The Gifts and Calling of God Are Without Repentance :: By Jack Kinsella

Today’s Omega Letter is a bit off the beaten path from our usual course of discussion. I pray that you will bear with me. Its purpose is to encourage those of you that, like me, have heard the call of the Lord on their lives but don’t believe they are worthy of answering it.

I didn’t want to write this particular message. But there is somebody out there that God intends to hear it. So, listen up!

Last Thursday, Hal asked me to give my testimony at his Bible study. It occurred to me that I don’t do that very often. I avoid it whenever possible. Moreover, I have never offered my own testimony before our Omega Letter fellowship.

The reason, from my perspective, is simple. I don’t like to talk about myself. But I’ve since come to see that as an excuse – my testimony is not supposed to be about me but about what Jesus has done in my life.

I am not worthy of being a minister of the Most High God. I know it. So does Jesus Christ. I went to Him with this argument some years back. He reminded me that I was not the first.

I am not Moses and don’t put myself anywhere near that category, but Moses said he wasn’t worthy. Moses reminded God of what a poor speaker he was. He had other excuses, too. Just like me. (Just like you.)

Isaiah argued that he was not fit to speak the Word of the Lord, saying, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5).

I am not Isaiah, either, but I can make that same argument.

Paul went to the Lord three times to protest his calling, complaining of a thorn in his flesh that rendered him unworthy, asking the Lord to take care of that problem (whatever it was) so that he could be a worthy messenger of God’s grace.

“For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”

I am not Paul, either. But, like Moses, I don’t see myself as a great speaker; like Isaiah, I realize that I am a man of unclean lips; and like Paul, I know my own ego too well and live in fear that I will forget I am just the donkey upon whom the Message is carried. I know who I really am inside, just as He does.

But the Lord’s reply to Paul is exactly the reply He gave me when I made the same protests:

“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2nd Corinthians 12:9).

Well, weakness is something I have in abundance…. I am hardly your typical Holy Joe. If you knew me like I do, your reaction would be more like, “Holy cow!” Nonetheless, here is my testimony:

I was born into an Irish Catholic family. We were your typical Irish Catholics. Dad would give us a quarter for the collection plate when he dropped us off in front of St. Michael’s Church, although Dad never darkened the door unless somebody was getting married or buried.

My Dad was something special – I never realized how special until after I myself became a man – by which time it was too late to tell him. (He died while I was in the Marines – I only saw him a couple of times in the last few years of his life.)

There was much bad blood between us. He died never knowing how much I had come to admire and respect him. It is among the greatest regrets of my life.

Dad didn’t have a lot of experience with kids and family. He was orphaned young, spent time in an orphanage before escaping at a tender age and becoming a Depression-era hobo. He ‘rode the rails,’ living in hobo jungles for much of the 1930s. In 1939, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Regiment and shipped out for England.

He and my mother were married in May 1940 during the Blitz. Soon after, she emigrated to Canada, and Dad went off to war. Dad fought in the first Dieppe Raid in 1940, fought in North Africa, was wounded in Sicily, participated in the Normandy Landing on June 6, 1994, fought his way across France, and was among the troops that liberated the Nazi death camps at Dachau.

My parents were married for six years before they spent more than two weeks together. When Dad returned home to Canada in 1946, he had never seen his house. When he entered it, he was 27 years old, and it was the first home he had ever known.

I was born seven years after the war. Dad didn’t talk about his wartime experiences much, but I remember he suffered greatly from insomnia. I never gave the reasons why much thought. Being a kid, it was just how Dad was.

Only once in a great while would he ever mention anything about the war, and then it was usually in vague and general terms. Much of what I’ve pieced together about him comes from memories of those brief comments.

My father worshiped my mother. When she died of cancer in 1963, she was just forty years old. They had been married almost 23 years, but the war robbed them of the first six. When she died seventeen years later, so did the best part of my Dad (or so I thought in the arrogance of youth). But one thing was certain. Without her, he was a man without direction.

I never knew if Dad came to Christ. It is my prayer that he did while in combat. I cling to the old saying, “There are no atheists in foxholes.”

Growing up in the Sixties, I adopted the ‘never trust anybody over thirty’ slogan. When I left home at age 14, I was propelled out the door by the toe of his boot. I saw him only a couple of times from then until I turned 17 and needed his signature to join the Marine Corps.

I barely knew the man he really was, and like most kids, I blamed him for everything. I never finished high school – in fact, I never finished the 9th grade. (I didn’t even get my GED until I was 24.)

When I got out of the Marines, it was as a medical retiree. According to the VA, I was among those vets who contracted soft-tissue sarcoma from exposure to Dioxin (Agent Orange).

(My greatest exposure most likely came when I was stationed at Cherry Point, North Carolina. For part of my tour in the Corps, I was in supply and logistics, and I used to sit on a 55-gallon drum of the stuff to eat my lunch.)

But all it meant to me at 23, and with two kids, was that I had cancer and was expected to die (although I knew that I wouldn’t, somehow. The Lord had different plans for me. I always knew that deep in my heart, even before I was saved).

At about this time, my older sister read a book that caused her to leave the Catholic Church and become a ‘born again’ Christian. That book was Hal Lindsey’s “Late Great Planet Earth.”

I made it my mission in life to reprogram her back to being a ‘good Catholic’ (meaning going to Mass every year at Easter, whether one needed to or not.)

So I grabbed Hal’s book and set out to show her where he (and she) had gone wrong.

Instead, I came to believe the Bible was true. One day, I went to my sister’s church and heard the altar call. I didn’t come forward, but the pastor’s words rang in my ears all that night.

I awoke in the middle of the night, and my bedroom was deathly cold. I could see my breath in the room. There was some kind of malevolence in the room with me – I wasn’t terrified so much as I was gripped with a sense of unspeakable horror.

I put my new pocket New Testament, given me earlier that day by the pastor, under my pillow and finally went back to sleep.

It was the first (but not the last) time Satan overplayed his hand in my life, revealing more than he intended. The next morning, realizing from the experience the night before that Satan was real, I reached the obvious logical conclusion. If Satan was real, so was Jesus. I knew which side I wanted to be on, and it wasn’t Satan’s.

I asked Jesus to save me that same morning and instantly knew that my prayer had been answered. I also knew at that instant that Jesus had a plan for my life. I had received the call to ministry, but I didn’t want any part of it. Being saved was one thing. Being a Holy Joe was something different.

Nonetheless, I couldn’t learn enough about Jesus. I recall locking myself away in my younger sister’s root cellar with a lantern and a stack of commentaries, which I devoured like a starving man.

But still, I resisted the call. I even moved away to Texas (thinking I wouldn’t hear it there).

I resisted for more than ten years, rebelling openly, living my life like a heathen, in the process destroying my marriage and many friendships. I barreled through life like a tornado, damaging everybody who got near enough to be sucked into the vortex.

When I left law enforcement ten years later, I did so as a broken man – both physically and spiritually – and went home to the bosom of my family in Canada to lick my wounds.

A friend set me up with a blind date with the woman who later would become my wife. God sent Gayle to me to straighten me out, although I thought at the time the situation was exactly the reverse.

Gayle was also a Catholic, and we fought some battles royal over salvation by grace vs. salvation by RCC dogma. But, praise God, Gayle also came to know Jesus as her own personal Savior and gave herself to Him.

Meanwhile, my call to His service grew louder and louder, but still, I resisted. I was a man of unclean lips with enough thorns in my flesh to do a passable impression of a porcupine.

When I came home, all I knew was law enforcement, so I applied for work as a federal Customs officer. I went through a battery of pre-employment screening tests.

The first series had 1,500 applicants; the second, the top 500, and so on, until we got to the top 25 of the original group. I scored 7th on that final list. (Two years later, I still hadn’t heard a word from them.)

I don’t recall the details, but I was offered a job by a ministry in Niagara Falls by Peter Lalonde. I think I saw their new program, “This Week in Bible Prophecy,” and contacted them first, but I don’t really remember. What I do remember was that I committed to the job before we even discussed a salary. (When we did, it was minimum wage, and the offer was as a janitor.)

It was hardly what I had in mind, but it was, after a fashion, full-time ministry. Before taking it, I had had the most intense session of prayer I’ve ever experienced before or since, literally wrestling with God about it in my bedroom for an entire day and night. I neither ate nor slept for twenty hours or more. (I didn’t even go to the bathroom.)

I finally agreed with God that I would answer whatever call He gave me, and I would go where He sent me and trust Him for provision. I called Peter and accepted the minimum wage janitor’s job. No sooner had I hung up the phone than it rang again.

On the other end was a nice lady representing Canada Customs, informing me that I was to report to the Kingston Royal Canadian Mounted Police College for training with the Customs Intelligence Unit. I stunned myself by turning it down, saying I’d taken another job.

I’ll never forget her response; “No, no, you don’t understand. This is Canada Customs calling.”

She even gave me 24 hours to rethink it before going to the next guy on the list. That prompted a whole new battle with God in my bedroom, but I knew I had lost that one before I even started. When she called again, I turned it down again, although I could hardly believe what I was saying, even as I said it.

What I didn’t know at the time was that Peter was looking for a writer to help take on the load of writing the TV program since he also wrote everything else plus ran the rest of the ministry, which had some dozen or so employees. A week after I started, he offered me the chance to write one segment.

Within a month, I was writing the whole script. Peter offered me a chance to write a TWIBP “Special Report” about Bible prophecy, which we called “Front Row Seats.” It was very successful, and I was soon the ministry’s head writer. I turned out dozens of such specials, plus the weekly scripts.

A few years later, Peter changed direction from direct ministry to producing Christian-themed movies, eventually even producing the wildly successful ‘Left Behind’ series as ‘Cloud Ten Productions.’

But God didn’t call me to make movies. He called me to ministry, so I resigned.

That same week, I got a phone call from Cliff Ford, who at the time worked for Hal Lindsey, asking me if I would consider coming out to work with Hal in California. (I had met Hal Lindsey a couple of times at prophecy conferences where I interviewed him for the TWIBP program.)

I went out there for a few months to get to know Hal. Hal and I continue to this day to be amazed at how good a fit it was for both of us. We’ve been together for fifteen years now. It has been a deeply satisfying assignment and a blessing beyond description.

From a kid that didn’t finish high school, God brought me full circle to fellowship with the man who, through his book, first led me to Christ. Moreover, God blessed me by having Hal disciple me, putting me through a course of study that Hal says I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else, including Hal’s alma mater, Dallas Theological Seminary.

After ten years of study under Hal’s tutelage, Hal testified at my ordination that I was as well-schooled and spiritually gifted as any ministry candidate he had ever known.

(Please understand, I am not saying that in a prideful way but rather as my testimony of what Jesus has done in my life. I have no more cause to take pride in it than I do to take pride in having a full head of hair. A gift is a gift. The glory goes to the One Who bestowed the spiritual gift, not its recipient.)

I am a most reluctant minister. I don’t like crowds. And I am very uncomfortable in the limelight, much preferring my role as a teacher and facilitator rather than that of the guy up front.

I started the Omega Letter ministry (with Hal’s blessing and encouragement) in part because I could do it from seclusion in my attic.

That is what I’ve most enjoyed about working with Hal. He never pushed me, never insisted that I come out to California for any extended period (other than for training purposes), and allowed me to work with him from the seclusion in my attic via the internet for most of the past fifteen years.

About a year ago, I got another call that changed our lives as we knew them. Gayle and I were driving from North Carolina up to Canada. I do a lot of praying when I am driving on long trips. This trip was no exception, but the calling startled me.

I turned to Gayle and said, “I think God is calling me to sell our house, buy an RV, and go off on some mission for Him. Doesn’t that sound nuts?”

Gayle said to me, “It sure does. I’ve been getting the exact same calling. I thought I was losing it – I was afraid to say anything. Thank God that you brought it up first.”

So, on Good Friday of 2006, we put our house up for sale. The first and only showing was on Easter Sunday. The couple who toured the house put in an offer 27 days later. We accepted it on faith, and the deal closed on July 14.

We followed our leading, and God has provided exactly as He promised He would way back on that day in 1989 when the nice lady from Canada Customs gave me twenty-four hours to think things over.

Things haven’t been easy these last few months – if they had, I would have questioned my calling. Particularly since we set out on our ‘road tour’ – for want of a better name to describe it.

We’ve had our share of bumps and bruises, but I write them off to enemy interference with the mission. (As we accepted this latest calling, I learned from a routine blood test that a blood transfusion from a 1991 gall bladder operation infected me with the deadly Hepatitis C virus.)

I don’t know what God has in mind, but the enemy doesn’t much like it. That’s good enough for me.

As I’ve noted in the past, my voice and God’s Voice sound EXACTLY alike in my head. But I’ve learned to tell the difference. (When it is MY voice, I like what it is telling me to do.)

I don’t know where He will lead us next or even what our mission actually is at the moment. But I trust Jesus. He knows what He is doing.

And to you, whoever God is speaking to right now about your own calling, let me say this. He STILL knows what He is doing.

Of COURSE, you aren’t worthy! That’s why He is calling YOU. To demonstrate His strength through your weakness. That’s why He is God (and you are not).

The time is too short. There is too much to do. Don’t waste as much time as I did. Know that the call is irresistible. The harder you resist, the louder it becomes. And the more painful your rebellion against Him will get.

The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He isn’t going to change His mind. You need to change yours.

Do yourself a favor and don’t fight Him on it. Trust Him, and He will make the way clear.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever” (Psalms 23).

To that one whom the Lord is calling right now, I know that this message is specifically for you. So do you. The sting of my tears as I pen these words is all the confirmation I need. Write me and let me know that you heard it.

And may Our God richly bless us all as we continue in our service to Him. Until He comes.

Amen.

Jack Kinsella went to be with the Lord on March 14, 2013. His articles can be found in the Omega Letter archives at this link.

We Wrestle Not Against Flesh & Blood, Part Two :: By Lynda Janzen

Since last week, the evil in the world has ratcheted up a few more notches. Just when you think it can’t get worse, somehow it does. As we saw last week in Part I of “We Wrestle Not Against Flesh & Blood,” the birth pains are becoming more intense and closer together.

Jesus said, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,” in the last days (Matthew 24:7a). In a faraway place called Afghanistan this week, well over one hundred men, women and children were beheaded for no other reason than they were followers of Jesus Christ. Since the Taliban took control, this once-promising Mideast country has become a hell-hole once again, with the militant Islamists vowing to hunt down and execute every Christian in the country.

Now, not only Afghani citizens are being persecuted and executed, but several U.S. citizens are trapped there as well. Some pundits say this fiasco has the potential to surpass what happened in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 when the State Department turned its back on its own Ambassador, letting him die a horrible death in the hands of the Ansar-al-Sharia militant Islamists.

“There will be famines and earthquakes in divers places” (Matthew 24:7b). Meanwhile, in Haiti, where a 7.2-magnitude earthquake robbed tens of thousands of Haitians of everything they owned in a matter of seconds, the hunt for clean water and food is now a daily struggle for thousands. As relief pours in, convoys are attacked and ransacked by people desperate for the necessities of life. When that kind of desperation hits, there are no ‘niceties’ or considerations for others. It’s a matter of “If my family doesn’t eat, we die.”

“Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). In other places in the world, people are facing increasingly draconian charges and shutdowns over the latest COVID variants that resemble war-time measures of suspended rights and freedoms.

In Part I, I wrote, “The darkness of the spiritual realms of the Evil One is manifesting increasingly in our modern world, and modern people have no idea how to cope with it.” So am I looking on the ‘dark’ side, or am I being realistic? We can put our heads in the sand and pretend all is well, or we can look evil in the eye and decide to stand against it.

Apostle Paul writes, “Be strong in the LORD in His mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

We are reminded that, in Matthew 10:28, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

In today’s world, we ‘cutesy-fy’ Satan, if we picture him at all. He’s that cute little red devil with a tiny pitchfork standing on your left shoulder, trying to shout down the cute little angel standing on your right shoulder, who is telling you to be good.

One of our modern idols, “Science,” has convinced many today that there’s no devil and that there’s no God either. But the ancients knew Satan was real, as well as they knew God is not only real but is the Creator of the entire universe, and that includes Satan and his demons, too. 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (emphasis mine)

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you can expect to be assaulted by the evil one from time to time. We need to know how to resist him, how to stand against him. Thankfully, that knowledge is abundant in the New Testament, and we find it in our text today.

Apostle Paul knew from firsthand experience that Satan is an adversary we ought not ignore or make light of. Using the analogy of a Roman soldier’s armour, Paul outlines six pieces of spiritual armour that will help protect us when comes what he calls “the day of evil, a day of hard temptation, a day of discouragement, a day of faltering faith.” And he tells us how to put on this armour for maximum effect, just as real armour must be donned in a certain sequence to ensure it will do the job it was created to do.

First of all, Paul says, we are to put on the WHOLE armour of God, not just one or two pieces. We need it all to defend against the powers of darkness. Can you imagine a Roman soldier venturing out onto the war field with only a helmet and greaves [leg armour] for protection? No. He must put on all his armour and correctly, too. And we are urged to do the same with the armour of God.

The first piece to put on is the belt of Truth. All the other pieces of our armour hang on this one. Without Truth, there can be no foundation for our faith.

In our world today, truth has become subjective. You hear people saying things like, “My truth is as valid as your truth.” In Christianity, there is but one Truth … the Truth that Jesus Christ is LORD and that He came to earth to die for our sins on the cross, and then rose again to live forever. That’s the Truth. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). THAT is the Truth!

Next comes the breastplate of righteousness, but not our own righteousness. This is the righteousness accrued to Our Saviour. Jesus’ righteousness strengthens our hearts. It protects them with His holiness against the slings, the temptations of the Enemy. When we walk in the LORD’s righteousness, we are walking in the Light of God, which protects us from the darkness of the Evil One. Just a little light is needed to dispel total darkness. But the Light of the LORD quenches the darkness totally.

Next, we put on the greaves and sandals, representing the Gospel of Peace, the protection we need to stand our ground in the face of temptation and trials. Our feet also need protection to march forward in rugged paths, taking the Gospel with us wherever we go.

Sometimes, talking with non-believers is a rocky road littered with pitfalls, both imagined by us and dug for us by the enemy. With our spiritual greaves and sandals, the Gospel of Peace, we need not worry. In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul writes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Next, we are to take up the shield of Faith. In the hour of temptation, a strong faith is needed. Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.” Our Christian Faith is believing in what is invisible to our human eyes – the Heavenly Kingdom, the Risen Christ, our free gift of Salvation from Jesus Christ. Just as a shield deflects material arrows and the blows from a sword, so our Faith deflects all that the enemy can bring to bear. Our faith is a strong defense, not only against the evil one and his schemes, but also against all that life can throw at us. We keep our faith strong by applying the Word of God and the Grace of Jesus to our hearts to quench the flaming darts and arrows sent toward us from the demonic realms.

Topping off our armour is the helmet of Salvation. The Scriptures give us every reason to expect victory over evil. The Bible is clear that Jesus has done the heavy lifting for us by His incomparable work on the cross of Calvary. Our sure hope of salvation is a great protection from evil. Just as a helmet protects the skull, which, in turn, protects the brain, our armour of Salvation protects the innermost us, the part of us that carries on after death … our soul. Knowing and believing that we will spend eternity with Our LORD allows us to stand strong in the most heated battle with Satan.

Now we are protected. However, even a Christian needs to be armed for defense in battle. Apostle Paul recommends only one weapon of attack, but it is enough … the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. In a commentary on this text, Matthew Henry says, “The sword of the Spirit subdues and mortifies evil desires and blasphemous thoughts as they rise within, and answers unbelief and error as they assault from without. A single text, well understood and rightly applied, at once destroys a temptation or an objection and subdues the most formidable adversary.”

Paul finishes the chapter by urging the Ephesians to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. In his first letter to the Thessalonians (5:16-18), Paul says, “Pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all: hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.”

Each day, make sure you put on the Whole Armour of God and be ready for anything the evil one may throw your way. No matter how bad the news gets, no matter the temptations, no matter the trials that come … the Whole Armour of God will keep you safe in Him.

Now, I just want to define ‘safe.’ Right now, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is hunting down Christians and beheading them. You might ask, “Is God keeping them safe?” Well, let’s look at that.

If those Christians would turn from their faith in Christ and go back to Islam, they wouldn’t be beheaded. You see, they have stood strong in their faith and are now safely in the arms of Jesus Messiah. That’s what is meant by safety. They are safely on that other shore where we all, as Christians, long and yearn to be.

And also, be open to all the good things Your Loving Father is bestowing on you, constantly. Never stop giving praise and thanks for the free gift of Salvation bought for you by Our Saviour with His precious blood. There is nothing in this life more precious than that … nothing matters more.

Finally, the devil knows his time is short, and he’s going to do everything he can think of to pull us away from faith in Jesus. To ignore this is dangerous. But God … But God … the Spirit God has given us does not make us timid but gives us power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7).

We need to be ready every day, for, as we read in Hebrews 10:37, “In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.”

Maranatha, LORD Jesus. Come quickly.

Let us pray …

Heavenly Father: This week, may our hearts and minds stay on You, and may we be conscious of putting on the armour You have given us so freely. Let us never lose sight of the most precious gift ever bestowed by You on humankind … the gift of the Life of Your Son, that we may have eternal life in Him and through Him with You. May Your Spirit of Truth and Honour and Wisdom be with us today and all the days of our life. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

If anyone reading this article has not yet received Jesus as their Saviour, but God has touched your heart by His Holy Word, please email me (amadea649@gmail.com) or find a Bible-believing local church and ask the Pastor what you must do to be saved in Grace. In the meantime, please consider the ABCs of Salvation:

A – Admit

Admit what you have done wrong and ask forgiveness.

Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death.”

1 John 1:9 ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

B – Believe

Believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again as payment for your sins.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

C – Confess and Choose

Confess and choose to allow God to be in charge of your life.

Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This article, based on God’s Holy Word, was written by the inspiration of God’s own Holy Spirit. All glory to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.