I received these questions in a comment from “Skybreaker” under my article Debunking Myself: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Hi Richard,
It must be over 10 years since I bought your book and I am very surprised about your change of faith. Therefore Im also quite curious to what your current worldview looks like, so… if you`re able and willing, please let me know the following :
1.Is there a God?
2.Who do you think Jesus is / was? Or do you believe he didnt exist at all?Please elaborate if possible.
Thanks.
Hey there Skybreaker,
I do not know if there is a God. I’m open to the idea that there could be some sort of “mystical God” that is the Ground of Being, much like philosophical Idealism that posits Mind in that role. But such a God is nothing like the Gods of the mainstream religions invented by humans such as Allah, Krishna, Yahweh, and Zeus. Those God’s almost certainly do not exist since they have false and/or self-contradictory properties. For example, the God of Reformed Christianity is believed to have ordained “whatsoever comes to pass” and yet holds the creature, which had no freedom to choose otherwise, responsible for doing what was preordained. This is an incoherent doctrine. Likewise, they teach that God is good, loving and merciful, and yet that he created an infinite evil of eternal conscious torment in hell for those creatures he created with the intent of tormenting them forever. Such doctrines are obviously absurd. No such God could exist, because real beings cannot have self-contradictory properties.
I was always inclined towards the “mystical God” or just “Universal Consciousness” but I really don’t have a good reason to believe that is true. It seems unlikely given the apparent dependence of mind upon matter (brain), but I don’t rule it out entirely. And when I think about it, I wonder why it would matter anyway? What am I? Why would it matter if I continue to exist after this body dies? If I cease to exist, it obviously won’t bother me. And if it mattered and it was important that I knew there is a God, s/he would certainly have revealed it to us. But that has not happened, so I don’t worry about it.
As for the existence of Jesus, there’s not much to believe about him since even if he existed, it is impossible to separate the myth from the historical man. The one thing we can know with great certainty is that many of the Biblical statements about him are not true, because they are mutually contradictory.
Thanks for the questions. Sorry for the slow response. I’ve been distracted a lot lately. I look forward to discussing these topics with you.
Richard
Finally Richard admits that His Creator has not revealed Himself to him, after claiming for years to be a Christian.
A person who God reveals Himself to knows God exists and acknowledges joyfully that He is love. They witness that He is totally trustworthy and that His love is steadfast.
Richard, there is nothing mythical about about the good Shepherd. He came from Our Heavenly Father and spoke the words, whilst on earth. that are recorded in the holy Bible.
Everything He said is the truth, for He is the truth.
Richard, all the Biblical statements about the Son of Man are true. There is nothing contradictory in what He said or did. Truly His life was a triumphant life that glorified Our Creator.
Richard, what you should do is let Your Creator first show you that He is righteous, then you will have a chance to comprehend that He will punish, if it is merited, with the appropriate punishment.
Hey there Reine,
Your logic seems confused. You appear to be saying that I was not a “true Christian” because I no longer believe that the Christian God really exists. But what about when I did believe? My belief was as sincere as any Christian’s, and I would have said that God had revealed himself to me just like you do now. So what’s the difference between you an me? When I was a believer would you have challenged my testimony and told me I wasn’t a real believer? Of course not. The only reason you say that now is because I no longer believe. By that standard, there is no way for you or anyone to know if they are a “true Christian” because nobody knows if they will continue to believe tomorrow.
How do you know that your beliefs are true and that God has actually revealed himself to you? Other people say a different God revealed himself to them, and I’ve heard countless Christians claim that the “Holy Spirit” revealed things to them that later proved false. Do you have any objective verifiable knowledge that God is real and has revealed himself to you? Of course not. All you have is your blind belief in your dogmas. You have no logic or facts supporting your assertions.
Another strange thing about your logic is that you seem to be saying that there are no “true believers” in false religions. You seem to be saying that there is no such thing as a “true Muslim” or “true Mormon” because you do not believe their gods are real. You seem to be confusing the idea of a “true believer” with a “true religion” – as if believers can only be “true believers” in their religion if their religion is true.
As for your suggestion that I let God show me he is righteous … You know I was a fervent believer for about 15 years. He had all the opportunity to show me whatever he desired, and he didn’t show me that he even exists, let alone is “trustworthy.” If God were half as trustworthy as your average garbage collector there would be no debate about his existence because something cannot be trustworthy if it does not exist. So can you prove God is trustworthy? Of course not. There’s not one thing that anybody can trust God to do for anyone in this life. Parents who trust God for the health of their children end up with dead children and manslaughter convictions. The assertion that “God is trustworthy” is totally delusional. It directly contradicts the meaning of the word “trustworthy.” I’ve explained this in detail in my article Is God Trustworthy? The Root of Religious Delusion
PS: Why do you keep posting under different names? It is very confusing for the readers. Here is a list of the names you have used on this site:
Spasiba
Spasiba5
Reine Gnade
Gnade
Josef Sefton
josef.sefton.1
Josef
Study the holy Bible
Jesus is risen
bibelverse
Good evening Richard.
I ran across a reply that you had made concerning a question/ statement on Matthew 24:5 that someone had made some years ago and I somehow ended up here.
I have a thought on the previous 2 post and to your response(s) if you would allow me….
I hope I am not going to sound like I am trying to win you back to Jesus, cause this is not my intention. I am not here to judge, predict or tell you that I have all the answer(s), because I do not.
I am 56, married 32 years, have two beautiful daughters, who married two guys I didn’t care for…at first, with 4 beautiful grandkids. We live one day at a time like many other people. I tell you these things because it is relevant to my response.
You seem to know the bible better than most confessing Christians, and some of those who have read your blogs, articles and statements Many Christians lack the time you have spent digging into the bible and rely only on what others have taught or have been misguided by those of us with good intent (benefit of the doubt). Most Christians have spend most of their Christian lives trying to walk straight and upright, presenting ourselves to the world as righteous and good and all the while believing that they are pleasing a God who never seems to be satisfied with us, so they try harder. This religious activity is just that… religious.
I too have changed my mind about who God is and the relationship he has with His Son. It took me about 30 years to make the “great leap” from the Christian religion. I couldn’t understand how every Sunday, every bible study and every thing that I was taught about Christianity didn’t line up with what I was reading for myself and experiencing in everyday life. I was told that Jesus had a plan for my life and that everything would be different once I accepted Jesus to come into my heart. Life would be so great and he would give me the desires of my heart. Life would be good. Nothing would be further from the truth.
After I said a prayer and got baptized at the age of 12, things really didn’t change much. I got more involved in church as the years went on but by the age of 17, I looked and felt more like the little 12 year old heathen of old. By the age of 26 my life had no resemblance of Jesus and I was a married alcoholic doing drugs and couldn’t keep a job for more than a year or 2 at a time. Where was God in all of this. My marriage fell apart and we separated for a while and I lost all hope of getting my life in order.
We move to another state hoping to get a fresh start on life, but as I know now, we are drawn to like minds, so it didn’t take long to find those who had the same mindset on life as I did.
My wife started going to church with the neighbors up the road from us and that only made me drink more because I felt she was betraying me by not being as unhappy as me. The church thing with her went on for over a year, then one Sunday when she came back from church, she got out of the car with my two girls (4 and 5 at the time) and her hair was wet. Even though I had been drinking before she left for church, I knew what had taken place. What..she got baptized? How could she do this to me.
She convinced me to attend church with her, which I did. That lasted a few months but couldn’t stop the 12 pac a day habit. Her uncle convinced me to attend one of those mens conferences and that was an eye opener. I actually “rededicated” my life to the Lord and I started working at this Christianity again. This lasted another few years and got really involved in church. I sang in front of people (they were not to choosy) got on the board at church and even became a SS teacher. Wow, what a few years will do for ya. But I stilled struggled with the idea that I was hearing, seeing, experiencing and now evening teaching things that didn’t line up with the bible. I had become a very religious man, no closer to God than I was at the age of 12 and before. A few more years past and I decided it was time to leave the Christian religion.
This really wasn’t hard to do once I realized what I had been doing. I had tried very hard to be someone that I was not. Its not that I didn’t believe in God, we all believe in someone greater rather we want to confess it or not. It is built deep down inside our DNA that there is a Creator, we simply try to disclaim it or ignore it, but it still doesn’t change the facts that God exist. I struggled with this for years. I could quote the verses stating these facts about our excuses but I believe we know the verse. There is still one thing that made me leave the Christian religion that is the key, Christ.
You see, Christ makes all the difference. It’s Christ in me that gave me my faith. It is Christ that works in me, not for my benefit, but for His. It is Christ that holds the Universe in place, not science. It is Christ who called me for His purpose to fulfill His plan, for His Glory. The problem with the Christian religion, is we believe that it is all about…us. Do you know where we got that idea from? Yes, the great deceiver himself, Satan. Christian is Christ in us the hope of Glory. You know, I didn’t even have the right to be called a child of God. Because of someone else’s sin, God gave me the chance to be called by Him. I am no one special. God is no respecter of person. He could have done what ever he wanted, He is God. The God who knew me before he created the universe. provide a sin offering for my sin even before I was born or before sin entered the world.
I realized I had been trying to figure God out. I mean, if I could figure God out, then I could figure out all of life’s questions of how and why. I guess if I could do that, I would have achieved what every other man has tried to do, bring Him down to our level of understanding so I would not need Him anymore. Worse yet, not believe in Him. If we could figure God out, we ourselves would be rulers of our life. A few have tried and they are blinded by their own pride, not needing to answer to anyone. I have been there.
Back to my family. God gives us the ability to Love- Agapa love. God is Love. On my own, I am not capable of loving anyone the way they need to be loved. My love of self was the hardest to recognize. It blinded me from what really mattered. Christ. Christ love compels us to love others. If Christ is not in us, then our love can not be agapa love and we can not please God. You see, The statement was made that you really can’t tell or decide who real Christians are, (and yes it is harder everyday), but the way you tell who a Christian is or not is simply by their Love. Not by their clothes, how hard they work at church, income, car, social group, but “by their love” Jesus said. Why is this concept so hard for the church to see. Do I have any evidence that God is real? Yes. It was impossible for me to love anyone other than myself. The humility that comes from have a Savior live inside of me is overwhelming. The look on my daughters face when she saw her new born baby for the first time. The toes and fingers that were developed by God Himself. The man who gives his life for another. A simple tree blowing in the wind that none can see. Sun coming up perfectly everyday, not to close, not to far away, just right. A woman healed of cancer. A man dying from cancer. Every good and perfect gift is from God. Yes God allows bad things to happen. We can ask why and be angry He understands, but what right do we have to argue with God? Because we say so makes it right?
This world was not meant to last forever. Because of sin, your sin and mine, it’s broken. We needed help. We needed a Savior. Death will come and we will live forever somewhere. Christ came at just the right time to bring us back to the Father. This is why Jesus came, to bring us back to the Father. This was His plan before the world was made. He alone is God rather we say He is real or not, does not change that fact. Even the faith that we as Christ followers have has been given to us and it’s not our own. Is God trustworthy? Anyone who would be willing to give up His Son so that I could have a relationship with the Creator of the universe…….deserves all of my worship and all of my praise.
Can you show me where God is not trustworthy?
Can you prove that God does not exist?
If you could use your own data, words and life experiences that would be great. Just curious how you came to your conclusions.
I can back my thoughts up with scripture in context upon request.
Thanks for your valuable time.
Welcome back to your blog, Richard.
Someone that the Creator has saved knows that they should focus on honouring the LORD who reveals Himself in the holy Bible, for His thinking is totally different from all the other false gods that deceived man worships.
For someone to be a true believer they must be blessed by God with a new birth. After that happens their heart’s desire is to worship the one true God in spirit and truth!
Yes, you have now understood what I have been teaching on your site for years that Muslims are not true believers, for to be a faithful servant of God you can’t worship a false god as as they do.
Muslims don’t put their trust in Christ and His atoning sacrifice, so they are not trusting in God’s plan of salvation.
If a Muslim decided wholeheartedly to listen to the true God, He would graciously draw them to His Beloved sinless Son. Should that happen they would no longer have a desire to worship the Koranic false god Allah. Thereafter the LORD still decides whether He saves that person or not. As soon as He saves the person who used to worship the koranic Allah they become a true believer!
Thank you for your interesting question!
Richard, It’s foolish to think that a garbage collector or any man is more trustworthy than Our Creator.
What you continually refuse to “see” is how God transforms man from being selfish into being less selfish. That’s evidence. Therein is proof that He exists. Satan, the enemy of soul, takes man from being selfish to being more selfish. Therein is proof also that the evil one exists.
PS: Why do you keep posting under different names? It is very confusing for the readers. Here is a list of the names you have used on this site:
Spasiba
Spasiba5
Reine Gnade
Gnade
Josef Sefton
josef.sefton.1
Josef
Study the holy Bible
Jesus is risen
bibelverse
As far the names go. Here is my explanation.
bibelverse means bible verses. I live to promote verses from the Bible, so that the author of the Bible is glorified. I want people to study the Bible and to know that Their Saviour is risen.
Spasiba means thank you. I use Spasiba and Spasiba5 so that Russian speaking people can find my material quickly. And I use Gnade or Reine Gnade to remind my German speaking audience that God is gracious.
I’m sorry Reine, but your words are completely delusional. They directly contradict the meaning of the word “trustworthy.” Humans can trust other humans in many ways. I have trusted many garbage collectors to take away my trash and they have faithfully fulfilled their duties. Likewise, I trusted many banks to save my money and give it to me when I ask, and they have never failed. Can anything like that be said about God? Nope. The Bible tells people to trust God, but when the most fervent believers take that instruction at face value and trust God for the health of their children, they end up with dead children and manslaughter convictions.
As I said, if God were actually “trustworthy” there would be no debate about his existence, since you cannot doubt the existence of a thing that actually has an effect on the world. Your God has no discernible effect on the world. There is not one thing anyone can trust God to do in this life. Your God therefore, is indistinguishable from a figment of your imagination.
Thanks! It’s good to be back.
I know that’s what you believe, but you cannot justify it and I have no reason to believe it and many reasons not to because your doctrines are demonstrably incoherent. For example, you constantly assert that God alone chooses who will or will not be saved, but then you admonish me to do something to get saved. That makes no sense at all.
Your use of “true believer” seems confused. What do you call a person who truly believes a falsehood? I would say he is “true believer” in that falsehood. You say there are no “true believers” in any religion other than your own. That’s confusing the truth of the religion with the sincerity of the believer. We need to distinguish these two concepts. By your definition, I would say that there are no “true believers” at all, since all religions are false.
Duh. But that doesn’t mean they don’t truly believe in Islam.
You contradict yourself. Now you are saying that God saves people if they are good enough to “wholeheartedly listen” to the “true God”. So it is not God who chose them to be saved, but they who chose to be saved themselves.
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for your interesting post and questions. I cannot prove that there is no god of any kind, since there could be a god no one knows about. But I am able to justify my rejection of the gods of the major religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, because those gods are sufficiently well-described to demonstrate that they cannot exist. For example, the Bible says God is kind, wise, and just even as it describes him doing things that are cruel, irrational, and unjust.
I don’t have much time to answer more right, but you can get a basic understanding of my position from my these articles I wrote:
Why I became a Christian
Why I Quit Christianity
Is God Trustworthy? The Root of Religious Delusion
Jews think that Judaism is valid.
Christians thinks that Christianity is valid.
Muslims think that Islam is valid.
And of course they all contradict one another, condemn one another, and tolerate violence towards the unbeliever.
The Christians believe that they are living under the New Covenant right now, but this is what the Bible has to say about that:
31Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Christians still teach “know the Lord”, and the Muslims also, and the Jews.
God doesn’t show itself for all to see making agnosticism regarding God’s existent the truth. “They shall ALL know me” has not occurred. If you want to say that the New Covenant has occurred then you are calling God a liar.
Be prepared to be overturned.
Everything I’ve written on this site or anywhere else on the Internet is null and void.
Richard writes: you constantly assert that God alone chooses who will or will not be saved, but then you admonish me to do something to get saved. That makes no sense at all.
It makes all the sense in the world because before God decides to save someone He is actively involved in teaching them. Think of the example of the rich young ruler. He came to the Son of Man with a very important question. He got an answer from Him which resulted in him going away saddened.
Can you see that Immanuel, God with us, was teaching this unsaved man?
God also uses His servants to teach unsaved man, so if you are truly interested about honouring Him you should study again more closely what I have posted on your blog.
Michael, I teach that the New Covenant has occurred and I am not calling God a liar. Christians teach “know the Lord” because most people don’t know Him. That’s what compassionate people do because they know that the author of life can help the unsaved. Who gets to know God intimately? The answer is only those who God decides to save.
Spasiba5 wrote: Muslims don’t put their trust in Christ and His atoning sacrifice, so they are not trusting in God’s plan of salvation.
Richard replied: Duh. But that doesn’t mean they don’t truly believe in Islam.
Spasiba5: Richard, I am not saying that Muslims don’t believe in Islam. What I am saying is that the more someone believes in Islam the harder it will be for them to be set free from that stronghold.
Attention: Praying to a false god is a very serious matter.
I’m sorry, but your dogma is logically incoherent. If there’s nothing I can do to get saved, then why do you tell me to do things to get saved?
I think you missed Michael’s point, which seems to be that the New Testament says the the New Covenant is the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:34 which says “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD.” So why are you going around telling people to “know the Lord?” You shouldn’t need to do that if that verse has been fulfilled.
Of course, you could argue that he’s misinterpreting that verse. That would be a reasonable response that would at least acknowledge the point he was making.
You said that there are no “true believers” in any religion except yours. I think that’s a very confused point of view. If I used your logic, there would be no “true believers” in Christianity either because I don’t believe Christianity is true.
Jesus may have a hand in a potential New Covenant that has yet to come in the world. I think the prophecy is pretty clear. The point is that no one has yet to produce God for all to see and to record its existence. Just hasn’t happened. That’s why you have different religions in the world today all professing to know God.
Good point Michael. Succinctly stated. When people read the Bible with believing eyes, they think of God as a Reality that will someday be fully manifest. But they know that’s not what we see now, so they’ve transferred all that to the future at the Second Coming or their personal death, whichever comes first. So there’s no way for them to see if their belief is true or not because it makes no claim that can be tested. All faith based ideologies are marred with this fundamental flaw.
I encourage you to be more spiritually active because if you are not you will heed Satan’s teaching rather than God’s teachings. This is what has happened in your life.
Previously you explored the Bible but now you have become very sluggish.
The will of God is for you to study the Bible. Where is your desire to obey Him? He will not reveal Himself to people who refuse to heed what He teaches. Don’t continue to sabotage all the good things you did.
What exactly am I supposed to do now that I didn’t do for the fifteen years I was a Christian? I prayed every day, I read the Bible with believing eyes every day, I repented of my sins and asked forgiveness every day. What exactly should I do now that I didn’t do then?
It would be good if you answered my question Reine. What exactly am I supposed to do now that I didn’t do for the fifteen years I was a Christian? I prayed every day, I read the Bible with believing eyes every day, I repented of my sins and asked forgiveness every day. What exactly should I do now that I didn’t do then?
My first response to what you write is that you always make “I” statements. This is exactly what the rich young ruler did. This approach is always wrong for it’s egoistic.
Man can make claims that he has repented but we must remember that repentance is a gift to man that only Our Creator can grant.
Psalm 100:4 teaches very clearly what is needful. Are you thankful for what Your Creator is doing in your life? Do you tell Him that you are thankful?Remember you can’t hate Him and love them at the same time?
What must change? Richard, your entire attitude to Your Creator must change. You need to desire to acknowledge His worth. Currently your level of discernment is very poor in this matter and you continue to make all sorts of claims about what you have done. That’s all a form of boasting.
Your Creator wants your ear! He wants you to firstly acknowledge Him as Your Teacher. In order to do this you would have to discipline yourself to address Your Creator respectfully.
This is totally missing in your writing. You should start by addressing Your Creator as Faithful Creator, Faithful Teacher or LORD. If you succeed in doing this then, in my opinion, you can grow to love and highly esteem Him.
Your first response is completely unjustified. Please quote two or three examples of my supposed “egotism” from our recent conversation.
If anyone is displaying “egotism” it is you when you exalt yourself as a judge who declares whose faith was or was not real. You have no justification for such judgments.
That’s just another unjustified opinion of yours. You have no way to know if someone else really repented. Again, you exalt yourself as judge over others.
Are you thankful to Allah? No? Why not? Oh … that’s right. Because you don’t believe in him.
Why do you ask such ridiculous questions?
I already did those things when I was a believer. Please try to read more carefully. I asked what do I need to do NOW that I didn’t already do when I was a believer?
It is not “boasting” to tell you the truth. Do you deny that you love God? If you say that you that you love God, are you “boasting”?\
Are you saying that you do not “desire to acknowledge His worth”? If you say you do, are you boasting?
Your arrogance has blinded you. You assume that your faith is perfect and true that you are saved. How is that not boastful? It doesn’t matter if you give God lip service and say he is the one who saved you. You still are making “I” statements about how you know that you are saved. Nothing could be more arrogant. How do you know that you are not deluded now as I was when I said that I believed in God?
How do you know? Why can’t you answer this question?
I already did that. I did that for 15 years. So please try to answer my question. What do I need to do NOW that I did not do when I was a believer? And why should we expect a different outcome if I do the same thing I already did?
Richard, you just want to write. You don’t address Your Creator respectfully and you don’t thank Him from day to day. You don’t treasure His gift to you, the holy Bible and nor are you desirous of His gift of prayer.
If you want to honour Your Creator you would need to make a bigger effort than you are making now, for your attitude to Him displeases Him.
It’s up to you to decide whether you want to honour the LORD. If you say “yes” to this challenge then you should stop criticising Him.
Everything I’ve written on this site, or anywhere else on the Internet, is null and void.
Why do you keep saying that Michael?
And all you want to do is repeat your dogmas like a mindless cult member. You don’t address the points I make.
Why don’t you try answering my questions? That would be much more interesting. If there were any truth in your words, you should be able to answer. Mindless repetition of dogmas is what cult members do.
Richard, thank you for the opportunity to share what I have learnt with you. However, now it’s time for me to stop posting here on your site.
Truly whoever puts in a lack of effort to seek the truth will not live a fulfilling and meaningful life.
Thanks for you site AMIEL. You have done an ENORMOUS job. God bless you.
* Amiel
In Hebrew, the name “Amiel” means “People of God”. Thus, a person with this name is fun, loving, caring and selfless. Though Amiels may sometimes be bitches or blatantly honest, they will always be there for you when you need them the most. Though guys named Amiel are not as manly as the rest, they can be real gentlemen and can lend an open ear to those in need or despair. In fact, they always know what to say because they speak from experiences and the heart.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Amiel
Greetings from Finlad, Jyrki
http://www.emapsworld.com/images/finland-location-map.gif
Richard. I don’t know if you removed my reply. Maybe it awaits moderation. Please take your time. (I hope you accept my second reply.)
I think you’re a good writer. I think you’re God’s child. I think you’re saved. I’d like to know. Do you find yourself in any of these four groups?
https://www.gotquestions.org/parable-sower.html
Why do I comment here? Because I believe there is not much time.
* Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aFYr3rAFMc
The Size Of The City
http://www.tourofheaven.com/eternal/new-jerusalem/size.aspx
Blessings
Jyrki
(E-mails are ok)
Hi Jyrki,
Sorry for the slow reply. I didn’t remove your reply, you are correct, it was stuck in the “approve queue” because it had links in it. That’s a way to avoid letting people post porn or spam or whatever. If there are no links, the posts are approved automatically (after passing through a spam filter).
As for your question about that Parable of the Sower: When I was a believer, I obviously would have been categorized as the “good soil” since that soil explicitly represents a believer. But now that I no longer believe, we see that conclusion was not correct. This reveals the fundamental problem with the concept of being “saved.” No one has any way of knowing if they are really “saved” because no one can know if they will remain a believer.
I find it quite ironic that you say there “there is not much time” and then support that idea by quoting the Bible which said there was not “much time” 2000 years ago! It seems to me that Christianity began as a failed doomsday cult, and that’s why believers have been making false predictions about the end ever since. Have you not noticed that predictions of the “end times” have a perfect record of total failure spanning 2000 years? Why would you believe that you are right when all the believers who came before you have been proven wrong?
Thanks for your A’s and Q’s Richard. I’m a simple man. My answer is simple. There was a six-day work and one-day rest when God created the Universe. Likewise God put in His Creation 6000 years thorny period of time and a 1000 years peaceful period of time. (Sorry about my poor English).
Jesus promised to return on the 3rd day/millennium. I believe the Rapture/Harpazo may happen anytime.
2 Peter 3:8 (VOICE) Don’t imagine, dear friends, that God’s timetable is the same as ours; as the psalm says, for with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.
Why are Christians saved? Because the faith is given by God. God won’t lose His Children.
John 3:3 (CJB) “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
God’s child may fall but God will seek him/her.
Luke 15:11-32 The Message (MSG)
The Story of the Lost Son
11-12 Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
12-16 “So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
17-20 “That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.
20-21 “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
22-24 “But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.
I hope I sound hopeful 🙂
Hi, Richard. Blame the enemy for everything that is bad and praise the Lord! The warfare at hand is such that there must be “darkness”. 333 is “chosek”. Jer 33:3: Psalm 18:11, 83:3 and 33 means “as One”. We are going from 3 to 4, symbolically. Lazarus is value 304 (raised on the 4th day). 7 is rest; 8 eternal. Strong’s #3478 is Israel (we are going from 7 to 8, as well.
Once the bride rises, from OUR bellies will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38, Ps 82:6, Isa 49:21, Dan 12:3, Rev 12:11) The “darkness” is part of the bride’s (or Jacob’s) trouble (Jer 30:6,7 Isa 6:8, 66:8). 711 is “falls” as in waterfalls. The lower we go, we become a “well”. Ben Hur was “son of the hole” while the three letters in “Chur” also spell, “spirit” Ruwach (ha Chodesh). No doubt, the Bible number meaning list I posted will confirm this and much more exciting revelations in the Word! “Reflections” is about the life of being the chosen bride, carrying our cross in a world we are helping to correct. It was never supposed to be this way since the fall in the garden. Jesus is perfect; yet crucified and a servant is not greater than his Master. Time is extremely short, looking at the numbers…. God bless you, Richard. Continue blazing a trail and I will see you on the other side of the “darkness”. Amen
Rennie Helder, Have you seen bible prophecy series?
May I suggest several video series that you could look into?
Here are some of them:
Prophecy series (A study into prophecy in the bible):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtJiooCYaGI&list=PLdXj_oDd1wpKUmPx9qorho8IQgsYitawZ
Genesis conflict (A scientific look with the bible and origins; last one has archeology):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMU1soRrtJk&list=PL13eE2x3qhPktufTQOHw0wsMOPdxFky-P
A reason to believe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNfLidbx6jk&list=PL13eE2x3qhPnv0nejpr3y6c0njkPSSXWc
For every truth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz3b706eIUo&list=PL13eE2x3qhPmlsMLeyT8FC5K9_c3dGwl
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
http://www.amazingdiscoveries.org has many resources to look into, including links to other sites.
Let God lead you to the truth.