Did you know that God’s original plan for mankind was for His most cherished creations to live in peace, prosperity, plenty and joy, that He intended for man to not only have His (God’s) shape, but to also share His mental and spiritual characteristics. Man’s responsibility in the Lord’s plan for him was TO OBEY HIS WORDS. We find proof of this Biblical Truth in Genesis 1:20; Leviticus 26:1-13/ Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and Romans 15:8 as the Lord speaks to us through the Prophet Moses and the Apostle Paul respectively.

Did you know that Jesus of Nazareth was man’s example which he (man) must emulate in order to live forever with Him in the Kingdom of God. Did you know that Jesus was a man like all other men while on earth, that He had no powers, privileges or abilities that are not available to all other men? In John 7:28; 8:28; 12:49 He stated that He could do nothing using His own power, but that all of His words, thoughts and deeds were done through Him by His heavenly Father. Did you know that, when Jesus was born again (changed from physical to spiritual bodily composition), He continued to be a MAN as He still is today. In First Timothy 2:5 we are told that it is “the MAN, Jesus Christ” Who now sits beside the Father in heaven interceding for those who are fighting the forces of Satan on earth. In Acts 22:8 we are told that Jesus continues to use His human name and identity. When Saul of Tarsus asked Him who He was, He replied, “I am JESUS OF NAZARETH ….” Note that He identifies Himself as a MAN and as being born in an EARTHLY CITY. This tells us that those who follow in His spiritual footsteps will be human beings in spirit form after having been born again. The apostle Paul speaks to this Truth in First Corinthians 13:12, noting that in the next life “… I will know (others) as I will be known (by them).” True saints will look as they did prior to being born again, only then they will be totally spirit, as is Jesus and God. Did you know that when (not if) you are persecuted for righteousness sake the persecutor will actually be coming against Jesus and therefore against God? In the Acts 22:8 situation mentioned above, Jesus had more to say to Saul: “I am Jesus of Nazareth WHOM YOU PERSECUTE.” Jesus had been in heaven since his death some time earlier. So how was Saul persecuting Him? When people persecute true saints, they are also persecuting Jesus Himself because the true, obedient saint lives “in Him” and the Father spiritually and is SPIRITUALLY ONE WITH THE MEMBERS OF THE GODHEAD (Jn. 17: 11, 21,22). The Very Elect are ONE with the Godhead as They (Father and Son) are ONE with each other. The Law-keeping saint is a spiritual member of the Godhead and will one day be a true God as the MAN Jesus of Nazareth is now a true God–a God-man. More on this below. Read The True Trinity. Key word–True. But let us not forget that “God is light (only); in Him (God) there is no darkness (sin) at all” (1 Jn. 1:5). The above applies only to those who “walk as He (Jesus) walked” and “overcome as He overcame (temptation)–First John 2:6 and Revelation 3:21 respectively. To be “in Them” and for Them to be “in us” sin can have no place for there is no sin in Them.

While on earth Jesus was totally human. Many believe that Jesus was a God while on earth. He was no more a god than you and I are gods now. As a child He had to learn to distinguish between good and evil, then to choose the good and reject the evil (Isa. 7:14-16). Jesus was tempted; a God cannot be tempted (Jam. 1:13/ Heb. 4:15). A God cannot die. Jesus died. God is spirit. Jesus was flesh and blood. Like Him, those who join Him in paradise will continue to be human beings who are also Gods. In John 10:33-36 Jesus reminded a group of Jews that, in their Law it was written that, if they obeyed Him, they would, in the future, become Gods, just as He, a man, was a potential God at that time. They could, like all true believers, be sons of God in this life and future God-men as He is now a God-man. What God says to one He says to all. We can become God-men IF we obey His Law. Our eternity is determined by how we approach God’s Ten Commandment Law.

Did you know that, contrary to popular church belief, the dead do not go to heaven or hell, but remain in their graves until the return of Jesus Christ to earth. Man’s physical body eventually decays and returns to the earth from whence man came originally (Ps. 146:4). Upon Christ’s return the First Resurrection (the “Resurrection of the first-fruits”) will take place–Jesus being the first-fruit–1 Cor. 15:20,23. These are those who lived their post-converted lives in obedience to God’s Ten Commandment Law. All other people will be resurrected, each in his own time (1 Cor. 15:20-23), and will be dealt with according to how they dealt with His Law during their human lifetimes. Read The Three Resurrections. Key word–Three.

At death the SPIRIT of each person who has ever lived “returns to God Who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). Until he/she is resurrected, the dead will remain dead and will know nothing, think nothing, say nothing, have nothing, do nothing, have no knowledge (Ps. 115:17/ Eccl. 9:5,6). David, “the man after God’s own heart,” did not ascend to heaven as we are told happened to all of God’s people at the ascension of Jesus following His resurrection. David is still dead and buried (Acts 2:29,34; 13:36), as are all people who have died since the creation of man. Read Life After Death: What, When, Where? Key word–After.

Did you know that sinners will not burn forever as we are told. Notice in Revelation 21:8 that it is the Lake of Fire that will burn forever, not the people. Instead, the Holy Scriptures tell us that the unholy will burn to ashes and will be walked upon by the righteous (Mal. 4:3).

Did you know that Satan can flood us with peace as well as guilt if we are not one with the Lord. I recall watching my mother drive off to church on a Sunday morning while I was working in the cotton field. The guilt I felt stayed with me for weeks. What I did not know at that time was that THE GUILT I FELT DID NOT COME FROM THE LORD; IT WAS SATAN MAKING ME FEEL GUILTY FOR MISSING CHURCH ON SUNDAY MORNING. I watched a documentary on one of the fake “Christian” denominations in which an elderly man testified that, while preaching to a group of people about his religion years earlier, God spoke to him and assured him that he was in the right religion and was doing His work. THAT WAS NOT GOD TALKING TO HIM. THAT WAS SATAN–THE GREAT COUNTERFITER.

Everything must come back to God’s Word which He recorded and preserved for thousands of years so that man, even in these final days of the world, would have His written “voice” to consult, unlike the so-called “church” which relies on hundreds of different church doctrines for their so-called “truth.” One pastor admitted this by stating publicly that his denomination went “outside the Bible” in search of truth.

Did you know that America is not a Christian nation? America is a super-religious nation, but not a Biblically-defined Christian nation. In these times the title “Christian” is a man-defined term meaning one who belongs to the ————- (fill in the blank) church, owns a Bible, goes to a building with a cross on top on Sunday morning and spends ten times as much time staring into a screen as studying the Bible, about which he/she knows John 3:16 and little else. God-defined Christians and church-defined christians are as different as daylight and dark. They are connected only by the name with which each group defines itself. Like the ten virgins of the parable found in Matthew 25, all “christians” “know” that they are serving the Biblical God as they are going in opposite spiritual directions. Those in one group, when told something they do not know about the Bible, will study the passage and embrace it if they see that it is Biblically true. The other group will dismiss anything that is “not what my denomination teaches.” As was the situation with the ten virgins, one group will be welcomed into the marriage supper of the Lamb. The other will be met at the door and told: “I do not know you.”

There is only one source of spiritual Truth–God’s Holy Bible. We are responsible for knowing, believing and obeying its contents. L.J.