Life Is A Veil Of Tears

Genesis 35:19-20, “And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.”

I often think about the pain of soul Jacob felt. His own uncle Laban tricked him into marrying both of his daughters, when he only wanted Rachel. Laban cheated him at least ten times, lowering his wages. Then while giving birth to his second child by Rachel, Benjamin, she died in labor. And as if that weren't bad enough, then he receives word that Jacob, his firstborn by Rachel, was brutally killed by a savage beast. Jacob cast dust upon himself.

I once heard Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) say in a sermon that, “Life is a veil of tears.” I've been watching 'The Hulk' Marvel Comic series made for TV from 1977 to 1982. I became curious if Bill Bixby was still alive, so I went to check. For decades now, one of my hobbies is reading the biographies of famous people. I enjoy learning what they believe, and the events of their life, much like reading from the Old Testament, which according to Romans 15:4 was “written for our learning.”

Bill Bixby (1934-1993) was known as a kind and loving man, and a Christian, thankfully. In 1967 Brenda Benet (1945-1982) married her first husband. Just two years later in 1969 she divorced her husband and started dating Bill Bixby. They married in 1971. They had one child together in 1974, Christopher Sean. In September of 1979, after 8 years of marriage, Bixby and Benet divorced. Life is truly a veil of tears.

Benet became a lesbian and at age 33 had a sexual relationship with a 17 year old girl, Tammy Bruce, who is a well known LGBTQ+ celebrity and political figure today. One year later while on a skiing vacation, Christopher died at age 6 of a throat infection in March of 1981. Benet went into a deep depression and commit suicide in 1982, shooting herself in the head with a hand gun in Los Angeles. Life is truly a veil of tears.

In 1990, Bill Bixby married his second wife, Laura Michaels, but when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer shortly thereafter, she divorced him in 1991. Mr. Bixby married his third and final wife Judith Kiliban in October of 1993, but he died just one month later on November 21, 1993. Bill Bixby was only 59 years old, my age. Life is truly a veil of tears.

My heart goes out to Bill Bixby, Brenda Benet, Christopher and Judith Kiliban. I don't know why Laura abandoned her husband during his darkest hours of life. It is not my place to judge anyone. I am the biggest sinner that I know. Life is so short and full of pain, loss and tears.

Life is truly a veil of tears. The important thing is to make sure that you've been born again, so that you are prepared to meet God in the afterlife.

Does Living In Sin Prove That Someone Is Not A Christian

Matthew 7:15-16, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”

1st John 4:1-2, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.”

I read a disturbing comment on YouTube this week in which a man accused Pastor Steven Anderson of not being saved, because of the recent problems with his four oldest children. I felt compelled to weigh in and correct the man for his foolish assumption (typos are his)...

Ronnie Nichols: Just to be clear .... This guy is "not" a Christian, much less, much less, a man of God! .... He will answer to God this this.

Me: One's behavior has nothing to do with whether or not they have faith in Christ to be saved.

Ronnie Nichols: you must read your bible. You need to start with Matthew 7:16 "You can identify them ( "them being, a believer or follower of Jesus Christ ) by their "fruit", that is, by the way they act. " ... Your ACTIONS, prove more than your words. that vdo is proof of his actions.

Me: Well then half the saints in the Bible weren't saved according to your flawed theology. Noah got drunk. Samson chased unholy skirts. Abraham was a liar. Sarah laughed at the promise of God. Solomon was a sex pervert. Jacob was a cheat. David was an adulterer and murderer. Jesus found Peter butt naked in public after He resurrected from the dead. Ananias and Sapphira were killed by the Holy Spirit for fraud. Demas loved this present world and forsook Paul's side on a missionary journey. Kindly, you are the ignorant one.

It is sad that your hypocrisy and hatred is so strong that you want Steven Anderson to burn in Hell. You're no better than he is. Romans 6:1 teaches a Christian falls "in grace" but never "from grace." By all appearances the false prophets in Matthew 7:21-23 were saved, but Jesus denied knowing them as His sheep. You foolishly assume that "fruit" means one's behavior, but the only way to determine if someone is really saved is by a direct testimony from their own mouth concerning Jesus Christ. Pastor Steven Anderson has his faults, as also you and I do too, but he is a born again Christian according to the inspired Word of God, if you believe 1st Corinthians 15:1-4. SOURCE

Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty.

Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.

Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work.

If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from?

The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.

If salvation is truly by grace, then you don't need to start or stop anything to be saved. Eternal life is a free gift from God (Romans 6:23). 

One is saved by God's grace through faith in the finished Work of His Son on the Cross as payment in full as our pardon for sin.

If you have to look at your life to prove that you're saved, it just proves that you're not. The only thing that you and I contribute to our own salvation is the sin that made it necessary.

And once you get saved you are still a horrible sinner, and you will continue to be one until the good LORD calls you to go home to Heaven. That is the great deception behind the entire “repent of your sins” crowd today, because No one has ever repented to turn away from their sins; NO ONE! You may try hard to sin less, but you'll still be a dirty sinner.

There are only two categories:

1. You are either a saved dirty sinner whose sins have been washed away by the precious blood of Jesus in response to your faith in the Gospel.
2. Or else you are a lost dirty sinner who is still hellbound in your sins; living dangerously under the condemnation of God's Law.

Either way you and I are still dirty sinners! The only thing that makes you or I any more righteous than Jeffrey Dahmer, Judas Iscariot, Taylor Swift or Adolf Hitler is the blood of Jesus Christ that saves us (Romans 5:9; 1st Peter 1:18-19). I have no righteousness of my own to offer God, and neither do you (Isaiah 64:6). The only reason why I am going to Heaven one future day is because I am trusting in God's imputed righteousness, which is by faith alone in Jesus (Philippians 3:9).

Our POSITION in Christ is forever settled the moment we get saved. Our CONDITION in Christ depends upon our faithfulness day by day, which is discipleship not sonship. Lest we pervert the Gospel of free grace, it is imperative that we always keep salvation (Galatians 3:26) completely separate from service (Romans 12:1). Living in sin doesn't in any way prove that someone is not a born again believer.

It is a dangerous folly to attempt to judge who is saved or lost based upon one's manner of life. What saith the Scripture? 1st John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” It is the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit that confirms our faith in Jesus Christ as taught in the Scripture, giving us the full joy of assurance (1st John 1:4). The test is not how someone behaves; but rather, do you have the Holy Spirit?

If your whole trust is in what Jesus Christ did through Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago to pay for your sins—believing that He died on a cross in your place, and was buried, but then bodily resurrected from the dead three days later, you are saved. Your behavior has absolutely nothing to do with your decision to rely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. You simply need to believe that Jesus did it all for you.

Can Someone Deny Hell Fire And Still Be Saved?

Matthew 3:10-12, “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

I agree with Evangelist John R. Rice (1895-1980) in his Bible commentary on the Book of Matthew that Jesus baptizing sinners “with fire” refers to eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire. Verse 12 confirms this truth, “but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

I am sometimes asked the question: Can a sinner not believe in Hell and still be saved? I do believe that it is possible for someone to deny the existence of a literal burning Hell and still be saved, but it is weird and difficult to grasp. Someone could argue that if a lost sinner denies a literal burning Hell they are denying the deserved consequences of their sins. However, there are too many variables to just make a blanket statement regarding who is saved or lost.

I would humbly say that a person who denies the existence of Hell could certainly be a truly regenerate person. Christians have all kinds of theological weaknesses, strange ideas and blatant errors. We all struggle with this to some degree. No one has all the answers, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1st Corinthians 13:12). I don't think we should automatically assume that someone is not saved who professes faith in Jesus Christ, like Renee Roland on YouTube, but denies an eternal burning Hell for unbelievers.

To deny the reality of a burning Hell certainly raises the $64,000 question of whether or not a person is in the faith, because it is such a core teaching of inspired Scripture. I have never even questioned if Hell exists because the inspired King James Bible says that it does!

God doesn't require that we become a theologian to be saved; but rather, just to believe that Jesus did it all for us through Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago. I have read some bizarre religious tracts a mile long by religious zealots who demand that to be saved a sinner must believe in Jesus' deity, His virgin birth, sinless life, blood sacrifice applied to the heavenly Mercy Seat, Jesus' Second Coming, et cetera.

In sharp contrast, the Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 15:1-6 simply defines “the gospel” as Jesus' death on the cross, burial and resurrection from the dead three days later. John 20:31 teaches that to be saved we must believe Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God. 

You also need to know that you are a guilty sinner, otherwise why would you need a Savior? You need to know what you are being saved from. I admit that I have struggled over the years with the question of whether someone must believe in Hell to be saved. If there is no Hell, then why would you need a Savior? Yet, there is no debate that you must be born again if you want to go to Heaven. So, I am not dogmatic in this matter. I certainly could be wrong. I just think that God intentionally made getting saved very easy, free and simple, because there are a lot of stupid people in the world. I say that kindly in love, but truthfully.

It is quite easy for us as humans to try to categorize, standardize and normalize everything to fit into our finite mold of thinking. But I don't think it is that easy. The Bible defines the Gospel for us in 1st Corinthians 5:1-6. When I got saved at age 13, I didn't know Jesus is God. I didn't learn that theological truth until I was 18 years old in Bible college. But when I heard that Jesus is God, the indwelling Holy Spirit confirmed in my soul that it was the truth, and I gladly embraced Jesus' deity. I think I had always known that Jesus is God, but I just needed to hear someone say it for me to nail down that fundamental Bible doctrine.

There is a fine line between faith and foolishness. We must be very careful about adding MORE requirements to God's simple plan of salvation. It is obvious that when Roman Catholics add their Seven Sacraments to faith, they are not true born again believers. Adding even the least bit of work to faith negates God's saving grace, so that a person cannot be saved. This is exactly what the Scripture means in Galatians 5:4, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” No believer has ever fallen “from grace”; but rather, “in grace” (Romans 5:20, 6:1).