IS GOD IN ALL HUMANS?

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Is God in all humans? Does one have to accept Christ into his/her life in order to have Jesus come into his/her life? Is God living His life in us 'conditional' until we do something? Is there a quotient of belief and acceptance we have to come to in order for God to then come into us and live in us? Have we had the cart before the horse theologically?

Paul says to the pagans at Athens in Acts 17:28-31, that "we live and move and have our being in God and that God has has given ASSURANCE to ALL men".

Jesus had already said in John 14:20 that "He was in the Father, the Father was in Him and that He (Jesus) was in you/us/all." And that one day we would realize it.

When Paul writes in Colossians and Ephesians that Christ is in all he is again emphasising what Christ had already said in John 14:20 and John 17:20-26. Paul says it this way in Colossians 3:11, "....but Christ is all and IN ALL." Note Paul did not say Christ was in "you" or "you all" speaking to or referencing those at Colosse
only, he said " Christ is all and IN ALL".

In Ephesians 4:6, Paul again says it this way, " One God and Father of ALL, who is above ALL and through ALL and in you ALL."

I realize that there are those who will disagree with this but that is ok. It won't change the truth that ALL are the children of God the Father and that the Holy Spirit has been poured out in greater measure and degree on ALL flesh (Acts 2) and that Jesus lives in everyone on the planet. The caveat is that when one does not know this they do not ACT like it. When they come to a change of mind ( metanoia,Gk) of who they are in Jesus then they will begin to change and ACT like who they really are and Experience the abundant life Jesus brought to us all. (John 10:10)

Blessings,

Paul

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GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD--gods did not!

The concept of "HELL" can be found in the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece, and in most all religions of the world going back to the first world religion, Zoroastrianism. Eternal rewards for good and eternal punishments of the most horrible description can be found in studying 'Egyptian hell' and other's concept of the torture of damnation. ( See Internet articles on 'Egyptian Hell' and 'Greek Hell').

Note: None of the ancient gods existence was base on love. All were perceived as wanting to be worshipped and aggrandized. If one were not found bowing down to or extolling one of these gods that person would be on their way to a torturous afterlife of suffering. It was all about the god. There was no love lost on the human subjects of the particular god. There was no love relationship between the god and humans. There was no blessing on the people by the god. So the point....

John 3:16-17, John shows a very different kind of God that the true God really is. He says, " For God so LOVED THE WORLD that He GAVE His ONLY begotten Son...." This great God never intended for anyone to "perish" or continue to suffer, but that through belief in this loving God one would continue in relationship with Him forever.
The true God never says things like, " Worship me" or "Extol me" or "Build me up continually". He just loves us and wants us to love Him back and believe that all of our future is secured in Jesus for the blessing of all of us including every blessing of the heavenly realm. ( Ephesians 1:3-14).

Jesus did not adopt the pagan concept of a punishing, torturing and suffering Hell Fire for those who would not lift Him up or measure up with good deeds in order to escape eternal punishment. Jesus said He came to seek and to save what was lost and He did. ( Luke 19:10). The same Jesus says in John 14:20, that He is in the Father, the Father is in Him and He, Jesus, is IN US!!! We are asked to believe it. That is all.

The creation of God of the Cosmos and humanity was born out of pure love and a desire on the part of the Great Triune God to share that love with His creation of which man was supreme.

The Devil's religions do not change. The Good News in most churches is NOT Good News at all. It is rewards and punishment. Rules and regulations. It is RELIGION. And it is BAD NEWS!

The GOOD NEWS is , "God so loved the world" and secured and saved the creation through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. And Jesus said," It is FINISHED". John 19:30. And you are INCLUDED.

God Bless,

Paul

"IT IS FINISHED!" OR WAS IT?

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Jesus, with his dying breath on the cross, exclaims, "It is finished!" What he and the Father and Holy Spirit had determined since before the foundation of the world was completed. Jesus did NOT say, "I am finished", as if there were other things left for man to do in order to effectuate the plan of salvation for mankind. In other words , "I did my part, now you humans do yours".

The Father sent Jesus to do a WORK. That work is found in Luke 19:10, Jesus said, "I came to seek and to save WHAT was lost." What was lost was the entire cosmos and humanity through sin. Did Jesus accomplish what the Father sent him to do? In John 4:34, Jesus said his "food" was to do the Father's will and to FINISH the work he was given to do. In John 17:4, Jesus said he had brought the Father Glory by finishing or completing the work the Father had given him to do.

As we look back on a couple of scriptures we see the impact of Jesus' work on this earth in the REMOVAL of Sin for the benefit of all mankind. In John 1:29, John proclaims this when he sees Jesus coming into the midst of the crowd, " Behold, the Lamb of God who takes AWAY the sin of the world!" Again in I John 2:12, John writes that our sins have been forgiven--even before we were BORN. Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 1:7, "...we have been forgiven." Notice the past tense of these writings.

What makes the New Covenant in the blood of Christ so tremendous is that it is a GIFT of God, from God to all of us-You included. It is a PROCLAMATION of God's love for us and what he has ALREADY done in Jesus for all of us.

There is NO remaining part of "finishing" anything to make our salvation secure in Jesus. We are not "Co-Saviours" with Christ by having to DO ANYTHING. Except-----Believe. Believe WHO we now are IN Jesus. We are the loved and ADOPTED children of God made true by Jesus Christ.

Notice Ephesians 1:3-14. This passage declares this eternal truth to all of us as being true from BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. The Father simply loves us and wants us to live with him and IN the Trinity forever. He made it so in Jesus.

Can we believe this? Maybe, maybe not. It sounds too good to be true, but it still is true. Scripture attests to this fact. Believe it. "IT IS FINISHED."

God bless,

Paul

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LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS

Life on other planets in other Solar Systems and Galaxies??? Maybe, Maybe not.
While no one can be totally demonstrative on this subject, we can make a few observations with some degree of intelligence.

Hebrews expressly tell us that Jesus is the complete atonement for ALL sin. He has reconciled the entire cosmos back to God. He is the complete Atonement for EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. With this in mind let's discuss life on other planets.

It is possible that God created life , just like life we have here on this earth, on other planets in other galaxies in other solar systems. Possible.

( Aliens from outer Space is a totally different subject.)

IF, and this is a big if, God created life as we know it on this earth on other planets, I believe He did so AFTER Adam and Eve's creation on this earth.

After the "fall". After the "original" sin.. After the atonement. After the salvation of the entire cosmos.

If this is so, then these people would have no need for 'another' atonement since Jesus' life, death, resurrection and asension covered ALL things. Those people too.

They could be living out what God intended for Adam and Eve to accept originally.

The Tree of life. Life. Eternal life.

Again, if this is possibly true, then I believe it would have occurred AFTER Adams's sin and After Jesus life , death, and resurrection and ascension to the Father.

So, there are many philosophyical and Theological implications to this question and I do NOT pretend to know the answer.

What do you think. Post your comments. If you wish.

Paul

DO YOU ACCEPT "FALSE" TEACHINGS?

This CAN'T be right! This probably will be many, if not most's reaction to this blog." I never heard it this way and I don't believe it!" Rather than ask you to just believe me here, I do ask that you do your OWN research into this subject as there is much information concerning this topic. More info at the end of this blog.

Churches which have come from the Roman Catholic Church, and the Catholic Church as well, have adopted and preached a wrong concept of salvation along with a false and pagan Platonic concept of HELL which originated with the Greek philosopher Plato in the 400's B.C. ( Just Google search for yourself, " PLATO'S HELL.") This false doctrine was incorporated into the Catholic Church by St. Augustine of Hippo in the
5th Century A.D. Augustine was an avid reader of Plato and saw that by putting this philosophy of eternal torture and punishment into church doctrine it would keep members "in line" and paying their money and through FEAR obedient to the teachings of the church.

Many churches today do NOT teach such torture in any "hell fire", but for the lost SEPARATION from God. But this is ALSO a false teaching as well. Humans can no more be separated from God than they can be separated from their own shadow.

So what is hell then? To make a long story short, hell is simply living one's life making one's own decisions based upon one's own thinking coming from a darkened mind with a fallen sinful nature which we all have inherited from the first Adam. This
"eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" leads only to a life of sin, strife, misery, suffering, angst, unhappiness, war, divorce, addictions and every other evil existence man experiences described in scripture as...HELL. AND, this suffering can last FOREVER if one never comes to see WHO he or she is IN Jesus Christ. Even at the 'Final Judgement' before the Throne of God one can STILL refuse to accept and believe that God LOVES them and that they have forgiveness and salvation and eternal life GIVEN to them IN Jesus Christ. They can Continue in HEll.

The Good News is that The Father does not give up!!! Just like the father in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, the Father continues to seek for the older son to come into the party.

The GOOD NEWS is simply this: Salvation has been given to EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER LIVED. Universal redemption and reconciliation has been extended to ALL. ( I Cor.15:22). All died in Adam and the same ALL have been made alive in Jesus, the Second Adam.) We do not try to 'get someone saved', they ALREADY ARE SAVED IN JESUS. Sharing the GOSPEL then is INFORMING someone that they ARE saved and loved and adopted and included in the life of the Triune God all made to happen to them by the life, death, resurreciton and ascension of Jesus Christ. Then it is up to them with the help of the Holy Spirit to accept it and believe it and then EXPERIENCE IT.
Sadly, scripture allows for some to not accept it and believe it even forever. They would then simply exist OUTSIDE the party not enjoying the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and not experiencing the 'pleasures at the right hand of God.' ( See Psalms 16:11).

It may take another Millennium for a deceived Christian world to come to see these truths. Until then all may know that they are loved by God and that their eternal life is secure in Jesus Christ.

I know I shall get raked over the coals for this post, but I ask you to do your homework on the subject. Much information exist on this topic. Check out the Blog Roll on this site. Go to www.Newlifewcg.org for more information. Go to www.gci.org.
Go to PERICHORESIS.ORG. And these are just for starters. So much is available to lift us out of the darkness and into the light of Jesus. (John 8:12.) God bless you in your studies.

Paul

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YOU DON'T HAVE A CHOICE !!!

When The Triune God decided to make mankind, see Genesis 1:26-27, He determined that He would have man live inside of His life forever. He wanted humans inside of His Triune life upon whom He would lavish His love. Ephesians Chapter one is about how God chose humanity IN Jesus to be Adopted and Included in His life forever. You and I were included in that decision at that time. You had NO CHOICE. All humans were included and none had a choice either. God simply did this for His good pleasure and in His will.

When Adam and Eve sinned by taking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which brought misery, suffering and DEATH on them and their human family--see I Cor.15:22, now not only did Jesus have to come to create UNION between the human family and the Triune God, He had to now come to provide ATONEMENT, forgiveness and sacrifice for the sins of the whole world and all humans, AND, even the entire Cosmos was redeemed and reconciled in the blood of Jesus. ( See Colosians 1:19-20).
The entire Cosmos and humanity had become lost through sin. Jesus came to seek and to save what was lost and He did. ( Luke 19:10). And, yes mankind was lost and dead in the first Adam, but in Jesus Christ the same mankind was made ALIVE! (I Cor.15.22)

We simply did not have a vote. We had no choice in the matter. God loved us all to much to allow us to have a choice. Salvation is His idea, not ours. It is because of His great love for us His children that He devised this plan in the first place.

So, we ALL are bought by God with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus saved all of humanity 2000 years ago and in His resurrection and ascension took all of us to the right hand of the Father in Heaven. ( See Ephesians 2:6). Again, you nor I had a choice in the matter. The blessings and joy in this eternal relationship with the Triune God will be beyond our wildest dreams. We will inherit ALL things including the entire Cosmos/Universe.(Hebrews 2:5-8). Life will never end. The abundant life Jesus brought will continue on forever. God is Good. So Good in fact we can not fathom His Goodness.

There is one caveat to all of this. You nor I had a choice in this matter, but in order for us to experience this inheritance we MUST BELIEVE who we are IN Jesus and what He has done TO, FOR, IN and THROUGH all of humanity. If we refuse to believe it thus denying our position in the Father's plan there is no way we can experience "Heaven" and only then a 'hellish' existence of being outside the party in Heaven will be one's lot.

Again, you have no choice as to whether or not this is so, it is so! But you do have the option of believing it or not. I pray you will BELIEVE.

For more information on this subject, go to WWW.GCI.ORG.

Blessings to all,

Paul Kurts

CAN'T OVERCOME SIN, IT'S O.K.

To start this blog post, please read my last one to set this one up. We still often see things in our life from a past paradigm of Western Theological philosophy in a rewards and punishment perspective. One which we in Western Christianity have inhereited from Plato and St. Augustine of Hippo. With this warning in mind let's proceed to this present blog post.

In our humanity we all live in the fallenness we received from the first Adam and with a darkened mind also received from him. Just because we acknowledge who we are in Jesus Christ and believe what He says applies to us does not mean that we all check our humanness, weaknesses, lusts, carnality, vanity, greed, jealousies and all other fleshly human foibles at the door of the Church of Jesus Christ. We all too often walk in and after the flesh and not as often do we walk in and after the Spirit. And what I am telling all of us is this. " THIS IS O.K. "

Jesus did not come to stop humans from sinning. He came to FORGIVE SIN and become sin, all sin for all of us His children. Paul says it this way in Romans 5:18, "...the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life ( eternal life) for ALL men " Jesus simply makes us righteous by His declaration as an act of God made possible by His perfect life.

Jesus is not going to let our sins slip under the door and miss some of them and thereby we find sins in our life that go unforgiven. Silly I know, Jesus "has our back" as the terminology of the day goes.

Paul speaks to this dual life we lead, one in the flesh and the other in the Spirit , in Romans 7. Paul illustrates that we as humans will always have the two sides of our life warring against each other. But , in Jesus, we have the victory in that war because He says SO! Then Paul says in Romans 8:1, "...there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." All actually are, they all just do not know it yet. And they will.

( Again, if you have not read my last blog post, please take the time to do so now.)

Jesus even said himself in John 5:24, that we have passed from death into life through faith and belief in Him. In Matt.11:28, Jesus speaks to all of us trying to become perfect in the flesh by doing this that or the other thing or NOT doing this that or the other thing. He simply says REST. Come to Him and Rest. I will give you rest, He says.

To illustrate the continuing corruption we all are in the flesh, Paul says it this way in ICor.15:53 (OKJ), " This corruptible must put on incorruption." What Paul is saying that even until the day we die or are resurrected we are still sinners and we are still corruption or corruptible. We NEVER attain perfection of the flesh in this life. We can improve but only in Jesus Can we be PERFECT. And we ARE!!!

We all too often go around beating ourselves up over weaknesses and sins or lusts which we may NEVER humanly conquer in this physical life. Alcoholism. Drug addiction. Pornography addiction. Sex addiction. Tobacco addiction. You name it and someone has it. But we all have victory in Jesus Christ who Gives us the Victory. ICor.15:57. We simply win because declares us winners.

I love the verse in Romans 14:22 which says, " blessed is the man who does not condemn himself in what he approves." Jesus says to quit judging each other and rest. Rejoice. Celebrate what He has done to us and for us. He loves us unconditionally which I have been describing here.

We are ALL weak sinners. We all live in a body of sin and death. We all have a darkened mind. We all live in the fallenness of the first Adam. And it is while we are YET sinners Christ died for us the ungodly. Thank you Jesus. Eternity with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit awaits all of us who believe.