1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  In today’s verse there is no mention of repentance or repenting but the core message is based upon that action. If we are to confess our sins and be purified, we must first turn from the wrongful behavior and seek Him and His ways. Then we have the promise that He is just and will forgive us. The Apostle John wrote his letter to believers who were facing false teachers. These false teachers claimed they were sin free. But we know from Paul that no one is sin free for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We inherited our sinful nature from Adam and Eve and no matter how hard we try we will never be totally sin free.  Lucky for us, God loves us despite that. He provided a way to escape the punishment of sin and the consequences that our actions would result in. He gave His Son, perfect and blameless, the only one to ever be sin free, as a sacrifice for our sin. He died on the cross and was raised again to satisfy the requirement of the law for the remission of sin. And we are made righteous because of Him. This verse is not about salvation though. It is about restoring fellowship with God. If we claim we have fellowship with Him but are living a life of hidden sin or denying our sinful nature then that fellowship is disrupted. Instead, we are walking in darkness and lying against the truth (1 John 1:6; 1 John 1:8).  The only way for us to restore fellowship with Him is to repent and turn back to Him once more. We must confess our sins in order to be forgiven. The Greek word for confess is homologeo and literally means to say the same thing or to agree with God about our sin. We don’t make excuses or try to hide it, instead, seeking His ways and His will for our lives.  And when we repent and change our behavior, He forgives us. He gives us grace and mercy that we don’t deserve. The penalty for our sin is paid in full thanks to the death of Jesus on the cross. When we acknowledge our sin and ask for forgiveness, the barrier that prevented us from fellowship with Him is removed and we have our relationship restored.  Don’t let your sin come between you and God. Confess, repent, and seek Him once more. He is waiting and faithful, ready to embrace you just like the father of the prodigal son did. He will restore fellowship with you and you will be made righteous and holy. But it all begins with repentance. What are you waiting for? #TEENS4JESUS #devotion #dailydevotional #christianteens #DailyBibleVerse 

Ellen G. White THE SABBATH IS THE LORD’S DAY — NOT SUNDAY There is a phrase in Scripture that deserves our careful attention: “MY DAY.” God does not speak of the Sabbath as merely a Jewish tradition or a human religious custom. He claims it as His own day. Isaiah 58:13 “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day…” Notice the language: “MY holy day.” God says: “My sabbath” — Ezekiel 20:12 “My sabbaths” — Ezekiel 20:20 “The sabbath of the LORD thy God” — Exodus 20:10 “My holy day” — Isaiah 58:13 And who is the Lord of the Sabbath? Mark 2:28 “Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” Jesus did not say He was Lord of Sunday. He identified Himself as Lord of the Sabbath. Go back even further—to Creation. Genesis 2:2–3 “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made… And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.” The seventh day was blessed and sanctified before there was a Jew, before there was Moses, and before there was Mount Sinai. Then God placed it in the heart of His moral law: Exodus 20:8–11 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy… But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God.” The question is therefore not simply, “What day do I prefer?” The deeper question is: “What day has God Himself claimed as His?” Scripture answers: the seventh-day Sabbath. Sunday may be widely observed by tradition, culture, or religious practice, but we must distinguish between what God commanded and what human tradition established. Jesus warned: Mark 7:7–9 “But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” The Sabbath is not presented in Scripture as something God casually gave and later abandoned. Isaiah points forward to the new earth: Isaiah 66:22–23 “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.” From Creation, through the Ten Commandments, through the ministry of Christ, and into the new earth, Scripture consistently gives the seventh day a unique place. So let us not allow tradition to speak louder than Scripture. The Sabbath is not my day. It is not your day. It is God’s day. “The seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God.” — Exodus 20:10 If God calls it “MY holy day,” shouldn't we be willing to honor what He has claimed? AMAZING LOVE

ARE YOU A PHARISEE? MATTHEW 16:6,12 NKJ 6 Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Why did Jesus warn His disciples to beware of the Pharisees? What did they do wrong? (An entire chapter of the Bible (Matthew 23) is Jesus' teaching against the Pharisees.) The Pharisees were conservative, faithful "church" members. They accepted the Bible as the written Word of God. They paid tithes. They believed in miracles (at least in days past). They wouldn't dream of stealing, committing adultery, or such things. You would like living next to a Pharisee as they were model citizens. But instead of having a living relationship with God, the Pharisees took the Word of God and made just another dead religion out of it. The Pharisee way of thinking is: keep up appearances. "It doesn't matter so much what you are on the inside, as long as you keep the rules (at least publicly)." Notice that Jesus likened their teaching to leaven, or yeast. Why? Yeast spreads easily and rapidly. Humans are very susceptible to approaching God in this manner, "Keep the rules. Just do these 10 things and you are OK." Different groups may have different rules, but we all accumulate them. It may be how many times each week you must attend church meetings, or what kind of clothes you must wear, or how you must wear your hair. Or, it may be a list of things you cannot do. But, as long as you meet these requirements, you are in good standing with your group (or denomination). But, good standing with God is based on only one thing according to the New Testament: faith in what Jesus did for us. That alone is what makes us right with God. Not our works, but Jesus' work. LUKE 12:1 NKJ 1 ... He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. The Pharisees were hypocrites. That is, they put on an act. What they pretended to be in public was not really what they were like in private. They claimed to be perfect in keeping God's law, but as humans they were all sinners, just like the rest of the people were. Yet, in public, they insisted that others keep the Law perfectly, or be condemned. They were quick to pass judgment on others, and slow to extend mercy or help. The Pharisees had a legalistic view of God's Word and did not realize that God was merciful and wanted to help people. 2 CORINTHIANS 3:6 NKJ 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Using God's Word to "kill" instead of using it to minister life is wrong. God's Word is meant to help people and lift them up, not place such hard demands on them that they cannot ever measure up. When we load people down with heavy loads of rules to keep in order to be right with God, we are ministers of death. MATTHEW 23:1-5 NLT 1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 5 "Everything they do is for show. . . . If your "Christianity" is nothing more than a list of "do's and don'ts" then you are missing real Christianity, which is a living relationship with Jesus Christ. SAY THIS: Jesus does not want me to act like a Pharisee. God bless you!

🌿 Mystical Gardens Tale 🌿 🪑 The Empty Chair Mary had friends, technically she wasn't alone. That was what she always told herself. She had people she could call. People who would answer a message. People she could talk to about the weather, the latest news, or something funny that had happened during the day. What she didn't have was someone to do things with. She wasn't completely alone, but there was a difference between having people she could talk to and having a companion to spend time with. Mary knew there was a difference. She knew it every evening when she came home. She knew it when she made dinner and automatically put two plates on the counter before realizing there was only one person eating. She knew it when something funny happened on television and she turned toward the other side of the couch to share the joke, only to find an empty cushion. She knew it when she poured herself a glass of tea and, without thinking, reached for another glass. Then stopped. There was no one to pour it for. One evening, Mary sat on the couch with her dinner untouched beside her. The television was playing, but she wasn't watching it. Her eyes kept drifting toward the empty chair across the room. It wasn't anything special. Just an old chair with a cushion that had lost some of its shape, but tonight, it seemed to be extra empty. Mary stared at it for a long time. Then she whispered, “I wish somebody was here.” The words surprised her. She had spent years teaching herself not to say things like that. Whenever she admitted she was lonely, someone would remind her that she already had friends. Whenever she said she wanted companionship, someone would tell her she needed to learn to be happy alone. Whenever she complained about having no one to do things with, someone would say, “You just have to get out there.” Mary knew they meant well, but sometimes she wanted more than advice. She wanted someone to sit beside her. Someone to go places with. Someone to call and say, “Want to grab a coffee?” Someone who would watch a terrible movie with her and laugh at how terrible it was. Someone who would notice when she was quiet. Someone who didn't have to be invited because they were already there. Mary leaned back against the couch. “I don't want to be needy,” she whispered. The room offered no answer. The loneliness tightened around her heart. The loneliness engulfed her and tears formed in her eyes. Mary closed her eyes, curled into a fetal ball, and allowed herself to cry. When she opened them again, she wasn't in her living room. She was sitting in a beautiful garden beneath a giant tree. The mystical garden stretched around her in the soft evening light. Flowers moved gently in a breeze she couldn't feel. Somewhere nearby, water trickled over smooth stones. Mary didn't know how she had gotten there, but she wasn't frightened. She had been to this garden before. Some people claimed it was magical. She looked up at the giant tree. “You know why I'm here, don't you?” The leaves rustled. Mary smiled sadly. “I'm so lonely.” The tree remained silent. Mary pulled her knees toward herself. “I know what everyone says. I know I do have people in my life. I do have friends. I know I should be grateful. I really am grateful.” She swallowed. “But I want someone...” The words finally came out. “I want someone to share my life with.” A breeze moved through the branches. Mary looked up. “Can you help me?” The tree did not answer. Mary waited. “Can you find someone for me?” Still nothing. Her smile disappeared. “It's silly, but I thought that since I just appeared here, maybe you had some magic that could help me.” The branches swayed gently. Mary looked away. “Apparently not.” She stood and began walking through the garden. At first, she noticed all the companionship around her. She saw two birds that sat together on a branch. A pair of rabbits chased one another through the flowers. A butterfly rested on another butterfly's wings. Even the bees seemed to have somewhere to go and someone waiting for them. Mary stopped beside the pond. “Even the animals have someone.” Her voice cracked. “And I don't.” She sat beside the water. For a long time, she didn't notice anything different. Then something strange began. The garden seemed to change. Mary watched as a bee landed on a flower. The flower gave it the nectar that it searched for. A bird flew down to the pond where it found a worm in the soft soil and water to quench is thirst. A fruit fell from one of the branches and disappeared into the soil where the seed would grow. Mary watched quietly. She finally began to understand. The garden wasn't showing her perfect lives. This wasn't exactly the companionship she longed for. What it was showing her was a different kind of companionship. It showed her the connections that are made in all life. Little ones. Simple ones. Necessary ones. Then its leaves shimmered and Mary heard a whisper in her heart. "You are not wrong for wanting companionship.'' Mary's eyes filled with tears. People had told her it was good to be independent. They had told her to enjoy her own company. They had told her she didn't need anyone, but nobody had told her that wanting someone beside her wasn't a weakness. Mary rested her hand against the tree. “I don't want someone to rescue me.” The leaves rustled. “I just don't want to do everything alone. I just need a friend to do things with.” The tree remained silent, but somehow Mary understood. There was a difference between being incomplete and being lonely. She could be whole and still want someone to share some of the things in her life with. She could be grateful and still wish for a little companionship. She could love herself and still want someone sitting in the empty chair. Mary wiped her eyes. “Then why can't you find someone for me?” The tree's branches slowly moved toward the ground. One small branch pointed toward the garden gate. Mary frowned. “You want me to leave?” At first she was hurt, but then she understood. The garden couldn't choose another person's heart. It couldn't manufacture friendship. It couldn't make someone walk into her life. It couldn't promise that tomorrow she would meet the person she'd been waiting for. But it could give her somewhere to come back to when the loneliness became too heavy. It could remind her that loneliness wasn't proof that she was forgotten. Companionship had many different forms. Perhaps most importantly, it reminded her not to close her heart simply because she had been disappointed before. Mary stood. The tree's leaves shimmered. “I guess I just stopped trying.” She looked toward the garden gate. “Because every time I tried, I got hurt.” The garden grew very still. Mary took a deep breath. “Maybe I decided it was easier to do things alone, preferring to be lonely than to be hurt. That's not the same thing as being okay, is it?” The tree answered with a gentle shower of golden leaves. Mary laughed through her tears. “No,” she whispered. “It isn't.” When Mary returned home, the television was still playing. The empty chair was still there. Nothing about her house had changed. But Mary had. She looked at the chair. For years, she had thought the empty chair was proof that nobody was coming, no one wanted to be with her. Tonight, she saw it differently. It was simply an empty chair waiting to be filled. The next morning, Mary picked up her phone. She stared at the screen for several minutes. If she wanted a friend, she should make an effort. There was a woman she occasionally talked to. They had always talked easily, but Mary had never asked her to do anything outside their usual conversations. Her finger hovered over the call button. Then she pressed it. “Hi,” Mary said when the woman answered. “I was wondering…” She almost stopped. She fears that the woman would be too busy. That she would think Mary was being strange. But Mary continued. “Would you like to have coffee with me sometime?” There was a pause. Then came the answer. “I'd love to.” Mary smiled. It wasn't a miracle. It wasn't the end of her loneliness. It wasn't the person she had dreamed about finding for a relationship. It was simply coffee and the beginning of a new friendship. Sometimes the beginnings of any kind of relationship are very small. Sometimes they sound like: Would you like to come with me? Would you want to watch a movie? Do you want to get coffee? Would you like to sit here? Mary still visited the garden. She still had lonely evenings. There were still nights when she looked at the empty chair and wished someone were sitting in it, but now she wouldn't allow the loneliness to tightened around her heart. She knew she could ask for simple companionship when she felt lonely and she could always come here for comfort and peace. Wanting someone beside you does not make you weak. Being lonely does not mean you are forgotten. An empty chair is not a threat that no one will ever come. Sometimes… It is simply a chair waiting for a story that hasn't been written yet. Seed from the Garden “God setteth the solitary in families.” — Psalm 68:6 Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two people are better than one because they can help each other up. God sees the lonely places we don't always know how to explain. He doesn't shame us for wanting companionship. While He may not answer that longing in the way or timing we expect, we can trust that our loneliness does not mean we have been forgotten. Sometimes the first step isn't finding the person we've been waiting for. Sometimes it's simply finding the courage to open the door to allow people in. #christianwriter #christianfiction #christianfantasy #stacyfrantz #MysticalGardens

Pilgrims of God I was wandering the desert Lost without hope for now I roam Crushed beneath the pressure Wanting a place I could call home I was drowning in my sorrow Up to my kneck in sin Looking for somebody Who I respect- a friend I was desperate for a treasure Never bought and can't be sold But stuck inside a prison And the devil had a hold I couldn't see my way out And I was just about to fold Till then heard of a savior Who purchased every soul He promised life in heaven I knew I could not say no Many of us were called there Only a few of us would go I left behind the old life And stepped into the light The darkness wasnt happy so it scuffled and tried to fight I held onto the rugged cross Grappled to it with all my might Took a little bit of time And the darkness left my sight I passed up all the lost souls I tried to grab them if I could I talked about the gospel As I knew a Christian should I saw them as did Jesus In the valley on a slope Up top of God's mountain I tossed down to them a rope The flames of hell roared higher Nearly devoured some to nought I rejoiced to all the heavens About the few of them I caught The angels played a trumpet A couple instruments with strings I heard the choir bellow Out a hymnal they did sing See heaven is the treasure The Holy Ghost bestow a ring Some claimed to know all mysteries yet still slow to know a thing And didnt know the calling So quickly fell from Grace Dont buy into this life of sin Nor after riches niether chase Dont forfeit to hell your precious soul For if so your life you waste Just call out now to Jesus Bow your head and seek his face He loves you very much This world is but a bitter taste see Jesus is enough He knows your every hurt.... And carries all your sorrow Ask for His safety here and now For you may not see tomorrow Listen to the preachers words Of life beyond the veil Take heed to travel down this path Forsake the broken trail And you will live in glory of the Father you should know That Jesus has a plan for you And your eternal soul By Clifton Wagner Gospel Poetry Foundation

*Truth and Freedom...* "They answered Him, 'We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, "You will be made free"?'" (John 8:33) When Jesus said, *"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,"* we read that the Jews surrounding Him retorted, *"We have never been slaves to anyone."* It is true that the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—were never slaves to anyone. However, the people of Israel—Abraham's descendants—had been held in bondage by various kingdoms. In the time of Moses, the Israelites labored as slaves to the Egyptians. We also see that they paid tribute to peoples such as the Philistines, the Jabinites, and the Amalekites. Later, they were taken captive to Babylon (2 Kings 24:10). Subsequently, the Assyrians (2 Kings 18) and then the Medes (Daniel 5:31) ruled over them. Following that, the Persians (Esther 1) and other kingdoms kept them in bondage generation after generation. Even as they were telling Jesus, "We are not slaves to anyone," the Romans were ruling over them as subjects. Those who claimed to be "Abraham’s descendants" failed to realize that their eyes and hearts were blinded, preventing them from seeing the very One who had created Abraham. That is precisely why they declare, "We are not slaves," even while remaining in bondage. Sometimes, even though we are enslaved by sin and held fast by it, we fail to realize it. This is often because we live with the mindset: "I was born into a Christian family and I read the Bible; therefore, sin cannot be within me." We must allow the Lord's *holy blood* to cleanse us every day. The *assurance of salvation* must always abide within us. Amen.🥰

Jesus, Your grace claimed me; now Your family and my life welcome others too.

𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐃 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐘 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐕𝐄! Good afternoon, children of God. I come to return all the glory back to God of heaven and earth, our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to thank God for saving my life from premature death. It happened—it was—it happened last week. It all started exactly Sunday last week, after the service. I no understand myself again. It was like a joke. The thing get start—continued getting deteriorated, to the extent that I was hospitalized on Tuesday. Being hospitalized, I was not responding to treatment. But the servant of God kept praying with me, and kept checking on me. So, we kept going. It reached—I think, was it on Wednesday? I—I just started giving up on myself. All the—my husband beside me, the stress he's going through, and my family, I look at everything, I say, "Is it not better I should just—let me just go. Let me just go. Let me just go." So, after one of the injection, I slept off. I could not understand—know—I allow my husband to go out of the—by my side. So, I just closed my eye. After closing my eye, I found myself on—in a new city. There was nobody. I was just going—I just keep going, don't even know where I'm going to. So, inside the revelation, I now saw the man of God of this commission who asked me, "Where are you going?" I told him, "I don't even know where I'm going, but I just want to go. Let me rest." He told me to come back. He said I should come back. "Why do you want me to come back?" He said I should just come back. So, God used his face. He stretched his hand, and I hold his hand. Holding his hand, I turned back. Turning back, I open my eye and now saw myself, I was still on the hospital bed. I say, "Wow, was it a play or a joke? Does it mean I was really going?" That was how I woke up, and still continued. So, I—when he later called, I told him the revelation I had. He prayed with me, said, "Why did I want to give up?" Since I started working on myself again, that was how I started receiving—I started responding to treatment. Gradually, I was discharged. I was discharged on Friday. After my discharge, I reached home, I was just managing. I cannot eat, I cannot drink, but they forced me that I have to be taking something. I claimed today that, "Yes, I can take something," so that they should let me go, that I realized that the body is non-more of the medical. Let me go home and think and pray, and struggle to pray. So, reaching home, yesterday afternoon, I ate, but I started having another pain again. And there was this condition attached to me seeing the doctor that must be stable before the next procedure. I started having severe pain that I cannot even explain—I don't want to say it out. When I checked the time, it was already some minutes after eight. I say, "Ah, okay. Let me go online." Coming online now, I met they already started prayer. So, I joined the prayer. Joining the prayer, I was hitting my tummy and that of my waist. 'Cause I say, "This time around, I'm not in the hospital. Let's face it. I'm in the house. Let's face it squarely." I followed the prayer. When I started the prayer, sleeping was coming. The sleeping was so deep. Me that I hardly slept sometimes like that, the sleep, since I started being on drugs, sleeping was coming, I was struggling with the sleeping, I was praying. I say I must pray. Even when they do the—share the grace, I don't even know. When I—when I check again, I say, "Okay," I continue again. I was hitting it. I was telling the pain to go back to the sender. Since that yesterday night till now, I've not taken anything. God brought relief! Not even a single paracetamol I've not taken, and I cannot find the pain. I just want to say, "Thank you, Jesus, for taking over." Now that is the area I got to learn that, "Okay, any power that don't want to let me be, let's face it." And God took over. I just want to say, "Thank you, Jesus, for healing me." May His name alone be praised. I cover my testimony with the blood of Jesus, and this affliction and every other one, they will not come back again, in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you, sir.

Have you ever found yourself caught in a relentless cycle, where the same challenges seem to reappear in your life time and time again? It can feel incredibly frustrating, as though you are stuck on a never-ending carousel of struggles, unable to break free. Imagine life as an airport conveyor belt, continuously moving, with each loop bringing back those familiar pieces of luggage that you never quite claimed. These pieces of luggage represent your life lessons, the vital experiences and insights that each of us must face at some point in our journey. Now, consider what happens if you neglect to engage with these lessons. If you don’t take the initiative to pick up your emotional baggage, it will persist on that conveyor belt, circling endlessly, returning to you as if to say, "Hey, remember me? We have unfinished business!" Similarly, your life’s battles, be it unresolved conflicts, stubborn fears, or long-standing issues, will keep resurfacing until you muster the courage to confront them. It's as if they are patiently waiting for you to engage in the struggle, to rise up and meet them head-on. This cycle doesn’t just affect you; it can linger on, reaching into the future and impacting the lives of the generations that follow. Imagine your children or grandchildren grappling with the same problems that you failed to resolve, their lives shadowed by unresolved issues that traced back to your own experiences. It's a painful thought, one that emphasizes the importance of addressing life’s challenges rather than letting them fester. But here’s the silver lining: you hold the power to break this cycle, to put an end to the repetition, and you can start this transformative journey right now. Through the power of prayer, you can seek guidance, strength, and clarity, inviting the wisdom and support necessary to conquer these recurring challenges. Prayer can serve as a pivotal turning point, granting you the ability to put your past struggles to rest and move forward with renewed purpose. So let today be the day you choose to step off the conveyor belt, reclaim your lessons, and embrace the possibility of a brighter, more fulfilled future. SHALOM ✋

LOST IN THE CHURCH "[PART TWO]" THE CHURCH The Church is a very important instrument in the hands of the Lord. However, that does not mean that by simply looking to or depending on the Church, a person can be saved. The Church cannot heal a person, lead them into all truth, or even baptize them with the Holy Spirit. THE LORD alone is able to do all these things! Going to church every day of worship does not make someone a Christian. It is like taking a wheelbarrow to a garage every day and expecting it to be called a car. Reading the Word of God, preaching, or knowing some of the mysteries of salvation does not make someone a Christian either. If it were that easy, Lucifer would have been the number-one Christian! Therefore, Christianity is having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. And this relationship cannot exist unless a person is born again by the Holy Spirit. Being born again is not a secret matter. First, you yourself will know it, and everyone around you will see its fruits. Nevertheless, the Lord did not leave us in darkness. He gave us certain signs that would accompany His children wherever they go. There are many of these signs, and some of them can be read in Mark 16:17–18. Therefore, it is entirely possible for someone to have no visible faults in the eyes of people, to fit perfectly into a church, and to be highly respected and trusted by the pastor and the entire church, yet not be the same person before the living God. Being known by the church or by a pastor is very different from being known by God! And what will it profit us to be famous on earth if we are unknown in heaven? The truth is that there are many believers of this kind in churches, and I assure you, they are potential inhabitants of the eternal Hell that is so terrifying. As I say this, I remember once seeing the testimony of a certain servant of God who claimed to have been shown Hell. He wrote a shocking message saying: «"HELL IS FULL OF GOOD PEOPLE."» In other words: “Hell is filled with many people who were good on earth!” Christianity is not a religion. Nevertheless, one of the highest results of religion is that it can make a person civilized in the eyes of people and morally good. Yet goodness does not make a person enter heaven! The Scriptures clearly say that no one is good except God alone. Matthew 19:17. My brothers and sisters, the Church was intended to be a place with altars that help a person encounter the Lord Jesus. But if attending church is considered salvation itself, and nothing beyond that is happening, then let me tell you plainly: you are wasting your time. And undoubtedly, you may be on the list of people who are worshipping idols! Every altar must be alive and must connect Heaven with Earth. Otherwise, you are simply gathering as a society of people comforting one another, placing your hope in false expectations. For how can you have no relationship with God now and expect to have a relationship with Him in Heaven later? Heaven, just like Hell, is the continuation of the life a person has known on Earth. I think we should admit that we are entertaining ourselves with religion. Because if we truly encountered the Lord Jesus in our lives, how could we tolerate remaining in a place where the One we encountered is not present? If we have been able to tolerate such things until now, then the simplest explanation is this: we do not know the Lord, nor have we ever encountered Him. That is why we have been able to tolerate fake things, believing that those fake things are real! Water and wine are two different things. What happens when you take water to people who are accustomed to wine? Today, let us say soda and beer. What do you think would happen if you took soda to a wedding of beer drinkers? Surely, they would all leave, and you would remain only with those who had never tasted beer! And for those who have tasted Him, they will agree with me that there is no one as good and addictive as the Lord! Once you taste Him, you will spend the rest of your life here on Earth longing for Him, saying: «“Oh Lord, I need some more of You!”» And is this not the reason the Scriptures say: «“Taste and see that the LORD is good.” Psalm 34:8» And is that not also the reason the Lord said: «“Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:54» These days, it has become completely normal to enter a certain church and find that not even one person there has ever encountered the Lord—including the pastor himself! You find a pastor preaching about Jesus who appeared to, or was encountered by, other people—but not by him personally. Do you think there can be any spiritual morning in such a place? There are more churches of this kind today than the sand of the sea! My brothers and sisters, by saying these things, I do not mean to despise worship or any particular church. I simply want people to understand that the primary purpose of the Church is to lead people to the Lord. However, if a Church abandons this essential foundation and ends up controlling people, leading them into legalism, directing them toward ministers, programs, or certain religious institutional systems, then that Church can become an extremely dangerous place—perhaps even more dangerous than a drinking club. BABYLON, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS Prophetically, a woman represents a church. If you read about the prostitute woman described in Revelation 17, you will discover that this represents the FALSE CHURCH in the world. Essentially, this church is the greatest enemy of the Church of God. That is why you will see this woman drunk with the blood of the saints. «“I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.” Revelation 17:6» Many people, when they read this prophecy, end up identifying the Roman Church as the one being referred to. However, this is a spirit of deception that exists everywhere. And this spirit may even be more deeply rooted in spiritual churches than in others. It is very remarkable that the revelation of this “woman” is connected to the revelation of the Tower of Babel when you read Genesis 11. Ultimately, the message here is a revelation of the Church—or any person—who attempts to approach God through human effort or religious zeal while rejecting the grace of the Cross of Jesus. This includes all people who approach a God who has not called them, worshipping God without knowing Him, without encountering Him, while placing their confidence in their works of the law and their own efforts. «“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”» #ToBeContinued... Sir Ernest Nyalula +255616609885 #LostInTheChurch #Church #Christianity #BiblicalTruth #JesusChrist #KnowGod #BornAgain #HolySpirit #KingdomOfGod #SpiritualAwakening #ChristianTruth #Bible #Faith #JesusIsLord