In Defense of the Gospel

From Paul and Timothy to the Church at Philippi (Paul wrote this while imprisoned at Rome):

Phillippians 1:7 "It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel."

The Romans were very tolerant of just about any religion. Whatever and whomever citizens worshiped was welcome in Roman circles. Caesar, the ruler, was even worshiped as a god! Not only was freedom of religion existent, but so was freedom to flaunt sexual promiscuity and deviancy. There was one exception as is always the case! Christianity was the one religion posing a threat because the Truth interfered with hedonism. Roman society cherished the unlimited freedom for pleasure in spite of the fact that persecution was one of their pleasures. It seems that Romans enjoyed throwing Christians to the lions and to the gladiators. Does that sound familiar?

Why was Paul imprisoned? Did it have anything to to do with Christ? It was his own people who turned on him! The so-called religious; the established church.

Acts 21:27 "When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, 28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place."

Paul was preaching "against" the existent church. Paul was imprisoned because he was at odds with the established church. With his arrest in Jerusalem he appealed to Caesar and was taken to Rome. God planned this so that the gospel would be carried to the western world. At this point Christianity changed from an oriental sect of Judaism to an independent worldwide religion, and it was because Paul had the courage to stir up the crowds by preaching AGAINST organized religion. (But preachers today don't want to preach against anything because that's not what the people want to hear!)

Christianity grew because of the persecution of Christians! Christianity was spread because Paul was preaching negatively! His wasn't "Positive Christianity". It was Truth! Society and the established church can't accept truth and the government is the worst of all. That's why Paul was arrested and why he, as a citizen of Rome, was in a Roman jail. Positive things didn't happen to Paul. He was persecuted and crucified shortly thereafter, according to early church writers. Very negative things happened to Paul and he was the most faithful of all Christians. Without regard to facts, our modern church preaches "Positive Christianity" and the "prosperity gospel".

Those who teach Christian prosperity fail to mention persecution for standing up to false teachings. In his letter to the faithful Philippians Paul wrote about "my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel". The "gospel" is the facts about Jesus, why he came and who he is. Paul was imprisoned because he was being factual, but furthermore, he was telling the facts about Jesus. That's just something that the mainstream church didn't want to hear!

Paul was defending Jesus. He was defending the words and actions of the person who was the incarnation of love and compassion, yet Paul was persecuted because the people, the church and the rulers didn't like what they were hearing.

Paul was also confirming the gospel. He was validating facts!  Paul surely was telling of the miraculous birth, teachings, miracles,, the death and the resurrection of Jesus and what that means for the hope of mankind. That's all positive, but Paul was surely teaching of the judgment and punishment of the disobedient on the day of judgment. That's negative and people just don't want to hear that! How can a loving God punish his children? It's because those children are children of the devil and have not been adopted by Jesus. Those are rebellious children who care not for truth.

The life of Paul was foreshadowed by the teachings of Jeremiah who warned the Jews of the punishment of the Lord if they failed to obey and worship God. In spite of many and ample warnings Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed and the Hebrews dispersed throughout Asia. The rebellious just didn't want to hear truth and Jeremiah was ridiculed!  Jeremiah was teaching against the Jews. (Negativity again!) There was one big difference: due to his faithfulness Jeremiah lived and grew the church in Egypt. Paul was crucified and the church grew because of persecution.

Israel was first destroyed by unbelief, then Judah, but in spite of that the worship of the One True God continued. Simultaneous with the persecution of the early Church fathers, Judea and the temple was again destroyed because of the rebellious Jews, but Christianity flourished. Hebrew society was destroyed because of the Jews. Christianity grew in spite of the Jews. Herod's Temple was destroyed because of the Jews. The Temple of Christ still thrives because Jesus resides in each of his children. Persecution makes Christianity thrive! Persecution is negative, but with negativity the church grows!

Rebellious sinners are what was foreshadowed by the Jewish "church". Just as the Jews rebelled against truth and were destroyed, in the end the rebellious who fail to accept Jesus will face eternal destruction. By failing to be saved, they will be damned. Salvation should raise the question "Saved from what?" The answer is saved from an eternal hell! That's not very positive, but that's the gospel. Anyone who fails to preach the "gospel truth" are false prophets. Positive Christianity is false doctrine and preachers are false teachers of a false doctrine... and that's the truth!