Trying all these easy ways like (verbal) faith-save, ritual-save, church-save, prayer-save etc. in my 55years Christ believing life’s early stage, I always fell. When I beseeched, I was directed to strive for the cross-bearing life by Christ again and again.
At the end I came to understand that to achieve a life of fruitfulness, cross is a must. Life begets life, no less. The begotten life is same as the begetter’s life. Since we are spiritual our begotten must be spiritual. But this world is created for carnal life, not spiritual life. All the living things we see around are soulless. Since souls are misfits here suffering is sure for them. Many trying to be happy here ignoring soul come to grief here, let alone eternity. I have experienced those terrible agonies of my atheist soul-ignoring parents. Whoever adores soul is sure to suffer (cross) by this soulless world and soul killing suicidal devil, its ruler. But, how we came in this soulless alien place, which Christ called as devil’s kingdom?
This is explained in scriptures in a crude way in humanity’s fall from spiritual heaven towards eternal death. But I couldn’t understand the hell-torment of dead souls. If souls are eternally dead they can’t suffer as we see in case of dead animals. I sought understanding from Christ who always gives us explanations. He knew that unless we understand to some extent we can’t believe it and put to use. He never stifled disciples’ questions, but explained according to their level of ancient understanding. But to modern us, living he explains in modern terms.
What we know by soul is really the personality of each one. It is made of many spiritual parts constructed by spiritual atoms as our body organs are made of material atoms. These are bound together by respective bonds of love. When this bond weakens by our anti-love actions(sin) we become weak in both body and soul. Our internal unity weakens and unity is the root of strength. At last soul (personality) disintegrate as in mad people even here. He doesn’t know who he is. Since he is soul-dead he can’t be punished by law. But in majority cases this death of soul-personality happens in after-life. But the hateful soul parts remain to suffer eternally by the like evil them. This explanation I received from Christ about eternal death and eternal torment. No one sends us there but we go to that state by ourselves in suicidal rejection of love.
But Absolute love Heavenly Father sent Christ to turn suicidal us back to love and life. But that make us to go against this inimical world, where we came rebelling against Love-God, the root of our life. Whoever shuns cross can never dare this soul-enemy world. So a Christ-follower must rejoice when world can no longer tolerate rising heavenliness in him but crucify. There is no way to rise over this world of death.
So, Christ bides us to bear the cross in repentance for rejecting Heaven, voluntary poverty, fasting, accepting hard responsibilities and persecution to be worthy of eternal fecund life. Heavens are bigger than earth as sun and stars are compared to earth. There we shall have to bear heavier travail of fruit bearing and governing responsibilities. Only that cross exercise here will prepare us for that supreme governing ability in heaven. But, to love-strengthened us there, it will seem delightfully light. Even here exercise of Christ-like penance and love-responsibility acceptance give health, strength, peace and fruitfulness overriding world’s rejection and persecution. Living on 8 dollar pm. diet I am far strong, active and hale than others of my age, living on ten times that.
Otherwise we shall fall when test will come. We see that far less than one percent professed Christians of compromising Christian churches succeeded when world wars happened in Europe. Success rate was far better among Russian church Christians, where more than a million martyrs died for Christ in the hands of communists. Still that was not more than one percent of professed Christians.
The test of third world war is near at hand. We must be diligent in the exercise of the cross, lest we fail. I am fearfully apprehensive of the easy life of middle class Christians here in India, let alone those of 1st world countries. NonChristians are scandalized by them to hate Christianity. We are given the cross-key of heavenly eternal life, but scarcely using that for us or others.
