THE FINAL FRONTIER!

 

THE FINAL FRONTIER!

Are you a trekkie? Star Trek fans call themselves ‘trekkies’!

Today’s post is the final part of my five-part series on personal transformation. My goal today is to show the link between the hard work of becoming the best version of yourself and the final frontier of Christianity!

To re-cap, the previous four parts of this series helped us to understand:

    § The power of habits and how they shape us (part one- James Clear)

    § That each of us should be building our ‘improved’ self on the foundation of our #1 strength (part two- Marcus Buckingham)

    § That the Bible calls our #1 strength- our gift (part three- Pastor Myles Munroe)

    § When we use our gift, we can change the world- aka the power of one! (part four- Bishop TD Jakes)

It is important to remember that anyone, regardless of their individual beliefs, can work to make a difference in this world. This is a fact. You can be an atheist or a humanist and make a positive contribution to others.

But, as believers, not only do we have a duty and an obligation to make a difference, we must do it as per the will of God! As believers, we must work to create the world that God wants to see! We must work to develop on earth what God already has in heaven. And we call what believers build on earth- the kingdom of God.

RESOLVING THE CONFUSION
Now, there is some confusion about what the term ‘the kingdom of God’ actually means! In Matthew 6:10 (KJV, emphasis mine), the kingdom of God is described as the visible will of God.

    10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

However, in Luke 17:21 (KJV, emphasis mine), the kingdom of God is described as an invisible state of being located within you.

    21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Confusing! Which is it? Does the kingdom of God describe WORKS or PIETY? Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 5:13-16 (KJV, emphasis mine):

    13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

    14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

    15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

    16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

According to the Apostolic Scriptures, the kingdom of God is the tangible work of believers manifested through the will of God.

TWO MESSAGES
This confusion regarding the meaning of the ‘kingdom of God’ is just one more example of the two conflicting MESSAGES that run through the entire New Testament! The Apostolic Scriptures teach one thing and the Pauline writings teach another. The Apostolic Scriptures teach us to:

    § Worship God, not Christ

    § Love your neighbour, don’t hate (women, gays, Jews, immigrants, etc.)

    § Have works, not piety

    § Judgment is coming for everyone, pray for mercy

Do you remember the Parable of Wheat and Tares? What was one lesson of that parable? Matthew 13:24-30 (KJV, emphasis mine) says:

    24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

    25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

    26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

    27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

    28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

    29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

    30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Did you know that tares look exactly like wheat? They don’t provide any sustenance, they are poisonous. They kill. But you only realise that you have tares when the plant has matured and revealed its fruit (verse 26). In other words, it takes time for the full consequences of false wheat and false doctrines to be revealed.

The New Testament is like the field. The ten Books written by Christ’s Apostles (aka the Apostolic Scriptures) are the wheat. The seventeen books written by the Pauline group are the tares. The Pauline writings feel like scripture but their doctrines are poisonous for believers! Consider the following:

§ Have their doctrines encouraged a love of God or have they encouraged Christ idolatry?

§ Have their doctrines encouraged us to love one another or have they encouraged us to hate different members of our community?

§ Have their doctrines encouraged us to actively help one another or have they encouraged us to be like salt without savour?

§ Have their doctrines warned us that everyone (i.e. believers and non-believers) will face the ‘Book of Life’ judgment or have they mislead us into a false sense of security with their ‘once saved, always saved’ false teaching?

THE FINAL FRONTIER
Christianity has crossed three frontiers in its history. Let me explain.

The first frontier that Christianity had to cross was overtaking paganism as the world’s mainstream religion. Emperor Constantine helped to achieve this by supporting the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire in 380 AD and over the next 1200 years became the main religion in the western world.

The second frontier that Christianity had to cross was removing the external influences over Christian beliefs. The main person credited for this achievement was the German monk, Martin Luther. In 1517, he famously nailed his ’95 Theses’ on his church’s door! He formalised the idea of ‘SOLA SCRIPTURA’- only scripture! This concept declares that the final authority on Christian doctrine must be found within the words of scripture.

The third and final frontier was crossed in 2018. This frontier involved the removal of the Pauline tares (i.e. false doctrines) from within the New Testament. The traditional New Testament contains twenty-seven Books. Of these twenty-seven Books, the Apostolic Scriptures are the ten Books written by five of Christ’s Apostles (Matthew, John, James, Peter and Jude). The Pauline writings account for the other seventeen books. In the Apostolic Scriptures, Christ’s central message - i.e. the gospel of the kingdom, comes alive.

ISAIAH 6:8- SEND ME!
On a personal note, I am frequently asked how I got started with this project! If you want the long answer- please check out the website! Basically, I was on a journey of personal transformation. I got a call from God and I just followed His ‘cookie crumbs’ where they led me! 

It had always puzzled me when I would go to church and they would say- Apostle Paul says blah blah blah! Almost everything about the 'church' experience is skewed to fit the Pauline Christianity model! I used to ask myself, if everyone just wants to follow Paul, gosh, why did Christ bother coming to earth? Of course, I know the reason why He did but it felt like Christianity had abandoned Christ!

Truth and lie. Love and hate. Good and evil. That's how life is. So I have always been inspired by Moses' question ‘who is on the LORD’s side?’ and David's question ‘Is there not a cause?’. But my greatest inspiration comes from Isaiah 6:8 (KJV, emphasis mine) which says:

    8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Send me! Do you believe in the power of one? Are you willing to become the best version of yourself in order to make your best contribution to the kingdom of God? Do you believe that God created you on purpose for a purpose?

I have no regret with the choice that I've made. It was hard work at first but now it is the work that I am proudest of and the work that I find the most fulfilling. 

I am encouraged by the work that the Restoration Christianity movement has done to try and return us to our original faith. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is the denomination that is most closely aligned with the teachings of Jesus. However, their continued reliance on the Pauline writings is unfortunate and, frankly, difficult for me to understand.

My mission? Let us promote the true ‘SOLA SCRIPTURA’! Let the world know about the Apostolic Scriptures- they are the wheat without the tares. They are the inspired, infallible and inerrant New Testament word of God!

*****

‘HARVEST TIME Prophecies’ is the blog post site of TNG Academy. Our blog post site gets its name from Matthew 13:30- the separation of wheat and tares that occurs at harvest time (i.e. the endtimes). Remember, the ‘wheat’ symbolises the things of God and the ‘tares’ symbolise the things of the devil.

The purpose of this blog is threefold.

1. Some of the posts are written to help the reader develop a deeper understanding of the theology of Christ’s core message- i.e. the ‘gospel of the kingdom’.

2. Some of the posts are written for the reader’s personal discipleship journey. We need to understand what God expects from us. After all, all believers should be on a journey of ‘becoming’ our best selves, capable of impacting and changing the world!

3. Finally, some of the posts are written to answer this question:

    What would our faith look like today IF we had fully embraced Christ’s doctrines, as recorded by His Apostles, and rejected the doctrines of the false apostles?

If we are sincere about our desire to restore Christianity to its roots, i.e. a return to Christ’s original message, then we must start by admitting that ‘while men slept’ (Matthew 13:25) the enemy planted false teachings (tares) into the New Testament! 

Visit our website- WWW.TNGACADEMY.ORG, to see our Bible study books. Which books would I recommend for you to read first? Start with these three-

• WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
• MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN!
• THE APOSTOLIC SCRIPTURES.