BUT I "LOVE" THE THEOLOGY OF HELL FIRE!!!

HELL. People's view of hell and its torturing fire for the unrepentant lost is arguably the greatest obstacle people face in coming to embrace Trinitarian, Adoption and Inclusion Theology and the salvation and redemption of ALL humans.

People just LOVE their hell and if you mess with it they get fighting mad. Why is this? In their self righteous selves of obedience and "doing" their Christian duty they see others who are sinners beyond measure and undeserving of salvation and must pay for all the "fun" they are having in the flesh now with the hell fire they deserve.

We all grew up with the concept of reward and punishment. Heaven for 'good' people and hell for evil people. Gifts for good little boys and girls and switches and ashes for bad ones. Religion historically the world over has always had this concept. All based on legalism and works with 'heaven' for good people and the netherworld or some type of suffering for evil ones.

When you really analyze this concept you will find that it actually comes from the great father of lies, Satan the devil who is a liar from the beginning. He wants to make the Father look like a harsh, vindictive, vengeful, wrathful, hateful, monster who would gain pleasure from the charred flesh of his children burning in some hell hole forever.

The ancients, and in particular the Greeks, had always had a philosophy of a netherworld or underworld for the suffering of evil men who had died. In the 4th century B.C. the Greek philosopher, Plato, took the concept, embellished it giving it names dividing the netherworld into departments with its attending torturing FIRE and called it "hell" naming it after an ancient Greek Goddess named 'hel'.

Nearly 1000 years later in the 5th century A.D. St. Augustine of Hippo, considered to be the 'father of the Catholic church and an avid fan of Plato introduced the idea of Hell, hell fire, torturing evil people forever in the depths of suffering to the church. And it has stayed in the WESTERN CHRISTIAN CHURCH'S THEOLOGY ever since.

For the first 500 years since Jesus death the idea of hell was simply living in one's own life choices, eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and suffering the consequences. But, when one came to know who they actually were IN Jesus the light of understanding went off in their life and they transitioned from a life of darkness into a life of 'abundance' in Jesus. ( John 10:10 ).

To conclude: A refusal to accept and believe who one is in Jesus which denies one the happiness of sharing in the heavenly blessings (Eph.1) is living in HELL . And this refusal Can last forever. Remember, God is not willing for any to perish-- continued suffering--Gk. "appolumi", but for all to come to repentance-- Gk. "Metanoia"--simply a change of mind of who we are IN Jesus. ( II Peter 3:9).

For you who want to learn more about the subject of Hell just Google search "Plato's Hell, or go to www.thereisnohell.com , and begin checking it out.

Happy studies !!!

Pastor Paul Kurts
Madison, AL
256-468-8081

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THE GREAT CONNECTION

Let's take a look at a few things that make all of us brothers and sisters in Christ. From acts 17 we know that God made from ONE blood all men, and women, to dwell on the face of the earth. Not only are we all made from ONE blood, we are all descended from one SEED. Amazingly, it has now been proven that all humans on the planet have a common ancestor in one common mother. The scriptures call her EVE. Her created husband was Adam.

So what do we see here? IF all of us came from ONE seed having a common mother then the simple definition of this is called brotherhood. And sisterhood. We all are just simply brothers and sisters.

But there is more. Jesus said in John 14:20 that HE was in the Father, the Father was IN Him and that He was is ALL of us. There is a magnificent connection here between all brothers and sisters, all of humanity on the earth. That connection is in Jesus by the same Spirit since Jesus is in ALL of us and we ALL are in Him, we ALL are somehow IN EACH OTHER. Same common mother, father, Spirit, Jesus, and the Father. There is a human UNITY in all of mankind which is connected by the loving Father who created all of us to be brothers and sisters in Him. A Family if you will.

The father of lies (John 8:44) would have us believe that we are all different. All separated from one another. Class distinction. Race distinction. Country distinction. Religious distinction. All in competition of the survival of the fittest. (Darwin).
But we are not in that competition in Jesus. We are brothers and sisters IN each other for the eternal blessings of being with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit forever. Just living, loving, and enjoying life together forever.

Not only has Jesus connected us to each other, He has bridged the gap between God and humanity and connected us to the eternal Triune God, Forever.

DOES GOD WANT OR NEED OUR PRAISE ?

Let's see if we can create a little argument and disagreement to start with!

Last time, I wrote of the "Omni-Everything-God" conceived by the Greeks and pagans eons ago. This god is really no different than any of the other gods of the mythical gods who do not exist. This god is One, he is all powerful, all wise, all knowing, everywhere present, all everything. Just like Zeus, Diana, Osiris, Isis, and any and all of the other non-gods of antiquity.

These gods "exist" in the minds of their devotees to be honored, glorified, worshipped, and of course PRAISED at any opportunity which may arise. This god lives on , thrives on, rides on, is exalted by, and revels in the PRAISES of his followers. Again, this 'Omni-god' does NOT exist. While this may sound good to the Western mind deluded by Plato's philosophy of god, it is far from the truth. So what is the truth?

God is FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT. Triune God exists in a face to face loving relationship in the Trinity. He created us , not to tell Him how great He is and spend all of our time 'praising' Him, but to LIVE. Live life as He created it ABUNDANTLY. John 10:10. He wants us to live free as a bird in Jesus Christ. He wants us to acknowledge what He has done to us and for us and in us and through us IN Jesus Christ. This knowing allows us to live as He designed us to live. And, not only live this abundant life NOW, but to live it eternally with Him and IN Him through Jesus by the Holy Spirit FOREVER.

The True Triune God is ALL about Relationships. The relationship He has within the Trinity and the relationships He has created us to be WITHIN that Trinity forever. Remember, Eternal Life is KNOWING THE FATHER- THE TRUE GOD.

Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit does not NEED or require our continual Praise. It is not the fuel that fires His engines. His greatness is not enhanced by our pandering. He wants us to LIVE now and forever abundantly in Jesus and INSIDE of His Triune existence in RELATIONSHIP. Father to son. Son to Father. Father to daughter. Daughter to Father. All made possible and assured in Jesus Christ.

He is NOT the OMNI Potentate that Plato devised and handed down nine hundred years later to St. Augustine of Hyppo--considered to be the father of the Catholic Church.

We live in the life of God now. Jesus lives in all of humanity now. All humanity lives in Jesus now.( John 14:20.) God simply wants us to enjoy what He has blessed us with in Jesus ( Eph.1:3-14) and in so doing this Praises is all the Praise that is of any consequence. This knowing engenders Thankfulness and praise on our behalf as we become filled with assurance, acceptance and love. Triune God did not create us to Praise Him. He created us to Live with Him and in Him forever.

Sorry if I have burst any one's bubble. Enjoy LIFE. It praises the Father.

Paul

GOD DAMN THE LIE !!!

Since you live in the West, as I, you grew up with the concept of God which went something like this: God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, All-wise, All-knowing, All-Powerful, Creator, unchangeable, unmovable, and Vengeful. Hating mankind's sins and holding for eternal punishment the fires of Hell and unimaginable suffering for the humans who don't measure up to His standards. He is vengeful, unaccepting of anything other than holy perfection, punishing, distant, separated from us humans, and unapproachable and unable to look upon sin. I could go on and on about this OMNI-GOD, OR "OGRE GOD" as some refer to him as, but I won't. What I have just described to you , and you can check it out on the Internet or in books, is the God of the Greeks touted by Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and other ancient philosophers such as Kant, Descartes, and other famous Greeks. So do YOUR homework if you doubt what I say here. That god out of the minds of the pagan philosophers simply DOES NOT EXIST.

What is missing in the description above? Well for one thing that god is totally one who wants and needs to be SERVED, WORSHIPED, PRAISED, PATRONIZED, PANDERED TO, and one who is the unknowable Potentate. If he existed at all, he is there to be exalted from vainglorious self seeking exultation. Wait!!! He does NOT exist!!

And that is GOOD NEWS!!! So what is God like? Who is God? How is God? Now we get to the really good part.

God is and has forever been , FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT in a LOVE Relationship. He is the ONE Triune God. He is love and He loves you and me. He accepts us and LIKES us. He does not always approve everything we do. He is the one in Gen.1:26-27 who said let us make man in our image and likeness. God had never experienced humanness and by creating humans now would be able to adopt mankind into His life and love forever made possible by the Incarnation and life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. God wanted to share the Holy relationship He had had within the Trinity with now His human family. God simply loved all of His creation BEFORE anything was ever created and wanted to live with all of us forever.

There are several powerful scriptures that make this plain. Notice: II Tim.1:9, God saved us BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF TIME. Eph.1:4-7, "He chose us in Him to be blameless IN HIS SIGHT, (not ours), adopted, Included, and predetermined it so IN Jesus according to His pleasure and His will."

We read Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world, in Rev.13:8. The all time Saviour IN PERPETUITY. God has always had relationship with His family, with Him, in the forefront of His thinking since He devised the plan originally. He gives us LIFE in His Son forever and assures our being with Him and IN Him.

Finally, in Ephesians 2:6-9, we read that God IN Christ has taken all of humanity and raised all of us up with Jesus and seated us all at the right hand of the Father in the Heavenly Realms. Quite different from the Ogre God of the pagans. ( Who does NOT exist.)

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit want to live in RELATIONSHIP based on LOVE with all of their family FOREVER. YOU ARE INCLUDED. You are Adopted. You are loved, You are wanted, You are the child God has always wanted since before time began.. Can you believe this or are you still cowering under the false concept of the Ogre, Pagan , nameless, Omni God who really doesn't like you and only loves you when you PERFORM to His standard?

Lord, Help our darkened minds to See who YOU really are and who we really are in You.

Jesus, Light of the World, come and shine upon us all and let us see. ( John 8:12).

God bless all,

Pastor Paul Kurts

www.newlifewcg.org

Madison, AL
256-468-8081

Matt.20 TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY IN THE VINYARD

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In Matthew 20 we read the parable of the vineyard workers each receiving the same amount of money for whatever period of time each worked in the vineyard on this given day. The same amount, a denarius, was given to each no matter how long each labored in the vineyard. Well, I see a great point of Trinitarian Adoption and Inclusion of God in this parable. Not money!!!

If one were to look at this parable from a monetary standpoint only, then it really makes no sense to anyone that it would be fair to pay a worker, worthy of his hire, the same amount if he worked for one hour or for twelve hours. This is not the real point of the parable. True enough, the land owner can pay whatever amount was agreed upon, but the parable is NOT about "payment".

I think the key verse here is verse 14. "....I want to GIVE the man who was hired last the same as I gave you, the first." The point is about God GIVING. Not what is earned or expected.

I see Jesus as the owner of the vineyard which is the human experience of all of humanity laboring on earth and no matter what is strived for, worked for, or accomplished by human efforts, do NOT affect Jesus, the Vinyard owner, and His GIVING of His right to GIVE Life to everyone simply because He wants to. The vineyard owner said, " I have the right to do with my gifts, ie, heavenly blessings -- Ephesians 1:3-6, as I so choose." And so does Jesus!

In these verses in Ephesians 1:3-6 , we see all of humanity, all the workers in the vineyard of humanity, being given and blessed with everything God has to bless us all with. It can not be worked for or earned. It can only be accepted and believed by all of us and received with gladness and thankfulness.

God bless you all,

Paul
www.newlifewcg.org
Madison, ALabama

TWO GODS...AUGUSTINE'S OR THE BIBLE'S

What a great post by Dr. C. Baxter Kruger on his latest blog post at www.baxterkruger.blogspot.com concerning "two Gods." These two are the god created in the mind of St. Augustine ( 'Father of the RCC' ) and the true God of the Bible. Let's look at the differences.

Augustine's god, which most all of Western Christian philosophical theology embraces says the following:

God is Separated from us and distant "up" there somewhere.
He is angry at us.
We live under His wrath and anger against us personally
HE is Judgemental
He is condemning
He is retributive
He punishes
We are not his until we accept him and believe
Sin cuts us off from God
He is legalistic
He deals in rewards and punishment
He has a torturing hell fire for those who won't love him back and believe.
Man is not adopted, accepted and included in the life of God.
Man could never do enough to please this god.

There is more, but you get the picture.

Now for the true Great Triune God of the Bible.

He is LOVE
He is all FORGIVING
He is MERCIFUL AND FULL OF GRACE FOR ALL
He , in Jesus, ADOPTED US AND INCLUDED US ALL IN HIS LIFE BEFORE CREATION
He is NOT LEGALISTIC
He is NOT RETRIBUTIVE
He does NOT PUNISH US FOR OUR MISTAKES AND SINS---HE FORGIVES
He ACCEPTS US ALL IN JESUS, REGARDLESS OF OUR SINS AND IMPERFECTIONS
He LOVES US AND LIKES US
He WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER WITH US IN HIS LIFE
He ALREADY HAS BLESSED MAN WITH EVERY HEAVENLY BLESSING IN JESUS CHRIST
He is NOT DISTANT AND SEPARATED FROM US BUT LIVES IN ALL HUMANS ( Jn.14:20)
Sin does NOT CUT US OFF FROM THE FATHER, HE FORGIVES SIN AND LOVES US STILL
He is GOOD
He is PATIENT
He is KIND
He is GENTLE
He is MEEK
He loves us all so much that He declares EVERYTHING JESUS IS...TO US ALL !!!

Two Gods. One false. One True. Which one do you like? Which one do you wish to be with forever? This is a NO-BRAINER.

It is a wonder that the Church in the West has been able to exist as long as it has under the wrong philosophy of Augustine. The Good News ISN'T. Religion is suffocating. May the true God of the Bible emerge in the thinking of all in the days to come.

Paul Kurts
www.newlifewcg.org

Madison, ALabama

HIDDEN JEALOUSY....WE ALL HAVE IT.

. JEALOUSY. What a terrible character trait. And, we ALL have it. You are jealous and I am jealous. So I am accusing you of being jealous and I know I am jealous.
Now this trait can take on many many different complexities. Which we won't go into now. But there is one area that I want to discuss with all of us. Because it affects all of us.

This is the area of Jealousy that affects all of us in NOT recognizing an accomplishment another (peer) has done.

Why? Well, somehow it diminishes us in our own eyes to realize that another has done something or accomplished something what we HAVE NOT. Well maybe we could have if we had not been so lazy or had lacked the ability or the education to have accomplished the same thing, but nevertheless, we did not do it and someone else did and therefore we are jealous. We are envious.

Why can we not just esteem the other better than ourselves. BETTER THAN OURSELVES. Especially in this or that particular area. Well we are vain and self centered and we do not want another rising above us in any area and we just ignore the situation.

We deal with it in passive non response. We just do not want to recognize what the accomplishment is or was since it will demean our personal self respect. We deny what another has done since it mitigates against what we have done or not done.

Are we all human or what? Hey, swallow your pride and learn to esteem another GREATER than yourself. Give praise where praise is due. Encourage another. Git off of your self wagon and support what others do and are doing. OR, DO SOMETHING YOURSELF.

Damn, I am good. Hell, No one is better than me. I am the best. I am the greatest.
No one can outdo me. The proof is in the pudding. Eat and swallow your pride.

God bless all of you,

Paul Kurts, Pastor Paul
Madison, Alabama
www.newlifewcg.org

256-468-8081