Thoughts On Life
General thoughts on the human condition.Why mankind is in the shape it is in.Hope for the future.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Dare You Die This Death?
DARE YOU
DIE THIS DEATH ?
The Bible says, " Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for
whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Your choices
determine which fate will befall you. Will you choose this one?
by Richard E. Robbins
Death is a constant reminder of our
mortality. It lurks in the shadows,
looming over us like a giant albatross
taunting us to escape its long reaching
wings.
No one wants to discuss death. We
do what we can to postpone its in-
evitable finality to our lives.
But, alas, nothing we can do will fore-
stall the certain claim it has on our
plans for the future. The Word of God
tells us," And as it is appointed for
men to die once, but after this the
judgment." ( Heb. 9:27)
We cannot escape the finality of
death. We are mortal beings. No mat-
ter how we live our lives, the good,
the bad, the ugly, we must come face
to face with this eventuality. We are
going to die one day.
It is certainly understandable that we
don't want to face this grisly prospect,
but did you know that there is a fate
worse than death?
What's that you say? WORSE than
death?
Yes, worse than death!
The Great God of this universe has an
awesome purpose in mind. He is deep-
ly concerned with the fate of the
human race that He created. He does
not wish for a single human to perish
ultimately. ( 2 Pet. 3:9)
Yet death is all around us in wars,
sickness, murder, suicides, and crime
in the streets. It seems like a great con-
tradiction to say that God doesn't want
humans to die. But God has given man
free will. He says in Deut. 30:19," I call
heaven and earth as witnesses today
against you, that I have set before you
life and death, blessing and cursing;
therefore choose life, that both you
and your descendants may live;".
It is ultimately our choice as to what
fate may befall us. God wants us to live
forever, but He has set conditions and
laws in motion that if we follow them
we will prosper and live (3 John vs.2),
but if we choose death, He is more
than capable of fulfilling our wishes.
God's purpose involves dealing with
mankind according to His master plan.
The Bible reveals that God will bring
back to life billions of humans who
have lived and died in the past, in three
separate events, called resurrections.
The first resurrection will involve
those whom God has called and chosen
in the past, and up to Christ's return.
They will be humans who have overcome
Satan and this world, and their own
selfish human desires. They will be
given immortality, life everlasting, at
Christ's second coming! These people
never have to worry about death again.
(Rev. 20:6, 1 Cor. 15:50-52)
The second group, or resurrection, is
for all those who never had the op-
portunity to receive God's Holy Spirit. They
were never able to understand God's plan
or to make an informed choice on living
God's way of life according to His laws
and Word.
This group includes all who were
never called to salvation in this age
before Christ's return. These people
never understood that you can only
start on the path to salvation, at this
time, by specific invite from the
Father. (John 6:44) They did not realize
they were blinded to the truth by
by the great enemy of mankind, Satan
the devil, the ,"…god of this age…" .
(New English Translation) (2 Cor. 4:4)
These people will be raised to phys-
ical life into a totally different world.
They will be resurrected after this
world has been transformed by 1,000
years of rule of Christ and the saints.
(Rev. 20:5, first part)( Rev. 5:10)
( Rev. 20:4) The influence of Satan and
his demons will be ended during the
previous 1,000 years and God's way of
life will have flourished abundantly.
(John 10:10)
This second resurrection is known among
Bible scholars as the great white throne
judgment. (Rev. 20:12)
After this period (possibly 100 years,
Isa. 65:20) Satan will be loosed from
the bottomless pit to test and try these
people to see if they are truly ready
for eternal life. (Rev.20:7-10)
We then come to the real focus of
this article, recognized by many Bible
scholars as a third resurrection. What is
the point of a third resurrection, one
might ask? God here, is dealing with a
totally different class of people than in
the two previous resurrections.( Rev.20:13)
After God has opened His way of life
to all the multiple billions of people
who have ever lived, and given them
their chance to receive eternal life, He
must then deal with a class of humans
who have TOTALLY rejected God,and
His offer of life eternal!
As astounding as that seems, some
will have no part with God or His
master plan for the future! These
people were given the gift of God's
Spirit, had the truth of God's word op-
ened to them, have understood what
God was, is, and will be doing in the
future, then fell away from the truth.
Either through neglect, laziness, or
blatant quenching of God's Spirit and
rejection of the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, these people have committed
the sin which could not be forgiven.
This is known in biblical parlance as,
"the unpardonable sin". ( Hebr. 2:3,
Hebr. 6:4-8, Matt. 12:31,32)
Realize that God will have given them
every chance to repent, to change their
lives around and overcome the sins
which separated them from access to
God and His forgiveness. (Isa. 59:1-3)
They knew what fate awaited them if
they did not overcome. (Hebr. 10:26,27)
These people knew that God could
never be pleased with a person who
knew the truth but withdrew from
actively living and growing in God's way.
(Hebr. 10:38,39; Luke 9:62; Hebr. 11:6)
The only thing that God could mer-
cifully do was to put them to death, for
all eternity, in what the Bible calls the
"lake of fire" ( Matt. 3:10; John 15:1-6;
Rev. 20:13-15)
This is also referred to as the sec-
ond death. (Rev. 20:14) Obviously, you
can't have a second death without a
second life, so these people have been
raised to temporary, physical life to face
the judgment of condemnation.
( Rom 1:32; Rev. 21:8; 2 Cor. 5:10)
These humans were given the under-
standing of God's way of life that can
only come through God's Holy Spirit.
(1 Cor. 2:14) They failed to overcome.
(Rom. 12:21; 2 Pet. 2:20-22; Rev. 2:7,11
Rev. 3:5,12,21; Rev.21:7) They showed
by their actions, thoughts, and feelings
that eternal life was not something
that they wanted. They challenged the
veracity of God's word and made a
mockery of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
during their life.
The fruit of God's way (Gal. 5:22,23)
and the fruit of Satan's way (Gal.5:19-22)
were clearly experienced by these in-
dividuals, yet, they deliberately chose
to live Satan's way.
What could God do? What would you
do if you were God and had to decide
the fate of these people?
God will not coexist with sin. He will
not allow people who have rejected
Him to live eternally. Can you imagine
allowing someone with a criminal
mind to live in misery forever? That
would be cruel and heartless on God's
part and is not in God's character.
(1 John 4:8,16)
One of the parables of Jesus gives us
an insight into this particular future
event. It is found in the book of Luke,
chapter 16, and verses 20-31. This para-
ble has been misapplied by many in a
vain attempt to show the immortality
of the soul.
Suffice it to say here that the soul is
NOT immortal, it can and does die!
(Ezek. 18:4,20; Matt. 10:28)
The real meaning of this parable, in Luke,
is much more profound than you have
ever imagined.
In this parable, which is figurative,
we find a beggar named Lazarus and a rich
man who die and are buried.
The Bible clearly shows the dead do not
communicate and are not aware of the
passing of time. (Psa.146:3,4; Eccl.9:5) This
is how we know the parable is figurative.
In the story, Lazarus is found in the bosom
of Abraham, an expression
showing he had lived a godly life and
had received eternal life as a reward.
On the other hand, the rich man is
depicted as being in torment over a
flame surrounding him. This symbolic
flame, no doubt, represents the lake of
fire, the ultimate fate of the wicked.
The rich man is told by Abra-
ham that there is "…a great gulf…"
separating them. This great gulf
is eternal life that was no longer
available to the rich man. He had lived
his life in opposition to God's way of
life, demonstrating what Christ said
was the great difficulty rich people had
with entering into the kingdom of God.
(Matt. 19:23,24)
The rich man was then faced with his
final judment; eternal destruction in
the lake of fire.
So, what will this destruction be like?
What will this "lake of fire" be like?
It will most likely be a giant lake of
molten sulfur burning with incredible heat.
How will these people react
when they are thrown into this fire?
One can only imagine, that there will be
sheer terror on the face of the in-
dividuals as they fall down into the
burning death awaiting them. A few
seconds of horrible pain and then the
blackness of darkness, forever.
There will never be a resurrection
from this fate. This judgment is eternal,
never to be reversed. Even the memory
of these individuals will be erased for all
time. It will be as though they had never
existed. As the prophet
Isaiah said, " They are dead, they shall
not live; they are deceased, they shall
not rise: therefore thou hast visited
and destroyed them, and made all
their memory to perish." ( Isa. 26:14)
What a miserable, wretched fate. No
longer any chance to ever have a per-
sonal relationship with the great God
of the universe and His son, Jesus
Christ.
What will you choose? Will you ig-
nore God's call when it comes? Will
you live your life in opposition to
God's laws and truth? Will you ex-
perience this awful judgment?
Dare you die this death?
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Welcome To My Blog
Greetings and Welcome;
This is the first of I hope many weekly letters that I will write here on the general state of life in the U.S. that I see from my personal perspective. This is NOT a political blog so let me state from the outset that I am apolitical. I reject the notion that because I don't vote I am not entitled to an opinion. I don't care what your politics are, so if you want to make a statement about life in general feel welcome to do so here as long as 1) it is appropriate ( my young son will read this blog) and 2) does not attack anyone personally. Please do not use profanity here or it will be deleted. If you must object to what someone says, address the argument , not the person.
Let me begin by telling you a little about myself. I was born and raised in the great state of Texas.(please no jokes about Texas, I take them personally). I did live for a short while in Louisiana where I have many relatives to this day. I am retired from the state of Texas (the Texas Youth Commission) where I spent many years dealing with the top 2% of the worst delinquent youth in the state.Many of my personal concerns about the direction life in this country is taking stems from my years of trying to rehabilitate these youth. I have many , many stories that I hope to share with you here. My wife is also retired from 20 years in the Air Force. I have the utmost respect for her devotion to service to her country.We have three children , two girls and a son. The girls are now grown and own their own, if that is possible with children now. Our son is still at home. I am a member of the United Church of God, headquartered in Cincinnati,Ohio. The web link is posted on this site. I would like to encourage all the readers to visit there as they will find many articles written about hope for the future there.
Today I would like to begin with a personal request. Regardless of your religious affiliation or lack thereof, please remember in prayer or in silent meditation the horrible tragedy that has occurred in Haiti. Those people have nothing. Fifty percent of them are illiterate. They live in virtual squalor. Now, even what little they have, has been greatly diminished. If you are able to help financially in any way , find one of the many websites where you can contribute. I will post some here that I feel are legitimate when I am able. Please be cautious because there are unscrupulous people who seem to come out of the woodwork in disasters like this. If you have any updates on the situation there please feel free to post here.
Well that is all for today. I will write more as time permits. I look forward to hearing from you.
RichR52
This is the first of I hope many weekly letters that I will write here on the general state of life in the U.S. that I see from my personal perspective. This is NOT a political blog so let me state from the outset that I am apolitical. I reject the notion that because I don't vote I am not entitled to an opinion. I don't care what your politics are, so if you want to make a statement about life in general feel welcome to do so here as long as 1) it is appropriate ( my young son will read this blog) and 2) does not attack anyone personally. Please do not use profanity here or it will be deleted. If you must object to what someone says, address the argument , not the person.
Let me begin by telling you a little about myself. I was born and raised in the great state of Texas.(please no jokes about Texas, I take them personally). I did live for a short while in Louisiana where I have many relatives to this day. I am retired from the state of Texas (the Texas Youth Commission) where I spent many years dealing with the top 2% of the worst delinquent youth in the state.Many of my personal concerns about the direction life in this country is taking stems from my years of trying to rehabilitate these youth. I have many , many stories that I hope to share with you here. My wife is also retired from 20 years in the Air Force. I have the utmost respect for her devotion to service to her country.We have three children , two girls and a son. The girls are now grown and own their own, if that is possible with children now. Our son is still at home. I am a member of the United Church of God, headquartered in Cincinnati,Ohio. The web link is posted on this site. I would like to encourage all the readers to visit there as they will find many articles written about hope for the future there.
Today I would like to begin with a personal request. Regardless of your religious affiliation or lack thereof, please remember in prayer or in silent meditation the horrible tragedy that has occurred in Haiti. Those people have nothing. Fifty percent of them are illiterate. They live in virtual squalor. Now, even what little they have, has been greatly diminished. If you are able to help financially in any way , find one of the many websites where you can contribute. I will post some here that I feel are legitimate when I am able. Please be cautious because there are unscrupulous people who seem to come out of the woodwork in disasters like this. If you have any updates on the situation there please feel free to post here.
Well that is all for today. I will write more as time permits. I look forward to hearing from you.
RichR52
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