General Articles

The Most Important Theological Question and Why :: By Gene Lawley

Published on: by RR7

The typical false doctrine of false teachers is arrived at by intricate calculations and illogical interpretations of the Scriptures. A system of steps to salvation that lists requirements that man must do in order to be acceptable to God and find that salvation is off-base at the beginning if it requires man’s efforts. But the Apostle Paul has one word that covers the whole landscape—simplicity:

“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).

That most important theological question is the one asked by the Philippian jailer recorded by Luke in Acts 16:30-31: “What must I do to be saved?”

Paul answered, immediately: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!”

Now wait a minute! What about being baptized and joining a church? I have looked and found it to be a principle of false doctrines that one must join their particular church and be baptized by that church in order to be saved. Check them out—Roman Catholic, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons), Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church of Christ (Campbellites). The list could go on, for the works of man, himself, are the basis of their beliefs. How much clearer can it be? However, in Ephesians 2:8-10, that salvation has nothing to do with “doing” but has much to do with “believing.” Note how even that is a gift to be received:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Much heavy preaching is given to the sins of man and laying those sins aside to be righteous. Actually, it points to repentance, or turning from those sins. However, one can quit drinking, smoking, cussing, adulterous activity, stealing, even killing, and still go to hell! That is where the “why” of this article comes into the picture—that and the “most important” part, which is vividly expressed in Mark 8:36-37:

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Because a person born of Adam’s legacy, as all are, is a sinner by nature, so that is what he does—he sins. There must be a radical transformation from that sinful nature to one that is, at its roots, righteous and acceptable to God. Jesus nailed it when he told Nicodemus, “You must be born again” in John 3. He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.'”

Some look at that statement and say, “O yeah, ‘born of water'” and conclude that baptism is necessary for salvation to be complete. But Jesus clears that up with that next statement of the difference between physical life and spiritual life. Being born again is a spiritual transaction that the Spirit of God accomplishes when a person wholeheartedly receives Christ into his life and submits himself to Christ’s lordship. Physical birth involves water in the process.

Look at Titus 3:5 for how it works: “…Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

But there’s that word, “washing.” “Doesn’t that mean water baptism?” you ask. No, for it is a regeneration of spiritual life, and physical water cannot accomplish spiritual transformations. As Jesus said, “That which is flesh [physical] is flesh, and that which is spiritual is spiritual.”

We are getting closer to the “why” in the title as we press on. Just as Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart” (Job 1:21, NIV). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us to “build treasures in heaven for they will not fade away there.” In other words, we cannot take our “stuff” with us!

There are those who say there are more ways to heaven than just by Jesus, but the Scriptures tell of no other way. Is God a liar? If there are other ways to heaven, then why did Christ come into human history with the very purpose of providing an offering for the sins of mankind that man, himself, could not provide. Paul declares, in 2 Corinthians 5:21, that fact: “He [God] has made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be righteous in Him.”

Peter declared of Jesus, at that great fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, in Acts 4:12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The thief on the cross by Jesus did not join a church or get baptized, nor did he have any way to get a theological education and follow all those man-made rules and hoops to jump through. There was no time for that, and justly so; there was no need for anything but believing in Jesus. Even that was without much expectation, for he merely asked to be remembered when Jesus came into his kingdom. “Today,” Jesus said, “You will be with Me in Paradise!”

Simplicity in Christ, that’s it. Aren’t you glad, dear redeemed sinner, that it is so? That answer says it all which the late theologian Karl Barth gave to the question of “what is the greatest theological truth you have learned in your life?” After a thoughtful moment, he replied, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!”

May we each treasure that truth in our hearts forever!

Contact email:  andwegetmercy@gmail.com

Nesting :: By Alice Childs

Published on: by RR7

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13, KJV).

We women know what “nesting” means, don’t we? The term refers to one who is about to get married and set up one’s own home, or a woman who is about to give birth, or a mother who has adopted a child and is waiting to bring him/her home. We know that nesting is that female maternal instinct that kicks in during the last few weeks or days before one’s wedding, or the birth of a child – before a little one makes his/her appearance in your home.

Nesting is the instinctual need an expectant mother feels when the birth of her child is imminent – a need to “get her house in order” – to have everything in her home clean, all clutter cleared away, and everything prepared, ready for the big change that’s coming – a change beyond which she will never be the same and which will turn her into a wife or a mother.

During those last few weeks and days, expectant mothers – whether giving birth themselves or becoming mothers through adoption – nearly every mother-to-be goes through an almost physical need to prepare herself and her home so that everything is ready when the baby arrives.

I remember right before each of my children were born, I nearly drove my husband bonkers trying to get everything just right. I’m a bit OCD by nature, so being pregnant and a tad OCD was for him a double horror to endure, I’m sure. (Ha ha!)

So, what does all this talk about nesting, and cleaning, and preparing, and birthing babies have to do with the price of beans in Peru (or this post), you may ask? Well, bear with me a moment and I’ll try to explain.

To me, I see our imminent departure via the rapture as a sort of birthing process. Waiting for the rapture is a bit like waiting for a baby to be born. For one thing, unless one is induced, the exact time for when the birth will take place cannot be known; so, in those last couple of weeks or days of pregnancy, labor can literally start at any time. Each mother knows the imminence of birth as it gets closer to the time when the birth is expected. We know by the signs of the approaching end of gestation that birth is imminent just like we, the Remnant Church, know by the prophesied end-times signs that the event of the rapture is imminently upon us, now that all prophetic indicators are either already in place or in play.

Another way in which giving birth and the rapture can be compared is that after each event, lives are changed forever. It’s not just the mother whose life is forever altered once she gives birth or adopts a child, but the father’s life as well. Just as all of us who have been “birthed” into the kingdom of God are changed by our salvation, we too will be eternally changed when we receive our new glorified bodies at the resurrection/rapture. In a real sense, the rapture will be our birth into a new and glorified eternal existence.

I don’t know if anyone else is getting the nesting urge the closer we get to the rapture, but I certainly am. Let me try to explain.

Ever since Israel’s rebirth in May 1948, the worldwide Church as a whole has been on high alert; well, those who understand the prophetic significance of Israel being back in her land have been. But over the last 15 years, prophecy watchers have been on heightened alert; and just in the past 5 years, the Remnant Church has gone to Defcon 1. For the past couple of years, watchmen and women have been on high alert; and ever since the beginning of this year, 2020, those of us who eagerly await our deliverance have been nearly electric with anticipation and expectation. We KNOW that Jesus is literally “at the door.” We can feel it in our bones.

For me, that sense of…what? Urgency? High-level urgency, has manifested in very much the same way as my nesting instincts did right before I gave birth to each of my children.

So many of us have been diligently and urgently sharing the gospel, contending for the faith, and doing all we can to prepare our lost family and friends for the coming aftermath of the rapture when we will be caught up by our Lord, and they left behind. In truth, most all of us have done all we know to do to try to urge them to come to salvation NOW. Sadly, the majority of those we’ve been so desperate to reach still refuse to heed our increasingly desperate pleas to believe unto salvation NOW.

There really isn’t much MORE, if anything, that we can say or do to reach them at this point since most continue to harden their hearts to the calling and wooing of the Holy Spirit. It looks as if our warnings will continue to fall on deaf ears, at least until the reality of the rapture hits. Tragically, for many, it’s going to take nothing less than the cataclysmic event of the rapture itself to shake them from their complacency and stupor. It’s going to take the rapture itself to rock their world enough get their attention, and that’s where my “nesting” issue comes in.

Back in 2011, or thereabouts, I felt compelled to write a letter to the left behind who may one day show up at my house looking to see if my family and I are among the missing. I wrote the letter and my son printed it out for me. I put the letter into one of those large gold manilla envelopes and taped it to the side of my fridge where it is clearly visible to anyone who comes through our back door or from the patio. I addressed it thusly: TO WHOMEVER IT MAY CONCERN – A MESSAGE FROM ONE OF THE MISSING. It’s been taped to my fridge since 2011. It’s still there now.

A few years later, somewhere around 2016 or so, I felt impressed to gather my rather extensive Bible study notes and series along with several chosen books from authors such as Dave Hunt and others; and I put them all into a big rolling suitcase with as many Bibles as we had in our house – about 7 or 8 of them (we all use the Bible apps on our phones). My husband and I placed all of these in with the study notes and books. This case we placed in a conspicuous place in our garage room where it will be easily seen.

Another thing we as a family felt impressed to do was to store a little extra non-perishable food items and other things such as extra batteries that we use and that might come in handy and place these things in the garage and throughout the house just in case. Now, we are NOT preppers, and our house is small, so we don’t have a lot of stuff, but we do have a little bit we try to keep set aside.

That’s where we have been until this year. When 2020 rolled in along with Covid, riots, and prophetic events ramping up in overdrive, I am sensing even more the need to do several things more:

Number 1 – We as a family have been doing our best to keep our home in both good order and in good repair as we have the energy and financial ability to do – keeping things neat and fixing things that have been needing fixing for a while. We’re mostly good but we still have a little bit to do if we have the time and money to do them.

Number 2 – I have specifically felt impressed to pray for any people who God MAY lead to our home for whatever time He allows this house to stand.

Number 3 – I have felt strongly impressed to pray that the Lord, if He so chooses, would use this house as a safe haven and a place of refuge and worship for any Tribulation believers who may come here, for as long as the Lord sees fit to provide it.

See, that’s one reason why I’ve felt so strongly about making my house as clean and as comfortable as possible and to fill it with Bibles, Bible studies, books, and other necessities as much as we are able. I sense that we as a family are “prepping” – praying, and preparing for those who will become Tribulation saints.

Now, I have no clue whether or not this house will survive for 5 seconds after the rapture. It could be flattened within the first 5 minutes of the rapture, or God may keep it safe and ready for a while longer. Only God knows His plans for our little house once we are gone. But what I sense and feel is that strong nesting urge to, if nothing else, leave my home in order as much as I am able, or if God so wills, have it ready for whomever may come looking for shelter, and perhaps finding salvation and a place of refuge.

So yes, my nesting instincts are in high gear now. I am now praying for those who will come to salvation after we are gone, as I now also pray specifically for the 144,000 Jewish young men who will arise in Israel and who will go forth to evangelize the world after the Church is no longer here.

I know that many of you are as weary and discouraged as I have been, knowing that all our warnings and pleas are falling on deaf and unconcerned ears. It is beyond discouraging to have almost no one care to hear the gospel or want to know what is coming. I think we need to change our perspective. We need to realize that our primary focus now may well be those who are going to be left behind. These are they who are our focus now. So, when you feel despondent and discouraged, just start “nesting,” even if your nesting is only in prayer. What you will be doing is laying the foundation for all those who will be frantic to know the truth once we are gone and they can no longer reach us to find out all that they were too busy, too scared, or too foolish to learn while we were still here to help them.

As you are able, prepare your homes to be their haven – their refuge, and most importantly, their library of spiritual knowledge. Place Bibles everywhere in your house that you can. You can get Bibles at Dollar Generals for a dollar each. Buy tracts on the ABC’s of salvation and put them in each Bible. Write a letter to be found by those left behind. Print out as many of the posts and series archived here and other Biblically sound groups, Facebook pages, and websites and put them in a box, plastic tub, or in an unused suitcase. Set aside a bit of canned goods and maybe some rice and beans – not much, just a little, and right now begin to pray for the ones God may lead to YOUR house where they can find the truth and meet the Savior.

See, I truly believe that our departure is much closer than we may even dare to think or hope; but even if we’re still here this time next year (God forbid!), well, that just gives us even more time to prepare our earthly “nest” for those who will find our houses after we are gone

Oh, and one last thing – a warning: DON’T get caught up in any worldly preparations, plans, or dreams. Be good stewards of all we are blessed to have been given, but ALWAYS hold onto everything with loose hands, ready to drop it all in a final heartbeat or when we hear that shout that we are all so longing to hear!

Until He calls for us in the air, happy nesting!

MARANATHA!