Kingdom Ready Blog

by William M. Wachtel

From Anthony Buzzard’s web site; can be viewed here.

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven (Col. 1:13-20).

The following article by Anthony Buzzard is from the August 2010 issue of Focus on the Kingdom: 

What does the word “beget” mean? Definitions are easy to come by. Just type the word into a search engine, or consult a dictionary anywhere. To beget is “to sire, to father, to bring into existence, to procreate, to generate.”

This word is crucial to our understanding of who Jesus, the Son of God, is. For centuries churches bearing the name of Christ argued over whether the Son had a beginning of existence or not. Of course there is a vast difference between a person who has no beginning and one who comes into existence, that is, has a beginning of existence.

The ideas about the Kingdom of God expressed on this and other related sites are not new or radical, nor are they the result of any individual’s solitary study or contemplation. They are not the result of anyone claiming to have “special anointing” from the Lord to understand the Scriptures. These ideas are widely recognized by many Biblical scholars, and have often been written about by ministers from varying backgrounds. As an example, the following is from a book entitled The Theocratic Kingdom, written in 1884 by a minister in Springfield, Ohio, named George Peters.

The Kingdom in the Prophets (Continued)

Jerusalem has been under the control of the Gentiles since the time of Daniel, as illustrated by his visions of the successive Gentile empires. But a time will come when it will be trodden underfoot, and Israel will turn back to God, at which time the Gentile kingdoms will be subdued by God’s Kingdom.

Matthew 23:
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

As most of us are probably aware, many of the beliefs expressed on this blog are significantly different than the beliefs of “mainstream” Christian denominations. For example, most of the posters here believe that God is one person (not three in one), that Jesus is the Son of God (not God the Son), that the soul is mortal (not immortal), that the kingdom of God will be on the earth (not in heaven), etc.

Since I hold all of the above “unorthodox” beliefs, that has prevented me from becoming a member in the various mainstream denominations. In fact, many mainstream denominations state that I will not be saved at all, because I have those beliefs. In particular, many denominations claim that a person must believe in the Trinity, in order to be saved. (Angela wrote a very good post about that very topic on June 18.)

This is from the 21st Century Reformation website:

Anthony Buzzard gives an extraordinary presentation to a conference of Bible students in Tennessee. Professor Buzzard gives a succinct evaluation of five prevailing views regarding Jesus Christ. He leads us through a consideration of the: (1) Trinitarian view; (2) the Arian view; (3) Binitarianism; (4) Oneness and (5) the “One God” view. In the end, Anthony makes a persuasive case for “View No. 5″:  that Jesus is the Christ of God, God’s literally begotten human Son. Anthony Buzzard’s “Five Options in Christology” has been one of the most popular features presented on 21stcr.org. It is too good to miss.

The Kingdom in the Prophets

The promise of land and blessings to Abraham and his descendants was only temporarily fulfilled by the kingdom of Israel. But they did not keep God’s covenant, and so they were divided, the northern kingdom (Israel) being defeated by Assyria and scattered, and the southern kingdom (Judah) being taken captive to Babylon. Yet God had promised to establish David’s throne forever.

Joel Hemphill was a presenter/speaker at this year’s 19th Annual Theological Conference held in Atlanta, GA 4/25-4/28.  Joel did a terrific presentation on the need for “Removing Greek Philosophy From Christianity“.  If you’d like to view a video of it recorded there at the conference, you can watch it for free at Dan Gill’s wonderful 21st Century Reformation website: http://21stcr.org/multimedia/removing_greek_philosophy/removing_greek_philosophy.html.  On that same page you’ll find a down-loadable PDF version of another one of Joel’s tracts – this one about some “Shocking Admissions” from various Trinitarian scholars. I like it so much, I thought I’d publish it here in the KR blog.  I hope you enjoy as well.

The following post is by Patrick Navas:

Hello Everyone,

Have any of you been following the debate between Robert Bowman and Dave Burke on the Trinity? I posted some comments in response to one Trinitarian apologist on the associated blog (pasted in this email) that I thought you might appreciate:

Nick,

You wrote:

“I also find it interesting how you freely use the adjective “Scriptural” to describe your belief that God is “self-loving” (although as a Trinitarian I actually affirm this since Father, Son, and Spirit are the same God) in spite of the fact that Scripture doesn’t actually articulate this. It seems that you take issue with Trinitarians doing things along these lines; why is that?”

The Heir To David’s Throne

It is amazing that most people who call themselves “Christian” don’t actually know what the word means. A “Christian” is a follower of Christ, but like most people, I did not know what the word “Christ” meant for many years. Like some, I assumed that it was part of his name. Others know that it is a title, but don’t know exactly what it means. The fact is, however, that the word Christ comes from the Greek word christos, which means “anointed one.” It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word, mashiyach from which we get our English word, Messiah. The titles Messiah and Christ mean exactly the same thing: an anointed one.