What is the Gospel--the Gospel of Christ?

For years the Worldwide Church of God which I was a member of taught a message about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, thinking this was the Gospel which Jesus told us to preach and that it was this 'Gospel' which when preached brought people into a knowledge of Salvation. I have learned since that we were preaching the "Jewish" gospel which the evangelistic Diaspora Jews had been preaching from the time of the Maccabees to the time of Christ. But the simple Gospel the apostle Peter preached in his first sermon in Acts 2 was about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The result of Peter's sermon preaching this 'Gospel' brought 3,000 souls to repentance and baptism. So what really is the "Gospel of Salvation," called alternately "the Gospel of Christ"? Click on the title of this blog to log onto an article I just posted about what the Gospel of Salvation really is. The Jewish gospel drew many Gentiles into their synagogues, and caused those Gentiles to believe in the One true God of Israel, Yahweh, and many believers have come into the Sabbatarian Churches of God due to the preaching of a similar gospel about the coming Kingdom of God, but it is not the Gospel preached by Paul, John, Peter and the other apostles. All believers ought to be on the same page with this essential information, for it is this very Gospel which Jesus commanded us to be preaching to the entire world before he would come again (Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-18). Be sure to click on the title of this blog to link to an article which clearly defines the Gospel of Salvation. A major Sabbatarian Church of God leader has read it and approves of it 100 percent, interestingly. We all need to be on the same page with this one, as Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15 and Matthew 24:14 put some pretty serious emphasis on it.

Was the Church really like that? Happy Birthday, Body of Christ!

Hi everyone, the Church's (Body of Christ's) birthday is on the day of Pentecost, May 23rd, 2010 this year. Few realize what the history of that early Church was really like. I have a full-length history research paper on the subject, showing what the early Body of Christ was like. I have just updated part III of that research paper, expanding it from a short piece about Constantine, to one that shows the birth and development of the Catholic Church, whose beginnings go as far back as 96AD with their first "Bishop of Rome", Pope Clement. It's an interesting piece, because this history, taken from Paul Johnson's "A History of Christianity" shows how the hierarchal structure of church government slowly but steadily took over that 'universal' church, much to it's own detriment. This hierarchal church government structure in the Church in Rome allowed an 'old boy' network to develop and exist which allowed a high level of corruption to exist in that developing church. The updated section of this early church history article can be found on this link:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch3.htm

To log on that link above, just click on the above main title of this blog ("Was the Church Really Like That?"). So be sure to check that link out. The next question that begs asking is: 'Was this the structure to be found within the early Church of God in Jerusalem, or the churches of God that the apostle's Paul and John planted in Corinth and Asia Minor?' The answer: 'No, it was not.' Their congregations, as best as can be determined by searching the Epistles, were semi-autonomous, all coming under the gentle guidance and oversight of the apostles (Paul and John in Asia Minor and Gentile areas, Peter in Judea). Jerusalem up until 70AD was the central HQ church, but church governmental ties to this 'Mother Church' were very loose. General funds and tithes, except for occasional poor offerings sent to Jerusalem, were kept within each congregation, and obviously assisted in local evangelism, which helped grow these congregations. Pastors were chosen by local church members within each congregation, because it was these very same local members who would best know if the one they were choosing to be their pastor met the guidelines laid out by Paul in 1st Timothy 3:1-7. The word "bishop" found in that passage really meant "overseer" or "pastor" at the time Paul penned 1st Timothy. Compare this with the information found on the above link. Sadly, not only the Catholic Church followed this damaging hierarchal structure for church governance, but the Church of England and many Reformation churches followed it as well. Of recent, even some Sabbatarian Church of God denominations have followed it, much to their own hurt. They should look back to how the early Sabbatarian Churches of God in Rhode Island and New Jersey chose their pastors. In the early 1700s the tiny congregation of a Church of God was forming up in Piscataway, New Jersey. The members of this tiny congregation chose one of their own members, an Edward Dunham. They then sent him north to Newport, Rhode Island to have hands laid on him (his formal ordination), and then he was sent back to pastor the congregation that had chosen him (I would strongly suspect they chose him based on Paul's instructions in 1st Timothy 3:1-7). To see what the early Church was like in the 1st through 4th centuries AD, log onto and read:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm

Does Jesus want to see the Body of Christ unified, as they were that first Pentecost?

For the answer to that, log onto and read the link below and scroll to the section on Zephaniah 2:1-3:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/Zephaniah1.htm

Be sure to log onto and read those links, you will find them most enlightening, maybe disturbing for some, as it's a paradigm-breaker. Happy Birthday Body of Christ, or Happy Pentecost, (and Happy Shevuot to our Messianic Jewish brothers in Yeshua)!

Coming World Famine?

I just finished another research article/paper titled COMING WORLD FAMINE? This paper shows pretty clearly that Normal Borlaug's green revolution, which has helped stave off starvation for the past 40 years, and allowed the world population of 2.52 billion people in the 1950's to comfortably climb to 6.8 billion people in 2010, has begun to flat-line, and if all prevailing conditions continue, to start to fail. What does the future hold if these conditions continue? Look up the article and read it for yourself. The nav button is just above the Global Warming nav button. It's about 24 pages, not too long, but very informative.

New Book of Revelation Commentary (pretty awesome, if not a bit controversial)

There is a new section on the site.  I have put together a commentary on the Book of Revelation (with the help of J. Vernon McGee and other sources, and of course the most important source, letting the Bible interpret its own symbols).  The church history section (Revelation 2-3) to start off with, is a bit controversial, taking a hard look at both Sabbatarian Churches of God and Gentile Sunday observing Christian revivals, going back to Asia Minor and Judea of the first Church era.  Like I said, some of the conclusions are controversial, but I think they bear some merit, or at least some honest consideration. You'll love that last two chapters, Revelation 21-22 as well, a real encouraging future for the entire Body of Christ. The nav button for this Book of Revelation commentary on the left-hand nav bar is just below the nav bar button of Daniel.  Enjoy.  I'm glad I'm finished, gave me some restless nights.  Why was I inspired to do Revelation?  Search me.  I think the Lord may want parts of his body of believers to wake up and get with it, maybe, considering how close we may be to the end of this "age of man."  Don't know.  Anyway, enjoy.