(284) Sat 29 Oct 94 11:29 By: Shelby Sherman To: All Re: cor stuff St: @EID:f2b1 1d5d5ba

(284)   Sat 29 Oct 94 11:29
By: Shelby Sherman
To: All
Re: cor stuff
St:
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@EID:f2b1 1d5d5ba0
@MSGID: 1:123/67 2eb26a60
@PID: GED 2.41+ 124LM3
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* Forwarded by Shelby Sherman (1:123/67)
* Area : THUMP_IT (Thump It! Religious Debate)
* From : Starwyn, 1:104/515 (25 Oct 94 17:19)
* To   : All
* Subj : cor stuff
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>>>>TEXT OF LETTER FROM CHURCH COUNCIL STEERING COMMITTEE TO

SUPPORTERS<<<  list of steering committee members to follow

Dear friends of C.O.R. and Crosswinds,

Thank you for your support of C.O.R. and your interest in
Crosswinds.

This letter comes to you on the new Church Council stationery with
the list of our 40 member Steering Committee for the Church
Council.  Plans for the first phase of the Council for July 25-30,
1994 are shaping up well.  That Council meeting will be held at
Campus Crusade's Arrowhead Springs Hotel in San Bernardino.  If you
care to do so, you may help us locate official delegates from the
different denominations, schools and organizations by suggesting
their names on the enclosed response card.

One of the 24 topics to be debated at that Church Council will be,
"The Kingdom of God and Christ's Present Rulership Over Civil
Governments Today."  As you know, that is a very hot topic both for
theologians and pastors within the Church as well as for
politicians, lawyers and government officials.

Our committee is presenting to the wider body of Christ the 25
Articles on the Kingdom of God which our theologians created, and
which appears on pp. 103-113 of the Nov. issue of Crosswinds.  That
is the topic assigned to me for its defense and presentation at the
Church Council.  It is the opinion of most of us listed on the left
hand margin that the Kingdom of God is one of the most
misunderstood doctrines of the present day evangelicalism and that
it is more central and foundational to all proper Christian
thinking than most other doctrines of the Bible.

Up until around 1830, the theologians, pastors and informed lay
persons of large portions of the Church held to a more biblical
view of the Kingdom of God than is now generally taught inmost
churches worldwide.  And that more correct view was what was
generally taught by those we would call the great heroes of the
Church, such as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley, Edwards,
Spurgeon, Livingstone, Warfield and Machen.  That view which we
claim was taught by the mainstream Church differed in these ways
from what is generally taught mistakenly by most Bible-believing
churches today.

The major leaders of the mainstream Church taught that:

 1.  The Kingdom of God was inaugurated and the King was installed
     and seated in the First Century A.D. and we need not wait for
     the King's second coming to get the Kingdom started here on
     earth.

 2.  Satan was completely defeated by Christ at the Cross and
     resurrection and is therefore no longer the "ruler of this
     world" and can be stopped from doing anything at any time by
     Christ and by us Christians if we simply choose to employ the
     power and authority already placed into our hands by the King
     Himself since the First Century.

COR Letter                                  Page 2

 3.  King Jesus will be given no more power or authority at His
     second coming or throughout eternity than He already was given
     by the Father when He ascended to the throne of heaven.

 4.  At this moment of history, all humans on earth, whether Jew or
     Gentile, believer or unbeliever, private person or public
     official, are obligated to bow their knees to this King Jesus,
     confess Him as Lord of the universe with their tongues, and
     submit to His lordship over every aspect of their lives in
     thought, word and deed.

 5.  Biblical evangelism according to the Great Commission of Matt.
     28:18-20 is not truly accomplished unless that message of
     Christ's lordship from point #4 above is give to the person
     being evangelized so they know that an attempt at personal
     neutrality before King Jesus is sin and treason in this
     universe.

 6.  Submission to the lordship of Christ is essential to salvation
     so we may say that no human may become a "saved" Christian who
     only "receives" Jesus as his saviour without also eagerly
     receiving Jesus as his Lord and King at the moment of
     salvation.

 7.  The Lord's Prayer stating that "Thy will be done on earth as
     it is in heaven" was meant to be prayed by us with the hope
     that this condition would happen on earth before Christ's
     second coming wherever and whenever the Christians of any
     geography decided to band together to help make it happen.

 8.  The Bible is the plumb line for all Nations, Christian or non-
     Christian, by which nations are to measure the justice and
     wisdom of all their laws, governments, procedures and society
     in general.

It is easy to see that just the exact opposite of these 8 points
above (which reflect the Articles #4,8,9,10,11,13,14,18 of the
Kingdom document) is taught regularly from most Bible-loving
pulpits of our land.  If we are right that the Kingdom of God is
basic, and that indeed the above 8 points are truly biblical and do
reflect the general teaching of the major heroes of the Church the
first 18 centuries, then is it any wonder the Body of Christ, which
has been teaching falsehood (unknowingly) regarding these points
the past 160 years in now like the church of Laodicea: "wretched,
poor, blind and naked" and is not even aware of its own horrible condition?!!!

By Gods' grace, this theological misunderstanding of the Church at
large is one of the matters which can be cleared up and corrected
by this coming Church Council.

If any of you have questions or concerns about what I have just
said here, feel free to write tome and tell me about it.  A
response card is provided for any input you may have for us about
this issue, or other items listed on the card.

Again, we thank you for standing with us in this ministry.  Please
know that your part is essential, and we are encouraged by your
faithfulness.

May God help us to accomplish our destiny in him,
Jay Grimstead


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