Book launch
Surviving Grief and Loss: How the Broken-hearted Finds Comfort, Hope and Meaning in Jesus Christ
written by Shefflorn Ballantyne
BOOK DESCRIPTION
One of the loneliest times of a person’s life is when faced with grief and loss. Hope and comfort seem far from 
grasp and the questions emerge. Where can I find meaning in life? Will I survive this feeling of loss? How can I move on?
SURVIVING GRIEF AND LOSS is written by an author who himself faced these questions through personal loss.
This book offers you a new perspective on grief and provides answers to the quest for meaning and purpose at a time of loss. His personal experience in surviving grief from the loss of his father at age 10 and the aid of the Holy Scriptures in handling tragic losses have equipped him to provide counsels to help anyone faced with this common reality.
Rooted in the principles of Holy Scriptures, SURVIVING GRIEF AND LOSS is a tool for all who need a clear vision beyond their grief.
REVIEW
Shefflorn recalls the times when he lost both his parents and other family members at a young age. He describes the various stages of grief and how he dealt with each of these stages. As we read his book, our understanding of death and the stages of grief grow because Shefflorn talks from experience and uses Scripture Verses to make sense of death and dying.
I love how the Scripture Verses provide clarity and recommend this book to anyone who is grieving the loss of a loved one.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME
For a limited period of time you can download a copy of Surviving Grief and Loss for free from Amazon.
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NEW BOOKS RELEASES, INTERVIEWS, AND REVIEWS – As a member of the Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance and as a member of the Christian Indie Authors Reading Group and as the current Administrator of Christian Authors Worldwide, This is FUN! Mimi’s Launch Party and co-administrator of OMEGA nonfiction writers I share new book releases, interviews and reviews with my readers. Stay tuned!
The last six times
The last six times (18-23) that the words ‘live forever’ are mentioned in the bible is in the book of Revelation.
The book of Revelation is understood to have been written by the apostle John when he was imprisoned on the isle of Patmos (app 85-95 AD) and the first chapter of the book of Revelation begins as follows,
The revelation of Jesus
Each and every time the words ‘live for ever’ are mentioned in the Book of Revelation refer to Him that liveth for ever.’ Him that liveth for ever is our Creator and His Son, as follows:
I am alive for evermore
Give glory and honour and thanks
Worship him that liveth for ever and ever
Amen
Who created heaven … and the earth … and the sea
The wrath of God
The wrath of God? Why? What does the wrath of God have to do with living forever?
As we have seen in previous posts, the promise to live for ever is closely intertwined with living according to parameters set by our Creator. The book of Revelation stands as a warning to those who choose not to follow the moral guidelines which were set for humanity. It is comforting reading for those who try to do the right thing and feel thwarted in their efforts. The book of Revelation is also a loud and clear warning to all those who try to convey GOD’s Word to others, that one should never add to nor subtract from scripture, so as not to misrepresent God’s Holy Word.
Do not add nor subtract
On that note please read my disclaimer where I beg my readers to please don’t get me into trouble and urge everyone to grab a bible and start reading. It is the best read!
On the last page of the last chapter in the book of Revelation it is mentioned that,
Blessed are they that do his commandments
On the very last page of the bible we’re told one more time by Jesus to follow God’s moral guidelines for the right to the tree of life.
Today’s post ends my search for the words ‘living for ever’ in the bible. Click here to read all the posts on living forever. And click here and here and here to read summaries on the posts about living forever.
Let me know what you think. I know that what the Bible tells us can be different from what the different denominations tell us. Share your thoughts below in the comments.
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ABOUT THE CONTENT – All content on this website is copyrighted and you can read more about this here. Please also read the disclaimer about my authority and qualifications.
ABOUT THIS BLOG – We’re researching the truth of living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scripture. Popular opinion tells us that everyone who ‘believes’ and has ‘faith’ will go to heaven. Is this true? I decided to ask the prophets about the truth of it all.
ABOUT SCRIPTURE CARDS – If you want to send free Scripture Cards to your friends click here and you want to buy hard copies of Scripture Cards you can click here. To download a free copy of my Story of Survival click here.
SEO Optimised article
Beware the article below is seo (search engine optimised) and was written for this specific purpose by a guest writer.
Out of curiosity
Out of curiosity, to find out what the prevailing perception on the internet is with regards to eternal life, life everlasting and living forever, I asked an experienced seo writer to write me a 500 word article on the subject. Below is what came up. From this we can see that Christians like to hear and believe that God’s promises are true. Christians believe that everlasting life is assured to them who will accept Jesus as their savior. Christians believe that following Christ requires sacrifice, patience, and grace. And to have everlasting life you must be born again.
– This is the beginning of the seo optimised article –
God’s promises are true
Christians believe that God’s promises are true, and they come to pass. The scripture says; those people who have faith in Jesus Christ will attain an eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV) says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It is wonderful to know that them who believe in Jesus Christ will live forever, long after leaving the earth.
Everlasting life is assured
Everlasting life is assured to them who will accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Christians should note that accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior has many challenges, and they ought to make hard choices and difficult decisions. Matthew 16:24, 25 (NIV) say; Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Based on this scripture, you have to deny yourself the pleasures the world and follow Jesus Christ with all your heart. You have to emulate His way of life for you to live everlasting life.
Following Christ requires sacrifice, patience, and grace
Leaving our worldly life to follow Christ requires sacrifice, patience, and grace. But the reward for getting an eternal life outdoes the sacrifices. All the same, we need God’s grace in order to follow him wholeheartedly. It is clear in the scriptures that for man to live forever, it is by grace not by works. The Pharisees struggled to please God by bringing offerings yet they were ignoring the most important facets of great human existence like love and kindness. Matthew 23:23 (NIV) warns those who are after pleasing God with sacrifices like money and charitable works in order to live everlasting life. It clearly states; “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices- mint, dill, and cumin. But you have neglected the most important matters of the law- justice, mercy, and faith. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
To obtain everlasting life you must be born again
Jesus Christ told Nicodemus that if you have to live everlasting life you must be born again. Nicodemus wondered how it was possible for an old man to go back to his mother’s womb to get eternal life. In John 3:4-6 (NIV) Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” 5Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth; no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit.6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit.” This scripture outlays to us that to enter the Kingdom of God we should accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. Being born again in this context refers to deserting our old sinful ways and accepting to follow righteousness for us to live forever.
– This is the end of the seo optimised article –
God’s promises are true and come to pass
God’s Word tells us that God’s promises are true and come to pass.
And yes we’re told that For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
However to think that this scripture verse stands on its own and that believe by itself will do is simplifying things a little. The seo article writer indeed goes on to clarify that more is expected of followers. James also puts it quite eloquently,
Thou believest that there is one God;
thou doest well:
the devils also believe, and tremble.
Obviously, as mentioned in the seo article, our behaviour will have to emulate Jesus’ walk in life or we’ll just be found out to be fakes.
Let us not love in word,
neither in tongue;
but in deed and in truth.
Jesus said that to obtain everlasting life one must be born again and he himself was baptised in his late twenties by his cousin John the Baptist. We’re supposed to walk as he walked.
Eternal life is not for sale
The seo article makes it very clear that eternal life is not for sale and cannot be bought with any amount of work or money when it states that, ‘It is clear in the scriptures that for man to live forever, it is by grace not by works.’
To be entitled to this grace Jesus tells us that we are to “practice the most important matters of the law- justice, mercy, and faith without neglecting the former.” With this Jesus tells us about the kind of behaviour expected from those who will be drawn by the Father.
For man to live forever
When Jesus was asked, ‘What to do to obtain eternal life,’ He told the story about the Samaritan. Jesus told the story about the Samaritan as an example of what is expected from people who may live forever. The Samaritan really went out of his way and worked hard to save a complete stranger.
According to research on the internet the Samaritans are also known as “Guardians /Keepers/ Watchers of the Law /Torah (from the Samaritan Hebrew: שוֹמְרִים Samerim), Jewish Hebrew: שומרונים Shomronim, Arabic: السامريونSāmeriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant, descended from ancient Semitic inhabitants of the region.
When Jesus answered the lawyer’s question on what needs to be done to obtain eternal life, Jesus did not say that to obtain eternal life we need to have grace and faith and not works, quite the contrary.
Jesus said something to the extent of, ‘To obtain eternal life we must love God with our whole being, love our fellow human beings and keep God’s commandments. In addition we must act like the Samaritan.’
So work does come into it. Work just cannot be used as a bribe.
Wow, how clear are those guidelines?
Also in the bible the whole of chapter two of James explains in minute detail how faith without works is dead.
Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone
O vain man, faith without works is dead …
by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
For as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.
Sure it is GOD who determines our destiny and we certainly rely on his grace for anything in this life and possible afterlife but if any of us were to think that everlasting life can be bought or is assured for some and that just grace is sufficient to swing those pearly gates in our favour, we may be in for a surprise. Jesus promises to reward everyone according to their works.
There is only one Judge
My curiosity is now satisfied and the above quoted seo article confirms to me that there are gaps in the knowledge on the public domain with regards to living forever and everlasting life.
Yes, we need faith and yes we need grace and yes we also need to work hard to remain in that grace and keep holding on to that faith.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
There is only one Judge and when we meet at the pearly gates I pray that they’ll swing wide open for both of us.
It continues to be my prayer for my readers that you all may live forever!
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ABOUT THE CONTENT – All content on this website is copyrighted and you can read more about this here. Please also read the disclaimer about my authority and qualifications.
ABOUT THIS BLOG – We’re researching the truth of living forever according to GOD’s Holy Word; Sola Scripture. Popular opinion tells us that everyone who ‘believes’ and has ‘faith’ will go to heaven. Is this true? I decided to ask the prophets about the truth of it all.
ABOUT SCRIPTURE CARDS – If you want to send free Scripture Cards to your friends click here and if you want to buy hard copies of Scripture Cards you can click here. To download a free copy of my Story of Survival click here.