No Soul Left Behind
Greetings and good morning, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This morning we seek to understand the meaning of no soul left behind.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
No Soul Left Behind
Jesus said, "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them to me is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out my Father’’s hand." John, Chapter 10, Verses 27 and 28
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast we shall respond to question of how we can approximate the benchmark of spiritual growth. We know that we often hesitate to rest our hats on a particular benchmark except the first benchmark: accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But we are growing, and we must come into the full knowledge of the truth, the relationship between us and the heavenly Father through His Son, Jesus.
There are ways in which we can be more confident of where we are in our efforts to make progress. We know that there are certain benchmarks for the soul acquiring truth. And we know that there is assistance given to the soul so that its potentials unfold. We shall approach this growth from the point of view of giving a material analogy so that we can get a feel for the process and the benchmarks of the growth process of the soul and in the process see how the failures of the material analogy can at least be improved by comparing it to the growth process of the soul.
Currently in our country, we have implemented a federal initiative called "No Child Left Behind." This program was initiated because of the alarming rate of American school children falling behind their peers in other industrialized countries. And it was feared that Americans would lose their position as world leaders in the fields of science and technology. There was particular concern about the failures in math and reading. Something had to be done to address this problem.
This program makes several assumptions of the child to be educated. The first assumption is that all children have the potential of receiving an equal quality education. If this assumption is true, then we must focus on the instructional materials, the instructors, and administrators who are responsible for educating the child. The implied criticism is that with all the money being spent on educational efforts, there should be a better return on the investment. That is, more children should be graduating with competence in math and reading. And since the child has the potential for receiving a equal quality education, the fault must lie in the educational system. Therefore the system is held accountable to ensure that each child moves ahead in the learning process.
Each year the child is expected to make progress. And this progress is graded by a series of standardized tests to measure his performance. If the school does not make progress, penalties are assessed, ranging from bringing in special teams to help with the remedial work of bringing the student up to par, or allowing the student to transfer to a school that is progressive, to firing teachers and principals. The student may also attend summer school and is given extra work to correct his deficiencies.
The education of the soul recognizes the differential growth potential of the each soul, and the spiritual educational processes recognizes this differential growth potential. The souls are grouped according to their mastery of the relationship with the heavenly Father. The first group comprises souls who have attained the will to believe in Jesus Christ. The next group comprises those who have attained the will that believes in Jesus Christ, and finally the third group comprises those souls who have attained spiritual maturity and who are able to perfectly represent the heavenly Father though his Son, Jesus. Each of these groups are well defined by certain criteria.
The first group comprises those souls who are just beginning to use their faith. This first level of faith, the primary level of faith, is the original endowment of faith given by the heavenly Father. This level of faith might be designated as the desire to believe or the will to believe. In this first operation of the quality of faith, we find that the operator of it uses it inconsistently. He is like the person who looks through microscope but does not quite believe what he sees. Or he is like the person who does not quite believe what the translator of the foreign language is telling him or like the person who refuses to stay on the aircraft or the ship to traverse the mighty ocean. He does not trust the mechanism of faith. He is plagued with doubt. Thus his knowledge of and his two way communication with the Father does not progress far. And since he does not consistently use his faith, he does not consistently display that knowledge of the Father.
The second group comprises the next level of faith, the secondary level. On this level, the tendency to doubt is gradually coming under control as the operator of faith even though he has his doubts, does not allow those doubt to distrust what he sees in the spiritual microscope; nor does he distrust the instructions that the spiritual translator gives, and remains on the spiritual ship or spiritual aircraft despite the unfamiliarity of the scenery as he moves forward. At this level of faith, the operator makes earnest progress in gaining knowledge of the Father’’s character, and with two-way communication with him. Here the values and meanings of truth, beauty, and goodness are something that he is learning to appreciate as they are revealed to him. This level of faith might be designated as the desire that believes or the will that believes. This faith grasper is well on the way to achieving the third or supreme level of faith and the sun of the fruits of the spirit shines brightly in his soul. Some refer to this level of faith as being born again. And all recognize his forward march of faith towards supreme levels. He is becoming more Christ-like daily.
The final faith or third level of faith is the supreme level of faith. The tendency to doubt has evaporated. So experienced has the operator become with the quality of faith, that he takes it for granted what he sees under the spiritual microscope or hears from the spiritual translator, and enjoys his ride on the spiritual ship or spiritual aircraft. He looks forward to using this faith, and has become so skilled in his use, that his knowledge of the Father has become supreme. This level of faith might be designated as the spiritual desire that is actualized or the will that is actualized. Here is maturity obtained, and the operator of the faith has merged himself to the giver of the faith. He has become one with the Father through His Son, Jesus, and supremely loves the Father with all his heart, his mind, and soul, and truly loves his neighbor as himself. When viewed, people clearly discern that he is a disciple of Jesus. Jesus says, "if you love one another, than shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." He has vanished doubt, and no longer displays that attitude of "Lord I believe, help my unbelief." He has in spirit complied with the Father’’s command to be perfect even as He is perfect, and like Enoch and Elijah only await the translation flash.
This concludes today's message on understanding the meaning of no souls left behind. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Your Kingdom Come; Thy Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
No Soul Left Behind
