The Gift of god The Gift of God | Page 582

Salvation through Born Again 178 ding to God’s will, though he heard of the living God but did not accept Him as his personal savior, lived seeking the praises of men 55 and thus God gave him up to the captive of death, thrown into the eternal lake of fire and brimst- one. After him one among those who shared his kingdom 56 became the emperor of the Roman kingdom as per the plan of God, exalted himself above God and boasted himself as demi-god 57 and persecuted those who believed in the Lord Christ Jesus, God gave him up to the death and cast their spirit into the fire and brimstone. 58 II O Presidents and Prime Ministers, many kings, great kings, and emperors left their foolish lives, knew the truth of the living God and entered into Paradise. Among them is – 59 Abraham who earlier used to sell idols and worshipped them as gods, but when God revealed Himself to him, he realized the only true God. 60 Among the kings in his gener- ation - Amraphel, Arioch, Ched- The Salvation is the Gift of God orlaomer, Tidal, Bera, Birsha, Shinab, Shemeber, Bela and defeated them all by knowing living God, called by God as Father of faith. He was a great king of honor. 61 Not only that and king Abimelech believed in the living God. God dealt well with Pha- raoh but as they opposed Him God cast them out as the dirt in the streets, caused they gre-at loss, 62 preserve it, making it an exa- mple to the coming judgment of God upon the world, whichever the country opposing God. 63-72 Likewise, when Assyria exalted above God, He threw the kings and the nation to the depths of the pit of Sheol. Aft- erwards He used the Babyl- onian kings and Medo and Persian kings as His witnesses. Then He bound the kings of Greek and Rome and put them in ward for the eternal judgm- ent. He put down the Roman kingdom and decided to give freedom and liberty to all huma- nity so gave every nation fr- eedom and liberty and still givi- ng. About this, it is written - for Salvation through Born Again 179 as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD (God of myth). Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s han- ds, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ The- refore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped The Salvation is the Gift of God by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now comma- nds all men everywhere to rep- ent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. 73 II And before He raised many kings, He elected Abrah- am as a great king, He appea- red to Moses in the bush who is an idol worshipping Israel youngster, 74 and commanded His statues and testimonies in writing so that all his blood relatives to follow and revealed to him how the glorious God will come into this world as Savior to save the hu- mankind from their sins. 75 But, after they entered into the Promised Land Canaan, the first king Saul’s heart stayed on God for some extent but as he sought the praises of men and followed the witchcraft which is equal to idolatry. So, God seve- rely punished him and gave him up to the death.