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As By Fire

He led me down the corridor until we came to a large opening in the side. An opening much larger than any I had felt before. I still could not see anything, nor was there anything unusual to look at. It was all nothingness and it was the same nothingness one noticed when looking at the nonexistent walls.

Lael noticed my expression and said simply, "Strange, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"You'll get used to it and understand soon enough. Come, follow me."

With that he stepped through a nonexistent section of what must have been a door, and part of him disappeared.

Not wanting to be left alone, I followed him and somehow knew I was walking through a wall. It really wasn't hard to do at all.

Lael was waiting for me inside a large room that actually looked like a room and had walls, a ceiling, and a solid floor. I was much relieved to say the least, and the smile on my host's face indicated that he was amused.

"Having fun?" he asked.

"I'm not quite sure."

"There's no need to concern yourself, you're in good care. There's nothing to worry about. It takes getting used to, that's all."

"And will I get used to it?"

"Most definitely. There's no need to doubt it."

"Thank you," I said, and we began our tour.

The room contained more machines and gadgets I didn't recognize than any room I had ever seen, or that one could imagine. There were countless angels everywhere, checking things and working with the various computations. I found, however, that the machines themselves actually did all the work, retrieving and storing the information.

In a way it was like a giant computer room, although it was far more advanced than anything man could or would for that matter, ever conceive. There were different functions for every machine and yet they were all linked together into a singleness of purpose and were controlled by the hands of God.

That's what amazed me. The complete simplicity of all this complexity. It was true, every life was known from the beginning to the end, everyone and everything. That's how complete the system was.

When a child was conceived, a record was created and a template established. At birth the masterworks began to record everything that happened to that child, and was done by that child. Every thought and every action and every notion were all recorded, even from infancy.
Lael told me that every child conceived of man and born of woman was born with a bent to wrong doing and sinful acts. Each child would also show evidence of his sinful nature so early in life that we humans could not even imagine it taking place at such an age. "These are truly the descendants of Adam," he would say. "Only the Son of God who was conceived of the Holy Ghost was born without sin. Only the Son of God," he said.

I knew what he said was true, but I hadn't realized the depths to which the Lord had gone to establish that fact and to keep records of the existence of sin in the world. But that's not all.
God also monitored the thoughts and deeds for all of a man's life, as a baby, child, youth, and adult. Every event was known and God could easily see and demonstrate, if asked, whether a man or woman ever accepted the salvation He so clearly offered through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

When a person accepted the Lord as his personal Savior, repented of his sin and realized that Jesus Christ died on the cross as payment for the sins of mankind and rose again from the grave to prove He was God, so as to provide man with hope by His demonstration of a life to come after death, his life was changed and the monitoring system was altered. All because of Christ.

A person who accepted Christ began again with a clean slate, so to speak. All the thoughts and deeds and notions he had from birth up until the time he asked Christ into his heart were completely erased and removed from his record. In fact, his name was written in the Book of Life and was recorded as a new birth with a new entry and a new system for monitoring.
Now the Holy Spirit had entered the life and the power was there for living for the Lord without sin as God had intended man to live. Of course, there was the provision for confessing one's sins if sin entered the life and disrupted the fellowship God had wanted and planned. Thus, the new system recorded all the thoughts and deeds and notions and also took into account the attitudes and motives involved.

When a person became a new creature in Christ and experienced this new birth, the Holy Spirit entered and the life and heart were cleansed from sin. In this case, the life was perfect and all deeds and thoughts and actions were in tune with what God had intended for man and thus, they earned special rewards. When the attitude was wrong or the motives out of perspective, sin was back in the life and the Holy Spirit was no longer in control.

With self in control of a man's life, sin ruled and the actions, deeds, and thoughts were not in accord with God's plan. As long as sin ruled, no rewards could be earned, and the system monitored the sins that were destroying fellowship with God. For some, this state of being lasted for the rest of the Christian's life, and no attempt was made by the believer to confess his sin. Thus, no rewards were earned and the child of God remained out of fellowship until he met God as I was about to do. When he confessed his sins, each one confessed was compared with the record and then was forgiven. This meant that the slate was wiped clean and the sin was forgotten, as if it had never occurred. When all sins were confessed, the Spirit was back in control of the person's life and he was back in fellowship with God.

Again, there was a wide variance in individuals' tracks. Some would confess their sin daily or as they occurred and remained in fellowship. Others would wait weeks, or even months, quenching the Spirit. Obviously it was best to remain in fellowship and constantly beware of the old sin nature. This fellowship allows the Lord to reveal unconfessed sins to oneself through His Spirit in order that they might be confessed and eliminated.

Great things can be accomplished through the Christian who has confessed his sins and is walking in the Spirit in full fellowship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Obviously this is what should take place and what should be.

The great majority of the logs revealed, however, that confession didn't take place regularly. An even greater majority indicated that there was no belief in Jesus Christ at all in the lives of those being monitored.

Both the saved and the unsaved, the believer and the unbeliever, the Christian and the non-Christian, had their very lives and thoughts monitored constantly by the masterworks system. It was a staggering thought and one that concerned me greatly, for I now wondered how I would fare in what was to come.

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