Kingdom Ready Blog

From a biblical perspective, the notion that God will one day establish His kingdom on earth is extremely well-attested, enjoying support from both Old and New Testaments, from both historical books and the prophets, from Paul’s epistles and the Gospels, and especially from the Bible’s last book. God’s plan is to make everything wrong with the world right, to restore creation back to its original Edenic glory, to defeat evil and death once and for all, and to usher in an eternal age of peace and joy on earth. Rather than exploding, nuking, or dissolving the earth, God wants to fix it up—like an antique car—until it shines with its original glory.

Announcing the 2012 One God Seminar:

June 2-3 (Saturday and Sunday)
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
DoubleTree by Hilton,6505 Interstate 35 North
Austin, Texas

Reservations: 1-800-347-0330 or visit webpage at tinyurl.com/austinconference

Come and join us in Austin, Texas for a weekend focused on who our God is. I will be speaking twice on the history of the Trinity in the 4th and 5th centuries. Anthony Buzzard will also be there along with the usual presenters. If you live in or near the Austin area, please consider coming!

Introduction

One item that Scripture makes abundantly clear is the following admonition: Believers must avoid idols. Both the Old and New Testaments contain numerous commands to not make or worship idols – and they also describe the consequences of breaking those commands. For example, consider the following passages:

Exodus 20:4-6 (ESV):

⁴  “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

For those that subscribe to Anthony Buzzard’s wonderful monthly newsletter “Focus on the Kingdom“, you have undoubtedly seen several announcements for the 2012 Theological Conference (the 21st) that will occur next week May 3rd – May 6th in Atlanta GA. I will be making my way there for my 3rd straight year!  It truly is a wonderful conference where Biblical Unitarian/One God Believers from all over the world can hear speakers, make new friends, and fellowship with one another.  Last year we had people from Europe, South Africa, South America, Australia, Canada, and from all over the USA.  Hope to see you there too!

I read this article awhile back and found it interesting.  And I thought it would be good to post here on the KR Blog.  I hope you find it interesting as well. Enjoy!

Biblical Unitarianism from the Early Church through the Middle Ages

by Mark M. Mattison

The term “biblical unitarianism,” as used in this journal, denotes a non-Trinitarian theology which is consistent with the inspired Word of God. It is our belief that this understanding of the Scriptures is not new, but has been propagated at various times and places throughout church history. The purpose of this article is to lay a foundation for the future discussion of this topic.
 
First, however, we must define our terms.

Introduction

One of the most famous individuals in the book of Genesis is Joseph – the first son of Jacob and Rachel. The account of Joseph’s life begins in Genesis chapter 37 – and that account continues all the way to the very end of Genesis, in chapter 50.

Of course, quite a bit of information is contained in chapters 37 through 50. However, here is an extremely brief summary of Joseph’s life:

1. Joseph is the “favorite son” of his father, Jacob.

This is an exclusive interview by J. Dan Gill with Jaco van Zyl of South Africa. Jaco, a former Jehovah’s Witness, talks about his experiences as a Jehovah’s Witness, his leaving the movement and coming to his One God faith today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s35gPxYYcI&feature=player_embedded

Here’s the 6th installment in this series:

Biblical Common Sense – Death – An ENEMY!

The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:26 says: “The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” Now everyone knows what an enemy is. It is someone or something that harms or opposes us.  However the typical sentiment one hears at a mainstream Christian funeral is that death has taken the deceased to a “better place”.  Other variants often expressed can be “God has called so and so home”, or “The Lord needed another member of heaven”.  But does anyone stop and think about what this actually means?  Such ideas mean that death isn’t so bad.  For the saved, death would be taking us to the best possible place we could ever hope to be!

Recently, I was asked by an inquirer how I understand the text where Jesus seems to say he will raise himself from the dead.

John 2.19-22
Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it.” Then the Jews said, “This temple was built for forty-six years, and will you raise it in three days?” But that one spoke concerning the temple of his body. Therefore when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus spoke.

A Plea for Oneness Believers to Reconsider
by Mike Hicks