end of the age

Are you persevering for Him?

/ Tracy Eldridge / Leave a comment

Do you know the One Who saves unto eternity? Does He know you? Jesus is His name and He is our Savior and the only One Who can save you. Have you sought Him for your salvation? If you have not done this, then what is your life worth? Are you concerned for your eternity or do you believe that this life is all there is?

JesusLovesYouThe poor in spirit seek Him for their salvation and they do know Him because of the joy that He brings to them. Man-made gods and religions can’t do this. It doesn’t matter if your religion acknowledges God as Creator but that you recognize Jesus as His Son and your Savior! He loved each of us enough to come and give His human life away as a sacrifice which paid the debt for ALL of our sins, not just some people but all of the people on Earth.

Some religions say that God doesn’t care for us in that way, that He doesn’t love us at all. We are just His creation and after that He just sits and watches us kill each other to see who will be left. It is possible that a human god would do that. Satan would actually help us kill each other and does it quite regularly because he hates us. Because of Whose image we are created in.

God is not a figment of our mythology and our imagination and one day soon, He will prove it to the whole world. I don’t know when it will happen, but since God can’t lie and He said that He is coming back, and I believe Him. It is true that Christianity is only one of many religions and beliefs in our world today and many people talk badly about us because of our beliefs. It seems that nobody talks bad about any other religion, but if someone kneels in prayer or in any other way acknowledges that they believe in Jesus then it is offensive.

Jesus told His disciples that “the world hated Me so it will hate you” and we are seeing this more and more every day. It seems to be getting worse because you hear it more and more all the time, in one way or another. A lawsuit is filed because someone is expressing their faith by doing something or not doing something. A city is sued because of a monument which has the Ten Commandments or a Nativity scene at Christmas.

Our country came to be what it is because people were coming here to worship they way they wanted to in freedom. Yes we do have freedom OF religion because we don’t have a national religion. But it seems that today, Christian values and religious practice is being pushed and shoved aside because “it offends people”. If the Truth of God’s Word offends you, then go to a different church or don’t go to one at all! You don’t HAVE to read my blog here and if it offends you then go to another one that you like better!

God loves you anyway, whether you love Him or not. On the day that you leave this world and stand before Him, then you will know for sure which God is in control. It will be too late to believe at that point, but you will know.

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Do you believe?

/ Tracy Eldridge / Leave a comment

Faith_in_GodDo you believe that God is our Creator? Do you believe that Jesus is the Savior of all who believe in Him?

These are questions which should be asked, but are you seeking the answers for these questions? Do you truly want the answers to these questions? Your eternity, your life after this life, depends upon the answers that you find and believe in!

So, are you seeking the answers or do you want to just forget about it until you feel the time is right?

When will the “right”time be? Will you know it when it gets here? If it gets here? Are you certain that you have until next week or next month to make this decision?

Quite frankly, none of us can be sure of tomorrow let alone next week or next month! Making plans for next year seems foolish to me actually, because there is no way to be sure that far ahead into your life.

If you don’t believe in Jesus as your Savior, then who can take His place? You? Or maybe you think that after you die your body will just return to dust and there is no life after the death of your physical body? What a shame. It is true that God said that “man is made from the dust and to dust he will return“, but you have an eternal soul that doesn’t turn to dust so what happens to it?

According to Jesus there are two places where your soul will go after your body dies, paradise or Heaven and outer darkness or hell. No purgatory or waiting to be prayed up, no immediate burn up if you don’t believe. It is said in Scripture that the smoke of their punishment rises forever. This is not just a flash burn and your gone for good, you will pay for your own sins and unbelief for eternity just as Satan will pay for his rebellion against God.

Yes, forever is a very long time, yet if you will believe in Jesus and His atonement for you then your eternity will be to serve Him in Heaven and in His Kingdom. I can’t imagine a better future than to serve the Creator. Why? Because doing His will for eternity will never be boring!

Life in our time

/ Tracy Eldridge / Leave a comment

I am sorry that I haven’t posted here much lately. I have been concentrating on my other site, thelivingmessage.com. Why do I bring this into the mix? I don’t know. Maybe I feel guilty for ignoring my oldest blog in favor of the one that draws the most traffic.

Life in our time is hard some days and not so bad on other days. How can we get or enjoy a consistent joy in our celebration of Life? The only way that I know how is by living each day with Jesus and His Word. Getting to know Him better and try to live by His teachings would be a great start toward that goal.

Sadly, many people seem to be ignoring most, if not all, of the signs of our time and the prophetic timeline that is coming to an end. Every news outlet seems to point us in the direction of little snippets of news, if you want to call it that, which don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of life itself.

We are told about a global rise in temperature of one degree Celsius which is going to devastate our world with an unbelievable amount of flood water…and its all our fault! Nonsense! A century and a half of pollution from coal-fired plants and automobiles is not undoing the equilibrium of an entire planet. But, the media finds “scientists” who believe that we are causing our own destruction with this.

The Bible, which much of the media ignores, tells us that at the end of the age there would be famines, earthquakes, and storms which were not seen prior to this time. It also tells us that most of these are more intense and could devastate the world. These changes in our world from the volcanoes and earthquakes and more intense storms are foretold by Jesus and by God’s prophets in the Old Testament. This is happening not because of our cars and trucks but because the birth pains of our planet and the age of grace that we have lived under is coming to an end.

Read God’s Word, seek out His Life and believe in Jesus for your salvation, for it is found in no one else. Eternity is rapidly approaching many of us so make sure you know which side of eternity you will be living in, Heaven or hell!

Have you considered…eternity?

/ Tracy Eldridge / 6 Comments

Your life here is not all that there is, we were created to have an eternity to go into after this life, but many people don’t consider that to be truth. Why? Because, they can’t see any of it or any of the rewards and work to be done for God’s Kingdom in it now! There are many teachers today on the Internet, in pulpits, on television who are teaching their “version of the gospel”, which Satan does as well. He has had many years to perfect his delivery of his gospel and just as he did when he tempted Jesus, he takes scripture from the Bible and either leaves a portion out or takes it out of context. Some preachers today do that too.

Their teaching is full of partial scriptures, bits and pieces, which don’t really make much Biblical sense unless they are taught in context with the scripture or passage or paragraph that they began in. A partial truth, leaving out a word or taking Scripture out of context, is a lie! A lie that sounds like it came from God’s Word, and it did but without the text around that verse, it can be made to say almost anything. This is how Satan used scripture, by picking a verse and using it to make his point…not God’s point.

Today, not just in America but all over the world, people are being killed or put in to prison for their belief in Jesus. The problem with this is that Jesus is the only solution to our problems, here and now and into eternity! Put down your “self”, bury him or her and take up the cross of Jesus! What does that mean? It means to put others ahead of you, to be kind to one another, to love one another with an unselfish love. The kind that doesn’t say, “what’s in it for me?”!!

Living this way is following the teachings found all through the Bible, not just what Jesus taught. God has always had the answer for our lives, we are just too stubborn to listen or even look for it in His Word! Then, sometimes, when we do find the answer that we were looking for we claim it as our answer not that it came from God. We don’t give Him the credit or the glory for what we find. This is exactly what most “self-help” books do, maybe not word for word because that is plagiarism, but the advice you see in them is exactly the advice you can find in the Bible.

Eternity is going to be there after this life, but it is the experience in eternity that people should be working now to ensure. If you follow your own ways or the ways of the world, and reject any or all of the teachings found in the Bible, then your eternity is going to be very different from a Christian’s eternity.

I know, many of you will say that I am being self-righteous about Christianity but I am not. My righteousness alone is not enough and yours isn’t either, as a Christian I claim the atonement and the righteousness of Jesus that He paid for on the cross! It was the “self-righteous” priests who had Him executed because they felt that they were going to lose their “position” with the people.

Before too long it is going to be more persecution, not just in America but all over the world and it will be against Christians just as it is in Muslim countries now. For many people the prospect of persecution will be enough to keep them from becoming a Christian. For the immediate future, I understand that, but think of your eternity. Once this life is over, however the end comes, you will be faced with that. Eternal unity with God and many friends in Heaven or separation from God in a place of torment and misery forever. Which would you rather endure since while you still live, you do have a choice?

Time…

/ Tracy Eldridge / 2 Comments

Years ago, before many of you on the Internet were even born, many people who were looking ahead to this time period said that we would be working 20 hour weeks and making more money. That we would have plenty of leisure time because of technology and the advances that came with it.

What happened to all of that TIME that we were supposed to be saving?

A song from when I was growing up in the late ’60’s and early 70’s, had a line in it that went like this: “Ti-i-i-ime is on my side. Oh, yes it is.” Well, when you are in your teens or twenties, you can easily say that because you likely do have more years ahead of you than behind you. But, what happened to all the time savers and the easy work that we were going to have? Computers and electronic mail systems were supposed to simplify things and make our lives easier and less stressful.

Do you feel any less stress these days? I don’t. Is there anything that we can do to get to the point where technology will solve all of our problems and give us that utopia that we were expecting? Absolutely NOT! Technology may make things worse than they are, but it won’t fix any of our human frailties or the human condition.

No amount of technology, new or old, genetic or artificial intelligence will ever fix our REAL problems. Only the second coming of Jesus will do that. He is coming soon, so be ready. If you aren’t ready, then you might consider getting to that point in your walk with Him. If you don’t believe anything that I say or what the Bible says, then I will pray for you that soon your eyes will open to the Truth.

God loves you and all who are on the Earth, but He isn’t going to wait much longer because the signs are coming together that are in all of the prophetic books of the Bible. Like a door which is about to close, time itself is counting down toward the closing of the age. When that comes, there will be no do-overs, no fix for your life’s neglect of learning or hearing the Word of God. That doesn’t mean that people won’t be able to come to Jesus during the last seven years on Earth, but with the persecution of Christians that will be happening, identifying yourself as a Christian could be a death sentence so many will opt for something else.

Eternity is a long time to pay for a decision which was not made because you were too busy or you just didn’t want to believe in Jesus. Hell was not created for us to spend eternity in, it was created for Satan who tried to overthrow God in Heaven! “Why would my lack of belief put me in the same place as Satan?” is a question that gets asked a lot.

The reason is that sin entered the world through Satan’s temptation of Eve and Adam. You are part of their line of descendants and you have sin imprinted upon your DNA. If you don’t believe me, see how many toddlers will own up to eating something or breaking something that they had been told not to. They will lie to your face with icing on their fingers and their faces and tell you that they didn’t eat that doughnut! You didn’t teach them to lie, they knew how to do it all on their own.

When we decide to not believe in Jesus when we have heard the sermon or read the story, then we are in the same camp as the fallen angels and Satan. If you continue in your sins, whether it is telling lies or stealing a pen from work or whatever it may be, you are still going against the commandments of God and are a sinner. You are counted as guilty right along with the rapists and murderers and all of the pedophiles and sex traders in the world. Sin is sin and carries the same weight in God’s court no matter how little it may seem against someone who has killed thousands of people in a genocidal massacre.

Consider that when you look at your life. Try to see yourself as God sees you, filthy and covered in sin and unrighteousness…unless you have accepted Jesus as your Savior. Then your life and all of the sin in it is covered by His righteousness! When you are called forward to give account of your life, Jesus will be with you and give His testimony of your life and that all of your sins are covered with His blood and therefore, you belong to Him.

History foretold

/ Tracy Eldridge / 1 Comment

That is simply what prophecy is, history foretold. To put it another way it would be history revealed. Our world and many of the people in it seems to be on the edge of hysteria because of prophecies which are in the midst of coming true! Some people think that they are the instruments of this, forcing the end-time prophecies to come about. Others are just reading it in their Bible and praying that they will be taken out of here before any of the “tribulation” begins. Still others look at Bible prophecy and the news and see it unfolding before their eyes one day at a time.

We are living in that time which is on the edge of time where prophecy becomes reality. Some people are looking forward to it, others are dreading it and still others could care less because they don’t believe any of it. The problem with refusing to see it happening or disbelieving that which has been foretold won’t stop it from coming true. God says in His Word: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11

The prophecies which are contained in the Bible have all come to pass except for the ones in the book of Revelation, and we are seeing them come to pass a little bit at a time every day in the news. It is true that we haven’t seen any of the judgements or heard the trumpet blast, yet…but the things such as the violent weather patterns and the numerous conflicts all around Israel are happening with more frequency every day.

The judgements of God won’t fall on mankind until the real tribulation period begins, but we will see and experience the events leading up to it. When that Trumpet sounds, there will be no mistake as to what or Who it is, yet many will still wonder about it.

Are you ready for it? What will be your position when “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.…”? 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17

Will you be one of those that rises to meet the Lord in the air? Or will you be waiting for the noise to go away so you can get back to your life? With all of the cars crashing and the air planes falling from the sky, your life and many of lives of the people on Earth will change dramatically. Consider this and read the Bible, seek Him while there is still time to do so. God will not stop seeking you even after this happens, but it will likely be harder to find a Bible or a believer to guide you at this time. Ask Jesus to come into your life today because we are not sure of tomorrow.

Love…what is it?

/ Tracy Eldridge / Leave a comment

In our societies and the cultures all over the world today, love is expressed in many different ways. Some of it is expressed in the way that we understand and sometimes it is expressed  far differently. Have you been exposed to real, honest, true love? The kind which would do anything for you without expecting anything in return?

We are not wired that way. Most of us want something in return for our affection, our love, especially when it is given to someone else. Is it possible for us to really know what unselfish love is? For the most part, the love of a parent for their children is that. We love our children, regardless of what they do just because they are our children. We usually love our spouses the same way because that is the way we are commanded to love them by God. We are to love our spouse as Jesus loves the church.

Do you feel this way toward your family…your wife or husband and your children? I pray that you do. I am not trying to bring judgement on you or anyone that you know, I am just stating that Jesus commanded us to love each other as He loved the church and us. Because there is nothing that we could ever give to God in return for His love except by giving our love to Him. Isn’t that what we all desire? To be loved as much or more than we love.

It is impossible for us to understand the depth of God’s love for each one of us because His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. He is the Creator and we are the created. God is love and He expresses His love in ways that we can see and feel by giving us our lives to live, and the warmth of the sun on our faces. Every breath that you take is given to you by Him…allowed by Him, so that you can bring glory to His name by honoring Him in your life.

Do we do this at all today? Many people don’t. Because God has been taken out of every school, prayer has been taken out of school, even reading the Bible seems to be forbidden in school during free time. This cannot be kept up in the long run! Why? Because, when you forget God and take His Word and wisdom away from people as they are learning, then you have people who don’t have a moral center to guide them in life! They don’t know what or Who they are supposed to base their decisions on or around, so they use their own “wisdom” or some philosophy that they learned in school or college. They might be listening to someone who considers themselves to be more than they are, someone leading people down a dangerous path!

“Many false teachers and so-called “prophets” will come during the times before the end of the age”; this is a paraphrase of something that Jesus said to His disciples when He was telling them of this time that we are living in. Look it up in the Bible! Read it with an open mind and a prayer so that God can show you what is truth and what isn’t. No one knows the day or the hour that the end will come, but God Himself, but it will come. Be vigilant and search for God while you can!

What in the world???

/ Tracy Eldridge / 1 Comment

So much is going on in the world today. The wars, the world cup for soccer, the financial crisis in many countries, I mean the list just keeps getting longer and longer seemingly every day! Can we fix any of this? Actually, I would like to see someone fix it, but I don’t believe it is possible.

Yes, we are tired of being in debt. Yes, we are tired of hearing of the bombs going off all over the world and the people being imprisoned for nothing more than their religious beliefs, but can we fix all of this? The answer to that can be found in the Bible and the answer is NO! We are not capable of fixing these problems, regardless of the angst that they cause or the heartache that they cause as well.

Humanity is just not able nor willing to fix these problems, mainly because someone is making money from them and it is usually someone in power. When money is made because of suffering and pain, it is wrong but it is usually very hard to remove this “cancer” because of the amount of money that is flowing in one direction or another. Bribes are being paid under the table, deals are being made in boardrooms or in international offices. It is nothing new. This has been going on for a long, long time and it will continue until our Savior comes to put an end to it.

Many people think that this person will be able to force a so-called fix on the population of the world and they may be right. If this “savior” is the one that is foretold in the book of Revelation, then it will be enforced in a way that cannot and will not be allowed to be gotten around like many “laws” are today. There will be electronic or DNA checks and balances put into place which will enable governments to see what you buy, who you are, where you live and if you are loyal to their cause. If you don’t have this “mark”, whatever it might be, you will not be able to buy anything legally.

The technology is available now, this is not some futuristic dream. With a world-wide push it could be implemented easily, though for some it will be forced or there will be consequences and those will likely include imprisonment or death. It is coming and because it is coming, there is no way to avoid it. You just have to try to plan for it in some way, if you can. Help as many people as possible in this because it will be those who come to you for help when that time comes. Some people will try to steal what you have and attack you if they think that you have food or money or even water.

The end of the age is coming. When, I cannot tell you because I do not know. But, if you have ever read the Bible it speaks of this time very vividly and it is not an enjoyable time for anyone. If you are a believer, great. Take the time to tell others about our Savior, the One that is True. Prepare for the time that is coming. Yes, I have heard that we are supposed to be taken away before this happens but there are scriptures which point to this time and say that we will see part of the Tribulation. Paul says that time will not come until the man of sin is revealed”, but most preachers emphasize that we will be raptured before this time. Why would the Spirit allow Paul to write these words if they weren’t true? That is why I believe that this is the time that many will fall away from the teachings of the church.

We have to stick to our beliefs and listen to Jesus. Read His words, trust Him and have faith in Him, persevere until He appears and takes us to Heaven. Be strong and very courageous and don’t let go of your faith in Him because those who are doing what the Master told them to do when He comes will be rewarded. Those rewards are far above any material thing that this world can offer you.

In His Service.