There's Only One

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Introduction

Chapter 1: The One and Only

Chapter 2: The Truth

Chapter 3: Salvation

Chapter 4: Spiritual Warfare

Chapter 5: Take Up Your Cross

Chapter 6: Personal Relationship

Chapter 7: New Covenant

Chapter 8: Sufficient Evidence

Chapter 9: Prayer, Wisdom, and Positive Attitude

Chapter 10: Free Will or Predestination

Chapter 11: Perception of a Christian

Chapter 12: Personal Responsibility

Chapter 13: Emotions, Intentions, and Behaviors

Chapter 14: All About Sin

Chapter 15: Money, Fame, and Fortune

Chapter 16: All Things Come in Threes

Chapter 17: Four Quadrants

Chapter 18: Religion

Chapter 19: Church

Chapter 20: Tragedies, Trials, and Tribulations

Chapter 21: Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Blessings

Chapter 22: Go Forth

About the Author

There's Only One

Anthony Cooper

ISBN 979-8-89112-193-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89112-195-9 (Hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-89112-194-2 (Digital)

Copyright © 2024 Anthony Cooper

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

I dedicate this book to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This book would not have been possible without the wisdom and guidance I have received from the Messiah. All glory to God!

Introduction

This book promotes the gospel of Jesus Christ by discussing and advancing Christ's moral truths while explaining the Christian faith sufficiently and forthrightly. My desire is to help you understand what this earthly life truly encompasses. I hope to achieve this understanding by having a down-to-earth conversation that will help explain why you exist and what forces are trying to influence your thoughts, beliefs, and actions.

Several misconceptions and falsehoods have evolved about Christianity and been perceived as the truth by many Christians and nonbelievers alike over the last two thousand years. These deceptions and misinterpretations have caused people to be distracted and to lose focus of the truth. Worldly skeptics, unwise interpretations, and man-made theories have created confusion within Christianity. Christianity based solely on the moral truths of Jesus Christ does not have any confusion or conflicts. Just as Apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 14:33, God is not the author of confusion but of peace.

This life's earthly journey can be very complicated if we allow our perception of this life to get blurred. When you find the absolute truth and use it as a foundation to stand upon, you can build a close relationship with Jesus Christ and discover the true purpose of this earthly life. When you approach life with this biblical worldview, which I will explain in more detail later in the book, your life becomes more fulfilling, and your perception on this life becomes truly meaningful. You realize you are living for a higher purpose and not for yourself.

Many people approach Christianity like it is some sideshow in their life. Their subconscious thought process is, Okay, time out, we are going to church and dressing up a little. Then it's back to our other life and the many facets within that life. Or I will pray this morning before I go to work, but then I will put the spiritual aspect of my life aside till a later time. This type of approach needs to be corrected. Throughout the book, I have tried to show how Christianity and the ongoing spiritual warfare we endure daily are constantly interwoven into all the facets of our lives. Whatever time of the day or place we are in our lives, we should use Christ's biblical worldview as our scope when examining our current situation and deciding our future endeavors.

Welcome to There's Only One. My desire is to uplift you spiritually and warn you of the demonic forces which seek to destroy your life and soul. Writing this book has been very humbling and rewarding. I feel blessed to know I have an opportunity to help make a positive moral impact on someone's life. Let's get started.

Chapter 1

The One and Only

Several years ago, I started making an effort to get closer to the Lord. I increased my prayer time and tried to communicate with the Lord daily. I started studying the Bible with an objective approach and detailed process. I would take notes as I read the New Testament and reread the verses over and over for as long as it took until I felt confident that I understood the true meaning of what the Lord was saying. As a result of this effort, I developed a greater understanding of the truth, which allowed me to have a more intimate relationship with Christ. During this time, as I was studying the Bible and reading Christian-related materials, I developed a list of important spiritual topics which I thought had not been given enough attention and priority. I believe these topics are essential for understanding Christianity and deserve more conversation. I first thought about discussing these subjects with my children, but then I had a strong urge to write about these subjects. A book could reach more people and be sustained over time compared to my oral discussions. The book could help improve the deficiencies in Christian teachings about these topics and could further explain why we are here, what it is to be a Christian, and why we should be a Christian.

I started with a few notes, thoughts, and views on these topics. I did not have enough information to write a book at that time. But soon after I started writing, my thoughts increased abundantly. I felt like I was in the will of God, and the Holy Spirit was pushing my pen. The development of this book reminded me that Christ would provide and give us more than all the information or items we need when it is his will. Just like in the fourteenth chapter of the book of Matthew, when Jesus fed five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish, Even after all the multitudes had eaten and were filled, there were still twelve baskets full of leftover pieces.

I wrote this book to help you find the truth so you can acquire true joy and fulfillment in this earthly life and have eternal life in heaven. I hope this book gives you a better perspective of your purpose in this life, and I hope to explain it as effectively and efficiently as possible. I wrote in detail about the fundamental moral truths everyone needs in this life and tried to avoid getting into profound theological doctrine. I did not want to lose the reader's interest by discussing biblical scholars' opinions throughout the last two thousand years. There may be a time and place for those studies, but I wanted to keep this book focused on moral truths and spiritual reality. Again, after reading this book, I want you to better understand your purpose in this life, experience true joy, find the truth, and know why you need to live by those moral truths.

This book is for everyone. It does not matter where you are currently at in your spiritual life. Whether life seems effortless or a continuous struggle at this moment, whether you are drawing closer or backsliding from the Lord, whether you have a relationship with Jesus Christ or never have had one, I hope this book can change your life for the better. I would like you to read this book and then use it as a reference guide in the future. I hope this book can assist you as you read your Bible, and you can return to this book for assurance, encouragement, guidance, or help with other spiritual issues you may encounter.

People ask, why does this happen or what does that mean? Even though I cannot answer every question about reality and eternity in this book, I hope I can answer enough questions to help you have a greater relationship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Your increased faith in him will help you realize what this life encompasses. As you gain a better concept of reality, you will use the sufficient evidence you acquired to recognize and understand the truth better. Not what you or I might think the truth is but to know the real truth. Once you find the truth, you will realize there can be no true meaning or purpose in this life without living the truth, defending the truth, and standing firm on the truth.

In my lifetime, I have seen so many people just wandering through life without any direction, not knowing the truth. This lost mentality leads to confusion and depression. A hopeless person will develop sour, rude, and unfulfilled feelings toward life. If these negative feelings are not controlled, they often lead to evil thoughts, intentions, and actions. We must take the time and diligence to observe, research, and seek the truth. Throughout my adult life, I have been amazed at how people will believe just about anything they hear. If a parent, friend, teacher, politician, celebrity, pastor, religion, organization, etc., tells them it is the truth, they will believe it. We do not need to let our future actions, the outcome of our lives, and our eternity be based upon someone else's beliefs or comments. Hence, I wanted to write this book to help people find the moral truths within this life.

Living by these moral truths gives you true joy and purpose. I deeply love my Lord and Savior and want to help tell the truth. Secondly, I love my neighbor and fellow man and only wish everyone could obtain the truth and gain everlasting joy and eternal peace, which is rewarded to those who live by the truth.

Since the beginning of time, people have been searching for the truth that will give them true joy in their souls. They have tried to achieve true joy through power, influence, wealth, pleasure, and worldly accomplishments, but all those objectives have always fallen short of the mark. There is nothing wrong with earthly goals and establishing a promising career to support you and your family as long as you do not give more priority to those goals than God. Whatever the situation, God should always come first and your family second. Also, it is our responsibility to use our accomplishments to promote God's kingdom and all the good and moral behaviors one needs to acquire a joyful, fulfilling, and purposeful life.

Most people spend their entire lives going down the wrong path, a selfish path, trying to reach their worldly goals, not realizing there will never be enough earthly challenges or selfish goals to find true joy. Others finally reach a level of worldly success to know it is an empty accomplishment. Afterward, they become frustrated and depressed, wondering how they could have committed all that time and effort to reach their demanding goals. After a short celebration, they realize it is nothing like they thought it would be—no true utopia at the finish line.

Sadly, instead of turning to Christ and receiving absolute joy and purpose at this point in their life, most people are deceived into thinking they must not have accomplished enough and start another set of unfulfilling goals. This mindset leads them into an endless cycle of empty accomplishments. Many people will hurt others as they stumble through life ruthlessly, looking for true joy and satisfaction or realizing those worldly accomplishments cannot give them the peace and joy they desire. In time, after the disappointments outweigh the achievements, the person will often get depressed and either become belligerent toward others or withdraw from society altogether. They start to cover their disappointments with drugs, alcohol, sex, or materiality, and before long, life spins out of control to the point of self-destruction and lost hope.

Jesus Christ is the truth, and a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ is the only path to true joy, purpose, and fulfillment in this life.

Then Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door, if anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:7–10 NKJV)

In this book, I will discuss how this life is designed to be lived through Christ's biblical worldview, how he has given us guidance and direction within his worldview, and how we need to establish a close relationship with him. Jack Wellman says, A biblical worldview is like looking at the world through the lens of scripture. It explains the cause of the universe, the purpose of humanity, and the mission of Jesus Christ to redeem those who are cut off from God by their sins which included all of us. We see suffering as just a vapor in time compared to the glorious eternity that's coming.

We can acquire his good characteristics for our fulfillment and allow others to witness his image and worldview through us through our actions and reactions, verbally and physically, so they can develop a stronger bond with Christ.

As you read this book, you will need to devote time and effort to researching life's truths. Please do not believe what I have written because I may have influenced you. Believe it because it is the truth, and only the moral truth can come from God. Your path will be more precise and smoother if you accept God's moral truths and allow them to guide you through this life's journey. In the book of John, Jesus declared God's Word is truth and asked God to sanctify his disciples with his truth.

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. (John 17:17 NKJV)

When you are seeking the moral truths of this life, what is right or wrong, good or evil, be careful and allow divine wisdom to separate the truth from the untruth concerning influences in your past, like what someone may have told you or something you might have read. Hopefully, with God's power and guidance, I will be able to give you enough sufficient evidence, wise direction, logical reasoning, and common sense to get you headed toward a fulfilling personal relationship with God. As you experience God's love, you will become closer to him automatically. He will allow you to see the world through his biblical worldview; the view he has designed, advised, and expected us to use as we go through this earthly life.

People living as God intended will benefit themselves and everyone around them. We all need to be a lamp of truthful light to help guide each other through the darkness of evil in this world. Also, I would never want to misguide or deceive anyone. I have been very committed to the purpose of writing this book. Therefore, I believe in every word I have written in this book. I am very grateful that through continuous prayer, reading and studying the Bible, and seeking wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit, I can say a majority of the information in this book has come from my relationship with Christ.

The remaining information was either from the enhanced knowledge I gained by researching other sources or the direct message I obtained from the various sources I researched. You may not agree with something written in this book, but before you write it off as wrong, do your diligence, research the information, and pray about the topic. Occasionally, I have given my opinion while writing this book, but I have let you, the reader, know when a statement is my opinion and not based solely on the truth.

Even though I hope I can help you increase your morality and gain divine wisdom, which I have acquired through my relationship with Jesus Christ, I would never want someone to think I had a condescending attitude. In other words, assume I was talking down to someone. I am a born-again Christian. I fight the good fight daily and strive to finish the race so that I can receive my Savior's eternal reward. However, I am of the flesh, and whether you are a born-again Christian or not, I fight many of the same spiritual battles you do and some that you do not.

As I started drawing closer to the Lord and studying the Bible objectively, I realized the Bible was giving me some interpretations of the truth on some beliefs that were different from what other people had taught me throughout my life. A few issues which have been embedded into our consciousness as a moral benchmark by religions, society, and influential people over the last several years. I do not address these issues to be divisive or demeaning but with true love. True love seeks the truth and yearns for integrity. The more this world knows the truth in the overall scheme of reality, the higher the probability of people finding true joy and purpose in their lives. This momentum leads to good conduct and morality overtaking evil behavior as much as possible, which leads to more people accepting Jesus Christ and finding everlasting life, which is the overall goal. Also, just because I say something is true or false does not mean I want it to be that way personally. I try to look at all the issues and situations objectively and with the guidance of the Lord.

I have written this book with guidance from Christ and have mentioned some of the advice I have received in my life from Christ. I have tried to remember the spiritual information I have read that has positively affected my relationship with God and tried to include it in this book. I feel like my heart is in the right place and full of good intentions. I did not write this book for self-promotion. I have gotten the feeling that some Christian authors compete to see who can sound the most academic or theological. I did not write this book to try to impress you. I wrote this book to try to help you. As I wrote the words, I always made sure I felt like I was in God's will. I wanted God to appreciate my effort and approve of every word written in this book.

I hope you read every word of this book, and if you have any questions, concerns, or disagreements, you will seek the truth through prayer, fasting, and reading the Bible. You may need to talk about or debate specific issues with others which I call moral consultation and deliberation. Just remember what someone else may tell you may be the truth, but you always need to follow up by reaching out to the Holy Spirit because he will always give you the guidance you need if you truly desire the truth. Hence, keeping a close relationship with the Trinity is essential—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You have to stay strong and disciplined throughout this spiritual warfare we call life. Ultimately, it is totally up to you to find true fulfillment, joy, purpose, and eternal life. God is the answer for you to receive that everlasting peace and to be filled with the Spirit so you will never have to thirst again.

The woman said to Him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?

Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:11–14 NKJV)

One of the most personal experiences, which helped me start developing a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ, happened a little over twenty years ago. It was the summer of 2001, and I was on a youth retreat with my church as a chaperone in Panama City Beach, Florida. The guest speaker at the retreat was Josh McDowell.

Josh is a well-renowned Christian apologist, evangelist, and author. I will always remember the first day of the retreat when Josh was introduced. As he walked forward to the center of the stage, he stopped and looked out at the audience and said a simple, short phrase but a direct, end-all-debate kind of statement, There's only one. I loved the way he said it with such confidence and assurance. He gave about a twenty to thirty-minute speech that morning.

At the end of his speech, right before he walked off the stage when he was finished with his teaching session for good measure, he repeated it one last time for the day, There's only one. The phrase caught on, and you would occasionally hear people end their conversations with There's only one during the rest of the week.

I remember repeating the phrase to others several times during the remaining days of the youth retreat. No other God, person, religion, or philosophy can give you true meaning in this life. Only one can provide you with all those things; he is your Creator and Savior. Now, many times in this world, people hear phrases and information and accept them without diligently researching the issue to see if it's true. That was not the case with me in this situation. I had already experienced a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to know this phrase was reliable and truthful. This short phrase concerning the most powerful, influential, and eternal subject in this life that can give you the most joy, peace, purpose, and fulfillment in your life here on earth. However, many have been too selfish to follow.

Yes, a very short phrase but one that humanity has struggled to accept or has been deceived not to believe. Whether we accept it or not, a phrase that encompasses an ongoing battle between good and evil. A phrase that will give you everlasting life if you accept it by faith which was given to you from grace.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 NKJV)

There's Only One.

Chapter 2

The Truth

The truth exists whether we accept it or not. We may not realize it, but we all are searching for the truth to guide us and allow us to understand the true meaning of this life. Depending on how much we find, live, and defend the truth directly impacts the quality of our lives determines the outcome of this life and establishes how we will live out our eternal lives. The truth I am talking about and the truth I will be mentioning throughout this book is moral truth.

Moral truth defines all good and evil. Reality is established by moral truths revealing what is right and wrong. Reality constitutes a real or actual thing, distinguished from something merely apparent. When one finds, accepts, and lives the truth by adjusting their behaviors to agree with the concepts and principles of the moral truth, they will receive a victorious and eternal life.

There are objective and subjective truths. Before I explain these two truths and how they relate to moral truths, we need to define the adjective version of the words objective and subjective. Objective means it is based on facts and unbiased. Personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice do not influence it.

Subjective is based on opinions and beliefs belonging to the thinking subject, which exist in the mind and can vary from person to person. For example, I can say, I drink coffee. This statement is an objective claim because it is a fact. I drink coffee almost every day in my life. The statement is not based on someone's opinion or belief.

Here is another statement: Coffee is the best beverage in the world. This comment is subjective. Even though it may be true for me, it is based on an opinion and may not be accurate for everyone. Some people think coffee is the best beverage, but millions of others would pick a different beverage as their favorite drink.

Moral truths are objective. I repeat, moral truths are objective. There is nothing subjective about moral truths. No one has any power over moral truth except the one who is the truth, Jesus Christ. Jesus has established the universe to conform to his truths. In their