This is a weekly
series that will include a brief summary of the latest articles that have been
published on The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter. Hopefully, this will encourage you to go
check out some truly outstanding articles that have been published by a number
of truly outstanding authors. Moreover,
I hope this will also encourage you to want to become a contributing member/author,
as well. The “Hear Ye! Hear Ye!” site explanation near the top of
the side-bar should answer many of your questions. Yes, this series also included an “SOS! (Spam
On Saturdays)” segment before, but it
just wasn’t working for me. Therefore,
that will be replaced by a republishing of one of the Trib articles.
[Becoming Human on NOVA] contains some commentary by me about evolutionary scientists
presenting theories as facts.
[Those Idiotic Stickers on the Backs of Cars with a Kid’s Name] is another infamous
rant by Lavender Darwin.
[Signs of Faith: Walker Pastor Robert Barnes Takes His Mission and Message to theStreet] is by Lavender, and it contains an image of the good pastor that is
linked to a featured article about him.
[Westboro To Protest My Cowboys] is a completely justified rant by me.
[The Conversion of Menno Simons – Abraham Friesen] is from Lavender about the
beginnings of the Mennonite denomination.
[Why I Am Not A Nurse] has Lavender explaining why we should all be grateful for
small favors, such as not having to worry about him taking care of us in a
hospital.
If
anything, [Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero] provides us with a taste of what our
Heavenly Father endures each and every minute of each and every day. For He hears billions upon billions of
questions being asked by those who have no expectation of ever receiving an
answer from Him, and He listens to millions upon millions talking about Him
without having any real desire to actually talk with Him. Rhetorical questions. Meaningless conjecture. It was indeed an honest presentation of just
how far we have fallen away from Him.
No,
none of this is meant to diminish the magnitude of the tragedy. Neither is it meant to dismiss the profound
sense of loss that was (and still is) felt by so many, so deeply.
Yet,
has He not made it clear that physical death does not have to be the end of our
lives? So, where is all of this grief
coming from—especially in the Christian community?
Alas,
that sounds awfully cold, but only from our own ground-based
points-of-view. For the end of their
time as a part of this world marks the end of their suffering for all who are
truly in Christ. So, why were those
“good Christians” acting as if our Heavenly Father did something evil by
delivering their loved ones from the curse of having to live in this world any
longer?
Yes,
it is written in [Ecclesiastes 9:4] that even a live dog is better off than a
dead lion, but is this not as if all things were equal? Furthermore, is not the absolute truth of the
matter made abundantly clear through the Apostle Paul? For it is written: For me to live is Christ (His life in me),
and to die is gain (the gain of the glory of eternity). [Philippians 1:21 AMP]
No,
this is not to say that we should long for death. For our time in this world is meant for the
doing of the good things that our Heavenly Father created each and every one of
us to do [Ephesians 2:10].
Nonetheless,
may we keep in mind that our time in this world has always been meant to be
temporary [2 Corinthians 4:18], and it will be full of trouble [John 16:33]. Ah, but it will be as it should
be in the end. For it is written: I consider that
our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be
revealed in us. For the creation waits
in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to
frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected
it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to
decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. [Romans 8:18-21 NIV]
Come
on now, if you were given an opportunity to suffer a horrible injury, which you
would fully recover from in a relatively short amount of time while being given
more money than you could even start to spend during the rest of your time in
this world, wouldn’t you take it?
Despite the fact of none of us being given a choice of whether or not we
want to suffer the injury, does this not sound fairly similar to what our lives
in this world is like?
Of
course, that scenario was presented in natural terms. For there is nothing in
this world that compares to spending all of eternity with our Heavenly Father
in His Kingdom of Heaven as an heir to all that is His in glory. For it written: Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no
longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the
new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride
beautifully dressed for her husband. And
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now
among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God
himself will be with them and be their God.
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’
or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away.” He who was seated on the throne
said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these
words are trustworthy and true.” He said
to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To
the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of
life. Those who are victorious will
inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile,
the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the
idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning
sulfur. This is the second death.” One
of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came
and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a
mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down
out of heaven from God. It shone with
the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel,
like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had
a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On
the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on
the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations,
and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a measuring
rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long
as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000
stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. The angel measured the wall using human
measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick.
The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as
glass. The foundations of the city walls
were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was
jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh
chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the
eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.
The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to
shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its
lamp. The nations will walk by its
light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for
there will be no night there. The glory
and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will
anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are
written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then
the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal,
flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great
street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing
twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the
tree are for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb
will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be
on their foreheads. There will be no
more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for
the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
[Revelation 21:1-22:5 NIV]
P.S.:
If you think that I have become immune to the natural feelings of others, be
assured that I most certainly have not.
In fact, I am unable to provide the lyrics/text to the following videos
because of becoming too overwhelmed with emotion, which is a mixture of both
deep sadness and profound joy, every time I hear them.
Link: [On YouTube]
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