Looking for Answers?

Today, I speak peace in the midst of the storm, and I release the gift of faith on every person reading this article. I know that there is nothing that God cannot do! In the name of Jesus let your Word go forth and fall on fertile ground.

It is true, there is so much turmoil in the world today. There is a crazy virus running loose and people are scared. Is this the end times? Is Jesus coming back? Will we go through the tribulation? What’s really going on? It is why I was asked to even write this article to begin with. I have not covered every aspect of the Word of God but that is not the point of this article, the point is to point you in the right direction for salvation. The point is to share with you how to be ready for His coming. It is my hope that when you walk away from reading this article you will have a foundation of knowledge of a few things:

1) God is our creator

2) There is only one God

3) Jesus is the name of God

4) God robed himself as flesh and came to die for us

5) What I must do to be saved?

6) What are the signs of the time?

7) How can I be ready?

The Beginning:

First and foremost, let’s start at the beginning.

Gen 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

We ask questions like, “Who is God? Did the big bang theory happen? Why am I here?” Simply put God created the heavens and the earth. There is no truth in the big bang theory, other than God spoke and it happened. We are here to have a relationship with God, and I will attempt to lay this out throughout the article. We must believe the very first scripture to know that He is God. This is the foundation for the rest of the Word of God. We must believe it to be true in order to know that He is the one true and only God. With that established we can then know that if one part of the Word of God is true, then it is all true and that Word is for us to be saved.

We must believe that very first scripture, or how can we believe the rest? Right here we see “GOD” created. We don’t see three Gods, such as the belief in the father, son, and Holy ghost as being three persons in God. It simply says, “GOD”. There is only one God.

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord:”

The name of God was not revealed in the Old Testament but it is clear that there is only one God. There is no mention of more than one all throughout the scriptures. It wasn’t until we get to the New Testament that we know that Jesus is God. He came and robed himself in flesh.

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

 I Timothy 3:16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

In the New Testament it states in Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

Again, this is pretty simple, God created the heavens and the earth, and there is only one God. There is one who sits upon the throne at the end of time.

Revelation 4:2 “And immediately I was in the spirit: and behold, a throne was set in the heaven, and one sat on the throne.”

In Summary: God created the heavens and the earth. There is only one God. His name is revealed in the New Testament as Jesus, the only saving name. The “Word” in the Greek is translated as Logos which is the voice of God, it denotes in John 1:1 as the essential Word of God, embodied in Jesus Christ, who is the creator of the universe.

Salvation:

Now that we know who He is. What must we do to be saved? Jesus answered this question when a ruler named Nicodemus came to Him at night.

John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

His response is what we would have thought too.

John 3:4 “Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”

Here is Jesus’ response.

John 3:5-8 “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

Too often people bypass these scriptures and go straight to this scripture and take it out of context:

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Nothing is diminished here! Jesus already commanded that we had to be born of the water and the spirit. He describes the Holy ghost which at this point had not been poured out, as wind and it cometh and it goeth. Here Jesus is saying in John 3:16 that we must believe what He just taught us and then we can be saved. Believing isn’t the only step it is just the first step. If you don’t believe the Word of God is true and that Jesus is God, it is going to be pretty hard to be born of the water (baptism) and the spirit (the outpouring of the Holy Ghost).

Now that we know what we are to do, how can it be implemented in our current lives? Jesus died for our sins on the cross, he was buried in the tomb, and then He rose again on the third day. (We will bring out more of this further on) After He rose he told them to go and tarry in Jerusalem and wait for the promise.

Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The disciples, Mary the mother of Jesus and many others a total of 120 people began to pray in Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Ghost. And then it happened! The spirit of God was poured out on all the people in the upper room.

Acts 2:1-4 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

The presence of the Lord and the tongues were so loud that it spilled out into the streets. People from all over town came to see what was going on in the upper room. Peter was the rock of the church and Jesus had given him the authority over the church before he left and ascended up into heaven. This is important because, Peter had the authority to tell people how to be saved. He preached a sermon and he referred to an old prophecy of Joel and that it was the fulfillment of that prophecy.

Acts 2:15-21 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Of course the people were amazed and they asked a simple question, what must we do to be saved? These were the very same people who probably followed him when he did signs, wonders and miracles. They are the same people who cried, crucify him!

Acts 2:36-39 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

(SALVATION) Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

SALVATION!!!!!! Death, Burial, and Resurrection

(Repentance) We must repent, this is a turning away from sin. We cannot remember all that we have done wrong and we might not even know some things we have done are sin. We can simply say, “Lord please forgive me of all my sins and help me to live a life unto you!” Repentance is death to self. We identify with Jesus as he died on the cross for our sins. We must continually build and altar daily to as for forgiveness of sins.

(Baptism) We have to be baptized in the NAME OF JESUS! No other way of baptism formula is in the bible. We can find in Acts 2, 8, 10, & 19 all instances where they were baptized in the name of Jesus. This is the water that Jesus was talking about. Jesus also said in Matthew 28:19 to go ye therefore baptizing them in the name… There is no other name whereby we must be saved, Acts 4:12 as mentioned above. Why the name? It is how we identify with his burial. We are buried with him in baptism.

Romans 6:4 “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Our sins can only be remitted by His blood. When we are baptized the name of Jesus is applied to our lives. We are marked as his and we are adopted into the bloodline of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:4-5 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will”

(Holy Ghost) We have already established what the holy ghost is the speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4) We also know that this is the spirit that Jesus spoke of in (John 3:5). We have to be born of the water and the spirit in order to be saved. Peter told us to be saved we had to obey (Acts 2:38). Now we can understand just as Jesus rose from the grave, we too shall rise to newness of life. The Holy Ghost is the resurrection of our souls. Without the Holy Ghost we cannot be saved! Jesus said it, Peter said it, and the Word of God plainly lays it out. It is up to us to respond to the gospel. Without the water and spirit, we shall not enter into, or see the Kingdom of God. The correct response to salvation is to obey the Word of God.

The End:

The end is truly upon us. I know many have heard this for years, and might have even said, well the rapture hasn’t happened yet, so I doubt it will. Sadly, that is bad information and the wrong way to look at living for the Lord. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Your end could happen in a car accident, or a sickness unto death. We are appointed a time to die. The question is, will you die and go to be with the Lord in heaven? Or will you die and go hell with Satan? The choice is really ours. We have to be obedient to His word. To much is given much is required. We have a responsibility to know the Word of God for our own lives. We cannot stand before the Lord at judgement day for anyone else other than ourselves. We can reject truth, or we can embrace it! It really is that simple. We can go back and read the words of Jesus in (John 3:5) we will not see the kingdom or enter into the kingdom without the water and the spirit. I have explained this above, but I want to reiterate truth.

How can we know Jesus is ready to come?

Matthew 24:1-14
“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.All these are the beginning of sorrows.Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

In summary: There will be many false Christs, Wars and rumors of Wars, Nation against nation, Famines, Pestilences (Viruses, Plagues, etc), earthquakes in divers places (means many places). This is the beginning of sorrows. We will be hated for His names’ sake, which again an importance to be covered by His name in baptism. Then there will be more affliction and there will be hatred in the land for each other (such as racial tension). There will be many false prophets, which we have seen but there will be more. There will be hatred because there is iniquity in our hearts (iniquity is trying to do it our own way, to follow our own path, our own way to salvation, our own ideas). With iniquity in our hearts the love we had will wax cold, or the love we should have will never be in our lives. But if we endure, follow the plan of salvation, find a place of repentance, and seek the Lord’s will and not our own, we will be saved in the end. When the gospel is preached in all the world, then the end shall come.

Where are we right now? We are at plagues and pestilence. We are at hatred and iniquity. We are having strange weather patterns, and earthquakes all over the world. We are in the midst of a virus and God is using this to open the eyes of the world, that He is coming back soon! The church has been asleep and distracted, including myself. God has been awakening me truly for months, even before this virus came out. God is awakening the church and He is awakening those who are searching for the Lord. Honestly, the Lord could come back any day at this point. There are those being persecuted all around the world for his names’s sake. The only thing that is not 100% is the gospel being preached unto all nations but that too is upon us. A friend of mine Art Wilson has been doing bible studies at the United Nations for several years and many nations’ leaders have come to the salvation truth. The last I had heard at a conference was there were only 17 nations we were not preaching the gospel to around the world. With the United Nations and time, I am sure that number has decreased. The Lord is ready to come back for His bride. We the church are the bride of Christ.

How are we going to be caught up?

I Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Those who have the spirit of God living inside of them will be caught up to meet Him in the air. It is the Spirit of God (Holy Ghost evidenced by speaking in tongues) that will cause us to be lifted from the earth.

Steps in the Last Days – A Look Through Revelation

The Rapture: The next major event for believers (the Church) will be the "catching away" commonly called the Rapture (1 Thess.4:17). The Bible gives us no signs preceding the Rapture; however, many passages of Scripture indicate that it will happen at any moment (Matt. 24:36; Lk. 21:36; 1 Thess. 4:17; Rev. 3:10). All believers who have received salvation (Acts 2:38) who are alive, along with those who have died after the Day of Pentecost and before the Rapture, will be included in this event, we are the Bride of Christ. (I Thess. 4: 13-17). The resurrection of believers will occur at the Rapture. The word "rapture" comes from the Latin word rapera, which means to be "caught up" and this is the term used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17: "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together...". The New Testament was originally written in Greek… the Greek word is harpazo. Those who miss the Rapture, by reason of rejecting (not believing in the salvation plan) Christ as Lord, will be on earth to face seven years of the most terrible events in Earth's and mankind's history. This time is called the Tribulation Period (Matt. 24:21).

The Judgment Seat of Christ: Paul affirms the judgment of every believer in 2 Corinthians 5:10… ―For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. It immediately follows, or will occur in conjunction with, the Rapture. This is when we will be rewarded according to our works on earth. This is not a judgement for our sins but rather a judgement for what we have done for Christ. This is when we will throw our crowns at his feet. Rev 4:10-11

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb: This event will occur in heaven after the Rapture, after the Judgment Seat of Christ, and before the Second Corning of Jesus Christ to Earth (Rev. 19:7-9). This time frame is realized because the Church ("caught up" believers) will return to Earth with Christ (Zech. 14:5; Col. 3:4; I Thess. 3:13; Jude 14; Rev. 19:7-9). Then the Bride of Christ (2 Cor. 11:2) will be represented by the term "wife" (Rev. 19:7). When we get to heaven we are going to eat and sup with the Lord before we go and fight the battle of Armageddon, when we with the Lord shall defeat Satan, and He will be cast into hell for a 1000 years. Rev. 20:2-3

The Second Coming of Christ:  The Second Coming of Christ is when Christ will split the eastern sky and return to Earth to set up His 5 millennium kingdom. It will be the most glorious event the world has ever seen (Read Rev. 19:11). The Church, aka – the Body of Christ—the wife of Christ will rule and reign with Christ during the earthly kingdom.

The Judgment of Nations:  The judgment of Gentiles will occur after the Tribulation Period and after the Second Coming of Christ. It will occur immediately after the Lord comes to the Earth to reign over His earthly kingdom (Matt. 25:31; Lk. 1:32). This judgment will be directed toward the gentile nations of people on Earth who help or do not help the children of Israel during the Tribulation Period because it is directed toward bringing the children of Israel to repentance. Those judged at this event will either be cast into the Lake of Fire or allowed to enter into the Millennial Reign, depending upon their actions toward "my brethren" (Read Matt. 25: 31-46). Those who aid the children of Israel (Jews) are represented as sheep in Matthew's Gospel account and those who do not help the Jews are represented by goats.

The Age of the Millennial Reign of Christ—Kingdom: This is the period when Christ Jesus will rule and reign upon the Earth from Jerusalem for 1,000 years. Those included in the Rapture will rule and reign with Him (Rom. 8:17; II Tim. 2:12). Today, the term "millennium" has overshadowed the use of the biblical term "kingdom." This is due to the mention of only the length of this period in Scripture, that is, the "one thousand years" of Revelation 20:1-5. The term is also used to minimize confusion between the spiritual and literal kingdoms of Christ. The Millennial Reign and the Kingdom have often been treated interchangeably. They are so called because Christ will set up a divine government on Earth over the nations of the world. It is the "thy kingdom come" of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:10).

The Creation of the New Heaven and New Earth: After the dissolution of the present heaven and earth at the end of the millennium, God will create a new heaven and a new earth (Isa. 65:17; 66:22; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1). By a definite act of creation God calls into being a new heaven and a new earth. As God created the present heavens and earth to be the scene of His theocratic display, so God will create the new heavens and earth to be the scene of the eternal theocratic kingdom of God. Israel's covenants guarantee the people the land, a national existence, a kingdom, a King, and spiritual blessings in perpetuity. Therefore, there must be an eternal earth in which these blessings can be fulfilled. By a translation out of the old earth Israel will be brought into the new earth, there to enjoy forever all that God has promised to them. Then it shall be eternally true… as seen in Revelation 21:3 "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." The creation of the new heavens and new earth is the final preparatory act anticipating the eternal kingdom of God. It will then be true, that God has a kingdom "wherein dwelleth righteousness."

Eternal Destiny of Believers:  In relation to the eternal destiny of believers, it is to be observed that their destiny primarily is related to a Person rather than a place. While the place looms with importance (John 14:3), the place is overshadowed by the Person into whose presence the believer is taken, as seen in these Scriptures:

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also (John 14:3).

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory (Col. 3:4).

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thess.4:16-17). Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2).

It is the Person who is emphasized in all the passages dealing with the glorious expectation of the Church rather than the place to which they are taken. We see, from passages such as Revelation 21:3 that the Lord Jesus Christ will be dwelling with men on the new earth in the eternal kingdom. Since Scripture reveals that the church will be with Christ, we can concluded that the eternal abode of the church will likewise be in the new earth, in that heavenly city—New Jerusalem, that has been especially prepared by God for the saints. Such a relationship would be the answer to the Lords Prayer for those God had given Him.

In Conclusion: We must know that God is our creator. There is one God and His name is Jesus, and He came and died, was buried and rose again. We are to follow the salvation plan of Jesus to be born of the water and the spirit. We identify with the death, burial, and resurrection by repenting, being baptized in Jesus name, and receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. There are warnings in the scriptures to let us know that Jesus is coming back for His bride. (Matt 24) We know that we have to follow the plan of salvation and be ready when He comes to take His bride home. No man knows the day or the hour that the Lord will come. We are to watch, look for the signs, and be ready to meet Him in the air. The chain of events following the rapture really are for those who miss the rapture because the church will already be gone. We can have an assurance in Jesus that if we follow the salvation plan, are obedient to His word, and seek Him first that we will make it in the rapture. We have nothing to fear because no matter how you look at it, we the church win! The rapture the catching away of the church will happen for the bride of Christ those who died after Pentecost and before the rapture and/or still living at rapture.

Revelation 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

If you are looking for the truth, looking for answers, and looking to find salvation. Feel free to contact me and I will point you to a church that can help you. My church website is www.alwchurch.com and my organization website is www.upci.org you can find me on facebook and message me on messenger as well or you can email me at maesong@gmail.com