Jhn 6:66 From that
time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Jhn 6:67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Jhn 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Jhn 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jhn 6:70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?
Imagine walking beside Jesus for 3 1/2 years. Watching his ministry, being taught his doctrine, being partakers of miracles.
And one day, you just walk away.
Peter said he believed and was sure that Jesus was That Christ, That anointed one, the Son of the living God.
The devil's believed too.
Mat 8:28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment
was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Mat 8:30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.
Mat 8:31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
Mat 8:32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.
Mat 8:33 And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.
Mat 8:34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought
him that he would depart out of their coasts.
In this life we have two choices.
We can believe man and his account of who, what, when, where, and why God is.
Or we can choose not to believe and live our lives the way we see best.
We can walk away or we can cling to what we believe is true.
We believe because Moses believed. We believe because Peter believed. We believe because Paul believed.
And all of them put their lives on the line for what they believed.
The only way you will ever know the truth is when you experience that truth for yourself.
One thing that convinces me that God is true, is that nothing can come from nothing.
From something came everything.
And I would lay my life on the line for that belief.
The idea of life after death isn't a priority for my need to believe.
What matters is NOW. To Day. Here. And what I do with the time I have been given.
My belief goes deeper than a physical ressurection from the dead.
I believe man had let all true knowledge of God die. And when Jesus came he resurrected the knowledge of God back to life.
Jhn 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
And what is eternal life?
Jhn 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Eternal life is IN the knowing.
The devil's knew what Peter knew. The devil's believed like Peter believed.
One believed unto eternal torment and the other believed unto eternal comfort and peace.
Somewhere the thought of eternal life came to mean that we would exist eternally.
Some say the devil spread this as a lie in the book of Genesis, and so Eve ate the fruit the devil handed her.
And then Adam took the fruit from Eve... and here we are.
I believe we exist because God willed us into existance so that we would know the "eternal" one from which we came.
And when we die in this material world, the spirit, that life that is in us returns to God who gave it.
Like breathing. We came forth as breath from his mouth and we return unto him again.
Will I know me as me after I leave here? I don't know.
I don't think at that point "I" or the "I" that I am now will matter.
I'll be back where I began. In God.
I think man's biggest fear is losing his own identity.
And even though we can make the claim that it is no longer I but Christ that lives in me.
It's still you, until the day you die.
That's why Paul said he dies daily. We all do, from the day we're born physically.
Spiritually speaking, putting away bad habits, walking in the path of love and kindness which is against our nature.
This is a deeper death. And the more we walk after these attributes, the greater we KNOW the eternal one and the life he gave us to live now.
I don't know about tomorrow.
But my faith doesn't rest on a belief on tomorrow. It is ever present daily in the NOW.
Because while I breathe I know eternal life and the one who it belongs to.
After I am dead...
Will I know anything at all?
IDK
Hugs
