The Glorious Gospel Message - Setting In The West and Rising In The East

Most American "Christians" think in a Western mindset when it comes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is true that the West has been the place for the spreading of the Gospel for over 1700 years. In his ministry, Paul the apostle moved westward from the land of Israel as he proclaimed the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ/Messiah. From there it spread westward into Africa and Europe, to the Americas, then unto China and India “full circle.” Although there are many “false gospels,” the True Gospel message (as preached by Paul) is contained in the following scriptures:

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

It’s plausible on objective criteria. How much time, money, effort do we spend on morally contaminated activity? If we all lived as a perfectly righteous people here and now, what would we watch on TV? How would we speak to those we say we love? What would our divorce rate be? Would we be twiddling our thumbs while barbarians sack our most cherished institutions?

So no, we cannot see into each others hearts, but it would take a willful blindness to think that there are no problems worthy of Divine intervention of a disciplinary nature.

True, but as a matter of degree, as one whose life has spanned over half a century, I can tell you honestly we are substantially worse off than we were 50 years ago. God allowed the people of Nineveh an extra hundred years for their repentance at the preaching of Jonah, but he will not wait forever. In the life of every nation there comes a generation that must repent or slide off into the darkness. I think we are it.

No, they were worse at it, at least in my neck of the woods. In their relative innocence, every small indiscretion brought shame and awkward, unfamiliar guilt and frequent tears of repentance. Now we sin without blushing, without repentance, without sensitivity to the holy ground on which we trespass.

God hates divorce. Why is the Christian divorce rate so high? Will God ignore that? It is the murder of love.

God hates the murder of the innocent. Yet every major city routinely disposes of millions of unborn children, while Christians dither among themselves over whether to support pro-death candidates for “strategic” reasons. Will God ignore that? It is the murder of reason.

Believe me, I don’t know how you spent your 56 years, but I spent mine with a family, a church, a people who would have thought these things and more to be impossible, devilish fantasies. They were concerned over the spiritual value not the retail value of their Christmas concerts. They stayed together as families at a much higher rate because divorce was unimaginable to them. There was love to be had in quietly spending time with the people who called themselves Christians.

Now my children despair of finding Christian mates, and every church we go to is either aging to death or compromising to death.

No, from my point of view, we are not talking about a mere change in packaging. Something inside the package has gone bad, and there is a foul odor in the air that cries out for our attention. Or God’s. Whichever comes first.

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