WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GOSPEL?

When one walks into any evangelical church, invariably the preacher will stress the importance of preaching the gospel. Most Christians when asked what is the gospel will reply that it is the gospel about Jesus Christ coming from heaven to earth to die for the sins of mankind. While this is true, it is not the gospel. Others may say it is about the gospel of grace, or it is about God's blessing in the arena of health and wealth. Yet some will preach a social gospel of doing good in this mortal life.

Although these have noble objectives, they are not the gospel. The gospel is not about the Person of Christ but the message of the kingdom of God. Christ was known as the Word in His pre-incarnate Being, together with God the Father (John 1:1). Christ was sent by the Heavenly Father as the Prophet Messenger (Deut 18:15; Malachi 3:1; Acts 7:37) to earth to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to mankind (Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:43).  In fact, it was the same gospel that was preached by all the prophets of the Old Testament (Acts 3:21)! No prophet ever came to preach about himself, always preaching the message given from a higher authority. For the true gospel it was a message from the Heavenly Father Himself.

Although Christ Himself is not the gospel, the Person of Christ has to be preached in conjunction with the gospel because of the important role He has played as the sacrifice for the sins of mankind, paving the way for true believers to see and enter the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God and Jesus Christ are two separate matters as recorded in 2 passages in Acts 8:12 and Acts 28:31 - 'Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God AND the name of Jesus Christ'... Paul taught likewise - 'Preaching the kingdom of God AND teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ'.

The kingdom of God is the supergovernment of God that will descend upon earth when Christ returns. It is about the rulership by government with authority set up by God over literal nations and literal people on earth (Daniel 7:27; Rev 11:15). When Christ was on earth, His main pre-occupation is teaching and instructing His disciples about the kingdom of God. In fact, most of His parables are pointing to the gospel of the kingdom. Similarly, the Apostle Paul was fervent in preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God (Acts 19:8; 20:25).

The prophet Daniel recorded what God revealed to him about the world to come - that there will be four kingdoms ruled by man and one after that will be the kingdom of God ruled by Christ (Daniel 2:31-35, 44). Chapter 2:44 reads, ' And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, 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, and it shall stand forever.' At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the seventh angel sounded and with great rejoicing in heaven saying, ' The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.' - Revelation 11:15.

While on earth, Christ was in the wilderness for forty days and overcame the three temptations of Satan, qualifying Himself to rule as the King in the coming kingdom of God (Mark 1: 12-13). The first words of Christ after that was 'Repent ye, and believe the gospel' - Mark 1:15 - two key verbs that one must repent and believe in order to be saved! The gospel as stated in the preceding verse 14 is the kingdom of God - not something else as most churches are preaching and squabbling over every issue of doctrinal differences, mostly based on the interpretation of man. Only the Bible can interprets the Bible, and this has to be the basis for all interpretation of scriptural verses, including prophesies.

Christ Himself commissioned His twelve disciples to preach the kingdom of God. He also gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases (Luke 9:1-2). He later appointed other seventy, and sent them two and two to do likewise (Luke 10:1-9). In John 8:31, it was recorded that the Jews believed on Him. But that is not enough, Christ continued, If ye abide in my word (kingdom of God), then are ye my disciples indeed.' Then and only then,' ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.' 

Similarly, in the Lord's prayer, Christ taught us to pray beginning with Matthew 6:10  - Thy kingdom come . Follow on in Matthew 6:33, Christ taught us to 'seek ye first the kingdom of God (the gospel) and his reightousness (the laws of God)' . Many can memorise it verbatim, but few understand its meaning, let alone obey it.

At His trial before His crucifixion, Christ told Pontius Pilate that He was born to be King (of the coming kingdom of God), and it was for this purpose that He came into this world, 'that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hearth my voice - John 18:37. Truth of the matter is that the THE TRUTH Christ spoke of is the gospel of the kingdom of God!

This is consistent with the prophecy of Isaiah recorded in Isaiah 9:6-7, ' For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the GOVERNMENT shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, the Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace...his government shall be no end...and upon his kingdom.' Similar prophecy is recorded for us in Luke 1:32-33, 'He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David... and of his KINGDOM there shall be no end.' The throne to the kingdom is currently occupied by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. It will make way for Christ - the King of kings and Lord of lords - when He returns. Those who are called and qualified will be amongst the kings and lords to rule and reign with Him - Daniel 7:22; Revelation 2:26, 3:21, 5:10.

Religionists of our day try to spiritualise it away saying that the 'kingdom of God is in your heart or that it is the church'. This is the result of misinterpreting Scripture taken from Luke 17:21. The translation 'the kingdom of God is within you' is incorrect - a better translation is the kingdom of God is in the midst of you as Christ is the Divine Representative of the coming kingdom standing in the midst of the Pharisees. No way Christ was telling them the kingdom of God is in them when He called them names of the derogatory kind.

The kingdom of God is not the church as Christ told Nicodemus that one has to be born again to see the kingdom of God - John 3:3. To be born again is to die physically and be resurrected as an immortal spirit being. That is why flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God - 1 Corinthians 15:50. If the kingdom of God is the church, then all humans who have eyes - believers or unbelievers - will be able to see and enter therein!

For centuries since the first century AD, the true gospel had not been preached until the mid 20th century with Herbert Armstrong broadcasting the gospel of the kingdom of God over radio and the magazine 'Plain Truth'. The Lord Christ prophesied that the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all the nations before the end will come - Matthew 24:14. Had the true gospel being preached before that, the end of the church age would have come with Christ returning to usher in the kingdom of God on earth.

These are all facts from the Bible that cannot be denied. Sadly, many would choose to believe in man rather than from the words of the Son of God, Jesus Christ and His chosen Apostles. Those who choose to follow man are worshipping and serving God in vain (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:7). Choose wisely, for therein is the difference between life and death - for eternity!

GOD'S PURPOSE FOR FAMILY

The family is the building block of society, and that is a given. But the new liberals of the world today are challenging the norm with 'alternative lifestyle' and the gay agenda. Little do people understand that the concept of the family with one man one woman and natural children born from the sanctity of marriage is God given and unchangeable for a specific divine purpose. That purpose has to do with God's Divine Royal Family which is His ultimate plan and purpose for mankind. Simply put, God is reproducing Himself through the human family!

When I was growing up in the sixties and seventies, divorce was virtually unheard of in my family, extended family, friends, relatives and even in the neighborhood. Today, family break-up is far too common, giving rise to all kinds of social problems and crimes. Marriage as a sacred institution is under threat and those holding on to the sanctity of marriage are lampooned and ridiculed as people living in the past, and very often being accused of being intolerant toward others who wish to exercise their 'freedom of choice'.

But they do not know better. God's purpose for human marriage and family is sacred because it is for the ultimate purpose of extending His Divine Family that will last for eternity. Implicit in the Gospel of Christ is the Family of God, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain (Jesus Christ) of their salvation perfect through sufferings (Hebrews 2:10). Every person born into this world is worth more than the treasures of this world, because it has the potential to be born again as a spirit god being in his or her own right (Psalms 82:6; John 10:34) with eternal significance. No other creation can even come close, for being born a little lower than the angels, man will eventually judge the angels when born again as eternal spirit god being (1 Cor 6:3) - for those who qualify!

Man was created by God in His image (the God kind) to have fellowship with Him and eventually to be "married" into His Family through Jesus Christ which even angelic beings are not offered the privilege (Hebrews 1:5) - and that makes Satan fuming mad - no wonder he is out to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) to deceive man regarding the true Gospel of the kingdom of God! Man has descended into the depths of depravity by embracing the theory of evolution and thus behave more like beasts by committing brutality and inhumanity towards one another, often with little to no understanding or remorse. Man has lost his mind and lost his way, and like the first parents, have seek his own way apart from God. Much like the parable of the prodigal son spoken of by Christ.

God is holding earthly family accountable for the way the children are being brought up, especially the father who is the head of the family. Earthly fathers are to train and teach the children the right values and set good models for their children. If they failed to abide by God's commandments to love their wives and children, God's judgment is set to fall upon them - prophesied to come upon the whole earth during the Great Tribulation which is yet ahead! It is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a holy God. Hence, earthly father must not take his responsibilities lightly for the eternal destiny of his family, to a large extent falls squarely in his hands!

God has purposed to hand over the world to come (Hebrews 2:5) to born again human beings (saints) and not to angelic beings. Man will ultimately rule with Christ whom God the Father hast put all things in subjection under his (Christ) feet (Hebrews 2:8). God's plan to establish His Divine Royal Family is through the human family, where children born of human flesh and blood will have the potential to become spirit god beings when born again at the time of resurrection (First Resurrection - Heb 11:35; Rev 20:4-6), passing from mortal flesh to immortal spirit composed beings (1 Cor 15:42-52).

Christ taught that human eyes and those born of the flesh cannot see and enter the kingdom of God. He further gave the anology of the wind as man cannot see where the wind blows - John 3:3,6 &8. The Lord Jesus further explained, 'that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit' - verse 6. This is corroborated by the Apostle Paul where he wrote, 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption' - 1 Cor 15:50. Putting these together, it simply means that human being cannot see and enter the kingdom of God (let alone inherit it) but only those born again as immortal spirit composed being can - and this only occur at Resurrection!

Yet almost the whole Christendom teaches that one is born again 'just simply believing in Jesus and be baptised' on the presumption that the kingdom of God is the church - when these are two totally separate doctrine. Just think, any human being, whether a believer or unbeliever can see and enter a church. If the kingdom of God is the church, why then did the Lord Jesus replied His disciples when asked when is the kingdom to be restored to Israel, ' It is not for you to know the times and the season, which the Father hath put in his own power' - Acts 1:6-7. Such a reply simply makes no sense when the church, to be founded on Pentecost, is only ten days away! The kingdom of God cannot also be about the Person of Jesus Christ as clearly shown in the preaching of Philip to the Samaritans (Acts 8:12) and the Apostle Paul in his last days (Acts 28:31) where these are separated by the conjunction 'and' - see also Daniel 7:14,18,22 &27 to get a clearer picture of what the kingdom of God is.

 Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead (Col 1:18) with many more sons of God to come (Rom 8:19) who are called His brethren ( Heb 2:11-12; firstborn among many brethren - Romans 8:29) effectively making the Lord Jesus Christ the Elder Brother of them all. They will all be made perfect (Heb 12:23) and be like Christ (1 John 3:2) and cannot sin for they are born of God (the 'seed' of God - Greek word 'sperma', the same root word for the human sperm) - 1 Pet 1:23; 1 John 3:9. Hence, all those begettal but not yet begotten (heirs but not yet inheritors) can be aborted if they failed to overcome and remain faithful to the end - Matt 10:22. The Apostle Paul also had to strive towards this goal in his spiritual journey if he is to qualify - 1 Cor 9:19-27; Philippians 3:7-21.

Jesus Christ will be the King of kings (resurrected saints born again as immortal spirit composed  beings who will rule and reign with Him - Rev 2:26, 3:21, 5:10) and Lord of lords (resurrected saints born again as immortal spirit composed beings who will form the Royal priesthood teaching and leading others to salvation and righteousness under the reign of Christ - Rev 5:10; Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-5). The true church is called and trained to undertake the task of bringing in the great harvest (the 'latter rain') in the millennium age (1 Peter 4:17). Ultimately, all true disciples of Jesus Christ are called to inherit His kingdom as inheritors (Matt 6:33; 1 Thess 2:12). Until born again, they are just heirs and joint-heirs with Christ, meaning not yet inheritors - Romans 8:17, 29; James 2:5.

That is why Christ told His hearers,' Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God ' (Mark 10:14). The future of children is immeasurably great because they have the potential to become members of God's Divine Family - spirit beings with great power and authority even to judge the angels (1 Cor 6:3)! If only human beings understand this, the abuse and mistreatment of children can be drastically reduced in every corner of the globe.

Satan and the demons are all out to destroy the human family in a desperate attempt to thwart God's plan and His love for mankind to be reproduced into His Divine Family. The devil is filled with jealousy that puny men and not the superior angelic beings like himself are given such privileged opportunity (Heb 1:5). His devious strategy include corrupting like-minded beings to pervert sex and distort the wholesome purpose of love and family relationships through the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-sexual) agenda. Whatever man may say, it is contrary to God's will and against God's created nature and order. The Apostle Paul in three separate passage of the epistles warned that those who commit sexual sin, unless repented of, will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5-7).

As the timeline for Christ return becomes imminent, the drum beat inspired from the kingdom of darkness in its evil plan gets into overdrive and with greater media coverage across different spectrum of society. The devil is well aware that he has but a short time as god of this world (2 Cor 4:4; Revelation 12:12) and hence the push to extract more damage in their evil scheme of things before Christ return to set up the kingdom of God on earth as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev 19:16)!

Jesus Christ was born to be King (Isaiah 9:6-7; Luke 1: 31-33) to sit on the throne of David - the Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 7: 12-16) and the ''Sceptre Promise" (Gen 49:10). He knew full well His reason for Being is to become King (John 18:37) and you need to know yours as Christ's disciple is to be king. Your immeasurable potential as an eternal and immortal spirit composed being is yet ahead. Those who refuse to abide in the words of Christ have one major problem plaguing mankind since the dawn of civilisation - they refuse to have God reigning over them (1 Samuel 8:7; Luke 19:27), whatever their charming and soothing rhetoric and cliché may say (Matt 15:8-9)!