The 'Grace' is forgiveness pure and simple, but before we get too far down this road, let's look at the big picture. The Lord is good. The Lord desires for us to be with him. Only good may exist with the Lord. Thus only people who are good can exist with the Lord. To decide who the good people are, the Lord must teach us about good and evil and then allow us to decide if we wish to be good.

Let's go over what it means to desire to be good. One you must do what you think is right. As you progress and learn more about right and wrong, good and evil, you will realize that you have done things which we're wrong and that these things stand in the way of you being good. So you learn to repent and turn away from doing these things, and then learn you must right your past wrongs if you are to be considered as good and worthy of being in the presence of the Lord... or find a way to be forgiven by the Lord.

The Lord's forgiveness of what you have done and the shortcomings you have which would not allow you to be in the Lord's presence can be a fantastic thing to imagine... but know that with this kind of forgiveness comes a great humility and peace which only those who understand the value of this forgiveness can fully understand. What else comes with this great peace and awareness is the added understanding of what offering forgiveness can mean to others as well as the ability to offer it freely to everyone. This will expand your understanding of how forgiveness is a pure form of love and this will enable you to understand the love which the Lord wishes for you to extend to everybody and how easy it really is to do.

Now, how does 'Faith' work into the equation. Only by faith will you learn the love of the Lord. As simple as the description for the 'Grace' is, 'Faith' is believing. Your beliefs sway your every action. If you believe in something great enough it will change your life. To believe in the Lord and truly desire to be good, you not only have to believe in  forgiveness or the 'Grace' but you must believe or have 'Faith' that this grace has been offered to you and that a way to accept the grace is available to you. As the Lord taught us, you must believe in his forgiveness and offer this same forgiveness to all you know... you must have 'Faith In The Grace' and the true desire to be good.

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I felt a terrible urge to write you on a more personal basis.

I love you and nothing in this world can change that.

Let’s get a little personal. Do you pray? Do you study scripture and seek salvation?

I am not asking if you have been saved… rather I am asking if you have seen evidence of God working through you?

I have and it scares me… It scares me because I am starting to believe that I am supposed to share my understanding of how we can achieve salvation (it is truly different than what I have ever been taught in a church). It scares me because I have a feeling that I am supposed to share it with more than just a few of the people I meet, I believe that the Lord wants me to share my ideas with the entire world. I feel I am not ready and there is no possible way for me to believe that the Lord would choose me for any other reason than the irony of it all – or perhaps it is the life I have led which in leading to my rather unique perceptions, has qualified me for this task.

I am confused, yes, but as much as I know my family loves me, I know that I feel this path developing under my feet and that the Lord is guiding the way… starting to sound weird? It gets even more peculiar… veils have been lifted from my eyes which hid the truth about our present religions from me for so long.

Churches and religions are nothing more than associations which are best used as tools to build community between like-minded individuals. No church holds the key to your salvation, and any religion, faith or sect which presents itself as having the only true path to salvation and God’s grace has taken the Lord’s name in vain.

You see, no ritual, no elder, no priest can offer anyone salvation. Only God can offer us that, and there is absolutely no ceremony required. Salvation is available for anyone who decides they want to be saved and is willing to honestly try to do the best they can not to sin in the future. It involves faith in the grace and our ability to believe we are worthy of receiving the grace - which makes having a savior come in real handy.

If a ritual, elder or priest helps you to desire salvation and to believe you are worthy of salvation, then they have served their purpose.

Jesus did not die on the cross for our sins! He died on the cross for our salvation, and only because we are too weak minded to accept the Lords grace on our own… It’s powerful stuff, this new way of looking at life.

And one last thing, contrary to what anyone tells you, you can be perfect – and the road to this perfection is far easier than you would have ever imagined.

Want to know more? You can find a few of the lessons I have learned which I have put together here or better yet, go to a person you know has God working through them as they can truly help you to believe.

I know there are still a lot of aspects of my life I need to deal with, and I am trying to get as honest as I can with myself to best handle them as responsibly as possible. But if I waited until my conscious was clear I feel I may never get the opportunity to fulfill this calling – irregardless if it is real or perceived… which in this case would pretty much be impossible to discern.

I don’t want to sound goofy, but I pray for you often. I pray for you and your family’s continued good health, harmony, safety and happiness – anything more would be presumptuous. God bless you and yours.

Your brother in Christ,
Michael Jay Wilson Sr.

...About Your 10,000 Talent Debt!

Welcome! Did you remember to bring your talents?

I'm not talking about the abilities you excel at... rather I speak of the unit of weight used in biblical times, talents, which are equal to 75 pounds.

*** Getting off the beaten path for a second, did you know that the first mention of the number 666 in the bible is when it describes the great wealth of Solomon who in his most prosperous year had 666 talents of gold shipped into his kingdom...

Anyways, a talent of gold is an awful lot of gold and 666 talents of gold is about $342,057,600.00 in today's dollars. (666 x 75 x 16 ounces x $428 an ounce)

Imagine owing someone 15 times this much or 10,000 talents of gold. ($5,130,864,000 in today's dollars.)

Now think about this... What are the worst things you have ever done in your life... combine that with every thing you know you have done wrong throughout your life and add in the times when people suffered your selfishness in silence...

Imagine all those you have done wrong on their knees praying to God for an end to their suffering caused by your thoughtlessness...

Now let's throw in all of your acts of omission or occasions when you could have helped another but you decided not to act for one reason or another...

And let's top it off with all of the times you witnessed someone doing something wrong and you decided not to at least let them know that it was wrong and they should stop...

That is enough for you to be able to begin to reflect on the terrible amount of weight you carry with you...

It's over... there is no longer any time to think about it... You are now seated directly across from God, and as you look around you realize this place has a certain quality which is best described as enlightened.

Only light and truth exist here... there is no place for lies to hide as all is known to everyone... and then God speaks to you...

"Look at all of this sin... you owe me so much... fix it right now! Pay me what you owe me or I will make you pay for these sins forever... and that is not all... I will make your wife pay, your children pay and all of those who love you pay forever..."

"I will cast you out of heaven and depart from your life... but even worse will be the immeasurable pain this will cause those who love you... they will not be with you... they will not find solace... you will be shut out from them... you will be shut out from heaven... and you will be shut out from me..."

"Pay me now!"

Now, imagine that God seeing your true desire to be forgiven and that you are willing to do whatever it takes to repay him... forgives you all of your sin and sends you back into the world...

Not a bad deal, huh?

This type of forgiveness has already been given to you. This grace now belongs to all those who believe that this grace has been given to them.

But there is a hitch... we already discussed why we can't believe that this grace is ours - to review the other path God has given us to receive this forgiveness or faith in the grace which Jesus taught us replaced the Law read - If There Is A God, A Heaven Or A Hell.

Until then remember that this grace is already yours and you should live accordingly, and offer forgiveness to all those who you feel may have done you any wrong... it's the least we can do.

And now that you have read this, there is no way to say you didn't know better... especially when you reach a state of enlightenment.

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Your shot at getting one of these positions is literally millions to one... but the good news is that there are junior judge positions available for all of us.

Before you get too caught up in what the Bible tells us... 'Judge Not Lest You Be Judged'... let's talk about why true Christians should embrace the judgment of others done in the proper fashion.

How are you going to raise your children, recognize those in need, or know when to step in and help your neighbor unless you make a judgment concerning them and then decide what the best possible thing you can do for them would be?

The saying which seems to preclude the judgment of anyone for any reason... is actually a warning to those who would judge others - that they make sound judgments for the right reasons... and then that the actions which would be approved of by our Lord, our faith and our fellow man.

Too many times people see others do wrong and then based on this saying, turn away and do nothing because of their beliefs, saying 'who are we to judge others' and that those doing wrong will meet their judgment one day by one righteous enough to judge them.

Have you ever known of a person in power, who just don't know what they are doing? Perhaps a boss who does not know how to actually do the work done by their subordinates. Perhaps an elected official who is given the power to dictate what their constituents can do... when it is obvious they have no idea what they are talking about. Perhaps a religious leader who knowingly is ignorant about the topics they preach about.

Judgment is indeed a heavy load to bear... and before you pass judgment on anyone for anything... you better know what you are doing and how best to correct the situation.

Judgment must be made before action is taken on any issue... and escaping this responsibility just because of this saying is taking the term too literally and breaks with the awesome responsibility placed upon all of us to do the Lord's will on earth as it done in heaven.

Think about the verse "Be ye' not yoked with sinners"... well just how are you going to do this unless you have a method to discern who the sinners are and when your involvement with them denotes being 'Yoked' with them?

No man on earth, because we are all sinners, can judge another's faith or Godliness... but we can see when the behavior of others may be destructive to those around them.

So therefore we must make judgments every day and act upon them... but we must judge from knowledge and more importantly love. We must afford everyone the opportunity to change their ways and then we must afford forgiveness in all things... but should they continue their destructive behavior, after we have done the best to help them see the error of their ways then we should afford them the freedom to make their own decisions but make it clear that the destructive behavior blocks them from truly being an integral part of our communities made up of responsible people who would do their best to follow the commandments to love God with all of our might and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The actions derived from judging others must be done out of love for all concerned, and the one passing the judgment should truly do it out of true love and with the understanding that the final judgment about someone is not our responsibility or our right.

In the Old Testament has listed how to approach someone you judge is doing wrong. First, you speak to them personally, let them know that they are doing something which you believe is against God or man. Should they not listen to you... then you find someone who is wise and just and the two of you approach them about the matter. Should this mission fail, then what they are doing should be brought before the church (your religious community), first including just the leader of your Church... and then upon failing this... before the entire congregation. And seeing as how our Lord taught us that not one tittle of the law would be changed because of his coming... and in fact our responsibilities as true disciples of the Lord became greater upon his arrival - then you would understand that this would still be the accepted way to approach this problem.

The above should be done carefully and with much love and forethought. Wise shepherds (preachers, priests, pastors, deacons, bishops, evangelists, etc...) will often times approach these issues on a non-personal basis with proper sermons to their congregations, or portions of their congregations who need to learn about these things.

What about those who are not part of your Church? Well, you are commanded to take action whenever you see someone doing wrong... and done correctly, you may be able to afford someone help when no one else seems to care... or care enough to speak to them about their problems... thus giving you a great opportunity to share your faith and more importantly your love for them... which in turn may make them decide to do much more about their personal salvation than just stop doing the one thing others may have seen them doing wrong.

Remember that we see through a mirror dimly or a glass darkly, and that none of us can fully understand the big picture or has all of the answers, but done correctly - out of true love for everyone, your judgment can be a powerfully positive tool to help make this world a better place where the Lord's will be done, here on earth, as it is in heaven.

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To which another scientist of his time replied
"Who are you to dictate how God works?"

Since then, scientists have discovered that for physics to work in our universe, there must be 7 more dimensions other than time and the 3 dimensions we can see around us. If we believe these scientists, then we have to accept that we may live in a ten dimension universe going through time and we can only see and understand three of these dimensions. So both science and religion agree that most of our universe is hidden from us.

The question we should ask is "Did God mean for us to learn how our world works around us?"

Ever since we learned how to light our own fires, there have been people so caught up in the religious implications that they denounce scientific discoveries and label those who pursue scientific knowledge as individuals determined to disprove the existence of God.

This is a two edged sword.

While there are people of a scientific nature who too easily judge God's existence just because scripture did not describe an event as scientifically correct as they would have liked. The truth is a great majority of scientists don't allow the science vs. religion debate to play a part in their discovery of God's majesty throughout our universe.

There are also people of a religious nature who truly believe so strongly in their interpretation of the scripture that they believe that scientists who attempt to gain a better understanding of how our universe works are all actually attempting to disprove the existence of God. This is simply not true, even if their interpretation of the scripture is absolutely correct.

We should all be able to agree that no one will ever be able to entirely prove or disprove the existence of God - meaning that we will always have to keep the faith.

The danger of these arguments is that it sets man - one against another - and depends on man's prideful arrogance to continue. These questions divide us and this makes the answer all too obvious - The question is the problem.

Evolution vs. Creationism

If evolution is a process God uses to allow mankind to adapt to our environment, then both processes may be true.

If we can accept the idea that black, brown, red, yellow or white, tall, short, skinny or fat - each of us was made in God's image, we should understand this image probably describes a lot more than our physical appearance, such as our intelligence, undeniable spirit and unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

Does this mean that if we discover our pinky fingers are actually getting shorter (due to evolution), that God doesn't exist?

I say no. I say that God works in mysterious ways on purpose to test both our faith in God and our love for one another.

The test isn't necessarily about whether evolution is correct, but rather to see if you can accept change in your understanding of how God works, without losing your faith in God's existence.

It is truly a test of our pride. The real battle is whether or not you will join the battle or do unto others as you would have them do unto you by allowing others to have their personal opinions without questioning their faith or Godliness.

Now you have to ask yourself if you are too proud to accept that mankind may have evolved from sludge when it plainly says in the Bible that we came from dust.

I say that if this is how God did it - who are we to question the Lord's methods - and who can tell us that anything we learn scientifically can possibly question our faith.

Live Strong And Proper - "We can handle the truth! God gave us life - no matter what we learn about how he did it."

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I explained to her that in my opinion the two commandments actually replaced the ten commandments, and can't be considered two additional commandments... but, because the twelve commandments sounded like a great title and the fact that I never question the gentle wisdom of my wife, I thought I would start this message with this conversation.

Moses gave us the ten commandments which he received directly from God. Moses also wrote the first five books of the Bible and even Jesus asked how you could believe his words if you didn't believe in the writings of Moses.

Did you know that if an indentured slave wished to remain with their master after they had repaid their debt to the master, they are told in Leviticus to pierce their ear with a nail on the lentil or the side-frame of the doorway to the masters house?

I am certainly grateful that indentured slavery is no longer legal and even more grateful that Jesus replaced the Law (the book of Leviticus in the Bible) with the Grace.

Now consider the commandment, Thou Shall Not Kill... does this mean it would be okay for me to maim, cripple, blind or injure a person as long as I don't kill them?

Jesus taught, that we should (1) Love God with all of our heart, soul and mind, and (2)Love thy neighbor as thyself, and that from these two commandments all other commandments flow.

Now the ten commandments are more like categories. Thou shall not maim... now would also be automatically considered a commandment as it breaks the two more basic commandments as taught by Jesus.

The broadening of these definitions, allows for there to be less commandments to memorize, but places a far greater responsibly on us than the original ten commandments. The grace of God offers us a lot, but comes with far stricter codes of justice, ethics and morals than the ten commandments ever required of us.

Add to this that Jesus also taught us that merely thinking of a sin is just as bad as actually committing a sin and you will understand just how much more disciplined you must be to become a true disciple of the Christian faith.

No... you don't... but you probably should! - Remember - 'Be ye not yoked together with unbelievers...'

In order to receive the benefits of faith in the grace which Jesus taught us of and to have faith in the grace of God work miracles in your life, you need salvation - you need to be "Born of the Spirit".

You will be born of the spirit when you ask for God's salvation, understand that the sins you have committed stand in your way and admit you are not strong enough to answer for your sins without Jesus' help. Your ability to feel the Grace working through you will then be equal to your Faith in the Grace and your dedication to do your best to live a sinless, fruitful life.

Yes, you could do this all on your own through great meditation, prayer and humility... but there is another factor which greatly decreases your ability to achieve the greatest results possible... and that is what you want, right?

Personal experience has taught me that 99.99% of the benefit I gain through the Grace is an indescribable joy I feel when ever I think of the power of the Grace of God. I am safe, secure and free from temptation and worry.

When I describe this joy to another is when I feel it the greatest, but I have also had many experiences in my life which I can only describe as nothing less than miracles which I believe are due to my Faith in the Grace and believe me, "You want as much of this Grace in your life as you can possibly gain!".

The missing factor I spoke of in this process is Faith. Your ability to believe you are worthy of God's love or Jesus' offer.

Let's act like your faith is a sapling which has grown from the seed of desire to have the Grace of God working through you. (It already does.)

Now let's bury a stake next to this young sapling. The Church, like this stake, can help you to head in the direction you want to go. Pun intended.

A Church is a community of like minded individuals who hold many of the same beliefs and therefore can help each other to believe with a much stronger faith.

A Baptism is a ritual which has helped literally billions of people around the world to be filled with faith in the grace. Even though a baptism is not absolutely necessary, surrounding yourself with a crowd of people who believe as you do, helps you to believe you can be forgiven and accept your faith in the grace through Jesus.

Let's consider the Baptism, other rituals such as laying on of hands, words of advice from those who study the scripture, the power of the faith of people around you and the many other positive things a church offers you as ribbons that tie you to the stake and help you to gain more faith in the grace, than you would have ever experienced on your own.

God Bless You!

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Which Church Is The Right Church?

There is still much to be done for the love of God and our neighbors, and the Church or your religious community has much work it needs to do to support members who may need the help and of course pursue the missions placed before the church.

The new Testament tells us to give what we cheerfully can give. The poor in spirit will therefore be able to afford to cheerfully give much less than those who are rich in spirit, regardless of how much they actually give.

In giving cheerfully we are allowing the joy which we feel in the Lord to be expressed as the love we have for our neighbors.

Getting off the subject for a minute. Has it ever been your turn to say a prayer and you find yourself wondering what you should thank the Lord for in your prayer? This one is easy... Thank the Lord for all which truly makes you joyful - it could be your home, your job, your family, your friends, your Church, your community, the gifts you and others you care about which have caused you to truly rejoice.

This is because the Lord wants you to feel great joy and share that joy with him as well as you know.

Here is a precious jewel which will afford you another of those great secrets of happiness. Your ability to feel true joy and happiness is directly proportionate to the joy and happiness you afford others. Just as your ability to be truly forgiven can only be achieved by learning how to truly forgive others.

You see, if you can not afford others forgiveness and true love... you will not believe that the forgiveness and love afforded you by others is genuine... and love and forgiveness can only be truly appreciated and enjoyed by those who believe they are loved and forgiven. They must be accepted to be fully realized.

With these nuggets of truth you can now understand that the more you love and the more you feel joy, the more you will cheerfully afford the same to others.

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The answer was simple then. You see, rather than confuse them with ideas of a gift for Jesus from God for his upcoming marriage to the most righteous people who ever lived and a vast golden city dropping from the heavens where God's light shines everywhere. I made it very simple to understand.

In heaven you will find everything you desire and want most in life. It could be a park with rolling fields and playgrounds where you can run and play all day, surrounded by candy shops and fantastic theme parks with rides and theatres where you could experience adventurous and fun-filled days forever without end. It could be a room filled with all of your friends and loved ones, who can't stop beaming with joy and happiness.

In reality, heaven is never described as a destination for the righteous in the Old Testament. Hell is described a couple times in the later books of the Old Testament as a place of rest for the faithful warriors of God's chosen people. In the New Testament, hell is described as a enormous room where one side has access to water and the other side is blazing hot where tortured souls, thirsty and helpless to do anything about it, can actually still communicate with blessed souls on the other side of the room, which includes Abraham.

There is an ascension or a story of a man rising into the firmament or 'heavens' told about Elijah. There is also the story of God's promise to David, that he will sit to the right-hand side of God until all of his enemies become like his foot-stool, but I believe this describes how King David would have God by his side so that he could triumph over his enemies in his own lifetime.

The Old Testament has several passages which speak of a judgment here on earth and there are a few which might be interpreted to speak about the idea of of life after death, but not until the last 5% of the Old Testament do we see a clear message that there is an afterlife and a judgment where some will gain everlasting life and some everlasting contempt.

In the New Testament we find that the very first lessons taught by Jesus (the Beatitudes in Matthew; chapter 5) were lessons which teach us that all we do here in this lifetime, is in preparation for our eternal life after we die.

As a Christian believer, the accounting of what heaven is, is so diverse and obviously beyond our imagination that I told my children that heaven is exactly what you desire most in life, and as they grew older I let them know that heaven may not be exactly what they imagined, but it will still be exactly what they desire most.

What you need to understand is this. Imagine heaven is the most desirable place you could ever imagine being and then understand that it isn't heaven which changes, but rather what you desire that changes.

I know God waits with open arms for all of us - ready to guide us through the next part of his plan. He is eager for us all to live with him in heaven.

And here is one thing I believe, that you may find strange. I don't personally believe God judges you, I believe he puts that terrible responsibility on you in a realm of enlightenment where escaping truth through deception or lies is impossible.

God will let you know how much he loves you - which will probably overwhelm even the most faithful of his children, and he will invite you to join him in the next glorious stage of his plan - which will instantly become what you desire most. Then he will ask you if are strong enough and if you personally feel comfortable or worthy of being in his presence. Nobody will judge you, but you will have to live with what you have done in this life to the other enlightened individuals in heaven, and this burden of shame will be too much for some of us to carry. (The everlasting contempt which Daniel describes may very well be your own contempt for yourself when you learn just how unworthy you truly are.) Then the Lord in his infinite wisdom and love for us, will allow those who can not carry this burden of self-loathing and contempt to leave heaven and no longer be exposed to his light and their great shame.

Now in the New Testament it states that among those not able to enter heaven, there will be a great gnashing of teeth or great anger for or envy of those who are able to enter heaven. It says these people will be living in a lake of fire.

I believe this may be true as those outside of heaven will suddenly no longer be in a state of enlightenment and confused they will no longer understand why they can't be with their loved ones who now reside in heaven. (I will try to explain this idea more thoroughly in The Lies We Tell.)

Another note I find interesting is that Jesus told us we will be seasoned by fire, and that this seasoning is good. It may very well be that the people cast into this lake of fire will be seasoned for some greater reason. Maybe to become future prodigal sons.

People who don't make it into heaven might believe themselves to be forever lost and cut off from God's light, and then the greatest pain and suffering will be felt by those in heaven who care most about this person. The person cast out from heaven will suddenly realize that the greatest pain or suffering they ever caused others is actually experienced by those people who love them the most. We can only hope that these poor souls who led their lives so selfishly on earth are still selfish enough not to recognize this pain they have caused their loved ones, which they would have to live with without God's pure love to help them overcome that great pain and sorrow.

In the Gospels, there is a story of Jesus promising that some of the disciples would see heaven while they still lived. I am sure their hopes skyrocketed. This would be conclusive proof that heaven exists and there would no longer be a need for these lucky individuals to have to depend solely upon faith. The fact that they would be able to see heaven without first going through the death of their physical bodies was a fantastic promise.

True to his word, Jesus took three disciples up a mountain and opened a doorway to heaven and spoke with Moses and Elijah. The disciples did not enter heaven at that time and had to remain in the physical world to complete their lives here, but here is the proof for Christians everywhere that heaven truly does exist.

Heaven is and should always be what you desire most - the rest will follow.

P.S. Heaven and our life after death.

I don't wish to start arguments between true believers. Rather I will tell you what I have learned and believe about this all important topic and what it means to us... here in this lifetime as well as once we pass from this life into the next.

We live in this world which, when God was finished with its creation, he called it good. There is no better. This is good and this is how we were meant to live, in this bodily existence and in our next 'bodily' existence.

In our current lives we are corruptible and we are mortal. Here, as taught us by our Lord, we suffer the fires of seasoning and this seasoning is good.

When we die we do not immediately go to heaven, rather we will begin to live in the Lord... much as those who are in the Lord in this life have the Lord living through them via the Holy Spirit.

Then when the second coming of the Lord occurs we will all be resurrected and be given incorruptible and immortal bodies which are perfected, even as the Lord was perfected after his resurrection... and we will be resurrected either to salvation or judgment.

At this second coming, the Lord will perfect the earth and bring about heaven on earth in accordance with the new covenant which began with the resurrection of the Lord as the first fruit to this resurrection.

After this the ones judged worthy and resurrected to salvation will become shepherds of this world and indeed all of creation. There will no longer be any need, and thus there will no longer be any basis for greed, fear, hopelessness, hatred or the other negative consequences of need, and thus the lions shall lay down with the lamb.

In the period between our physical deaths and the resurrection, we will live in the Lord as the spirit lives in us now. We will learn about everything and we will understand completely the master plan which the Lord holds for us all as he brings about the transition where Gods will is done and life on earth will be as it is in heaven. This will prepare us for the judgment to come.

This is the light in which the Lord will judge us. God is a fair and just God and thus we will understand and agree with this judgment, and those who understand will actually be judging themselves and therefore it is our choices made here and the actions we take here which actually are the defining factors in this judgment and therefore we actually judge ourselves here and now in this life.

The next stage, where those who are worthy are allowed to enter heaven on earth with Jesus, these individuals will be Gods appointed to bring good to everything on earth and in the heavens... and this is the grand indicator of what we are to do as true believers in this lifetime. Let your love of God translate into the love you have for your neighbors and do what you can bring about good, on earth as it is in heaven.

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One God - Many Faiths?

Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.

All I know for sure is this... If the Bible is correct, we are a lot closer to the end times than we have ever been before.

I love the Bible and the many fantastic lessons which I have learned from it's pages. One of my favorite books is Malachi, for I believe it tells us a lot about the end times.

We are taught as Christians that when Jesus came he set the father against the children as those of the Christian faith drew away from the faith of their Fathers.

The book Malachi ends with a message that there will be a "great and dreadful day of the Lord" which I consider to mean the end times.

It also tells us that he will first send Elijah the prophet and he shall turn the hearts of the Fathers to the children. I believe this describes the coming together of faiths. Then the final verse finishes with the threat of a smiting of the earth with a curse if this isn't done.

I also believe that every religion will fight tooth and nail to make sure this does not happen. This is because of the faith factor. As a Christian I must "believe" with all of my heart and soul that Jesus is my key to salvation... (I absolutely do!)... but to bring faiths together, there must either be one path to salvation which we all come to accept and believe... or we must accept that there are separate paths to salvation for different people... or as I am coming to understand may be the greater truth... there may be one way to salvation which we as followers of different faiths have come to perceive in different fashions due to the culture and needs of people in different parts of the earth shaping our individual understanding of God and thus our perceptions about the path to salvation.

If you live in India, a land of great droughts, you do not kill the living font of milk, butter and cheese.

If you live in a coastal community you eat the fish when it comes in fresh on the boats which return on Friday.

If you find that eating meat from animals with split hooves can make you very sick, you stop eating them.

The lessons we learn can become part of our culture and even our religion, and who is to say that these lessons were not inspired by God in his infinite love for us and desire to protect us.

Who can honestly say that God stopped communicating with us at any particular time and that Christianity as we know it has not enjoyed active participation by our Lord since Jesus was with us 2000 years ago.

Our prophets, Daniel, Ezekiel, David, Moses, and so on, each was a man chosen by our Lord to deliver messages to us on his behalf which helped us to understand our relationship to God as well as how to best lead our lives and meet our needs here on earth. I believe that other messengers 'may' have been selected by our Lord to speak with other people in the world about how to best meet their needs in their environment.

I also believe that the Lord does not communicate with us in a written form. The Lord's powers are limitless and I believe that when he communicates with messengers he does it with a pure imparting of knowledge and ability to convey that message to others.

When the ideas conveyed by these messengers were recorded they must have been told from the perspective of the person telling the story and in a manner which could be best understood by the recipients of those messages.

I believe in absolute truths and that many of these are self evident at the core of every religion, sect or faith which holds any merit as being legitimate. These absolute truths include the fact that there is an ultimate power which we all owe our existence to, and the golden rule holds true everywhere... "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

While I understand the possibility of the validity of other religions and that followers of these other faiths may have a true path to God as they understand him. I can only speak from a view point of a Christian and tell you that I personally believe that Jesus is my only true path to salvation.

If in the end times, different faiths will be brought together then shouldn't we as true "believers" try to understand how this might be achieved.

As Christians, how can we possibly open ourselves to the idea that other paths to salvation may exist while maintaining our absolute faith that our personal path to salvation is the only path to salvation available as Jesus taught us.

Perhaps we should only consider the Jewish and Christian religions in this equation. Perhaps it only foretells of the coming together of the many factions of Judaism or Christianity. I don't know...

And this is where I will begin my story... I didn't know... I wanted to know, I wanted to understand, I wanted to believe...

Where are the answers? To which questions? What do I teach my children... And how can I be sure...

I finally came up with answers, and I know now that God wants me to share them with as many people as I can. I know that I don't have all of the answers... but the Lord has tempered this ignorance with ways to share this information in a whole new light.