The Realm of profession in Christianity

A realm can be a space or area or sphere, but also a community or territory over which a sovereign rules; a kingdom.

Christ Jesus asked his followers to have him as a cornerstone and to gather in union, being part of his spiritual body. We may look at the realm of Christ, his royal domain, the kingdom he may govern from his heavenly Father. Those belonging to Christ should all be partakers of the Body of Christ and as such also be members of the realm of Christ. Together as members of the Body of Christ the followers of the Nazarene Jeshua should have as their profession the proclamation of the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God.

In Scriptures we do find people mentioned to be part of the realm of Christ.

Prophetic Patterns and Descriptions of People Now Living Who Will Inherit the Earthly Realm of God’s Kingdom
 

Foreshadowed by the following groups or individuals:

(1) Noah’s sons and daughters-in-law (Genesis 6-9).

(2) Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19).

(3) Joseph’s ten repentant half brothers (Genesis 37, 42-45).

(4) Famine-stricken Egyptians who sold themselves to Joseph (Genesis 41; 47:13-26).

(5) Mixed company that left Egypt with Israel (Exodus 12:38).

(6) Twelve non-Levite tribes of Israel on Atonement Day (Leviticus 16; Matthew 19:28).

(7) Alien residents in Israel (Leviticus 19:34).

(8) Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses (Numbers 10:29-32).

(9) Rahab of Jericho (Joshua 2, 6).

(10) Gibeonites who sought peace with Israel (Joshua 9, 10).

(11) Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite (Judges 4, 5).

(12) Jonathan son of King Saul (1 Samuel 18; 23:16, 17).

(13) Foreigners who fought along with David (2 Samuel 15:18-22).

(14) Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10).

(15) Naaman cleansed of leprosy (2 Kings 5).

(16) Jehonadab the son of Rechab (2 Kings 10:15-28).

(17) Foreigners who prayed toward Jehovah’s temple (2 Chronicles 6:32, 33).

(18) Nethinim and sons of non-Israelite servants of Solomon (Ezra 2, 8).

(19) Rechabites (Jeremiah 35).

(20) Ebed-melech the Ethiopian (Jeremiah 38; 39:16-18).

(21) Repentant Ninevites (Jonah 3).

Additionally, described prophetically as follows:

(1) Families of the ground that bless themselves by means of Abraham through his seed (Genesis 12:3; 22:18).

(2) Nations that are glad with Jehovah’s people (Deuteronomy 32:43).

(3) Righteous ones, those hoping in Jehovah (Psalm 37:9, 29).

(4) Virgin companions of the bride (Psalm 45:14).

(5) Upright and blameless ones (Proverbs 2:21).

(6) Nations being taught at Jehovah’s house and walking in his paths (Isaiah 2:2-4).

(7) Nations that turn inquiringly to the Signal (Isaiah 11:10).

(8) Nations that come out of darkness (Isaiah 49:6, 9, 10).

(9) Nation not previously known (Isaiah 55:5).

(10) Foreigners ministering to Jehovah and loving his name (Isaiah 56:6).

(11) “Wealthiness of the sea,” “resources of the nations,” those that come ‘flying like a cloud of doves’ (Isaiah 60:5, 6, 8).

(12) Strangers that shepherd Israel’s flocks, foreigners that are its farmers and vinedressers (Isaiah 61:5).

(13) Those marked in forehead by man with secretary’s inkhorn (Ezekiel 9).

(14) Persons who call on the name of Jehovah and get away safe on his fear-inspiring day (Joel 2:32).

(15) Desirable things of all nations (Haggai 2:7).

(16) Nations that become “joined to Jehovah” (Zechariah 2:11).

(17) ‘Ten men who take hold of skirt of a Jew’ (Zechariah 8:23).

(18) Nations to whom King speaks peace (Zechariah 9:10).

(19) “Sheep” who do good to King’s brothers (Matthew 25:31-46).

(20) Repentant prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32).

(21) “Other sheep” who listen to the Fine Shepherd’s voice (John 10:16).

(22) Persons who exercise faith in Christ and “never die at all” (John 11:26).

(23) Creation that will be freed from enslavement to corruption and have glorious freedom of children of God (Romans 8:20, 21).

(24) Those of the world who gain everlasting life because they exercise faith in God’s Son (1 John 2:2; John 3:16, 36).

(25) “Great crowd” that serve day and night in Jehovah’s temple (Revelation 7:9-17).

(26) Anyone drinking life’s water and himself saying to others, “Come!” (Revelation 22:17).

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In the Bible we find  people mentioned who as individuals showed their love for God and got them as persons separated from the nations that are gathered before Jesus his throne. They look forward to being blessed by the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and his spiritual “brothers.” So what they inherit is the earthly realm of the Kingdom, where Paradise is to be restored all around the globe. 

When Jehovah God made our earth he purposed for it to become a paradise everywhere, and he put man and woman on earth to make it that way, starting with the garden of Eden, or Paradise of Pleasure. The fall of Adam and Eve into sin and death did not deal out a defeat to God’s purpose. (Isaiah 55:11) He at once made preparation for bringing about the earth-wide Paradise by means of a heavenly Kingdom, in which his loyal Son would be the Ruler, or King. It had to be a celestial government if it is yet to crush out of existence the originator of sin and deception, Satan the Devil, a mighty spirit creature.​—Genesis 3:15.

Today we may still find people who want to be part of those close followers of Christ Jesus. They feel called by Jehovah God to unite as brothers and sisters in Christ and as such want to take up the profession of preaching the Gospel and being part of the realm of profession, the Church of Christ.

As “sons of the Realm” they want to be the children of God within that realm of profession, the Church of real followers of Christ, who want to be like a mustard seed becoming a big fruitful tree. though the real followers may be with not many, coming closer to the end times they shall find each other spread all over the world, willing to join hands and to unite under Christ.

Today Christendom, although having taken Christ’s title, is not expressing loyal love to God and his Kingdom Heir nor to Jesus Christ whom they have made into their god. Instead of remaining neutral, it has taken sides in the East-West struggle for world domination, sharing in this world’s materialism and militarism it also has taken opposition against other religions, not allowing other cultures and religions to around them, with the believe that it is God Who allows things to be. It will therefore perish with this old world at Armageddon. In that great war it are those who love God and His son who should share the brotherly love with others and show how there is a need to unite under Christ.

Unto the real of profession belong those who have Christian fruitage: sharing (Romans 15:27, 28; Philippians 1:22); holiness (Romans 6:21); goodness, righteousness, truth (Ephesians 5:9); good work ad knowledge (Colossians 1:10); praise and charity (Hebrews 13:15).

All those  things that build up character and make some one special should be mastered or professionalised by the one who wants to call himself Christian.

The test is on. To go counter to the whole world is not easy. To do so with success we must lean heavily on Jehovah’s loyal love. For our assurance He has caused to be recorded twenty-six times in Psalm 136 alone that “his loyal love is to time indefinite.” (Margin) But we must do our part, for as we read elsewhere: “All the paths of Jehovah are loyal love and truthfulness for those observing his covenant and his reminders.”—Ps. 25:10,

Immortality, eternality - onsterfelijkheid, eeuwigheid

An endless life, is it possible? - Een leven zonder einde, is het mogelijk?

Under the Tag "Onsterfelijkheid" (Immortality) you shall be able to find articles about the quality or condition of being immortal in the sense of having endless life or existence.

The the quality or state of being immortal, having or receiving an unending existence.

The articles shall look at the condition of being exempt from death or destruction, of living for ever. We shall bring forward that there are several doctrines about this matter were in many religions and philosophies there is spoken of a immortality of one part of a person and in a few instances there is a forthright belief in immortality of the body, but rare.

Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of living in a physical or spiritual form for an infinite length of time. (Concise Oxford Dictionary)


According the Catholic Encyclopedia immortality is ordinarily understood as the doctrine that the human soul will survive death, continuing in the possession of an endless conscious existence. Together with the question of the existence of God, it forms the most momentous issue with which philosophy has to deal. It belongs primarily to rational or metaphysical psychology and the philosophy of religion, though it comes also into contact with other branches of philosophy and some of the natural sciences.


Physical immortality or a state of life that allows a person to avoid death and maintain conscious thought can be there from the beginning or can enter after a stadium according certain believers. It can mean the unending existence of a person from a physical source other than organic life. By definition, all causes of death must be overcome or avoided for physical immortality to be achieved.

Biological immortality is an absence of aging, specifically the absence of a sustained increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience aging, or ceases to age at some point, is biologically immortal. (Wikipedia)

Spiritual immortality is the unending existence of a person from a nonphysical source, or in a nonphysical state, such as a soul. Specifically 'soul immortality' is a belief that is expressed in nearly every religious tradition. However any doctrine in this area misleads without a prior definition of 'soul'. Another problem is that 'soul' is often confused and used synonymously or interchangeably with 'spirit'. (Wikipedia)

The doctrine of immortality is essential to many of the world's religions. Many religions promise their faithful an eternal paradise in an afterlife. These presume perfection, as they are part of a divine plan, and are categorically desirable.


Adam and Eve lost physical immortality for themselves and all their descendants in the Fall of Man, though this initial "imperishability of the bodily frame of man" was "a preternatural condition." (Adler, Mortimer J., ed., et al. (1952). The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. p. 784.)



According to some religions immortality implies that the being which survives shall preserve its personal identity and be connected by conscious memory with the previous life, while others think the person shall start afresh and enter an new phase in his life without to be remembered to the old life.
Some have held that after a future life of greater or less duration the soul will ultimately perish. Throughout the East there has been a widespread tendency to believe in metempsychosis or transmigration—that individual souls successively animate different human beings, and even the bodies of lower animals. A special form of this view is the theory of metamorphosis, that in such a series of reincarnations the soul undergoes or can undergo evolution and improvement of its condition. (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Christadelphians and many Bible Students believe the word soul (nephesh or psykhe) as used in the Bible is a person, an animal, or the life a person or animal enjoys. Hence, the soul is not part of man, but is the whole man — man as a living being. Hence, when a person or animal dies, the soul dies, and death is a state of non-existence (Ezekiel 18:4) Hell (Hades or Sheol) not being a place of fiery torment, but rather the common grave of humankind, a place of unconsciousness is the place were every dying person goes to. Those death have to wait until the return of Christ to be taken out of the grave and to appear in front of Jesus to be judged. Jesus was the first to be rewarded with heavenly immortality. After the final judgment, it is expected that the righteous will receive eternal life and live forever in an Earth turned into a paradise. From that moment they, though perhaps still having the possibility to die, shall never have to face death again. So notice the distinction that those with 'eternal life' can die though they do not succumb to disease or old age, whereas immortal ones cannot die by any cause.

In the Christadelphian and other Bible Students idea the Grace of God becomes reality in the Ransom offer of Jesus Christ who has given his life for all, so those who are justified shall not have to offer their body, or anything else, any more. They shall be granted life in the Kingdom of God without any pressure of pain and death. They fully, and not just a certain part of them called soul, shall be able to enjoy life.

God had foreseen a Plan and promissed salvation and a marvelous life in the Kingdom of God. God is bound to preserve the believers in possession of its conscious life, at least for some time, after death. All previous Bible prophesies have come to reality, so we may believe that all the rest God promissed shall also become reality. In the Kingdom of God the future life is to continue for ever.



Onder de tag "Onsterfelijkheid" zal u in staat zijn om artikelen over de kwaliteit of de conditie van het onsterfelijk zijn, in de zin van het hebben van  of het bestaan van eeuwig leven te vinden.

De de kwaliteit of de staat van het onsterfelijk zijn, het hebben van of het ontvangen van een eindeloze bestaan.
De artikelen zulllen bekijken hoe het al of niet mogelijk is dat er een conditie bestaat waarbij men vrijgesteld  kan worden van de dood of vernietiging van leven voor altijd. We zullen naar voor brengen dat er verschillende doctrines over deze kwestie zijn in veel religies en filosofieën waarin er gesproken wordt over een onsterfelijkheid van een deel van een persoon en in enkele zeldzame gevallen waar er een openhartig geloof in onsterfelijkheid van het lichaam is.

Onsterfelijkheid (of het eeuwige leven) is het concept van het leven in een fysieke of spirituele vorm voor een oneindige lengte van de tijd. (Concise Oxford Dictionary)
Volgens de Katholieke Encyclopedie wordt onsterfelijkheid gewoonlijk opgevat als de leer dat de menselijke ziel na de dood zal overleven en in het bezit blijft van een eindeloze bewust bestaan. Samen met de kwestie van het bestaan van God, vormen zij het meest gedenkwaardige probleem met welk filosofie te maken heeft. Het behoort in de eerste plaats tot rationele of metafysische psychologie en de filosofie van de religie, maar het komt ook in contact met andere takken van de filosofie en een aantal van de natuurwetenschappen.



Fysieke onsterfelijkheid of een staat van leven dat een persoon de dood kan voorkomen en de bewuste gedachte kan onderhouden vanaf het begin of na een stadium kan hiertoe kan komen  volgens bepaalde gelovigen. Het kan betekenen dat het eindeloze bestaan van een persoon uit een fysieke andere bron dan het organische leven zou kunnen zijn.
Per definitie moeten alle doodsoorzaken worden overwonnen of voorkomen om fysieke onsterfelijkheid te bereiken.
Biologische onsterfelijkheid is een afwezigheid van de vergrijzing, met name het ontbreken van het ouder worden, een afwezigheid van aanhoudende stijging van sterfte als functie van de chronologische leeftijd. Een cel of organisme zal indien het onsterfelijk is dan ook niet ervaren ouder te worden, of niet langer aan leeftijd gebonden zijn op een bepaald punt, om biologisch onsterfelijk te zijn.
Geestelijke onsterfelijkheid is het oneindige bestaan van een persoon uit een niet-fysieke bron, of in een niet-fysieke toestand, zoals een ziel. Specifiek 'ziel onsterfelijkheid' is een geloof dat wordt uitgedrukt in bijna elke religieuze traditie. Maar elke doctrine op dit gebied misleidt zonder voorafgaande definitie van 'ziel'. Een ander probleem is dat 'ziel' vaak verward en als synoniem of door elkaar met 'geest' gebruikt wordt.

De leer van de onsterfelijkheid is essentieel voor tal van religies van de wereld. Veel religies beloven hun getrouwen een eeuwig paradijs in een hiernamaals. Deze leerstelling veronderstelt perfectie, omdat ze deel uitmaakt van een goddelijk plan, en is categorisch wenselijk.
Adam en Eva verloren fysieke onsterfelijkheid voor zichzelf en al hun nakomelingen door hun zondeval, hoewel deze eerste "onvergankelijkheid van de lichamelijke frame van de mens"  "een bovennatuurlijke toestand." was (Adler, Mortimer J., red., et al. (1952) de grote ideeën:... Een Syntopicon van Groot-boeken van de westerse wereld Chicago:... Encyclopaedia Britannica blz. 784)

Volgens sommige religies impliceert onsterfelijkheid dat het wezen dat overleeft haar persoonlijke identiteit zal weten te behouden en verbonden zal worden door het bewuste geheugen met het vorige leven, terwijl anderen denken dat de persoon opnieuw zal horen te beginnen en tot een nieuwe fase in zijn leven zal komen zonder te worden herinnerd aan het oude leven.Sommigen hebben geoordeeld dat na een toekomstig leven van meer of mindere duur de ziel uiteindelijk toch zal vergaan. Doorheen het oosten is er een wijdverbreide neiging om te geloven in zielsverhuizing of transmigratie, dat individuele zielen achtereenvolgens verschillende menselijke wezens, en zelfs de lichamen van lagere dieren zullen animeren. Een bijzondere vorm van deze opvatting is de theorie van de metamorfose, dat in een dergelijke reeks reïncarnaties de ziel verscheidene evoluties en verbetering van de conditie kan ondergaan. (Katholieke Encyclopedie)

Christadelphians en vele Bijbelonderzoekers geloven dat het woord ziel (nephesh of psykhe) zoals gebruikt in de Bijbel een persoon, een dier is, of het leven dat een persoon of dier geniet. Vandaar, de ziel is geen onderdeel van de mens, maar is de gehele mens - de mens als een levend wezen. Vandaar dat wanneer een persoon of dier sterft, de ziel sterft, en dood is en in een toestand van niet-bestaan (Ezechiël 18:4) Hel (Hades of sheool) is geen plaats van vurige pijniging, maar het gemeenschappelijke graf van de mensheid, een plaats van bewusteloosheid, de plaats waar elke stervende persoon naar toe gaat. Diegenen die gestorven zijn moeten wachten tot de wederkomst van Christus om te worden opgenomen uit het graf en te verschijnen  voor de rechterstoel van Jezus om te worden beoordeeld. Jezus was de eerste die werd beloond met hemelse onsterfelijkheid. Na de definitieve uitspraak wordt verwacht dat de rechtvaardigen eeuwig leven zullen ontvangen en eeuwig leven zullen op een veranderde aarde in een paradijs. Vanaf dat moment dat ze, hoewel misschien nog steeds de mogelijkheid zullen hebben om te sterven, zullen zij nooit meer worden geconfronteerd met de dood. Dus merk het onderscheid op dat mensen met 'eeuwige leven' kunnen sterven, alhoewel door de vervulling van de belofte zij niet meer zullen bezwijken voor ziekte of ouderdom, terwijl onsterfelijken niet kunnen sterven door welke oorzaak dan ook.

Volgens de mening van Christadelphian en andere Bijbelonderzoekers over de genade van God wordt deze werkelijkheid in het Loskoopoffer van Jezus Christus, die zijn leven heeft gegeven voor iedereen. Aldus zullen al degenen die gerechtvaardigd zijn hun lichaam, of iets anders, niet meer moeten aanbieden als offer. Zij worden leven in het Koninkrijk van God verleend, zonder enige druk van pijn en dood. Zij zullen volledig, en niet alleen een bepaald deel van hen, genaamd de ziel, kunnen genieten van het leven.
God had voor een plan gezorgd en beloofde heil en een prachtig leven in het Koninkrijk van God. God is gebonden aan de gelovigen hun bezit van hun bewuste leven te bewaren, althans voor enige tijd, na de dood. Alle voorgaande Bijbel profetieën zijn werkelijkheid geworden, waardoor we kunnen geloven dat al de rest wat God beloofde ook werkelijkheid zal worden. In het Koninkrijk van God zal het toekomstige leven worden voortgezet tot in eeuwigheid.

Onsterfelijk, blijvend, levenslang, definitief, perpetueel, permanent, onvergankelijk
altoos, voor altijd, immer, in alle eeuwigheid, voor goed, voor immer, for ever, ad vitam, in perpetuum, in aeternum

onverderfelijk,

eeuwig

onvergankelijkheid, onsterfelijkheid, immortaliteit

eeuwigheid

verduurzamen, bestendigen, in stand houden, perpetueren, vereeuwigen

Dying or not

Are there people who have no death in them? According to Scriptures nobody is going to escape death. Since what happened in Eden we all have to face pain, ageing, deterioration, dying. Immortality is not given to us worldly people.

We are all going to die, which means that we are going to cease to exist until resurrected.  In death, the grave, there is no knowledge, no remembrance, no praise. There is no extra element of us, an extraordinary being or sort ghost which is going to live on. Man is dust and to dust he returns (see Genesis 3:19; Job 10:9; Psalm 90:3).
A separate soul was not joined to a prepared body when we came into existence on this earth. We were born by receiving the breath of life.  Man became a living soul (being RSV) when the breath of the spirit of life was breathed into his nostrils. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, KJV).

All our live we may have chosen to follow God, but this even lets us not live on after our death. Once we come to that point we also shall not be able to feel or do anything anymore. Even not praising God.
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can give you praise?" (Psalm 6:5)
"What profit will thee be in my blood when I go down to the pit?  Shall the dust praise thee?  Shall it declare thy truth?" (Psalm 30:9) "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence" (Psalm 115:17). We shall not be able to do anything, even not praise God. Because we would be like in a deep sleep. And we have to wait until we got woken up by Jesus like he called Lazarus (John 11:11). In "the last days", when God will show His power once more on the earth, at "a time of trouble such as never was "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:1-2). Some people will be raised from the dead when Jesus comes and others will sleep forever in the dust of the ground.

We die and return to the earth. If we have died "in Christ" we have that marvellous hope that we will rise again to eternal life. But that is not going to happen straight ahead after our death. That's why believers who have died in the new testament are said to be "asleep" while those who "understand not" as the Psalmist puts it have been destroyed.
Subjectively the dead have no sense of time between the moment of death and that of the resurrection. Objectively, thousands of years may have passed before they shall get resurrected.

“If (God) should set his heart on it, if he should gather to himself his spirit and his breath, All flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust” (Job 34:14,15) and stay dust, but He has given His promises and by those we do find life.

Whilst it is easy to focus on the mention of dust, and to think of the bodily corruption that occurs when anybody dies, think instead about what is being told us about life.
Life is a gift from God. He energised Adam in the Garden of Eden and made it possible for mankind to come into existence and He has perpetuated the race that Adam and Eve fathered.
Someone once said about God: “He gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25), and that generosity is evident all around us, all the time.  Life is the most marvellous thing we
possess: it is God’s free gift to all of us.

He gives and we receive. He is the source of life and we are creatures dependent upon Him. When our breath leaves the body, try as we might, we cannot get it back. Nobody can bring a dead body back to life: when it is dead it is dead. So here is a stark reminder of the difference
between God and mankind: He is immortal and we are not. The Bible often makes that  distinction and that is hard for some people to accept, but see for yourself.

It is our Almighty God who has given immortality to His angels and to only one man. Namely Jesus who at his return to earth will manifest in his own time.  It is this Jesus who shall appear "our Lord Yahshua the Messiah: Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting.  Amen." (1 Timothy 6:14-16 KJBPNV)

If we want it or not, we are the lesser one. We are always given up to death. “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:11); “Here mortal men receive tithes…” (Hebrews 7:8).

God alone has inherent immortality. He is the only one who is eternal. Though certain Christian denominations proclaim that we become eternal, this shall always be impossible because we always had somewhere a beginning. And a person who had a beginning can not be eternal because that is one of the implications of eternity, having no beginning and no end.

We are mortal – dying creatures. But God, who first gave mankind the breath of life, can also give us life that lasts forever. The Bible calls this “eternal life” or “immortality” but there you have to be careful how you want to understand that immortality. Please do have before your eyes that you have two forms of immortality: 1. having no way to die or 2. the one (how I would put it and believe in) were we have the possibility in us to die but are give (by grace) the possibility to stay for ever, which is to stay a life in eternity. Here’s one of God’s promises about that wonderful
prospect: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). It is that life for eternal what we can get, because Jesus brought his Ransom Offer. "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concernmg them which are asleep (he means in death), that ye sorrow not, even as the rest who have no hope .... For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven ... with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise . . ." (1 Thessalonians 4:13,16) Christ personally (note "himself") will descend from heaven; and the faithful dead will rise-from the grave of course. Here are basic teachings which are found throughout the New Testament. They are foundation truths of the Gospel. ". . . The hour is coming, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his (Jesus') voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28-29).

The bad news is that we could earn death; the good news is that there is an alternative. We could be given eternal life: the chance to live forever in a perfect world. What a choice and
what an opportunity!

The reward of the righteous does not consist of some "spirit existence" somewhere; it will be the granting of an incorruptible body, one that will not waste away and perish as our present one does, but will no longer be subject to death.

Not having to endure pain or to be frightened to hurt ourselves or to die we shall be able to enter the "paradise" of the new Kingdom of peace and joy which Christ will establish when he returns to the earth.

Those who have listened to what God has to say, have taken the time to understand it, and who have made those promises their life’s aim, they shall, when they have repented and chosen to keep God's Commandments, be able to trust the Lord and shall receive the opportunity to live for eternal in God's Kingdom as true members of the family of God .

The Bible explains that we must be baptised if we want to enter the Kingdom of God and start to live with Him, here and now. It was the Lord himself who said: “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and he went on to explain that this means that we must be born again “of water and the Spirit” (3:5). do not postpone it, because you never what tomorrow brings.

Dutch version / Nederlandstalige versie: Al of niet onsterfelijkheid

Preferring to be a Christian

What more can I wish than that, while my brief term on earth shall last, I should be the servant of Him who became the Servant of servants for me?
I can say, concerning Christ's religion, if I had to die like a dog, and had no hope whatever of immortality, if I wanted to lead a happy life, let me serve my God with all my heart; let me be follower of Jesus, and walk in His footsteps. If there were no hereafter, I would still prefer to be a Christian, and the humblest Christian minister, to being a king or an emperor, for I am persuaded there are more delights in Christ, yea, more joy in one glimpse of His face than is to be found in all the praises of this harlot-world, and in all the delights which it can yield to us in its sunniest and brightest days. And I am persuaded that what He has been till now, He will be to the end, and where He had begun a good work, He will carry it on.

In the religion of Jesus Christ, there are clusters even on earth too heavy for one man to carry; there are fruits that have been found so rich that even angel lips have never been sweetened with more luscious wine; there are joys to be had here so fair that even cates ambrosial and the nectared wine of Paradise can scarcely excel the sweets of satisfaction that are to be found in the earthly banquets of the Lord. I have seen hundreds and thousands who have given their hearts to Jesus, but I never did see one who said he was disappointed with Him, I never met with one who said Jesus Christ was less than He was declared to be. 

When first my eyes beheld Him, when the burden slipped from off my heavy-laden shoulders, and I was free from condemnation, I thought that all the preachers I had ever heard had not half preached, they had not told half the beauty of my Lord and Master. So good! so generous! so gracious! so willing to forgive! It seemed to me as if they had almost slandered Him; they painted His likeness, doubtless, as well as they could, but it was a mere smudge compared with the matchless beauties of His face. All who have ever seen Him will say the same. I go back to my home, many a time, mourning that I cannot preach my Master even as I myself know Him, and what I know of Him is very little compared with the matchlessness of His grace. Would that I knew more of Him, and that I could tell it out better!

Charles Spurgeon

 

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2013 update:

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• 7 things that change when we follow Jesus.
• Everything I thought about being a christian was wrong!
• So what does it take to be a true Christian? You might want to share this important message.
• Learn how to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News of the coming Kingdom
• Bond Servants of Jesus Christ
• Don't Seek the Approval of Christians; Seek the Approval of Christ
• John 02:01-11, "Believing"
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• Peace Through Christ

Angels

ANGELS

“For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy way.  Psalm 91: 11

A.             Angels are Yahweh’s messengers that do His will.

At God’s command they protect, save, or kill.

They carry out God’s judgement upon wicked men.

Some have appeared and been seen now and then.

N.              Now salvation in Christ Jesus through God’s Word.

Is much nearer than when we first heard.

Yahweh opened our hearts in Jesus our King.

                  When with joy we were baptized into Him.

G.              God’s angels minister to our needs each day.

As we worship Him, study, preach and pray.

We each have an angel by our side.

Though unseen by us they help and guide.

     

E.              Eternity in paradise on earth is God’s prize.

Seen by our faith and through spiritual eyes.

Jesus the King will receive power and praise.

Adored by angels, and those God will raise.   

  

L.              Look and follow Jesus He is The Way.

He will grant us eternity on judgement day.

Remain in God’s love, your future is sure.

Changed & immortal like angels, if we endure.

     S.          Salvation from Yahweh by His son, only Him.

  Because of obedience to Christ Jesus our King.

  Our future transformation from the world we hate.

  Ministering angels will protect us as we wait.

“And to you who are troubled rest with us, when The Lord Jesus shall be revealed

from heaven with His mighty angels.” 2 Thessalonian 1: 7

 

Bro. D Pickering  (1997)

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2013 update

Related articles

• Angels from the Realms of Glory
• Isaiah 6 - the Seraphim: burning ones (High priest)
• The Secret Place of the Most High : The Veil and the Holy of Holies (Holy Place) - Prayer
• "For verily he took not on him the nature of angels."