God acts so mercifully toward us because he is our Father. For many years now I have been an attorney with a fair amount of criminal law cases. I find myself constantly amazed at the parent who will spend his last dime, even mortgage his home, in order to pay the legal fees for his reprobate son or daughter charged with a crime ranging from drug pushing to theft to assault to even murder. If a natural father acts with such mercy and care for his evil child, how then can we expect our heavenly Father to act? With mercy.

And so we see that our Father, for now, has held back the first trumpet judgment and moved instead to the second. So far only our sea has been affected. But, what will happen when storms and hurricanes pick up the oil and the dispersant poisons and dump them upon man, beasts, trees, and grass? Will that not begin the literal fulfillment of the first trumpet judgment?

The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. (Revelation 8:7 KJV)

Until then, though, God’s mercy remains. And the purpose of that mercy is to bring his people to repentance. Yet, it seems so far that Christians, and certainly the rest of the people of the world, have not taken the Gulf disaster very seriously. People continue more interested in their pursuit of pleasure than in understanding the times. Most refuse to even consider that the Gulf oil catastrophe could be a fulfillment of God’s judgment. And to this Jesus says, “O you hypocrites, you can discern the appearance of the sky; but can you not discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:3)

But, God’s mercy is not like man’s mercy. Men do not know when to withhold good from their wayward children and so they often confirm and embolden them in their sin and rebellion. God actually brings judgments upon men in order to cause them to repent. Repentance of sin, and repentance alone, restores the relationship of the child to the Father. Thus we see that God’s mercy actually leads him to bring judgment upon his creation. We live in that sad time when all men’s thoughts have turned to evil.  We live in days like the days of Noah. And as in Noah’s day, men continue to sing and to dance and to marry, never realizing that the mercy of God has now led to judgment.

Christians make the Gospel of Jesus Christ both too easy and too difficult.  Too difficult because we often cling to a doctrine that says we can lose our salvation, our eternal life with God.  Too easy because we often teach that one must simply believe that Jesus died for our sins and ask him into our hearts in order to be saved.  The Bible teaches neither one.  Let’s consider some classic verses from John 3 to show what it means to come into a “saved” relationship to Jesus.

The King James Version says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  (John 3:16-18 KJV)

In the Numeric Bible these verses read, “For :God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten :Son, that whosoever believeth unto him perish not, but have eternal life. 17 For :God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world be saved through him. 18 Who believeth unto him is not judged: who believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed unto the name of the only begotten Son of :God.

The word translated “unto” in the Numeric Bible really struck me, so I looked it up in Strong’s Concordance and found that this is the Greek word eis and means, “a primary preposition; to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etc.)…”

Most translations say, “whoever believes in or on him” which makes us think that we simply have to say “I believe in Jesus” to join the club.  But, the word unto used in the Numeric Bible seems to bear the weight of what the Holy Spirit means to say here.  This word carries the idea that he who believes unto or into Jesus Christ as the goal of perfection, as the point one must reach in his quest for eternal life shall indeed receive everlasting life and will not be condemned as a sinner.  We believe unto Jesus in the sense that He Himself is the place, time, purpose, and result of our quest for all truth.  When we see faith in Christ this way we begin to see it in a more all-encompassing way.  Now we begin to speak about faith unto Christ.  He is our all-in-all.  He is both the goal of our pursuit and result of our pursuit, i.e., that we shall become like him.  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3 KJV)

Yes, he who believes unto him is not judged, for he shall be pure as Jesus himself is pure.

Revelation 18:5

for her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

18:5

for her  (THE HARLOT BABYLON) sins have reached even to heaven,

THE TOWER (Prideful thinking)

OF BABEL (BABYLON, CONFUSION)

Genesis 11:4; 

And they said, Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, (Prideful, high thinking) whose top will reach to heaven, and let us make us a name; (A reputation, however, Jesus became of no reputation. Philippians 2:7) lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

Isaiah 30:25; 

And there shall be upon every lofty mountain, (Prideful thinking) and upon every high hill, (Prideful thinking) brooks [and] streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers (Prideful thinking) fall.

and God has  remembered

Esther 2:1:

After these things, when the wrath (Consuming fire of God) of king Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, (NOTE: Revelation 11:10; 13:2; 18:7; 21:3;)

 and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. (That she would no longer be Queen)

her  (THE HARLOT BABYLON) iniquities. (Sins)

When we Practice Righteousness God no longer recalls our sins.  They are wiped away, as if they had never happened. But, when we do not Practice Righteousness, we are practicing lawlessness and our sins are not cleansed away.  Then they are still remembered. (NOTE: Revelation 13:2;)

Revelation 18:6

Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her works: in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.

18:6

Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her works:

Obadiah 1:15;

The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.

Isaiah 66:4;

I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

Isaiah 28:1; 

Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, (Ephrayim, Ef-rah-yim. Hebrew word # 669 meaning: Double ash heap, Double fruit, fruitfulness. [fruit, can be either good or bad] From #6085 Root: = Ephrown; the name of a Canaanite [Merchant] from 6080: to pulverize, to be dust, from #6083: dust as powered, hence clay, earth; ashes, double ash heap) and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are overcome with wine!

This can be either a double blessing or double ash heap.

Ephraim represents our choice of blessing or curse.

I Corinthians 3:13-15;

each man’s work shall be made evident: for the day shall show it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall test each man’s work of what sort it is. [Good or bad, eternal or temporal, blessing or ash heap]14 If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward.[Blessing] 15 If any man’s work is burned up, [Leaving ashes] he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire.

in the cup which she has mixed, (From where she drinks of her own thinking)

mix twice as much for her.

Jeremiah 51:7;

Babylon (The Harlot) has been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, intoxicating all the earth: the nations have drunk of her wine; (Deceived, by the intoxication of what we drank into our thinking, in this case Satan’s counterfeit of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.)  therefore the nations are going mad (NOTE: Revelation 17:2; 18:4)

Revelation 18:7

To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, I sit as a Queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.

18:7

To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously,  (By the senses, the flesh)

James 5:1-5;

Come now, you rich men, (Like the young teenager who think he knows it all, yet really knows very little. Jer.17:23.) weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. (Note: Revelation 3:17) :2 Your riches (The things you think are spiritual, but are really worthless because you are deceived) are corrupted, (Defiled) and your garments (Robes of Righteousness) are moth-eaten. :3 Your gold and silver have rusted; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh (Defiled spiritual food) like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! :4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who have mowed your fields, which has been withheld by you: and cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. :5 You have lived luxuriously (Sensuously, of the flesh) on the earth, and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

to the same degree give her torment and mourning;

for she says in her heart, I sit as a Queen

Esther 1:9;

 Also Vashti the queen (NOTE: Revelation 11:10; 14:8; 16:19; Chapters 17 thru 18:13)  made a feast (A banquet of her own thinking. How do we know this? Verse 12 tells us that she refused the command of the KING!) (Note: Revelation 2:24; 6:6; 17:4; 18:7)

for the women (Soulish part of man) in the royal house (God’s Household) which belonged to king Ahasuerus.(A picture of Jesus)

Esther 1:10-12;

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that ministered in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, :11, to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to show the peoples and the princes her beauty; for she was fair to look on.

12; But queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the chamberlains: therefore was the king very angry, and his wrath burned within him.

Esther 1:19;

If it please the king, let there go forth a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; And let the king give her royal position(As Queen) to another who is more worth than she.

Isaiah 47:7;

Yet you said, I shall be a Queen forever. These things you did not consider, Nor remember the outcome of them.

and I am not a widow

Isaiah 47:8; Now then hear this, you sensual one, who dwells securely, who says in your heart, I am, and there is no one besides me; I will not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.

and I will never see mourning. (Mourning over sin)

I Corinthians 5:2;

You have become arrogant (Prideful) and have not mourned, (Over their sin) so that the one that had done this deed might be separated from among you. (Note: Revelation 2:21,22; 14:8 @ I Corinthians 5:1)

Revelation 18:8

Therefore in one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judged her.

18:8

Therefore in one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning,

Isaiah 47:9;

but these two things shall come to her in a moment, in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood;…

Jeremiah 50:31;

Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, says the Lord, of hosts; for your day is come, the time that I will visit thee

and famine; (Lack of Spiritual Food)

and she shall be utterly burned with fire; (To remove all that is not of God)

for strong is the Lord God who judged her.

Jeremiah 50:34;

Their Redeemer is strong; The Lord of hosts is His name: He will thoroughly plead their cause, that He may give rest to the earth, But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon. (The church built with hands are those who try to please God through their own efforts [works].)

I recently commended the book entitled The Shack by William Paul Young.  I find that I no longer can because so many take its primary teaching and distort it into lawlessness.   The book teaches a profound truth about God’s forgiveness and the fact that Jesus died to reconcile all men to God.  We find the full truth of this in the beauty and mystery of the doctrine of “universal reconciliation.”  Many people forget (or never learned) this major tenet of the Gospel in their profound zeal to hurry people into hell.  But, the book can and does cause a problem in the wrong, zealous hands.

Immediately after I read The Shack I gave it to my wife to read, who did.  We have now discussed it on numerous occasions.   It does contain some theological flaws, but what book doesn’t?  Again, who possesses perfect wisdom with respect to God’s truth?  No one you or I know!  But, there is a huge theological flaw in The Shack that must be addressed, which is that people can and are using the book to defend lawlessness.  I will address some of those issues here.

Is love lawless?  The question is, did Jesus “put away” the law, or did he “fulfill” the law?  If he put away the law, then sin no longer exists.  If sin no longer exists, then evil no longer exists.  If God could take care of the sin problem by simply taking care of the law problem, that is, by annulling the law, then Jesus died for nothing.  Why? Because God could have just never implemented the law to begin with.

But, love is not lawless.  This is why the Scripture says, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Psalms 85:10 KJ2000)  In God’s plan mercy, which is another name for love or peace, meets together with and kisses truth, which is another name for justice (law) or righteousness.  God does not separate the two concepts.  Mercy triumphs over judgment, but never over justice, for mercy and justice are one (think of the Father and the Son who are one yet distinct).  Thus James says, “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has showed no mercy; and mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13 KJ2000)  James makes it clear that judgment for wrongdoing still exists and here he calls judgment without mercy wrongdoing.  The point he makes here is that justice and mercy will require judgment upon those who judge without mercy.

All the rest of Scripture make it equally clear that judgment comes upon the disobedient, rebellious, and unrepentant as well.  But, the goal of God’s judgment ultimately brings restoration to an individual.  Thus justice (righteousness) and mercy (peace) kiss in the restored person bringing him into union with God.  This is the reconciliation that Jesus effected by his death on the cross.

He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John 12:48 KJ2000)

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators [sexually immoral including adulterers and homosexual offenders], and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. (Revelation 22:14-15 KJ2000)  Please note that this verse is at the very end of the Bible.

As true as many concepts in The Shack are, sin is still sin, and God will still bring us to account for sin and unrepentance.  They do err who teach that love and mercy never judge.  It is precisely our willingness to judge with love and mercy that finally brings the rebellious into God’s fold.  Mercy without judgment is exactly what Jude condemns in his book saying, “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:4KJ2000)  The word “denying” here means contradicting.  When one uses the doctrine of grace to condone licentiousness he necessarily contradicts Jesus Christ, thus denying him.

Some seem to believe that The Shack teaches that God accepts anyone into his kingdom without requiring them to repent even though they still stand in the midst of their sin.  If it does, then those who accuse the author of The Shack of writing blasphemy are correct.  If you click this link to The Shack Forum you will see some examples of the confusion The Shack brings to people.  This is unfortunately true even of Christians who have, according to their own words, walked with the LORD a long time.   Virtually every person who commented on my post there takes issue with it.  None have a clue about God’s “teaching about righteousness,” and they don’t want to learn.  The Shack has somehow confirmed them in their rebellion to God’s ways.

But, I don’t think The Shack itself teaches lawlessness and licentiousness.  However, the book’s great weakness is that people indeed interpret it to do so.  It provides ground for immature Christians to become entrenched in their lawlessness and belief that God accepts them unconditionally in their sin without ever requiring their repentance.  No, our God is a holy God, and beloved, he will require holiness in each of us before we see his face.  I think the author of The Shack understands this, but most of his readers appear not to.  Therefore I cannot endorse the book because it leads God’s people astray.

The resurrection of the dead is proven historically by Jesus rising from the dead. The entire Biblical book of Acts recounts the historical actions of those who personally knew Jesus and saw him after his resurrection. The book was actually written by Luke who accompanied the apostle Paul on his missionary journeys to the Middle East and Europe. A very interesting passage is Acts 17:30-31 which says, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” You will notice that this passage begins with one of the first elementary doctrines, repentance, and ends with the last two of these doctrines, judgment and the resurrection of the dead. Some other very important Scriptures dealing with these last two issues are Daniel 7:9, 10, 26, 27; 12:13; I Corinthians 15:12 – 28; II Corinthians 5:10; II Peter 2:9; and Revelation 20:11 – 15.

These verses show us that all people, believers and unbelievers alike, are resurrected unto a judgment of one sort or another. II 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.” This verse certainly includes Christians. Too many Christians believe that once they have faith in Christ that they are immune from judgment. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christians are held, in fact, to a higher standard of life and moral conduct than unbelievers. This is why Peter declares, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to Turn Back from the Holy Commandment Delivered unto Them.” (2 Peter 2:20-21)

Why will it be better for some if they had never known the truth? Obviously, because one’s judgment will be more severe if he turns away from the truth after having known it. The point here is that knowledge of God’s righteousness brings accountability to God with it. This wisdom of Peter’s is not proof that Christians can lose their spiritual salvation, as some teach. This one verse utterly disproves the rampant Christian doctrine that states that all unbelievers will suffer like judgment in an eternal hell. Rather, the verse shows the seriousness of daring to call oneself a Christian.

For example, many Christians refuse to forgive others for their perceived sins against them, yet they fully expect Jesus to forgive their many sins against him. They base this expectation, as they should, upon their faith in Jesus. But Jesus said, “if you do not forgive others of their sins, neither will I forgive you of your sins.” I personally know a Christian couple whose Christian daughter married a Christian man without their permission. They believe their daughter and her husband sinned against them. Although both have for years tried to apologize for misunderstandings and to appease her parents, the parents refuse to be reconciled. They continue to harbor bitterness and unforgiveness against their daughter and especially against her husband. If Christ comes for them before they forgive their children, they will be sorely disappointed by that meeting. They will suffer punishment at the judgment seat of Christ. But have these parents lost their salvation? Will they suffer eternal punishment? What about the person who doesn’t believe in Christ at all? Will he suffer eternally?

The fact is that the New Testament word for eternal is the Greek word aionios and is derived from the Greek word aion which means eon or age. Both aionios and aion speak of particular periods of time which have both a beginning and ending. The Bible is always talking about different ages in which God does one particular work or another. For example, we have the antediluvian age prior to Noah’s flood, the age of the patriarchs from Noah to Moses, the Mosaic age from Moses to the time of Christ’s resurrection from the dead (which some call the Passover Age), and the Christian age after Jesus’s resurrection (which some call the Age of Pentecost). Now we stand on the precipice of a new age which some call the age of Aquarius and others call the age of Tabernacles. More information concerning these topics can be found at Stephen Jones’ website.

The important thing to understand about “age-lasting judgment” is that it is not eternal in the sense that we in Western civilization think of eternal. All of the Bible, including the Old Testament Law and the many parables of Jesus, teach us that God is a God of justice. God’s proscribed punishments always fit the crime. God never asks men to carry out punishments which go beyond a man’s crimes. For example, if a man were to be whipped as punishment for his crime, he was never to receive more than 40 lashes. The reason was that he was not to be degraded in the sight of other men. If a man committed an act worthy of death, then he was to be executed according to the law. Obviously, if he needed punishment beyond what society meted out to him, then God will deal with that personally when the dead man arises alive in God’s presence.

Jesus consistently and persistently rebuked the Pharisees and other religious leaders because they did not understand that the God they served was a God of mercy. Twice he said to them, “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13, 12:7) Now, I ask you, where is the justice and the mercy in God if he casts untold millions into eternal hell because they never heard that his son Jesus died for their sins? Again, where is the mercy of God if, for whatever reason, he did not open the eyes of a man to the truth, but sent him to hell for having not believed in the truth? The God that I serve is a God of mercy and justice. Indeed, says my God, mercy triumphs over judgment.

The elementary doctrines of Christianity teach that there is a resurrection from the dead for all people, beginning with Jesus Christ himself. One of the reasons that Christ’s resurrection is so important is that it proved for all time that a resurrection from the dead truly will occur for each of us. Scripture also teaches that upon our resurrection, each of us will individually be judged by Christ for what we have done during our life in the earth. The Bible does not teach that God will cast all unbelievers and sinners into an eternal hell to suffer eternal punishment. But, it does teach that many will be cast into the lake of fire to learn obedience. The duration of that judgment will, I believe, be different for each person and will constitute an “age” of judgment for each person. This is the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead and eternal, i.e. age lasting, judgment.

Ezekiel 20 speaks of the wilderness. First God condemns the ruling elders , the elders who the King of Babylon removed from the land of Israel. They stand condemned for walking in the same idolatry as their fathers did, the fathers who God led out of Egypt into the wilderness about 1000 years before this.

The first thing God did for his Egyptian redemption was to give them his statutes and rules, “by which, if a person does them, he shall live.” (Ezekiel 20:11) This reveals the secret to a happy and successful life that all but God’s obedient children miss. If a person acts upon the statutes of God and actually does them, then he will live an abundant life. The fruit of my life, which is my wife and my children, testifies to this truth.

All of the pain, controversy, fighting, and rebellion in this world arise from refusing to do the statutes of God. The Christian fad for generations now has been to throw off God’s law and to both lead and follow the world in the pursuit of endless pleasure and perversion. Lawlessness now rules the earth and a man of lawlessness has just been elected President of the nation which represents Mystery Babylon on earth. Speak a word against him or the moral unrighteousness of the times and many will quickly say, “Do not judge.” The only absolute for many is that there is no revealed or knowable standard of right and wrong. This idea produces absolute lawlessness and reduces men to beasts with no ability to discern truth or to separate good from evil.

God said that he would send strong delusion so that the people would believe a lie when the man of lawlessness is revealed.  See 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.  Why else would the people actually elect him (the representative of lawless men) to rule over them?