“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Revelation 3:5

Can you be lost after you have been saved? Can your name be blotted out of the book of life? Yes.

Jesus said to the church in Sardis that those who “overcometh” would not be blotted out of the book of life.

First of all, what is the book of life? It is a book of names in heaven of all the redeemed or those who have been saved from sin by Jesus Christ. Revelation 20:12-15 reads the following: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” From that, it is very apparent that your name will have to be written in the book of life in order to have eternal life with Christ. The Apostle Paul mentions various saints in the church at Philippi whose names are written in the book of life. “And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.” If your name is not in the book of life, you will one day worship the anti-christ. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8 Those whose names are in the book of life will live in the New Jerusalem. “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation 21:27

If a name is placed in there, it can also be blotted out, which simply means it is no longer there. Revelation 3:5 which is printed above, signifies that this can happen. Moses knew it was possible when he prayed the following in Exodus 32:31 and 32, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” God’s answer was the following in verse 33: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” So now we know that Moses, God, Christ, and the Apostle John who wrote the book of Revelation, knew that names could be removed, or blotted out of the book of life. From these scriptures, we learn that when a name is blotted out of the book of life, a soul is damned and headed for hell unless there is repentance. This is not popular doctrine but is correct and biblical. Yet millions of people are taught that all they have to do is pray a simple prayer, get baptized and they’re in for life no matter what! I’m sorry but that’s a lie from hell! There are many good people who teach or who are being taught this doctrine but being good won’t get us to heaven. What you and I think or believe is not as important as what is written in God’s Word because that is what really counts.

Let’s look at John 10:27-28. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” No man can pluck Christ’s sheep out of his hand. That’s right, no one can cause you to lose your soul. However, there is also a condition and it’s found in verse 27 and that is that they must hear his voice and they follow him.

Lets look at another popular scripture. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 This is true, none of these things listed here can separate us from God’s love. Isn’t that wonderful! But we also have to point out that it doesn’t list sin or transgression anywhere in the above passage.

Just because you or I can’t give a perfect intellectual answer when someone is cut off from God’s presence doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, because it does. In Romans 11:22 Paul says the following, “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Do you see the word “if” that I underlined. The verses speak for themselves. David also knew that he could be cut off when he was repenting after being rebuked by the prophet for his sin with Bathsheba. “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.” Psalm 51:11 It’s true that God is an all-seeing God as we read in Psalm 139:8, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”

Let’s examine what Jesus was saying to his disciples just hours before he was to be nailed to the cross. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Here, in John 15:1-2, Jesus is plainly saying that every branch in him that doesn’t bear fruit will be cut off. Notice that these branches are a part of Him or “the vine” but can be cut off. He gets plainer in verse 6. “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” In included verse 5 so that this couldn’t be taken out of context. He’s talking, all throughout this entire passage, to his disciples and then to his church. The Father is the husbandman, Christ is the Vine, and the branches are the believers. It is plain that these branches can not only be cut off but burned.

In I Timothy 1:15-16, the Apostle Paul writes the following: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” Many use this scripture to make the bold claim that we have to sin everyday and that we are yet sinners. However, when we read the verse after he says he is the chief of sinners, he gives thanks for the goodness of Christ for saving him. It is apparent that his past sins of persecuting the church were still weighing on him, even though he was forgiven. Those of us who are saved out of a life of sin are ashamed of the past. It’s not good to be bringing up our past sinful lives and the sinful deeds done, especially to our children. Believers were then referred to as saints as in Hebrews 13:24 “Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.” We don’t hear that used now unless it is used in conjunction of someone that the Catholic Church has “sainted,” but that’s not the same thing as the saints referred to in the Bible were then not canonized. The word “saint” means “most holy thing” or a person “of exceptional holiness.”

Please don’t feel that I’m trying to make anyone angry but I am burdened and distressed when I talk to people who feel they are saved but are not living according to God’s Word. Many have no real knowledge of the Scriptures and are not taught much either. We want to se souls saved and not lost to the devil through his lies. We must always examine ourselves as Paul writes in II Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

Pastor, Roger Purdy, Sr.

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

When Jesus sat down to teach the multitudes, the first thing he said was the following:  “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

The word “poor” can best be defined by one being “reduced to beggary, begging, asking alms, destitute of wealth, influence, position, honor, as given by in the first two definitions in the Greek Lexicon.  The definition can be made broader but I think you get the idea.  When someone is said to be poor, they don’t have much, or they are lacking.  Christ is not talking about someone who is poor in this world’s goods here but poor in spirit.  He then says that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  What a great promise!  So, are you poor? 

We Americans are a proud bunch.  Admit it!  We’re of the “been there, done, that, got the T-shirt” generation.  We’ve got to make sure we get the last word.   We want to appear smarter than the next person; up stage or out wit the other guy so we can look smarter, quicker, or produce the quality that we want to display as having more of.  This spirit is not of God but is of the devil as said in James 4:5, “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?”  This attitude and spirit carries into the church and into our being and effects the way we approach God.  We sometimes even get the idea that we are really impressing him, but in reality we’re turning him off by our self-will and pride.  “for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”  1 Peter 5:5c 

The people of the church in Laodicea said, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” Jesus saw them quite differently in that he said, “and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”  They had no idea of their condition before God and I’m convinced that there are millions today who don’t either. 

We are dependant upon him in prayer in order to get the spirit of prayer when we pray.  We depend upon him in order to gain deeper knowledge of his word as the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14,  “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”  We are dependant upon him for strength and health for the doctor can only do so much.  He is the healer as Isaiah said in Isaiah 53:5, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”  We are dependant upon him for having a sound mind, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

I recently read that, despite the bitter persecution in China, that the church is gaining 3,000 believers a day.  When they are converted to Christ, I am sure they immediately realize their dependency on him.  They must depend on Christ sometimes just to stay alive.  Does America have to plunge to that level before the church will truly understand her need?

Pastor, Roger Purdy, Sr.

This ‘N That

 This year has already been a very eventful year at Tyler Abundant Life Holiness Church.  On Wednesday, Jan. 13, Josh Neagle and his wife from near Ft. Worth came by and preached and did a great job.  Soon after that, David and Cindy Allen from London, Kentucky came and preached for us.  Bro. David started preaching on the Sunday of January 21 and the spirit of God was so great that we just had revival through that Friday.  It wasn’t scheduled on our calendar but God had it scheduled on His and that’s all that matters.  Attendance was great and God gave us what we needed to go on for Him.  The Allen’s will be returning in August for a two week revival and evangelistic outreach.  On Sunday, February 11, Bro. Rick Bradley came by and gave us an update on his ministry to the people from Belarus. 

We should also mention that we went out of 2006 well as Bro. Donald Harper and his family came by to preach for us on Sunday November 5.  He will be coming back for revival the third week of March.  Bro. David Hamilton and his family came by on November 19.  We’re always glad to see them as we’ve known Bro. David for years.  He’s also a missionary to Belarus. 

Coming Events

March 16, 2007 @ 7:30 …… Fellowship Meeting at Tyler Abundant Life Holiness Church.  All Welcome.  Bro. Donald Harper will be bringing the main message.

March 18 through 23   ……..  Revival with the Harper family.  Starting time is 6:00 on Sunday evening and 7:00 through the week. 

All The Fuss About Israel

 When we hear the news each day we can’t help but acknowledge the event centered on the tiny nation of Israel.  Here are some facts about the little nation according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

·   It is only 8,367 sq. miles which is about the size of the state of New Jersey.  The Garden state is also the 47^th smallest state in our country. 

·   It’s population was about 6,681,000 in 2006 with four fifths of the population being Jews.  That is less than the population of New York City which has over 8 million.

·   Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, had a population of around 724,000 in 2006 according to Wikipedia.