kerygma digest

One of the great mysteries of the christian faith is the doctrine of the trinity.Whole libraries could be filled with large tomes,written by men whose intellect far surpasses mine trying to explain it, The Triune God. Yet man is a three fold being, he has a body of flesh and bones which we can all see and touch and recognise, he also has an inner man, the physche or soul which no-body can see.(but God can see!)Your boss may greet you jovially enough but inwardly she is planning to sack you. Man also has a spirit. When people dispute and say "ah I don,t believe in all that" they are not disputing the existence of the physche or soul, that would be silly, what they are disputing is this third element to man,s being, the spirit. There is a reason for this for although we all are born with a spirit the bible teaches that the spirit is dead.That explains why although God is so manifest in the things that He has created, yet by mankind He is unknown. This explains the great gaping void that mankind experiences inwardly. People try many ways to fill this emptiness, through pleasure, or by the pursuit of power and wealth, with drugs, and yet when he is alone, when he switches off the light, that emptiness, that void. The reason given for this state of affairs in the bible is sin, how the educators have tried to re-educate us and tell us that there is really no such thing as sin, and yet it screams at us from the news desks and the news papers, it blights our towns and cities and communities, and we all have it. So what do we do? if we ignore it will it go away? or will it fester and get worse and worse,ruining our nation, our communities and our own personal lives. I,ve got some good news, God has got a plan and it works. God,s plan is this, you give Him your old life and He will give you a brand new life, what do you think of that? How you answer that might depend upon what you are going through right now. But what about this new life, does it work? will it be better? Jesus said "The thief has come only to steal and to kill and destroy you, but I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly" That sounds wonderful but how do you get to it?how,s the deal to be made? the bible word covenant means deal. the place of exchange is the cross and the only parties involved in making the deal are you and God. Jesus said "Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any one hears My voice and opens the door I will come in and sup with them and they with Me" the door is the door to your own heart will you open up to Jesus? let,s pray together....."Dear Jesus I do want to make this deal today, I want to exchange my bad, old life for Your wonderful new life. I open My heart to recieve You as my Lord and my King, breathe into me The Holy Spirit now, make my spirit to come alive. Fill me with Your joy and peace. I thank You Lord amen.                

Jesus said "Who-ever drinks natural water will thirst again, but who-ever drinks the water that I shall give, will never thirst. The water that I shall give shall become in that person a well of water springing up into everlasting life." 

Do you not rememberthat when I was yet with you I told this?and you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way and then the lawless one will be revealed, and The Lord Jesus will slay him wi.th the breath of His mouth and destroy him by His appearing and His coming. 2 thessaloniansc2.vs5-8. ........I believe that the church of Christ will go through the tribulation, there is very sound reason for doing so i.e the bible says so after this I looked, and behold,a great multitude which no man could number,from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,and crying out with a loud voice ,"salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb."And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God saying "Amen! blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! amen!" Then one of the elders adressed me saying," Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence do they come?"I said to him" sir you know." He said "these are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of The Lamb.....rev c7vs9-14.      I have heard the clever teaching which says that these are the Jews who will be converted during the tribulation after the church is agone. But friends it,s always best to stick to the plain reading and understanding of scripture. This says ALL tribes and ALL peoples and ALL tongues. Another sophistication arises from the word tribulation itself, for it is argued that it refers to God,s wrath, and therefore say the sophisticates this scripture cannot refer to the church which is under grace and not under God,s wrath. But the word tribulation as it appears every where in scripture almost in every if not in every instance refers to perscecution and the great  and final tribulation or percecution that Jesus forewarned His disciples about is what is being referred to here. It is coming, it is coming soon, we see the early signs of it,s advent all around us, and the church is not nearly ready for it.  Now what I now put forth  (along with a great many others) I put forth not as a doctrine,  we have a gap in our knowledge don't we? for Paul states clearly that when he was with the Thessalonian church he had taught them all these things.We may safely say then,that "these things" were needful to the church, but  alas the teachings were not transmitted to us,I mean concerning"he who now restrains "The Thessalonians knew, but we don,t. Some of the speculations concerning who it may be are quite comical as the speculations concerning the identity of  anti-christ have been through-out church history. A clue to the restrainers identity will be in that which he restrains i.e the mystery of lawlessness, what does it mean, it is a most peculiar term with a very precise meaning, it means more than to be simply opposed to the law,it means the law having no application to.Somebody who breaks the law is a criminal or an outlaw but the law still applies to him, he is simply in transgression. But this one who is lawless is-I will not say above the law- but at any rate one to whom the law does not apply. But what law? the law of man or human government?no, the law of moses then or the ten commandments?no...It,s the law of God which He spoke to Adam in the paradise of Eden, with regard to the tree of knowledge God said "in the day you shall eat of it you will surely die".But Adam did eat of it, and so life for mankind became forfeit.  And God set a mighty cherubim with a flaming sword turning in every direction to guard the tree of life, lest the man should put forth his hand and take and eat of it and live forever. There is so much involved here, for if that cherubim is he that restrains and who will restrain until he is taken out of the way-I certainly believe the mystery of lawlessness is man,s quest for eternal life(apart from righteousness) this can be seen from the city that Cain built to the tower of babel onwards the desire or need for a name that will live forever.but if that cherubim is taken out of the way then the way will be clear for man(or rather THAT man-the man of lawlessness to step forth). I have put this forth for people to consider and weigh. For indeed they are weighty matters, and also I believe long after the time when the church should be considering these matters.For I do percieve a need for a time of preparation. I would like to add just this one thing, I do not want to live forever in this body of sin, even if it could be made perfect, no I want for this my body to die and it,s sin-infectedness to die with it. Do not you? my brothers and sisters. And if it dies then we trust The Saviours gracious promise"I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me, though he die,yet shall he live,and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.     

 One of the titles given to Christ in scripture is Prince of peace. To those who have recieved Him as their Lord He  is certainly that. Howbeit the prince I want to write about here is not the prince of peace but the prince of this world,the prince of darkness,many may find my views extreme, but in fact they are the orthodox view of bible believing christians throughout the church age.I am not saying there are not disputes about the particulars of what I am going to share, manifold and varied are they,but as to the doctrine, the coming of Anti-Christ-that he is an actual person and that he will make his appearance at the end of the age-bible believers do not dispute.Linked to his coming is of course the coming of our own dear Lord, who the bible says will descend from heaven with shout and with the trumpet blast and destroy that wicked one with His power and His coming.Paul the apostle appealed to the Thessalonian church( and therefore the church in all ages)"let nobody decieve you in any way",but and yet as I listen to christians and christian preachers when they deal with this subject, both the Lord,s coming and the appearance of the wicked one, I feel that the larger number by far have been decieved and the deception is critical in it,s bearing upon the church that will go through that fearful period. Indeed the whole crux of the controversy lies here,will the church go through it or not.If it,s true as the vast  majority bible believing christians believe that we are fast approaching the times foreshadowed in scripture as the last time the subject could hardly be more important.The dispute itself is so contorted I am not here going to enter into it (not in a blog) I am simply going to share two scriptures given by Paul  to the Thessalonians and say what they appear to say to me.Thess:4v16 For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangels call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; Then we who are alive will be caught up together in the clouds to meet The Lord in the air: And so shall we be always with The Lord...2..Thess: 2vs1-3 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet Him,we beg you brethren ,not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by word or letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of The Lord has come. Let no one decieve you in any way ;For that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition.... The great debate and controversy rages around some very simple words "The Day of The Lord" and" rebellion" and it,s root apostase.I am not going to enter into such subtle sophistery and contorting of words, there was never any need, the subject and the words used are plain and easy to be understood by unsubtle minds.Paul is talking in both scriptures about ONE event, the second coming of The Lord, the parousia. He doesn,t begin to talk about that in one sentence and before he takes another breath suddenly change tack and start talking about the day of judgement, an entirely different event belonging to a different age. The argument about the use of the word apostasy,whether it may not mean departure is again pure sophistication. The problem arises because men want the scriptures to confirm their doctrinal position even if they must bend it a little here and contort it a little there.Paul is talking on both occassions about the parousia, the second coming of our Lord and our going to meet Him in the air.That being so then the teaching I have heard so often and is indeed the view held by the vast majority of bible believing christians that The Lord could come at any moment "the next great event " as it is often stated is clearly not correct, In fact that was the very point Paul was making "don,t be quickly shaken or excited in your minds,it cannot happen until certain other events have come to pass ."And it is those other events which are of such crucial and critcal import to the church that must pass through this period.I f it is not in my life time it is soon.For the plainest reading of the text (and the plain reading is always the best)without the subtle interpretation is that Anti-Christ must come first. Not only so but he is to have his moment of power and rule(in the context of history 7 or as some will have 31/2 years is a moment) But it won,t be a moment for the church as he sets out to destroy every trace or thought or idea of God or religion, really he will be out to destroy the church.  Now pastors and leaders of the flock of God where are you.     murkev1@hotmail.com

Corrie ten boom along with her sister and elderly father owned and ran a watch shop in Haarlem, Holland before ww2. When the Germans came and systematic persecution of the Jews began they did all they could to hide and succour them. They were arrested and all three were sent to concentration camps her father died within a few days, Betsy her beloved sister later at Ravensbruck. They not only witnessed the barbarity meted out by the camp guards but were themselves victims. Before she died Betsy had a vision of a concentration camp after the war, one not for internment,cruelty and death but a place of healing and reconciliation for the Germans.This vision did actually come to fruition. Corrie tells her own story in THE HIDING PLACE & TRAMP FOR THE LORD. She was tireless in taking the message of forgiveness accross the world into her 80s. especially successful was her ministry to prisons. The story she tells which will give some insight into her life and ministry after the war is the story she tells of how after preaching a message of forgiveness she was met at the door by one of the cruellest camp guards who thrust out his hand. Inwardly she cried to The Lord,but The Lord said" you must forgive...or lose your ministry"....He said" if you will offer your hand I will do the rest." And this is what she did, mechanically she put forth her hand with an ice cold heart, and as the man took her hand the love of God filled her heart to overflowing,all she could see before her only a man for whom Christ died.