KERYGMA

Gen. James Green

The Prison Writings--2023

Jesus the Christ has captured the hearts and minds of multitudes for centuries. So much so that multitudes have given their very lives for believing in Him and spreading the “Good News” of the Gospel of salvation throughout the world.

In the intervening centuries leading up to today however, the intellectual and religious climate has changed. Skeptics and atheists have tried hard in every age to get people to disbelieve by portraying Jesus as some kind of magic worker or socialist. In our age the enemies of the cross use all the same old arguments as well as making Him out to be a womanizer or homosexual.

Each century/generation had those who continued to plant seeds of doubt, even blasphemy. Even in the first century there were deniers, blasphemers, critics, gnostics, and skeptics. All of whom attacked the Gospel for their own reasons. In the early days of "The Way" e.g. "I am the way. . . ." (John 14:6) the Apostle Paul, then known as Saul, was one of the worst enemies of the new movement. After Jesus radically saved him, he lamented over the terrible wrong he had done, "I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women." (Acts 22:4). Paul's story is a living lesson to all that numerous times God has miraculously won over even the most hardened and dedicated enemies of His Kingdom.

EVERY AGE

Every age is an age of transition, flux, and growth―for good or for bad. The world never stands still. As Jesus predicted, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars . . . for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famine (caused by drought and wars), pestilence (which causes epidemics/pandemics) and earthquakes in various places . . . tribulation . . . killings . . . hatred . . . betrayal . . . deceit . . . lawlessness . . .” (Matt. 24:6-12). Every generation has experienced these to some degree.

Because of all this turmoil, ideals, laws, and standards have been formulated, believed, tested, and then either kept or abandoned. Because of these disruptions entire populations have shifted about restlessly, hopeless and helpless. Loyalties are made and then broken. Over the centuries political, economic, and religious institutions have risen, fallen, or have been dramatically reshaped. Sadly, all this turmoil often creates atmospheres of terror, worry, fear, dread, and anxiety―often ending in the tragedy of suicide for many.

Today, as in other times in history, life is cheap and open at both ends. The present crumbles as it shapes the future. Fascination, denial, delusion, dreaming, and hoping become ways of life just to survive. All kinds of vices, drugs, and pleasures become gods and goddesses for the hopeless trapped in dark despair.

FINGER OF GOD

Just as “. . . the finger of the hand was sent from Him (God), and this writing was written; 'mene, mene, tekel, upharsin'. . . God has numbered your (Belshazzar) Kingdom and diminished it; . . . you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; . . . Your Kingdom has been divided . . .” (Daniel 5:24-28), so has the finger of God written across the face of the present age: “Subject to change without notice!” (Please read Words of the Spirit prophecies given on June 20, 21, 22, 2022 here: https://jesuscallstoall.com/blog).

Yes! We are in unsettled times caused by insecurity. Americans are finding out that the government they have believed and trusted in cannot, or will not, give answers to the serious questions men and women are asking. If you've followed our ministry over the years you know that the Holy Spirit has given warning after warning that God is sending His wrath, fury, and indignation. And it is not only off in the future―it is here NOW in many ways. One thing you can be sure of is that you can't be sure of anything!

AGE OF TRANSITION

During times of transition liars and deceivers flourish, and God knows there are enough to go around! Promises of prosperity and security have taken wings and flown away. All the would-be "saviors" have utterly failed in their attempt to settle the raging waters of death and destruction. More tricks will be pulled out of the religious (churchianity, not true Christianity) and political bags. We live in a divided, unstable, unpredictable, hostile nation where both preachers and politicians lie like the devil. We've become a nation without a true leader. We have no Captain at the helm of this sinking ship. The Democratic Party put their hopes in that “snake-in-a-suit” Joe Biden. The Republicans are hoping and trusting in Donald Trump―both mere men. These professional politicians both claim to follow Jesus, but the Jesus they talk about is a delusion. They are no where near the true Jesus who demands we worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

EBB AND FLOW

The community that produced the New Testament began in an age of conflicting social, political, philosophical, and religious forces. The Jewish nation was (again) under the foreign rule of pagans (Rome). Then there was the “New World Order” recently started by Jesus the Christ (aka Son of Man, Son of God, Servant, King, Savior, Messiah―These titles go back to Jewish tradition/Old Testament prophecies. So, there was Judaism and Romanism who both despised Christianity. And then there were those Jesus People who were doing their best to put into practice the teachings of their Master who had risen from the dead and lived in and with them in a personal way.

Not only was Judah/Jerusalem under Roman rule as a result of their backslidings, Rome had its own share of internal problems that eventually led to its downfall. The newly formed Body of Christ and the new world order which it represented was being persecuted and prosecuted by both the Jews and Romans. The Jews had Moses and the Prophets, while the Romans had their own self-appointed “savior” in Augustus Caesar whom they worshiped as a Divine King. Space does not permit a detailed account relating to this historical time period. Please do your own research if you want to dig deeper.

ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT

It is a fact that the Roman Caesar re-created Alexander the Great's "one world order." Alexander (356-323 B.C.) sought for himself divine honors. His vision of a one world government or new world order is historical. It was much of the Greek world that Rome decided to follow after, and as a result the religious philosophies of Greece and the gods of the East played a big part in shaping Rome. Rome's sympathy with the democratic ideals of the Greek city-states moved her to aid Greece in her struggles during the early second century B.C.

There were also plenty of religious cults in the ancient Greek world: Dionysus, the god of wine; Demeter, the goddess of grain, were just a couple among many. Dionysus was said to be the son of Zeus, the father of the gods. There were also many mystery cults, one of which was Isis who was worshiped by many. From the time of Caligula (a crazed Roman Caesar A.D. 37-41) until Julian took the throne (A.D. 331-363), Isis worship continued.

APROPOS

"The commonsense view of historicity leads us to search for objective evidence, preserved and reported if possible by impartial observers of the events which we are seeking to investigate." wrote professor H.C. Kee (Professor of the history of religion, Bryn Mawr college, PA, 1957). He and two other professors, F.W. Young (Princeton Univ.) and K. Froehlich (Drew Univ. School of Theology) wrote "Understanding the New Testament" (490 pages). In chapter three of this work they speak about the historical evidence concerning Jesus. They say that nearly all the evidence which they had to go through and go on had been preserved by partisan observers and was found within the New Testament itself. Of course if one believes in the Bible they will naturally believe what the authors wrote. I'm not saying we will always completely understand what they wrote, or how they came to conclusions about events―we just believe they were inspired by God.

JEWISH SOURCES

It is one of the most well supported and documented facts of history that Jesus was a real person. The Jewish nation has never denied this historical fact. What they have always denied was the claim of Jesus being God's son. It was the small band of believers that shared with the Jewish nation the hope for a future new Kingdom which God had promised through the Prophets and seers. The long awaited Messiah had come. The Jewish eschatological expectation was in fact in their midst. The new Kingdom was a reality. Jesus Himself made this claim, supporting it with numerous miracles, yet they refused to believe Him. They wanted a WAR King who would liberate them; not a PEACE King who commanded them to love their enemies, walk uprightly with God, and abandon their idols. The Jews wanted a savior that would liberate them from Roman rule. Jesus was not their man. They rejected Him and had the Romans kill Him. We all know the story. It's in the Bible itself.

Jewish sources, i.e. non-Christian, of that time period refer to Jesus as a sorcerer who was executed (see Joseph Klausner's “Jesus of Nazareth”; 1926, pp. 18-60). In other articles I mention Flavius Josephus who stated that James was the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ. In his indispensable historical work, Antiquities (xviii 3.3 & xx 9.1), Josephus refers to Jesus. Christians themselves have often expounded on Josephus' original statements in the first of these passages in order to show that Josephus, a reliable and widely accepted scholar, confirmed the fact that Jesus actually lived in Palestine during the time the Bible claims. This confirmation from ancient history powerfully refutes the nonsensical claims by many modern scholars that Jesus never really existed.

Other important confirmations of the fact that Jesus existed include Seutonius, the Roman biographer of the early emperors. He mentions the expulsion of the Jews from Rome as a result of trouble that was stirred up by a man known as Chrestus or Christus (Latin), aka Christ. Tacitus, another Roman historian wrote in his Annals about the persecution of the Christians during Nero's reign of terror (see C.K. Banett's New Testament Backgrounds: Selected Documents, 1959, pp. 14-16). Pliny the Younger, another roman author, also wrote about Jesus (Pliny―Letters, Book X, XCVI). Finally, in the literature of Islam we have the Qur'an and the Hadiths where Jesus is also mentioned under the names Isa and Jeshu.

WHAT ABOUT JESUS HIMSELF?

There is no evidence that Jesus wrote anything Himself. . . . except for the time when He wrote on the ground that is mentioned in John 8:6,8, and what He wrote that day we will never know. John wrote: "These are written (the gospels) that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you (we) may have life in His name." (John 20:30) [Note: Much of the Gospel accounts were written shortly after Jesus ascended. This meant that many eyewitnesses were still alive who could verify their accuracy.

"The Gospels are in the truest sense of the term 'propaganda' literature" an author once wrote. He did not mean that they were propaganda in the sense we use that word in today's culture. He meant that the Gospels are, above all, extremely valuable documents for the propagation of the Christian faith. The proclamation that the New Testament writers had been charged with (Matt. 28:18-20) is what we are charged with as well. The "Great Commission" to take Jesus to all the world has never ended, changed, or been abrogated. We have a big job to do!

KERYGMA

We who believe are obligated to proclaim the Kerygma, or the Gospel message which the Apostles preached in the New Testament. It is up to us to HERALD, ANNOUNCE, and PROCLAIM that Jesus was and still is the world's Savior. We are in the New World Order right now. As Jesus told His followers more than once, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." God's Kingdom is here on earth now. It is our job to proclaim that glorious truth and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, lead as many people into a living relationship with Jesus as possible, for He is the "I AM"--the Revolutionary who changes lives!

--Gen. Jim Green

HAVE YOU BEEN SAVED? JESUS IS REAL!! PRAY LIKE THIS.

Dear Jesus, I come to you with all the sins I've committed and I beg you to forgive me. Rescue me from eternal damnation in Hellfire. I confess that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. Don't let me die in my sins. Please cleanse my body, soul and spirit with your precious blood. I need your help and I ask you to come and live in my heart. I want to serve you, obey your commands and do what is right. I want to live for you everyday and receive everlasting life. Please lead and guide me by your Spirit into righteousness. Help me live a clean and holy life that is pleasing unto God. Thank you Jesus for hearing and answering my prayer. Amen! Read the BIBLE!