Showing posts with label Brethren in Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brethren in Christ. Show all posts

Thursday 6 November 2014

Who are the Christadelphians

Base for a community

Since the day Jesus got followers, there were serious people who loved to follow everything Jesus told them to belief and to do. Many of them had to bring a lot of changes to their life, which was not always received kindly by family and friends. But they found it more important to take actions under the Law of Christ, doing the Will of God Like Jesus also wanted only to do the Will of his and our heavenly Father.

Those beliefs and practices of the earliest disciples continued to live by many individuals throughout the ages. Several enthusiast continued the preaching work the apostles had started and did not mind going to places far away to preach the Gospel of the Good News, the coming Kingdom of God. Around the world countless independent communities were founded on the same believes the early followers of Christ had. Those people who came together in several places, private and public, found it most important to follow the Holy Scriptures, The Bible, which they considered to be the infallible Word of God.  For them the best way to get to know what God wanted from them and humankind was to eagerly study the Bible and to accept its simple teachings, above the teachings of man

The beliefs and practices of the Christadelphians can be traced from the New Testament to the earliest Christians of the 1st and 2nd Centuries in documents such as the Epistle of Clement, The Didache and The Apostles’ Creed.

With the advent of religious freedom in Europe in the 16th Century Reformation and the the Antitrinitarian Council of Venice in 1550, the same beliefs and practices resurfaced in Bible-minded groups such as the Swiss Anabaptists and Polish Socinians. The early English Baptists held similar beliefs (although these beliefs are not held by Baptists today and at the turn of the 20th century many left the Baptist community because it had become more and more trinitarian). In the 18th Century many leading figures in the Enlightenment such as Sir Isaac Newton and William Whiston held these beliefs.

 

A renewed movement

In the world of the Christian religion many times people found it necessary to react against the activities of religious behaviour or against the way of living at that time.

Early in the 19°century lots of people did not like how things were going in their country and looked for better pastures somewhere else. Going from one place to an other far away place they had  lots of time to think about their and others way of life and about the world they were living. They also were confronted by the beauties of nature and looked for the Hand of God.

The modern Christadelphian movement has its origin in the 1830s, an age of revival and reform in America and England. The British medical doctor, John Thomas (1805-1871), whose family descended from French Huguenot refugees, emigrated to America in 1832 where he joined a group of evangelical Christians, the Campbellites. He disagreed with their beliefs and pursued his own study of the Bible. In May 1834 the first issue appeared of his magazine the Apostolic Advocate (1834-39).

He began to believe that the basis of knowledge before baptism was greater than the Restoration Movement believed and also that widely held orthodox Christian beliefs were blatantly wrong. His difference on the works we should do to be able to come in the Kingdom of God and the preaching of these beliefs as necessary for salvation met with a lot of controversial debates particularly between Dr Thomas and Alexander Campbell. For him it was clear that be baptised was not always a clear way to the hope we all should have, to inherit the Kingdom.
In 1843 Dr Thomas was introduced to William Miller, the leader of the Millerites, and agreed with their belief in the second coming of Christ and the founding of a millennial age upon His return.

 

Groups around bible students

John Thomas
Going around the New Country he encouraged many to study the Bible and those Bible Students in turn created small groups or home-churches were they tried to go back to the way the first Christians worshipped. Exchanging his ideas with many other enthusiast Bible students he started bringing all their ideas together and putting them in order. Sometimes it is held against him that he took ideas of different denominations and formed his own sort of faith, but he found what was right should be kept and what was false or doctrinal teaching should have to be abandoned.

He arrived at his unique interpretation of various Bible doctrines by about 1848 and attracted a small group of followers who were, at first, known as 'Thomasites'.

John Thomas published the magazines The Herald of the Future Age (1843-49) and Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come (1851-61). His writings from writings from 1845-61 were posthumous published as Faith In the Last Days. 
The Herald of the Kingdom set out Bible teaching on the resurrection and the Kingdom of God.


On 1 January 1834 in Philadelphia John Thomas married Ellen Hunt who became his lifelong companion and constant support throughout the trials of faith that persisted throughout his life. John Thomas made never a claim to any vision or personal revelation and wanted never to be seen a a prophet.

In Britain a journalist named Robert Roberts took up the same cause in the Ambassador of the Coming Age. Thomas and Roberts made no claims to any vision or personal revelations - only to try to be honest students of the Bible.

 

 

To be registered

In 1854  Bro. John Thomas wrote in the Herald of the Kingdom and Age To Come a "Constitution Of the Royal Association Of Believers In New York" which was also published as The Old Man and The New Man In The Coming Tribulation.
 
When the American Civil War broke out in 1861 those Christian groups who did not fight were required to register with the Union government. Sam Coffman and other brothers in Ogle County, Illinois, registered themselves as "Brethren in Christ, or in a word Christadelphian". This name was soon adopted by many like-minded groups of believers in America and Britain. Since then, independent Christadelphian groups have been established in countries all over the world.

Those Bible students did not want to be lovers of the world but make sure that they came together as loving of the law of God, finding it a characteristic of the faithful, who search the Scriptures daily as circumstances allow.

 

Robert Roberts

The man who is mainly responsible for having a worldwide community under the name of Christadelphians or having several  Brothers in Christ adhering to the teachings of Dr. John Thomas is the son of a captain of a small coasting vessel, Robert Roberts, born in Link Street, Aberdeen, Scotland (1839 – 1898).
After he had come across a copy of a magazine, belonging to his sister, entitled the Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, by Thomas, when in his teens he started his Bible studies in earnest.

After reading Thomas’ book Elpis Israel, with Bible in hand, he became convinced of its soundness, and ceased attending the Calvinistic Baptist chapel with his family. He was baptised in 1853 aged 14 as part of the "Baptised Believers" (this was 11 years before the name 'Christadelphian' was coined by John Thomas; he was re-baptized in 1863 "on attaining to an understanding of the things concerning the name of Jesus, of which he was ignorant at his first immersion")

The reading plan, later published as The Bible Companion, to facilitate his daily systematic reading of the Scriptures he developed is still followed by many Christadelphians and other Biblestudents.

He married Jane Norrie in Edinburgh on April 8, 1859. They had 6 children, only three of whom survived into adulthood.

Being of one faith

Christadelphians want to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ (Jeshua) and would love to become like the Nazarene man, only doing the will of God.
In the Christadelphian faith each person is responsible for himself and has to make their own choices, this with the knowledge that every man's work is always a portrait of himself.

For Christadelphians it is not persons or organisations that we do have to follow, but we may not be so bounded to the world that we keep to the traditions of that world. Everything what is against the Word of God and against the Will of God, we should avoid to be connected with. Each of us has to make sure to whom we want to be enslaved, man or God.

Christadelphians are convinced that the God of gods is a loving God Who has given His Word for humankind as a guide and a message which can build us up. We should take it at heart so that it can bring us as individuals to faith in God and His Son and can make us to become one part of the sharing community which should be part of the Body of Christ, all having God's hope as our hope.

All believing in only One God, Who has given us His son as the only one mediator between God an man, for salvation, should come into Fellowship to help each other to grow if faith. Christadelphians do believe that it was God Who sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
The Christadelphians do believe that this Jew from Nazareth, born in the tribe of King David was a man of flesh and blood who, though tempted several times, did not sin. He died to show God’s righteousness and to redeem those who receive this sacrifice by faith. God raised him from the dead, gave him immortality, granted him all authority in heaven and on earth, and set him, the one with the other name, as the mediator between God and man in whose death is glorification. (Romans 3:21-26; Ephesians 1:19-23; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:5) 

The Christadelphians want to give Jeshua or Jesus Christ full honour for what he has done. They believe that the unbiblical doctrine of the Trinity diminishes the work of Christ by denying both his humanity and the reality of his death. For if he was God he was not tempted, and could not die. (1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Corinthians 11:3; Hebrews 5:8)

The Christadelphians do believe that the Divine Creator has given many promises to the world which shall become fulfilled and are fulfilled in Jesus Christ and give the believers reason to treasure that Great and Precious Promise. (Acts 13:32; Genesis 13:14-17, 22:15-18; 2 Samuel 7:12,16; Luke 1:31-33; Galatians 3:6-9,16,26-29) Knowing those many promises they are convinced that the world shall not end. Only this system will end but those who believe in the son of God will not perish, but have everlasting or eternal life, because God shall receive us on the basis of our faith. (Matthew 1:20-21, 3:17; Luke 1:35; John 3:16) 

The only hope of life after death is the resurrection of the body and everlasting life in God’s kingdom on earth after the Conclusion of the System of Things. (Psalms 49:12-20; John 11:25-26; Acts 24:15; Romans 8:22-39; 1 Corinthians 15:12; Revelation 5:10, 20:4; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:31-34; Luke 21:20-32; John 5:28-29; Acts 1:11; 2 Tim 4:1; Revelation 22:12)
The Christadelphians do believe that the Kingdom of God will be established on earth. Jesus will be king in Jerusalem; his rule will be worldwide and his government will bring eternal righteousness and peace. (Psalms 72; Isaiah 2:2-4, 9:6-7, 11:1-9, 61:1-11; Jeremiah 3:17; Daniel 2:44, 7:14,27; Acts 3:21)

The Christadelphians are convinced that the way to enter the kingdom of God is by faith. This involves belief in the Bible and obedience to its requirements that men and women confess their sins, repent, be baptised and follow Jesus faithfully. (Matthew 16:24-27; Mark 16:16; John 3:3-5; Acts 2:37-38, 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 11:6)

As parts of the body of Christ we should take all opportunities to share a love like brothers and sisters, reading and studying the Bible, as our only authority, with each other. Together the Christadelphians do look forward to the return of Christ at the Last Days, believing that he will return in power to set up a worldwide theocracy beginning at Jerusalem. Though they believe that we do not know when the Messiah shall return, the Christadelphians believe the world can see the signs of the days coming to an end and that we should prepare ourselves to be ready to enter the Kingdom of God.

For the Christadelphians no one is infallible. We all have our own shortcomings. They also believe each of us has to work on their own failings but should also be prepared to help others to overcome their inadequacies. This helping each other should be done in agapé or brotherly love, together tasting a great promisse of being renewed under Christ.

 

Organisation

Coming together to study the Bible
The Christadelphians want to show the world that not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture, and that we best take care to come to live according to what the Bible teaches. With Power in their life they do find it important to come together at regular times. But their meetings or not dependent of one greater organisation; All Christadelphian groups have their own independence.

Following the teaching and example of the Apostle Paul all Christadelphians aim to support themselves and their family by honest work. Certain professions (politics, the military, the police, criminal law) are avoided. (I Timothy 5:8; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12) For the work of God, the work in the ecclesia, the preaching, the members are not paid for and as such always do have to provide for their own means to live properly.
In the communities there is also no demand to give money to the ecclesia or to tithe (give 10% of our income to the church) because in the Old Testament tithes were to provide for the (Levitical) priesthood - which has now been abolished.(Numbers 18:24; Hebrews 7:1-28)

Christadelphians gathering at the Belgian ecclesia Brussel-Leuven
Christadelphians are, both individually and in groups, involved in charitable work and giving. However they try not to "do our works to be seen of men", and also do not mix charity with preaching to avoid people coming to Christ for the wrong reasons. (Galatians 6:10; James 1:27, 2:15-16; Matthew 6:1-4; John 6:26)

They want to be an open community welcoming everybody without any distinction for culture, race or colour. all people are considered to be created in the image of God and being part of creation and as being a creature of God should be respected likewise.

 

Christadelphianism


Christadelphianism is nothing more nor less than the result of that principle that God intended men to make themselves acquainted with the Bible, the word of God, and to embrace what it teaches, and reject what it denounces, however many may be arrayed against the conclusions to which the study of it may lead them.

All over the world there are different Christadelphian groups which may have or may not have any connection with each other. Most of them are belonging to one of the main deviations like the Amended, Unamended, Central (with the CBM-mlembers), Bereans, Dawn Christadelphians, Carlinks, Christadelphian Bible Students, or are just Free Christadelphians.
Further there are Thomasites, Old-Path, Antipas,  Maranatha Christadelphians, Nasu Christadelphians, Republic Christadelphians, or
Some other groups also may be considered belonging to the Christadelphian breed: Nazarene Fellowship, Nazarene Friends, Church of God of Abrahamic Faith, Abrahamic Faith church, Commandments of Christ, Remnant of Christ's Ecclesia ,United Shepherds, Restoration Fellowship, Restoration church, a.o..

All of the members are free to read whatever theological writings and no Christadelphian writer is considered to have all the knowledge and power. they themselves also not consider themselves as pope, bishop, theologian, or a prophet every Christadelphian should believe in and follow.
Each Christadelphian is free to express himself or herself and every ecclesia, wherever in the world is free to organise its own ecclesia as they want. there is not a central committee that decides everything for all the Christadelphians over the world.

They all are under Christ, liberated and as such not bounded to any man or organisation, but to Christ.

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Please do find also:

What are Brothers in Christ 

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Find additional literature:

  1. Bible Word of God, inspired and infallible
  2. Inspired Word
  3. Belief of the things that God has promised
  4. God of gods
  5. Finding God amid all the religious externals
  6. Challenging claim 4 Inspired by God 3 Self-consistent Word of God
  7. Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture
  8. Catholicism, Anabaptism and Crisis of Christianity
  9. Science and the Bible—Do They Really Contradict Each Other?
  10. Being Religious and Spiritual 5 Gnostic influences
  11. Looking for something or for the Truth and what it might be and self-awareness
  12. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
  13. Christianity without the Trinity
  14. Interpreting the Scriptures (Part 5)
  15. Servant of his Father
  16. The Law of Christ: Law of Love
  17. Hellenistic influences
  18. Raising digression
  19. Archaeology and the Bible researcher 2/4
  20. Gainsayers In Apostolic Days
  21. Our openness to being approachable
  22. Position of the Bible researcher
  23. Being Religious and Spiritual 4 Philosophical, religious and spiritual people
  24. Religions and Mainliners
  25. Not many coming out with their community name
  26. Keeping an ecclesia in modern times
  27. Christadelphian people
  28. Christadelphians
  29. Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
  30. My faith 
  31. A Living Faith #8 Change
  32. Priority to form a loving brotherhood
  33. Small churches of the few Christadelphians
  34. What Christadelphians teach
  35. About the Belgian Free Christadelphians
  36. 19° Century London Christadelphians
  37. Faith and works
  38. Breathing to teach
  39. Breathing and growing with no heir
  40. Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach
  41. Self inflicted misery #8 Pruning to strengthen us
  42. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #4 Transitoriness #2 Purity
  43. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #5 Prayer #2 Witnessing
  44. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #5 Prayer #3 Callers upon God
  45. Reasons to come to gether
  46. Meaning of “speaking in tongues”
  47. Tongues a sign of authenticity or divine backing
  48. Not words of any organisation should bind you, but the Word of God
  49. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #1 Christian Reform
  50. Commitment to Christian unity
  51. Fellowship
  52. The Ecclesia
  53. The Ecclesia in the churchsystem
  54. The ecclesia or Christadelphian church
  55. Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
  56. Missional hermeneutics 3/5
  57. A Society pleading poverty
  58. People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations
  59. How long to wait before bringing religiousness and spirituality in practice
  60. Power in the life of certain
  61. Dedication and Preaching Effort 400 years after the first King James Version
  62. Belonging to or being judged by
  63. Good or bad preacher
  64. Jehovah's Witnesses not only group that preach the good news
  65. Last Events Of Old Testament – Right or Wrong ?
  66. Not all will inherit the Kingdom
  67. Art and other taboos
  68. Edward Wightman

Friday 5 April 2013

Agape, a love to share with others from the Fruit of the Spirit

Yesterday we talked about the brotherly love which is important for the follower of Christ.

The brethren in Christ want to share the love of Christ with others around them. What would be the difference between a non-believer, an atheist, a paganist or a heathen doing good works and a Christian if there is not something more in the love for others?

The son of God radiated the love of his Father. God is righteous and full of love, wanting all the best for whole His creation. Though His Creation is not always interested in Him, He is always interested in His Creation and follows it up. He is willing to guide and help those who are interested in Him and His works. those who love Him also want to let others know the Works of God, feel and grow in the love of God and share it with others.

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance" Galatians 5:22,23
 
Tatjanka Tara Cuko says: the believers of God do not hurt person, no doubt about their imaginations but respect and Treat Just Like A Member Of Family every time, every where. God is love. And love transmitted in act not to hurt anyone or scoff, or mock but to help not to despise. Wealthy is not everything but Love of God is Everything.
 
If you believe in God you must respect others and must treat just like a member of your family. I know the Gos Is Love. And believers must have a sensible spirit not to go their imagination what they think and doubt about others. These people do not believe in God. They believe only what their brain imagination. Who believes in God do not hurt other person and see him/ her about wealthy.
 
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Thursday 4 April 2013

Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews

File:Thoerl Pfarrkirche St Andrae Passion 15 Auferstehung 08022013 276.jpg

Those who believe in the resurrection of Christ Jesus, should accept that at first he was dead. When he would not have died, his standing up from his position in the grave would not be so spectacular or so important for humankind.

God can not die because He is an eternal spirit, which mean He did not have a beginning, no mother where He came from, and has no end, shall never die.

Some centuries ago God His Voice came down from heaven and said about the Nazarene man Jesus, who was been baptised by his nephew John the Baptist: "This is my beloved son."

And having been immersed, יהושע (Jehsua) went up immediately from the water, and see, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of Elohim descending like a dove and coming upon Him, and see, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I did delight.”
(Matthew 3:16-17 The Scriptures 1998+)
“See, My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My being did delight. I shall put My Spirit upon Him, and He shall declare right-ruling to the nations. “He shall not strive nor cry out, nor shall anyone hear His voice in the streets. “A crushed reed He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not quench, till He brings forth right-ruling forever.1 Footnote: 1This is according to the Shem-Tob Hebrew text. However, this passage is a quote from Isa. 42:1-3 where it reads right-ruling unto truth. “And the nations shall trust in His Name.”
(Matthew 12:18-21 The Scriptures 1998+)
We should trust in the name of Jesus, the son of man and son of David, who said he could do nothing without his Father, who is greater than him.

But  יהושע {Jeshua}answered them, “My Father works until now, and I work.” Because of this, then, the Yehudwere seeking all the more to kill Him, ‘because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He also called Elohim His own Father, making Himself equal with Elohim.’ Therefore יהושע {Jeshua} responded and said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son is able to do none at all by Himself, but only that which He sees the Father doing, because whatever He does, the Son also likewise does. “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all that He Himself does. And greater works than these He is going to show Him, in order that you marvel. “For as the Father raises the dead and makes alive, even so the Son makes alive whom He wishes. “For the Father judges no one, but has given all the judgment to the Son, that all should value the Son even as they value the Father. He who does not value the Son does not value the Father who sent Him. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me possesses everlasting life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Elohim. And those having heard shall live. “For as the Father possesses life in Himself, so He gave also to the Son to possess life in Himself, and He has given Him authority also to do judgment, because He is the Son of Aḏam.
(John 5:17-27 The Scriptures 1998+)
Wherever you may live, whichever language you may speak and in which culture you were brought up shall determine how you shall  pronounce the name of that Nazarene man יהושע :  Jeshua, Jehushua, Issoua,  Issou, Jesus (in different tongues with different sounds), Jezus, Chesu, Isi, etc..

What is most important, though we know that the name "Jesus" comes from "Hail Zeus" and was not the proper name of the Messiah, though we still use it know because it is the most common known form to indicate that man who is called son of God who is the promised Messiah.

This Messiah bit is very important. Accepting that the Nazarene, born in Bethlehem, from the tribe of David, is the promised Saviour, the Christos (Christus) or Christ.

When Jesus was alive he gave already the task to go out and preach in his name. After his death, he was resurrected by God and was some time again with his disciples.
And the eleven taught ones went away into Galil, to the mountain which  יהושע {Jeshua} had appointed for them. And when they saw Him, they bowed to Him, but some doubted. And יהושע {Jeshua} came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Therefore, go and make taught ones of all the nations, immersing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Set-apart Spirit, teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Am
(Matthew 28:16-20 The Scriptures 1998+)
Those who would like to follow יהושע {Jeshua}and share his love with each other should feel as brethren and sisters. They should get to know the teachings of Jeshua or Jesus Christ and keep to them.

Getting to know those teachings comprehends also getting to know the Torah or the Law of God, because to Jesus this Law was sanctified. Also for us this Law should be set-apart or holy. the Word of God should be what we want to follow like Jesus followed the Word of God and did not want to do something different than the Will of God.

When you follow the Messiah or you then a Messianic?  a Messianic Jew or a Messianic Christian?

Are you following  main Christianism? Are we following main Christianism?

Brethren and sisters in Christ do want to 'be in Christ'; Carry the armour of Christ. They do not want to accept the Holy Trinity and other dogmatic teachings of many Christian denominations.

It may look like those small groups of fraternal Christians do want to reform the traditional teachings. (?)

The Christadelphians dare to challenge the idea’s of their present reality in light of the ancient paths. For we are to restore the ancient paths. We are truly seeking a restoration of the ancient paths. We are not truly intending to Reform “Christianity” or “Catholicism.”

In case our goal would be Reformation we will fail by remaining connected to those institutions that refuse to change or jeopardize their mission, message or money trail. To see the Restoration of the Kingdom of David and help usher in the Millenial Kingdom, we must Repair the breach, Rebuild that which is fallen, and Restore that which is lost. Our goal should be to keep Covenant Fidelity. That way we may usher in the Messianic Redemption.

As such some may consider us as "messianic people" and we should say that we believe strongly in the messianic message and the return of Christ  to install the Kingdom of God. Our eyes are directed to that return of Christ, in which we have put our hopes.

Mankind wants freedom from oppression  Our goal should be liberation with respect and co-operation with willing parties. We must engage in healthy and academic dialogue but never to the demise of doctrine or tenant of this intended revolution. Christadelphians do not love doctrinal teachings. We are liberated by Christ, so we should not look for boundaries by people in this world today.

We must not make doctrines out of our frustration with the reality of this world which loves traditions or out of pressure from these institutions. We should not close our eyes for them or do if they do not exist any more. No, they are a everyday reality, which we have to consider. All the gentiles we have to try to reach, and we better do that in a language they understand. But that does not mean that we may not try to open their eyes for other languages and other traditions. By showing how we understand the world and understand the Words in the Holy Scriptures, we can get them also to learn new names, terms and let them see what is really written in the Bible and what the Will of God is.

We have to embrace that we are all together different, but also that our mission is different. There mission is the simple message of salvation, the entry point of the discussion. We seek to teach the full journey into discipleship under the Messiah Christ Jesus (Jeshua) as well as the study of sacred text in a scholarly fashion.

We seek unity in identity and fellowship with like-minded believers who accept Jesus for what he is. We also want to follow those things the Jew Jesus thought were important to do, had to and have to be done.

Those living in a country where we have contacts with many Jews, like in Belgium and Holland, should open their arm to them and dare to use the words Jesus spoke and the Jews today still use as well. Having several nationalities with different languages we should be prepared to offer the Bible in their language and use words which are commonly understood by many of them.
For that reason it is also often better not to translate names of persons and places into your own language but use the name of the person or the place how he or she is really called.

In Belgium we do have to encounter so many languages that sometimes we prefer to use the most common name for the different languages, which may mean that we do not use the English word, because out of English their are many more languages spoken by our brethren and sisters. In our country we do have to come to consensus and try to use also names which can be understood by those we do want to reach, no Christians and the many Muslims (25% of the population). Offering writings which names which are also familiar for them can bring them to know more about those persons and to see them in a different light than their own traditional Islamic teachings.

When we use the Islamic names or the Jewish names that does not mean we are Muslim or Jew, but we cannot detract from the roots many of our inhabitants have. Language is a means to communicate and we should try to communicate with as much people as possible, bringing over the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

As lovers of Jesus and lovers of God, we should be lovers of all those around us, no matter from which origin they may be, or whatever language they may speak. We have to go to them and reach them in a language they might understand and could be able to learn to talk about the same things with others.

We should make room for the process in love, or charity and grace.

Is there is an expression of faith in the Jewish Mashiach or Messiah, unconnected to Jewish expression, do we endorse it or allow it? Of course we allow it, we can’t stop it. We should seek to set up our own revolution in uniqueness and covenant fidelity while engaging the realities in our lives in ministries.

We should avoid the ostrich with its head in the ground mindsets. We should watch the News with bible in hand as the saying goes. We are living in this world, so we can not avoid being elements in this world who have to take in consideration what happens.

To others we may let them see we are ordinary citizens, people like 'you and me'. People who have their ups and downs, but who are willing to help each other to make the best of this life in the world we do have to live in.

As long as Jesus did not return we should take care of all around us so that they can come to get to know Jesus the Messiah and his Father, the Only One God, Jehovah the Elohim.

The Jews are the chosen people by God. They shall inherit the Land of God. By the death of Christ all people from all sorts, cultures, countries, became partakers of the Grace and can become partakers of the promise made to Abraham, looking forward to the Kingdom of God.

That we all make sure that we shall be able to enter that small gate, as brethren and sisters in Christ.

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Read also:

Not all christians are followers of a Greco-Roman culture

Sunday 23 October 2011

200 th posting on the Ecclesia website

Today the 200th posting was placed on the Christadelphian Ecclesia WordPress website.Wenceslas Hollar - Abraham's dream (State 2)
It is one of the articles on the Name of God and on how we should dare to use that name.
On the old religious print from the Old Testament llustration to Genesis we notice the paleo Hebrew Name of God written in the sun.

The website had at the moment only 1,725 views but we do hope we shall be able to find people who would not mind to let this site be better known.
The new Dutch Brethren in Christ site on WordPress: "Broeders in Christus" started in August 2011 (from the succelsfull transfer from the Flemish Broeders in Christus Google Site) receive now 216 visitors for 45 postings (Much more than we got on the Flemish Google site in an equivalent time) with
  • 37 views on our busiest day, September 9, 2011 for the Christadelphians in the Dutch language (Flemish site)
Compared to my worldly site: Marcus's Space I received 1,825 visitors over there since its start on December 2010 with
I do agree worldly subjects get more interest than spiritual subjects, therefore I do hope to get people from the worldly site into the spiritual blogs, which come slowly from the ground.

If you have a blog or publish some articles or magazines please do help to spread the Good News and share links to the Christadelphian Ecclesia and to the Broeders in Christus of Flemish Christadelphians.

Since we transferred our focus on the WordPress files instead of the Multiply pages our views on the Belgian Christadelphian Mainwebsite Googles Pages have gone up nicely, by people linking to it in the articles.

Also You can help to make it better known, by linking to it and by taking it in your 'I like it' on your social networks, or by clicking on the site on 'I like it' or giving it stars.

Become a co-worker of spreading the Good News.