Communion. Christian Libertarians / Eternal Vigilance bloggers Reed, Richard, and Twikiriwhi. Liberty Conference. Crowne Hotel. Auckland. 6-10-12.
It was great to meet you Reed, and to catch up again with you Richard.
HAHAHA! Check out our Halo’s!
“…And there appeared on their heads Cloven tounges… as of Fire…”
(Acts2vs3) 🙂
The title of this post has been lodged in my head since 1983. It’s the start of the lyrics to the Pink Floyd song The Hero’s Return. The question is essentially the same as one(s) which my co-blogger Tim raised in a comment on another thread.
I would like to know with what urgency do you go about preaching the Gospel of Grace? Is the Gospel the most important truth to you as a Christian? or is being a Christ[ian] merely like being a member of the ‘Rightest’ philosophy/book club?
What[‘s] more….according to your teaching of annihilation… the atheists are right. ie when you die…you die! *That is what they expect* thus what you call Gods judgement is nothing more than what the atheists already expect. Ie it equates to *no judgement* at all.
Me I expect to be judged by the very words of the King James Bible.
For me I can barely sleep at night with concern for the Importance of evangelizing the lost for Christ.
Question: Would you Die for the sake of the Gospel?
According to Wikipedia, the Gospel
is the message of Jesus, the Christ or Messiah—God’s ruler promised by the Scriptures—specifically, the coming Kingdom of God, his death on the cross and resurrection to restore people’s relationship with God, the descent of the Holy Spirit on believers as the helper, the resulting promise and hope of being saved for any who believe and follow Jesus, and through this, a healing of the brokenness of the entire created universe.
But the Gospel is not just a message, it’s a call to action. For me, what’s most important in the Gospel are not its truths but its imperatives.
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (NIV)
There’s a war going on between the forces of good and the forces of evil. (Hadn’t you heard?) Life is the battleground. To become a Christian is to enlist and become a soldier in God’s army.
The first commandment is a call to pledge your allegiance to God.
The second commandment is the battle plan. The details are sometimes a bit sketchy. Which is why it helps to pray
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done … (KJV)
Tim is right that atheists expect to die. After decades of atheism I’ve grown used to the idea of personal annihilation. The hope and promise of eternal life played no part in my conversion to Christianity. Partly for this reason, saving souls seems somehow of secondary significance to me. Of course, an army needs recruits, but it also needs specialists. Some will specialise in recruitment, but we all have different callings.
That’s what I think it’s all about. I’ll add that my views on the matter are subject to change. Of course, the question which is the title of this post wasn’t addressed to me, it was addressed to Jesus. He has the answers (here, here, here and here), and we should defer to Him accordingly.
Would I die for the sake of the Gospel? It’s a bit late to ask that now, I already enlisted!
… “For Christ sent me not to Baptize, but to preach the Gospel:…” (1Cor1vs17)
Paul clearly teaches that he was not sent to baptize.
Now compare this with Christs commission to Peter and Co…
“Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned…” (Mark 16vs15,16).
We see this is also recorded in Matthew “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost…” (Matt 28vs19)
Thus Christ *Did send Peter to Baptize!*
This distinction between Paul and Peter ought to be enough to show you God had different Commissions for each of them…
In Luke 24 vs 46-49 Peter is told to “Begin at Jerusalem and to ‘tarry’ there until they recieve the ‘Power from on high’.”… and in the first chapters of the Book of Acts , having been taught by the risen christ 40 days ‘The things pretaining to the kingdom’ (1vs3) We find Peter obediently Staring his ministry in jeruselem, preaching to the Jews ‘That it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again the third day, and that repentance, and the remission of sins sould be preached in all nations…(compare Luke24vs46,47 to Acts 2 esp14-47)
Note in this chapter The Death of Christ on the cross is not preached as a glorious attonement for sins, but as a terrible act of sin and rebellion against God! (read Acts2vs22-23 KJV)
“Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:”
Note that He preaches the Cross and resurrection of Christ …not as salvation but as prophetic evidence the Christ is Lord… and that By his resurrection they stand in Judgment of God…and God would render the Enemies of Christ ‘his footstool’
“Let all of the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts2vs36
“What shall we do?”… cry those Jews whom were pricked in their hearts by peters Preaching of Condemnation?
“Repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of Sins” (vs 38)
“Save yourselves from this untoward generation” (vs40)
Then the believers sold all their possessions and had all things common. (vs44,45)
(They did this in expectation of Christ eminent return and setting up of his kingdom)
And We find Peter again Preaching The Cross *as Murder…not salvation* in Acts 3vs 13-18 …and most importantly in vs 19,20 he says “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his prophets since the world began.”
Note that Peter is tell Israel to repent of their Evil rejection of their messiah…Christ.
Note that Peter does not preach that Salvation occurred by the work of Christ on the cross, but would occur at a future time.
And if you read the rest of the Passage of Acts 3 you will see that Peter is specifically preaching to the Jews in respect to the Covenant God had with their fathers.
When you put all this together you realize that Christ Sent Peter to Re-offer the kingdom to Israel using the Death , Burial, and resurrection of Christ as evidence that Jesus was indeed the REAL DEAL , and that after they had repented and received their messiah the disciples were to spread out throughout the world and preach the gospel of the kingdom for a witness unto all Nations (Mat24vs13,14…) Then the end would Come with the Return of Christ as King of Kings and Lord of lords, destroying the antichrist and the enemies of Israel…. And that those whom had not received the mark of the Beast, those whom had endured unto the end…they would be saved… the rest would be thrown into the Winepress of the Wrath of God. (Rev19, Rev 14vs 18-20)
Then Christ will establish his millennial kingdom in Israel. (Rev20vs4)
Yet The Jews rejected the preaching of Peter… and his commission did not get passed the first stage… Did not go out into all the Earth….. thus the end did not come (Mat24vs13,14). Instead a great persecution of the disciples sprang up and though Peter continued in Jerusalem, many were scatted into the regions about yet preached to Jew only. (Acts 8vs1, Acts 11vs19).
And because Israel failed to repent, the Kingdom of Christ was postponed and the Nation of Israel was reserved unto Judgment. Thus began 2000 years of persecution and slavery for the Jews. “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the gentiles, untill the times of the gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke24vs24)
And it is during this dispensation of the Judgment of Israel, that god raised up Paul to Preach Free Salvation to the gentiles. It Is to Paul The God reveals the secret mystery that was previously hidden…that the Death, burial, and resurrection of Christ was the divine atonement for the sins of Mankind.
It was to Paul that God sent to preach this Gospel of salvation…without works. (Eph2vs8,9)… thus with Paul’s Gospel the act of Baptism is not necessary. When we believe the Gospel we receive the righteousness of Christ (Pil3vs9, Rom5)…and he took upon himself our sins.
When Christ was Baptized…we were Baptized…we receive his righteousness.
“Christ’s Baptism by John” is part of the series of sacred paintings made by Woonbo Kim Ki-chang. / Courtesy of Heaven’s Door Gallery
I have got to leave off here as I’m off to see my Family for xmas. I post this Sunday message a day early. It is by no means exhaustive yet I am out of time. I hope it at least show you that Paul’s commission was different to Peters commission, that Paul’s view of the Cross was very different to Peters…. Paul Loves the Cross! Peter preached it as murder. I hope you see the difference between The Gospel of the un-circumcision (No Works…not a part of the Covenant of Circumcision), fro Peters Gospel of the Circumcision (The preaching Of Christ as King of the Jews). (Gal 1vs11,12, 2vs7,8)
Ask yourselves why those Christians whom deny the truth of Dispensationalism do not today sell all their possessions and have all things Common…as the followers of Peters Preaching did in the early Book of Acts?
They are hypocrites! ( I will be putting a message about this dispensational aspect soon.)
Anias and Sapphira struck Dead for trying to decieve the Apostles regarding selling all their posessions and laying the money at the Apostles feet. (Acts 4vs32-37, 5vs1-12)
May The Lord Bless those of you with the eyes to see and ears to hear this message.
Tim Wikiriwhi Libertarian Dispensationalist Christian…Sinner saved by Gods Grace.
Praise the Lord for his mercy unto me.
To lie is to bear false witness. It is to make an untruthful statement intended to deceive.
Jesus says, “Do not bear false witness.” (KJV) Lying is wrong. But why? Jesus explains,
Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! (NIV)
Centuries later, the philosopher Immanuel Kant came up with a secular account of why it is wrong to lie which, it seems, Jesus had prefigured. In his essay On a Supposed Right to Lie from Philanthropy, Kant went so far as to claim that it would be wrong to lie to a would-be murderer even to save an innocent life.
Truthfulness in statements that one cannot avoid is a human being’s duty to everyone, however great the disadvantage to him or to another that may result from it… [I]f I falsify… I… do wrong in the most essential part of duty in general by such falsification… that is, I bring it about, as far as I can, that statements (declarations) in general are not believed, and so too that all rights which are based on contracts come to nothing and lose their force; and this is a wrong inflicted upon humanity generally… For [a lie] always harms another, even if not another individual, nevertheless humanity generally, inasmuch as it makes the source of right unusable.
Kant based his moral philosophy on a maxim he called the Categorical Imperative.
Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.
You cannot will that the maxim, “Bear false witness,” become a universal law! If we all lied, all the time, then soon no one would believe a word that anyone said. After a while, no one would even hear what anyone said.
Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.
Talk would be ignored, like a background noise tuned out. Ultimately, we’d be struck dumb. No one would bother to say anything at all, even the truth, since no one would believe him.
Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
To lie is not merely to commit a crime against he to whom the lie is told. It is to commit a crime against language itself. St. Augustine said
But every liar says the opposite of what he thinks in his heart, with purpose to deceive. Now it is evident that speech was given to man, not that men might therewith deceive one another, but that one man might make known his thoughts to another. To use speech, then, for the purpose of deception, and not for its appointed end, is a sin. Nor are we to suppose that there is any lie that is not a sin, because it is sometimes possible, by telling a lie, to do service to another.
Which brings me to my final point. Lying is an abuse of language. But it’s not the only one. The Biblical injunction, “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” has its corollary in M. Hare’s maxim, “Say what you mean, and mean what you say.” Words have meanings. To say what you mean, you must find the words that mean what you mean to say, and say them. Mean what you say, and say what you mean. Surreptitious redefinition is a species of pernicious redefinition. It, too, is an abuse of language.
Words and phrases have meanings. For example, Christianity is a belief system, a worldview, a way of life, an institution … and a religion. Secular humanism is a belief system, a worldview, a way of life, an institution … but not a religion. The word ‘religion’ is used to distinguish between creeds whose central doctrines include the reality of a god or gods, and those whose central doctrines do not, or which are explicitly atheistic.
Lie and, ultimately, language ceases to function. Use the term ‘religion’ to encompass secular creeds, customs and ideologies and, ultimately, ‘religion’ ceases to function. Pernicious redefinition is tantamount to lying. Dare I say it’s also akin to theft?! I used to be a “liberal”, until today’s liberals took the term ‘liberal’ unto themselves. Now I’m a libertarian. But for how much longer? How much time do I have before I morph into a traitorous idiot?
Ayn Rand was a libertarian and atheism is not a religion.
It was not the law, the police, or the war on drugs which made this ‘Rock God’ quit doing ‘P’, but an overwhelming faith. He was changed by embracing a personal code of ethics. This demonstrates Libertarianism in action and that true Christianity works in the heart, not via external oppressive socialist prohibitions and persecutions which because they are unjust, only inspire loathing and rebellion not reason, faith, and will to change.
God accepted Brian *as he was* a Slave to Sin in need of Salvation. Brian’s testimony is “You can have all the Money, All the fame, All the Power and yet be Dead inside…”. He’s a testimony to the validity of the question …’What profit a man if he should gain the whole world yet forfeit his own soul?’ (KJV). He testifies the truth that though becoming a Christian does change you (For the better) yet does not mean you cease to be ‘you’.Today Brian is still in the Music Biz. Still Head bangin. Music is still in his veins…Its a part of who he is.
As the classic song goes “Amazing Grace How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found twas blind but now I see…” “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (KJV)
To all you Junkies out there sick of wandering in darkness and longing to see ‘the light’. Do what ‘Head’ did. Do lines of Meth while reading the Bible. Call out to your Heavenly Father, and he will hear you. And if your Band is bringing you down to Hell. Quit. There’s a New Life awaiting… *That’s the essence of Individualism* Being brave enough to abandon ‘the herd’ and to follow your own conscience… Tim Wikiriwhi