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Rulers, Citizens, and Outcasts

 Copyright © December 16, 2021 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

Introduction

Welder For thousands of years there have been three basic groups of people as follows:
  1. Rulers: The ruling class normally includes government leaders, military leaders, religious leaders, and business leaders.
  2. Citizens: Citizens normally include the people who do most of the necessary jobs in a society such as doctors, teachers, lawyers, builders, scientists, farmers, merchants, and workers.
  3. Outcasts: The outcasts of society normally include criminals, beggars, the diseased, and the mentally disturbed.
A few people remain in one of the above groups for their entire life. But a lot of people transition from one group to another group as their circumstances change. For example, an extremely qualified citizen may eventually become a ruler. And an inept or dishonest ruler may eventually become a citizen or an outcast. Some people may transition between all three groups during the course of their lives.

If you have read several of the other articles on my website then you know that I frequently discuss a short-term, a medium-term, and a long-term view in my articles. This article will not be an exception.
  1. Short-Term: When we are young it is normal for us to invest a lot of our energy and our resources in an effort to improve our current situation (whatever that may be).
  2. Medium-Term: As the years pass most of us are able to invest some of our energy and some of our resources into planning for our future retirement.
  3. Long-Term: After we retire most of us become extremely interested in learning the truth about whether or not we have an immortal soul that will live forever. Since an older person realizes that death is no longer in the far distant future, an older person will usually desire to learn the truth about the possibility of life after death.
This article will not debate the topic of life after death because it is not possible to scientifically prove, or disprove, that people have an immortal soul. However, it is possible to make the following two statements:
  1. True: If something is true then it is true regardless of what a person believes. If a person believes it is true then that does not make it true because it was already true based on its own merits. If a person believes it is false then that does not make it false because it is true based on its own merits.
  2. False: If something is false then it is false regardless of what a person believes. If a person believes it is false then that does not make it false because it was already false based on its own merits. It a person believes it is true then that does not make it true because it is false based on its own merits.
Therefore things are either true or false based on their own merits and things do not become true or false simply because a person chooses to believe something is true or false.

This article will assume that all people have an immortal soul. Based on this assumption, this article will consider whether our immortal soul will be a ruler, or a citizen, or an outcast in the next life.

Discussion

First let's consider how our current standing in society impacts the position our immortal soul will have in the next life.
  1. Rulers: It is not unusual for a person who is rich, or famous, or extremely powerful to believe that he or she is a "favorite" of God Almighty and that his or her current situation is due to God's blessing on what he or she has been doing. The majority of these people (but not all) believe that their favored status here on this earth will continue into the next life (if there is a next life). Therefore most of these people only invest a very trivial amount of their energy and their resources preparing for eternity because they assume their current success will continue into the next life. A very limited number of the rulers of this age will also be rulers in the next life. But Jesus said that the deceitfulness of riches blinds a person and that most rich people will be outcasts in the next life. Jesus told one story of the eternal destiny of a beggar named Lazarus and a rich man (Luke 16:19-31).
  2. Citizens: Citizens make up the majority of humanity. Therefore it is not possible to make any type of general statement about the average beliefs of most citizens. However each citizen will determine his or her future eternal destiny as a ruler, or as a citizen, or as an outcast based on what he or she does in this life.
  3. Outcasts: The Holy Bible says that God dearly loves the outcasts of society, including the poor, the widows, the orphans, the sick, the disabled, the persecuted, and the people cast into prison. God sent His Son Jesus into the world to redeem everyone, including the outcasts, so that they could live forever with Him in glory. When Jesus was dying on the cross He told the repentant thief that the thief would join Him in paradise that very day (Luke 26:32-43).
Now let's consider how our future destiny as a ruler, or as a citizen, or as an outcast will be determined by what we do while we are alive here on this earth.
  1. Rulers: Some of the citizens of heaven will be judges (1 Corinthians 6:5). Some of the citizens of heaven will be priests (Revelation 1:6 and Revelation 5:10). Some or the citizens of heaven will be rulers and they will reign with Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:4). God will decide who He will appoint to these positions. If we are interested in one of this special positions then we need to read and study the Holy Bible to discover how we can be found worthy to be appointed to one of these unique positions.
  2. Citizens: To become a citizen of heaven a person simply needs to understand and believe in Jesus Christ with their mind and with their heart. Unfortunately there are some people who have an intellectual understanding of who Jesus is, and they may even have repeated some type of special prayer, and they may even tell other people that they are a Christian if they are asked. But they did not let Jesus into their heart so that Jesus could slowly transform them into a better person in the eyes of God. Therefore they will become outcasts when they die and they will not become citizens of heaven. A true eternal citizen of heaven is someone who understands that Jesus is the only Son of God and that His death on the Cross is the only sacrifice that God will accept in payment for all their sins. These people truly desire to have Jesus transform their lives. These people will undergo an intellectual and a spiritual transformation and they will be eternal citizens of heaven. You can identify a person who has a changed heart by the things they do, and by their willingness to tell other people about their personal faith in Jesus if they are asked. Some of these people will also become rulers with Jesus depending on what they do after they are saved.
  3. Outcasts: If a person does not accept Jesus Christ as his or her Savior with their mind, and with their heart, while they are alive here on this earth, then their eternal destiny will be as an outcast in the fires of hell. It will not matter how successful they were, or how famous they became, or how rich they were, or how many good deeds they did. When they die they will be judged based on their rejection of the eternal pardon that was offered to them by Jesus Christ and they will be cast into hell.

Conclusion

Candle, Cross, and Holy Bible One reason that some people refuse to believe in the Holy Bible and in Jesus Christ is because they do not believe that God will cast everyone into hell if that person does not accept Jesus as Savior. They base this belief on the death of babies before the baby is old enough to learn how to speak, and on the death of people in remote regions of the earth that never heard the gospel message of Jesus Christ before they died.

God will decide on the eternal destiny of babies and on people who never heard the gospel message of Jesus Christ. It would be presumptuous of anyone to put themselves into the role of God Almighty and to tell God what He has to do based on their meager understanding of eternity.

However, anyone who has heard the gospel message of Jesus Christ and who has decided to not accept Jesus as Savior will be cast into hell if that person dies without accepting Jesus as Savior. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone. To delay your acceptance of Jesus as LORD is reckless. Your eternal soul will be cast into hell with the devil and his demons if you die without the Spirit of Jesus in your heart.

I know this probably sounds like something a preacher would say. But I am not a preacher. I am an engineer by profession and I have studied and applied scientific concepts for 50 years during my entire working career. But I have also heard the gospel message many, many times and I am simply repeating what the Holy Bible clearly says.

We are all sinners.

I am a sinner but I have been pardoned by the grace of our LORD Jesus Christ. Therefore I will be a citizen of heaven because God always tells the truth and the Holy Bible is the Word of God.

Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? Do you know where you eternal soul will spend eternity? I hope and pray that your eternal soul will spend eternity with Jesus in glory.

May God Bless,
Grandpappy.

Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com

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