tschuckman@aol.com
Dear Friends,
This little piece here along with scriptures is a holy, balm/ salve to my heart and soul !! OSAS --- means: "Once Saved --Always Saved." I always knew that after I finally found the Lord and RE-studied the good KJV Bible, I figure, about 1995. But in most cases, you don't just go to sleep and know everything in the Bible when you awake the next morning, folks.... LOL !! The old adage: 'You have got to put money IN THE BANK BEFORE YOU CAN DRAW MONEY OUT OF THE BANK.' You have to put the knowledge IN YOUR BRAIN [AND HEART] if you expect to summon it back up and use it again..... obviously. So... when some wise guy tells you that they will jump on over to Jesus' side at the last minute before the rapture, etc.... you really got to being scratching y our head.....duh. And then, again, coming to serve Lord Jesus is not just intellectual, but a thing of the HEART too!!
If my peers say that I am a smart man who knows the Bible well.... and I tell all my friends that I am still LEARNING, what does that tell you all ?? We will NEVER stop learning, and our human brains were made to last FOREVER !! It just amazes me how God is so merciful so as to snatch us out of the fire even as we are sinners, and GIVE US undeserved kindness... GRACE, and Save us ! I never want to take that for granted. We can say, "Look how far we have come..." ---- and wonder how far we will go, because the "Church Class" will serve as kings and priests after the New Heavens and the New Earth are finished, and the world is re-populated again, for 1000 years, according to the book of Revelation.
Today I sent a 'gift' in the snail mail to my Mom, in Burlington, WI., where I used to work at Nestle Co., after I got home from RVN, making chocolate, back in 1970. My Mother is NOT a Believer, but scriptures say that we ought treat our parents with love and respect, and I do care for her, and have preached to her many times. At this stage of the game, it is not for me to judge or say who is Saved, but actions speak louder than words.... and there is only so much a son can do and say to share the Gospel. Some times the most effective thing we can do for our relatives is to pray for them and set a good, proper example. She is legally blind, but there are many ways to learn the truth of the Bible, like audio tapes and word of mouth... just like the Ethiopian man [in the book of Acts] who rode in a chariot until Philip the Evangelizer taught him the truth too, from the scrolls of Isaiah, and then he got Saved, and baptized too. There will be a day of accounting up in heaven at the Bema Seat, and also when we will see the people going to hell.... and perhaps we might understand better our duties of sharing the truth of the Gospel then. There is something called, "BLOOD GUILT." It might do us all well to just look back and think about all the times we heard the Gospel of Salvation in our lives, but passed up many chances, until our minds and hearts were ready to accept Christ. And remember that there is definitely a LIMIT to God's mercy and kindness. When Father God has His number of those in the Universal Christian Community FILLED, the proverbial 'doors of the Ark' will be closed, and things will start to happen!! Pastor Kevin Sullivan told me yesterday that the Church will be raptured up BEFORE the Anti-Christ comes on the scene !! Wow! That means that he is alive now, and waiting in the wings. He will be Mr. Fix- it guy, with a silver tongue, smooth, smart and a great peace maker, etc. People say that he will probably be from Europe, or the old Holy Roman Empire, or what ever.... and he will effect an accord between Israel and the Nations that will "SEEM TO WORK" -- for at least the first 3 and one half years, only to be broken. This is all exciting for me, and millions of other REAL, Saved, Spirit-anointed Believers in the world. Israel, in the meantime, will win 2 wars between her and her mortal enemies, all according to the Book.... but actually God will win them FOR her.
But now, Satan, who controls the world Governments is misleading the entire inhabited world, blowing smoke in the majority of peoples' eyes, of course, and they would much rather believe Satan the devil, than read the truth from the Bible. Who will YOU follow ??
More latter.....
Are we "waiting to get perfect" before we begin to tell people about Salvation by Grace thru Jesus' ransom blood sacrifice?? Time is fleeting.
You will never hear me predicting a day, but we do know the SEASON, and things could start to pop anytime now.
For many, many years, my main prayers were to achieve a BALANCE of things within me. Not too slow -- not too fast. Not lazy -- and not wanting to burn out with a heart attack. I will never be rich --- but I surely don't want to be poor either ! I am so stinking tired of being FAT... but I don't want to be skinny either! Lord, Just let me lose 100 pounds before Spring, PLEASE ! I don't want much , huh? I probably sound greedy by now, right?
Tonight will get down to about --7 degrees below zero, and then maybe a slight warm up where we live. Happy to be blessed with a nice, warm home, full of love.
Tom Schuckman
OSAS And The Full Number
Q. Until just yesterday, I struggled with believing we could not lose, nor walk away from, our salvation. I was sitting at work and it dawned on me that we have a number that has to be fulfilled prior to the rapture. If OSAS isn’t true, that number could never possibly be hit as I see more and more people walking away from true Christianity due to apostate churches. Am I in-line in my thoughts? I know other countries are having success with evangelizing, but in our own nation, the numbers would be dwindling rapidly, possibly enough to balance out new people coming to Christ, making the number incredibly difficult to achieve. I feel like this may be the “proof” I needed of OSAS. Thoughts?
A. Your premise is accurate. If true believers could lose their salvation because of sinful behavior, or simply surrender it, we would at least have a much more difficult time achieving our full number, and it could even become impossible.
But because of OSAS we know that those who are walking away for good never were “true Christians” to begin with, so they can’t cause a decline in our total.
John wrote, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us” (1 John 2:19).
It is possible for true Christians to lose their way temporarily, but God has anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor. 1:21-22) so we can never be completely lost. When the time is right our Lord will retrieve us, as a shepherd retrieves his sheep, for it’s His Father’s will that He will not lose any of us (John 6:39-40).
A. Your premise is accurate. If true believers could lose their salvation because of sinful behavior, or simply surrender it, we would at least have a much more difficult time achieving our full number, and it could even become impossible.
But because of OSAS we know that those who are walking away for good never were “true Christians” to begin with, so they can’t cause a decline in our total.
John wrote, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us” (1 John 2:19).
It is possible for true Christians to lose their way temporarily, but God has anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Cor. 1:21-22) so we can never be completely lost. When the time is right our Lord will retrieve us, as a shepherd retrieves his sheep, for it’s His Father’s will that He will not lose any of us (John 6:39-40).
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