At the throes of the church realizing her potential, rogues have taken advantage to abuse the very privilege bestowed upon her.
When Christ issued explicit command to his charges ( the apostles) it was evident what kind of message they were going to carry, starting from Jerusalem to the very far-flung territories as known then. Acts 1:8
Today in the very dispensation we are living in, it’s hard to tell who is right or wrong depending on the convictions one gets, especially from the marauding sanctioned or unsanctioned clergy.
It is therefore important to understand the dynamics of the gospel lest the polarized religious atmosphere inflicts many with the poisonous religious chalice.
Jesus Christ at the very beginning of his ministry made it clear to his apostles that he had been send on a noble cause.
Later when responding to the question his disciples asked, he had this to say “because it’s given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given Matt 13:10.”
Important to note is the fact that is glaring which thus depicts with clarity the cause intended. This is disregarded willy-nilly because of either lack of knowledge or utter ignorance as a result of a mind clouded with the mundane at the expense of a mind that is subjective to the will and intends of God.
I have argued vehemently and without considering imbibing the normal advanced cliche in religious circles; which pushes this notion, that Jesus Christ came to die for our sins. That in itself though well stated in a convincing manner it’s not a pointer to why Jesus came.
I have argued that Christ will not leave the comforts of heaven just to die, he says himself that he was send.
Finding the reason as to why he was send is very noble and paramount than bandying words around.
The messiah came to defeat the enemy, which he could have done regardless. But for this to be viable, he had to introduce a Kingdom message which to many at that hour it wasn’t known to them at all.
Jesus at no point did he say I have come to die for your sins, but he talks about his Kingdom. And because of this Kingdom he was willing to lay down his life, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death and that’s the devil Heb 2:14
Looking at the scriptures without religious biases you find out that sometimes our interpretations of the scriptures are absolutely misplaced. He says himself like this “I must preach the Kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I send Luke 4:43.”
He was send to preach the Kingdom of God, and the doctrine wasn’t his but the Fathers, after which he gave charge to the apostles to preach the same, which we see them doing. Paul says in Colossians that “giving thanks unto Father, which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins col 1:12-14.”
It’s imperative that the message of the Kingdom of God should be preached. People hated this message. Religious leaders ran amock when the essence of the Kingdom was made bare, but they couldn’t figure it, because it is not theologically or politically discerned. It is hid in a mystery. This message landed him to the cross, and through that cross he reconciled us to the Father. Spoiling principalities and powers and triumphing over them in it that is the cross.
“All the messes we are seeing and the religious hanky-pankies bedeviling us today are as a result of sheer lack of grasping the truth about the Kingdom message. Insinuations and innuendos have become the order of the day. The gravity of the debilitating effect is huge and in its wake several casualties have borne the brunt.”
Every cleric out there discoursing the word of God need to understand the very pillars of the Kingdom message and align his sermon on those pillars as did the apostles.
And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come Matt 24:14.” Jesus told his disciples that the gospel of the Kingdom shall be Preached, not prosperity or deliverance gospel or whatever other insinuated one, but rather the one he himself was preaching, upon which his sending is hinged.
“Today few talk or teach about his coming, and the resurrection of the dead. This is because it doesn’t seem appealing, for many are very materialistic to even think of telling folks about his second advent.
The rain started beating us long time, but the restorative agenda is on course, and it’s about time we all went back to the foundational aspects of the gospel, taking upon ourselves the right trajectory.”
Dr. Ephantus Steve, taught pastoral ministry.
