The Gospel Message

The Gospel Message is the "Good News" that God has decreed a way for fallen sinful man to enjoy forever a loving relationship with his Creator Father. The following is a tract that I wrote to share my testimony and the gospel on an intellectual level.
I Titled it
Something to Think About
As a young Child, I struggled to come to an understanding of truth. Like any thoughtful person, I wondered how all that exists came to be. I searched for purpose and meaning to life. I doubted whether there was a God who actually cared about this world, and whether there was any existence beyond this life. But “God has not left Himself without witness”, as the Scripture says in Psalms 19, “The heavens declare the Glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork … there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” Often, the apostles reasoned from the scriptures with those they sought to win to Christ. Thus, God in His grace saw fit to open my understanding to His truth. And as any thoughtful person would, I came to understand certain obvious truths that changed my life forever.

The first obvious truth is that creation happened. For all but two hundred years of Earth history, creation by an all-powerful God had been considered the only rational, acceptable explanation of how the Universe came into existence. America’s founders boldly claimed that the “laws of nature and of Nature’s God” governed the world. They further asserted that all are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” and that we must rely on “Divine Providence” for protection. No one could observe an intricately designed devise such as a watch or a cellular phone and imagine that such a thing came about by a series of random accidents over a very long process of time. Such a notion would seem utterly ridiculous to any rational being. Yet, even the simplest life form is vastly more complex than a watch or a phone and some have proposed that life itself was the result of such an accidental process. I submit that such an idea is not worthy of serious consideration.

The second obvious truth is that the Creator of the Universe has the sole authority to rule over His creation. Only He can establish the rules whether natural or moral. And only to Him is all creation accountable. For a brief period in my life I entertained the notion that God either did not exist, or we could not know anything certain about Him. I felt this way because I was frustrated with my inability to live a “good” life. I knew that I often disappointed my parents and myself with my selfish, irresponsible actions. I knew that if there is a God, I must surely be a disappointment to Him as well. I thought that by refusing to acknowledge God, I might absolve myself of any responsibility to Him and His moral standards. I didn’t realize at the time that I was following the course of many who “even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;” (Rom. 1:28). I found my situation to be like that of any normal human being. I was a sinner “falling short of the glory of God”, but yearning to fill that God shaped void in my Life.

Then, I came to realize a third obvious truth – that God had intervened in Earth History in an extraordinary way. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”(Gal. 4:4, 5) I submit to the world that no Individual has made a greater impact throughout history than Jesus Christ. About one fifth of the world’s population consider themselves His followers. His birth is the focal point of our calendar and his teachings are universally accepted as a standard for righteousness. But Jesus Christ claimed to be no less than God Himself. Jesus said “"Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am!" (Jn. 8:58) and “I and My Father are one." (Jn. 10:30) Each of these statements had the same effect on those who heard. Some believed. Others took up stones to stone Him to death. But Christ would lay down His life in His time as “a ransom for all to be testified in due time”. (1 Tim. 2:6)
He, of whom John said, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and that life was the Light of men.” (Jn. 1:3,4) This same Jesus, God of all creation, would willingly suffer the agony of crucifixion to redeem all who would believe.

Praise God for this final undeniable truth which all should consider. “But God hath raised Him up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.” (Acts 2:24) “who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification (Romans 4:25). Why do I consider the resurrection of Jesus Christ an undeniable truth? Because it is just that. No one living at the time of the apostles, ever credibly challenged their testimony nor that of the more than 400 others who witnessed the resurrected Christ. Simon Greenleaf, whose three volume Treatise on the Law of Evidence is considered “the greatest single authority on evidence in the entire literature of legal procedure” (Knott, The Dictionary of American Biography), said “Let [the Gospel’s] testimony be sifted as it were given in a court of justice on the side of the adverse party; the witness being subjected to a rigorous cross- examination. The result, it is confidently believed, will be an undoubting conviction of their integrity, ability and truth.

Friend, open your heart and your mind to the God of all creation. Let the love displayed at the Cross bring you to saving faith in Him. Rich Meister