The Word (Jn. 1:1-4,14) was the God of the Old Testament Who operated anciently in the same manner as He would generations later when He came to earth as Jesus of Nazareth–He would be totally dependent upon His Father (Jn. 8:26-29). Moses said of Israel’s God: “He is the Rock; His WORK is perfect” (Deut. 32:4). Jesus said that He came to finish His Father’s WORK (Jn. 4:34). Those with a heart to enter into that work will study it (Isa. 28:9,10) in order to make it the Foundation upon which they build their lives. Others, upon reading it, will view it as a “Stone of stumbling and Rock of offense” (Isa. 8:14). Both will be members of what the world calls “the church.” See The Church, the Gospel and the Goats.

In John 8:12 we find Jesus calling Himself the “light of the world,” Whose light, if embraced, would lead God-seekers out of darkness (false religion) and into eternal life. In Matthew 5:14 He transferred His light onto His disciples so that they could carry it into the outside world following His death. He later identified His and His Father’s light/work: “And this GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM (of God) shall be preached in all the world as a witness unto all nations, then the end shall come” (Mat. 24:14). In the previous verse He noted that only those who endured persecution for living the kingdom life until the end of their lives would be allowed to enter His Father’s kingdom. See The Kingdom of God. The Lord used the darkness loving world’s Rock of offense and Stone of stumbling to teach His apostles about the Kingdom of God. It is the kingdom message that has caused the majority of God-seekers to enter the wide gate and walk the broad way that will lead to death (Mat. 7:13,14). THE CHURCH REJECTS CHRIST’S KINGDOM MESSAGE which must be believed and obeyed in order to enter that kingdom.

The journey to the Kingdom of God is accomplished only through strict obedience to His kingdom gospel (message/witness). Along with His Scriptural commands come His Scriptural warnings against Satan’s false wide gate, broad way message put forth by his false prophets. Those who choose the devil’s gospel believe such “doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1) as instant salvation, entrance into heaven or hell at death, the rapture, inherited sin, the Friday death and Sunday resurrection of the Lord, all grace-no works salvation, salvation and rebirth in this life, replacement theology, the trinity, the Law nailed to the cross. They also reject God’s Holy Days and instead celebrate such heathen holidays as Christmas, Easter and the Sunday Sabbath, each of which is an abomination to the Lord as He makes clear in His Word. But because the religious masses, including the Institutional Church (Catholicism/Protestantism), reject most of His Word, the Writer of those Words has become their Stone of stumbling and Rock of offense. This ministry is dedicated to exposing that fact as a warning to those who call themselves God’s people, who, as Jesus said, worship Him with their lips but whose heart is far from Him (Mat. 15:8). These are they who reject His Truth in favor of man’s church doctrines, some of which are listed above.

In John 12:48 Jesus warned those who claim to embrace Him that “He who rejects Me and receives not My Words has one that judges him–the Words that I have spoken.” Jesus received every Word from Genesis to Revelation from His Father, then spoke what He heard either audibly or through His Holy Spirit to His prophets and apostles who then recorded what they heard. Two things must be noted concerning John 12:48: Jesus equated rejecting His Word with rejecting Him, and all men will be judged by His Word. The Jesus-Word connection would later be put forth in His message to John as recorded in Revelation 3:8 where He exalts those who “… have kept My Word and have not denied My name,” thereby equating His Word with His name. Recall that Peter confronted those who were complicit in Christ’s death, saying: “You have denied the Christ” by not believing His Words (Acts 3:14). Thus we see that not believing and obeying His Words equate to denying His Words as God’s Truth, denying His name and denying Jesus Himself. He warns that this will result in His rejection of them on the Day of Judgment when they will be judged by the very Words they had refused to believe and obey. To be continued. L.J.