1 - Persecuted but Not Forsaken | Uniting Heaven and Earth

This study is based on the letters to the Philippians and Colossians. Heaven and earth are united through Jesus Christ. Man, created as the crowning glory of creation, separated himself from God through self-deception, causing the life force of the earth – love – to fade. And since everything on earth depends on him, everything is ultimately doomed to death. God begot Jesus through Mary, who removed this separation. Through him, the new, immortal source of life is available again and man can connect with God through faith.

Man's identity is in the subconscious. Self-deception leads to separation. When Adam deceived himself and believed he was God, he separated himself from God, and all his descendants were born separated from the source of life. But since humans must trust, they bind themselves to each other and now live for themselves, out of selfishness, which is not possible. And that is why human life is dead. Jesus frees us from this separation by offering us new life in the Spirit.

Paul's letters to the Philippians and Colossians show persecution and suffering and why we should find joy in them (James 1:2). Suffering reveals both the activity of error and its non-existence when it is overcome. Illness, strife, and other consequences are expressions of self-deception. Crucifixion and overcoming are revealed in the fact that injustice can be allowed. Jesus suffered and endured injustice in order to reveal precisely that. When we know that nothing is done to us personally, but to God, joy in the Lord remains at all times (Philippians 4:4). What this means in depth is the subject of the first part of the series “Uniting Heaven and Earth .”