Friday, May 05, 2006

Reducing the Bible

If the Bible can be reduced to one sentence, what would that be? What would the central theme of the Bible be? I know some of you would say love, grace, sacrifice, passion, etc. And although these themes are evident in Holy Writ, none is the central theme. Before you take up your stones, hear me out. I am aware that the Bible says the God so loved the world that he sent his Son so none would perish. I totally agree that love motivated our Father's actions. But why did he send his Son? I believe the answer is found in Gen 1:26, And God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over... all the earth." God made man for one central purpose: to have dominion over the earth. Unfortunately, Adam abdicated his role as ruler of the planet to an unemployed cherub, who later took on the title "god of this world." From Gen 3 all the way till the end of the Sciprtures is God's unfolding plan of redemption in order to reconnect man to God and re-establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

Lay your mind on this: Jesus came to preach one message, and one message, only. Matt 4:17 records the sole topic of his messages throughout his public ministry: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Lk 4:43, "But I must preach the kingdom of God..." Matt 24:14, "And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole worl as a testimony to many nations, and then the end shall come." Matt 6:33 declares "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Jesus was obssessed with the kingdom of his Father. Jesus didn't preach on any other message - not on prosperity, deliverance, or even about being born again! He taught on these topics, but he never preached on them. In fact, we spend more time telling people to be born again when Jesus only mentioned this once, to one person, and at midnight at that.

Perhaps a change in diet is in order. We should seriously consider what we serve every Sunday in our churches. Let's keep it simple. Jesus said, "Follow me!" Let's do that. We need to reprioritize what we do and preach. I believe it was also Jesus that said, "I only do what I see my Father doing. I only speak what I hear my Father speak." It is my firm belief that when we return to the original intent of God, we will soon see the Kingdom of God re-established on earth.

My next blog will address some fundamental differences between a monarchy and a democracy.

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