To be truly holy and live according to God’s will, we must strive to love, care for, and get along with all people, regardless of their beliefs or actions. Otherwise, we, as members of the church, risk being no different from the unsaved and unbelievers, lacking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, writes Bishop Tutai Pere of the Apostolic Church.

“All things are delivered to Me of my Father; no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal … Kua ope rava te au mea katoa I te tukuia mai e taku Metua, tei iaku: kare rava tetai I kite I te Tamaiti, mari ra ko te Metua; e kare tetai I kite I te Metua, mari ra ko te Tamaiti, e te tangata ta te Tamaiti e inangaro I te akakite atu”.

Contrast between God and humanity

Whether, like father, like son or like mother, like daughter, as the saying goes; but absolutely neither son nor daughter can fully and wholly resemble their father or mother as no twins are totally identical neither snowflakes are exactly shaped the same. Because a snowflake’s shape evolves as it falls and floats in the air and each uniquely takes its own different form and shape, no two will ever be the same but uniquely and beautifully different. Just as God’s Word in Psalm 139:14 declares, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well”.

With due respect and honour, I courteously take the liberty and privilege to mention by name one of our latest King’s Honours awardees, Dr Teariki Noovao, on the King’s Birthday on June 3, together with businessmen Bill Doherty and Chris Vaile. Dr Noovao was presented his OBE as a medical doctor and for service to his people of the Cook Islands and abroad. I make mention of him specifically, mainly because he has three children, daughter Amanda, son Dion and another daughter Fiona, all surgical specialists. But equally interesting, they all married to spouses who are also doctors in each of their respective surgical fields. So precisely six doctors and seventh being their dad and father-in-law. As God’s Word says: “… fearfully (uniquely, differently) and wonderfully made…”; yes, you guessed it right, no fellow human person was, is and ever shall be exactly the same on this whole planet called earth except Jesus Christ.

In actuality, what I am impressing upon us all is that there is no one else like you, like me but you and I exceptionally and extraordinarily unique, the only one of a kind and no photocopy. Therefore, spiritually speaking, our life is not our own but a gift to the whole world of humanity – whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s, for this cause Jesus died and rose again that He may be Lord of both the living and the dead.

Sure, some smart Alec cynics and skeptics will jump up and raise questions like, ‘what about those who died prematurely, aborted, deformed and intellectually handicapped and mentally retarded?’ God’s word answers by King David’s personal and honest confession, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:4-5).

Every sin humanity commit is sin, evil and wickedness against God Jesus, whether big, small, serious or mediocre, sin is sin against God Jesus and its ultimate penalty is death unless confessed, repented and forgiven only by God in Jesus. God Jesus Christ created the whole universe and saw that it was ‘good’, humanity ‘very good’ (Psalm 8 and 24).

The uniqueness of Jesus Christ

The only human person born to this earth – ‘like father, like son’ – is Jesus Christ. “I and my Father are One” (John 10:30, not two nor three nor many but one, the self-existent spirit God Yahweh, Elohim, Elshaddiah and All Jehovah names and titles and his incarnated human face is Jesus Christ – “… he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:8 – 14). The adversary satan is the father of lies and deceptions but Jesus Christ our only true Father of truth and righteousness and life.

The progression of time from start to end

The blueprint for salvation is in Jesus Christ alone. Whenever, wherever and however God-Jesus’s divine plan of salvation has reached us today must trace its root, origin, genesis, and beginning to the Book of Acts 2. The Bible explicitly states seven dispensation or timeline of our life on earth (Eph.1:10). 1) Innocence (Gen.1:28); 2) Conscience or Moral Responsibility (Gen.3:7); 3) Human Government (Gen.8:15); 4) Promise or Patriarchal Rule (Gen.12:1) Law – from Moses to Christ’s Crucifixion (Ex.19:1); 5) Age of Grace or Church (Acts 2:1); 6) Millennial and Kingdom Age (Rev.20:4) and 7) Eternal State or Final Consummation (Rev.21-22). The Eight Covenants of the Bible: 1) Edenic (Gen.2:16), 2) Adamic (Gen.3:15), 3) Noahic (Gen.9:16), 4) Abrahamic (Gen.12:2), 5) Mosaic (Ex.19:5), 6) The Palestinian (Deut.30:3), 7) Davidic (2 Sam.7:16), and 8) New Covenant (Heb.8:8).

How then shall humanity be saved?

At the Dispensation of Grace and Church, a lifeline is thrown out to sinful and lost humanity. Hebrews 12:14, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”. We must live a life that loves, cares and get along well with every fellow human being upon earth, sinners or saints alike, to rightly admit as living holy unto the Lord, otherwise we as church people only but without any Holy Ghost are just as lost as the unsaved and unbelievers. Hebrews 9:27-28 also warns, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28, So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation”.

Conclusion

What’s the biblical guarantee that we are ready for the Catching Away of the Church? The Apostle Paul passing through found disciples of John the Baptist there and asked them – “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? They humbly and honestly admitted, we do not know if we have any Holy Ghost? So came a second question: Unto what then were you baptised? Unto John’s baptism they replied. John indeed baptised unto repentance, but urged all to believe on Jesus Christ. On hearing, they were all baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus, Paul laid hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. So those who accepted his message were baptised, and that day about 3000 people were added to them.” Souls were counted after they were baptised plus the 120 filled with the Holy Ghost from the Upper Room, but must also have gone through their water baptism just as Peter did the first Gentile family of Cornelius in Acts 10:46-48, “And he commanded them to be baptised in the Name of the Lord”. Ae, ‘O Iesu Te Evangelia Ora No Auau Enua – Jesus is the Living Gospel for Mangaia’. Ka akateitei tatou, kare ko auau enua anake, mari te pa enua e to te ao katoa, ka akatupu i ta tana tuatua tikai i parau mai. We must all exalt and glorify His name, not Mangaia only but all islands of our Cooks Group and the whole world, by believing, activating and fulfilling His Living Word.

Te Atua Te Alepha E Te Omega, Te Kapuaanga E Te Akaopenga – Jesus Christ the Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the Ending – Amen Amene!