SEARCH FOR GOD IV

 
  If your search for God has borne fruit and you are working to be "one" with
God, you may have some questions about salvation. Oh, the plan is simple,
and if you've taken that step as an adult, you are on your way. But, what about
those who are not adults?

    The New Testament gives us no details about young people, except that
Jesus says (Matt. 19:14), "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid
them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Other Gospels touch on this subject
as well, but need some clarification.

    There are a number of subjects not touched upon in the New Testament,
leaving us to wonder what an answer may be. Difficult as it may be, the answers
are either in the Old or New Testament. We just need to know how to search.
One question that needs answering is "what happens to children if they die
before confessing the plan of salvation?"

    We will get into a very touchy related subject when we explore the answer to
the above question. Before we get to that, let's see how we can find the answer
to what happens to unsaved children. As Christians, we look to the directions
God gave His Chosen, Israel. We are a branch of Israel, and the cornerstone
of directions begins with the Ten Commandments.  Every Christian and Jew
must abide in these directions.

    Many more directions and laws were given to Israel following the simple Ten
Commandments.  After all, He was dealing with a nation of millions of people and
many more non-Israelites. In any society, a set of laws must be established for
social conduct, and judges set forth to interpret and judge. More religious laws
were set forth for the Israelites to answer questions such as we are considering.

    When Christ came, He fulfilled the Law, and made the supreme sacrifice for
us. While individual sacrifices continued for a time, eventually they were replaced
by Christ's sacrifice and the impracticality of so many people bringing doves or
other offerings over the world's landscape. Salvation, faith and obedience are
our keywords.

    Now, to answer our question, we must delve into the many laws given Israel,
even to the pains of searching further instruction not included specifically in
scripture. To do this, we must consult other Israeli study books such as the
Talmud.

    To understand the judgment of children, we see that the word "accountability"
and its companion "responsibility" decide the issue. It is impossible to set a
particular age for children to receive salvation, but it is obvious the child must
be able to understand and accept the plan of salvation. Israel had no such plan
before the arrival of Christ, so God had to give them other instructions.

    He gave them an age for both boys and girls to become accountable and to
accept both religious and other responsibilities. For boys, intensive instruction
followed by graduation occurred as they reached their thirteenth year. At age 14,
they were adults. The ceremony is bar-mitsvah, and indicates God's will and son
of the commandment.

    For girls, instruction occurs at the age of 12 years and one day. The ceremony
is bat-mitsvah. As the boys, they are fully accountable and responsible for the duties
of an adult. Until boys and girls attain these ages, they are considered to be in God's
hands in heaven. The same is true for Christians, although the need for establishing
a specific age was removed with the plan of salvation.

    A baby who dies goes straight to the arms of Jesus. Until any Christian child
reaches the Jewish age of accountability, that child is saved--unless they have
heard the plan of salvation and rejected it. They must be given enough time to
learn about Christ and scripture. If Christ did not address your concern or question
in scripture, He knew you could find the answer in the original teaching He learned
before He began His ministry. Remember, He followed the Jewish teachings and
customs as long as He was alive.

    The truly sad part about accountability and responsibility is that so many "Christian"
men know none of this information. They, and some women, call for a ban on any and
all abortions. I, personally, am against abortion except when the mother's health is in
danger. What do these men know about carrying a child, and why don't they consider
the health of the woman, or the consequences to her family, husband and children?

    These men are exactly the counterpart of Islamic men who do not value women at
all, and impose their "sharia" consequences on all women. They use scripture to place
women in subjugation to men, choosing to ignore the biblical verses that tell them how
wives should be treated.. Eph. 5:28, "So husbands ought to love their own wives as
their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself."

    For those of you who are hard core banners, I give you this example: Mary has a
loving husband and two children, ages seven and three. She is pregnant, and the
specialists tell the family there is something wrong with this pregnancy. If continued,
the mother will undoubtedly die. If the mother is written off for the sake of the unborn
child, she is gone from her husband and two children. First, her husband will lose
his lifetime partner and mother of his children. Second, two small children will lose
their mother. Third, the mother is basically murdered to perhaps save the unborn
child. There is no guarantee the baby will live. If it doesn't, the baby will still have a
place in heaven. There is absolutely no gain in letting the mother die. The abortion,
itself, will always be a regret in the memory of the entire family. Men have no
idea of what women go through mentally because of an abortion.

     This is a sermon about the search for God, and abortion only became a part of
it because Christians don't know a great deal about God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.
I see some call for "justified homicide" to murder abortion doctors and workers. If a
woman's life is saved because of a needed abortion, it is still okay to murder the
doctor? I must have missed that in my study. These men are emotionally immature,
and should never hold any type of leadership position.

    Christianity does not need any kind of Sharia Law, the same type law imposed by
Islamic (Muslim) followers. God made man the leader of the family, but woman was
created as his helpmate (partner). Many men should take a back seat and let their
more competent wives lead. Look at scripture and see how many women saved the
bacon for her family/people.

    Abortion is only murder when it is used as birth control. Committed Christians do
not use it as birth control. Aborted babies, whether from Christian or non-Christian
parents, all go directly to heaven. Their search for God ends quickly and positively.
Politicians will never be able to control abortion by law any more than they could
control liquor. We saw how that worked out, giving rise to crime and social problems.

    Study scripture, and don't think there isn't an answer to your question just because
it isn't listed in a concordance or among the helps in your bible. God did not omit the
answers to any problems. Matt. 7:7 tells us "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and
you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (V 8)For everyone who asks
receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

    You may not like the answers, but they were given to the Israelites, including Christ,
and He made many things more clear in his teaching. But, and note with care, Christ
did not refute the laws given His people. Either you believe all, or you believe you
have license to change scripture and God's teaching.

Rev. Walbear

PROPHECY 4

    In my previous message, explaining why America is being judged, I outlined
Chrislam. This is a joining of Christianity and Islam. Rather a difficult and stupid
way to subvert Christ. Islam does not accept Christ as God's Son, does not
accept the resurrection, and does not accept He is the way to heaven. What are
these big-time Christian preachers thinking of? This is the way to peace in the
world--Christians and Muslims will live in peace? The Muslims do not even worship
the Christian God, but follow Allah, a pretender better known to committed
Christians as Lucifer. If you are committed to Christ, you will stay away from
Chrislam.

    This is one of the major steps to "falling away", as the bible teaches us in
2 Thes. 2:3,4. There will be no tribulation or rapture until the falling away by
professing Christians takes place. Oh, by the way, did you notice that the world
didn't end on May 21 and rapture didn't occur either? A man by the name of
Camping and his worldwide organization used hundreds of scripture references
to try and pinpoint that elusive date. Apparently he was so busy searching
scripture he never got to Matt, 24:36, which clearly tells us only the Father knows
the time and day.

    What puzzles me about this is why so-called Christians followed Camping's
teaching. Most say they believe in God, yet they must not be committed to
Christ, because they did not believe His very words in scripture. They also failed
to read that Christ told them not to depend on earthquakes or volcano eruptions
and other natural phenomenons. I see many said they expected the rapture to
take place as Camping said, but they based their belief in that prophecy on the
fact they believed in God. Guess they forgot about Christ and His teaching. They
don't know it, but they probably aren't even Christians. Even the Devil believes
in God.

    I'm further amazed at how much money was contributed to Camping's
organization. Although he predicted the rapture and end times in 1994, and
that, too, was a failure, he brushed it off to a simple error. His organization
took in 18.3 million in  2009 (IRS figures) and had assets of 104 million, with
34 million is stocks and bonds (also IRS figures). It was reported that so much
money poured in as the May 21 date approached, that thousands of signs,
billboards and such were hurriedly posted.

    I base my sermons and teaching on scripture, which is what Camping did.
He, however, ignored the very words of Christ, and seemingly only put together
a theory (not a prophecy) on selected scripture verses. He completely ignored
much scripture, replacing it with his civil engineering math and science. It was
quite a scheme, and it worked TWICE in less than 20 years. He is now
fantastically rich for being a liar twice. Meanwhile, I have provided sermons and
teaching on two websites reaching thousands, but have $25 for two years'
work. That's one donation, no salary or benefits. If you're preaching the truth,
your reward must be on the other side, because you can see who's collecting
the reward on this side.

    Back to why we're being judged. The third major area I want to point out
includes the misinformation being taught by the many Campings. This is quite
easy to determine if you listen to the teaching in many Pentecostal churches.
You'll notice I'm not just reporting on one or two denominations, because the
misleading teaching is occurring in virtually all denominations. Many preachers
don't want to rile the feathers of congregations, so they give the listeners what
they want to hear. If they don't, the church leaders kick them out.

    The problem with Pentecostals (and they aren't all bad) is that some want to
ordain new ministers to establish branch churches before the new ministers are
properly trained. One of the driving factors is money. The more people who buy
into the teaching that the more you tithe, the more money you'll be "blessed" with,
the more ardent the follower. You can't reason scripture with someone who just
received an unexpected $500 after donating generously to the church. They are
not being taught that Satan generously rewards his followers until he has no more
use for them.

    One such Pentecostal preacher has, in a few years, been able to construct a huge
church, a home, and ordain new preachers. His knowledge of scripture is very poor,
as evidenced by a recent sermon. In the sermon, he teaches that if you have a
common cold, it is because you lack faith; if you have trouble sleeping, it is because
you lack faith, etc. He targets the young, active crowd, who follow him without
bothering to check the Word of God. They don't have to, because this person knows
it all. The big test of faith frequently can be equated to size of tithes.

     Another major problem is the actual rewriting of scripture--making the bible say
what man wants it to say. A branch of the Lutheran Church is doing just that,
although scripture clearly warns us not to add anything to the bible or take anything
away (Rev. 22:18,19). The main problem here is the bringing in of homosexuality to
the mainstream. These leaders claim homosexuality today isn't the same as it was
when the bible was written. Since there is no place in scriupture where God or Christ
said homosexuality is just dandy, these Lutherans are making corrections. Scripture
says homosexuality is a sin, just like other sins. But scripture does give qualifications
for any and all church offices. Homosexuals do not qualify for church leadership, at
least not in the pulpit or teaching positions.

    I would much rather teach scripture to explain how the Holy Spirit works, or why
certain books of the Old Testament have a special lesson for us. But, we are in the
process of "falling away", and must be aware of teaching in the churches, where most
people receive their information. Pastors know people have a short attention span,
so sermons are usually short. Unfortunately, many of these sermons are either
"feel good" type, or tips on clean living. It's simple math or second year algebra. It's
pretty clear most people prefer the simple math. Like anything else, if your mind isn't
challenged, you won't learn. Know what? You may be missing these great bible
stories--after all, many have been made into top box office movies.

    Now that we see why America is being judged, you will be interested to know some
of Satan's plans for the near future to rid the earth of all Christians. Of course, he won't
be able to prevent the rapture, so those raptured will be safe. He does have plans for
those still here, and, if you look closely, you can see how some of that unfolds. And, yes,
there are more reasons for our judgment. Stay tuned.

Rev. Walbear

PROPHECY 3

    When we go to school, we learn that to understand any subject, both academic
and material based, we must first learn about the foundation of our subject. So it
is with prophecy. Two of the three main reasons for the Old Testament are to teach
us about the four stages of successive generations and to warn us about refusing
to listen to the prophets. The third reason, of course, is the prophecy that tells us
about the first coming of Christ. It is indeed unfortunate the chief priests didn't
study their scripture, or they would have known when the Messiah was in their midst.

    There are many descriptions of the coming of Christ in the Old Testament, yet
the religious leaders paid them no heed. Many of the prophets told about Him, as
did Isaiah in 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." 

    Jeremiah was the worst treated prophet, as Israel imprisoned him, burned his
manuscript and accused him of treachery. Although all this information is in the
Old Testament, religious leaders today fail to connect the problems of the past
with present day problems. Our government leaders claim to be Christians, but
they, too, are woefully lacking both in history and knowledge of scripture. Every
once in a while one of our senators or representatives quotes a scripture totally
out of context to support his misguided conclusion about an issue.

    Now that we know history repeats itself and mankind repeats the same mistakes
as generations change, we can look at how we become judged as we ignore
God's warnings. Make no mistake we are and will be judged. There are no free
passes from jail in the game of life. If your preacher tells you there will be no
punishment for sins of personal matters, or that the nation will not be punished
for national sins, find another church.

    Go to Psalms 9:7,8: "But the Lord shall endure forever; He has prepared His
throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, And He shall
administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness." After Christ came into the
world, God gave His Son the power of judgment--see John 5:22,23. "For the
Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should
honor the son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent Him."

    I'm going to distinguish the difference between personal sins that basically
affect you as an individual, and personal sins, that collected with many others,
form a national sin. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their
carnal collective sin. Nations are judged on the basis of the peoples' collective
sin on specific issues.

     This brings us to what I term the final straw of our nation's judgment. It is
the breaking of the First Commandment. "Thou shalt have no other gods before
me." That's a very clear directive, but if you can't understand plain English, read
the Second Commandment that gives you more detail separating everything else
from the one and only God.

    So what else are some of us worshiping rather than the One God of Israel
and Christianity? The word that describes it is "syncretism". It is the invasion
of pagan religions into the very Word of God. You haven't heard of this? You
probably haven't heard of Chrislam, either. This is a new denomination of
worship, and if you live in or near some of our large cities, you would know about
it because hundreds of thousands of Americans have already joined this new
church.

    Chrislam is a movement brought by Muslims to Christian leaders in a so-far
successful joining of the Muslim and Christian faiths. Apostasy has been a
growing problem for many years, but this appears to be the worst of all. Before
you label me a bigot for calling this the most serious case of apostasy, consider
these differences in the two faiths:

    Muslims do not believe Christ is the Son of God. They say he was a prophet
or teacher. He did not die and was not resurrected, but went to heaven without
dieing. The God of Israel and Christianity is just another god along side the god
of Islam, Allah. You don't need a Savior to go to heaven. They have this little
sweetener that says a martyr for Allah not only goes to heaven, but gets a nice
little collection of virgins as a reward.

    The leaders of Chrislam preach that the two faiths can join together to worship
and fulfill some of Christ's teachings, such as to love your enemies and embrace
their wishes. Christ did say to love your enemies, but He was referring to your
Christian enemies, not carnal, and a faith that desires to eliminate Israel from the
face of the earth. But for people who know virtually nothing about scripture, this
love fest sounds like peace.

    Let's back up here to Christ. The entire Christian faith is based on the acceptance
of Christ as our Savior. It is the ONLY way to get to heaven. We believe He died for
us and was resurrected--rose from the dead. Chrislam says we must give up the Son
of God and our salvation; the God of Israel who gave us the Ten Commandments
and told us not to murder.

    Murder--one of the main teachings of the Muslims: accept their faith or die. The
Imams have changed the Muslim Koran over the years to suit their wishes. Most
peaceful Muslims are not aware of this because they have not studied their own
faith (same problems as the Christians). Some Lutherans are also changing parts
of the Christian bible. More on this later. A Muslim doctor was recently convicted
in Buffalo of cutting off his wife's head.

    Proponents of Chrislam claim the two faiths can get along together. Yet there is
no compromise by the Muslims. You cannot utter a Christian prayer in public in a
Muslim country. You must abide by Sharia Law, a very strict code that makes
women chattels of men, denigrates females from birth, teaches there is no such
place as Israel, and delights in slaughter. Look at the record.

     In the mega churches of this new faith, Christian bibles are placed in the pews
along side the Koran. Where are these mega churches? They're in Houston,
Atlanta, Seattle and Detroit. They are being promoted by big-time Christian
preachers who already had mega churches before introducing this new faith.
    Do you think God and Christ will look upon this favorably? They are destroying
the supremacy of God and Christ. The Muslims don't even know about or accept
the Holy Spirit. We're not talking about bigotry, we're talking about the belief in
Christ and the principles of faith for the God of Israel and Christianity. If you are
committed to Christ, you cannot accept any form of Chrislam or Islam.
    It's unfortunate that moderate Muslims always permit the radicals to control
matters. Fear is a huge factor. In Dearborn, Michigan, there is great pressure
by the radical factor to institute Sharia Law rather than American law. This
is difficult to believe. It is, however, just another step to subvert our Christian
nation, just as the Muslim schools in America subvert truth.

    As we "fall away", we approach judgment and tribulation. In 2 Thes. 2:3,4,
Paul tells of the end times. "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day
will not come unless the falling away comes first; and the man of sin is revealed,
the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called
God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing
himself that he is God."

    It would be nice if I could say the reason I've outlined here is the only reason
America is being judged. That is not the case, however. Chrislam is only the latest
reason, and there are many more. When you see them outlined, you will eventually
understand Satan's plan for us and the entire world. There will be no specific date,
but you should be aware that Christ warned us to be watching and to keep oil in
our lamps. Even He does not know the time of the marriage feast and our delivery
from tribulation.

Rev. Walbear
   

SEARCH III

    Has your search for God been successful? Have you mastered the key for
understanding God--the ability to concentrate and listen to Him? Our natural
inclination is to talk, not listen, We  can be saved, pray, and seek guidance,
but there's much more work to actually be "One with Christ".

    Sometimes we experience things in our lifetimes that help us to understand
being "One". My father was a devout Christian. He read scripture every day,
and had a special connection with his Savior. There were some occasions
when he experienced a miracle. My ears were healed when he prayed for
healing from the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. It happened right then. A little
boy thinks about things like that.

    My father and I frequently worked together on the farm and in the family
business. He had a sense of humor, and one of his favorite sayings was, "I
work for my son until he goes broke; then he works for me until I go broke.
Then we begin all over again". That was his way of saying we were "one."

    Being saved and having the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life is but
the first step in trying to be one with Christ. We must work through Christ, even
though we pray to God. There are directions for prayer in three of the Gospels.
That number, 3, stresses the importance of the direction. Look at Matt. 21:21,22.
"Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do
what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, Be removed
and be cast into the sea, it will be done. And whatever things you ask in
prayer, believing, you will receive."

    This scripture needs more explanation, but that will wait until later. We need
to go to Luke 11:9,10. "So I say to you to ask, and it will be given to you, seek,
and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks
receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."
John 14:14 tells us "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."

    Obviously this does not mean unholy or frivolous desires will be fulfilled. It
does mean prayers can and will be answered. It tells us to give our desires to
Christ who may fulfill them, or may pass them to the Father for action. By going
through Christ, we are attempting to be "one".

    This may be more difficult than you think. I've never given a post-Easter
sermon previously, but I believe it will help you to understand the great hurdle
you must clear to be "one". Please read the last chapter in each of the Four
Gospels. Keep in mind the Apostles, the women, and followers of Christ were
with Him on earth during His ministry. They saw Him heal countless people,
preach the direct Word from God, walk on the water, still the storm, and
actually raise the dead. They were there in person and both saw and heard
these miracles.

    Although Christ had explained why He was on earth and what had to happen
for salvation to be possible for all mankind, not one of them understood the
crucifixion or resurrection. They all had some doubt. This is the obstacle you
face in trying to be one with Christ. This is why it sometimes helps when a strong
believer prays with you. It makes your belief stronger and reduces doubt when
another person is working with you.

     The chief priests wanted to be sure Christ's body was not taken from the tomb,
and Roman soldiers were assigned to them to secure the tomb. Now pay attention
to the passages where disciples or the women were in the presence of the
resurrected Christ, but did not recognize him. This is a spiritual action that does
happen, even now. Those not supposed to see are partially blinded so they do
not observe the spiritual presence. The same is true about not hearing a spoken
word by God. The revelations of sight and sound are controlled by God.

    We see that an angel comes down from heaven and rolls away the stone that
was blocking the entrance to the tomb (Matt. 28:1,2). This was not necessary for
Christ's leaving the tomb. The purpose was to provide entry by others to see He
was risen. Angels were there to explain what should have been clear to Christ's
followers. The linen He had been wrapped in was there, but the clincher was the
handkerchief from His head was not just discarded, but carefully folded together
in a place by itself (John 20:7,8).

    A seed of doubt is so strong it can uproot a tree. To be spiritually attuned, we
must be totally open to hearing God's Word. One of the ways Satan works against
us is through imitation. We often hear about someone who says he heard "voices".
God speaks in a plain voice, not voices. Such statements lead us to believe anyone
who hears anything is mentally sick. In fact, Satan has done such a good job with
all kinds of imitations, that it is difficult to separate truth from fake. Unfortunately,
the slick impostors are so good at what they do that most people fall into the trap.

    To be one with Christ is not easy. While you have the Holy Spirit to assist you in
spiritual growth, He is your mentor. You still must take the necessary action yourself.
You also must realize that some of the things you pray for will not happen because
fulfillment would not be a good thing for you. Also, God takes His action according
to His time frame, which is usually different than ours. That's why there is instant
healing, and healing that may take days or weeks.

    We have to try to eliminate the worries, fears and rabble information of the world
to enable our channel of conversation to the Lord to be open. We know He can hear
us, but the trick is to be able to hear Him over all the static of Satan's world. If the
people who walked with Christ had doubts, why would we not expect to have doubts?
The cure is to carefully study scripture and apply yourself. Nobody else can do it
for you.

Rev. Walbear