A Ferrying Out Across the Great Divide—God’s Calling; Solzhenitsyn, Simon Peter, and Your Christian Freedom

The Wheat, the Remnant, those who took up their Cross, the Martys; clearly there is something of great value to God—something which we are afraid to offer by fear of Death.

A Ferrying Out Across the Great Divide—God’s Calling

John 21:18-19

Jesus to Simon Peter, after appearing resurrected on a beached shore…

18 † “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” 19 This He spoke, signifying † by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, † “Follow Me.”

Nelson, Thomas. NKJV, Holy Bible (p. 4360). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

This passage, the long drawn personal prophesy of Jesus spoken to Peter; where before hand Jesus asked Peter three times “Do you Love Me?”…”Feed My Sheep.”

I having contemplated what Martyrdom means both historically and appreciably. In what may come out of our future have I now understand God’s purpose. God is Evidently Ferrying Something Out of Us, and Out of Humanity. To our quickest understanding this looks to be Faith and Love. Faith in Jesus Christ Our Lord and Love of Our Neighbours. Now it was written that if you love God and not your brother then you are a lair. I say that you cannot fully love brother or neighbour without first loving your God.

Yet His Ways are not Our Ways. It Could be said that this life is a test, except the stakes are Real, Infinitely Greater and resonate for Eternity. God is truly separating Wheat from the Chaff which will only be revealed in final judgment. In ways that remain to be observed but which may manifest self-evidently to us during the course of our natural lives.

As God told Elijah in 1 Kings 19:18—There would then in Israel be a remnant of Seven Thousand People [Men or Women nondescript].

The Wheat, the Remnant, those who took up their Cross, the Martys; clearly there is something of great value to God—something which we are afraid to offer by fear of Death.

To Those Who Overcome the Holy City’s Gates will be opened. To Overcome, to be the Wheat is something wherefore you deny yourself even in the face of grave peril, torture and death.

As the Curse of the Chinese saying goes…We Live in Interesting (Evil) Times. The Forces of Darkness are mustering to deliver a Grey Dawn. Christianity may be Outlawed on Pain of Death in 50 odd years, or maybe sooner…

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn died in 2008, then a Year Later his Gulag Archipelago was made part of the Russia’s Mandatory High-school reading and curriculum. A Man who was consigned to die by the notorious Russian prison camp system, his words put the soviet past and regime to death rather. Sometimes the victories are clear cut in our living times, in yet still more time it will be made evident what part of the Books of Life you wrote (authored/lived-out) in the Life After Death…

I had a dream where I was tied to a mast of a ship being eaten by the Kraken, I was gripping for dear life. The maw of the sea-beast opened and then Jesus spoke clearly to me, saying ‘Just Let Go.’ I obeyed and dropped in to be swallowed by the ghastly mouth and fangs. I awoke to a serene setting of wooden tables and books; then Pastor Doug Wilson (a real life person) greeted me and said, while taking me under his arm “Your Part of the Book [the book of life] was the Best.” And, he said “I’ll be pleased to work with you in the future to come.” Then I awoke. The symbolism being that we each author our own portion of the Book of Life in our lives as we live them in obedience, faith and love towards God.

I often Pray that when the moment arrives I can have the Sheer Obedience [as with the Kraken in the dream] and Faith to Confess Christ’s Name, even if it means my own death. I will not know my part as such until such a moment may arise. And it may never be clear cut nor may I rise to meet the challenge so to speak. I am not guaranteed in myself of this. Though I hope and pray in the Lord that this is his Providence for me, to speak his name in Glory or else disappear into the potters ground. In the Way that Daniel was faithful even being cast into the Lion’s Den, I pray for this Kind of Faith and Obedience to God.

All of the Twelve Apostles died a violent Martyrs death. Peter Crucified Upside Down, Paul Beheaded. You Hear stories of missionaries in Africa executed by local gangs because they would not denounce Christ, then local faith blossoms in the wake of their Martyrdom.

And this martyrdom is non-violent at least from our side of the exchange.

We can even look on Earth to see what the Apostles spread in their deaths, the Gospel, the Faith, and the Church all over Europe. St. Peter’s Square now stands as the most Glorified and Well Known of Public Spaces and Christians make the pilgrimage to there.

This is all not to mention how our Lord Jesus Died, in Faith, with Love even for the Men who nailed him to the Cross and Scourged Him.

It is not contestable, God Cleary Long-Suffers for Our very Faith and For the Love we Share with each other (and yes that we share with our enemies-but not unto Satan). Death is the power of darkness over Man and the World. Jesus Showed in Resurrection that Death and Suffering have no lasting power, it takes God’s grace to realize this in our own lives.

So if the Day Comes when We are barred from worship under pain of Death. Worship We Must, Death we must not only Brave but Suffer. Do you Have this Kind of Faith? We can Hope and Maybe One Day We will Know. If you are unafraid or better put, made courageous by the Faith and Love in the Lord; you Will See Your God Face to Face in the New Jerusalem. This is what Christian Freedom Truly Is. Blessings and Good Tidings to You My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Amen. - Greg W.