Dear Mike,

Thanks again for your answers to my last set of questions.

I was born and raised by two loving Catholic parents.  Then in 1998, I married my wife and converted to her church.  The main reasons I converted is because I believe having the same religion will help keep the harmony in the household and they convincingly exposed so many of the Catholic church’s false teachings like the Trinity, bowing to graven images and the infallibility of the pope.
I’ve mentioned that I’ve been reading the articles on your site for maybe 1 – 2 years now, and I do believe God will save all mankind and that man does not possess a free will.  Despite believing for so long, I didn’t have the courage to tell my wife until two weeks ago.  It was obvious she was very upset and told me I would ruin our family.  She didn’t talk to me for a week and was hostile to me, but I kept on being patient with her knowing God will open her eyes one day.  I also sent her an email citing 1Ti 4:10, 1Jn 2:2, and Joh 3:17 as some of the verses that declare God’s love for His creation.
She is slowly talking to me now, but I feel she is still angry at me for not going to the worship services. I have also read your response to one reader’s questions in You Asked! entitled “What are We to Do when Everyone Turns Against Us?”, and I can tell you that it was like you were talking to me, and I was highly blessed and encouraged by your response.
I will end this with some questions. When other members of the church ask me why I don’t attend worship services anymore (this is a big deal to them; they have two worship services in a week), I plan to point out 1Ti 4:10, 1Jn 2:2 and Joh 3:17 to them. I will not quote the verses, but I’ll let them read them from their Bibles. When someone tries to debate with me, specially their minister, that is where I’m not sure what to do. I know I’m still a babe in Christ and have no right or power (yet) to debate with them. Maybe I’ll just ask them (with much respect) to email me why they think those verses doesn’t really say God will save all mankind and forward them to you. I hope you can help me with this regard.

May God continue to sustain your ministry,
V___

Hi V___,

Thank you for telling me more about your history and your present situation. Since you seem to have a good grasp of God’s total sovereignty, it goes without saying, that you are right where God has you for the moment.
I am pleased that you have not tried to force your wife to see the truths that God has shown you. On the other hand, it really is time for you to share with her that you are no longer in accord with either Catholic or her church doctrines. The time has now come for judgment to begin at the house of God. You have been given to see that you came to Christ when you were yet in Egypt. You say that you saw the false doctrines of Catholicism and converted to her church. Somewhere along in your life’s experience you have cried out to Christ to come into your life and your beast within has been dealt a deadly blow with the sword of God’s Word, and yet that deadly blow of denying the beast within has been healed. You now have been shown that what seemed at the time to be adding to the death of the beast within was in reality nothing more then the healing of the deadly wound, and you have been shown that you are in that great city where our Lord was crucified. You now know you must come out of Babylon. Only if you are willing to forsake all for Him will you be given either life or your wife.

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

It simply has not been given to the multitudes to place any value on the things of the spirit. Like Peter and like you and me, we all read those verses and say with Peter:

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

And just like Peter we all come to see that we have not forsaken all for Him. When the trials arrive, we find that we love the things of this life more than our Lord, His words, and the things of the spirit.

Mat 26:72  And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
Mat 26:73  And after a while came unto [ him] they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art [ one] of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Mat 26:74  Then began he to curse and to swear, [ saying], I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
Mat 26:75  And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.
Luk 22:60  And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
Luk 22:61  And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Luk 22:62  And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

If one thinks that this is just details surrounding the crucifixion, there is much to learn. Peter is you and me, and every word which we cannot see as being in us will be lived out until we cannot deny that we do indeed “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

God already knows what you will do. He knew what Peter and all of His apostles would do:

Mat 26:31  Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
Mat 26:32  But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.
Mat 26:33  Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Mat 26:34  Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Mat 26:35  Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

Christ knew what all His apostles would do, because he had already written that book:

Psa 56:8  Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
Psa 139:16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. (NASB)

Christ has put what you are going to do within you. The next step in His work is to reveal yourself to you. You are about to be judged of God. It is while you stand before Him in judgment that you will come to know whether Christ really is living within where that beast once sat on His throne. So confess that you are as Peter. Acknowledge that you have no strength of yourself. Cry out to God for the strength to truly “forsake all for Him.” Only then He will see fit to strengthen you for the trials you are now facing:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Just a few verse later we are told what this “fire” is:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

You need to be aware that you are just beginning to be tried in this fire. Count the cost of what you are doing. Ask yourself if you are able to finish building the house you have begun. I will pray with you that God will give to you the strength and resolve, the love and the humility needed to “endure to the end” of this day of judgment which is now upon all who are “the house of God.” 1 Pe 4:12 does not come and then pass by. That verse is our calling. It is our way of life for the rest of our physical life.

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

We do indeed become comfortable in that fire. But those flames never leave us or forsake us:

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
Dan 3:27  And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

The only way out of the fire is through the fiery furnace. And the only way to “find our lives is to lose them:”

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes [ shall be] they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

It is all impossible for our flesh. But Christ in us can do all things, and He is generous in rewarding those who do what they are given to do:

Mat 10:40  He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Mat 10:41  He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
Mat 10:42  And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

I hope you are challenged to be willing to be “hated of all men,” as Christ warned His disciples in this same chapter of Matthew:

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Of course I will help you in any way I can, but be prepared to be “cast out of the synagogue” without the opportunity to explain yourself. The merchants of Babylon are not nearly as Biblically oriented as we think they are. Without even thinking about it, they subconsciously “count the cost” of acknowledging that their churches doctrines are at variance with the Word of God. Without even thinking  about it, they decide that they are not going there.
If, by the Lord’s will, you are actually given a hearing of some sort, please feel free to call on me, and I will help you in any way I can.
My prayers are for your strength and resolve.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike