Can We Who Are Saved by Faith Enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
By Ma Xiaoxiao
One day, when I preached, I spoke of the great disaster that was going to come. So I exhorted brothers and sisters to attend meetings actively, put more effort in the Bible, and follow the Lord’s way in real life, so that we could watch and wait for the return of the Lord. But I saw some brothers and sisters remain weak and full of doubts whether they could be raptured to the kingdom of heaven. Then I explained, “Brothers and sisters, the Bible says, ‘For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Rom 10:10). As long as we believe in the Lord in our hearts and confirm our belief in Him with our words, our faith will allow us to obtain eternal salvation. When the Lord comes again, we will surely be raptured to the kingdom of heaven.” Hearing what I said, brothers and sisters were all happy and they had some strength. At this moment, co-worker Zhang stood up and said, “I’m not sure. The Lord Jesus said, ‘But he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven’ (Mat 7:21). This clearly tells us that only those who do the will of God can enter the kingdom of heaven. Although we have been saved, we’re still committing sins during the day and repenting at night. This’s not doing the will of the heavenly Father. I think we still will be unable to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock – Revelation 3:20
Thoughts on Today’s Bible Verse:
This verse tells us how to welcome the second coming of Jesus Christ in the last days. Jesus Christ’s words have made it clear to us that Jesus Christ returns to speak His words and knock at man’s door. For two thousand years, believers in the Lord have been watching and waiting for Jesus Christ to knock. Then how will Jesus Christ knock at our door when He comes again? Jesus Christ said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:12-13). There Revelation prophesied many times, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). From these verses, we can see that Jesus Christ will express all the truths when He comes again. These truths are words from the Spirit to the churches, as well as the voice of the Bridegroom. Jesus Christ returns in the last days to speak His words and knock at our door. The wise virgins are able to hear God’s voice and behold the appearance and work of God, and thus they follow God’s footprints, welcome Jesus Christ, be taken before God’s throne and attend the wedding banquet with Him. If we want to welcome the second coming of Jesus Christ and sit at the table with Him and enjoy the blessings of the kingdom of heaven, we should proactively seek and investigate when we hear someone bearing witness to the second coming of Jesus Christ and preaching that His expression is the words from the Spirit to the churches. And we should measure whether His words are the truth, the voice of God. This is the practical way that the wise virgins welcome the bridegroom.
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The Creator’s Righteous Disposition Is Real and Vivid
God’s Mercy and Tolerance Are Not Rare—Man’s True Repentance Is
Regardless of how angry God had been with the Ninevites, as soon as they declared a fast and wore sackcloth and ashes, His heart gradually softened, and He began to change His heart. When He proclaimed to them that He would destroy their city—the moment prior to their confession and repentance for their sins—God was still angry with them. Once they had gone through a series of acts of repentance, God’s anger for the people of Nineveh gradually transformed into mercy and tolerance for them. There is nothing contradictory about the coinciding revelation of these two aspects of God’s disposition in the same event. How should one understand and know this lack of contradiction? God successively expressed and revealed these two polar-opposite substances as the people of Nineveh repented, allowing people to see the realness and the unoffendableness of God’s substance. God used His attitude to tell people the following: It is not that God does not tolerate people, or He does not want to show mercy to them; it is that they rarely truly repent toward God, and it is rare that people truly turn away from their evil ways and abandon the violence in their hands. In other words, when God is angry with man, He hopes that man will be able to truly repent, and He hopes to see man’s true repentance, in which case He will then liberally continue to bestow His mercy and tolerance upon man. This is to say that man’s evil conduct incurs God’s wrath, whereas God’s mercy and tolerance are bestowed upon those who listen to God and truly repent before Him, upon those who can turn away from their evil ways and abandon the violence in their hands. God’s attitude was very clearly revealed in His treatment of the Ninevites: God’s mercy and tolerance are not at all difficult to obtain; He requires one’s true repentance. As long as people turn away from their evil ways and abandon the violence in their hands, God will change His heart and change His attitude toward them.
Continue reading “The Creator’s Righteous Disposition Is Real and Vivid”The Gain in a Bible Study Meeting—Some New Light About How the Lord Will Judge Man in the Last Days
By Xiaomai
IIt’s recorded in the Bible that there will be judgment in the last days. Then how will God judge us when judgment day comes? What is judgment day? In a Bible study meeting, several brothers and sisters turned to Revelation 20:11–15 and read together, “And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” After reading these verses, they began to discuss.
Continue reading “The Gain in a Bible Study Meeting—Some New Light About How the Lord Will Judge Man in the Last Days”What Is the Meaning of the Lord Jesus’ Salvation?
In the Age of Grace, since mankind had become more and more corrupt, they had no adequate sacrifices to bear their sins. Everyone was facing the danger of being put to death according to the law. Thus, according to the needs of mankind, God personally became flesh as the image of the Lord Jesus and was crucified and served as a sin offering for humanity, bestowing upon man the salvation of the crucifixion. From now on, our sins would be forgiven and we would no longer be executed by the law as long as we believe in the Lord, and pray to Him and confess. It can be seen that the salvation of the Lord Jesus is only the redemption. That is, God forgives us and no longer sees us as sinners. But the satanic nature within us has not been forgiven by God, so we still sin and resist God constantly. This proves that our sins have not been completely cleansed, and we have yet to receive God’s eternal salvation, nor can we enter the kingdom of heaven.
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A Preacher’s Experience: How to Get Rid of Sin and Enter the Kingdom of God
By Chuandao, South Korea
The church became desolate and my faith grew cold.
When I was in high school, I suddenly got tuberculosis. Tortured by the disease, I was miserable and helpless, and felt so close to death. In 1980, I started to believe in the Lord in a church near my home. Through reading the Bible, I came to know that it was God who created the heavens and earth and all things. Afterward, I persisted in attending meetings in the church and reading the Bible.
Later, I attended the theology classes held by the church. To my surprise, not long after that, the lung disease that had tortured me for years healed without treatment. I gave true thanks and praise to the Lord from the bottom of my heart. After that, my faith of expending for the Lord became greater, and I wrote a lot of testimony articles about how I was saved and called upon by the Lord. In 1994, I quit my job, and donated all my retirement pay and savings to the church. After a year of training, I formally became a preacher. Since then, I had been energetically preaching, working, and sustaining the church. Such situation lasted for four years.
What Is Real Rapture? I Finally Get the Answer
By Xile, Japan
Fantasies of Being Raptured Into the Air to Meet With God
In 2014, a sister preached the Lord Jesus’ gospel to me. After I started believing in God, I enthusiastically went to meetings, and at one my pastor said, “The Lord Jesus said, ‘I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also’ (John 14:2–3). And Paul also said, ‘Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord’ (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The Lord has prepared a place for us, and when the Lord returns, we will directly be raptured into the air to meet the Lord, after which we will be with the Lord forever. The kingdom of heaven’s walls are made of jasper, the streets are paved with gold, and there are all the jewels, agate, and jade we could want. There is no pain or torment there, no tears or misery, and there are endless blessings to enjoy….” When I heard the enthusiasm in my pastor’s sermon, I thought it would be wonderful if one day I could also be raptured up to heaven by God.
Blood Moon to Reappear—the Great, Terrible Day of Jehovah Approaches!
Blood Moon to Reappear
The rare celestial event—total lunar eclipse, will reappear at 20:22:54 UTC on the night of July 27th, 2018.
According to Wikipedia, in this lunar eclipse, the lunar’s right ascension is 20°28’12’’ and declination is 19°; the penumbral magnitude is 2.679 and the umbral magnitude is 1.609. The entire celestial event will last for nearly four hours. The partial lunar eclipse will last for 235 mins; the total lunar eclipse will last for 103 mins, making it the longest eclipse in this century. In the meantime, the moon will turn a spectacular red or ruddy-brown color, which is the origin of its being called “blood moon.”
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Welcome the Lord Jesus Christ's Return 