Salvation

ABSENT FROM THE BODY

~ Tony Busquets ~ Leave a comment

One morning a man of faith went for a walk along his favorite path that took him by a river and provided a beautiful view of the mountains.  During the walk, he is joined by God.  At first, the man was surprised and stopped in his tracks and knelt before God.  God asked the man to get and go walking with Him.  God asked the man to point out his favorite things he likes to see on his walks.  During the walk, the man and God went in front of the river and watched as the fish were swimming up the river and the ducks were playing on the water.  They walked a little further and looked at the mountains in the distance and saw the snow on top of the mountains.  They went up a little further and looked at the valleys from atop the mountains, seeing the lakes, the forests, the blue sky with the clouds, and the sun peeking thru the clouds.  As they continued to walk, they looked out over the lake and the mountains behind it as the sun was getting ready to set.  The man realized they had been walking most of the day but did not realize how much time had passed.  He and God had a great time together.  The man turns to God and says he is a long way from home.  God looked at the man and said that he had so much fun with him that he wants the man to stay with him at his home.  God brought the man to His home in heaven and placed his body back in his house letting his family know that He was at home with the Lord.

Even though it is not Biblically correct, God walks with each of us who are called “God’s Children” or Christians.  And on the appointed day God will call you home to be with him.   And at this time all of us have a 100% chance of experiencing death unless the Rapture happens.

As saved Children of God, we will spend our Eternity with Him.  At the moment of our death, we will be “Absent from the Body and Present with the Lord” 2 Corinthian 5:6. It is at this moment we come face to face with our Lord.

While we are in the body, meaning alive, we must live as Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church in the 2d letter to the Corinthians – “We need to walk by Faith and not by Sight” 2 Corinthians 5:7.  We know what is waiting for us when we pass into death because of our faith in Jesus.  Jesus has told us that We, God’s Children, have a place in Heaven and He (King Jesus) is preparing a place for us.  And know that Jesus is preparing a place for us, we know that we have a place in Heaven when our time on Earth has ended. 

Paul, who by profession was a tent maker, wrote the following “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2 Corinthians 5:1.  The basis of this verse is something Jesus told the Twelve Apostles at the Last Supper “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:2-3.  This is the faith we have, the assurance that Jesus is coming back for us at the time of God’s choosing.  But also, when we have shed our earthly tent, meaning our earthly bodies, we will be present with the Lord and will be at home with Jesus in Heaven. 

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith in the following manner “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  By Faith, we know we are saved since we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  By Faith, we know Jesus is preparing a place for us.  By Faith, we also know that those Christian Brothers and Sisters that have gone before us are in Heaven waiting for us, but are having the time of their Eternal Lives because they are in the company of God and all the Heavenly Saints.  We have conviction that thru our Faith we will have Eternal life once we leave our Earthly Tents, our Earthly Bodies, and are brought forth in the presence of our Lord. 

While we are here on earth we will have trials, good times, bad times, bruises, skin knees, sunburns, and all the things that come with life.  “Once we shed this body, we will be given new bodies in the Eternal Life to come.  For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.” 2 Corinthians 5:4 

I have this hope.  In the same way, Jesus gave the same hope to the Thief on the Cross beside him.  Even at the last moment of his life, the Thief asked Jesus to remember him in Paradise.  Luke 23:42-43 records the conversation this way “And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  God gives us a time frame – while we are alive Our Father gives us time to accept Jesus as Our Lord and Savior.  It is when we have passed into the afterlife that it is too late. 

During my time on Earth, I want to be a good ambassador for Christ.  I don’t want to be known as a Sunday Christian and a Monday – Saturday normal person.  I want to be known as one who walks in the light, walks with the Word of God written on my heart, and is pleasing.  For it is written in “Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” 2 Corinthians 5: 8 – 10. 

Walking as a Sunday Christian means I have one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom of God.  What that means in reality is that I have not completely surrendered to Jesus, and I am walking in the world.  You cannot be a Sunday Christian or a part-time Christian. Either you have given your life to Christ or have not.  I know some struggle with faith or go thru trials and may feel that they are not completely Christians.  Those people need to look in their hearts to determine if they are truly saved, truly Christians, or not.  And if they are not, then they need to decide if they want to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  I am speaking about those who say they are Christians, might attend a bible group and go to Church on Sunday, and the rest of the week act like everyone else in the world.  Those are the people that need to think about where they are in their walk with the Lord and determine where they want to spend eternity – in Heaven or Hell. 

As 2 Corinthians 5:10 says “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”  We will all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ.  Everyone who existed will be gathered before Him and he will separate everyone into two groups.  One group Jesus will invite into Heaven to spend eternity with Him.  The second group – I will let you read it from Matthew 25:41 and 44-47 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not [e]take care of You?’  Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’  These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”  We will all face Judgement.  I hope to be in the group that is brought into Heaven.  I hope you are too. 

The chain of events for the end of our lives is simple.  We will be present in the body absent from the Lord while we are alive.  However, as a Christian, we have the Lord living in us.  As death approaches, we instantly are absent from the body and present with the Lord.  We face our Eternal Judgement and learn our fate – Heaven or Hell.  I hope you accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  

There is an old saying:  For Christians, the Earth is the only Hell we will ever know.  For the Non-Christian, the Earth is the only Heaven they will know. 

If any of this has touched your heart and you want to have a relationship with Our Father and Our Lord Jesus Christ, and you want to spend eternity in Heaven and Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or you feel you have backslidden and want to repent then please pray this prayer:

DEAR LORD, I KNOW I AM A SINNER.  I KNOW I HAVE HOPE IN JESUS.  I WANT TO REPENT OF MY SINS AND COME TO YOU TO ASK FORGIVENESS.  I WANT TO ASK YOU TO FORGIVE MY SINS, CLEANSE ME OF MY SINS, GIVE ME THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE WITH JESUS, AND I WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS IS MY LORD AND SAVIOR AND HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR ME.  I ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO COME INTO ME AS THE GUARANTEE OF MY SALVATION AND WANT TO REPENT OF MY SINS.  ALL THIS I ASK IN JESUS HOLY AND PRECIOUS NAME, AMEN

If you prayed that prayer then I want to say CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF BELIEVERS.  The Angels, The Saints, The Lord Jesus, and all who have gone before us are having a party in Heaven because you chose Jesus.  And I want to welcome you to the family.  Find a good Bible-based church and continue to learn about Jesus.  We are all on this Journey together.  And in the end we will hear God say “Well Done my good and faithful servant!”

THE PATHWAY TO HEAVEN

~ Tony Busquets ~ Leave a comment

You were just given a map to get to a destination by car.  To get to that destination from your present location has very precise instructions and there is only one path to get to that destination.  You have to take an elevated bridge that goes over the city, over a body of water, and ends at your destination.  You take any other roads and you will not get to the destination.  Oh, and you only have enough fuel to get you to your destination.  And if you leave the path you will end up in the most dangerous part of town.  And there are no gas stations between where you are and where you are going.  Would you follow the directions you were provided, or would you chance it?

Sadly, this is the view of many people today. 

Jesus tells us that His Kingdom is not of this world.   While facing Pontius Pilate before his crucifixion Jesus told him that His is the Kingdom of Heaven.  John 18:36 relays Jesus’ answer to Pilate in the following way: Jesus answered, “My kingdom [a]is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not [b]of this realm.”  Jesus is from the Kingdom of Heaven and that is where He rules from. 

During the Last Supper prior to His Crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples that He was going away and would return.  However, He would come back to get us.  Recorded in John 14 Jesus said, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.  And you know the way where I am going.”

Heaven is a real place.  Jesus gave examples of some of the people who are in Heaven and who will be at his banquet in Matthew 8:11 “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven.” 

Jesus tells us Heaven is a real place and the Saints that have passed on (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) are there. 

The Bible records two instances in the New Testament of Jesus’s Apostles allowed to see Heaven and discuss it.  2 Corinthians 2:12 is Paul’s testimony of seeing Heaven.  This is his testimony “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven.”  It must have been so magnificent that Paul did not know how to describe it.  This is the reason he kept it vague. 

In Revelation 4:1 John of Patmos was called to Heaven.  I will only write the beginning of his description of Heaven for you: “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”  Immediately I was [a]in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.  And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.” 

Two different witnesses in the New Testament who witnessed Heaven wrote down what God inspired them to write. 

But how do we get there?  Jesus gives us clear instructions about how to get to Heaven.  It begins with the passage of scripture everyone is familiar with  – John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His [e]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  This is the passage of scripture that guarantees eternal life for everyone.  All God wants for us is to believe in Jesus and we will have eternal life.  No magic formulas, no secret handshakes, only believe in Jesus. 

At the Last Supper Thomas asked Jesus where he was going.  As recorded in John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” 

Jesus gives us eternal life.  For everyone who says, “But it is eternal life in Jesus.”  Where do Jesus and God live?  They live in Heaven. 

Isaiah 66:1 says of God “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.”  And Jesus told his Disciples in Matthew 24:30 “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” This scripture talks about Jesus coming down from the Heavens, which is the skies above the earth. 

Acts 1: 9 – 11 states “When He had spoken these things, while they looked, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him from their sight. While they looked intently toward heaven as He ascended, suddenly two men stood by them in white garments. They said, “Men of Galilee, why stand looking toward heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you to heaven, will come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Jesus ascended into Heaven.  And in the same way, He went up into Heaven, Jesus will return for His people. 

To summarize, there is a Heaven.  The Saints and all who have been saved, who have gone before us are waiting for us.  Jesus is preparing a room for us in Heaven.   All we have to do is accept the free gift of God for our Salvation by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 

If any of this has touched your heart, please read below:

If you want to spend life in Heaven and Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or you feel you have backslidden and want to repent then please pray this prayer:

DEAR LORD, I KNOW I AM A SINNER.  I KNOW I HAVE HOPE IN JESUS.  I WANT TO REPENT OF MY SINS AND COME TO YOU TO ASK FORGIVENESS.  I WANT TO ASK YOU TO FORGIVE MY SINS, CLEANSE ME OF MY SINS, GIVE ME THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE WITH JESUS, AND I WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS IS MY LORD AND SAVIOR AND HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR ME.  I ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO COME INTO ME AS THE GUARANTEE OF MY SALVATION AND WANT TO REPENT OF MY SINS.  ALL THIS I ASK IN JESUS HOLY AND PRECIOUS NAME, AMEN

If you prayed that prayer, then I want to say CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF BELIEVERS.  The Angels, The Saints, The Lord Jesus, and all who have gone before us are having a party in Heaven because you chose Jesus.  And I want to welcome you to the family.  Find a good Bible-based church and continue to learn about Jesus.  We are all on this Journey.  And in the end, we will hear God say “Well Done my good and faithful servant!”

IS HELL REAL?

~ Tony Busquets ~ Leave a comment

Imagine you just committed the most horrendous crime.  It was something really bad that included violence, a large heist, with property damage, and some people were injured and killed.  But, you got caught and are now facing a long time in jail for your actions.  You know it is going to be bad and you will no longer have any freedom.  And you committed this crime in a third-world country where the jail conditions are extremely miserable.  My friends, what I have just described are better conditions than what eternity in Hell would be like.

There is a dangerous theology circulating that there is no Hell.  The theology states that even if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior that you still will not go to Hell because Hell does not exist.  Or the torment will last a small amount of time in comparison to eternity and you will be allowed into Heaven.  Simply stated I ask where is that in the Bible?

The Bible I read has many scripture verses about Hell.  And the verses are from Jesus himself. And the scriptures support Jesus teaching about Hell – truthfully those are not needed because if it comes from Jesus then that testimony is good enough for me.

Hell was described as a place in the Old Testament in the Book of Job.  Job 31:11a states ‘It is a fire that burns all the way to hell.”  Job is describing Hell as if it is a real place.

Jesus would also warn the Sadducees and the Pharisees of His time of the coming judgment and prison sentence in Hell.  Placed into context below:

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’

“But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. 33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?                        -Matthew 23: 29 – 32 (NLT)

In one of Jesus’ Parables recorded in Luke 16, He used an example of a rich man and another man named Lazarus (Not the Lazarus He raised from the dead).  Jesus explained how the Rich young ruler who lived in lavish splendor and Lazarus was covered in sores and would lay at the gates to the Rich Man’s house. 

As the parable continues Lazarus died, was buried, and was escorted to Heaven by Angels.  The Rich Man died, was buried,  and was sent to “the place of the dead.”  To put it plainly the Rich Man went to Hell.   And the fact the Rich Man went to Hell, he was being tormented, which is also described in the parable.  The parable is copied below :

Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.

“Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet.[e] The rich man also died and was buried, and he went to the place of the dead.[f] There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.

“The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’

“But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’                              –  Luke 16: 19 – 26

As the parable continues, the Rich Man calls out and asks to send either Lazarus or a prophet to warn his brothers of the Afterlife – to let them know Heaven and Hell exist.  Take a look at the exchange:

“Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home.  For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’                                                                                                                         – Luke 16: 27 – 28

Once we are finished with this adventure called life, then the judgment comes.  It is at that point that we are judged and sent either to Heaven or Hell. 

“But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’

“The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’

But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”                                                            – Luke 16: 29 – 31

The truth is that we have a lot of warnings from Jesus about Hell.  He uses different terms like Gehenna, Sheol, Hades, and Place of Death. 

The one thing about this parable from all the other parables that Jesus wrote is that this parable may be a true story and not a parable at all.  This is the only parable where Jesus uses the name of a person – Lazarus.  May scholars believe that this may be something Jesus witnessed and used this example as a warning to those who choose not to believe in Him.

In the book of Matthew, there is a warning about fearing man or fearing God.  Jesus tells us to fear God and not worry about man.  The reason is listed below:

 “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
            – Matthew 10:28

It is a grave warning that people are not heeding.  Our life on Earth is short.  But our life in Eternity will last longer.  Based on the two passages above, imagine spending eternity in torment and not in paradise.  The offer of Salvation is Paradise and not eternal judgment.  Those who do not take the offer of salvation will end up in an eternity filled with torment. 

Jesus called the unsaved “all who do evil”.  You see, being a good person is not enough to get you into Heaven.  You need to be saved by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Jesus explained when the end of the world comes (I believe it is sooner than people think.  I will explain in a later blog), or when death comes, it will be too late.  In this example, Jesus uses the image of collecting wheat from a field and separating the good wheat from the weeds:

 “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world.  The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.  And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
– Matthew 13:41- 42

This is a warning to those unbelievers who have not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Those who have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior will be placed into the Lake of Fire where there will be eternal torment. 

Revelations 20:14-15 tells us “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if [a]anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”

How do you get your name in the Book of Life?  By accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior and repenting of your sins. 

A small list of people who will not inherit the Kingdom of God, which is Heaven, follows:

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [a]effeminate, nor homosexuals,  nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God”                                                                                                        – 1 Corinthians 6:9 – 10

A further list from the book of Revelation also provides a list of those who won’t inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and will be banished to Hell

But for the cowardly and [a]unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
            – Revelation 21:8-9

This is not me saying these things.  This is from God.  God cannot live with sin and things that are not Holy.  Without accepting Jesus as your Savior and repenting of your sins, He cannot allow you into Heaven.  1 Peter 1: 13 – 16 says “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, [l]keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not ]be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,  but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

With all these warnings from the bible, from the words of Jesus, and the descriptions of Hell, how can we not accept the invitation from Jesus?  Let us repent of our ways, accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and turn to Him for our Salvation.  Don’t wait until time runs out.  By that time it will be too late.   Take the time to do it now.

I am reposting the prayer from my previous blog.  I will keep posting it. 

If you want to spend life in Heaven and Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or you feel you have backslidden and want to repent then please pray this prayer:

DEAR LORD, I KNOW I AM A SINNER.  I KNOW I HAVE HOPE IN JESUS.  I WANT TO REPENT OF MY SINS AND COME TO YOU TO ASK FORGIVENESS.  I WANT TO ASK YOU TO FORGIVE MY SINS, CLEANSE ME OF MY SINS, GIVE ME THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE WITH JESUS, AND I WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS IS MY LORD AND SAVIOR AND HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR ME.  I ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO COME INTO ME AS THE GUARANTEE OF MY SALVATION AND WANT TO REPENT OF MY SINS.  ALL THIS I ASK IN JESUS HOLY AND PRECIOUS NAME, AMEN

If you prayed that prayer then I want to say CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF BELIEVERS.  The Angels, The Saints, The Lord Jesus, and all who have gone before us are having a party in Heaven because you chose Jesus.  And I want to welcome you to the family.  Find a good Bible-based church and continue to learn about Jesus.  We are all on this Journey.  And in the end we will hear God say “Well Done my good and faithful servant!”