A Message For Our Time
Part 1
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Good News for Struggling Humanity
The breakdown of authority, the increase in crime and violence. the breakdown of morals, and the rising costs of living, all these problems have disturbed many people today. Many millions face poverty and lack of satisfactory employment. Good news would be most welcome now.
There is good news for our time. It is contained in a message that is being taken world wide to about 239 countries. It is also reaching many more countries via the Internet, but what is the most significant factor about this occurrence, is that it was predicted 2000 years ago, by Jesus Christ . The message preached, is religious in nature, and affects the religions of the world, but is not anti-scientific. Rather as other articles on this site have shown, it is in full accord with modern science. The message is identified at
(Matthew 24:14) ” And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”
Who would Jesus use to deliver this message to the people? Would all religions be given the assignment?
The question was asked and answered by Jesus himself atMatt 24.
(Matthew 24:45-51) “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. 47 Truly I say to YOU, He will appoint him over all his belongings. 48 “But if ever that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My master is delaying,’ 49 and should start to beat his fellow slaves and should eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards, 50 the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and in an hour that he does not know, 51 and will punish him with the greatest severity and will assign him his part with the hypocrites. There is where [his] weeping and the gnashing of [his] teeth will be. time?
The scripture shows that an examination would be made of all religions, claiming to be Christian by Jesus Christ. The scripture predicted that when Jesus arrived for inspection, he would find that there was only one faithful slave busy doing the work that he had assigned his slaves. What was the work that had been assigned? The slave’s commission is recorded at Matt 28.
(Matthew 28:18-20) “And Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying: All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded YOU. And, look! I am with YOU all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”
The work that Jesus’ slaves were were commanded to do was to “make disciples” and to “teach these disciples all that the things that he had commanded them” Taken to its full conclusion, a new disciple would also be taught to make a disciple and teach him or her. That is why first century Christianity spread so rapidly because every disciple, himself became a teacher. This was also the reason why the early Christians were so bitterly persecuted. Just as the Jewish priests, resented the “disciple making” that Jesus did and tried to stop him, so they also stirred up the Romans against his disciples. The motive was because they were afraid of losing their power over the people. Notice the two scriptural examples quoted herein.
(John 11:47-48) . . .Consequently the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the San?he·drin together and began to say: “What are we to do, because this man performs many signs? 48 If we let him alone this way, they will all put faith in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.
(Acts 16:20-24) .20 and, leading them up to the civil magistrates, they said: “These men are disturbing our city very much, they being Jews, 21 and they are publishing customs that it is not lawful for us to take up or practice, seeing we are Romans., he threw them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks.”…….”And the crowd rose up together against them; and the civil magistrates, after tearing the outer garments off them, gave the command to beat them with rods. 23 After they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Because he got such an order Well, when her masters saw that their hope of gain had left, they laid hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the rulers,
Similarly Jesus’ slaves could only expect the same treatment as Jesus and his apostles received, if they carried out the commission that Jesus had assigned them.
Let us consider an illustration that will help us understand what Jesus was getting at. If you sent your child to a boarding school, instructing the school to give the child a thorough education. You then went overseas for a number of years confident that your child was being well cared for. On your return some years later, you decided to test your child as to what he had learned. The test revealed that the child had learned very little. This surely would upset you, because you wondered whether your child was backward or not. So to check, you went checking around only to find that all the children that went to that school were in the same boat. All had very little knowledge. What would your conclusion be?: Would you conclude that all of these children were backward or would you not rather conclude that the school had not done its job?
In the same way, if Jesus made his inspection and found that the vast majority of people knew very little about the Bible and its teachings. Could it be said that these churches were faithfully carrying out the assignment? Were they “making disciples ” and “teaching them,” not just a few stories, “but all the things that Jesus had commanded to be taught,” or were they permitting their flocks to get involved in politics and doing other things.
To find out when Jesus had judged these religious slaves and made the appointment of the faithful slave, we need to look at the signs the Bible gives as to when this would occur.
(Matthew 24:3) . . .While he was sitting upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?” The answer that Jesus gave to this question was:-
(Matthew 24:7-8) “. . .For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. 8 All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress”.
An examination of Jesus words indicated that it would all start when “nation arose against nation and kingdom rose against kingdom” History show that the first time in history that nation after nation and kingdom after kingdom cascaded one after the other into conflict was in 1914. This colossal war has been named by politicians as the 1st World War. It truly began the beginning of the pangs of distress on suffering humanity. After brutally, being responsible for about 30,000,000 deaths, it was followed by the doomsday flu epidemic in which it is estimated that 30 -50 million people died. This has since been followed by further catastrophic events, like the 2nd World War and so on. No other time in history measures up so accurately with the sign that Jesus gave. So this was the sign of Christ’s 2nd presence invisible to mankind, and only recognized by the signs he gave.
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Posted in Categories :- Religion, World Conditions, all
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