We who have been in Catholicism/Protestantism any length of time have been assured many times that those in “THE” church who have died are now in heaven and that those who will die in the future will immediately join them.  If it is God’s will for those in the church to be with Him in paradise, as we are told in John 3:16,17, why are those supposedly now “saved” still on earth?  Why didn’t God bring them to Himself as soon as they were “saved?”  Could there be a reason why He leaves them on earth after they are “born again” and have “received eternal life?”  Why does He make them stay in this sin-saturated world system?  He explains why those who are supposedly saved and born again were not immediately taken to heaven following the “salvation experience.”  Simply put, they are not saved, in that no one is saved in this life.   He also explains why those who are truly converted (not saved) must remain in this Satan-dominated world.  What He tells us concerning those Truths is neither preached nor believed by the Institutional Church, which is why I and others have been commissioned by God to proclaim those Truths, which are not popular within the church setting.  We speak and write God’s Truth knowing that we are in good company.  Recall that after three years of constant ministry to thousands of followers, only a few believed and obeyed the Messiah.  And when we read what He told those who followed Him they could expect if they took Him as their LORD (master), we can understand why the vast majority rejected Him, just as they do today.  Most of His disciples left Him when He explained the details (fine print) of the true Christian walk  (Jn. 6:26-66).  The modern church has never heard the details.  And when we tell and show them those details they are summarily dismissed because it does not confirm their pre-conceived theology.

This series consists of those details.  Only those who have accepted Christ as their LORD and MASTER will commit themselves to Him totally.  Only those who take Him as their Lord in this life will have Him as their Savior in the next life.  The remainder of this series will detail what it means to take Him as one’s Lord.  This is revolutionary information that has not been preached in the church for some 1900 years.  Beginning in the early 1930’s God’s Truth began to be put forward.  God’s called and anointed men continue to preach, teach and write His Truth today.  We are “shouting (God’s Truth) from the housetops” (Mat. 10:27), telling those with ears to hear what God is doing and why.  In this series we are learning why He leaves the converted on earth where they must do continuous battle with Satan and themselves.  Let us now study the Truth about this on-going war.

In 1 Peter 4:12-19 the apostle, writing under the power of the Holy Spirit, explains why billions of supposedly “saved” and “born again” church people are not walking with Jesus on Heaven’s streets of gold while wearing white linen robes.  Does not the Almighty say in His Word that this is His will for all who call on His name?  Question: If church people have been saved and born again, why are they still down here?  And if those who were “active in church” before their deaths were taken to heaven immediately upon their demise, why does the Lord not allow those who are being “saved” now to immediately join them?  What father does not want his children to be with him?  What father would leave his children in a negative, potentially deadly situation if he has the power to take them out of it?  Peter and others explain why those who are truly converted (not saved–see Hope and Salvation) are still on this Satan-controlled earth.  I will repeat the key words from the focal passage and paraphrase the rest.  Please carefully study the entire passage, and all other passages, with a heart open to the voice of God–the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Peter tells God seekers not to be surprised when (not if) they go through “fiery trials” which are DESIGNED BY THE LORD to “try (TEST) you.”  Peter explains that only by partaking of Christ’s sufferings can the seeker be glorified as He was.  To be “Glorified” means to be BORN AGAIN as He was when His body changed from flesh to spirit at the moment He was resurrected from the dead.  See Born Again.  The apostle tells us that when (not if) we are reproached (persecuted) for the name of Christ we are to rejoice because it proves that God’s Holy Spirit rests upon us.  When our persecutors speak evil of us we are in fact being honored by the Lord.  The church world’s rejection of us means that we are “walking in the (Holy) Spirit” (Gal. 5:16) and in “newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).  It means that we are walking in God’s light, which exposes the Satanic darkness in which our detractors walk (live).  This Spirit walk is what got the prophets, Jesus, the apostles and millions of others killed during the Inquisition.  Those who live in the darkness that is false Christianity reject those who live in spiritual light because it reveals their darkness.  This is the work of the Sword of the Spirit–the Word of God (Eph. 6:17/ Heb. 4:12) which opens all of us up so that we can compare our lives (walk) to God’s commands–His Law.  Read 1 John 3:4)

In the focal passage Peter tells readers (then and now) that judgment is on-going in God’s church, and that only the ones God declares to be “righteous” (obedient) will be (later) saved, and they scarcely (just barely).  On-going “judgment” refers to the reaction of God’s saints to the tests and trials He (God) puts them through along with Satan’s temptations.  This also includes the “fiery darts” his (Satan’s) disciples (“the wicked”) throw at them (Eph. 6:16).   The “WORKS” God’s people must perform is to resist the urge to take the easy way out when tested, tried and tempted.  Verse 19 speaks volumes relative to this works-salvation conflict: “Therefore, let him who SUFFERS (TESTING, TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS) ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD commit the keeping of his soul to Him in (by) WELL-DOING …,” not by well-faithing or well-churching.  If one is not despised and rejected by the Institutional Church one is not being led by His Holy Spirit and is therefore not a child of God (Rom. 8:14).  L.J.