The Great Commission
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)
The commission is from God, the infinite, eternal being that created and sustains all things. Its purpose is to make the world a Christian world, one in which the entire population consists of born-again Christians. It is directed to all true believers, all God’s people throughout history.
The commission consists of two tasks. The first task, evangelism, was pursued with good success in the early centuries but less so since. There is still some activity in the first directive, the Gospel message and baptizing of converts, but almost none in the second task, teaching the nations to obey God’s Commandments.
The latter activity, making this world a Christian world, has been forgotten and now appears to be very, very far from the minds of God’s people. These, the benefactors of Christ’s huge sacrifice seem to have totally forgotten what should be their highest purpose in life, the thing that should occupy their minds and fill every idle hour. God’s builders, charged with the execution of His world renewal project have neglected what should be their first priority activity in life.
As a consequence, Satan’s forces, seeing this great weakness have risen from their hiding places and are now making an attempt to gain control of America and the entire world. They are employing fear, fear they manufactured, of a virus they also manufactured, to force the remnants of God’s now pathetic army into submission. Sadly, it seems they are having much success.
God’s forces were neutralized and rendered impotent by the adoption of a false, entirely unbiblical theology they adopted over the previous century. Some of its heretical features are:
- Jesus’ return is imminent; He’s coming any day now (as of 1970—50 years ago).
- God has changed His mind; The entire world will never be saved, as Rev. 11:15 tells us it will surely be.[1]
- Hidden a bit more deeply in the writing of J. N. Darby, the originator of these ideas, we find his real heart:
- The Bible is not the Word of God; it is paper and ink, a useless book!
- God guides His chosen people by supernaturally communicating His wishes to them.[2]
It seems utterly incredible but this perverted doctrine has conquered and now dominates the thinking of the great majority of God’s people. In their defense, we must say that most of them, all their lives, were taught these lies as if they were God’s Truth. They began to spread over a century ago with the publishing of the Scofield Bible. It was an audacious work: A Bible that incorporated the author’s notes on the same page as the Word of God! It deceived many millions of God’s people and they believed, swallowed whole, its grossly false interpretation of God’s truth.
All this is the failure of God’s people to study and learn His Word. Oh, how those that are truly His will hang their heads when they meet Him face to face! What feeble answer can they give for their abject failure to obey Him. Do you believe you are truly a child of God and will see Him in Person one day? If so, what will your answer be?
[1] Letter to: Sydney Smith, Barbados, March 9th, 1869. STEM Publishing: J. N. Darby: Letters : Volume 2, Number 4 ; https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/darby/letters/52004E.html
[2] Darby wrote: “I do not receive the Bible, that is, a revelation of God from the hands of men. I receive paper and ink. The revelation I receive of God directly—“They shall all be taught of God.” The revelation is the divinely-wrought conscience, and, I repeat, in the conscience.”
See a letter Darby wrote from London in 1874, http://plymouthbrethren.org/article/11026 (Search for “paper and ink”)