IN SUCH AN HOUR AS THIS

’The True Church’

’The Bride of Christ ~ The Body of Christ’

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Today´s World

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ANCIENT JEWISH WEDDING CEREMONY

In a traditional ancient marriage ceremony, the bridegroom went to the home of his potential bride. He carried with him three things: his best financial offering, a betrothal contract, and a skin of wine. If the father was impressed and accepted the bridegroom's offering he then called the daughter for her response. Then, if things were acceptable to her, the bride-to-be drank the wine, and immediately a trumpet sounded to announce the betrothal.

During the following year of betrothal, the couple could not see each other alone. A chaperone always accompanied them wherever they went. During this year, the bridegroom went to his father's house to prepare a place (a chupah), or honey- moon bed. No engraved invitations were sent out for the wedding. If people preparing the calendar wanted to reserve a day for the celebration, they had a problem. When the young bridegroom was asked for the date of his wedding, he could only reply, "No man knows except my father." Why? Because he could not go and get his bride until the father approved of his son's preparations.

The bride, therefore, had to be in a state of constant readiness lest the bridge- groom's arrival catches her by surprise. Often she kept a light burning in the window and an extra jar of oil on hand, lest the bridegroom come in the night and find her unprepared. When the groom's father decided everything was in place and released his son to go fetch his bride, a second trumpet was blown. This trumpet, to announce the groom's coming, was called the 'last trump'. Thus announced, the bridegroom took the marriage contract to present to the father of his intended bride. He claimed her as his bride and took her from her father's house to his father's house. His father would be waiting to receive the couple. Then the groom's father would take the hand of the bride and place it in the hand of his son. At that moment, she became his wife. That act was called the 'presentation.' After the presentation, the bridegroom would bring his bride to the place he had gone to prepare. There he would introduce her to all the society of his friends who had heard the trumpet and come to celebrate the marriage at the Marriage Feast.

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This ceremony was part of the Jewish roots of ancient times. One must pause and digest the awesome correlation between this marriage ceremony and the Bride of Christ. I found this ancient ceremony uplifting and perhaps even a foreshadowing of things to come. The following is my rendering of the above text. I pray it will bless you as you look with spiritual eyes into the full significance of our Wedding Feast that is yet to come.

Jesus was the hopeful bridegroom and his best offering was His sacrificial death at Calvary (1Corinthians 6:20). The contract was salvation (John 3:16). The wine that the bride drank was symbolic of 'regeneration' (John 3:3), or being born again. During the time of betrothal (we His bride-to-be) the couple was chaperoned. The Holy Spirit is our chaperone because Jesus promised not to leave us alone. The Father sent the Holy Spirit to act in His stead (John 14:16-17). The bridegroom went to his father's house to make ready his wife's new home. Jesus said that He would go to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-3). When the bridegroom was asked when the big day would be, he responded that no man knows the answer except his Father in Heaven (Matthew 24:36). The bride had to be in a state of constant readiness, so she would not be caught unaware ( Mark13:32-37). Likewise, we must be ever watchful for His return. The Bride kept a light burning and extra oil on hand (unlike the 5 foolish virgins of Matthew 25: 1-13). We must always be in readiness and walking in His Spirit, so we may be found faithful in His eyes.

When the father decides that all is in order, He will release His Son to go and bring his Bride home. And so will it be, when He comes for His Bride (the Church). When the 'last trump' is sounded to announce the coming of His Bride (1Corinthians 15: 50-53: 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18). We as Christians wait with bated breath, and an expectant heart, and an ear attuned for the Trump to sound! Then the marriage feast will be made (II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:27). What a glorious day it will be when we sit around the table of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!

Remember that Jesus was a Jew, and was acquainted with their customs. He taught in parables, to protect the hidden mysteries of the Word, from the unbelievers. I find this ancient marriage ceremony to be one of those rare gems (hidden mysteries) that He left for us. But you must in your own hearts and minds, decipher these deep things. ~ Tara Hart © 2005

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'For the time has arrived for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not respect or believe or obey the Good News, the Gospel of God? And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the godless and wicked?'
(1Peter 4: 1-5; 17-18)

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IS THIS THE TRUE CHURCH?

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The Word of God refers to the Church as the Bride of Christ and the Body of Christ. The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that Jesus loved the Church and He gave Himself for it. We find this in Ephesians 5:23 - 27. "For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church , Himself the Savior of His body. As the Church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject to everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her. So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the Word. That He might present the Church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things that she might be holy and faultless."

This is the way it should be, yet today, there are many who say that the Church is irrelevant. They contend that the Church no longer meets the needs of a post-modern society. There are preachers(?) who say there is no point in going to church anymore, because it is a waste of time; God is no longer there in the church, He has abandoned the Church! What has happened to the True Church?

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The Church is changing in so many ways. Church people are running down the wrong isle and do not even realize it. They are concerned about the music and preaching and think it has to be more relevant. They even go so far as to "dumb down" the Gospel if necessary, so the average church person can better understand it? They also consider and are compelled to change some of their original beliefs, attitudes, positions and convictions of the Church, to make it more acceptable to our present society. Compromise is the byword of this generation. What has happened to the True Church?

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Jesus had a message of Truth and you would never find Jesus saying, "We must reduce the qualifications of discipleship, nor would He have said, Let's make it easier for people to believe. In fact, at a crucial moment in His ministry, Jesus turned to His own disciples and said: "Will you also go away? Are you also going to abandon Me?"(John 6:67). Jesus challenged his audience to realize that salvation is not just a matter of mental agreement. He showed them that it involves more than just saying,"I believe". It is a matter of belief that transforms the life in a commitment to Jesus Christ that is real, genuine, and by all means total.

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"C.S. Lewis once said, that the greatest argument in favor of Christianity is the lives of Christians, who have been changed and transformed by the power of the Gospel. But then he added that conversely, the greatest argument against Christianity is the lives of Christians who do not live up to the testimony that they claim."

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And to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the trusty and faithful and true Witness, the Origin and Beginning and Author of God's creation: I know your (record of) works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth! For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that your are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.
(Rev. 3:14-17)

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The Laodicean Age?

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In the book of Revelation, we find seven churches in John's time (the First Century) and of those seven the church of Laodicea is the last. This church (and it was a real church) bears the resemblance of (the 21st, Century) with the stagnate moral conditions, and the love of the world. Beware! The Day is coming when the Church Age will end ~ it is near!

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The problem with the church of Laodicean is that it is neither hot nor cold. There is neither zeal for God nor absolute repudiation of the Lord. Lukewarmness is a mixing of hot and cold water together, and that produces an emetic. Jesus said, that he would spew the church out of His mouth. This does not mean the loss of salvation, but it does mean the removal from a place of witness. This church is full of itself and it goes to the extent of claiming that it has need of nothing. This church is self-satisfied and self-complacent. Boasting of wealth, it fails to realize the absence of spiritual life in its midst. Sadly, when the real believers are raptured, the Laodicean church will remain on earth, spewed out by Christ to endure the Tribulation period.

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The Laodicean Christians had a history of bouncing back and forth, one day being in love with Jesus and the next falling into the arms of the world. They were Hot and on fire for Jesus, and just as suddenly, they were like the living dead. Their lukewarmness indicated their lost sense of the vision of Christ and His virtue. This kind of church is a church that has failed to be what God wanted them to be.

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The Laodicean church had a threefold need and that is poverty, nakedness, and blindness. Materialistic things are objects of the carnal, not the spiritual. Money cannot buy righteousness, nor can it buy white raiment, and they cannot buy eye-salve, which points to spiritual discernment. The trouble with this church was that they had never really seen themselves as sinners. Jesus told them, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. The reason for the rebuke and counsel was His love. But that church needed to fall on its knees and repent. Unfortunately, the tragedy of this church is the fact there was a group professing the name of Jesus Christ, but those individuals constantly left Jesus outside the door, content to live their selfish lives without God, and with closed doors.

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For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Therefor I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be (truly) wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see.
(Rev. 3: 17-18)

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The interesting thing about the Laodicean church is that it was a legitimate church, and it still had its candlestick. But, they were pushing Christ right out the church door. Not all of the Christians were part of the closed door, but the vast amount of them were. Jesus was saying to that church in those days, You may be successful, wealthy, and a prosperous church. You may by all outward appearances, have need of nothing. But, I, Jesus, want to remind you that you are in desperate spiritual need. You are losing the sense of the power of God in your church. You are a church full of carnal Christians and most are full of the lukewarmness and compromise. Some churches have completely closed the door to Christ and even have forgotten the true message of the Gospel. Sadly, they exalt anything and everything except Jesus Christ.

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Jesus challenged the church at Laodicea with these words. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears and listens to and heeds My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will eat with him, and he will eat with Me.
(Rev. 3:20)

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Those Christians, like those of today, are not dedicated to the keeping of His Word. They hear, but they do not listen. Many Christians do as little as they can in terms of serving God. They pray a little, and read the Bible when it is convenient and sometimes they go to church. The lukewarm group gives as little of themselves as they can. But when it comes to the 'How much can the church do for me?' they are all ears and eyes. They treat the church as if it were a lending company at their disposal. They also ask what things are available to them that would meet their needs. This falls into the me ~ me ~ me category, otherwise known as the God give me more, give me more, and it falls short of what God expects of us.

In essence, God may be saying to us, Give Me more of yourself. Give Me your heart, your life, your will, your decisions, your time, your marriage, and your family. He is saying, put all of these things in My hands, and let Me touch and bless it. It really isn't the question of what the Church can do for you, but what you can do for the Body of Christ, to be used of Him to touch the world with the message of Salvation.

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But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden from the human understanding and now revealed to us by God ~ that wisdom which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification, to lift us into the glory of His presence. But as the Scriptures says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, (all that) God has prepared made and keeps ready for those who love Him (who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed.
(1Corth: 2: 7; 9)

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This Is The True Church

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The True Church is not a local assembly if believers, a denomination, or even a church body. There is only one True Church and it is devoid of denominations, sects and religion. It is the body of believers who are sold out for the cause of Christ, who wait for the coming of Christ. These believers are not yet perfect, however, one day when Jesus comes for His Church in resurrected power, these believers will then be a mirrored perfection of what God always intended them to be. The True Church is Jesus, the Head of the Body. The body is the true believers who have committed their lives to the cause of Christ and serve Him with their whole heart and soul. We the body (the true believers) are the spotless Bride ~ His Church. It is the Bride of Christ ~ the Body of Christ. It is the Church that will one day be taken from this world at end of Church age. Some call this a secret catching away ~ the Rapture, others term it differently. In today's culture there seem to be many and varied theories about the time period of the snatching away, nevertheless the day will come.

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The Church is not some irrelevant institution of human construction. It is neither a man-made organization that is designed to take advantage of people. The word "church" in the Greek is ekklesia: "Ek from "exist" or "out of"; and "kaleo" from "call" It really means to be called out of the world. Jesus is saying, I will call out my people ~ out of this sinful world filled with degradation. I will bring my people unto Myself and I will transform their lives and they will never be the same.

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But I tell you this, brethren, flesh and blood cannot become partakers of eternal salvation and inherit or share in the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable (that which is decaying) inherit or share in the imperishable (the immortal).
(Corth:15:50)

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The Church was established by Jesus Christ Himself. In Matthew 16, Jesus took His disciples to an obscure place in the land of Israel called Caesarea Philippi. It was a secular Gentile place. The nation of Israel had turned its back on Jesus, and thus He took His disciples to a very non-Jewish place to explain to the disciples what Jesus had in mind.

Jesus said, "I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades (the powers of the infernal region) shall not overpower it. Or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it." Then He said to the disciples, "I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven."

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Notice several things here about the statement of Jesus. "I will build My Church". Recognize that He is doing it. Christ Himself is the initiator of the process, and He is the One who begins, establishes, and builds the Church. The phrase, "I will build" has a continuative sense in the original Greek. It means, "I will build it, continue to build it, and keep on building it." Jesus does not say, I'm going to start the Church and then stop it at some point, or "I'll build it only so far and then take My hands off it." He is not going to abandon the Prediction Jesus made to build the church, nor will he retract the Great Commission to evangelize the world. These are the essential elements that Jesus intended from the very beginning.

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Jesus was making it very clear what He meant. He said, "This is My Church, and I am going to build this Church to the glory of God. I will keep on doing it until the trumpet sounds, the archangel shouts, and we are raptured out of here." Until the Rapture (snatching away) occurs, we as Christians know what we are supposed to be doing. We are fulfilling the great prediction of Jesus Christ. He was saying, "I will do the building. I will initiate it. I will keep on doing it. I will sustain it. And the gates of Hell will not be able to stand up against it. I will send out the Church to take the message of salvation to the entire world." It is the message of the loving God that reaches from the glory of Heaven and sends the Son of God into the human race. He knew that He must go to earth wrapped in swaddling clothes, and grow up to be the Messiah. He also knew that the day would come when He would sacrifice Himself on the hill of Calvary. He came for a purpose and that purpose was to save the world from their sins. He lived, He died, and He rose again!

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The True Church has an open door and the door is open to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. In this Church, we find that Jesus Christ is Lord and God. Unlike the Laodicean church, the Church of Philadelphia's door of opportunity stood firm. It is the church that, He says has a little bit of strength, whereby You have kept faith. This church knew that they could not depend on their own strength, but the open door was there for those who reach out for God.

The Church of Philadelphia had this promise: "Because you have guarded and kept My word of patient endurance (have held fast the lesson of My patience with the expectant endurance that I give you). I also will keep you safe from the hour of trial (testing) which is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell upon the earth." The snatching away has not occurred, even though skeptics and heretics and some so called Christians claim it has. The snatching away will be a silent one time event for those have waited, watched, longed for Christ's coming.

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The Church is still so precious to Jesus Christ. He gave His own life for His Bride, the Church. He went to the Cross not because He had too, He deliberately laid His life down to pay for our sins. He didn't go to the cross as a martyr, as a victim of circumstances, but by a deliberate decision of His heart as the Lamb of God, to die in our place. The Savior of the world loved with the deepest of love for mankind. Even now, our Savior loves the Church and He reminds us that His Church is still precious to Him. Christ is still Lord, and He still operates through His people. Until Jesus calls the Bride home to be with the Bridegroom, we as Christians know that we have a task to do, and that is for us to preach the Gospel to all nations. We are to make disciples of all who receive Jesus, and we should baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are to call them to faith in Jesus Christ, who alone can forgive their sins, and saver their soul, and change their eternal destiny. Living here on this earth is just a part of the plan God has for our lives, but it certainly is not the final destiny. Our final destination is Heaven ~ an eternal home with God Himself. Our existence now is but a temporary home. We are strangers, pilgrims if you will, just passing through this world.

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The message of Christ to the Bride is the message of love, grace and mercy. He who stepped down from the glory of Heaven, calls us into a marriage relationship with Himself. Every day He says to the believers again and again ~ I love you! I have come for you. It's all for you. When we step from this life into Heaven, the nail-scarred hands that welcomes us home will be the hands of the loving grace of Jesus Christ, the precious Son of God. Every time we see the nail print, we will remember that He did it all for us!

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Waiting For His Coming

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Take notice! I tell you a mystery (a secret truth, an event decreed by the hidden purpose or counsel of God). We shall not all fall asleep in death, but we shall all be changed (transformed). In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the (sound of the) last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead (in Christ) will be raised imperishable (free and immune from decay), and we shall be changed (transformed).
(1 Corth: 15:51-52)

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Now also we would not have you ignorant, brethren, about those who fall asleep(in death), that you may not grieve (for them) as the rest do who have no hope (beyond the grave). For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him through Jesus those who have fallen asleep (in death). For this we declare to you by the Lord's own word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede (into His presence) or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep (in Him in death). For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first. Then we, the living ones who remain (on the earth_, shall simultaneously be caught up along with (the resurrected dead) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort and encourage one another with these words.
(1 Thess: 4:13-18)

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But as to the suitable times and the precise seasons and dates, brethren, you have no necessity for anything being written to you. For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the (return of the ) Lord will come (as unexpectedly and suddenly) as a thief in the night. When people are saying, All is well and secure, and, There is peace and safety, then in a moment unforeseen destruction (ruin and death) will come upon them as suddenly as labor pains come upon a woman with child; and they shall by no means escape, for there will be no escape. But you are not in (given up to the power of) darkness, brethren, for that day to overtake you by surprise like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we do not belong either to the night or to darkness.

Accordingly then, let us not sleep, as the rest do, but let us keep wide awake (alert, watchful, cautious, and on our guard) and let us be sober (calm, collected, and circumspect). For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk, get drunk at night. But we belong to the day; therefore, , let us be sober and put on the breastplate (corselet) of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to (incur His) wrath (He did not select us to condemn us), but (that we might) obtain (His) salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who died for us so that whether we are still alive or are dead (at Christ's appearing), we might live together with Him and share His life. Therefore encourage (admonish, exhort) one another and edify (strengthen and build up) one another just as you are doing.
(1 Thess: 5:1-11)

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Beloved, we are (even here and) now God's children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be (hereafter), but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall (as God's children) resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is.
(1 John 3:2)

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But RELATIVE to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and our gathering together to (meet) Him, we beg you, brethren, not to allow your minds to be quickly unsettled or disturbed or kept excited or alarmed, whether it be by some (pretended) revelation off (the) Spirit or by word or by letter (alleged to be) from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has (already) arrived and is here. Let no one deceive or beguile you in any way, for that day will not come except the apostasy comes first (unless the predicted great falling away of those who have professed to be Christians has come) and the man of lawlessness (sin) is revealed, who is the son of doom (of perdition). Who opposes and exalts himself so proudly and insolently against and over all that is called God or that is worshiped, (even to his actually) taking his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming that he himself is God.

Do not recollect that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining him (from being revealed at this time); it is so that he may be manifested (revealed) in his own appointed time. For the mystery of lawlessness (that hidden principle of rebellion against constituted authority) is already at work in the world, (but it is) restrained only until he who restrains is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one (the antichrist) will be revealed and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and bring him to an end by His appearing at His coming. The coming (of the lawless one, the antichrist) is through the activity and working of Satan and will be attended by great power and with all sorts of (pretended) miracles and signs and delusive marvels ~ (all of them) lying wonders. And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved.
(2 Thess: 2: 1-10)

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Jesus could come at any moment to take His children home to God. Are you ready? If not, consider the consequences and weigh them in the balance. Tomorrow may be too late, so cry out to God for forgiveness and repent before it is too late!

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