THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

Most of Christendom today preach a gospel of salvation, a gospel of grace, prosperity gospel, social gospel or a mixture of these variation. The preaching invariably centres on the Person of Christ -the gospel about Christ rather than the Gospel of Christ. However, the Bible is clear in stating the only Gospel that was preached by the prophets of the Old Testament and the same Gospel preached by Christ and His Apostles was the Gospel of the kingdom of God. In the Gospel of Matthew, the phrase kingdom of heaven was used and in others, only the word kingdom was used. These terms are used interchangeably and they mean the same thing - the Gospel that Christ was sent by God the Father to preach to mankind. From the New Testament alone, the term kingdom, kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God was used a total of 136 times.

The Gospel is about the government of God that was lost at the Garden of Eden and need to be restored, among other things - restitution of all things (Acts 3:21). Christ came and qualified through the temptations at the wilderness to dethrone Satan - who is currently the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4) - and become King when He returns. But religious people misunderstood the signs thinking that His first advent was to overthrow the Roman authorities. Fearing for their own safety on guilt of treason and vested interest under Roman rule (the religious figures are kind of civil servants under Roman government) the religious rulers hatch a plan to get Christ crucified! Subsequently, the Roman emperors beginning with Constantine, refused to accept the Gospel of the kingdom of God for fear of being overthrown by 'higher authorities' from above. The gospel message OF Christ was changed to become the gospel ABOUT Christ - the Gospel message (the Good News) of the kingdom was switched to become the Gospel about the Messenger!

Moses prophesied of the coming Prophet (Christ) and we are told to listen to Him - that is, His Gospel message of the kingdom of God (Deut 18:15). Malachi also did prophesy of the same in Malachi 3:1 - the Messenger of the covenant. The Messenger (Christ) is one who brings a message - in this case, the Gospel message from God the Father (Luke 4:43) - and not about the Messenger Himself per se! Christ Himself affirms this when He said, 'Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.'  - John 14:10.

After Christ successfully overcame Satan in the wilderness, He began to preach the Gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14) saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel' - Mark 1:15. The Lord Christ also commisioned His disciples to do likewise, 'And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven (God) is at hand' - Matt 10:7. One must believe the Gospel of the kingdom of God to be saved! The Apostle Peter preached the Gospel, differentiating between the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12) showing that the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ and His church are separate matters. Similarly, the Apostle Paul went to the synagogue and preached about the kingdom of God (Acts 19:8; 20:25) and faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). Paul too made a distinction between the Gospel and the Person of Jesus Christ as recorded in Acts 28:31. If the gospel is about the Person of Jesus Christ, why is there a need for Paul to distinguish between 'another Jesus' and 'different gospel' (2 Cor 11:4) as two separate set of false doctrine?

For over nineteen centuries, the true Gospel of the kingdom of God was not being preached to the world. But in this last days, it will be preached and then the end will come (Matt 24:14). Had the true Gospel been preached faithfully for all these preceding centuries, the end of the age would have come for this verse to be fulfilled! It was Herbert W Armstrong who first proclaimed the true Gospel of the kingdom of God to the world since the early twentieth century - even to kings, queens and political leaders of the world at that time. Unfortunately, many mistaken him and his teachings to be a kind of cultic and ignore them completely to their own loss.

But the time will come when Christ returns, the governments of the world will be dissolved to make way for the government of God, with Christ as the Head of it all - the King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ instructed the Apostle John to record thus, 'The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever' - Rev 11:15. This was long prophesied by prophet Daniel, ' And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom (kingdom of God), which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms (nations of the world), and shall stand for ever' - Daniel 2:44.

However, does it mean that Christ's role as Saviour of the world is denied? - absolutely not. Although Christ is not the gospel, He is to be preached in conjunction with the gospel (Acts 8:12; 28:31). His death and resurrection provide the means to the kingdom of God for which all true believers must seek to enter and inherit (Matt 6:33). There is no other goal higher than this calling - for all true believers must seek to be born again as immortal spirit beings into the eternal Family of God (Romans 8:29-30) with Christ as the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18)-  with many more to follow at the First Resurrection!





 

THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

Unknown to billions of people the world over, the origin of Christmas is not about celebrating the birth of Christ. In fact, it predates the birth of Christ and has it roots in paganism going back to the time of Nimrod - the builder of theTower of Babel! To give it some form of credibility, it has the stamp of  'Christianity' imprinted on it. Christ was NOT born on December 25th, more likely in the fall of September when the 'country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night ' -  Luke 2:8. For how could the shepherds walked their sheep in the cold winter night if it was December and probably rainy too? The fact is, December 25th was meant for the celebration of the Roman Saturnalia - the sun god pagans worship in ancient times for the planting and harvesting seasons as the sun provides the sunlight for a good harvest.

The mood of the Christmas season will bring cheer to merry-makers and businesses, especially those who cater to customers shopping for Christmas gifts, indulge in fine wine, dining and partying till the wee hours of the morning. But God is not impressed, and neither is our Lord Jesus Christ. There are calls from some Christian fraternity to being Christ back to Christmas - but in truth He was never there to begin with. People like to follow the crowd as there are safety in numbers - but they are sincerely wrong in thinking that celebrating Christmas is honoring Christ. Most of the practices of the Christmas festival originates from Roman custom and religion when the sun was worshipped in place of the Son. It is a time to honor the sun god of sowing for bringing in the winter solstice. Such idolatry is  a direct violation of God's first commandment when Christians are commanded, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me' - Exodus 20:3.

The Bible does not state the exact date of Christ's birth as it is probably not God's intention to reveal it to mankind for celebration. It is not God's commandment for mankind to celebrate Christmas, but purely the tradition of man. The festival of Saturnalia was a time to celebrate Saturn - the fire god of ancient times. Most ancient civilizations have a fire god. The planet Saturn was named after him because the bright color rings encircling the planet best represent rings of fire! Such practice was derived from Nimrod, the progenitor of all Babylonian gods whose worshippers offer child sacrifices to appease the gods of Molech and Baal among other names and is an abomination to the Lord (Jer 32:35). In Babylonian culture, Tammuz (another name for Nimrod) was the fire god.They are under the deception of Satan to believe that fire purifies their souls and the belief in purgatory to cleanse them of their sins arise from such practices.

The name Santa Claus is derived from the name Saint Nick. It is the Nicolaitanes that God hates for their evil deeds (Rev 2: 6,15). In fact, Santa is another name for Nimrod. All these have their roots not just in paganism but in evil doctrines and practices which Christ will return to destroy the MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (Rev 17:5). The lighting up of the Christmas tree is actually a picture of the dead Nimrod returning to life with glory and honor. In Jeremiah 10:2-4, the prophet denounced the practice of putting up Christmas tree, '...Learn not he ways of the heathen...For the customs of the people are vain; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest...They deck it with silver and with gold, they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.' All these goes to show that the practices of Christmas festivities were never God's idea, but merely the imagination of man. In modern times, it is propagated primarily for commercial reasons.

Syncretism is the term used to denote the worship of a true God mixed with pagan customs and practices. Serious judgment will befall the Israelites for those who disobey (Lev 18:29-30). Such is the spirit of the Christmas festivities when revelry and excesses were pushed to the limits in wine and spirits - albeit of the wrong kind! But many pagan practices are found in churches today and many church leaders even encourage their members to practice them almost without restraints. The Scripture is clear that God does not want His people to mix truth with falsehood, even if it is a very tiny portion of it - what more if it is substantially paganistic, and hence idolatrious in doctrines and practices. Christ is warning His called and chosen ones through the Apostle John to come out of her (Rev 18:4) - will you heed the Lord's warnings?