The
Word tells us we are
to,
"...bear fruits
worthy of
repentance."
[Matt.3:8]
The
following is a
vision a brother in
Christ had over
several days.
It becomes
apparent, from the
vision, that
many of the phrases
so
many Christians
quote
often, are
doing nothing to
prepare them for
heaven or the Lord's
return!
We
are suppose to
examine ourselves,
in order
to identify our
sins,
and then refrain
from them.
We then
receive, from the
Lord, the strenghth
to practise
His righteousness.
This
is how we prepare
ourselves for heaven
or the Lord's
return.
This
vision reveals
to us what true
repentance
really is.
Ola.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I
was suddenly
overcome with a
deathly illness. My
whole head felt
worse and
worse.
I thought I
was about to die.
I
lay in bed in that
condition for three
and a half days. My
spirit developed
this sickness, and
then my body came
down with it as
well.
Then I heard
voices around me
saying, "Look, he is
lying dead in the
street of our city,
the one who was
preaching that we
should repent so
that our sins would
be forgiven.
They
asked some of the
clergy, "Is he
worthy of burial?"
The clergy
replied, "No. Let
him lie there as a
spectacle."
They kept
going away and
coming back to mock
me.
And I am
telling the truth
when I say that this
happened to me at
the very time that I
was
explaining
the eleventh chapter
of the Book of
Revelation.
Then I heard
more serious words
from the people who
had been mocking me,
especially these:
"How
can repentance be practised
apart from faith?
How can Christ
be adored as God?
Given
that we are saved
for free without our
deserving it at all,
what then do we need
except faith alone,
the faith that God
the Father sent the
Son to take away the
damnation of the
law.
To
credit us with his
own merit, to
justify us before
the Father, to
absolve us from our
sins, and then to
give us the Holy
Spirit, who
activates every good
thing within us?
Aren't
these points in
accordance with
Scripture and also
with reason?"
The crowd of
bystanders applauded
these statements.
I heard all
this but was unable
to respond because I
was lying there
almost dead.
After three
and a half days,
however, my spirit
regained its health.
In the spirit I
went from that
street into the
city, and I said
again,
"Practise
repentance and
believe in Christ,
and your sins will
be forgiven and you
will be saved.
If you do not,
you will perish.
The Lord himself
preached that we
must repent in order
for our sins to be
forgiven, and that
we must believe in
him.
He commanded the
disciples to preach
the same message.
Surely the
dogma of your faith
leads to utter
complacency about
the way you live!"
"What are you
babbling about?"
they replied.
"The Son has
made satisfaction.
The Father has
assigned us the
Son's credit and has
justified us for the
reason that these
are our beliefs.
We are now led by
the spirit of grace.
What sin could there
be within us?
What death could
there be among us?
Do you grasp this
Good News, you
preacher of sin and
repentance?"
Then a voice
from heaven said,
"Surely the faith of
someone who has not
practised
repentance is
nothing but a dead
faith.
The
end has come, the
end has come upon
you who are
complacent,
guiltless in your
own eyes, justified
by your own faith,
satans!"
At that moment
a chasm suddenly
opened up in the
middle of the city
and spread outward.
The houses were
falling in on each
other and the people
were swallowed up.
Soon water bubbled
up from the great
hole and flooded
what was already
devastated.
After they
sank to a lower
level and were
seemingly covered in
water, I wanted to
know what their
situation was like
in the depths.
A
voice from heaven
told me, "You will
see and hear."
Then the water
that had seemingly
flooded them
disappeared from
before my eyes.
(Water in the spirit
realm appears around
people who have
false beliefs.)
I saw the people
in a sandy place at
a great depth, where
there were piles of
stones. They were
running between the
piles of stones and
loudly bemoaning
their having been
cast out of their
great city.
They were
shouting and
wailing, "Why has
this happened to us?
We are clean, pure,
just, and holy
because of our
faith. Through our
faith we have been
cleansed, purified,
justified, and
sanctified."
Some among
them were saying,
"Hasn't our faith
made it possible for
us to appear before
God the Father and
be seen and esteemed
by him and declared
before angels as
clean, pure, just,
and holy?
Haven't we been
reconciled, atoned
for, ritually
purged, and
therefore absolved,
washed, and wiped
free of our sins?
Didn't Christ take
away the damnation
of the law? Why then
have we been thrown
down here like the
damned?
We
did hear from a bold
preacher of sin in our great city,
'Believe in Christ
and practice
repentance.'
But didn't we
believe in Christ
when we believed in
his merit? Didn't we
practice repentance
when we confessed
that we were
sinners? Why then
has this happened to
us?"
A voice was
then heard from the
side: "Are you aware
of any sin in
yourselves?
Have you ever
examined yourselves,
and then abstained
from any evil
because it is sinful
against God?
If you do not
abstain from sin,
then you are still
in it; and sin is
the Devil. You,
then, are the people
of whom the Lord
spoke when he said,
'You will then begin
to say,
"We ate and
drank with you. You
taught in our
streets." But he
will say, "I tell
you, I do not know
you, where you are
from.
Depart from me,
all you workers of
wickedness"' (Luke
13:26, 27).
Matthew 7:22, 23
is also about you.
Therefore go away,
each to your own
place. Do you see
the openings to
those caves?
Go in there, and
each of you will be
given your own work
to do, and food in
accordance with your
work. If you don't
go in, your hunger
will drive you in."
The voice said
loudly, "Beware!
Beware of
associating with
people like that.
Don't you
understand that
evils that are
called sins and acts
of wickedness make
us unclean and
impure?
How can you be
cleansed and
purified from them
except by active
repentance and by
faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ?
Active
repentance is
examining
yourselves,
recognizing and
admitting to your
sins, accepting that
you are at fault,
confessing them
before the Lord, begging
for his help and
power in resisting
them, stopping
doing them, and
living a new life.
All this
is to be done as if
you were doing it on
your own [for in
reality you are
doing it by the Holy
Spirit].
"Surely you
can all recognize
that if you do not
examine yourselves
and see your sins,
you remain in them.
From birth you find
all evils
delightful.
It feels good
to take revenge, to
be promiscuous, to
cheat, to slander,
and especially to
dominate others out
of love for
yourselves.
Because they
feel good you
overlook them. If
someone happens to
point out to you
that they are sins,
you make excuses for
them because they
feel good; you use
false arguments to
insist that they are
not sins, and you
stay in them.
And afterward you
do those evil things
more than you did
before, to the point
where you no longer
know what sin is or
even whether there
is such a thing.
"It
is different,
however, for people
who actively go
through a process of
repentance. The
evils that they
recognize and admit
to [in themselves]
they call sins. They
therefore begin to
abstain and turn
away from them.
Eventually
they begin to feel
the pleasure of
those evils as
unpleasant. The more
this happens, the
more they see and
love what is good,
and eventually even
feel delight in it,
which is the delight
that the saints
in heaven feel.
Briefly put,
the more we put the
Devil behind us, the
more we are adopted
by the Lord and are
taught, led, held
back from what is
evil, and kept in
what is good by him.
This
is the pathway
from hell to
heaven; there is
no other way."