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MYST
AGES
the
Mysteryof
·
ofGod
We continue, with this twelfth installment, the serial
publication of Herbert W. Armstrong's last book,
Mystery of the Ages.
J
UST
what do you mean,
"the kingdom of God"?
That, too, is an unsolved
mystery, not only to all in
the world but to the world's
churches, theologians and
"Bible scholars" as well.
Actually that mystery is con–
nected with its associated mys–
tery, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Why do the churches disagree
on what actually is "the gospel of
Jesus Christ"? During the first
twenty or thirty years after the
founding of the Church in A.D. 31
a violent controversy arose over the
very question of what is ..the
gospel of Jesus Christ." There en–
sued a hundred years in which all
history of the New Testament
Church was destroyed.
It
has been
called " the lost century of Church
history." When the curtain lifted,
about the middle of the second
century, there appeared an entirely
different type of church calling it–
self Christian, but in the rnain
preaching its own gospel ABOUT
Christ, not the gospel OF Christ.
The gospel OF Christ was the
gospel Christ proclairned. Jesus
was a Messenger sent from God
with a rnessage, and that message
was THE KINGDOM OF Goo. Christ 's
rnessage was Christ 's gospel- the
gospel OF Christ. lt had not been
September 1986
proclairned to the world until the
first week in 1953, when for the
first time in about 1,900 years- a
century of time cycles- it went out
on the world's most powerful radio
station, Radio Luxernbourg in Eu–
rope.
It seerns that today all churches
have lost the gospel of Jesus
Christ. They preach prirnarily their
gospel ABOUT Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ carne preaching the
gospel of the kingdorn of God. Yet
few
preach about the kingdorn of
God today, for they have lost all
knowledge of what it is! But does
any, except God's true Church,
proclaim the true gospel of the
kingdom of God today?
A prominent evangelist said to a
worldwide radio audience that the
gospel of the kingdom of God is
not for us today. Sorne denomina–
tions proclairn a "gospel of grace";
sorne what they call a "gospel of
salvation"; most a gospel
about
Christ; sorne a soeial gospel; sorne
the "Science of Mind" or "Reli–
gious Science."
Not One ls Rlghtl
Sorne churches claim either that
their particular denornination, or
"Christianity" as a whole, consti–
tutes the kingdom of God . A
prorninent television evangelist
said, "The kingdom of God is
within you." Sorne have even
quoted Luke 17:21 : "The kingdom
of God is within you." The mar–
ginal correction, as well as the
Re–
vised Standard,
the Moffatt and
other translations, shows it should
read "in the rnidst of you"- that
is, Jesus Christ was in the midst of
them. He is the King of the future
kingdom of God, and the Bible in
Daniel 7 and other places uses the
terms king and kingdom inter–
changeably, that is, the king is, or
represents, the kingdom he rules.
Not one is right! Could anything
seem more incredible? Yes, to the
mind reared in this world's con–
cepts, one thing is, indeed, still
more
incredible! And that is the
PLAIN TRUTH about what the king–
dom of God really is!
The truth is not merely surpris–
ing- it is shocking- staggering!
It
is a Great Mystery! Yet it is truly
GOOD NEWS- the most glorious
GOOD NEWS ever to enter human
consciousness!
CHRIST'S Gospel
What is the one and
only
gospel of
Jesus Christ? THE WORLD DOES
NOT KNOW!
It
has not been
preached for 19 centuries, strange
as that may seem. Look into your
BIBLE. Look at it from the very
beginning!
"The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ" you'll read in Mark
1: l. "Now after that John was put
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