THE TESTING GROUND

This earth is a testing ground. Just as astronauts are tested for a prolonged part of their life before they are allowed to travel into outer space, so too we are constantly tested in order to be allowed to travel to the Kingdom of Heaven. The astronauts are tested on their physical ability to withstand the bodily changes that will take place in a weightless world and their intelligence to know how to control the instruments.

We, on the other hand, are tested to know if our hearts are with God and to see if we can withstand the perils set before us by Lucifer and his kind. We are tested as to how much love we can find to control ourselves while dealing with others who are traveling in the same world as we are, although not necessarily with the same goal in mind.

Just as the astronauts will not be chosen to travel into space if they have not the physical and mental strength, so God cannot choose us if we have not the strength of mind and heart to overcome our weaknesses, for we cannot even be chosen for the journey unless we at least make the decision to prepare ourselves to travel to the heavenly spheres to be with our God.

END TIMES

We are told that at the end of this era, Lucifer will be chained for one thousand years and the Christ will rule on earth for those one thousand years.

Many things in the bible are not spelled out and so man through the churches hears stories that fill in the blanks. We are told that the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and that Christ will rule from there. But Christ was crucified two thousand years ago and has no body; he is now a spirit and will not be born of woman again. He did this once and was crucified once and descended into hell to free his people and there is no need for him to do this again.

When he returns to earth, he will arrive in all of his glory with his angels and the only way we will see him is that he will materialize as he did to the apostles after his death on earth. He does not need to be a human on earth a second time. He can rule as a spirit, materializing whenever he wishes. He will rule the whole world so he doesn’t need a temple in any given location on earth. The new temple of Jerusalem will be a spiritual temple and it can be materialized from time to time if God wishes to do that. But let us not reduce Christ to our level again thinking that he will live as a constant human for one thousand years.

PROPHESYING

We use the word prophesying to mean telling of future events, but in the bible the word is used to mean a spirit speaking through a medium, which the secular world calls channeling. The message from the spirit could relate to future events, or events of the day, or instructions, admonishments, or any other message the spirit wishes to deliver. So when we read in the bible that someone prophesied, it meant that a spirit spoke through him, and that message might be given in the person’s native tongue or in a foreign language, which was called speaking in tongues. Paul admonishes the people to refrain from allowing a spirit speaking through them from speaking in tongues unless someone in the congregation could translate the message for all to understand, as he says, Of what good is a message that no one can understand.

We, at this time find some religions who encourage their congregation to speak in tongues thinking that they are fulfilling the requirement of allowing the spirits of God to speak to them, but they do not consider that the only purpose of having someone speak in tongues is as proof that there is a spirit world, and that they can communicate with it given the right conditions.

The problem with speaking in tongues is that since no one understands the message, there is no way for them to know whether the spirit speaking is one of God’s holy spirits, or a mundane spirit who is at the same spiritual level as the congregation, or at an even a lower level, so that their divine service is no longer divine.

The only way to know the truth about anything is to communicate with the spirits of God, something which at this time is sorely lacking in the churches. And so each church has their own idea of what is true and what is false, and if they are all to call themselves Christian, should they not all have the same beliefs? The truth is the truth and there cannot be many versions of it.