My body shakes as I write this,do u know that the gospel has been distorted to suit man!!!!!What he calls salvation now was what the idol worshippers call their salvation!!!!!!!
They had Gods for the following
Fertility
protection
wealth
health
war
food
etc
but do u know that all that will be summed up under physical wellbeing and material gain,and those were what Jesus said we must forfeit to enter the kingdom!!

Pastor AIO:

You have to be careful of the way you interpret that passage from Corinthians.  

If the Gospel is about the death and resurrection of Christ (which it is) solely and fundamentally then how could Jesus have preached the Gospel while he was still alive?  How could John the baptist have preached the gospel?

We have just established that the gospel is simply Repentance from sin and believing in Jesus. During the time of Jesus, he cannot preach believing in his death and resurrection because he had not yet died and resurrected then likewise John the baptist. The only thing they can preach is REPENTANCE and believing in the person of Jesus. Also, remember, while Jesus was still walking, John said, "behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world".

After the death of Jesus, what do you think they (the Apostles) will preach? Definitely not to believe in the physical person of Jesus anymore but the death, burial and resurrection which translates to forgiveness of sins.

For Further thought:  If baptism is symbolic of death and rebirth and John baptized before Christ was crucified and Jesus' disciples too baptized before the crucifixion then whose death and resurrection exactly does it symbolise?  Remember that we are all to die with Christ and be resurrected with him.

You are a bible student. The baptism of John is different because Christ had not died and resurrected then. The baptism of John to the Jews is UNTO same REPENTANCE (gospel). Listen to this,

Matthew 3:11, NIV
"I (John) baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

Also, to Jesus, the baptism of John means fulfillment of righteousness not that Jesus is sinful and need to repent of his sins. Again, look at this,

Matt 3:13-15, NIV
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.

After the death, Jesus is not walking physically anymore then the believing in his death and resurrection we believe in and we are baptized. Remember John said, "I need to be baptized by you" to Jesus. This means there is baptism of Jesus also. I hope this helps.

The things that take us to church are the very things we must forfeit if we really want to follow christ,Let me send this shocker!!!!
there are 2 ways,the narrow and the wide road,
If i ask who are those on the wide road we will say the unbelivers,but the answer is noooooooooo.
both roads are for the christains!!!!
the christains who sin and continue in there one ways are on that road.
the unbelievers are already condemmned they are not on that road

baconline:

The things that take us to church are the very things we must forfeit if we really want to follow christ,Let me send this shocker!!!!
there are 2 ways,the narrow and the wide road,
If i ask who are those on the wide road we will say the unbelivers,but the answer is noooooooooo.
both roads are for the christains!!!!
the christains who sin and continue in there one ways are on that road.
the unbelievers are already condemmned they are not on that road

God bless you. When the bible says do no be unequally yoked with unbelievers. People thinks it's talking about outsiders. Many unbelievers in the church and even called Christians. doubt is the opposite of believe. God help us. Let's wake up the true gospel of Christ. So many moral decays in the church of Jesus.

I Cor. 15 vs 1-4

Simple

True gospel is love which surpasses everything. It precedes salvation. That was why JESUS spurs us to love our neighbour not as our selves ([s]there are people who don't love themselves[/s]) but as CHRIST love the church. Who are the church, we (not physical structures). Jesus went further to warned, you may have all good qualities: power to heal, sings beautifully, preach and convert people, etc but without love you are like a gong that make the loudest noise.

Man sinned and fell short of the glory of God (ROM 3:23). God sent Jesus christ to reconcile man back to himself and to man's original position and place giving him hope for eternal life (JN3:3,16). That pretty much summarizes the gospel

buzugee:

good question. the gospel is a messge thAt needs to be told to all earthlings whose main objective is to align the good part of their spirit (holy spirit) with their body so that the spiritual uniformity created in all earthlings as  result of this melding of their holy spirit to their body will achieve 2 aims
1-enable them to treat their fellow men as they want to be treated and do unto others how they want others to do unto them MATTHEW 7 VS 12

-2nd the most important aim is that with this uniformity of spirit, we get to bring to earth as it is done in heaven MATTHEW 6 VS 10

You have said it the way it is. The Gospel of Jesus is the Kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God is a new world order governed by love which is God. The implication of this is that God is coming to rule us directly in this world, for the rule of the devil is coming to an end. (good news) But we need to accept the gospel for it to happen.

Arosa:

You have said it the way it is. The Gospel of Jesus is the Kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God is a new world order governed by love which is God. The implication of this is that God is coming to rule us directly in this world, for the rule of the devil is coming to an end. (good news) But we need to accept the gospel for it to happen.

couldnt have said it better. some people still think we are going off into the skies somewhere in heaven to live. you said it perfectly. a new world order on earth governed directly by God.

The true Gospel is John 3:16
The purpose can be found in Luke 4:18-19 & Isaiah 61:1-2
The price to pay for the Gospel is in Mark 8:34-36
The issue is: Are we complying? Are we allowing the Word to work in our lives or merely debating like the Pharisees and the Scribes?
The Word of God is not for debate. It was sent to heal us from our destructions (Psalms 107:20). if it was sent, then we are expected tp receive it and apply it for it to have the desired impact and meaning. The Pharisees and the Scribes who displayed their spiritual and intellectual prowess before Jesus were classified as hypocrites in Matthew 5:20.
Are we here to debate like the Pharisees of old?
Only the doers of the word shall be justified!

Oh dear, this thread is on the front page. Too bad. You know what that means, don't you.

It means a lot of people who don't care much for the issues will notice it and drop dumb comments and then leave never to return. Before you know it this thread would have reach 5 pages and nothing in the way of discussion or dialectic or to and fro of ideas. Just opinionated opinions one post after the other.

And the longer it gets the less likely it is that the irrelevant people will even read what has been posted before they decide to throw in their own contribution with total disregard for what has been said before.

oh well, tant pis.

@Stepo707; « #24 on: Today at 04:07:40 PM »
[Quote]
my sister please be patient,there is still so much work to be done(matt24:14 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.)There is so much work to be done,just keep doing your part
2peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.[/Quote]I am a brother, mehn. If 1000 years is a day with God how many hours have elapsed in that day when man has spent 610 years? And Matt 24 verse 14 did not quite identify the True Gospel. it only says it shall be preached all over and then the end comes. I thought the end was at hand 2000 plus years back, while 610 years from whence it was uttered was much much less than 2000 years, which is not the end, yet?


@goshen360 (m); « #25 on: Today at 04:15:56 PM »
[Quote]Quote
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

This is the TRUE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. This is the gospel that Jesus preached from the beginning.[/Quote]Prove it, because all I see is what Paul preached. Unless Jesus and Paul are the same person, then we need t compare the Gospels preached by both to be sure they are exactly alike,


[Quote]Math 4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.[/Quote]Did Paul preach this and was the kingdom of heaven "is" at hand then and the end didnt come "then", while we are still waiting for it today as we are still waiting for the second coming that the disciples already missed, if it happens now? Is this what Jesus really preached or what somebody said he preached, while the writer didnt pay attention to time regarding the usage of "is at hand"?


[Quote]Mark 1:15
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.[/Quote]Imagine if the true Gospel of Jesus is what is in this verse and nothing more, what will you conclude about how "is at hand" has extended over 2K years and there is no end to it?


[Quote]This is the gospel that Paul proclaims throughout his ministry.

Rom 10:9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

This is the gospel that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:22-24
Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

This is the gospel that Paul says is the power of God

Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. [/Quote]can any of the 3 gospels be exactly "the kingdom of heaven is at hand"?


[Quote]This is the gospel that is not being preached by the church today. Instead the church has substituted a false gospel, a powerless gospel that is really no gospel at all.[/Quote]Is one false gospel less false than another? The church is an extension of Paul based on his gospel versus the gospel that says "the kingdom of heaven is at hand".


[Quote]Gal 1:8
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
[/Quote]Imagine a man cursing an angel, yet, he preached not "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" as the only Gospel? I see why the another comforter was predicted to come by Jesus to correct all that has been corrupted.


[Quote]The so called gospel that is preached today is the “ask Jesus into your heart” gospel.  It is the gospel that says ‘Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life’ It is the gospel of the so called sinners prayer which is found nowhere in scripture. The gospel of give and get. Yes, Jesus loves us but doesn't love our sins and worldliness and dead word. He doesn't love our rebellion against God. He is jealous we taking side with the devil and the worldly practices. We must seek the kingdom of God first which starts with repentance from our sins and dead works and ALL other things will follow.[/Quote]Neither this gospel of today nor the gospels of Paul, etc are exactly the same as the Biblical Gospel that says "the kingdom of heaven is at hand".


@Pastor AIO; « #26 on: Today at 04:32:44 PM »
[Quote]You have to be careful of the way you interpret that passage from Corinthians.

If the Gospel is about the death and resurrection of Christ (which it is) solely and fundamentally then how could Jesus have preached the Gospel while he was still alive?  How could John the baptist have preached the gospel?

For Further thought:  If baptism is symbolic of death and rebirth and John baptized before Christ was crucified and Jesus' disciples too baptized before the crucifixion then whose death and resurrection exactly does it symbolise?  Remember that we are all to die with Christ and be resurrected with him.[/Quote]how many deaths shall a person die, if he died with Jesus before Jesus was born or even before the person was born? I see you guys are preaching yet another gospel altogether. Things keep changing, becoming more complicated and no end to the changes. I say it is fluid.


[Quote]Let's chew on this verse, maybe it can help us.

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:8[/Quote]How does this address the worshiping Jesus of Gethsemane and "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" gospel?


@knelson; « #27 on: Today at 04:39:42 PM »
[Quote]Quote from: diluminati on Yesterday at 09:15:15 PM
You are wrong Pastor AIO.

Love Yourself, Love Your Neighbor as Yourself and Love God (whatever You want to replace that with).

When you can do that you wont need to worry about 'The Kingdom cometh' or 'signs of the end times'

You said it beautifully well, diluminati.  "Love your neighbor as yourself". If we all do that, the world will be a much better place for everybody. Forget all those people who call themselves Reverends and Pastor. Just do what Christ commanded us to do, ", Love your neighbor as yourself, "[/Quote]Everyone in christendom missed what Jesus did; Prayed to God by putting his face on the ground and cried and begged while asking, submitting his will to the Will of God The Lord Who sent him.

the true gospel is that "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" simple.

@SweetNecta, I won't address all of your rubbish but I'll just avail you of a bit of ignorance of the english language. 'At hand' does not mean it is coming soon. It means it is here already. The Kingdom of Heaven is here and it is within and about you. If you like repent and enter into it and if you don't like reject it. That's your choice man.

ps. rev 13:8 is talking about worship of the beast, not worship of christ.

It is now plain to see why 'christianity' is such a laughable shambles. If 'christians' can't even agree on what the gospel is then why are we still sitting about waiting for the punchline of this joke. If you don't get it just laugh politely and excuse yourself to go to the toilet or something.

The True Gospel: Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins. Whoever believe in Him and repent of their sins shall receive eternal life.

What exactly is the true gospel? We have been called as believers to spread this, if we do not know what it is ourselves then we will be spreading something else that is not the Gospel.  
The gospel translates in greek to good news/message.
What makes news good to the hearer,
• if I am very thirsty in a place without water and hear that someone is bringing water that for me is good news
• If I am in a sinking ship at the middle of the sea and hear that help is coming, that for me is god news.
So what is the good news that our Lord Jesus brought to us?
To understand this we need to see man’s situation from God view point. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Rom 3:23 see also Eph 2: 1-4.  
Before God every man who is born into this world is a sinner and the wages of sin is death, so every man is dead in sin, lost, blind, an alien to God and His Kingdom and under the control of the kingdom of darkness. This is the state of all men born of woman with the nature of Adam.
God in His mercy, in order to deliver man from this state gave us a gift His Son Jesus that whoever believes in Him out of the race of men will not perish (continue in the state above) but have eternal life (the life of Christ) Jn 3: 16, 17 and that whoever receives Him has been given power to become the son of God. Jn 1:12, 13.
So in a nutshell the gospel is that men are dead in sin, lost, blind and alienated from God, but God has made a provision for every man who realizes his true state to repent(turn from the path he was going on) and receive a brand new life in His Son Jesus. It is going from death to life, from darkness to light, from bondage to freedom. Mat 11:28; Jn 7:37. That is the good news.

@  Pastor AIO,

You are the man. Relax. Kindly send me your email or email me, there is something i want us to discuss. Thanks. mine is goshen360@yahoo.co.uk. God bless you.

True Gospel = Jesus Christ came to save sinners (you & me) from the coming judgement.

Galatians 3 (edited NKJV)

8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed". 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Based on the question of the thread, the answer is Sango!

John 3:16

[size=15pt]All that one na long story, the true gospel na John 3:16 which states;
'For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.'
Simple![/size]

[size=15pt]^^^^ is the goodnews that was preached by the early church.
So dont get it twisted. Please![/size]

@ goshen

I appreciate the topic and one poster gave it as
death, burial and resurrection of Christ. fullstop!

The so called gospel that is preached today is the “ask Jesus into your heart” gospel.

if this is the so-called gospel then reconcile this

John 1:11-13

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
KJV

NOW LETS EXTRACT EVERYTHING EVERYONE HAD SAID FROM THIS. OMG, YOU MADE MY DAY BROTHER.

personally, i believe you cant extract anything from it, it is simply itself, believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ

We have just established that [size=15pt]the gospel[/size] is simply [size=15pt]Repentance from sin and believing in Jesus[/size]. During the time of Jesus, he cannot preach believing in his death and resurrection because he had not yet died and resurrected then likewise John the baptist. The only thing they can preach is REPENTANCE and believing in the person of Jesus. Also, remember, while Jesus was still walking, John said, "behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world".

After the death of Jesus, what do you think they (the Apostles) will preach? Definitely not to believe in the physical person of Jesus anymore but the death, burial and resurrection which translates to forgiveness of sins.

@ goshen

how can the gospel be both this Repentance from sin and believing in Jesus and believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ?

@baconline
The things that take us to church are the very things we must forfeit if we really want to follow christ,Let me send this shocker!!!!
there are 2 ways,the narrow and the wide road,
If i ask who are those on the wide road we will say the unbelivers,but the answer is noooooooooo.
both roads are for the christains!!!!
the christains who sin and continue in there one ways are on that road.
the unbelievers are already condemmned they are not on that road

hmm, i was just wondering, were christians (becos he hadn't died yet for anyone to be saved) there when he made the above statement? or was He pointing to Himself (the door john 10) that the jews must pass through Him and we known they stoutly reject the Door provided by God?

God bless you. When the bible says do no be unequally yoked with unbelievers. People thinks it's talking about outsiders. Many unbelievers in the church and even called Christians. doubt is the opposite of believe. [size=18pt]God help us. Let's wake up the true gospel of Christ. So many moral decays in the church of Jesus.[/size]

was it you or somebody quoted the following

Rom 1:16-17

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

KJV

lets not leave the following

Rom 1:17

17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
KJV

God has already helped us by providing the gospel! for in v17, which stated that "therein" in the gospel is the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD revealed by FAITH but we are trying to reveal the righteousness of God by moral works -dead works. Do we only believe the gospel for salvation and not believe the Gospel for righteousness of God be revealed which are [b]BOTH [/b]by faith?

Are we like the jews in rom 11, trying to establish our righteousness when He has provided this righteousness through the gospel-believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

I hate to get into religious arguments cos I realise it just aint worth it.

but I'll want to believe what we are having here is a matured discussion, so I'll throw in my two cents.


First off, we have to ascertain what we are talking about ?

Are we just asking about the gospel ?

Then I'll say its 'any good news', e.g. Lionel Messi scored 3 goals against the swiss.

That's the gospel to Argentine soccer fans yesterday cos the word gospel is derived from the

Greek word 'euaggelion' simply meaning good news and as it were no matter how religious/spiritual we are, we can't change the meaning of that phrase.

but I believe just as goshen (what a moniker, for a xtian !) said in his initial post,

we are talking about specifically 'The Gospel of The KINGDOM'. And not just any Kingdom but the KINGDOM OF GOD.


Am typing this at 12 midnight so I might not be able to say as much as I will want to.

but my humble submission is this, I hope this makes sense to someone.

Its much closer to Pastor AOI's take than any other previous post.


We do not need to worry about what the Gospel means - its fixed by both the greek and English language.


What we need is actually an understanding of this Question - WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD ?

One issue I have noticed over time is that believers keep getting the issue of what Jesus came to preach mixed up or incomplete.

Some will say Jesus came to preach salvation (or in popular parlance, that we must be born again) - true but not totally
(its like saying Gaurdiola is paid to Coach messi, true but not the full story, he is actually
paid to coach The Barca team).
Salvation is an integral and indispensable part of Jesus' message but we have to realise that
its not the whole story.

Some go a step further and say - oh, he came to preach the message of the Kingdom (Right) but when you ask them

what is the kingdom, they fall short, they start talking about the heaven they expect to go to when they die.


But the Kingdom is more than that.


Let's first establish the fact that all through the ministry of Jesus, his sole passion

was one thing - 'The Kingdom'. You can hear him severally saying - 'The Kingdom of God is like . . . .'

It was as though all he wanted is disciples to know was about 'the Kingdom message or better still, The Kingdom '.


So what is the Kingdom ?

Let me first admit that I am also itching to know more and more about this Kingdom everyday and even this space cant exhaust what I know. We can only come to the true Knowledge of the Kingdom by careful study of the Word and prayer.


But then the first point to note is that the word Kingdom is a portmanteau of the word

'king's domain'. The Kingdom message is a restoration message about God once again establishing

himself in the hearts of men as it was in the first Adam.


Adam was one with God before the fall.

He was sinless
He was prosperous.
He wasn't susceptible to fear.
Sickness had nothing on him.
He communed with God face to face
He was the son of God and was a 'god' on earth
He was in complete AUTHORITY


Note that the ministry of Jesus Christ was a restoration mandate, He came to reconcile.

So his death, burial and resurrection (I cor 15v1-4) was the PROCESS through which we could once again have access to the Kingdom, which he talked about with passion.

So salvation (looking at it from an angle) is an event in the life of a man, but the Kingdom walk is a process.

I'll like to close with these powerful verses of scripture (II cor 3v14-17).

It talks of a veil (the veil of sin and most importantly of RELIGION) which is taken away in Christ Jesus (when you are saved/Salvation).

This ushers you to glory, but the Kingdom of God is not just about 'glory', it is 'from glory to glory' (Read Eze 47 v 1-5).

The Kingdom is about God dominating your life and transforming you, imprinting himself in you, until you know longer are. But you become totally like him, In his very Image, Seeing Him as He is - Gal 2 v 20, 2 Cor 3v 18, 1 Jn 3v2.

It sounds blasphemous to the non - believer but that, according to scripture, is the hope of the believer called into the Kingdom walk.

Its not just to walk away from or be delivered from sin (that's the first step), we will go far enough to the extent that we will share the very image of God, we will be One with Him. That is the hope of our calling into the Kingdom of God.

@goshen, i wish I could have discussed this in private with you but I dont have your personnel details
and also this is an issue that burns in my heart that I'll wish to pass across even to some other fellow believers.

Pls do not take this as an attempt to condemn or me trying to prove superior knowledge.


First off, I guess you are a christian, (based on your previous post) but I really don't know why you chose the name goshen as a screen name.


What I know is that some churches use the name Goshen for some of their branches and some other things.

I feel particular about this issue that some might call trivial because I blv one of the main challenges of the body over here is the raising of 'goshen christians' .


The question is, where is Goshen ?


Goshen is (in) Egypt.

Exo 3 v 10 tells us that God called Moses to deliver his people out of Goshen.

So why are we still so particular about Goshen even after we have experienced the passover ?

Oh, I understand, - the miracles !


The Israelites that came from Goshen only had one thing in mind - meat, miracles. Ps 78 v 29 - 31

God could not work IN them because they were only interested in what he could do FOR them and most importantly the blood had not been passed over them.

Immediately the blood was shed, God commanded them to straightaway leave Goshen, they no longer had any business there.

They could not worship God acceptably in Goshen. Israel as long as they were in Goshen, were in bondage.

They could only see the acts of God in Goshen but they could not know His ways (Ps 103 v 7), They could see his hands (of provision) but could not see His face.

Unfortunately, even after Israel left Goshen physically, some still carried 'Goshen' with them on the way to the promise land.

That generation perished.

A 'goshen christian' is one who only watches out for the wonderful thing God can do in his/her life but has no real desire for a relationship with God or to truly worship him just as the Israelites were when they were in Goshen


In summary, my belief is that God is calling a generation who would leave Goshen completely, and move into Canaan.

though we might need to go through the wilderness for a while and face the red seas and the giants.

but I believe God is calling us, those who have experienced the passover, to rise and move out of Goshen, and also ensure that the desires for the things in Goshen leaves us.



I hope this makes sense to someone

^^^
My email id goshen360@yahoo.co.uk. I don't belong to Goshen whatever. You are right to think in your own way. I reside in the US and attend a Pentecostal Church here. Nothing special about the name bro, just a name i chose abt 13-15 years ago when i opened am email. We can still talk via email anyway. Thanks