What about Eternity?

What about Eternity?
Is the God who in His awesome power created everything we see and a whole lot of stuff that we cannot see , yet so powerless that satan could frustrate His plans for creation and all of mankind?
Ask most religious folks, especially Pastors and teachers and they won't say it in those exact words but that is the general idea you will get from their answers.

If God created man in His image and then 90% or more of them wind up spending all eternity in hell then one would have to assume that His plan was a failure.
 Answers like this are what come out of seminaries where all you have to do is pass the test to see if you memorized enough of the garbage they fed you and you are then qualified to speak for God.
I have to challenge this kind of thinking and teaching for it does not honor God nor His holy Word the Bible.
Seminary or not, there is no substitute for a heart felt love and passion for God that gets you up early in the morning to spend time with "The Teacher" seeking His face in study of His word and fervent prayer.
The more time you spend with Him the more repugnant those quick and judgemental answers become.

I believe with my whole heart that as time is spent with the Lord Who indwells us the more our hearts and thinking will change and develop into His heart and thinking. The Apostle Paul said that he was like a woman in child birth in agony waiting for Christ to be formed in us and he didn't just mean Christ's holiness but His way of thinking and again I have to say that it is not a mimicking Him but actually experiencing His life and thoughts in you.

I will freely admit that God has a gentle loving side and a stern side as well because the scriptures plainly tell us that He does.
I find it very interesting that the very same ones who proclaim an eternal hell will not proclaim that God also disciplines His children
sometimes very severely with sickness or other painful trials in order to bring course corrections.

First of all let me say that God is not a respecter of persons. During the time of Noah before the worldwide flood, Noah was building an ark at God's command and at the same time he was preaching impending doom. Of course the people laughed at him because nothing like rain had ever been seen much less a deluge of water that could sweep away everything in it's path. The result was that by the time it began to rain the ark was closed and sealed and all the people drowned. The new Testament say's that Jesus went and preached the gospel to those very people who were disobedient in the time of Noah. HuH? they had their chance just like everyone today is said to have had their chance to repent.
Why did Jesus go into the pit and preach the gospel to them? Was it a cruel attempt to taunt them in their misery? Did He just go there and say to them "how you enjoying the fruits of your unbelief ? Too bad you weren't born in my time you would have had a chance to believe in Me". God is not a respecter of persons nor does He give unfair advantage to one over another. I do not claim to understand all He does but I know what the scriptures reveal about Him and as I get closer to Him they speak much louder to me on a lot of issues that I used to misunderstand. Here is one that is very pertinent. Christ had 12 disciples and one of them was Thomas. Thomas was a faithful follower but after Christ's Crucifixion and subsequent resurrection he refused to believe any reports of Jesus being alive again. Now in God's eyes one form of unbelief is no different than another form of unbelief. Hebrews 4 speaks of an evil heart of unbelief. Jesus made a special appearance and told Thomas " look here at the wounds in my hands and go ahead and put your hand in the wound in my side because I want you to believe". Thomas did so and fell on his knees in repentance. There's an old country and western song that goes like this and it's full of truth; "it is no secret what God can do, what He's done for others He'll do for you, with arms wide open He'll pardon you" and so on. He may not do it in the exactly same way but God is more fair than any human ever could be and if He had to make a special appearance to Thomas to get him to believe then I cannot accept the idea that He would do any less for anyone.

 If all this is true and scripture doesn't lie or contradict itself then how can we possibly make the judgements that we do today?

Some of my readers will say I'm taking this too far and others will say that I'm not taking it far enough and that's ok because my purpose is not so much to prove something but to encourage thought outside the box. I'm going to take a big risk here and tell you what I think.
While I cannot prove every little detail any more than my critics can prove their theories that are based on a few out of context scriptures.
I firmly believe that God is big enough to overcome the wiles of Satan, after all He created him and it seems that he was already present on planet earth at the time man was created so I fully believe that he was no accident nor did he upset the plan of God. Mankind was not some cosmic experiment that went awry but no earthly mind can fully comprehend the wisdom of God or know how He intended to go about developing a tried and tested humanity to populate the universe but like the builder of a computer understands it's function God understands what He has created and I think He is not finished yet.
After the flood came Abraham and his descendants who became the Hebrew people, the children of Jacob or Israel as they are now known. God handed down through Moses the first written instructions concerning His will or desire for mankind. What it tended to reveal is that the holy requirements of God are beyond the capability of man to meet.
He let us struggle with that for about 2000 years and then He said I think it's time to enact part 2 of the plan and show humanity how I can take the burden off their shoulders and carry it for them if they will simply choose to cooperate (believe). Many did make that good choice and it was primarily those who had built for themselves a religious career that rejected Him. Much less a matter of belief but a matter of surrender. That is where the majority of unbeleivers are today, simply unwilling to surrender. Even in the heart of an atheist is a sneaking suspicion that all of this we see cannot have simply happened but if you admit that it didn't just happen then you might have to surrender.

To continue with what I believe to be God's plan: He wants to save everyone and He wants to reward everyone for faithful service. Unfortunately not everyone is willing to be saved nor to render faithful service. Just like on earth, heaven has a heirchy or level of authority. We can read about angels having different positions and Satan himself was the most prominent created being until he rebelled and was cast out. I believe that it will continue on into eternity and God is preparing men and women to fill positions of authority in the heavens that may have been vacated by fallen angels. However that is not even the important factor because we don't know more than He has revealed but we do know that He tell us that we should be storing up treasures in heaven where nothing can erode them rather than putting all our efforts into building our earthly home. Why? Because it is determining our eternal existence and position of authority and if we don't we will have regrets. So He gave us His Son and then He gave us His Spirit and those who are wise will accept Him and build for themselves an eternal dwelling place with a life of joy that is beyond imagination. Those who do not will be eventually persuaded to believe because once they have gone beyond the vail then the matter of doubt is erased. Unfortunately for them the rewards of walking by faith will not be given because without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:16).

Yet the scripture plainly says that One died for all, meaning He died for the whole world not just the believers. You say "that's not fair" if I believe and serve and then some guy who doesn't believe still eventually gets saved anyway". Here's why it is fair; The whole world came under the curse of one man's sin, no one born has any option and no one gets to chose to be born it just happens to them. But do you really think that anyone is born by accident? I think not. God is more fair than any human being ever could be so He provided a solution to the one man causing all men to fall under the curse. He came in human form and took the punishment for every ones sin upon Himself. Every living human being is covered under that action. What remains is for everyone to accept it. It is a gift that must eventually be accepted to become effective. If I don't know about it or am stuck in stubborn unbelief it still does not void the action, it simply means that I'm going to have to go through more stuff that may be unpleasant until I do accept it. What seems unbelievable today in the world around me will be very believable when I pass through the vail and see what is on the other side. The invisible world will make a believer of me for sure and I'm not saying there is no punishment for wrong doing but if there is it is directed at one thing and that is to make a faithful believer out of me.

When Thomas put his hand in Jesus side and felt the wound from the sword that pierced Him he fell on his knees and said "my Lord and My God" and Jesus said to him "you have seen and believed, Blessed are they that have not seen me and believe". Therein lies the heart of the matter. He really wants everyone to freely believe and be blessed but if you will not then eventually you will because you will SEE. Everyone gets salvation eventually but it is faith that earns the reward.

This article came about in an unusual way or I would not have written it. The whole topic of hell is so controversial it has torn many relationships and whole churches apart. I have always had strong feelings about it and I have not written all that can be said about it. Anyway I was in Boise last week where my wife was having surgery. I had taken my laptop with me anticipating a long wait. I thought I would write an article as I had several topics going through my head in the last few days. I'm setting in the waiting room and open my laptop and discover there is no internet connection in that part of the hospital. That means I cannot use the online bible program that I commonly use. Next I find that I have drawn a complete blank, I cannot remember any of the topics that I had previously been considering. So I'm just setting there and feeling stupid and wondering what I'm going to do with all this time on my hands when these three words came into my mind "What about Eternity"? So I typed them and what you see above simply came off the ends of my fingers. I did not finish it before they called me to say that my wife was out of surgery and in the recovery room and I could go up to her room and wait there for her to be brought in. By the way she is doing well and we are home and I will be doing housework for a while.

Anyway that night I stayed in our motel room alone and I had a dream and I cannot remember a single thing about the dream except in the dream two scriptures came to me with understanding that I had not previously had so knowing that I would not remember them in the morning I got up and wrote them down. One of them was the scripture involving Thomas that I mentioned above and the other one is:

Luke 12:9-11

New King James Version (NKJV)
9 But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
10 “And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.

Mark 3:28-30

New King James Version (NKJV)
The Unpardonable Sin
28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— 30 because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Both of these scriptures say that "all sins WILL be forgiven except knowing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It does not say how nor when all sins will be forgiven but does not say that there is some sort of limit either in time or space. The fact is that the sins are already covered and it is only dependant upon the willing acceptance and that may occur in this life which is God's ideal for you so that you can store up treasures in heaven or it may occur after you have seen what is behind the vail which may cause you some regret because you may have to endure some suffering for your stubborn refusal to accept what was right in front of you all the time.

Here's another scripture that I have received deeper understanding of:

Romans 2:4

New King James Version (NKJV)
4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?


I used to think that by the goodness of God was meant that by showing His loving side that we are brought to repentance but that is not true. All my life I was exposed to the goodness and kindness of God and I just took it all for granted. It was only when life began to seriously fall apart at the seams did I look up to Him and call out for help. That is the real meaning of the goodness of God. He will not allow you to forever remain in a state of rebellion against Him. Because of His goodness He will do whatever it takes to bring you to repentance no matter how unpleasant it may have to get or how long it may take. If you do not surrender in this life I can assure you that you will in the hereafter. The scripture says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

If eternity in hell is the promise for every unbeliever then why did Jesus tell this parable?

Luke 12:46-48
New King James Version (NKJV)
46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

This scripture tells me that the punishment for wrong doing is not the same for everyone. That in itself should cast doubt on the whole theology of every unbeliever being cast  into hell for eternity because if you are in outer darkness with no hope of ever leaving and in a state of misery then I doubt that it will make much difference what the individual circumstances may be. Everyone is still in a state of hopeless suffering.

So why hasn't God spelled it out more clearly for us? The answer is simple and I have already given it in the text above but I will repeat it again to make sure no one misses it. People are generally lazy and most often take the path of least resistance. That is not God's desire. Just like a good parent He wants us to excel and He will even help us to do that by His mighty power if only we will surrender to Him. HE wants over comers, tried and true that have proven that they can turn their backs on temptation instead of caving in like Adam. We all like rewards so He emphasises the reward system in hopes we will be motivated to take advantage of it. Unfortunately there are those who will not so He does warn that there is a cost to pay for disregarding His offerings but does not reveal that eventually He will persuade you anyway because even more would choose what they think is the easy way not understanding the torments that they will have to endure before relief is offered.
I plead with you out there who may not be doing all you can to fulfill God's call on your life. Take advantage of the limited time you have and begin to seek Him with all your heart for indeed the days we have remaining to store up treasures are growing short. Anyone who is breathing should be able to see that vast changes are taking place in our country and the world and our freedoms are vanishing and the hard times are upon us just as the bible has warned. Let us look up for our redemption draweth nigh.

john

email comments: justjohn@eoni.com

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