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Dear Child of God, The cover this month features one of the most popular worship leaders of our time, Israel Houghton. He is due in the United Kingdom for a concert in Birmingham on the 2nd of June. As usual, we have an array of the other events scheduled for the coming months which promise to be spiritually uplifting - be sure to prayerfully consider which one to attend. I would like to draw your attention to the second part of our article by Chuck Missler on the subject of Eternal Security of the believer – a very controversial subject that some Christians may not agree with on this side of eternity. Regardless of your take on the subject, I encourage you to go through the article and get to know some of the reasoning behind this doctrine Finally, I would like to invite you to join our growing team of Crux Magazine writers. We are getting an ever increasing number of visitors to our website monthly, and you are welcome to contribute to our blog. Contact us using the email address on this page. Enjoy this edition and God Bless! Pastor Francis Obasogie
Glorifying God, Edifying Man, Pointing All to Christ
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ETERNAL SECURITY - PART 2 (cont’d) by Chuck Missler
What Kind of Assurance Can We Have of Victory? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Romans 8:35 The apostle lists seven things a believer might experience that some might think could come between a believer and Christ’s love (Paul experienced all of them).12 1) Tribulation : “pressure or distress”; mentioned frequently by Paul in 2 Corinthians); 2) Distress : literally, “narrowness”; i.e., being pressed in, hemmed in, crowded; 3) Persecution: Used 10 times in the New Testament, always in reference to the gospel. 4) Famine (limo,j limos): Used 12 times in the New Testament. The God of Elijah looks after His own. 5) Nakedness: See 1 Corinthians 4:11. 6) Peril [jeopardy, danger] : Used eight times in one verse (2 Corinthians 11:26; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:30). 7) Sword. The world hates the saints. These things—stated in increasing intensity—do not separate Christians from Christ; instead they are part of the “all things” (Rom 8:28) God uses to bring them to conformity to His Son. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Romans 8:37
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His Final Guarantee For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature [created thing], Shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38,39 Wow. Angels! Principalities [demons]! Powers [of “darkness”]! What else is there? What else, in the entire universe, matters? This should really re-prioritize our entire outlook on everything!
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More to Come This still leaves some issues of grave importance: To “enter” heaven is not equivalent to inheritance (“ownership”). What different kinds of inheritances are there? We have been dealing here with justification, the past tense of “salvation.” What about sanctification, the present tense of “salvation”? We are all heading for a final exam, and behavior matters! I suspect that the only reason there will be tears in heaven (Rev 7:17; 21:4) is for recognizing our lost opportunities: The saddest words of tongue or pen, are these: “It might have been.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
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