The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2013, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

If you were to ask people in India, some might say that Mahatma Ghandi was very important.  And certainly, he achieved some things for his nation, India.

People naming the greatest man might choose one of the military heroes.  King David of Israel conquered the giant, Goliath, and had many other impressive military victories.  David's close friend, Jonathan, was a mighty man of valor.

Alexander the Great conquered the then-known world.  Napoleon conquered much of Europe.  Some of the Caesars had very impressive armies.

We have military heroes from World War 2.  General Patton defeated his opponent, Rommel in North Africa.  General Douglas MacArthur had impressive victories, but got himself fired by President Truman for insubordination.

General Eisenhower was an important General who later became President.

Albert Einstein was thought to be a genius and gave us "E=M(C)squared," which led to the atomic bomb and electricity from nuclear power.

Werner Von Braun was important in rocket science.

If you ask Muslims, they might say Mohammed, who founded their religion, Islam.  If you look just at the numbers of Muslims, there are more than a billion of them.

But Muslims are not born-again like it says in John chapter 3, so just large numbers of people are not the main thing.

Solomon had a reputation for being the wisest man.

So who is the greatest man who ever lived?  None of the above.

The greatest man who ever lived is Jesus, who is also called Christ.

Jesus is wiser than Solomon.

He is the greatest teacher there ever was.  He performed great miracles of healings.  He raised the dead.  He cast out demons from people.

He is the founder of Christianity, which replaced Judaism as the most important religion.  Both Jews and Christians believe the Old Testament part of the Bible.  But today's Judaism doesn't accept Jesus as Messiah.

Because the Jews mostly don't accept Jesus as Messiah, they'll be deceived into accepting a counterfeit Messiah, who is the Antichrist, also called the Beast.

Jesus informed us that after we die, we go either to a beautiful heaven or a fiery hell, and that we must be born again to go to heaven (John chapter 3).

He lived very modestly so that others could become rich.  He walked on water.  (Matt 14:26)

He taught a lifestyle that had previously been pretty much unknown.

He was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.  He was the Jewish Messiah, or savior, even though many of the Jews rejected him as their Messiah.  But Jesus is also the savior of the gentiles.

Jesus' earthly ministry didn't begin until he was about thirty years old.  He went and got baptized by John the Baptist.  John the Baptist said of Jesus, "He is the one that baptizes with the Holy Ghost," and John said Jesus is greater than John.

God sent John the Baptist ahead of Jesus to prepare the way for Jesus.  John preached that men should repent, or turn around, and get right with God, and John baptized people in water.

Those who obeyed John were then in a good position to receive the teachings of Jesus when Jesus began his earthly ministry.

Jesus prayed about it, and then selected twelve disciples.

He taught the people and he taught his disciples.

In fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus was born of a virgin, and born in Bethlehem.  He later lived in Nazareth, fulfilling another prophecy that the Messiah would be a Nazarene.

Jesus taught, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except by me." (John 14:6)  The Father means God the Father who lives in heaven.

You don't get to heaven except by Jesus.  If you don't make it to heaven, then you do go to a fiery hell, Jesus said, and he said that most people go to hell. (Matt 7:13,14)

(When you die, it's only your body that dies.  Then you, the person who lived in that house that was your body, either go up to heaven, or down to hell, where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth, where their worms don't die, and where the fire is never quenched, says Jesus.)

But when we say "world's greatest man," it would be good to remember that although Jesus lived a life on earth for about thirty three years in a man's body, he was somewhat unlike other men.

He was in a category by himself.

My mother bore two children to her husband, my dad.  After my mother gave birth to me, which of us was older, me or my mother?

That's easy, my mother, of course.  And that's how it is all across the world.  But in the case of Jesus, he was older than Mary, who gave birth to Jesus.

How can that be?, you might say.

Jesus was born of a virgin.  He had no earthly father.  Joseph, the husband of Mary was Jesus' step-father.  After the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary had at least six children the normal way.

Jesus' Father was God.  God's spirit made Mary pregnant with Jesus.

But Jesus was present with his father, God, at the creation of the world.  God said, "Let us make man in our image."  Who is the "us"?  The "us" is God the Father and Jesus.

The creation of the world was thousands of years before Mary came along, which is why I say that Jesus was older than Mary.

Thousands of years of history on earth went by from Adam to Mary before God told his son Jesus, "Now it's time for you to go down and live your life on earth."

Jesus cooperated with God's plan.  Lived a life on earth.  Taught the people.  Healed them.  Raised the dead.  He cast demons out of people who were afflicted by them.  Jesus' adversaries who didn't believe in him got him arrested, though he had done nothing wrong.

Jesus was sentenced to death by an unjust governor and was crucified.  On the third day after his death, God raised his son Jesus from the dead.

Jesus went and appeared to his disciples, and to more than five hundred Christians.  Jesus rose up to heaven and now sits at the right hand of God.

John 3:16 tells us that Jesus is the only begotten son of God. (King James Version)

Did this begetting by God of his son Jesus happen two thousand years ago?

No, because the creation of the world happened probably at least six thousand years ago.

The original begetting of Jesus by God, his Father had nothing to do with Mary.  At the time of that begetting, the first woman had not yet been created.

How did God beget a son without a woman?  Well, you see, God is the God who speaks things into existence.

God said, "Let there be light, and there was light," the Sun, the Moon, and the stars.

So God begat a son without a woman, and then together, God the Father and Jesus his son did the creation.

Chapter 2

We have said that Jesus was the greatest teacher.  What then, did Jesus teach?

Jesus taught, "You must be born again." (John chapt 3)

The word must is an imperitive.  It's something you've got to do.

So then, after Jesus has told the world that we've got to get born again, does everyone get born again?

Unfortunately, no.  Jesus does want everyone in the world to know what he has said.  But preachers and missionaries are required to get that message to the world.

The gospel message has not gotten out yet to the whole world.  We Christians need to pray for that to happen, and some of us must go and preach the gospel.

But even among those who've heard the gospel message, not everyone obeys it.  In fact, Jesus told us most people go to hell. (Matt 7:13,14)

And how does someone get born again?

You get born again by believing what Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except by me." (John 14:6)

God the Father is in heaven.  You go to heaven by believing in Jesus.

The Apostle Paul was not yet on the scene during Jesus' earthly ministry.

After Jesus' crucifixion and rising from the dead, and ascending to heaven, the Apostle Paul came along and wrote about half of the number of books in the New Testament, one of which was the book of Romans.

Paul shows us that you get born again by hearing the gospel message that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, (Rom 3:23), the wages of sin is death, (Rom 6:23), if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you're saved, (Rom 10:9,10).

You get saved by believing and by obeying Romans 10:9,10.

Confess Jesus with your mouth and believe in your heart.

No money involved.  Salvation is free.  Believe and receive.

So that's all there is to it?  No, that's not all there is to it.  That's how you get born again.  And then, once you're born again, Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments," and "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things I say?"

Once we're born again Christians, we're supposed to do the things Jesus has told us to do.  But how can we do what Jesus said if we don't know what Jesus said?

And how do we find out what Jesus said?  By reading the Bible.  But lately, I listen to the Bible being read on compact discs more than I read the Bible.  You can do it either way.

But we need to find out what Jesus said so that we can do what Jesus said.

One thing Jesus said is, "Do to others as you would have them do to you."  (Also called the golden rule.)  (Luke 6:31)

Jesus said we should love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  (Mrk 12:30)

Jesus said, "Men ought always to pray and not faint."  This fainting doesn't mean passing out on the floor.  It means fainting spiritually, pulling back from following the Lord, pulling back from working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. (Phil 2:12)

Jesus wants his Christians to get baptized in water.  I happen to have gotten baptized at an Assemly of God church.  Many Protestant churches can baptize you in water.

But in Acts 1:8, Jesus tells us about more power that he wants his people to have.  You get this power when you get the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues.

It's an unknown tongue (language) to the person doing the speaking.

Jesus is the baptizer with the Holy Ghost.  If you're a Christian, ask Jesus to baptize you with the Holy Ghost.  When you pray, believe that you receive the things you ask for, and you shall have them. (Mark 11:24)

When Jesus baptizes you with the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost gives you words to speak in a strange language you never learned.  Then you add your voice, and speak out those words.

And God understands all languages.

After receiving the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, we should pray some every day in the unknown tongue.

We should read the Bible every day.

We should speak the word of God, meditate on it and do it. (Josh 1:8)

Scriptures quoted are from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version, and the New Testament, Hoehn version, copyright 2011.  Both are available as ebooks for the Kindle reader at Amazon.com

The Lord bless you.  Frederick Hoehn.

www.FredHoehnMinistries.com

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.