Illusion cannot be a distortion or a diminution of reality because every abstract idea and every outer impression on consciousness always comprises real ideas and impressions. False ideas and impressions do not exist except as they result from false theories or systems. For example, ether in space does not exist because its idea resulted from a false theory. All systems, whether true or false, always comprise real ideas or impressions.
Consciousness can only be aware of immediate real ideas and impressions. False ideas can only come into consciousness from false systems. Immediate ideas and impressions are never false. But combinations of real ideas or impressions can be false.
All illusions derive from false systems which always comprise true ideas and impressions. People have illusions for the same reason that they make mistakes in arithmetic. For example, one can write 2+3=6. But the "2," the "+," the "3," the "equal sign," and the "6" are all real. The illusion cannot be in the immediate ideas in consciousness, but resides in an emptiness in the mind. Subtract all of the realities from this false system, and one is left with only nothing.
The same can be said of false systems such as optical illusions. For example, a straight spoon in a glass of water may appear bent. But all of the constituent impressions of this false system are real. "Spoon," "glass," "water," "light," and "bent" are all real. The way the light reflects off the water causes the straight spoon to appear bent. Yet, all aspects of this false system can only be real. The illusion cannot be in the real impressions, but in an emptiness in the mind. Subtract all of the real impressions from this false system, and one is left with only the idea of nothing.
But the idea of nothing itself cannot be equal to an illusion. The reason for this is that the idea of nothing happens to be as real to the mind as any other idea or impression. The idea of nothing has been proven to be as useful to consciousness as any other idea or impression. The idea of nothing separates something from nothing as space between objects or as ideas in the mind. The idea of nothing can be used to exclude any ideas that do not belong in any true system that one intends to create. One knows that ether does not exist because one equates this false idea with the idea of nothingness.
What then is illusion? If it cannot be found in reality, then where is it? The only possible answer is that illusion has to be less than nothing. Negative numbers somewhat indicate illusion. But no one knows what negative numbers are. They seem to indicate a realm of nonexistence that lies below the idea of nothing. The Bible informs about this realm of nonexistence in Isaiah 40:17.
God created only positive and real ideas and impressions to be used only to create real and useful systems. God created man in His image for this same purpose. Genesis 1:27. Nevertheless, in some strange and inexplicable way that positive consciousness cannot begin to understand, a negative consciousness from this realm of nonexistence became a part of every human's inner being to influence every human consciousness to invent false systems called sin which always comprise God's real and useful ideas. II Thessalonians 2:7. But some false systems are not sinful. People observe the effects of an optical illusion or make mistakes in arithmetic for the same reason that they experience excessive but destructive pleasures derived from invented, sinful systems. Illusion, mistakes, and sin derive from a negative consciousness injected into the inner being of every human by a negative consciousness called Satan. Genesis 2:17; Psalm 99:8,
One may object that the illusion in this optical illusion adheres to the fact that the straight spoon only appears to be bent. The "bent" itself is not real. But this conclusion amounts to another way of saying that the spoon is really not bent. In turn, this amounts to a conclusion that the "bent" in the spoon really equals nothing. But since the real and useful idea of nothing cannot be an illusion, then this idea must indicate an absolute nothingness in the mind. Since consciousness can never directly observe or experience this absolute nothingness in the mind, then consciousness must cover this absolute nothingness with a substituted, real idea such as a bent spoon which really equals nothing. Similarly, humans invent false systems called sin, which always comprise God's useful and real ideas, in order to be destructive instead of creative. Destruction always descends toward absolute nothingness. Consciousness always directly experiences the real and useful, but the absolute emptiness within its being influences it to invent false systems. Isaiah 40:17; Psalm 99:8.
Monday, September 14, 2020
The Illusion of Illusion
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
The World and the Word
The Israelites
God addressed the book of Job and the first eleven chapters of Genesis to all mankind. Job represents all humans who would ever be saved by grace because of their faith in a suffering Messiah. Job 19:25-27. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar represent all humans who will be saved by God's consuming fire in His final judgment in the end of the world which their burnt offerings symbolized. Noah and his family were saved by grace, but God commanded Noah to offer a burnt offering after the flood to symbolize God's lesser form of salvation that He would provide by the use of His consuming fire for all the living souls and spirits within the regions of the dead in the end of the world. Christ shed His blood and water on the cross for all humans who would be saved by His grace, but He left all the sins and evil of all of the rest of mankind behind in Hell when He rose immaculate from the dead. God will effect this separation of the living from the dead in the end of the world. Genesis 3:20; Genesis 8:20-21; Luke 20:38; I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Timothy 4:1. God cannot lose anything He has ever created, and He will recover and recreate all things that He originally created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 21:5; Romans 8:18-22; Romans 11:36.
God has provided two forms of salvation for every living soul and spirit that He ever created. God will give a small minority of humans salvation by grace the moment they believe in Christ while still alive in the flesh, and He will create spiritual bodies for them so that they can live with Him in Heaven forever. Romans 8:9-11. God will provide a lesser form of salvation for the rest of humanity confined to the regions of death when they repent in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-15; Revelation 20:5. God will use His consuming fire to separate their living souls and spirits that He created and that forever belongs to Him from their spiritual deaths as effected by Christ's descent into Hell and as activated in the great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-15. I Corinthians 3:11-15. God will recreate them with new bodies to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5.
But God will also provide a higher form of the lesser salvation for all faithful Israelites whom He will raise from the dead. Isaiah 59:20-21; Isaiah 60:1-22; Isaiah 61:1-11; Isaiah 62:1-12. God will resurrect all Israelites who were faithful to Moses' religion to dwell in the only organized nation that God will allow on His recreated earth. Israel will make the laws for all the Gentiles, and Jerusalem will be the capitol of the world. Jeremiah 3:17. God will require all the Gentiles, whom He also calls the heathen, to go to Jerusalem to worship Him. Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 66:23. Christ Himself will build the third temple in Jerusalem, not the Jews. Amos 9:11. God will judge and separate all unfaithful Israelites with His "rod," and He will demote them to life among the recreated Gentiles. Ezekiel 20:37-38. Christ Himself will rule the eternal nation of Israel. Isaiah 59:20-21.
God addressed the book of Job and the first eleven chapters of Genesis to all mankind. Job represents all humans who would ever be saved by grace because of their faith in a suffering Messiah. Job 19:25-27. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar represent all humans who will be saved by God's consuming fire in His final judgment in the end of the world which their burnt offerings symbolized. Noah and his family were saved by grace, but God commanded Noah to offer a burnt offering after the flood to symbolize God's lesser form of salvation that He would provide by the use of His consuming fire for all the living souls and spirits within the regions of the dead in the end of the world. Christ shed His blood and water on the cross for all humans who would be saved by His grace, but He left all the sins and evil of all of the rest of mankind behind in Hell when He rose immaculate from the dead. God will effect this separation of the living from the dead in the end of the world. Genesis 3:20; Genesis 8:20-21; Luke 20:38; I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Timothy 4:1. God cannot lose anything He has ever created, and He will recover and recreate all things that He originally created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 21:5; Romans 8:18-22; Romans 11:36.
God has provided two forms of salvation for every living soul and spirit that He ever created. God will give a small minority of humans salvation by grace the moment they believe in Christ while still alive in the flesh, and He will create spiritual bodies for them so that they can live with Him in Heaven forever. Romans 8:9-11. God will provide a lesser form of salvation for the rest of humanity confined to the regions of death when they repent in a great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-15; Revelation 20:5. God will use His consuming fire to separate their living souls and spirits that He created and that forever belongs to Him from their spiritual deaths as effected by Christ's descent into Hell and as activated in the great worship service as recorded in Revelation 5:11-15. I Corinthians 3:11-15. God will recreate them with new bodies to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5.
But God will also provide a higher form of the lesser salvation for all faithful Israelites whom He will raise from the dead. Isaiah 59:20-21; Isaiah 60:1-22; Isaiah 61:1-11; Isaiah 62:1-12. God will resurrect all Israelites who were faithful to Moses' religion to dwell in the only organized nation that God will allow on His recreated earth. Israel will make the laws for all the Gentiles, and Jerusalem will be the capitol of the world. Jeremiah 3:17. God will require all the Gentiles, whom He also calls the heathen, to go to Jerusalem to worship Him. Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 66:23. Christ Himself will build the third temple in Jerusalem, not the Jews. Amos 9:11. God will judge and separate all unfaithful Israelites with His "rod," and He will demote them to life among the recreated Gentiles. Ezekiel 20:37-38. Christ Himself will rule the eternal nation of Israel. Isaiah 59:20-21.
Friday, July 17, 2020
The World and the Word
The Israelites
In Exodus 19:8, the Israelites rejected God's salvation by His grace. They desired salvation through their own efforts by being obedient to God's commands. They did not understand that perfect obedience had become impossible for them because of the influence of the evil side of their nature. But God did not give up on them, just as He will never give up on any living human that He created and loves. God allowed them to try to save themselves by obedience to His laws and by animal sacrifices for when they failed to obey. God meant to teach them through their constant failure that their perfect obedience was impossible and make them understand that they were hopeless sinners whom only God can save. God gave them the animal sacrifices to show them that He would become their sacrifice that would save them. Genesis 3:15; Genesis 3:21; Leviticus 5:7-10; Leviticus 18:18-24; Exodus 12:5-13.
The righteousness of the Old Testament Israelites could not be the absolutely perfect righteousness of Christ. Their good works could only have come from the righteousness that God put into them when He created them. God creates every living human in His image which means He puts His righteousness into them. This righteousness is good but not absolutely holy because it contains free will which subjects it to sin. Psalm 7:8-10; Psalm 37:27-29. God has not forgotten His created righteousness that He has put into every human, and in Christ's Judgment in the end of the world He will raise all living humans from the regions of the dead and recreate them to live on His recreated earth. John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; Matthew 5:5. God will raise them because of their repentance and faith as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14.
God gives the gift of Christ's absolutely perfect righteousness only to humans saved by grace when they repent and believe so that He can accept them into Heaven as joint-heirs with Christ. I Corinthians 1:30; II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17. When God recreates the souls and spirits of humans saved by grace they cannot sin because God protects them with the absolute righteousness of Christ that cannot sin. I John 3:9. Although God possesses free will, He can never sin because His Holiness will never allow Him to sin. God does not recreate the fleshly nature of humans saved by grace which means that in their flesh they can still sin. Romans 7:15-25.
The Old Testament saints saved by grace could not go to Heaven until Christ came to them in Paradise where God sent them and preached the gospel to them so that they could fully believe, be washed clean from sin with the blood of Christ and receive His absolute righteousness by means of which He could translate them to Heaven when He ascended. Ephesians 4:7-10.
God addressed most of the Old Testament to the Israelites who would faithfully practice Moses' religion that God gave to him. Some of the Old Testament prophets prophesied about a coming suffering Messiah that the blood sacrifices symbolized. But God also meant for the burnt offerings and peace offerings to symbolize God's higher form of His lesser salvation for all Israelites who would remain faithful to Moses' religion. Exodus 12:8-11; Leviticus 5:10; Leviticus 18:5. God had Moses promise the faithful Israelites in Deuteronomy 4:40 that they would live in the promised land forever. In Numbers 18:8, God promised Moses that the Israelite religion would last forever. Deuteronomy 5:29; Deuteronomy 12:28; Deuteronomy 33:29. The righteous good works practiced by the faithful Israelites came from the image of God that He put into them when He created them. Deuteronomy 6:25; Psalm 7:8-9; I Samuel 26:23. Only humans saved by grace will receive the absolute righteousness of Christ by means of which God can accept them into Heaven. II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17.
In Exodus 19:8, the Israelites rejected God's salvation by His grace. They desired salvation through their own efforts by being obedient to God's commands. They did not understand that perfect obedience had become impossible for them because of the influence of the evil side of their nature. But God did not give up on them, just as He will never give up on any living human that He created and loves. God allowed them to try to save themselves by obedience to His laws and by animal sacrifices for when they failed to obey. God meant to teach them through their constant failure that their perfect obedience was impossible and make them understand that they were hopeless sinners whom only God can save. God gave them the animal sacrifices to show them that He would become their sacrifice that would save them. Genesis 3:15; Genesis 3:21; Leviticus 5:7-10; Leviticus 18:18-24; Exodus 12:5-13.
The righteousness of the Old Testament Israelites could not be the absolutely perfect righteousness of Christ. Their good works could only have come from the righteousness that God put into them when He created them. God creates every living human in His image which means He puts His righteousness into them. This righteousness is good but not absolutely holy because it contains free will which subjects it to sin. Psalm 7:8-10; Psalm 37:27-29. God has not forgotten His created righteousness that He has put into every human, and in Christ's Judgment in the end of the world He will raise all living humans from the regions of the dead and recreate them to live on His recreated earth. John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; Matthew 5:5. God will raise them because of their repentance and faith as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14.
God gives the gift of Christ's absolutely perfect righteousness only to humans saved by grace when they repent and believe so that He can accept them into Heaven as joint-heirs with Christ. I Corinthians 1:30; II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17. When God recreates the souls and spirits of humans saved by grace they cannot sin because God protects them with the absolute righteousness of Christ that cannot sin. I John 3:9. Although God possesses free will, He can never sin because His Holiness will never allow Him to sin. God does not recreate the fleshly nature of humans saved by grace which means that in their flesh they can still sin. Romans 7:15-25.
The Old Testament saints saved by grace could not go to Heaven until Christ came to them in Paradise where God sent them and preached the gospel to them so that they could fully believe, be washed clean from sin with the blood of Christ and receive His absolute righteousness by means of which He could translate them to Heaven when He ascended. Ephesians 4:7-10.
God addressed most of the Old Testament to the Israelites who would faithfully practice Moses' religion that God gave to him. Some of the Old Testament prophets prophesied about a coming suffering Messiah that the blood sacrifices symbolized. But God also meant for the burnt offerings and peace offerings to symbolize God's higher form of His lesser salvation for all Israelites who would remain faithful to Moses' religion. Exodus 12:8-11; Leviticus 5:10; Leviticus 18:5. God had Moses promise the faithful Israelites in Deuteronomy 4:40 that they would live in the promised land forever. In Numbers 18:8, God promised Moses that the Israelite religion would last forever. Deuteronomy 5:29; Deuteronomy 12:28; Deuteronomy 33:29. The righteous good works practiced by the faithful Israelites came from the image of God that He put into them when He created them. Deuteronomy 6:25; Psalm 7:8-9; I Samuel 26:23. Only humans saved by grace will receive the absolute righteousness of Christ by means of which God can accept them into Heaven. II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17.
Thursday, July 16, 2020
The World and the Word
The Israelites
Jesus taught in John 5:28-29 that in a general resurrection in the end of the world, God will raise all living and dead humans from their graves. The living and the dead are a part of every individual human. Jesus could not have meant any of the resurrections of His saints saved by grace because no dead are raised in any of their resurrections. God will raise those who have done good works back to life because God put those good works into them when He created them. Every living human has done some good works no matter how evil they may be. God will cast only their separated, spiritual deaths into the lake of fire. Revelation 22:11-12 teaches that in the end of the world, God will effect an absolute separation of all that He created to be living and good from all the filthiness of evil in every individual within the regions of the dead.
In Mark 9:49, Jesus used the word "salt" to symbolize a preservative. In Leviticus 2:13, God required that salt be added to every sacrifice, including the burnt offerings, to symbolize God's preservation of every living human, some by His grace and all others by His resurrection of them from the regions of the dead. God's Word clearly teaches that God will preserve every living human that He created either by being cleansed from sin and evil by the blood and water that flowed from Jesus on the cross or by the fiery wrath of God which He directs only towards evil itself. I John 3:8; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Ecclesiastes 3:14. In the second part of this verse, Jesus taught that "every sacrifice" will be preserved. Jesus meant that every living human who accepts His sacrifice for them by faith while still in the world will be preserved by the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. I Corinthians 6:19-20.
In the first part of Mark 9:50, Jesus did not teach that salt can lose its preservative power. Jesus simply meant that if salt is not used then it cannot preserve. In the second part of this verse, Jesus taught that the preservative power of the Holy Spirit must be received by repentance and faith in order for a human to be saved forever by His grace. I Corinthians 6:11.
All of the blood sacrifices of the Old Testament symbolized God's salvation by grace through the shed blood of a suffering Messiah. Exodus 12:1-7. Very few of the ancient Israelites demonstrated that kind of faith. Moses demonstrated his salvation by grace when he did not fear the fiery wrath of God. King David demonstrated his salvation through faith in Christ when he wrote Psalms 22, 23, and 24. Isaiah demonstrated faith in a suffering Messiah when he wrote Isaiah chapter 53. But none of the Old Testament saints could go directly to heaven when they died because they were not yet washed clean of their sins by the blood of the coming Savior nor had they received the perfect righteousness of Christ Himself by means of which they could gain entrance into Heaven.
But God also would not allow their living souls and spirits to go into any of the regions of the dead. Revelation 20:13. God consigned them to live in Paradise which at that time was located next to Hell in the bowels of the earth. Luke 16:22-23. These Old Testament saints had to wait in Paradise until Jesus came to preach the gospel to them. Only then could they come to complete faith in a suffering Messiah who would wash away their sins and evil with His shed blood and give them His perfect righteousness so that He could take them to Heaven. Jesus resurrected all of these Old Testament saints when He rose from the dead, gave them recreated, holy bodies, and translated them, with Paradise itself, to Heaven when He ascended. Ephesians 4:7-10.
Jesus taught in John 5:28-29 that in a general resurrection in the end of the world, God will raise all living and dead humans from their graves. The living and the dead are a part of every individual human. Jesus could not have meant any of the resurrections of His saints saved by grace because no dead are raised in any of their resurrections. God will raise those who have done good works back to life because God put those good works into them when He created them. Every living human has done some good works no matter how evil they may be. God will cast only their separated, spiritual deaths into the lake of fire. Revelation 22:11-12 teaches that in the end of the world, God will effect an absolute separation of all that He created to be living and good from all the filthiness of evil in every individual within the regions of the dead.
In Mark 9:49, Jesus used the word "salt" to symbolize a preservative. In Leviticus 2:13, God required that salt be added to every sacrifice, including the burnt offerings, to symbolize God's preservation of every living human, some by His grace and all others by His resurrection of them from the regions of the dead. God's Word clearly teaches that God will preserve every living human that He created either by being cleansed from sin and evil by the blood and water that flowed from Jesus on the cross or by the fiery wrath of God which He directs only towards evil itself. I John 3:8; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Ecclesiastes 3:14. In the second part of this verse, Jesus taught that "every sacrifice" will be preserved. Jesus meant that every living human who accepts His sacrifice for them by faith while still in the world will be preserved by the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. I Corinthians 6:19-20.
In the first part of Mark 9:50, Jesus did not teach that salt can lose its preservative power. Jesus simply meant that if salt is not used then it cannot preserve. In the second part of this verse, Jesus taught that the preservative power of the Holy Spirit must be received by repentance and faith in order for a human to be saved forever by His grace. I Corinthians 6:11.
All of the blood sacrifices of the Old Testament symbolized God's salvation by grace through the shed blood of a suffering Messiah. Exodus 12:1-7. Very few of the ancient Israelites demonstrated that kind of faith. Moses demonstrated his salvation by grace when he did not fear the fiery wrath of God. King David demonstrated his salvation through faith in Christ when he wrote Psalms 22, 23, and 24. Isaiah demonstrated faith in a suffering Messiah when he wrote Isaiah chapter 53. But none of the Old Testament saints could go directly to heaven when they died because they were not yet washed clean of their sins by the blood of the coming Savior nor had they received the perfect righteousness of Christ Himself by means of which they could gain entrance into Heaven.
But God also would not allow their living souls and spirits to go into any of the regions of the dead. Revelation 20:13. God consigned them to live in Paradise which at that time was located next to Hell in the bowels of the earth. Luke 16:22-23. These Old Testament saints had to wait in Paradise until Jesus came to preach the gospel to them. Only then could they come to complete faith in a suffering Messiah who would wash away their sins and evil with His shed blood and give them His perfect righteousness so that He could take them to Heaven. Jesus resurrected all of these Old Testament saints when He rose from the dead, gave them recreated, holy bodies, and translated them, with Paradise itself, to Heaven when He ascended. Ephesians 4:7-10.
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
The World and the Word
The Israelites
Nowhere does the Bible (KJB) teach that God will ever cast living humans into the lake of fire. In Revelation 14:9-11, the Bible does teach that humans who receive the mark of the beast during the Tribulation and who worship him will be cast into the lake of fire. During the Tribulation, the Devil will have devised a method by which anyone who receives his mark in their body will become totally evil, spiritually dead, and a worshiper of him. The goal of the Devil in his war with God has always been to cause the living souls and spirits of humans to become totally evil and lost from God's Love forever. The Devil believes that if he can annul just one soul and spirit that God created, he can prove that God's Love is not Almighty, gain an advantage over God, and eventually murder Him. Job 1:11; Job 2:5; Job 2:9; John 8:44.
The Devil will believe that he has achieved his goal when he puts his mark on those who will receive it because they will become totally evil. However, Revelation 14:13 assures all who read it that these dead will "die in the Lord," which means that God will extract their living souls and spirits from their systems and recover their good works at the same time that they receive the mark of the beast.
The only scriptures in the New Testament that can be interpreted to teach that God casts all living humans not saved by grace into an everlasting fire occurs in Mark 9:43-48. But Jesus did not teach that at all. God does cast the worst humans into Hell, but Hell is not an everlasting fire. Revelation 20:14 teaches that God will cast Hell into the everlasting fire so that Hell comes to an end. God will also cast the dead into the lake of fire, but these dead are not living humans. Revelation 20:15. Revelation 20:5 teaches that God will raise all of His living humans from the regions of the dead before He casts the dead into the lake of fire.
Jesus could not have meant that cutting off body parts will keep one out of Hell. Jesus' teaching symbolizes the fact that one must go through some spiritual pain in order to repent of one's sins and receive God's grace. Repentance means to die to self in order to become born again as a child of God. Even spiritual death requires some pain. Galatians 2:20; John 3:3-7.
In Mark 9:44, 46, and 48, Jesus did not teach that living humans would ever be cast into the lake of fire. Jesus taught that their "worm dieth not." Jesus used the word "worm" to symbolize the nastiness of their total evil, which is also their spiritual deaths, which He will separate from them and cast into the lake of fire. God used the same symbolism in Psalm 22:6 which is a prophecy that Jesus will become a "worm" on the cross which means He took all of the nastiness of sin and evil on Himself on the cross in order to purge it all from all living humans, some by His shed blood and water and all others by the use of His consuming fire when He left all of their sins and evil behind in Hell when He rose immaculate from the dead. I John 1:7; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 22:11-12.
Isaiah used this same symbolism in Isaiah 66:24 when he prophesied that living humans will be able to observe the "worms" in the lake of fire that came from the dead bodies of all the humans that God destroys in the final battle with evil as recorded in Revelation 20:7-9. God will use the wrath of His consuming fire to separate the living souls and spirits of these humans from their "worms" which are their spiritual deaths that He will cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 22:11-12.
Nowhere does the Bible (KJB) teach that God will ever cast living humans into the lake of fire. In Revelation 14:9-11, the Bible does teach that humans who receive the mark of the beast during the Tribulation and who worship him will be cast into the lake of fire. During the Tribulation, the Devil will have devised a method by which anyone who receives his mark in their body will become totally evil, spiritually dead, and a worshiper of him. The goal of the Devil in his war with God has always been to cause the living souls and spirits of humans to become totally evil and lost from God's Love forever. The Devil believes that if he can annul just one soul and spirit that God created, he can prove that God's Love is not Almighty, gain an advantage over God, and eventually murder Him. Job 1:11; Job 2:5; Job 2:9; John 8:44.
The Devil will believe that he has achieved his goal when he puts his mark on those who will receive it because they will become totally evil. However, Revelation 14:13 assures all who read it that these dead will "die in the Lord," which means that God will extract their living souls and spirits from their systems and recover their good works at the same time that they receive the mark of the beast.
The only scriptures in the New Testament that can be interpreted to teach that God casts all living humans not saved by grace into an everlasting fire occurs in Mark 9:43-48. But Jesus did not teach that at all. God does cast the worst humans into Hell, but Hell is not an everlasting fire. Revelation 20:14 teaches that God will cast Hell into the everlasting fire so that Hell comes to an end. God will also cast the dead into the lake of fire, but these dead are not living humans. Revelation 20:15. Revelation 20:5 teaches that God will raise all of His living humans from the regions of the dead before He casts the dead into the lake of fire.
Jesus could not have meant that cutting off body parts will keep one out of Hell. Jesus' teaching symbolizes the fact that one must go through some spiritual pain in order to repent of one's sins and receive God's grace. Repentance means to die to self in order to become born again as a child of God. Even spiritual death requires some pain. Galatians 2:20; John 3:3-7.
In Mark 9:44, 46, and 48, Jesus did not teach that living humans would ever be cast into the lake of fire. Jesus taught that their "worm dieth not." Jesus used the word "worm" to symbolize the nastiness of their total evil, which is also their spiritual deaths, which He will separate from them and cast into the lake of fire. God used the same symbolism in Psalm 22:6 which is a prophecy that Jesus will become a "worm" on the cross which means He took all of the nastiness of sin and evil on Himself on the cross in order to purge it all from all living humans, some by His shed blood and water and all others by the use of His consuming fire when He left all of their sins and evil behind in Hell when He rose immaculate from the dead. I John 1:7; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 22:11-12.
Isaiah used this same symbolism in Isaiah 66:24 when he prophesied that living humans will be able to observe the "worms" in the lake of fire that came from the dead bodies of all the humans that God destroys in the final battle with evil as recorded in Revelation 20:7-9. God will use the wrath of His consuming fire to separate the living souls and spirits of these humans from their "worms" which are their spiritual deaths that He will cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 22:11-12.
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
The World and the Word
The Israelites
God created every human who would ever live in His image with a living soul imbued with His good works for their lives that they should choose to do. Genesis 1:27; Ecclesiastes 9:1. God told Eve that she would be the mother of every one of these living souls which God can never lose. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38; Genesis 3:20. But every human possesses a dual nature; that is, a good life created by God and an evil and dead nature injected into them by the Devil. Deuteronomy 30:11-20. In every verse of the Bible(KJB) that speaks of God's wrath, He directs His wrath towards sin and evil itself, never towards the living souls and spirits of humans that He created and loves. Exodus 32:10-14; Numbers 16:45-48; Job 21:30; Job 42:7-10; Psalm 21:1-13; Proverbs 11:23; Ezekiel 22:17-22; Nahum 1:2-3; Revelation 11:18; Revelation 14:9-12; Ephesians 6:12; I John 3:8; II Timothy 1:10.
Ephesians 6:12 clearly teaches that God wars against the Devil and evil itself, not against living humans whom He created and loves.
I John 3:8 clearly teaches that Christ came into the world to "destroy the works of the Devil." Living humans can only be the work of God and can never become the work of the Devil. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38.
II Timothy 1:10 clearly teaches that Christ "hath abolished death," meaning spiritual death, and He will bring all life back to light and immortality. Taken in context, this verse pertains to salvation by grace. But since Christ has abolished spiritual death itself, then a secondary message of the gospel has to be that He will raise all human life from the regions of the dead. In Revelation 20:5, Christ raises all of His living souls and spirits from the regions of the dead, and in Revelation 20:11-15, He casts only the spiritual deaths of humans, which is totally evil, into the lake of fire which constitutes God's eternal wrath against evil. Deuteronomy 32:21-22.
God created every human who would ever live in His image with a living soul imbued with His good works for their lives that they should choose to do. Genesis 1:27; Ecclesiastes 9:1. God told Eve that she would be the mother of every one of these living souls which God can never lose. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38; Genesis 3:20. But every human possesses a dual nature; that is, a good life created by God and an evil and dead nature injected into them by the Devil. Deuteronomy 30:11-20. In every verse of the Bible(KJB) that speaks of God's wrath, He directs His wrath towards sin and evil itself, never towards the living souls and spirits of humans that He created and loves. Exodus 32:10-14; Numbers 16:45-48; Job 21:30; Job 42:7-10; Psalm 21:1-13; Proverbs 11:23; Ezekiel 22:17-22; Nahum 1:2-3; Revelation 11:18; Revelation 14:9-12; Ephesians 6:12; I John 3:8; II Timothy 1:10.
Ephesians 6:12 clearly teaches that God wars against the Devil and evil itself, not against living humans whom He created and loves.
I John 3:8 clearly teaches that Christ came into the world to "destroy the works of the Devil." Living humans can only be the work of God and can never become the work of the Devil. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Luke 20:38.
II Timothy 1:10 clearly teaches that Christ "hath abolished death," meaning spiritual death, and He will bring all life back to light and immortality. Taken in context, this verse pertains to salvation by grace. But since Christ has abolished spiritual death itself, then a secondary message of the gospel has to be that He will raise all human life from the regions of the dead. In Revelation 20:5, Christ raises all of His living souls and spirits from the regions of the dead, and in Revelation 20:11-15, He casts only the spiritual deaths of humans, which is totally evil, into the lake of fire which constitutes God's eternal wrath against evil. Deuteronomy 32:21-22.
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
The World and the Word
The Israelites
God is absolutely Holy and Pure. God cannot accept anything that even hints of nastiness into His pure and perfect heaven. But God can accept the souls and spirits of humans saved by grace into heaven because He has washed them absolutely clean by the blood of Jesus, and God has given them the perfect righteousness of Christ Himself. I John 1:7; Romans 5:9; II Corinthians 5:21; I Corinthians 1:30. Only a small minority of humans will ever be saved by grace. Matthew 7:13-14.
But God has provided a lesser form of salvation for all the rest of humanity based not on His grace but on His mercy. God's grace is a gift that humans do not deserve, but God's mercy is a pardon of the condemnation that humans deserve. The entire Bible (KJB) relates that God always directs His fiery wrath toward purging living humans of all sins and evil, never toward purging living souls and spirits that He created and loves. I Corinthians 3:11-15; I John 3:8; John 1:29. When all humans not saved by grace physically die, God must temporarily consign their living souls and spirits, still stained by sin and weighed down by evil, to one of the regions of death mentioned in Revelation 20:13 depending on His judgment. Had Christ not come to rescue them by His descent into Hell, they would remain there forever. But Christ will visit them, as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14, and He will include them all in a great worship service where all of them will accept the Lamb of God by their faith that He can rescue their living souls and spirits from the regions of death. Revelation 20:5 and Revelation 20:11-15 records that in Christ's final Judgment in the end of the world, He will use His consuming fire to separate these repentant souls and spirits from their unrepentant evil which is their spiritual deaths. Christ will recreate their living souls and spirits with new bodies to live on His recreated earth, and He will consign their spiritual deaths, which are totally evil, to the lake of fire which is His eternal wrath against evil. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12.
God will save and resurrect them according to His mercy, not according to their good works. But after God has recreated them, He will reward them according to their good works which they chose to do while in their lives on the former earth. Revelation 22:11-12; Matthew 16:27; John 11:25; John 5:28-29. According to John 12:25, God will allow only humans saved by grace to retain their former identities and most of their former personalities in Heaven. But all of God's humans who will live on His recreated earth, He will recreate according to their good works while on the former earth. God will dissolve their systems in order to add new good elements to their recreated systems. This means God will recreate humans who did a lot of good works on the earth to possess new systems that will be similar to their former systems, but they still will not retain their former identities and personalities. God will have to add many good elements to the systems of humans who chose to practice evil while on the earth, and they will possess none of their former identities and personalities.
God is absolutely Holy and Pure. God cannot accept anything that even hints of nastiness into His pure and perfect heaven. But God can accept the souls and spirits of humans saved by grace into heaven because He has washed them absolutely clean by the blood of Jesus, and God has given them the perfect righteousness of Christ Himself. I John 1:7; Romans 5:9; II Corinthians 5:21; I Corinthians 1:30. Only a small minority of humans will ever be saved by grace. Matthew 7:13-14.
But God has provided a lesser form of salvation for all the rest of humanity based not on His grace but on His mercy. God's grace is a gift that humans do not deserve, but God's mercy is a pardon of the condemnation that humans deserve. The entire Bible (KJB) relates that God always directs His fiery wrath toward purging living humans of all sins and evil, never toward purging living souls and spirits that He created and loves. I Corinthians 3:11-15; I John 3:8; John 1:29. When all humans not saved by grace physically die, God must temporarily consign their living souls and spirits, still stained by sin and weighed down by evil, to one of the regions of death mentioned in Revelation 20:13 depending on His judgment. Had Christ not come to rescue them by His descent into Hell, they would remain there forever. But Christ will visit them, as recorded in Revelation 5:11-14, and He will include them all in a great worship service where all of them will accept the Lamb of God by their faith that He can rescue their living souls and spirits from the regions of death. Revelation 20:5 and Revelation 20:11-15 records that in Christ's final Judgment in the end of the world, He will use His consuming fire to separate these repentant souls and spirits from their unrepentant evil which is their spiritual deaths. Christ will recreate their living souls and spirits with new bodies to live on His recreated earth, and He will consign their spiritual deaths, which are totally evil, to the lake of fire which is His eternal wrath against evil. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12.
God will save and resurrect them according to His mercy, not according to their good works. But after God has recreated them, He will reward them according to their good works which they chose to do while in their lives on the former earth. Revelation 22:11-12; Matthew 16:27; John 11:25; John 5:28-29. According to John 12:25, God will allow only humans saved by grace to retain their former identities and most of their former personalities in Heaven. But all of God's humans who will live on His recreated earth, He will recreate according to their good works while on the former earth. God will dissolve their systems in order to add new good elements to their recreated systems. This means God will recreate humans who did a lot of good works on the earth to possess new systems that will be similar to their former systems, but they still will not retain their former identities and personalities. God will have to add many good elements to the systems of humans who chose to practice evil while on the earth, and they will possess none of their former identities and personalities.
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