Bible Doctrine

In what has come to be known as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (See Matthew 7:13-14).

Well, that settles the issue, doesn’t it? Jesus Himself, the Savior, said quite plainly that few find their way through the narrow gate that leads to life. And really, isn’t that obvious. Look about you. Look at world history. Compared to humanity as a whole, especially looking at humanity’s long history, comparatively few are, or were, Christians. Billions and billions are Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, and a host of other religious and cultural persuasions. Evidently hell will be quite crowded! There will be a lot of elbow room in heaven – maybe one inhabitant for every ten million miles!

But wait a minute. What about that passage in the 7th chapter of Revelation where John says, “After these things I looked, and behold, A GREAT MULTITUDE WHICH NO ONE COULD NUMBER, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, CLOTHED WITH WHITE ROBES, with palms (of victory) in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'” (See Revelation 7:9-10).

“Salvation to our God!” I believe that is just another way of saying, “God really knows how to redeem and save, doesn’t He?” And let me assure you He really, really does. Jesus called God “the Lord of the harvest!” (See Luke 10:2). He is at the controls. He knows what He is doing. And both He and Jesus do all things well.

Do you really think God’s plan of salvation is so basically flawed that the final result is that only a few of Adam’s descendants will inherit eternal life and most will miss out altogether?

The sixth chapter of John’s gospel account contains some of the most startling statements Jesus Christ ever uttered. In fact, what He said was so astonishing that John says, “From that time MANY of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him” (See verse 66, John 6). They were staggered at what Jesus said. They just could not accept it. It was evidently too big a pill for them to swallow. What on earth had He said?

“ALL that the Father gives to me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). And again, “No man CAN come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I will raise him up (from the dead) at the last day” (John 6:44). And the final remark that prompted many of Christ’s disciples to depart from Him permanently? “And He said, ‘Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” (John 6:65).

Jesus was clearly saying that all mankind were not given Him to save in this present life and age! God is not trying to get the world saved during this present era, nor has He done so in any previous era. All God has an interest in saving during this age, an age that began with our father Adam, is what Bible language identifies as the “elect.” In the 45th verse of John 6, Jesus is speaking of these elect ones when He says, “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard (the truth), and has learned of the Father (having their minds opened by God to understand) comes unto me.”

If no Aztec Indian became a follower of Jesus Christ it is because none of them were given to Jesus Christ by the Father during the era in which they lived! Ditto for the Incas, the Olmecs, the Toltecs, the aboriginal Apaches, Blackfeet or Cree!

God is the Lord of the harvest of salvation. He is in charge. He knows what He is doing, and He is exceptionally good at what He does.

Yet Jesus died for all, tasting death for every man – every descendant of Adam! “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that ANY should perish (lose out on eternal life), but that ALL should come to repentance” (See 2 Peter 3:8-9). 

The apostle Paul had his mind wondrously opened to just what God is doing with humanity. In writing to the believers in Rome, Paul said, “For the earnest expectation of the creature (of all the descendants of Adam) waits for the manifestation of the sons of God (for the show to get on the road, so to speak when the elect are changed from mortal to immortal at the resurrection), for the creature (humanity) was made subject to vanity (for the most part a useless, vain existence), not willingly (humanity had no real say or choice in the matter), but by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope (humanity’s future holds something wondrous and God inspired), for the creature itself (humanity and all created beings) shall be (in the future) delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (all will come to enjoy what the elect enjoy), for we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also (the elect, too), which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (See Romans 8:19-23).

Friends, Satan didn’t throw a monkey wrench into the works in the Garden of Eden. He didn’t slip in the back gate while God wasn’t looking. God allowed Satan to get to Adam and Eve, because He saw clearly that He needed three things to reproduce His character and image in other intelligent beings. He needed 1) time, and He needed 2) a downward force pulling against them, and 3) the nourishment provided by God’s Word. Look at it this way: In order to produce a physically powerful, somewhat perfect physique, it takes time, proper nourishment, and exercise in order to produce that physique. And in order to reproduce His character in other intelligent beings, God knew this was going to take time – a lot of time, proper spiritual nourishment and guidance, and He needed a force pulling against them whereby a choice would have to be made, and when made consistently and continually His very own righteous character would be reproduced in others.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called (the elect) according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow (God foreknew we would be born in a time and place where we could be nourished by the Word of God), He also did predestinate to be conformed (through time and continuous spiritual growth) to the image of His Son, that He (that Son) might be the firstborn among many brethren!” (See Romans 8:28-29)

That is one of the most stupendous statements ever penned. Truly converted men and women, human beings who have been enlightened by God, forgiven their sinful past and had God’s Holy Spirit imparted to them are truly children of God and brethren of one another and of our Elder Brother Jesus Christ. And we have been selected by our Creator to assist Him in bringing many other human beings into the family of God.

For the present time, God has chosen to hide Himself from most of humanity: “Truly you are a God that hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior!” (See Isaiah 45:15). “And when He hides His face, who then can behold Him, whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only?” (See Job 34:29). “But Israel (as well as all other nations) shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” (See Isaiah 45:17).

“I am the LORD, and there is none else. There is no God beside me” (See Isaiah 45:5). “And the LORD has sent unto you (Israel) ALL His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them…” (See Jeremiah 25:4). There were no Babylonian or Amorite prophets. The only prophet sent to Egypt was Moses for the sole purpose of commanding Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. There was only one prophet sent to a Gentile people and that was Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh, Assyria to warn them they were on the verge of being destroyed, NOT to invite them to inherit eternal life! Yet the writer of Hebrews informs us that Jesus Christ tasted death for every man. (See Hebrews 2:9). And Paul says, “One died FOR ALL!” (See 2 Corinthians 5:14).

Brethren, it is the never ending story.  I have but given you a synopsis of that grand revelation.  Read it for yourselves in the holy scriptures.  It was there all the time.  God help you to understand.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Several decades ago archaeologists, while excavating around the ancient fortress of Masada in Israel, discovered a clay pot containing date seeds. Until 2005 those seeds sat in a drawer in a scientist’s lab untouched. In 2005 an agricultural scientist wondered if these 2000 year old date palm seeds were still viable. She planted them in a small pot. They grew. Today one of those plants is a date palm standing ten feet tall and is called the Methusaleh date palm.

The words of Jesus Christ spoken nearly two thousand years ago are as viable and trustworthy today as they were when first uttered in the synagogues and byways of Judea and Galilee. There is latent power in every single promise one finds in the Holy Scriptures. It takes but two catalysts to release the power of any of those promises: faith and obedience. God says, “Prove me now herewith! Give obedience to my Son and then come in faith believing in any of my promises. You shall have whatsoever you desire.”

Faith itself needs a catalyst to make it spring forth and become vibrant. That catalyst is obedience. Give unswerving, continual obedience to God and His Son, and you will see your faith grow by leaps and bounds. Things you could never believe for yesterday will be easily expected today.

Each and every day I now live I see God show forth His reality and trustworthiness in many different ways. “Great is His faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see,” so says the old hymn. Whoever wrote those words evidently had a genuine relationship with their Creator.

Think of the Methusaleh date palm the next time you find yourself wondering if the Word of God has any power in it after all these many centuries since it was first penned. You will probably be a bit surprised.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

No, I am not speaking of General George Armstrong Custer’s “last stand” in Montana in 1876. I am speaking of Christianity’s last stand against the “little horn” spoken of in Daniel Chapter 7. We were duly warned 2500 years ago that this “little horn,” a combined religious and political power would desire to change “laws” (verse 25). Notice, the term is plural. Many think this text refers to Catholicism’s changing the sabbath law of God to Sunday – one law. It is not speaking of such, but of Islam’s desire to change ALL laws everywhere to conform to Sharia Law – the rule of Koranic law! Many fail to see that the text does not say this power seeks to change “time,” – singular, but “times,” – plural. The “times” this Islamic leader will attempt to change are the seven “times” or years that scripture prophecy says he will rule and reign over the whole earth. It will be his intention to rule as long as he lives.

If believers could only set aside, forget, turn away from that which they have been spoon fed by well intentioned, but misguided, Bible teachers and instructors, they would see that the major threat to Christianity, and every other religion, in the end time is NOT Roman Catholicism per se, but Roman Catholicism in conjunction with Islam.

Satan’s deceptive powers are staggering and formidable. If we do not submit ourselves totally to the LORDship of Jesus Christ and allow the Word of God then to speak to our minds and hearts, we WILL be deceived in not one or more areas, but MANY areas. Satan’s intelligence is super human! Never forget that. If one could pit the intelligence of an Albert Einstein against that of Satan, it would be similar to pitting the intelligence of a 3-day old infant against Einstein.

When God created Lucifer, who became Satan, God’s adversary following his rebellion against God and His rule, God’s Word says, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Thou (Lucifer) sealest up the sum, FULL OF WISDOM, and perfect in beauty…Thou wast PERFECT in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (See Ezekiel 28:12, 15). God always does His best. And when He imparted intelligence and wisdom to Lucifer, he did His best. He stood back, as it were, and said, “That’s the best I can do! That is the utmost intelligence I can create and give to another being other than myself!” Nowhere does any scripture even imply that when Lucifer rebelled he lost his intelligence. He did NOT! It was merely corrupted, now used against God and His will. And THAT’S the being we are up against on planet earth, one having an innate intelligence second only to that of God! Without God’s guidance and Holy Spirit we have no win against Satan. He could beat a thousand Einsteins at a game of chess in a millisecond. And he will beat you at your game of life every day, every time from here to eternity if you are not fully surrendered to Jesus Christ 24/7 in every area of your life – thoughts, speech and actions!

Not only America, but the world had better wake up to the era in which this present generation now lives. We are back in Bible times, folks, the times spoken of in Daniel and Revelation. God help you to understand is my prayer and hope.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

“But now hath he (our eternal High Priest Jesus Christ) obtained a more excellent ministry (than the high priests of the Old Covenant), by how much also he is the Mediator of A BETTER COVENANT which was established upon BETTER PROMISES” (See Hebrew 8:6). Jesus Christ is called “High Priest” in the Book of Hebrews twelve times. (See Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 4:14 and 15; Hebrews 5:5 and 10; Hebrews 6:20; Hebrews 7:26 and 28; Hebrews 8:1; Hebrews 9:11 and Hebrews 10:21). And in Hebrews 6:20, we are told that “Jesus (is) made an High Priest FOR EVER…”

Jesus said “All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whosoever the Son will reveal Him” (See Matthew 11:27). Only divine revelation can suffice to reveal to any human mind the identities of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Careful searching of the scriptures alone will not be sufficient. This posting will not suffice either unless the Holy Spirit is illuminating the mind of the reader to comprehend what is written herein.

One of the better promises of the New Covenant is that we have an eternal High Priest with whom “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” Hebrews 4:13. He understands our problems and our situation completely, totally, utterly. He knows our hangups, our stumbling blocks, our inherent shortcomings, and He knows how to resolve and assist us to total victory in each and every instance of difficulty we might face! He was “tempted in all points like as we are!” (Hebrews 4:15). He knows the way out firsthand. “Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,” winning the victory every single time with each and every temptation to sin. (Hebrews 4:16). “And being made perfect (by resisting each and every temptation to sin), He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them THAT OBEY HIM!” (Hebrews 5:9). Having been perfect in the spirit throughout all eternity past, He became perfect in the flesh when taking upon Himself the nature of mortal man and continuing to resist temptation throughout every moment of His earthly existence! Lucifer failed in the spirit and will continue to fail until that moment when he is eternally judged in the age to come.

Christ’s Aged Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

I remember Queen Mother Elizabeth saying some time ago, “Our lifetime here on earth is but our dressing room for eternity.” She was quite right, you know. By the lives of productivity and overcoming we attain, we are in a sense weaving the robes we will wear throughout eternity. We are ourselves deciding our position in the coming kingdom of God, and apparently glorified bodies will differ from one another in the degree of brilliance and splendor that will be ours. (See I Corinthians 15:40-44). When the scripture says that Christ “has made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth,” it is speaking of the forming of our character. Godly character is developed through process of time and is not magically given the moment we believe Jesus died for us. (See Revelation 5:10). A believer who has no rule over his own passions and fleshly desires should not expect to be given rule over others, nor should he expect to be an interceding priest when he continuously needs someone to intercede for him due to his ever giving in to various and sundry temptations. Scripture further reveals that Christ “shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify (purge) the sons of Levi (prospective priests), and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:3). And that scripture is complemented by a verse in Matthew 3, which says Christ’s “(winnowing) fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (verse 12).

Jesus Christ does not reluctantly accept carnal Christians. He reluctantly disciplines carnal Christians. “Let a man examine himself.” Don’t scrutinize the other guy so closely. Examine your self. All too many believers are quick, even eager, to point out a fellow believer’s shortcomings while pointedly ignoring their own. “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged (by the Lord in His present role of High Priest), we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” (See I Corinthians 11:31-32). Though not condemned with the world, the spiritual productivity and character growth of some will be so minimal that the testing fire of the Lord’s judgment will utterly consume their work. They shall be saved, yet so as by fire. (See I Corinthians 3:11-15).

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12)

Donald Wiley

Do you know what a spiritual grave robber is?  A spiritual grave robber is someone who attempts to dig up the long abandoned and forgotten sins of a faithful child of God and to use that knowledge to ruin the reputation of that forgiven servant of God.  Those who do so are accusers of the brethren pure and simple and are judged by God swiftly in the here and now.  “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?  It is God that justifies?  Who is he that condemns?  It is Christ that died.”(See Romans 8:33-34).  Rather than condemn the repentant sinner Jesus Christ died for them in their place, casting their sins behind His back never to be remembered again throughout all eternity.  And some puny, fleshly son of disobedience will dare to push his spade into the grave where those sins lie buried in order to uncover them and say to another, “Come see what this man once did!”

More than once in the past I have seen how severely and swiftly God moves in judgment against a spiritual grave robber that has used his spade to uncover some of my long abandoned sins, prompting me to pray, “Lord, have mercy on them for it appears they acted out of ignorance of your ways.”

Long ago our Lord gifted me with the spirit of discernment, enabling me to quickly discern when Satan was moving against me in some manner.  More than once the Holy Spirit has awakened me out of a deep sleep to acquaint me with the knowledge to be on my guard when in someone’s presence. 

To have a valid, ongoing, tangible relationship with one’s Creator is absolutely priceless. Nothing on earth can compare to the value thereof.  God help you to understand is my prayer.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

POSTSCRIPT: True, Jesus did say, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst!” He did NOT add, “and I approve of all that I see and hear.” In Revelation 1 we are told that Jesus Christ is standing in the midst of the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3, but He does not approve of much of what He sees and hears. Jesus was present in the Jerusalem assembly of God’s people when Ananias and Sapphira, Ananias’ wife, lied to the apostle Peter as to the price of some land they had sold. The Lord struck them dead on the spot. He saw their sin and the Jerusalem assembly saw graphic evidence of His disapproval. Those assemblies who use a perverted portrait of Paul as an excuse for continued sin in their lives need to question which Jesus they may be following. (See 2 Corinthians 11:3-4). Satan has blinded millions of believers from seeing the basic truths set forth in the preceding article. Paul told the Corinthian assembly, “You come together not for the better but for the worse” (See I Corinthians 11:17). When profound error is spoken from the pulpit that is the situation you have.

A pastor’s responsibility is a weighty one. “For it is written, ‘As I live’, says the Lord, ‘every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then every one of us (we believers) shall give account of himself to God.” (See Romans 14:11-12). Pastor, you are building on the foundation of a sacrificed Son and His apostles and prophets. “Let every man take heed how he builds thereupon.” (See I Corinthians 3:10-11). “Every man’s work (especially every pastor’s) shall be made manifest.” (Did you really know the Word of God? Did you really teach the truth or merely your particular denomination’s private views?) “The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” (See I Corinthians 3:13). “LET NO MAN DECEIVE HIMSELF!” (See I Corinthians 3:18).

There are some preachers I wouldn’t want to be within a country mile of when they are judged. The weeping and gnashing of teeth that will be heard will probably echo through God’s hall of justice causing even holy angels to hide their faces and mourn. “For we know Him that has said, ‘Vengeance belongs unto me. I WILL recompense,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘THE LORD SHALL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (See Hebrews 10:30-31). Tell Ananias and Sapphira all the judgment a believer will ever face was poured out on Christ on Calvary! (See Acts 5:1-11). That eleventh verse says “great fear came upon all the church” when they heard how God still judged sin in His people long after Calvary. (Read I Corinthians, chapters 10 and 11 slowly and carefully if you doubt that God judges believers if they continue in sin). Remember Peter warned that “judgment must BEGIN at the house of God!” It was at Peter’s feet Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead. (See I Peter 4:17). And the judgment of God’s people begins with the elders, the leadership, the instructors, guides and pastors. (See Ezekiel 9:4-7). The phonies will receive their judgment in the next world, not this one.These various and sundry assemblies, differing as widely as the church at Laodicea differed from the church at Philadelphia, had better get back to doing things God’s way if they are going to publicly proclaim they are assemblies of God’s people for truly we are snared by the words of our own mouth.

When an assembly urges those in their community to come fellowship with them, assuring them that they will hear the truths of God proclaimed from their pulpit and by their pastors, they have a heightened responsibility to know and teach God’s Word accurately and in its completeness. Of course common sense alone assures any thinking person that such is not the case with many of these congregations as a Baptist assembly will be teaching doctrines diametrically opposed to those taught in the nearby Pentecostal assembly! The Methodist pastor will teach doctrines at variance with what the Nazarene or Amish preacher proclaims as God’s truth. Most merely believe and teach what they have been reared to believe are the true doctrines expressed in the Bible. A Baptist minister was reared in a Baptist home, exposed to Baptist doctrine all his life. A Mennonite minister hails from a Mennonite home, an Episcopalian from an Episcopalian home. Very few Christians really search out the scriptures to prove their beliefs. In their memory they have scriptures here and there that seemingly support their beliefs. That’s good enough for them. The Baptist reasons this way, but he forgets that the members of the nearby Church of God or Assembly of God think and reason in a similar fashion. That old while haired Mennonite minister lying in his casket was a Mennonite youth. That ninety year old Baptist deacon was baptized in a Baptist church eighty years previously.

All of my early life, primarily in the Baptist churches I attended, I heard preachers preach and teach from Romans 7, portraying Paul as someone as carnal and sinful as the next guy. This would not have been the case had they really proved all things of a spiritual nature, had they really known the scriptures as they should have since they claimed that God Himself had “called” them to preach. Of course the Methodist, the Nazarene, the Pentecostal, etc., etc., etc., preachers ALL claim they have been “called” to preach. I fear many of them will be face-to-face with Jesus Christ one day and hear Him say, “I never called you to be my representative, for had I called you I would have enlightened you to a good understanding of my Word – ALL of it!” Many preachers merely parrot one another with that line about being “called” to preach. Few even understand just HOW and WHEN Jesus Christ anoints someone to speak forth His Word and instruct others in the truths of God. And don’t even suggest to one of these preachers that God might not have “called” them to preach. You will see a flash of anger and a short fused temper displayed. But ask the Baptist preacher if he thinks God “called” the Jehovah’s Witness minister, or the Pentecostal preacher, or the Seventh Day Adventist bishop. (Well, that’s another article, isn’t it?)

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

I suppose most believers are familiar with the story of the woman taken in adultery by the scribes and Pharisees, how she was brought before Jesus as He was teaching in the temple precincts.  Just a short time before she had been caught in the very act of adultery.  She had not come to Jesus on her own volition repentant and asking for forgiveness.  She was hustled before the Lord still flush with sin and maintaining a self-willed attitude.  When Jesus said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” one-by-one her accusers all departed the temple, leaving Jesus alone with the adulteress woman standing in the midst of those whom Jesus had just been teaching a short time before.  Jesus then asked this sinner, “Woman, where are your accusers?  Has no man condemned you?”  She replied, “No man, Lord!”  Jesus then said,”Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and sin no more.” (See John 8:1-11).  Notice, Jesus did not say, “I hereby forgive you of all the sins you have committed in your life.”  Referring to her adulteress act, He said, “Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and sin no more.”

The love of God!  How grand and wonderful!  God would rather light a candle than curse the darkness.  It is His will to save and not to destroy.  The prophet Jeremiah understood the mind of God quite well when he said, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself.  It is not in man that walks to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).  Pontius Pilate echoed this thought when He said to Jesus, “What is truth?” (See John 18:33-38).  What are we humans to believe to be the way to God?  Does the Presbyterian have it right or is the truth with the Pentecostals?  Do the Baptists have a far greater understanding of God’s ways than do the Amish?  “It is not in man that walks to direct his steps.”  We all need an infallible Guide to show us the way.  Yet one man can read God’s guide book, the Bible, and draw entirely different conclusions than some other man who reads the same book, the very same translation, both reading every word from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21!  “O Lord, what is truth?”

Don’t sell God short regarding His ability to get the truth into the mind of man – every man.  None – no, not one – will ever stand before the judgment bar of God and be able to rightly say, “I never had a real opportunity of having my sins forgiven and have eternal life imparted to me!”  Not a single Inca Indian.  Not a lone Babylonian warrior.  Not a solitary Hindu priest.  None – no not one – will be able to shake their fist in the face of God and accuse Him of being unfair or uncaring.

And how few in this present generation really grasp the plan of God in presenting the offer of eternal life to all born human!  When that trembling Aztec maiden was sacrificed to appease the anger of the sun god did she die without excuse for failing to worship and obey the only true God?  Was her eternal fate then sealed?  Is she now burning in hell, or will she yet be cast into eternal never-ending fire?  God help you to understand, brethren.  God help you to understand. 

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Romans 8:28: “And we (we children of God, we followers of the Lord Jesus Christ) KNOW (not speculate, surmise, think, hope, etc., but KNOW) that ALL THINGS (not some things, not most things, not a lot of things, but ALL THINGS – from crashes to cancer) work together for (our) good to them that love God (that’s US), to them who are the called (called out of this world and into the family of God) according to His purpose.”

The prophet Daniel tells of how his three young companions were arrested by the Babylonian authorities and threatened with being thrown alive into a burning fiery furnace unless they fell prostate in worship before a Babylonian image in homage to King Nebuchadnezzar. They replied, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” Some might think with their next words they kind of hedged their bet as they then said, “But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (See Daniel 3:17-18).

They didn’t hedge their bet at all as they knew their God was going to deliver them from idolatry either way – by life or death. They knew something else. They knew that death was not the end. It is only the end of the beginning. This present life is just a beginning. It is our preparation for eternity. Death doesn’t end all. It just ends our heartaches, our sufferings, our trials, our disappointments. “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory.” Jesus is our resurrection and our life.

Perusing one of my marked up Bibles from many years ago, I came across this notation in my own handwriting in the margin of Daniel 3:18. I had underlined the beginning words, “But if not” and made the notation “What if we develop cancer?” Litttle did I know that in May of 2016 I would be diagnosed with cancer as that notation was made in the mid-nineties of the 20th Century.

And you probably know the rest of the story as given in Daniel 3. These three young men were delivered. Looking into the furnace where these three men were thrown, the king said, “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (See verse 25).

Our Lord is ever with us in the fiery trials we sometimes face. We need to ever keep that in mind. He promised, “I’ll not leave you alone. I will come to you.” Even through the valley of the shadow of death He is with us. And why fear a shadow. A shadow can do us no harm at all. The one who brought you through six trials will surely bring you through seven!

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley