No Comfort Without Hope

After saying hello in the telephone, the next thing I heard was the voice of an angry and irate sister who sternly told me, “Don’t impose your God on mom!!”

My dear mother was dying and had expressed to us several times throughout her life that she did not believe in an afterlife. This was the way she was raised in the Japanese Shinto religion. My mother was an active, busy woman, much younger than her true years. Never idle, always doing for family. This came to an abrupt halt in late 2004. Now her life was quickly passing away from an uncontrollable and fast moving cancer racing throughout her body.

The hospice nurse asked, ‘would you like a minister to start visiting’? I thought this would be wonderful and might bring her some measure of comfort, if any was to be found for her. It did not materialize. I too, was as a leper and an outcast for bringing Christ’s name into the sick room.

I understood, when I heard the irate voice of my sister on the other end of the telephone, that it had not entered her heart that by trying to prevent someone’s right to hear the full Gospel of Christ, she herself was imposing and reinforcing her own unbelief system, even up to our mother’s death bed!

My sister was raised a Catholic and is an unbeliever in anything today. To believers, Christ and His promises are our only hope. This was also the hope at the end for one repentant thief crucified next to Christ:

And he said unto Jesus, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom”. And Jesus said unto him, “Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”

Luke 23:40-43

Where is there any value to anyone in anything in a world that is quickly passing away? There is no comfort found anywhere but in the Savior and His Truth.

A priest was called in to perform the last rites. He came and left.

No... without hope, it is a sad passing. Soon after, alone with my dear mother at her bedside, she did indeed hear God’s full Gospel, and I believe even through her pain she knew and confirmed to me that Christ is true. Two days later, Mom opened her eyes briefly to say good-by, then took her last breath.
April 30, 2005


“God is Spirit. Those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in Truth”. John 4:24

Christ’s Work Alone

Christ said, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.” (John 4:34) His finished work of salvation is proclaimed all over the world in and through His children. Yes, we are zealous!!! We are the body of Christ, His hands and His feet in this dark world. Yes, we preach Christ’s Good News of salvation to those around us, making sure all have had an opportunity to hear, or to reject God’s truth. To the humble, we continue to instruct in doctrine and truth, knowing it is God’s work alone to change man’s sinful heart and bring one to salvation.

“With men this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

It is His sheep He came to save from sin. In today’s world, many are taught by false prophets that they themselves must make the decision to either accept Christ or be lost. Man in his fallen, sinful state could not, cannot act to follow Christ, unless God would enable him! Yes, it is God who does that work in a sinner’s life which brings him to the point where he is open to receiving His truth; however, how many of those who have walked down those long aisles in the Billy Sunday and Billy Graham crusades had actually thought this act and repeating a simple prayer would save them?

How many persevered, and how many were those seeds that fell by the wayside? How many were brought out of bondage from Egypt? How many went through testing in the wilderness? How many put on the full armor of Christ ready for battle with the enemy of our souls? How many were crucified and arisen with Christ? Are they among those who "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth” (Rev. 14 ) ?

Where are the thousands of these today who, ‘decided to accept Christ’ at these crusades? Was it man’s decision or an act of God? No, it is not man’s decision to make. Furthermore, that would imply an All-Powerful God is under the authority of sinful man, and is not able to act in the sinner’s life unless He is granted some sort of permission!!

Christ says ‘no man can come to Me except the Father which has sent Me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day.’ (John 6:44)

“He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." (John 10:1)

One cannot enter the sheepfold but through the Door, which is Christ.

It is God’s work to bring the sinner to salvation…. “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

Salvation in a man is all God’s work. His Grace. When have we last heard this word…Grace? No, in today’s churches most are taught, we must have a part in salvation. We must act! We must ‘accept Him’!! How like the human heart to want to remain in control & declare a part in his own salvation! The proud man wants only to trust in his own righteousness, his own works. What does God say about that?

“All our rightousnesses are as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6 )

“For by Grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”

(Ephesians 2: 8-9)

Have you humbled yourself? Are you clothed in the righteousness of Christ? It is this wedding garment we must be clothed in for the marriage feast God has prepared for his Son in heaven (Matthew 22:11-14).

Do you trust in the One who moved heaven and earth to save his own people-- those He knew from before the world was created?

"According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.’’

Ephesians 1:4-5

Have you trusted in the Cross of Christ to wash away your sins? ALL this too, is of GRACE. The God given faith of Christ. Yes, Christ’s actual faith. (Galatians 2:16, Galatians 3:22, Romans 3:22, Philippians 3:9) Are you now, yet today depending on your own righteousness?

At the Cross, Christ said, ‘It is finished.’ Were you at the Cross?

“God is Spirit. Those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)

“One Lord, One Way, One Truth”

How many times in your ministry have you heard these next phrases:

That’s your interpretation!

I’m not that bad!

Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion!

Don’t be judgmental! (or, intolerant!)

And finally:

DON’T impose YOUR God on others!

Nothing new, is it? The world is not open to the one true Gospel of Christ found only through God’s Word. If anything, it loves and wants to hear the ‘God of love’ only teachings of Joel Osteen or similar televangelists and false prophets who are leading the masses astray, NOT a God of love and of justice who will one day return to judge the world for sin. Instead, they choose to hear something smooth, or one which does for ME ! A God of ‘signs & wonders’ who will physically take away their arthritis, cancers, diseases, cure their bad eyesight, cataracts & blindness, strengthen their weakened and crippled legs, one who can take away bad hearing & deafness, and cast out demons! Give me money and make me rich?! YES, YES. . . I’ll plant a seed!!!

What is wrong with these pictures? What has happened to the true gospel? How has it become so perverted? Or. . . has it always been so? In your love and mission to proclaim God’s Word in a dark and unbelieving world, some of the above is most often what you will see and hear. The greatest miracle that Jesus performs today is the same as was in His ministry on earth . . . the healing of sin in the human heart.

But since the beginning of time, when God made known his plan of salvation, there has been the lie and those who would distort God’s truth, just as there are followers of these men… ones who pick and choose from among the many hundreds of false teachings out there. The sad truth is that most of those sitting in today’s churches have not made a simple ‘read through’ of the entire Bible, let alone made a vigorous daily study in His Word, and thus are easily led astray.

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

( II Timothy 2:15)

It is only through God’s gift of His Holy Spirit that we know and follow the One true God.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come." (John 16:13-14)

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26)

But yet, the lukewarm churches are adamant in their views and chirp back to you either what they want to believe or what they are taught in their denomination of choice. God’s truth and His Way of salvation will never alter because of what man may want to believe. We understand God’s truth as revealed in scripture through the leading of His Holy Spirit. We must be as the Bereans, examining everything (see Acts 17:10-11), comparing all things to Holy Scripture. Not simply look to the vast variety of preachers out there, all with their own particular teachings, many of whom Christ warns us against. Needless to say, these followers (of men) are content to just sit in their churches, or in front of the T.V. set and listen to whomever tickles their ears. Most do not seem to care or dispute what is taught them by taking the time to open God’s Word, to study scripture and verse in the proper context that it is written in.

Christ says,
“Enter ye in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate & narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)

If you find yourselves listening to one STANDING before you in the church with a Gospel perverted by man (the abomination), could you recognize poison (‘death in the pot’)? (2 Kings 4:38-41)

God’s Word says, you are to ‘flee to the mountains’. He alone, is our ‘Mountain’. He is the revealer of truth.

‘But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand),then let them that be in Judaea, flee to the mountains." (Mark 13: 14)

"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:3)

Potipher’s wife said to Joseph, ‘Lie with me.’ Joseph fled.’ (Gen. 39:12) We are to flee from the adulteress. She is in the apostate churches today, built by man. Have you spiritual ears? Has He taken away your DEAFNESS? Has He healed your BLINDNESS so you can see His truth, are you no longer CRIPPLED but walk in His Light? Has Christ's Truth (found in his word) CAST OUT ALL DEMONS so Satan can no longer harm you? Has He healed you from all sickness and disease (SIN), so that you stand before Him in newness of life?

“God is Spirit. Those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth’.
John 4:24

About Nan E. Moss and the Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth Blog

As time goes on, I find churches are straying from God’s truth in vast numbers everywhere. Wicked men are creeping in and church doctrine is changing to ‘commandments of men’.

‘But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:9)

Preachers in every denomination, brought in from liberal seminaries, are teaching congregations very misleading and just plain incorrect theology. A lie. Their teachings have taken the place of God’s Word. Study materials used in Bible classes are not being carefully scrutinized, with much of the material being ordered from the convenient Bible bookstore around the corner which sells every kind of filth from the creative and inventive minds of the wicked. Many are simply manuals to twist unsteady hearts and minds to the ungodly doctrines of these men, in the guise of ‘instruction’. I believe there is only one instruction manual necessary, and that is the Bible. . . His Word to be held in our hearts and read in the spirit daily. This is the only truth and instruction worthy to be studied vigorously, more than enough for any one person’s lifetime. Yes, a weekly gathering in a Bible study led by one strong in the Lord’s work is useful, indeed most especially for ‘babes in Christ’ and for those who may otherwise not be able to get away for quiet moments in their own home to study His Word. We must always remember, it is to Christ alone (in His Word, the Bible) that we look to and lean upon, who reveals Himself and His truth to our hearts in words that cannot be spoken. He is the good shepherd.

“He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
(Isaiah 40:11)

“I Am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep”. (John 10:11)

"I Am the good Shepherd and know my sheep, and am known of mine." (John 10:14)

For myself, God’s guidance and revelations are found in the quiet setting of my own home, with the Spirit leading according to my own personal growth and knowledge in the Lord. I believe this pace differs with each one.

Some years earlier, in my ignorance, but hoping to follow the Lord in a Bible believing church, I wandered from one church to another. I realized none, for want of a better phrase, could “connect the dots” with everything I was reading in scripture. It left me very confused until realizing that ‘we’ are the church, a spiritual church not made with hands, not a physical building, church nor a synogogue. He is in us. We tabernacle with Christ spiritually. He is our High Priest. Just as Joseph & Rachel were hidden (hindermost from Esau) so the true spiritual church also is, from the world. (A picture of the New Testament Church hidden in the world is seen in Rachel: Gen. 33:1-16)

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, Not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.” Hebrews 9: 11

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: For the Father seeketh such to worship him." John: 4:19-24

There is a wonderfully true saying, attributed to a number of people, but it struck me as very appropriate for these times:

‘ I looked for the church and I found it in the world, and I looked for the world and found it in the church’.

I decided I must put all of the confusion from these churches (buildings) out of my mind and follow only Christ. I found Him ONLY in His Word, the Bible.

Below is one of God's many beautiful promises, one I keep in my heart:

"But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." Deuteronomy 4:28-31

I refer to this time as, “when the Lord called me out of Egypt.” Yes, we follow the Lord wherever He goes. 'Egypt' is a picture of the house of bondage (the world and its bondage to sin). Christ broke these chains and through the Cross washed away our sins in his own blood. Not just covered them, but He came to BE our covering. He came for the remission of sin, to heal us...the Bible likens our sins to 'sicknesses and diseases.' There are a number of beautiful 'pictures' in the Bible in which Christ heals many, sending some away with the admonition to "sin no more." Ironically, the world of today considers addictions to alcohol, drugs, food, sex, hoarding and many more sins as diseases. Yes, SIN is disease.

“When Israel was a Child, then I loved Him, and called Him out of Egypt.”
(Hosea 11:1)

“These are they which were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These are they which follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” (Rev. 14: 4)

One last note-

If pressed by those who would ask, I am not a member of any physical church body at this time. My beliefs today would be found similar to the reformed teachings found in the earlier church age. I am not against all organized religion, as there may yet be found a very few God fearing church congregations, but I believe the time is close, if not already upon us, that there has come a ‘falling away’.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition”. 2Thessalonians 2:3

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