Got LIFE

NOTE: This month’s issue of The Traveler is sort of a parenthesis between some months I’m teaching about the “last days.” I’ll resume that teaching next month.

As I visit with various Jesus believers and pre-believers here and there in person and by correspondence and e-mail around the world, I find that many of them have only a vague, nebulous concept of what real LIFE—eternal LIFE—is all about.

Here’s what the Bible teaches:  Eternal LIFE  is God’s own uncreated, self-existent, imperishable, undiminishable,  destructible,  inexhaustible, incorruptible,  boundless, limitless, abundant LIFE He implants within people through Jesus Christ when they are born again (born²).  In short, it is God’s own LIFE in all its fullness.  It is the quality, inherent nature, or character of that LIFE, not its duration, that is paramount.  In most of my writings, I almost always capitalize God’s LIFE in us to emphasize its exceedingly wonderful quality, not its duration. 

Many Mistaken Beliefs

We mistakenly tend to think of eternal LIFE in terms of an endless, future existence in a fantasy heaven far off somewhere “beyond the blue.”  And the existence it seems to imply is a sort of religious church service in the sky “in the sweet bye and bye,” which leaves many people wondering if they would really want that kind of life to go on forever . . . as dull and boring as are some church services. 

But Jesus is quite clear when he speaks of eternal LIFE—He means it is LIFE that is absolutely wonderful and can never be diminished or stolen from you. He says, “I have come that you may have LIFE, and have it to the fullest.” (John 10:10)  The eternal LIFE God gives us is a life exceeding that of the highest life any human being possesses, just as the highest life a human being possesses far exceeds that of the lowliest one-celled animal.

Eternal LIFE is not the mere continuity of this mortal life in an immortal, endless religious life playing harps while sitting on clouds in some far-off forever.  No!  It begins now and “ends” in a state of being called the eternal state.  All spiritual growth of a Jesus-believer during this life is simply to receive more and more LIFE from God!  Sometimes when God first implants his LIFE within us, it may lay dormant for a time.  Then when we are ready, it begins to come awake in us, blossoming into its full, vibrant expressiveness in ways that only God can “grow” it in us.

There comes what I call a “magic moment” in each person’s life when God’s embryonic LIFE—whether in root, in seed, in tiny acorn—that moment in time comes when it begins to blossom and bear fruit.  That LIFE in our innermost being begins to fulfill its destiny within the Father’s new-creation son or daughter.  (2 Corinthians 5: 17)  That LIFE begins to shoot upward from where it has taken root in our spirit.  It sprouts within us, sending forth new leaves and branches and fruit, flowering and blossoming until that LIFE in us is all in all.

We don’t need to experience more and more of this finite, perishable, mortal life we have on planet earth in order to have a more fuller life.  No, we need more and more of the infinite eternal LIFE of God in us—more of his LIFE-making Presence in us.  If we will simply let God pour more and more of his LIFE into us by means of the inner work of the Holy Spirit, there will never be a limit—throughout time or in eternity—to the enlargement of our existence, to the flood of LIFE that will flow into us, through us, and out of us.  Most of us simply have no conception of how full and “complete” and vast real LIFE is.  

Life Without LIFE

The condition of most men and women without God’s LIFE in them is actually a sort of “life in death,” an unreal dream existence, an emptiness, a pointless wandering in a twilight zone.  LIFE eternal is not merely an endless elongation of consciousness.  No, LIFE eternal is given us by God—a LIFE which is his own, beyond the attack of decay or death.  Eternal LIFE is an existence in this mortal life in which the believer has been given a portion of the very self-existent, uncreated character and nature of God.

I can’t emphasize it enough:  Eternal LIFE is not some sort of endless life we’re going to get (future tense) when we die.  No, it’s God’s very own LIFE He gives to us now (present tense) when Jesus comes to live permanently within us in his unbodied form of the Holy Spirit.  It’s the very LIFE of the Eternal God flowing into our mortal lives in time and space before we reach our eternal state of being.  If the Son of God lives in us by virtue of our having been born², we have (present tense) God’s very own eternal LIFE within us . . . NOW!  (1 John 5: 11- 13)

How Humans Get LIFE

     As simply as I can put it in summary fashion, here’s how humans “get” God’s eternal LIFE.  When we are born again (see John 3: 5 – 8), God takes a portion of his own uncreated, self-existent, imperishable, inexhaustible,  undiminishable, incorruptible, indestructible, boundless, limitless, abundant LIFE and permanently implants it within our human spirits.  And we instantly come ALIVE with that LIFE within our human spirits, inseparably and permanently fused with God’s LIFE-giving Spirit within us for all time and eternity!  

Time and Eternity

To get a better understanding of what I’m attempting to teach about eternal LIFE, it would help to understand a little about the differences between time and eternity.  So . . . let’s examine for a few moments the concepts of time and eternity.  They are both integral parts of the broader truth of God’s very own LIFE within his sons and daughters.   I’ll attempt to teach these two concepts as somewhat separate from one another, but, of necessity, there is much overlapping of the two.  When we look at the overall subject of time, we will also look at other time-concepts that are temporal, non-absolute, and relative. 

Let God’s Spirit Teach Us

Only Holy Spirit, the true Author of the Bible, can teach us in depth about time and eternity. And I encourage you to ask him for assistance as you continue to read this material.  He can fill in the many gaps I’ve left out of this teaching because of my own limited understanding.  I freely admit there is much I don’t comprehend about time and eternity.   There is much yet to be learned as Holy Spirit gives us illumination and enlightenment.  In a sense, there is much about time and eternity that only time to come and eternity can clarify for us.

Time and Space

Continuing on with our thoughts, let’s think about whether or not time and space are finite or infinite.  If they are infinite, are they necessarily eternal?  By definition, space is “the expanse in which all material things are contained.”  Infinity is defined as “something lacks known or measurable limits and bounds,” not that something has no limits or boundaries.  With my present understanding, I believe that space and time do have limits and boundaries, but they cannot be measured by presently known astronomical instruments.        I am open to changing my mind as additional study might dictate.  Space, time, and the material universe are created phenomena and are infinite, but only in the sense they cannot be measured by finite humans.  I believe they are not infinite in the sense of being eternal—as only God is. 

What Is Eternity?

Now let’s consider the concept of eternity.  Please understand that the strictest, non-theological definition of eternity is “a state of being.” We shall see that it is much more than that, but it is a state of being, first and foremost.  In other words, eternity is not a created phenomena as time is.  In all candor, I believe the Bible teaches very little by way of defining or describing eternity.  Why?  Because the Bible is essentially a book of time and for time.  It was written for us who are temporal beings, not yet totally eternal.  

 We are presently creatures of time—journeying through time. Only when we arrive at and fully enter that state of being called eternity . . .  only when He who is Eternal becomes All in all in us . . .  only when time ends and is swallowed up into eternity . . .  only when eternity becomes an absolute reality to us . . .  only when we are spiritually metamorphosized into our eternal milieu . . . Only then will we time-beings, who were formerly physical and material beings, comprehend eternity and matters of an eternal nature.  There’s an old familiar Gospel song which speaks to the issue of our “going home” upon Jesus’ return, to our metamorphosis, to our Great Transition, to our change from mortal to immortal:

     “When the trumpet 
     of the Lord shall sound,
     and time shall be no more,
     And the morning breaks
     eternal, bright, and fair;  
     When the saved of earth
      shall gather over on the other shore,
     and the roll is called up yonder, 
     I’ll be there . . . 
     On that bright and cloudless morning
     when the dead in Christ shall rise,
     and the glory of his resurrection share;
     When his chosen ones shall gather
     In Jesus’ Kingdom when He returns,
     and the roll is called up yonder,
     I’ll be there . . . . ”

I hasten to say I don’t necessarily agree with all the “theology” of that old song or with the time sequence of the events it describes, but it is, nevertheless, a great old Gospel song describing us. 

The Eternal God

We read in the Bible that God is Eternal, or, more literally, the Father of Eternity (Deuteronomy 33: 27, Isaiah 9: 6).  He is called so in the sense that he is the originator and sustainer of eternity.  In short, eternity is part of God.  He is eternity.  Eternity is in God.

“So . . . to the King of the ages of time and eternity, to Him who is invisible, to the only God there is, full of wisdom—may honor and glory be given to Him alone for all the ages of time and eternity.  Amen!” –1 Timothy 1:  17 

In continuing to consider the concepts of time and eternity, we must completely jettison any thinking that time has anything to do with eternity or is part of eternity.  Time and eternity are two separate entities.  They are mutually exclusive of one another in an absolute sense. 

                Eternity IS a state of absolute timelessness, NOT a state of unending time. There are NO endless ages of time in eternity.  Eternity IS a state of absolute simultaneousness, NOT a state that goes on and on and on with the passing of “unending” time.

Eternity is a state of being, resident in the very nature and person of God in which such time-concepts as past, present, future, before, after, minutes, hours, and years do not exist.

Time Shall Be No More

The ages and eons of time will end; they are alien concepts in eternity. Time and eternity have no relationship with one another just as up or down, for example, have no relationship with light or dark.  The terms “up” and “light” are mutually exclusive. Time is not part of eternity just as “up” is not part of “light.”

It may seem like I’m overemphasizing this point, but it is absolutely essential that we understand such differences between eternity and time before we can begin to comprehend what the Bible teaches, for example, about eternal LIFE.  Time is not part of eternity.  Eternity is not composed of segments of time.  Eternity is not time standing still.  It simply is not time in any sense that we understand time.  Eternity doesn’t go on and on, ad infinitum.  Eternity doesn’t go anywhere or anywhen, nor does it do anything.  Eternity simply is.  It doesn’t go on and on and on.  

Time is created.  It is extra-eternal in the sense we say something is extra-biblical. Time is a measurable, fixed, limited, created phenomena.  Eternity, in contrast, is part of the very nature and person of God.

The Great “I AM”

Eternity transcends beyond our comprehension anything having to do with time.  Eternity simply is, just as God simply is.  The expression, “It is that it is,” has unique reference to eternity just as “I am that I am” has unique reference to God.  Just as Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am,” (John 8: 58) it can be said of eternity, “Before time was, I am.”

Some Misunderstood Terms

For my next point let’s consider only briefly the definitions of such biblical words and terms as “forever,” “forever and ever,” “eternal,” everlasting,” and related expressions.  By the way, have you ever pondered how there can be a “forever” with an “ever” following it?  Just asking.

In over 500 places in most modern translations of the Bible where we find such terms in the English language as the four just mentioned, they have with very few exceptions been mistranslated from the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic languages in which the Bible was written.

 “Forever” can most often be translated as “age-lasting,” or “continuing for the ages of time.”   “Forever and ever” and “everlasting” should be translated as “for the age(s) of the  ages,” “enduring for the ages of time,” or “throughout all generations.”

Such biblical words or expressions are not about segments of time that go on and on and on without end.  I am simply saying that these words are all time-words words expressed in time-languages, fallen languages of a fallen race of beings, languages that are inadequate to wholly express and define that which is eternal. They are not words having to do with eternity; they are only about time.  In the original languages, the biblical emphasis on such words seems to be upon the quality and purpose of such words rather than upon an unending duration.  In other words, eternal LIFE means the nature, quality, or purpose of the LIFE rather than it’s length or duration.  

Eternal LIFE is God’s self-existent, uncreated, undiminishable, imperishable, incorruptible, inexhaustible, indestructible, limitless, boundless, abundant LIFE of God in us, a LIFE the seed of which we now possess and which will come to full fruition in eternity when the ages of time have ceased to exist.  

Check ‘em Out Yourself

I’ve given only a few examples of such words and expressions. An exhaustive—and startlingly convincing—personal study can be made of every such word in the Bible with the use of a good Bible concordance.

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

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

New, Eternal Beings!

 His people are becoming new eternal creations, no longer limited by the restrictions of the space-time continuum and by our physicality and materiality.  

                We are not human being having a temporary spiritual experience; no, we are eternal spiritual beings having a very brief human experience!

We are seeing with our “inner eyes” of our “faith-sense” the reality of a state of being called eternity—resident in the very nature and person of God—and our hearts strain and leap upward toward that “place” in God that awaits us beyond the eons of time.   

I hope that brief discussion of the concepts of time and eternity will help you more fully appreciate the wonder-full, rich, abundant, eternal LIFE God has implanted within you through the eternal sacrifice and total and complete salvation God has given you through God the Son, Jesus!  He implanted that LIFE in you at the time of your new-creation, second birth and it will continue to grow within you throughout all the eons of time and then beyond time into the eternal state!  Thank God for such amazing salvation!

Beyond The Far Shores Of Time

Here is a little scenario I recently wrote based on my own very, very limited understanding of Eternity, that place in God to which we are all journey-bound:  

             “Beyond the far reaches of the vast sea of time and space lies a fair and lovely land called Eternity.  It is a land beyond measure in which no mortal feet have yet trod.  A land of great delights, of fulfilled desires, dreams, goals, and visions.  A land where all is well and all is peacable.  

                A land where He Who Is . . . is All in all; there is nothing in that altogether lovely land which The Great Presence does not fully permeate and fill to the full.  We . . . you . . . me . . . all are bound for that unclouded land beyond the far borders of time.

                In that ever-sunny land there will be no need of the sun or lamps, for there will be no night there.  The permeating, en-Lightening Presence of Him Who is All in all will provide all Light.  And, in that wondrous land of light and beauty beyond compare, there is a pure River of Life flowing from the throne of the All in all.

                On either side of that River is a Tree of Life which bears fruit always, and the leaves of the Trees will heal those from every tribe, tongue, and nation who made the long journey to that wondrous Land. 

                No dark and limiting curses will find a place in that comely Land, but only extraordinary blessings for all . . . from Him Who is All.

                Pure love will radiate throughout that land from Him Who is seated on the throne and from the Lamb seated at his right hand; love will be the very atmosphere breathed by all in that fair land.  And love will be the very core character and nature of all who dwell  there . . . because He is Love. 

                It’s a land of dazzling beauty no human eye has ever seen—a land of light beyond the crystal sea.  A bountiful land of abundance, a land of milk and honey where Justice and Mercy fall and nourish the land like spring rains, sweeping gently across the lush, verdant meadowlands of Eternity.  

                Love and grace waft unceasingly throughout the land, filling the very atmosphere.  The knowledge of God and his Righteousness and Good cover the earth as the waters fill the seas.  

     Praise and joy resound from every corner of the land.  Salvation and Deliverance flow down as crystal rivers flow from high mountains.

                All is Peace—peace which surpasses finite comprehension, Peace which overshadows all that might cause anxiety and worry, Peace which stills any tumult and storms that might arise on the crystal seas in that radiant land to which we go.

                        There are still, sparkling waters, beside which the Great Shepherd of all sheep leads us into verdant meadows where Feasts surpassing abundance are ever provided to all.

We shall dwell there beyond the far shores of time, ever in the Presence of Him who fills all with Himself.  Death shall be no more.  Nothing shall ever disturb the peace and tranquility that pervades that all-spacious land over which the King of kings and Lord of lords rules with eternal benevolence toward all creation.  

Ceaseless High Praise—loud as rolling thunder—is ever heard, yet there is always a hushed and still quietness that is palpable to all.  Such Praise rolls effortlessly from all created beings, originating from deep within the redeemed who ever come singing to the Temple of God—whose temple we are, filled with all the fulness of  the Spirit beyond measure and comprehension.”

Dear reader, that is the wondrous land called Eternity to which we are all journey-bound beyond the far reaches of time and space.   Let’s journey on.

“God makes everything beautiful in its own time.  He has placed within the heart of every human ever born the knowledge of the ages of time and eternity.  But our understanding is so finite and limited that during our journey here we can never fully grasp what God is doing.  What we are able to comprehend of God’s working throughout human history is always unclear, partial, and distorted.” –Ecclesiastes 3: 11  

To Think About

“On most gravestones there’s a date of birth, a dash, and then a date of death.  The dash is very short; it represents my life from conception to death.  It’s what I do during the dash that really matters!”

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

Continued from last month

Last month we introduced the biblical subject of the “last days,” suggesting the real last days likely occurred 2,000 years ago during the lifetimes of Jesus and his early followers.  Now, let’s examine some biblical references to support that suggestion.  I’m not trying to push this view on you, merely asking you to check out some biblical references you may not have previously considered.

 If the last days did occur during the first century A.D., where does that leave us who are alive 2,000 years later?  Will life on this planet simply keep going on and on and on as it is?  No!  The next major event which will occur on God’s timetable will be Jesus’ return to earth to establish his Kingdom . . . as billions of people have prayed for centuries:  “Thy Kingdom come . . . .  The only differences from what many people believe is that Jesus’ return might not be surrounded by all sorts of calamities, plagues, wars, tribulations, mark of the beast, the antichrist, and the like.  We have come to believe the Bible teaches those events occurred 2,000 years ago.

Bible Study Principles

Just as it’s true for any other type of literary studies of historical literature, there are certain basic “rules” or principles for studying the Bible.  That includes rules or principles for studying what the Bible teaches about the last days or the end times.  Here are just three of those many study principles that apply.  First, study all the references on a given subject before arriving at a conclusion. 

Otherwise, you end up “finding” all sorts of “proof texts” to support what you’ve already made up your mind to believe.  Second, let the Bible itself (not our own beliefs and theories) interpret itself.  Third, Avoid building doctrines on unclear passages, and let clear teachings unlock the unclear.  There are other “rules” for studying the Bible (or any other ancient literature, for that matter), but those are the three main rules for studying what the Bible teaches about the last days, as well as any other biblical theme.

Clean It Up!

Okay, here’s a very important point before we begin to dig around in the Bible to suggest what it might really teach about the last days:   No matter your views about the end times, they should cause you to live a clean, wholesome life, according to 1 John 3: 2 and 3 and 2 Peter 3: 11 in the Bible.   Yes, hold whatever end time views you’re convinced are the “correct” views, but whatever your views, they should cause you to lead a good and godly lifestyle.  If not, then something is wrong with your views.  Right now would be a good time to look up those two references for yourself and make up your own mind about what they say and what they mean.  And, your search might lead you to other references about the same subject.

 Too many people hold end time views they want to argue about and prove they’re right.  If your views aren’t causing you to clean up your life in the light of Jesus’ return, then your views are skewed.

For example, I recently had a discussion with a person whom I know to be a disagreeable, ornery, mean-spirited, abusive person.  He believes that what he understands about end times, last days, Jesus’ return, etc. is the absolute truth, and he will argue in a foul-mouthed way with anyone who disagrees with him.   I asked him if his views about Jesus’ return help him to clean up his life and live in a godly manner; his response was another foul-mouthed tirade.  So . . . whatever you believe about end times, they should cause you to live a clean and godly life; it not, then what good to you or anyone else are your end time views?   Arguments about the last days don’t create light; they create heat.  And most arguments are really about people wanting to get their own way!

Grab Your Bible

Let’s begin our study of Bible end times or the last days by first looking up some of the main references about the subject in the New Testament.  Let’s begin, for example, by looking up all the references to “end times.”  Surprise, surprise!  There are no such references.  Yes, the word “end” occurs numerous times, and the word “time” also occurs numerous times.  But never together!  The closest words to “end times” are a few occurrences of “last times,” “end of the age,” and the like—and in every occurrence it’s about the time people were living in when the phrase was written.  For example, in 1 Peter 1: 20, we read that Jesus was made known to people in these last times—the times in which they were then living 2,000 years ago.   (C’mon look up that reference for yourself . . . and all the context around it.)

There’s no way that such terms and phrases can be understood to mean times in the far distant future such as the times we live in.  To those believers who lived shortly after Jesus’ return to heaven, they understood they were then living in the last times or the last days.  I’ll explain that a little later in this study.  Here’s another reference about the last days or end times.  I encourage you to look up Acts 2: 17 – 21.  The Apostle Peter is speaking in this reference.  He is saying to his listeners that the events occurring in their lives that very day were in the last days as predicted by the Old Testament prophet Joel approximately 800 years earlier.

So . . . now we have 1 Peter 1: 20 and Acts 2: 17 – 21 referring to the last times, latter days, or end of the age happening then—not far off in the future.  I’d like you to also look up 1 Corinthians 10: 11; 1 Timothy 4: 1; Hebrews 1: 2; and Hebrews 9: 26. 

The first century readers of those  references believed they were then living in the last days.  If you doubt those were the last days during the times of Jesus and his early followers, well . . . you’ll just have to discuss your doubts with God.  Again, almost all biblical and historical evidence points to the real biblical latter days occurring from the time of Jesus’ birth to approximately 72 A.D.  We are not now living in the biblical last days.  Instead, we are simply living in a time when we are awaiting Jesus’ return to earth to establish his Kingdom.

Yes, some day there will be the “last” days of human history as we presently know them, but they are not the biblical last days.  We are simply living in a year labeled 2015, waiting for King Jesus to return to establish his Kingdom on earth.  There will not be the antichrist, there will not be an Armageddon, there will not be the mark of the beast, not millions of people being slaughtered . . . no, none of those:  only Jesus’ return!  All those horrible events happened 2,000 years ago to the Jews and non-Jews living in the land of Israel.  And, Jesus’ return will be a joyous event, when we will rise to meet Him in the air and then triumphantly return with Him to work with Him in establishing his Kingdom on earth.

The Book of Revelation

In the February issue of The Traveler, we introduced some thoughts about when, why, and to whom the Book of Revelation was written.  We’ll expand a little on some of those thoughts without going into much detail because you can look up much of this information for yourself.  I’m not going to attempt to explain the entire Book of Revelation.  That would take an entire encyclopedia.  Instead, I’ll just share with you my presentunderstanding and current awareness about the major divisions of Revelation.  You can fill in all the details for yourself.

Evidence within the Book of Revelation itself and historical evidence clearly reveals it was written primarily to first century believers in Jesus.  It includes both Jewish and non-Jewish believers as noted in the first three chapters.   Those chapters were written to both Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus in 7 churches in present-day Turkey—people living then, not in the far off future.  The first three chapters were written to strengthen and encourage them at that time.

Then, chapters 4 – 18 were written to tell the readers what would happen largely in the land of Israel from approximately 66 – 72 A.D.  This was a period of great tribulation, mostly in the land of Israel, but touching upon other nations in that general part of the world.  Only chapters 19 – 22 can honestly be said to be prophetic in the sense of what would happen in the far distant future after 72 A.D . . . maybe during our own times, our own “last days.”  Again, don’t take my word about any of these statements I have made about the Book of Revelation.  Check me out.  Do some biblical and historical research on your own.  I don’t have all the answers about the end times or last days.

You might be asking, “What about all I’ve read and been taught about ‘the antichrist,’ ‘the beast,’ the ‘mark of the beast,’ ‘the number 666,’ and similar matters?”  All I can say is check these matters out for yourself.  Hint:  for example, the word “antichrist” never appears in the Book of Revelation!  Okay, let’s bring all this last days information together in a practical way.  If much about we’ve been taught about these matters has already happened, what do we do now?

First, let’s be optimistic, positive futurists, not negative pessimists cowering somewhere waiting for all sorts of bad things to occur.  Life is not getting darker and darker on planet earth.  God’s Light—Jesus—is dawning on earth’s horizon.  Let’s realize we have a victorious future ahead of us through Jesus!  Let’s encourage—not discourage—one another about the bright future God has in store for all of us.  Let’s replace fear with faith.  Let’s live good and godly lives while we eagerly await Jesus’ return.  Let’s tell others the Good News about what God has done for us through Jesus.  Let’s not live in a state of paralysis and inertia believing “the world is going to hell in a handbasket.”  Let’s continue to do God’s work until Jesus comes.  What a wonder-full day that will be!    

To Think About This Month      

“There is coming a day of no more heartaches. What a day, glorious day that will be!”

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

I already anticipate some of the mean-spirited, nasty e-mails and similar responses I will receive about this issue of The Traveler.  I read all responses I receive each month, but I throw away all the mean, nasty ones after I read them.  And I honestly appreciate those types of responses, as well as the positive and encouraging ones we receive each month.

It’s okay to send either type of response.   If my thousands of readers all agreed with me, I would seriously question my own teachings about the Bible and related subjects.  The main subject of this issue (and maybe the next couple of issues) is very controversial, and I don’t expect all my readers to agree with me.  Just don’t make your negative comments mean-spirited and nasty or drive by my home and shoot out my windows.  Maybe we can simply agree to disagree; that would be the civil way to handle disagreements, wouldn’t it?

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

Here we go . . .

Recently, in a local bookstore I picked up a popular, best-selling Christian book just to glance through it.  The very first sentence in the book begins with these words:  “No one can reasonably doubt we are living in the last days just before the Lord returns . . . .”  The author went on to enumerate all the reasons why we can “know” for certain that Jesus will return soon because these are beyond doubt the “last days.”  

I immediately thought of all the other authors and preachers who have written and taught—for 200 years or more!—that Jesus would return during their times.  They, too, enumerated all the reasons why Jesus would return “soon,” usually in their own lifetimes.  For example, a preacher “proved” to his followers that Jesus would return in 1844.  And then again during the American Civil War in the 1860’s.   

There are more.  Many people taught and wrote   that   Jesus   would   return   in    1914 because of World War I.  Then again in the 1940’s during World War II.  How many of you remember the preacher who “proved” Jesus would return in 1988?  How about those who taught Jesus would return in 2008?  Interestingly, in 2009 one preacher’s books were still selling—even after Jesus failed to return in 2008 when the author claimed He would!  

How about the well-known television preacher in Texas who has all the huge, amazing charts behind him onstage he uses to “prove” conclusively that the “Great Tribulation” will begin any day now.  I’m beginning to write the first rough draft of this issue of The Traveler in September 2014.  Maybe the “last days” will burst upon us before I finish writing it.  Maybe the antichrist will begin to rule the world before I can send it to you in February 2015.  Or not . . . .

Jesus Will Return

Do you get the picture?  Up until approximately the year 1800, relatively few preachers, teachers, and authors taught that Jesus would return soon;  there were some—not many—who taught Jesus’ soon return for the first 1800 years of church history. Oh, people have known for 2,000+ years that Jesus will return—because He promised He will!  But before approximately the year 1800 very few people set dates for his return as they’ve been doing for the past 200 years or so.

How about you?  Have you been fooled into believing that Jesus will return on a certain date or in a certain year?  Have you been misled about Jesus’ soon return by some well-meaning person because they claim they’re the only one who has figured out some sort of mysterious timeline or secret “code” in the Bible?  Or because they have an intricate set of timeline charts “proving” Jesus will return soon. 

 Don’t misunderstand me.  The Bible clearly teaches Jesus will return to earth to establish his Kingdom . . . but no human being knows when that will be!  Have you personally every really studied  what the Bible teaches about the end times?  I didn’t ask if you’ve ever studied what your Pastor or television preachers or other writers teach about such matters. 

I asked:  Have YOU studied for yourself what the Bible teaches about the last days?  Honestly now, just between you, me, and God . . . where have you learned most of your views about end times and last days?   From others . . . or from your own study of the Bible?

In this issue of The Traveler I will share with you what I have studied for myself about the last days.  But, please, please, don’t merely read what I write.  Please, please check me out; look up any biblical references for yourself.  Do your own studies.  I’m as human as any other teacher of the Bible, and I’ve made many mistakes through  the years I’ve been teaching the Bible and related subjects.  So . . . just use what I write as sort of an outline or as a foundation for your own studies; otherwise, you’ve just read one more person’s views—mine—about this subject. You must study end time biblical subjects on your own; if not, then I’ve failed what I want to do in this issue:  get you to study the subjects for yourself.

Many Words

There are many words, word combinations, and phrases throughout the Bible about the end:  “last days,” “fullness of time,” “end of days,” “latter days,” “time of the end,” “Day of the LORD,” and other similar ones.   All of these taken together clearly teach one fact:  some day there will be an end to life on earth as we presently know it.  When and how that end will occur has stirred much controversy, wrangling, and arguing for over 200 years.  

So . . . if you believe the Bible is God’s written Word to all humanity, you really shouldn’t have any doubt that Jesus will return to establish his earthly Kingdom; the only disagreement between Bible believers is when He will return and the events leading up to and surrounding his return.  The first thing you must understand is that most of what many people have come to believe about the end times comes from the Book of Revelation, the last book in the format of the Bible.

Revelation

That being the case, it’s important that you know when the Book of Revelation was written, why, and to whom.  For many centuries, Bible students understood Revelation was written around 65 or 66 A.D.  That changed, however, a couple of hundred years ago when for various reasons Bible teachers began to teach that Revelation was written later—around 90 – 95 A.D.  I won’t go into the reasons that date change happened; you can check out those reasons for yourself.  Within the last few years, however, a number of well-known teachers and Bible students are returning to the view that Revelation was written about 65 or 66 A.D.  Later, I’ll explain why those dates are important.

One more point about the Book of Revelation:  recently, many people have claimed they have discovered various “keys” to the book—mysterious keys that unlock Revelation to prove their specific teachings.  The only “key” to the Book of Revelation is the Old Testament portion of the Bible!  The only way to understand Revelation is to return again and again to the Old Testament; it’s the only way to make sense of the Book of Revelation.  There are no mysterious keys other than the Old Testament to which the Book of Revelation refers approximately 400 times, either directly or indirectly.

Keep in Mind

Keep in mind the entire Bible was written mostly by Israelites (also called Jews or Hebrews at various times).  And . . . it was written to  Israelites for the most part.  Although written primarily  to Israelites, its overall message is that God loves all humanity, both Israelites and non-Israelites (Gentiles), including both groups of people equally in what God has done for all humanity through Jesus.  Thus, it can be said the Bible is largely a Jewish book, but includes Gentiles.  Why is it important to know that?  Because when the Bible teaches about the last days, it applies primarily to the last days of the Jews, climaxing in 70 – 72 A.D. when their Temple in Jerusalem and all Temple worship was destroyed.

To the Israelites of Jesus’ times, their last days ended in 72 A.D.!  And those last days are—for the most part—the last days written about in the Bible.  We are not now living in humanity’s last days.  Jesus and his early followers lived in the last days—of the Jewish people—2,000 years ago!

Here’s just one example among many:  the “Great Tribulation” isn’t something yet to come in the future.  Rather, to the Jews living in Israel at the time, the real Great Tribulation occurred for seven years from 66 to 72 A.D.  That can be readily verified simply from a historical perspective if one wants to take the time and effort to do the necessary historical research.  For your historical research, one book I highly recommend for starters is a book by David Chilton entitled Days of Vengeance.  I don’t agree with a lot written in that book, but it’s a good book to begin studying this subject.  A real “eye opener.”

Continued next month

                    “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      

“Thy Kingdom Come . . . .”

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

Time’s Eternal Traveler 

It was a clear, warm spring night.  Shepherds were guarding their flocks on the hillsides and meadows of Judea.  Suddenly, the dark, night skies lit up brighter than any fireworks display ever witnessed.  An angel proclaimed to the startled shepherds . . .   And you know the rest of the story!  If not, read about it in the 2^nd chapter of the book of Luke in the New Testament portion of the Bible.

Fullness of Time

 When time was ripe . . .  when time was full . . . when time was “pregnant”—God stepped out of the infinite vastness of eternity into the self-imposed, finite limitations of time and space and became fully human, while remaining fully God.  Yes, when time was fully pregnant, a young unmarried, virgin teenager named Mary became fully pregnant, too, and gave birth to the God-Human, Jesus. 

Jesus was given the royal, eternal title, Immanuel, meaning “God is fully present with humans for all time and eternity.”     After Jesus later died, was raised from the dead, and returned to eternity—in all the 2,000+ years since, Immanuel is born² (born again) in anyone who asks Him to take up permanent residence in them and make them new-creation beings. 

Yes, Jesus is the true Time Traveler who travels through each generation of time when He is born²—in their personal  ripeness of time—in each man, woman, or child who enters into a personal relationship with Him by inviting Him into their lives.  Over and over and over again in each passing generation of time, God once again becomes Immanuel for each person in whom He comes to live in them in his “unbodied form” of Holy Spirit.

 God.  Jesus.  Immanuel:  The true Time Traveler  who  invites  each  of  us  to travel with Him throughout the ages and eons of time—and then when time ends—into the eternal state which God inhabits in all his majesty, power, and glory!  The Bible is not merely a manual; the Bible is Im-manuel, telling us how God is  fully present among humans in the Person of Jesus in his unbodied form of Holy Spirit.

Many of my older readers might remember this simple Christmas chorus popular during the 1980’s:

                Immanuel,
                Immanuel,
                His Name is called Immanuel—
                God with us,
                Revealed in us!
                His Name is called Immanuel.

The Bible was not given to us by God merely to inform us.  No, the Bible was given to us by God to transform us, as Immanuel lives in us and leads us on our own journey through time and eternity.  2,000 years ago God interesected time in the Person of Jesus, Immanuel.  During the thousands of years since, eternity again intersects time whenever any human is born²  and becomes a new person.  Sometime in the future, He will once again step out of eternity into time when Jesus returns in bodily form to establish his peace-full Kingdom upon earth.  Yes, Jesus is The Eternal Time Traveler!

Time and Eternity

If the concepts of time and eternity—and their differences—are as fascinating to you as they are to me, I invite you to read one of my teachings on this web site titled Beyond The Far Shores of Time.  It’s even kind of pseudo-scientific, containing a lot of up-to-date information about the latest developments in the scientific studies of time and space.  

The Four C’s

What are 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.  And, it’s a good thing to focus on the baby Jesus in the cradle at this time of year. God did become a human being in Jesus, He was born of a human mother, He did live as a human among us.  Again, his title, Immanuel, means God is fully present and living among 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 our redemption’s pageant:  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!

“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 

The chorus of another older song puts it this way:

Living He loved me;
Dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my 
     sins far away;
Rising, He justified 
     freely forever;
One day He’s coming—
     O glorious day!

I Fooled You!

Guess what I just did to you?  I really fooled you.  I taught you in an easy, painless manner some  incarnational theology!  I know, I know, some of you thought theology was what wizened old men in long “hoodies” did when they sat around by dim candlelight in a dark room discussing how many angels could dance at one time on the  head of a pin . . .   Here’s a simple definition of theology:  It is a person’s understanding about God and his ways and works among all humans.  All of us—even atheists—have our own personal understanding about God:  who we think He is, what He does, what He’s like, our relationship (or lack thereof) with Him.  That’s all theology is.

Now that you know that, you can brag to all your family and friends that you are a bona fide theologian.  Wow!  What a way to impress people . . . I’ll bet you never thought you’d be a theologian, did you?  What’s being a theologian have to do with this Christmas issue of The Traveler?  I’m glad you asked.  If we’re each going to have a “successful” journey through life, having the “correct” theology is vital to that journey.  How do we get correct—or proper—theology?  From the Bible.  The Bible is where we get correct theology so we can have a great journey through life.

The Bible tells us about Jesus, our Fellow Time Traveler.  It tells us who He is—for He alone is the final and full self-revelation of God to all human beings in every generation for the past 2,000+ years.  Without the Bible we would not know anything about Jesus, THE Time Traveler.  The baby in that cradle, the suffering Savior on that cross, that power-full resurrected God-Man, the One who returned  to eternity and the heavenlies victorious over death, the conquering King who is coming again—that is all called the incarnation when the one True and Living God became eternally human.   

The Bible tells us that the incarnation never ended, but continues:  Jesus is now and for all the ages of time and eternity fully God and fully human.  He was resurrected and returned to heaven bodily, and He will return bodily. 

That’s the incarnation.  That’s theology.  The cradle.  The cross.  The crown.  His coming again.  That’s the complete Christmas story.  The incarnation of God changed everything for all time and eternity—reaching back to the very first humans, and reaching forward to include all humans who are yet to be born as the ages of time continue to roll on into eternity.  God in Jesus not only intersected history for a brief 33 years of solar time, but as the God-Man seated at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus is eternally coexistent with everyone everywhere and everywhen.  

I’m not writing about religion.  This “incarnation/Christmas thing is not about religion.  It’s about having a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with the one true and living God through Jesus!

You Must Be Born Again!

If you have not yet been born again by inviting the living Jesus to come into your life, invite Him into your life this Christmas season.  Let Immanuel of history become your personal Immanuel for your own life journey:  God fully with you (and in you) now and in eternity!  Here’s a brief statement about what happens to us when we are born again:  “Before being born again, it’s as if we’ve been stumbling around with our eyes closed.  When we are born again, instantly we can see.  Something dead inside us comes to life—a part of us never before recognized, never named, just waiting to be awakened.  It’s not merely an increased ability to sense, know, and appreciate our world, but a new awareness . . . of something more, something wonderful just beyond what we have previously known.”  (Author unknown)   What a great way to celebrate this wonder-full Christmas season.  Be born again !

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

What’s Your View?

We concluded last month’s issue by teaching about four views people hold about heaven and hell based on the Bible.  Here are what those four views have in common.

First, all four views teach that authentic believers in Jesus go to heaven when they die.  One view teaches they go there through an intermediate “step,” however:  a place of purging.  Okay, all four views are pretty close on that point, wouldn’t you agree? 

Second, all four views teach that pre-believers go to hell (or the lake of fire) when they die.  Okay, they’re still pretty much on the same sheet of music.  All four are still pretty much in agreement.   

Hey, it’s amazing so many different people over 2,000 years of time can be in agreement on at least that much.  Not a bad track record.  Not bad at all.  The second part of viewpoint number 2 is even reasonably tolerable to those who hold viewpoints 1 and 3.  Recently, some widely respected Bible scholars have mentioned that views 1, 2, and 3 are closer to each other than they are far apart.  Many of those scholars who hold viewpoint number 1 have even been talking the last few years about fully accepting into their fellowship some of those who hold viewpoint number 2.  That’s good.  They’re talking to each other and coming to some agreement. 

 They wouldn’t even have considered doing so a generation ago, but lately there’s been some open and meaningful dialogue between some representatives of the two viewpoints.  Where does that leave us now?  Viewpoints 1, 2, and 3 are reasonably close to one another.  The first part of viewpoint 4 agrees with the first three views.  It’s that second portion of viewpoint 4 which creates disagreements. 

Translation.  Interpretation.  Understanding.

There are some well-known scholars and writers who have written books lately in an attempt to bridge that final gap.  The gap is not completely bridged, but people are at least talking about their differences without shouting and calling one another heretics.  Well, having written all that, let’s go back now and examine the actual words “eternal judgment” in Hebrews 6: 2, a basic biblical text on this subject.  Almost all modern English versions of the Bible use those two words:  “eternal” and “judgment.”  The differences in awareness between the various viewpoints lie in how those words are translated, interpreted, and understood.

In terms of translation, the Greek word for eternal is aionios which comes from the root word, aion, which is where we get the English word “eon,” meaning an extremely long, indefinite period of time.  The word can be understood as an extremely long, indefinite period of time . . . which will end, or, it can be understand as eternal in the usual thinking about that word—unending time.  It can be translated “age-lasting” or “eon-lasting,” or it can be translated “eternal,” meaning forever and ever and ever without an end.  It’s perfectly legitimate to translate it either one of those ways.

It can be interpreted as “lasting for eons of time,” or “lasting for unending time.”  

 It can be understood as enduring for a long period of time—eons of time, which will end at some point in the future.  Or, it can be understood as never-ending time:  forever, which will never end.

Each of those opposite views about the translation of aionios, its interpretation, and how it’s understood—each view is legitimate and “correct” depending upon what its proponents’ backgrounds and teachings are, and what their underlying beliefs are.  Yes, both views are correct, and neither are incorrect.  

If you believe (from what you understand of the Bible) that people who die as pre-believers will be punished for their sins by burning forever, you’ll hold to one translation, interpretation, and understanding of “eternal” as being correct.  On the other hand, if you believe that people who die as pre-believers will be punished for their sins, but only for as long as it takes to cleanse their sins from them—not  necessarily forever—then you’ll believe another translation, interpretation, and understanding of “eternal” as being correct.

Agree?  Disagree?

Are you following me so far?  I didn’t ask if you agree or disagree, only if you’re following my train of thought so far.  I’m not asking you to either agree or disagree with one or the other of the two views.  After all, that’s what the controversy is all about.  Likely, you already hold one of those views anyhow.

Now let’s examine the word judgment  in Hebrews 6: 2.  In the Greek language the word is krima.  In the New Testament, krima is translated variously into English as “condemnation,” “damnation” and “judgment,” depending on the context.  “Judgment” is a good translation in Hebrews 6: 2.  Not much disagreement over that.  But we also need to look at the interpretation and the understanding of the word, “judgment,” just as we looked at the translation, interpretation, and understanding of the word “eternal.”

Judgment can be interpreted as having a number of meanings, depending on the context in which it is used.  It can mean a legal decision or sentence handed down by a judge.  It can mean an obligation resulting from a court order.  It can mean the ability to form opinions about a matter, as in “He used good judgment.”  Finally, it can mean wise understanding or rational good sense.

 What about one’s understanding of the word?  If you believe (from what you understand of the Bible) that judgment means a final sentence given by God, the Judge, for someone to be punished forever you’ll understand it to mean one thing.  f you believe (again, from what you understand of the Bible) that God is decreeing a lengthy rehabilitative or corrective sentence—but not necessarily one lasting forever, you’ll understand this scenario to mean something different.

Okay, where are you in your translation, interpretation, and understanding?  If you believe that pre-believers will die and burn in hell forever, you’re right.  If you believe they’ll die and burn in hell only for punishment and correction leading to rehabilitation, you’re right.  If you believe they’ll go to a hell which burns forever, but they will be burned up or annihilated, you’re right.

It all boils down to those three simple processes:  translation, interpretation, understanding.  None of those three basic positions I’ve just mentioned in the paragraph above can be “proved” conclusively like certain phenomena can be proved scientifically.  It just can’t be done.  Oh, you may feel your view is proved conclusively to you and to those who hold the same view, but it really isn’t provable to others in the true sense of the word “prove.”  Science can “prove” the law of gravity.  It can prove laws of velocity or electrical or thermonuclear matters.  It can prove laws governing flight.  It can prove many things in the physical or material universe. 

But we cannot prove—or disprove—with the same conclusiveness and finality—any of the four major viewpoints about eternal judgment.  You can’t do it.  I can’t do it.  God will have the final word on the matter of eternal judgment.  At some point in the future, God will wrap up this entire disputed and misunderstood matter of eternal judgment to his satisfaction, not ours.  I like the way one version of the Bible seems to address God’s final goals for humanity in 1 Corinthians 15: 24 – 28.  Read that a half dozen or so times in several versions of the Bible.  I especially like the way The Living Bible puts it.

I’ve presented you the four different views held about a very controversial biblical subject.  You decide which one you believe, but remain open and willing to move into new realms of truth, awareness, and understanding as God gives you enlightenment.  Love God.  Accept his great love for you through the reconciling work of Jesus on your behalf.  Trust him.  Allow him to live his life in you, through you, and as you.  Let God have the final word about this thorny subject, and in the meantime, try not to be judgmental of other believers in Jesus who don’t hold the same viewpoint you do.

No Regrets

Since I had a heart attack and was diagnosed with cancer last May, and then when I ministered in Belarus in August, the following words to an old Gospel song have become very meaningful to me:

     I don’t regret a mile I’ve traveled for God.
     I don’t regret the times I’ve trusted in his Word.
     I’ve seen the years fly by, many days without a song,
     But I don’t regret a mile I’ve traveled for the Lord.

     I’ve dreamed many a dream that’s never come true;
     I’ve seen them vanish at dawn,
     But enough of my dreams have come true
     To keep me dreaming on.

     I’ve prayed many a prayer that seemed no answer would come,
     Though I’ve waited so patient and long;
     But enough answers have come to my prayers
     To make me keep praying on.

     I’ve sown many a seed that’s fallen by the wayside
     For the birds to feed upon,
     But I’ve held enough golden sheaves in my hands
     To keep me sowing on.
     I’ve trusted many a friend that’s failed me,
     And left me to weep alone,
     But enough of my friends have been true-blue
     To make me keep trusting on.

     I’ve drained cups of disappointment and pain,
     And gone many a day without a song,
     But I’ve sipped enough nectar from the roses of life
     To make me want to travel on.

     And I don’t regret a mile I’ve traveled for God;
     I don’t regret the times I’ve trusted in his Word.
     I’ve seen the years fly by, many days without a song,
     But I don’t regret a mile I’ve traveled for the Lord!   

To Think About This Month

My attitude of gratitude will determine my “altitude” in life!

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

What’s Your View? 

You may not want to hear it.  You may not believe me.  But I want to tell you an astonishing truth right up front:  not all Jesus believers on this planet   believe exactly the same as you do, but they’re still believers in Jesus!   I know . . . that’s a real shock to you.  I’m sorry I had to be the one to break this news to you, but you’d have probably found it out sooner or later, anyhow.  You see, we who are believers in Jesus tend to feel that other believers in Jesus hold the same views we do—that is, if they’re “real” Jesus believers as we are . . . 

C’mon now, be honest.  Don’t we all tend to think a little bit like that?  In one area of belief or another?  Sure we do.   We all hold to certain teachings or biblical doctrines we believe are absolutely true, and if others don’t believe them the same way we do, we suspect they just might not be genuine believers in Jesus as we are.

 In fact, we even tend to congregate with other believers who think alike.  It’s less unsettling that way.  In some respects, that’s why we have denominations and non-denominational denominations—so we can be around other people who hold similar views.  We’re more comfortable.

They’re Different!

After all, it’s kind of uncomfortable being around other people who don’t think and talk quite as we do.  For some people, it’s actually threatening to be around Jesus believers who are “different.”  We think to ourselves:  “Let’s see, Jesus lives in me and Jesus is the truth; therefore, my truth about Jesus, about God, about the Bible, about salvation—must be the truth, too.”  I’m not making fun or being critical.    That’s just one of the ways human minds work.  We tend to develop a case of spiritual “tunnel vision” and discount or minimize   contrary   or different views held by other believers or other religious groups as not being the real truth like we believe.

There’s even a web-shaped group of cells in the brain called the reticular activating system which tends to actually filter out incoming information which doesn’t “fit” our thinking or beliefs. We say to ourselves, “Okay, maybe (name someone) or the (name another Church or group) are believers in Jesus . . . kinda . . . sorta . . . but not really like we are; after all, we really believe the Bible—all of it—and they don’t—at least not like we do.” 

I’m being serious here . . . about a serious problem.  God’s universal Church, the worldwide Body of Jesus,  contains far more people than we think it does, and there are far more people who are believers in Jesus than we believe there are.   They may dress differently, think differently, worship differently, use a different version of the Bible (and believe some of it differently), “perceive” God differently, and talk differently . . . but they’re still Jesus believers in all aspects and in all respects just as we are. 

     The Church of Jesus is comprised of everyone everywhere and everywhen in whom Jesus lives in the “unbodied form” of Holy Spirit!

Which Bible?

Let me give you one example of the spiritual tunnel vision I mentioned earlier.  I know of one particular group of Jesus believers in my communitywho teach and seriously believe that if you read or study any version of the Bible other than the old, outdated King James Version, you cannot possibly be a believer in Jesus!  

Let’s see, I’ve got at least six or seven different versions (besides the King James Version) in my bookcase about two feet away from where I’m sitting right now.    Hmmm, where does that kind of thinking leave me?  Is it really possible that I’m not an authentic believer in Jesus because I don’t rely solely upon the King James Version of the Bible?  Maybe that belief is a bit extreme, but in a less extreme way what do you believe that causes you to think maybe—just maybe—someone else isn’t really a genuine believer because he or she doesn’t believe exactly as you do?

Whose Image?

If you feel that way, as author J. B. Phillips once put it, “Your God is too small!”  You need to realize there are millions of other believers in Jesus who are not made in your image.  God is in the process of restoring people into his image, not in your image or in the image of other people who believe as you do.  And God’s image certainly encompasses a great many more people than does our image.

God’s universal Church is a Church of infinite variety.  What does it mean to be created in God’s image?  It means we are visible representations of the invisible God.  God’s invisible image in us is as diverse as there are people.  Yes, we need to see beyond our own limited beliefs and doctrines and understand that the Body of Jesus is much larger than our own little worlds we move around in from day to day.  God has an innumerable company of sons and daughters, all of whom are as much his children as you and I are.  And the Body of Jesus is comprised of many different parts, some of those parts holding differing views.  Nevertheless, it’s one composite, many-membered body, with Jesus as the Head!

Whew!  “Why in the world,” you ask, “is Bill writing all this stuff?”  Thanks for asking.  Here’s why.  You need to understand there are differing views about many biblical subjects, all held by true, legitimate, honest, authentic believers in Jesus. 

One particular view—maybe the very belief you embrace—may be only part of the whole truth.  Don’t ever be naïve enough to feel that the small portion of truth you comprehend and embrace is the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  You need to be tolerant enough to let others hold their views about various biblical subjects without condemning them and excluding them from God’s family of believers in Jesus.  Oh, I’m not saying you need to believe what others believe.  But, please, do them the courtesy of “letting” them hold their views just as you hold yours. Their views may be as true, authentic, legitimate and honest as yours.

Each group and each individual has its own states of awareness and its own levels of understanding.  Our awareness of God, Jesus, and the Bible is based upon such factors as our individual genetic makeup, lifetime conditioning, cultural biases, family traditions, who teaches us the Bible and why, and with what groups we are involved for fellowship and ministry.  Do you readily see how each of us comes to various biblical subjects with different states of awareness and levels of understanding?  Oh, we have the same God.  The same Jesus.  The same Holy Spirit.  The same salvation through the shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.  The same Bible in most respects . . . but differing views, doctrines, and beliefs.

Controversy

I want to share with you some different views about one controversial doctrine or view:  eternal judgment.  “But,” you ask, “how can there be differing views?  Doesn’t there have to be just one view that’s the correct one?”  The only way I can attempt to answer that without going into a lot of detail is with this simple illustration.  The person, character, and nature of God is like that of a many-faceted diamond.  It’s the same diamond, but there are many facets to it, each facet just a little different from the other facets.  Yes, the same God, the same means of salvation, but differing perceptions of eternal judgment depending upon the vantage point from which we approach the subject.

We have different levels of understanding, different states of awareness, different “filter systems,” different reticular activating systems in our brains, different backgrounds; we come from different eras, we hold different understandings of the meanings of words . . .  Yes, we have many, many types of differences—often leading us to differing conclusions about many matters.     

Let’s have God be God, Jesus be the Savior, truth be truth, and eternal judgment be eternal judgment, but let’s recognize and acknowledge we don’t all hold the same views of how it all turns out in the end.  As long as God, Jesus, and the Bible are central to our understanding and personal experience, then whatever views we hold about eternal judgment are as legitimate as the views held by the next Jesus believer or group of believers.

Four Major Views

There are four major views about eternal judgment which believers in the Bible all over the world have held in one form or another and to one extent or another for 2,000+ years.  I’m going to be oversimplifying them and generalizing a little, but here’s a summary of those four views: 

1. One. Authentic believers in Jesus go to heaven when they die. Pre-believers go to hell (or the lake of fire) when they die, where they are punished for their sins by being burned “alive” and tormented forever in the never-ending fires of hell (or the lake of fire). When all the pre-believers in hell have finally had all their sins burned out of them (no matter how long it takes, but not forever), they will go to heaven, and hell’s “unquenchable” fires will then die out for lack of “fuel.”

How in the world do well-meaning, rational, thoughtful, intelligent, serious believers in Jesus get four differing views about eternal judgment from the same Bible and, often, from the same references in the Bible?  How can that possibly happen?  Good question.  I’ll attempt to answer that later, but first I want to examine what the four views have in common.

To be continued and concluded 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 from  1Corinthians 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.
E-Mail:  leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020

Happy Fifth Anniversary!

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!

Our life is a journey, a sojourn.  And for all of us, this mortal life 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 . . . 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 it as a stepping stone to propel us into our future.  Our past does not necessarily equal our future.  Our future is up to us, “co-creating” it 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 sixth 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 five years ago, The Traveler is now being read 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 meet and answer many human needs and questions. 

Please think of each September’s issue as my “Annual Report” to all my readers . . . so you have 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 write 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 state of being called Eternity, our mortal lives here are as brief as a morning fog that vanishes as soon as the rising sun hits it.  Our short lives here are meant to be lived only in preparation for LIFE in Eternity.  Long 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 good and godly 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 Christian “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 58 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, titled Him ‘n me, was published a couple of years ago and seems to be a source of encouragement, enjoyment, enrichment, and inspiration to many people around the world.  It has been selling well.  It’s readily available on amazon.com

 My newest book about Holy Spirit titled 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.    I think you’ll find my new book to be a real “God thing” about Holy Spirit.  Many people don’t know much about Holy Spirit, the “forgotten third person of the trinity,” or they have been misinformed about Him and what He does in our lives.   I feel Friends Forever will help clear up many such matters.  I encourage you to read it for personal enlightenment and encouragement, as well as for group Bible study.  I don’t make any money from my book royalties; all proceeds are given to our ministry, Life Enrichment Services. 

“Keeping The Home Fires Burning”

Meanwhile, I continue to write new teachings and update previous teachings posted to this ministry web site.  I add one new teaching an average every 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 visit there any time and study my teachings.   Of course, they can all be downloaded and printed.  Use them any way you see fit.

Throughout the past year, we have continued to host and teach 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 lives.  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 You 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 disciple, mentor, teach, and train newer believers in Jesus constantly.  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!   I don’t care 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 just ain’t right 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.  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.

Recently, I became a volunteer, part-time Healing Technician in The Healing Rooms of the Black Hills here in Rapid City—part of a worldwide network of 2,500+ Healing Rooms in 75+ nations.  We simply pray for God to heal others in their bodies, souls,  and spirits, making them whole and complete by the power of God through Jesus.

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 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’ workers 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 present seminars, etc.  However, last month (August) I spent most of the month ministering on a short-term missions trip in the eastern European nation of Belarus.   I’ll be sending a report to all of you who helped financially support my time in Belarus.

Like many people, I have sort of a “bucket list.”  One event that’s been on my bucket list for over 40 years is to attend the International Southern Gospel Convention, to be held later this month in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the home of famed Dollywood created by Dolly Parton.  I’m really looking forward to the convention and also visiting Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where I lived as a child during World War II.  I also plan to see some dear friends in North Carolina.

Books Given

About 10 years ago, 2 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 2 books to which I’m referring are The Prayer of Jabez and The Purpose Driven Life.  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.  I 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 I’m able to.  I’ve never kept count, but I suppose I’ve given away hundreds of them.  And I’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 15-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.  

Speaking of “getting sick,” last May I was excited to have a heart attack one Saturday afternoon while I was pulling weeds in our backyard flower garden; that same week, I was diagnosed with cancer of the prostate; I call it my “two-for-one special” that week.  There was no permanent damage from the heart attack and I now have two stents.  Of course, only time—and God!—will tell the progress of the cancer.  I’ve received much prayer that God will completely heal me.

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.

76 – 18 = 58

So far, I’ve lived here on planet earth as a mortal for 76+ years.  In the 18^th year of my mortal journey, I invited Jesus into my life and since then I’ve been immortal for the past 58 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.  We are all 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 five years of publishing this e-zine, The Traveler . . . and related events.  The name of our ministry is Life Enrichment Services; with God’s inner empowerment, we want to 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 this website. We are always here to help you and encourage you in any way we are able to.

Let’s journey 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 & 2 5 

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.
E-Mail:  leservices38@yahoo.com
Revised and Updated December 2020

Mission Belarus

Okay, here’s a test; you have 30 seconds to answer. No cheating! Without looking at an atlas, tell me where the Republic of Belarus is located. Did you answer correctly? Without referring to an atlas, I’ll bet many of you didn’t know where Belarus is.

However, if you’ve been turned in to international news the past few months, I’ll bet most of you know where the nation of Ukraine is located.  Belarus is immediately north of Ukraine. When you read this issue of “The Traveler,” I will be on my way to the Republic of Belarus on a short-term mission trip throughout most of August.

Belarus is a small nation in east-central Europe about the size of Kansas, with a population of approximately 11,000,000 people. It was not even a nation until the former USSR formed it in 1954.

After the breakup of the USSR in 1989, Belarus retained its sovereignty as a separate nation, although it remains tightly “connected” to Russia. The government is oppressive and controlling. Most of the people are poor, with very high inflation.

Belarus is still the most “hard-line” Communist style government remaining after the fall of the USSR. There is a lot of secrecy, repression, and oppression.  The Belarus government remains suspicious of much evangelical Christian activity, especially from outsiders coming into the country.

The Chernobyl Disaster

When the Chernobyl nuclear power plant blew up in neighboring Ukraine in 1986, the Soviet government moved entire villages of people from Ukraine to Belarus. Much of the radiation fallout “cloud” from Chernobyl drifted over Belarus, and parts of Belarus are still highly radioactive, causing much sickness and many illnesses.  There is widespread cancer, numerous birth defects, crowded orphanages, and much suffering and anguish.

China or Belarus?

Until late last year, I believed strongly that God wanted me to return to China to teach and minister in that great nation this summer. I was wrong!  I’m still hoping to return to China in 2015 and am already making preliminary plans to go. My heart has been in China since I was a child and I love the Chinese people.

I won’t bore you with a long story, but God began to bring Belarus to my attention last December. Frankly—like many of you—I didn’t know much about Belarus . . . even though I used to teach world geography. I simply had some sort of vague notion it was a small nation somewhere in Europe next to Russia.       

By means of many things I began reading, by people “prophesying” to me, by God “speaking” to me from the Bible, and by various other means, I slowly sorted out what God was attempting to tell me and finally, by about mid-February I knew God wanted me to go to Belarus. On February 18th, I surrendered to God and told Him I would go to Belarus.

I then made contact with Perry and Joyce Haupt, a husband and wife from Pennsylvania, who founded Mission Belarus, and have been planting churches in Belarus for 16 years, and also assisting the poor and children in orphanages.  I will be in Belarus for almost the entire month of August.

I will be speaking, teaching, preaching, and ministering in some churches that have already been planted, visiting and ministering in an orphanage, working with Vacation Bible Schools, and helping to plant two new churches in villages near the southern border of Belarus.  We will also be providing humanitarian aid including food, clothing, shoes, vitamins, and medicine as needed—as well as much-needed Bibles.

From the time I first announced early this year that I would be ministering in Belarus this month, I’ve received some interesting responses from a number of people.  First, the majority of people who responded have been positive and encouraging, stating they will be praying for me and the people of Belarus. A substantial number of people have contributed financially to help pay for the mission.  Oddly enough, however, there have been a large number of people who have told me I shouldn’t go, that it is too dangerous, that I am being foolish at my age; some even said they wouldn’t pray for me if I did such a foolish thing!

God’s Provision

For those of you who have contributed financially for me to go to Belarus, I want you to know God has abundantly provided beyond anything I could ask or think! Thank you to all of you who have generously contributed.  All contributions above my actual expenses will be prayerfully distributed to the needy while I’m in Belarus . . . and, believe me, there are many, many needs.

Sometime in early to mid-September I will furnish a complete report to all those who have contributed financially to Mission Belarus.

Pray For Belarus

1. Pray for my safe passage in and out of Belarus and for much needed medical and humanitarian aid and supplies I’ll be taking in.
2. Pray for Bibles and other Bible-based literature we plan to distribute throughout Belarus.
3. Pray for the spiritual growth and maturity of believers in the churches already planted in Belarus.
4. Pray for new Jesus believers in the new churches we will be planting.
5. Pray for the many needs of the orphans in the orphanage where we’ll be ministering.
6. Pray for supernatural strength and stamina for me; my schedule while in Belarus might be quite rigorous and arduous; you may not believe this, but I’m not as young as I was a few decades ago!
7. Pray for my teaching and preaching (through a translator)—that it will be clear, well received, and used by God to help transform the lives of many Belarussians.
8. Pray for the protection and safety of all Jesus believers in Belarus, many of whom are being persecuted and harassed because of their faith in Jesus.

 Noted below are two biblical references that are foundational to my own life and which God has told me to emphasize while in Belarus:   

“God is altogether good and absolutely everything He does is good.”       –Psalm 119: 68                       

“God’s amazing grace has been clearly revealed to all humankind [including all in Belarus] and teaches us to change from living self-centered, self-absorbed lives to living lives that are God-centered and pleasing to Him.”         –the Apostle Paul, Titus 2: 11 and 12

To think about this month

“Go to the entire world [including Belarus] and tell everyone the Good News about what God has done for all humankind through Jesus! “                             –Mark 16: 15

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

Pray Like This

Please remember the so-called “Lord’s Prayer” is really a prayer outline Jesus taught his disciples to use as a model or pattern—or template—while praying.  Jesus never intended it to be recited over and over in a meaningless and repetitious manner.

God, Your Will Be Done

What’s a workable definition of God’s will being done?  God is always actively working out his purposes for the ultimate good of the entire universe, for earth, for all humanity, for me, for you.  God’s will is what He has decided will happen.  And it will happen.   It’s just that sometimes we don’t see things from God’s eternal vantage point.  We are often short-sighted, whereas God is always far-sighted, working out all things for our good—according to his will—from his infinite perspective in Eternity.

The will of God for you begins in heaven, but works out in you, through you, for you, with you, and as you on earth during your lifelong journey here.  There are two factors that are very basic to God’s will:  1.  He always loves you.  2.  He is altogether good and absolutely everything He does for you is good.  When you pray for God’s will to be accomplished, it doesn’t mean giving up your personal ability to make choices.  It does mean you let go of thought patterns, attitudes, and ways of living that limit you, so God can lead you in better ways.

On Earth As It Is In Heaven

Every time you pray based on this portion of the prayer Jesus taught us, you are actually praying a very radical, revolutionary prayer.  You are praying that what is in heaven will come into being . . . here on earth.   And that begins in you because you are made  from  the  “dust of the earth”; earth is the substance from which our bodies are made.  This portion of the “Disciples Prayer” affects you where you are and as you are.  You are praying that what is going on in heaven will happen in your life—in your “earth-life”—and in the lives of those for whom you pray.

The Kingdom of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven) has not yet fully come to earth, but bits and pieces of it are here in you and in me.  It will come to earth fully when King Jesus returns to earth, but for now we are earthly representatives of that heavenly Kingdom.

 Actually, we are heaven’s “ambassadors” sent here to represent heaven and bring bits and pieces of it to earth by the way we live our daily lives and share Kingdom principles with others in our sphere of influence.  If you are a believer in Jesus—the King of the Kingdom of God—then you represent Him here on earth in your daily life.  People within your sphere of influence need to see Jesus “wrapped” in your skin, representing his Kingdom day by day.  That’s how Jesus’ Church spreads around the globe; that’s how Jesus’ Kingdom spreads here on earth.  That’s how his Kingdom “comes” to earth as it is in heaven.

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Throughout the Bible, “bread” is symbolic of God’s overall provision for his children; it is symbolic of God meeting the needs of his children.  When we pray based on this portion of the Disciples Prayer, we are asking God to meet all our legitimate needs day by day.  The basic needs of all humans are for food,  clothing, and shelter.  Any additional needs we have are generally based on the society, culture, and times in which we live.  At this point we need to recognize there are differences between our needs and our wants; sometimes they can be one and the same, but generally they are different.  God promises in the Bible to supply all our needs, not our wants.

We have spiritual needs, relational needs, physical needs, financial needs, emotional needs . . . and many other types of needs in various areas of our lives.  I’m glad Jesus didn’t tell us to pray, “Sell us this day our daily bread,” because we could never pay God for anything.  By his birth, life, death, resurrection, and return to heaven, Jesus fully “paid” God so God can meet all our needs based on all Jesus has done for us.  Through Jesus, God is our SOURCE.  Everything else is just the means or instruments God uses to meet our needs.  Other people are not our source; the government is not our source.  God is our only SOURCE!

Jesus is teaching that God our SOURCE will meet all our needs:  food, clothing, shelter, reliable transportation, money, physical wellbeing, peace, love, joy—whatever we legitimately need on a day-to-day basis.

Forgive Us Our Trespasses (Sins)
As We Forgive Those 
Who Trespass (Sin) Against Us

This is a really important part of what Jesus was teaching his disciples (and us!) about prayer.  If you’re interested, I invite you to read one of our teachings on this website entitled “Forgive.”  If you would read that, I wouldn’t have anything more to teach about this matter in this month’s issue of The Traveler, but I know only about 1 in 10 of you will go to our website and study that teaching, so I’ll attempt to summarize that teaching by sharing a few clear, biblical references.  Jesus said to his disciples, “If you don’t forgive the sins of others—letting them go and giving up your resentment—your Father won’t forgive your sins.”  (Matthew 6: 15)

Later, Peter came to Jesus and asked Him, “Lord, how many times must I forgive a fellow believer if they sin against me—as many as 7 times?”  Jesus answered Peter,“No, not 7 times—but 490 times!”  (Matthew 18: 20, 21)

      “Christians . . . forgive one another readily and freely, as God in Jesus forgave you.”   –Ephesians 4: 32

      “ . . . Readily pardon one another; even as the Lord has freely forgiven you, so must you also forgive.”  –Colossians 3: 13

If you want to whine, moan, and complain that you can’t forgive . . . that no one else knows the horrible, unforgiveable things done to you . . . that what someone has done to you is beyond forgiveness . . . that even God can’t expect you to forgive that person, well, then argue with God about it, not me!   

God fully expects you to forgive others based on his forgiveness of you through Jesus; and, if it’s not instant forgiveness, it’s unforgiveness!  If we do not readily forgive others when they sin against us, our unforgiveness leads to generalized anger in our lives that, in turn, becomes what the Bible calls a “root of bitterness.”  That root of bitterness can grow inside you, choking out everything except the anger and bitterness.

Eventually, if we don’t forgive those who sin against us we simply become angry, bitter people to the point we’re consumed with the anger and bitterness, choking out just about everything good in our lives.  Think about it a moment:  almost everyone reading these words knows one or more people in your life who are so angry and bitter that they almost ooze such feelings out of their pores and “infect” others around them with their anger, bitterness, and negativism.

Worse yet, maybe you’re that angry, bitter, unforgiving person that people can’t stand to be around.  And you wonder why you have few friends, why people avoid you, why you seem to be socially inept.  God requires us to forgive others.  Period!  End of discussion!

Lead Us Not Into Temptation
And Deliver Us From Evil

Let me put it very bluntly:  God doesn’t lead anyone into temptation.  In numerous references, the Bible is very clear about that; here’s how one writer of the Bible puts this matter of temptation:

                   “Blessed are those who endure and ‘overcome’ when they are tempted.  When they overcome whatever it is by which they’re being tempted, God will give them a crown of life.  No one who is being tempted can ever say God is tempting them.  God doesn’t tempt anyone.  Everyone is tempted by his or her own desires as those desires lure them into sin and trap them.   Then those desires become pregnant and gives birth to sin.  When sin grows up, then it gives birth to death, the penalty of sin.” 

Any idea why it sometimes seems God doesn’t deliver us from evil [and the evil one, Satan]?  First, because we forget to ask God for his help—for Him to deliver us.  Second, because we honestly don’t want to be delivered; we want to sort of play around with the evil; we want to see how far we can go without getting burned or entrapped.  The old saying is true:  “If we play around with fire, we’re going to get burned!”  We can’t stop temptations from coming into our lives, but we can choose not to yield or give in to the temptations.  It’s always a matter of choices and decisions.  The Bible teaches no temptation comes into our lives that God doesn’t provide a way to resist the temptation by the inner power of the Holy Spirit residing within you in your spirit. 

The Bible puts it yet another way when it states:  “Resist Satan [and his temptations], and he will flee from you.”  Again, it’s always a matter of choices and decisions. 

For Yours is the Kingdom, 
and the Power,
and the Glory
for all the Ages of Time 
and in Eternity

When Jesus said these words, He was living in a remote outpost of the Roman Empire.  The Roman soldiers cruelly went about harassing the people living in Israel, imposing heavy burdens and taxes on them.  The Roman authorities were acting like they were going to rule forever . . . that Rome would always be the master kingdom of this world.

But Jesus looked beyond Rome . . . beyond every other kingdom that would arise on this earth . . . and He said:  “God, yours is the Kingdom.”  That is, Jesus was saying there is something bigger and better and more stable than Rome or any other earthly kingdom . . . and that Kingdom is ruled by God.  Jesus was saying to his hearers—and to us!—You are not alone.  You are surrounded by the Kingdom of God, an incomparable power that can set you free, a glory that can fill you for all the ages of time and in eternity.

He was saying, “Why settle for the temporary things of this earth when you can have the permanent Kingdom of God living inside you in God’s ‘unbodied’ form of Holy Spirit?”   Jesus was saying to them, to you, to me:  “The things of this earth will dim and lose their value when we understand how temporary this life is.”  Ever since I became a believer in Jesus many years ago, for some strange reason or another I began to keep a listing in my Bible next to 1 Thessalonians 4: 13 – 18;  I’ll let you look up that reference for yourself.  

The listing contains the names of family members, friends, and acquaintances who have died since I became a believer in Jesus.  As of June 2018, the listing contains 201 names of those who have died.  Why do I keep such a listing?  I honestly don’t know.  I’ve simply been doing it for years . . . and the list keeps getting lengthier more and more quickly with each passing year.  If nothing else, my strange listing is a continual reminder of just how short this life is—only the anteroom for real LIFE in God’s coming Kingdom.  My listing reminds me that I can’t take into the next life anything I have received during my brief journey here, but only what I have given away!

“Stop fretting and worrying; worry is simply a misuse of your creative imagination.  Instead of worrying, pray!  Let praise and thanksgiving shape your worries into prayers.  Let God know your requests—make them clear and definite.  Then you will have God’s unspeakable peace, transcending all human understanding.  That peace will surround and guard your hearts and minds through Jesus.”    — Philippians 4: 7 and 8, modified

To Think About This Month 

“Make unceasing, uninterrupted praying a lifelong habit as normal and natural as breathing!”

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

The so-called “Lord’s Prayer” isn’t actually Jesus’ prayer.  It’s a prayer outline He taught his disciples to use when they pray.  I’m not starting a one-man crusade to stop calling it the Lord’s Prayer, but I just want to set the record straight.  It’s a prayer Jesus was using to teach his followers—that’s you, that’s me—about how to pray effectively.

And Jesus never intended it to be used as a prayer in and of itself; rather, it’s an outline for prayer Jesus taught us to use.  He never meant for people just to say it over and over and over as a rote, memorized prayer, most of the time not even thinking about the meaning of the words they are praying.    With that in mind, I’m going to be sharing with you how one man used the prayer as an outline.  The man was Oral Roberts, a famed “healing evangelist” of the past century.  I’ll be using some of what Oral Roberts taught, adding some thoughts of my own and paraphrasing some of his thoughts to make them more clear and meaningful.

One thing that really caught the attention of those first followers of Jesus was that He prayed . . . a lot, and very effectively.  When He prayed, things happened!  After observing Jesus pray time and time again, the disciples finally asked Him to teach them how to pray.  Jesus began by saying, “Pray in this manner.”  Jesus was not indicating that this was to be their sole prayer . . . or that those were the only words they should use when they prayed.  He meant they were to use this prayer as a model for prayer.

Our Father . . .

Jesus began the prayer He taught the disciples with “Our Father . . . “  The word “Father” as it applies to God was not new.  It was used a number of times in the Old Testament before Jesus.  It’s just that it wasn’t used  very  much  in  a  personal  and intimate way when people in the Old Testament prayed to God.   It was first used in a very personal way by Jesus. 

The word Father signified the closeness Jesus and his Father enjoyed and experienced.  It meant that Jesus and the Father were intimately and personally related as Father and Son.  This intimate relationship with the Father was the new dimension Jesus brought out of the Old Testament into the New Testament and into the NOW of peoples’ lives.

Father Abraham Lincoln

There’s an old story about President Abraham Lincoln and his son, Tad.  One day Tad was outside playing on the White House lawn while his father was busy inside with the affairs of the presidency.  Tad apparently got into a fight with another boy and came out the loser.  He ran into the White House with his lip cut, his nose bleeding, and his clothes torn.  When he got to his father’s outer office, there sat several members of the President’s cabinet waiting to see the President.  Sobbing, Tad cried out, “I want to see my father!’

In sort of a playful spirit, the Secretary of the Treasury said, “Oh, you wish to see the President of the United States.”  Tad yelled,  “I want to see my FATHER!”       “Well, the Secretary said, “I will take you in to personally see the Chief Executive of the United States.”  Tad yelled again, “I want to see my FATHER!”  Abraham Lincoln was President, He was the Chief Executive, He was the Commander-in-Chief, He was a great statesman . . . but he was Tad’s father, and Tad wanted to see his father!  To Jesus, his Father God stood for affection . . . for confidence . . . for protection . . . for love . . . for intimacy.  Jesus was teaching his followers about God being that type of God:  Daddy . . . Papa.

God’s Other Names and Titles

Most humans go by a number of names and titles.  For example, my real name is William, but I’m most often called Bill.  I’m also a son, a husband, a father, a brother, and a grandfather.  Different names and titles, but the same person.  It’s the same with God; He has different names and titles which disclose various characteristics of who He is and what He’s really like.  Here are some of those names and titles with references where they’re found in the Bible:

• Jahweh (fromYAH orJHWH) is God’s covenantal Name—The I Am, The Wholly Self-Existent One (Isaiah 12:2)
• Adonai is another Name used in place of Jahweh. 
• El; Elohim (2 Kings 19:15)  is God’s transcendant Name—He is the One, True and Living God, the  Supreme, Powerful God.  The God who alone creates.              
• Jahweh-Tsidkenu: God my righteousness (Jer 23:6)
• Jahweh-M’Kadosh:  God who cleanses me (Lev 19:2)
• Jahweh-Shalom:  God my peace  (Judges 6:24)
• Jahweh-Shammah:  God is always a Living Presence in my life (Ezek 48:35)
• Jahweh-Rapha:  God who heals me  (Ex 15:26)
• Jahweh-Jireh:  God provides for me  (Gen 22:14)
• Jahweh-Nissi:  God under whose banner I serve (Ex 17:15)
• Jahweh-Ra’ah:  God my Shepherd (Psalm 23)
• Jahweh-Saboath:  God, my Commander-In-Chief (1 Sam 17:45)
• El Shaddai:  My All-Sufficient One (Psalm 91:1)
• El Olam:  The One who is Self-existent and Eternal (Deut 33:27)
• El-Elyon:  The Most High God (Genesis 14: 18; Acts 7:48)
• El Roi:  The God Who sees me (Genesis 16:13)
• Immanuel:  The God who is eternally, fully present in me (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23)

God reveals Himself throughout the Bible with other names and titles, but these few give you a good idea of Who He really is.   Taken together, all those names and titles give us a clear picture of Who God is and what He does.  When praying to our heavenly Father, I encourage you to invoke the specific name, attribute, or title of God appropriate for the people or situation for which you are praying.  or example, if you’re praying for God to meet someone’s overwhelming needs, consider addressing God as Jahweh-Jireh, God our Provider.

Who Is . . .

God is.  Jesus said when you pray, pray to Someone who is . . . who never changes.  The weather changes.  People change.  Circumstances change.  But God never changes.  He is eternally in the NOW of each of our lives—in our total lives, in our “whole person” lives . . . NOW!   We have seven-day-a-week lives . . . seven-day-a-week needs . . . and we have a seven-day-a-week God.  God is.  God is with you every moment, every day, everywhere.  GOD IS!  NOW!  I encourage you to learn to pray to God as Jahweh-Shammah, God who is always a Living Presence in your life, God who declared He never changes, God who proclaimed He will never leave us nor forsake us.  

In Heaven . . .

Jesus was not trying to reveal God’s geographical location in some far-off heaven beyond the universe.  He was using this term to express the ability and power of God to take care of us and meet our needs here on earth just as He meets all needs in heaven.  On another occasion Jesus said:  “I have come to give people abundant lives!”  When Jesus spoke those words, the world was filled with impossibilities.  All around Him, Jesus saw people hemmed in by circumstances, by disease and illness, discrimination, poverty, fear, and failure.

And He knew that IN HEAVEN there were resources for all our needs:  living water for our thirst, spiritual food for our hunger, strength for our weaknesses, provision for our poverty, joy for our sorrow, hope in our misery, and love for our loneliness.  So Jesus reached up and brought heaven down to earth and gave it to all humanity.  He came with outstretched hands filled with the Father’s blessings, with an open heaven to back Him up.  Jesus came into the lives of people at their points of need, performing miracles and setting them free.

So Jesus tells us that when we pray,  remember that God is our Father in Heaven.  And in Heaven there is no shortage of any good thing.  God’s provisions to meet your needs are laid end-to-end across heaven waiting to be given to you . . . if you will ask the Father.  True prayer for others is often to ask God to take from his abundant, inexhaustible, unlimited resources “in heaven” to meet the overwhelming needs of those on earth for whom you pray.  It means to ask God to “open the windows of heaven” and pour blessings into the lives of those for whom you are praying.

We Hallow (Honor) Your Name . . .

Jesus had deep feelings about his Father’s Name.  He never used it irreverently . . . or in vain . . . or as an obscenity.  He reverenced his Father with great love.  And He is saying to you and me, “When you pray, be sure you have reverence for and honor God’s Name.”  Lenin was the man who brought Communism to Russia almost a century ago.  He is entombed in Red Square in Moscow in a glass “coffin” where people can see him and “honor” him.  Each day people walk by either side of his coffin to see his body.  Soldiers stand guard.  No one is allowed to stop; the lines of visitors keep moving.  

Interestingly, not far away is the house where Lenin died.  In the room where he spent his last moments, everything has been left untouched.  It’s exactly like it was when Lenin died.  On a table in the room is a book Lenin was reading before he died.  You will be surprised to know it is a book about Jesus—whom Lenin said he did not believe in.  The book is open, just lying there. It is written in English, so as Russian people file by the room, they look at the book, smile, and pass on.  

Most people don’t know it is a book about Jesus.  Lenin died with his fist clenched in hatred.  Jesus died with his hands open in love and healing for every human being.  When we pray, let us reverence and honor God’s Name and the Name of his Son, Jesus.

Your Kingdom Come . . .

In his teaching and ministering, Jesus seemed very concerned about the nations and kingdoms of this earth.  He was even more concerned about another Kingdom . . . a higher Kingdom, a Kingdom not on this earth at the time.  We all live in an earthly “kingdom” of one type or another, no matter what it’s really called or what type of government it has.  These kingdoms are all limited to time and space on this planet.  

For example, Jesus lived in the Roman Empire, a kingdom that had spread over the then-known world.  It had conquered many nations and controlled the people who lived in those nations.  But Jesus said human kingdoms are not going to fully conquer everybody.  Earthly kingdoms can get only so big.  But God’s Kingdom is bigger than any earthly kingdoms.  And there will come a time when all earthly kingdoms will bow and swear allegiance to God’s Kingdom.

God’s Kingdom is spread on the earth through the Church.

To be continued next month

                     “Our Father in heaven, reveal who you really are.  Set the world right; Do what’s best—as above in heaven, so below here on earth.  Give us day by day what we truly need.  We are freely and totally forgiven by You.  Because of your forgiveness, we forgive others in the same manner.  Keep us safe from temptation, from ourselves, and from the devil.  You’re in charge above and here below!  You can do anything you choose to do!”
                                                              –paraphrased from Matthew 6 in the Bible

To Think About This Month

     “Look at the free, unfettered, birds in the care of God; I count far more to Him than birds.  Look at beautiful flowers which never primp and shop.  If God ‘clothes’ them like that, think of what He does for me!”  

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