What you should know about this site!
The things that you will see and hear on this site were common during the first few centuries. The Lord made a statement in Luke 18:8 that during the days right before His second coming these things would not be seen nor heard as common knowledge.
In the original language of the Bible there was a way of clarifying what was being said and meant. It was said to be “articular” or something in particular. In Luke 18:8, the “Son of man”, a messianic title for the King of kings, says that “faith” will not be found on the earth. This ”faith” is not saving faith, many are being saved, but it is an “articular” faith. That is a particular faith connected to the messianic kingdom – faith in the Gospel of the Kingdom. This is the Gospel that Jesus preached (Matthew 4:17 & 23) and then sent the apostles to preach (Matthew 10). Then, later, He sent 70 others (Luke 10) to prepare the people to receive Him when He came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.
In the first few centuries, the apostles and many preachers were proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. They had heard the apostles preaching and then the other 70 were spreading the Gospel (good news) of the Kingdom. They had, no doubt, been saved by hearing the Gospel of Grace and now they were looking forward to the coming of the King of kings who was going to proclaim more clearly the Gospel (good news) of the Kingdom.
After the ascension of the Lord, there were many others that were preaching and looking forward to His second coming. This was enough for many of them to be martyred. The religious leaders had not accepted Jesus as their Messiah. Now, they were not going to tolerate the preachers saying that He was coming back to set up His kingdom. The preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom began to go underground and the bold preachers like Polycarp and others were killed.
John Clark of Meldon, France was beaten for three straight days and then, was given a mark in his forehead! This mark was a sign of infamy and his mother, rather than being angry and bitter shouted, “Blessed be Christ and welcome be these prints and marks of Christ.” The early Christians rejoiced in the fact that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ. Latimer said that suffering for Christ is the greatest promotion that Christ gives in this world.
Glover, the martyr, wept for joy at his imprisonment.
Bradford said, “God forgive me for my unthankfulness for His exceeding great mercy, that among so many thousands He choseth me to be one in whom He will suffer.”
Eusebius, speaking of the release of the martyrs from prison, says, “they seem to have come out of a perfume house, rather than a prison house. Merry they were that they were so much honored as to suffer for Christ.”
These brave soldiers of the cross kept on preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom as Jesus and the apostles had done. Many others of them toned down the kingdom preaching, but were bold in preaching the Gospel of Grace. After the death of so many of the preachers of the Gospel of the Kingdom, few had the determination to face such consequences.
Down through the following years, the Gospel of Grace continued to be preached, but the Gospel of the Kingdom was pushed back into a corner. In the 19th and 20th centuries there was a real push to get the Gospel of Grace preached around the world. There were tent meetings set up, huge stadiums occupied, many citywide crusades and large auditoriums rented for getting people saved. These were called “revivals”, but they were meetings primarily to get people to hear the Gospel of Grace, not to be revived. Many lost people were saved, several Christians were revived and called into full-time Christian evangelism, but the Gospel of Christ (Matt 4:23) was seldom mentioned. The end of the 20th century came with the numbers of missionaries, evangelists and Christian workers dwindling. The Christian schools that had been started during the previous centuries had changed their emphasis to “higher education”.
The Christian parents were looking for an education that was based on Christianity and wanted an environment other than the public school setting. Then, finally, the Christian schools became Christian by name only and were known as private schools. The emphasis was on education, sports, performing arts and excelling as a well-rounded private school. To accomplish this, the administration had to look for the best instructors, coaches etc. if they were going to excel. The tuition was also affected, since these people didn’t come cheap. The Christian parents who were concerned about their children’s academic surroundings were priced out of the equation.
The Christian emphasis changed to a devotion (a verse & a prayer) in the homeroom before school each day. Maybe a chapel program of motivation, positive thinking, or some other encouraging subjects would be given once a week. These chapel programs were met with less than an excited feeling of spiritual expectancy. The students, and even some staff, were bored to tears that they were required to attend, so they spent the time disrespectfully distracting those around them.
The Christian colleges were really affected by this change of emphasis. The graduates were now looking forward to making money and pursuing a secular career rather than serving in the Lord’s work. There again, the smaller the student body, the higher the tuition. The smaller the student body, the fewer graduates to go out into the fields that were “white unto harvest”. The fewer workers in the field, the darker the world gets. Christian colleges were closing their doors because they could not make it financially with so few students.
Now, the Christian colleges that are still open are struggling to meet their financial obligations.
The impact on the fact that there are fewer Christian colleges doesn’t really address the overall problem! Even with all of the colleges operating at 100% capacity, they were never emphasizing the message of Jesus Christ! Matthew 4:23 emphatically says that He preached the Gospel of the Kingdom! None of the schools in their brightest moments had even one semester class entitled or that emphasized the Gospel of the Kingdom! Yet, they all would argue that they were teaching the Gospel of Christ. Now, I’m thrilled that we have churches and colleges emphasizing the Gospel of Grace, whereby people are born into the family of God! I go regularly door to door giving the Gospel of Grace to people and go car to car in the eight lanes in front of the church, because, “the fields are white unto harvest”. Unless they are born into the family of God, they can never understand the Gospel of the Kingdom. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (I Cor. 2:14)
The Lord had instructed Paul for an extended period of time, (close to three years). Paul then tells us in (I Cor. 10:11), that “all these things happened unto them for ensamples) (topos-also translated examples). The Lord gave numerous parables, signs and wonders to teach us the Gospel of the Kingdom, but we take them to teach the Gospel of Grace. This distorts the Gospel of Grace and eliminates the teachings of Christ on the Gospel of the Kingdom.
God has given a pattern in the very beginning of His Word, the Bible. This pattern must be followed precisely, if we are to please Him. A seamstress will follow the pattern, because they know that the pieces will not match any other way. We are instructed to make a “wedding garment” (Revelation 19) which will allow us admittance into the throne room of the Kingdom of Heaven. This throne room is where the faithful will rule and reign with the King of Kings, over the earth from heaven, during the next 1,000 years.
Very near the beginning of the Bible, God chose a man to be the head of His chosen people. This man’s name is Abraham and his people are called Israel. Like all humans, they sinned and wanted to do things their way. God still loved them, but He had to discipline them for disobeying. His discipline came in the form of Israel becoming slaves in the land of Egypt.
Many years of cruel treatment caused the Israelites to cry out to God for help and forgiveness. God heard their cry and sent a man by the name of Moses. He led them out of Egypt as their deliverer. There were many signs and wonders performed before Israel was ready to be delivered.
Finally, Moses told the people what God had told him. Moses told them that God was going to deliver them and told them what God wanted them to do.
God had told Moses to tell the people to sacrifice a lamb from their flock of sheep to eat. He told them to drain the blood into a basin and cut a branch from a hyssop bush. Take the branch, as a brush, and brush the blood over the outside top (lentil) of the door and down the sides (doorposts) of the door. That blood was a representation of the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus, who died and shed His blood on the cross of Calvary.
The “death angel” was to pass throughout the land that night at midnight. Every house that did not have the blood painted on the door was disobedient to God. There had to be a sacrifice made. Since there was no blood on the doors of some houses, the “death angel” would take the life of the oldest child and the oldest animal for the sacrifice.
The Egyptians were overwhelmed with sorrow and didn’t care that the Israelites were leaving, in fact, they gave them supplies to get them out of there.
Many years later the Israelites again were disobedient and they rejected their Deliverer, the One whom God had sent to deliver them, Jesus, the Christ (the Messiah). They crucified Him, but He did not come in vain!
It was through His shed blood that the sins of each person can be forgiven. We, like the children of Israel, must apply the blood of the slain Lamb of God as payment for our sins. By faith, we can apply the blood of Christ over our hearts door as payment for our sins by praying this prayer:
Dear God, I know that I’m a sinner. I know that You died on the cross and shed Your blood as payment for my sin. I now apply Your blood over my heart’s door and ask that You come into my heart and forgive my sins. Thank You, for loving me. Help me as I read Your word, the Bible, to know how You want me to live for You. In Jesus name, Amen.
Now that you have applied the blood of Jesus to your heart’s door, by faith, it’s time to start living for Him. He has a job for you! There is a couple of things that you need to do in preparing to do this job. You need to start telling people about your accepting the death and blood of Christ as payment for your sin and your admittance into heaven. The second thing is emphasizing the first, that is, being baptized. You may have been baptized as a baby, but this baptism is different. This baptism is to tell the world that you have accepted the death and shed blood of Christ as payment for your sin.
The next thing that you need to do is start reading your Bible. In St. John, chapter 6, Jesus made a strange statement and many of His followers never followed Him again. He said, “eat My flesh”, and they just did not understand what He was saying. Five chapters earlier, it was written that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. What Jesus was literally saying was “saturate yourself with My Word!” If we saturate ourselves in God’s Word, we will always know how to react to every situation in life. We will learn what he wants us to do as He leads and guides us. His Holy Spirit lives in us and will guide us through His Word, the Bible.
As we begin the New Testament, we find the instructions on how we are to prepare to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In the Bible, the inheritance of the firstborn was a double portion of the father’s wealth. The Jewish people are the firstborn of God (Exodus 2). They have been given the Kingdom of the Earth and they were given the Kingdom of Heaven as a double portion of God’s wealth. The Kingdom of the Earth promise was unconditional. There was nothing that they, nor anyone else, could to do to get it taken away from them.
The second portion was the Kingdom of Heaven, but they rejected it. They rejected, not only the kingdom, but the King and they crucified Him. Before they crucified Him, He gave them every opportunity to accept His offer of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they rejected it! The final straw was attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to Beelzebub, the devil. At that time, He went to the Gentiles and began preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom to them.
He gave the parables on the Kingdom of Heaven to show the doctrine of the kingdom. There will be no lost people in the Kingdom of Heaven. When He talks about being cast out where there is weeping and wailing, He is talking about the unfaithful Christians who are non-overcomers of Revelation 2 & 3. Only the faithful and the overcomers are the “few”, who were “chosen” to rule and reign with Him.
“Many” (saved) have applied the Blood of the Lamb of God, but “few” (overcomers and faithful) are chosen to rule and reign. The Israelites were taken out of Egypt because of the blood. God did not deal with what went on inside the house, He just looked for the blood on the outside. God said, “when I see the blood, I will pass over”! Just a few days later, those who were saved (out of Egypt and out of the world) complained at the Red Sea! They didn’t have to go back into Egypt, but neither did they go into the promised land.
There will be Christians who have, by faith, applied the Blood of the Lamb over their heart’s door, began complaining and then have gone back into sin. They are saved by the blood, but will be shut out of the wedding feast, cast into the darkness on the outside, not allowed into the throne room where there is ruling and reigning. All of this applies to non-overcomers and the unfaithful! This has nothing to do with going or not going to heaven. They are already there! That was decided when God saw the blood. (John 3:18)
It is important for us to determine what God’s will is and do it until He comes back for us. He says “occupy till I come”. John the Baptist was preaching in Judea, “repent ye: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. The King was there and ready to offer the Kingdom of Heaven (the second portion of God’s wealth) to the Jews (Israel). Of course, they rejected it and crucified Him. In Matthew 21:43, Jesus said “the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you Jews and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”. The Jews were God’s chosen people, His firstborn. He wanted them to have the Kingdom of Heaven but they didn’t want it or Him! The Jews were the ones from whom God created Israel. He changed Jacob’s name to Israel. God created Eve out of Adam. Now 2nd Corinthians 5:17 says “therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation), old things are passed away, all things are become new”. I Peter 2:9 says a believer is “a holy nation” and we are to bring forth fruit according to Matthew 21:43!
The parable of the householder was given to instruct us on how we are supposed to serve Him. Jesus has gone to a far country (heaven) to receive His Kingdom for the earth. He has given us individual, personal jobs to do. He told us to occupy (faithfully do our job “till I come”. He will come, at the appointed time, to reward those who have been faithfully serving while He is gone.
He is coming at the appointed time to receive His children and then to examine our works (I Corinthians 10). This will determine what position we have been qualified to fill. The judgment seat of Christ will determine this based on our works in this age. Some will suffer loss and will have their works burned because they were done in the power of the flesh. They will not be allowed in the throne room to rule and reign with Him. They will be sent to some other place in heaven prepared for them (John 14) for 1,000 years. There will be weeping of regret until all tears are wiped away. (Revelation 21:4)
Others will be rewarded as the parables of the pounds and talents reveal. The faithful ones will be given positions with the Lord in His rule over the earth from heaven. Faithful Christians are going to take the place of angels (Hebrews 2), who have been dispatched to another of God’s provinces, during this next age to come (1,000 years).
This life is a time of preparation. It is a time of doing His will to qualify for a position in His kingdom. We are now in the process of qualifying for a position (to serve with Him) in His future kingdom.
Eventually, even as the decline is seen today, the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom will be scoffed at and completely silenced. Our Lord prophesied this in Luke 18:8!
This website is a meager attempt to try to resuscitate a dying faith in the Gospel of the Kingdom. The doctors (scribes and Pharisees) have already announced the inevitable death as being near. The liberals and the fundamentalists are alike in their criticism of those who preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. They don’t associate themselves with the religious leaders (liberals & fundamentalists) who crucified the Lord for claiming to be the Messiah.
The majority of the New Testament was written to teach and prepare us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The message of Matthew chapters 5, 6 & 7 was the introduction!
The sad thing is that Christians are falling for the popular phrase when someone dies, “well, they’re much better off now!” To a few this is very true and encouraging that it can be attained. But, for the most part, it is not true! The Gospel of the Kingdom, which Jesus preached (Matthew 4:23), tells us that many people who have applied the blood of Jesus by faith to their heart’s door are going to the place in heaven where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Does that cause you discomfort, anger or disbelief?) That’s why they martyred the early century preachers! It upset them! They didn’t like that type of preaching! Then the few faithful overcomers were challenged to “sell out” completely to the Lord, no matter what! You see, in the parables, Jesus was talking about the Kingdom of Heaven. Nowhere in the parables does He say “Now, let’s go back to earth and then on down to hell for the (one talent) servant, No! It’s all about the Kingdom of Heaven! That’s from where Jesus and the faithful overcomers are going to rule over the earth in his kingdom! So many will say, “Lord, Lord you are omniscient! You know I’m saved, but I’m human! Please let me go walk on those streets of gold”. He will say to them, “You are 1,000 years ahead of yourself. You’re not considering that I asked you to prepare on earth for the position I have for you here. You didn’t submit to My Holy Spirit and let Him show you how to go through those difficult days. You did it by your own laws (iniquity). You accepted My blood, so you had My spirit in your lamp (body), but you had no extra vessel for continuous fillings to do it My way. Depart from me, you can’t come in here. This is the throne room where ruling and reigning is going on for 1,000 years over earth. You have to go to your place that has been prepared for you by My construction angels. There you can weep over your disobedient preparation, for 1,000 years, then I’ll let you walk on those streets”.
See the article on the Catholic’s purgatory and the difference in the Kingdom of God & Kingdom of Heaven.