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The Bible is, of course, the authoritative story of the redemption of mankind, but we would like to summarize some of the highlights here for those who would like to know a little more about Christianity and how it fits into the history of all things. First, it is interesting to note that God has no beginning. We do not know much about what happened prior to the creation of the Earth, except that we do know we were in His mind - and that He planned how he would accomplish the redemption of man through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. Think of it! he knew before the creation the horrors He would have to face at the cross in order to save us and he proceeded to make mankind anyway.
But we are jumping ahead in our story. Let us start with the purpose for which we were made. God created men and women to fellowship with Him. We were meant to be in a love relationship with our God and creator. This is the very reason we exist! Only in this can we experience all that our heart truly desires - love, joy, peace and absolute fulfillment. This is by design. The first couple, Adam and Eve, were created with this fellowship between God and man flowing. However, they were given the choice to continue in God's love or rebel against Him. The ability to freely choose to love someone is a needed ingredient of real love, after all. Also, the Earth at the time of its creation was not filled with evil and sorrow as it is today, but was absolutely good. God delegated the oversight of the Earth and all of its creatures into the hands of man. This created a powerful connection between the actions of mankind and the state of the Earth.
This is where Satan comes into the picture. Satan is the original rebel against God. God dwells in a heavenly place high above the Earth and is surrounded by creatures He made called angels. Angels are beautiful beings and much more powerful that humans. Satan was an angel - one of the most beautiful - who was called Lucifer at the time. This changed, however when he became envious of God and desired to be like Him. He led a rebellion that resulted in Lucifer and a group of angels that were following him to be cast from their place in heaven and transformed into Satan and his demons.
Satan then appeared on Earth in the form of a serpent and deceived Adam and Eve into sinning against the commands of God. This was the beginning of the rebellion of man. Because of this rebellion, the Earth and its people have been tainted and transformed by the effects of sin and men are now unwittingly led by Satan himself. Worst of all, Adam and Eve lost the perfect fellowship they had with their Creator. Their spirits were no longer alive to God and they no longer could live in His presence as before. God is Holy. This means that He cannot look upon sin nor live in the presence of any imperfection. From Adam forward, the natural tendency of sin has been passed on from generation to generation until the present time.
Here, we will digress to speak of Hell. Hell is a place of intense fear and torment that was created for Satan and his demons. It is their ultimate destiny due to their rebellion. We know that the spirit of man is eternal and will continue to exist forever. When man chose to follow Satan, he also obtained a place in hell that will last for all eternity. This great tragedy was met by God with a powerful plan. He wanted to restore what Adam and Eve lost - the love relationship with Him and eternal life in His presence. Hell was not what God wanted for mankind.
He chose certain people in history to bring to fruition this plan and to bring into the world, at the perfect time, a Descendant of Adam and Eve who would, as a man, be able to claim the special authority in the Earth that God had delegated to mankind. However, this would not be an ordinary man. He would be born of a woman, in order to fulfill the role of being fully man, but the woman would not be impregnated by a human male, but by the Spirit of God. This allowed Him to bypass the sin nature of Adam. He would be a "second Adam" - only this time He would live a life completely without sin. God brought forth His Son, who being a member of the Trinity, was fully God.
This is were the ingenious part of His plan comes in. Even though this Man would live a perfect live, at the end of it, God would transfer the sins of the rest of mankind onto Him and He would be punished for these crimes as if they were His own. This would be done to allow those whose sins He wanted to take away - yours, mine and everyone's - to have His perfect righteousness bestowed upon them, so that they would not have to be separated from God in Hell. Through His sacrifice, we would be forgiven and restored to a love relationship with God that will be everlasting. To enter into this, we only must desire to be cleansed and accept the gift of salvation.
This sacrifice took place long ago and the Man who accomplished it was Jesus Christ. Though sinless, He was crucified on a cross to for all of our sins. After the sin of Adam, God shaped history to bring about this miraculous act of mercy, first choosing Godly men such as Noah and Abraham and then setting apart a special people, the Israelites, as the chosen means to allow Jesus to come into the world. Before that time, people who loved and knew God, were kept from Hell when they died in a special paradise. They were kept until the time of Jesus' sacrifice that they may become partakers of His mercy and enter into heaven where God dwells. Now, after the cross, all who call on Jesus with a repentant heart are instantly brought to life spiritually and will go to be with God in heaven at the time of their passing from this Earth.
Jesus' death was indeed the pivotal point in the history of mankind. What He accomplished was to not only to save us from our sins, but to break all true power that the enemy, Satan, and his minions had over the Earth and its people. The authority over the Earth given by God to mankind was taken from a sinful mankind which had become a puppet of Satan and placed fully into the hands of another Man, Jesus Christ - the Son of God and the Son of Man. Still, the powers of darkness linger in the world, fighting to take as many souls with them to Hell in a hopeless struggle that continues through this current age. This battle, already decided in our favor on the cross, will end someday soon with the defeat of Satan's forces and the restoration of an Earth filled with peace and the perfect rule of our Lord Jesus.
Jesus is a real person. More than a historical figure, He is alive today and is preparing a place for us in heaven. You see, after His death, when He took our punishment, He rose to life again. He was seen by hundreds of witnesses. He was then seen ascending into heaven and He is there now, waiting for you to call out to Him. If you do not know Him - if you do not have a true love relationship with God through Him - this message is for you. Look to God in this moment to speak to your innermost person and reveal Himself to you. Don't be timid or feel foolish. Speak to Him and ask Him if this message is true and Jesus is indeed real. You will sense and know the answer in your heart. Forgiveness, freedom from sin and abundant, eternal life are within asking. You don't have to change yourself - He will change you and you will quickly begin to see a difference in your life as you say "Yes" to Him. If you are held back by a distaste for religion, that may actually be a good thing! Just don't let it keep you from God. The crucial question is not whether religion is good or bad or even what the best religion is, but is there really a way to enter into a love relationship with the awesome, wonderful God who created me. There is - and his name is Jesus.
The Bible is, of course, the authoritative story of the redemption of mankind, but we would like to summarize some of the highlights here for those who would like to know a little more about Christianity and how it fits into the history of all things. First, it is interesting to note that God has no beginning. We do not know much about what happened prior to the creation of the Earth, except that we do know we were in His mind - and that He planned how he would accomplish the redemption of man through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. Think of it! he knew before the creation the horrors He would have to face at the cross in order to save us and he proceeded to make mankind anyway.
But we are jumping ahead in our story. Let us start with the purpose for which we were made. God created men and women to fellowship with Him. We were meant to be in a love relationship with our God and creator. This is the very reason we exist! Only in this can we experience all that our heart truly desires - love, joy, peace and absolute fulfillment. This is by design. The first couple, Adam and Eve, were created with this fellowship between God and man flowing. However, they were given the choice to continue in God's love or rebel against Him. The ability to freely choose to love someone is a needed ingredient of real love, after all. Also, the Earth at the time of its creation was not filled with evil and sorrow as it is today, but was absolutely good. God delegated the oversight of the Earth and all of its creatures into the hands of man. This created a powerful connection between the actions of mankind and the state of the Earth.
This is where Satan comes into the picture. Satan is the original rebel against God. God dwells in a heavenly place high above the Earth and is surrounded by creatures He made called angels. Angels are beautiful beings and much more powerful that humans. Satan was an angel - one of the most beautiful - who was called Lucifer at the time. This changed, however when he became envious of God and desired to be like Him. He led a rebellion that resulted in Lucifer and a group of angels that were following him to be cast from their place in heaven and transformed into Satan and his demons.
Satan then appeared on Earth in the form of a serpent and deceived Adam and Eve into sinning against the commands of God. This was the beginning of the rebellion of man. Because of this rebellion, the Earth and its people have been tainted and transformed by the effects of sin and men are now unwittingly led by Satan himself. Worst of all, Adam and Eve lost the perfect fellowship they had with their Creator. Their spirits were no longer alive to God and they no longer could live in His presence as before. God is Holy. This means that He cannot look upon sin nor live in the presence of any imperfection. From Adam forward, the natural tendency of sin has been passed on from generation to generation until the present time.
Here, we will digress to speak of Hell. Hell is a place of intense fear and torment that was created for Satan and his demons. It is their ultimate destiny due to their rebellion. We know that the spirit of man is eternal and will continue to exist forever. When man chose to follow Satan, he also obtained a place in hell that will last for all eternity. This great tragedy was met by God with a powerful plan. He wanted to restore what Adam and Eve lost - the love relationship with Him and eternal life in His presence. Hell was not what God wanted for mankind.
He chose certain people in history to bring to fruition this plan and to bring into the world, at the perfect time, a Descendant of Adam and Eve who would, as a man, be able to claim the special authority in the Earth that God had delegated to mankind. However, this would not be an ordinary man. He would be born of a woman, in order to fulfill the role of being fully man, but the woman would not be impregnated by a human male, but by the Spirit of God. This allowed Him to bypass the sin nature of Adam. He would be a "second Adam" - only this time He would live a life completely without sin. God brought forth His Son, who being a member of the Trinity, was fully God.
This is were the ingenious part of His plan comes in. Even though this Man would live a perfect live, at the end of it, God would transfer the sins of the rest of mankind onto Him and He would be punished for these crimes as if they were His own. This would be done to allow those whose sins He wanted to take away - yours, mine and everyone's - to have His perfect righteousness bestowed upon them, so that they would not have to be separated from God in Hell. Through His sacrifice, we would be forgiven and restored to a love relationship with God that will be everlasting. To enter into this, we only must desire to be cleansed and accept the gift of salvation.
This sacrifice took place long ago and the Man who accomplished it was Jesus Christ. Though sinless, He was crucified on a cross to for all of our sins. After the sin of Adam, God shaped history to bring about this miraculous act of mercy, first choosing Godly men such as Noah and Abraham and then setting apart a special people, the Israelites, as the chosen means to allow Jesus to come into the world. Before that time, people who loved and knew God, were kept from Hell when they died in a special paradise. They were kept until the time of Jesus' sacrifice that they may become partakers of His mercy and enter into heaven where God dwells. Now, after the cross, all who call on Jesus with a repentant heart are instantly brought to life spiritually and will go to be with God in heaven at the time of their passing from this Earth.
Jesus' death was indeed the pivotal point in the history of mankind. What He accomplished was to not only to save us from our sins, but to break all true power that the enemy, Satan, and his minions had over the Earth and its people. The authority over the Earth given by God to mankind was taken from a sinful mankind which had become a puppet of Satan and placed fully into the hands of another Man, Jesus Christ - the Son of God and the Son of Man. Still, the powers of darkness linger in the world, fighting to take as many souls with them to Hell in a hopeless struggle that continues through this current age. This battle, already decided in our favor on the cross, will end someday soon with the defeat of Satan's forces and the restoration of an Earth filled with peace and the perfect rule of our Lord Jesus.
Jesus is a real person. More than a historical figure, He is alive today and is preparing a place for us in heaven. You see, after His death, when He took our punishment, He rose to life again. He was seen by hundreds of witnesses. He was then seen ascending into heaven and He is there now, waiting for you to call out to Him. If you do not know Him - if you do not have a true love relationship with God through Him - this message is for you. Look to God in this moment to speak to your innermost person and reveal Himself to you. Don't be timid or feel foolish. Speak to Him and ask Him if this message is true and Jesus is indeed real. You will sense and know the answer in your heart. Forgiveness, freedom from sin and abundant, eternal life are within asking. You don't have to change yourself - He will change you and you will quickly begin to see a difference in your life as you say "Yes" to Him. If you are held back by a distaste for religion, that may actually be a good thing! Just don't let it keep you from God. The crucial question is not whether religion is good or bad or even what the best religion is, but is there really a way to enter into a love relationship with the awesome, wonderful God who created me. There is - and his name is Jesus.