"To enter this Kingdom is to be born again to a life set apart for God, characterized by obedience to the Law of God God gives His Kingdom to those who truly love Him, who renounce the desires, doodads, and deeds of the world and the flesh, and who invest their strength in becoming rich in faith"

This is not the Gospel, nor is it how the Christian life is lived. Salvation is the restoration of the life of God made possible through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In a nutshell, God created Adam with His life indwelling Adam. Adam sinned and God removed His life. Therefore, all mankind is born spiritually dead to God. Before God could restore that life He had to deal with the sin that caused His life to leave. Jesus, the only man born with a life to give, took the penalty for that sin. Now, through Christ's resurrection, that life can be offered again as a free gift. Because of the cross that life will never leave. We now trust the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us, not the law.

Jesus also said of this Kingdom in Matthew 13 that it would be comprised of wheat and tares. The time will come when He will personally separate the two. Until then, we grow together, somewhat indistinguishable from one another.

The ultimate and necessary end of the tares is destruction along with all that was defiled by them. That includes the earth and heavens (II Peter 3:10-13). There is no other logical, scientific, or theological end of sin and its stains then that physically demanded by the second law of thermodynamics - any system left unto itself will ultimately tend toward chaos (decay/destruction).

Why do we see the things we see you ask? Because that is the natural order.

Your question should instead be limited to the supernatural order. That order will not and cannot prevail against what God has already ordained against the heavens, earth, and its general population of unbelievers. Our job is not to fix up the earth but to witness and make disciples.

Acts 2:42, Rom 16:17, Eph 4:14, 1Tim 1:3, 1Tim 4:16, 1Tim 6:3, 2Tim 3:16-17, 2Tim 4:2-4, Tit 1:9, Tit 2:1, Tit 2:7, Tit 2:10, Heb 6:1-2, 2John 1:10, Rev 2:4, Rev 2:15-16, Rev 2:24-25
Well Golly it looks like doctrine (teaching) is something, and is something critical enough to examine to see if it is in alignment with His Doctrine and teaching. If the people were astonished at His Doctrine at that time, might we also be astonished and even surprised at His Doctrine, and the way He sees things now? I guess maybe we better let the hairsplitting begin.

We are under Grace, live by Faith and are supposed to be developing a trust relationship with our DAD.(that's who He is to me) It is a wonderful journey because Jesus within us develops that trust relationship, getting to know Him and Dad. Jesus makes the changes within us, so we can never claim it is our doing. Going to church on Sunday does not make one a Christian any more than walking into a garage makes one a mechanic. Any good thing we do is of God, not ourselves, lest we be like the Pharisee standing in public, praying so all the world could see his false righteousness. It's not whether we are living the full Gospel of the Kingdom of God but are we surrendering and doing His will? Are we getting to know Who this Being is that can create an entire universe by just speaking it? If we are concerned with those things, all else, like splitting theological hairs, becomes insignificant. (though it does make for good discussion.)He is way beyond anything you could possibly imagine.

"The Gospel According to Jesus" by John MacArthur provides a good treatment about this topic. The subtitle is "What is Authentic Faith?" I personally don't think liberal Christianity is authentic faith.

Sadly it appears as though we will not be able to agree on this issue. The message of the Gospel encompasses all of the promises which the death of The Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for us, and not the message of salvation only. The New Testament is full of references to going into perfection, that being becoming like the Lord Jesus Christ. It is because the church of today has abandoned the teaching of going on to the Fullness of Christ that there is no change in the life of the average Christian. We simply believe that when we come to the throne of Grace that this is all there is until His return.I do not subscribe to any one denomination. Denominationalism is in effect the living demonstration of 2Timothy 3:5.Christians cling more firmly to a denomination and its scriptural interpretations than they do Christ and His teachings and the teachings of the early apostles.See Rom8:28,Matt5:48,Luk6:40,2Cor13:9,Eph1:4-5,3:19,4:12-13,Col1:28,4:12,2Tim:3:17,Heb6:1,13:20-21,James1:4,1Pet5:10

Randal: I'm repeating what Moore says in his article, "They simply chose to minimize the power of His saving grace by adding to the Gospel in certain ways and detracting from it in others." This is exactly what both you and Moore are doing. You're putting the Christian life on the same level as the Gospel which is adding to it. The Christian life is the fruit of the Gospel; it is not the Gospel itself. If you were to proclaim the gospel to an unbeliever what would you say? I'd say that Christ fulfilled the law in your place by living a perfect life, to the punishment of your sin by dying on the cross, and rose from the dead so that we could have eternal life. And his perfection or righteousness is credited to us as a free gift. What denomination are you from if you don't mind my asking? I'd like to know where you are coming from. I'm a confessional Lutheran.

erapp:Pauls contention was not that the Gallatians were adding to the Gospel, but that they had jumped ship to another gospel Gal 1:6-7 and have reverted to the law of Judaism. The Gospel is not outside us, it is to be in us, and to be demonstrated in and through us in our manner of life (conversation). The message of the Gospel (Good News) is that of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He and His message are to reside and resound in and through us. The Church is not changed because in reality it is not converted. it is not at all inappropriate to question the salvation of those who years later show no change(Matt 3:10,Matt7:17-19,Matt12:33). These are they who do not let Him who is the Savior of the church refine them as silver and gold. These are critical issues, and like Nicodemus you need to with prayer dig into these issues and find what the truth of the Gospel is.

My initial contention is that Moore is adding to the gospel just as those who Paul condemns in Galatians do. The Gospel is outside of us - Christ's perfect life, death, and resurrection. The progress we make in our sanctification is not the Gospel. The very thing that Moore pooh poohs - Christ died for our sins and gives us eternal life, i.e. the Gospel - is what sanctifies us. The reason why Christians appear indistinguishable from the world is because we are still sinners who need to hear the gospel. This article expresses my argument better - http://www.gccnm.com/Files/RosenbladtChristDiedForChristian.pdf

The initial contention which you asserted was that Moore is teaching the Law, as outlined in Galatians. In Galatians Paul corrects those who returned to the Mosiac and Levitical law stating that the law makes no one righteous. On that we (you,I and Paul) agree. Christ's sacrifice for us(in our place)is the only way which God the father could redeem us to himself. on that we all agree. Where we disagree is in the "working out of our salvation" Phil 2:12. What Moore is exposing is the reality that many whom call themselves Christian are indistinguishable from the world. This is because they do not apply the Gospel to their lives. I agree that what Christ has done for us is the focus of our lives, but it is still part of the Gospel as we are to go on into perfection, becoming transformed to the place where we the world no longer sees us, it only sees The Lord Jesus Christ. This is real change. This is what the world needs, and what the Father initiated the entire plan for, see Heb 2:10

Randal: Yes there are references through out the gospels of what we must do - that's called the law. There are also references to Christ's saving work for us, which is the Gospel. The distinction between law and gospel is found throughout all the scriptures. Both are important. Through the law I see how much of a sinner I am and know that I can't do any of it. Therefore daily I repent, remember my baptism and cling to the saving work of Christ. That’s putting on Christ. That's identifying with His death, burial, and resurrection. That's denying myself and submitting to His will. As Christians we will have our crosses, but they aren’t ours to choose. I don't deny that good works should flow from us as the fruit of our faith, but if we emphasize our works over Christ's, we put the emphasis on the wrong syllaaable. By the way, I’m not a dispensationalist, so the Rapture thing doesn’t apply to me.

erapp: If you truly believe what you stated then you have not heard the Gospel. It is not true that Christ has done it all, and all we have to do is strap on the Rapture ejection seat and wait to be catapolted out of here. All through the Gospels references are made to what we must do. We have to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. We have to identify with the death, burrial and reserrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must continually submit our will to His. We must Deny ourselves, take up our Cross and follow Him. The mega community Churches are full of the country club Christians, those who are not putting off the old man and putting on the new man, those who are not being renewed in the spirit of their minds, those who are not presenting themselves as living sacrifices. If you are not seeing evidence of the saving grace, and the demonstration of the power of the gospel in you life then there is cause for concern. We should be progressively Changing.