It is time for this blog to come back to life. Expect more content to appear in the future…

The oldest post on this blog was published on February 28, 2007. Five years later, this blog is now home to more than a thousand posts, and quite a few books too.

I’ve written a lot of things in the past few years and have discovered that blogging is unique in one key way: it doesn’t have a good stopping place. When you write a book, you eventually get to the last chapter; when you write a computer game you eventually ship it and move on to the next project. But blogging just goes on and on forever. It looms over one like a task that can never be finished.

The past five years have been a lot of fun, but I am tired and I have run out of things to say. It is time to end this endless project and move on to something else.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. This is The End – the last chapter, so to speak.

I John 5:13: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

Here John repeats that he’s writing this letter to believers, not to the lost. The reason he wrote this epistle is so that “ye may know that ye have eternal life”. That is a very, very important topic.

How do we know that we’ve actually been saved? Many people base their salvation on an emotional experience that they had, but that’s a poor thing to base your eternity on; after all, people in false religions also have “amazing emotional experiences”. Nowhere in the Bible does anyone ever defend their salvation on the grounds that “I had an amazing emotional experience that day”. Even Paul does not defend his conversion on the basis of the feeling that he had on the road to Damascus!

In the book of I John we are given a completely different way of verifying our salvation – one that the Church has largely ignored. What the apostle John does is lay out specific signs that only appear in the lives of genuine believers. All we have to do is examine our lives and see if these signs are present.

This book, then, should be a great comfort to us. How can we know if we are really saved? By reading I John and evaluating our life based on its principles. If you want to be sure of your salvation then this is the book to read.

I John 5:11: “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

Salvation really is that simple! Those who have the Son – those who believe that He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the uncreated God come in the flesh and made man, and who repented of their sins and looked to Him alone for forgiveness and salvation – have everlasting life and will never see death. They will live forever with Him. However, those who do not have Jesus do not have the promise of everlasting life; they will not live forever with Him, and will instead face everlasting torment in the Lake of Fire.

What this means is that Jesus is the only way to be saved. Verse 12 could not be more clear: the only way to gain eternal life is through the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah. This also means that everyone who does not have Jesus is not saved.

What about the people who have never heard of Jesus? Some argue that as long as they’re “good people” and are “sincere” then God will accept them anyway, but that is a lie. People who have never heard of Jesus obviously don’t have Jesus, and therefore are not saved. This is the entire reason churches have mission programs: to tell people about Jesus so they can be saved! If they could be saved without knowing Jesus then missions would be completely pointless.

The modern church hates the doctrine that people who haven’t been told about Jesus are going to Hell, but that is exactly what the Bible teaches and the Bible is quite clear about it. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” It could not be any more plain than that.

If this doctrine bothers you, I have a suggestion: go tell people about Jesus. People must be told, because Jesus is the only way to be saved. Without Him there is no hope.

I John 5:7: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”

Here we find the doctrine of the Trinity, which Mormons and Muslims especially hate. This doctrine is taught throughout Scripture, but here we find it stated in very plain and straightforward terms. There is just one God, but this God is composed of three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These are not three separate gods, but one God in three Persons. As John says, “these three are one”.

I John 5:4: “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”

In the book of Revelation (which was also written by John) you will see the phrase “to him that overcometh” appear quite a few times. In this passage we find out just what it means to be an overcomer. It’s actually pretty simple: the one that overcomes is the one that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Those who have faith in Jesus have overcome the world.

This is actually quite exciting. In Revelation Jesus makes many promises “to him that overcometh”:

Revelation 2:7: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

Revelation 2:11: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”

Revelation 2:17: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”

Revelation 2:26: “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.”

Revelation 3:5: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”

Revelation 3:12: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.”

Revelation 3:21: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

Revelation 21:7: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”

Who are those promises made? To us! To those who have believed in Jesus and put their faith in Him. We will receive those promises. We will eat of the tree of life. We will not be hurt by the second death. We will sit with Christ in His throne. We will inherit all things. Isn’t that exciting?

I John 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”

This is a theme that we’ve seen numerous times in this book. It is a critical doctrine: we show our love for God by obeying His commandments. If we do not obey God then we are showing that we have no love for Him. You cannot say “I love God” and then say “God, I refuse to obey You”. Genuine love for God results in obedience. If there is no obedience then there is no love for God, and if there is no love for God then there is no salvation either. You cannot be saved and spend your entire life hating God.

Now, I am not talking about obeying the Mosaic Law. As the apostle Paul made quite clear, the Church is not under the Law. It does not apply to us in any way, shape, or form. That being said, there are commandments in the New Testament that are directed at the Church, and those we are to obey. Now, we do not earn salvation by obeying them because salvation is not of works. But we are commanded to obey them all the same, and those who are real Christians will obey them out of a love for God.

I John 5:1: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.”

What John is saying here is that all those who believe that Jesus is the Messiah (the Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world) are saved. All those who reject Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah are not saved. (Yes, repentance is necessary as well, but that is a topic for another time.)

Now, as we saw earlier, there are some things to keep in mind. In order for Jesus to be the Messiah He must also be God, and He must be man, and He had to die, and He had to rise again, and He had to be sinless, and He had to be born of a virgin, and so forth. So if you reject any of those claims then you are denying His Messianic claim, and thus denying Him as well. It is an all-or-nothing deal. The same thing goes if you try to say that Jesus died for our sins but we still have to earn our way to Heaven: that is saying that we must atone for our sins, not Him, since His sacrifice was insufficient – and that is a denial as well.

So one must be careful. Not everyone that says “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun.
–John Newton

“Has it really been ten thousand years already? Where does the time go?”
–Noel Lawson

On October 24, 774, Nigellus Ahexotl became the first man to set foot on the Moon. What he found there was what the telescopes of astronomers had already seen – a dead and lifeless world, home only to rocks and the vacuum of space. The wise men of his era confidently announced that mankind was alone in the universe. There were no aliens lurking behind boulders, or unknown civilizations orbiting distant stars. Man had nothing to fear, for they were unchallenged.

Yet, that was not the case. There was indeed another intelligence in the universe, and it had taken notice of the sons of men. Indeed, it had created them and breathed into them the breath of life. The Lord God watched as man proclaimed themselves to be the masters of the universe and yet were unable to master themselves. He sent His Son Jesus to save them, changing the course of history and offering hope where there had been no hope before.

But still the sons of men would not listen. They preferred darkness over the light, for their deeds were evil. The Mayan civilization destroyed itself, plunging the world into darkness. Long centuries later the Spanish Empire arose and threatened to do great and terrible things. The Emperor had no fear of being challenged. He was not afraid of the One Who created all things, and Who would judge all things on the last day.

So the Lord God intervened. He answered the prayer of a machine and allowed the Sentinel to go back in time to save a pair of teenage girls. He chose the foolish things to confound the wise, and the weak things to confound the mighty. The fate of men changed once again, and mankind was given one last chance.

Some took advantage of that chance and built a future for themselves. Others did not, and found only destruction. Then judgment came, and men stood before the Most High God and gave an account of themselves. Some, whose names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, went on to everlasting life. The rest went on to everlasting torment and shame.

After the judgment the Lord created a new heaven and a new earth. As civilization expanded beyond the Solar System, its head and capitol remained on Earth in the gleaming New Jerusalem. There the Lord dwelt among His people, and the kings of the nations brought in their treasures and worshiped Him. Mankind soon became the masters of the stars, with far-flung cities in the most distant galaxies. But none of them ever came close to the glory of the Lamb’s golden city.

There came a day when a meeting was held in one of the cities among the stars. A group of people were gathering together to celebrate…

The restaurant at the top of Ahexotl Tower was packed. Amy and her sister Amanda were actually the last ones to arrive.

“So what do you think is going on with the Vaugn?” Amy asked, as they walked in the entrance.

“I’m just not sure,” Amanda replied. “The ship is clearly picking up some kind of signal; I don’t deny that. And it’s definitely an intelligent signal. But I don’t see how that’s possible! No one can figure out where the message is coming from or how it’s being downloaded into the ship’s audio equipment. And why can’t anyone else pick up the message?”

“Exactly! The other weird thing is that it’s clearly not a human message. There is some kind of intelligence behind it but it’s not a language I’ve ever seen. Whoever is sending it out seems to be responding to our attempts to communicate, although they’re apparently only picking up parts of our actions.”

“So you think it’s some kind of new life form, then? You don’t think the Vaugn is just picking up random broadcasts and relaying them back to us in a garbled way?”

“I don’t think so. If you look at the data stream–”

“Amy!” Miles exclaimed. He had been standing at the front of the restaurant, counting off the people who had arrived. When he saw the twins he hurried over to them. “It’s so good to see you here. And you brought your sister! I was hoping that both of you could be here.”

Amy smiled. “We wouldn’t miss it! This has become something of a tradition, you know. We’ve been coming to this reunion every year for many thousands of years now – well, ever since the Artilect restored Tonina and rebuilt La Venta.”

“Yes, you have! And we are delighted to see you. Please come, take your seat! The feast has already begun.”

As Miles led them to their table Amy glanced around the room. Everyone was here. There was her brother Tim, who was in a deep conversation with Dr. Temilotzin and Dr. Mazatl. Now that the probes had reached the farthest corners of the universe they had turned their attention elsewhere, and were trying to breach the gap to the U-16b anomaly that lied just outside the universe itself. So far they had not found a way to do it but they hadn’t abandoned the attempt. Amy had no doubt that one day they would find an answer.

Not too far away from them was the Artilect and the Sentinel, who were talking to Noel Lawson. Last she had heard they were designing a Gate system for the Salians. They were a brilliant race of artisans but had great trouble grasping engineering and higher physics. The Gates would allow them to move freely throughout the galaxy and visit other races. Trying to efficiently network quadrillions of worlds was a significant engineering challenge, but Noel had done similar things in the past. His passion for engineering was a sight to behold.

Her mother and father were here as well, talking to Jack Nicholas. She wasn’t sure what they had been doing lately; she needed to get caught up with them. The last she had heard was that her father had been an adviser to the Greater Ward, but that was some time ago.

Monroe Araiza and Merlin Hardin were also here, deep in conversation. She was glad they were here but she was a bit surprised to see them – normally their research tied them up for decades at a time, so they rarely had an opportunity to visit. The two of them had been trying to track down the civilization that had built the Vaugn – the mysterious ship that so many people had spent so much time investigating. Amy decided that she would definitely have to get caught up with Monroe. Perhaps, with a bit of luck, she could convince them that the best way to find the elusive Inventor was to unlock the mysteries of the ship itself.

As she took her seat and began helping herself to the food that was piled up on the table she spotted still more guests. Alex was here, of course, enjoying himself. He was in a conversation with Reverend Knight. Howell, Captain Max, and Jones were also seated at the table. They had just gotten back from an expedition to the Pruitt Cluster. She couldn’t wait to hear their stories.

Once everyone was seated her father stood up. “Please, if I may have your attention,” he called out.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at him. Richard Stryker smiled. “Friends, I’m not going to bore you with a long speech. There is a time and a place for eloquence, but this isn’t that time or that place. I just wanted to say how happy I am to see all of you. It is a joy to share your company. I hope you will all linger a while and tell us what you’ve been doing.

“The truth is that we have been given a gift – an astounding gift that will never end. We are here at the end of eternity, and yet eternity itself has no end. On Resurrection Day our Lord returned, raised us from the dead, and took us home. The Lord judged all wickedness and evil and put a final end to it – but time itself did not end. The story was not over. He created for us a new Heaven and a new Earth, and now dwells in Zion with mankind. The great golden city is the capitol of the universe, and it will be exactly that for all of the ages of time.

“We have been living in this glorious paradise for more than ten thousand years, and yet our time remaining has not grown any shorter. None of us will ever grow old. All pain, sorrow, and sickness is gone. Instead, every year we find joy, adventure, mysteries, and new wonders. The kingdom of God continues to expand, and of its increase there shall be no end. We have only just begun! Today has been the best day yet – but tomorrow will be even better.”

Amy leaned over to Amanda. “And he said he was just going to give a short speech.”

Everyone laughed. “You’re right,” her father said. “I just wanted to say that we have a great deal to be thankful for – and that our Lord is most worthy of all our thanks, and praise, and worship, and honor. He has done what He promised – He has shown us the exceeding riches of His grace, and He will continue to do so forever. Thank you, Lord!”

“Amen!” everyone shouted.

Richard sat down. “Please – eat!”

As everyone dug into the food, Amy glanced out the window. The city of La Venta was full of people, and Tonina was packed with people of all races – and even aliens. The cities that the Artilect had built were now full of life, just as he had wanted. Darkness had not triumphed. Light filled the entire universe, and it would never go out.

I John 4:19: “We love him, because he first loved us.”

In other words, the reason that we love God is because God first chose to love us. We did not choose God; God chose us. God is the one who decided to save us. God is the one who chose to love us, when we were still His enemies. God is the one who sent His Son Jesus to die in our place, taking upon Himself the punishment that we deserved. God is the one who is the author of our salvation. The only reason we can be saved is because God chose to love us. It is a true statement: we love Him because He first loved us.

I John 4:7: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

This goes back to what Jesus said was the second greatest commandment: to love one another.

Matthew 22:39: “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

This is another sign of a true Christian: people who are genuinely saved will have a great love for others. Those who hate other people, or abuse them for their own ends, or take advantage of them for personal gain, do not know God. You can’t be a psychopath and a Christian at the same time. It just doesn’t work that way.

This should be obvious, but I’m afraid that it’s not. Genuine love is very hard to come by these days – especially in churches. You’re far more likely to find hatred, bitterness, selfishness, and people trying to take advantage of one another. What does this mean? It means that churches aren’t full of Christians; they’re full of pagans who are pretending to be Christians. If churches were actually full of Christians then they would be characterized by love – which is the point of this passage.

“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” If your life motto is “how can I selfishly abuse and take advantage of other people for my own gain, while giving back as little as I possibly can?”, then you are not saved. As the apostle John points out, real Christians do not think that way.

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

(Revelation 20:11 – 22:5)

About six months ago I started a project to write a brief summary of every chapter in the New Testament. I wanted something that was the opposite of a Bible commentary. Commentaries do an excellent job of delving into each verse in the Bible; they may spend pages discussing a single line of text. While that is quite valuable, it is easy to get lost in the detail and lose sight of the bigger picture. It also takes a great deal of time to read. By the time you’ve finished reading an in-depth commentary on Romans one barely remembers what Chapter 1 was about.

I thought it would be a good idea to summarize each chapter of the New Testament into a series of brief points. It may take weeks to read a commentary on Romans, but one could read a summary of Romans in a matter of minutes and get a decent idea of what the book had to say. Yes, many details would be left out, but that is the whole point – to step back and take a look at the broader picture.

It takes months to read through the entire New Testament. It takes even longer to read through commentaries on the New Testament. But my summary of the New Testament only has 25,000 words. The average adult could read it in less than two hours.

It is my hope that this summary will make the New Testament a little more accessible. Reading the actual text of the Bible is definitely better than reading a summary, just as reading a book is better than reading the Cliffs Notes – but the Cliffs Notes still have their place.

The summary can be downloaded right here, free of charge:

Summary of the New Testament

Thanks, and enjoy!

I John 4:6: “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”

Here John presents another simple but sobering test: those who refuse to hear the Word and reject it are not of God. This gives us quite a few ways to tell genuine believers from counterfeit ones.

According to the book of I John, genuine believers:

• obey Jesus out of love
• love other believers
• lead a righteous and holy life
• listen to the Word and accept it

The reason this matters is because there are a great many people who call themselves Christians and who claim to have a “salvation experience”, but who do not show any of these characteristics. They refuse to obey Jesus. They despise other believers. They mock righteousness. They hate the Word and refuse to obey it. Those are not the characteristics of Christians; those are the characteristics of pagans.

In fact, it’s very common today for so-called Christians to mock the Word. People hate the apostle Paul and love making fun of him. They reject many of the Bible’s teachings outright, stomping their foot and saying they will never> obey it. The only teachings in the Bible that they will listen to are the ones that they like; the ones that they “disagree with” are rejected with great anger.

It is very disheartening to try to teach the Word these days. People will listen to the Word and then say “Well, I just don’t believe that” or “I just believe differently”. There was a time when Christians actually feared God and listened to Him; they read the Bible and believed it. Modern Christianity, though, loves disagreeing with God. They think that God is wrong on a lot of issues and they aren’t afraid to say it.

What John is saying here is that these are false Christians. True Christians do not reject the Word. They do not shake their fist at God and scream that they will never obey Him. They do not mock the apostles and demean their teachings. That is the spirit of antichrist. It is not the spirit of God.

If your approach to the Bible is “I’ll believe what I like and will reject the rest”, then you are not saved. If your approach to God is “I’ll obey Him when I feel like it and tell Him to drop dead when I don’t”, then you are not saved. If your approach to the apostles is “They’re a bunch of losers”, then you are not saved. John is very clear about this: “he that is not of God heareth not us”. If you refuse to hear the Word then you are not of God. End of story.

Salvation is not of works – but genuine salvation always produces works. That is the point of the book of James. Salvation changes a person, and I John outlines the changes that always occur whenever a person is saved. If your life is missing those changes then you are not saved. You may think “but I had an experience!” Guess what? An “experience” is NOT one of the ways you can tell if your salvation was real! People in false religions have “experiences” too. What John is doing here is outlining objective ways to examine your salvation. Sadly, much of modern Christianity miserably fails this test.

I’m afraid that, in today’s world, we don’t have churches full of real Christians. What we actually have are churches full of lost people who have convinced themselves that they’re actually Christians – and thereby immunized themselves from the gospel. After all, you’re not going to pay any attention to the gospel if you think you’ve already been saved!

Jesus warned that this would happen:

Matthew 7:21: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

How do you know if you are in that group? By applying the tests of I John.

I John 4:2: “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

This is one of the tests of authentic Christianity: any group that denies Jesus Christ (be it His claim to be the messiah, or His resurrection, or His death, or His deity, or His manhood) is the spirit of antichrist and does not come from God. This would include Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and many others. They deny the real Jesus and are therefore false religions.

Yes, Muslims do believe in a Jesus, as do Mormons. But they believe in a false Jesus. The Jesus of Islam is not God in the flesh; he’s just a non-divine prophet. The Jesus of Mormonism isn’t the eternal, uncreated God; he’s just a man who rose to godhood. The Bible does not say “Well, as long as you believe in some guy named Jesus you’re good to go”. No, you have to believe in the Biblical Jesus – the real Jesus. You can’t just make up a false god and call him Jesus and run with it. Believing in a false Jesus means that you have rejected the real one, and rejecting the real Jesus means, as John said here, that you are anti-christ.

As an aside, John is not talking here about the Antichrist who will arise during the Tribulation and rule over the world. That is an entirely different subject. What he is saying is that during the church age there is an anti-christ spirit – a spirit that opposes the real Christ and presents false Christs instead. That spirit was alive and well in John’s day and it has continued down to our own day. It is an evil spirit that we must watch out against.

It should also be pointed out that this is not the only test of a false religion. In the book of Galatians Paul made it clear that a gospel of salvation by works was not the truth, but a lie that had no power to save. The Catholic Church believes in the real Jesus but they deny that He has the power to save you; they teach that His death was not enough and you must add works of your own in order to earn salvation. That is a false gospel that has no power to save.

Here, though, John is focusing on cults that deny the person of Jesus in some way. Those groups are to be avoided and resisted.