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been deceived - and has totally
MISUNDERSTOOD IT! Your Bible says
the WHOLE WORLD -
al/ nations
-
have been deceived about that Gos–
pel!
The
time
was at ha nd, then. for
this Message to be announced! The
time is at hand, today, for its true
MEANING tO be made SO PLAIN that
people may UNDERSTAND IT!
lt
WILL BE, in this article. And it is
a crucial CHALLENGE to you who
now read it!
And you have lO UNDERSTAND
what was that news announcement,
or you can never UNDERSTAND what
Jesus mean t about being " born
again."
What Was the News?
Notice, briefiy, first. what that as–
tonishing NEW Message was!
The pre-announcement, in Ma–
lachi's prophecy, says: "Behold. J
will send my messenger, and he
shall prepare the way before me:
and the Lord. whom ye seek (the
Messiah], shall suddenly come to his
temple. even the Messenger of the
covenant ..."(Mal. 3: 1).
Now notice the beginni ng of the
Messenger's proclamation of that
Message.
It is recorded in Mark's Gospel,
chapter 1: "The beginning of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God; as it is written in the proph–
ets.. .." Then follows the citation
from Malachi , written above. That
is followed by the account of John
the Baptist, preparing the way be–
fore Christ, the Messenger.
Then, verses 14- 15: "Now after
that John was put in prison. Jesus
carne into Galilee. preaching the
gospel of the KINGDOM OF ÜOD,
and saying, The time is fulfilled, and
the Kingdom of God is at hand:
repent ye, and believe the gospel."
That is, BELIEVE the Good News!
What IS the Kingdom of God?
What did He mean - the Kingdom
ofGod?
Jesus' whole Message - His Gos–
pel - was about the KINGDOM OF
Goo! Yet few know anything about
it, today.
Do you know WHY?
Jesus' Gospel - His news AN-
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1977
NOUNCEMENT of the Kingdom of
God - was SUPPRESSED during the
very first century!
Paul wrote to the Christians in
Galatia: "I marvel that ye are so
soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ UNTO
ANOTHER GOSPEL: which is not an–
other; but there be sorne that
trouble you, and WOULD PERVERT
the gospel ofChrist ..." (Gal.
1:6-7;
see also
11
Cor. 11 :3-4 and Rom.
1:
18, where " hold" should be trans–
lated "hold back" or "suppress" as
in sorne translations).
The MESSAGE God sent to man–
kind by Jesus Christ - His GOSPEL
- His GOOD NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT
- was not proclaimed to the world
after about 70 A.D.
Jesus was bom to be a KING. His
Message was the coming KINGDOM
oF Goo.
A kingdom is a). a NATION com–
posed of people, and b), the oov–
ERNMENTofthe nation.
In sorne cases, the people of a
nation are the descendants - the
children - of one man. The nation
of Turkey is the descendants of the
ancient Esau, twin brother of Jacob,
whose name was changed to Israel,
father of the nation Israel. Before
the twins were born, God said to
their mother, Rebekah, "Two
na–
tions
are in thy womb ..." (Gen.
25:23).
Now Jesus the Messiah was to
come as "the Messenger of the cov–
ENANT." The "Old Covenant" had
established the human chi ldren of
Israel as a NATION Or KINGDOM of
humans,
called the KINGDOM OF
ISRAEL. Jesus carne as the Messen–
ger - heralding the Message of the
NEW Covenant that shall set up the
spirit-composed chi ldren of Goo as
the Kingdom of God!
As the ancient Kingdom of Israel
was composed ofthe human FAMILY
of the human man Israel. so the
Kingdom of God will be composed
of the
divine
family of the divine
Goo!
And what does this have to do
with "being BORN AGAIN"? l t has
everything
todo with it!
The prophet Daniel wrote of this
Kingdom of God. In his second
chapter, after foretelling o f the
Chaldean Empire (Babylon), the
Persian Empire, the Graeco-Mace–
donian Empire witb its four divi–
sions, and the Roman Empire,
stretching even into the now-form–
ing resurrected "Holy Roman Ero–
pire" in Europe, we read the
following: "And in the days of tbese
kings (the forthcoming United Na–
tions of Europe] shaU the God of
heaven set up a kingdom, which
shall never be destroyed ... but it
shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall
stand forever" (Dan. 2:44). To
"stand forever" it will, of necessi ty,
be a Kingdom of rMMORTALS, not
mortals.
lt
will be a WORLD-RULING King–
dom!
Daniel's seventh chapter portrays
it again - and shows the connection
with being "born again." The four
world empires - Babylon through
Rome and its coming resurrection in
Europe - are pictured as four beasts
- wild animals.
Saints Become lmmortal
Verse 17: "These great beasts, which
are four, are four kings [kingdoms],
which shall arise out of the earth.
But
the saints
of the most High shall
take the kingdom, and possess the
kingdom forever, even for ever and
ever." To possess it FOR EVER, the
saints will have to be IMMORTAL!
Then the Babylonian resurrection
in Europe " made war witb the
saints, and prevailed against them;
unti l the Ancient of days [Christ at
second coming] carne, and judgment
was given to the saints of the Most
High; and the time carne that the
saints possessed the kingdom" (ver–
ses 21-22). Read also verse 27.
The second coming of Christ is
described thus: "And the seventh
angel sounded; and there were great
voices in heaven. saying, The king–
doms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his
Christ: and he shall reign for ever
and ever" (Rev. l 1:15).
Yet in spite of these and many
more such scriptures, many de–
ceived theologians today mislead
the people saying that the CHURCH
is the Kingdom of God! Or, that
(Continued on page 27)
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