Wyatt Ciesielka

Was Jesus Christ just a compassionate prophet, or was He truly God in the flesh? The Apostle Paul warned that many would come and preach “another Jesus whom we have not preached” (2 Corinthians 11:4) and theories about Jesus certainly abound. Some professing Christian scholars even claim that Jesus was nothing more than “an exploited peasant with an attitude” (“John Dominic Crossan’s ‘blasphemous’ portrait of Jesus,” CNN.com, February 27, 2011).

In his novel, The First Circle, the Russian author Alexandr Solzhenitsyn ironically refers to Joseph Stalin as “the plowman.” The month of April is a significant month of anniversaries for the plowman. It is also a time when we should look forward, hopeful that the great biblical promises of a better plowman will soon be fulfilled in Tomorrow’s World!

Can we obtain salvation by our own efforts? If we obtain salvation, is it true that we are “once saved, always saved”? Many people are confused about the truth behind these doctrines. Scripture tells us that a Christian is justified by grace (Titus 3:7). So, what does it mean that we must not lose what we have worked for (2 John 1:8)? If justification is by Christ’s blood (Romans 5:8–10), then why is eternal life the reward of the righteous (Matthew 25:46), while eternal death awaits the unrepentant sinner (Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 6:23; Revelation 2