<p>Column - The Place and the Way</p><p> </p><p>“In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go you know, and the way you know.” (John 14:2-4).</p><p> </p><p>1. The greatest enemies of modern Christianity are American Christianity, a theistic materialism influenced by pragmatist philosophy, and the pedagogy of John Dewey.</p><p>God is the supreme deity in name only, while in reality, materialism has become the real power.</p><p>Faith is their justification, and material is their power.</p><p>Education also fosters the consciousness that one can freely choose whether to believe or not, leading to the belief that even God is at one's will.</p><p>This has led to humanism.</p><p>This has led to a faith, which trades with God for substitutes, and thus the Christian industry(?) has flourished, but is now slowly declining.</p><p>The word "Laodicea" is synonymous with the word "democracy."</p><p>While it is called faith, the mainstream belief is a false belief that proves itself through knowledge or zeal that demonstrates self-righteousness.</p><p> </p><p>2. In John 13, the Lord Jesus received us by washing our feet—if washing feet is considered humility, then removing the pastor's insignia as quickly as possible will minimize future discipline—and gave us a new commandment (John 13:34). He said, "If I go, I will prepare a place for you, and I will come again to receive you that you may be where I am," and that we knows that place and the way.</p><p>What do you think?</p><p>Do you know that place and the way to it now?</p><p>We should not, like Thomas, think of it as a place we see with our own eyes and walk by our own feet.</p><p>Like Thomas, we do not know the place and way the Lord is going when we are in the flesh. Therefore, death is certain for everyone, and we speak of heaven as a place we go to after death.</p><p>Then why does the Lord say that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) to get there?</p><p> </p><p>3. What confuses Christians today the most is that, having heard a half-gospel about Jesus's journey, the cross, and the atonement through His blood, they have experienced the early rain of the Holy Spirit. However, like Israel, they groan in a wilderness of endless emptiness and bewilderment, like Israel, walking through an endless limestone wilderness.</p><p>Following the inertia of faith, they head to church every Sunday with their Bibles and offering envelopes, but it feels like a cemetery under the moon.</p><p>That's why pastors claim that inspiring and uplifting members is grace.</p><p>This is a grave blasphemy against the grace God has bestowed through Christ.</p><p>Paul says that even an angel from heaven would be accursed if he did not preach the gospel that called us into Christ through Christ's grace (Galatians 1:9).</p><p>Of course, anyone who does not preach the gospel of Christ's redemptive grace on the cross and calling which us into Christ, and instead uses human words as grace, is also accursed (Galatians 1:9).</p><p>This is something to seriously consider.</p><p> </p><p>4. The Lord Jesus said, "The Spirit of truth will come and be with us and in us." He also said, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:17-18).</p><p>He has come and is in us now.</p><p>Therefore, we have eternal life (1 John 5:12).</p><p>Because we have the Son, we have life.</p><p>If the Son is not in us, we have no life, and God's wrath is upon us (John 3:36).</p><p>Far from the joy and happiness of salvation, we suffer from all kinds of stress.</p><p>Some pastors sing, "He who said, 'you can do it...'" and "I love Jesus..." while swaying, clapping, and putting on a show. But there's not a single trace of the joy of salvation on their faces.</p><p> </p><p>5. Perhaps they saw the light through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, but they believe only in Jesus, and they do not understand the word of truth which following into Christ by believing in the grace of redemption on the cross. This is because they believe in Jesus but remain in the flesh.</p><p>Jesus came as the Son of Man, shedding his blood on the cross to forgive our sins in Adam, and through his being raised, He raised us and led us to heaven. He then returned as the Spirit of truth to become Christ, the anointed one in us.</p><p>This is the new covenant.</p><p>Those who love the Lord Jesus Christ embrace this commandment in their hearts through faith and keep it.</p><p>Then the Father's love is revealed and the Lord reveals himself in us. (John 14:21).</p><p>If we love Christ and keep this commandment, our bodies become the house of God (John 14:23).</p><p>No one can cross the world's so-called "world beyond."</p><p>However, when the Spirit of truth, who was not given to the world, came in us, we know the way and truth to where God is, have life, and come to the Father to become God's house.</p><p> </p><p>Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim</p><p>Translated by missionary Nancy Kim</p><p>COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION</p><p>TO GOD BE THE GLORY</p>
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