Apokatastasis

This is a simple listing of a relatively few resources for those people who believe the biblical concept of apokatastasis (as defined a few paragraphs later). Believe it or not, this lengthy writing really is a simple listing of only about 25 resources, BUT God has asked me to give some historical and contextual background information for most of the resources I’ve listed.

[NOTE: I hope it goes without saying that this is simply my listing of resources I happen to use. Doubtless, there are hundreds of other resources—books, magazines, pamphlets, leaflets, and other written materials—available all over the world; these are simply the ones I have found most helpful in my own quest to better understand God’s great plans and purposes of restoring the fallen universe and all humanity to Himself. Please don’t limit yourself to only this listing of resources in your own quest for better understanding this important biblical subject.]

You see, there are millions (perhaps billions) of people all over the world (mostly young—40 years old and under) interested in God’s restoration of all things, but most of them have no historical background or context in which to understand what God is doing and why. (For instance, if people don’t know much American history, it’s difficult for them to understand many current events in America.) Another example: it’s really not enough to tell people there is no hell (as commonly understood); they also need to understand why we believe the Bible—correctly understood—teaches there is no hell; otherwise they think we really don’t believe the Bible. If people believe something in a vacuum, Satan will often rush to fill the vacuum with false information.

So…let’s kinda begin at the beginning. Please turn to the end of the Bible. Yep, right now—get your Bible and turn to the end. You probably turned to Revelation 22, right? That’s really not the end of the Bible. Yes, that’s the end of the format of the Bible, but the actual, true end of the Bible is 1 Corinthians 15: 28. Actually that’s both the end—and the new beginning—of everything!

Here’s the background and context of that reference. At some time in the future known only to God, Jesus has just put an end to death (both the first death when we die at the end of our mortal lives and the second death, the lake of fire noted in the 20th chapter of Revelation), and has turned his Kingdom over to God the Father. At that time, this reference says God will then become All in all—Everything to everything and everyone. That’s both the true end—and the new beginning—of everything: God (Father, Son, and Spirit) becomes Everything to everything and everyone! God becomes not so much in everything as everything comes to be in God. The Bible teaches in the beginning…was God. It also teaches in the end…is God.

Okay, that’s essentially the biblical teaching about apokatastasis (defined as “God’s restoration of all things, including all humanity”). In the original Greek language of the Bible, there’s only one reference to apokatastasis. It’s Acts 3: 21. Everything else ever written about the subject for the past 2,000 years flows from that reference.

However, there are two other words in the Bible’s original Hebrew and Greek languages that are closely related to apokatastasis. There are only 4 places in the Bible where the English phrase “new heavens and new earth” is used—two in the Old Testament, two in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, they are Isaiah 65: 17 and 66: 22; in both instances, the Hebrew word for “new” that is used is chadash, meaning “freshly restored.”  The two New Testament references are 2 Peter 3: 13 and Revelation 21: 1; the Greek word used in both those references is kainos, also meaning “freshly restored.” God is not going to destroy the present universe and earth in a fiery conflagration; He is going to freshly restore them. That concept ties in with the concept of apokatastasis as being “God’s restoration of all things.” Yes, I know about such biblical references as 2 Peter 3: 10 and 11 that seem to indicate that the universe and earth will be destroyed in a fiery conflagration; such references when carefully examined within their biblical context and correctly understood can be clearly explained otherwise.

The first writings by Jesus believers about apokastasis were by writers and teachers for about the first 300 years or so of church history; these were called the “Ante-Nicene Fathers.” “”Ante” means “before,” so Ante-Nicene means before a major church council was held in the city of Nicea in what is now the nation of Turkey. The Council was called by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 325 A. D. because he wanted the church leaders to work out some doctrinal problems they were having in the church throughout the Roman Empire.

Before the Council of Nicea, most of the early church leaders were “for” apokastasis; after the Council, many of the church leaders became opposed to the teaching of apokatastasis. That’s a very over-simplified version of what really happened, and many writers today use different dates and circumstances—as you’ll see by some of the resources I’ll recommend. But the Council of Nicea was sort of the “watershed” year when much of the controversy about apokatastasis began.   Generally speaking, it was also when the Church began to be highly institutionalized with special buildings in which to practice religion (instead of worshipping God principally in homes), when a religious leadership hierarchy began to be emphasized and developed, and when rote religion (with its rituals and liturgy) began to replace a personal relationship with God through Jesus.

About 700 years later, the church throughout the Roman Empire divided into the “western church” and the “eastern church”; we still have that division today between what is largely the European church and its “daughter churches” (including Africa, North and South America, and Asia) and the eastern church which is largely the Orthodox churches of what used to be called the Soviet Union—with the Russian Orthodox Church being sort of the “mother” church. Again, those explanations are vastly oversimplified for purposes of this brief teaching about my resources I use to better understand apokatastasis.

Okay, after the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. and the later division of the worldwide church into the western and eastern Orthodox churches, the western church largely became opposed to the doctrine of apokatastasis, while most of the Orthodox churches continue to follow the teachings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers and believe that apokatastasis is still a biblical teaching. Obviously, there are many exceptions to this because I’m generalizing quite a bit. But that’s pretty much the entire world of Jesus’ Church today: about half believe apokatastasis is a horrible false teaching; the other half believes apokatastasis is a true, biblical teaching. Again, I’m greatly oversimplifying and overgeneralizing.

If you’re part of the western church reading this listing, you are very much in the minority if you believe in apokatastasis. Look around you: the majority of believers in Jesus in the western church do not believe that God is going to restore all humanity to Himself. To introduce others to the concept of apokatastasis, you’re “fighting an uphill battle,” but if you allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you about sharing this concept with others, you will find many people eager to believe that God loves all humanity that much. They are secretly bothered by the concept that much of humanity will be subjected to eternal, conscious torment in an ever-burning hell, and hope that somehow God will restore everyone to a loving relationship with Himself.

With that background, now for some resources:

First, a complete, 37-volume set of the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers can be purchased in an e-book edition on Amazon for only $2.99. The set is all in English, translated mostly from the original Greek and Latin languages. But…why bother plowing your way through all those volumes when modern authors (some of which I’ll list below) have already pored through all of them—in the original Greek languages—and have culled out the pertinent and relevant writings about apokatastasis in their own current books?

Next, a female Italian theologian named Ilaria L. E. Ramelli recently spent 7 long years studying just about everything ever written about apokatastasis for her doctoral thesis, and has recently published all her findings in English in a 900+ page book! I’ve only seen a few pages of it, but it’s way beyond amazing! I predict it will become THE AUTHORITATIVE BOOK about the subject of apokatastasis for decades to come. Her book is titled “The Christian Doctrine of Apokastasis,” and can be purchased from Amazon for the low, low price of only $353.00!   I don’t think there’ll be a lot of us ordinary people rushing out to purchase a copy…

So…there you have 2 important resources: the Ante-Nicene writings and the deep, theological book by the female Italian theologian.

Now, let’s get to some more current and up-to-date resources. First, there’s a church near downtown Denver, Colorado, known as The Sanctuary. They maintain the complete “Gary Amirault Library” which was donated to them when Gary died in 2018. It’s like a rare book section of a large city library where you can’t check out books, but you can go there to study them. As you might or might not know, Gary was the founder and maintainer of the tentmaker.org website, which for a number of years has been (and still is) the premiere website for those wishing to do research about apokatastasis. Even some articles I wrote over 40 years ago are on tentmaker.org. There are numerous other websites about the subject of apokatastasis, but in my opinion tentmaker is the best!

Next, David Bentley Hart is one of the world’s leading theologians; he lives and writes mostly here in USAmerica, and is a member of the Orthodox Church; I think the Greek Orthodox Church, but I’m not certain. He has translated much material of the Ante-Nicene Fathers and has written extensively about their teachings about apokatastasis. Just a few months ago, David Bentley Hart published his newest book, “That All Shall Be Saved.” That book and his English translation of the New Testament can both be purchased from Amazon. They are both tremendously useful resources I highly recommend!

Another great resource (that was out-of-print for years, but has just recently been re-published) is titled “Is Hell Eternal Or Will God’s Plan Fail?” by Charles Pridgeon. It was first published in the 1920’s and is an amazing resource, although some of his points are argumentative and out-of-date. It, too, can be purchased from Amazon. It’s a little hard to read, but is solidly biblically based.

Next, we have Gerry Beauchemin’s 2 books, “Hope Beyond Hell” and “Hope For All.” They are both excellent primers (the definition of “primer” is “a book teaching the first principles of any subject.”). I’ve purchased and given away hundreds of Gerry’s books. Gerry is also the founder of the Hope For All Fellowship, a group of like-minded people who gather in various ways for fellowship and encouragement. You can “plug into” Hope For All Fellowship’s weekly meeting on the internet; contact Gerry about how and when to plug into this weekly “internet meeting.” When I first introduce anyone to the subject of apokatastasis, I begin by giving them copies of both Gerry’s books. Hope for All Fellowship’s website address is hopeforallfellowship.com.

After giving them copies of Gerry’s books, if the inquirer wants more information, then I give them a copy of Bob Evely’s book, “At The End of the Ages.” The fourth book I often give people is George Sarris’s book, “Heaven’s Doors: Wider Than You Ever Believed.” After that, I just listen to what the Holy Spirit may be telling me to say or do for the inquirer.

Another little paperback book is a good one to give to people: “All In All” by A. E. Knoch is published by Concordant Publishing Concern (PO Box 449, Almont, Michigan 48003) which has published much literature about apokatastasis since the early 1900’s. They have a quarterly pamphlet they’ve published all these years which is chock-full of information about apokatastasis; every pamphlet since the very beginning of the 1900’s is still available. They have also published a New Testament known as the “Concordant Literal New Testament.” Write to them for a complete listing of all their literature; you’ll find more than you could ever read in your entire lifetime. They’re sort of a rigid, authoritative fundamentalist group of Jesus believers, but all their writings are solid.

A man named Michael Phillips recently spent many years translating all of a Scottish Pastor’s writings into “readable” English. The Scottish Pastor was named George McDonald who lived near the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. He wrote scores of amazing novels about Scotland into which he weaved teachings about apokatastasis. You’ve heard about J. R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) and C. S. Lewis? Both of them regarded George McDonald as their favorite author and mentor. Anyhow, George McDonald’s novels and his sermons are all about apokatastasis. If you order any of his materials, make sure they’re translated by Michael Phillips; otherwise, McDonald’s written Scottish brogue is almost impossible to read.

Phillips himself has written some novels; the best one about apokatastasis is titled “Hell and Beyond.” Both Gerry Beauchemin and I highly recommend it.

On YouTube, there are some very interesting video presentations by Pastor Don Keathley, entitled “The Myth of Hell.” Keathley has many other videos, also, on the subject of apokatastasis, but the clearest and best teachings are The Myth of Hell he taught to his congregation during Easter season of 2019, so they’re very current as of this listing. I believe he’s a Pastor in the Dallas, Texas, area.

In case you’re interested, much of what western believers in Jesus believe today about eternal conscious torment in an ever-burning hell actually came from a famous poem, not from the Bible. An Italian poet named Dante Alighieri wrote a very lengthy poem entitled “The Inferno” in the late 1200’s. The poem sort of “caught on” and spread like wildfire throughout Europe. His poem still influences much of what people believe about hell to this very day. It’s hard reading, but you’ll see what I mean if you take the time to get a paperback copy and read it—in English, of course. Interestingly, most people never read his famous poem right to the end; if they did, they would learn that at the end Dante believed that hell would be emptied out!

I’ll mention some of my own material—and then we’re almost done. On my website (leservices.org) I have posted about 60+ of my most popular teachings; the teachings specifically related to apokatastasis are: “Beyond The Far Shores of Time,” “City of Mystery,” “Eternal LIFE,” “Fire!,” “4 Views: Who Has the Final Word?,” “Good” Good News vs “Bad” Good News,” “Restoration,” “Justice and Judgment,” and “Let There Be Light.” All my teachings can be downloaded and printed for free. On March 6, 2018, God invited me to visit Heaven. I wrote the account of my visit in my most recent book, “Heaven: Our Home Sweet Homeland,” available from Amazon in softcover, e-book, and hardcover.

Here’s a reference I personally cherish very deeply; in fact, I’ve probably re-read it 10 times or more and I weep with joy almost every time! It’s by John Eldredge, titled “All Things New.” John Eldredge doesn’t believe fully in apokatastasis, but he really comes close to it in this book.

[NOTE: Eldredge, along with multitudes of others, believes in human “free will,” as he noted in a recent online daily devotional in either January or February 2020. He essentially states that if it weren’t for human free will, he would believe that God will ultimately save every human being. Do humans really have free will? For example, can humans jump over the moon, can humans travel through time, can humans traverse the universe faster than the speed of light, can a human read an animal’s mind, does a finite human really have free will to resist God’s infinite, sovereign, all-powerful will? For example, the Bible teaches in 2 Peter 3: 9 that God’s will is that every human repents and turns to Him. Can a mere, finite human really resist God’s infinite sovereign, all-power-full will for all the ages of time and in eternity? I think not. The entire matter of so-called human free will stands in the way of many earnest people believing in the clear biblical teaching about apokatastasis.]

Then of course, last but not least, there’s “The Shack” by William Paul Young. As with John Eldredge, Young doesn’t quite believe fully in apokatastasis, but at a recent conference I heard him say: “I’m really close to believing it.”

That’s it. Those are my listing of currently available basic resources (and my comments) for those who want to learn about apokatastasis.

Interestingly, I’ve discovered that in my own case and in the cases of many others with whom I have visited about apokatastasis, that once you get even a tiny glimpse of God’s plans and purposes to fully restore everything and everyone to Himself, then when you go back and read your Bible you will discover anew that from beginning to end it teaches God’s restoration in detail. In fact, as mentioned a few paragraphs above, I’ve written another teaching about that very subject; it’s also posted on this website, titled “Restoration.” I encourage you to read it also.

Last-minute news flash: January 30, 2020: Gerry Beauchemin just notified me about a website he recently discovered, and has had a conversation with the creator and maintainer of the website; I spent some time a short while ago checking out the website. It’s great! A wonderful resource I’ll be adding to my own resource listing: MercyonAll.org.   I encourage you to visit the website and spend a little time there; you can ask to be placed on their e-mail subscription list.

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc
leservices38@yahoo.com
billsbooks.org
Updated June 2020

The Rapture of the Church

[NOTE: This teaching originally appeared first as some recorded spoken messages in the 1950’s, as some written articles in the 1960’s, then put together as a pamphlet written in the early 1970’s, by Bill Britton of Springfield, Missouri. Bill was one of the first evangelical, bibliocentric followers of Jesus in our era to question the pre-tribulation rapture theory. The article appears pretty much as Bill first wrote it—with some additional material and some minor editing I have done.]

One of the most persistent doctrinal questions from sincere, truth-seeking followers of Jesus today is: “What about the “Rapture”? They are asking what will happen when Jesus returns to consummate his earthly Kingdom? How soon will these things happen? Who will be involved in the Rapture? Many followers of Jesus, newly enlightened by God’s Spirit, have come to an awakening realization that the Rapture theories propounded for the past 200 years or so do not harmonize with the pure, simple teaching of the written Word of God, the Bible.

We know this: Jesus will return. He said He would return personally to planet earth. Of this there is no doubt. The Bible makes that very plain. But what happens at that time? Who will see Him? These are questions that deserve an answer.

First let us start from the negative side, and expose the false teaching so many espouse and teach. We will examine the teaching and then show when and where this teaching originated. Then we will look at the Bible and see what it actually says, letting Holy Spirit shed divine light on the Word of God and show how it harmonizes with what God is doing in the earth today.

The Escape Theory

First, please understand this basic fact: the English word “rapture” does not appear anywhere in the Bible! Yet the word has been associated with the return of Jesus, and spoken of as the “hope of the Church” for almost 200 years. Although this word is not found in the Bible, it is found in the dictionary. Some dictionaries give more definitions and shades of meaning than others, but the dictionary I now have before me says simply: “Rapture: strong feeling that absorbs the mind; very great joy.” It doesn’t say anything about events surrounding the return of Jesus.

However, to many thousands of followers of Jesus, the word Rapture brings to their mind a picture of white-robed followers of Jesus rising from the earth and soaring through the air to a meeting on some clouds somewhere in outer space. This image has been preached evangelistically until many people have come to accept it as literal fact, without bothering to check and see if that is what the Bible actually teaches.

According to those who hold this view of the Rapture, the Trumpet may sound any second, even before you wake up tomorrow morning. When that happens, the cemeteries will burst open and the dead will rise, and those still living will go zooming off into space to meet the Lord in the air. The reason for this is, they say, because the Antichrist will then appear and the Great Tribulation will begin. And God is far too good to let His people go through such tribulation. The implication is that they are far too weak to survive in the face of such demonic power and horrific events.

Having been raptured, they will then attend the Marriage supper of the Lamb up in Heaven, get their “rewards” for their labors here, and have a wonderful seven years of joy and singing in heaven, while their unsaved loved ones, their children who may not have been born again, and the untaught millions of heathen are suffering untold agonies on earth. “They got what they deserve,” seems to be the general attitude. “They should have gotten prepared for the Rapture, like I did.”

This may not be your attitude, and this may not even be the way you view the “Rapture.” Even within denominations, there are wide differences of opinions on this subject, ranging from violent “escape rapture” adherents, to those whose beliefs are shaky or who just don’t know. I have had many people write and say to me: “I know my denomination preaches this theory, but I have always had questions about it and I just can’t find it in the Bible.”

Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, or Post-Trib?

Because we dare to examine the Bible’s complete teachings on this glorious subject of Jesus’ coming, and dare to teach differently than many others, some spread the word that we do not believe in the coming of the Lord, or the “catching up of Jesus’ followers.” This is not so. We believe in a very real “coming of the Lord,” while those who believe in the “Rapture,” actually believe in the “departure of Jesus’ followers. While we teach the “appearing of Jesus,” they teach the “disappearing of the Church.” I will explain more about that later in this teaching.

For those who believe in a geographical removal of believers from the earth at Jesus’ coming, there are three basic views:

1. The first view is the Pre-Trib (Pre-Tribulation) Rapture. This means that God’s people will not be here for any of the seven-year Tribulation of plagues, vials, etc, as they believe to be taught in Matthew 25 and the Book of Revelation. Bumper stickers proclaim: “In case of Rapture, this car will self-destruct.” Tracts for air passengers state: “In case the Trumpet sounds, be prepared for this plane to crash if your pilot is a Christian.” These approaches are designed to generate fear, and in some cases they do. One of the biblical references they use is Revelation 4: 1, where John heard a voice “as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said: “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.'”

[views 2 and 3 follow a few paragraphs below.]

The Rapture theorists believe this is a word-picture of the Church being snatched up off the earth into heaven. But it says no such thing. Another reference they use is Revelation 3: 10: “Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you safe in the midst of trials which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” This, they say, proves Christians are gone from the earth during the time of great tribulation. But it actually says no such thing. In fact, verse 9 says the opposite. It tells us that God will bring the enemy (the devil) down before our feet. We have to be here on earth for that to happen.

A Bible Word Study

Another biblical reference they use is 1 Thessalonians 4: 13 – 17. They teach that followers of Jesus living at the time Jesus returns will be caught up to meet Jesus in the air and then return with Him to heaven. Actually, the meaning of the word “meet” in this reference means just the opposite. It employs a very specific Greek word for greeting a visiting dignitary in ancient times. The word is apantesis.  The same word is used in Matthew 25: 6 to describe the bridesmaids who go out to “meet” the bridegroom and then accompany him into the feast, and also in Acts 28: 15 to describe the Romans who go out to “meet” Paul as he arrives in their city. Those other two usages of the word apantesis help us see more specifically what Paul means by the term “meet the Lord.”

The key factor with the normal usage of the Greek verb “meet” is this: In no case does the arriving dignitary change directions and go back where he came from after people come to meet him; rather, he continues with them back into their house or city from where they came to meet him. In Matthew, for example, the bridegroom’s arrival is greeted with a shout: “Look! Here is the bridegroom. Come out to meet him.” But the bridegroom does not then kidnap the bridesmaids and take them away with him after they go out to meet him! Rather, the bridegroom goes with the bridesmaids into the house from where they came, where everyone is waiting for him. “The bridegroom came, and those who were with him went into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.” (Matthew 25: 10)

Similarly in Acts 28, the followers of Jesus from Rome go out to meet Paul while his is still outside the city gates, because they are so eager to welcome him. “The followers of Jesus from there, when they heard of us, came as far as the Forum of Apius and Three Taverns to meet us,” Acts records. Paul does not the switch directions and take those followers of Jesus away from their city after they go out to “meet” him. Rather, Paul accompanies them back where they came from—into their city.

Paul’s use of the same Greek word for “meet” in I Thessalonians 4 suggest that Paul is proclaiming a similar meeting where both those who are alive and those who are dead go up to “meet” Jesus in the air on his way back to earth as he “descends.” This image of meeting Jesus in the air underscores that every follower of Jesus—whether dead or alive—will be resurrected together to greet Jesus in the air and then return to earth with Him at which time He will consummate his Kingdom on the freshly restored earth—not in some far off heaven.

[NOTE from Bill Boylan: To further illustrate what Bill Britton is teaching here, here’s a true event which occurred in my teen years in my hometown of Rapid City, South Dakota. Dwight Eisenhower was then President of the United States. He flew in to the Rapid City airport. When he landed, all the dignitaries from Rapid City—the Mayor, City Council members, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, etc., drove outside the city about 8 miles to the airport to greet the President. After they greeted him, they then returned with him to Rapid City in a motorcade to give him the keys to the city; after they greeted him at the airport, they did not then go away somewhere else. When we meet Jesus in the air upon his return, we will then come back to earth with Him; we will not then go away somewhere else.]

What Will Be Happening When Jesus Returns?

2. Next we come to those who hold the “Mid-Trib” (mid-tribulation view). They believe the Bible teaches that the Church will have to go through the first 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation while the Antichrist is warring against Jesus’ followers, but will be raptured and spared the last 3 ½ years while God is pouring out the worst judgments upon the earth. They believe this because of the many scriptures that show God bringing His people through great fire and into glorious victory. Yet there are other biblical references which indicate a place of great joy and glory for the “overcomer” during this time, so they surmise that God will take them off the earth during the last half of the seven-year Tribulation. This is a “middle of the road” position, designed as a compromise between two seemingly different views in the Bible.

3. Finally, there are those followers of Jesus who espouse the “Post-Trib” (Post-Tribulation) view. They believe that the Church goes through the entire seven years of tribulation (some believe in only 3 1/2 years total), and that only after the Tribulation are Jesus’ followers “caught up,” as they teach from the two Books of Thessalonians. They see a Church being empowered by the Spirit to survive the worst onslaughts of Satan for seven years. They believe God is able to keep His children in the midst of the fire, as with the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace in the Book of Daniel. This is an admirable attitude, and much closer to truth than the “Pre-Trib” view that was born out of fear and self-centeredness.

Some think that if the “Post-Trib” teaching is correct, that this would mean seven years of horrible suffering and untold agony for God’s people, and almost total destruction of the Church. But this is not so. A beautiful scripture in Isaiah 26: 20 – 21 informs us (in principle) that the Lord does not intend for His people to suffer the horrors of the Tribulation. Someone may ask if the Church will be here on earth for the Tribulation, and the answer is NO! We will be here DURING the Tribulation, but we will not be here FOR it. While the “Day of the Lord” (the Tribulation) is a day of judgment for the wicked, that same Day of the Lord will be a day of glory and power for God’s children!

Isaiah says: “Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity….” Now, those who espouse the Pre-Tribulation Rapture theory say that this passage in Isaiah proves that God will remove His people from this earth during the tribulation. It proves no such thing, and in fact, it says exactly the opposite. We will be here while the wrath of God is being poured out, but it shall not be poured out upon us, for we shall be hidden “in Christ.” We shall be in an “Ark of Safety,” as Noah was. “As it was in the days of Noah….”

[NOTE from Bill Boylan: There are many people who hold the view that there will be no future tribulation (at least no worse than any other historical tribulations of God’s people) before Jesus’ return. This view is based upon many biblical references, and does seem to have great validity. This view simply holds that Jesus will return at some point in time when God the Fathers says it’s time for Jesus to return—with no specific cataclysmic events “scheduled” to occur for either 7 or 3 ½ years immediately preceding Jesus’ return; in other words, those who hold this view believe that the next “prophetic event” to occur will simply be Jesus’ return; no other dire prophecies need to be fulfilled before his return. I invite you to read another teaching on this website titled Revelation]

Enoch and Noah

Some holding the Rapture view of events like to refer to Enoch, who was “translated that he should not see death,” (Hebrews 11: 5) and say that he is an Old Testament pre-picture of those who are raptured before the Tribulation. But Enoch did not live during the time that judgment was being poured out on the earth in the form of a flood. Enoch was translated 600+ years before the Flood, and never met Noah. In other words, his translation was not for the purpose of helping him escape the flood. Jesus did not say: “As it was in the days of Enoch….” He said, “As it was in the days of NOAH….” And Noah went through the flood, protected by the Ark he had prepared and entered into.

And when the flood was over, and the wicked had been “taken,” he stepped out of the Ark, and inherited the earth. He and his family were the only ones to own the earth now, for everyone else who might have had a deed to a piece of property was gone, along with their heirs. So there was no one left to dispute Noah’s claim. He inherited the earth. Read Psalm 37, which is an example of this principle taught throughout Bible.

Paul’s Teaching About The “Great Tribulation”

Paul never preached a message of fear surrounding the return of Jesus. He never told his readers they would escape the battle. In fact, in Ephesians 6 he urges them to put on the entire spiritual armor of God in order to be ready to face whatever came in the “evil day” (the Tribulation). I don’t know how anyone could miss that, but they just seem to ignore it. Let me quote from Ephesians 6: 13 to see how plain it really is: “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand [vigorously oppose, bravely resist, stand face-to-face against an adversary, stand your ground] in the evil day [the Tribulation], and having done all, to stand.” Not fly away, but stand! That’s the gospel Paul preached.

That’s the true teaching concerning the Day of the Lord, the Great Tribulation, “that evil day.” The real “escape” that the Bible teaches is found in I Corinthians 10: 13: “No temptation [testing] has overtaken you except such as is common to humankind; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted [tested] beyond what you are able, but with the temptation [testing] will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” I encourage you to read and meditate upon that reference in The Amplified Bible.   God and His faithful followers of Jesus have always been victorious, and our “hiding place” is in Christ. “Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3: 3).

It is the fearful, the faithless, the unbelieving, or the wicked who seek a geographical hiding place. Some want to fly away from the earth and go somewhere else while others cry for the natural rocks and mountains to hide them. (Rev 6: 15) Today, there is a large-scale movement in which some are seeking a hiding place in some natural place, a farm, a desert, a foreign country, a wilderness area, etc. But it will not work. It is only another form of “self-rapture.” You cannot escape from the devil or Antichrist that way. Your protection and safety is only in Christ, and in absolute obedience to the Spirit of God. Whether it be on a farm or in the city, in a wilderness area or in a metropolitan center, the hiding place is the same: in Christ! Hallelujah!

Not When, But What?

Confused by now? Perhaps, perhaps not. So far, we have only explained the various theories that are being preached about Jesus’ second coming, and given a negative and confusing picture. But keep reading. The picture will get brighter and clearer. The big hassle about the return of Jesus has mostly been about the time it happens: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulation. But the Holy Spirit seems to be speaking specifically these days, not so much as to the time of Jesus’ return, but rather as to what takes place when He returns.

Many have simply assumed that whenever He returns, we will go zooming off the earth into outer space to meet the Lord somewhere in another geographical location “somewhere beyond the blue.” Detailed paintings have been drawn by artists—and distributed by the multiplied thousands—of Jesus standing on a stratocumulus cloud a few thousand feet in the air, while Jesus-believers are being lifted out of a village below. Some are a few feet off the ground, others halfway to the cloud, etc. A most unscriptural painting, yet many thousands of followers of Jesus have formed their beliefs from this sort of thing, and take it as acceptable Bible teaching. Let me give you the history of how the Rapture theory got started.

Edward Irving and Margaret MacDonald

Perhaps you have heard of the Irvingite movement led by Edward Irving, known as the Catholic Apostolic Church. The Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 12, 1966 issue, pages 648-649 (and other reliable resources; for example, look up Edward Irving and the Catholic Apostolic Movement on the internet), describe Edward Irving and the controversy over his teachings in Scotland and England in the early 1800’s. He was excommunicated by the London presbytery, and in 1833 was condemned and deposed from the ministry of the Church of Scotland because of his teaching concerning “the sinfulness of Christ’s humanity.”

He also began to teach a “rapture of the Church”, after a young Scottish lass by the name of Margaret MacDonald had fallen into a trance and described a vision in which she said she saw the saints leaving the earth at the return of the Lord, before the Tribulation. Margaret’s trance and vision took place in the spring of 1830, while she was living in Port Glasgow, Scotland. Her “revelation” was recorded in a book written by R. N. Norton and printed in London in 1861.

Prior to this time, the Church, clear back to the Apostles, had always preached that the Church would go victoriously through the Tribulation. There is no record of the “escape rapture” theory being taught by anyone anywhere before 1830. Also, on April 30, 1831, a Mrs. J. B. Cardale, who later joined Irving’s church, had uttered a personal prophetic revelation in a home prayer meeting, echoing Margaret MacDonald’s revelation of a pre-Tribulation rapture.

It was from these supposed revelations that the modern doctrinal teaching and modern phraseology about the “Rapture” teaching arose. It came not from the Bible, but from that which was falsely purported to come from the Spirit of God. Edward Irving accepted this teaching, and it was taught at prophetic meetings at Powerscourt House in Ireland, attended by Plymouth Brethren founder and organizer, John Darby. Irving’s views influenced Darby, C. H. Mackintosh, and C. I. Scofield (whose Bible notes popularized the new theory).

So it was a young Scottish girl having a “revelation” who originated the idea of a Rapture, and is so recorded on page 15 of Norton’s book about the Catholic Apostolic Church. Darby and Scofield, along with Clarence Larkin and his charts, began to teach this new theory, and in the early 1900’s it became even more widespread.

[NOTE by Bill Boylan: At this point in Bill Britton’s article I want to show the “progression” of the perpetuation of the Rapture teaching during the past 180+ years (right up to the present day) since Margaret MacDonald saw her vision.  First, Margaret MacDonald had her vision of the “Rapture” in 1830. Next, Irving, Darby, Norton, and MacIntosh wrote about it; their writings became extremely (and strongly and disproportionately) influential in both England and the United States in affecting the thinking of the emerging fundamentalist, evangelical, and Bible School movements in the mid- to latter part of the 19th century.

Darby’s and MacIntosh’s writings also greatly influenced C. I. Scofield, whose Scofield Bible further influenced fundamentalism, evangelicalism, and the Bible School movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Even today, the influential Moody Bible Institute in Chicago offers a detailed and extensive correspondence course based on The Scofield Bible, including Scofield’s teachings about the Rapture.

Then in the mid- to late 20th century, such men as Hal Lindsay, Jack van Impe, and Tim LaHaye with their pseudo-theological thinking served to greatly spread the Rapture theory through their prolific fiction writings and appearances on emerging Christian television. Think about it—what intelligent, thinking Christian would dare to question the “truth” of LaHaye’s best-selling “Left Behind” series of fiction novels—and the widely viewed fiction movies based on his novels?

Finally, in the waning years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, prominent “televangelists” on the worldwide Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and John Hagee, Pastor of a large Texas megachurch with his huge, detailed, beautifully painted “end-time charts” on stage behind his pulpit, further served to spread the Rapture theory worldwide to millions of viewers. That, dear reader, is essentially how the theory has been spread and perpetuated since 1830 right up to the time of this writing.

In these few brief paragraphs, I have g-r-e-a-t-l-y oversimplified the progression of thought and teaching about the Rapture since 1830. Many hundreds of more people have been involved during the past 200 years, but I wanted to at least give you a “feel” for the major characters in that progression.  End of Bill Boylan’s comments. Now back to the gist of Bill Britton’s article…]

When Holy Spirit was poured out in power at the beginning of the 20th century—launching the modern Pentecostal movement—many mistakenly believed that God was also emphasizing the nearness of the coming of Jesus. But the new Pentecostals received no new light at that time on the specific events of His appearing. They simply carried over what the non-Pentecostals fundamentalists and evangelicals had been teaching regarding Miss MacDonald’s “revelation.”

He Is Really Coming!

That is a very brief history of how the theory of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture began and continued to be propagated right up until the present day. Now let’s turn to the Bible, and see what it really says about the “catching up” of the Church. While many Pentecostal people, churches, and denominations began to lose their “fire” and “die on the vine” by the mid-20th century, God was still moving by His Spirit all over the world. By the mid-20th century, hungry, concerned followers of Jesus began to “hear from God” in a fresh and glorious way, igniting the “Latter Rain Movement” in Canada and the worldwide “Charismatic Movement” among almost every Church denomination.

By the mid-20th century, a fresh outpouring of Holy Spirit swept across America and around the world. Among the vital truths re-established through that worldwide outpouring of Holy Spirit (which continues to this day) was the fact that the Body of Jesus (the Church) was one body, and that divisive denominational religious systems were not of God.

It became clear to many that “old wineskins” could not contain the great things that God was preparing to do in the earth. In fact, what God was about to do would be a means of destroying the power of “Babylon” [denominationalism] and her whole “harlot system” of dead religious practices and traditionalism. I am not denouncing denominationalism. God loves all His children—in and out of traditional, “dead” churches. But, God “hates” the organized “Babylonian systems” that divide his children in into warring camps and prevents them from progressing into renewed spiritual truths and understanding.

Another area where God began to unfold truth in the mid-20th century was about the Second Coming of Jesus. First of all, He gave glorious illumination and spiritual insight into the “mystery” of the appearing of “Christ in you, the hope of Glory” (Colossians 1: 27). Renewed biblical enlightenment began to shine into the hearts of many of God’s children about the “manifestation [revealing, or unveiling] of the sons of God” (Romans 8: 19), how to “overcome” (1 John and Revelation), the “Manchild” [male son] (Revelation 12: 5), the Army of the Lord, the Melchisedec priesthood (Hebrews), etc. Then Holy Spirit began to disclose that the Rapture theory of escape did not fit in with the very nature of God nor the principles by which He always operated.

Back to the Bible went thousands of Christians to examine again the biblical texts upon which that teaching had been supposedly based. Besides the texts I referred to above, people began to re-examine 1 Thessalonians 4, Matthew 24, Luke 17, Isaiah 26:20 and many other texts. Other references such as Matthew 25 about the ten virgins had been twisted all out of shape trying to make them look like they were saying that followers of Jesus were to be snatched off the earth at the Rapture.

One Taken And The Other Left….

To furnish you just one example among many about the way the Scriptures were mutilated by those straining to prove the Rapture theory, let us look at one example in Matthew 24. Here it tells us that at Jesus coming, “one shall be taken, and the other left.” Songs were written, and sermons were preached, to urge us to be ready to be “taken” when Jesus comes. When actually the Bible is saying the exact opposite. It was the wicked that were “taken” in Noah’s day, and the righteous were left to inherit the earth. So shall it be in the day of the coming of the Son of man. I encourage you to very carefully read Matthew 24: 37 – 41.

Again, who was taken in Noah’s day? The wicked! Will it be different now? No, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. That’s what the Bible says. And if there is still any doubt in your mind as to whether Christians will be “taken” when Jesus returns, please read Luke 17: 27. To be “taken” means to be destroyed by the judgments that are coming upon the earth. Do you still want to be taken?

A “Tornado” in Oklahoma

In April 1961, while living in the village of Carney, Oklahoma, I published a message on this subject entitled “One Shall Be Taken.” Although we had just a little over a thousand on our mailing list at that time, this message caused such an uproar and storm of protest from some quarters, that I thought I would have to hide in our storm cellar. Carney, Oklahoma was in “tornado alley,” after I published this message, and I thought I had been hit by a tornado. However, it opened the eyes of many sincere people, and made them realize that they had been duped and deceived by those who had twisted the Bible’s clear teachings to try to make it mean something it did not say.

By that time, with many sincere followers of Jesus it seemed that the “Rapture theory” had become a “sacred cow,” and to question this teaching or expose it as false was like attacking the blood of Jesus or the virgin birth or motherhood. Sincere, well-intended people almost got violent about it. Rumors started that I was dabbling in “New Age Spiritualism,” free-love,” or even devil worship. Who dared to “rupture” the “rapture?” I thank God that some followers of Jesus, however, cared more for truth than they did for their reputation! And the truth marched on!

Who Are The “Elect”?

In the early portion of Matthew 24, Jesus is teaching his disciples about the signs of His second coming and the end of this age. In verse 21 He speaks of the Great Tribulation, and in verse 22 He says that the “elect” [chosen ones; all truly born-again followers of Jesus are God’s chosen ones] will be here at that time. And in verse 24 He says that the false prophets and false Christs would try to deceive “the very elect.” Then in verses 29- 31 He outlines the sequence of events:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not gives its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect [chosen ones—followers of Jesus] from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

That seems to be plain and clear. But some have devised a scheme to get around these plain truths. They simply say that “the elect” are not followers of Jesus, but they are the Jews who are left here after the Rapture. All you have to do is refer to a good Bible concordance and read every biblical reference that mention the “elect” of God, and see who they are. For example, I refer you to Romans 8: 33, Colossians 3: 12, I Peter 1: 2 and Mark 13: 20, as just a few examples among many.

What Do We Do With 1 Thessalonians?

Good question. The answer is, I believe it and teach it. But I believe what it says, not the fables people have built around it. Turn with me now to I Thessalonians 4: 13 – 18. Read the entire context, and see the subject the writer is dealing with. He starts out by saying: “I would not have you to be ignorant, fellow followers of Jesus, concerning those who have fallen asleep [died].” So the subject matter in this portion of the Bible is what happens to those who have died, those who did not survive until the coming of the Lord Paul taught and wrote about. Will they miss out on the glory of that great, future Day of the Lord? Oh, no!

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 that when followers of Jesus die, their mortal bodies go to one place and their immortal spirits [that component of their beings directly connected with God by means of Holy Spirit] return to God. Numerous other references throughout the Bible teach this plain truth about death. When we die, that immortal part of us that has eternal life (our spirit) is living and conscious when we go into His presence upon our death.

Our dead bodies, those mortal parts of us that cease to have life, sleep in the grave [or in the sea, or in the ashes of cremation, whatever….] Whether we are put into a tomb or grave, or cremated, or eaten by lions, or buried at sea makes no difference. When the spirit leaves the body, the body immediately “descends” into that state of death (lower parts of the earth, the grave), while the spirit “ascends” into God’s presence.

At the second coming of Jesus, the order is reversed. The physical body “rises” or ascends from the state of death, no matter whether it has become bones, dust, ashes, or food for the birds. Out of the state of death that physical body rises into a glorified state, like unto His “body of glory” (Philippians 3: 21). Meanwhile, not leaving the presence of God, but descending with Jesus back into this visible earth realm, the conscious, immortal spirit once again is joined to the body it left at death.

So Paul is attempting to comfort the hearts of the Thessalonian followers of Jesus about the fate of their loved ones who have died. He is not saying to them “Don’t worry, we shall see them someday up in heaven.” No, he is teaching that they will come back with Jesus for the great Day of the Lord and the events connected with that. Read on in 1 Thessalonians 4 and see that this is so. I can hear someone say: “Oh, I want to go to heaven someday and see Mother.” Well, don’t worry, dear one. If she is one of God’s elect, one of those who “sleep in Jesus” (verse 14), she is coming back here. Just stick around, and be prepared. Or, if you should happen to die before Jesus returns, you will be reunited with your loved ones in heaven an atomic second after you die!

Someone says, “Oh, I want to go to heaven and get my rewards.” In Revelation 22: 12 Jesus said, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” Is there a heaven? Will we go there? Of course we will go to heaven! But what we are writing about in this article is the return of Jesus to this earth, and what happens at that time. I Thessalonians 4 says nothing about us being “caught away” to heaven. What it does say is that we who are alive and remain until His coming shall be “caught up.” And it does not say anything about us coming back down after we are caught up. Once I get caught into that realm of glory where Jesus is, don’t ever talk to me about descending back down into this life of mortality, sickness, aging, and death.

Caught Up!

Many song writers have written that Jesus “is coming back to catch His waiting Bride away.” The Bible never says that. It never implies that the return of Jesus is to rescue His bride off this planet earth and take her to another geographical location somewhere beyond the universe where there are no battles or hide her from the face of the Antichrist! When the Bible speaks of being “caught up,” it is not speaking in terms of miles or light-years away. Please turn to 2 Corinthians 12: 1 – 4, and read it before reading any further in this teaching.

Where did this unnamed person [most teachers believe it was Paul himself] go? Physically, his body went nowhere. But he had an amazing experience. God took him into that realm of life known as Paradise, the third heaven. The first heaven corresponds to the first gate or entrance into the Old Testament Tabernacle in the wilderness (and later the Old Testament Temple) that brings us to the brazen altar (symbolic of Calvary). In Ephesians 1: 3 we read that God has blessed us with “every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ,…” That’s a heavenly “place,” dear reader. But you don’t have to get into an airplane or spaceship to get there. That “place” is “In Him, holy and without blame.” Yes, Calvary brings us into a heavenly place. This is the first heaven.

The second heaven corresponds to the second realm of the Tabernacle and Temple—the sanctuary—wherein were placed the candlestick and the golden altar of incense. When the Bible says in Ephesians 2: 6 that “[God] has raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Paul is not teaching a physical ascent into the sky; he is teaching about a spiritual “ascent,” in Christ. The Baptism in Holy Spirit (and being continually filled with Holy Spirit—Ephesians 5: 18) brings us into a supernatural “heaven” in Christ. This is the second experience, the second heaven God has brought us to.

The Third Heaven

Paul had already ascended into the first two heavens with his salvation experience and with his “second work of grace,” the baptism and filling of Holy Spirit. Now he is teaching that God took him for a little while into that realm of life, that third heaven, which is our inheritance in Christ. Moffatt’s translation says “In the body or out of the body? I do not know. I simply know that in the body or out of the body (God knows which)” this man was caught up into paradise and heard sacred secrets which no human lips can repeat.

In this experience, it was not important to him to know whether or not his body went into that realm or place. Fourteen years after that phenomenal experience, Paul still suffered the afflictions of his mortal body. But he had been into that third heaven. He knows it is there. And if he has to lay his body down in death, he knows that it eventually has to come into that realm of glory also, by the resurrection power of Christ. Caught up into the heavenlies! The third heaven.

Which Way is Up?

Of course, your answer to that question would be to point over your head above you. But a person in Australia, or China, or Israel would say otherwise. If we all went “up” physically in relation to where we are, the people of earth would all be flying off in different directions. If you point up today at noon, then twelve hours later at midnight, the part of the universe you pointed to at noon would now be down, not up. Actually, this physical universe is so created so there is no such a place as “up” in the universe. We can go farther out from the earth, and send space ships to the moon, and Mars. But the earth is constantly turning, and so is the entire universe. That’s what causes day and night, summer and winter, for example.

We point at the clouds above us and say that is up. But to folks a few miles away, those clouds are not up, they are “down” over the horizon. Stratocumulus clouds range from ground level to 6,500 feet high, a little over a mile. Alto-cumulus clouds go from 6,500 feet up to 23,000 feet high (over 4 miles high). The cirrus and cirrocumulus clouds, the highest order of clouds, range from 16,500 to 45,000 feet high, up to about 9 miles high. While flying across the nation to California, I looked out of the plane window at the clouds below. We were high above all the clouds, with a vast sea of clouds below. I thought to myself that if those were the clouds Jesus appeared in or with, then I would have to be “caught down” instead of being “caught up.”

What Clouds?

The Bible never says that Jesus returns “to” the clouds, or “on” clouds. It is very careful to tell us that He comes “in” the clouds, or “with” the clouds. Clouds of glory. Daniel 7: 13 says “with” the clouds of heaven. Does Heaven have clouds? Oh yes. Revelation 1: 7 also says that He comes “with” clouds. Matthew 24: 30, 26: 64, Mark 13 :26, 14: 62 and I Thessalonians 4: 17 all say “in” the clouds. Hebrews 12: 1 tells us that the past heroes of faith are a “cloud of witnesses.” Those Old Testament saints that have gone on to be with the Lord are a great cloud of witnesses. 2 Peter 2: 17 and Jude 12 both tell us that false teachers are like clouds carried away by storms.

Ecclesiastes 11: 3 says: “If clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth.” True teachings give life to others. They are willing to empty themselves in order to be a blessing to dry and thirsty people. True followers of Jesus pour out their lives for others—as Jesus did. The Old Testament teaches about a cloud of incense over the Mercy seat in the Holy of Holies, and says that is where God will appear. “I will appear in the cloud above the Mercy seat” (Leviticus 16: 2).

A Cloud Received Him

Acts 1: 11 is a reference some like to quote, and they say: “See, it says that as He went away, He shall come in like manner. And He left from that cloud and went up into heaven didn’t He?” No, He didn’t. Read it again: Acts 1:9 – 11.

“[Jesus] will come In like manner”… Some say that Jesus will come out of the sky and stop on a cloud where we will meet Him. But notice that in Acts 1 :9 He did not start from a cloud and ascend to outer space. He started from their visible presence on the earth, and, as He was rising, disappeared from view in a cloud, ascending by that means into heaven. Reverse the order, and we see Him appearing from out of a cloud and descending back into our visible presence where we can see Him and be with Him. Glory to God! “As He went”…”in like manner He will return”!

What Really Happens?

“…To meet the Lord in the air.” (1 Thessalonians 4: 17). Not meet Him up in the sky, or in outer space. But in the air. Air. The stuff we breathe [the atmosphere surrounding the earth]. It is all around us. It’s what there isn’t any of in outer space. When airplanes fly up above the clouds, they have to take their air with them in order to breathe. The Wuest translation of this text says we meet Him “in the lower atmosphere.”

But it will be in a much higher spiritual order. Caught up…Hallelujah! I like that. “…So shall we ever be with the Lord.” But aren’t we with Him now? In one sense, we are. But 2 Corinthians 5: 6 makes it plain that “While we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” But when we are “caught up,” our bodies are also involved in this ascent, so that we can be forever in the presence of the Lord in a way we cannot know now, and still have our body. A glorified, glorious body!

So the sum of what we have said is this: The old pre-Tribulation escape Rapture theory that originated with Margaret MacDonald in 1830, and now held by many millions of Christians, is false and contrary to scripture. Irving, Darby, Larkin, Scofield and many others since them have perpetuated a false theory based on faulty experience and information.

What will really happen is that Jesus will return with a sound of a trumpet. Now wherever the Bible speaks of a trumpet, it is sometimes a literal trumpet, but sometimes is symbolic of a message being proclaimed. Look up the word “trumpet” in any good Bible concordance. Many biblical texts confirm this. Trumpets sounded for each feast day in the Old Testament. And there is a message or “trumpet of restoration” that will serve to bring Jesus back to earth (Acts 3: 21).

And when He comes back, those followers of Jesus who come back with Him shall receive their bodies again that were laid down in death. Those bodies shall ascend or rise out of that state of death, into a glorious state of likeness to His body of glory. Then those who are still dwelling in their mortal bodies shall be “caught up” into that same place. This mortal shall put on immortality. Death shall be swallowed up in victory!

Then the children of God shall be “caught up to God and His throne.” (Revelation 12: 5) The manifestation (or unveiling) of the children of God takes place (Romans 8). The Jubilee trumpet of Leviticus 25 begins to sound. The Melchisedec priesthood passes through the veil into the Holy of Holies to be with their great High Priest, Jesus our Lord (Hebrews). Those whom He has made to be kings and priests begin to reign on this earth with Jesus, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. (Revelation 1: 6) The armies of heaven who follow Jesus on white horses, destroy Babylon, burn her with fire, and bind Satan with unbreakable chains (Revelation 19 and 20). All enemies begin to be put under the feet of Jesus and his Body, the Church, until every enemy has been destroyed, even death!

Whether or not you have faith to believe for these great things does not change their occurrences. For the performance of those things God has spoken does not depend upon our faith, and is not hindered by our unbelief. He has spoken, and He shall perform it. The age of death, sin, sickness, crime, hate, war, pain, darkness and rebellion is rapidly coming to an end. Doors are opening to a new age. The Kingdom is getting ready to be consummated on earth! Hallelujah! JESUS IS COMING SOON!

[NOTE from Bill Boylan: Bill Britton died in the 1980’s and his spirit is now with Jesus in heaven, awaiting its reunion with Bill’s body when Jesus returns. I have updated some of his pamphlet’s teachings and have done some editing on it just for better readability, but what you have just read is essentially the same as when it was first written by “Brother Bill.” I did not change any of his pamphlet’s essential meaning. If you want to compare his unedited version with this, my edited version, simply go to his family’s website noted below.

Since Bill Britton first wrote on this subject in the 1960’s, a large volume of materials have been written soundly refuting the Rapture Theory—including books, magazine articles, and scholarly essays and dissertations. But I wanted to include this original article by Bill Britton on my web site simply because it was one of the first to be written on the subject—in honor of “Brother Bill” Britton who was my personal friend. I look forward to a grand reunion with Bill when he returns with Jesus or when I die, whichever occurs first.  To see that the controversy about the Rapture Theory has still not been resolved, simply go to any major internet search engine and type in the words “Rapture of the Church.” You’ll be amazed at what pops up—both pro and con about the Rapture theory.

Not everyone agrees with all my teachings on this web site; I wouldn’t expect them to. Some do. Some don’t. Not everyone agrees with all Bill Britton’s teachings. Some do. Some don’t. I don’t agree with all of them. But, I love Bill Britton and have deep respect for him. He has ministered to me personally in loving and gracious ways that nobody but God knows about—especially during the early 1970’s. To learn more about Bill, his family, and to read or obtain many of his writings, go to the web site his daughter has created in Bill’s memory.

Bill Boylan
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated February 2023

Imagine That

I’m going to teach you a quick lesson in human makeup. God created humans as three-part beings, somewhat fashioned after his three-part being–The Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit–3 persons, yet one God; one God, yet 3 persons. Humans are created with a spirit, a soul, and a body. Think of a bullseye or a target with a circle in the center and then two concentric circles surrounding it. The inner circle is our spirit, the next circle is our soul, and the third, outer circle, is our body.

Our spirit is that part of us that “connects” us with God; it is the God-conscious part of us at the very “heart” of our being. Our soul is that part of us comprising our minds and our personalities. The soul is “seated” in the brain, so to speak, but it is not merely the brain. Our body . . . well, you know what that is. There you have it: humans have been created by God with a body, a soul, and a spirit. Three, yet one; one, yet three. Indivisible, yet separate “components” of our being.

The soul—the mind—is comprised of our consciousness and our subconsciousness. Those “parts” of our mind are not really parts but are more like separate “processes” by which our minds function. Again, our brain is the “seat” of those processes, but the processes are more than the physical brain itself. The word, soul, in the New Testament comes from the Greek word, psuche,” from which we get the English word, psyche, meaning the mind and personality—that part of us which is studied by psychiatrists and psychologists.

Our tremendous ability to imagine—our imagination—is part of the processes of both our conscious and subconscious minds, but, in a sense, it transcends both those processes—sort of a “higher” creative process.

There you have it: a quick lesson in human composition and makeup, including the processes of the soul (mind). If you’re interested in knowing more about how God created us as three-part beings, I invite you to read another teaching on this web site titled Whole In One.

The Alien Visitor

Now . . . let’s put our imaginations to use. Imagine you have just met a very friendly, extremely intelligent alien who has landed here from a far distant galaxy. You and the alien are conversing with one another. The alien tells you he and his species have been orbiting our planet for centuries, studying all the various species here. He tells you this story.

“There is a species on your planet called a bear. Although generally larger than you humans, bears have brains similar in size and composition to yours. Yet humans perform many functions with their brains that bears cannot perform. One of the functions human brains perform is that of imagination. Humans can imagine; bears cannot.  Yet older humans think imagining is something that only children should do as they play their games with one another and with imaginary characters.  That is a serious mistake most adult humans make—you limit to children your capacity to imagine. You feel that for adults to use their imagination is not intelligent, not wise, not ‘grown up,’ not ‘professional.’ Yet your capacity to imagine is one of your greatest gifts from the Creator.”

Imagination is not something foreign to adult mental processes. For change, growth, and development, imagination is your greatest ‘tool.’ Yet you use it so seldom, feeling it’s not something adults should do. Use your imagination more in all you do,” encouraged the alien!  

Walt Disney died before Disney World opened in Florida. I’ve been told that during the opening ceremonies someone remarked, “It’s too bad Walt didn’t live to see this.” A listener responded, “Oh, but he did ‘see’ it; that’s why it’s here!”

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “We become like that which we think about the most.” One young male reading that, remarked, “I hope that’s not true; I don’t want to turn into a girl!” What do those anecdotes mean? Here are some insights into your mind’s amazing creative thinking and imagining processes.

I’m sure you understand the elementary concept that before you are able to create, invent, or construct something, you must first picture or imagine the object in your mind. You must pre-envision in your thoughts and imagination what will happen. For example, as I “create” these sentences and input them to my computer, I am first thinking—or picturing—them in my mind; my thoughts create the words first—just an atomic fraction of a second before my fingers strike the keys on the keyboard.

All your behavior first occurs in your mind—in your thought processes. You’ve probably heard or read the statement: “If you can conceive it and believe it (in your thoughts or imagination), you can achieve it!” That’s the process I am explaining. Exactly how do your thoughts become outward realities? How does your inner thinking, believing, and imagining become something tangible and real in your outer world?

Creating, Building, Constructing, Inventing

Think of the words “foresee” or “foresight.” They mean to see something in one’s mind—before it happens. Thus, the word “foresee.” Creators, inventors, builders, artists—all believe and picture something in their creative imaginations or minds before the thing becomes a tangible, objective reality. They actually “create” objects in their vivid imaginations before their hands begin to create it in the outer world.

What mental processes occur between the time of your first inner thoughts and your final outer behavior? Modern science doesn’t know all there is to know about your brain and mind (the two are not exactly the same), but scientists have disclosed much fascinating information about how your inner beliefs become outward realities—how internal believing and imagining become external realities in time and space.  Waking or sleeping, there are three primary processes which continually occur in your mind: 1. the conscious process, 2. the subconscious process and 3. the creative subconscious process (the imagination). These are not physical areas or compartments of your brain or mind; they are processes.

Many more processes continually occur in your brain, but these are the three principal, internal mental processes which are active around the clock. I won’t write about your conscious process; that’s self-evident.  Nor will I write about many things that first occur in your spirit before they work their way out into your mind. You can read about that process in another teaching on our web site titled Change Your Mind.

The basic function of your creative subconscious process (your imagination) is to create powerful images (imaginings) or pictures in your mind and then transmit them to your subconscious process for storage as memory. Think of the modern CD or “thumb drive” process–or the processes on your smart phone. Your creative subconscious process is a combined “camera” and “projector” which both “makes” the pictures in your mind and then “plays” them for viewing. Your subconscious process can be likened to the storage shelves in your home where you store your CD’s for later viewing. These are not still photos, but, rather, are running images or pictures in motion you constantly play and view in your mind.  

Where do your mental videos come from? How do they get in your mind? Most of them originate in the external world around you and are input to your mental processes via your five senses. But many of your mental videos also originate in your brain and mind when your creative subconscious process is being—well, creative: comparing and contrasting different images, superimposing them upon one another, realigning them with one another, and serendipitously combining and relating various internal pictures with each other. Someone has said true creativity is the mental ability to relate the seemingly unrelated and connect the seemingly unconnected. Your creative subconscious process is truly creative. It has no limits except those you choose to impose upon it. It is not limited by time nor space.

All these electrochemical and biochemical thought processes are continually occurring in your brain and mind with the speed of light. In that regard, think about this: is it possible that the speed of your thought processes is actually faster than the speed of light!? You can learn to harness and control in positive and constructive ways many of your mind’s creative thought processes.

“Create” A New You

For example, you can input to your creative subconscious process new pictures of you being a patient person instead of an impatient person, and then learn how to imprint and hold those new images until your self image actually begins to change you into a patient person in your real world, outward behavior. Change your thoughts (and attitudes) and you will change yourself. Essentially, you can learn to create a new, inner CD of you being patient rather than impatient.

All meaningful and lasting change begins on the inside—in your creative thought processes (your imagination)—and then works its way to the outside in the form of new attitudes, actions, and behavior. Actually, the most meaningful and lasting changes occur first in your spirit and then work their way out from there—but that’s another lesson. It is incorrect to say that if we change our outward behavior, that will change us inside. That’s not quite true; all meaningful and lasting change occurs on the inside and then works its way out into our outward behavior.

As mentioned earlier, if you’re interested in learning more about changes in your spirit working their way to the outside, I invite to turn to another teaching on this web site entitled “Change Your Mind.”  It generally takes from three to five weeks to begin to displace old thinking processes and form new ones through a daily process of repetitive inner viewing and new self-talk. You must first believe you can change. Then you must visualize (imagine) yourself as changed, creatively picturing yourself in actual situations where you can see and feel how you will be as the new, changed you. You must believe and creatively picture yourself as changed in actual, real life scenarios.

For example, in your creative imagination visualize yourself standing in a long line of customers in front of a slow working bank teller. See yourself standing there with a smile on your face, thinking pleasant thoughts about God, about yourself, your family and your friends—possibly even chatting warmly with a friend ahead of you in line. Picture yourself finally reaching the teller and smiling as you extend a warm, friendly greeting. Feel how quickly the time spent waiting in line seemed to pass. How long will it take to visualize (imagine) such a scene? Perhaps fifteen to twenty seconds three or four times each day—while you’re relaxed and can really concentrate on your visualization.

Did you know there are some special cells in your brain, the limbic system, which color every internal image with emotion? The stronger the emotion you attach to the new image, the quicker and more lasting changes you can make.  Continuing with our example of the new, patient you, as you internally picture your new image, let yourself strongly feel how you believe you will feel as a predominantly patient person.

The Power Of Your Words

While you are believing, picturing and feeling your desired changes, you must also speak as though the desired changes have already occurred; for example, repeatedly tell yourself: “I am a very patient person in waiting situations, and appreciate having the extra time to reflect upon God’s blessings to me!” You see, your attitudes about yourself are formed three dimensionally—by words, which create images, which bring about feelings.

Yes, your words about yourself trigger your internal images of yourself—images which, in turn, cause your limbic system to add to the images strong feelings about your desired changes. Believe it or not, your creative subconscious process is unable to distinguish between a real experience and one which you vividly view in your mind with accompanying strong emotions. Only ten to fifteen seconds of creative imagining while you are relaxed—accompanied by strong feelings from your limbic system—can sometimes have between ten to sixty times the impact of a real experience!

For example, I remember an incident that occurred when I was 18 years old attempting to impress a girl I had a crush on. My attempt failed miserably—in front in front of both the young lady and a number of friends. To this day many years later, if I let that situation “replay” in my mind, it’s as embarrassing and humiliating to me now (sometimes even more so) than when it actually occurred many years ago. My creative imagination and my limbic system act in concert to make that long ago event seem just as real now, many years later.

So, let your creative subconscious (your inner CD imaginings) roll on; let them scroll across the viewing screen of your mind. Who said daydreams are only for children? They’re the stuff Disney Worlds, Mount Rushmores, manned voyages to Mars, and cures for diseases are made from. From those daydreams and pictures in your creative subconscious process come beliefs in new ideas, new concepts, new creations, new inventions, new processes, new services—and even a new you—that you picture, believe and feel in your mind before they work their way out to your external world. All creative breakthroughs are won in the mind and imagination before they occur outwardly!

Maybe you’re not planning to create a Disney World, but you may be picturing a new you, a new business venture, a new invention, or a new service you can provide to others. Whatever you can visualize and believe can help turn your dreams into realities.  Don’t focus upon what you feel you can’t do or upon what you feel are your limitations. Instead, dream and plan for success. Marcus Aurelius, one of Rome’s better Emperors, summed it up in eight short words: “Our life is what our thoughts make it.” Let your life become what you imagine in your creative subconscious processes.

Here’s a real-life, personal example. My wife and I were in the process of relocating to another state. It all started when, after prayer, we came to believe God wanted us to make the move. Once we concluded that, then we began to make note of the general locale to which we felt he wanted us to move. We began to visualize the land and our new home (which we decided to build, rather than purchase a pre-owned home). We began to “picture” the land and house in our creative subconscious processes.

As those inner scenes began to form in our subconscious, we made some reconnaissance trips over to the general locale where we wanted to move. We began to explore for just the exact parcel of land we were already “picturing” on the viewing screens of our minds. We began to “see” exactly what our new home would look like. We pictured ourselves in our new home, dining, sleeping, working, writing, reading, entertaining friends. We took those thoughts to a draftsperson, who drew the house plans based on what we were “seeing” in our creative subconscious thought processes.

Meanwhile (after much frustrating searching—no one said working out the details of God’s will was easy!), we finally located the parcel of land we felt God wanted us to purchase. The location was exactly where we felt he wanted us to be in a quiet little community about 90 miles away from where we then lived.  As all of these things were occurring concerning our new location and new home, the home we had been living in sold very quickly—actually before we advertised it! And just a few days later we wrote up the contract for the parcel of land we purchased. It all has to do with God’s will, God’s timing, AND the use of our creative imaginations.

The real-life processes of clearing the land, preparing the building site, and constructing our new home took six months or more of a lot of hard work by numerous people. BUT, in our minds—in our creative subsconcious processes, it was already done! It was as real in our minds then as the actual land and new home would be in six months. That’s just one example of how my wife and I use our creative imaginations.

If you learn nothing else from this teaching, remember this: All meaningful and lasting change begins on the inside—in your creative thought processes (your imagination)—and then works its way to the outside in the form of your attitudes, actions, and behavior. It may be childlike to use your creative imagination, but it is not childish! It is very adult and grownup, as has been proved through centuries of usage by wise, learned, creative people. Learn to harness and use your God-given imagination to change your life and your world!

Bill Boylan
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated February 2023

Creating My Future

Both my past and my future begin right now, this very instant.  My past is ever swirling and eddying behind me, and my future ever beginning, ever unfolding  endlessly before me, ever becoming my past, ever changing . . . God and I ever co-creating it according to his eternal purposes for my life.

Previously, I taught this material for about 10 years as “Increasing Human Effectiveness,” a secular workshop of 80 classroom hours during a two-week period.  My students were mostly Department of Defense military and civilian employees.  I taught the material throughout the United States in many places and in many situations ranging from Army foxholes to leadership boardrooms.  

After I retired from almost 35 years of military service, I “converted” the material to an 8 to 10 hour class as a faith-based workshop, teaching it to both small church groups and to individuals—and renamed it Creating My Future.  The workshop is designed for you to actually do some homework which may take a few hours—not all at one sitting, however. So . . . if you‘re willing to do your assigned homework, this material may very well prove to be some of the most useful you have ever read and worked on!

Here’s what the Bible says about this workshop:  “God, You know every step I will take even before my journey even begins.  YOU’VE GONE INTO MY FUTURE to prepare the way.”  (Psalm 139: 4 and 5, The Passion Translation, emphasis mine)

To begin our workshop, I have good news for you: your past does not necessarily equal your future!  You can create a bright new future for yourself.  Your past is past.  Look to your future!  The very best of your past can be the worst of your future . . . if you’ll work at co- creating your new future in cooperation with God.  You can look better in your future than you do right now!

All followers of Jesus should be futurists, not “pastists.” It is good to have a healthy, positive focus on the future, knowing God has already been there ahead of us. We are not trapped in our past or present. Our past should be a stepping stone, not a millstone; a guidepost, not a hitching post.  We can move forward into our future. Why have a positive focus on the future?  Because we will spend the rest of our lives in our futures!  Keep in mind God is already in your future, beckoning you to come join Him in your bright future!

We’re all on a journey toward our futures. Our journeys began when we were conceived and will end—but not really end—when we make the transition from this life to the next stage of our journey into more eons of time and beyond that into Eternal Realms.

You may ask, “What if Jesus returns soon?  Won’t that radically alter any future we might have had otherwise?  Yes, that most certainly would radically alter our futures.  If we are Bible-believers we have to wrestle with the matter of Jesus’ return.  Jesus said He would return to this planet and consummate his Kingdom on the freshly restored earth.  That’s a certainty.  The only thing we don’t know with any objective certainty is when Jesus will return.  That He will return is a certainty.  When He will return is not so certain. 

Yes, He could return today.  But He could return a thousand years or more from now.  Only God the Father knows exactly when Jesus will return.  We can only speculate about the time of his return.  Someone has quipped:  “Jesus can’t return today because it’s already tomorrow on the opposite side of the world!”

Not knowing when Jesus will return results in two viewpoints.  First, some will say, “Since we don’t know—but it may be soon—why bother planning for the future?”  Those holding another viewpoint will say just the opposite:  “Since we don’t know with any certainty when Jesus will return, let’s plan on living the remainder of our lives with passion and purpose, discovering our destiny and looking for a bright future.”  It’s really just a matter of choice which of those two viewpoints you hold—one is rather negative, the other somewhat positive.  As for me and my family, we choose the positive viewpoint, cooperating with Holy Spirit in “co-creating” with Him a bright future for ourselves.  Holy Spirit within us is actually Jesus in his “unbodied Spirit form.”

Here at the very beginning of this workshop, there are four general principles I want you to understand clearly:

1. If I keep doing what I’ve always done in my past, in my future I’ll keep getting what I’ve always gotten.   I’ve been told Dr Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

2. My future does not necessarily equal my past.

3. God wants me to live by design with purpose, not by default or by chance.

4. I will spend the rest of my mortal life living in my future.

So . . . let’s take a look to see what we can do—working in cooperation with God’s Spirit within us—to begin creating, building, and configuring our own bright new futures. If we and Holy Spirit cooperate in constructing and shaping our own futures, then we need not fear the future, because we will be familiar with it—we will know it—and it will quite naturally draw us toward it as we walk hand in hand with God toward the futures we have built together with him.

First, think about Jeremiah 29: 11:

“’I have tremendous purposes for you, both in this life and the next,’ says God. ‘They are purposes for good and not for evil, to give you a bright future and a solid hope.’”

Then consider Isaiah 43: 19:

“Be alert, be present.  I’m about to do something brand-new.  There it is!  Can you see it?  I’m making a road through the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

God has a vision to do something new for our bright futures. His future for you is good, not bad—and full of hope. He wants you to have a successful and prosperous future full of hope, full of good, and full of purpose, but let’s define “success” and “prosperity” according to the Bible.

Here is the Bible’s amplified definition of success as found principally in the first chapter of Joshua:

“Success is for me to steadily and consistently move toward accomplishing God’s purposes for my life, according to my potential *; it is a journey, not a destination.”

[*Potential consists of three components: 1. My God-given gifts, skills, abilities and talents; 2. My education and training; and 3. My desires. [As to my desires, remember it is God who gives me the desires of my heart; not that He simply fulfills my desires (He does!), but He puts them in my heart in the first place. Psalm 37:4]

Here’s the Bible’s definition of prosperity as found in several places throughout both the Old and New Testaments:

“Prosperity is for God to furnish me enough for my journey.”

Those are the Bible’s definitions of those two concepts. Contrast and compare them with the generally accepted definitions of those two words by this world’s systems.  Keep both definitions clearly in mind as you continue your homework.

As previously mentioned, this teaching grew out of workshops I have presented in various settings throughout the entire United States and in other parts of the world.  The nature of a workshop is that the participants do some work.  Before reading any further in this teaching, I have some work I want you to do.  Please do not continue reading until you do your “homework.”  Frankly, this homework may take you a number of hours to complete (Not all at one time, necessarily), but if you don’t complete your assigned homework, then the remainder of this teaching will be absolutely worthless to you. So . . . it’s your choice now: either do your homework or don’t waste your time reading and studying the remainder of this teaching.

Yes, it may take you a few hours to complete your homework, but you don’t have to do it all at one sitting. In fact, it would be better for you if you worked on it a few moments a day over the next week or so. That will give ample time for the concepts you’ll be working on to lodge deeply in your mind and spirit—and ample time for Holy Spirit to begin helping them become an integral part of your future.

In order for you to have a successful and prosperous future, you must first begin with forming and writing down your BELIEFS.  After you’ve done that, you will also work on your ATTITUDES, your VALUES, your MISSION or VISION for your life, and some GOALS to help you fulfill God’s and your visions for your life and to create, shape, and mold your bright future.

When you’re finished with these homework exercises, you will have a new grasp, understanding, and appreciation of your own BELIEFS, ATTITUDES, VALUES, MISSION, and GOALS. Yours, not mine. Not someone else’s.  Not your spouse’s, not your parents, not what you feel someone else expects of you, but your very own that you can work with for the remainder of your journey through this life—whether that journey is another 100 years, 50 years, 25 years, 5 years, or one year. These will help you reach the bright future God has in store for you, regardless of the length of that future.

Again, keep in mind that God has already “traveled” to your future and knows all its highlights and joys as well as its sorrows, pitfalls, and detours. Grasp his hand firmly as you journey toward your future; with God, all will be well because God is All . . . in all.

Wherever you’re presently at on your journey through this life, you know God has been very present with you—and in you—up to this point in your journey. He has been there in the past.  He is with you now. The fact that He has been with you on every stage of your journey so far should encourage you that He will be with you in the future stages of your journey, too. Not only will He be with you in your future, but He has already gone on ahead and paved the way for you to walk with him into your bright new future.

Lesson One: My True Beliefs

Your beliefs are what you honestly hold to be true about God, about his universe, about life on this planet, about humanity, about yourself, etc. They are what you honestly believe to be true and real, in an absolute and objective sense. You must not list your beliefs simply because you feel they are what others think you should believe, or what you think you ought to believe. They should be what you honestly believe when you’re alone with just God and yourself. Beliefs should be written, personalized, and referred to often. Your true and genuine beliefs underlie everything you do and say.

Just to get you started formulating and writing your own beliefs, here are some sample ones written by some of my former workshop participants:

  • God is, and He loves all humanity, including me. 
  • God is eternally good, not bad in any sense.   All his thoughts toward me are good. All his purposes for my future are good.
  • Jesus of Nazareth is God in human flesh, born of a virgin. He lived. He died. He came back to life.  He ascended to heaven.  He will come back to earth again.
  • God restores everyone to a full, loving relationship with Himself. Those who know, tell those who don’t.
  • God lives in me permanently, in the unbodied form of Holy Spirit.
  • God has specific purposes for my life, and He wishes me to be successful and prosperous during my life’s journey.
  • I can only be a true, growing, maturing follower of Jesus, if I am actively involved in the life of a local expression of Jesus’ Living Body, his Church.
  • The nuclear family with married heterosexual parents is God’s purposes for all humankind.
  • God has placed me exactly where He wants me in a local expression of his Living Body, the Church.
  • I am a unique creation of God, equipped with all the skills, abilities and talents necessary for me to be all God wants me to be, and to fulfill all his purposes for my life.

My First Homework Assignment

Okay, here’s your first homework. Before you read any further, I want you to take a separate sheet of paper and write down your own beliefs under the heading, “Here Is What I Truly And Honestly Believe.” Go ahead, write that heading on a separate sheet of paper and get started writing your own beliefs under that heading. To get you started, feel free to “borrow” some of the beliefs of others I wrote just above this paragraph—as long as you truly believe them. As you write your beliefs, share them with your spouse or loved ones so you will have shared beliefs. Write your own beliefs. Write your shared beliefs.  

On the other hand, never discuss your beliefs, values, attitudes, mission statement, or goals with people who will be negative and unbelieving about them; there are enough of those people around you. Instead, share them only with like-minded, positive people who will work with you and help you create your bright new future.

Lesson Two:  My Attitudes

I was not born with my attitudes.  I learned them from various sources.  Negative, harmful attitudes can be unlearned, and replaced with new, positive attitudes based on my beliefs and my values.  When I change my attitudes to be more positive and God-centered, I see life differently.  Attitudes are the “filters” and “windows” through which I view all of my life.  My entire life is changed when I change my attitudes.

95% of what I do or don’t do on a daily basis is based on my prevailing attitudes.  On the one hand, my attitudes are expressed primarily by my speech, secondarily by my body language, facial expressions, and overall demeanor.  On the other hand, simultaneously over time, my speech creates my attitudes.      In brief, my attitudes are expressed by my speech.  My speech creates my attitudes.  My speech and my attitudes are vitally, inseparably interconnected. 

At the beginning of any undertaking, it is my attitude, more than anything else, that will determine a successful outcome.  An attitude of gratitude gives me more “latitude” in my daily life.  It is attitude, not aptitude, that determines my “altitude” in life.

At this point, I want you to stop and consider some of your genuine attitudes toward God, toward what you feel about your place in the universe and on earth, your attitudes toward other people, and your attitudes toward yourself.  Also, consider the prevailing attitudes you hold about your day-to-day life, including your work, your spare time, your social life, how you feel about various situations you encounter in your day-to-day affairs.

                “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitudes on life.  Attitudes, to me, are more important than facts.  They are more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than success, than what other people say, or think, or do.  They are more important than appearance, giftedness, or skills.   Attitudes will make or break a company . . . a church . . . a home . . . a marriage.  The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitudes we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change our past.  We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have—our attitudes.  I am convinced that life is 5% what happens to me and 95% of how I react and respond to it based on my attitudes.  And so it is with you.  We are in charge of our attitudes.”

                                                                                            –Adapted from Chuck Swindoll

My Second Homework Assignment

On some other sheets of paper, write down some of your true attitudes—good or bad, positive or negative—and give consideration about how you might change some of them that need changing.

                I change my attitudes about_____________  (List as many as you feel you need to change)

Have you completed your homework about your true and genuine beliefs and some attitudes that need changing?  If so, please continue. If not, don’t go any further until you’ve written at least 8-10 of your own beliefs and attitudes that need changing. Once you complete that assignment, now take another piece of paper, and begin to write your values as defined below.  Remember, these should be your values, not someone else’s. Take your time, think about them, pray about them, write them down. Your values are based upon your beliefs and attitudes, and, in a sense, should “agree“ with your beliefs and attitudes. If they don‘t agree, then your beliefs, attitudes, and values will always be “warring“ against each other.

Lesson Three:  My Values

Your values are what are most valuable to you. What you treasure the most. What you value the most.  What you would save if your home were burning down and you could rescue only a few items, including people and pets. They are what are most important to you. They are your core views about the worth or importance of people, concepts, or things. They are “windows” through which you make all your decisions—the way you look at and evaluate life.

Your values must be consistent, and “agree” with your true and real beliefs.  If they are inconsistent, your values are not what you really hold to be most valuable to you. Take whatever time you need to write down your genuine values. You can always come back to this teaching at any time. Pray about your values. Ask God to help you with them. Make certain they are your values, not someone else’s.

My Third Homework Assignment

Here are some sample ideas about values you can think about as you write your own values on a separate sheet of paper under this heading: These Are My True and Real Values.

  • It is important to me that I am a growing, maturing follower of Jesus, consistently developing and maintaining an open relationship with God.
  • I value having a comfortable home and surroundings.
  • It’s important to me to maintain a sacrificial level of giving to God of my time, talent, and treasures. It’s important to me to be a good manager of God’s money.
  • It’s important to me to be a loving spouse (or friend, mother, father, grandparent, etc.), consistently developing and maintaining an open relationship with my _________________.
  • Prayer is very valuable and important to me.
  • It’s important to me that I provide adequately for the needs of my family.
  • Travel and vacationing are very important to me.

Lesson Four:  My Vision or “Mission Statement” for My Life 

I’m assuming at this point you have completed your homework about your beliefs, attitudes, and values (and have given serious thought about how to change any attitudes you need to change) on three or more separate sheets of paper, and you’re now ready to move on to your Fourth homework assignment: writing your Vision (or “Mission Statement”) for your life.

Please understand that God has a vision or mission for your life. God’s vision for you . . .  God’s dream for you . . .  God’s purposes for you . . .  are to fully restore you to his image.  God created you in his image. You marred his image in you. God is restoring his image in you.   When your dreams are in line with God’s dreams they become real and exciting!  Most people don’t aim too high at their dreams and miss.  They aim too low and hit!

The fullest—the perfect—image of God is Jesus. (Hebrews 1:3; 1 Corinthians 3:18; 4:4; Colossians 1:15) You are a marred, blemished, fuzzy, unfocused image of God. What does it mean that God created you in his image?  It means that you are a visible representation of the invisible God.  Jesus is God’s perfect visible representation; you are God’s imperfect visible representation.

How is God restoring his perfect image in you? As you cooperate with Holy Spirit, he empowers you (from within where He lives in your spirit) to change your mind and attitudes.

Changing your thoughts and attitudes (putting on the mind of Jesus) day after day, year after year—and on into the eternal state—changes you more and more into the fully restored image of God . . . into a clearer image of God . . . into a more clearly focused image of God. (Romans 12: 1 and 2; Ephesians 4: 23; etc.)

So…what is God’s vision and mission for your life?

God’s Vision for your life is to fully restore you into his image!

In order to do that, God is taking whatever steps are necessary (many known only to him) to accomplish that.

Tying into God’s vision for your life, your own mission statement should describe your unique purpose in life. It should capture the qualities you want to develop in life, what you want to accomplish, what contributions you want to make in life. Your personal mission statement becomes a guide for your life, inspiring you to make decisions that will best help you reach your goals and fulfill your vision. It’s how you would like other people to see you and describe you. It should state why you feel you exist. It should state a “calling” for your life. It should state how you hope to fulfill your vision or mission.   It should state what you want people to remember about you after you die.

My Fourth Homework Assignment

Here are some sample mission statements:

  • Steadily and consistently, and as fully and completely as possible, I participate in Jesus’ work of restoring me—and others, including my family and friends—to God’s unmarred image. Part of my mission is to be an integral part of—and help build—the Church of Jesus. I accomplish this by means of ordinary day-to-day events and relationships with my loved ones, friends, and those whom I meet. To this end, I place at God’s disposal all my time, talents, and treasures.
  • My basic mission in life is to introduce other people to Jesus and then help them grow and mature as followers of Jesus.   Put another way, my mission is to bring heaven to earth, God to people, people back to God, and exhibit to others Jesus wrapped in his ____________________ skin. (Insert Your Name Above the Line)
  • I believe God wants me to be a successful and prosperous businessperson, so I can adequately meet the needs of my family and give money to God for his work here on earth. But, it’s God first, then my family, then my business.
  • My vision is to successfully complete my career in ten more years, retire with an adequate income, and then participate in short-term mission trips to China, taking other people with me on such trips.

Reminder: Your vision for your life draws you toward your future; it helps you “create” your own future. It helps you stay focused on your future.  Your life’s vision continually helps you shape your future.  What your past has been does not necessarily mean what your future is to be. For the remainder of your mortal life, continually remember this day after day, year after year: Your past does not necessarily equal your future. In many respects, your future is up to you!

Go ahead and let yourself dream about your vision for your life.  Let your dream become so much a part of you that it shines out of your eyes.  Some say that without our dreams, we are really nothing more than animals living only from day to day.  Once you sort of “open up’ your mind and spirit to begin dreaming, then dreams begin to build atop dreams and they get bigger and bigger . . . until finally they match God’s dreams for your life.  Yes, let yourself dream . . . and then ask God to help you turn those dreams into reality!  Your life will be as big as your dreams are!

Lesson Five: My Exciting Lifetime Goals

Tying into God’s vision for your life, now take a fourth sheet of paper and write this heading on it: My Mission or Vision For My Life. Under that heading, now take whatever time you need to think through and write down your vision for your my life; it must be consistent with your beliefs and values; otherwise, it will not be effective.

Goals are realistic, reachable dreams with deadlines. They are written, planned ends to which your performance and prayers are directed. When you set goals and write them down, you begin to perceive things related to your goals—things you have not previously thought of or seen. Without written goals, your life tends to be fragmented, scattered, unfulfilling, chaotic, and boring.

Goals are important because we humans are “teleological.” That’s just a big word meaning that we humans were created by God to function best when we are working toward goals.  We human beings are most effective when we work toward goals. We are happier and feel more fulfilled when we have goals we are pursuing. That’s just the way God created us as teleological beings. 

Setting goals is like setting a needle in a compass.  From then on, the compass knows only one point—its ideal.  And it will guide you there through the darkest nights and the fiercest storms of life.

The energy derived from setting goals comes in large part from the focus it brings to our lives.  It’s like igniting a fire by channeling the gentle rays of the sun to a single spot through a magnifying glass.

It’s critical you write your goals, and then refer to them, and work toward them daily. Goals are not resolutions you dream up at the first of the year, and then hermetically seal in an old peanut butter jar and hide away, hoping they will magically come true by next year. You must write them down, refer to them daily, imagine them coming true, look for things to make them happen, work toward them, dream of them, and talk them over with people who can help you reach them (but not with negative people who will put a damper on them).

Your goals must be consistent—agree with your beliefs and values, your genuine attitudes, with your values, your mission statement, and with the Bible’s definitions of “success” and “prosperity.” If they’re not consistent, then no matter what you do to attempt to reach your goals, you will constantly sabotage yourself as you work toward accomplishing them. You must write short-range goals (six months to one to two years out), mid-range goals (three to seven years out), and long-range goals (eight to ten years and more).

My Fifth Homework Assignment

Generally, most people write their goals under six categories: Service Work, Business, Education, Family, Sports and Hobbies, and General.

Here are some sample goals:

  • Have a regular, enjoyable exercise program, and maintain lifelong good health.
  • Give God a minimum of 10% of my income each pay period, beginning with 3%, then 5%, then 7%, and, finally, 10%.
  • Within one year, develop and maintain a meaningful, lifelong hobby.
  • Within five years, consistently drive late-model vehicles, completely paid for.
  • Travel to Europe and the British Isles within five years.
  • Within eight to ten years, become consistently free of debt except for recurring expenses.
  • Finish my undergraduate degree within 5 years from this date.
  • Build a comfortable retirement income in addition to other late-in-life working income.
  • Write at least one book in this life. Begin writing it this year; finish it in three years.
  • Have 3 – 5 couples as close friends, with regular, planned fellowship.
  • Within one year develop a genuine attitude of patience and tolerance of others who do not hold the same views I do.
  • Within two years, be hosting and teaching a meaningful weekly Bible study in my home with at least twelve people in regular attendance.

The best way to write your goals is to take six separate sheets of paper. At the top of each sheet, write one of those six categories mentioned above as a heading. Give yourself a few hours to work on them—to dream about them. Find a place where you will not be distracted. Play some of your favorite music in the background. Get comfortable. Begin writing. Just let yourself dream.

Write down anything that comes to mind.  If you think of something to write down that seems far-fetched or impossible, don’t tell yourself that; write it down anyhow, no matter how unreachable it might seem while you are writing.  After all, God is a God of miracles and nothing is impossible with Him!  Don’t limit yourself or tell yourself there’s no way you could accomplish something.  Just write it down.  That’s the main thing:  just let yourself dream and write it down.

After you’ve written your goals and have begun to work toward fulfilling them, check off the ones you’ve fulfilled and write down some more. This is a “living” document, where you are constantly reaching some goals, checking them off, and writing more.

Now take six separate sheets of paper, put the following headings on each of the sheets, and then begin writing your goals. REMINDER: your goals must be consistent with your true beliefs, your genuine values, your attitudes, and your mission statement for your life.

1.  My Church, Spiritual, Political, Community Goals

Samples: Rotary, Kiwanis, Church, Junior League, Chamber of Commerce, Boys Club, Young Republicans, serve at the mission, teach Church school, short-term missions trips, join Christian Service club, Campaign for City Council, etc.

2.  My Business Goals

Samples: make wise, effective decisions; make a vital contribution; delegate better; be better at follow-through; organize time better; hire more effective employees; develop teamwork; earn $___________ annually within five years; start my own home-based business; earn an MBA; etc.

3.  My Educational Goals

Samples: get a license, obtain a college degree, etc; conduct classes and seminars; teach at conferences; speed read; plan for personal growth and development; specific skills training; attend one seminar annually; attend one Christian conference annually; etc.

4.  My Family Goals

Samples: develop closeness and respect; plan family time better; plan and take one vacation annually; participate in children’s activities; shared interests with spouse; express feelings more effectively; demonstrate more love; show more interest in ________________; set a better example; show more patience; etc.

5.  My Sports, Hobbies, Recreational, and Leisure Goals

Samples: learn to dance; learn to ski, play tennis, golf, etc; start a collection of __________; fish; hike; climb; refinish furniture; learn to oil paint; learn to play a musical instrument; gardening; sing in a quartet; etc.

6.  My General and Miscellaneous Goals

Samples: earn more respect from peers; develop my self-esteem; do public speaking; improve my appearance and grooming; learn to relax and enjoy leisure time; attain my ideal weight; stop smoking; improve my physical condition; be a person of more integrity; plan more time alone for myself; read the Bible completely through; introduce _______________ to Jesus, etc.

You should now have ten or more separate sheets of paper on which you have written your beliefs, your attitudes, your values, your mission statement, and your goals—all  consistent with the Bible‘s definitions of “success“ and “prosperity.”

Another Homework Assignment

Another homework assignment is to take another separate sheet of paper, and use it for notes that come to your mind from time to time as you re-read and reflect upon this teaching, and continue updating and changing your other sheets as situations and events change in your life. Remember, this entire process is an ongoing process; your documents are “living” documents, subject to change, updating, and revision through the years. Here are some sample thoughts and notes written by some of my regular workshop participants:

  • Everything I write in this workbook (beliefs, values, mission statement, goals, etc.) is always subject to change as situations and events change in my life such as a death, divorce, a move, a new job, illness, etc. When things change, simply update them and move on toward the new future necessary to incorporate the changes.
  • Another fun exercise might be to sit down with your spouse and children and work on these together from time to time so I not only have individual beliefs, values, etc., but so we have shared interests. Even children can work out some of these principles at their own state of awareness and level of understanding. For example, don’t you wish you had learned some of these principles when you were in elementary, middle, and high school? What we’re generally taught in school helps us make a living; these principles help us make a life!
  • Make it a habit to read books about these principles. At your local library, often you can find great DVD’s or CD’s that teach many of these principles. Keep a file of newspaper and magazine articles you read about these principles.
  • Winners dwell on past wins.  Losers dwell on past losses.  Start a “Win Book”  in which you write down good things that happen to you, praise you receive from others, good things you do, awards you receive, commendations you are given, etc. Past wins help you have future wins.
  • Have a family night once a month in which you discuss these principles, pray about them, look over your shared goals, plan future strategies, read your Win Book, make new entries in your Win Book, share good things about one another, praise one another, etc.

A competent teacher always has objectives for their teaching. God has wonderful purposes for your future. My objective for you in writing this teaching is to help you learn how to begin—in practical, workable ways—to tap into those purposes as you and God stride hand in hand toward your limitless future!

If you wish to contact me for assistance, please let me know what I can do to help you.

Bill Boylan
leservices38@yahoo.com
Updated and Revised January 2023

Beyond the Far Shores of Time

Let’s examine for a few moments the concepts of time and eternity—as taught by both modern science and the Bible. They are both integral parts of the broader truth of God’s very own eternal LIFE within his sons and daughters. I’ll attempt to teach these two concepts as somewhat separate from one another, but, of necessity, there is much overlapping of the two. When we examine the subject of time, we will also look at other time-related concepts that are finite, temporal, non-absolute, and relative, that is, other concepts that are not eternal or that do not exist in eternity.  

Only Holy Spirit, the true Author of the Bible and Source of all true knowledge and wisdom, can teach us in depth about time and eternity. And I encourage you to ask Him for assistance and enlightenment as you continue to read this teaching. He can fill in the many gaps I’ve left out of this teaching because of my own limited understanding. I freely admit there is much I still don’t comprehend.

There is much yet to be learned as Holy Spirit gives us fresh revelation about the Bible, illumination and enlightenment. In a sense, there is much about time and eternity…that only time to come and—later beyond time—the eternal state can clarify for us. In considering time, we will also touch on such concepts as infinity, space, the universe, and that part of Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity pertinent to this teaching.

“…And Time Shall Be No More”

A concept we must grasp immediately at the outset is that time is an integral part of the entirety of all created phenomena (Hebrews 1:2) consisting of past, present, and future—just as humans are created phenomena having youth, middle age, and old age. No, we cannot touch, smell, or hear time, but it is there, ever-present, always flowing out of the past through the present and marching into the future.  Yes, time was created just like the rest of the entire creation; it had a beginning, it shall have an end. It is a created entity among countless other entities which are part of the entire created universe.

Time is as much a “class” or “phylum” of God’s creation as, for example, rocks, elephants, trees, and water are classes of creation. Before the creation of the universe, time did not exist; at the end of the eons of time it shall cease to be. It will be swallowed up into eternity just as all death (the first death and the second death, which is the lake of fire: Revelation 20:14), will be swallowed up into God and cease to exist.  

Time—composed of milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millenniums, ages, and eons—was created in the beginning and will be dissolved and cease to exist at some point in the future when it fades away and blends into eternity. In a sense, it’s not that time will end and eternity begin. No, time will simply be removed from the equation; it won’t even be remembered. At the end of time, time will end, cease to be, and stop moving forward because it simply won’t exist anymore.

This phenomenon we call time was created by God for humans to use. Why? I’m greatly oversimplifying, but it was created to aid fallen, sinful humans to accommodate ourselves to this material, mortal, and temporal plane of existence and to aid us in living out our days and years in preparation for a new, totally spiritual, non-material, glorified existence beyond time in a state of existence called eternity.

In eternity, everything and everyone will simply step outside of time into the eternal state of being which overarches and transcends time.  You see, in a manner of speaking we mortal humans are defined by time; it is a natural phenomenon imposed by God upon our mortal reality. Time’s forward motion defines our mortal existence; it’s simply part of who we are as humans.

We will all pass from a physical, material existence into a glorious spiritual existence where time will no longer be necessary to define who we are; time serves only to aid us—to give us time, so to speak—to prepare for that new spiritual state of being. And each of us has been allotted a certain amount of time to make such preparations. Let us use our time wisely and responsibly in preparation for eternity and for ministry and service to God and others!  We are spiritual beings sent here to earth to have a temporary, finite, mortal human experience—not human beings sent here to have a spiritual experience!

The Bible teaches in 3 references that God has numbered each of our days (the number of days known only to Him), and when our last numbered day arrives, He will summon us Home into Eternal Realms.

A proper understanding of time as a created phenomenon having beginning and ending is an absolute prerequisite to a proper understanding of eternity. Because it is a created phenomenon, time can be studied to some extent just as any other part of the universe created by God can be studied. For example, we know by definition what time is: “A system for measuring duration.” Or, it can be defined as: “A continuum in which events succeed one another from past through the present to the future.”

We know how to measure time: with chronometers ranging from incredibly precise atomic clocks to Mickey Mouse watches. We know how time functions by its effects in passing: maturity, decay, corrosion, erosion, deterioration, and the like. Someone has humorously quipped that, “Time is the thing that keeps stuff from happening all at once!” Someone else said it’s “the stuff that happens between paychecks.” Finally, someone wisely has said of time: “It can only be spent, not saved.”

Professor Einstein’s Theory…and More

As previously mentioned, an entire body of learning discipline for the study of time was established by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. For purposes of this teaching, we understand from Einstein’s theory that time and space are interdependent, inseparably related, and form a four-dimensional continuum (length, height, depth, and duration). That is to say, there is no space without time, no time without space. Space cannot be traversed without the passage of time; without the passage of time, there can be no traversing of space. 

[Note: So much more is being learned about the “qualities” of time and space in recent years since Einstein posed his theories, that what I have just written in the paragraph above may have to be reconsidered in the light of new astrophysical research. For example, there is a theory presently being studied called “the Einstein-Rosen Podolsky Separability Phenomenon.” It presents the view that under certain conditions, pairs of material particles, however far apart in space and time, are somehow so sensitive to each other that an action performed on one of the particles anywhere will instantaneously be reflected in its twin, anywhere else. Instantaneously. That’s “faster” than the velocity of light, previously considered the fastest thing in the universe of space and time. As an example, this could (if proved true) amount to instant sending and receiving stations anywhere in the universe without any passage of time.]

However, sticking to what we presently know for certain about time and space—to furnish only one quick example—that is why in his post-resurrection, spiritual body, Jesus was immediately able to transcend and traverse the space-time continuum with “speed” surpassing time.  Also, by Jesus’ power, space and time cohere, adhere, and consist (Colossians 1: 17). Without his binding power, space and time would become non-existent. He is not limited nor restricted in any manner by time and space. He transcends space and time by virtue of the fact that He is God. Jesus is over and above all space and time because He is The Creator and Sustainer of all! He is transcendent over all his vast visible and invisible creation, including the created phenomena of space and time.

We also understand from the Bible that both time and space (as we presently know them) will be swallowed up into eternity, subsumed, and changed into a higher and different state of being altogether. All that is physical and material will be swallowed up into that which is wholly spiritual, because God—toward whom we are all bound on our life-journeys—is non-corporeal (unbodied)—pure Spirit (John 4:24). He is Wholly Other from we material, physical, corporeal human beings who are presently limited by time and space.  

Yet, because He is God He can “downsize” Himself to live within humans and be fully present within each of us; the Greek word Immanuel in the Bible means God is fully present in every human, even though some are not aware of his Presence. He was fully present in Jesus of Nazareth in the past and is now fully present in Jesus’ Church and in each person who makes up and is part of his Church. Yes, it is true that God is present in all of his creation, but not in a pantheistic sense; He is present in the greater sense of his being fully present in those people everywhere and everywhen who comprise the Church of Jesus.

In this regard, too, we must briefly consider whether or not time and space are finite or infinite. If they are infinite, are they necessarily eternal? By definition, space is “the expanse in which all material things are contained.” Infinity is to say “that something lacks known or measurable limits and bounds”—not that something has no limits or boundaries.  With my present understanding, I believe that space and time do have limits and boundaries (since they are part of creation), but they simply cannot be measured by presently known scientific and astronomical instruments. However, I am open to changing my mind as additional information becomes known. I believe space, time, and the material universe are created entities and are finite, but only in the sense they cannot be measured by finite humans. They are not infinite in the sense that eternity is infinite or being eternal as only God is.

The Eternal State of Being

Now let’s consider the concept of eternity. Please understand that the strictest definition of eternity is “a state of being ‘in’ God.” We shall see that it is much more than that, but it is a state of being, first and foremost. In other words, eternity is not a created phenomenon as time is. In all candor, I believe the Bible teaches very little by way of defining or describing eternity.  Why? Because the Bible is essentially a book of time and for time, not for eternity. It was written for us who are still time-beings, not yet totally eternal beings. It was written to time- and space-limited humans, and does not contain exhaustive information about the state of being called eternity—simply because—until we reach eternity—our limited, finite minds could not even begin to grasp even the most elemental truths about infinity and eternity.  

However, the Bible is clear that it is an “eternal book” and will be carried over into the eternal state when we shall continue to explore its “mysteries” in that state beyond time. The Word of God—the Bible—will stand throughout eternity as God’s complete, final written revelation to humankind, always and ever to be “mined” for its vast, exhaustless treasures of knowledge and wisdom!

Where is that state of being we call eternity to be found? If we were to consider it an actual “place,” (it is not, but if it were) we will find eternity “beginning” beyond the far shores of time! It is an infinite sphere where God is at the absolute center and there is no circumference.  We are presently creatures of time—journeying through time and space.

Only when we arrive at and fully enter that state of being called eternity… only when He who is Eternal becomes All in All in us–everything to everyone… only when time ends and is swallowed up into eternity… only when eternity becomes an absolute reality to us… only when we are spiritually metamorphosized into our eternal milieu… only then will we who were formerly temporal and physical beings begin to comprehend eternity and matters of an eternal nature. Everything written in time about eternity (including this teaching) is at best merely enlightened speculation based upon limited information.

I wrote that the Bible is relatively silent about the state of being called eternity. That is not to say that human teachings and theology haven’t taught us a few concepts about eternity, but, sadly, some of it over the past 2,000 years or so has come from human minds not necessarily sensitive to the mind of the Eternal Spirit. Praise God for the true teaching ministry of the Eternal Spirit!  We read in the Bible that God is Eternal, or, more literally, the Father of Eternity (Deuteronomy 33: 27, Isaiah 9: 6). He is called that in the sense that He is the originator and sustainer of eternity.

In short, eternity is part of God. He is eternity. Eternity is wholly “within” God. In continuing to consider the eternal state, we must completely jettison any thinking that time has anything to do with eternity or is part of eternity. Time and eternity are two separate entities. They are mutually exclusive of one another in an absolute sense.

Eternity is a state of absolute timelessness, NOT a state of unending time. Eternity is a state of being, resident in the very nature and person of God in which such concepts as past, present, future, before, after, minutes, hours, and years do not exist. There are no endless ages of time in eternity.  There is no “forever” in eternity. Eternity is a state of absolute simultaneousness, not a state that goes on and on and on “forever” with the passage of “unending” time. The created ages of time will end; they are alien concepts in eternity.

Time and eternity have no relationship with one another just as up or down, for example, have no relationship with light or dark. The terms are mutually exclusive. Time is not part of eternity just as up is not part of light. Eternity is NOT composed of endless segments of time or of unending ages that go on and on and on forever and forever and ever without end. In eternity, it is always now…  

Here’s something extra to think about: “forever and ever.” Have you ever considered how “forever” (as we commonly think of it as time without end) could have an “ever” tacked on to the end of forever? How could there be a “forever” with an “ever” following it? I’m just asking.

It may seem like I’m overemphasizing this point, but it is absolutely essential that you understand such differences between eternity and time before you can begin to comprehend what the Bible teaches, for example, about eternal LIFE or eternal punishment. Time is not part of eternity. Eternity is not composed of unending segments of time. Eternity is not time standing still. It simply is not time in any sense that we understand time. Eternity doesn’t go on and on, ad infinitum.

Before reading this teaching any further, you might want to read a companion teaching on this web site entitled Eternal LIFE.  Eternity doesn’t go anywhere or anywhen, nor does it do anything. Eternity simply is. It is as foolish to say that eternity goes on and on and on as to say, for example, that Texas goes on and on and on. Texas simply is a state in which people exist. So it is with eternity.  Time is created. It is extra-eternal in the sense we say something is extra-biblical. Time is a measurable, fixed, limited, created phenomena.

Eternity, in contrast, is part of the very measureless, non-fixed, limitless, non-created, boundless nature and person of God. Eternity transcends beyond our comprehension anything having to do with time. Eternity simply is, just as God simply is. The expression, “It is that it is,” has unique reference to eternity just as “I am that I am” has unique reference to God. Just as Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am,” (John 8: 58) it can be said of eternity, “Before time was, I am.”

God Is Too Busy To Answer My Prayers

As just one example among many, if you get a wholesome grasp of these thoughts about eternity, you will be able to readily understand a matter which people have struggled with ever since God first revealed himself to humanity. That matter goes something like this: “God must be so busy with running the vast, complicated universe and answering more ‘important’ prayers than mine from billions of other people, that He can’t possibly find time for little old unimportant me and my prayers.” C’mon now, admit that you’ve had thoughts like that from time to time.

The answer to that is that God exists in a state of absolute simultaneousness, and He is able at any given time to give his full attention at all times to everyone and everything—including you! Yes, at any given time, He can devote his full attention to you, while at the same time, devoting his full attention to everything else…and everyone else…everywhere else…and everywhen else. There’s a brief companion teaching on this web site titled Daddy’s Favorite Child you might find interesting to read at this point.

For my next point, let’s consider only briefly the definitions of such biblical words and terms as “forever,” “forever and ever,” “eternal,” everlasting,” and related expressions. In over 500 places in many modern translations of the Bible where we find such terms in the English language as the four just mentioned, they have with very few exceptions been incorrectly translated from the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic languages in which the Bible was written.

[NOTE: There are many excellent, scholarly books written about this matter of the differences between time and eternity, the definitions of “forever,” and the like, but for or an excellent, easily read summary teaching about this matter, I highly recommend two books by a friend of mine, Gerry Beauchemin, entitled Hope Beyond Hell and Hope For All. They can be ordered from gerry@hopeforallfellowship.com or from amazon.com in e-book or paperback format. Both of Gerry’s books are the best summary statements of this teaching I have read.]

“Forever” can most often be translated as “age-lasting” or “continuing for the ages of time.” “Forever and ever” and “everlasting” should be translated as “for the age(s) of the ages” or “enduring for the ages of time.” None such biblical words or expressions are about segments of time that go on and on and on without end. I am simply saying that these words are all temporal words expressed in temporal languages—fallen languages of a fallen race of beings, languages that are inadequate to wholly express and define that which is eternal.

They are not words having to do with eternity; they are only about time.  In the original languages, the biblical emphasis on such words seems to be upon the quality, purpose, and “character” of such words rather than upon an unending duration. In other words, eternal LIFE or eternal fire means the nature, quality, or purpose of the LIFE or fire rather than their length or duration.

Eternal LIFE is the…
…self-existent, uncreated, incorruptible, indestructible, undiminishable, imperishable, inexhaustible, measureless, limitless, boundless, wonder-full, abundant LIFE God permanently implants in the spirits of people when they become followers of Jesus.

It is a LIFE, the seed of which we now possess and which will come to full fruition in eternity after the farthest ages of time have ceased to exist.  Eternal fire, or fire which burns forever and ever—for ages and ages of time—((Revelation 20:10 ff) is judgmental fire which not only has the quality of punishment, but also of purging, disciplining, correcting, chastising, and cleansing. It is fire which restores, reclaims, and rehabilitates, as well. It is not merely for punishment alone!  

True, the Bible says such fires are unquenchable, meaning they cannot be put out nor extinguished by external forces, but such fires will simply burn out at the end of the ages of time (or some “time” in the eternal state) when they have run out of all their “fuel” and served their intended judgmental purposes.

The emphasis in the Bible is upon fire’s purposes, NOT its duration. I’ve given only a few examples of such words and expressions. An exhaustive—and startlingly convincing—personal study can be made of every such word in the Bible with the use of a good Bible concordance. Also, you may want to take a few moments and read another teaching on this web site titled Fire!

In summary, it can readily be seen that both time and eternity are concepts beyond total comprehension by fallen and limited human beings. Even under the pure teaching ministry of Holy Spirit, our “darkened” minds and understanding are too limited to fully grasp their meanings.  Nevertheless, even a dim understanding of such concepts will help change our imaginings and preconceived notions of space, time, the universe, God’s nature and personality, God’s “size,” God’s inherent eternality, and our own “future” eternality.

The Eternal Nature of People!

God is cultivating within his people an eternal character and nature, no longer rigidly bound to and regulated by time, by clocks, by seasons, by cycles. The thoughts and imaginations of God’s people are becoming boundless and eternal, no longer limited, controlled, and motivated entirely by memories of the past, by present events, or by dim hopes for an endless, nebulous future in the “sweet bye and bye.”  God’s people are becoming age-less and time-less, are being “caught up” to God and his throne, are becoming truly and genuinely eternal beings in many ways.

The fledgling eternal spirits of God’s people are growing up into the limitless expanses of God’s own eternal, spiritual nature. His people are new eternal creations, no longer limited by the restrictions of the space-time continuum and by our physicality and materiality.

We have come to understand the reality—as I stated earlier—that we are not temporal human beings having a brief spiritual experience; no, we are eternal spiritual beings having a temporary human experience! We are seeing with our inner “eyes of faith” the reality of a state of being called eternity—resident in the very nature and person of God—and our hearts strain and leap upward toward that “place” in God that awaits us beyond the end of the eons of time.

I hope this brief teaching about the concepts of time and eternity help you more fully appreciate the wonder-full, rich, abundant, eternal LIFE God has implanted within you through the eternal sacrifice and total and complete salvation God has given you through God the Son, Jesus! He implanted that LIFE in you at the time you chose to become a follower of Jesus, and it will continue to “grow” within you throughout all the eons of time—and then beyond time into the eternal state! Thank God for such eternal LIFE and salvation both now and beyond the far shores of time!

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated January 2023

Anastasia

Everything ever written about Jesus has been written since his resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus sets Him apart from all other religious leaders in all of history: they’re still dead. He’s alive! Take away Jesus’ resurrection and your faith in Him collapses. Your faith is in vain. Nothing about Jesus would be worth discussing or writing about if He is not alive at this very moment.  Look at it this way. The death of Jesus, all by itself, was just another death by the common Roman method of crucifixion, another end of a good life. After He was killed, Jesus of Nazareth would have sunk into oblivion and been forgotten, but for one thing: He came back to life! He was resurrected! He was raised from the dead by the power of God’s Spirit!

Anastasia = Awaken From Sleep

Why is resurrection so important? Billions and billions of people have lived and died on planet earth. Did they just die—and that’s it? Is that all there is? Is death the end of it all? Thousands of years ago, an ancient biblical person named Job asked that question: “When people die, will they live again?” (Job 14: 14) Hundreds of years after Job died, Jesus answered Job’s age-old question: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, although he or she may die, will live again.” (John 11: 25)  

Sometimes I visit two cemeteries not far from my home. My great-grandparents, my grandparents, my uncle, my parents, my sister, my sister-in-law, and other relatives are buried there. Is that it? Are they just going to sleep there forever? Or is just their dust the end of it all? What’s it all about? Also, I have a dear friend who will likely die within just a few days; I’m going to visit him tomorrow morning—probably for the last time. After he dies, will he live again? Will I see him again?

Jesus’ death, his burial, and his resurrection are three golden threads tightly interwoven and divinely inter-connected in God’s eternal purposes for you and me. The three events cannot be understood apart from one another, for together they exhibit some of the wonder-full purposes of God for all humankind.

In other teachings, I have written about how we are “one” with Jesus’ death and burial. We are somehow vitally fused with Him, too, in his resurrection: we are one. Far away in the depths of my spirit today I have a very real awareness—by faith—that I was “there” to die with Jesus and was buried with Him. I was “there” with Him, too, in his resurrection.  And that’s what we will now study together for a few moments: how we literally and actually rose from the dead with and in Jesus. We will touch upon amazing forces and events which were set in motion that bright day when Jesus strode forth from death’s dark tomb, the New Man, the Man from Heaven, the First-Born Son of a new race of beings! That’s us . . . that’s us!

Back to anastasia. The word means to be resurrected from death, to be awakened from the sleep of death. It portrays a simple picture of awakening in the morning and getting out of bed after sleeping during the night. That’s what resurrection is: to awaken from the sleep of death and get up. It’s really that simple. It won’t matter how long any of us sleep the sleep of death; we’ll awaken in the “morning” and get up.  There’s a lot of speculation about when and how we’ll awaken, what we’ll look like, how “old” we’ll be in heaven—stuff like that. I won’t go into any of those subjects. I’m actually condensing approximately 40 hours of teaching about the resurrection in these few pages, so all we’ll be studying are a few of the highlights; there just isn’t space for more at this time without writing pages and pages and pages.

If you’re interested in more information about what happens after we awaken from the sleep of death, I was given the rare privilege of visiting heaven, and wrote a book about my visit titled Heaven: Our Home Sweet Homeland. You can purchase my book at amazon.com

Body + Soul + Spirit

I have to assume you know that we human beings are three-part beings, as God is a three-part being. We were created with a spirit, “encased” in a soul encased in a body. Body, soul, and spirit: one in three, three in one. Indivisible except by God and by his Word, the Bible. You might want to look up 1 Thessalonians 5: 23 and Hebrews 4: 12 in that regard. If you’re interested in much more detail about us humans being three in one, I invite you to read another teaching on this web site entitled Whole In One.  In brief, it seems clear to me from the Bible that when we die our spirits return to God, while our person-ness (souls) and bodies sleep in the grave, awaiting God’s summons for us to awaken and get up some bright morning when Jesus returns.

At the time of our death, our body—this earthly, mortal tabernacle—will melt away and our spirit will lift up as on eagle’s wings on its return to God, shedding its confining physical bonds, loosing its confining bodily fetters. It will rise up as if passing through layers of denser atmosphere, soaring up into God—into higher regions of clarity and light until it will be pure spirit returning to Him Who is the Father of all spirits. It will finally be free to tear away from the peculiar prison of the clumsy and cumbersome earthen vessel (the human body) that previously contained it.

The Bible teaches that the personality (person) sleeps in death after the spirit has returned to God—the person as well as the body sleeps. The Bible doesn’t limit death to the body alone. When one sleeps at night it is the person who sleeps, not just the body. There is no consciousness in truly sound sleep. All dreaming occurs in the twilight area between consciousness and deep sleep. The sleep induced by a general anesthesia for surgery is a good example of the deep sleep of death.

When we fall asleep in death it is comforting to know the sleep obliterates the interval of time between the moment of death and the moment of resurrection. To our consciousness, the moment of resurrection will seem to instantly follow the moment of death—whether we’ve slept in death a thousand years, a few centuries, or only a few days by solar time. As far as your consciousness is concerned, the next fraction of a second after you die you will be awakened in your resurrection, even though many years or centuries may have passed in actual, solar time. Yes, death brings instant awakening to full consciousness in your resurrection.

Near Death Experiences

Incidentally, we’ve read and heard much about so-called near death experiences (NDE’s) when people leave their bodies, travel down long tunnels, meet relatives and friends who have died, experience being engulfed in a bright light, etc. In my mind, those are not near death experiences; rather, they are visions of actual death experiences in which the persons experiencing them have actually died—and then “instantly” awakened in the future at their resurrection. That’s why it seems to them only moments after their death that they begin to have those experiences.  

Please understand that is mere speculation on my part, but it seems more reasonable to me and seems to better “fit” what I understand of death and resurrection—never having experienced either of them yet! I have no idea why such visions of death experiences happen to some people; however, I believe they are real. I just happen to think they’re visions of actual death experiences rather than near death experiences . . . based upon my present understanding of what the Bible teaches about such matters.

Wake Up, Lazarus!

Let’s return to the subject of death being mere sleep. The best biblical example is that of Jesus’ friend, Lazarus. He had been dead for four days (John 11: 17), but was awakened from the sleep of death by Jesus. As far as we know, Lazarus had no consciousness during those four days—rather, he was in the deep sleep of death. Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I will awaken him from his sleep.” (John 11: 11) If you want to know a little of what your own resurrection will be like, this incident about Lazarus is somewhat of a pattern or prototype—not exactly, but somewhat.

The following is not a point I would argue with anyone, because there is so much about the subject of resurrection we simply don’t know since it hasn’t happened yet to any of us who are still living this mortal life. It seems clear to me the Bible teaches there will be two resurrections (or maybe they’re just sequentially two points on a continuum). Here are some references you can study yourself and see why I feel that the Bible teaches there will be two resurrections:

  • First resurrection: 1 Thessalonians 4: 14 – 17; 1 Corinthians 15: 49 – 53; Revelation 20: 4 – 6.
  • Second resurrection: John 5: 28 and 29; Acts 24: 14 and 15; Ezekiel 37: 1 – 14; Revelation 20: 4 – 15.

I’ve taught again and again and again through the years (in person and in print) that we are “in” Jesus. We are permanently fused and connected with Him in his death and burial. You must come to see you are also permanently “in” Him in his resurrection.  Old things passed away when we became one with Jesus in his death and burial; now, behold!, all things become new in our being one with Him in his resurrection. Just as certainly as Jesus was raised from his sleep of death by the power of God’s Spirit, from the overarching vantage point of eternity we are already risen with Him, children of the resurrection! (Luke 20: 36)  

We must understand clearly the resurrection is not merely a comforting event to occur sometime in the distant future. The great fundamental fact we must comprehend is that the resurrection is above all else a Person, and that Person is none other than our Lord Jesus who died, who was buried, and who rose again!

The day will come for each of us when family and friends will place our bodies in a coffin (or our ashes in an urn) and bury us under the ground or at sea (or burn our bodies like they do in some cultures). I cannot believe that such an event is gross, distasteful, and horrible to any person who has identified himself or herself with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection. It is but a brief time of peaceful sleep which the Bible calls being “asleep in Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 4: 14)  Your resurrection in Jesus is the difference between meaningless, dark, and dreadful death with no hope beyond the grave—and true LIFE incorruptible and eternal. He who died and was buried is forevermore alive. He is risen. Hallelujah, He is alive . . . and we shall live also!

Celebration of Firstfruits

There is a concept taught in the Bible having to do with the Feasts celebrated by the ancient Israelites (and by many Israelites—Jews—today). It is a concept containing many metaphors and symbolic word-pictures about our resurrection. The concept is that of “First Fruits.” The ancient Israelites celebrated three major Feasts annually (those same feasts are still celebrated to some degree by certain modern Israelites—and even by some Jesus-believers).  The three Feasts are the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. (Exodus 23 and Leviticus 23) Also celebrated during or “within” those three major Feast-events were seven “minor” events: three during Passover, one during Pentecost, and three during Tabernacles.

Jesus “fulfilled” the first Feast by being the Passover Lamb who was THE sacrifice and whose blood was shed for the sin of all humanity. At the conclusion of the first Feast, Passover, the ancient Israelites would take one sheaf of newly ripened grain and wave it before God as the first sign of a ripening harvest to come. With the waving of that first sheaf of grain, the Israelites were reminded of the fact that a great harvest was soon to be gathered in.  1 Corinthians 15: 20 and 23 calls Jesus the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep in death. When resurrected, He was “waved” before God signifying a great harvest to follow. What is the great harvest to follow? We are! Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single grain. If it dies, however, it springs forth into an abundant harvest of grain.” (John 12: 24)

But the New Testament teaches we who are “in” Jesus are also a type of first fruits of the coming harvest (James 1: 18 and Revelation 14: 4). Jesus is the first fruits, but we are also first fruits “in” Him.  I’m only touching upon the highlights of the marvelous teachings found in these three major Feasts (including the seven minor events contained within them). We won’t have space to teach anything at all about the second major Feast, Pentecost. Maybe some day . . .   The third major Feast, Tabernacles (sometimes called the Feast of Ingathering, too), contained three “minor” events: the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Feast of Trumpets suggests to us that there will come a time when those who are asleep in Jesus will hear a trumpet call resounding so loudly from the portals of heaven that the dead in Jesus cannot help but be awakened from their sleep (1 Corinthians 15: 52).  Ancient Israel had two (sometimes three) growing seasons, each one ending in a great harvest. I’ve already mentioned waving the sheaf of grain (Jesus) to signify a great harvest to follow (that’s us) at the end of the first growing season.

The great harvest during the last Feast, the Feast of Ingathering, is when all people who are asleep will be “harvested”—in addition to those who have been sleeping in Jesus. (John 5: 27 – 29) It is the great harvest at the end of the ages of time when all persons will be summoned to the throne of grace in the courtroom of God, there to give an account of what relationship (or lack of one) they have had with Jesus.

Jesus, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death. Then those who are in Him, the following firstfruits. Finally, the remainder of humankind who sleep in death. When all is said and done, it all rests upon one person, Jesus, and upon one event: Jesus’ resurrection. He is the resurrection and the Life. Those who believe in Him, though they are dead, shall live!

Death’s Great Adventure

Earlier, I referred to a couple of nearby cemeteries which I sometimes visit. I don’t do so in order to be morbid or sad. They’re quiet, serene places at the eastern edge of the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. To the west, the beautiful hills begin their climb to the heights. To the east, the rolling Dakota prairies begin their long march to the Missouri River and beyond.  The soft winds whisper through the pines and the prairie grasses. The sun and rains and winter snows gently caress the mown grasses of the cemeteries. They are peaceful places situated on gently sloping hillsides—places full of rich memories and comforting thoughts I have of loved ones who have fallen asleep before me.

My memories are rich and full as I contemplate those who have preceded me in the great mysterious adventure we call death. From God’s eternal perspective not limited to time or space, I know they have “already” awakened (in a manner of speaking) from their long sleep and are basking in the golden glow of God’s bright splendor on heaven’s rich table lands. They wait for me to join them there some bright morning.

On the gravestone of one of my ancestors—a great-great-uncle whom I never knew and who died at an early age—there is this faded inscription, almost unreadable now from the ravages of winds and storms and the passing years:

“Another link is broken in our family band,
But a golden chain is forming in a better land.”

In Jesus, we are one with Him, one with all those who have preceded us in the sleep of death, one with all those who live now, one with all those who will yet live in Jesus. We all march on inexorably through the passing centuries to our final time of sleep. But some bright morning, we shall see the Lord of Harvest face-to-face when He summons us to come forth and awaken from the long, long sleep of death. Yes, because He lives, we can face all our tomorrows and the inevitability of death, knowing it is merely a falling asleep followed by an “instant” awakening.

I have not written these words in an attempt to convince you of the reality of your resurrection. Either you are in Jesus and believe you will be resurrected, or you do not believe you will be resurrected. Neither have I written in order to reaffirm my own faith in the resurrection; I settled that issue in my own spirit and mind many years ago. My own resurrection is as real to me as living this mortal life is real to me. In some ways my resurrection into an immortal life in RealRealm is even more real than the mortal life I now live in ShadowLand–especially since I was privileged to visit Heaven in March 2018.  

No, I have written fervently and at length about Resurrection simply because it is something that will one day actually happen to everyone reading this teaching—to every human ever born. It is a subject each of us needs to settle in our own minds and spirits. If you don’t believe in Jesus’ resurrection and in your own, I ask you this question: “Why even bother considering yourself a Jesus-believer?”

If there is no resurrection, there is no Christianity; there are merely a lot of nice sayings by a person named Jesus of Nazareth who lived and died and who was buried many centuries ago. If there is no resurrection, Jesus’ body has since turned to fine dust and has been dispersed to the four corners of the earth by the relentless winds of time.  No resurrection, no living Lord Jesus. No Christianity. No Church. No reason to pretend. No reason to play at being a Jesus-believer in whom Jesus lives in his “unbodied form” of Holy Spirit. No Holy Spirit who lives inside us, energizing, empowering, and motivating us to live in Jesus, following and serving Him. If there is no resurrection, none of it makes any sense; it is all nonsense and religious foolishness. As the Bible puts it, if there is no resurrection, our faith is in vain and we are of all persons most pitiable. (1 Corinthians 15: 19)

Dear reader, you need to settle this issue in your own spirit and mind. Is Jesus alive today? Is He alive in you? Does He live in other people? Is He the Resurrection and the Life? Is He your resurrection and your Life.  

I will awaken when Jesus calls my name.
No more sorrow, no more pain.
I will rise. I will rise!

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc
leservices38@yahoo.com 
Revised and Updated December 2022

Hope In History

[NOTE: This teaching supplements and “piggybacks” on my friend Gerry Beauchemin’s groundbreaking book Hope For All. I strongly urge you to obtain a copy of Gerry’s startling book at hopeforallfellowship.com or amazon.com]

There’s an ancient teaching that was almost abandoned or set aside as being incorrect about 1,500 years ago, but was resurrected in part about 150 – 175 years ago. It is now rapidly spreading around the world. It’s a teaching from the Bible that before He completes all his purposes, God is going to lovingly redeem, restore, and reconcile everything–including all humanity–to Himself through what Jesus accomplished on our behalf by his sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary.

A dear friend of mine, Gerry Beauchemin, has written two books:   Hope Beyond Hell and Hope For All.  In Hope For All, Gerry lists ten “anchors” or ten reasons why God gives us hope both in this life and the next.  This teaching is my supplement to Anchor One, “Hope In History.”

To teach about how the history of understanding how God will ultimately redeem, restore, and reconcile all humanity to Himself, we must go far back in time before history—back into pre-history, back to pre-creation even. I’ll begin by sharing a little about the concepts and phenomena of time, space, and eternity.

In Isaiah 57: 15, the Bible clearly teaches that God inhabits eternity, a state of being in which there is no time and no space—as we experience space. Eternity is a state of being in which everything is absolutely simultaneous. Everything is Now. That is one reason God calls Himself in the Bible “I Am,” not “I was” or “I will be.” Everything is always now to God, although we humans are presently locked into time and space having past, present, and future. God perceives all past, present, and future time as always now, always in the immediate present, always simultaneous. 

Time and space are inseparably connected: for example, one cannot move through space without the passage of time, and without the passage of time, one cannot move through space. But eternity is not a place of time and space. It is not a place of unending time; rather, it is a place of timelessness in which time does not even exist. In pre-creation eternity there was neither time nor space—only God. In a very real sense, eternity is in God; it’s part of who God is. In eternity, everything is in God—and God is in everything. Time is simply a tiny dot in the infinity and limitless, measureless, boundless vastness of eternity.

In an atomic second of time God spoke creation into existence—including time and space. Time and space are both created phenomena just as humans, kitties, puppies, elephants, flowers, carrots, water, and bears are created phenomena. As part of God’s creation, time and space can be studied and measured just as anything else in God’s creation can be studied and measured.   In fact, the late scientist Albert Einstein did much to advance the study of both time and space, especially in his famous theory of relativity which scientists are still studying in depth and attempting to prove true.

As Gerry Beauchemin puts it in the very first sentence of Anchor One in Hope For All, “The story of God’s prevailing love begins before creation—before the beginning of history.” On page 17, Gerry then lists a number of references from the Bible supporting that statement. God’s purposes to save all humanity by lovingly drawing them to Himself has always been on his mind both in eternity, at the beginning of creation, and throughout all the ages of historical time within creation. 

That brings us back to the concept of time–and hope for all humanity in historical time. In the beginning God created time. Sometime thereafter He created the human race and since then has been working throughout all human history to bring about his eternal, pre-creation purposes to save all humanity, relentlessly drawing back to Himself every person who ever has, or ever will, live—from Adam to the very last human who will be born. It’s going to be exciting to see who that last mortal human person will be, closing out the mortal human race as we’ve known it. God has always had only one purpose; there is no plan B if plan A doesn’t work out or fails—which it won’t.

About 4,000 years ago when recorded Bible history began with a man named Abraham, God began to sharpen and hone his ultimate purposes through Abraham and others as recorded in the Old Testament portion of the Bible. Then about 2,000 years ago the apex or pinnacle of God’s purpose was accomplished when Jesus appeared on the world stage in God-human form as a baby, lived a sinless human life, died an excruciating death on the cross of Calvary to save us from sin and death, was raised from death by the power of Holy Spirit, and returned to Heaven shortly thereafter.

Jesus is now in Heaven possessing all power and authority in the universe—lovingly, patiently drawing all humanity to Himself, ultimately saving, restoring, renewing, and reconciling everything and everyone in all creation. There is no other power in the universe that even comes close to being as powerful as God in Jesus. None! Especially the sharply limited power of a created being named Satan.

In Hope For All, Gerry Beauchemin does an excellent job of citing Old Testament Bible references about God’s final restoration of all things–references from the time of Abraham forward through 2,000 years of history after Abraham up until the time of Jesus. In the spring of approximately 27 A.D., Jesus founded and began building his Church, his living Body on earth composed of living building materials—which we are: you, me; we humans who are Jesus’ followers are his living building materials. 

Since 27 A.D. Jesus has continued to grow and build his Church, his living Body, until now in the year 2022 A.D. about 2,000,000,000 people or about ¼ of the world’s entire population of 8,000,000,000 people comprise the Church consisting of Jesus’ followers around the world. And Jesus continues to grow his Church every day; for example, in China alone, approximately 40,000 people become followers of Jesus each day! No power in the universe and on earth can stop the growth of Jesus’ Church until the last building block—the last mortal human—is in place as the capstone of Jesus’ ever-expanding Church and Kingdom!

Now by furnishing you the following simple illustration, I will make my next point about the historical belief in God’s eventual salvation of all humanity. In our present era of history, certain leaders among Jesus’ followers worldwide are considered somewhat as spokespersons for evangelical Protestant Christianity. Such people as Reinhart Boehnke, David Yongghi Cho, Joyce Meyers, David Jeremiah, Joel Osteen, Pat Robertson, Beth Moore, John McArthur, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Billy Graham (recently deceased) and Oral Roberts (also recently deceased).

These are just a tiny smattering of names of such spokespersons. There are many more. They communicate their views to the world by means of radio, television, Facebook, YouTube, all other types of social media, etc. I’m not saying I necessarily agree with any or all of their teachings, simply that they are well-known spokespersons for the teachings and doctrines of the worldwide Protestant evangelical segment of Jesus’ Body, the Church.

Well, in the same manner the early Church had its spokespersons who were widely known and respected, although they didn’t have the means of communication we have in our modern era. But because of the amazing Roman road system throughout the far-flung Roman Empire, and because of excellent sea travel on the Mediterranean Sea and beyond, travel and communication were not as limited as we have been led to believe. People traveled readily throughout the Empire and as far away as India, Sinim (China), the British Isles, Ireland, and northern Europe.

If someone was a teacher of the Bible in Carthage, North Africa, for example, it wasn’t long before people in the city of Istanbul in present-day Turkey knew and read that person’s teachings. Leaders of churches throughout the Empire were in constant communication with one another. Paul’s travels throughout portions of the Empire are a case in point. Such real, historical people were spokespersons for the clear, biblical view that God is drawing all humanity to Himself, just as today’s leaders I mentioned previously are spokespersons for evangelical Christianity.

Yes, for the first 500 years of so of the Church’s history many men and women who were considered spokespersons believed and taught that the Bible clearly sets forth the view that God lovingly draws all humanity to Himself through the sacrificial work of Jesus by means of Roman crucifixion on Mount Calvary on the outskirts of the city of old Jerusalem. The writings of many of those early spokespersons are still available today.

Here are names of only a few of those early spokespersons whose writings are still available today hundreds of years later: Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Diodorus of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Gregory of Nazianzus, Athanasius of Alexandria, John Chrysostum, and numerous others. They all taught and popularized the view that the Bible clearly teaches God is lovingly and patiently drawing all humanity to Himself. And because of those teachers most early believers in Jesus held that view.

Gerry Beauchemin wrote in Anchor One these words: “Belief in endless punishment was not the predominant view of the Christian world during its first 500 years when Jesus’ followers read the Scriptures in the Original Greek!”

Why was that prevailing view lost in the western world for many centuries after approximately 500 A.D.? It’s a long, long story how that happened, but can be summarized by simply stating that politics and dead, empty, powerless religion entered the Church, causing other—opposing views—to be set forth and diminish and eclipse the biblical view of God’s restoration of all humanity to Himself.

Such opposing views—including the concept of people suffering in an ever-burning hell—then prevailed from about 500 A.D. until about the 1800’s—except for little pockets of Jesus’ followers here and there throughout the intervening centuries in Europe and Asia who still clung to the original views of the early Church—even in the face of severe persecution, torture, and death at times for maintaining those views.

What happened in the 1800’s that began to shift thinking back to the prevailing views of the early Church? It’s a complex story, but simply stated a Scottish Pastor and writer named George McDonald came on the scene. McDonald was a prolific writer and speaker, authoring almost 100 fiction and non-fiction books. In fact, during the latter part of the 1800’s McDonald was a more popular writer than Charles Dickens! Vast numbers of people in the western world read McDonald’s writings. He clearly taught, preached, and wrote that God will eventually save all humanity.

After McDonald, in the early 1900’s an American believer in Jesus and in the truth and trustworthiness of the Bible named Charles Pridgeon wrote a book titled Is Hell Eternal or Will God’s Plan Fail? His book was widely read during the early 1900’s clear up until the early 1960’s, but fell into disrepute and has been virtually unavailable for the past 50+ years; Pridgeon’s book has only recently been reprinted and is for sale at amazon.com. During the years when Pridgeon’s book remained fairly popular and widely read, other preachers, Pastors, teachers, and writers began to once again espouse and spread the views set forth in Pridgeon’s book based on the Bible’s teachings—until now it seems that almost every week a new article, essay, book, or something on YouTube or FaceBook is published promoting such views. 

One such scholarly book is titled The Doctrine of Apokatastasis by a female Italian theologian, Ilaria L.C. Rameli. Her book is only 900+ pages in length and sells for the remarkably low price of approximately $350.00 (USD)! The word apokatastasis in the title comes from Acts 3: 19 – 21 in the New Testament where the original Greek language word apokatastasis is translated as the English word “restoration.”   I’m sure you’ll want to rush out right after this reading this teaching to purchase a copy of the book for yourself and a few others for friends—at that low price of only $350.00!

Also, with the advent of the internet and the worldwide web, scores—even hundreds—of websites are springing up promoting the biblical view that God is in the process of lovingly restoring all humanity to Himself through Jesus’ finished and completed, sacrificial work on the cross. Examples of such websites are tentmaker.org, hopeforallfellowship.com, and ptm.org, to name only 3 out of hundreds of such websites.

Anchor One of Hope For All concludes with these words: “God’s promises and actions in biblical history demonstrate His prevailing love for all people.”

Thousands of people coming to believe that simple statement are creating a groundswell—a tsunami—that is rapidly spreading around the world in this early 1/4 of the 21st century! You who are reading this teaching are likely a part of this amazing worldwide movement. You are not alone in having come to believe this ancient, resurrected biblical view that God is restoring all humanity to Himself. In fact, you are the vanguard, the spearhead of this worldwide movement. 

A paraphrased rendering of a few verses in the 43rd chapter of the Old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah reads something like this (quote): “I’m about to do something brand-new for you, setting you on a new course, but you must be reaching out for it, or it’ll whiz right on by you. You’ll recognize it as it approaches. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it comes!

I’m going to clear a road for you up and out of this desert wilderness you’ve been in. New rivers will spring up and gush through the badlands of your life, cleaning out and washing away all the debris that has accumulated and held you back. New LIFE is going to blossom and grow inside you!” (End of quote)

And a paraphrased reference in the 29th chapter of the Old Testament book of Jeremiah reads like this (I quote): “Listen to me,” says God, “Don’t you think I know what I’m doing? After all, I’m God. I have your life all thought out and there’s really nothing you can do to change my purposes. I love you. I’m a good God. I plan to take good care of you. I will never abandon you. And I will certainly give you the future you hope for.” (End of quote).

As it was boldly proclaimed to stunningly beautiful Queen Esther long ago in an ancient time: “God has summoned you to his bright, ever-spreading Kingdom for such a time as this!”

I pray earnestly that this brief teaching will give you a large measure of renewed hope for the bright future God has in store both in this life and the next—for you and your loved ones and friends, and—ultimately—for everyone. Hope is defined as “confident expectation that God will do what He promises He will do.” There is hope for all–for YOU!

Bill Boylan
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated February 2023

Religious Dogma

To begin this teaching, I’ll define “dogma” as shown in most dictionaries:  “Dogma is when an individual or group teaches you something in an attempt to convince you their view is authoritative or the only truth about a subject—that their belief or view is the only correct one.”

Dogma can be asserted or presented in many different areas of life:  politics, business, education, religion, science, psychology, archaeology, etc.  In this teaching, I’ll be focusing on religious dogma.  Religious dogma is not new; it’s been around since the dawn of human history when humanity first began to be religious.  All religions of all time have presented religious dogma—yes, even the Christian religion.

There are numerous religious dogmas—too numerous to discuss in this teaching.  I will concentrate on only a small sampling of various dogmas that seem to plague contemporary evangelical follower of the Bible and Jesus the most.  I’ll be focusing on those within the ranks of evangelical followers of Jesus in the western world, not among “high church” beliefs such as Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy; they don’t seem to be plagued by these types of dogmas as much as evangelical believers are.  Of course, high churches have their own dogmas to contend with.

My listing of such destructive and damaging dogmas is personal in that I simply feel these are the worst I have personally had to deal with while visiting, talking, teaching, and counseling with other evangelical followers of Jesus.  Others might have different dogmas that they choose to list.  There are many:  scores, perhaps hundreds or more that do damage to people and that seem to plague them the most.

My thoughts about dealing with such destructive dogmas are simple—only threefold.  First, if more evangelical followers of Jesus understood church history better (especially church history for the first 500 years) and—second—if they had a better grasp of the Bible’s overall teachings about various subjects and topics, they would be far less likely to fall prey to dogmas foisted upon them.  Simply put, we who believe that the Bible is God’s complete, final written revelation of Himself to all humanity need to believe what we read rather than read what we believe! 

Third, believers in the Bible need to learn at least basic information about biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the three original languages in which the Bible was written.  I don’t mean they should become fluent in reading and speaking those languages, but simply become familiar with how to look up biblical materials in such sources as concordances, dictionaries, biblical encyclopedias, and the like.  There are many such study resources both in print and on the internet.

I hasten to say that in my view, many church leaders and teachers of those who foist such dogmas upon others are probably well-intended; they’re simply sharing with others the dogmas they have been taught.  The problems occur when such leaders and teachers believe their views and interpretations are the only correct views and then falsely warn others directly or indirectly that if they do not believe such dogmas they are being disloyal, seditious, or faithless.

Here’s a simple illustration of what I just wrote:  when the book, The Shack, was published, a local evangelical Pastor forbade his congregation to read it under penalty of excommunication because he had mistakenly heard the book contained heretical illustrations about the makeup and nature of the Trinity.  He never read the book himself!  I know the Pastor; I fully believe he was well-intended, but he himself had a skewed view of the Trinity.

The very first dogma I will now write about is—in my view—the worst of all possible religious dogmas—that of cults.  Not necessarily Christian cults, but cults within any religion.  Here’s a definition of “cult”:  “Usually a group of people following a religious leader who indoctrinates them with dogma, extremist views, practices, or beliefs.”  Such indoctrination can range from a Pastor or church school teacher who insists his or her views are the only correct views, to such an extreme view such as leaders whose teachings are so dogmatic that their adherents will follow such leaders even to death by suicide because of their dogma.  In between such extremes are cults which separate their followers from family and friends, isolate themselves from outsiders, live in closed colonies, and the like.

I know what I’m writing about because many years ago at the beginning of my new relationship with God I fell prey to religious leaders of two small cults within evangelical Christianity.  Thank God that He mercifully extricated me from both those cults, but I learned much from my time within them and about the dangers of religious dogma.

After God freed me from both cults, He then gave me many opportunities through the years to counsel and help others who were newly freed from both cults.  At first I called such people the walking wonded, but later came to consider them the living dead who needed God’s new LIFE within them to return to some semblance of normalcy within the greater society around them.  Some friends are still in both those cults, and truly are zombie-like in their beliefs and behavior—even though both of those dogmatic cult leaders have long since died!

The next dogma I want to examine is about what constitutes being a Christian?   There are many that teach that “Christianity is a religion,” just as all other religions.  It isn’t.  True and authentic Christianity is a relationship with God through Jesus—decidedly not a religion.  Almost all religions imply and teach that by their own efforts their adherents can impress, reach, or placate God by their good works so that He will accept them into a specific religious “club” (church), whatever that club might be.  That’s not true.  God loves and accepts people into a relationship with Him solely through the merits of what Jesus has done to inexorably draw them into that relationship.

Let’s examine some more current religious dogma that has been foisted largely upon those people who call themselves evangelical followers of Jesus.  Let’s begin with the popular teaching about an event called “The Rapture.”  Ask most evangelical followers of Jesus what they believe about Jesus’ return to earth to establish his long-awaited Kingdom, and the first thing they will tell you is that Jesus will “rapture” his followers before, during, or at the end of a seven-year period of time called “The Great Tribulation.” 

Then, they often go into great detail to explain what they believe the Bible teaches about the rapture.  It doesn’t!  Nope, the Bible teaches nothing about a rapture, yet most evangelical followers of Jesus will strongly insist that the Bible does.  The English word rapture is not found anywhere in the Bible although many believers in such a rapture strongly insist that it does. I invite you to read another teaching on this website titled The Rapture.

If the Bible doesn’t teach about a rapture where does the concept come from?  It’s a very l-o-o-n-g story; my teaching about The Rapture on this website explains that long story.  The rapture is religious dogma of the worst sort, seldom even questioned my multitudes of evangelical followers of Jesus.  You might ask, “So what?  What harm does it do to believe in a rapture?”  Much harm, because it presents a false view about Jesus’ return to earth to establish his Kingdom. 

And, it does much further harm if and when people learn they have believed such false dogma.  It causes shame, embarrassment, and a feeling that maybe they can no longer trust the Bible or religious leaders and teachers.  It has even caused many people to reject the Bible and Christianity altogether when they learn they have been duped, hoodwinked, or bamboozled by the false, dogmatic teachings about the rapture by certain religious leaders and teachers.

Now let’s look at another dogmatic teaching many evangelical followers of Jesus have believed to be true as taught in the Bible:  the reasons for the sacrificial atonement of Jesus on the cruel cross of Calvary.  Most believe something like this.  God was absolutely seething with wrath, rage, anger and vindictiveness about the sins of humanity against Him.  He was sitting on his throne in some far-off Heaven just ready to cast lightning bolts down to earth to destroy people because He was boiling with wrath and anger over the sins of humanity.

In his haste to come up with a solution to deal with human sin, He decided to send Jesus to appease his great wrath by atoning for our sins on the cross of Calvary.  That’s it in a nutshell.  That’s the “Atonement Theory” as most commonly believed and taught as dogma among most evangelical followers of Jesus.

Okay, if that dogma is not true, what is?  We believe the Bible teaches another view of God’s reasons for the sacrificial atonement of Jesus on the cross.  Matthew 1: 21 in the New Testament (and other confirming biblical references) teaches very clearly that Jesus came to save all humanity from their sinful condition, not to assuage and placate the wrath and anger of God.  Moreoever, the Bible teaches God’s essential nature and character is that He relentlessly loves all humanity with eternal love (1 John 4: 8, for example).  Jesus’ atonement flows from the Father’s relentless, eternal love for all humanity, not from his wrath and anger.

Furthermore, let’s examine what the Bible really means when it teaches about the wrath of God.  Serious students of the Bible know that for every subject taught in the Bible, there is always a certain portion, paragraph, chapter, or sequence of verses that basically summarizes that particular subject.  Then many other portions of the Bible tend to support that basic section of the Bible that summarizes the subject.  For example, the basic reference about the subject of resurrection is the 15th chapter of First Corinthians.  The basic text about human makeup consisting of body, soul, and spirit is 1 Thessalonians 5: 23…and so on for other biblical topics and subjects.

The mention of God’s wrath occurs throughout the Bible.  But what is God’s wrath?  The portion of the Bible that most clearly defines and summarizes God’s wrath is the first chapter in the New Testament Book of Romans written by Paul the Apostle.  Other references throughout the Bible support Paul’s teachings in the first chapter of Romans.  Let’s take a look at that chapter.

Beginning with verse 18, Paul begins to define the concept of God’s wrath.  His definition and explanation continues through the end of the chapter.  In verses 21 clear through to the end of the chapter, Paul lists a lengthy litany of numerous sins we humans commit.  In verses 24, 26, and 28, Paul uses the expression (translated into English) “God gave them up,” meaning God simply turns people over to suffer the results and consequences of their own sinful behavior.  One translator of the Bible, Eugene Peterson, has translated “God gave them up,” in this way:  “Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose.  And then all hell broke loose:…”  (The Message Bible)

Other references in the Bible, for example, Psalms 81: 12, Acts 7: 42, and Zechariah 7: 12, support the Bible’s teaching that God’s wrath is defined as when He turns people over to suffer the consequences of their own sinful behavior and actions.  Thank God, that because of his own basic character and nature of love, He is continually and eternally drawing all humanity to Himself, so that at some point in time they will cease stubbornly resisting God, change their minds (repent), surrender their lives to God, and allow God to lovingly restore them into his image.

That’s the truth about what the Bible teaches about the wrath and anger of God toward human sin, not the religious dogma that He is just waiting for us to mess up so that He can cast down lightning bolts at us from where He sits on his throne seething with wrath and anger…and cast us into an ever-burning hell.  Jesus’ excruciating, atoning death on the creoss was pre-planned by God on the basis of his eternal love for all humanity to save us from our sins, not to placate and assuage the wrath of an exceedingly angry God. 

You might ask, “So what?  What difference does it make why Jesus died to atone for our sins?”  Here’s why.  The typical view that He died to appease an angry and wrathful God leaves many people focusing on the fact that God might still be angry with them in spite of what Jesus did to assuage God’s anger.  It leads many people to believe that God is just waiting for them to mess up their lives by sin so that He can somehow punish them or make them suffer for their sinful behavior.  They mistakenly believe that God’s very nature is that He is mean, vengeful, judgmental, and full of wrath and anger…not that He is really and truly a loving, caring, gentle Father.

The opposite is true.  God’s essential character and nature is that He loves all humanity with an everlasting love, and out of that relentless, eternal love, He sent Jesus to atone for our sins—once and for all!—so that we can be reconciled and restored to a loving relationship with Him.  Again, it’s a relationship, not a religion.  Religious dogma teaches that God is angry and full of wrath against most of humanity, and that the majority of them will suffer conscious, eternal torment in hell forever.  No!  God’s relentless, eternal love sent Jesus to die on the cross for you and for me so that we will all have a loving relationship with Him throughout all eternity!

 Here’s another matter of religious dogma—a really, really serious and nasty one:  Hell!  The English word hell occurs a number of times in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments.  That’s true; we can’t dispute that.  But wait a minute, what Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words in the original languages of the Bible are correctly translated into the English word, hell?  None!

The original languages in which the Bible was written (and wrongly translated as the English word, hell) are words such as grave, place of the dead, place where the dead go, abode of the dead, etc.  In none—absolutely none!—of those cases can those words (using genuine linguistic scholarship) be translated into the English word hell, meaning a place of fiery conscious torment in a hell that burns forever.  Honestly, those words in the original languages simply do not mean that.  How those words came to be translated into the English word, hell, is a very long story I won’t cover in this brief teaching; if you’re interested, there are many scholarly books and teachings about the subject; you can find most of those on tentmaker.org and hopeforallfellowship.com

I hasten to say, however, that the Bible does clearly teach that there is a phenomenon called the lake of fire which many people equate with punishment in an ever-burning hell.  That, too, is another long story.  I’ve covered the subject in great detail in another teaching on this website titled “Fire!”  Yes, there is a lake of fire, but that’s another story.

What’s another matter of religious dogma?  Let’s look at good works.  A large segment of worldwide Christendom teaches that the way to gain entrance into Heaven is to perform good works in this life—good works that outweigh our “bad” works.  If are good works are sufficient to satisfy God, then we are eligible for entrance into Heaven.  If not, God will cast us into an ever-burning hell to suffer forever because we did not commit enough good works in this mortal lifetime.  In brief, that’s the dogma of good works.

If that is dogma, what is the truth of the matter?  Good question.  Simply stated, Jesus was the God-substitute for all our bad works.  His life of good works, death, resurrection, and return to Heaven completely displaced and replaced all our bad works.  God’s eternal and relentless love for all humankind was such that He sent his God-Son to earth to die as substitute for our sin.  Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf was a full and complete substitute that did not simply substitute for our sin, but completely eradicated and removed our sin—our bad works.

Indeed, flowing from his great love for us, God actually replaced our unrighteousness with his own righteousness.  God no longer sees humanity as unrighteous sinners, but as completely redeemed, restored, reconciled, righteous sons and daughters.  No, our good works were not good enough to gain us access to Heaven.  God took matters into his own hands and did the good works for us.  Jesus’ sacrifice took care of the entire matter of good works, bad works, and human sin, paying the full redemptive “price” to secure our entrance into Heaven by his own good works instead of ours.

The next matter of religious dogma I want to discuss in this teaching is the matter of the so-called “sinner’s prayer.”  Throughout most of Protestant Christian evangelicalism there is a belief and teaching that for one to initially become a follower of Jesus, one must recite (from the heart, with meaning, of course!) a certain “formula” of words:  the sinner’s prayer.  The formula varies from denomination to denomination, from theological belief system to theological belief system, but, nonetheless is a formula of sorts.

Samples of such prayers are:  “God, I am a sinner.  I believe Jesus died on the cross for me.  Please forgive my sin and come into my heart.”  “Have mercy upon me, O Lord, and forgive my sin.”  “God, I repent of my sins, ask You to forgive me, cleanse my heart, and give me a new heart.”  “God, I turn away from my sinful past and receive Jesus into my life as my Lord and Savior.”

I am not doubting that such heartfelt prayers are effective for one to begin one’s new life…nor am I belittling or making light of such prayers.  However, they alone do not necessarily mark one as a follower of Jesus.  They are merely the starting point on a lifelong journey of following Jesus as one of his disciples.  For example, my studies by reliable pollsters were conducted during the mid- to late-1900’s to followup those who came forward in the large Billy Graham evangelistic Crusades and prayed a sinner’s prayer.  Over time, only about 15% of those people were later found to be authentic followers of Jesus.  I’m not criticizing Billy Graham’s crusades; I was a counselor in two of his crusades, and I thank God for those 15% who remained true to their initial sinner’s prayer.

As a matter of fact, at age 12 I went forward at an evangelistic crusade held in my hometown by another evangelist similar to Billy Graham.  I prayed a sinner’s prayer.  It wasn’t until six years later I became an authentic follower of Jesus in a situation having nothing to do with that prayer six years earlier.  Yes, it could be said that when I prayed the sinner’s prayer at age 12 that was a “seed” planted that came to “harvest” six years later when I chose to become an authentic follower of Jesus.

My point here is that simply praying a brief prayer (or it could be said:  making a brief statement or promise to God) may or may not result in one’s salvation.  It may well be a starting point, but it does not necessarily constitute being “saved.”  Who then is an authentic follower of Jesus?  How does one become such a follower?  How does it happen?

First, we must realize that Jesus talked with numerous people about having a relationship with God—and about following God.  Never once did He tell someone that they must pray a sinner’s prayer.  Never once did He specifically tell anyone how to get “saved.”  He simply talked and taught about his own relationship with his heavenly Father—and modeled that relationship privately and publicly.  Here’s how one of his followers, Dr Luke, the physician worded it:  “Jesus of Nazareth was anointed by God with Holy Spirit and with great power.  He did wonderful things for others and divinely healed all who were under the tyranny of the devil, for God had anointed Him.”  (Acts 10: 38, The Passion Translation)

Yes, Jesus did talk about numerous subjects:  about being “born again,” about beautiful flowers, about serving God, about becoming as little children, about how to enter the Kingdom of god, about receiving the Holy Spirit, about loving God and one another, about those who are blessed, about how to pray, about wheat and weeds, about sowing seeds, about feeding the hungry, about being baptized, about fig trees and vines, about farmers, about how to regard and handle money, about coming to Him for rest if people are weary and beaten down by life, about rivers of living water flowing from people, about being fishers of humans instead of fish, about healing the sick and downtrodden, about phony religious practices and dogma, about sin and evil, about denying Him, about taking up one’s cross and following Him, ad infinitum.

The last point—following Him—is the key to whether or not one is an authentic Christan.  Throughout the four biographies (the four Gospels) in the Bible, Jesus often said to various people these simple words:  “Follow Me.”  Those people who became committed followers of Jesus (no matter their starting point), in whom He places Holy Spirit, who obey his commands, and who continue to follow Him throughout their mortal lifetimes—they are authentic Christians.

Again, it matters not their starting point—whether or not they have prayed a sinner’s prayer—it matters whether or not they continue to follow Jesus throughout their entire mortal lifetimes, come what may.  Simply put, my own view is that following Jesus marks one as an authentic Christian, regardless whether or not one has ever prayed a so-called sinner’s prayer at the beginning of one’s journey with Jesus.

At this point, I hasten to add that I have no quarrel overall with evangelical believers in Jesus using a sinner’s prayer as they attempt to influence others into becoming followers of Jesus—as long as people praying a sinner’s prayer are not led to mistakenly believe that praying such a prayer is all that is needed to get them into Heaven and keep them out of hell.

When I am visiting with a pre-believer and perceive that he or she is ready to become a follower of Jesus, I lead them in praying a prayer that goes something like this:  “Jesus, I invite You to come into my life in your unbodied form of Holy Spirit and take up permanent residence inside me.  I understand that You and I will then enjoy loving union with one another for all the ages of time and in eternity.  I promise to be your follower and obey you all my life.”

Another important point of religious dogma concerns when the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, was written.  Simply stated the untrue dogma is this:  Revelation was written by the aged Apostle John in roughly 90 A.D., and for the most part the Book of Revelation is about events that were to occur 2,000 years (+ or – ) in the future.  That’s the generally accepted evangelical “party line,” the religious dogma.  But that dogma is not correct.  Revelation was written by John in 65 or 66 A.D., and for the most part is about events that were to occur primarily in Israel and Jerusalem very soon, NOT 2,000 years in the future.  Revelation 1: 1 is very clear:  The Revelation iss about events that will shortly take place!

Keep in mind, too, that the Book of Revelation is really not principally about events, but it’s about Jesus—it’s a “revelation” about Jesus and by Jesus.  It’s largely about a Person, Jesus, NOT so much about events, although it does describe many events which were soon to occur.

Okay, as briefly as I can explain it, here’s the truth about the Book of Revelation, not the religious dogma.  The first 3 chapters of Revelation are letters the resurrected and ascended Jesus in Heaven asked his servant, John, to write to 7 churches in the eastern Mediterranean area—churches that existed at that time in history, not in the far-distant future.  The letters to those 7 churches are self-explanatory.   

Chapters 4 – 18 of Revelation are generally about events that Jesus revealed to John that would occur duing the next 7 years from 66 to 72 A.D.—events mostly in the land of Israel and in the city of Jerusalem.  This was a period of “Great Tribulation” for the Jewish people living during those awful 7 years.  This period of tribulation included the sacking and razing of most of Jerusalem and the destruction of the great Jewish Temple in that city.  This destructive period by the Roman armies under General Titus brought about the end of thousands of years of Jewish religion centered around the Temple.  It is estimated that the Romans slaughtered approximately 1,000,000,000 Jewish men, women, children, infants, and babies living in and around Jerusalem.  Most of the remaining Jews fled and were scattered here and there throughout the Roman Empire.  

Followers of Jesus living in Israel and Jerusalem during those dark times were miraculously forewarned by God to “flee from the wrath to come”;  most of them escaped before the Roman armies began that horrible time of slaughter, carrying the Good News (the Gospel) about Jesus with them as they dispersed throughout the Empire, some even fleeing as far away as India, China, and the British Isles.  The entire world (as it was then understood by those in the Mediterranean portion of the world) heard the Good News about Jesus and his coming Kingdom.  Jesus had told his followers to “Go into all the world.”  They did!

Chapters 19 – 22 of the Revelation are about future events—a time when Jesus will return to consummate his heavenly Kingdom on earth and begin his royal reign over all the earth and the far-flung universe from the city of New Jerusalem.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the events of Revelation as I just outlined them, I recommend two books:  One is a paperback book titled Victorious Eschatology by Harold Eberle and Martin Trench; it’s sort of an introduction to the matters about Revelation I’ve mentioned.  The second book is a thick, hardbound, scholarly book called an expository book, examining every single verse in the Book of Revelation; it’s titled Days of Vengeance by David Chilton.  Both books are available at amazon.com.  I don’t agree with absolutely every point of each book, but then it would be a dull world if we all agreed on everything we read.

Okay, there you have my response to the generally accepted—and untrue—evangelical dogma that the Book of Revelation was written about 90 A.D., and is about events 2,000+ years in the future.  Many people won’t even read the Book of Revelation because they feel it’s too weird and scary, complex, and hard to understand.  If you read it from the perspective I’ve set forth, it’s much easier to understand, and you’ll even be “blessed” by reading it, as Jesus promised you would be in Revelation 1: 3.   

The final harmful dogma I have selected among my smatterings of destructive and harmful dogmas is that of the so-called end-times as taught by many leaders and teachers among evangelical followers of Jesus.  Harmful effects of such dogmatic end-time teachings can range from Jim Jones who influenced 800+ of his followers to follow him in a mass suicide a few decades ago, to David Koresh who led his followers into fiery deaths when the FBI invaded his end-time compound in Waco, Texas, not long ago.  Between the extremes of those two horrible tragedies, dogmatic evangelical leaders and teachers can mistakenly lead others into confusion, bewilderment, consternation, and chaos about what is true and what isn’t about so-called end-times.

First, what is the typical evangelical view about the end-times?  Simply put, it is that we are living in a period of history when all hell is about to break loose on planet earth—and human history as we have known it will come to a tumultous, horrible, fiery end.  Such a view includes horrible beasts, hailstones weighing up to 100 pounds, destructive planet-wide floods, large meteors striking earth, people forced to take a “mark of the beast,” a third of humanity destroyed, blood running as deep as two or three feet due to horrible destructive weaponry being used, deadly planet-wide plagues, an army of 200 million from China invading the Middle East, including Israel, a person known as “the antichrist” controlling all humanity, ad infinitum, culminating in the Great Battle of Armageddon between God and his armies of angels and Satan and his minions!

And those examples I’ve cited are really only a small part of the overall, end-time scenario being proclaimed on television and radio, in print, and in large conferences by various religious leaders, teachers, and self-appointed, so-called end-time prophets!

The actual end-time view taught in the Bible is remarkably simple.  Whenever Jesus returns (it could be soon, it could be later) to usher in and consummate his Kingdom on earth, it will be the beginning of the most peace-full, harmonious time in all human history!  In reality, the Bible is clear from a number of references (all available on request—to numerous to mention and explain in this brief teaching) that the actual end-times began when the God-Man, Jesus, was here on earth 2,000 years ago—and humanity has been living in those end-times since then; during those 2,000 years, the Good News about what God—in Jesus!—has done for all humanity has been proclaimed around the globe in preparation of Jesus’ return to usher in his long-awaited Kingdom, whenever that will occur.   

Jesus said that only his Father knows when his return will occur.  True, we are possibly living near the end of the end-times, but those times are overlapping with the beginning of the “new times” when Jesus will return to consummate his long-awaited Kingdom on earth for which millions of people have been praying in the Lord’s Prayer for 2,000 years.  Jesus’ peaceable, golden Kingdom will come to earth, He will the righteous King and Lord of all—and all will be well!

Those, then, are only a few points of “wrong” evangelical religious dogma foisted upon people for various reasons—generally to control or wrongly influence them to be religious or to follow a certain segment of Christianity, rather than have a vital and thriving religionship with the Living God through Jesus.  I repeat:  Christianity is decidedly NOT a religion, nor does it consist of religious dogma; it is a RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD provided to all humanity through the completed work of Jesus on our behalf.  Are YOU merely religious or following a certain religion or set of religious beliefs or dogma?  Or, are you fostering, developing, and enhancing your relationship with God instead of just being religious?

I invite you to read two companion teachings on this website:  God and Religion and God: Relationship or Religion?

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc.
leservices38@yahoo.com

Revised and Updated February 2023

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Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated February 2022

March 2017: Final Issue/Good News, Part Two

Good News

Continued from last month

How does a person enter into a relationship with a loving God and begin living an abundant LIFE He promises us? That is why God sent Jesus to the earth, to live among us as a human, though He was also God’s Son—to tell us and show us how to do this incredible thing: Love Him and live this abundant LIFE—sharing God’s own LIFE with Him as part of a family.  The four Gospels (four biographies) about Jesus in the New Testament are where we learn about what LIFE with God is like.

Jesus called this change from non-relationship with God into relationship with Him being “born again.” Think about those words: Born Again! To be born again involves a major change in one’s life.  Inviting the Spirit of God into residence in the human heart where until now we have done whatever we wanted, calling no one Lord or Master—is more significant a moment than natural birth.  It is truly a second birth, for when God takes up permanent residence within us, not only are we no longer alone, but we are also no longer in charge of our lives. God moves from being only our Creator, but also becomes our Father, and as such we place ourselves in relationship with Him as His child.

When I write about the distinction between aloneness and relationship, make no mistake, it is not an equal sort of “buddy-buddy” relationship with God. There is a Father and there is a child. And the Father sets the rules for the household.  That’s why once we enter into this relationship, if we are serious about it, we do become better people, because within this relationship we are under obligation to obey our Father and live as Jesus taught.  Jesus Himself becomes our Savior—the messenger or agent of our salvation, and also our Lord. That means He becomes our Master and we must do as He says.  And Jesus has made clear very specific guidelines about how we are to conduct ourselves and about the attitudes and priorities we are to adopt. Walking in relationship with God, therefore, means living according to His principles.

That’s how the relationship works. It involves a significant shift, a change of management in life. That’s why Jesus defined it with words of such enormous magnitude.  The interesting thing is that one night when a man in the Bible asked Jesus how to be born again, Jesus gave him no religious formula. He compared being born again to the wind.  That analogy says that this process of inviting the Spirit of Jesus into one’s heart and beginning to live as God’s child, is an invisible process that each person must discover for himself or herself.

Instant or Process?

A myth that has come down to us through the years is that salvation comes instantly in a single moment of conversion. But if you read through the ministry and teachings of Jesus, you gain a beautiful picture of what is often a gradual and steadily deepening growth and maturity of LIFE with God. It was certainly gradual in the lives of Jesus’ early disciples. The teachings of Jesus always emphasize the growing lifestyle rather than the instantaneous experience.

Salvation may, of course, begin in a single moment. For those who have never done so, Jesus can be invited into one’s life with a brief prayer and take only a few seconds. 

Let me remind you, too, that many who have been attending church for years may never have actually prayed such a prayer.  Learning to live in relationship with God takes the rest of a lifetime. There are, though, three important ways one cultivates this new LIFE. Praying and talking to God is the first. Reading the Bible to discover the new type of LIFE Jesus wants his followers to live is the next. And finally, obeying what God tells you to do in the Bible.

Pray. Read your Bible. Obey—do these and you will grow as a Jesus-believer. God gave us the Bible not merely to inform us, but to transform us!  All these aspects of salvation that I’ve written about are involved in being born again. And many more aspects that will be significant in certain lives. These are steps to a deeper LIFE with God for presidents, grandmothers, children, laborers, teachers, secretaries, executives, financiers, homemakers and teenagers, not just for pastors and priests and those one usually thinks of as “religious.” Salvation is for everyone. For me . . . and for you.  Another thing about salvation is that it is ongoing. It is not a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Jesus may live in my spirit, and I hope He lives in yours. But daily I must renew my commitment to yield to Him the throne of my life.

I have to live out my salvation every day. There’s no autopilot for the Jesus-believer’s life. Every day I have to engage my will to live as God’s child and obey what He gives me to do. So . . . the invitation for God to enter our lives may be made in a moment, but the life of faith must be lived with fresh commitment daily.  I must tell you that walking with God is not always an easy life. Daily I must struggle to relinquish my own will—to say to God “You are altogether good, and absolutely everything You do is good . . . and I trust You as Lord and Master of my life.”

No, salvation is not always easy. This is no cotton candy faith, this thing called living a LIFE in eternal relationship with God. Men and women have been tortured and have died and suffered through the ages for no other reason than that they were known as Jesus-believers.  Jesus won no cheap salvation when He died for us on the cross. He prayed to be spared that cruel death. But in the end, because He trusted in God’s infinite love and goodness, He said, “Not my will, but Yours be done.”  No, it is not “cheap grace,” but a hard-won salvation. But this gutsy thing we call believing in Jesus is true. God is good. And we can trust Him. And you can trust your life to Him. Don’t let Jesus’ death on the cross be in vain. Invite Him to share his LIFE with you and trust Him.

 As mentioned previously, there are two aspects to the wonder-full salvation God provides for us through Jesus. First, yes there is “instant salvation” when one simply invites Jesus to enter his or her life in his unbodied form of the Holy Spirit. That can happen any time, any place, at any age, young or old.  Yes, that can happen in an instant, but it’s only the beginning. Afterwards, there is the aspect of our salvation being a process, a lifelong journey.  Yes, it’s a lifelong process: God shows us his LIFE-map, guiding us along the way, helping us stay on the lookout for sign-posts marking his course for our lives.  The Holy Spirit within us keeps us centered on Him, carefully staying on the LIFE-path He has cleared, walking in the pace and rhythms He has laid down for our lives. 

Examples

 Here are some examples of how Jesus and some of the writers of the New Testament spoke about salvation—about being saved . . . both in an instant and for a lifetime.

First, here’s what Jesus Himself said about being saved in an instant:

“A religious leader came to see Jesus one night for a private discussion. He confessed that Jesus must have come from God because of the many God-revealing, God-pointed acts He was doing.
Jesus didn’t respond directly, but simply stated, ‘You’re absolutely right. Unless a person is born again, it’s just not possible to comprehend what I’ve been doing.’
The religious leader responded: ‘How can anyone be born again? People can’t re-enter their mother’s uterus and be born again; what are you saying with this born again talk?’
Jesus replied, “You’re not listening carefully. Let me say it again: It’s an invisible entrance into a brand-new life; that’s what being born again means.
On a windy day the wind brushes right past you and you don’t know where it’s coming from nor where it’s going.
Likewise, in an atomic second, the Father breathes his Holy Spirit into you—silently, quietly, calmly as the wind, and you are instantly born again into a brand new LIFE.”

Next, here’s what Paul said about being saved in an instant:

“Therefore, if anyone becomes a new believer in Jesus, that person instantly becomes a new person altogether—becomes a new creation having a fresh character and brand-new quality to their life: the old previous moral and spiritual condition begins to go away and a new LIFE burgeons! Behold, that person becomes totally fresh and new. And God does it all!”

 Here’s what one of Jesus’ close friend, Matthew, said about the process of being a lifelong believer in Jesus:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Join Me. Take a break with me. Come away with Me, and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest and really be re-created.  Walk along with Me. Lean on Me as much as you need to. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Stay right with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly throughout your lifetime without finding life to be so ‘heavy all the time.’”

Here’s another statement by Paul about both “instant” salvation and the lifelong “process” of salvation:

“We neither create nor save ourselves. God does both! We don’t play the major role in our salvation. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing.  God newly creates each of us into a brand-new person to join Him in the work He does—lifelong good works He crafted for us to do long before anything else was even created”

Let’s wrap this up with another statement by Jesus’ friend, John:

“This is how much God loves you. He gave Jesus to you. Why? So that no one needs to be apart from God. You can have a whole and lasting LIFE through Jesus. 

God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending you his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling you how bad you are. He came to put you right with God again. Jesus came to save you, not to condemn you.”   

Just Do It

A prayer inviting Jesus into your life for the first time might go something like this:  “God, I really didn’t know You love me and we could have a personal relationship.

Open my eyes to recognize my need for You.   I thank You for forgiving me. I receive you and accept You as my Savior and Master, and invite You to live inside me for my lifetime in your unbodied form of the Holy Spirit.  I relinquish the right to self-rule in my life. I ask You to help me. Draw me closer to You and help me to grow into the godly man or woman You want me to be. Help me, Father, to be your obedient child, to obey You and to do what You tell me.”

“What we know is that when Jesus returns, we’ll see Him—and in seeing Him, become like Him. All of us who look forward to his coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.”   –1 John 3: 2 and 3   

“Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy [wholesome] life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival.”
                                                                                                            –2 Peter 3: 11

To Think About This Month

“Every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Master to the glory of God the Father!”          — Philippians 2: 11

NOTE: It is now December 2020. I have just finished revising and updating all teachings and archived issues of The Traveler on this website. In March 2017 for reasons known only to Him and not yet fully disclosed to me, God asked me to discontinue writing and publishing The Traveler. I try to be his obedient son, so I did what He asked. I hope all the archived issues of The Traveler will in some inexplicable way help you grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus and in your relationship with the Father.

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc.
leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020

February 2017: Good News, Part One

Good News

Long ago, a believer in Jesus named Paul wrote these words:  “I’m not ashamed of the Good News of what God has done for everyone through Jesus.  In fact, that Good News contains within itself actual power to save everyone who believes it.” Paul also wrote:  “If you honestly proclaim out loud to others that Jesus is your Master, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Okay what’s this “saved” and “salvation” stuff all about?  Who needs saved?  And from what? 

Saved from two things:  Sin and Death.  Anyone who is a sinner needs saved—needs salvation.  Who is a sinner?  We all are.  What is sin?  It is choosing a lifestyle of living your life for your own self, being self-centered and self-absorbed, instead of being God-centered.  We’re all sinners.  We’re all going to die.  God—through Jesus—has provided salvation for each of us . . . if we’ll simply receive his salvation.  Salvation is a gift from God, but as with any gift, the gift is of no value unless we receive it and “open” it.

So . . . God freely saves us from sin and death.  Not a bad deal, no matter how you look at it…

Street Corner Preachers

Years ago I worked in downtown Chicago and lived in one of its suburbs.  I took a number of conveyances to get to and from work.  Near bus stops and on subway platforms, I was often accosted by people who would get right in my face and ask almost belligerently and accusingly:  “Are you saved?”   I was “saved,” but grew very tired of such street corner preachers getting in my face and asking that question.  They seemed to be asking the question because they felt they  needed  to “earn  points,”  rather  than  asking out of genuine concern for their listeners.  

One time when asked the question, “Are you saved? I unhesitatingly blurted out in response:  “I’ll be damned if I’m not!”  Hey, I wasn’t swearing; my response was true.  I just didn’t like the angry way I responded to the question.  Ever since that time, however, when asked the question, “Are you saved?” I’ve responded with the same answer . . . just to add a bit of humor to the situation and make people think.  Being “saved”—salvation—is a concept many people don’t understand.  Salvation is a word that remains a mystery to many.  For many people, it’s an old-fashioned term—this thing known as “salvation” or being “saved.” Many people would answer the question “Why must people be saved?” with this simple answer:  “We need to be saved from hell.’’  

But the good news about being saved by Jesus doesn’t begin with fire and brimstone, especially when we look at Jesus’ example. He began his own teaching with the tender words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The various fires spoken of in the Bible are real enough.  Hell (Hades [the place where the dead go:  the grave] in the Greek language of the Bible) is no myth. But Jesus didn’t start there and neither should we.  If we try to base our understanding of salvation simply on avoiding hell, we will never come to understand salvation properly because we will be going about it backwards.  So . . . we need to begin elsewhere.

Saved From What?

Again, the question is, “What do we need saved from?”  The answer is so simple, yet we often make it so complex:  “We need saved from ourselves.”  There’s a little “throne” at the center of each of lives; either “self” or God occupies that throne.  Salvation is simply to replace self with God on that throne.  Without God, we are left to ourselves—alone.  Aloneness now.  And aloneness for many remaining eons of time.  Many people, of course, do not think themselves alone.  In the midst of an active, fast-paced, even happy, life, it is easy to succumb to the illusion of non-aloneness; and it is just that:  an illusion.  

You must understand I am not writing of mere loneliness.  This aloneness is something much different.  If one is living without a daily relationship with God, then that individual is living alone, whether he or she feels loneliness or not.  You may be reasonably fulfilled and contented.  It doesn’t matter.  Without God in your life—living inside you in his “unbodied” Spirit form—you are alone.  It’s just that simple.  Some of you reading these words perhaps are lonely.  Your life may be a dreary existence of enduring one day after another without much human contact—real, close, personal human contact.  You need God because you need companionship.  You need Him because you were created not to be alone, but for intimate fellowship with your Creator.

Family Relationship

You see, deep down inside where no other person can go with you, in the innermost chambers of your heart, only two options exist.  You are either alone, or you share that inner sanctum of your life in a family relationship with your heavenly Father. No one else can go there.  Not friends, parents, husband, wife, no one.  Either you and God have a vital relationship there together, or you are by yourself.  And if you are alone, it is an awesome, empty aloneness that could remain for many eons to come if self continues to be at the center of your being.  Here’s another way of approaching this matter of salvation.  Every human being, each in his or her own unique way, is thirsty for the LIFE of God in them.  That thirst is felt in different ways.  

Yet strange to say, some are not aware they are thirsty at all, even though they may be dying for lack of spiritual water.  Yes, every single individual on earth shares this thirst—rich and poor, young and old, men and women . . . everyone.  It is what one of the great philosophers called “the God-shaped vacuum in every soul.”  Hunger and thirst are practical sensations all of us feel.  

That’s probably why Jesus used such terms to describe our need for God.  For example, on one occasion He declared:  “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.”  The reason this hole, this vacuum, this thirst exists in each of us is that God left behind a tiny “piece” of Himself in our hearts after He created us and we subsequently struck out on our own.  It is like a tiny, invisible spiritual homing device that is always pointing us back in the direction of our Maker.  It is what makes us different from the lower animals.  It is what is called the spirit (the spiritual “part” of our makeup as human beings).

Self Or God?

There is another myth perpetuated by “hellfire preachers” that salvation is only for terrible sinners.  But what is sin other than being separated from God?  Sin is not something you do at all.  It is the description of the innermost region of your being.  If “self” rules in that inner sanctum, and we are living our lives without a relationship with God, doing our own thing, then we’re not in a vital relationship with God.  That’s sin, the conflict between self-will and God’s will.  Self on the throne of life, which can be either outward rebellion against God’s ways or mere passive indifference toward God.  But the result is the same. 

“Good” people are sinners just as much as “bad” people.  Don’t let your goodness fool you into thinking you need God any less than the most horrible bad person who ever lived.  Sins (plural), on the other hand, are what we do—bad things that contradict God’s plans and purposes for us.  If we’re not living our lives with God in us, we need to repent (change our minds) about those sins.   Jesus-believers are not immune from sins either, which is why the Jesus-believer’s life is not a life of perfection but one of trying, with God’s help, to conquer what the Bible calls our “flesh nature.”  The myth I mentioned is so damaging to an understanding of salvation because it conveys the notion that our need of salvation is based on wickedness.  It implies that only very bad people, genuinely miserable sinners, need God at all.  But the fact is we all need a vibrant relationship with Him.

Good?  Or Bad?

Let’s be honest, very few of us really do consider ourselves quite that bad.  Those of you reading these lines right now—do you honestly consider yourselves sinners?  That’s the trouble with the “wicked sinner” myth—most of us deep down inside consider ourselves to be pretty decent, respectable people, certainly as good as the person next to you, or the neighbor down the street.  So what do we need God for?  It’s easy to shrug off the whole thing.  Here’s what we need God for.  We need Him not because we’re so bad—which we all are to varying degrees.  Some of us are better, some of us are worse, than others.  We need God in our lives because, if we haven’t invited Him into our live, we’re all alone in that innermost place deep inside our beings.  

We need saving from our separation from God.  We need God, not necessarily because we are going around committing heinous crimes from morning till night, but because we’re supposed to share our lives with God.  So you see, we’re all sinners together—decent people, mean people, good people, bad people—until we let God into our lives.  I repeat—we’re all sinners together . . . and we need God in our lives.  If you are not living in daily relationship with God, you need Him just as much as a wicked murderer on death row.  

Salvation does not save us just from being bad.  Nor does it automatically make us good.  Jesus-believers have a difficult time obeying God’s principles just like everyone else.  Again, I want to make it very clear that salvation is not primarily about badness and goodness.  It is about the difference between aloneness and relationship.  We all need God in our lives.  He intended to live in daily relationship with the men and women He created.  In very simplified terms, then, that’s what salvation is—living in vital relationship with God.  We need this relationship because it is how you were made to live.  Without it, you will never be entirely right.

Good News

You’ve all heard the word “gospel.”  But do you know what it means?  Gospel means “good news.”  What is this good news?  It is that God not only can save us from our aloneness, but that He also loves us, wants the best for us, and has a fulfilling plan for each of our lives.  He wants us to be content, full of joy and fully alive to all life has to offer.  He wants to shower his love upon us and give us a rich and abundant life.  In short, God is our Father.  That’s what Jesus said.  A good and loving Father who wants the very best for us.  That is good news!  That’s what life with God is—a relationship with a heavenly Father who is dedicated to bring about good in our lives to the extent we trust Him to do so.

“What we know is that when Jesus returns, we’ll see Him—and in seeing Him, become like Him.  All of us who look forward to his coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.”   –1 John 3: 2 and 3

“Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy [wholesome] life?  Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival.”  –2 Peter 3: 11   

To Think About This Month

“This is how God shows how much He loves us:  God sent his only Son into the world.”                    — The Bible

Bill Boylan
Life Enrichment Services, Inc.
E-Mail:  leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020