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THE BOOK OF LIFE

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To enter Heaven, you must have your name written in God's BOOK OF LIFE.

Revelation 20:15 says:

"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Hell wasn't created for you and me.

Matthew 25:41 says, hell was,

". . . prepared for the devil and his angels:"

The problem is you have sinned AGAINST God, and His WRATH is on you. (John 3:36)

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"

The Biblical definition of sin is ....

1 John 3:4 "...transgression of God s law."

God is HOLY. He sees lust as adultery (Matthew 5:28) and hatred as murder (1 John 3:15). He commads "Do not lie, Do not steal, Do not take His name in vain....etc...(Exodus 20) The greatest commandment in the whole Bible is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Mark 12:30)

James 2:10
"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."

Hebrews 9:27 "
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"

Revelation 21:8 "...the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

To have your name written in God's book of life, you must be BORN AGAIN.

John 3:3 "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

John 3:14-21 "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

Romans 10:8-11 "8... The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. "

Ephesians 2:8-10 "8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

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THE BOOK OF LIFE (...take 2)

By Rex I. Sexton

Matter of life and death

In Revelation 20:14-15 we are told: "Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."

So God's Word plainly states that, if our name is not written in the Book of Life at that time, we are doomed. For, just as those not on Schindler's list were sent to the death camps, anyone not on God's list will meet his end in the "lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8)-eternal death. But having one's name on the list will mean eternal life.

The stunning story of Schindler and his list-made famous around the globe by a book and movie-should cause us to stop and realize: In a matter of years we ourselves could be living out the roles of the Plaszow prisoners.

The lake of fire is the place of punishment for the beast, the false prophet, Satan the devil and those who have the mark of the beast (Revelation 19:20; 20:10). These are not good company to be in when Jesus returns to judge the earth. This plain teaching should inspire everyone to search the Scriptures to find out how he can have his name added to the list that will mean life as the events unfold.

Moses knew

Knowledge of God's Book of Life goes back a long way. It is first mentioned in the Bible by Moses as he is praying to God on behalf of the disobedient people of Israel. At that time the Israelites had made and worshiped a golden calf and were about to be severely punished for their idolatry.

"Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, 'Oh, these people have sinned a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin-but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written' " (Exodus 32:31-32).

It is important to understand here that Moses knew his name was written in God's Book of Life and that he was willing to forgo his own eternal life to save the rebellious Israelites.

What real love Moses demonstrated here! This is ample evidence that the Spirit of Jesus Christ was in him. He deeply cared for these people and was willing to give up everything for them. Centuries later the apostle Paul would follow this example and feel the same way about his fellow countrymen (Romans 9:1-5). What examples for those who shepherd God's people!

God's answer to Moses was to acknowledge that He has a book, but that the only way a name can be erased once it is written there is by willful sin.

God told Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book" (Exodus 32:33). To "blot out" means to completely remove.

This agrees completely with the New Testament teaching in Hebrews 10:26-27: "For if we sin willfully [that is, deliberately, without temptation] after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries."

So God says plainly that the names of Spirit-filled people that are now written in the Book of Life can have their names removed if they return to a life of sin.

So, once our names are written in the Book of Life, we need to live a life of obedience to God to keep them there. The next big question, then, is how is a name added to this most important of all books?

Adding a name

When Jesus Christ first sent out His disciples to preach and teach about His coming Kingdom, they returned excited about the miracles they had seen in their ministries (Luke 10:17).

However, He cautioned them not to rejoice in miracles they could see, rather to rejoice in a miracle they could not see: "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (verse 20).

So Jesus said that having their names written in heaven was something to rejoice over, then went on to explain that this can happen because of having their minds open to understand the precious truths of God.

"He turned to his disciples and said privately, 'Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it' " (verses 23-24). So the miracle of God opening one's mind is the first step in the process of having a name added to God's book (John 6:44).

The next step is to realize the severe impact of our sins and repent-accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Real repentance is a complete change of heart and actions. Then, if we are willing to obey God's command to be baptized, we can receive the gift of God's Spirit.

The example we must follow occurred on the Day of Pentecost in A.D. 31. Those listening to Peter's sermon "were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit' " (Acts 2:37-38).

When you are begotten by God's Spirit, you have real life (1 John 5:12-13)-another way of saying that your name is written in God's Book of Life.

However, as we saw, the apostles were "written in heaven" before receiving the Holy Spirit within them. Yet they had responded to God's calling, repented and were baptized and had, thus, already begun the conversion process.

Laboring to do God's work

After initial conversion, true Christians get to work! No longer are we preoccupied with ourselves. Instead, we dedicate ourselves to accomplishing God's work here on earth.

Paul seems to imply that this is evidence of our names being written in heaven. He writes, "I urge you also [to] . . . help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life" (Philippians 4:3).

The Bible also says that the list of those who are truly in God's church is written in heaven, not in member files on computers. Paul wrote in Hebrews, "To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven" (Hebrews 12:23, KJV). Indeed, God Almighty reserves for Himself the right to decide which names are entered into or deleted from the Book of Life.

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THE BOOK OF LIFE (...take 3)

By Doylene Brents

The Book of life is a record of everyone born

If a person dies as a believer his name is retained in the book of life, if he dies unsaved he is blotted out. Ps. 69:28: "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous."

The righteous are those who obeyed by having faith in the gospel.

Rev.13:8: "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

Those who were not born again will not worship Jesus Christ but the false Messiah during the tribulation period when he is revealed.

Rev.17:8:..."and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world."

Both these scriptures show that everyone not in the Lambs book of Life will follow the Beast, yet they are found in the book of Life that records everyone who is born. How do we reconcile this with it saying, anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:15)

Daniel also prophesied the judgment with books open. Dan 7:10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. Also in Dan.12 he mentions a time when Israel will be delivered and there will be those found written in the book. ( a reference to judgment probably of the just and unjust, as he states their position in the resurrection.)

Rev.20:12-15: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

What are the things which were written in the books.” These books record everything we have done (every idle word spoken relating to God and Jesus). The other books mentioned are the biographies of the individual. The times they heard the Gospel and rejected it, their good and bad deeds that will determine their degree of punishment, not their salvation. God has perfect record keeping.

The term "another book," is the roll-book of the regenerated, those washed and sanctified through faith in His blood sacrifice for their sins. The first death consisted in the separation of the soul from the body temporarily until this judgment. The second death in the separation of both body and soul from God forever. The first death has a resurrection unto eternal life without sin; the second death is there is no recovery.
Ps. 9:5: “You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name forever and ever.”

Those who received Christ have their name written in his book of life (the Lamb's book) and it is retained in the Book of Life. Those who reject him, never have their name written in his book. Their name is also removed from the book of life, of which everyone’s name is written down that ever lived.

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