You must live your whole life according to the Christ you have received - Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted in him and built on him and held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of thanksgiving, love and compassion. Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some secondhand, empty, rational, philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is the true head of men and angels.

In his body lives the fullness of divinity, and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every Sovereignty and Power. - Colossians 2:6-10 -

Live your life according to the true faith in Christ Jesus, NOT according to the half true, fairly tale story of the Lord Jesus Christ, that emanated from and based on false teaching. "There was a lawyer who, to disconcert Jesus, stood up and said to him, 'Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus Christ said to him, 'What is written in the Law? What do you read there?' The lawyer replied, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour (brothers and sisters) as yourself'. You have answered right,' said Jesus 'do this and life is yours.'" - Luke 10:25-28 ; Matthew 22:34-40 -  

One day while they were offering worship to the Lord Jesus Christ and keeping a fast, the Holy Spirit said, 'I want Barnabas and Saul set apart for the work to which I have called them'. So it was that after fasting and prayer they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So these two, sent on their mission by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. They landed at Salamis and proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; John acted as their assistant. 

They travelled the whole length of the island, and at Paphos they came in contact with a Jewish magician called Bar-jesus. This false prophet was one of the attendants of the proconsul Sergius Paulus who was an extremely intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and asked to hear the word of God, but Elymas Magos-as he was called in Greek-tried to stop them so as to prevent the proconsul's conversion to the faith. Then Saul, whose other name is Paul, looked him full in the face and said, 'You utter fraud, you impostor, you son of the devil, you enemy of all true religion, why don't you stop twisting the straightforward ways of the Lord Jesus Christ? Now watch how the hand of the Lord will strike you: you will be blind, and for a time you will not see the sun.' That instant, everything went misty and dark for him/Elymas Magos, and he groped about to find someone to lead him by the hand. The proconsul, who had watched everything, became a believer, being astonished by what he had learnt about the Lord Jesus Christ. - Acts 13:2-12 - 

Saint/Apostle Paul does more than denounce false teaching. The best medicine is a firm grip on who Jesus Christ is and what He did for our salvation. In Christ Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom, understanding and knowledge, and "in Him all fullness" dwells. In fact, "The Lord Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God." He has stripped every power opposed to Him, wiped out every accusation against us, and actually reconciled all things to Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only head of the Universal Church, but He stands all time and above every power, and at the end of all history. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of all creation.

He is the image of the unseen God
and the first-born of all creation,
for in him were created
all things in heaven and on earth:
everything visible and everything invisible,
Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers -
all things were created through him and for him.

Before anything was created, he existed,
and he holds all things in unity.
Now the Church is his body,
he is its head.

As he is the Beginning,
he was first to be born from the dead,
so that he should be first in every way;
because God wanted all perfection
to be found in him
and all things to be reconciled through him and for him,
everything in heaven and everything on earth,
when he made peace
by his death on the cross. - Colossians 1:15-20 -

Work for your salvation 'in fear and trembling'. It is God for his own loving purpose, who puts both the will and the action into you. Do all that has to be done without complaining or arguing and then you will be innocent and genuine, perfect children of God among a deceitful and underhand brood, and you will shine in the world like bright stars because you are offering it the word of life. - Philippians 2:12-16 -

If anyone is ignorance and skeptical of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, it is mainly because today, peoples had turned the church into a free enterprise or has become a business operation. Try to access the Internet and by no surprise, anyone, who claimed he and she read and knows the Bible well and have faith, he or she can be ordained as pastors by another pastor, and will help linking them to some churches and simultaneously help them to start or establish a new church. Our faith, hope and love of our Lord Jesus Christ should be in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that established by Him (the Lord Jesus Christ), not by any person or anyone or because of any person influences and feeling good.

Many try to imply that it was Peter's faith on which Jesus established the Church. But closer examination of the words of Jesus reveal that the selection and appointment was of divine nature. Christians, clinging to the notion that the Church was build on the faith of Peter. Sorry and sad to said, their thinking and understanding is entirely and completely on their own merit, without God's grace.

 - Matthew 16:15-19 - 'But you,' Jesus said 'who do you say I am?' Then Simon Peter spoke up, 'You are the Christ,' he said 'the Son of the living God.' Jesus replied, Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you; You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven. - Matthew 16:15-19 -

"This is what you are to teach them to believe and persuade them to do. Anyone teaches anything different, and does not keep to the sound teaching which is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine which is in accordance with true religion, is simply ignorant and must be full of self-conceit - with a craze for questioning everything and arguing about words. All that can come of this is jealousy, contention, abuse and wicked mistrust of one another, and unending disputes by people who are neither rational nor informed and imagine that religion is a way of making a profit.

Religion, of course, does bring large profits, but only to those who are content with what they have. We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it; but as long as we have food and clothing, let us be content with that. People who long to be rich are a prey to temptation; they get trapped into all sorts of foolish and dangerous ambitions which eventually plunge them into ruin and destruction. The love of money is the root of all evils and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith, and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds.

But, as people dedicated to God, you must avoid all that. You must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle. Fight the good fight of the faith and win for yourself the eternal life to which you were called when you made your profession and spoke up for the truth in front of many witnesses." - 1 Timothy 6:3-12 -

Apostle/Saint Paul does more than denounce half true and false teaching. The best medicine is a firm grip on who Jesus Christ is and what He did for our salvation. In Christ Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom, understanding and knowledge, and "in Him all fullness" dwells. In fact, "The Lord Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God." He has stripped every power opposed to Him, wiped out every accusation against us, and actually reconciled all things to Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only head of the Universal Church, but He stands all time and above every power, and at the end of all history. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of all creation.

Saving faith is also a personal commitment of one's life to following Christ in obedience to His commands. "But if anyone of you should suffer for being Christian, then he is not to be ashamed of it; he should thank God that he has been called one." - 1 Peter 4:16 - Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead. 

This is the way to talk to people of that kind; You say you have faith and I have good deeds; I will prove to you that I have faith by showing you my good deeds - now you prove to me that you have faith without any good deeds to show. You believe in the one God - that is credible enough but the demons have the same belief and they tremble with fear. Do realise, you senseless man that faith without good deeds is useless. You surely know that Abraham our father was justified by his deed because he offered his son Isaac on the altar? There you see it: faith and deeds were working together; his faith became perfect by what he did. This is what scripture really means when it says; Abraham put his faith in God and this was counted as making him justified and that is why he was called 'the friend of God'. - James 2:17-23 -

To deepen the spiritual lives and while guarding against half true and false teaching and false prophets, test them, to see if they come from God. By emphasizing the divine nature of Jesus the false teachers and fake prophets appeared to be Christians and non-Christians; but they showed their true colours by denying that God became a true human in Jesus.(fully human and fully Divine.) Anyone who claimed to have the Spirit of God, they were actually false teachers and fake prophets.

It is not every spirit, my dear people that you can trust;
test them, to see if they come from God;
there are many false prophets, now, in the world.
You can tell the spirits that come from God by this;
every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh
is from God;
but any spirit which will not say this of Jesus
is not from God,
but is the spirit of Antichrist,
whose coming you were warned about.
Well, now he is here, in the world.

Children,
you have already overcome these false prophets,
because you are from God and you have in you
one who is greater than anyone in this world;
as for them, they are of the world,
and so they speak the language of the world
and the world listens to them.
But we are children of God,
and those who know God listen to us;
those who are not of God refuse to listen to us.
This is how we can tell
the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood. - 1 John 4:1-6 -

What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit. We must stop being conceited, provocative and envious.  - Galatians 5:22-26 -

True Christian love is not something merely to talk about but to do. Active love gives us confidence before God. A person must examine various spiritual manifestation to determine if they are of God; only those who confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh are of God. In His love God sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for sin. As a consequence we are to love one another.

The presence of Antichrists, who deny that Jesus is the Christ, is a sign of the end times. But true believers rest secure in the anointing of the Holy Spirit which they have from Christ. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns, His children will be like Him. Whoever abides in the Lord Jesus Christ does not continue to sin habitually or constantly. Amen!

These words seem simple on the surface. But in the hands of one who had pondered the mystery and meaning of Jesus' existence in human form, they yield many deep truths. "Through your faith, God's power will guard you until the salvation which has been prepared is revealed at the end of time. This is a cause of great joy for you, even though you may for a short time have to bear being plagued by all sorts of trials; so that, when Jesus Christ is revealed, your faith will have been tested and proved like gold - only it is more precious than gold, which is corruptible even though it bears testing by fire - and then you will have praise and glory and honour. You did not see him, yet you love him; and still without seeing him, you are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described, because you believe; and you are sure of the end to which your faith looks forward, that is, the salvation of your souls." - 1 Peter 1:5-9 -

If you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. - 1 Peter 4:14 -

It is only on account of this that I am experiencing fresh hardships here now; but I have not lost confidence because I know who it is that I have put my trust in and I have no doubt at all that he is able to take care of all that I have entrusted to him until that Day. - 2 Timothy 1:12 -

No one can hurt you if you are determined to do only what is right; if you do have to suffer for being good, you will count it a blessing. There is no need to be afraid or to worry about them. And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong. - 1 Peter 3:13-14, 3:17 -

We can boast about God's glory. But that is not all we boast about; we can boast about our sufferings. These sufferings bring patience, as we know, and patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope, and this hope is not deceptive because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us. - Romans 5:2-5 -

I think that what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed which is waiting for us. The whole creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal his sons. It was not for any fault on the part of creation that it was made unable to attain its purpose, it was made so by God; but creation still retains the hope of being freed, like us, from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God. - Romans 8:18-21 -

But to tell the truth, even if I distressed you by my letter, I do not regret it. I did regret before, and I see that letter did distress you, at least for a time; but I am happy now - not because I made you suffer, but because your suffering led to your repentance. Yours has been a kind of suffering that God approves, and so you have come to no kind of harm from us. To suffer in God's way means changing for the better and leaves no regrets, but to suffer as the world knows suffering brings death. - 2 Corinthians 8-10 -

None of you should ever deserve to suffer for being a murderer, a thief, a criminal or an informer; but if anyone of you should suffer for being a Christian, then he or she is not to be ashamed of it; he or she should thank God that he or she has been called one. - 1 Peter 4:16 -

I thank my God whenever I think of you; and every time I pray for all of you, I pray with joy, remembering how you have helped to spread the Good News from the day you first heard it right up to the present. - Philippians 1:3-5 -

The Lord Jesus Christ continued to be the source of life. The New Testament expanded on the Old Testament idea of life. The word life began to refer to more than physical existence. It took on a strong spiritual meaning, often referring to the spiritual life that results from man's relationship with God. Eternal life means more than eternal existence. And it is refers to eternal fellowship with God.

Anyone who believe in the Son has eternal life,
but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life:
the anger of God stays on him. - John 3:36 -

Do not work for food that cannot last,
but work for food that endures to eternal life,
the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you,
for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal. - John 6:27 -

Eternal life is the highest quality of life. According to the Apostle/Saint Augustine of Hippo and Apostle/Saint Paul, it is freedom from sin, holiness and a positive relationship with God. This is in contrast to spiritual death, which results from a life of sin. In St. Augustine's classical expression: "These two cities were made by two loves: the earthly city by the love of self unto the contempt of God, and the heavenly city by the love of God unto the contempt of self." (Book 14, c. 28) The earthly city glories in its own power, the heavenly in the power of God. The Book of Life is a heavenly book in which the names of "all those whom God loves" are written. The concept of God's having a "BOOK OF LIFE" was probably first enunciated by Moses, who prayed that God would blot him out of God's book rather than dooming his fellow Israelites.

When you were slaves of sin, you felt no obligation to righteousness and what did you get from this? Nothing but experiences that now make you blush, since that sort of behaviour ends in death. Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:20-23 -

In the New Testament, in which the Greek word for 'soul' is translated as 'life.' Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light. - Matthew 11:28-30 -

Anyone who loves his/her life loses it; 

anyone who hates his/her life in this world

will keep it for eternal life.

If a man/woman serves me, he/she must follow me,

wherever I am, my servant will be there too.

If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him/her. - John 12:25-26; Matthew 16:24-28; Luke 9:23-26 -

-     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.   

In the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible - The Greek word for soul is translated as life. The best example of this usage are those passages in the Old and New Testament. In the Old Testament: The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible refers the human soul - is the part of a person or human being that is not physical but part of every person/human being that lasts eternally after the body experiences death. - Genesis 35:16-20 - The birth of Benjamin and the death of Rachel - They left Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to be in labour, and her pains were severe. But in her difficult delivery the midwife said to her, 'Do not be afraid; you have another son here'. At the moment when she breathed her last, for she was dying, she named him Ben-oni. His father however named him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, at Bethlehem. Jacob raised a monument on her grave, and this is the monument of the tomb of Rachel which is still there today. 

In the - CONCLUDING DISCOURSE - Israel, the people of Yahweh - Yahweh your God today commands you to observe these laws and customs; you must keep and observe them until your heart and with all your soul. - Deuteronomy 26:16 -

- Return from exile and repentance - Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, until you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and soul, and so have life. -

And in the New Testament, Jesus spoke of his soul as being 'exceedingly sorrowful, 'My soul is sorrowful to the point of death. - Matthew 26:38 - Now my soul is troubled. - John 12:27 -

Mary, the mother of Jesus, proclaimed that her soul 'magnifies the Lord.' - Luke 1:46 -

It is also present in the Old Testament. For examples, the soul of a dying person departed at death. - Genesis 35:18 - The soul is described as the seat of many emotions and desires: the desire for food. - Deuteronomy 12:20-21 - love - The Song of Songs 1:7 - longing for God - Psalms 63:1 - rejoicing - Psalms 86:4 - knowing - Psalms 139:14 - memory - Lamentations 3:20 - 

For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of my gospel, will save it. What gain, then, is it for man to win the whole world and ruin his life? And indeed what can a man offer in exchange for his life? For if anyone in this adulterous and sinful generation is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him or her when he comes in glory of his Father with the holy angels. - Mark 8:35-38 - Luke 9:23-26 - 

Anyone who loves his life loses it;
anyone who hates his life in this world
will keep it for the eternal life. - John 12:25 -

Apostle/Saint John prayed that Gaius would 'prosper in all things and be in good health and spiritually and as your soul prospers. - 3 John 2-3 -The prophet Elijah brought a child back to life by stretching himself upon the child three times and praying that God would let the child's soul come back into him. - 1 Kings 17:19-24 - This means more than being given physical life; the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible declares that man became a "living soul" or a person, a human being, one distinct from all other animals.

*** The new certitude of the convert, then, is a precious thing and very different from the abandonment of will and intellect some imagine it to be. But the full tale of the benefits from conversion is not ended. We must speak of another christening gift - peace of soul. There is a world of difference between peace of mind and peace of soul. Peace of mind is the result of bringing some ordering principle to bear on discordant human experiences; this may be achieved by tolerance, or by a gritting of one's teeth in the face of pain; by killing conscience, or denying guilt, or by finding new loves to assuage old griefs. Each of these is an integration, but on a very low level.

This kind of peace Our Lord calls false, and He likens it to living under the dominion of Satan: "When a strong man fully armed guard his palace, his possession are safe." - Luke 11:21 - It is the peace of those who have convinced themselves they are animals; the peace of the stone-deaf whom no word of truth can pierce; the peace of the blind who guarded themselves against every ray of heavenly light. It is the false peace of the slothful servant who had the same talent at the end as at the beginning because he ignored the judgment that would demand an account of his stewardship. It is the false peace of the man who built his house on the shifting road, so that it varnished with the floods and the storms. With such false peace of mind, Satan tempts his victims; he makes it seems refined to the refined, sensual to the sensual, and coarse to the coarse.

Conversion brings the soul out of either chaos or this false peace of mind to true peace of soul. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid." - John 14:27 - The true peace is born of the tranquility of order, wherein the senses are subject to the reason, the reason to faith, and the whole personality to the Will of God. The true peace that follows conversions is deepened, not disturbed, by the crosses, checks, and disquietude of the world, for they are all welcomed as coming from the hands of the Loving Father. The true peace can never come from adjustment to the world, for if the world is wicked, adjustments to wickedness make us worse. It comes only from identification of one's own will with the Will of God.

The peaceful soul does not seek, now, to live morally, but to live for God; morality is only a by-product of the union with Him. This peace unites the soul with his/her neighbor, prompting him/her to visit the sick, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked; for by loving another soul and gives to God.

The only real pain the convert now has is his inability to do more for the love of God. It is easy to fulfill the claims of lesser ideals, such as Humanism, and their disciples quickly become complacent; there are already as virtuous as their code asks them to be. It is very easy to be a good Humanist, but it is very hard to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. Yet it is not the memory of past sins that creates this pain amid the peace, but present shortcomings: Because the convert loves so much, he feels as if he had done nothing. What gift can ever be an expression of this new love? If he could give God the universe, even that would not be enough.

And there are many other ways in which peace of soul will manifest itself after conversion. It makes somebody out of nobody by giving them a service of Divine Sonship; it roots out anger, resentments, and hate by overcoming sin; it gives the convert faith in other people, whom he now sees as potential children of God; it improves his health by curing the ills that sprang from a disordered, unhappy, and restless mind; for trails and difficulties, it gives him the aid of Divine power; it brings him at all times a sense of harmony with the universe; it sublimates his passions; it makes him fret less about the spiritual shortcomings of the world because he is engrossed in seeking his own spirituality; it enables the soul to live in a constant consciousness of God's presence, as the earth, in its flight about the sun, carries its own atmosphere with it.

Who are the prospects for conversion? How are the men and women set apart who will, in a year or two, seek out the Church? What kind of people need conversion? There is no special temperament, no unique mood that marks the next year's convert. Everyone in the world is looking for certitude, peace of soul, and freedom of spirit. In the quest of every pleasure, even in the pursuit of the unlawful, all people pursue their ceaseless quest of the Infinite. Where they look for God is the only question on which they differ. In this they are divided, as music lovers are: The music we love is the music we already have in our souls. The disordered soul likes discordant music; the unregulated will enjoys unregulated dissonances and rejects the finer, better orchestrated symphonies. It might take considerable education and self-discipline to make jive-loving minds appreciate the "Leonore" No.3, overture, or any work of Handel, Mozart, or Beethoven. Yet the love of some kind of music is in everyone; it is in the kind of music one loves that the difference lies, and no one enjoys good music without training and discipline.

Everyone wants the things that only a love of God will bring, but most people today seek them in a wrong places. That is why no one comes to God without a revolution of the spirit; a person must stop seeking his good in Godlessness. "And this is the judgment: because the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light, and comes not to the light, that his works may not be reproved." - John 3:19-20 - Anyone who turns his face toward the light will be  converted; but the turning must be done of his or her own free will. One can bribe tyrants, coax Quislings, flatter dictators, but there is no way to win God's love except by love. To each soul, He is forever saying, "Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock." Shall we refuse to open it? To each mind, he reiterates, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life." - John 14:6 -

*** By Venerable/Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895 - 1979)

Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." Jesus, "The Author of life," by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage." Henceforth, the risen Christ holds "the keys of Death and Hades," so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." - CCC # 635 - Matthew 12:24; John 5:25; Acts 3:15; Romans 10:7; Hebrew 2:14-15 -

"By the grace of God" Jesus tasted death "for everyone." In his plan of salvation, God ordained that his Son should not only "die for our sins" but should also "taste death," experience the condition of death, the separation of his soul from his body, between the time he expired on the cross and the time he was raised from the dead. The state of the dead Christ is the mystery of the tomb and the descent into hell. It is the mystery of Holy Saturday, when Christ, lying in the tomb, reveals God's great Sabbath rest after the fulfillment of man's salvation, which brings peace to the whole universe. -CCC # 624 - John 19:30,42;  1 Corinthians 15:3; Hebrews 2:9, 4:7-9; Colossians 1:18-20 -

Since the "Author of life" who was killed is the same "living one [who has] risen" the divine person of the Son of God necessarily continued to possess his human soul and body, separated from each other by death: - CCC # 626 - Acts 3:15; Luke 24:5-6 -

By the fact that at Christ's death his soul was separated from his flesh, his one person is not itself divided into two persons; for the human body and soul of Christ have existed in the same way from the beginning of his earthly existence, in the divine person of the Word; and in death, although separated from each other, both remained with one and the same person of the Word. - Saint John Damascene -

The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was "raised from the dead" presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there. - CCC # 632 - Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:20; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 3:18-19 -

The Book of Life is a heavenly book in which the names of "all those whom God loves" are written. The concept of God's having a "BOOK OF LIFE" was probably first enunciated by Moses, who prayed that God would blot him out of God's book rather than dooming his fellow Israelites.

On the following day Moses said to the people, 'You have committed a grave sin. But now I shall go up to Yahweh: perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.' And Moses returned to Yahweh. 'I am grieved' he cried 'this people has committed a grave sin, making themselves a god of gold. And yet, if it pleased you to forgive this sin of theirs...! But if not, then blot me out from the book that you have written.' Yahweh answered Moses, It is the man who has sinned against me that I shall blot out from my book. - Exodus 32:30-33 -

This concept likely arose from the practice of registering people by genealogy and keeping a record of priests and Levites.

The city was large and spacious but the population was small, and no new families were growing up. My God therefore inspired me to assembly the authorities, the officials and the people for the purpose of taking a census by families. I discovered the genealogical register of those who had returned in the first group, and there I found entered: - Nehemiah 7:4-5 -

Charge them with crime after crime,
deny them further access to your righteousness,
blot them out of the book of life,
strike them off the roll of the virtuous! - Psalms 69:27-28 -

You had scrutinised my every action,
all were recorded in your book,
my days listed and determined,
even before the first of them occurred. - Psalms 139:16 -

At that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who mounts guard over your people. There is going to be a time of great distress, unparalleled since nations first came into existence. When that time comes, your own people will be spared, all those whose names are found written in the Book. [the Book of Life or the Book of the Predestinate] Of those who lie sleeping in the dust of the earth many will awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting disgrace. The learned will shine as brightly as the vault of heaven, and those who have instructed many in virtue, as bright as stars for all eternity.

But you, Daniel, must keep these words secret and the book sealed until the time of the End. Many will wander this way and that, and wickedness will go on increasing. - Daniel 12:1-4 -

A stream of fire poured out,
issuing from his presence.
A thousand thousand waited on him,
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
A court was held
and the books were opened. - Daniel 7:10 -

Those who prove victorious will be dressed, like these, in white robes; I shall not blot their names out of the book of life, but acknowledge their names in the presence of my Father and his angels. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. - Revelation 3:5-6 -

Then I saw a great white throne and the One who was sitting on it. In his presence, earth and sky vanished, leaving no trace. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing in front of his throne, while the book of life was opened, and other books opened which were the record of what they had done in their lives, by which the dead were judged.

The sea gave up all the dead who were in it; Death and Hades were emptied of the dead that were in them; and everyone was judged according to the way in which he had lived. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the burning lake. This burning lake is the second death; and anybody whose name could not be found written in the book of life was thrown into the burning lake. - Revelation 20:11-15 -

Nothing unclean may come into it: no one who does what is loathsome or false, but only those who are listed in the Lamb's book of life. - Revelation 21:27 -

- The Book of Life is a heavenly book in which the names of "all those whom God loves" are written. The concept of God's having a "BOOK OF LIFE" was probably first enunciated by Moses, who prayed that God would blot him out of God's book rather than dooming his fellow Israelites. -

By the expression "He descended into hell," the Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil "who has the power of death." - CCC # 636 -

In his human souls united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him. - CCC # 637 -

God is the source of life. God first filled Adam with the source of life and He continues to be the source of all life. "Yahweh God fashioned man of dust from the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and thus man became a living being." - Genesis 2:7 -

The New Testament expanded on the Old Testament idea of life. The word life began to refer to more than physical existence. It took on a strong spiritual meaning, often referring to the spiritual life that results from man's relationship with God. Eternal life means more than eternal existence. And eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent, and let the Lord Jesus Christ give eternal life to all those You have entrusted to Him. Thus, eternal life is the highest quality of life. It is freedom from sin, a compassionate, and holiness relationship with God. This is in contrast to spiritual death, which results from a life of sin.

When you were slaves of sin, you felt no obligation to righteousness, and what did you get from this? Nothing but experiences that now make you blush, since that sort of behavior ends in death. Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:20-23 -

In the Old Testament, the word 'soul' refers to the 'inner life' of man. The soul is described as the seat of many emotions and desires: the desire for food - Deuteronomy 12:20-21 - the desire for love - The Song of Songs 1:7 - the desire of longing for God - Psalms 63:1 - the desire for rejoicing - Psalms 86:4 - the desire for knowing - Psalms 139:14 - the desire for memory - Lamentations 3:20 - The use of the word soul/life in the Old Testament expresses the meaning, for example, the soul [life] of a dying person departed at death - Genesis 35:18 - The prophet Elijah brought a widow's son back to life. "Elijah stretched himself on the child three times and cried out to Yahweh, 'Yahweh my God, may the soul of this child, I beg you, come into him again!' Yahweh heard the prayer of Elijah and the soul of the child returned to him again and he revived. - 1 Kings 17:21-22 -

In the New Testament, in which the Greek word for 'soul' is translated as 'life.' This symbolic meaning of life appears frequently in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. The example of this usage:

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light. - Matthew 11:28-30 -

If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to win the whole world and ruin his life?....... 'I tell you solemnly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.'  - Mark 8:34-38, 9:1 -

Anyone who loves his life loses it;
anyone who hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life.
If a man serves me, he must follow me,
wherever I am, my servant will be there too.
If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him. - John 12:25-26 - Matthew 16:24-28; Luke 9:23-26 -

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Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.