Death, an event every life does face; death, the call that men cannot erase. Yet death, as strong as it seems, has no power to erase God’s dreams.

Strong, yes mighty, no one can deny, but death has no power when upon Christ we rely; eternal life is our Lord’s faithful supply.

Repentance and faith are heavenly gifts He readily supplies, and grants us the grace of His heavenly eyes; eyes to see what He mercifully gives, promises of His Word that allows us to live.

Death as it comes cannot be denied, but death when it happens, is God’s open door to the curse of Hell or to the blessing of Heaven’s “much more”.

The “best of men” may seem slow to die, but effort in ‘flesh’, though mighty and strong, does not unveil to whom they belong.

Death is the door to God’s heavenly rest, or death is the door to the devil’s hellish pests; no rest for the godless as eternity dawns, receiving the poison they clearly had sown.

Death is the dawn of Heaven’s best, or death is the birthing of greater slavery and chains, hopeless though crying for a moment’s rest.

The “tomb” of death is no resting place but a constant wailing of pain and disgrace, as the devil and demons, with foolishness and shame, awaken their prisoners to remind them of blame.

Blame for accepting their sinful state, blame for denying the Lord too late. Pleasure they sought without any awareness of what Jesus had bought.

By the blood of the Lamb sinful bondage is broken, but ‘sinners’ refuse to accept what was spoken. Freedom from sin because of His blood, but bondage with Satan because of his flood.

Life everlasting our Lord’s gracious call, made One in Him though bruised by the Fall; Light has come to enlighten our Way, the darkness of day has no more to say; but Heaven’s Light forever shines at the Table of the Lord in Heaven we dine.

Blessed is the man who lives in “Resurrection Life”, freed from sin and its inevitable strife, brought out of ‘death’, blessed in His Life.

Blessed is the man set apart to live with Him sustained by His resurrected life and heart. Gifts of God continually abound as the saint in Christ is valiant in choosing Heaven’s sound.

No strife, no pain, no fleshly blame – just resting in Jesus, no longer sinfully lame. New life, new hope, new dreams abound, dreams that emit only Heaven’s holy sounds.

Blessed is the man most blessed by God’s Word, no longer unmindful or ashamed of his devotion to the Lord, but so devoted and settled in the Truth that binds a heart and mind to the glory of our God, not coldly, carelessly, merciless just buried in the sod.

A new name given, a new purpose defined – set apart to Him to honor His Name, so thankful for His blessing and so aware of the same, to lay down our lives in His holy name; dead to ourselves and our fleshly games, no slamming the door in the face of God, but ‘planting’ our lives in this earthly sod by His witness of Life, wholly given to God!

His glory so freely bestowed is His gift to the man who freely sows God’s mercy and grace and love where God chooses to place us, with a God-given call, that whatever we do, we do it in awe of the God who placed us in the midst of man’s Fall, to sound His words: “redeemed from the Fall,” and recipients of God’s All.

God’s All of forgiveness and freedom and force, to equip as servants, as we rest in His course – no plans of our own but happily choosing to serve where we’re sown.

A crown of glory so freely awaits the man or woman who ‘drinks His blood,’ so fully aware they’re ‘saved from the ‘flood’; and those deceived by the devil’s untruths, those unaware of His spiritual abuse, the sons of God so boldly face the Fall of men in fleshly disgrace, and pour out their lives to see the change that our Lord’s sacrifice so richly inflames – A flame of God that purifies the soul, seta a man free, and enriches his life, free from guilt, free from godlessness, free to breathe in His gracious gifts, equipping His people to pronounce salvation from fleshly rifts!

Heaven forever in relationship with God, married to Him with the old man in earth’s sod. Heaven forever as the gift of His grace, ever soaring on eagles’ wings until I’m safe in His place. His love gave me wings, even a voice to sing, and eyes to see my eternal resting place, graciously a recipient of His matchless grace!

“Amen” to God forever the same, the God of love that has washed our blame, and seated us with Christ in heavenly places that we might view His love of all races, anointing us in His Spirit and blessing us with heavenly graces, to see our world as His Creation, with Holy Desire as His habitation, unveiling Christ Jesus as His Holy Revelation!

“DEATH? THE DOOR TO HELL’S WORST OR

THE DOOR TO GOD’S ETERNAL GOODNESS?”

IT WAS AN ANONYMOUS WRITER THAT YEARS AND YEARS AGO WROTE THE FOLLOWING: “SOME DAY THE BELL WILL SOUND, SOME DAY MY HEART WILL BOUND, AS WITH A SHOUT THAT SCHOOL IS OUT AND LESSONS DONE, I HOMEWARD RUN.” WHEN I READ THAT COMMENT, I HAD TO ASK, “HOMEWARD BOUND TO WHERE? TO ‘NO-MAN’S LAND’?” TO SOME FLESHLY DREAM-WORLD, AFTER LIFE IS OVER THAT ONE ENVISIONS FOR HIMSELF, OR TO AN UNCERTAIN DESTINATION, OR THE CERTAIN DESTINATION OF A GRAVE-SIGHT, AND THERE IS NO MORE”?

ANOTHER STATEMENT I READ ONCE SOMEWHERE, WRITING DOWN ONLY THE WORDS, BUT WHAT I READ STIRRED SOMETHING IN MY HEART AND MIND TO TRULY EXAMINE ‘DEATH’S REALITY’! THOSE WORDS? “SOME DIE WITHOUT HAVING REALLY LIVED, WHILE OTHERS CONTINUE TO LIVE, IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE DIED.”

GODLESS LIVING,WHETHER THE DECEPTION OF AN ATHEISTIC MIND OR THE DESIRE AND MIND AND HEART OF SELF-WILL, SELF-PLEASURE, AND SELF-GOVERNING,LIKE PSALM 14 THAT DAVID SANG ABOUT: “THE FOOL HAS SAID IN HIS HEART, ‘THERE IS NO GOD’. THEY ARE CORRUPT, THEY HAVE DONE ABOMINABLE WORKS, THERE IS NONE THAT DOES GOOD, (WHICH I’M SURE IS GOD’S ANOINTING OF DAVID IN EXPOSING THE FUTILITY OF ‘SELF-DETERMINATION’, ASSERTING, “WHO NEEDS GOD?”) CONTINUING DAVID SANG:

THE LORD LOOKED DOWN FROM HEAVEN UPON THE CHILDREN OF MEN, TO SEE IF THERE WERE ANY THAT DID UNDERSTAND, AND SEEK GOD. (BUT),VERSE 3, “THEY ARE ALL GONE ASIDE, THEY ARE ALL TOGETHER BECOME FILTHY: THERE IS NONE THAT DOES GOOD, NO, NOT ONE. VERSE 4, HAVE ALL THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY NO KNOWLEDGE? WHO EAT UP MY PEOPLE AS THEY EAT BREAD, AND CALL NOT UPON THE LORD?”

NOTICE THAT DAVID SANG PUBLICLY, ANOINTED OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, SAYING, “WORKERS OF INIQUITY WITH NO KNOWLEDGE”? WHAT DOES PAUL DECLARE, ALSO ANOINTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHEN IN ROMANS 3:23, HE SAID, “FOR ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.” SIN, THE SIN-NATURE, SIN, THE DEVILISH DECEIT OF SATAN HIMSELF, SIN, THE BIRTHING IN GODLESS HEARTS OF ALIENATION AND SEPARATION FROM HOLY GOD, SIN, THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT OF SELF-WILL, SELF-PLEASURE, SELF-DETERMINATION “WITHOUT GOD’S INTERFERENCE IN MY SELF-SERVING LIFE”, HUMANITY’S ‘DEATH-NAIL’; AND THOUGH HUMANITY LIVES ON PHYSICALLY ALIVE BUT SPIRITUALLY DEAD, “GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD”, HE DESIGNED ONE’S DELIVERANCE FROM SPIRITUAL DEATH THROUGH THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS, THE SACRIFICIAL “LAMB OF GOD”!

AND DEATH, SPIRITUAL DEATH,HOW DID PAUL EXPLAIN THIS IN 2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-21? “FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINS US; BECAUSE WE THUS JUDGE, THAT IF ONE DIED FOR ALL, THEN WERE ALL DEAD: AND THAT HE DIED FOR ALL, THAT THEY WHICH LIVE “SHOULD NOT HENCEFORTH LIVE UNTO THEMSELVES, BUT UNTO “HIM” WHICH DIED FOR THEM, AND ROSE AGAIN”.

WHETHER HENCEFORTH KNOW WE NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH: YES, THOUGH WE HAVE KNOWN CHRIST AFTER THE FLESH, YET NOW HENCEFORTH KNOW WE HIM NO MORE. THEREFORE IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATION; AND THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD, ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW. AND ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD, WHO HAS RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF BY JESUS CHRIST, AND HAS GIVEN TO US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION;

TO WIT, THAT GOD WAS IN CHRIST, RECONCILING THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF, NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM; AND HAS COMMITTED UNTO US THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION. NOW THEN WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST, AS THOUGH GOD DID BESEECH YOU BY US: WE PRAY YOU IN CHRIST’S STEAD, BE YOU RECONCILED TO GOD. FOR HE HAS MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US, WHO KNEW NO SIN, THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS IN HIM.”

ARE YOU AWARE OF THAT? DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? EXAMINE CAREFULLY 1 JOHN 3:7-10! HOLY GOD’S WORD SAYS, (THOUGH ‘MODERN-DAY’, ‘ILL-INFORMED’ DISCIPLES FOOLISHLY SAY:”WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL WE GET TO HEAVEN?” PHONY-BOLOGNA!), “LITTLE CHILDREN, LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU: HE THAT DOES RIGHTEOUSNESS IS RIGHTEOUS, EVEN AS CHRIST IS RIGHTEOUS. HE THAT COMMITS (PRESENT TENSE) SIN IS OF THE DEVIL; FOR THE DEVIL SINNED FROM THE BEGINNING. FOR THIS PURPOSE THE SON OF GOD WAS MANIFESTED THAT HE MIGHT DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL.

WHOSOEVER IS BORN OF GOD DOES NOT COMMIT SIN (PRESENT TENSE GREEK, “COMMITS-AND-KEEPS-ON-COMMITTING SIN” AS A ‘WAY OF LIFE’!”); FOR GOD’S SEED REMAINS IN HIM: AND HE CANNOT SIN, BECAUSE HE/SHE IS BORN OF GOD. IN THIS THE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE MANIFEST (UNVEILED), AND THE CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL; WHOSOEVER DOES NOT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT OF GOD, NEITHER HE THAT LOVES NOT HIS BROTHER.”

“DEATH? THE DOOR TO HELL’S WORST AS ONE LIVES IN SELF-SATISFACTION THAT THE SIN-NATURE REMAINS, EVEN AS A BELIEVER,(“ENJOY IT”!), “OR”, AS PAUL EDUCATES US IN 2 CORINTHIANS 1:8-12, “FOR WE WOULD NOT, BRETHREN, HAVE YOU IGNORANT OF OUR TROUBLE WHICH CAME TO US IN ASIA, THAT WE WERE PRESSED OUT OF MEASURE, ABOVE STRENGTH, INSOMUCH THAT WE DESPAIRED EVEN OF LIFE: “BUT” WE HAD ‘THE SENTENCE OF DEATH IN OURSELVES (DAILY)’, THAT WE SHOULD NOT TRUST IN OURSELVES, BUT IN GOD, WHO RAISES THE DEAD: WHO DELIVERED US FROM SO GREAT A DEATH, AND STILL DELIVERS; IN WHOM WE TRUST THAT HE WILL YET DELIVER US; YOU ALSO HELPING TOGETHER BY PRAYER FOR US, THAT FOR THE GIFT BESTOWED UPON US BY THE MEANS OF MANY PERSONS THANKS MAY BE GIVEN BY MANY ON OUR BEHALF.

FOR OUR REJOICING IS THIS, THE TESTIMONY OF OUR CONSCIENCE, THAT IN SIMPLICITY AND GODLY SINCERITY, NOT WITH FLESHLY WISDOM, BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD, WE HAVE HAD OUR CONVERSATION IN THE WORLD, AND MORE ABUNDANTLY TO YOU.”

‘DEATH’ IN YOUR PRESENT LIFE NOW AS A BELIEVER? 2 CORINTHIANS 5:21 DECLARES, “FOR GOD HAS MADE JESUS TO BE SIN FOR US, CHRIST WHO KNEW NO SIN (IN HIMSELF), THAT WE MIGHT (THROUGH HIS DEATH, RESURRECTION AND REIGNING PRESENCE WITHIN YOU) BE (BEING) MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM!”

DO YOU REMEMBER THAT “THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH”? IN 2 PETER 3:9-11, SAYS, “THE LORD IS NOT SLACK CONCERNING HIS PROMISE, AS SOME MEN COUNT SLACKNESS; BUT IS LONGSUFFERING TOWARD US, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.

BUT THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT; IN THE WHICH THE HEAVENS SHALL PASS AWAY WITH A GREAT NOISE, AND THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, THE EARTH ALSO AND THE WORKS THAT ARE THEREIN SHALL BE BURNED UP. SEEING THEN THAT ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE DISSOLVED, WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT YOU TO BE IN ALL HOLY CONVERSATION AND GODLINESS”

OH! DON’T FORGET 2 PETER 2 VERSES 19 & 22!. “WHILE THEY PROMISE THEM LIBERTY, THEY THEMSELVES ARE THE SERVANTS OF CORRUPTION; FOR OF WHOM A MAN IS OVERCOME, OF THE SAME IS HE BROUGHT INTO BONDAGE. VERSE 22,BUT IT IS HAPPENED UNTO THEM ACCORDING TO THE TRUE PROVERB, ‘THE DOG IS TURNED TO HIS OWN VOMIT AGAIN; AND THE SOW THAT WAS WASHED TO HER WALLOWING IN THE MIRE.”

ARE THERE ‘DISCIPLES’ TODAY WHO,AT TIMES, BETRAY THE LORD WITHIN, AND WILLFULLY CHOOSE TO PLAY AGAIN IN THEIR ‘POOLS OF SIN-VOMIT’? THERE ARE SOME WHO ARE TOTALLY UNAWARE OF SPIRITUAL DILIGENCE, AND IN THEIR CHILDISH STATE OF FAITH STILL, AT TIMES, WILL INDULGE IN THE ‘DIRT’ OF GODLESSNESS, YES, DECEIVED BY THE DEMONS, THE WORLD, AND THEIR OLD SIN-NATURE!

DO YOU AS A BELIEVER NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THE DIVINE, HOLY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU IS THERE, NOT TO EXTINGUISH YOUR “NEW LIFE IN CHRIST”, BUT TO INTERCEDE IN YOU TO “TAKE THE SENTENCE OF DEATH DAILY TO YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE, YOUR OLD LIFE THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE CONTINUALLY MANIFESTED IN YOUR MORTAL FLESH?

IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”, (BY EDITOR, FRANK S. MEAD, PUBLISHED BY FLEMING H. REVELL COM., WESTWOOD, NEW JERSEY),ARE WORDS WRITTEN BY EDMUND VANCE COOKE ENTITLED “HOW DID YOU DIE?”, SAYING, “DEATH COMES WITH A CRAWL, OR COMES WITH A POUNCE. AND WHETHER HE’S SLOW OR SPRY, IT ISN’T THE FACT THAT YOU’RE DEAD COUNTS, BUT ONLY, HOW DID YOU DIE?”

“HOW WILL YOU DIE?”UNAWARE OF ETERNAL REALITIES-FLESH OR SPIRIT, HELL OR HEAVEN, SATAN’S WELCOME OR KING JESUS WITH OPEN ARMS?

I MUST SHARE THIS MESSAGE FROM ROMANS 8:1-14!! PAUL SAID: “THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, ‘WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH (OR OLD SIN-NATURE!)’, BUT AFTER THE HOLY SPIRIT. FOR THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE ‘IN CHRIST JESUS’ HAS MADE ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.

FOR WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO, IN THAT IT WAS WEAK THROUGH THE FLESH, GOD SENDING HIS OWN SON IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH, AND FOR SIN, CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH: THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT.

FOR THEY THAT ARE AFTER FLESH (CELEBRATING THEIR OLD SIN-NATURES!) DO MIND THE THINGS OF THE FLESH; BUT THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE SPIRIT THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT. FOR TO BE CARNALLY (FLESHLY) MINDED IS DEATH; BUT TO BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED IS LIFE AND PEACE. BECAUSE THE CARNAL MIND IS ENMITY AGAINST GOD: FOR IT IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF GOD, NEITHER INDEED CAN BE. SO THAT THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD.

BUT YOU ARE NOT IN THE FLESH, BUT IN THE SPIRIT, IF SO BE IT THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU. NOW IF ANY MAN DOES NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, HE IS NONE OF HIS. AND IF CHRIST BE IN YOU, THE BODY IS DEAD BECAUSE OF SIN; BUT THE SPIRIT IS LIFE BECAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. VERSES 11-15 FOLLOW, HEAR IT!!

BUT IF THE SPIRIT OF HIM THAT RAISED UP JESUS FROM THE DEAD DWELLS IN YOU, HE THAT RAISED UP CHRICT FROM THE DEAD SHALL ALSO QUICKEN YOUR MORTAL BODIES BY HIS SPIRIT THAT DWELLS IN YOU. THEREFORE, BRETHREN,WE ARE DEBTORS, NOT TO THE FLESH (OR YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE!), TO LIVE FOR IT.

FOR IF YOU LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YOU SHALL DIE; BUT IF YOU THROUGH THE SPIRIT DO MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, YOU SHALL LIVE. FOR AS MANY AS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD. FOR YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE AGAIN TO FEAR; BUT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION, WHEREBY WE CRY, ‘ABBA,FATHER’.”

I CLOSE WITH HYMN WORDS WRITTEN BY ISAAC WATTS THAT SAYS: “ALAS! AND DID MY SAVIOR BLEED? AND DID MY SOVEREIGN DIE? WOULD HE DEVOTE THAT SACRED HEAD FOR SUCH A WORM AS I?

WAS IT FOR CRIMES THAT I HAD DONE THAT HE GROANED UPON THE TREE? AMAZING PITY! GRACE UNKNOWN! AND LOVE BEYOND DEGREE!

WELL MIGHT THE SUN IN DARKNESS HIDE, AND SHUT HIS GLORIES IN, WHEN CHRIST, THE MIGHTY MAKER DIED FOR MAN THE CREATURE’S SIN.

BUT DROPS OF GRIEF CAN NEVER REPAY THE DEBT OF LOVE I OWE; HERE, LORD, I GIVE MYSELF AWAY, IT’S ALL THAT I CAN DO.”

DO YOU ACCEPT, LIVE IN, AND SHARE WITH OTHERS OUR LORD’S VICTORY OVER THEIR SIN AND DEATH IN ORDER TO “SET THE CAPTIVES FREE”? IN ISAIAH 12:2-3 THE PROPHET SAID: “BEHOLD, GOD IS MY SALVATION; I WILL TRUST HIM, AND NOT BE AFRAID; FOR THE LORD JEHOVAH IS MY STRENGTH AND MY SONG; HE HAS BECOME MY SALVATION. THEREFORE WITH JOY SHALL YOU DRAW WATER OUT OF THE WELLS OF SALVATION”. HAVE YOU “TRUSTED THE LORD”?

VERSES 4-6 FOLLOW SAYING, “AND IN THAT DAY SHALL YOU SAY, (IS THAT SAYING TO OTHERS AROUND YOU?), PRAISE THE LORD, CALL UPON HIS NAME, DECLARE HIS DOINGS AMONG THE PEOPLE, MAKE MENTION THAT HIS NAME IS EXALTED.SING UNTO THE LORD; FOR HE HAS DONE EXCELLENT THINGS; THIS IS KNOWN IN ALL THE EARTH. CRY OUT AND SHOUT, YOU INHABITANTS OF ZION; FOR GREAT IS THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL THAT IS IN YOUR MIDST.” – CAN YOU SAY,RIGHT NOW: “I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST: FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION TO EVERY ONE WHO BELIEVES.” BUT HOW CAN THEY BELIEVE IF THEY NEVER HEARD, AND IF YOU AS CHRIST’S SERVANT AND ASSIGNED MESSENGER NEVER SHARE THE GOOD NEWS? DO YOU SEE THAT YOU “IN CHRIST” ARE A DEBTOR TO THE LOST WORLD AROUND YOU AND THAT WHAT YOU HOLD AND POSSESS OUT OF GOD’S LOVE, WAS GIVEN FREELY TO YOU TO JOYFULLY SHARE WITH OTHERS? “RISE UP, O MEN OF GOD!BE DONE WITH THE FOOLISH”!

By: J.Farrell Fisher, August 20-21, 2017

Don’t you find it strange AND alarming that many folks who cross your paths in our known world will “die” without one grain of understanding about why they were on Holy God’s beautiful world, no understanding of ‘the meaning of life’ or ‘the meaning of death’? Sadly, for many of humanity’s world populace there is no thought about “Why am I here?”, they just exist, tolerating whatever comes down their lane!

It was Anna Letitia Barbauld, in her writing “Ode to Life”, who wrote: “Life! We’ve been long together Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; It’s hard to part when friends are dear – Perhaps it will cost a sigh, a tear; Then steal away, give little warning, Choose your own time; Say not good-night – but in some brighter clime Bid me good morning.” I’m not sure where she was going to awaken, but be sure, she knew she would – and you should know that YOU CHOOSE through God’s graciousness and kindness and amazing love your destiny of eternal life in Hell or Heaven!

And be assured: Our lives in our known world are of a limited time frame! But, at the same time and in the same vein, you are personally involved in where you spend eternity’s destination! Horatius Bonar wrote: “Beyond the shining and the shading I shall be soon. Beyond the hoping and the dreading I shall be soon…”, but Where and With Whom rests in your own involvement of settling your eternal destiny.

Joshua gave his people and us a necessary warning and needed wisdom in Joshua 24:14-15 when he said: “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt! And if it seems evil to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

IF the anointed Word of God says, “Choose YOU this day whom you will serve,” are you, yes, at least fully aware of the ‘fleshly kingdoms of man’ OR yielded to, in, and for the God-honoring, Christ-glorifying “Kingdom of God”?

Dare I tell you that since ‘fallen man’s beginning’ Holy God has sought to alert in the inward heart of all men the reality of His desire to reconcile every fallen man to the reality of His Rule, His reigning, their Redemption, and their “co-reign” in and through His Son, Christ Jesus?

In Proverbs 1:20-33 the ‘wise man’ of Proverbs wrote: “Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words: “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.

Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make known my words to you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

Then you will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, They would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies.

For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.”

“Facing death or Facing Life?” When it comes to all of fallen men’s considerations of why he/she is here in this world, it is certain that in most men it is their own interpretations about what their lives are all about from fleshly ambitions, fleshly aims, even fleshly desires, ‘eating the fruit of their own way’ without any consideration of eternal, divine, loving intention from the Throne of God, His mind, His heart, His desires for men – the source of men’s inspiration for his/her earthly existence must be: “Lord, what would You have me to do?” The astute mind behind the truly blessed man IS the very Mind, Will, Purpose, and Provision of each of us through Christ Jesus, unveiled for us in Romans 5:6-11 when Paul enlightened us, saying,

“For when we were still WITHOUT STRENGTH (or “helpless” concerning “the God-life”), in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having NOW BEEN JUSTIFIED BY HIS BLOOD, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be (“being”) saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Have YOU received “the reconciliation”?

W.H.McDonald and William G. Fisher wrote the hymn: “I Am Coming To The Cross”. It says: “I am coming to the cross; I am poor and weak and blind; I am counting all but dross; I shall full salvation find.

Long has my heart sighed for You; Long has evil dwelt within; Jesus sweetly speaks to me, “I will cleanse you from all sin.”

Here I give myself to You – Friends and time and earthly store, Soul and body Yours to be – Wholly Yours forevermore.

In the promises I trust; Now I feel the blood applied; I am prostrate in the dust; I with Christ am crucified.

I am trusting, Lord, in You, Dear Lamb of Calvary, Humbly at Your cross I bow, Save me, Jesus, save me now.”

Has Christ Jesus saved YOU, redeemed YOU by His blood, resurrected YOU from sin and death, and called to YOU, “Son, daughter, come to Me and I’ll give you rest”? Do you KNOW that you’ve come out of the bondage of sin and death and Satan’s control, assured in your heart and mind by the Holy Spirit, and by the Holy Spirit are YOU honoring and glorifying Christ in and through your bodily Temple?

Have you “Faced your deathly state without Christ” and are you daily, yes, day by day, “Faith-ing Life in Him”? Are you NOW “being saved by His life?” Remember, Romans 5:10! “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be (“being”) saved by His life.”

Thank God for the Cross of Christ, but if that totals your believing faith, what do you do about His empty tomb and His desire for your redeemed life and body to be the place of His resurrected, abiding presence on earth through YOU? He was made sin for us that through His shed blood, death, and resurrection we might be made “the righteousness of God” in us to be unveiled to the world around us. Loving God made Jesus to be sin for us, yes, the Jesus who knew no sin, but willingly He took our sin and sin nature unto Himself, becoming ‘sin for us’, and by repentance and faith you and I are “made the righteousness of God in Him, in Christ”! Oswald Chambers rightfully stated: “It is not “Christ” FOR me unless I am determined to have Christ formed “in” me.” So true and so aligning to the very heart and mind of God Himself!

“FACING DEATH?” Spiritual death, which is what every human is birthed into, is the reality of the absence of God in the new-birthed, inner heart, because willfully God had no desire to see children birthed with no choice but servitude to the Almighty – He desired and desires the human races of individuals recognizing the empty life, yes, empty meaning, without Christ willfully residing and reigning, but, because of one’s repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s “finished” work at the Cross – one knows, “Yes, it was for ME Christ died because I was a non-possessor of Divine Presence!”

There is a “soul-awakening” sequence of verses in John 2:23-25 that should truly be ‘words of true awakening’ for one in examining his/her own heart and mind! It says: “Now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. BUT Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.”

There’s an interesting Verse in Ezekiel 44:25 that says, God speaking about “true priests”, “And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” Oh, and then in Ezekiel 44:28 the Lord truly exposes the ‘false’ or true men of Faith saying, “It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I am their inheritance.” Are there ‘professing disciples’ intoxicated with a “mixed drink” of the ‘holy and the unholy’ or of ‘the unclean and the clean’? That’s “death” in, yes, disillusioned minds and hearts!

“Fallen mankind” is consumed with nonchalant and/or unconcerned indifference when it comes to a “holy relationship to your God – who needs it?” Many live with a cool indifference, even a mindless consideration of the need of Holy God’s mercy and grace!

It was J.B.Phillips, in his writing, “New Testament Christianity”, who said: “The modern intelligent mind, which has had its horizons widened in dozens of different ways, has got to be shocked afresh by the audacious fact that as a sober matter of history, GOD BECAME ONE OF US.” And becoming one of us, He came with the sacred, eternal intent of reconciling us to Himself – but that could never happen apart from “crucified with Christ” and “raised to new life” in Him and through Him!

“Fallen mankind” is fleshly oriented, ruled by the accumulation of the thoughts, ideas, remedies that never satisfies or heals the absence of God but widens the gap further unless bridged, blessed, and beautified by His amazing grace! And it’s only God’s Mind and God’s Heart that can raise “fallen mankind” out of spiritual death and separation from Him only by the shedding of the innocent blood of His Son for us on Calvary’s Cross, then raising Him up by the supernatural power and love of God, taking Him in His arms, then loosing Him to touch us with God’s amazing love and grace!

When it comes to “fallen mankind”, he/she never experiences the sacredness of a holy relationship with God apart from God’s Word, like when He said to Nicodemus, a religious ruler of the Jews, “Except you be born again you’ll never know My kingdom rule!” Of course, fallen men, rebellious to the core and beyond, have no desire to be “ruled” except by their own warped will! Tell me: Do YOU rule in your own kingdom as ‘lord unto myself’, or is it truly in your mind, heart, and walk to be ruled by Another, even King Jesus?

In Isaiah 63:14b, we read the passionate plea of one who recognized the need of Sovereign God ruling in the nation. He cried out, “So You lead Your people to make Yourself a glorious name,” saying in Verse 19, “We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled, those who were never called by Your name.” James had a ‘perfecting word’ for all believers when he wrote in James 1:4, “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

If our goal “in Christ” IS “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”, is it possible that some become “sidetracked” or “detoured” away from, rather than “pressing in to His fullness”? In James 1:14 James mentions about “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed,” followed by Verse 15, “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” [Don’t you find it alarming when ‘professing believers in Christ’ live as if He’s not around, indulging their sin natures while Christ weeps, but it doesn’t bother them because they’re ‘free’? Really?].

Follow James 1:21-25 the brother of Jesus warns us: “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the IMPLANTED WORD, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. BUT he who looks into the perfect law of liberty AND continues in it, and IS NOT A FORGETFUL HEARER BUT A DOER OF THE WORK, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Blessed is the evidence of Christ as the source of your walk of faith! Are you “facing death” or are you “FAITHING LIFE”?

“Faithing Life”? I love Moffatt’s translation of James 1:4 when he translated it, saying, “Let your endurance be a finished product, so that you may be finished and complete, with never a defect.” IF ‘Christ in you is the hope of glory’, does Christ Jesus have defects, or is it YOUR defects exposed as you try the best you can to be faithful, when your best and your worst, again, I say to you: It was crucified with Christ thousands of years ago, and you are not to lean on your “best”, but to trust His presence to be Himself THROUGH YOU! Amen?

The “Faithing Life” is not your best in ‘independent individuality’ but dependent trust in Christ Jesus being Himself in us and through us! We read in Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, LOOKING UNTO JESUS, THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

To finish the “Faith Life” are YOU looking unto Jesus, are you presently walking in His joy, are you taking His endurance of His cross daily in your walk, hating the shame, and ARE YOU SEATED WITH CHRIST, RIGHT NOW, IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES WITH CHRIST VICTORIOUS OVER SIN AND DEATH, and celebrating with the angelic chorus and the armies of redeemed saints?

Psalm 66:10-12 says, “For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and water; but You brought us out to rich fulfillment.” How glorious does that sound to you?!? An old hymn entitled “Glory to His Name” has a verse that says: “Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His name. Glory to His name, Glory to His name; There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His name.” Amen?