Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

The apostle Paul was an "evangelist" in the true meaning of the word - a bearer of the good news from God. I do not find any evidence that those who consider themselves evangelists today even know what the "evangel" (good news) is so here it is from Paul, the evangelist. "God commends His love for us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) “When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His son.” (Romans 5:10) “For the wages of sin is death,but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) “For even as in Adam ALL are dying, thus also, in Christ shall ALL be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22) “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself not counting their sins against them.” (2 Corinthians 5:19) “And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile ALL unto Himself.” (Colossians 1:20) “God our Savior…will have ALL men to be saved and to come unt...

"I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain" (Galatians 2:21). Those who grew up in church should ponder the above. Every church I know of, including the one I grew up in, teaches that salvation is being offered men, but that the offer must be accepted and received by faith in this life. The minimum requirement in my church is to “believe and accept” the gospel. The most legalistic of the churches teach one must repent, be baptized in water and join the church. Some even go so far as teaching that you can lose this salvation if you fall into sin later. But however minimal the requirement...such teaching implies that Christ died in vain. Salvation is a free gift by the Grace of God, not by works. “…for the free gift of God is eternal life…For by grace are you saved…for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men….” (Romans 6:23b; Ephesians 2:8; Titus 2:11-13) God has guaranteed...

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted… to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified" (Isaiah 61:1, 3). Jesus began his ministry on earth by reading verse 1 of this passage from Isaiah.  Those who have come to the knowledge of God’s salvation should continue to share this good news to the mourning, broken, heavyhearted people of this world. They need to be told the joyful good news that at the resurrection all will all be liberated from death, the wages for our sin.  At the resurrection we will all then understand that… “His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5) Si...

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light…" (2 Corinthians 11:13-14) I recently read a quote from one of those “workers” , a Jewish Christian evangelist from down under (appropriate). It went in part like this…. “It deeply concerns me when I hear a professing Christian telling an unbeliever that he is a good person…Anyone who says that human beings are good are calling Jesus a liar…it makes me doubt the genuine nature of the Christian’s salvation…to fail to warn sinners of the terrible consequences of sin (damnation in hell) is the ultimate betrayal of Jesus…” Don't get me wrong I could care less about what this guy is deeply concerned with, and because I am personally familiar with what the Bible actually says by reading and studying it for myself, he cannot deceive or offend me. I am posting this to my blog because I love my family and friends and want...

“You will listen and listen, yet never understand; and you will look and look, yet never perceive ... you go round the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever it may happen -- you make him a son of gehenna twofold more than yourselves” (Matthew 13:14; 23:15 YLT ) Jesus was talking to the most prominent religious leaders of his day. They just could not overcome their own traditions, even when the very image of God was standing in front of them. All their efforts in building up their religious institution was not making any difference for God or the lives of people. God would later inspire Paul to write Timothy and make sure he knew what he was to teach… “It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…God our Savior wills ALL men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth… there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for ALL, the testimony ...

From God’s perspective we were saved before the foundation of the world… “…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” (Ephesians 1:3-5) From the perspective of Christ Jesus we were saved when he died on the cross to ransom all… “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all…” (1 Timothy 2:5-6) From a believer’s perspective, we are saved when we are given faith to believe what God did through Christ Jesus… “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:-8) From the institutional church’s perspective, however, none are saved until they believe the requirements of that particular institution which include, at a minimum, one or more of the following requirements: ...

"The Gospel of the Kingdom" was  preached to Israel until it was blinded for its rejection. That good news is not to be preached again until the time of the second appearing of King Jesus to Israel, when the gospel of the Kingdom will again be preached in all the world to Israel. For the past 1950 years or so it has been "the Gospel (good news) of the Grace of God” (Acts 20:24) that is to be preached to sinners, both of Israel and the Gentile nations. Failure to understand the distinction between the gospel of the Kingdom and the gospel of Grace has caused all of the divisions we see among Christianity. The gospel of grace has nothing to do with the Old and New Covenants between God and Israel. “I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles…For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED;...

“And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life…And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (1 John 2:25; 5:11) The problem I see with most Christians is the tendency to believe traditional teaching of the denominational church they are attending rather than the simple statements of the Scripture found in the Bible. For instance the Bible reads as follows: “...we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. Prescribe and teach these things.” (1 Timothy 4:9-11) This clear statement should resolve all doubt about our instruction to teach the eventual salvation of ALL. However, most Christians deny the above clear statement and instead change it to say something like this: God is “offering” to save all men but only saves those who “accept” Christ by their own “free will” (and add various other works that must be done depending on which church they attend). They teach this in s...

"As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately.  Tell us, they said, when will this happen, and what will be the sign of thy  coming?"  (Matthew 24:3) Jesus then told them what to look for... "Jesus answered: Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming I am the Messiah, and will deceive many...and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people" (Matthew 24:4, 11) In an era when many call themselves followers of Jesus, but are deceiving themselves and others, that is the sign of the era in which Jesus will return.  The Apostle Paul also speaks of this era. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traito...