The Passivity of the Current Christian Church

By Kenneth B. Alexander and Sherrie Mobley

The time has come to call things as they are in the world of most of Christianity. Mainline Christianity and religion in general is missing the mark so far as God is concerned. Christian churches throughout the world are in a holding pattern waiting for something to happen. A visit to nearly any Christian church will reveal that the basis of their doctrine is that they are waiting: for a rapture, a second coming, a tribulation or a sign from God. Even worse, patrons are waiting to die so they can go to heaven and live the good life. The end result is that in the meantime they are doing nothing to bring the Kingdom forth on the earth. They may be doing many "good works" and have "good" programs but is God really in those works and programs. Jesus taught us to pray for what is stated in Matthew 6:10: "God's Kingdom come, His will be done, On earth as it is in Heaven". Jesus when he was on the earth did not do a lot of good works but directed his entire focus on bringing forth the Kingdom on the earth.

Who out there is praying for God's Kingdom to come on earth? Heaven or the Kingdom of God, even in the songs that are sung between church walls, becomes a faraway place, attainable only if we live good lives. The songs that are sung put heaven in a distant place we shall see someday "In the Sweet Bye and Bye". Jesus said: "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt 6:34). If we are always looking ahead to heaven what are we doing to bring heaven to earth on all the other days? In the Book of Luke he quotes the same prayer as Matthew but follows it with an exhortation to always be persistent in praying for the kingdom. In other words Luke is not telling us to wait for anything but to be persistent in our cry for the Kingdom NOW (Luke 11:5-13).

Eschatology (the science of the end of all things) has taught that the earth is going to end and the good people will go to heaven and the bad people to hell. Nothing could be further from Christ's truth. He is returning to set up His kingdom on the earth. He is coming to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe (II Thessalonians 1:10). But don't ever confuse it as being just a spiritual coming. I believe that the spiritual coming is first, but you can never divorce Jesus Christ from His humanity. It is the Son of Man who is going to come in the clouds of glory (Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26). He is going to come in His humanity in like manner as the disciples saw Him go away (Acts 1:11). We are going to see the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh, in His glory, in His deity, in all that He represents, coming as King of kings and Lord of lords to set up His Kingdom on the earth (Revelation 17:14; 19:16; 11:15)

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Apr 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781456616496

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The Passivity of the Current Christian Church

Church of the Holy Sepulcher In Jerusalem

By: Kenneth B. Alexander J.D.

Preface

Thanks to John Robert Stevens, Pastor and My Mentor, deceased; Pastors Gary and Marilyn Hargrave; The Living Word, a World Wide Fellowship of Churches (thelivingword.org); Logos Bible Study System 5; Fellow Believers

©Author: Kenneth B. Alexander, JD

[e-mail]

Web: www.christianfreelance. vpweb.com

Scripture references: The New American Standard, 95 ed; The New American Standard,                                           1977 ed.; King James Authorized Version; Unless Otherwise Noted

Scripture References In Italics and quotation marks

Bold Emphasis Author’s Discretion

CAPS USED from  BIBLE SCRIPTURES or PER AUTHOR’S DISCRETION

Man or Men when used is gender negative and is meant to include: men, women, mankind, humanity etc.

Table of Contents

Cover Image-Deformed Sunflower Plant

Title Page

Preface

Table of Contents

Introduction

Christ Came to Proclaim the Kingdom of God

Chart: Parables of Jesus

The Passivity of the Current Christian Church

The History of Satan

Army of the Lord

Religion

What Is the Spirit?

The Soul

The Body

The Spirit

Revelation

Waiting for the Rapture

Don’t Wait for Signs

Be Those Deliverers

The Very Elect

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The time has come to call things as they are in the world of most of Christianity. Mainline Christianity and religion in general is missing the mark so far as God is concerned. Christian churches throughout the world are in a holding pattern waiting for something to happen. A visit to nearly any Christian church will reveal that the basis of their doctrine is that they are waiting: for a rapture, a second coming, a tribulation or a sign from God. Even worse, patrons are waiting to die so they can go to heaven and live the good life. The end result is that in the meantime they are doing nothing to bring the Kingdom forth on the earth. They may be doing many good works and have good programs but is God really in those works and programs. Jesus taught us to pray for what is stated in Matthew 6:10: God’s Kingdom come, His will be done, On earth as it is in Heaven. Jesus when he was on the earth did not do a lot of good works but directed his entire focus on bringing forth the Kingdom on the earth.

Who out there is praying for God’s Kingdom to come on earth? Heaven or the Kingdom of God, even in the songs that are sung between church walls, becomes a faraway place, attainable only if we live good lives. The songs that are sung put heaven in a distant place we shall see someday In the Sweet Bye and Bye. Jesus said: Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matt 6:34). If we are always looking ahead to heaven what are we doing to bring heaven to earth on all the other days? In the Book of Luke he quotes the same prayer as Matthew but follows it with an exhortation to always be persistent in praying for the kingdom. In other words Luke is not telling us to wait for anything but to be persistent in our cry for the Kingdom NOW (Luke 11:5-13).

Eschatology (the science of the end of all things) has taught that the earth is going to end and the good people will go to heaven and the bad people to hell. Nothing could be further from Christ’s truth. He is returning to set up His kingdom on the earth. He is coming to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe (II Thessalonians 1:10). But don’t ever confuse it as being just a spiritual coming. I believe that the spiritual coming is first, but you can never divorce Jesus Christ from His humanity. It is the Son of Man who is going to come in the clouds of glory (Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26). He is going to come in His humanity in like manner as the disciples saw Him go away (Acts 1:11). We are going to see the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh, in His glory, in His deity, in all that He represents, coming as King of kings and Lord of lords to set up His Kingdom on the earth (Revelation 17:14; 19:16; 11:15) (Stevens, John Robert: This Week, Volume XII (1981) S. 1127).

The fact that His Kingdom will be set up on the earth, not far away in heaven, is acknowledged by the most eminent of commentators. The Corinthian passage I Corinthians 11:23–30 is a commentary on Christ’s concluding statement of drinking this cup again in the Kingdom of God. It clarifies that communion is not only a reminder of Christ’s death, but is also a reminder that He will return to set up His Kingdom on earth (Mills, M.S.: The Life of Christ: A Study Guide to the Gospel Record. Dallas : 3E Ministries, 1999).

The inspired commentary of I Cor 11:26 explains Christ’s concluding statement of drinking this cup again in the Kingdom of God, and demonstrates that the Lord’s Supper is not only a reminder of Christ’s death, but is also a reminder that He will return to set up His Kingdom on earth. Christ was then sending His disciples to set up his kingdom in the world, which was a great undertaking. However, God still has a remnant, a people who believe in the blood of Jesus Christ as the atonement for sin. They believe that the Bible is the Word of the living God that Jesus was the virgin-born Son of God that He came to redeem the world and will come again as the King of kings and Lord of Lords to set up His Kingdom. In this day, we dare not be passive and indifferent, given to the trends that produce antichrists, false churches, and Babylon; instead, we should contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to the saints (Stevens, John Robert: And the Rain Came, p.111).

Christians are forever striving against sin. However sin is commonly defined as missing the mark wherever it is used in the scriptures. In Strong’s Hebrew Concordance #2398 the Hebrew verbs חָטָא, חֶטְאָה, חָטָא [chata’ /khaw·taw/] are defined as sin in the Scriptures 188 times, sinner eight times, committed six times, offended four times, blame twice, done twice, fault once, harm once, loss once, miss once, offender once, purge once, reconciliation once, sinful once, and trespass once. To sin means: "miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify from uncleanness to sin, miss the goal or path of right and duty; to incur guilt, incur penalty by sin, forfeit, to bear loss, to miss the mark to induce to sin, cause to sin, to bring into guilt or condemnation or punishment". Similarly 2399 חֵטְא [chet’ /khate/] a noun in Greek the KJAV translates as sin 30 times, faults once, grievously once, and offences once (Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: 1996, S. H2398-99). Hamartia is the most common word for sin in Greek and carries the root idea of missing the mark. Sin misses the mark of God’s standard of righteousness (MacArthur, John: Alone With God., 1995).

Thus churches who struggle along trying to be good enough to make it to heaven are missing the mark. We will examine ‘good as compared to righteousness" below but be assured the Kingdom of God is coming on the earth and His will in that Kingdom will be done just as it is in Heaven, the spiritual realm where God resides. It will certainly be a spiritual Kingdom on earth. As John said, speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well: "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. GOD IS SPIRIT, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (Jn 4:23-24).

The parable of the rich young ruler addresses what is ‘good" in the sight of the Lord. A ruler questioned Jesus saying, Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. "You know the commandments, ‘

Do not commit

adultery

,

Do not murder

,

Do not steal

,

Do not bear

false

witness

,

Honor your father and mother

.’ " And he said, All these things I have kept from my youth. When Jesus heard this, He said to him, One thing you still lack;  sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich" (Lk 18:18-23; Mt 19:16; Mk 10:17). Those who are trying to be good or better people are missing the mark as no human is good, only God. Those who feel self righteous in keeping all the 19 Commandments are not therefore good because no human can completely keep the Law perfectly. Jesus told him that to do what God wanted in his life he had to become poor and follow the Lord. He was not willing to do this as he was very rich.

Jesus observed as the man walked away: "And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. They who heard it said, Then who can be saved? But He said, The things that are impossible with people are possible with God (Lk 18:24-27). But as the Lord said: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth [mammon]" (Mt 6:24).

It is time for Christians to stop trying to be good and begin to serve the Lord. Walking with God is not a self-improvement program. The Lord said that even when you do the will of God you are still an unrighteous servant. We cannot please God by our works no matter how good we think they are. 

Christ Came to Proclaim the Kingdom of God

Our Lord was very focused and sure why he was here. "For this cause I came to this hour" (John 12:17). To Jesus the time was short for many things to be accomplished mainly the proclaiming of the Gospel of the kingdom of God. Jesus was here to preach the good news, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Scriptures back this up: Jesus was preaching the good news of the kingdom (Matt. 4:23; Matt. 9:35); preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God (Luke 8:1); he spoke to them of the kingdom of God (Luke 9:11); he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal (Luke 9:2); He told them to go and preach the kingdom of God (Luke 9:60); the kingdom of God is preached (Luke 16:16); this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world (Matt. 24:14). Jesus was here to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and that was his primary focus.

Gospel means: The English translation of the Greek euangelion which means ‘good news.’ In the NT it refers to the good news preached by Jesus that the Kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:15) and the good news of what God has done on behalf of humanity in Jesus (Rom. 1:3-5) (Harper’s Bible Dictionary). The good news that God’s purpose is to establish an earthly mediatorial kingdom in fulfillment of the Davidic covenant (2 Sam. 7:16) (Called GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, Matt. 4:23; 24:14; (THE KINGDOM OF GOD, Luke 16:16). Mark defines the ‘gospel of God’ in 1:14 (AV, following the Byzantine text, adds ‘of the kingdom’) as ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand’ (Mounce, R. H. (1996) (see bibliography for commentary references).

Jesus in His first public ministry in Nazareth quoted Isaiah 61:1-2 and said: "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL [of the Kingdom] TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,      TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE DOWNTRODDEN, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD" (Lk 4:18–19).

John the Baptist, the messenger who prepared the way for the Lord (Mal. 3:1; Mark 1:2), came announcing the coming of God’s kingdom (Matt. 3:2). Then, in fulfillment of the prophecies of Malachi, John came as the Messenger of the covenant