I have included a special message at the end of this article. I hope you will read it and take it to heart.
There may be some who disagree with what I have to say in this article. That is all right. Man’s belief or disbelief has never changed the promises of God or His fulfillment of them.
I’m not trying to win (or start) any kind of a theological argument but simply to point out what I see as the irrevocable Truths revealed in God’s Word.
He has expressed His Truths in His own gentle but firm way:
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land. But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword’” (Isaiah 1:18-20). Emphasis added.
This verse applies equally to all, Jews and Gentiles, as it relates to salvation.
His meaning is clear: We must choose. Obedience or rebellion. Belief or disbelief. Both have consequences, and there is no compromising.
There is a song titled “The Living Years” by Mike and the Mechanics.
It was written by Mike Rutherford and B.A. Robertson, both of whom lost their fathers within months of each other. The regret and heartache expressed in the lyrics are obvious, but even more obvious is what this song speaks to.
Here is a link to their YouTube video complete with lyrics if you have never heard it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cmKfb4xV1M&list=RD2cmKfb4xV1M&start_radio=1
It expresses a truth so important that it cannot be brushed aside as just another modern-day music video. For many of us, it may revive regrets and heartaches. But for every living person, it also evokes an undeniable reality.
It was very popular in 1988, and its message is still crystal clear. The words plainly point out the finality of death and that relationships cannot be altered once our time in this life ends. We all know our lives can end suddenly and without warning.
When I was a nine-year-old, immature and selfish boy, I refused to hug my older brother before he left to fly to visit some relatives in California because he wouldn’t take me with him. By the next morning, he was forever gone, and I have never forgotten what it was like when I realized the finality of what I had done. I would never hug him again.
Today, I receive and give hugs like they are more precious than gold. You can’t get them back once the finality of death intervenes.
Death eternally fixes certain earthly circumstances in stone. This is confirmed by God’s Word in Luke 16:26. They cannot be undone or changed. The same is true of our relationship with God. Our time in this life determines our eternal circumstances. This is why I frequently end my articles with the phrase below when I appeal to anyone who may read them to repent and receive Jesus as their One and Only Lord and Savior.
“If you choose to act, you must do so in your living years.”
We all had, or still have, living fathers. Perhaps, if you are willing to try, you can still restore that relationship. While we still draw breath, we are able to act on what matters. This is also true of restoring a relationship with our mothers. They both fail. So do we.
Death is the final frontier in earthly human existence, but God has the answer. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is God’s chosen source of Salvation and eternal life.
As well, God, by His own Authority, has determined that His Salvation and rescue from our sinful selves are determined in this life by His (Jesus’) sacrifice of His life for those who will receive Him and Him alone. At the instant our lives end, our eternity begins.
We, not God, determine our final state of being by our own free will. It is yet another Gift of God. We receive His Grace, or we reject it. He lets us decide – in our living years.
He has also provided us with an understanding of our final state depending on whether we have chosen to receive His Grace in Christ or to reject it.
Whether any person is willing to acknowledge it or not, God is our Father. For some, it can be a difficult thing to consider Him in that light, perhaps because our human father may evoke bad memories or heartache. But God is not a fallible human:
“God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind” (Numbers 23:19). Emphasis added.
Frequently, God, our heavenly Father, uses earthly mechanisms and means in order to convey heavenly Truths to us that we may not otherwise understand.
This song by Mike and the Mechanics is, I believe, an example of the perfect love that God employs when He has an important Truth to convey to us and awaken in us.
Just as He intended.
I’m not claiming this song is divinely inspired, but God can use whatever He will to accomplish His purposes, and His will is to save (2 Peter 3:9 / 1 Timothy 2:4).
He most often uses people to connect with people through His Spirit.
God reveals in His Word that anyone who repents and receives His Son as Lord and Savior is immediately adopted into His eternal family and becomes spiritually reborn into eternal life, and this, Jesus declared, is required (John 3:3).
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:14-16). Emphasis added.
Now to the crux of this article.
Sober reading and understanding of Bible prophecy and equally sober consideration of ongoing worldwide events indicate that God’s intervention in judgement of the world is very close at hand. Wars and rumors of them abound, and sin has reached new lows of debauchery and depravity.
America will not be exempt from the coming judgments.
They will occur despite any level of human denial or disbelief, just as His prophetic promises always have (2 Peter 3:3-4).
We have all been startled (scared) by an unexpected lightning strike and by its attendant thunderclap.
God’s promised intervention will be just as sudden and frightening to those who will have ignored His prolific warnings.
Those who have received Jesus will be startled but not frightened. It will be liberating and joyful. It will be another of God’s promises fulfilled in exact detail.
He has made it clear that He wants to rescue and adopt anyone who will listen and respond to His knock at the spiritual door of their heart.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). Emphasis added.
Once again, I pray that you will choose life: “If you choose to act, you must do so in your living years.”
The special message I promised you:
For anyone who may read this article and has not trusted in Jesus Christ, and therefore has no real hope or peace in life, this message is for you.
You can have hope. You can have the peace that Jesus has promised to all who have made Him their Lord and Savior. The peace that passes understanding.
It requires that you come before God on His terms and that you do so in your living years.
And what are His terms according to His Word?
- Genuine repentance (turning to God instead of continuing to reject or ignore Him).
- Confession of sins (that you are a sinner and acknowledge that to God).
- That you understand that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
- To acknowledge to God that you are unable to pay that debt.
- Belief that Jesus Christ paid your death sentence for you on the cross and rose from the grave three days later, conquering death, just as He promised.
- To believe that Jesus is the Way, the only Way, that God has established by which humans may be saved from the consequences of their sin and rebellion.
This is what leads one to the Spiritual Rebirth that Jesus requires (John 3:3).
God has made it absolutely clear that no one who comes before Him on His terms will be refused.
- No one: no race, no color, no country of origin, regardless of any previous belief system: no one.
- No matter what your past sins have been, God can and WILL forgive you because He says He will.
- Salvation is available to everyone without any exceptions.
If you put all your trust for salvation in Jesus, and Him only, you can follow that prayer up by simply saying, “Thank you, Father God, for hearing my prayer and saving me,” because we can trust Him to keep His Word. He always has. He always will.
“Truly, Truly, I say to you that he who hears My words and believes the One who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed from death to life” (John 5:24).
There are no answers and there is no hope in the world through governments, organizations, politics, or politicians. They are incapable of it. There are only lies and deception. But you can have the Truth and the peace you seek.
The answers are in the Word of God—The Bible. If you ask God, with all your heart, He will hear you.
“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
Pro Salvator Vigilans
To contact me: canoeman96@gmail.com