New Year Message for Troubled Times

Dear All,

I hope this message for a blessed new year finds everyone well and having enjoyed a blessed Christmas season also. Our family was extra joyous this Christmas, as God blessed us with a new grandson who was born on Dec. 3^rd and his name is Gideon Edward Calef! He is Kenneth and mine’s fifth grandchild and third child for my daughter Carolann and her husband, Russell. He has two big sisters to help take care of him, so we know he’s in for a very exciting childhood!! Since we’ve so recently celebrated the season of remembering Christ’s birth, I would like to take the opportunity to share with you why to me it is the most important birthday ever celebrated. I know some of you know my story of how I came to true salvation in Jesus Christ, and that He healed our family and marriage, but maybe some do not know all of my inner struggles that lead to it. I’ve come to the realization that our relationship with God is the most important one there is. I didn’t use to believe this, and want to explain to you why I do now. Even though it’s not easy to share these feelings with you, I want to, just in case any of you may have some of the same struggles and questions that I had, which may be especially troubling in the current chaotic, and rather frightening, condition that we find the world in. So it’s with this in mind that I ask, with gratitude, for your time and patience to read this entire letter, even though you may not agree with all of it.

You see, most of my life I have struggled with the belief that God would just forgive me for the many times I shamelessly sinned against Him by breaking His Holy laws. Because I wanted to believe this, I had to try and rationalize that the consequences wouldn’t be that terrible. God loves us, I told myself, He wouldn’t send people to Hell unless they were “really bad”. I’ll probably just go to Purgatory, for a while after I die, and make up for my sins there if I don’t always go to confession. (By the way, Purgatory, Limbo etc. are never mentioned in the Bible – only Heaven and Hell.) Or, since God is love, maybe there’s not really a Hell at all. I claimed to love and believe in God, but then denied Him by the way I lived most of my life. Maybe my life looked to most people to be much like theirs, and they didn’t consider me to be a “really bad” person at all. But God knows the heart, and any sin is a serious offense to Him. That’s why it only takes one disobedient act to alienate your self from Him, as is demonstrated in the fall of Adam and Eve, which to this day still affects us all! I was a hypocrite. I made excuses for, and tried to justify, my dishonesty, immorality, selfishness, and disrespect for Him and others. I did many “good things” that made up for my “mistakes”, that, by the way, I kept right on making. I’m more good than bad. I’m not really bad, just weak. Everyone else acts this way, so it must be ok. Times have changed. I told myself that most of God’s laws are not relevant anymore, as I accepted sin in my life as normal. God knows I can’t help it, it’s an addiction. It’s not my fault. Someone hurt me and made me act this way. And on and on…..poor me! These “rationalizations” made many areas of my life very dysfunctional. I thought it was all about “finding myself” through accomplishing something in my life that would make it meaningful. My happiness and self esteem were very important. That’s what the world would have us believe. But even though I tried to bury them, the nagging doubts would resurface. It just didn’t make sense. Could I really go through life doing what I felt was right, or living the way I wanted to, even if it was in opposition to what God had ordained? And if not, could I really atone for my sins by “doing good things” or going to confession? Was saying 5 Hail Marys and 10 Our Fathers really a just penalty for defying and offending an Almighty, Sovereign God that had made me, the world and everything in it? And why was praying considered a penance anyway? I thought it was supposed to be how we communed with and praised God! And even when my life was full and very happy, there was still always a part of me that was a little afraid and uneasy. I never felt sure of what the real meaning of our existence was. What are we really here for? And no matter what I accomplished or how happy I was, I never felt totally at peace or complete. I was always chasing and longing for “something better”. Then when things didn’t turn out as I planned, I would resort to feeling depressed again, and let feelings of hopelessness and failure pull me down. It was a vicious circle! I just kept coming back to the haunting question - If it was ok to obey only the laws of God that I felt applied to me and ignore the ones I didn’t feel were relevant anymore, or make up for it by going to confession, or doing good, or suffering in Purgatory, then what did Christ die for? If we can atone for our sins and get to Heaven on our own, then why did Christ believe His death and resurrection were necessary? (And He began to teach them that the Son of Man (an Old Testament term for The Messiah, which Jesus often used to refer to Himself. Daniel 7:13, Ps 80:17) must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. Mark 8:31, …”The Son of Man…came to give His life a ransom for many.” Matt 20:28, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” John 10:11, “Therefore my Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me , but I lay it down of Myself. ” John 10:17-18) And since I believe Christ’s claim that He is “God made flesh” how could I presume to doubt what He believed?!!! (“I and My Father are One.” John 10:30, “He who has seen Me, has seen the Father…” John 14:9)

Then a few years ago, during a very difficult time in my life, I finally realized that I had to be wrong about how I was living, and turned to God in great desperation and remorse, and asked Him to show me what His will for my life was, and change me to be able to live it (instead of asking Him to grant my wishes). Soon I began to want to let Him direct my life, and I learned from other Christians who shared their faith in God’s truth with me, and by studying God’s inspired Word and revelation of Himself, The Bible, that only God can truly complete us. I discovered that instead of life being about “finding my self and my truth”, it’s actually about losing myself in order to find His absolute truth and eternal life. (“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” Mark 8:35-36). I discovered that it’s not about self fulfillment. It’s about self denial, obedience, serving, and being humble as Christ showed us with His life! As Paris Reedhead, a great Bible teacher and man of God once said, “The mistake that humanistic man makes is in thinking that the end of all being is man’s happiness. The reality is that the end of all being is God’s glory!” Only through glorifying Him will we find true self-fulfillment and completion, because the Bible says that’s what we are designed for! (“For Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created” Rev 4:11.) It’s not all about us, it’s all about Him! It’s not about serving my self or the world, or even other men. It’s about serving God. When you serve God, you will serve other men and do good works, but you will do it for His glory, not your own or the world’s. I also learned that thinking God could just forgive me is an error in man’s understanding of sin and God’s nature. Because God’s perfect Holiness can not co-exist with any of man’s sinfulness. Did you know that “good” technically means “morally perfect”? It is a derivative of “God”. So you see when we call ourselves “good”, we are being extremely generous, because none of us is morally perfect. We are all morally imperfect because we have all inherited sin or disobedience from Adam. ( For as by one man’s (Adam) disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man’s (Jesus) obedience many will be made righteous. Rom 5:19, As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12) God is the only one who is good or morally perfect, and good can’t co-exist with evil. Hell is a reality because man has an incompatibility problem with God!! (“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23) From God’s perspective we are all evil and not good, because we have all sinned. Therefore, God’s “perfect justice” requires man’s “spiritual death” as restitution for man’s sin. (i.e., God’s wrath, which is eternal punishment in Hell - For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Romans 1:18, For the wages of sin is death… Romans 6:23). If He didn’t require justice He would be corrupt, and since God is perfect, He has to demand justice. But the joyous news is that God still loves us and doesn’t want us to suffer His wrath! (For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16, The Lord is… not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9) That’s why His Son, Jesus, Who He gave to us and Who is God, is the only one Who can save us, because He is the only man Who ever lived without sin! He loved us so much that He humbled Himself and became one of us to pay our death penalty with His perfect life, so by His grace (unmerited favor) it could be substituted for our sinful ones!! (Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:24-26) Then He overcame death by His resurrection, so those that love and believe in Him can have eternal life! (I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Hosea 13:14, Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? 1Cor 15:54-55) This is why it is not valid to believe that God wouldn’t send a “good” person to Hell, just because he or she doesn’t accept Jesus as the only way to salvation. The point is that no one is “good” without receiving the redemptive and restorative work of Jesus. Everyone would go to Hell if Jesus hadn’t endured and satisfied God’s wrath for us. Jesus did this not only for our sakes, but, more importantly, for His own Glory and to justify God‘s forgiveness of man’s sin! It reveals to us that He is the only solution to our problem and that salvation is His work alone and not dependant on anything in us or outside of Him. There is nothing in the Bible that says salvation is by the work of Jesus plus anything or anyone else. The Bible says that Jesus is the only person Who was born without Original Sin and the only person Who never sinned. Therefore no one else is worthy to receive His glory or veneration and no one else can redeem us. The Bible says that before He died, Christ said “It is finished!” John 19:30, which meant He would never need to die for our sins again. Jesus also explained that when He said to eat His flesh and drink His blood for eternal life, He meant spiritually not literally. The Jews therefore quarreled amongst themselves, saying “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them “Does this offend you?” “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are life.” John 6:52, 60, 61, 63 He instructed us at the Last Supper to partake of bread and wine symbolically as His body and blood at communion, as a remembrance of Him. It also explains in the Old Testament that the Levite priests were chosen by God to offer the people’s animal sacrifices to Him as a symbolic, temporary covering for their sins, until God provided His own permanent sacrifice or redemption for the forgiveness of their sins. God’s people were saved in the Old Testament by having faith in and believing that God would provide His Lamb for their redemption and forgiveness of their sins, which was the basis for God’s Covenant with them and promise of a Messiah. When Jesus, God’s spotless, perfect Lamb, was sent to us, He was the last and Great High Priest Who offered up His own Ultimate and final Sacrifice on the cross to God for the forgiveness of our sins, so priests are no longer necessary. So you see according to the Bible, the Pope’s decrees, or Joseph Smith’s other Gospel, or Oprah and other celebrities’ newest doctrine of the month, or tradition, or ritual, or keeping the law (the Bible tells us that the law is given to show us that we aren’t capable of keeping it without Jesus’ regeneration!) are all things that man has added to God, so are not valid. (How long, O you sons of men, will you turn My Glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood? Ps 4:2) It is not Jesus plus anyone or anything. It is ONLY Jesus!! (“Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:10, 12) Scripture, and Jesus Himself, tells us that any other doctrine but the Gospel in the Bible, which is salvation by faith in Jesus alone, is invented by men and false. (But even if we, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel to you, let him be accursed. Gal 1:8 “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Mark 7:7) He eliminates any basis for pride as well as any cause to despair. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Eph 2:8-9)

With this realization my spirit soared, my soul rejoiced! It made perfect sense! There were no more doubts or questions. No more wondering what to believe or how to live. I had assurance of my salvation, blessed assurance!! What fleeting pleasures, accolades or achievements of this world could compare with that?!! The difficulties, struggles, and tragedies, of this world are but temporary trials now, which can never overshadow an eternity of perfect existence with God!! This then is what gives true meaning and reason to our life, and answers our questions of right and wrong. Jesus Christ and His cross!! (For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. Job 19:25) In the words of A. W. Tozer, a sincerely devoted man of God and a recognized Bible scholar and pastor, “The atonement in Jesus Christ's blood is perfect; there isn't anything that can be added to it. It is spotless, impeccable, flawless. It is perfect as God is perfect. Justice is over on our side now because the agony of God on the cross has changed our moral situation. For that holy suffering there on the cross and that resurrection from the dead cancels our sins and abrogates our sentence, so that God’s perfect justice now looks and see equality not iniquity because it sees Christ’s life not ours, and we are justified! God the mighty Maker, died for man the creature's sin! Oh friends, why are we so still? Why are we so quiet? We ought to rejoice and thank God with all our might!” But since to receive this grace, we must give up all of our excuses, selfishness, and pride, and through faith repent, and trust our lives to Him, many reject it. Doesn’t he deserve His reward and His glory? That’s what the Bible says we are to Him! He died for you also. He beckons you to come to Him just as He did me. You see, the Bible says God knows we can’t obey and submit to His will by ourselves, because we are fallen and corrupt (“The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mat 26:41). That’s why, we must sincerely repent of our sins (turn away from and have true remorse for) and with faith turn towards Christ and ask Him to change us, (which means giving up the false belief that we know what’s best for ourselves instead of Him) then He will change or regenerate us by His power through His Holy Spirit coming into us and enabling us to love, obey and serve Him. This is being “born again” as a new man or creature, living in and by the “Spirit”, and dying to the “flesh” of the old man. (Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 )

I don’t think most of us fully realize the significance and magnitude of what the Bible means when it says that Jesus “took our place and our punishment” in order for God’s justice to be satisfied and allow Him to forgive us. It was God’s wrath which He endured with His death on the cross (He actually experienced the horrific pain and torment of Hell), and that was the reason He prayed “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42), in the garden of Gethsemane before His arrest. The Bible says that He was in such agony over the knowledge of what He would suffer under the Father’s wrath, that He sweated blood as He earnestly prayed. (Luke 22:44) He knew He would feel the utter desolation, terror, pain and despair of the crushing anger and torment that God’s righteous hatred for sin evokes. That was the true agony He suffered for us. The crucifixion was secondary to God’s wrath. (He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted But he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all …though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief. When You(God) make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Isaiah 53: 3-6, 9,10) But if we persist in believing that we can control our own fate and don’t need to trust Jesus, we will spend an eternity in hell to pay the penalty of God’s justified wrath. Jesus laid down His body and His very life in His fervent effort to stop us, but many trample right over Him on their blind, prideful march to damnation!! If you don’t already serve Him, I’m asking you to please consider carefully whether you choose to trust Him or turn away. Because if you turn away, Christ says you truly go to your destruction, no matter where you go or who you turn to (“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Mat 7:13-14). Jesus told us in His Holy Word that He is the only way to salvation. (Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through Me.” John 14:6) He told us this truth so we wouldn’t be deceived by the lies of the ungodly world, so please don’t be! Also the Bible states many times that Jesus was not created by God, as angels and men were. He has always existed just as the Father has always existed. (He was in the beginning with God. John1:2) He is the only begotten Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, equal to the first person in the Trinity, God the Father, and to the third person in the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, Who are all three equal persons in ONE God and Who are ALL God! (Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness..” Gen 1:26, It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from Heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” Mark 1: 9-11) Therefore, He is not the brother of Lucifer, He is not Michael the Archangel, and He is not just a great man or teacher or prophet. He is God made Man Who is the only Saviour from the Wrath to come!! Please don’t be deceived about this!

If any of you are fearful of the state the world is in now, please carefully consider what kind of relationship you have with Jesus, because those who belong to Him have nothing to fear from these turbulent times! The Bible says that Christ came the first time to reconcile sinners to God through His death and resurrection. He is coming back at the end times of this world to take His church (believers) bodily to Himself in the Rapture, pour out His Spirit again on Israel (re-establish His covenant with them and make it known to them that Jesus is God and their Messiah) and cast out all evil and unrighteousness (Satan and those that reject Jesus and the truth) during the great Tribulation. Then He will restore the earth and establish everlasting righteousness, justice, and peace in His eternal kingdom, which He will reign over from the holy city of Jerusalem, because He is the true King of Kings. This is what Jesus had to say about the end times: (And Jesus answering them, began to say:…”For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows.” Matt 24:7-8, “Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.(the Rapture) Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” Matt 24:40-42, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. Matt24:21, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And then He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” Matt 24:29-31) Many Bible scholars believe that this second coming of Christ is what many people, especially Jews, have been confused about, and caused them to reject Him as the Messiah foretold of in the Old Testament. (For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. Isaiah 9: 6-7) The two different comings of The Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament have been incorrectly interpreted by many people as only one coming. And since Jesus didn’t restore the Jewish nation and set up God’s Kingdom here on earth the first time He came, most of the Jewish people rejected Him as their Messiah. (The first Christians were Jews of course.) But there are record numbers of Jewish people coming to Christ , as well as Muslims and pagans, so He is radically opening the eyes and hearts of many who don’t know Him, at a time that is certainly critical! The Jews and Israel are still God’s chosen people, and nation, that He instituted and made His Covenant with thousands of years ago, to proclaim Him as the one true God again, to all the people of the world which had turned away from Him and made false Gods to worship, but more importantly, to bring salvation to the world through its offspring! Their Covenant was broken when Jesus was rejected as the Messiah, but in the end times God will acknowledge the nation of Israel as His people again, and pour His Spirit out upon them. (“When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out MY Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God.” Ezekiel 39:27-29) Scripture also says that the world will be reached with the Gospel as it is preached by Israel when God shines forth through them in the end times tribulation. (For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the Lord will rise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Isaiah 60:2-3) That’s why the Jewish nation should be so precious to us all, and why we should all pray that our leaders will always support and defend Israel and never let the US turn its back on her. If the US does turn on Israel, it will be cursed according to the Bible. (“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Gen 12:3) The chaotic state that the world is in now, including the current strife in the middle east caused by terrorist attacks on Israel, is foretold of throughout the Old Testament (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah in particular) and the New Testament (especially Revelation) as the end times leading to the Great tribulation and Jesus Christ’s return! You may say that the world has seen chaos like this before and it hasn’t been the end, so why is this different? It is different because Israel has now been allowed to come back to their sacred homeland, given to them by God, and be recognized as a nation and country again. The re-establishment of the Jewish nation in its promised homeland is foretold of in the Bible as the signal of the beginning of the end times! (Then say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land…Ezekiel 37:21, “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, …“Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it? Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. You will come up against my people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.” Ezekiel 38:14-16, “Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord”. Ezekiel 38:23 ) According to the Bible, God will defend Israel in these end times and protect her from all those who would seek to destroy her!! (“ Thus says the Lord God: Behold I am against you , O Gog…I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen…Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet...Ezekiel 38:3,4,5…In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. Ezekiel 38:8-9, ”And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord God, “that My fury will show in My face. And I will bring judgment to him with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.” Ezekiel 38:18, 22) God’s promised protection of Israel has already been demonstrated several times; such as the attack by the Arab nations on Israel shortly after it became a nation again in 1948, the Six Day War of 1967, and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, all of which could have destroyed the State of Israel, because it was greatly out numbered by it’s Arab nation attackers. Miraculously the Israeli forces were enormously victorious; especially in the 1967 War, which gained them all of the territories they still have today, which were previously occupied by the Arab nations! The rescue of the Jewish hostages, held by Ugandan, Palestinian, and German, Muslim terrorists at the Entebbe airport in 1976, by the Israeli government was also nothing short of a miracle

In closing, please know that I share God’s truth of the Bible with you out of genuine love and concern, and that I respect your choice to believe or not believe what I’ve told you, but also please consider that the truth is the truth, whether you believe it or not. If you believe however, as many do these days, that there is no absolute truth, you find your self in dubious company according to the Bible – Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” John 18:37 And if you don’t believe that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of God that He provided to reveal Himself and His salvation through Christ to us, then how do you believe He reveals Himself and His truth? Of course He did give us a conscience, but that only tells us what’s right and wrong (if we listen to it, that is, but men have become very adept at blocking it out). It doesn’t tell us how we are to be reconciled to Him when we do wrong or what His truth is. If you are trusting your own heart to tell you what’s true, according to Jesus it’s probably not a very good idea, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Matt 15:19) And if you don’t believe there is a God, how do you manage to go on in this world so full of chaos, depravity, corruption and injustice? How do you determine what truth or righteousness is? What do you base it on? If this life and this world is all there is, where do you draw your hope from? Everything is just left to chance! For me it takes far more faith to believe that extremely complex, sentient beings like men simply evolved by chance, than it does to believe that we have a Creator. I would really be curious to know, because I found no credible answers outside of God and the Bible. I know this is very long, and I apologize, but I felt moved to convey this message to you all, just in case we are near the end and you, like I, didn’t know the Bible foretells all these things to warn us of what we need to do to be saved from God’s judgment of punishment. Thank you again for taking the time to read my letter, and I welcome any comments, thoughts, questions, or arguments, any of you might have here or at my e-mail address at hotmail: merry_jo_p. I do realize that some may dismiss me as being foolish, intolerant, or fanatical, as well as ridicule, and maybe even be angry with me for sharing the Gospel with you, but I expect that, and it will not change the love I have for you, and I hope it won’t change your feelings for me. After all, in America, one of our freedoms that we are so proud of is freedom of belief, and I choose to believe the truth of the Bible. Besides, I don’t mind being thought of as a little “out there” for the Lord’s sake!! I have one last parting scripture for you to consider if you believe that what I’ve said is nothing but foolishness. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1Cor 1:18

My love and prayers in Christ, Merry Jo