TO MOST PEOPLE TODAY, IF GOD EVEN EXISTS, HE IS A RATHER REMOTE RULER AT BEST.

Daniel 4:17

	"This decision is by the decree of the watchers, And the sentence by the word of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men." New King James Version

God will give the Kingdom to the lowest of men and women. Similarly, Paul writes in I Corinthians 1:26, "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." The lesson is to know that God rules, which has been the issue from the very beginning.

Adam and Eve did not act as though they knew that God rules; they acted as though Satan or they ruled. They rejected the rule of God, and from that time on, God has concentrated on this very fact. Mankind will learn that God rules, and in order to do that, God is going to have to judge, to issue decrees, and to hand down sentences.

His sentences are going to be very stiff indeed, because Scripture shows that the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord will reduce the population of the earth to about 10% of all of mankind. The carnage that will result from God's judgments being handed out, so that mankind will know that God rules, will be bloody to an extreme. An awful lot of pain will result from the execution of this sentence. God judges, and it will begin at the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets.

To most people on earth—if God even exists in their thoughts—He is, at best, a rather remote personality who acted a long time ago but seems to have grown disinterested, as nothing has happened for quite a long time. However, the Bible shows Him to be a hands-on ruler. He is overseeing planet earth, and He is doing it for the purpose of fulfilling His purpose of establishing His Kingdom.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

It takes only one sin for God to impose the death penalty!

Hebrews 2:14-15 - "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (New King James Version)

"Some religions make no mention of Satan as a reality. Others include him as a reality and enemy, yet they make little or no accounting of him actively working to destroy mankind and God's purpose. Jesus makes no bones about Satan actively working to destroy men. In John 8:44, in accusing the Jews of unbelief, He puts Satan's nature in plain words:

• ""You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it."

"Satan is clearly responsible for drawing Adam and Eve into the first of mankind's sins, opening the floodgate to the sins of all of their progeny, all physical and mental sickness, countless emotional agonies, and the billions of deaths that mankind has experienced.

"God makes it clear that the wages—the ultimate penalty—earned by one's sins is death (Romans 6:23). The sobering truth of this matter is that it takes only one sin for God to impose the death penalty! He warned Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before they ever sinned, "In the day you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17). The death penalty falls immediately on anyone who sins, even if it is the first time!

"Any religion that is without Christ leaves the door open to thoughts that salvation can be earned by means of good works. The idea is that the evil an individual has done in the past can be compensated for by doing good deeds. This is the very charge the apostle Paul lays against the Jews in Romans 10:1-4:

• ""Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."

"In order for one to be justified before God and accepted by Him requires a righteousness that no man who ever sinned even one time can achieve. No amount of good works can compensate for even one sin. God will accept only the righteousness of One who has never sinned, and He will accept that payment only when a repentant sinner by faith believes.

"Peter's statement in Acts 4:12 confirms that salvation is found nowhere else: "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (emphasis ours). Christ's involvement in the forgiveness of sin for salvation is imperative; there is no alternative! Peter is not saying we can be saved or may be saved. The word "must" reveals necessity according to God's decree. Salvation is found through no other person and no other way of life except through the sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth.

"Salvation denotes deliverance or preservation from harm or evil. In this case, it is deliverance and restoration from the effects of sin. The result, then, is deliverance from eternal death (unless one goes on from that point to commit blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus says God will not forgive; see Matthew 12:31-32). This is because salvation begins upon one's repentance from his sins and faith in the sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of sins. This combination of acts justifies a person before God, and no human works, regardless of their quality or quantity, are acceptable for the forgiveness of sins.

"Does any other religion have a Savior with the qualifications of Jesus Christ? No other religion offers such a magnanimous gift. Forgiveness, and therefore justification, is available only through that perfect sacrifice, along with the sincere repentance of a believing sinner who exhibits faith in the God/Man Jesus Christ and in God's grace. God will then give us of His Spirit." (http://www.theberean.org/, John W. Ritenbaugh, 03/12/2017).

ETERNAL LIFE IS IMPARTED AT THE LAST TRUMPET.

In John 5:24 Jesus says: “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.”

When it comes to being alive or dead, Jesus places people in two categories.  Jesus identifies these two groups of people in the above verse.  The difference between these two groups is that those who are spiritually alive have heard Jesus’ words and believed in the One who sent Him, whereas the latter do not and are spiritually dead.  To understand the verse, it must be understood that Jesus is talking about a person spiritually.

Notice that “death” is put before “life” in this verse.  This is not a coincidence.  Since Adam and Eve, all humans have been born spiritually dead.  Physically man is alive at birth and continues to be “physically alive” until he dies.  At that point, according to the Bible, he no longer exists in any form. (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20).  Jesus is making the claim here that at “judgement” he can “impart eternal life” to those who believe in Him.

Jesus goes on (5:25-26) to state that He has the power to impart eternal life.  In (5:27-30) Jesus claims that in the future He will raise from the dead everyone who has ever lived and at that time will judge them for all eternity. This claim that Jesus is making about eternal life must be understood in the context of God’s plan of redemption as outlined throughout the Old and the New Testaments.

The Bible tells us that God gave us physical life and also that we all will eventually die.  This situation came about by the actions of our first parents, Adam and Eve.  God made available for them the gift of eternal life that is represented by the tree of life in Genesis 2:9.  The tree represented God’s way of life which was total obedience to God’s revealed will. 

The garden also had another tree which was the called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The tree represented man deciding for himself what was right and what was wrong.  They rejected the total obedience to God’s will in favor of choosing to follow their own will.  If they would not have done this, they would have received eternal life (Genesis 2:17).  God told them their fate, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken, for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

The good news is that God, from the beginning, had a plan, and the offer of eternal life still stands.  Through the rest of the Bible, God unfolds this plan for us.  We are rescued from death by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul explains how and when we will receive eternal life when he explains, “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.  When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

Paul clearly tells us that this will happen when Christ returns to earth.  “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

This is when all Christians meet with Jesus, receive our immortal glorified bodies and return to heaven with Jesus to live eternally.

 

CHRISTIAN LIVING FOR GOD - TODAY AND BEYOND

ADAM AND EVE DECIDED TO LIVE AN ALTERNATIVE LIFE STYLE.

THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION TODAY.

 When Adam and Eve decided to follow an alternative life style, similar to the way we live our lives today, apart from God and the Bible, they insured the truth in the statement made by God that “. . . you surely will die . . .”. As did with Adam and Eve and Enoch, that is what happens to us today, we “. . . surely will die . . .”. 

(http://www.ldsliberty.org/fundamental-principles-of-a-representative-democracy/adam-and-eve/)

Adam committed a sin. That sin was turning his back on God. Because of this, man, down through the ages has been dying. We do not know how to act. We do not know how to live our lives so we can live forever.

Look at the world today. It is a disgusting mess. Wars, famines, disease, murders, rapes, drug abuse, alcoholism, child abuse, sexual immorality of all kinds, aides. All these are man made. If Christians actually did live by the laws of God they wouldn’t die. The simple fact is that we do not because we can’t. Mankind has been killing himself down through the ages all because Adam and Eve decided they could determine right from wrong. When Adam and Eve sinned, God sentenced mankind, all of mankind including Christians, to a punishment. That punishment we are all sentenced to is to die a first death.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)

God is telling us a simple truth, death will come to all men, this would include Christians. Death is man’s punishment for the sin of Adam. Because of Adam all men will endure that punishment.  What kind of punishment would it be if that when we die we are immediately whisked to heaven to be with Jesus Christ and God. That would be no punishment at all. The Bible does tell us that we die. It does not say Christians die and then immediately go to heaven. It is not in scripture. This doctrine is simply false.
Do not fear though, God does offer eternal life to all men.