GOD'S CALL THROUGH THE AGES

God lovingly created humans to become his children, to love him, to worship him and to live with him forever. He created us and he owns us. Even though we are all God's property, he did not make us robots, but he gave us limited freewill. God has set us in these temporary earthly surroundings and given us the choice to sincerely come to him and irreversibly love him of our own freewill.

Over the past 6000 years, God has been calling men and women in each generation to come to him if they will.

During the first 2000 years, God called many believers (notably Adam, Eve, Abel, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah) out of the generations before the Great Flood. Those who rejected God finally became such a wicked generation that only 8 loyal people were allowed to survive to start over.

During the second 2000 years, God chose a people, the Hebrews, to introduce himself to the world. God explained his character and laws through the lives of these people (notably Abraham, Israel, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Ruth, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Esther). The events of these generations were written down in the "Old Testament" of the Bible.

From the beginning, God had promised to provide the world with a Savior, a Messiah, to redeem mankind from the judgement of sin. This Savior, Jesus (Hebrew "Yeshua"), the Son of God, came into the world at the end of the Hebrew period. He gave the world the opportunity to receive salvation by offering his life as a substitute for the penalty for our sins. This salvation is available to all who will accept it. Jesus was crucified and 3 days later he was resurrected from the dead, as a demonstration of his power over sin and death, and as the firstfruit of the believers' resurrection to come. Those who accept his salvation are called Christians (notably Paul, Peter, John, James, Mary, Luke, Lazarus). The events of Jesus's life and the start of the Christian church are recorded in the "New Testament" of the Bible.

Jesus left 2000 years ago, but he promised to return and he left us with the Holy Spirit as a Guide and Counselor. This 2000 year period has been the Church age, in which God has been calling believers through Christianity. God has given us the Bible (the Word of God), Jesus Christ the Son and the Savior, and the Holy Spirit to lead the world to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and be saved.

At this point, the next event will be the rise of the coming evil world dictator, the Antichrist, and the promised return of Jesus Christ. Jesus will return to save the world from the Antichrist and his army at the Battle of Armageddon (a valley in Israel), and then rule the world for 1000 years (the Millennium), after which is the Final Judgement. At some point there will be a Resurrection of all believers to immortality and a home with God forever in the New Jerusalem on the New Earth.

SALVATION

Regarding salvation, the good news is that salvation is given freely by God to anyone who sincerely wants it. There are no eligibility qualifications. There is no age limit. Salvation cannot be earned like a wage, because it is a gift of God, not an obligation of God. A person obtains salvation by accepting God's gift; that is, by accepting by faith (belief) the redeeming work of Jesus Christ - the giving of his life for that person's sins.

The bad news is that saying "no" or saying nothing means that person's sins are not forgiven and judgement remains. All people are born under a physical death sentence (since everyone dies) due to sin. There is also a spiritual death sentence to be served forever in torment in the Lake of Fire. The only way to avoid the 2nd sentence is to say "yes" to God's offer of salvation, to be born again spiritually.

The sad news is that most people choose to say "no". Why? Because most want to go their own way and be their own god. They are not willing to accept that they are the property of God and to submit to him, even ignoring the risk of eternity in the Lake of Fire.

"YES?" go to the Invitation.