Continued from last month

In last month’s issue of The Traveler, we introduced you to some thoughts about God’s judgments and justice. We also introduced you to the word “anthropomorphism,” meaning to ascribe human characteristics to non-human persons or objects.

Basically, we humans have done that with God; we’ve ascribed human thoughts and actions to God. If you really think about that, it’s kinda foolish for us to do it, but it’s just how we humans are. At the very least, it helps us to think we understand a little more about who God is and how He works.  The reality is that God states very clearly in the Bible: “I don’t think the way you [humans] think. The way you work isn’t the way I work . . . For as the sky soars high above the earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.” (Isaiah 55: 8 and 9.)  I’ve written this before: The Bible is God’s full written revelation of Himself to humankind.” So . . . to even begin to understand a little about God’s judgment and justice, we must go to the Bible. We must not ascribe human thoughts and ideas about judgment and justice to God! That’s anthropomorphism.

Love. Justice. Mercy. Grace.

 God is love; the Bible is very clear about that. That’s his basic personal character, his basic nature, underlying everything He says and does. Justice, mercy, and grace flow from his great and amazing love for us; they’re part of his love.  God’s judgments are fair and good. Throughout the Bible God’s justice is always defined as “God setting all wrong things right.”   Everything—everything!–that has ever been wrong in all creation, God will make it all right, restoring everything that needs restoration.

 There is no conflict between God’s justice and His mercy. They both flow from His love. The justice and righteousness that flow through Jesus cause God’s love and compassion to be poured out on us. They are about God meeting us in at our points of need and liberating us from sin and oppression. “setting things right”—that is what biblical justice is about.  There is no dichotomy between a “God of justice” in the Old Testament and a “God of mercy” in the New. There is no split in God’s character. God has always been a compassionate God, a God of love.

Jesus fully reveals who God is and who God has always been. Justice has always come through mercy. God is justified in forgiving our sins and implanting his righteous nature in us because Jesus has fully righted the wrongs our self-centered, self-absorbed sin has done to all of us.  The key issue in God’s justice wasn’t necessarily that He merely paid for our sin. His justice was in the fact that He gave back what humankind lost by our sin. Justice is God’s grace and mercy at work in love.

When is Judgment Not Judgment?

There is another aspect of judgment I want to write about—a time of judgment which is not really judgment. This judgment is referred to in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 3: 9 – 15 and 2 Corinthians 5: 10. It is called “the judgment seat of Jesus.” The word for judgment in the Greek language is “bema.”  Here’s a word picture of the bema judgment. In ancient Greece and Rome when athletic contests were held, there was an award ceremony at the end of the contests, much like we see in modern Olympics.

 The winning athletes would be called to come forward and present themselves to the contest judges who were seated on the “bema seat” to pass out the awards. The winners would receive various types of awards while the losers would receive nothing; the losers weren’t punished; they simply received no awards.  That’s what the bema judgment of Jesus is. It is a future time after He returns to earth, when Jesus will reward some believers for what they have done—their “works” on his behalf.  But in this case, while some will receive rewards for works denoted by “gold, silver, and precious stones,” some will “suffer loss” denoted by “wood, hay, and stubble.”  Those who suffer loss will not be cast into a burning hell; it is simply that their works of wood, hay, and stubble will be burned up. Yes, some of the people standing before God’s bema seat will suffer loss, but they will not be burned up . . . only their works.

“In the Spirit” or “In the Flesh?”

When the Bible uses the term “in the Spirit” it means that we work cooperatively with the Holy Spirit who permanently inhabits our human spirits. When Jesus entered our lives in his “unbodied form” of the Holy Spirit, our spirits were fused together and we became one spirit for all the ages of time and in the eternal state of being.  “In the flesh” means essentially that we do what we do by ourselves without any cooperation with God. We let our own human thoughts and imaginings do what we do without reliance on the Holy Spirit who lives permanently within our spirits. We rely more upon our own reason and logic than upon the Holy Spirit within us. 

NOTE: Those definitions of “in the Spirit” and “in the flesh” are merely basic definitions; much, much more could be written, but those definitions are enough for our purposes in this issue of The Traveler.

What are the works “judged” at the bema seat? They are the differences between works done “in the flesh” and works done “in the Spirit,” a theme found throughout the New Testament. 

Subjected to Fire

When gold, silver, and precious stones are subjected to fire, they are merely made more pure. When wood, hay, and stubble are subjected to fire, they are burned up. 2 Timothy 2: 20 refers to the same matter. Gold, silver, and precious stones symbolize God’s nature and character He is working into the lives of his children; it is what the Bible elsewhere calls “the fruit of the Spirit.” (Galatians 5: 22 and 23, as one example). Wood, hay, and stubble symbolize works people have attempted to do for God by their own religious efforts.

Another way of putting it is that at the bema seat Jesus believers will “reap what we have sown” (Galatians 6: 7). The criteria used by Jesus at the bema judgment will be: were our works done in cooperation with the Holy Spirit who lives within us . . . or, were they done by “fleshly” self-effort? In other words, what will be the source of the works done and who actually produced the works in our lives: Spirit or self?

The Book of Revelation puts this matter of the bema judgment this way. Our labor—our inner works of righteousness—must originate with the Holy Spirit living in our spirits and then produced in our lives by his ability and power, not our own. (John 3: 21) If that is the case, then we will be “clothed with righteous deeds.” (Revelation 19: 8)  However, if the “flesh” is the source of our works, then we will produce unfruitful works and be found naked. (Revelation 3: 17; 16: 15) You realize of course that those people in these scenarios are not literally clothed in righteousness or literally naked.

If our works are prompted and empowered by the Holy Spirit who lives in our spirits, those works will withstand the fire at the bema judgment, and the believer will be rewarded. (1 Corinthians 3: 14 and Revelation 22: 2). If, however, our works originate with self-centered, self-absorbed motives of being seen and applauded by others, then that becomes its own reward. There will be no other rewards for such works. (Matthew 6: 1)

Crowns

 There is some indication in the New Testament that “crowns” will be awarded at the bema judgment of Jesus. These are crowns which are symbols or badges of victory. They are crowns won in public athletic events. They are not crowns which denote royalty. In the New Testament, there are two different Greek words used for the two types of crowns.

There are at least 5 crowns named in the New Testament, likely awarded at the bema judgment of Jesus:

The incorruptible crown—also called the victor’s crown—is awarded for self-control and having victory over the flesh. (1 Corinthians 9: 24 – 25)

The crown of rejoicing is awarded to Jesus believers for fruitful work in the lives of others. (1 Thessalonians 2: 19)

The crown of life is for those who have persevered, endured trials, even faced death—and yet remained faithful to Jesus. (James 1: 12 and Revelation 2: 10)

The crown of glory is for those who have shepherded and tended Jesus’ church. (1 Peter 5: 4)

The crown of righteousness is for those who have displayed to others their hope in Jesus’ return to establish his Kingdom. (2 Timothy 4: 8) 

Much, much more could be written about the biblical subject of God’s judgments and justice. This teaching is intended to be only a very, very brief introduction to the subject. We hope we’ve given you food for thought and helped free you from fear just a little bit if you are worried about God’s judgments or wrath upon you after you die.  God’s judgments will be just, flowing from his great love for all humanity whom He has created and is restoring into his clear image as best seen in Jesus.

Judge Not . . .

The following is sort of off the subject of God’s judgments, but Holy Spirit asked me to add it here to close out this issue of The Traveler. It’s about us humans judging other humans. When I see someone succumb to temptation and sin, there are four things I do not know:

How hard that person tried not to sin.
The power of the forces that assailed that person.
The exact circumstances or events as perceived and experienced by that person.
What I would have done in the exact same circumstances or events.

Therefore, I am never in a position to judge others when they sin. I see only what people do. God alone sees why they do it. God alone is judge, and He does not judge anyone before they die. How dare I! Furthermore, the more time I spend judging others, the less time I have to share God’s love with them!

 There you have it: for two months, some very brief teaching about God’s judgment and justice . . . and about humans judging one another.  It’s up to you now to check me out and see if I have mishandled or twisted some words of the Bible. I know how human I am and make many mistakes in my teaching, but I attempt to teach according to the light I have from God’s Spirit who lives within my spirit.  Since God’s judgments and justice are such important subjects in the Bible, I honestly encourage you to check me out; I don’t want to lead any of my readers astray.

                    “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 

“Heaven’s peace and perfect justice kiss a guilty world with love . . . .”        –from song, “Here is Love”

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

Ask many people what they think about God’s judgment(s), and their responses will be something like this: “There is coming a time when God will judge every human, and, as a result, some will go to heaven to live forever with God and some will be cast into hell to burn there forever with Satan.” That’s generally how many humans think about God’s judgments upon humanity.  You see, when many humans think about God’s judgments, they think about punishment, imprisonment, suffering for sin, hell, unquenchable fire, brimstone, and the like. Search your own heart, and see if that’s kind of what you believe.

 Then, what happens is we take our own views about judgment and superimpose them on God, feeling He regards and practices judgment in the same manner with the same results. That’s called anthropomorphism: ascribing human characteristics to God or to other, non-human beings such as household pets.  I just wanted to impress you with that big word. But, it’s true, we have a tendency to ascribe to God’s nature and character our own nature and character; we tend to think He thinks and does things like we do.  For example, those people who have issues with anger, rage, and violence, tend to believe God is full of rage, anger, and violence, too . . . sitting above the clouds somewhere casting thunderbolts down to earth because He is extremely angry with humanity.

Judgment = Justice

 Would it surprise you to learn that when the Bible refers to God’s judgments, his views about judgments and the way He practices judgments are much different than human judgments?  Ironically, the God-as-stern-Judge viewpoint does not present an authentic biblical picture of what divine justice is about, but is a legalistic perspective that comes from human religion and culture.  Biblically, to “bring justice” does not mean to bring punishment, but to bring healing and reconciliation. In the Bible, God’s justice always means to make wrong things right!

Unfortunately, one of the first things new believers in Jesus learn about God—often in some sort of church “new believers class”—is thatGod is a stern Judge seated on a throne in heaven. That is true. God is a Judge (not necessarily stern, however; more about that later). The issue is who is God judging from his throne, and what He is judging them about.  Over the course of many years, I’ve asked numerous people—both believers in Jesus and pre-Jesus believers—this question or one similar to it: “Whenever you picture God on his throne, what do you envision Him doing?” 

The vast majority of people usually respond something like this: “Well, I picture Him sitting on his throne meting out judgments on people . . . punishing people with his terrible judgments . . . pouring out his wrath on people . . . punishing people for their sins . . . sending people to hell . . . causing ‘natural calamities’ such as hurricanes and earthquakes.”

An old familiar song we USAmericans sing illustrates my point: “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword . . . “

Yes, many people envision God sitting on his throne wreaking terrible judgments, wrath, and punishment on people. Also, our entire multi-billion dollar insurance industry calls environmental disasters and natural calamities “Acts of God.” For most people, God is perceived as being stern, tyrannical, judgmental, and often downright “mean.”  If you’re one of those people who feel that way, I’ve got some good news for you!

A Bible Principle

There is a principle of Bible study known as “The Rule of First Mention,” meaning that whenever a subject is first mentioned or introduced in the Bible, all subsequent biblical references to that subject will generally “agree” with what is first mentioned.  In the Bible, the first mention of God as Judge is Genesis 18: 25. In that reference, the ancient patriarch, Abraham, asked a rhetorical question: “Shall not the Judge of all humanity judge in a righteous manner?” The answer to Abraham’s question is, “Yes, God judges in a righteous manner.” But what does that mean? The answer to that question is the main subject of this teaching.

 The word “throne” occurs 175 times in the Bible. Those 175 times include not only God’s throne, but also other thrones that human rulers sit upon.  Not once in the Bible is God’s throne called (or named) a throne of judgment! On the contrary, God’s throne is calleda throne of grace(Hebrews 4: 16), a throne of glory (Jeremiah 14: 21 and Matthew 19: 28), a throne of majesty (Hebrews 8: 1), and a throne of holiness (Psalm 47: 8).  The Bible also teaches that righteousness and justice are the foundations of God’s throne (Psalm 89: 14 and 97: 2).

“So what?” you ask. “So what if it’s called a throne of glory, grace, majesty, and holiness, not of judgment? What difference does that make to anyone . . . to me?”  First of all, what is a throne? By definition it is the “seat of a king, judge, or priest.” In this study, let’s think of it as the seat of God the King. Keep in mind, however, that God is spirit. He is not “composed” of material substance as we are.

God does not actually sit on a literal throne in some “throne room” of his palace in a far off heaven. Those are merely limited human attempts to describe God sitting on a throne of judgment.  To write or speak of God’s throne as being literal is untrue; God is everywhere and everywhen in and “outside” his unbounded creation, and is not limited to being in one place at a time as we humans are. He is not seated on a literal throne somewhere in a far-off heaven.  It may be true, however, that the glorified King Jesus is “seated” on a literal throne, but that’s another subject I won’t cover in this teaching.

As mentioned previously, the Bible meaning of the word “justice” is “to make wrong things right.” From his throne of grace, glory, holiness, and majesty (the foundations of which are righteousness and justice) God judges with justice, and ultimately makes all wrong things right. From his throne, God does not wreak terrible judgments, wrath, and punishment on people.  I hasten to say that, yes, God does correct, chastise, discipline, purge, and cleanse people by his judgment and justice, but that’s only part of the story. Discipline is defined as “training that develops self-control and godly character.” Correction means “punishment to correct faults; to change from wrong to right.” Cleanse means “to remove contamination and impurities.”  Chastisement is “punishment in order to correct or cure.” Purge means “to cleanse or rid of impurities or undesirable elements.”Notice each of these definitions has a positive final outcome even though there may be some pain involved in order to reach the desired outcomes.

Word Study On Your Own

There are many other aspects of God’s judgments and justice He “dispenses” from his throne. His judgments also involves rebirth, replacement, redemption, restoration, reconciliation, rehabilitation, rectification, refining, revitalization, reformation, reclamation, renewal, recoupment, renovation, refreshing, rekindling, reviving, and restitution.  I encourage you to look up the definitions of each of those words both in a good Bible dictionary and in a standard dictionary in your native language.

 And . . . I strongly encourage you to read and study another teaching on this website titled Restoration.

 What does the Bible mean when it mentions God’s wrath? It means He is “intensely angry.” Intensely angry at what or who? We know that God’s basic character trait—the very essence of his nature—is love: love for human beings He created.  God’s wrath is not directed at human beings, per se, but at the sin(s) of human beings—at what they do, not who they are.  Concerning God’s wrath, we also know that his entire wrath against sin was poured out in full upon Jesus when He was crucified. God’s entire wrath that was directed at our sin(s) was, instead, directed at Jesus who “paid” the penalty for all our sins when He was crucified.

God’s wrath against our sin(s) was totally expended on Jesus—and then dissipated in full. Jesus, the God-Man, became our substitute, bearing full punishment for the sins(s) of all humanity. Thus, never again will any human have to endure God’s wrath against his or her sin.  I want you to envision a fictitious scenario in your imagination—based on 1 John 2: 1-2 in the New Testament.

You are summoned to appear before God to have Him judge your sins and pass judgment upon you. An angel opens the book of your life, full of all your sins from an early age. There is no question you are guilty of sin and deserve the death sentence. God is about to render his judgment, and sentence you to death, when Jesus asks, “Your Honor, may I approach the bench?” God summons Jesus forward.  Jesus says, “Your Honor, it is true—my client is guilty of sins and justly deserves the death penalty. However, I want to remind you, that acting on my client’s behalf I have paid the ultimate penalty for his sin by dying on his behalf.  Now, acting as his Defense Attorney, I remind You that You cannot sentence my client to death . . . because I died for him on his behalf. Justice demands my client be set free and his case closed!” That’s the scenario of that reference in 1 John.

 It is true, however, that God’s wrath still “abides” upon pre-Jesus believers, but that simply means pre-believers will still have to face their Judge’s discipline, correction, cleansing, chastisement, and purging before having the other aspects of God’s judgments and justice dispensed to them in order to fully restore them into a vital relationship with Him.

 And, of course, every human ever born still faces the basic penalty of sin: death, the dreadful experience the Bible terms humankind’s greatest enemy. Only those Jesus believers alive at the time of Jesus’ return to earth to establish his Kingdom will not face death as we presently experience it. Otherwise, every human ever born has or will experience death, the penalty of sin.

Authentic Justice

Throughout all the prophetic books of the Old Testament, justice is always associated with caring for others, as something that is not in conflict with mercy, but rather an expression of it.  Divine justice is God’s saving action at work for all that are oppressed, as the following biblical reference demonstrates: “Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17).  Note what happens when one does right by seeking justice. The oppressed are encouraged and the helpless are helped. “This is what God says: ‘Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed.’” (Jeremiah 21:12). Justice is done when the oppressed are rescued. “This is what God Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice: show mercy and compassion to one another.’” (Zechariah 7:9).

Continued next month

                   “Whatweknow 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 

“Doesn’t the Judge of all the earth judge with justice?”  –Genesis 18: 25

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

You do realize, don’t you, that among our thousands of readers—and visitors to our ministry web site—some will die this year—in 2016? Could YOU be one of them?  If Jesus is Immanuel—God fully present with you in the NOW of your life—then He will be just as fully present with you at the time you die . . . and beyond.   I know, I know: it’s the beginning of a brand-new year, presumably full of hope for a bright future. And you’re thinking, “Why is Bill writing about death and dying?  I hope the new year of 2016 is full of bright hope for your life-journey, all 365 days.  But . . . the stark reality is that some of my readers—maybe even me—will die during 2016. Some of us might not live to see Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2016.  Wow! That’s kinda morbid, isn’t it?

God’s Vision For You

God’s vision for you . . . God’s dream for you . . . God’s plans and purposes for you . . . is to restore you into his clear image.  God originally created humans in his clear image. By self-centered sin, you marred, blurred, and dimmed his image in you. God is restoring his clear image in you. It’s really that simple. That’s why you’re here in 2016 for this mortal stage of your journey through time.  The fullest—the perfect—image of God is Jesus (2 Corinthians 3: 18; 4: 4; Colossians 1: 15; Hebrews 1: 3). Jesus is the unmarred, unblemished, completely focused image of God. You are a marred, blurred, fuzzy, unfocused image of God.  What’s the definition of “image of God” in humans?  It means we are visible representations of the invisible God.

Jesus is God’s perfect visible representation; You are God’s imperfect visible representation. How is God restoring his clear image in you?  You must cooperate with the Holy Spirit daily as He empowers you (from within where He lives in your spirit) to change your mind from choosing to live a self-filled life to choosing to live a Jesus-filled life.  It’s a day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month process during 2016 by which God will restore you into his clear image . . . if you fully cooperate with Him in that process.

The Year We Call 2016!

Having said all that, now I will go ahead and wish you a happy new year—a successful and prosperous new year!  I hope you remember how I have defined “success” and “prosperity” from the Bible in many previous issues of The Traveler? If not, check out some of the past issues archived on our ministry website.  I really do wish you a great journey during 2016! A year full of blessings, peace, success, and prosperity from God. I pray for God to pour his love and grace into your life abundantly and overflowing. I pray for you to have a deep, abiding, personal relationship with Jesus—a relationship that will remain fresh and intimate all year.

I’ve stated on many occasions that when you enter a new year, you can enter that year full of assurance that God has gone before you throughout the entire year; He has already walked ahead of you through all the days and weeks of this year we call 2016, and He knows exactly what will happen to you throughout this year.  The year called 2016 is in God’s hands . . . and you are also in his hands, and all will be well. Whether you live or die, God will be fully present with you during your journey in all the days, weeks, and months of 2016!

A Brief Prayer In The Bible

          For the past decade or so, a tiny little book titled The Prayer of Jabez has positively influenced the lives of millions of people around the world. If you haven’t read it, I recommend you get a copy of the book by Bruce Wilkinson.  In this issue of The Traveler. I simply want to share with you a few of the things I’ve learned from the book.  The “prayer of Jabez” comes from a reference in the Old Testament portion of the Bible: 1 Chronicles 4: 10. In that reference, a fellow traveler named Jabez prayed a simple prayer one day about 2,400 years ago.  

We don’t know much about Jabez; we just know that he prayed a brief prayer and that God granted him what he requested. Other than that, we don’t have any details at all—just that he prayed and God answered his prayer.  We don’t know where Jabez prayed or under what circumstances he prayed . . . or if he prayed more than the brief prayer mentioned in the Bible.  I look forward to meeting Jabez in person in God’s Kingdom after Jesus returns to planet earth. I want to sit down with him and learn all about Jabez’s life and the amazing ways in which God answered his simple prayer . . . and presumably other prayers he prayed during his lifetime.

Jabez’s Prayer

Part One 

First, Jabez prayed that God would power-fully and wonder-fully bless him. Okay, I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t that kind of a selfish prayer? Shouldn’t I pray for God to bless other people, not me?” Yes . . . and no.  If I pray “properly” for God to bless me, the intent of my prayer is that God will bless me . . . only so that I—in turn—will be in a position to bless others!  In the Bible, what does “bless” mean? It means to live a full life of success and prosperity so that I can, in turn, bless other people with the blessings God gives me.

It’s a concept that expresses the special joys and satisfaction experienced by a person who is a God-believer through Jesus.  I don’t know about you, but I want God to bless me in that manner, so that I can reach out and bestow those types of blessings upon other people during our journeys together.  So . . . I’ll be praying daily throughout 2016 for God to bless me.

Part Two 

Jabez prayed that God would “enlarge his borders, his territory.” At the time, Jabez was praying that God would literally give him and his tribespeople more land so they could raise more livestock and grow more crops.  I don’t feel we’re doing an injustice to the intent of the Bible or misusing it if we echo this portion of Jabez’s prayer throughout 2016 as a springboard for our own prayers, asking God something like this: 

“God, enlarge—expand—my influence, expand my ‘calling,’ expand my ministry, expand my outreach to other people.
In 2016, please empower me to tell more people the Good News about Jesus. God, increase my income so I can give more money back to You.
God, give me more opportunities be a witness to others about You and your great salvation through Jesus.”

Ministry of Prisoners

I write to a number of prisoners throughout USAmerica and send some of them a “hard copy” of The Traveler. I often encourage them that even within the limitations of their confinement, they can ask God to expand their witness and “ministry” to other prisoners and to prison employees.  I strongly encourage them to engage in a personal “prayer ministry” in which their prayers can give them a vital, meaningful, worldwide ministry of reaching out to hundreds and thousands of other prisoners. Another thing I encourage them to do is pray for thousands of other Jesus-believers around the world who are imprisoned and tortured because of their faith in Jesus.  So . . . for you prisoners reading this issue of The Traveler, during 2016 ask God to “enlarge your territory” as your brother, Jabez, prayed many centuries ago.

Part Three

 Next, our brother Jabez prayed that God’s hand would be upon him. That’s a biblical expression meaning God’s presence and power. Jabez was praying that God would fill him with his presence and power.  Be careful in praying that for yourself. When God answers you, He might want to take full control of your life and radically change some things that need changing.  It’s no small matter for you to pray for God to fill you with his mighty power and presence within you.

Yes, it’s true that God is always fully present with you, but this prayer means you’re asking God for his tangible, palpable presence to fill you and empower you for service and ministry to other people.  In effect, you are praying for God to be fully with you and in you during 2016, power-fully displaying and exhibiting Himself to others through you and as you, wrapped in your skin. Be very careful what you pray for in 2016.

You’re A Minister and Priest

 You do know, don’t you that every Jesus-believer is a minister of the Good News about Jesus? And a priest? You don’t have to attend seminary, be ordained, or wear a distinctive collar in order to be a minister or priest. I invite you to study 1 Peter 2: 9 about you being a priest.  Where else do we find in the Bible that you are a minister, as well as a priest?   Carefully read the 5^th and 6^th chapters of 2 Corinthians.

There you’ll find the following: YOU are a “minister of reconciliation.” YOU are an “ambassador for Jesus.” You are a “co-laborer” with Jesus.  I don’t know how you understand such references (and others throughout the New Testament), but it sounds to me like YOU are one of God’s ministers and priests.  And to be a “successful” minister of God during 2016, you must be filled with God’s presence and power. If not, why would you even bother to “minister” to others?

Part Four

Finally, Jabez prayed that God would keep him from evil. Where have you heard something like that before? Hmmmm . . . How about the so-called Lord’s Prayer in Matthew chapter 6, in which people pray “deliver us from evil.”?  Well, there you have it—the prayer of our brother, Jabez about 2,400 years ago.

I encourage you to adapt it to your own situation and pray it meaningfully every day throughout your journey in 2016. And then stand back and see how God will answer your version of Jabez’s prayer!  If you’ll allow Him to keep you continually filled with his presence and power, you will experience a year unlike any you’ve ever before experienced. Have a great journey during 2016!

Living Toward Death

A famous philosopher once bleakly described human existence as “living toward death.” That may be true of pre-believers, but for the Jesus-believer this life is living toward Jesus’ coming Kingdom and eternity, where death is merely the Kingdom’s gateway. The authentic Jesus-believer aims past this life, past death, to true eternal LIFE. So . . . live or die in 2016, it’s a “done deal” and God is now and forever fully present with you and in you as Jesus in his unbodied form of the Holy Spirit. Live or die during your journey in 2016, you win!

                   “Be alert, be present [this new year]. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.”   –God, Isaiah 43: 19, paraphrased

To think about this month

“My past does not necessarily equal my future!”

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

Xmas?

Is it “Christmas” or is it “Xmas”? Or do they both mean the same thing? Many would say it’s wrong to substitute Xmas for Christmas. Some say it makes no difference. How about you? Does the annual celebration we call Christmas make any difference in your life?  If Christmas doesn’t make a difference in your life, I urge you to quit reading right now because you’ll probably be wasting your time reading any further. Instead, go ahead and use these 3 pages of paper on the bottom of your bird cage.

However, if Christmas does make a difference in your life, read on. I hope you’ll be encouraged and enriched by some of my thoughts I’ll be sharing with you.  To begin, I’d like you to take a few moments and think about how radically different our world would be if Jesus had not been born or had never existed.  No matter how people might criticize and deny that Jesus is a true, real historical person who was actually born 2,000 years ago, there is just too much archaeological and historical evidence to the contrary.  

In fact (you might want to check this out for yourself), there’s more historical evidence in existence about Jesus than there is about George Washington!  Jesus was born. His mother was Mary. His stepfather was Joseph. His real, honest-to-goodness neighbors knew Him. His half brothers and sisters lived and played with Him. His “Pastors” in the Jewish faith knew Him. Yes, there is ample evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was a real, historical person.

12 Times

 Research has shown that most adult humans need to hear or read something repeated as many as 12 times before what they are learning permanently lodges in their mind and spirit and really “takes root,” becoming clear and understandable.  I have shared with readers of The Traveler the following teaching about the  “The Four C’s” two times in the past. This will be the third time. I hope it’s beginning  to become a permanent part of your thinking. If not, one way or another, I will likely share it again a few more times about this time each year.

The Four C’s

What are the four C’s? I’m glad you asked . . . Since this issue comes to you in the month of December, God asked me to write a little about the timeless Christmas story.  You do know, don’t you that Jesus was not born on December 25^th? It’s a long story, but that date was chosen and began to be used centuries after Jesus’ birth. In all likelihood, Jesus was probably born in the spring, but that’s another story, too.  At this point, I invite you to read The Christmas Story on this web site; it’s a Bible-based story I wrote to be read aloud serially during the month of December.

Naturally, we all have a tendency during this month of the year to focus on the baby Jesus in the cradle. The cradle is the first C.  Actually, Jesus was laid in a manger or feeding trough for animals; I’ve taken the liberty to call it a cradle just for the sake of using four C’s as a technique for remembering this teaching about Jesus’ birth.  God did become a human being in Jesus, He was born of a human mother, He did live as a human among us. One of his titles, Immanuel, means God is fully present and living in and with us for all time and eternity.  Our salvation begins with the baby Jesus in a humble cradle in Bethlehem. Yes, we do focus on the cradle at this time of year—the first C.

But while we concentrate on the scenario surrounding the cradle, let us never lose sight of the cross as well: the second C.  The helpless baby who once laid in that humble cradle was the God-Human who willingly chose to die on the cross, there to give his life and pour out his life’s blood to emancipate all humanity from its sinful condition and from the finality of death.  The despised Roman cross on which Jesus died was an instrument of unspeakable torture, suffering, and pain. Yet He willingly chose to hang there, bleed there, and die there in order to free us—you and me—from our lifelong and eternal bondage to sin and death.

The cradle and the cross. But thank God that’s not the end of the story. There is also the crown: the third C.  After Jesus’ horrible death on your behalf and mine, God the Father brought God the Son back to life by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Shortly thereafter, Jesus ascended back to the eternal, heavenly realms where He is now enthroned in majesty at the right hand of the Father. Jesus forever wears the crown of victory over sin and death!  The cradle, the cross, the crown. They are on a continuum in the pageant of our redemption: Christmas, Easter, and Jesus’ victorious Ascension to the Father’s right hand, there to rule as the fully just and benevolent King of the universe.

But there’s more. The pageant is not yet complete. Still to come is Jesus’ return in majesty as King of all earth’s kings and Lord of earth’s lesser lords. He will return to establish his earthly kingdom and begin to consolidate his loving reign over our darkened and benighted planet.  Yes, the earth will yet bask in its bright, golden age wherein King Jesus will rule with divine justice, grace, and love.  At this time of the year when we normally focus on Jesus’ birth, let us not lose sight of God’s total package—his complete redemptive work on our behalf. Yes, there’s more—so much more—than Christmas alone: the cradle, the cross, the crown, and, his coming again: the fourth C!

Christmas Gift Giving

What gifts do you hope to receive for Christmas this year? What presents do you plan to give for Christmas this year? How much will you be spending? How much can you honestly afford to spend?  Why do we practice Christmas gift-giving in the first place? Oh, I know all about Saint Nicholas . . . and how the wise men brought gifts to Jesus when He was a toddler . . . and how gift-giving at Christmas has just “always been done.” But has it? Really?

Wanna know when gift-giving by God’s people actually began? I’m glad you asked. Gift-giving as we know it today—from a biblical perspective—actually began about 2,500 years ago during the time of Queen Esther in the Old Testament portion of the Bible.  After God delivered Queen Esther and the Israelites of that day from an evil plot to kill all of them, they celebrated “with days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor.”(Esther 9: 22).

500 years before Jesus was born, God’s people began giving gifts to one another and presents to the poor!  But if our custom of giving gifts to others at Christmas began with the wise men giving gifts to Jesus, why do we give gifts to one another? Why don’t we give gifts to Jesus—instead of to one another? After all, whose birthday is it? Aren’t we supposed to give birthday gifts to the one whose birthday we are celebrating?

A Shift in our Thinking

Maybe we need a radical shift in our thinking about who we should be giving birthday gifts to this time of year. Maybe we need to give gifts to Jesus and to the poor instead of to relatives and friends. Maybe we’re missing something by what we’re doing. Maybe we need to change something—beginning this year.  Jesus said on one occasion that there will always be poor people. I take that at face value. I believe there will always be poor people, both in this life and in early years of the age to come after Jesus returns to establish his Kingdom here on earth with his universal headquarters in Jerusalem.

Some teach that after Jesus returns to earth, He will instantly make all things new with a snap of his fingers. I believe another view.  I firmly believe the Bible teaches that it will take a minimum of 1,000 years for Jesus to lay the groundwork for ushering in a fully restored universe and earth before we enter into a state of being called eternity.  And . . . we who have a personal relationship with Him now will be his servant-leader assistants in restoring all things as his Kingdom spreads.

Jesus Begins to Change Everything!

For example, I believe it will take at least a few centuries after Jesus returns for Him to firmly take control of all earth’s governments. It will be the same with earth’s educational systems.  And dismantling earth’s military-industrial establishments, turning all of that vast industry into peaceful purposes. And restructuring all earth’s economic systems, finally beginning to truly eradicate poverty once and for all.  Having said that, the poor will continue to exist on this planet for a long time to come. Jesus expects those who “have” to help those who “have not.”  

So . . . during this Christmas season, why not give gifts to the poor around you? No one is so poor that they cannot locate someone nearby who is just a little poorer.  Jesus said in Matthew 25 if we aid and assist those who are less well off than we are, that is the same as serving Him.  How much money are you planning to spend on gifts to others this Christmas? Even putting some of it on your credit card that you won’t be able to pay off for months?

Joy In Giving

I guarantee you will find much more joy in giving if you will give to the poor rather than spend money you don’t even have for gifts no one uses. Or for gifts that are used for only a short while and then just tossed aside on a pile in the attic, garage, or basement with last year’s Christmas gifts.  You and I cannot eradicate poor-dom from planet earth—at least not until after Jesus returns. Only King Jesus can—and will—eradicate poor-dom after He returns to fully establish his Kingdom on earth.  But . . . we can help one poor person or one poor family in our locale during this Christmas season. I guarantee that not very far from you wherever you live on this planet, there is at least one poor person or family you can help with gifts in Jesus’ Name!

It’s Jesus birthday; let’s give our gifts to Him instead of to one another!  You may be protesting, “What will people think! What will my children say? What will my family think? We’ve already bought most of our presents? I’ve already charged everything to my credit card. I’ve placed lots of things on layaway at K-Mart.”  Here’s my response to all those excuses: “S-o-o-o-o! Who are you trying to please, God or people?”Return those things. Get your money back. Remove things from layaway.   Talk things over with your family. Find a poor person or family in your locale. Bless them richly this Christmas day!  Spread your joy. Bless someone poor in the Name of Jesus. Make God happy. He will take great delight in your new approach to Christmas gift-giving.

          Give gifts to Jesus this year and all your years to come! Remember, He is always fully present with us and in us!

          “When the proper time had come, God sent his Son, born of a young pregnant virgin….”       –Galatians 4: 4          

“Jesus actually became flesh and lived awhile among us; and we saw the glory and honor and majesty of the Father’s First-Born Son, full of grace and truth.”     –John 1: 14

Thought for the month

“This is how much God loves you: He gave you his son so you won’t perish because of your sin; by receiving and trusting in Jesus you can have a wonderful, whole, complete, and abundant life now and in eternity.”     –John 3: 16, paraphrased

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

Anastasia!

[Note:  this is the conclusion of a two-part series begun last month.]

For many, many years, I’ve taught again and again . . . and again (in person and in print) that we are in Jesus.  We are permanently fused and connected with Him in his death and burial.  Likewise, we became permanently in Him when He was raised from the dead.  Yes, our old life passed away when we became one with Jesus in his death and burial; now—Behold!—all things are becoming new because we are also one with Him in his resurrection.  Just as certainly as Jesus was raised from his sleep of death by the power of God the Holy Spirit, from the overarching vantage point of eternity we are already “awakened” and risen with Him, children of the resurrection!  (Luke 20: 36)

Jesus is the Resurrection!

I hope you understand clearly the resurrection is not merely an awesome  event to occur sometime in the future.  The great fundamental fact we must comprehend is that the resurrection is above all a Person, and that Person is none other than 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 publicly like they do in some cultures). 

Events such as those are not morbid, distasteful, and horrible to any person who has identified himself or herself with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection.  Death 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 abundant, incorruptible, and eternal LIFE.  He who died and was buried is forevermore alive.  He is risen!  He is alive!  We shall live also!

Let’s Celebrate!

The Bible teaches much about the Feasts celebrated by the ancient Israelites (and by many Israelites—Jews—today).  They are concepts containing many metaphors and symbolic word-pictures about our resurrection. 

One Feast 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” celebrations:  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 firstfruits 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 firstfruits of the coming harvest (James 1: 18 and Revelation 14: 4).  Jesus is the firstfruits, but we are also firstfruits “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 other time . . . .

Third Major Celebration

The third major Feast, Tabernacles, contained three “minor” celebrations:  the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Atonement, and the Feast of  Ingathering.  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 eternity 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 in death 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 God’s throne of grace, there to give an account of their 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

Last month, I referred to a couple of nearby cemeteries 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.  I know my loved ones have “already” awakened (in a manner of speaking) from their long sleep and are basking in the golden glow of God’s bright splendor in the rich realms of Jesus’ eternal, coming Kingdom.  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 in the 1800’s—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 know you will be resurrected, or you do not know 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 of Jesus’ Coming Kingdom is even more real than the mortal life I now live in ShadowLand.

No, I have written about Resurrection simply because it is an event that will one day actually happen to everyone reading this teaching—and to every human ever born.  It is a matter 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:  “Why even bother considering yourself a Jesus-believer?” 

No resurrection, No Nothing!

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 the 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?  This thought came to me recently; I hope you will ponder it long enough to realize its depth of meaning:

Most of us believe we are in the land of the living headed toward the land of the dying.  Not true!  We are in the land of the dying headed toward the land of the living!

Thinking about the “land of the living” (heaven or Jesus’ coming Kingdom), there is a great book I strongly urge you to obtain and read carefully; I feel it’s one of the best books you’ll ever read about heaven; it’s by the well-known author, Randy Alcorn, and is simply titled Heaven. 

                    “We are all going to be changed; we’ll all hear the loud blast of a trumpet, and in less time than it takes to blink, we’ll be changed!  We’ll be up and out of our graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again.  Yes, in God’s resurrection scheme of things, we will all be changed!” –Paraphrased from1 Corinthians 15

To Think About This Month

“We shall never cease from our mortal journeying, and the end of all our journeying will be to arrive at where we started and know the Place for the first time!”
                                                                                                     –adapted from T. S. Eliot

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

Good Morning.  Wake Up!

I love the way the word “Anastasia” sounds when it’s pronounced as the Germans or Russians pronounce it.  It has a mysterious, yet clear ring to it when pronounced the way they do.  There was a time when Anastasia was a popular name chosen for a newborn female baby, but it’s not quite as popular anymore.  Anastasia is a Greek word which is usually translated into the English word “resurrection” in much literature.  Literally, it means “to arise from death’s deep sleep and get up and out of bed.” Just as someone awakens from a night of natural sleep and gets up in the morning.  The concept of resurrection is an important theme in the Bible.  Why is the subject of resurrection so important?

During a Sunday morning church meeting when I was in Belarus last year, I met a young woman named Anastasia just after she had invited Jesus into her life a few days earlier.  The expression of unbridled joy I saw in her eyes when I met her almost took my breath away; I think I may have actually gasped!  She had truly been “awakened” from her old life into the brand-new LIFE of God through Jesus.

Death

 This issue of The Traveler is about death and resurrection.  For starters, look at it this way.  The death of Jesus, all by itself, was just another death by the common Roman method of crucifixion, just 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 the Holy Spirit!

 Everything ever written about Jesus has been   written   since  his  resurrection.  It is the resurrection of Jesus which sets Him  apart  from  all  other religious founders or leaders in all of history:  they’re still dead.  He’s alive!  Take away Jesus’ resurrection and Christianity collapses.  Your own faith is empty, futile, and worthless.  Nothing about Jesus would be worth discussing or writing about if He is not eternally alive at this very moment.

Wake Up!

Why is resurrection so important?  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 this 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, a great, great 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?  Is their dust the end of it all?  What’s it all about?  Also, a dear friend of mine died a few days ago;  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 and plans for you and me.  The three events cannot be understood apart from one another, for together they exhibit some of the wonder-full plans and 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, when He arose from his sleep of death.

He Is Risen!

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.

Body + Soul + Spirit

I 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 recommend you 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 souls and bodies sleep in the grave, awaiting God’s summons for us to awaken and get up some bright morning when Jesus returns.  Incidentally, our souls and spirits are NOT one and the same as many people mistakenly believe they are.  They’re two separate “parts” of who we are as humans.

Deep, Deep Sleep

At the time of our death, our body—this “earth suit”—will melt away and our spirit will rise as on eagle’s wings when it returns to God, shedding its confining physical bonds, loosing its anchor to earth.  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 earth suit (the human body) that previously restrained 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 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 time.  Yes, death brings instant awakening to full consciousness in your resurrection.

Near Death Experiences

Incidentally, we’ve read and heard much the last few years about so-called near death experiences (NDE’s) when people allegedly leave their bodies, travel through 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 about death and resurrection in the Bible—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’ close 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.

This will be a two-part teaching, continued next month.

“We are all going to be changed; we’ll all hear the loud blast of a trumpet, and in less time than it takes to blink, we’ll be changed!  We’ll be up and out of our graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again.  Yes, in God’s resurrection scheme of things, we will all be changed!                  –Paraphrased from1 Corinthians 15

To Think About This Month

“We shall never cease from our mortal journeying, and the end of all our journeying will be to arrive at where we started and know the Place for the first time!”                                                                                                                                              –adapted from T. S. Eliot

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

In the first issue of The Traveler in September 2009, we wrote:  “Each of us is a traveler through the eons of time and beyond—into our final, eternal state of being!”

Yes, we are all on a journey, a sojourn, a pilgrimage.  We are all wayfarers, wanderers, and “visitors” journeying through this life toward our True Home in Jesus’ Kingdom!   And for all of us—no matter our age—this mortal journey comes with great heights and great depths . . . with periods of overwhelming joy and bleak sadness at times . . . with long straightaways and messy detours . . . with deep relationships full of love and with existential loneliness . . . with sunny days and with stormy days . . . with great happiness and deep disappointments, but the journey goes on for each of us. On this lifelong journey, we can never go pastward, only futureward.  We cannot change our past, only use events of the past as stepping stones to propel us into our exciting, bright futures.

Our past does not necessarily equal our future.  Our future is up to us, “co-creating” it in cooperation with God.  Our future can be despair-filled or hope-filled, based on our daily choices and decisions we make in response to God’s direction and guidance in our lives.  The Bible—the written Word of the one, true, living God—is our lodestone, our GPS, our compass, and our gyroscope to give direction, balance, and guidance to our lives as we travel unerringly toward our True Home at the end of our mortal journey.  That is why we stress and emphasize the Bible in all our teachings and writings.

Little is Much When God is in It!

This issue of The Traveler marks the beginning of our seventh year of publication.  In September 2009, we sent our first issue to approximately 65 family members and friends; it was merely an experiment.  At the time, we didn’t have any concrete plans to continue writing and publishing it each month.  From that humble beginning six years ago, The Traveler is now being studied each month by thousands of people around the world on 6 of earth’s 7 continents. 

Monthly, we receive responses from as near and far away as Australia, Eurasia, Asia, Africa, South America, and throughout North America.  Most of the responses we receive are positive and encouraging.  Some are quite negative and mean-spirited.  Oh well, it takes all kinds . . .   But overall, it looks like God uses the Traveler each month to fulfill and answer many human needs and questions.  Please think of each September’s issue as my “Annual Report” to all of my students . . . so you may develop a feel for what this ministry is all about, and so you get to know more about me personally.

If what we teach helps you, that’s great.  If not, that’s okay, too.  We never argue or try to force our views on others.  We just share what we find in the Bible about our journey.  Do we feel we have a “corner” on truth?  No!  Do we feel we’re better than others?  Nope!  Do we feel everything we teach is totally and completely true and accurate?  No.  No. NO!  We’re simply believers in Jesus who happen to believe the Bible is God’s sole written revelation of Himself to all humankind.  We feel God wants us to share with others what we learn about Him and about what He’s doing these days among some of us living on planet Earth.

      Quick Recap

In comparison with the limitless and boundless state of being called Eternity, our mortal lives here in time and space are as brief as a morning fog that vanishes as soon as the rising sun hits it.  Our short lives here are designed to be lived only in preparation for LIFE in Eternity.  Years ago, God summoned me and equipped me to teach the Bible and related subjects to the worldwide Body of Jesus (the Church) without any exclusiveness.  I’ve tried my best to obey Him and to live a decent life while attempting to help other people prepare for LIFE in eternity!

Trapped In Time and Space

I’m “trapped” inside my own skin and can’t really do very much to influence other people except by my prayers for you and by my writings and teachings.  But God is not trapped or limited in any manner, and He can range unlimited throughout the earth, meeting the overwhelming needs of many people, wherever they are located.  I pray daily:  “God, from your  unlimited, inexhaustible, abundant resources meet the overwhelming needs of people for whom I pray and for whom I write.”  That’s the most and best I can do for my readers.

Orthodoxy?  Heresy?

Some of the responses I receive are from a few readers questioning the “orthodoxy” of my teachings, whatever that means.  Some have even labeled me a “heretic” (whatever that means, too), but I usually respond to them:  “I’m a happy heretic.”  Long ago, I chose not to blindly accept  without question the teachings of others—even though their teachings might be widely accepted among many people in the Bible-believing world. 

And I choose not to unthinkingly and unhesitatingly accept the religious “party line” without ample evidence from the Bible alone.  I’m an orthodox nonconformist . . .   I try to teach and write what I honestly believe the Bible discloses about God’s character and nature, about his vast creation, and about his eternal love and grace He extends to all humanity.  I first grasped his extended grace over 59 years ago and my life has been God-filled and grace-filled ever since!  Marvelous grace of our loving God!  Greater than all our sin!

As many of you know, my autobiography, entitled Him ‘n me, was published a few years ago and seems to be a source of encouragement, enjoyment, enrichment, and inspiration to many people around the world.  Sales have been slowing down.  You can order it from amazon.com.   My fourth book (about the Holy Spirit) entitled Friends Forever, was published in 2012.  It can be ordered through any major bookstore and on amazon.com.  It is also available for e-readers.   

Here At Home

Meanwhile, I continue to write new teachings and update previous teachings posted to our ministry web site.  I add one new teaching an average of ever few months or so and usually update two or three teachings every month.  Right now, there are about 60 of my life’s teachings on our web site.  I invite you to study any of my teachings.   Of course, they can all be downloaded and printed.  Use them any way you see fit.

Throughout the past year, we hosted and taught a weekly Bible study in our home as well as in other places in our community. We have witnessed the Holy Spirit genuinely change and transform people when they apply the liberating truths of the Bible to their lives.  I cannot change other people.  Only God the Holy Spirit can do that.  That’s his job; that’s what He does best.  It’s not my job to change anyone.  I just teach the Bible as I understand it and let the Holy Spirit use it to liberate and transform people as only He can do.

My task is to plant seeds in the lives of others and cultivate and water the seeds with prayer.  God’s tasks are to grow the seeds and harvest them when they are ripe!  Each day I make it a point not to confuse whose tasks are whose!

In addition, we continue to be involved in various ways in our local church, Destiny Church.  It’s a lively church with a husband and wife team of Pastors—with great teaching, music, and fellowship.

And, I continue to conduct part-time, private counseling using a unique, very effective method of biblically based counseling called theophostic counseling.

The Most Important Tasks We Should Be Doing!

I honestly feel the most important thing any Jesus believer must do is introduce other people to Jesus!  After that, the second most important task for each of us is to constantly disciple, mentor, teach, and train newer believers in Jesus.  At any given time, I’m usually discipling 4 to 6 other, younger Jesus believers on a weekly basis.  In my own view, if you claim to be a believer in Jesus and you are not continually discipling other, newer believers, something wonderful and fulfilling is missing in your life! 

It makes no difference who you are or where you are or what you do or how busy you are, or how adverse your circumstances, The Bible mandates that it’s part of God’s plans and purposes for each of us always to be introducing others to Jesus and then discipling them!  No excuses!  If you claim to be a believer in Jesus, you ought to be discipling at least one other believer all the time, and then—when finished discipling them—“releasing”  them to—in turn—disciple a minimum of one other, newer believer.  

If you’re not discipling others regularly and consistently, something wonder-full is missing in your relationship with God!  Introducing other people to Jesus and then discipling them is a matter of priorities; you have to MAKE the time; you won’t find it. Remember, Jesus commands each of us to “go and make disciples” in every nation in which we live and travel.  It’s not a suggestion; it’s a command!

Other Service To God

In addition to writing The Traveler  and teachings for our web site each month, I’m also a Field Instructor with Crossroad Bible Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  By free correspondence courses, we teach and disciple many thousands of prisoners throughout the United States and in other nations of the world.  I work with various prisoners on a weekly basis, reviewing their lessons, answering their questions, and writing them encouraging letters.  God is saving, transforming, restoring, reclaiming, and rehabilitating thousands of prisoners around the world, since they’re somewhat of a “captive audience” and eager to learn about God and the Bible.

China:  The Sleeping Dragon

Our international focus remains primarily on China, that wonderful nation where Anne and I taught and ministered a number of years ago.  We financially support some Jesus-believer workers there, and are excited about what God is doing in that great nation.  I made these two predictions about China in the early 1990’s, and you can hold me accountable for them:  I predicted that by the year 2015 China would take over the world—not militarily, but economically.  I also predicted that by 2025 China will be the most God-believing nation on this planet, perhaps the most godly nation the world has ever known!  Impossible with humans; a small matter for God!

We also focus some of our giving and support to Jesus’ servants in the nations of Israel and Mozambique.  God is also doing some wonder-full and amazing things in those two nations.

Travels

I don’t do as much traveling now as I did in years past:  to teach, to minister, to conduct seminars, etc.  However, in August 2014 I spent most of the month ministering on a short-term missions trip in the eastern European nation of Belarus.

Like many people, I have sort of a “bucket list.”  One event that’s been on my bucket list for over 40 years was to attend the International Southern Gospel Convention, held in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the home of famed Dollywood created by Dolly Parton.  I was able to attend that convention last year and also got to visit Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where I lived as a child during World War II.  I also got to visit with some dear friends in North Carolina.

I was excited to be able to go on a brief missions trip to China again last April; I simply planted “Good News seeds” while there—trusting God to grow the seeds and bring them to harvest.

And Anne just returned from a brief missions trip to serve some first nation people in Alaska.

Books Given

About 10 years ago, 4 very important books were published here in USAmerica; only time—and eternity—will tell the worldwide effects these books have had in the lives of hundreds of thousands—perhaps millions!—of people around the world.  The 4 books to which I’m referring are The Prayer of Jabez, The Purpose Driven Life, Hope Beyond Hell, and Victorious Eschatology. 

If you haven’t heard of them or read them, you must have been away on some other planet for the past decade or so.  We scour thrift shops and garage sales to find used copies of each of those books . . . and then give them away to as many people as we’re able to.  We’ve never kept count, but I suppose we’ve given away hundreds—perhaps thousands—of them.  And we’ve seen God use them to transform many lives!  I re-read and re-study each of those books every year, along with a dozen or so other books I re-read each year or so.

A Very, Very Ordinary Man

For those readers who don’t know me and have asked who I am, please understand very clearly that I’m just an ordinary man, a very nondescript, normal believer in Jesus.  My name is Bill Boylan.   I’m married to a lovely wife named Anne, have 3 biological children and one step-daughter; 3 grand-children, and two great-grandchildren.

There is nothing special or outstanding about me.  There’s no way I stand out in a crowd.  I live in a modest home on a quiet residential street in the relatively small community of Rapid City, South Dakota, in the northern Great Plains region of USAmerica near the beautiful Black Hills.  The world-famous Mount Rushmore is only about 25 miles from our home.  

I pay my household expenses every month, help clean our house, wash most of our dishes, assist with our laundry, make our bed most mornings, drive a 16-year old pickup, and wear jeans and a sweatshirt or T-shirt most of the time.  I get sick and grouchy from time to time.  I love to watch silly sitcoms on TV.  And I confess that I love science fiction books, TV programs, and movies.  My hobbies are occasionally hiking in the nearby Black Hills, mall-walking, reading, and writing.  My roots go down deep in this locale.  My brother and his wife live nearby on the cattle ranch originally homesteaded by my great-grandparents in the 1870’s.  But my roots are not too deep; I’m ready to be “uprooted” either when I die or when Jesus returns to planet Earth to awaken me from the sleep of death and inaugurate his eternal Kingdom on Earth.

77 – 18 = 59

So far, I’ve lived here on planet earth as a mortal for 77+ years.  In the 18^th year of my mortal journey, I invited Jesus into my life and since then I’ve been serving Him for the past 59 years.  After Jesus returns to Earth, I plan on continuing to live here on Earth in his Kingdom as an immortal being for many thousands more years and then—later—in Eternity, beyond all limitations of time and space—permanently headquartered here on planet Earth in the city of New Jerusalem.

Most of my employment years were spent as a public school teacher, a medical administrator, and as a mean, tough old sergeant in the U.S.  Air Force and fulltime Army and Air National Guard.  I’ve always been bi-vocational as a so-called “lay person.”   I retired from full-time secular employment a few years ago.

I simply try to let Jesus live his own life in and through me each day.  I want others to see Jesus wrapped in his “Bill Boylan skin” and be drawn to Him through me.  All of us are Jesus’ hands, feet, and mouth in our day-to-day world.

 Please don’t tell anyone I’m addicted to McDonalds’ sweet tea; you’ll often find me at a nearby McDonalds sipping sweet tea and visiting with friends, reading my Bible, or reviewing my Bible memory references. 

I’m very “generic,” a mixture of Irish, Scottish, and German.  I’m not tall and handsome, I’m not very smart, and I’m not very wise at times.  I’m so very ordinary, you wouldn’t believe it. 

I’m human; I sin and make many mistakes.  Just ask my wife and children and friends who know me well—and love me in spite of myself, in spite of my faults, failures, and shortcomings.  

Our Extraordinary God

Yes, I’m very ordinary.  But . . . I do love and serve the EXTRAORDINARY God Who lives inside me in his “unbodied form” of the Holy Spirit!  That’s the key.  That makes all the difference in this world and the next.  That same awesome, holy God lives permanently within you in his Spirit form, too, and wants to take your “ordinariness,” change you and transform you, and do EXTRAORDINARY things WITH you, IN you, THROUGH you, and AS you! 

There you have it.  That’s a recap of our first six years of publishing this e-zine, The Traveler . . . and related events.   The name of our ministry is Life Enrichment Services; we are a bona fide, legal, not-for-profit religious ministry legally incorporated in our state and with our national government.

With God’s inner empowerment, we want to serve you and enrich your life in any way we are able to.  In its most basic definition, “enrich” means to fill your life with good things from our good God.  We pray for you to experience marvelous miracles in your life and in the lives of others whom God brings across your path each day as you continue on your journey through time and space with God, enroute to your final Home in Eternity!

Please feel free to contact us by e-mail or through our website.  We are always here to help you and encourage you in any way we are able to.

Let’s continue journeying on together. . . !

“And now to him who can keep you on your feet, standing tall in his bright presence, fresh and celebrating—to our one God, our only Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Master, be glory, majesty, strength, and rule before all time, for the present time, to the consummation of all time, and in eternity!” –Jude 24 & 25

To Think About This Month

“God, help me travel my journey in such a way that when it comes time to die, the only thing I will have left to do is die.”          –anonymous

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

NOTE:  This issue continues the series we began last February.  We’ve combined the June and July issues. 

Some Alternative Views

Let’s look at some fact-based, alternative views of “end times” or “last days” in contrast to the gloom and doom views that everything is getting worse and worse.  For example, there are some people who feel the Church of Jesus worldwide is barely surviving the relentless onslaughts of Satan and various “false” religions. 

Here’s an interesting fact in response to that mistaken view.  At the end of the first century, 1 in 35 people on earth claimed to believe in Jesus as their Savior.  In 2015, 1 in 7 people on earth claim to believe in Jesus as their Savior.  Does that look like the Church is losing ground overall?  It doesn’t to me.  Of course,     I’m in no position to decide who is and who isn’t an authentic believer in Jesus.

Here’s another fact:  100 years ago, in 1915, 15% of the world’s population lived under some measure of freedom or some form of democracy.  Now, in 2015, 65% of the people on this planet live under some type of freedom or democracy.  Don’t misunderstand me:  many, many people still live under some sort of authoritarian government or even in slavery.  But—overall!—those figures are true.  We must always—always!—look at the overall figures . . . at the “big picture,” not at specific, isolated situations and scenarios to prove how “bad” things are getting.  Just as we must always study as a whole what the Bible teaches—not take isolated references as “proof texts.”

In general, are we better off now than we were, say, 60 years ago?  The average human now earns nearly 3 times as much as then (corrected for inflation), and can expect to live one third longer.  Actually, it’s hard to find any place on the planet that’s worse off now than it was then, even though earth’s population has doubled in that amount of time.  You understand, don’t you, that I’m generalizing about such matters?  If you choose to, you can find fault with any of these alternative views I’m presenting.

While it is true that the rich are getting richer, the percentage of the world’s people living in abject poverty was reduced more in the past 60 years than in the previous 500 years!  In 2015, the essential things most people need (not want) for daily living is markedly cheaper than it was 50 years ago or a century ago.  Food, clothing, and shelter have grown markedly cheaper, overall.

 Another example: in just USAmerica today, rivers, lakes, and air are getting cleaner every year.  Here’s an interesting fact:  a car today emits less pollution traveling than a parked car did from leaks in the 1960’s.  I love watching some episodes of the old “Friends” TV sitcom.  In one episode, five of the six friends were arguing and yelling at one another.  Finally, the sixth friend, Phoebe, screamed at the other five:  “Stop the madness!”  It was a comical scene.  Sometimes I want to scream:  “Stop the madness,” too.  What madness?  Madness about the way so many of us misunderstand Jesus’ return to earth and the so-called end of the world.

When The Book Of Revelation Was Written

Much of what I wrote the past few months—and will write in this issue—depends upon when the Bible’s Book of Revelation was written.  Many Bible scholars who study and date the books of the Bible mistakenly believe Revelation was written toward the end of the first century, around 90 – 95 A.D.  It’s interesting how scholars came up with those incorrect dates, but I won’t bore you with those reasons.  However, that view is slowly changing.  Many reliable and reputable scholars and historians now believe the Book of Revelation was written about 65 or 66 A.D.  Why is that important?  Why does that make a difference in “end time” beliefs?

Here’s why.  Those who believe it was written about 65 or 66 A.D. believe that the events in chapters 1 through 18 of Revelation already occurred from 66 to 72 A.D., a 7-year period of “great tribulation” and persecution never before experienced by Jews and Jesus believers both in the land of Israel and throughout the Roman Empire.  I hold the view that the Book of Revelation was written about 65 or 66 A.D.  I am convinced that all the events in Revelation 1 – 18 already happened between 66 and 72 A.D. throughout the Roman Empire and in the land of Israel.

 Only the events written about in Revelation chapters 19 – 22 are still future events—events which are yet to happen as this age comes to a close before Jesus returns. Events in Revelation 1 – 18 can be  factually supported by actual historical events that happened in the Roman Empire and Israel from 66 to 72 A.D.  In fact, you studied many of those events in high school or college when you studied about the Roman Empire.  For example, do you remember studying about Nero and the burning of the city of Rome?  About the total destruction of the city of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.?  Those are the kinds of events I mean.  Yes, the events of Revelation 1 – 18 already occurred 2,000 years ago.

Globalization

Let’s continue now with some of the factual, true matters I began to write about last month—matters to show all things may not necessarily be getting worse; some matters are getting better.  For example, globalization is not the totally evil matter many people have come to believe it is.  There is no “Antichrist” hiding out somewhere waiting behind the scenes to establish an evil one-world government; the next one-world government will be established when Jesus returns to earth to inaugurate his universal, “one world” Kingdom.  As a matter of fact, globalization has enhanced the lives of billions of people on the planet through international trade and specialization.  It has helped far more people than it has harmed.

Globalization has the potential to substantially increase the world’s quality of life in almost every area of life without doing away with national borders and national integrity.  Increasing globalization is simply preparing the way for Jesus’ return to establish his own “Kingdom globalization” over planet earth.   Globalization is not a horrible, evil thing preparing the world for the coming of a fictional Antichrist!  When Jesus returns, He will simply take what globalization has already occurred by that time and transform it into continuing growth and development undergirded by true righteousness and justice.

Overpopulation and World Hunger

How about the fear of overpopulation in our futures . . . when there won’t be enough food for everyone, enough fuel, enough of anything?  Certainly that must be setting us up for the coming of the Antichrist and a wholly evil one-world government.  Don’t be misinformed by well-intended, but wrong, fear-mongers, even if they’re Bible-believing believers in Jesus!    I find all too often that believers in Jesus are sometimes far more gullible about a gloom-and-doom, fear-filled future than are pre-believers.  Often, those who believe the Bible are far more likely to believe without question so-called end-time teachings that simply aren’t found in the Bible.

One Glaring Example of False Teaching!

Let me give you just one glaring example.  Ask almost any Jesus believer who reads and studies the Bible to look up “Antichrist” in the Book of Revelation.  Most people will grab their Bible concordance (a book to help locate all the words in the Bible) and start searching for “Antichrist” in the book of Revelation.  Surprise.  Surprise!  The word Antichrist never appears—not even once—in the Book of Revelation.  And yet there is an entire plethora of end-time teaching about the subject of the “Antichrist” in the Book of Revelation.  Look it up for yourself.  It just ain’t there, friends.  That’s just one example among many about fears people have which are completely unfounded and nonbiblical.

Facts Replace Fears

Here are some facts to replace such fears.  One fear is that the world is becoming overpopulated.  Yes, the world population is growing, but the rate of increase is declining; for example, in the less developed parts of the world the birth rate is half what it was just fifty years ago.  Some statisticians tell us that the world population will reach its peak in just a few years and then begin declining.  We’re pretty well feeding most everyone on the planet right now, and, overall, people are eating better every passing decade.  There is enough food for everyone!  It’s a matter of distribution, not quantity.

How about the hue and cry that we’re running out of so-called fossil fuels?  One fact in response to those fears:  tar sands and oil shale worldwide contain about 20 times the proven oil and natural gas reserves of the Middle East.  Again, it’s a matter of distribution, not quantity.  Likely, researchers will find alternatives to fossil fuels long before they run out.

Overall—and again I’m generalizing—today, people worldwide enjoy more peace, greater freedom, more leisure time, more widespread education, better health, and more opportunities to travel than any other people in history.

What about all the natural disasters that seem to be happening more and more frequently and seem to be stronger and bigger than in the past?  I’ll “cut to the chase”:  there aren’t any more than in the past.  They’re not worse than in the past.  We simply have better means of observing and reporting natural disasters and seeing them occur in real time and in living color right in our own living rooms on big screen television.  For example, let’s say that 200 years ago there was a major tsunami somewhere in the far eastern portion of the Pacific Rim.  It’s possible that people living in North America at the time may have never heard of it because the worldwide, real-time media we have today simply wasn’t available then. Some people almost seem to prefer the negative, pessimistic, gloom-and-doom view instead of more fact-based reality about the future.

Continued next month   

                                     “Then I saw a freshly restored universe and earth; and there was no more sea.  I, John, saw the holy city, the freshly restored Jerusalem,  coming down to earth out of heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband.  Now God will live with and in all humanity for all time and eternity.  All tears will be wiped away.  there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain . . . all of that over and done with and behind us once and for all.  Then God says from his throne:  ‘Pay attention!  I have freshly restored all creation.'”                                                                                                                                                                                                                    –paraphrased from Revelation 21

To think about this month

“The Kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our God and of His Anointed One, Jesus.”   –Paraphrased from Revelation 11

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

NOTE:  For the next couple of months I’ll be teaching some concepts which will complete what we wrote in the February and March issues. 

After the two controversial issues of The Traveler in February and March, I believe God wants me to follow up those issues with some more controversial thoughts the next few months . . . merely to furnish you a more complete scenario of what I currently feel we might expect to occur, possibly in the near future.

Actually, I first wrote some of these thoughts almost 3 years ago in the October and November 2012 issues of The Traveler; some of my readers have asked me to repeat the gist of what I wrote then in order to round out my thoughts about the “last days” I wrote earlier in February and March of this year.

These will be three months of a few more positive views than are currently prevalent in much of evangelical and Pentecostal Christendom.

[By the way, I have a group of about 200+ people on FaceBook to whom I send a brief, positive, encouraging note every couple of weeks or so.  You’re welcome to join our group.  Just “friend” me on FaceBook and I’ll add you to our group.]

I wrote in the February and March issues that most of the so-called last days occurred from the beginning to near the middle of the first century A.D., and the only major event remaining on God’s timetable is for King Jesus to return to earth to establish his Kingdom, as millions of people have been praying for centuries . . . “Thy Kingdom come.”

Do I understand all I think I know?  No!  I’m merely writing about what I presently understand and comprehend according to my current state of awareness.  There is still so much I don’t understand . . . .  

Here we go!  

Essentially, I’ll be clarifying and updating some of what I wrote back in October and November 2012.  As you know all too well, 2 ½ years can make a big difference in world events.

apocalypse – noun:  a cataclysmic event, especially the end of the world

You’ll probably find this hard to believe, but I’ve made mistakes in the past, I’ll probably make a few today, and I’m quite sure I’ll make some in the future.  Some of the mistakes I’ve made have been about what the Bible teaches.  One prevailing theme found in the Bible is called biblical eschatology or the study of “end-times.”  I’ve made some mistakes about that subject through the years.

 Again, all I can do is share what the Bible teaches, based on my present level of understanding and current state of awareness.  In The Traveler for a few months I’m going to share with you my present, current understanding about “end time,” apocalyptic events or the last days.   As noted in February and March, my present views are controversial.  I already know what you read will anger some of you.  Others will be puzzled.  A few of you will send me nasty e-mails.  Some of you will angrily ask us to remove your e-mail address from our database.  But . . . possibly some of you will be encouraged and perhaps even breathe a sigh of relief that I’m writing what you may have secretly been believing but were afraid to tell other people.

First, I want to state the world is not going to end soon.  Or at least not for billions of years.  There is no coming antichrist who will be a tool of the devil to attempt to rule the world.  Russia is not going to invade Israel.  An army of 200,000,000 is not going to march into the Middle East.  There isn’t going to be a “Great Tribulation.”  Believers in Jesus aren’t going to  be   “raptured”  away  from   the  earth  to a “safe” location in the universe so they won’t suffer during a “Great Tribulation.”  There will not be a revived Roman Empire in Europe.  People won’t have “the mark of the beast” tattooed on their foreheads or inserted under their skin as a microchip.  Are those enough controversial statements?  I could write more, but I won’t.  Instead of those controversial statements (and similar ones) what do I feel is going to happen in the future? 

God’s “Timetable”

I’ll write as simply as I’m able to.  The next event on God’s timetable for planet earth and humanity is for Jesus to return to earth and inaugurate his universal Kingdom headquartered on earth in the New Jerusalem.

And . . . the only “signs of the times” yet to occur are those found in Matthew 24: 14 in the Bible.  I’ll let you look that up and ponder Jesus’ words for yourself.  If I attempted to explain what Jesus said, that would be even more controversial.  Why in the world am I writing like this?  Why be controversial?  What am I trying to prove?

First, for many thousands of people there’s a certain obsessive, perverse attraction to end-of-the-world events.  Look at the tabloids in our supermarkets, for example.

Second, I often grow weary—even fed up!—with   various Bible-believing followers of Jesus who continually see nothing but gloom and doom in their futures.  In short, they feel the world is “going to hell in a handbasket”—and they spread that negative, stinkin’ thinkin’ to others—especially to their children.

Third, some obsessive “end-timers” almost take a perverse delight in believing they’ll be saved, whereas pre-believers will be doomed to the lake of fire.  The believing end-timers are almost gleeful that pre-believers will be “getting the hell they deserve” for rejecting Jesus in this life.

There’s another side to that same end-time “coin,” too.  Some who believe in cataclysmic end-time events suffer undue stress and anxiety wondering whether or not they’ll be one of those who “make it” through the Great Tribulation or wondering whether or not they’ll be “left behind” at the rapture.  Some often wonder:  “What if there’s unconfessed sin in my life at the moment the rapture occurs; does that mean I’ll be left behind?”

 So . . . there are two sides to the coin for those who wonder about and fear cataclysmic end-time events.  I try to think “outside the box,” especially about the Bible and related matters.  I will be doing that in this issue of The Traveler.  And for the next few months.  I am convinced such gloom and doom, apocalyptic thinking is untrue.  I am convinced the best is yet to be.  I do not see the world going to hell in a handbasket.  

Unfortunately, many conservative, evangelical, Jesus believers have a finely honed sense of impending disaster they “feed” on.  I hope you’re not one of them!   Some mistakenly feel there has been a great cosmic battle between God and Satan since time immemorial, with the outcome still not certain about who will win.  They feel even if God wins, He will end up with only a small fraction of humanity on the winning side, whereas Satan will end up with the vast majority of people burning in hell forever.  How utterly naïve to believe God is that weak and Satan that strong . . . or that human “free will” can thwart God’s will!

I Am A Futurist

I feel every Jesus believer on planet earth should be a futurist.  What is a futurist?    A futurist is someone who sees the “upside,” not the “downside,” of the future.  God is a futurist.  He sees nothing but ultimate good for the future of all humankind.  Why does God see our future as good?  Because He is altogether good and absolutely everything He does for us is good (Psalm 119: 68).   That is a basic, bedrock belief of mine that underlies all I think and write.  I choose to be optimistic rather than pessimistic.   I choose to believe that the next event on God’s timetable for earth and humanity is for King Jesus to return to earth to inaugurate his wonder-full Kingdom!

Have you heard of the International World Future Society (IWFS)?  It is not a Bible-based Society by any stretch of the imagination.  Interestingly, however, many Bible believers belong to the Society.  The Society’s members are people from around the world who choose to be optimistic about the future, rather than pessimistic.  They try to seek out and find factual information about the future of the world from a positive viewpoint, rather than from a negative viewpoint.

Why Be Optimistic?

Why do I choose to be optimistic rather than pessimistic about the future?  First, optimism is a belief that the future will turn out well.  I honestly believe that’s what the Bible (taken together as a whole!) teaches about the future of earth and humanity.  I’m well aware that anyone can take certain biblical references as “proof texts” to “prove” various events might occur in the future.  But—again—we must determine what the Bible teaches –as a whole—about future events.

Second, optimism is something one does, not something one feels.  Optimism is simply to choose having a more positive way of looking at life in general.  Among other things, optimism actually promotes better cardiovascular health, and serves to enhance one’s immune system.  In short, optimism is simply better for us in terms of our overall health and wellbeing.  For example, a recent study showed that optimists are 9 percent less likely to develop heart disease than pessimists.  They are only 77 percent as likely to be rehospitalized after some types of major surgery.  Optimists on average have blood pressure 5 points lower than pessimists.  Finally, fact-based optimists live an average of 5-9 years longer than negative, fear-based pessimists.

An authentic, fact-based optimist is far more a realist than a pessimist.  And a Bible-based optimist is even more of a true realist, seeing reality through God’s eyes—having an unlimited KingdomView rather than a mere limited human worldview, no matter how expansive.  I try to encourage people to adopt a secure, safe Kingdom Dream, rather than a mere elusive, transitory American Dream (or any other national dream).

Is the world really going to hell in a handbasket?  Are things really getting worse and worse—to end in some sort of worldwide “great tribulation” and fiery conflagration?   God is not going to destroy the earth and everything and everyone on it.  There will not be a brand-new “replacement” earth inhabited by only a relatively few Jesus believers, dancing on golden streets, strumming on harps in some sort of boring, eternal church service.  No.  No.  No!  God is going to freshly restore earth and everything and everyone on it to a far greater condition than it ever was.

For a fuller teaching on the subject of restoration in the Bible, I invite you to read our teaching entitled “Restoration” on this web site.

Continued next month  

                   “Then I saw a freshly restored universe and earth, different than the present universe and earth as we now know them; and there was no more sea. Then I, John, the writer of this revelation, saw the holy city, the freshly restored Jerusalem, coming down to earth out of heaven, as a bride prepared and adorned for her husband.   Now God who sits on his throne will say:   ‘Pay attention!  I have freshly restored my entire creation.’”                                                                                                                             –From Revelation 21, paraphrased 

To think about this month

“The world can’t end today because it’s already tomorrow on the other side of the world.”                               —Adapted from Charles Schulz

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