Jesus taught the Gospel of the Kingdom. How many of you immersed in a world that expects you to play by it's rules, can appreciate what that actually means? It wasn't just the teachings themselves, but what Jesus taught was seen as revolutionary to it's time and all times since including today. He taught against the grain. He taught a way, a counter-culture to the status quo of not only the hierarchical society and systems, but especially to the synagogues and future churches that were built upon that hierarchal form and which catered to the governance of each.
The very fact Jesus came here as the lowest of the low and preached to the same, showed there was no place in the Kingdom for the institutions of man and it's hierarchy. He occasionally taught in the synagogues to make Himself known, but the majority of the time was spent in the countryside or homes of the people, free of institutions. He had no desire to affiliate with those who set up religion as a form of governance built upon the same foundations of man as other governances, all designed to exert power over the masses, each catering to each other in a bond of protection for each other. These were the self serving ways of man which always led to oppression of those they sought to control. How else could they gain except at the expense of others?
Mankind has always had trouble seeing beyond ourselves and our systems, each designed to control and seek gain contrary to the will of God and the ways of the Kingdom. Even the people and religion of Jesus' day which were well aware of the coming Kingdom and awaited a messiah, had trouble seeing a leader as anything more than just another conquering hero intent on following the same systems man had built in their own image. They were flesh minded so the people expected a king who would physically conquer and rule as kings had done before, and the priesthood rejected any notion a messiah could be anyone beneath the station of one so humanly elite. This was their earthly domain and they thought accordingly.
So in the end Jesus was rejected by those of the world who rejected anything not of this world and the world continued on, building new societies, institutions and a religion built upon the traditional foundations of man, and not the truth of the Kingdom as Jesus had told the Apostles it would be. The original followers of The Way who were composed mainly of the oppressed, had no problem understanding and living a life outside the realm of man for they had been the downtrodden, the slave, servants and women of the day interspersed with a few intellects who saw beyond the veil man had draped over each other, calling it truth. They understood the counter-culture, hoped for it, and were considered to be revolutionaries because of it.
Now fast forward a few years as the movement spread, and before you knew it a new hierarchy built upon the traditional hierarchies of man was being built once again, taking the name Christianity as their own. Composed now mainly of Gentiles as Jews and their traditions were slowly edged out, they had no problem thinking like the Jews before them who expected that the Kingdom should be another worldly institution, built out of a tradition they were all too familiar with, thanks to the influence of Rome. They built what they already knew rather than some counter-culture from beyond. Like today, many were only interested in their own salvation rather than the return of God and the building of His Kingdom. Within a few hundred years the new religion was in the same former state as the Jewish religion of Jesus' day, a governing force which even aligned itself with other governing forces (Rome in both cases) to create a worldly empire of their own in no way resembling the Kingdom. Such are the ways of man, continually turning back from God and what God offers, to make it about self and what could be gained at the expense of others.
So we ended up with a new empire calling itself Christian, built upon the foundations of man's traditions rather than the truth of God. An empire through the centuries that even took over as king maker of nations they held control over. One basically by then had to sell one's soul to the Church rather than give it freely to God as Jesus requested. Fortunately, among the tares that had taken over, there was occasionally good seed spreading itself and being persecuted for it, seed not of the hierarchy of man, but of the Kingdom. Seed loyal to scripture that was being purposely withheld from the masses, not only as a means of control but out of a sense of fear that the scripture would expose them for the liars and thieves that they were. You know that these leaders were on shaky ground if they had to persecute and kill their own Christians (among others) to maintain a level of power.
But as things must occur, change came when the scriptures escaped the clutches of the dominating Christian government intent on controlling the narrative, and what the religious elite feared came to be. Those who were called Bible believers chose to follow scripture over the authourity and dictates of the so called Church, understanding that the two were not the same. Free spirits who were free of the clutches of yet another governance of man built upon human traditions rather than the will of God. Hundreds of years of further persecution and the execution of countless numbers of scripture following Christians was unable to quell the change of the Reformation which eventually claimed it's own space in Christianity and carries on in it's various forms today.
You would think that would be the end of the story, but no. Being comprised of humans no more spiritually minded than the Jews of Jesus' day or the church before it, it was inevitable that even this Protestant movement led by the blind who had been taught by centuries of blind, would simply build a new form of the aging religion. One which, like the synagogues of Judah and the Gentile Church before it, catered to the elite and to power. In doing so it created further divisiveness between the elites it catered to and the oppressed in status underneath them. A brief example would be when the Church of England persecuting the likes of John Wesley for daring to preach to the poor and give the poor hope that God saw them as equals in His eyes. This infuriated the church and the elite who saw themselves as better than the others who were not even allowed in the churches due to their status, repeating the same selfish human fault seen in the synagogues and in the Gentile earlier church ( and still seen today in churches that have put up similar barriers which goes against God's word that He came for all).
So what does this tell us about man and how quick we are to anger when it is suggested we are all the same and no better than sinners beneath our perceived station in life? Where does that leave the class system, the concept of wealth, the politics, the religious prudes, governments and the like? Where does it leave you who support them? History has plainly shown that even the institutions which use God to justify themselves and their existence are no better than the rest of mankind, for each step of the way they return to serving themselves, what can be gained, and the world rather than the Kingdom of God.
Jesus simply said to put the will of God ahead of our own thus loving all as self. Nothing about building religious empires or institutional churches that demand allegiance, or about creating divisiveness among each other in the name of God or otherwise. He said the only division was between the ways and will of man versus the ways and will of God. The example given for us was Jesus Himself, not any institution of man demanding our loyalty, especially a religious one.
God does not look kindly upon the traditional self serving ways of mankind. And you can bet that when He keeps the promise of His will being done in earth as it is in Heaven, man (as history of Christianity and most Christians has shown) once again won't look kindly upon Him and the ways of the Kingdom. We're too busy building and defending our own.
©... timothyu
The very fact Jesus came here as the lowest of the low and preached to the same, showed there was no place in the Kingdom for the institutions of man and it's hierarchy. He occasionally taught in the synagogues to make Himself known, but the majority of the time was spent in the countryside or homes of the people, free of institutions. He had no desire to affiliate with those who set up religion as a form of governance built upon the same foundations of man as other governances, all designed to exert power over the masses, each catering to each other in a bond of protection for each other. These were the self serving ways of man which always led to oppression of those they sought to control. How else could they gain except at the expense of others?
Mankind has always had trouble seeing beyond ourselves and our systems, each designed to control and seek gain contrary to the will of God and the ways of the Kingdom. Even the people and religion of Jesus' day which were well aware of the coming Kingdom and awaited a messiah, had trouble seeing a leader as anything more than just another conquering hero intent on following the same systems man had built in their own image. They were flesh minded so the people expected a king who would physically conquer and rule as kings had done before, and the priesthood rejected any notion a messiah could be anyone beneath the station of one so humanly elite. This was their earthly domain and they thought accordingly.
So in the end Jesus was rejected by those of the world who rejected anything not of this world and the world continued on, building new societies, institutions and a religion built upon the traditional foundations of man, and not the truth of the Kingdom as Jesus had told the Apostles it would be. The original followers of The Way who were composed mainly of the oppressed, had no problem understanding and living a life outside the realm of man for they had been the downtrodden, the slave, servants and women of the day interspersed with a few intellects who saw beyond the veil man had draped over each other, calling it truth. They understood the counter-culture, hoped for it, and were considered to be revolutionaries because of it.
Now fast forward a few years as the movement spread, and before you knew it a new hierarchy built upon the traditional hierarchies of man was being built once again, taking the name Christianity as their own. Composed now mainly of Gentiles as Jews and their traditions were slowly edged out, they had no problem thinking like the Jews before them who expected that the Kingdom should be another worldly institution, built out of a tradition they were all too familiar with, thanks to the influence of Rome. They built what they already knew rather than some counter-culture from beyond. Like today, many were only interested in their own salvation rather than the return of God and the building of His Kingdom. Within a few hundred years the new religion was in the same former state as the Jewish religion of Jesus' day, a governing force which even aligned itself with other governing forces (Rome in both cases) to create a worldly empire of their own in no way resembling the Kingdom. Such are the ways of man, continually turning back from God and what God offers, to make it about self and what could be gained at the expense of others.
So we ended up with a new empire calling itself Christian, built upon the foundations of man's traditions rather than the truth of God. An empire through the centuries that even took over as king maker of nations they held control over. One basically by then had to sell one's soul to the Church rather than give it freely to God as Jesus requested. Fortunately, among the tares that had taken over, there was occasionally good seed spreading itself and being persecuted for it, seed not of the hierarchy of man, but of the Kingdom. Seed loyal to scripture that was being purposely withheld from the masses, not only as a means of control but out of a sense of fear that the scripture would expose them for the liars and thieves that they were. You know that these leaders were on shaky ground if they had to persecute and kill their own Christians (among others) to maintain a level of power.
But as things must occur, change came when the scriptures escaped the clutches of the dominating Christian government intent on controlling the narrative, and what the religious elite feared came to be. Those who were called Bible believers chose to follow scripture over the authourity and dictates of the so called Church, understanding that the two were not the same. Free spirits who were free of the clutches of yet another governance of man built upon human traditions rather than the will of God. Hundreds of years of further persecution and the execution of countless numbers of scripture following Christians was unable to quell the change of the Reformation which eventually claimed it's own space in Christianity and carries on in it's various forms today.
You would think that would be the end of the story, but no. Being comprised of humans no more spiritually minded than the Jews of Jesus' day or the church before it, it was inevitable that even this Protestant movement led by the blind who had been taught by centuries of blind, would simply build a new form of the aging religion. One which, like the synagogues of Judah and the Gentile Church before it, catered to the elite and to power. In doing so it created further divisiveness between the elites it catered to and the oppressed in status underneath them. A brief example would be when the Church of England persecuting the likes of John Wesley for daring to preach to the poor and give the poor hope that God saw them as equals in His eyes. This infuriated the church and the elite who saw themselves as better than the others who were not even allowed in the churches due to their status, repeating the same selfish human fault seen in the synagogues and in the Gentile earlier church ( and still seen today in churches that have put up similar barriers which goes against God's word that He came for all).
So what does this tell us about man and how quick we are to anger when it is suggested we are all the same and no better than sinners beneath our perceived station in life? Where does that leave the class system, the concept of wealth, the politics, the religious prudes, governments and the like? Where does it leave you who support them? History has plainly shown that even the institutions which use God to justify themselves and their existence are no better than the rest of mankind, for each step of the way they return to serving themselves, what can be gained, and the world rather than the Kingdom of God.
Jesus simply said to put the will of God ahead of our own thus loving all as self. Nothing about building religious empires or institutional churches that demand allegiance, or about creating divisiveness among each other in the name of God or otherwise. He said the only division was between the ways and will of man versus the ways and will of God. The example given for us was Jesus Himself, not any institution of man demanding our loyalty, especially a religious one.
God does not look kindly upon the traditional self serving ways of mankind. And you can bet that when He keeps the promise of His will being done in earth as it is in Heaven, man (as history of Christianity and most Christians has shown) once again won't look kindly upon Him and the ways of the Kingdom. We're too busy building and defending our own.
©... timothyu
