not1lost

… no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:3b ESV

According to the text above in the image, we have A VERY SUCCESSFUL SAVIOR, JESUS Christ, He gets them ALL, above, below, and in the middle, they ALL come to know Jesus Christ as LORD! So, let’s look at that question for a little bit and see how it actually looks feet on the ground and where the rubber meets the road.

Now, listening to traditional religious preaching, considering the total population of the world and the various religions around the world it wouldn’t seem Jesus isn’t doing a real good job at being “The Savior of the world”. Then It’s appalling when you have seen that most of the scriptures concerning the magnificent mission Christ came to accomplish is so muddled with eternal torment rhetoric preached in many churches that the “GOOD NEWS” is completely lost or weakened so that the message is largely misunderstood as being from a threatening do’s and don’ts message or else… While the grace of God offering loving forgiveness is weakened to the point of Jesus seeming to be the loser with 80-90% of the world’s population on the highway to hell! So we need to get out there and bring them into the church! Church is a great idea but that’s nowhere near any kind of victorious Christ King that He actually is but He’s only managing to save a few here and there then at last  terribly short of His magnificent mission “to be the Savior of the world!” John 3:17, 4:42, 12:47; 1 John 4:14 and more.

1 John 4:14 ESV
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Why did Jesus Christ come?

A friend, Thomas Kissinger, once said “we are saved from a condition not a location” that really cuts it down to where the rubber meets the road. Christ’s mission was to deliver His creation from the sin realm of death, destruction, fear, depression, disease and on and on; not from some kind of place called hell, down there… out there… somewhere, who knows where? No, He….

Does that make sense?

I do not believe even in the possibility of an eternal torture pit for anybody. Even from a child, the church’s teaching of Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT) never really made sense to me. As a child I would ask questions of my family what I’d heard about ECT that the church leaders would not like me asking and probably would’ve told me “don’t worry about it, you’re ok son, you’ll understand someday” You’re ok!? What about everybody else in the world? Besides they’re supposed to be preaching the Bible, right? The family told me I was unusually inquisitive at a young age about everything. I remember I was especially very interested in the bible even as a young man. I didn’t know many answers then but eternal torment in hell for most people   just didn’t seem to add up or make sense to me. Why would God make such a place? Why isn’t Jesus in hell burning for eternity if he took our punishment? What is the good purpose of an everlasting hell if all God made is very good? Genesis 1:31. What about people who never heard the gospel, didn’t or couldn’t understand it? On and on I went…  Well now I know it’s not in the original Word of God… and all those that have been well educated know it too… Why they would reject such wonderful truth is beyond me.

Punishment with Purpose.

I realize a place of correction, restitution and purging could be needed in the equation if one were an unyieldingly mulish obstinate fool; and there are a few… Nevertheless the main point is not to be saved from some sort of hell for most; and there is no hint of the eternal torture pit that is warned of from the pulpits in many churches; not in the original language anyway. Whatever this place translated as the word hell is; if all God made is good, very good, then it would have to be a loving Father’s correction for a good purpose that would end when the correction was accomplished. That’s the only way it could be good, Very Good. Punishment going on and on for trillions of years and you’re just getting started and will always be just getting started makes no sense whatsoever and accomplishes absolutely nothing and never ever will. I can’t see any good in that at all, I mean, why?  

Abundant life!

Jesus came to enable us to live a good life, abundant life, real life; in relationship with God in the Kingdom of our Lord in the here and now and eternity! When you put it all together, the work of Christ is very seldom associated with deliverance from a hell much less the eternal torture pit of the religious leaders imagination. Although now days it’s brutal agony in tormenting flames taught in the textbooks of the theological institutions isn’t brought up much (yet, it’s in some form in the church’s doctrinal statement you must not disagree with to be a full member). They are all becoming less and less forceful on the subject, knowing they are dealing with a much better informed population today. They are forced to be more honest on this subject, even removing the word “hell” from the entire Old Testament in most newer translations. Hell is just not in the Old Testament at all, never was. Just do a word search for it in the OT with an ESV, NASB, NIV, CSB or CEB, and several others; it’s not there because it’s not there…  

What about hell on earth many people suffer?

Besides is not living with a debilitating disease or disability, or living in poverty, living in ignorance of how to live a good life or having the opportunity to have a good life being beyond ones reach, living in spiritual blindness, or in constant pain, physical or mental, depression, or oppression; are these not hell enough? Then leaving this painful life only to wake up in a worse state!? Furthermore, many would find themselves in this situation who have never even heard of Jesus Christ or seen a bible. Oh yes, hell could be right here right now for some and a much, much worse hell waiting on the other side of this miserable life.  I believe no one knows the blessings awaiting some of these once they get their “first chance” to see the LORD in Truth and will absolutely  believe on him! I can’t imagine any of these turning away in unbelief while standing in the presence of our Loving LORD Jesus, with arms stretched out in Loving acceptance. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever” with The Love beyond comprehension that proclaimed from the cross “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” to the very ones who were crucifying Him!

Hebrews 13:8 ESV
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Luke 23:34 ESV
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Don’t just believe me.

Check out the word “hell” in the Bible yourself. Check several versions. Use original language tools free on line; they are easy as touch and read definitions. By the way don’t forget that the word hell has completely disappeared from the Old Testament in many newer translation and rightly so; I cant wait till they follow suit in their honesty in the New Testament in later updates. Don’t believe me? Look it up – in the original languages. There are plenty of free resources on the internet to use for this, do some study on your own, think for yourself. Quit demanding to be spoon fed their version of a biblical meal. In the end you’ll get a good scriptural meal that really satisfies like never before. I promise, you wont regret the time and effort spent in this type of study.

Do we really have a Successful Savior?

Yes, I deeply desire with all my heart to get the message of how unimaginably powerful and awesomely loving our Savior, Jesus Christ really is. The biblical record proves beyond doubt, He is absolutely and utterly successful in His commission and mission to be the savior of the world ! (1 John 4:14 ESV)

Our purpose verse for this website is Luke 15:4 NKJV

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

That’s why we’re here with Not1Lost.org ; To bring the Good News of a Good God who is so Loving and Just, He would not allow or even create the possibility of such a horrific fate to even one of his creatures. We hope to bring some peace to tormented religious minds that do think about it. We declare that as the story Jesus told about the 99 sheep being left in the pasture to go and search for that one lost sheep – “until” He finds it! So that, there will be Not 1 Lost! Praise God! (Luke 15:4-32) Actually if you look closely at the context Jesus told three parables in a row about lost things being looked for until they are “all” found! (The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son) 

Jesus wasn’t denying they were lost. Everyone is not saved – Yet! So Jesus wanted to make His point clear that the situation wasn’t hopeless; when He told this group of parables and especially ending with the lost son coming home, demonstrating they will not remain lost!

While 2-3 verses would suffice, there are very many texts declaring the eventual salvation of the world – All people! These are scattered throughout the Old and New Testaments from Genesis to Revelation. Here are a few of them for you to ponder. Then go do your own search. You will find it to be truly Good News made very clear to anyone loving God and people. 

     Isaiah 45:22-23 CSB
Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other. [23] By myself I have sworn; truth has gone from my mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow to me, every tongue will swear allegiance.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16-17 NIV

17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

(John 3:16 is quoted and known by much of the world today; yet, it’s sad that one rarely sees verse 17 quoted)

     John 4:42 NLT

Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.“

     1 John 4:14 NLT

Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

     John 12:32 NASB

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.”

     John 12:47 NIV

“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

     Romans 11:36 CEV

Everything comes from the Lord. All things were made because of him and will return to him. Praise the Lord forever! Amen.

Unfortunately most translations try to word their way around this simple truth. Yet beautifully profound and and amazing truth too Glorious to keep hidden under a basket – as our savior Jesus Christ would put it in the sermon on the mount.

     Romans 11:32 NLT

For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.

     1 Timothy 2:3-6 

3 This is a good and acceptable thing before our savior God, 4 Who intends all human beings to be saved and to come to a full knowledge of truth. 5 For there is one God, and also one mediator of God and human beings: a human being, the Anointed One Jesus, 6 Who gave himself as a liberation fee for all persons, the proof rendered at their own proper times. (Hart, David Bentley. The New Testament: A Translation (Kindle Edition).

  came to be THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD!

– It means EVERYTHING especially people in the context.

“The World” a figurative extension of meaning of κόσμος^a ‘cosmos, universe,’

people associated with a world system and estranged from God—‘people of the world.’

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains

Hyperbolically (Matt. 4:8, “all the kingdoms of the world”; see Rom. 1:8). (2) Metonymically, the world meaning the inhabitants of the earth, men, mankind (Matt. 5:14; 13:38; John 1:29; 3:16; Rom. 3:6, 19; 1 Cor. 4:13; 2 Cor. 5:19; Heb. 11:7; 2 Pet. 2:5; 1 John 2:2). Hyperbolically, the world for the multitude, everybody – John 7:4

 Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament

Dennis D. Caldwell