The following is in of the LOF part 3
FOR WHAT DID PAUL VOLUNTEER?
All who will have a part with Christ when He comes to rule this earth in His kingdom must volunteer for judgment now! Remember how Paul volunteered: "What will You have me to do?" But just what was Paul volunteering to do?
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Was he volunteering to be praised and adored by the public?
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Was he volunteering to wear thousand-dollar suits, $500 shoes, $20,000 Rolex watches, drive $80,000 automobiles, live in multi-million dollar multiple homes, fly in private executive jets, and collect millions and millions and millions of dollars of poor people’s money to promote the gospel of prosperity and worldliness?
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Did our Lord tell Paul that his ministry and calling would be a "walk in the park" with never-ending comforts and pleasures, having medals and honors bestowed upon him by the leaders and dignitaries of pagan nations, living in a five and a half-million dollar mansion large enough to be a luxury hotel, while feasting like a fat king in the opulence of Babylonian extravagance?
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Is this the description of a successful minister of the Gospel?
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Was Paul’s message to all the Gentile nations that they had to give to him (or they would be ROBBING GOD) ten percent of all their gold, silver, salaries, or money, so he could flaunt his worldly and lavish lifestyle in the faces of these poor Christian converts.
Let’s "get real" as they say.
"For I will shew him [Paul] how GREAT things he must SUFFER for my name’s sake" (Acts 9:16).
In II Cor. 11:22-28 we learn that Paul suffered the following:
weariness jails blows
deaths thirty-nine lashes flogged with rods
stoned shipwrecked day & night in swamp
journeys dangers of rivers dangers of robbers
dangers of his race dangers of the nations dangers in the city
dangers in wilderness dangers in the sea dangers from false brethren
toil and labor vigils famine and thirst
fasts cold and nakedness
"Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me DAILY, the care of ALL THE CHURCHES"! (2Co 11:28)
Add a little "fire" to the above scenario and we might conclude that Paul was being tortured and punished in a Christian hell.
But Paul was not being "punished," he was being "JUDGED," and there is a world of difference. Paul was being made STRONG. Paul was being molded into a SPIRITUAL GIANT! And being trained, educated, purged, perfected into a spiritual giant is NOT a walk in the park!
Was it just Paul that God singled out to endure such hardships and trials? No, we too must partake of the same:
"Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that WE [Christians, followers of Christ] MUST through MUCH TRIBULATION [Greek: thlipsis--affliction, troubles, burdens, persecution, anguish] enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).
OK. There it is. There is the measuring stick and criteria we are to use as a our example for qualifying or not for the resurrection, rule and reign with Christ. That is if I understood it right and if I did well, by golly, I have nothing to be concerned about with that first group of folks in the resurrection. I don't see anything that Paul went through in his personal conversion or his trials, chastening, and afflictions happening to me. Except for coming around about 180 degrees in my understanding of what God has planned out for us all.
I have yet to really be able to identify and establish in my mind just what it is exactly, that I can point my finger at and say, yep, that there is Chastening or this or that is a trial or affliction. Other than words on a page with definitions, what is it specifically? What if anything can I point to to use as a rule of thumb, identifier or measure that can be singled out as Chastening, trails and afflictions for my faith in Jesus? Nothing I know of at all.
Now don't get me wrong here, I am not ranting. I find no reason to doubt what Ray has said here in Part 3. I am just wondering, questioning my own faith or position with the Lord as a whole. I wonder. Do any of you fit the criteria laid out here in Part 3?
If we take all the knowledge we have gathered together, what we knew before and now since finding Ray, add it all together and then what? What do we do with it? Go start Churches like Paul did and then maybe receive chastening, trails and affections for it like Paul? Live with it by holding on to it, keeping it to ourselves and not doing a thing with it? What good could come out of that and how would that bring about anything remotely close to what Paul went through in our lives? I don't think it would.
OK, maybe I did rant a little, but it's not directed at anyone other than myself and God. Heck, I don't even know if I made any since at all here to anyone. Sorry if this all seems kinda mumbo jumbo.
Although I think that I have volunteered for judgment now, seems to me that if the above is how we are to measure up to making the grade well, at this point and time, I ain't making a passing one. How about you?
Let me add one more thing. I'm not having a woe is me moment. I am however, judging myself.