The Struggles of Christian Vs. A Non-Believer, Part 2

Do you ever feel alone or restless in life? Like your life has no *specific* meaning or purpose? Like no-one really cares about you? Like something is missing in your life? Yet, you don’t quite know what the “something” is?

Or have you ever done something that you MAJORLY regret in your life and wish you could go back in time or start over again?

Maybe you were raised as a Christian but later turned away from the faith, as you got older. Maybe you know someone who is Christian and doesn’t seem to be living by Christian standards (going around saying things such as “God hates homosexuals”, etc) or maybe you’re just a person of “science” who doesn’t see or feel the NEED for God.

Maybe you’re addicted to alcohol, sex, attention/validation from others, money, food, fashion, TV/movies/popular culture or drugs. Maybe there was a most recent death in your family and you don’t know where to turn. Maybe you’re mad at God for the uncertain state of the economy or world chaos. Or maybe you blame God for everything going wrong in your life, in general.

Well, let me tell you something. Jesus Christ cares.

And for EACH person that calls out to Jesus’s heavenly name, he has a divine plan and purpose for each of our lives:

“And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you” [Isaiah 46:4]

“ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” [Jeremiah 29:11]

“Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life” [Isaiah 43:4]

“The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee” [Jeremiah 31:3]

“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” [1 Peter 4:10]

As an all-knowing, all-loving God…….

God knew each and every single one of us before we were born. He created us and he made us. And he understands what we’re going through, no matter what we’re facing in life. God made himself human in the form of Jesus Christ, not only so we would believe in him but so he could emphasize with “being human” [even though as both God AND Man, he was *perfect* and never sinned].

Jesus Christ (God in the flesh) was mocked, flogged/whipped, ridiculed, pierced in the side, crowned with a crown of thorns, spit on, forced to carry his own cross and then crucified. He died an *excruciatingly painful* death, in order to save mankind from God’s Wrath/unforgiveness of sins. He took the payment for sin upon Himself in order to give US (humanity) a way to “become clean” in God’s eyes and receive forgiveness of our sins and *everlasting life*. This is known as “Salvation”.

Jesus died for you and for me, and for every person in the world that has ever lived from Jesus’s time, up to the present time.

So when we pray to Jesus for forgiveness of ours sins and acknowledge to him that we are a sinner, basically what we’re doing is “accepting” Jesus’s *free gift of salvation/forgiveness of sins* into our minds, hearts, bodies and spirits and saying “thank-you Lord Jesus, for dying for my sins, as I am nothing but a sinner in need of Salvation”.

So when I say that Jesus Christ understands what you’re going through, you can TRULY believe that he knows what you’re going through, since he went through all of that [the beyond excruciatingly painful –both physically and emotionally— torchure and death], just to be able to save you and me and all of mankind from their sins/God’s wrath.

“For God so loved that world that he gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” [John 3:16]

“For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved” [John 3:17]

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the in the name of the only begotten Son of God [Jesus Christ]” {John 3:18}

So no matter what you’re facing in life (death of someone close to you, thoughts of depression/suicide, alcohol/drug addiction, severe persecution or “broken faith” as a Christian, an uncertain economic future, etc), call out to Jesus TODAY! Put your faith, trust and love in him!

He WILL have a solution to any problem in life that you’re facing right now, if you call out to him in prayer. He knows, He understands and He CARES!

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” [Hebrews 13:5]

“So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” [Hebrews 13:6]

If you put your faith, trust and love in the Lord Jesus [accept Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord & Savior], pray for forgiveness of your sins, repent of your sins [that means, stop doing them], get baptized [FULL IMMERSION BAPTISM] in the name of Jesus Christ and CONTINUE following Jesus’s commands in the bible until the day you die, you will never have to face life alone or worry about the future ever, ever again! You will be able to rest with the peace and knowledge that you are “Saved” and that you’re going to spend eternity with God/Jesus Christ in eternal paradise, someday!!!!!

And if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, then now is the time to *pray to believe*.

Say to Jesus: “Lord, upon my uncertainty of your existence right now, please make yourself real to me. Please grant me the power to believe. Amen”

And then read the Word of God in the New Testament, which commands us to pray for forgiveness of our sins, repent of our sins, accept Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior into our hearts and get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Jesus says in Mark 16:16 “He who believes & is baptized is Saved but he who does not believe will be condemned”. Meaning, that the ONLY unforgiveable sin there is, is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of *Truth* and it is rewarded to/freely given to all those who believe in Jesus Christ, get baptized in his name, pray for forgiveness of their sins, REPENT (that means, give up) their sins and submit their very LIVES to him by living a life that is pleasing to God/Jesus Christ.

And sadly, Revelation 20:15 (book of Revelation, chapter 20, verse 15, at the very end of the New Testament) gives us a VERY CLEAR PICTURE of all those whom DON’T put their faith, trust, love & obedience into Jesus Christ:

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire“

So just imagine this for a moment……..Everything from the Earth, on the Earth has COMPLETELY passed away……..and you’re standing before the righteous Judgement Seat of JESUS CHRIST ALMIGHTY! Man……you never believed in him BEFORE……but BOY, you sure do, NOW! He’s separating all the people that ever lived on the Earth into TWO groups……One LARGE group of people on his LEFT side………and a very SMALL group of people on his RIGHT side………

You immediately look over to your large “group” on the LEFT side of Jesus and laugh a bit of relief, thinking that YOUR side must be the “redeemed side” and that the “small” side on Jesus’s RIGHT side must be the “condemned side”. You wait in nervous anticipation……..only to hear Jesus say FIRST to the VERY small group on his RIGHT side, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” [Matthew 25:34b]

And then YOU PANIC…….as you THEN come to FULLY realize………YOU ARE ON THE “CONDEMNED SIDE” OF THE LORD!

And then, just about as your soul’s heart is about to stop, he then turns to YOUR “large group” on the left side of him and says, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!“ [Matthew 25:41b] 

And then, as you and all the others are being led to the flames, you SCREAM in agony at Jesus saying, “JESUS! I WAS WRONG! I WAS WRONG! LET ME INTO YOUR KINGDOM! LET ME INTO YOUR KINGDOM! LET ME INTO YOUR KINGDOM, PLEASE! I BBEEGGG OFFFF YYYOOUUU!“ but by THEN, it’ll be too late……..

For WHILE you were still living on the Earth, you sealed your fate by DENYING JESUS! [And please know that denying Jesus doesn’t JUST have to be a form of VERBAL DENIAL……..it can also be a LIFESTYLE DENIAL, as well. For example, those who “claim” they love Jesus but yet, don’t follow his commands in the bible! They are likened onto “Jesus deniers!”] 

The struggles of a Christian Vs. a Non-Believer

Being a Christian in today’s world is NOT easy. In fact, it’s anything but. There is SO MUCH resistance going on out there against the true believers in Christ! Even from people that are close to us! And there’s something I don’t quite understand. What is so threatening about a just, LOVING God who wishes that NONE would perish but that ALL would have *everlasting life*?

“For God [the Heavenly Father] so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son [Jesus Christ] that whoever believeth in Him [Jesus Christ] should not perish but have *everlasting life*” [life in eternity with God/Jesus Christ] John, chapter 3, verse 16 (John 3:16)

And trust me, if I & other true Christians out there know the bible to be the 100% true, holy-spirit-inspired Word of God and that ALL non-believers are condemned by God, (if they don’t come to Christ before they die), then isn’t it my job, and EVERY true Christian’s job, to preach to all the lost souls of the world so that in Jesus’s name, they may be saved? What kind of Christian would I or someone else be if they DIDN’T teach about salvation and Jesus to people? Think about it.

And when I quote bible passages that go along with what I’m saying, I don’t do it to be threatening or scary or intimidating in any way. I do it because I love ALL that I speak to and because I want them, through God’s good grace, to see the way, the truth and the light [Jesus Christ] so that their eyes may be opened and so that they will be “saved” and go into eternity WITH God/Jesus someday!

I mean, forgive me for saying this and all but who in their right mind, after reading or hearing about the descriptions of hell and/or eternal punishment in the “fire that never quenches”, would want to go there? It is NOT the *party place* that secular people make it out to be. It is a place of damnation and torment. Jesus describes it in Matthew 8:12 “But the children of the kingdom [of darkness] shall be cast into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and knashing of teeth”. In order words, excruciatingly painful!

Just like, who, after reading or hearing about the descriptions of *New Jerusalem* (God’s eternal Kingdom talked about in Revelation, chapters 21-22 in the New Testament), would NOT want to go there? It is a place where there is no pain, only happiness. No tears are shed. All who are hungry for food or thirst for water will never have to hunger or thirst ever again. There is nothing but dancing and rejoicing and no signs of aging. In other words, enlightenment/spiritual nirvana! However, even still, the Lord Jesus Christ will be worshiped in the Millennial Kingdom and beyond and inhabitants of the holy city will go up on the mountain during the feast of Tabernacles and whoever doesn’t go up to the mountain during the feast of Tabernacles will have no rain on their crops, etc. (but more about that later)….

Guys, look…..the truth of the matter is, true Christians live a very hard life. They are mocked and ridiculed (even by some fellow “wayward/worldly Christians”, called crazy by some and even sometimes betrayed by people close to them, due to their faith!

But they are SO thrilled with Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of their sins [salvation] that they want to turn around and share that total joy in knowing Jesus Christ with others. What is so threatening about THAT? True Christians feel as if it’s their mission in life to save lost souls, so that’s what they do and that’s what God calls them to do.

If you don’t want to hear the message about God, don’t take it up with ME or whatever person is trying to teach you God’s Word, take it up with God himself! Not I or anyone else am FORCING anyone to read God’s message, afterall. People read things or not, of their own free will. Just like people come to God or not of their own free will.

So PLEASE, people….I’m not forcing you to read or do ANYTHING. I am just merely telling you of what is spoken about in God’s Word in the Holy Bible and of my own experiences with God, so that you can make the decision on your own to come to God or not. What you DO in terms of coming to God or not is entirely up to YOU.

But please know (and I say this with love) that God condemns ALL non-believers that don’t accept Jesus Christ into their minds, hearts, bodies and spirits before they die….

But to fully accept Jesus Christ into one’s mind, heart, body and spirit, one must pray for forgiveness of sins, REPENT/stop doing sins, get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and live a life that is pleasing to him UNTIL one dies.

And remember, one of the BEST kept secrets in today’s “secular world” is that Jesus Christ/God exists, and that the Devil/Satan exists. Satan would love nothing more than to have people believe he, Satan, doesn’t exist (and *especially* WANTS people believing that Jesus doesn’t exist). That way, he (Satan) is more easily able to infiltrate one’s mind, heart, body and spirit, and bend a person’s will to do his silent bidding. In fact, he’s ALWAYS behind the scenes of some of the most gruesome crimes in today’s world, as well as friends betraying friends, etc. Oftentimes after people are arrested for major crimes in today’s world, they will say something like “the voices told me to do it”, “Satan told me to do it”, etc. and these people aren’t lying! Satanic/demonic possession is a real thing in today’s world and more attention needs to be brought to it. (But that’s for another post).

Also, Satan is THE OPPRESSOR. He WANTS you to hate the people close to you. He WANTS you to feel depressed, downtrodden, hopeless, helpless, even suicidal. He WANTS you to struggle with additions (be it alcohol, food, drugs, music, cars, guns, etc.) He WANTS you to think that both he and Jesus aren’t real. He WANTS you to doubt your faith and not live a true Christian life. He WANTS you to be overcome with a love for entertainment (music, movies, videogames, television, etc.). He WANTS you to write off the bible as “myth”.

He WANTS you to turn away from Jesus Christ at all costs. He WANTS you to do bad things that he knows aren’t pleasing to God so he can try to suck your soul away someday. He WANTS you to be a backslidden Christian. He WANTS you to lose your faith AND hope in Jesus Christ so you will become part of the “Satanic fold”. He WANTS you to think that you can’t make a positive difference in this world. He WANTS you to not do the things that Jesus Christ wants you to do (“tell your friend you’re sorry”, “write this person a letter”, “go see how so and so is doing at your work”, etc.) Basically, he wants everything that Jesus Christ DOESN’T want for you or your life.

And Jesus Christ, on the other hand, is THE REDEEMER. HE wants you to love the people close to you (and around you). HE wants you to forgive those who have hurt you. HE wants you to feel joy and peace in your life. HE wants to give you hope and a future. HE wants to help you overcome your addictions, to heal on the inside and to be set free from all your addictions. HE wants you to know that both he and Satan are real. HE doesn’t want you to doubt your faith but will help you overcome your doubts if you cry out to him about it in prayer. HE wants you to live a true, Christian life that is pleasing to him.

HE does NOT want you to be overcome with a love for entertainment (music, movies, videogames, television money, etc.), the things in and of this world, etc. HE wants you to turn away from SATAN and Satan’s “entertainment/lust/greed” agenda at all costs. HE doesn’t want you to be a backslidden Christian but wants to help you overcome your sin(s). HE wants to help you make a positive difference in today’s world (even if you’ve only helped just ONE soul on the planet……in God’s eyes, you’ve helped him a TON just by helping that ONE soul). HE wants you to do things in your life for HIS glory. And basically, Jesus Christ wants everything for you and your life that Satan DOESN’T want (peace, joy, salvation, everlasting life).

Jesus said in Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned”.

Jesus Christ Is The ONLY THING That Satisfies!

With the world being so “crazy” today, many people are searching for answers. They feel empty inside and are trying to search for the one thing or things or people that they think will make them feel “complete” or “happy” in life. Many famous music and movie stars turn to things such as money, publicity stunts, religions like Scientology or Kabbalah (a form of Jewish Mysticism) to try to fill that “empty hole” in their lives. Other people turn to alcohol/partying, sex or drugs. Yet others find themselves turning to food, entertainment (music, movies, books, television, videgogames, etc.) or “new age spirituality” for comfort.

But they are overlooking one simple thing. Jesus Christ is the ONLY thing that satisfies and makes one feel “complete”! (That is, when one fully gives themselves over to Jesus Christ and surrenders their life and heart to Him!)

I know it sounds clique but it’s true.

God is the one who created us, who knew us before we were born, who knows our future and of whom can even count the numbers of hairs on our head.

Therefore, he knows each and every single one of personally (personality traits and all) and knows what’s best for us. His divine love satisfies better than ANY amount of money, sex, drugs, food, partying, entertainment or “new age spirituality” EVER could!

So for those people out there in the world who have resisted Jesus Christ/God, turned their back on Him, or don’t believe in Him, give God a chance. Get to know Jesus Christ today. Jesus Christ loves EVERYONE, regardless of race, gender, culture & no matter WHAT they’ve done so far in life! (There is NO hidden catch! God’s love is FREE to all who accept it!) God loves you, each and every single one of you and He wants to get to know you!

However, Jesus Christ can not help a person that REFUSES to get help, REFUSES to believe in him, REFUSES to have faith & trust in him, REFUSES to repent/give up their sins. Jesus Christ (at Judgement Day) will judge ALL those who turned their backs on him while they were living or those that “profused” to believed in him but followed their OWN ways, instead of God’s ways.

However, if you cry out to Jesus Christ in prayer (& mean the prayer with all your soul, all your mind, and all your heart & all your strength & BELIEVE that he has the power to help you/save you for eternity), He WILL change your life for the better, if you ask Him to! He WILL cleanse you from all sin & “negative baggage” and allow his Holy Spirit to bring peace & joy over your spirit and in your life! Peace & joy that you’ve never known before!

So, you may think that you “gave God” a chance once and that you didn’t feel Him working in your life, but let me ask you this. Have you TRULY given God a chance? Did you TRULY surrender your heart and your life to Him and lay all your hopes/dreams/worries at his feet?

It doesn’t matter WHAT you’ve done in your life so far, God’s love is free & accessible to ALL who desire it. It doesn’t matter if you’ve killed 5 people or 50 people. It doesn’t matter if you’ve robbed a bank or dealt drugs. It doesn’t matter if you were once involved with or even currently involved in porn. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man who walked out on your wife/ex-wife and kids & hadn’t made child support payments in a long time or if you’re a mother who abandoned your kids and/or your husband. It doesn’t matter if you once stole a huge sum of items from the mall or the grocery store or if you used to mercilessly bully someone while you were in grade-school, middle school or high-school.

Jesus Christ LOVES you and he wants to give you a 2nd chance in life! He wants to renew your mind, heart, body and spirit and make you a new creature and give you a brand new life in him! 😉 He can take what’s UNRIGHTEOUS in a person and make them RIGHTEOUS! But they have to want it. They have to feel SO much REMORSE over what they’ve done in life so far, that they’d be willing to do almost anything to change it. And that’s where Jesus Christ comes in. Once a person BELIEVES in him, CALLS OUT to him in prayer, REPENTS of their sins and then GETS FULL-WATER-IMMERSION-BAPTIZED in his great heavenly name, they are MADE NEW in his site! 😉

See, that’s just the thing. Jesus Christ died on the cross over 1976+ years ago at the Place of Golgotha so that you and I and all of mankind could be forgiven of all our sins. ALL of our sins. Not just SOME of them, but ALL of them. And many people today are even WANTING a 2nd chance in life and WANTING to start on a fresh, clean slate, as it were. I can’t tell you HOW many times I’ve heard people say or mention on forum boards online that they wish they could “do life all over again”. Well, with Jesus Christ, you CAN start your life all over again and live a brand new life! And like I said, it doesn’t matter WHAT you’ve done in life so far, who you are, where you came from. Jesus’s FREE gift of salvation/forgiveness of sins and everlasting life is open to ALL who accept him, trust/believe in him, get baptized in his name and consequently, live their lives for him.

Jesus was crucified, then later taken down and placed into a tomb by Joseph of Ariamathea, etc. The Romans placed guards outside the tomb and placed a heavy stone in front of it so that no man could steal the body. Three days later, Jesus was resurrected from the dead, just like he said he’d be, and the heavy stone had been rolled away. His linen cloths were laying there where his body once was but Jesus’s body was no longer in the tomb. And then he appeared (with the marks through his hands and feet) to his apostles, etc. And 40 days after that, he ascended up to heaven to be on the right hand side of God, the Almighty Heavenly Father and there are even NON-CHRISTIAN historical accounts of this!

http://factreal.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/jesus-resurrection-proven-by-early-non-christian-writers/

Jesus Christ is 100% real, people! I’ve seen him with my own two eyes during a near-death experience when I was around age 2 or so. His voice has the ability to shake the Earth and the waters. Plus he also showed me the holes in both his wrists and near the tops of his feet.

Therefore, it stands to reason. If Jesus Christ is real (and I KNOW for 100% fact he’s real, so help me God, so help my spirit!), then Satan is real. And if Satan is real, then hell is real. And if hell is real…………well, you get the picture.

Notice the people around you. Examine real closely how they’re living their lives. And slowly over time, you will start to see that the people that “claim” they believe in God but don’t want to live their lives for him/serve him and the people who are nonbelievers or believers of false religions seem “lost”. You can see it in their eyes. They act all happy on outside but you can tell that deep, deep down inside, they are restless, never happy, never satisfied but they can’t fully figure out why. So they try the partying thing, the New Age thing, etc. and you will notice that they STILL aren’t satisfied and again, they STILL can’t figure out why. Just look at all the music and movie stars that are burned out, on drugs, alcoholics, etc. Fame and fortune most certainly has its price. And it’s not JUST the “living under the microscope” price, but rather, an EVEN MORE heftier price than THAT……rather, an eternal price!!!!!!!

Many of them even tried selling their soul to the devil in exchange for money and fame. But ya know what? Even then, there’s still hope for some of those poor people, as the following case demonstrates:

Unfortunately, some celebrities aren’t so lucky……..they don’t realize that Satan’s the great deceiver who actually HATES them and ALL of humanity……and that he never permanently upholds his end of the deal……..and many of them buy into the lie “well, I’ve sold my soul to devil, that’s it, there’s no more hope for me”. False! There IS hope for them. And that hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. If they humbly and SINCERELY come to Jesus Christ in prayer, and seek to UNDO the “soul selling to devil”, then I believe that the Lord will forgive them. I have no reason to believe otherwise. For our souls aren’t even ours to begin with, for they belong to God and God alone and it’s Jesus Christ who will decide where each soul spends eternity, NOT Satan!

Sadly, many celebrities and non-celebrities alike die without the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and are placed in hell immediately upon their deaths. And for them, THE MOST painful revelation in hell is the fact that they COULD’VE avoided all that eternal pain and suffering had they submitted themselves and their lives and hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ before it was too late (meaning, before they passed away and died in their earthly mortal lives). Cause afterall, the gifts of salvation/forgiveness of sins and eternal life are FREE to all who accept/trust/serve Jesus Christ.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” – Mark 8:36 (book of Mark, chapter 8, verse 36)