Thursday, September 26, 2013

PURPOSE OF LIFE AND DEATH

To the overwhelming majority of people who have inhabited the earth, life is a mystery. Who am I, what am I, and why am I have never been adequately answered by even the most learned philosophers and sages throughout the ages. The reason why no satisfactory answers can be found is simply because they have all turned to the wrong source of knowledge to try and explain all the mysteries of life. Only the source of truth from the holy Bible gives the correct answers. Sadly, even the most learned scholars - both biblical and secular - failed to address the correct issues to elicit the appropriate answers. The Bible has become a mystery even to the most learned scholars themselves!

None of us alive has ever seen our own brain, let alone understand its working. We have never seen the 'inside' of us, be it physiologically, intellectually, emotionally or spiritually, let alone understand  how it all work out that govern our behaviour and who we really are. All these are mysteries that few people would be bothered to seek after the truth, let alone have a good grasp of them. The learned academics and scholars would rather accept the theory of evolution to simplify the issues and avoid the hard facts that an eternal Supreme Being Who is behind the design and has created it all!

But why did God put man on planet earth? Certainly, He has a purpose for  doing so. God initially created the angelic beings to govern His universe, with earth as its headquarters. But because Lucifer, one of three archangels, rebelled against God's rule and led a third of the angels astray, God then created man to have dominion over all His creation (Genesis 1:26). But our first parents, Adam and Eve, failed the test of obedience and sin was introduced into the world with the penalty of death ever since. The loving and merciful God the Father planned for man's redemption through the sacrificial death and blood of Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind.

But man was made of matter - flesh and blood and is subject to decay and death. This temporal state of man is necessary so that those who eventually refused to obey Him will not be given eternal life in spirit existence. So man has a spirit ('the spirit of man which is in him' - 1 Cor 2:11), which distinguishes man from all other animals, for animals have no spirit in them. It is this spirit in him that enables man to connect with his Creator. When man dies, his spirit returns to God the Creator. Only those who abide in His Word will eventually be made immortal spirit beings free from sin and death (1 John 3:9), and will never dies (Revelation 20:6). All those who rebelled against God after being given the whole truth will be annihilated in the Lake of Fire as if they have never been (Malachi 4:1-3). A merciful God will put them out of misery!

Had man been made an immortal spirit being at the beginning, it would be tragic for all of His creation if he/she rebelled against God's righteous laws - just like the millions of demons did. That is why at the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life - which typify the Holy Spirit - had to be barred from man after the Fall of Adam and Eve. Had man taken the Tree of Life after the Fall, they would become immortal spirits but not the righteous character to accompany it (Genesis 3:22-24).

The ultimate purpose for man then is to develop the righteous Christlike character that will last in order to be born again as immortal spirit beings in the Family of God. Embedded in the Gospel of the kingdom of God is God's ultimate plan for man's eternal destiny - to become immortal god beings! That is why we are all created in the image of God - the God kind (Genesis 1:26). The physical family structure of man on earth is but a typology of what is God's ultimate purpose for the birth of His Divine Royal Family. Their role in eternity is to assist Christ to rule and reign on earth during the Millennial Age and thereafter the whole universe for all of eternity. God's government has to be restored which had been usurped from man as a result of the Fall.

Although God is Supreme and omnipotent, He cannot create the righteous character demanded of man through fiat. It has to be developed through the crucible of trials and tribulations of life (Acts 14:22), and that takes a lifetime of learning, developing and overcoming - the very reason why we are here on planet earth! I learned as a kid growing up through my dad's pre-war blacksmith shop that a piece of hard iron and steel had to be forged through molten fire, much hammering and sledge-hammering to be made into useful implement of hardware tools. The same applies to our lives that only through much diligence and discipline can man be transformed to become members of the Royal Family of God for His glory and eternal purpose.

 Whatever man may say, character is everything. Talent, wealth and material success as seen through the eyes of this world are all but vain and temporal which will eventually fade away. Character is the real test of  what makes you and I, and will transcend us even after death. Those who failed to develop the righteous character required by God will not make the grade for immortality. But in this present church age, only a small group of those who are called of God will be born again into spirit immortality (Matthew 22:14). The rest of mankind will await their opportunity for salvation and eternal life towards the end of the Millennial Age when Satan was cast away. Simply put, there is no other way that peace, prosperity, unity and harmony can co-exist, not just on planet earth but throughout the whole universe. That is man's ultimate destiny and why we were all created for.

Only a correct understanding of the true Gospel of the kingdom of God which Christ and His disciples preached will one be empowered by the Holy Spirit to change and transform from the inside out. When Christ and His disciples preached the Gospel of the coming kingdom, power and authority flow from the Heavenly Father to heal the sick and cast out demons of those who were demon-possessed. All those who embraced some truth mixed with much errors are being shortchanged - the millions who are 'Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth' (2 Timothy 3:7).



 

Sunday, September 15, 2013

WHAT EXACTLY IS MEANT BY 'THY KINGDOM COME'

The Bible is the world's best selling book, but it is also the least understood. Millions of Christians bought the bible without even reading it, let alone study the content of some three quarter of a million words printed therein. In the Lord's prayer, Christ instructed His disciples to pray, 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven...For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.' - Matt 6:10,13. But what exactly do these verses mean?

Christ was teaching those He had called that they should pray to the true God in heaven - Our Father which art in heaven - Matt 6:9 - and not any other man-made gods. The first thing a true Christian should focus on his mind is the coming kingdom of God - the true Gospel essence Jesus Christ was commissioned by God the Father to proclaim at His first advent (Luke 4:43). God is ruling the universe from His throne in heaven. We are commanded to pray that God's rule will likewise extend to the whole earth when the time comes for Christ to return. Presently, Satan is the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4) - albeit with God's permission to rule since the fall of Adam.

 One of the most quoted verses but probably least understood verse in the Bible - Seek ye first the kingdom of God (Matt 6:33)- was relegated to insignificance. Many are deceived (Rev 12:9) into thinking that the kingdom of God is something ethereal - in your hearts and minds! The kingdom of God is the coming supergovernment of God that will replace all man-made government and laws on earth (Rev 11:15). That will be the time of refreshing when hope is restored to all the poor, handicapped and marginalised with peace and prosperity extended to the whole world (Luke 4:18-19).

Jesus Chrst was foretold by Archangel Gabriel to be born of a virgin and God shall give Him the throne of David and of His kingdom there shall be no end (Luke 1:32-33). Before Pontius Pilate when asked, 'Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a King. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.' - John 18:37.  The truth Christ was referring to is the Gospel message of the kingdom of God! But man had twisted the Gospel to become the Gospel about Christ instead of the Gospel of Christ as prophesied by Moses and Malachi that a Prophet will come and we are to hear Him, even His word (Deut 18:15; Malachi 3:1; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35).

Man's mindset is so engrossed with the cares of this world that he has no clue that the coming God's kingdom on earth will affect everyone - whether those living or dead - when Christ return to establish God's kingdom on earth (Luke 19:12). Everything will undergo drastic transformation on planet earth when God's righteous laws are established worldwide (Isaiah 2: 2-4) and Satan is incarcerated (Revelation 20:2). It does not matter if people know or believe in this, as it will happen. The coming kingdom should be the topmost priority of every true Christian and not the cares and worries of this world. Just before the kingdom of God arrives, all true disciples (saints) who are living then will be translated to immortal spirit beings and that will be the time when their redemption takes place (Luke 21:28).

The world is getting from bad to worse, and will get far worse before it gets better - and only when God's kingdom is established on planet earth. As Christians, we must be focused and watch what is happening in the world today in order to pray effectively for God's kingdom to come and restore all that had been lost due to sin and evil. God will punish the world through the coming Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord and most of the living will perish. Only those who are true to their calling will escape the coming cataclysmic events that will unfold onto this world as a snare (Luke 21: 35). True disciples of Christ are commanded to 'Watch and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.' - Luke 21:36.

To seek God's righteousness is to desire His laws as stated in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) and expanded by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). Only when God's holy laws are understood and implemented will peace and prosperity for all mankind be enjoyed on a global scale during the Millennium. Wars and conflicts will then be relegated to history.Those who think that God's laws are being made redundant because of Christ's death on the cross are being deceived. Only the observance of them is different. There has to be a change of hearts and minds before there can be any real lasting transformation for the better. Only God's government under Christ the King and the born again resurrected saints as kings ruling and reigning in the Royal Family of God can the coming paradise world of tomorrow become a reality. It behoves all true disciples of Christ to watch and pray for His kingdom to come!