PEACE
Don't Live Without It!
(By: Norm Rasmussen)
People who are sincere about wanting to get right with God, and staying right with God, will never obtain the greatest peace available to them until they confess and believe that Jesus Christ paid full penalty for all their sins. All other religions or 'faiths' fall short of being able to offer such peace to the soul and spirit of man and woman, boy or girl.
Having this kind of peace is a priceless and great comforting weapon for us who believe on Jesus Christ.
All other 'religions' to one degree or another, sooner or later, will cause a person to never be quite sure if they have been completely 'good enough' or 'faithful enough' or 'dedicated enough' to have their supposed god to be at full peace with them, especially upon their death. Because there is only one true God the Creator and final Judge of all, and all the others are mere counterfeits created by Satan, how possibly could there be any greater peace than being fully accepted by the God who created us and will determine our eternal destiny?
Why is there full acceptance from Him before our dying? Because the judgment we deserve for our sins against Him and others; the eternal sentence of punishment He rightly could sentence each of us to as the pure, righteous Judge ' that judgment and that eternal punishment was executed against Jesus Christ when He died on the Cross of Calvary. Jesus took the sins of every person upon Himself on that cross ' but until a person believes that and shows humility and appreciation from the heart for it ' it will do that person no good before they die, or after they die.
There is a popular weekly TV broadcast on CBS right now (2005) that is called Ghost Whisperer. The lovely female star of the broadcast is typecast as having a supernatural gift to be able to hear the plight of certain dead people. In most all cases, before a person died, usually by some traumatic means, they are not able to have peace and move on to a higher state of being in the spirit realm until they make something right with someone still alive from their past. Usually forgiveness must be dealt with, either by the deceased, troubled spirit, and/or the person still alive, and the star of the movie is used to help make that happen. Once that gets accomplished, the spirit is then allowed to progress spiritually, and everyone is happy by the time the broadcast ends.
From a potential positive point of view, I'll give the producers of the broadcast a favorable vote in that it is educating people to not hold onto anger, vengeance, vindictiveness, and unforgiveness against people, because if one does, and that person dies ' it can hold up their spiritual progress, and most certainly, will have them in a state of torment in the spiritual realm until something gets corrected with one or more live human beings from their past.
For people who do not know their Old Testament Bible, God strictly forbids us communicating with dead people. If caught doing so in Old Testament times, you would be killed for it, God was so clearly against the practice. Why? God only wants us speaking to Him when it comes to the spiritual dimension. He's God ' He has a right to. He also warns against seeking out and dialoguing with angels, because of possible demonic deception that can take place. He also warns against dialoguing with supposed departed souls, because he knows full well that demonic spirits can make a person believe it is the soul/spirit of a departed loved one, and most likely, it will not be.
This popular broadcast never addresses these important Biblical, spiritual matters. Instead, I believe it is an inspiration of the devil to get people to not fear the spirit realm, and more importantly for him ' get people to believe that spiritual progress in the next life is the natural evolution and spiritual progress of each of us (and Jesus Christ and His death on the Cross has no bearing on anything whatsoever regarding the matter). The devil wants the masses believing that if one doesn't make peace with everyone still living that might be affecting your spiritual advancement, it must be done before a spirit can advance ('move on to the other side'). Hence the need for a human 'channelor', something God warned not to allow in the nation of Israel. It reads in Deuteronomy 18:9-14:
'When you arrive in the Promised Land you must be very careful lest you be corrupted by the horrible customs of the nations now living there. For example, any Israeli who presents his child to be burned to death as a sacrifice to heathen gods, must be killed. No Israeli may practice black magic, or call on the evil spirits for aid, or be a fortune teller, or be a serpent charmer, medium, or wizard, or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone doing these things is an object of horror and disgust to the Lord, and it is because the nations do these things that the Lord your God will displace them. You must walk blamelessly before the Lord your God. The nations you replace all do these evil things, but the Lord your God will not permit you to do such things.
God nowhere hints in the Old or New Testament that we will be given more opportunity once we die to get right with God or people we leave behind. We must do that before we die. Here is the first and final word about what happens when a person dies:
And it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)
The devil is notorious for taking some truth, or some reality, and mixing deception with it, to brainwash the masses to confuse them about the Truth of God's Word and the factual reality of things, especially in the spirit realm, because we know so little about it. This is strictly an opinion on my part, because God hasn't clearly addressed the issue in the Bible, therefore ' it then falls into the realm of guessing and opinion only. Having said such, it wouldn't surprise me at all to discover that people who die, and have not truly asked Jesus Christ to forgive them of all the sins they committed through their life against Him and others ' prior to their dying ' the wrongs they committed against God and others while they were alive will only be brought to the forefront more now that they are in the spirit realm, and now the worst kind of torment will take hold throughout all eternity and there will be no escape or relief from it.
Every wrong that we ever did in our life will not be forgotten about in the next life if we don't deal with these wrongs prior to our dying. It is either forgiven by God in this life, or it will never be forgiven in the life hereafter.
I have to believe we have no real clue just how much pain waits on the other side for those who have not had the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ cleanse their wrongs prior to their dying. In that sense, I suppose the TV broadcast Ghost Whisperer may have some value. It shows people that going to the next life does not guarantee 'heavenly bliss' automatically, but perhaps a hell after all of possible great mental torment and pain.
If one reads enough of the Bible, there is ample warning in it telling us we do not want to die before having all our wrongs against God and others cleansed and made right by God Himself. Jesus Christ is the One God used to accomplish this incredible free gift. Until this gift of free pardon ' FULL cleansing - is appropriated by us ' we'll never fully experience the peace that is available and that comes with it.
In all honesty, it would be impossible for me to make right all the wrongs I committed against all the people I've committed against them having now lived on the planet nearly 60 years as of this writing (2005). Yet on my knees before God, I've long ago asked Him to let me know what I should do about all the past hurt and wrong I've done to other people ' many of them are now dead ' many of them I couldn't possibly get in touch with. In a few rare cases when it was feasible, I told people I had access to that I was wrong for what I had done to them, and I asked for their forgiveness. Yet of the many I have hurt, offended and wronged, I will not be able to do that with.
Does that cause me any lack of peace or fear when the moment comes for me to pass over into the spirit realm? Not in the least! First and foremost, I know God has forgiven me for all those wrongs through Jesus Christ. Secondly, God will make certain that if those who I wronged are in heaven when I get there ' God will already have removed the memory of the offense between us, most likely.
I can go to my grave in maximized peace, and I can have assurance that I will have maximized peace with whatever awaits me on the other side ' for all eternity. God makes no guarantees that privilege is available by any other means for the living here on earth other than accepting the perfect sacrifice He provided for our wrongdoing against Him and others ' which was the brutal death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I can enter heaven with my 'Gospel of Peace' shoes, in other words. Make sure you don't leave earth without a pair!
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . (Romans 5:1)
What makes us 'justified' in the sight of God to receive maximized peace of which He promises is available? Simply believing and trusting that Jesus Christ paid full penalty for all our wrongdoings against God and mankind ' paid full penalty for each of our sins, in other words. That is what grants us God's peace.
The only one stopping you from having this peace we're talking about is you. If you've never tapped into this dimension of peace, why wait any longer?
To learn about the other weapons of our warfare, please click on the ones below that you are interested in knowing more about:
4) Breastplate of righteousness
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Dear Reader - are you at peace with God? If not, you can be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. You can even have that assurance RIGHT NOW! Either Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a tragic mistake.
To get to know God, to be at peace with God, to have your sins forgiven, to make certain heaven will be your home for eternity, to make certain that you are in right-standing with God right now ... please click here to help you understand the importance of being reconciled to God. What you do about being reconciled to God will determine where you will spend eternity, precious one. Your decision to be reconciled to God is the most important decision you'll ever make in this life, because in Christ, it is impossible to put a value on the worth of your soul in light of eternity.
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Remember: All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)