Antipodean59's Blog

Restored New Testament Christianity

Archive for the tag “Death”

29 Nov 2012

Thought for the week

I Shall See God

Job, that ancient patriarch and prophet issues forth words of confidence that the grave is not the end of life with these words: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me” (Job 19:25-27). How could this man, whom modern scholars wrongly consign to a people of superstition and ignorance, know about a redeemer who would buy back his soul in an all too obvious resurrected form? I say obvious because the man himself says his skin will be destroyed. Could it be that the Hebrews’ writer has, among others, Job in mind when he pens, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1)? Could it be that Job, like his fellow patriarch Abraham, was confident of mind “… that God was able to raise… even from the dead…” (Hebrews 11:19)? The answer to these questions is the same as that recorded in faith’s chapter of fame in Hebrews 11 that each of the faithful have these precursory words “By faith” attached to their actions. By faith Job knew there would come a time when a High Priest will come and sympathise with our weakness because he would be tempted “as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15) and therefore have all the necessary qualifications to redeem. By faith Job knew as the only way to please God, for “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6), for this it has always been “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17; cf, Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 10:17).

Our confidence in the resurrection is boosted by this man of knowledge so-much-so that we, too, “shall see God” by following the words of Christ “…whom [God] hath appointed heir of all things…” (Hebrews 1:2). He is the “chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded” (I Peter 2:6). The apostle Paul maintained that the resurrection was at the heart of the Christian faith. He questioned the futility of some by taking on the way without this fundamental objective in mind by saying, “if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (I Corinthians 15:13-14). Paul’s confidence was firmly entrenched in the resurrection of a man’s soul with these words: “Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus… For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (II Corinthians 4:14; 5:1). This should not surprise us since Jesus emphatically promised such to those worried they might not find the way home to heaven, for after assuring them He was going to prepare for them a place to reside in the resurrection, He promised, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). Oh, and just in case you need a little more reassurance then, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27). For the apostle Paul, the resurrection of Christ is solid proof that He will indeed keep His promise, for he says that Christ not only appeared to the twelve apostles but “…he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time” (I Corinthians 15:6-8). Jesus said he that “seeth” (John 6:40) is one that is able to discern God is proved as unchangeable in the past (Hebrews 6:17) and will prove unchangeable in raising the faithful to an imperishable state in the future according to I Corinthians 15:33, for we that “seeth” trust by faith in the witness of God’s word that “…blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

The ancient paths of the Bible conscript men and women of faith in all dispensations to testify of the resurrection’s reality. Just as they had faith and confidence in seeing God so too, we, through faith can confidently say, “I will see God”.

Graham

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25 Oct 2012

Thought for the week

Political Prevarication

These past few weeks the world has witnessed some high ranking politicians in the USA engage in a disgraceful manner. I say “the world has seen” but then that is not entirely accurate because many of the world’s television media have done their best to play subterfuge to the Benghazi Consulate attack issue and have gone out of their way to hide it from the public. The terrorist attack upon the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya really only came to light through Fox News which is the only TV outlet that has deemed to come close to telling it how it is along with Glen Beck, Breitbart News, The Drudge Report, Accuracy In Media and Trevor Loudon on the internet. From these crusaders of the truth we have learned that the attack had nothing whatsoever to do with the amateurish anti-Muslim You Tube video but was a well-planned attack by al-Qaida militants with hatred and detestable murder bent in their hearts. But what we have been led to believe for some two weeks after from an Obama/Biden complicit leaning media is an orchestrated litany of lies to protect their beloved Democrat Party which is in serious trouble of losing the US Presidential Election this November 6th.
What we have witnessed is a disgraceful political prevarication but that is not the worst thing. I believe something even far worse is that four men are dead because of at best a negligent White House Administration but I fear much worse because it has now been revealed today (Oct 24th) that two of those men died seven hours after the initial attack while President Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton either watched on in real time or went gallivanting off to Las Vegas to drum up support for re-election. These two men need not have died, for it turns out that help from US Military bases was apparently within a one hour striking distance. Yet these two men were left to die like foxes on the run with one of them, Ty Woods leaving behind a wife and a three month old child.
Is there any remorse for this disgusting callousness? It appears not, for Joe Biden could not contain his laughter when Governor Paul Ryan raised the issue in his Vice Presidential Debate. President Obama in a fit of sneering indignation felt offended when Governor Romney broached the subject in the second Presidential Debate. And as for Secretary of State Clinton she just scoffed and laughed at reporters today who dare ask her for the truth of what exactly happened.
Yes, this is what the Democrat Party is made up of these days – political prevaricators who have no regard for the feelings of family, friends and the public’s quest for the truth. These three aforementioned have blood on their hands in an indirect sense and the Lord God Almighty will extract vengeance on their pathetic souls unless they repent. He will also extract vengeance for the disgraceful, public display for having now placed a little three month old soul in danger as a result of their recklessness. The following verses are suffice in that regard. “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day” (II Thessalonians 1:7-10); “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).

Graham

Posted in Thought for the week, USA, USA Elections, War and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
10 Oct 2012

Thought for the week

What The Rich Man In Torment Would Have Us To Know

Have you ever stopped to consider what the rich man in torment would say to us if given a chance? Make no mistake about it, he would speak to us if he could, but he can’t (cf. Luke 16:26-31). God gives us all the information we need in His Word and it’s up to each of us to find those facts and apply them to our lives (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3)! But let’s suppose for a minute that it were possible for him to speak to us. What would he say?

The rich man would tell us that our time on earth is limited and that death is inevitable. He’d fared sumptuously every day. He had it all, and I’d dare say that death and eternity were the furthest things from his mind, as they are with many still today. But despite the comforts and pleasures he’d enjoyed in this life, time ultimately came for him to cross over into eternity. We’re all going to die (cf. Heb. 9:27; Jam. 4:14). Cemeteries are proof that our time is limited. People of all ages and from all walks of life can be found buried therein! Thus, what time we do have in this life should be spent in preparing for that life to come!

The rich man would tell us that hell is real! It’s amazing to hear people talk about there being a heaven, but in the same breath reject the notion of there being a hell. Hell is a prepared place for an unprepared (spiritually) people, make no mistake about it (cf. Mat. 25:41; 2 The. 1:8-9; 2 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 21:8). Because hell is real we must fear it and use it as motivation to keep us on the straight and narrow (Mat. 7:13-14).

The rich man would tell us that earthly things have no eternal value. What do you suppose his fare and sumptuous life before death meant to him after death? Those things he had enjoyed in this life could not help him, comfort him, or aide him in eternity! It’s what we do in this life that will follow us into eternity, not what we have (cf. Rev. 14:13; 2 Cor. 5:10; Mat. 6:19-20; 2 John 2:15-17; 2 Pet. 3:10-14).

The rich man would tell us to quit making excuses and obey God today! He will spend eternity in torment thinking about the excuses he made and the subsequent opportunities he squandered to obey God’s Word. Opportunities to obey God’s will are quickly passing and will soon cease! Today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2; Heb. 3:15)!

Where we spend our eternity will be determined by how we spend our time on earth. Let’s not make the same fatal mistake as did the rich man. Let’s spend our time in this life preparing for and looking forward to that life in the hereafter.

Terry R. Townsend (October 9, 2012)
Terry preaches for the Curry Street church of Christ, Jasper, Alabama
http://www.currychurchofchrist.org/

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03 Oct 2012

Thought for the week

One Place I Don’t Want To End Up In

As we say in New Zealand, gidday, how are ya? Hope you are having a great day.

I’ve been thinking, just as I’m now on the cusp of reaching the age of sixty, that I feel somewhat fortunate to have attained such a mile stone. I mean to say, there have been many instances where I have dodged the proverbial bullet, so to speak. Like the time I was driving home to Wellington forty ton all up and drizzling with rain on the treacherous Desert Road (Central North Island, New Zealand) when around a bend in the road I come across a minor accident scene. I pass cautiously noting the unfortunates mulling over their plight when out of the blue an empty logging truck towing its trailer appears over the brow of the hill in front of me. The driver sees the accident scene in front of him and naturally hits the brake causing the trailer to jack-knife in the slippery conditions. The trailer is coming straight for me. I instinctively pull to the left and all I see is the rear of the logging trailer slide by my right hand mirror then neatly slide down the combing rail of the semi I am pulling, cutting half a dozen tarpaulin ropes as it goes by. I stop at the top and pause to reflect upon what was a close call. I was milliseconds from certain death, that I am certain. What then had I died? What would be my destination, Heaven or Hell?

By that stage in my life I had obeyed the gospel call to listen to God’s word, for that is where faith in God is formed (Romans 10:17). I believed in Jesus Christ as my Saviour to set me free from the awful effects of sin of being separated from God for eternity (Isaiah 59:2). Christ set me free because I obeyed His command to repent of my sins (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 17:30), confessing before men that Jesus is Lord; that is, He will rule my life because in my heart I know from many eye witness accounts (I Corinthians 15:6) that He is risen from the dead (Romans 10:9) but not before I was baptised in order for my sins to be remitted; that is, have them washed away by His blood through the act of a watery burial which occurs when one is fully immersed in water (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 6:3-7). As I stand outside the truck and survey the scene of near death, I am in Christ; a son of God; a member of His church, the one and only place to be if one is saved (Acts 4:12; Galatians 3:26-27; I Corinthians 12:13; II Timothy 2:10). I stand confident my eternal home is with God and along with all those faithful to God’s commands throughout the ages.

However, just a little over a year before hand it would have been a different scenario had I died, for as one who was ignorant of God’s word I, like billions of others of accountable age before me, would rue my eternal fate that can be summed up in two sets of passages. The first is Luke 16:19-31 where a certain rich man died and lifted his eyes up in a place called Hades describing his condition as “torments”. Christ uses a Koine Greek word that simply means torture i.e. extreme pain. The man is conscious and alert and is even able to communicate with the father of faith, Abraham expressing his utter grief at what besets him (v.24). He has none to blame but himself for if he had obeyed “Moses and the Prophets” then he would be with his neighbour Lazarus over on the other side.

The second passage is truly frightening, for Paul says there is an expectation “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (II Thessalonians 1:7-9). That would have been me folks because prior to August 23, 1985 I did not know God and therefore had not obeyed Him. I, too, would have been in the certain man’s predicament had it not been for my listening and consequent obedience to God’s word.

Now, this place of “torments” is one place I do not want to end up in and I am certain you don’t want to end up there, either. Fortunately, you are alive and well because you are now reading this. If you have not already taken the certain man’s advice in Luke 16 that he wanted his brothers to hear i.e. obey God in order to avoid the place of torment he found himself in, then I urge you without delay to seek and find a faithful church of Christ near you. Sit down and hear, believe, repent, confess and then be baptised in order to have your sins “washed away” before it is everlasting too late.

Graham

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23 Aug 2012

New Zealand’s Dangerous Leader For Humanity

New Zealand has a very dangerous  leader at its helm, for humanity, that is. This man’s name is John Key. A rather affable character that aided his appeal to lead the National Party in the mid 2000’s who then went on to become prime Minister in 2008 and thereafter reelected in 2011. Before that his appeal lie in the belief that he was conservative, for he made seemingly all the right moves especially it seems in finance where he had a reputation at Merrill Lynch as a being a ruthless foreign exchange money trader. However, even before election in 2008 he started to reveal his true colours by making a deal with the then extremely liberal and Fabian social engineer Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark aiding the leftists to repeal what is the Section 59 of the Crimes Act and now disaffectionately know as the “anti-smacking bill”. This bill was introduced as a result of a communist led Green Party initiative that Clark was obliged to support due to the two parties having a coalition agreement on supply and confidence. In New Zealand it is now unlawful to smack your child for misbehaving and if you happen to violate this law you will have your children removed by the NZ Police and charged and convicted in the courts. Even your neighbour or someone who witnesses you smacking a child is liable for a prison sentence if they do not report you (reminds you of a certain Reischstag regime, huh?).  It is worth noting that child misbehaviour has now reached cronic proportions ever since because the children know they will not meet any discernible punishment.

But getting back to that rascal Key. He came out recently in fact almost simultaneous with that other leftist rascal over in the USA, you know, Obama, by declaring his support for homosexuals to have the right to marry. This is why he earned the term “Me To” for any suggestion made by someone else he would say, “me to.” However, it is somewhat puzzling when one considers he is proud of his Jewish ancestry. I guess he does not know that the Jews were adherents to the Old Testament which expressly forbids such unnatural behaviour. But that’s not all, folks. Now he has come out in favour of euthanasia – yeah, the so-called good death. Once again expressly forbidden in the Old Testament but hey who cares about that Bible stuff, eh? Once again a little research into the mindset of this dangerous man would reveal he voted in favour of a bill brought before the NZ Parliament in 2003 by an equally dangerous leftist, Peter Brown who called it Death With Dignity. Some dignity to be rushed into hell, I must say.

All in all, New Zealand is fast becoming a dangerous place to live for you do not know when the police will come a knocking because maybe someone takes a grudge against you and will make an unsubstantiated complaint that you smacked you child, or perhaps you are the cause of hatred and bigoted thoughts meaning you will be locked up for hate crimes, for make no mistake this is coming, for already NZ’s sixth largest city Dunedin City Council deems any site opposed to gay marriage is a hate monger site and is blocked but gay sites are not. And now that Key makes head lines by again not only backing euthanasia but saying it is already happening in NZ hospitals which, I might add his claims are much to the absolute denial from hospital clinicians [NZ Herald 24 Aug, 2012].

Now where is the unrest from the general public on these matters? There is none, for this man still enjoys a 50 percent approval rating and looks set to continue in the short term at least because the political opposition is an absolute shambles but even should they get their act together they would be worse for the country, for as the West Coast-Tasman Labour MP Damien O’Connor says his Labour Party is made up of a prominent “gaggle of gays” anyway.

Yeah, I guess you could say we are doomed and being led by the “smiling assassin”, Key and it may be sooner rather than later.

Posted in New Zealand, New Zealand Politics, News, Opinion, Politics and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
27 Jan 2011

The so-called peaceful religion is at it again – barbarians!

 

Thuggee Cult

 

I see the “peaceful” religion is at it again.  This time a 19 year old girl forced into an arranged marriage runs away and is caught with the one she really wants to cleave to and both are brutally executed.

WARNING! the video is disturbing to say the least.  Wake up liberals, this is what to expect if you go along with Islamic sharia law.  No wonder Kipling called Islam the “thuggee cult”.

Graham

Posted in Current Events, Death, Faith, False Religion, God, Hell, Islam, Muslim, Opinion, Religion, Religions, Sin and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
17 Jan 2011

Before you cross your Rubicon

To cross the Rubicon is a metaphor meaning to deliberately go beyond the point of no return.

An interesting article that may open your eyes can be read here

Think about the consequences before you leap!

Graham

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Church, Death, Denominations, Faith, God, Hell, Holy Spirit, Jesus, New Testament, Opinion, Religion, Religions, Sin, Truth and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
28 Oct 2010

Appointment Time

The appointment that all men will keep regardless of their status in this world is to die.  “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement” (Hebrews 9:27).  In fact, DNA research has recently uncovered 300 defective genes that will guarantee a breakdown of the DNA strand leading to death. As Richard Durbin, of Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute says, “…none of our genomes is perfect”.  The God of heaven and the Bible sure knew what He was meaning when He said, “…by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).

The question is, are you ready for the judgement?  Have you received or rejected the word of Christ? (John 12:48)  Will you pass or fail the upcoming examination? (II Corinthians 13:5).  Is Jesus going to welcome you into heaven as a servant with the words “Well done” or “Depart from Me” to Hell wicked one?(Matthew 25:21, 23; 7:23).

There is only one way in which to find out for you will only be welcomed into heaven if you have done the “will of [God] which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).  There is only one will of God and that is Jesus Christ’s word (John 14:6).  There is only one that can save you, the Man, Christ Jesus (Acts 4:12).  It is no use appealing to the doctrines and traditions of men such as Protestant churches, Roman Catholic church, Holiness movements, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, Seventh Day Adventists cults and such like, for Jesus described such man-made ideology is “vain” (Matthew 15:9).  Paul said such shenanigans are worthy of being labelled “accursed” (Galatians 1:6-9).

That can mean only one thing, you need to get with the programme and be “added” to the church (Acts 2:47).  You don’t know how?  Well, here’s a tip, check out the essential pattern Essential Pattern or click on the icons on the side of this post but make sure you hurry because you just don’t know when Jesus is going to return (Matthew 24:36).  It might be tomorrow for all you know and if He returns and you have not obeyed His word by becoming a Christian then you will end up in Hell along with all these poor souls (cf Ezekiel 32:18-32; Mathew 7:13).

Your appointment day is going to come maybe sooner than later, so what are you waiting for?  Now is good (II Corinthians 6:2).

Graham

 

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Death, Deity, Denominations, Faith, False Religion, God, Hell, Jesus, Religion, Religions, Science, Sin, Truth and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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