On Sunday 11/20/2022 I shared a message about the Irresistible Glory of Jesus Christ.
This message is foundational to the gospel of the kingdom. Getting a sight of the glory of God transforms regular lost humans into children of God, followers of Jesus Christ hopelessly in love with and obsessed with Jesus Christ. I was able to share about 3/4 of my notes before my time ran out.
Watch the message here, my sharing begins 52 minutes in.
It’s easy to say out of church and doctrinal correctness ‘Jesus is our foundation’, yet we see all the huge difference in doctrines, teachings, traditions and behavior of churches and pastors and Christians.
It is the particular gospel about Jesus Christ that a group of Christians is embracing!! Which is it’s foundation.
“The gospel” is not just the Romans Road to salvation, that is a tiny and partial part of it. A gospel is all the teachings about Jesus; past, present, and future. It explains why we exist, all Jesus did, his future. His kingship and kingdom. It explains exactly what the magnitude of a Christian is. It explains Jesus’ place and his future and our place in it. It explains the purpose of suffering and how to react to it. It explains the principalities and powers and Satan, I could go on, and on but I’ll save that for another time.
What advice do we give new Christians when they first convert? That is part of our gospel. That impacts that Christian greatly. How do we react to and treat fellow Christians when we disagree? Do we drive them away and fear it or do we value, embrace, and understand it.
That’s why no matter how hard a church tries to be correct outwardly if it’s foundation is error or is partial, we will struggle with many different things in addition to all the troubles in life that we must face anyhow.
The gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, as it’s called by John and Jesus and the apostles, produced the type of churches we read about in scripture. That particular gospel. And the churches that we see today have been produced by other gospels.
That gospel must be embraced, and to be embraced it must be known, and to be known it must be preached. And to be preached it must be restored and planted into hearts of preachers and teachers.
I know with certainty that Jesus Christ is restoring it. I just hope many, many embrace it. But when we do ..there will be trouble.
The Declaration of Independence
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,
and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Adam: notice is the first paragraph of this declaration of independence the foundation of this new government is the assumption of separate but equal powers among the earth. The founders felt it was their right and duty to form a separate but equal government among and as one of the powers of the earth. The list of reasons are brilliant the maturity and integrity of these men seems to be impeccable. The logic and bravery of these men is supremely admirable.
BUT a desire to establish a government among the other powers of the earth is a dangerous thing. A motive and a line of logic that does not jive well with the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of our government and it is not a thing of Jesus Christ. It is a motive with a foundation of of Satan. To pursue power among the powers of the earth is equivalent to budging our way at the table of the wicked principalities and powers in high places talked about in scripture (Eph 3:10, Eph 1:21, Rom 8:38). These men were tired of the persecution of the King of England and decided to violently push their way to the table of power that he was oppressing them from.
I love America I think it has the best form of government yet conceived on earth. Don’t get me wrong with this post, I believe our founding is truly a story of bravery and standing up to tyranny. But I cannot see the motives and logic of our founding when they declared independence and took up arms as something of Jesus Christ. I don’t believe that they were being led of the Holy Spirit as Jesus followers.
I believe they were being led by desire for a seat at the table among the powers of the earth. They wanted to be a peer to the kings of the earth. And their harsh treatment made it much easier to push them over the edge. Would they have if England had treated them well? We will never know.
We’ve seen this before:
Countless governments throughout modern history have embraced the idea of Christendom, the merging of human government with the church.
Its a history of carnage and error.
I write this post to put to rest (perhaps mostly in my own head) the idea that the formation of the American govnermnt was a thing of divine origin.
I know many of the men involved were wonderful well meaning men but I do believe they were deeply mistaken about the nature of human government and the ecclesia of Jesus Christ. They were living and reacting according to the gospel they had embraced which was likely supportive of ideas of Christendom and that the gospel was essentially just a lesson in how to get to heaven.
Had they heard the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, they may not have bothered with a revolution and a war. It may have been thrust upon them anyhow but we can never know that.
Would it not have been better if the king would have freely granted their freedom? Repented of his cruelty and violence and left them alone with motives of Christian love and freedom. And perhaps even helped them to form an even more perfect government and not sustained such a devastating loss of life and wealth in defeat in the process?
The way of Jesus Christ is better. Turning the other cheek is superior. Suffering persecution is better than striking back. Jesus can work out what we think only violence can bring us.
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