Hey, Mr. Vinson,

I’m so excited to get your reply!! … I know that you probably get 100’s of letters a day telling you that you are a cult- leading heretic and you lead people to damnation etc., and before I ask you this question, I want you to know this isn’t what I’m after. Could you help me understand the verses in the Bible about ‘to be absent in body is to be present with the lord’ and ‘it is appointed for a man once to die and then judgment?’ (I paraphrased them.) Also, could you give me some ways to identify the real church, what it is doing etc. I really appreciate your time and I would love to come hear you speak or lecture.

Sincerely,

S____

Hi S____,

It is good to hear from you again. All churches are ‘the real church.’ Christ, as He says in Revelation, is “walking among them,” all of them. They are all, just like the carnal Corinthians, “sanctified in Christ, called to be saints” (1Co 1:3). But as Christ “walks among,” all these “carnal… babes in Christ,” (1Co 3:1-4), He is “choosing out” a “few” to be his “first fruit… elect.” This is what is meant when Christ made what may well be the single most hated verse in scripture:

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

When you quote this verse to any of the ‘called’ who are not also “chosen and faithful,” the automatic reaction, to this day is the same as it was when Jesus first uttered those words. Notice the next verse:

Mat 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been accused of teaching ‘salvation based on my works,’ just because I read and believe and, of all things, have the nerve to quote these words of our Lord.

Because I actually believe these words, I am told that I think I am better than other Christians, that I think I am the elect and they aren’t, that I am just a cult, etc., etc. The truth is that I do not pretend to know who the Lord has “chosen” to “drag” to himself. It could be any one of these very detractors. The first martyr, Stephen, had a very well known detractor, who, after supervising the stoning of Stephen, the Lord struck down on the road to Damascus and dragged him to Himself.

So God’s people are scattered. They are within the harlot daughters of their mother Judaism. The ‘harlot of Rev 17-18 is the composite of the mother and her daughters. It is the oft mentioned “Judeo- Christian” alliance that holds sway over the “kings of the earth”, and you can take that phrase, “kings of the earth,” either physically or spiritually and it is still true. Our spiritual ‘kings’ that rule the Christian churches are the same as those that rule the Jewish people. That is why they are so closely allied. That is why a people who will blatantly tell you that Christ was a “criminal who died for His Crimes” owe their very existence as a nation to the Christians who they so despise. It is truly an image whose feet are “iron mixed with clay, and it will not stand much longer.

I know this is not the answer you wanted, but it is the truth. Not one of the incorporated churches with ‘by- laws of incorporation’ are faithful to the words of Christ. If they were, they would not need by- laws. “The letter kills.”

I am going to ask you to type 2Co 5:8 into the Google search engine on my site and then type Heb 9:27 in for the answers to your other two questions. I have gotten these questions many times and have already answered them. The search engine will take you to the page these scriptures are on. At that point you search the page (Ctrl + F) and type in the scripture book, chapter and verse again (Heb 9:27) and it will take you right to that verse on that page.

If you have any trouble finding the answers to your questions let me know. I want to be sure you do get to see what the scriptures say about these verses. It is not what is taught in orthodox Christianity!

Stay in touch, and come fellowship with us if you can.

Mike