only requires of us that which He has already promised to do for us. Let me reiterate this: God only requires us to give back to Him what He already promised to give to us. This is called “Obedience.” He never asks of us what we cannot do by His love and power.

Be Saved!

Be Baptized!

Be Filled with the Holy Spirit!

Find your calling and election then receive the Gifts that the Holy Spirit empowers you with!

Then “Go ye into all the earth!” Preach the Gospel, Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons!”

If we say we believe the Word of God then we should perform the word of God. The consequences of not doing so makes us like other powerless religions that “lay heavy burdens on man and doesn’t lift a finger to help them”. God made sure that Faith in Christ and believing the Gospel came with “power”. Inexplicable power to set its message apart to all the earth as being the only True Faith. One that sets free. “You will know the truth and it will set you free.” “I Am” the way the truth and the life”. Jesus proved who He was by the “miracles” He performed that He seen His Father in Heaven doing and said “if you don’t believe my words, believe the miracles you see me work.” What set Jesus apart in preaching and teaching from other sects of the time (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians) was “power” and “Truth.” Let’s also set to remembrance that the Priests were the original “doctors” in the OT. People with health issues were to go to the Priests to “do what they say in accordance with the law” and healing was to take place giving obedience and faith in the Law power to manifest God’s presence. This is why the powerless sects of the time took offence to Jesus because He was backed up by God His Father in His preaching by “signs and wonders” and the sects had lost their power or proof that God was with them. There is nothing new in all the earth, we are repeating history if we don’t “manifest” God’s power promised to us in this generation. What then makes us different? No wonder this nation and the whole world is getting darker and darker, “we have put our lamp under a bushel.”

Today the muslims are gaining numbers over every other “religion” simply because they have bigger families. We are being outnumbered because we fail to “inherit the earth” by not allowing God to open and close the womb. The odd thing about this one phenomena is that most of the reasons for being disobedient in this area is health and finances, the very things that God promises us to make a difference in our lives. If we are commanded to “go out, heal and deliver” then what about our own healing and deliverance? Why are we bound to be ineffective if this great power is promised to us?

We may not see it but the whole world does…………….

Other religions laugh at our “ineffectiveness”. We have the “sure” promise of “power” they have dumb idols, which hear not nor speak not, and their influence is greater than ours. Today we Christians rely on “My Word will not come back void” as the only hope we have. We have broken the “Word of Truth” and caused the power of God to be of none effect.  We have “ruptured” the Word of God and the Revelation of Jesus Christ by our lack of faith.

What can we do?

2 Chron 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Seek my face=believe My Word, turn from their wicked ways=be obedient, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins (of disobedience) and heal their land (all the earth)=and manifest Himself in power to prove the Truth of the Gospel that we preach/live.

Preach/live is a good point to make also. Preach the Truth then simply live what you preach. I have always believed that when God gives a message to the pastor to preach it first is for him then the congregation. Here is why: “the student will only be equal to his teacher”, teachers with limitations will produce students with limitations. Jesus said this about Himself in relationship to us, and we are being “conformed to His image and likeness”.

This is God’s goal for each of us. Each of us should be more and more like Jesus, “we must decrease He must increase”. It is a continual process that takes the Holy Spirit working in us to accomplish.

Believe His Word and continue in the Spirit and faith thus fulfilling the heart of God to all mankind.

Love

J&E

Life with Love

When life seems too short because you are in Love,
Then you have found the "essence" of life, and the depths of true Love!

Time.....

The "length of our days" is God's way of saying
Time is running out on "reciprocating" His Unconditional Love.

Love in Christ
J&E in Tn

My God, my Wife, our Life. Hindsight on a life guided by God.

Reflections:
We never know how truly blessed we are until time has passed and age has sharpened our hindsight. It's in the looking back, (not the going through), that the "real" perspective can be gained because it is devoid of all the distractions and emotions of the time.
Many times I will admit to financial blindness towards the future while raising our family and things seemed on the carnal side "tight". 
But God says in His Word "that I have never seen the righteous forsaken or His children begging bread." We have always had a roof over our heads and food on the table, proof of this is in my "physical disposition." 
As I look back now, sitting at the table overlooking the pond in Luray, Tn. I can engage the panoramic view of Elise and I and our life sharply, objectively, and without the distraction of emotion.
We started out in marriage "stone in love" confident in gaining all that a young bricklayer and a pretty young lady could think without putting on airs of grandeur. We grew in love and life low these many years and tenderness bloomed in that journey making it a relationship of mind, heart and strength. God reintroduced Himself about 1981 and by doing so added faith to the relationship (the only part that was missing). 
That part about God is clearly the hindsight that I see through now with how He covered those not so well thought out plans for the future and has given us this incredible inheritance. I take no credit for our present condition because God has overcome obstacles of govt., ill health (joints), financial loss, and ignorance (on my part and on the part of others), to give us this sensational peace (yes peace not piece) of property that is our home now. Since we have been here we have suffered much disappointment to get established but His hand has been miraculously at work in solving our problems while teaching us to continue in prayer and to Love at a deeper level. 
We have an incredible relationship with Him and each other, incredible Children, Grandchildren, Friends, Neighbors, a pond full of catfish, land rented out for crops, two paid for cars, a pension, SS, and a dream coming to pass that Elise and I never thought would come to fruition. All this was not without struggle of emotion but full of faith that God had our backs even when we were "the blind leading the blind". 
Before we start any project I always pray that God would "bless that which we put our hands to do, thy will be done". He is faithful and has done that more times than I could count. Did I know His will for all things? No and it wasn't always made clear the path we should take, but once started, after prayer, He made His will manifest by the signs that He was in it by intervening with powerful manifestations of finances and approvals that made the projects happen. We were not alone in what we have done, blind or otherwise............ever.
In hindsight my wife and I have never been alone in life's journey and in reflection have never been without Divine guidance in all matters big or small. 
Not only has God "filled our quiver" with His inheritance but He has "manifested Himself" in signs and wonders with great miracles both physical and spiritual, providing for all our needs, all our days.
For all the faith we have (not that our faith is made perfect yet), God has done "exceedingly abundant above and beyond what we could think or ask" and made His Glory known in our lives.
His greatest Gift has been Jesus Christ and the Unconditional Love that has been shown to us so that we can (having freely received), freely give abundantly to others.
May the grace and mercy of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be always with you. Amen.
Love
J&E in Tn

Raising the Dead: We don't even pray about this any more!

Hear is a subject that has been "thrown out the Christian window" by most churches many decades ago. What does Scripture say about how we should respond to any death? Does our own fears and emotions make us give way to loss and despair of a loved one or a loved one of someone else. Most the time we don't do what the Scriptures "command" us to do because of a lack of faith, uncertain results, or just plain fear of looking stupid. Many fear judgement from others if they apply Scriptural practices. Tell me this: What is more important? Putting matters in God's hands according to the "commands" of Scripture with the result of possibly His intervention, or feeling too embarrassed because of what others might say about you. "He thinks he is so spiritual! What does he think he is doing. If God didn't want him dead He wouldn't of allowed him to die." 
I believe that some die that God might show forth His Glory. Here is what the Bible says about us!
2 Tim 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Who gives a spirit of fear? Satan.
What does God give? Power, Love, and a sound mind!
Where do we get the Power, Love and sound mind? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is not a possibility but a promise. If anyone in the world should have all the above it is the Children of God. As children we can ask the Father anything that is according with His will in Jesus name and He will do it for us.......according to His will.
1 John 13-15 
13: These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. 14: And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us: 15: And if we know that he hear us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. …

"These things I have written" was penned by John and thus set into eternity by the Holy Spirit that they shall not fail or be made void. This is a promise that will not be broken. Vs 14 says "and this is the confidence that we have in Him". Do you have that confidence that God will manifest His will when we ask? What if the answer is no? Are we embarrassed if His will is no? Lets take another look at the possibility of His saying "no". At least you now "know" His will.......right? Before praying the prayer of faith you knew nothing.........right? Now you know. Period. Let others scoff about "spirituality", you now know the will of God. They had a spirit of fear or a lack of faith to offer up the prayer that could of "glorified your Father in Heaven. You were bold in the faith to offer up prayer to know the will of God and give advantage to Him glorifying Himself.

In fact this is one of the commands of Jesus:

Matthew 10:18

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 

The key word here is "freely". You have "received" these promises freely. Received is a word of promise. It is past tense. You "have (positive acclimation) received". 

Many may think that this has been "dispensated" or it is just a suggestion of what to do. If this is no longer applicable then neither is salvation. If any dot or tittle has failed in the Word than the whole Word has failed and any promise that fails then all promises fail. Hear is a strong warning about your allowances in Scripture: 

Luke 8:18

Take heed therefore how you hear: for whoever has, to him shall be given; and whoever has not, from him shall be taken even that which he seems to have.

Here is the time to ask "what have you received"? Nothing? If so then you haven't asked, sought, knocked, or tarried, or, you are none of His. All His mature children "freely have received" that they might glorify their Father in Heaven. 

With this all said lets look at a couple of the Biblical examples having to do with raising the dead.

Luke 7:13-15 (KJV) 
13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. 
14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. 
15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

Matthew 9:25 (KJV) 
25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. 

Mark 5:41 He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). 42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. Luke 8:55 54 And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. 55 And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.   There are more and here are some of there verses: Acts 9:36-42, Acts 20:9-12, Acts 14: 19-20, John 11: 43-44.

In Scripture we see boldness to act on the promises of God in the area of "raising the dead" but what do we "practice" today? Quite frankly I have never seen this practiced in any church I have been in (not saying that all churches don't practice this command). 
Here is a question that needs to be asked:
How many "men of God" have been "set to rest" without the "faithful" crying out to God to know His will in the matter? Better yet, how many of our children have died and not one prayer was offered up to God about His will on their behalf? We seem to give up our dead to readily to the "Devourer"  with out even the possibility of giving God the chance to Glorify Himself and relieve our grief, let alone defeat the workings of satan. How many have you buried without petitioning God first? Now that the question has been asked, how do you feel about reflecting on this? This  is not to "beat anyone up" but to make us all realize that we are sore afraid to enact our inheritance for our benefit or the benefit of others. Does our fear and lack of faith deny us the "power of God" in our lives or are we just to lazy to fight for our own. Do we accept death so readily that we are defeated with no options? According to the Bible we do have an option, the prayer of faith! Only then will you know the "true will of God." 

A pastor in our area in Michigan had died and his death was a great loss to the community. He had spent many years uniting the local churches to be of one spirit and support one another. He tried to have them put down their differences and work as one in an outreach to the community. He started out Pentecostal and was at the time of his death pasturing a Methodist church. (He left the Pentecostals because he never seen many miracles and didn't like the separation that speaking in tongues caused). Regardless all the minister's in the area came for his funeral and met for fellowship before the showing. After the pastor was "laid to rest" I came home to hear about it from my pastor (a full gospel preacher, very tender to God), ( I was away for work). In the mist of him telling me about the tragic loss I asked him if any of the more than 20 pastors that attended had petitioned God so as to raise him up. He didn't react but said no they hadn't thought of it. I then said that how did they know that satan hadn't devoured him because of the singular work he was doing in the area of uniting the churches? He thought about it for a moment then realized that they really didn't know the will of God in the matter nor took advantage of the promise above stated. This is just an example of what point I am trying to make.

What about children?
Seems to me that Jesus and the prophets raised up children more times than adults. Does that tell us something? If children are a gift from God and His heritage then why do we give up on assuring their continuance so helplessly? We all believe in "training up a child", then why not know the will of God in keeping that child to manifest that training? Children are the "inheritance of the Lord", are we to believe that His inheritance is discard-able without knowing His will? "If your fathers can give you good things being evil, how much more your Father in Heaven will give you good things." Aside from the gift of Christ, and Godly wife (which is needed to procreate), children are the next gift from God, "blessed is the man who's quiver is full." 
There are two reasons that Christianity suffers to continuance:
First is that we no longer let God open and close the womb.
Second is that we don't consider children a blessing over having the "things of this world." 
I have heard too many brothers and sisters in the Lord say that "they can't afford to have children", but Jesus said "when I return will I find faith on earth" comes in to play here as to "where a man's heart is there is his treasure." Many clearly show that there hearts are not where scripture wants them to be and all of Christianity suffers for it. If God our Creator who has commanded us to "fill up the earth" with His inheritance, then "fill up the earth with the knowledge of Christ", how can that be done without His inheritance? If we can't even obey such a basic command how can we "claim the promises" to manifest His Glory? My wife and I agreed to have 3 children when we were married. We were saved 9 yrs later. That perspective about 3 children was changed by the Holy Spirit and we had 9 out of 13 pregnancy's. The first 4 miscarriages  we didn't know what to do because of grief and lack of understanding. Also no one in the church had a clue to give advise on the matter. Everybody's view on the matter was that "it was God's will or they wouldn't of died."  By the time the 5th one came along God showed me to pray and not give up till I had His answer. After almost 3 hours of the most intense prayer I have ever offered I had a peace and the victory is shown in our youngest son present with us today. He's 19 this month. If I would have been aware of such a victory there would be with my wife and I possibly 13 children today. The ability to handle the 4 losses is that I will have my family complete when I get to heaven and we are all reunited. 
Did you ever wonder why the grief of the loss of a child is so great? Could it be especially painful because the outcome could of been different.

 I know that in writing this there will be mixed reactions and emotions, but I would be remiss not to open this door of faith and challenge those that read this that there is hope. 

Here is the key to this presentation, faith and maturity. These are the two greatest applications that we need in the church today. Most will disagree with scripture because of "lack of faith", and "maturity". We know better and history backs up our beliefs (or really unbelief's) because this just does not happen any more. We seldom (or never have) heard of it in the church's and the student is to be "as his master". Lets face it our masters need to go back to Bible Faith School and raise the bar some here. Then they will encourage seeking God on these matters and indulge us in the hope that God can still raise the dead in accordance with His will. Are we really so afraid of the will of God? Would we be terrorized if the loved one arises from the coffin? Are we serving the God of Creation or just a god of convenience? Is not the reason for sacrificing Jesus Christ to manifest God's plan and love to the entire world? What is more effective? Preaching the Gospel with words or as Paul has so passionately put it "when I come I don't want to hear your word but see "The Power". It is better to preach the Gospel with words and after "heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons" than to just preach and realize that the only power (and thank God it's there) is that God's word will not come back void. In many areas of faith we have sunk into uselessness.
For sure we are saved but our hands our bound by lack of faith to preform the Gospel not just speak it. 
Remember what Jesus said to His disciples when they returned rejoicing over the victories they  had over the devil after being sent out? They came to him rejoicing; but so did the man with the demon possessed son; only he was grieving. The man explained to Jesus that His disciples tried but couldn't cast the devil out and Jesus replied: "oh faithless generation, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you." How much farther down that road are we today? If Jesus would come to one of our church's what would He say to us? Would it be that we have been given the "mustard seed" of faith and like the foolish servant have buried it in a stoney place (the heart)? Oh wait (another point) He couldn't say that in most church's because He would not be a member, and non members can't participate in teaching, preaching, voting, choir, or many other things. I guess being the Head of the Church wouldn't hold water over membership. But more of that in the proper post. 
So in summery:
The raising of the dead is necessary because:
It proves the power of God over death and that Christ was raised from the dead. If it can happen now then it happened then, and visa versa.
It gives proof of the promised resurrection in the rapture.
It brings hope to those suffering the difficult loss of death on what is the will of God?
It's a sign to both believers and unbelievers that Jesus Christ is Lord and that the Gospel of Christ is the only teaching with power.
What do you believe? What will you do from now on? Where is your faith challenged to? 
If life is so precious that we go broke trying to stay alive at the hands of the doctors, then why not, at the hand of God, ask if death is convenient for that day.

Think on these things.

Love in Christ
J&E in Tn 

Salvation: An interesting example!

Did you ever consider what God will do to bring the Gospel to "all the earth"?
Are all your thoughts about Salvation Scriptural or Church doctrine? There is a difference. My personal "application" of the Salvation Message is very broad "that none should perish but all should have eternal life." Many churches have doctrines that allow for the verbal threat that if you don't receive the Gospel message when they or a member presents it then the time may pass for you to be saved and hell is your only inheritance. Then there is my favorite "Lie" which is that you could be one of the "poor souls" that was born to go to hell. Certainly in both cases above there will be people who will refuse the Gospel and force their entrance into hell "aside from the will of God" which is that "none may perish". Even though Jesus Christ's death and resurrection will only harvest "those who believe" we also must realize that He died for all. The purpose of Gods Unconditional Love through Christ was that the whole world might be saved with the omniscience that many will reject the Gospel. If salvation wasn't open to all then why are we to "fill up the earth with the knowledge of Christ"? Why would God have us preaching to all when only a "predestined few" will believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason we preach (as did the apostles and others in Acts) to all is because only God knows who will open the door when He knocks. Every man is given the same chance at salvation so that the Blood of Jesus has redemptive power over all mankind.
Most teaching about the Holy Spirit is that He is working in everyone's lives to direct us to Christ. There is only one purpose for every experience, intervention, and complications of life and that is for us to be drawn to Christ for salvation, simply, deliverance from ourselves and our own wicked ways. Because the Scriptures say that "God fills all of creation" and "we live and move and have our being in Him" and the Holy Spirit is the Mind of Christ on earth it begs to ask: How can He be taken from us? There is only one time mentioned in Scripture that the Holy Spirit is removed from the earth and that is in the 2 Thes 2:7. Surely until He is taken out the Holy Spirit will be doing His job of convicting of sin and  "baptizing with power" so the Gospel of Christ will have proof through out the earth that Jesus is Lord. If one is alive in this creation then he cannot have the presence of Holy Spirit removed from him to "convict him of sin". Period. The fact that people are "given" over to their sins has to do with decisions not the absence of the Holy Spirit. At this point in creation you cannot escape the presence of God the Father, Jesus the Son or the Holy Spirit. Salvation is rich and free to "all" who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. All who confess with their lips Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead shall be saved. At Calvary the Blood of Jesus covered all mankind that none may perish so all might have eternal life. No one was missed in that sacrifice, no not one. I can't believe that anyone would believe that the God of Love,(who is Love), would build this creation to prove His Love and preordain (in that Love) that some should be predestined for hell. This is where Predestination and Omniscience are confused. Hell is for satan and his angels it was not designed for man. Love by the power of the Blood of Christ was our free pass from hell and payment for all our sins. That none might perish! The God of Love created all of us to have "fellowship" with Him now on earth and forever in heaven. Jesus said that He will raise up all whom God has given Him knowing that some will not receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ and perish. Think of this: Were the drops of blood sweat by Christ in the garden just from the stain of His praying about His being obedient to the Fathers will or was it the passion for the one's that would be eternally lost in hell? Consider that thought. His Blood defeated satan's power of bondage over all peoples. Period. Now lets do our job with all the power of the Gospel, gifts and promises to get the message out to all the earth that "none may perish". Let Gods Omniscience work His Love in the lives of those who will not believe, but let us "with power" be the obstacles on their road to hell.

A couple of examples of Gods Salvation that seemed impossible:

I was working on a blast furnace in the late 80's gunning the pant legs on top the furnace ( no need to understand what that means) but it was a very dangerous job. A carpenter was assigned to to me to do the scaffolding. He knew me for many years and himself was not saved but rather a wild man with every kind of moral and spiritual depravity working in his life. I used to call him the wild man of Borneo.
Some background on him:
Owned several brothels/crack houses
Addicted to drugs and alcohol
Violently explosive as nitroglycerin
Carried an Uzi in his vehicle to settle disputes
Verbally abusive as sandpapper
Had a dad and several brothers to back him up with the same outlook on life.
As I have said I worked with this man many times over the years in the same application. On this job when he was assigned to me he said "why do I always get stuck with you? You and your hymns." I told him it was because we were the best at this and they had no other choice than to put the two best together to get the job done. I laughed. He sighed.
In the course of the job he asked me why I was the way I was. So I told him about how God used the sin in my life to bring me to Jesus and how I was set free from sin to serve Him. For the first time he "checked" around and many there knew about my life before salvation. This change made him more curious so he came back to me for more on the topic. Now I have presented the Gospel to this man more times than I can count and backed it up by living it before him just as much. By presenting the Gospel I don't mean the "beat him up with the Romans road" but the kind, consistent, words and life that proves that Jesus is the most important person in my life. I also attracted him with the fact that I truly loved my wife and showed respect for her in all conversation. Things that he never knew but deep down inside wish he had.
During one of these "times of conversation" God had me once again (with power) present the Gospel to him with a promise and a prophesy. It went like this: You lead a very violent life and death is sure to come to you in the near future, so there is something that the Holy Spirit is having me tell you now for that time. He says that the time is coming when you will be exhaling your last breath, (and you will know that it is your last), and He wants you to just remember these words and say them with your last breath: "Jesus save me." At that time he will remind you of the Gospel and He will intervene by delivering and saving you because you are valuable to Him and He loves you more than you have ever experienced in your life. Unconditional Love that you will feel at the time it happens and from then on. This man said was all of a sudden very remorseful and said that he wasn't worth saving because of the way he lived his life. I reassured him that (and here is the prophesy) "you are so important to the purpose of Christ that even if He (Jesus) had to appear before him He would do that because He loves you so much." Then I said "remember Jesus save me."
Several years passed and I was back in that plant to work on a discharge runner for the blast furnace. Presently the furnace was being tapped for the steel and the runner was full of melted steel and racing like a river. As I stood back and watched it flow I noticed something moving very fast to my right and in my peripheral vision. I turned to face it because it was quite dark and the object was moving toward me. All of a sudden I saw that it was a man and I didn't know his intent so I braced myself so as not to be thrown into the runner full of hot steel. (Due to drug use in the plant this was not a stretch of the imagination of what could happen there.) As he got within feet of me I recognize the man I have just talked about and he grabbed me up like a rag doll, (he was a very powerful man with fists like sledgehammers), and said "Jerry you won't believe what happened to me." I said if you put me down (thinking he might be on drugs and I was within 5 feet of flowing melted steel), you can tell me. Then began the story of how he was with his girlfriend at one of his crack houses, drinking, and doing crack when they went to bed. In the middle of the night his girlfriend got up and was hallucinating that the room was crawling with giant bugs. She then set off 2 whole house bug bombs and went back to sleep. The room filled with the poisonous vapor quickly and death was imminent for both of them. He woke up having breathed the fumes for some time knowing that he was going to die and was reminded what I had said by the Holy Spirit. He cried out with his last breath "Jesus save me." Just then Jesus appeared to him at the end of his bed parting the fog and said "you have served yourself all these years now you will serve me. I have cleansed you and made you whole, take your girlfriend to the hospital." She was in a comma for 3 days then recovered. His transformation by salvation was so great that his father and brothers were saved within 2 weeks. He forsook his past and embraced Christ.
Some would say this can't happen but it did. God so loved the world...........Nothing is impossible with God.

The second recall of salvation for this posting is my Mother's.
My Mom was miss diagnosed with diverticulitis when all along she had liver cancer. By the time she got a second opinion the cancer had taken over 75% of her liver and was spreading to other organs. For 3.5 years  she suffered with treatments that had little effect and in the end all her children took turns helping my Dad take care of her. During the last several weeks of her demise I had the opportunity to spend many hours with her and on one particular time the door was opened by God to answer her questions about faith and heaven. I prepared each visit with prayer and asking the same of the congregation I had in our house. Having been given this opportunity her questions started with cancer and bitterness and was led to assurance of salvation (which she had no real confidence in). Not to argue Catholicism but most don't clearly perceive the finished work of the Blood of Jesus. All the presentation is there but there is no guarantee that you will make it. I understand the doctrine because I was raised Catholic. Not to beleaguer the point but she was drawn in to the positive assurance that I had in Christ for salvation. She said " I wish I had your faith in where I am going". I said she could have, then presenting the Gospel again she opened her heart to the message of Christ His death and Resurrection and prayed with me. After we sat and wept with rejoicing Mom having been given witness of her salvation and heaven. Time went by and at the end I gave her the last drink of water she had and she passed a few days later.
Now the next part caused me to have anger without sin:
I thanked the church for their prayers on the following Sunday and reported that my Mom had received Christ as her Savior. After the service a brother approached me with these words: "how do you know that your mother was saved? Maybe she was one of those that were born to go to hell. How can you be sure?" I looked at him calmly and said: "If this could be true for my Mother having confessed Christ, then how can you divorce yourself and your family from the same possibility?" He was adamant that this wasn't the case for himself or his family. How selfish and erroneous was his application of the Gospel. Since Christ's death and Resurrection man has twisted the Gospel to hold power and do wickedness to their fellow man with the application that what they were doing was "of God" and did not apply to themselves.

In closing:

Let God be true and every man a liar. If God sent His only Son that all can be saved then how much more will that same Loving Father "manifest" Himself to the objects of His love for that salvation to take place. My personal practice of faith in salvation is to present the Gospel by life and word then leave the rest to God to validate, however He wants to.

Love in Christ
J&E in Tn