Through Faith We Understand That God Made the World.

 Did you know the kingdoms since Ancient Babylon-- Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the divided kingdoms since were all predicted to occur in the Old Testament writings before they occurred? Granted most people are probably not familiar with ancient Babylon, or Medo-Persia, but Greece- well, Greece still exists in name so obviously most are familiar with Greece. Ancient Greece was conquered by Rome and was not its own individually run country any longer. After Rome the lands were divided so that no longer would any one ruling kingdom control so much of the Middle East.

The Bible is a book of prophecy that most don't concern themselves with today.  Every Christian should be concerned though. Jesus was predicted right there in the first few chapters of Genesis. Jesus when He ministered upon earth was all about prophecy- His entire message was one of the prophesied last trumpet sounding - the end of all evil and the eternal reign of His Kingdom.  Jesus preached salvation towards that end, so people would be able to choose eternal life through His mercy and grace. Eternal life is a prophecy. One day He will return and sound the Last Trumpet and those who died with Him as their Savior will rise, and those who are left living who are His will rise too. Prophecy. 

How wondrous it is to know that God's word to us has allowed us to know so much of our future.  

Some will hold fast to the things we cannot know, the mysteries that are God's, and claim He doesn't exist simply because they haven't been made aware of all His ways. People will make up all sorts of things as they fumble about denying God. They ultimately land on there was nothing and from nothing came something- all very scientifically- somehow. Nothing. That word nothing by its very meaning does not allow for anything at all whatsoever. As soon as someone tries to say something came from nothing they've lost all credibility having instantly contradicted themselves. Something came from Someone, the nothing was dispelled by Someone, not nothing creating something from nothing. 

We have an amazing God who has so many wonders for us, so many, if we'd but seek to know Him

Heb_11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Ecc 3:11  He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. 

Ecc 8:17  Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. 

Job 11:7  Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? 

Mat 11:27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 

Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 

Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. 

Trust God.

 Trusting, No Matter What.

(Excerpt - A.T. Jones)

"January 31, 1899

When Abraham and Sarah had cleared themselves of all the scheme of unbelief which had produced Ishmael and had stood upon faith alone--dependence on the word of God alone--Isaac, the true child of the promise, was born.

In harkening to the voice of Sarai (Gen. 16:1), Abram had swerved from the line of strict integrity to the word of God, from the strictness of true faith, and now that he had returned to the word only, to true faith, he must be tested before it could be certainly said of him that his faith was counted for righteousness.

He had trusted the naked word of God as against Ishmael and had obtained Isaac, the true child of the promise of God. And now, having obtained Isaac, the question must be determined whether he would trust the naked word of God as against even Isaac himself.

Accordingly, God said to Abraham, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."

Abraham had received Isaac from God by trusting the word of God only. Isaac alone was the seed promised by the word of the Lord. After Isaac was born, God had confirmed the word by declaring, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." Gen. 21:12. And now came the word of God, Take thy son, thine only son Isaac, and offer him for a burnt offering.

God had declared to Abraham, Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven for multitude. "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." "In Isaac shall thy seed be called," and now, Offer Isaac for a burnt offering!

But, if Isaac is offered for a burnt offering, if Isaac is burned up, what will become of the promise of the blessing of all nations in him? What will become of the promise, Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven innumerable?  Yet there stood the word, Offer Isaac for a burnt offering. Abraham had trusted the word of God only, as against Ishmael, but this is more than trusting the word of God as against Isaac--it is trusting the word of God as against the word of God!

And Abraham did it, hoping against hope. God had said: Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven; In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Offer Isaac for a burnt offering. Abraham did not insist that God should "harmonize these passages." It was all sufficient for him to know that the statements were all the word of God. Knowing this, he would trust that word, would follow that word, and would let the Lord "harmonize these passages," or "explain these texts," if any such thing were needed.

Said Abraham: God has said, Offer Isaac for a burnt offering. That I will do. God has said, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." And, Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven for multitude. I interfered once in the promise and hindered it till I repudiated all that I had done and came back to the word only. Then, by a miracle, God gave me Isaac, the promised seed. Now He says, Offer Isaac, the promised seed, for a burnt offering. I will do it. By a miracle God gave him at the first, and by a miracle God can restore him. Yet when I shall have offered him for a burnt offering, he will be dead, and the only miracle that can then restore him is a miracle that will bring him back from the dead. But God is able to do even that, and He will do it, for His word is spoken, Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven for multitude, and In Isaac shall thy seed be called. And even the bringing back of Isaac from the dead will be to God no more than He has already done, for, as to offspring, both my body and Sarah's were as good as dead, and yet God brought forth Isaac from us. He can raise Isaac from the dead, and He will. Bless the Lord!

It was settled. He arose and took his servants and Isaac and went three days' journey "unto the place of which God had told him." And when on the third day he "saw the place afar off," "Abraham said unto his young men,  Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you." Gen. 22:5.  Who will go? "I and the lad will go." And who will come again? "I and the lad will go . . . and come again to you."  Abraham expected to have Isaac come back with him as certainly as that he went with him.

Abraham expected to offer Isaac for a burnt offering and expected then to see Isaac rise from the ashes and go back with him. For the word of God had gone forth, In Isaac shall thy seed be called, and, Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven for multitude. And Abraham would trust that word only, that it could never fail. Heb.  11:17-19.

Heb 11:17  By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 

Heb 11:18  Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 

Heb 11:19  Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. 

THIS IS FAITH. And thus "the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness." James 2:23. 

But yet above this, "It was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed; if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification." Rom. 4:23-25.

To trust the word of God only, to depend upon the word of God only, to depend upon the word of God, even as against the word of God--this is FAITH. This is the faith which brings the righteousness of God.

This is what it is to exercise faith. This is "what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of exercising faith. And "understanding how to exercise faith," this is the science of the gospel. And the science of the gospel is the science of sciences.

Faith Must Prevail.

 Cultivating Faith.

Choosing to believe the Word of God when we have no understanding of our own. We love to lean to our own understanding as if we can understand the ways of God. As long as we understand something we seem to accept our understanding for what it is. Time and again we've had something we've understood turn out to be something completely different- revealing our understanding was flawed for one reason or another. I can tell you I understand, and after a bit of thought find myself not truly understanding. I thought I understood, but my understanding wasn't complete. We are told to …

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 

Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 

LEAN NOT to our OWN UNDERSTANDING. We think we have some kind of right to understand simply because we exist. We hold ourselves to be so important, all important just because we live. We pride ourselves on our lives, living to our own understanding, but our understanding is extremely flawed and terribly imperfect. We know this to be true- every time we are proven wrong about something, or are forced to recognize we are wrong in some way we have to KNOW that we are flawed creatures! As flawed creatures we cannot trust our own understanding it would be futile to do so. If we were never wrong about anything at all, then maybe just maybe we'd think differently but we are not only wrong occasionally, but often. Why do we insist upon understanding so much that is beyond our ability to do so? We toss and turn and keep ourselves in a state of anxiousness as we struggle to understand the whys and wherefores of our lives. We are told by our Creator, NOT to lean to our own understanding. We are to trust the LORD with all that we are, He alone has the perfect understanding. 

I can recall there being moments in my life during various crisis when I just say over and over, I don't understand, I just don't understand… I can't understand. And I do that, I announce my inability to understand as if I should be able to understand. I want to understand, I seek understanding, but that is when FAITH has to step in and I have to TRUST that the LORD has everything in HIS control. I may not understand the horrors or why they are allowed to such innocents, but I have been given the knowledge through CHRIST JESUS that I can understand that ALL the horrors are temporary. This knowledge alone allows hope for the end of ALL horrors for all one day, and a lifetime of endlessness without any suffering. I must believe this! If I try to lean to my own understanding, I'm lost entirely. Faith must step in, faith must prevail. All by the grace and mercy, the love of our SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, now and forever!

Amen!

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January 24, 1899  AT Jones Excerpt-

"The knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith is more important than any other knowledge that can be obtained."

Faith is the expecting the word of God to do the thing which that word speaks and the depending upon the word only to accomplish the thing which that word speaks.

Abraham is the father of all them which be of faith. The record of Abraham, then, gives instruction in faith--what it is and what it does for him who has it.

What shall we say, then, that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the faith, has found? What saith the Scripture?

When Abram was more than eighty years old and Sarai his wife was old and he had no child, God "brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be."

And Abram "believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Gen. 15:5,6. 

Abram accepted the word of God and expected by the word what the word said. And in that he was right.

Sarai, however, did not put her expectation upon the word of God only. She resorted to a device of her own to bring forth seed. She said to him, "The Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her." Gen. 16:2.

Abram, for the moment, swerved from the perfect integrity of faith. Instead of holding fast his expectation and dependence upon the word of God only, he "harkened to the voice of Sarai."

Accordingly, a child was born, but the whole matter proved to be so unsatisfactory to Sarai that she repudiated her own arrangement. And God showed His repudiation of it by totally ignoring the fact that any child had been born. He changed Abram's name to Abraham and continued to talk about making him the father of nations through the seed promised and of making his covenant with Abraham and the seed that was promised. He also changed Sarai's name to Sarah, because she should "be a mother of nations" through the promised seed.

Abraham noticed this total ignoring of the child that had been born and called the Lord's attention to it, saying,  "O, that Ishmael might live before thee!"

But "God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year." Gen. 17:15-21.

By all this both Abram and Sarai were taught that, in carrying out the promise, the fulfilling of the word of God,  nothing would answer but dependence upon that word only. Sarai learned that her device brought only trouble and perplexity and delayed the fulfillment of the promise. Abram learned that in harkening to the voice of Sarai,  he had missed the word of God, and that now he must abandon that whole scheme and turn again to the word of God only.

But now Abraham was ninety-nine years old and Sarah was eighty- nine. And, if anything, this seemed to put farther off than ever the fulfillment of the word and called for a deeper dependence upon the word of God--a greater faith than before.

It was perfectly plain that now there was no possibility of dependence upon anything whatever, but the naked word only; they were shut up absolutely to this for the accomplishment of what the word said. All works,  devices, plans, and efforts of their own were excluded, and they were shut up to faith alone--shut up to the word alone and to absolute dependence upon that word only for the accomplishment of what that word said.

And now that the way was clear for "the word only" to work, that word did work, effectually, and the promised "seed" was born. And so "through faith," through helpless, total dependence upon the word only--"Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised."

And "therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude,  and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable." Heb. 11:12.

And thus was fulfilled the word spoken to Abram, when God "brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. . . . So shall thy seed be."

This is a divine lesson in faith. And this is what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith. For this was imputed to Abraham for righteousness, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith.

Yet "it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed,  if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification." Rom. 4:23-25.

And all "they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." All they who, excluding--yea, repudiating--all works, plans, devices, and efforts, of their own, depend in utter helplessness upon the word of God only to accomplish what that word says--these are they which be of faith and are blessed with faithful Abraham with the righteousness of God.

O, "understanding how to exercise faith: this is the science of the gospel"! And the science of the gospel is the science of sciences. Who would not strain every nerve to understand it?

Joy In Believing.

 

Believing.

Does believing in a thing always make it reality?  No, absolutely not. You could believe a lie, and because you believe that lie when you realize it was a lie you believed in you comprehend that you were wrong to believe. What you believed in wasn't a reality. People like to have facts to back up their beliefs. People don't want to be caught believing lies. People feel like fools when they've allowed themselves to be duped. To tell someone to believe when you have very little tangible proof, is asking a lot. However… if what someone is telling you to believe is not something that could ever hurt you in any way- to believe-  how are you duped?  But if you don't believe you will be hurt in the worst way ever- do you risk choosing not to believe?

I'm not talking about our temporary life.  Yes, you'll get a lot of people who believe this life is all there is to life and it all ends when they die. My heart goes out to those people because they choose to only believe in a life filled with all kinds of heartache and pain, when it costs them NOTHING to believe in something more.  Some might say it could cost them their life now to believe in that something more, and they're right- people die to believe all the time. Those people who do die, count that cost worth it in order to believe. They believe in hope, in eternal hope, everlasting life, love unending and to believe in such amazing things takes nothing from them, because even if they're called to give their lives for those beliefs, those beliefs give them joy now. 

You've heard of the saying- there is no down side- well, there is no down side to believing in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, none. Joy now in believing, and joy when that belief is realized.

Faith in the joy of salvation in Jesus Christ is in no way foolish.  The only foolish ones are those who do not allow themselves the hope, the joy through believing.  

A.T. Jones- Excerpt-January 17, 1899

Faith is the depending upon the word of God only, and expecting that word only to do what the word says.

Justification by faith, then, is justification by depending upon the word of God only and expecting that word only to accomplish it.

Justification by faith is righteousness by faith, for justification is the being declared righteous.

Faith comes by the word of God. Justification by faith, then, is justification that comes by the word of God.  Righteousness by faith is righteousness that comes by the word of God.

The word of God is self-fulfilling, for in creating all things, "he spake and it was." And when He was on earth, He stilled the raging sea, cleansed the lepers, healed the sick, raised the dead, and forgave sins, all by His word:  there, too, "he spake, and it was."

Now the same One who, in creating, "spake, and it was", the same One who said, "Let there be light, and there was light," the same One who on earth spoke "the word only," and the sick were healed, the lepers were cleansed, and the dead lived--this same One speaks the righteousness of God unto and upon all that believe.

For though all have sinned and come short of the righteousness of God, yet we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth . . . to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."

In creating all things in the beginning, God set forth Christ to declare the word which should cause all things to exist. Christ did speak the word only, and all things were. And in redemption, which is creation over again, God set forth Christ to declare the word of righteousness. And when Christ speaks the word only, it is so. His word,  whether in creating or in redeeming, is the same.

"The worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Once there were no worlds, nor was there any of the material which now composes the worlds. God set forth Christ to declare the word which should produce the worlds, and the very material of which they should be composed.

"He spake, and it was." Before He spoke, there were no worlds; after He spoke, the worlds were there. Thus the word of God spoken by Jesus Christ is able to cause that to exist which has no existence before the word is spoken, and which, except for that word, never could have existence.

 

In this same way precisely it is in man's life. In man's life there is no righteousness. In man there is no righteousness from which righteousness can appear in his life. But God has set forth Christ to declare righteousness unto and upon man. Christ has spoken the word only, and in the darkened void of man's life there is righteousness to everyone who will receive it. Where, before the word is received, there was neither righteousness nor anything which could possibly produce righteousness, after the word is received, there is perfect righteousness and the very Fountain from which it springs. The word of God received by faith--that is,  the word of God expected to do what that word says and depended upon to do what it says--produces righteousness in the man and in the life where there never was any before; precisely as, in the original creation,  the word of God produced worlds where there never were any worlds before. He has spoken, and it is so to everyone that believeth: that is, to every one that receiveth. The word itself produces it.

"Therefore being justified (made righteous) by faith (by expecting and depending upon the word of God only)  we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1. That is so, bless the Lord! And feeding upon this blessed thing is cultivating faith.

We Choose. We Are All Given A Measure of Faith.

 God PUT an enmity between man and Satan.  There was no enmity until God put it there. Think about that for a moment. When Eve and Adam took and ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil they aligned themselves with the seducer, Satan himself. To align themselves with Satan meant not aligning themselves with God. They had been in alignment with God from the moment of their creation, they had every advantage of that alignment but the seducer used his formidable wiles to test their alignment with God. Being overcome by the seducer, mankind abdicated their alignment with God and could not get it back of their own accord. That they were ashamed of what they'd done is on record. They knew instantly they'd made a grave error in judgment. Their regret had to be overwhelming. They immediately lost the light of God's pureness, their heavenly covering, a part of their alignment with God. As the veil of purity was wrenched off them, they were horrified by what was revealed beneath the Holy covering. They'd been changed from the sinless, to the sinful instantly, and sin is ugly, sin is an abhorrence. They knew they were different right away and not in a good way.  They knew they'd left the alliance with God and traded it for an alliance with something evil, something shameful. Mankind was NOT created to die. In order to die mankind was instantaneously altered from sinless creations to something awful, sin-filled. Make no mistake the way our bodies are now, are not the way God intended them to be. We made the choice and that choice changed us in ways that have allowed us to decay, to get sick, to be injured, to have deformity and so on. Our mere bodily system of normal functioning can make us ill, we have refuse in us that needs to be eliminated constantly- this was NOT how we were created to be. Sin changed us. The loss of immortality through God's pure light and love, took all that was of God and immortal from us. We became creatures of sin.  

But God didn’t want to lose us eternally. God knew that within us where part of Him dwelt in spirit, a part of Him allowed to remain by His mercy and grace, we could be restored to Him one day. God PUT an enmity between US and SATAN. We would be allowed to choose. Such love! Such awesome LOVE. We each get to choose, every individual capable of deciding can choose. Those incapable of choosing are God's through His mercy, His love and only He knows truly who are those incapable. 

*******

 Excerpt A.T. Jones- January 10, 1899 -

"The knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired."

Notice that it is the knowledge of what the Scripture means as to the "necessity of cultivating faith"--not particularly having faith but cultivating it.

There is not much said in the Scriptures about any necessity of our having faith, while very, very much is said about our cultivating faith.

The reason of this is that to all people there is given faith to begin with, and all they need to do is to cultivate faith. 

Nobody can have more faith than is already given him without cultivating the faith that is already given.

And there is nothing known to man that will grow so fast as faith, when it is cultivated--"faith groweth exceedingly."

2Th_1:3  We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth

Faith is the expecting that the word of God itself will accomplish what that word says, and the depending upon "the word only" to accomplish what the word says. 

To cultivate dependence on the word of God, "the word only," itself to do what the word says is to cultivate faith.

Faith is "the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8), and that it is given to everybody is plainly stated in the Scriptures.

 "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Rom. 12:3.

This measure of faith which "God hath dealt to every man" is the capital with which God endows and starts "every man that cometh into the world," and every man is expected to trade upon this capital--cultivate it--to the salvation of his soul.

There is no danger of ever lessening this capital when it is used; as certainly as it is used at all, it will increase. It will grow exceedingly. And as certainly as it grows, the righteousness, the peace, the joy, of the Lord, are assured to the full salvation of the soul.

Again, faith comes by the word of God. Therefore, it is written, "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach." Rom. 10:8. Thus faith, the very word of faith, is in the mouth and in the heart of every man.

How is this? Thus: When the first pair sinned in the garden, they wholly believed Satan. They gave themselves wholly to Satan. They were taken completely captive by him. Then there was perfect agreement and peace between them and Satan. But God did not leave it so. He broke up this agreement; He spoiled this peace. And He did it by His word, saying to Satan, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed." Gen. 3:15.

"It is God alone that can continually put enmity between the seed of the woman and the serpent's seed. After the transgression of man, his nature became evil. Then was peace between Satan and fallen man. Had there been no interference on the part of God, men would have formed an alliance against heaven, and in the place of warfare among themselves, carried on nothing but warfare against God. There is no native enmity between fallen angels and fallen men. Both are evil and that through apostasy, and evil, wherever it exists, will always league against good. Fallen angels and fallen men join in companionship. The wise general of fallen angels calculated that if he could induce men, as he had angels, to join in rebellion, they would stand as his agents of communication with men to league in rebellion against heaven. Just as soon as one separates from God, he has no power of enmity against Satan. The enmity on earth between man and Satan is supernaturally put there. 

Unless the converting power of God is brought daily to bear upon the human heart, there will be no inclination to be religiously inclined, but men will choose to be the captives of Satan rather than to be free men in Jesus Christ. 

I say God will put enmity. Man cannot put it. When the will is brought into subject to the will of God, it must be through man's inclining his heart and will to be on the Lord's side." Unpublished Testimony.

This enmity against Satan, this hatred of evil, which God puts in every person by His word, causes each soul to long for deliverance, and the deliverance is found alone in Jesus Christ. Rom. 7:14-25.

Thus this word of God, which plants in each soul enmity against Satan, this hatred of evil that calls for deliverance which is found alone in Jesus Christ, this is the gift of faith to men. This is "the measure of faith" which God has dealt to every man. This is the "word of faith," which is in the mouth and in the heart of every person in the world.

This "is the word of faith, which we preach: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. 10:8-10.

Therefore say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven, to bring faith to us? Neither say, Who shall descend into the deep, or, Who shall go far off to find faith and bring it to us? For "the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach." Deut. 30:11-14; Rom. 10:6-8.

Say that--and exercise the faith which God has given to you, as to every other person in the world, for "understanding how to exercise faith, this is the science of the gospel."

Evil Is Temporary.

 God cannot lie.

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began

We can lie, we do lie, it happens all the time. We lie to ourselves often, and also to others. We call them innocuous lies, but no lie is innocuous, they all have consequences. 

Do you think the Devil tallies up the lies told- all of them from the very first human lie to the lies continuing even now as I write this? He is the father of lies. 

Joh_8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Each lie told is a tally mark for Satan, a sin in need of forgiveness. There are examples in the Bible of men and women of God lying, and their lies had consequences. They needed forgiveness from each and every lie, just as we do. We can't think our lies don't matter. Our words matter, and they are nothing like God's words. God's words do not lie, God cannot lie. God can be trusted. It's we who twist God's words to mean things they do not. We warp the meaning and context and then blame God for our own deception. Sometimes we even deceive ourselves, we begin to believe our own lies and we are allowed to do that because God does not force our hands, God does not stop our bent on evil not in the tiniest form of evil or the most horrific. We wonder why, and claim if we were God we wouldn't let these terrible things happen. We rail against God and say He's no God at all for allowing the evil. We make so many accusations and the truth of the matter is, God's mercy has all the evil, the worst of the worst of evil, as only being temporary. TEMPORARY.  Does that make a difference? Yes, yes it does. Evil would have evil be eternal. God allows things to happen, but He has a gospel of the purest love that tells us all the evil is temporary. As we walk through the valleys of evil against ourselves and against others, against purest innocent, and against other evil, we can BELIEVE it's temporary! This is NOT how it will be forever! This our loving God has made sure of, He's proclaimed this truth and God cannot lie!

(Excerpt)

Faith is the expecting the word of God itself to do what the word says and depending upon that word itself to do what the word says.

When this is clearly discerned, it is perfectly easy to see how it is that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Since the word of God is imbued with creative power and so is able to produce in very substance the thing which that word speaks and since faith is the expectation that the word itself will do what the word says and depending on the word only to do what that word says, it is plain enough 

that faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Since the word of God is in itself creative and so is able to produce and cause to appear what otherwise would never exist nor be seen, and since faith is the expecting the word of God only to do just that thing and depending upon "the word only" to do it, it is plain enough that faith is "the evidence of things not seen."

Thus it is that "through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."

He who exercises faith knows that the word of God is creative and that so it is able to produce the thing spoken.  Therefore, he can understand, not guess, that the worlds were produced, were caused to exist, by the word of God.

He who exercises faith can understand that though before the word of God was spoken, neither the things which are now seen nor the substances of which those things are composed, anywhere appeared, simply because they did not exist; yet when that word was spoken, the worlds were, simply because that word itself caused them to exist.

This is the difference between the word of God and the word of man. Man may speak, but there is no power in his words to perform the thing spoken. If the thing is to be accomplished which he has spoken, the man must do something in addition to speaking the word--he must make good his word.

Not so the word of God.

When God speaks, the thing is. And it is, simply because He has spoken. It accomplishes that which He was pleased to speak. It is not necessary that the Lord, as man, must do something in addition to the word spoken.  He needs not to make His word good; it is good. He speaks "the word only," and the things is accomplished.

And so it is written: "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe"--in you that exercise faith. 1 Thess. 2:13.

This also is how it is that it is "impossible for God to lie." It is not impossible for God to lie only because He will not, but also because He cannot. And He cannot lie, just because He cannot. It is impossible. And it is impossible, because when He speaks, the creative energy is in the word spoken, so that "the word only" causes the thing to be so.

Man may speak a word and it not be so. Thus man can lie, for to speak what is not so is to lie. And man can lie,  can speak what is not so, because there is no power in his word itself to cause the thing to be. With God this is impossible; He cannot lie, for "he spake, and it was"; He speaks, and it is so.

This is also how it is that when the word of God is spoken for a certain time, as in a prophecy for hundreds of years to come when that time actually has arrived, that word is fulfilled. And it is then fulfilled, not because, apart from the word, God does something to fulfill it, but because the word was spoken for that time, and in it is the creative energy which causes the word at that time to produce the thing spoken.

This is how it was that if the children had not cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David," the stones would have immediately cried out; and this is how it was that when the third day had come, it was "impossible" that He should be any longer holden of death.

O, the word of God is divine! In it is creative energy. It is "living and powerful." The word of God is self-fulfilling,  and to trust it and depend upon it as such, that is to exercise faith. "Hast thou faith?"

January 3, 1899 A.T. Jones 

The Vine of All Living.

 

In the mists of early morning, in the garden beyond the border, there under the wings of the angels, I peered. 

A beam of sunlight struck the minuscule droplets of water, and in a burst of vapor dissipated the veil before my vision. There in glorious beauty, I beheld the magnificent Vine. 

No ordinary vine was this before me. In all my knowledge-seeking I'd never been able to watch a vine writhing in growth, twisting and bringing forth new shoots even as other shoots withered and began their slow descent to the ground. 

The dying tendrils caught my eye, momentarily distracting me from the myriad of newly budding shoots. Before any of the dying shoots, broken off from the Vine, could touch the mossy floor below they turned to dark, thick dust, and wind swept them away. Not a single withering slip of decay ever touched the earth, it simply vanished.

Quickly my attention returned to the constant new growth, intermingling with the continuous release of the non-viable tendrils and it was a sight unlike anything known to me before.

Nature beyond this angel guarded garden simply had never shown us such a wondrous Vine as this, Vine of all Vines. We'd been allowed glimpses of such wonders. A plant whose flower would bloom only once a hundred years, a plant whose flower opened fully for only a single night, a water shoot growing twelve inches in one day… yet all these marvels could not compare to this Vine. 

This was the true Vine of all living, of all who had ever lived, and all who had ever died. Each offshoot of bearing life kept its promise of living even when it no longer grew- there attached to the Vine in a state of suspended growth- it would never die, rather forever be a part of this wondrous Vine.

Each offshoot of death left its tiny pockmark in the Vine for now, a testament to a life that could have been. 

All the tiny tendrils newly shooting forth were growing either towards life, or towards death. 

As I bore witness to the growing vines I noticed that many of them, if not all, were writhing each in their own almost agonizing way. I longed for a closer inspection of those living tendrils and even as I leaned inward I felt a sudden heat surround me. Daring to look upwards, I gasped as the glowing swords of the angel guardians ignited into flames of the most brilliant fire. I knew instantly this was a mere warning. I would only be allowed to catch glimpses of this majesty before me, not enter within the garden, not cross the border by even a hairsbreadth  

Leaning back, the instant relief from the glowing fire above rushed over me. As sweat beaded down my forehead and dotted my cheeks, I knew how close I had come to my own end should I have dared to move any closer. 

Yet the struggle of the tiny vine shoots beckoned my attention. Those living tendrils branched outwards from the vine pushing from within them something, but what? Were those fruit?! The tiny bits of golden nubs dotting a tiny branch here and there, fruit? Oh, how those struggling shoots were tormented by some unseen force! They struggled as they chose life, clearly longing for something, perhaps a promise of what they would one day become.

A heavy weight dropped upon my heart, but only for the briefest of moments. The weight then lifted, taken from me, as the story's end flashed into realization, a memory from the past.

Being allowed this brief vision of truth I knew that all I'd been told of the Vine long ago would come to pass one day. 

As the lore passed down through time unwound its tale I knew the Vine would not bring forth new shoots forever. One day the last tiny tendril would come forth from the Vine, and then all that would remain would be for each tendril still growing to compete its life cycle- choosing death or life. When the decision for each was made and the very last slip of life was decided, then and only then would the Vine bring into being the everlasting blooms promised of the Vine. All the sleeping branches of the Vine would once more spring to full life obtaining their ultimate end of eternal flowering along with every single living shoot attached to the Vine. Such beauty! Such wonder! How miraculous that would be to behold! 

To see the Vine of All Living. Such a gift I'd been given. As the vision clouded before me and I fought drifting downwards into a deep thought-less sleep, my lips curled in a soft smile, I would remember this dream. And I did.

*******

Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 

Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.