Jesus Christ Arrives on January 1, 2008 - Is This True?

One of the greatest events that man awaits is the end of the world Among many Christian believers, this is also associated with the coming of Jesus Christ. Now, if people tells us that Jesus Christ is coming on January 1, 2008, could this be true?

How could man precisely know the exact date of Christ's coming? Is there a formula to compute? Would Jesus come secretly? Will He come with a huge space ship and land in Washington DC? These are questions that may be bothering many people today And people can be easily deceived if they do not know the truth!

The only solution to this is to go back to the Holy Bible. Let us search this book and see for ourselves what does Jesus himself have to say about this. Now, I will quote some verses in the Bible and I'd like you to grab a Bible yourself and read the verses I qoute to see for yourself if these are really true If you don't have a Bible, borrow one right now.

If you wish, go to your local bookstore and buy one. If there is no religious bookstore near you, you may order through the internet. One of the recommended online stores is www.holybiblestory.com.
I'll be using the King James Version for now

In Matthew 24:23-27, Jesus said, "(23)Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not (24)For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (25))Behold, I have told you before. (26)Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. (27)For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

If you notice I have placed numbers in between an open and close parenthesis. These are the exact verses - for reference purposes of our study.
Matthew 24:23-27 is actually a warning that Jesus Christ himself gave to his listeners and followers If He gave this warning to them, then this is also applicable to us today!

Notice in verse 24, he mentioned the words "deceive", "false christs", and "false prophets" Jesus himself is warning us that there could be religious leaders who could deceive any of us. There could be people who will say they are the Christ, or probably claim that Jesus has appointed them.

Added to these false claims, these deceiving people can also make wonders - perhaps miraculous things, magical powers or perhaps healing powers Matthew 24:23-27 is a strong warning of Jesus for all of us to be aware of. Because these false religious leaders could deceive even those of us who are very sincere Christians. So if you do not study God's words, you can be easily deceived.

So if you hear people say that Jesus is coming in the desert, do not believe it! Jesus even compares His coming like a lightning A lightning can be seen by many people The same thing holds true with His coming, many people will see Him coming!

In Matthew 24:36, Jesus said, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." Jesus is talking about His coming - that not a single person will know the exact date and time of His arrival! Even the angels in heaven do not know of the exact date and time of His arrival. The only exception mentioned by Jesus is God - the Father! So why will man claim that they have found the formula or the secret code of when Jesus will arrive? Why will man complicate the issue when Jesus himself tells us that nobody (except God - the Father), knows the exact date and time of His coming!
In Matthew 24:42, Jesus gives a strong advice, "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" In today's language, Jesus could say, "watch out". This means we should be prepared, or be ready because we do not know when He is coming!

Acts 1:9-11 describes how Jesus was taken to heaven As the followers of Jesus were looking at Him rising up by clouds, two men in white apparel were standing with them and told them something which is stated in verse 11. Verse 11 states, "Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Yes, these two men in white apparel could be angels.

The angels said that Jesus will come in the same manner as Jesus went to heaven If Jesus went to heaven in clouds, then He will come back with clouds! These men in white clothes did not say when would Jesus would be coming back. But they said something on how Jesus will come back. If the followers of Jesus saw him rising to heaven in clouds, then people will also see Him coming back from heaven with clouds.

In Matthew 24:30, Jesus describes plainly how He will come He says, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Take note here that Jesus describes himself in many occassions in the Bible as the "Son of man". The Holy Spirit is not a son of man. God the Father, is not a son of man. Among the Trinity, it is only Jesus who is born as the son of a human being.

Jesus is coming back riding in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory! This will not be a secret event because this event will be seen by many people!
Wow, what a day that will certainly be So, would you believe that Jesus Christ will be coming with a big space ship? Would you believe that He is arriving on January 1, 2008 at 6:00 a।m.? Or would you still believe that He is coming secretly at an unknown venue in the deserts?

Yes, my friends, there are many important answers to many of our questions today that are mentioned in the Holy Bible। All we need is study the word of God.



by VMT Singuillo

God's Hands

The following article is based on notes taken from a sermon I heard during our travels

Jeremiah 32:17 says, "Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee" Also, verse 27 says, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?"

God made the heaven and the earth by His great power and stretched out अThe earth did not come into being by a big explosion God created it. Look at Genesis chapter one.

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light।" (verse 3) "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters। And God made the firmament।" (verses 6,7a) "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so।" (verse 9) "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so।" (verse 11) "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so।" (verses 14,15) "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven" (verse 20) "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." (verse 24)

Though Genesis 2:19 says that God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air out of the ground, chapter 1 explains that they were formed out of the ground by order of the word of God। The earth, the sky, the land, the sea, animals, and space were all formed by the word of God. They did not come into being by a big bang. Man keeps looking for water on another planet and trying to find out if there is life on other planets, but God says, "For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else." (Isaiah 45:18) God created the earth with the purpose that it would be inhabited.

All these things were created by the power of the voice of God Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." God's handywork and glory are clearly visible with a look at the skies.

But God did something special when he created man The Bible says, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7) God formed man from the dust of the ground. Man is the work of God's own hands. Then God put Adam to sleep and did "surgery." "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." (Genesis 2:21-23)

The creation of man is very interesting When God created the man, He created the body first and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. God created man and woman differently. How do you know if person is male or female? How can you tell if a baby is a boy or girl? You can tell just by looking at the face if a person is male or female. It is difficult to comprehend how God did this amazing thing when He created male and female.

Man (humankind) is God's special creation, fashioned in God's own image by God's own hands He is the work of God's own hands. Man belongs to God. "Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." (Psalm 100:3) Man is God's own property. He belongs to God.

God also created a beautiful garden, Eden, and there he placed the man to keep it and dress it Along with the garden, God created two trees - the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God commanded the man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (See Genesis 2:17) At this time God pronounced the wages of sin. The wages of sin is death.

But Adam disobeyed God, and he and his wife Eve, ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Immediately they were cut off from fellowship with God. This was spiritual death. Their bodies also began to die immediately, and because of this sin death passed upon all men. Romans 5:12 says, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned"

But God provided a remedy As it says in Psalm 40:1,2, "I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." It is as if man is sinking in quick sand. Farther and farther down he sinks each day, but he is helpless. He cannot free himself from certain death in this quick sand. But God can reach down with His own hands and draw the man out of the pit and set his feet up on a rock. And this rock is God. In II Samuel 22:2 David sang these words of praise unto the Lord, "And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer."

What a picture this gives us! Man sinking down in the mire of sin, yet salvation is very nigh unto him Salvation is the rock close to the spot where the man is sinking. Man cannot save himself. He cannot pull himself up onto the rock. But God, with His own hands reaches down and brings man out of the horrible pit full of miry clay and sets him upon the rock and establishes his feet upon the right path.

When Jesus died upon the cross, He stretched out His hands and allowed men to put nails through His hands and nail Him to the cross Precious blood flowed out of those precious hands - precious cleansing blood offered to us through a God who loved us and stretched out His welcoming arms in death upon the cross for us.

Revelation 20:11-15 says, "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Every person is in the hand of God - some in His right hand and some in His left Consider these verses from Matthew chapter 25, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." (verses 31-34,41,46)

What about you? In which of God's hands are you - the right or the left? What is in the future for you? Do you know Jesus as your Saviour? Have you trusted in the Rock of Salvation to reach down and pull you out of the pit full of miry clay with His hands which made you and fashioned you and the hands which were nailed to the cross for you? What does the future hold for you? Where will you spend eternity - everlasting punishment or life eternal?

by Sue C.

God is Love

A good friend of mine, a Methodist, asked his minister if people who didn't believe in Jesus were destined for hell. The minister thought for a moment and said, "God is love." This reply is a sign of the shifting landscape of spirituality.

The original tenets of religion, that God, or the Ultimate, is ineffable, and that ego or self keeps us from this ineffable experience, has been replaced by man's imagination and religious constructions, therefore prohibiting any chance of a tangible change to take place in our hearts. And the wars and killing continue. But a new conscious awareness is rising, returning us to our true spiritual roots.

Successful spiritual institutions have always reflected their followers' level of conscious awareness. This is so because spiritual institutions are not isolated. When they become isolated, the conservatism they hope will preserve them is exactly what destroys them. Followers seldom challenge their spiritual institutions when they intellectually outgrow them; they just walk away.
As humanity evolves, and its level of understanding expands, the current institutions and their doctrines have no choice but to evolve as well. We are no longer ignorant people living in the dark ages. If institutions don't adapt, they will be discredited and replaced by institutions that satisfy the hunger of an evolving consciousness. This has happened throughout history, and it's happening now.

This new consciousness is not a choice for people, or something to be stamped out; it is inevitable, unstoppable. Attempts to stifle it will be temporary at best and eventually unsuccessful. It will be wiser to simply adjust, because armed with this new consciousness, an individual's religion will be thoroughly tested and investigated from a standpoint of free inquiry, no longer from a standpoint of blind belief and intimidation. The world is not becoming less religious; it is becoming truly religious.

Truth, that enigmatic quality of lasting peace and security in our hearts, cannot be imparted from an outside source; it must be experienced. Spiritual institutions that dictate, and then expect us to follow blindly, will no longer be tolerated. Just as democratic societies love political freedom, those of the new consciousness will demand spiritual freedom as well, where each individual will discover his or her own truth inwardly without fearing the judgment of an outside, authoritarian power. If you look carefully, you can see this happening all around us.

The old consciousness, which is a throwback to medieval belief systems handed down by authoritarian Gods, is giving way to new spiritual freedom. Controversies throughout the world reflect this change of behavior where ruthlessness is clashing with an arising sensitivity and intelligence. Falling in love with a religion, then defending it against all opposition is as illogical and emotional as a lover who instead of enjoying his new relationship, imagines dangerous rivals encircling his beloved, and falls into jealousy and protectionism, and effectively ruining all love. Fortunately, this form of lust is usually only a short-lived obsession for those with a developing new consciousness.

Institutions, including spiritual ones, which adjust to the needs of this new, evolving consciousness of individuality and freedom, will thrive. Those dragging their feet and fighting it will not. This will not happen overnight. Many will continue to look upon all of this as blasphemy, but those who examine things carefully will see the implications clearly, and prepare themselves for the coming changes.

Acceptance of this new reality is only beginning. The infighting and disagreements will be no different from clashes of cultures in the past, where new ideas are looked upon initially as so threatening that the messengers are shunned, sometimes killed. Eventually, new ideas ease their way into a society that can't quite accept them, but are intrigued nevertheless and acknowledge the new ideas as cultural jokes. Finally, new concepts are accepted seriously when the culture reinvents them as their own original ideas to fit into their particular beliefs, as they must.

This shift in consciousness is happening now. The human longing for creativity, historically reserved for the few artists, writers, and those of inspired occupations, is going mainstream. The need to be creative is overwhelming the need for pleasure and security. Artists think nothing of living in their cars while painting their masterpiece, writers hammering out pages in one-room apartments oblivious to worldly pursuits, while truly spiritual people are going deep inside, taking the time, the risk, and the sacrifices involved to understand themselves, to understand what Truth really means, to come face to face with the Ultimate, just as prophets throughout history had done. Why accept second hand spirituality from something read or heard?

Material things so valued in the past will no longer weigh us down. A certain level of material comfort is always necessary, but now more importantly, we will demand our time to create. No longer will it be, "How much money can I make?" but rather, "How can I make ends meet while I support my passion?" Will society as we know it change? Yes. Will crime decrease? Of course. Will we be a stronger and happier society? Definitely. We see this happening in small ways already. What passion could be more creative than authentically finding out what the Ultimate, sometimes defined as God, really is for oneself, instead of being spoon-fed, and mislead about our deepest spiritual experiences by unenlightened, self-righteous sermonizers seeking power and wealth.

Many ignore warnings that rich men have a better chance of passing through the eye of a needle than getting into heaven. The fact remains, however, that a rich man cannot relate to a poor man. He patronizes those less fortunate, but secretly, or even openly, fears them, seeing poverty as a threat, a reminder of what he could become because his values embrace only power and wealth. As a new consciousness evolves, however, we will become increasingly vulnerable and sensitive to the pain of those less fortunate, less intelligent, less endowed with creative energy. Those whose consciousness is slower in evolving will fight to maintain the status quo (to keep "economics" the real present day world religion), but nevertheless, a freedom from the mass hysteria that too often now represents our beliefs, will certainly evolve.

Christ and the Buddha recognized the blinding influence of wealth and organized religion, and gave us examples to follow. They were literally beggars, turning their backs on the established religion of the day armed only with enlightened minds. Currently, how many are prepared to follow them, that is; become enlightened? Who welcomes financial hardship and psychological upheaval in exchange for a spiritual life that, as promised by these two unique men, holds out the real possibility of total inner freedom instead of guilt and fear?

But because we lack faith, few have experienced an authentic spiritual life; we really don't believe the teachings of the Buddha and Christ. They tried to tell us about spirituality, but we weren't paying attention; we opted to take the easy way out - we built religions around these men instead of following their ways and finding true spirituality within ourselves - and we got what we deserved; a shallow understanding of spirituality. We don't intuitively feel it. We prefer to noisily talk and think about it while going about the business of amassing fortunes and worldly relationships, instead of reaching in the silence toward that Ultimate experience, sometimes referred to as God.

St. John of the Cross describes the risks of fame and fortune in his masterpiece; "The Ascent of Mount Carmel": . . . "and the fourth degree of evil that comes from joy of worldly things is: And he departed from God, his salvation. This man has made money and things of the world his God, and David said, 'Be thou not afraid when a man shall be made rich, for when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away, neither riches, nor joy, nor glory."

Clearly, we have refused to believe what was being taught, which is spiritual self-sufficiency through our own efforts. We refuse because it is more convenient to "just believe." If we are born in India, we believe as a Hindu. In Thailand, as a Buddhist. In the US as a Christian. We believe what our parents taught us because putting forth the effort or time to see for ourselves, to challenge authority, requires courage and work -- we are too busy with everything except our spiritual roots. We talk the talk, but we don't walk the walk, but this is all changing, and if you look closely, you can see the signs everywhere. The new consciousness is beginning and you can be a part of it.

It is always your choice.

by E. Raymond Rock
God is Love Copyright © E. Raymond Rock 2006. All rights reserved.