God's Plan For Man html

righteous of today the epistle of John is applicable: “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who i s t he l i ar ? I t i s t he man who den i e s t ha t J e sus i s t he Chr i s t . Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father, whoever acknowledges the Son, has the Father also. See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.” (1 John 2:20-24) Remember that mere man is nothing—only with the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, can he fulfill a Divine purpose. To be like-minded with God the Father is to comprehend the Divine Will. To settle this matter—so you will not be scandalized by what is shared—Jesus was the Christ, which is why the Samaritan woman at the well said, “‘I know that Messiah [called Christ] is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I who speak to you am he.’” (John 4: 25-26) To this extent, Jesus confirmed that outside of the Divine there is no salvation. Jesus was the Christ [anointed one], but only to the extent He was God, not a mere man. Jesus spoke directly to the issue in many passages, more specifically saying, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many wi l l c ome i n my name , c l a imi ng , ‘ I am t he Chr i s t , ’ [they say they follow Jesus, i.e. coming in the name of Jesus, saying He is Christ], and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. ‘Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.’ So when y ou s e e s t and i ng i n t he ho l y p l a c e t he abomi na t i on t ha t c aus e s de s o l a t i on , ’ spoken o f t hr ough t he pr ophe t Dan i e l—l e t t he r eade r unde r s t and —then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in

-144-