Truth: THE One True GOD:
The Bible reveals that there is a greater, supernatural, infinite Being, a mind who is not physical or material, an eternal spirit who has always been and always will be. He is the Uncaused First Cause of the Universe and all that is in it, who created the Heavens and the Earth. He is the Chief Builder who in the beginning set all things into motion giving life to everything and establishing the laws of nature and conscience. The Universe could not have created itself. Nothing in nature comes from nothing so there must be an initial cause that wasn’t caused by anything else. And since the universe began to exist as we all can plainly see, there had to be be a cause and that cause must have always existed and His name is GOD, the Judeo-Christian God, Jehovah God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; not just called a god, His name IS GOD. This world is His creation and He gets to make the rules and set the standards for life in His world whether you like it or not. He is the one true supreme and sovereign God and He is the only living God. Beside Him there are no other gods. All of the other gods were created by man and are false gods, full of lies and deception in an attempt to keep you from salvation. (Jeremiah 10:10)
He is ONE God, revealed in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who each have vital roles in your salvation. God who purposed it, Jesus who accomplished it and the Holy Spirit who applies it. God is Jesus. Jesus is God. God’s Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. They were all here before time began, ONE God in three persons; the Godhead, the Triune God, the Trinity.
He is the God who said, “Let Us (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) make man in Our image”. You and all other persons ever born were created in His image and all those who will be born will be created in His image. (Genesis 1:27)
He is the God whose Truth inspired words are found in the 66 books of the Holy Bible, by far, the most read book in the history of the world. All scripture in His Bible are breathed out of God’s mouth and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for the training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
He is omnipotent with unlimited power as evidenced by His creation of the universe, the virgin birth and the resurrection of Christ. He is omnipresent and is present everywhere, all the time. He is omniscient and He knows everything… the past, the present and the future, all at the same time.
He is the righteous God. (1 John 3:20) He sets the standard for righteousness. It defines His character. Every action God takes towards you will always be right, just, and honest. (Psalm 145:17)
He is the Holy God. In Him, there is not even the faintest trace of evil. (Psalm 77:13)
He is the definition of Truth. Anything is true only because He says it’s true. His is sinless, blameless and timeless.
He is impeccably pure, wholly without fault, and uncompromisingly just. God cannot lie. He cannot make wrong decisions. He does not break His promises.
But of all the great things our God is, most importantly He is the God of love, of grace and of mercy. He is the definition of love and He clearly demonstrates and proves His love for you, that while almost 2000 years before you were even born, God Himself through His son Jesus, died on the cross, once for all, to pay the penalty for your sins and the sins of all mankind. He died for your sins so you wouldn’t have to. No other god loved sinful man so much that He would die for him. No other god was ever raised from the dead.
He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the God who “was” and the ‘God who “is” and the God who “evermore shalt be!”
The Truth is this: God is THE God with a capital “G” and His name IS God and there is not any person or any thing in this world that can change that or separate us from His love. God is who He said He was and is who He says He is and He will do what He said He would do. He keeps His promises and Jesus is our living hope for those promises which are sealed by His Holy Spirit.
Truth: The Enemy of God
Satan is the enemy of God, who through unrighteousness in the form of self-generated pride as a high-ranking angel named Lucifer, rebelled against God and was banished from Heaven along with his army of rebel angels who assisted in the plot. They were thrown down to Earth and ultimately condemned to hell. Satan wants to be God and he wants to do anything to keep you from God. He represents evil and everything that is un-Godly in this world which was caused by sin and that sin has made God’s perfect creation temporarily imperfect. One day it will be perfect again for eternity where Jesus will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and only those who put their faith and trust in Jesus will live there.
Satan was chosen and impowered by God to serve Him as His enemy. Where else would he have gotten his power if not from God, the creator of all things? His purpose is to give man two clear choices of whom they will serve so that only those who accept God’s grace through faith in Christ will have eternal life in His presence. Because of his pride Satan accepted an assignment he had no chance to win, but his chaos and destruction continues all around us on the Earth, but ultimately God’s justice will be served and Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire where he and all the enemies of God, will be tormented forever and ever, no longer with any power, but as a participant and the defeated enemy of God.
God loves you and He wants you to love Him back, but He would never compel you to love Him because that would not be true love and He won’t make you go to Heaven for eternity if that’s not where you want to be.
Satan is the prince of the power of the air, a spirit with authentic power given to him by God to wreak havoc, who is now at work in the lives of those who are dead in their sins and separated from God. Satan hates God and he wants you to hate Him, too. He is a liar who uses temptation, deception and confusion to make bad things look good and good things look bad, to make right look wrong and wrong look right. Satan is the author of confusion. He will never tell you the Truth because he is incapable of telling the Truth.
Truth: The First Sin and the Fall of Man
The curse of sin and death entered the world through Adam‘s willful disobedience. Although it was Eve who sinned first after being tempted and deceived by Satan in the form of a talking serpent, it was Adam who bore complete responsibility for sin because God had commanded him: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” That death, meaning both spiritually and physically, physical death in the sense of becoming mortal; Adam and Eve were created immortal. Because of sin our mortal bodies will die, but our spirits are eternal and will live forever and ever either in Heaven in the presence of God or in hell to be tormented day and night, without rest, forever and ever because you chose to pay the penalty for your own sin because your rejected Christ. This is God’s wrath and His rightful justice. His commandment to Adam was not a suggestion.
The name of the tree carries a great significance in a world that was created “good.” It was man’s first choice between two things of which God had strictly forbidden one of them. Satan played the role He still plays to us even today in lying to, confusing, and deceiving Eve: “Can it really be that God has said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” “You certainly will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing [the difference between] good and evil.” Genesis 3:3-5 (AMP) The lie was that Eve would be like God. They willing disobeyed God and immediately found out the difference between good and evil.
The penalty for Adam’s (the first created man) sin was the wrath of God, which included a curse on mankind, a rightful judgement where every human being born with the blood of Adam, including you, would be born into sin and separated from God. There was no sin and no evil in the world until the first man rebelled against God’s authority. God knew that Adam would sin, but His perfect plan included redemption.
Truth: The Curse of Sin
In the Bible, sin is defined as breaking God’s law, an act of disobedience, or rebellion against God. It is also described as “missing the mark” of God’s holy standard of righteousness. At its core, sin reveals that humanity considers sin more desirable than God. In the midst of sin, our selfish desires take precedence over His goodness. Sin becomes our top priority no matter what God thinks about it.
But simply put, sin means doing anything that does not please God... not saying and doing the things you should say and do and saying and doing the things you should not say or do. Confusion.
Just think of the many things we do that if we just asked ourselves “Does this please God? Is what I’m doing right now pleasing to God in any way?” And if the answer is “no” and you do it anyway, then you must understand His wrath. Sinful man has a heart problem and what’s missing from his heart is God.
Our sin provokes God’s wrath, a powerful and just anger. When we sin, it not only angers God, but it also places us under His rightful judgment. And sin has a penalty which must be paid by each sinner and that penalty is death and eternal punishment in hell. This punishment is the “wages” of sin. Death and punishment is what sin pays. Justice. This doesn’t imply that God is malicious, ill-tempered, or vindictive. Instead, it signifies His hatred for evil, his refusal to compromise with it and his unwillingness to tolerate it.
–Sin is all about me, not God. Am I doing this to please God? If there is a doubt, don’t do it. Sin is all about self, selfishness, me, me, me.
-God loves you and He wants you to love Him back, but He won’t make you love Him and He won’t make you spend eternity in a place you do not want to be.
All things come together for good for those who love the lord.
Truth: The Battle Between GO(o)D and Evil
That tree in the garden with that name, The Knowledge of Good and Evil, with those two opposites paths drew the lines for the cosmic war between good and evil. They represent the narrow and wide paths,. The blessings and the curses. Many will fall for the deception of Satan, sin and evil. Few will find the righteousness of God. So let the devil wreak havoc at the four corners of the earth and let only those who seek the Lord and accept His grace find His blessings and all others will pay the penalty for their own sins. Mankind is a slow learner.
With Lucifer’s rebellion and Adam’s sin, the lines for an epic cosmic battle between God and evil were set and is currently ongoing. There are only two sides in the battle, a winning side and a losing side, both revealed in the book of Revelation. God is the winning side representing goodness, setting the rules for eternal life and death as only THE God of the universe could do. On the the losing side is God’s enemy, Satan who represents the selfishness of all unbelievers, of which there are many, who love themselves more than they love God. And just to make it clear, all non-believers are also the enemies of God.
The bad news is we all born as non-believers. We all are born “lost,” separated from God. No one is born a Christian. All Satan has to do is to just keep you from knowing the Truth. He and his “helpers,” (demons and unbelievers) are all around us and are relentless in the pursuit of your destruction. Sinful man is easily deceived and he doesn’t know the Truth. The good news is found only in Jesus. Jesus is the “Truth” that can and will set you free, but you have to change your mind about sin and accept His Truth. And in the end Satan and all his minions will lose for eternity. You certainly don’t want to be on his side because eternity is a long, long time to be wrong.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught about the narrow and wide gates. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction (eternal punishment in hell), and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life (salvation and eternity in Heaven), and only few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)
There are over 4300 religions in the world and everybody believes that their religion is right, but only one proclaims the name of Jesus as the only way to salvation. Faith through Christ alone is both a stumbling block and foolishness for the “lost.” There are 8 billion people in the world and most are on the superhighway leading to the wide gate by either not accepting or by outright rejecting Christ. Because of the curse of sin, every single person born after Adam is “lost” on that road, unless and until they choose Jesus as Savior and Lord. It’s the only way the lost can be saved.
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8 ESV)
People who don’t know Christ are so aggravated that it’s only God, the creator of of the universe, who makes the rules and sets the standards for life that they would rather forfeit their souls for eternity than accept Him and live for Him. This is just another example of the the ongoing and never ending lies, deceptions and confusion that Satan and his demons, including real people all around us, implant in human minds and hearts every moment of every day. Why do so many hate the name of Jesus so much? It’s simple. It’s because sinful man has Satan’s nature in him. Satan hated Jesus because He was God. How could sinful man act any other way until Jesus made salvation a possibility. We have no excuse. The Salvation was made available 2000 years before we were born.
Some would say, “What if Satan is telling the truth and God is lying?” Here’s the Truth… Satan cannot tell the truth and God cannot lie; plain and simple. There is only one Truth, God’s Truth. It’s true because He says it is. He created that, too. Everything else is a lie or a deception. Be aware of the deceptions that are all around you. Seek the Truth.
God’s divine plan of redemption includes restoring His perfect world for eternity in Heaven by which only those who accept Jesus Christ will enjoy. Jesus made it very clear when he said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” When Jesus said “I am the way”... He was saying He is the one way, the only way to salvation. When He said “I am the Truth”... He was saying He is the divine incarnate Word of God, truly God and truly man, the source of all Truth which is absolute and indisputable. And when He said “I am the life”… He was saying He is our savior, the one who freed fallen man from the penalty of sin, death and eternal punishment through His own death and resurrection. This is the purest expression of love imaginable. Works won’t do it and regardless of what the celebrities say, there are not a million ways to get to Heaven. More deception. There is only one way to Heaven and His name is Jesus.
To change your eternal destination you must accept God’s grace, the free and unmerited favor of God, through a complete trust and strong belief called faith, in Jesus Christ and receive all the blessings that come with it, for here and for eternity.
There is simply no solution for the human problem of sin and death except through God’s grace and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus died once for all… for whosoever. You need to make sure you and everyone near and dear to you is one of those “whosoevers.”
Truth: The Grace Period
Have you ever wondered, “What is the purpose of my life?” “What’s the plan?” “Why am I here?” “What would be considered the ultimate success in my life?”
Everyone has only one life to determine their eternal destiny. That’s the purpose of this life. Our life on Earth is really a “grace period,” when God by his “grace” postpones his judgement for as long as He can, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Repentance means to change your mind about sin. There must be a sense of urgency for all who will to come to salvation because we really don’t have too much time. Our earthly life short, like a mist or vapor and time passes quickly with no time outs or do-overs. We are not guaranteed another day of life, not another breath, not one more heartbeat and we don’t know the day and time when Christ will return for what will be “the end of the beginning” and the beginning of forever.
Many spend their entire “grace period” trying to get everything material thing they could ever want in this life and do everything they could ever want to do and yet fail to get the only thing they absolutely need. “For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world [with all its pleasures], and forfeit his soul [for eternity]?” (Mark 8:36 AMP) Think about that.
Truth: Heaven and Hell
The Bible teaches that everyone will spend eternity in either Heaven or Hell which is determined only by whether or not they have faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Heaven and Hell are real no matter what you choose to believe. Originally designed for Satan, Hell, also called the lake of fire, outer darkness, abyss (the bottomless pit) also punishes all those who reject Christ, causing conscious torment described as a furnace of fire with weeping and gnashing of teeth where they will be tormented day and night with no rest, forever and ever. Hell is eternal and irreversible. It’s often referred to as the second death. “And if any ones name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was hurled into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15 (AMP)
Unbelievers ask, “What kind of God would send somebody to be tormented for eternity in a place like Hell?” The answer is: God doesn’t send anybody to Hell. This is the punishment for sin, His justice, but Jesus paid the penalty for your sin so nobody has to go to hell. He is the kind of God who loved you so much that even while you were still a sinner, God himself through His Son was tormented and died for your sins so you didn’t have to go to Hell.
Because of the curse of sin we are all going to Hell by “default” unless or until we accept God’s free gift of grace. By either accepting Christ or by outright rejecting Him, the outcome is still the same; a choice of your free will, just like Adam. When God restores His perfect eternal kingdom, it will be filled with only people who chose His grace.
This the ultimate “success” in this life, the only success that will really matter, the essential of essentials: To be saved by God’s amazing grace through faith in Jesus Christ. As you read this, you either are or you aren’t, but Jesus is patiently waiting.
Truth: Jesus
“In the beginning [before time began] was the Word (Christ), and the Word (Christ) was with God, and the Word (Christ) was God Himself.“ (John 1:1 AMP)
In John the Apostle’s vision in Revelation 19, he sees Christ returning as Warrior-Messiah (meaning “deliverer” or “savior.”)-King, and “…His name is called The Word of God…and LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:13, 16).
Jesus is the second person of the Godhead. The term “Godhead” is used to refer to the essential nature of God. It is a way of expressing the oneness and unity of the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit within what is commonly referred to as the Trinity.
There is one God who exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. Each person of the Trinity is fully and completely God, and yet there is only one God.
God is Jesus. Jesus is God. God’s Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. One God in three distinct persons all who play major roles in your salvation.
The the entire Bible is about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament says He’s coming, the Gospels say He’s here, the book of Acts proclaim Him, the Epistles explain Him and Revelation says He’s coming again.
In the book of Romans, Paul tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the penalty for sin is death. Somebody is going to have to die and be punished as payment for your sin. It’s either going to be you dying for your own sins or it could be someone else, a substitute who would die in your place so you wouldn’t have to. A redeemer
This person would have to be perfect and sinless. There were no perfect and sinless men.
In order for mankind to be forgiven and freed from the penalty of sin and eternal punishment the world was in need of a perfect and sinless person to offered as the blood sacrifice. There were no perfect and sinless men.
In order for mankind to be eternally freed from the the guilt and punishment of sin, God required that this once-for-all sacrifice had to be completely pure, but not the blood of an animal like in the Old Covenant, but from a pure, perfect and sinless person to be offered as a substitute for man as blood sacrifice for the redemption of sins of all men and reconciliation with God.
There were no pure, perfect and sinless men.
So God demonstrated (showed, proved) His love for the sinners of the world that while they were still sinners (and before you were even born into sin) God through his only Son Jesus died on the cross as a substitute.
God gave his Son for us. God gave his Son to die for us. God gave his Son to die for us, that is for people Paul describes as sinners, ungodly, enemies and powerless. ( Romans 5:6-10) Who dies for unrighteous man? God dies for his enemies. He give it all for those who deserved nothing. And that is God’s own proof of his love for us.
This is the divine dilemma that God resolved on the cross. For on the cross, when Jesus died, God himself in Christ bore the judgment we deserved, in order to bring us the forgiveness we do not deserve. The full penalty of sin was borne, not, however, by us but by God in Christ. On the cross God’s divine love and justice were reconciled.
God gave his Son to die for us, that is for people Paul described as sinners, ungodly, enemies and powerless. Who dies for unrighteous man? Who would even die for a righteous man? God died for his enemies, those who didn’t love Him, who didn’t know him and who were unworthy of His sacrifice. He gave it all for those who deserved nothing other than His wrath and justice. And that is God’s own proof of his love for us, His divine love that only He can give. Nobody loves you like God and no one would do for you what He did through Christ who died on the cross as payment of our sins and was raised from the dead so that we could have the righteousness of God and eternal life in Heaven.
Jesus who was made to look like a victim became the victor. What appeared to be defeat on the cross became victory when He walked out of that tomb. Satan has been defeated and will be sentenced when Jesus returns in all His glory.
The Holy Bible
How to Get Saved
Salvation- (noun) /salˈvāSH(ə)n/ – deliverance from sin and its consequences which is brought about only by faith in Jesus Christ. Freedom from the penalty of sin, death and eternal punishment in Hell.
Does God send anyone to Hell? No, that is His righteous justice for sin. but because of His love ofr you, He provides the only means possible to stay out of Hell. He through Christ was tormented on the cross and died for your sins, so you wouldn’t have to… die, be tormented in hell forever and ever.
You can’t just play like your saved, pretend to be saved. You’re either saved or remain lost.
We are all lost and going straight down the broad road leading to the wide gates of hell…until we are saved. But Jesus…..
Our eternal life-changing salvation was purposed by the divine plan of God the creator, THE one true God and the only living God, was accomplished by Jesus through His death and resurrection and was applied by His Holy Spirit through our spiritual rebirth, all eternal life changing events. Pay close attention to your purpose and don’t live here and leave here without “getting saved.”
Repent. Accept. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. You must be born again. Be baptised by the Holy Spirit.
That you know that you know that you know that you have been saved and made complete in Jesus Christ.
New creation in Christ. You have been made complete. But you are no longer defined by who you are but whose you are in Christ. It’s not longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. The old self passed away. Put on the new self. A new creation with a new way of thinking being transformed by the renewing of your mind, with a new attitude, a new character and a new way of living.
Thoughts- you old sinful thoughts and gone, replaced with Christ-like thoughts. Your actions and reactions, behavior has changed. Your actions are what you say and do and reactions are what you say and do in response to someone or something. All have dramatically changed. People can hear and see a difference in you. And you have to be able to explain to them what has changed to make you change. That you now are doing what you should do and not doing what you should not do. And you have the God’s Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus to convict, correct, help you. every second of every day. Your old habits have been replaced. You have a completely new attitude and outlook on life. You attitudes are habits of thought that have been repeated frequently enough to become ingrained as automatic actions and reactions which shape and define the content of your character which reveals your new identity, influences the roles you play in life and the quality of life you live each and every day. This is the new natural.
The phrase “old self passing away” is often associated with Christian teachings, particularly in the context of spiritual transformation and renewal. This concept is rooted in the New Testament of the Bible, and the specific verse you are referring to is likely from passages like Ephesians 4:22-24 (ESV), which states:
“To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
The idea here is that, through faith in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, believers are called to undergo a spiritual transformation. The “old self” represents the person’s former way of life, characterized by sin and separation from God. This includes attitudes, behaviors, and habits that are contrary to God’s will.
When the Bible speaks of the “old self passing away,” it means that believers are called to let go of their sinful nature and embrace a new way of life characterized by righteousness and holiness. It’s a metaphorical expression of the process of sanctification, where believers strive to become more like Christ in their thoughts, actions, and character.
The idea is not just about abandoning certain behaviors but undergoing a fundamental change in one’s identity and way of living, with the help of the Holy Spirit. It’s a symbolic death to the old way of life and a rebirth into a new life in Christ. And for the first time for the rest of life, you are not alone. He will never leave you or forsake you.
1 Peter 3:15 – But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
But in your hearts set Christ apart [as holy—acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives] as Lord. Always be ready to give a [logical] defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance [elicited by faith] that is within you, yet [do it] with gentleness and respect.
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 