Preaching
The
Gospel Of Christ
By
The
Twelve Apostles
The Gospel Of Christ
They
preached the gospel of the Christ and they baptized the multitudes who made
confession of their faith. They healed the sick and raised the dead.
And Jesus wrought and taught from early morning until the day had gone, and
then into the night, he did not stop to eat. His friends became alarmed lest He
should fail from loss of strength, and they laid hold of Him and would, by
force, have taken Him away to a place of rest. But He rebuked them not. He
said, “Have you not read that God will give His Angels charge concerning me?
That they would hold me fast and suffer not that I should come to want?
I tell you, men, while I am giving out my strength unto these anxious and
waiting throngs, I find myself at rest within the arms of God, whose blessed
messengers bring down to me the bread of life. There is a tide just once in
human life. These people now are willing to receive the truth. Their
opportunity is now. Our opportunity is now, and if we do not teach them while
we may, the tide will ebb. They may not care again to hear the truth. Then tell
me, Who will bear the guilt?” And so He taught and
healed.
Among the multitudes were men of every shade of thought. They were divided in
their views concerning everything that Jesus said. Some saw in Him a God, and
would have worshipped Him. And others saw in Him a devil of the nether world
and would have cast Him in a pit. And some were trying hard to lead a double life,
hypocrites. Like little lions of the ground that take upon themselves the
colour of the thing they rest upon. These people without anchorage of any sort,
are friends or foes as seemed to serve them best.
And Jesus said, No man can serve two masters at a
time; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else
he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon.
“No man can be a friend and foe at once. All men are rising up, or sinking
down; are building up, or tearing down. If you are gathering not the precious
grain, then you are throwing it away. He is a coward who would feign to be a
friend, or foe, to please another man. You men, do not deceive yourselves in
thought. Your hearts are known. Hypocrisy will blight a soul as surely as the
breath of Beelzebul. An honest evil man is more
esteemed by guardians of the soul than a dishonest pious man. If you would
curse the son of man, just curse Him out aloud. A curse is poison to the inner
man, and if you hold and swallow down a curse it never will digest. Behold, it
will poison every atom of your soul.
“And if you sin against a son of man,
you may be pardoned and your guilt be cleansed by acts of kindness and of love.
But if you sin against the Holy Spirit by disregarding Him, when He would open
up the doors of life for you. By closing up the windows of the soul when He
would pour the light of love into your hearts, and cleanse them with the fires
of God. Your guilt shall not be blotted out in this, nor in the life to come.
“An opportunity has gone to come no more, and you must wait until the
ages roll again – until you reincarnate again here on earth. Then will the Holy
Spirit again breathe on your fires of life, and fan them to a living flame.
Then He will open up the doors again, and you may let Him in to sup with you
for evermore, or you may slight Him once again, and then again. You men of
Israel, your opportunity is now. Your tree of life is an illusive tree. It has
a generous crop of leaves. Its boughs hang low with fruit. Behold, your words
are leaves. Your deeds the fruit. Behold, for men have plucked the apples of
your tree of life, and found them full of bitterness. And worms have eaten to
the core. Behold that fig tree by the way so full of leaves and worthless
fruit!”
Then
Jesus spoke a word that nature spirits know, and behold, the fig tree stood a
mass of withered leaves. And then He spoke again, “Behold, for God will speak
the Word, and you will stand a withered fig tree in the setting sun. You men of
Galilee, send forth and call the pruner in before it is too late, and let him
prune away your worthless branches and illusive leaves, and let the sunshine
in.
“The sun is life, and it can
change your worthlessness to worth. Your tree of life is good. But you have
nurtured it so long with dews of self, and mists of carnal things that you have
shut the sunshine out. I tell you, men, that you must give account to God for
every idle word you speak and every evil deed you do.”