Hello Sofia,
May the Lord give you His faith, which is the only thing that matters in the end. With His faith, you have life, freedom, and salvation; without it, you have nothing. Here's a reply to your letter, within your letter:
I'm so amazed by your blog and it is really confronting. I'm going through a very hard time with my health and I have even thought my days are getting shorter. May God have mercy on me and heal me.
God can surely heal you, but first things first; you would need to believe on Him to begin with, and not necessarily for healing, but for whatever He would require of you. It's never about what we want or think to need from Him; it's always about what He requires of us, by faith. If you are seeking, with the right motive, He says you will find. The Lord has a way to heal each one, and it is up to Him how it will happen and when, if at all. What sickness do you have? Could you tell us more?
I'm so amazed when you say that God doesn't punish and that everybody will be saved, including unbelievers. But I would like to know, Jesus says the door is narrow and only those who do the Father's will can enter the Kingdom of the Lord, that only with holiness can we see God. I'm very confused. I've been asking God for a long time to give me His Holy Spirit, but I know He is merciful and gives it to whom He pleases.
But then, where am I left? If He is a just God and a good Father, would He leave me in this agony?
You say no father would like to burn even a match on his children's fingers. But now I ask, are we all children of God? Because sometimes, I don't feel like one. And Jesus says only He decides to whom He will reveal the truth. So those who are not children of God because they haven't accepted Jesus can remain in hell for ever, since they are not sons after all.
Nowhere in
The Path of Truth writings does it say God doesn't punish or that unbelievers will be saved in their unbelief. You could read
The Wrath of God and see how the Lord deals, and has always dealt, with our sins and rebellions. What you have surely red is that God does not torment sinners eternally, which is a plain truth in the Bible; He's not sadistic, and you will find evidence in many of our articles, especially in the section of
The Restitution of All Things.
And most certainly, the door is narrow and very few find it in this life, as determined by Him. The problem is you're thinking of salvation or condemnation only as a future event for mankind. It isn't so. Few are being saved now, by His grace -- those who truly repent and turn to the Lord with all their hearts, who pursue and find holiness in and by Him, who were lost in other time. All unbelievers are
already condemned, lost in Hell and death, until the Lord decides it's time to save them, granting them repentance and cleansing of all sins, destroying Hell and death for them.
“He who believes on Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe
is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God” (John 3:18 MKJV),
“For
you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8 MKJV).
“And you, who
were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled” (Colossians 1:21 MKJV).
"And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him." (Acts 5:32)
With all this, it is very painful for me (to think) God won't have mercy on me just because He doesn't want to. What can I hope for, then?
To have mercy on you or on anyone else is entirely up to the Lord. None of us deserves it, and He's still just whether He shows mercy or not.
“So then it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy…Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens” (Romans 9:16,18)
Yes, this may sound unjust, but He is 100% just, or He isn't God. He still says, “If My people, who are called by My Name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 MKJV).
And,
“…Seek Me, and you shall live” (Amos 5:4)
“Therefore repent and convert so that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:29 MKJV)
“Therefore girding up the loins of your mind, being sober,
perfectly hope for the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13 MKJV).
This may happen here and now, if you can believe Him.
I think some of your articles are contradictory because they say God is not evil, that His justice is good, but at the same time, they talk about dying in order to follow Jesus, about paying a price.
I see you don't really understand what is meant by dying. It is about dying to self, to our own desires and preferences, to our gods, to our sins. But even so, you don't do that
in order to follow Jesus; you just can't do it on your own. You believe and obey Him, by His grace, and He leads you all the way, applying His cross to your life, and bringing His resurrection power to you as He sees fit, in form and time. He gives you grace to obey and do all that He requires. He paid the price for our sins; we pay the price to follow Him, forsaking this world and what's most precious to us.
I wouldn't mind dying physically, but let's be honest, in my human nature, I don't want to suffer. Finally, I am very, very confused, and I hope you can clarify my doubts. Thank you.
When the Lord comes to a person, fears of all kinds begin to disappear until total extinction, by His work of grace in your heart and mind.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, If a man keeps My Word, he shall never see death” (John 8:51). Again, this is not talking about physical death; it talks about the spiritual death, which is our main problem.
Believers no longer experience spiritual death, and physical death turns out to be a blessing. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
Second Note: 3:46 PM
Excuse me, friends, I have another doubt. When you talk about worlds or ages, do you really believe we live in different dimensions? Where in the Bible does it talk about other worlds? Or other ages? That does sound weird to me; are you basing this on reincarnation? I think that's not from God.
Reincarnation: belief that a soul is born multiple times into new bodies or life forms. The soul travels on an eternal path living in one body for a time, dying, and then entering a new body to live again, in order to serve out karma from previous lives and thus eventually reach a state of perfect enlightenment.
So, no, we don't believe in reincarnation according to such notion. The Bible does talk about other worlds or ages or times, though. Let's see:
“…who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time--houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions--and in the
age to come, eternal life” (Mark 20:30 EMTV)
“And whoever says a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him,
either in this age, or in the coming one” (Mathew 12:32 EMTV)
“That in the
dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him…” (Ephesians 1:10 KJV)
“Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:13 KJV).
You can read, or reread, more about it in
The Reconciliation of All Things,
Salvation Is Possible Only in This Life, and
God Is Trying to Save the Whole World Now
I hope these ideas will help you. Let us know more about your spiritual search and experience so far.
Victor and Paul