Still, as Paul states, people remained aware of good and had the opportunity to choose either to do good or to do evil. But soon almost all people began to do only evil, and in order for mankind not to be destroyed because of sin, Yehowah Elohim had to devise a plan of salvation for us.
Since people were unable to do perfectly good and pleasing deeds to their Creator, our Creator decided to save people only on the basis of faith in the heart. Acc. to this, anyone, even a person who has fallen into the power of many sins, can receive eternal life as a gift only by his faith.
Faith must be directed to the only begotten Son of Elohim named Yeshua HaMashiach so that after hearing the Message of Salvation, a person believes in his heart that Yeshua died as a sinless man for his sins, He rose from the dead, and confesses with his mouth Yeshua as his Lord.
The irreplaceable importance of Adonai Yeshua in our salvation
The sins of men require atonement, and the only perfect atonement sacrifice accepted by Elohim is His only begotten Son, who, suffering innocently, bore all our sins to Calvary and took them away from us by dying on the cross for our sins. For the wages of our sins was death!
Romans 6:22-23
>>22 But now being set free from sin, and being enslaved to Elohim, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of Elohim is everlasting life in Mashiach Yeshua our Adonai.<<
Passover, in Hebrew Pesach, signifies the New Covenant for believers in Yeshua, the perfect reconciliation between man and the Holy Elohim. Yeshua HaMashiach purchased us with his holy blood to be a royal priesthood for his Father. Yeshua HaMashiach is our sin offering forever before his Father Yehowah Elohim!
1 Pet. 2:9-10
>>9 But you are "an elect race," "a royal priesthood," "a holy nation," "a people for possession," so that "you may openly speak of the virtues" of the One who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (LXX-Ex. 23:22; MT-Ex. 19:5, 6) 10 you who then were "not a people, but now are the people" of Elohim; "the one not pitied then but now pitied." (Hos. 1:6, 9 2:1, 23).<<
The sins of men require atonement, and the only perfect atonement sacrifice accepted by Elohim is His only begotten Son, who, suffering innocently, bore all our sins to Calvary and took them away from us by dying on the cross for our sins. For the wages of our sins was death!
Romans 6:22-23
>>22 But now being set free from sin, and being enslaved to Elohim, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of Elohim is everlasting life in Mashiach Yeshua our Adonai.<<
1 Pet. 2:9-10
>>9 But you are "an elect race," "a royal priesthood," "a holy nation," "a people for possession," so that "you may openly speak of the virtues" of the One who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (LXX-Ex. 23:22; MT-Ex. 19:5, 6) 10 you who then were "not a people, but now are the people" of Elohim; "the one not pitied then but now pitied." (Hos. 1:6, 9 2:1, 23).<<
Emotional balance even in times of persecution
We must first achieve it in a peaceful state. We achieve it with the guidance of the Holy Spirit through regular Bible reading and study, and by praying always in the Spirit and in Truth. It is a matter of our daily choice, for the Lord will never force us to associate with Him.
Let us submit our will, our aspirations, our hopes and dreams, saying to Yeshua: "You know me and you know what I would like to do with my life, but when I gave my life into your hands, I also gave you complete control over my will and my future."
If we do, as Adonai Yeshua said in Gethsemane: "Not my will, but yours be done," then we can be sure that Yeshua will lead us in our lives on the best path to finally home in heaven with him, his Father, all the other saved and glorious spirit beings!
We will all face persecution and Satan's wrath during our earthly life, but it is only a short time compared to eternity and Adonai Yeshua will protect and preserve us in all dangers that come our way and by His power will provide a way out of them all!
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Two memories related to my emotional life
A. Deep joy and gratitude in the midst of misery, influenced by faith. I was working in Sweden for the summer in 1977 at a rubber factory in Svaneholm, near Borås, called Firestone-Viskafors Ab.
After two months there, I got another day job in the guillotine department with a young Spanish man named Tony. Only we worked there. The job was to cut rubber blanks of about a cubic meter into pieces of suitable size for further processing. He was an open-minded guy, but very depressed because the summer was very rainy and the sunshine was very rare.
He was a Roman Catholic and did not talk about religion at all. He was a handsome young man and was engaged to a beautiful Swedish girl. He only intended to work in Sweden until he could save up enough money to buy a new car and move back with his girlfriend to the sunny coast of Spain. One rainy Monday morning, I decided to surprise him and while we were talking in English, I asked him with a smile: “Have you already remembered to give thanks to the Lord for this wonderful day?”
He started laughing and going crazy. Then he left the workplace for a moment and returned with a 5-liter can of paint and a paintbrush. I wondered what on earth he was going to do? He painted the same sentence on the dark brown wall with yellow paint, in cat-sized letters, across the entire width of the wall: HAVE YOU ALREADY REMEMBERED GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR THIS WONDERFUL DAY? (Hand to heart, reader, have you already remembered?)
I knew it wouldn't do any good, because we had an old Finnish public communist as our supervisor in that department. When he came for an inspection shortly after and happened to glance at the wall, he was horrified! Then he shouted: "Leif, did you write that?" I replied: "No I didn't." Then he asked: "Who did it?" I replied: "I know, but I won't tell."
He looked at both of us in turn and said: “I will bring you solvent and I demand that you wash that text off the wall immediately!” He brought solvent and rags. Then we washed the text off. After the supervisor left, we laughed out loud at his horrified expression when he saw the text. (He must later have had nightmares about us turning a rubber factory into a temple.)
After that, I wrote on the edge of the guillotine “Gud är Kärleken!” (God is Love) and the supervisor did not interfere. The message about that text spread to others in the factory and people came one by one and two to look at the text on the guillotine. Many had smiles on their faces. They had also heard about that previous text. It brightened for many a gray day at the factory and hopefully caused their hearts to turn in faith to the Savior.
B. Deep depression and grief in extreme circumstances. This happened in midwinter in the beginning of 1977, one Thursday, on my way to my mother's in Borås, Sweden.
I had to leave the Kibbutz in Israel quickly. It was a shock to arrive from the warmth of Israel (25 C / 77 F) to Finnish cold in Helsinki with -25 C / -13 F. I had no apartment or job in Finland. Just before leaving Israel, I had received a telegram from my mother: "Leave Israel immediately and come to your mother in Borås!" That is the only telegram I have ever received, and it came at just the right time. When Adonai leads, when one door closes, He always opens another one!
I had reached Stockholm by ship and managed to send my suitcase weighing 30 kg as train freight to Borås. That was when I ran out of money, and I didn't know anyone in Stockholm. It was a very cold winter. Then even in Stockholm it was -18 C / -0,4 F! I prayed for help from above. I asked for food to satisfy my hunger, a place to sleep, and that I could get to my mother before the Shabat began.
I had promised to witness about my Lord to everyone I could hitchhike with during my trip. I had already gotten a few rides and had made it a little south of Södertälje from Stockholm. A man dropped me off at an unmanned gas station next to the highway and warned me not to hitchhike on the highway, as it was illegal. I decided to wait for people to stop by the gas station.
It was almost 11 pm and there were no more cars on the highway. None of the few passing cars drove off to the gas station. I had sung in my heart all the hymns of praise to the Lord that I knew by heart, but still disbelief crept into my heart that I would have to spend the night outside and die in the bitter cold. There was not a single house in sight. Then I sighed: "This is hopeless!"
Immediately I heard a small voice: "Abraham also hoped, even though there was no hope." It immediately lit a flame of faith in my heart and I went to hitchhike along the highway singing praises, because emergency knows no law. My fingers and toes were already cold from the cold, but the flame of faith burned in my heart.
A few minutes later, a driver passed me at high speed, but stopped and reversed about 100 m back to me, opened the door and asked in Swedish. I didn't understand and asked him to speak English, he said: "I couldn't believe my eyes that somebody is asking for a free trip here at midnight!" I told him that I was on my way to my mother in Borås and as he took me to the Norrköping train station, I confessed my faith in Jesus.
He lived near Norrköping and bought me a train ticket for a train cabin and gave me 20 SEK to buy food. He bought a train ticket via Karlstad to Gothenburg and from there a connection by train to Borås. The journey to Gothenburg took 7 hours and 42 minutes, so I had time to sleep well in the warm cabin. I bought food in Gothenburg and changed to a local train. I arrived in Borås at 2 pm on Friday before the Shabat began. So all three of my prayers were answered. HalleluYah!
I had gotten his name 'Leif Lindfors' (he was my namesake) and mailing address and sent him, from my first salary, back all the assistance he had given me, because he had recently married and was also in need of money, even though he had gotten a good job at Saab Data Ab in Stockholm. At the same time, I proved to him that, that as a Christian I did not want to benefit at the expense of others.
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Songs suitable for the topic
Please, note: Our Savior's original name in Hebrew is Yeshua HaMashiach HaNotzri
Gethsemane Song
Shadow of Shaddai (Psalm 91)
Song From Jerusalem to Jericho
You Alone Deserve Our Praise
Were You There - Good Friday Hymn
P.S. You can check out the interesting stages of my life from the link below. My life has been a great adventure. There have been successes and setbacks. Adonai Yeshua has always helped me!
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