The Gospel of Christ

Those that truly accept Christ as their savior must accept His authority in their lives and live by His commandments. That’s the covenant they enter with God. It should go without saying that one who accepts Christ as their savior accepts His message…His gospel (good news).

Many churches will tell you they teach the gospel but few seem to fully understand what that means. Some churches teach that the Gospel of Christ is the coming Kingdom of God. Christ did preach that the Kingdom of God is coming but we don’t see that expounded on in the scriptures.  What is expounded on is that Christ is the Way to enter Kingdom of God. One simply has to read the epistles of Paul to see what the gospel of Christ is. Paul preached Christ. Christ IS the gospel!   This doesn’t simply mean the person of Christ taught in the scriptures. It means who Christ really is to us. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the way into the Kingdom of God…period! Anyone who truly understands this should find new life in the Hebrew Scriptures. They are just as relevant today as they were when they were first penned. To accept Christ is to accept the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) because He IS the OT. He is the logos, the Word of God, made flesh.

To rightly divide the Word of Truth is to understand the coming of Christ would happen twice. The Jews of His time didn’t understand that.  They knew that the Messiah would come as a conquering king but they missed the prophesies of His first coming as a savior to mankind. When Christ came the first time He was born as mortal human being to walk among us. He would go on to live and die a sinless life. The world of Christendom celebrates His birth and His resurrection. While the facts of those events have been distorted by human traditions over the centuries what has been the most distorted is what He did in His first coming; what He preached and what He’s doing now.  These things are the heart of Christ’s good news to man.

One can roughly break down Christ’s ministry into several functions. The first was as a Rabbi or teacher.

As a Rabbi / teacher:

The first word Christ is reported to have spoken when He began His ministry was ‘Repent’. The meaning of repentance is to turn from your way of life and follow Gods way. Remember that Christ came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  Most of the people He preached to knew what God expected of them from  the scriptures but their religion, Judaism, was not the faith delivered to their forefathers. Judaism was NOT the religion of the Israelites. Judaism is what the people turned the faith once delivered to them into. It was the religion of the tribe of Judah dominated primarily by Pharisaical traditions. It was that religion that had gotten off track. A part of Christ’s ministry was an attempt to restore it.

He pointed out the errors in Pharisaical thinking, as well as other errors that had entered into the various sects of Judaism. He tried to put the faith once delivered back on track.

The second function that Christ served was, what we may call, His Levitical function.

In His Levitical function:

He filled the written moral law to the fullest. He didn’t do away with the law.  He expanded the law to include its intent. What had been ‘Don’t commit Adultery’ was expanded to ‘Don’t even allow yourself to sexually lust after another’. What had been ‘Don’t commit Murder’ was expanded to ‘Don’t hate your fellow man’. What had been ‘Remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy’ was expounded to mean it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. He taught that all the extra rules and regulations the Pharisees had tacked onto the Sabbath were contrary to the intent of the law.

What Christ did away with was the penalty for breaking the law for those who accepted Him.

This brings us to His role as our Savior:

He took the place of animal and other sacrifices. He paid the penalty for the sins of anyone willing to accept His sacrifice and take that sacrifice to God the Father. He filled the need for a high priest by becoming ours. He made it possible for us to go directly to God the Father.

By His life He showed us the plan of salvation that the tabernacle in the wilderness foreshadowed. Christ took the religion of the Israelites and made it universal. When one accepted Christ one no longer needed an animal sacrifice, a priest or a tabernacle because those things are all complete in Christ. He fulfilled all the requirements of the priests, sacrifices and tabernacle.  All the ceremonial laws contained in the Torah were made complete in Christ. When we ask whether we still need sacrifices, a high priest and a tabernacle the answer is YES! We need Christ to fulfill those functions. That is His continuation of the faith once delivered to the Children of Israel. We take His sacrifice when we go before God the Father every day. Christ, as our High Priest, intercedes for us to God the Father every day.

Think of the excitement it generated among believers when they learned the truth of Christ. Now the faith once delivered was no longer bound by the temple, the only place on earth where a sacrifice could be offered. The faith could now be practiced anywhere…through Christ! The Jews have never proselytized but the early church developed a burning desire to do so. Through Christ they could live Gods way anywhere! Early Christians wanted to share that Good News with the world!

We take the Belief in Christ into our hearts, not just in our actions, because He offered those called a new covenant, one which has the law written in our hearts. One could say that the Hebrew Scriptures, the so-called Old Testament, are primarily about Right Actions. They were primarily addressed to the nation of Israel. The Greek scriptures, or New Testament, are primarily about Right Attitudes. They are primarily addressed to individuals. Each is incomplete without the other.

In Judaism one can be a good Jew and still believe anything as long as one does what is expected in the community. One can be an atheist and still be a good Jew. Early Christianity changed that by requiring one to believe in its tenets. (Modern Christianity has gone so far the other direction that many now think the only thing that matters is what one believes…what one does no longer matters to such believers.)

So what now?

Since it is clear that Christ made the ceremonial laws complete, Christians throughout the centuries have asked what parts of the law are still relevant today.  

The careful Bible student will turn to the epistles of the apostle Paul for an answer. Paul seems to rail against the law at the same time that he is says we should no longer sin. Here again to rightly divide the Word of Truth we need to understand that Paul was addressing TWO bodies of law. Paul was a Pharisee before his conversion. The Pharisees believed that their oral law was on the same par with the written law of the Torah. Christ, in a carefully worded statement in His first sermon in Matthew 5 said the written law would not change. Not one jot or one tittle. (These are Old English terms used in the King James translation referring to written language.) Christ went on in the scriptures to condemn the oral law of the Pharisees because much of it was contrary to the intent of the written law that God had revealed. Remember the laws the Pharisees had added to the Sabbath made its observance so restrictive that they violated the intent of the law.

Paul later used the example of an obscure written law that said the ox that treads the grain should not be muzzled. The oxen doing the work were allowed by law to eat of the grain they trod on. Paul pointed out that the law was not written for the benefit of oxen…it was written for our benefit. The apostle Paul applied the principle of that law to paying the ministers who spread the gospel. The principle of the law is still relevant today.  This sheds a great deal of light on how Paul and the early church saw the law.

Remember that God gave us His law out of His love for us. His laws are for our own good. If one accepts the truth of that assertion then one can’t now claim the law is a burden. God wasn’t trying to be restrictive or tyrannical the way some modern Christians would have us think. They confuse the oral law Paul was referring to with the written law revealed to us for our benefit.

Christ said not one jot or one tittle of the written law would change. That means ALL the law is still relevant today. The PRINCIPLES of all the law are still relevant today even if the letter of the law no longer holds the same relevance for us. For example: Leviticus 19:27 commands us: "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” Modern Judaism takes this law literally so we see modern Hasidic Jews wearing curls above their sideburns. This law had the intent of instructing Gods people not to adorn their heads the way people who followed other gods did. That PRINCIPLE is still valid today! We are not to adorn ourselves the way people who follow false gods do. Just as the physical nation of Israel was to be separate from other nations…spiritual Israel, the Body of Christ, is to separate itself from the practices of the world.

What is Christ doing now?

The last thing Christ did on earth was conquer death. He is alive and sitting at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven. He works as our High Priest to intercede for us to God the Father every day. He will return someday soon as a conquering king to live and reign on earth for a thousand years. He will expand His kingdom for ever.

Christ was our prophet and the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, He is our High Priest and one day He will be our King. That is the Gospel...

His offer to us…eternal life.

That is the culmination of Christ’s gospel… For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Amen

Guns

I guess it's time I come out of the closet... I'm a gun-nut! For years I lived in a town where folks like me were considered politically incorrect. Even owning a firearm to some of my neighbors meant I was a racist, homophobic, misogynistic, war-monger. Nothing could be further from the truth but there's no reasoning with people who judge others on their "feelings" instead of the facts.  Truthfully, I don't much mind what other people do as long as they leave me alone. I find that I now have to take a more public stand because my God-given second amendment rights are being chipped away by a government who has learned very little from history.

I'm what some might call 'old school'. I don't particularly care for synthetic stocks and stainless steel actions. Oh, I own a couple. They do handle the weather better than blued steel and wood. And they are easier to clean. But, I love the look of fine, blued steel on a richly grained piece of wood. I love the smell of gun oil, burned gun powder and real leather attached to a beautiful firearm. A well designed firearm is a work, not only of engineering, but of art. To me shooting is not much different than someone who loves playing golf. Except the clothes are more stylish!

You see, what I love is the romance of shooting. Ballistics is something of a hobby of mine. I love shooting black powder and other historical firearms. The emphasis on shooting these is marksmanship. A young guy with a semi-automatic and a banana magazine that holds, say, thirty rounds will pull the trigger thinking: "I have 29 more rounds if I miss." A man with a black powder or single shot firearm thinks: "I have one round so I better not miss!" That's the attitude of a true hunter. If one is going to hunt with a firearm it's only humane to be the best marksman one can be so the animal doesn't suffer.

What I resent, as a lawful gun-owner and firm believer in the second amendment, is the implication that I don't care as much as non-gun owners over the killing of people or animals for no reason. And I especially abhor the massacre of innocent people like the slaughter of the children at Sandy Hook elementary school in Pennsylvania. Such incidents break my heart. I still remember the children of Dunblane, Scotland and the absolute horror I felt at an adult intentionally shooting a child. The sick individual that committed that crime against humanity is another in a long line of human beings given completely over to evil. And, yes I believe it is the people who commit such acts who are evil. Such people will use whatever is available to them to kill. Guns are simply tools...tools that should not be allowed in the hands of the mentally ill.

I believe all human beings have, not only a right but, a responsibility to defend themselves. If one owns a firearm for self-defense one has the responsibility to be practiced in using it correctly. Most handgun shooting is primarily for self-defense though there are also those who love to target shoot with them. If one isn't going to practice then they should find another method of defending oneself. I'm a firm believer that a responsible gun owner is one who is practiced and knows how to use their firearm safely.

I've known other gun nuts that love old military weapons because of the history they were a part of. Cowboy gun nuts love old western style guns for the same reason. There are hunters that only care about bagging game for one reason or another. There are 'assault' rifle owners that get a thrill out of spraying the ground with lead. There are shotgun nuts that practice skeet or trap shooting as hobbies. And then there are those who have specialized guns designed for highly accurate target shooting as their hobby. I've known them all. I can say with complete clarity of conscience that, by far and away, most of them were normal folks that have no desire to shoot or harm anyone. They love and value the Second Amendment and the rights that it affords. The National Rifle Association, of which I'm a proud member, promotes safe, responsible gun ownership. We aren't wackos like some in the far-left would have you believe.

In fact it's people like the Hollywood 'elite' that promote gun violence by titillating our senses in movies where gun violence is rampant. These appeal to the lowest, basest human drives. We are set up to want to see revenge and murder in such movies. The makers of video games are no different. These forms of entertainment demean us and pull us all down as a race. Oh, the folks who traffic in such garbage will be quick to tell you that there is no correlation between what happens on screen and what happens in real life. These are the same folks who will spend billions on one minute commercials during events like the Super Bowl to influence our buying habits. As far as I'm concerned they're vile hypocrites only out for profit...when they're not beating their own chests in self-righteous attempts to make themselves feel relevant by railing against responsible gun ownership! How screwed up is that!?

Guns have been around since the founding of this nation.  Private ownership of guns in the hands of ordinary citizens is one of the major reasons why we were able to become an independent nation. You see governments fear armed citizens...and well they should. While our founding fathers plainly declared that private gun ownership is a God-given right among the other rights enumerated the Bill of Rights...it is the one right that allows us to defend our other rights.

I'm an American. I believe in our Constitution. The founding fathers intended it to be a governing blueprint that allowed the people to have as much freedom as possible without infringing on the freedoms of others.  It’s main purpose, however, is to limit the power of our government. It is being challenged and chipped away at in our time like never before in our history. We have a president who has berated those of us who "cling to God and our guns". In one stroke this 'former constitutional scholar' disparaged both the first and second amendments in the Bill of Rights. It's no wonder why he doesn't care for either. They limit his power just like they were designed to do!

There are always people that think they can run our lives better than we can. Such people always have "the best" intentions. They think they know better than our founding fathers. History has proven them wrong time and again. An armed citizenry ensures a free citizenry. As long as we have the Second Amendment and our guns they will have a deterrent from our government riding roughshod over us...whatever their true intentions. That's why they want our guns so bad.

I stand with our founding fathers, the NRA and such patriots as Charlton Heston. Mr. Heston stood with Martin Luther King to fight for the God-given rights of all Americans. Unlike our president who only gives lip-service to the constitution Mr. Heston actually stood up for it's principles. Guns in the hands of ordinary, private citizens have been a fundamental  part of our history. My hope, my prayer, is that the next generation will also come to value those rights that so many in our history have given their life's blood for.

Wave Dynamics

Have you ever simply watched how a pebble tossed into a pond caused ripples to flow in every direction? There's a whole school of physics dedicated to what happens in the phenomenon. What fascinates me is how the same phenomenon seems to occur in other areas of life.

When you watch a wave travel across a pond you may notice that the water in a particular spot doesn't actually get pushed away. The molecules of water simply go up and down in a circular motion as the energy of the wave passes through them. This happens in all kinds of waves, like radio waves for example. A kind of energy passes through the medium in the form of a wave. Additional waves can strengthen them or cause interference with them and cancel them out.

It has been my observation that something similar happens among human populations. Take ideas for example. An idea is a kind of energy introduced into the population. A powerful idea passes through human beings like a wave passes through a physical medium. It can gain strength over generations. When other ideas interact with it, it can be strengthened, weakened or even be canceled out.

I  have always found it curious that religions and philosophies usually begin humbly enough. It takes time for them to grow and affect more people. They move through generations while growing and changing. They always come into contact with other ideas that strengthen, weaken or, sometimes, cancel them out. They just seem to take on a life of their own...a life that transcends the individuals that are affected by them. The philosophies and religions that last grow to a tipping point wherein they are established in a population. Those that don't reach a tipping point because not enough people adhere to them seem to change or die out. Sometimes, when they interact with other ideas / philosophies / religions, they morph into something unexpected. These are all things that waves in nature go through.

Another phenomenon that occurs in nature is the crystallization  process. Crystallization is simply the way atoms and molecules organize themselves according to their shapes. If one were to put salt or sugar into a glass of water in large amounts then stir the water enough so the grains dissolve and leave it undisturbed crystals of the dissolved substance will begin to form. One can remove a crystal and stir the water again so the small crystals are again dissolved. Suspending the seed crystal back in the water and leaving it undisturbed again causes the media to coalesce around it. The seed crystal will begin to grow much larger than those that normally form. 

Something similar happens in populations. An idea can saturate a population to the point where something begins to grow from it. One person can come along who gives voice to the idea and a movement can coalesce or crystallize around them. In a way similar to a seed crystal becoming dominant, a leader who gives voice to an idea can grow and become dominant. Every generation seems to produce it's own voices.

I've heard it argued that one could have avoided World War II if someone had simply killed Hitler before he became so powerful. I'm not sure that's true. It seems to me that Hitler gave a voice to the feelings of his time and the population coalesced around him. If Hitler had been killed I suspect another would have risen and taken his place because the population was ready for someone to come. The same could be argued for many figures in history.

Ideas are introduced into a population, they grow until a tipping point is reached and they become established in the population then someone rises to give a voice to the idea and the population crystallizes around that leader. There are many, many examples of this in history.

Now...all of this may mean absolutely nothing. These could just be my fanciful observations looking for similar phenomenon. But...wouldn't it be fascinating if someone were to discover the mathematics that govern such phenomenon and become able to predict such movements?!

Just some idle thoughts From the Blacksmiths Corner....

Accepting Christ

All that is necessary to be a Christian is to accept Christ as ones savior. Nothing else is called for. That's the message that evangelical Christians all over the world preach. Is that really what the Bible teaches? And just what does it mean to accept Christ as ones savior? The fact is most Christians don’t understand what it means to accept Christ. To come to a correct understanding of it, one must understand it in the context of the entire Bible.

Even those who believe that the only thing necessary to being a Christian is accepting Christ as ones savior will admit that the message of the scriptures points to Christ. It is therefore no great leap to assert that accepting Christ means to accept the message of the Bible as a whole. Though some would have us discard the “Old Testament” and read only the “New” it is a fact that the Hebrew scriptures (OT) are the foundation for the Greek scriptures (NT).

 First, in explaining what the Bible is to someone who has never heard of it one could say: It is God’s revelation to mankind. He lets us know who He is, why we are here and what He expects of us. It is His instruction manual for the care and maintenance of mankind. It’s also a historical record of God’s dealing with mankind and, more specifically, Israel. It recorded what happened when mankind obeyed His instructions and what happened when mankind disobeyed His instructions. It records Gods grace in that it shows us a path for His forgiveness for our failures in obeying Him. And, it contains prophetic writings warning of the choices we will make. In short, it is a statement of God’s love for His children. God reveals Himself to us in the scriptures.

Now, back to what it means to accept Christ, first lets us ask these questions: Why would God insist on obedience from the Children of Israel for almost four thousand years, blessing them when they obeyed and punishing them when they disobeyed only to completely change His mind after Christ’s death? Why would He now only require one’s belief in Christ as ones savior with no further obedience? Why wouldn’t He simply do that from the beginning? It would have saved a great number of people from His punishment for disobedience.

And, if all that is required of mankind is to accept Christ as ones personal savior, why isn’t the Bible only a few pages in length stating that? If that were the case, then the Bible need only be the size of a pamphlet like those popular among some evangelicals. If the Bible were only a few pages in length the gospel would be much easier to promote.

The obvious fact is that the Bible is much longer than one page and contains a great deal more than the few scriptures one finds in evangelical tracts promoting things like 'the Roman road'. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. (II Tim 3:16) [NIV] Not just those mentioned in the 'Roman Road'. For those that believe the OT is no longer necessary, bear in mind when the above scripture was penned the only scriptures the early church had were the Hebrew Scriptures.

Coupled with the belief that one need only accept Christ is the belief called "once saved, always saved". Many Christians will tell you that they believe in the Ten Commandments should be obeyed…except for the forth because Christ fulfilled that one! Taken to its logical conclusion, however, the "once saved, always saved" doctrine implicitly means that one need do nothing further. It means that one need not obey any commandment, law or precept in the Bible. That is to say that once someone 'accepts Christ' one need do nothing more as a Christian.

In considering this issue, think for a minute about a football team looking for a new coach. Say the owner hires a new coach for the team. Would anyone for a minute think that all that is necessary for the team start winning is to accept the new coach...then, not do what he directs? That is exactly what many Christians do. “Why call you me Lord, Lord and do not what I say do?”(Luke 6:46)

Every organization has rules. When joining any organization, one agrees to obey the rules of the organization. Simply being born human means there are rules one must obey. The Body of Christ also has rules for its members. A part of what the Bible is, is a compilation of those rules.

The counter argument many Protestants have is that one need not obey any laws or commandments for salvation. Setting aside for a moment what Christ told the rich man who asked him what one must do for eternal life wherein Christ answered “Keep the commandments”. The above argument is correct! Commandment keeping is NOT a salvation issue. This is for our benefit…because it’s impossible for flesh and blood human beings to fully keep the commandments. Salvation is by grace alone. Grace is defined as 'an unearned merit'. Grace, Gods graciousness, lies in giving us a gift that we have not earned.

Keeping Gods law is an issue of loving God. Christ reiterated that in creating two new commandments. The first was to love God; the second was to love one's neighbor. What does it mean to love God? The scriptures tell us plainly: Christ said: "If you love me, keep my commandments". (John 14:15) God’s commandments set the bar for our behavior high so we always have something to strive for. We are to continually strive and grow.

One must not ignore other principles in the scriptures however... Christ killed a fig tree that didn’t bear fruit. Do you think He did that just because He didn't like figs? It was a lesson for us! The parable of the three men who were given talents were ALL expected to increase what they had. All Christians are expected to bear fruit...to grow in grace and knowledge. Faith without works is dead. (James 2:17, 20, 26) To ignore that is to do so at one’s own peril.

The fruits of the spirit are patience, mercy, kindness, gentleness, love etc. If we do not show this kind of growth we may suffer the same fate as the fig tree that Christ touched The way we develop those fruits / attributes is by obeying God!

Let's go back to ancient Israel for a moment. For someone to offer an animal sacrifice meant that they first, accepted the concept of sin as defined by God and then accepted Gods directives to atone with Him. The scriptures clearly define sin as the transgression of Gods law. (I John 3:4) It meant that they accepted the system God had established as the way to approach Him. It meant they accepted Gods authority. To do so was to enter a covenant with God. In accepting Christ as the atonement for ones sins, the way a Christian is called to do, means exactly the same thing!

Many modern Christians will rail against sin but can’t give you an exact definition of it. Many will attempt to define sin by their traditions. Dancing, playing cards, drinking and missing mass have all become sins according to some. In the same way that human traditions have taken the place of God’s commandments to many, what constitutes sin has become a matter of human traditions. Without consciously realizing it, those who have adopted these beliefs deny the authority of the one true God. Only God can determine what is good and what is evil. Only God can determine what sin is. This is a lesson that goes back to Genesis. To accept Christ as ones savior is to accept Gods authority alone.

To accept Christ as our savior is to enter a covenant with God. That’s how God deals with people, through covenants.* A covenant, Brth in Hebrew, is a kind of contract. God says: “I will do this and you must do that”. Action is implied in a Brith. It is not simply to accept a belief.**

All the animal sacrifices represented a type of Christ. They pointed to Christ as the ultimate sacrifice. Each of the five major types of sacrifices pointed to different aspects of Christ's sacrifice.*** All did the same thing in the sense that they impressed upon the offender that the penalty of sin was death. To commit sin was to earn the death penalty. Sin demanded blood. Something had to die to atone for the sin committed. That's how serious sin is in God's eyes. That’s how God teaches us about obedience. Obedience is DOING something…not just believing something.

What the sacrifice accepted did was to erase the penalty of the sin. It did not erase the law that defined the sin. That is to say that if one say committed adultery, one was forgiven of the offense. One was spared the penalty that the sin incurred. One was NOT given the license to commit adultery again. That heresy crept into Christianity over time because the carnal mind is at war with God’s way. The carnal mind hates Gods law.

For God to absolve us from the penalty of sin through Christ's sacrifice...does NOT absolve us from obeying Him. We are still covenant-bound to obey our Creator.

As Christians, the first-fruits of Gods’ harvest of man-kind, we are under the New Covenant now. God’s laws are to be written in our hearts. One can't have the law written in their heart and NOT obey it! Keeping God's law in the letter and in the spirit is what Christ taught us to do. That is ultimately what it means to accept Christ as ones savior...we accept His authority...and DO what He commanded!!

_______________________________________________________________________

*The scriptures tell us of a time in the future when He will establish a new covenant with us. God will write His laws in our hearts. For the Christian, the first-fruits of Gods people, that time is now.

 

**See: The Law of the Offerings: The Five Tabernacle Offerings and Their Spiritual Significance by: Andrew Jukes

***As a side note here, to get married before God is to enter a covenant with God. Even most Christians don’t understand this. The marriage covenant is with God…both husbands and wives enter it as a promise to God to treat the other person in the way scriptures outline. To divorce is to break one’s covenant with God. This is why homosexual unions, by whatever name they are called, will never be Holy Matrimony. They are an attempt to enter a covenant with God while completely flouting His commandments…that is NO covenant.

It is worth noting that in both modern and ancient Judaism one could be a good Jew if one did what was required. Some call this ‘orthopraxy’. One could be an atheist and still be a good Jew if one did what was necessary. It wasn’t until the first church that the concept of ‘orthodoxy’, believing the necessary things, became a necessary part of one’s faith.

We should never forget that God revealed His law to us out of His love for us. His laws are for our own good. If one accepts the truth of that assertion then one can’t now claim the law is a burden.