New Friend on Bible Truths,
I see from the forum site that you live in Alberta, Canada.
I’ve always been curious about the great North country ever since I watched the TV program Sergeant Preston of the RCMP. Of course that was a few years ago and I realize that you may not be familiar with the program.
In any case I like to meet folks from other states or nations and the only difficulty I have had is with new languages. So it is a blessing when I can meet someone speaking English.
I am writing to you at this time because I FEEL that I may be of some help with our understanding of the purpose of the Bible Truths forum. I also realize that there is much to cover in our ongoing discussions and we can’t explore it all at a distance with email in the same way we could face to face. Accordingly I ask that you be patient with my poor effort to help a little even though I don’t know your mind or have the necessary insight to respond in a truly helpful manner.
To address just one aspect of your many questions and valuable comments please let me start with the intended purpose of God’s calling and choosing and election of certain individuals to serve in Jesus’ administration in the future when Christ is ruling on the Earth. Each of the following points may be partially correct or not applicable to the current needs of members of the forum. I hope you will take the time to respond and help me to see more clearly.
1. I notice that many members admit that they have been reading for a short time. So it seems to me that they are “naturally” trying to take a short cut to understanding and hoping that the other forum members will provide the short answer without all the time consuming work involved. This does seem reasonable because we all come from different cultures and studying together SHOULD shorten the study time as long as we cooperate in mutual love and respect.
2. Keeping in mind that this is the work of God IN US and not our work FOR God, it is helpful to recognize that God controls the level of our understanding and our ability to comprehend His plan for our development and growth. It is also helpful to recognize that much of what we understand is given to us while we sleep or are otherwise involved in daily activities, be they mental or physical, at home or at work.
3. Since our deeper understanding comes to us spiritually, we cannot realistically expect to grasp the teachings of Ray Smith or the explanations of others on the forum without having the time for REFLECTION and PRAYER and careful erasing/deletion of formerly believed dogma of Christendom.
4. It seems to me that most of the perceived hurts or perceived rudeness in our personal communications is the result of offering quick answers or quick responses to what at the time seem to be simple and direct topics of doctrinal conversations. In my own case I normally take a day to answer the questions put forth if I have anything to offer and I normally write a response fairly quickly while the thoughts are in my mind and then edit or rewrite thoughtfully what I had written emotionally at first. This restriction on my submissions to the forum means that my email may go the bottom of the pile and never be seen by the person who started the thread, so I do understand the desire to submit a response quickly. It’s like sitting at the table with friends and always being interrupted by others before we can get our thoughts out. Not too much fun and we don’t get our concerns addressed.
5. So what is the answer? Well, one thing seems to come up regularly and that is the question of “what are we doing here” or “why are we being called now while others are not” or “how are we different than those who will be called and judged later in the Lake of Spiritual Fire”? I propose to address those questions in the following points.
6. God is calling everyone, no exceptions, but some regardless of age or years of serious study, are not ready to serve the purpose that God has for them at this time in their lives.
It is important to recognize that God knows our innermost thoughts and talents/gifts and our life experience AND God has a place or an office for us where we will fit perfectly when the time comes. We ourselves don’t really know our own thoughts on most subjects and so we would not be fulfilled or happy in generations to come if we had free choice in the matter. Therefore it is GOOD that we do not have free choice.
7. Since ALL will be called, is there any valid reason for us to be concerned about when we or any of our friends or relatives will be called? What difference will it make?
Let me offer for your consideration the possibilities that I believe are close to the facts.
a. Those called in this life and chosen and finally elected will have been judged while Satan is the god of this world and will have lived IN this world and yet not a PART of this world. They or we hopefully, will have had to resist the temptations of Greed and Lust within our own souls as well as living with the lies that the secular world and Christendom have spread about God and His son and God’s plan for humanity. All the fear and concern for our/their fate and never seeing their loved ones again etc.
b. Those called in the judgment will live in a world ruled by Jesus Messiah and the elect of God who will have been proved and selected by God to serve and praise Him and promote the wonderful plan of God. Will their time of judgment be similar to ours? Will they have to resist Satan? Will truth abound in the world at that time? Will ALL of our leaders and officials be honest and truthful or else not retained in office?
I believe that their judgment in the spiritual lake of fire will be much simpler than ours has been and that most of what they will have to overcome is their own covetousness and lust for FREE WILL and what will cause crying and gnashing of teeth will be having to see themselves just as they are when they compare themselves with Christ and to realize perhaps for the first time that THEY/WE are the one who crucified Christ due to their/our personal sins.
c. Then shall Messiah teach righteousness to ALL and they shall learn just as we have had to learn during this life time. The difference will be that their time of judgment and correction will be easier in a society in which Jesus is ruling with justice for all.
In my own case, I understand at this time that my deceased parents will be in that kind of judgment. My Grandson Brandon who died in June 08 will be in that judgment and I am satisfied and trusting in God to provide loving justice or training for them.
Of course I realize that this commentary is incomplete, but I base my assumptions on the FACT that God loves His children and that God is just and that God desires to save ALL. Everything will be done according to God’s will at the appointed time.
So, why are we who are called now worried about whether we will be chosen and become one of the ELECT? I mean really, if we love God and if we have faith to TRUST God, why have we anything to worry about? Isn’t it true that “perfect love” cast out ALL fear? If our answer is yes, then we must admit that our love is not yet perfect. We do not yet trust God completely. So then it must be a process. God gives to each of us, those He has called, an earnest or a portion of the holy spirit to begin to guide us into faith. As God then motivates us to exercise His spirit in our daily lives, more of God’s spirit is added and we gradually, some more rapidly than others, come to trust God and to see with our eyes and hear with our ears what the spirit says to the believer.
It is not the folks on the forum or Ray Smith or the moderators that are holding us back. If it is anyone, it is Jesus our Lord who sets the pace at which we learn. In addition it is our fear of the unknown, which fear God will replace with courage when He is ready and when the lessons we are required to learn have done their work in us.
I hope that this message has been of some help.
Please look up the scriptures yourself or ask specific questions and I will provide scriptures to cover the topic. I believe that all of this is covered in Bible Truths if one takes the time to search for it. It is a worthwhile task and time well spent.