You Will Never Ever REALLY Die!

Eternal Death, in the Light of Who Jesus REALLY is, can only mean living the lowest form of life! It can’t mean non-existence, as some claim!

To rehearse the Good News of the Gospel again: All of Creation and Humanity are wholly wrapped up, tied up and tangled up in the Life of Jesus, the Son of God as Man Who Lives Forever! Gal 4:4-7! Romans 6:9! Just as all men were negatively impacted by the sin of Adam, so we all were positively impacted by the Jesus who created and forever sustains our life in His forever divine/human life! I John 2:1-2! Romans 5! We dare not see Adam as a cosmic heavyweight, and Jesus as a cosmic lighweight! Anathema!! Let that kind of thinking be accursed! That is certainly not supposed to be a Christian thought! Gal 1:6-9!!

According to the Gospel truth in Jesus then, eternal death is actually a paradox of all paradoxes! Speaking of “death” is a way of communicating that in our distinct ability to hate and resist our inclusion in Jesus, we can be “dead” in our aliveness! BUT PLEASE NOTICE that because we are truly and factually united with Christ, we cannot “not be alive” no matter how dead we appear!!! As in Adam all die, so in Christ all WILL BE MADE ALIVE! I Cor 15:22! The “dead” are just as alive objectively in Christ as the rest of us are, but, astonishingly, despise and resist it!! Yikes! I, personally, hope they do not resist it for long, how about you?! They are distinct in their union, remember?!

Because of Who the Triune God is, and because He is not any different toward us than He is toward Jesus (Eph 1:5-6!), eternal death can NEVER mean being thrown in a literally burning and fiery furnace where human skin gets scalded but never burns up!! That is pure HERESY in the Light of Jesus and His Humanity! This kind of nonsense could ONLY be true if we can envision The Father treating His Son that way because the Son doesn’t return His love!!! Pure hogwash!!!

By the way, the Son of God does NOT have to return the Father’s Love, but astoundingly He always will return it because Triune God (the Father, Son and Spirit) IS Love! I John 4:16! Love is the only thing the Triiune God knows, is, and ever will be! I Cor 13 (this is first a description of the Father, Son and Spirit!) Oh the beauty and truth of God….but I digress in His Stunning Beauty!

Some of you are probably severely challenged by some of these thoughts, I’m sure, but we really must ask the question: Because the Triune God created and sustains everything, how could something REALLY exist that this Triune God did not create?! It CAN’T and DOESN’T!!! God ONLY created that which is good! (If you will meditate on that thought for just a little bit, it will take you to all kinds of fascinating places in Christ I don’t have time to elaborate on!)

That last paragraph brings up a staggering and incredible realization, doesn’t it?! It speaks to our REAL pain, hell, death and negative experiences as things we can ONLY experience because, in our distinct and darkened imaginations, we can dream up and believe lies and illusions about Triune God and ourselves! We devise and “share” in things not true, even in the least!! Every problem, no matter how large or small, ultimately has its root in believing a lie, or believing something that has even no possibility of ever truly existing! Isn’t that insane?! John 8:44!!

Doesn’t all of this lead you to see why we are warned so emphatically in our distinction to turn from “make believe” and believe the Truth and exercise our distinct faith in Jesus’ faith on our behalf, in His grace?!! Mark 1:15!!

Which one of us REALLY wants to live forever in the hell of a marriage union that we HATE but have no real possibility of ever getting out of?!!

I sure don’t!!!! Hell, NO!!!!!!! I’ve waited 30+ religious years to be able to finally share in Jesus’ utterance of those very meaningful and true words!!! He spoke it loudest when He stepped into our hell and accomplished our adoption regardless!! Woooo-Hooooo!!!!

Everyone is Forever Alive in Jesus’ Life!

Eternal Life has more to do with the quality of a particular relationship than quantity of time. That is why John was inspired to quote Jesus in John 17:3, saying:

“And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (NRSV)

Knowing Who Jesus is in relationship to His Father in the Spirit clarifies this Christian teaching of Eternal Life, doesn’t it?

Because Jesus is the Son of God as Man who created and sustains all things, whatever happens to Him happens to all things - because all things are bound up in His existence! 2 Cor 5:14!

In short, because of Who Jesus is and who we are in Him, everyone will be alive forevermore somewhere within creation, because Jesus will be alive forevermore somewhere within creation. Romans 6:4-11! This means that there can really be no such thing as annihilationism or becoming completely deleted off the existence map for any reason!! You don’t ever have to fear that you, or anyone you know, will dissappear, even if you reject the truth about the Triune God, and your Life in Him! You are here forever, in Jesus, somewhere!!!

This Truth about Jesus in Relationship to His Father, Humanity and Creation helps us to see that Eternal Life is not so much about having an existence forever, but existing as we were meant to exist! We live best in our forever existence Knowing and Trusting the Father, Son and Spirit to be Who they really are; knowing the Triune God to be the One God in Three Persons Who has embraced and included all of Humanity and Creation in Their One Relational Being.

I’ll say the magnificent truth again: Triune God will never be God without you, without us!

Eternal Life is sharing in Jesus’ actual relationship with His Father in the Spirit, in our distinction, and in such a way that it is congruent with the actual beauty, joy and self-giving of that relationship as it personally and lovingly interacts in and with all things in Him!!!

My next post will clarify Eternal Death, but you should already be able to see more clearly just what that is, too, in the Light of Jesus Christ!

A Christ Centered View of Money Part - 4

Here’s the final installment in our series on finances: A Christ Centered View of Money Part 4

A Christ Centered View of Money Part - 3

Here’s today’s installment in our series on finances: A Christ Centered View of Money Part 3

A Christ Centered View of Money Part - 2

Listen again today for part two of our study on money: A Christ Centered View of Money Part 2

A Christ Centered View of Money - Part 1

Today’s post is an audio file: A Christ Centered View of Money Part 1.

The Most Frequently Asked Question…

…I get after preaching the Good News of Humanity and Creation’s Adoption and Inclusion in Christ, to those who are beginning to see and embrace it is:

So how does this apply to my life? Another similar question is: How do I apply this and work it out in my life? 

Before I get too far into a response let me state that I am going to write a more lengthy article on this subject in an upcoming issue of The Adopted Life, because many of you are going to be too stymied and challenged by the simplicity of this answer, so be on the lookout :-) 

On this post, however, I want to be kind of short and sweet and help you see the simplicity of arriving at the answer yourself in the Light of Jesus Christ - Our Good News! Also, for the sake of clear reading, I am going to dispense with the usual amount scriptures because I have loaded this blog up with them on almost every other post regarding this basic Gospel (see any other article for proof!) See especially my booklet entitled “God’s Staggering Good News About Your Life!”

The first thing we must DO or APPLY in answering any kind of question about the GOOD NEWS is Good News Thinking itself!!! :-) In short, this is our Good News:

The Most Blessed and Thrilling Relationship in existence is the Relationship that God the Father shares with God the Son, in the Communion of God the Holy Spirit. This is the Relationship of Love shared by the One True God in Three Persons Who IS Love! Triune God’s relationship is so good that Triune God decided to share this EXACT RELATIONSHIP with others in and through Jesus Christ! Everything in Creation was brought into being by the Triune God, solely, to be Adopted and Included in God’s Relationship. It was going to become Included, from it’s foundation, come hell or high water!

Because the Son of God created and sustains everything, all of creation has been in relationship to and with the Triune God since its beginning! No one, and no thing, has ever truly been separated from Triune God in the most basic sense! Nothing exists apart from the Son of God! When the Son of God became human, our union with God became an even stronger union because He, in some mysterious and fantastic way, became a permanent part of His own creation! His name is Jesus Christ, and by nature of His creating and sustaining all things, whatever happens to him necessarily happens to everything that is in union with him.

When Jesus lived - we lived. When Jesus died - creation died. When Jesus rose in the Life of New Creation - creation rose. When Jesus ascended to His Father as a Divine Human Creature - all of creation and humanity ascended with him. The plan for our Adoption and full Inclusion into the Triune Relationship is now complete, and we have literally been sitting in the heavenly places, in Jesus Christ, for at least 2000 years!

IN THE LIGHT OF THIS GOOD NEWS, ISN’T THE ANSWER TO THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS NOTED ABOVE, NOW OBVIOUS?! Ha-Ha!

I can guess that perhaps some of you still don’t see it, are puzzled, or don’t even like it, but let me be even more plain with the answer:

You don’t have to do anything to apply the GOOD NEWS to your life or work anything out!! The gospel is the ONLY REAL THING APPLYING to and in your life, and it has already been worked out!!! There is nothing more real going on than your already Inclusion in the Life of Triune God in Jesus (and the complexities that inclusion brings!!) The Gospel has been applied to your life and it is the ONLY THING you deeply and REALLY know in your spirit, through the witness of the Holy Spirit!

Jesus summarized this whole issue well, as only he can, by saying, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32, NRSV) Notice that He didn’t say “you will know the truth and then have to try to apply things to experience Truth and make Truth work out!” Jesus says that when you know the Truth, it MAKES you free! What you know (deeply embrace and believe) AUTOMATICALLY applies and works itself out without your permission or help!!! Your life IS APPLIED from the inside out, whether you are aware of it or not! Actually, Jesus is THE LIFE APPLIED IN YOUR LIFE!!!

The question you are REALLY wanting answered is, “Why don’t I KNOW that I actually know the Truth that sets me free?!” Other ways you ask it are: “If I am Included and Adopted into Triune God’s relationship already, then why is my life a screwy mess?”, “How can I have attended church for 30 years and never really tasted Good News?”, ”Why can’t I see or feel my inclusion?”, “If all of creation and humanity are included then why the situation in Darfur?!” We even ask (if we’re honest), ”Why am I so ignorant?!”

Those are the kinds of questions being addressed by this blog, this blog, this blog, and this blog! Answering those kinds of practical questions is what the Gospel proclamation is all about, so keep reading and listening to this blog and we will get a lot of it covered! Most of all, talk to the Father, Son and Spirit about it as the Apostle Paul urged (Eph 3:18-21), because God the Trinity Loves and Likes You Very, Very MUCH and will help you know and experience even what you already know and experience in the core of your soul!! 

Take Jesus More Seriously than Anything Else

Here’s today’s Celebrating God’s Good News: Take Jesus More Seriously than Anything Else

The End Time is at Hand…

1.) …for my Celebrating God’s Good News Audio Broadcast that many of you have been enjoying on this blog!

(I wonder what came to your mind FIRST about the end time? ) Hopefully the Person of Jesus in the Here and Now Who has made that term a positive one in Himself (Heb 1:1-3!)

Those broadcasts are from a radio program I did a few years ago in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. I have grown in the Gospel a lot since then and I am interested in recording new broadcasts just for this blog, but I WANTED TO GET YOUR INPUT!

 If you are a regular listener and “downloader” of Celebrating God’s Good News:

a.) What topic/s would you like me to discuss on a future broadcast? What would help you in your further education in the Gospel, or in your desire to share the Good News with others?

When I get your feedback, I will start addressing those specific issues, scriptures, and other such topics in the light of Who Jesus is, and our Adoption and Inclusion with Triune God in Him!

You may give me feedback in one of two ways. You can either make a comment on the blog in some way, OR, even better, write me directly at my main e-mail address: tjbrassell@cox.net . I’ll then get to relating more with Jesus, researching, writing, and recording around your suggested topics! It will still be only a 15 minute program total!

 2.) The second thing that is near a present end is our unawareness and ignorance about things REALLY Christian!! The more I get to know Who Jesus is, in His grace, the more I am being challenged to repent and rethink everything I thought I knew about Jesus and Who we are in Him! I am sure the same is happening to many of you! 

Some people put the label of Christianity on it, but I am not so stuck on that term. Christianity is NOT REALLY a biblical name that came from the Triune God or through Jesus and the Apostles (Acts 11:26!) History shows that it was a derogatory and negative term used by the enemies of God’s Good News, and, more importantly, Triune God is certainly NOT a Christian (John 4:24!) But I digress and don’t have time in this post to go through the history. You can have fun doing a little research on it for yourself

I wrote a few articles on Heaven, recently, that demonstrated how my eyes are being opened and my life positively transformed by the truth in Christ. I was especially encouraged to see another article appear along the same lines on the CNN website after my post from another credible Christian. Check out the insightful article by Bishop N.T. Wright here!

Can’t you see the confirmation of our Inclusion in Christ bubbling up everywhere?! I can! For those who have eyes to see, it can’t be missed! For those who want to see, it won’t be long now before our great human need to know who we really are, and Triune God’s GREAT PASSION that we know it NOW, will come together in such a way as to produce a Neo-Reformation of liberating and refreshing proportions that will fill our souls with the River of Life we are deeply panting for!!!

I’ll be back with you soon, Celebrating More of God’s Good News in the middle of our darkness and troubles in this present age of Heaven on earth!!

God the Trinity will NEVER Condemn YOU

Here’s today’s Celebrating God’s Good News: God the Trinity will NEVER Condemn YOU