-1Peter
4:18 Does this imply
the righteous will barely make it into the Kingdom of God?
This scripture is from.Proverbs
11:31 "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the Earth; much
more the wicked and the sinner."
The idea is that if sufferings
and judgments.(chastenings).come
upon good people, what hope is there for the wicked?
We all reap
what we sow, or how would we ever learn?
The original word in 1Peter
4:18 for."saved",
is."sozo".in
the Greek and has to do with being saved not
just eternally, but today; today from the negatives
that so often confront
us, negatives caused both from our lot in life and from problems due to
the decisions we have made.
The great spiritual leader
and teacher, Emmanuel,
said that there is a way
and that it is a narrow way which few find:.Matthew
7:14.
How can we."scarcely".make
it with promises like this? 2Thessalonians
3:3 "But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you and keep you
from evil." Jude 1:24 "Now unto him that
is able to keep you from falling and to present you
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." 2Timothy
4:18 "And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve.(sozo).me
unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
How can His workmanship fail?.Ephesians
2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Emmanuel unto good
works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them."
A spiritual person's salvation
is assured. They will have a place in the coming government of Creator-God
on Earth,.but,
what
we do with what we have, will determine where in that government our
individual
positions will be.
Once having become a true
hearted person of love.(love
is the overall spiritual quality and has within it what it means to be
spiritual), God expects us to 'keep
our hands on the wheel':.Hebrews
4:1 "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise
being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come
short of it." Hebrews 10:38 "Now
the
just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him." Luke
9:62 "And Emmanuel said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the
plough and looking
back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
-What is Psalms
1:5 talking of?
Sounds like the unGodly don't
have a chance, eh!.Psalms
1:4-6 "The unGodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind
drives away. Therefore the unGodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor
sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way
of the righteous, but the way of the unGodly shall perish."
The original word for."stand".in
verse 5, can also be rendered."rise
up",."establish".(as
in Genesis 9:11),."sure",."perform",."me",
"flee",."against",."again",
etc. To see which seemed to fit properly, translators consider the context.
The
King
James Version of the Holy Bible is highly accurate to the original,
but sometimes additional information can be seen by substituting one of
the other English renderings of the original language word.
Considering the context,
verse 1 word."standing",
in the original can also mean."remain".
The verse is showing the
contrast.(verse
4).between
those who love God and those
who do not, yet. It is saying that
the unGodly.(those
not knowing God).shall
not be in the judgment
with the righteous. That is because the Godly will be judged
for
a reward according to their works. And the rest go
to hell? No! No! No! Emmanuel has already taken care of that for them:.Romans
5:6 "For when we were yet without strength.(just
no strength to keep on the right track, so we brought into our lives many
and various troubles), in due time
Christ died for the unGodly." Colossians
1:21 "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind
by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled." 1Timothy
1:15 "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Emmanuel came into
the world to save....."
It is really an encouragement
to become one of those that the Creator-God regards as His, the
righteous. The good works of the
righteous are considered by the
Creator as He decides upon what reward
each of the righteous will receive according to what we do here with what
we learn and know how to do.
-Philippians
1:21,23 Why did Paul say that."to
die is gain".if
we can be resurrected?.Philippians
1:21,23 "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain...For I am in a
strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which
is far better."
Paul realized that living
or gone, Christ is magnified.(Philippians
1:20).in
him, that is, he knew that the ongoing spiritual journey into increasingly
higher levels of consciousness would continue whether he was alive or dead.
Paul believed in the resurrection, so it was no big deal to him to go and
he believed that whether he went or didn't, Christ would be magnified in
him:.Philippians
1:20,21; 2Corinthians 5:1,4;
1Corinthians
15:51,52.."The
ascension
to still higher and higher states of consciousness.(while
still human).is
virtually,
a way to God."....Grigori
Grabovoi.
Paul also said:.2Corinthians
5:6 "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are
at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord." 2Corinthians
5:8 "We are confident, I say and willing rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord."
It all sounds as if it's
better to go, but no, it's not, because spiritual growth is 'slower'
once passed on, because the problems and pressures today on Earth aren't
there, yet the character we had on Earth is and still has to lose its limitations
in order to progress. This helps you to lose your limitations now; see
the
movie.
It's quickly profitable now
to rid oneself of his or her limitations than it would be then, because
then, without all of the pressures of living on Earth, spiritual growth
does occur, but how quickly can't be gauged in this realm without this
thing called time? And do the same rewards
apply?.Luke
13:30.
Growth is best while on Earth,
because Earth's a
'pressure cooker', more so today than in the early
days of humanity.
There's no time on the other
side. On Earth we have time. There is an
appointed time for humanity on Earth, so he can move from his ordinary
human nature he came here with and onto a higher consciousness. This happens
automatically when one's limitations are gotten rid of.
So, Paul was saying that
to him, living was all about the work he was doing which was all about
Christ. And in this work, he didn't hold anything back because of fear
of death, but he did live with wisdom about it and didn't live carelessly.
Paul also figured that if he did die, he would be with Christ more and
he knew about the power Christ had to resurrect
him, if it so be. Paul figured that this would be far better than being
on Earth, except that he wanted to stay on Earth to bring others along
spiritually:.Philippians
1:24 "Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you."
Paul
went through many trials and tests on Earth and was ready to move on
anytime:.Philippians
1:23.
Paul understood that while
here in the physical existence, we are somewhat apart from the Lord, because
of having to deal with all the things we do that revolve arouund the physical,
even though He is in us,
although it was preferable to be present with the Lord and out of the physical.
He understood that being where Christ is would be better than being where
he figured Christ wasn't or wasn't as much. That's what he figured.
Why he emphasizes 'being
with the Lord' in the light of the knowledge that the Lord is right there
with him and in him and in others also who are part of the body
of Christ, who knows? Perhaps it was because of the hard trials Paul
endured that may have been in the back of his mind at the time. Read about
Paul's
life. Perhaps our comprehension of some things has been hindered
by the
many alterations to the Bible.
Paul had an experience with
Christ that profoundly
affected his zeal
for the work of Christ and a zeal for being with Christ by being willing
to leave the Earth:.2Corinthians
12:2-4. Perhaps he felt he grew enough and wanted to go, because
that's how we all go, by wanting to. But in
the light of the new knowledge today, no one should want to go.