[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Ancient Prophecy Relevant for Our World

Many people are waking up to the fact that our world is going in a terribly wrong direction. These are not normal times. The humiliating and disgraceful manner in which the United States and its allies pulled out of Afghanistan is more evidence that the “American empire” is in a steep decline and the fallout from this disaster will have long-lasting consequences. In addition, we see record-setting heat and drought in much of North America, Australia, and many other parts of the world. We see internal instability in nation after nation. Old alliances are collapsing and new ones forming. And all the while, these problems are being accompanied by the greatest shift in moral values we’ve ever seen.

The biblical prophet Jeremiah recorded a message for this time and it especially pertains to modern day British-descended and American peoples. Do you know what that message is? You need to know, because what Jeremiah predicted is happening right before our eyes, and sadly, it is only going to get worse before it gets better. Yet, Jeremiah did have good news along with the bad. But to understand Jeremiah’s message, we must first identify the American and the British-descended peoples in the pages of the Bible. It may come as a shock, but they are mentioned prominently, only by another name.

Who Are the Israelites Today?

Welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where we bring you the prophecies of the Bible and the good news of the coming return of Jesus Christ. His return is the best news ever, because if He does not return, no flesh would be saved alive—so said Jesus. He speaks of a time like no other in human history in His Olivet Prophecy found in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 21.

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

The biblical prophet Jeremiah also speaks of this same unprecedented time in his message for us, and we would do well to understand it. Few people understand the true identity of the British-descended and American peoples, but that understanding is critical to understanding Jeremiah’s message.

Most people assume that when the Bible speaks of Israel it refers to the Jews alone, but the Jews are only the smallest portion of Israel.

The man named Jacob had twelve sons. One was named Judah and he was the father of the Jews. But what about the other sons? Did they simply disappear or become absorbed into the Jewish nation?

At the end of his life, Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, predicted what would happen to all twelve of his sons at the end of the age. Notice it in Genesis the 49th chapter and beginning in verse 1.

And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days…” (Genesis 49:1).

Yes, “in the last days”—that is the time setting for these prophecies. He begins with his firstborn, Reuben, who had a specific moral shortcoming that would affect his descendants all the way to the time of the end.

Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father. “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it—He went up to my couch” (Genesis 49:2-4).

For more reasons than I have time to go into on this short program, we understand Reuben to be modern day France, where we see a rich culture and “excellency in dignity and power,” but a nation that has been loose morally and never reached its great potential.

Here is what Jacob predicted for the Jews at the end of the age. Notice that he is a military power that should not be aroused and that it would be through the Jews that the Messiah would come—first with the coming of Jesus, but also at the end of the age. Begin in Genesis 49, and verse 8:

Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter [That is rulership] shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh [That is the Messiah] comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people (vv. 8-10).

Now here is the prophecy for Judah’s brother, Joseph. He is seen as jealously hated by many but made strong by the God of Jacob. He is fruitful and spreads out across the earth and is no insignificant player on the world scene. Whoever Joseph is, he is around at the time of Christ’s return.

Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; his branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him and hated him. But his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), by the God of your father who will help you, and by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills… (Genesis 49:22-25).

We have another prophecy of Joseph which elaborates on the great mineral and agricultural wealth possessed by these people, as well as their great military power. Turn to Deuteronomy 33, and begin in verse 13:

And of Joseph he said: “Blessed of the LORD is his land, with the precious things of heaven, with the dew, and the deep lying beneath, with the precious fruits of the sun, with the precious produce of the months, with the best things of the ancient mountains, with the precious things of the everlasting hills, with the precious things of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush. Let the blessing come ‘on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.’ His glory is like a firstborn bull, and his horns like the horns of the wild ox; together with them He shall push the peoples to the ends of the earth…” (Deuteronomy 33:13-17).

Now this hardly describes the tiny nation called Israel at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Consider: who was it that pushed his enemies to the ends of the earth in World War II?

Jeremiah has a message for the sons of Joseph. His message is not limited to Joseph, but includes all twelve sons of Jacob. But, Joseph and Judah are the most prominent of Jacob’s sons at the end of the age.

Nations in Decline

So far, we’ve seen how Jacob’s sons are in existence at Christ’s return. There is a great wealth of knowledge from the Bible and history that identifies these modern nations. Genesis 49 shows that all twelve of Jacob’s sons will be players on the world stage at the end of the age.

So what is Jeremiah’s message for the twelve tribes of Israel at the end of the age? But let me preface this with a personal note. I grew up in a patriotic military family and I love the United States. I love England, where I lived back in the 1950’s as well as more recently. I spent over 13 years of my life in Canada and also hold Canadian citizenship. I also love Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa—countries where I have visited. These are beautiful countries, but most of all, I love the people of them, so I take no pleasure in saying this, but simply stated, Jeremiah’s message to these countries is: Unless you change directions, you are going to be overthrown militarily and go into captivity. Now, I know that is difficult to believe, but look at our nations. Open your eyes and see that Britain is no longer great, and America is an empire in rapid decline. Here is God’s word to Jeremiah as found in chapter 30 of his book, beginning in verse 1:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, “Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. For behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the LORD. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it’” (Jeremiah 30:1-3).

Here God describes both Israel and Judah in a state of captivity, from which God will bring them back. Notice again in the next verse how he delineates both Israel and Judah and describes a time of great stress.

Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah. “For thus says the LORD: ‘We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale?’” (Jeremiah 30:4-6).

We now come to the crux of the matter in verse 7. God, through the prophet Jeremiah, speaks of the Great Tribulation, a time of trouble such as the world has never known, but He calls it specifically the time of Jacob’s trouble.

Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it (Jeremiah 30:7).

Yes, there never has been, nor ever will be, a time such as this. This is the same time that Jesus spoke of where all flesh could be destroyed. It is the time of Jacob’s (or Israel’s) trouble. The Jews are included, but the so-called “ten lost tribes of Israel” are as well. As we saw earlier, all twelve tribes are described as separate nations at the end of the age. They are hardly lost or absorbed into Judah or other nations.

But there is good news amidst the bad. Notice the end of verse 7:

But he [That is Jacob] shall be saved out of it [That is this terrible time of trouble].

As the passage continues in verse 8, we see that Jacob’s descendants shall be freed from enslavement.

“For it shall come to pass in that day,” says the LORD of hosts, “That I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them” (Jeremiah 30:8).

Jeremiah’s message involves the greatest time of trouble the world has ever seen, or ever will see. As I mentioned before, the main thrust of his message is for the nations of Israel and of Judah. You can only understand Jeremiah’s message if you understand who these people are. Who are Jacob’s end-time descendants? Clearly, the scriptures show that they are far more than the Jewish nation called Israel at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.

A Warning Against Turning Away from God and the Bible

Jeremiah was specifically, in his day, warning the Jews, but prophecy is dual, and we see that his prophecies also pertained to the Northern Ten Tribes, a nation that went into captivity nearly 100 years prior to Jeremiah’s prophecies. Here are a few of the sins for which he corrected his people. Jeremiah 5, beginning in verse 7:

“When I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. They were like well-fed lusty stallions; every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife. Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “And shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” (Jeremiah 5:7-9).

Now notice that Jeremiah includes the house of Israel (that is the northern ten tribes) along with the house of Judah (that is the Jews). Notice also how they cannot accept the inevitable—verses 11 and 12:

“For the house of Israel and the house of Judah Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” says the LORD. They have lied about the LORD, and said, “It is not He. Neither will evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine” (Jeremiah 5:11-12).

Open your eyes. Consider the humiliating manner in which America pulled out of Afghanistan. Look how the entire western United States and Canada are suffering severe drought conditions. Earlier this year, the town of Lytton, British Columbia recorded an astonishing temperature of 121.3 degrees Fahrenheit (that’s 49.6 Celsius). Look at the alternating droughts and floods afflicting Australia in recent years. How often we hear the terms “of biblical proportions” and “unprecedented.” Consider the disastrous deep freeze that hit Texas earlier this year. Consider the cyber war that is going on constantly and sometimes comes onto our radar screens when the gas pumps shut down or our meat supply is threatened.

God warns of famine, of disaster upon disaster, and through His prophet Jeremiah, that we will be militarily defeated and go into captivity. Beginning in Jeremiah the 5th chapter, once again, and verse 15:

“Behold, I will bring a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” says the LORD. “It is a mighty nation, It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say…. And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; they shall destroy your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword” (Jeremiah 5:15, 17).

But Jeremiah always comes back to a bit of good news as seen in verse 18;

“Nevertheless in those days,” says the LORD, “I will not make a complete end of you” (Jeremiah 5:18).

Just as the people of Jeremiah’s day refused to see their sins, so we too fail to recognize the obvious.

And it will be when you say, “Why does the LORD our God do all these things to us?” then you shall answer them, “Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours” (Jeremiah 5:19).

One of the greatest sins condemned by Jeremiah is deciding for ourselves right from wrong instead of trusting God. Jeremiah 16:12:

And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me (Jeremiah 16:12).

How many today listen to God? No, my friends, we reject the clear teachings of God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. The duality of these prophecies comes clear in verse 20 of Jeremiah 5. The northern ten tribes of Israel had gone into captivity approximately 100 years earlier, yet Jeremiah is told to address his message to them as well as to the Jews.

Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah (Jeremiah 5:20).

But what is that message that Jeremiah was to declare to the house of Jacob and the house of Judah at the time of the end? Remember that much of prophecy is dual. It has an early fulfillment, but also a latter-day fulfillment referred to as the time of Jacob’s trouble. Our people today are condemned as those were in Jeremiah’s day for not perceiving why these things would happen to us. Jeremiah 5, beginning in verse 21:

“Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not: Do you not fear Me?” says the LORD…. But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; they have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.” Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you (Jeremiah 5:21, 23-25).

Then, after listing sins of cruelty and oppression, God asks a rhetorical question in verse 29:

“Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” (Jeremiah 5:29).

Furthermore, He shows how our people love to be fed lies by the very people who should be telling them the truth. Again, Jeremiah 5, verses 30 and 31:

An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; [and notice this] and My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? (Jeremiah 5:30-31).

Many see that the United States is in a steep decline, as they can read the handwriting on the wall. If what I am saying today is true, and you can prove it for yourself from the pages of your Bible, our world is in for a world of hurt.

Jeremiah’s Prophecies Preached by the True Christian Church

Jeremiah was not popular among the elites and among the common man of his day, and neither will we be for proclaiming his message. The Merriam-Webster dictionary explains the reputation the prophet Jeremiah has, even to this day:

Nowadays, English speakers use “Jeremiah” for a pessimistic person and “jeremiad” for the way these Jeremiahs [that is, pessimistic persons] carry on (“Jeremiad,” MerriamWebster.com).

But not all of Jeremiah’s message was pessimistic. In fact, he was very optimistic about the final outcome of things. After calling the end time a time of trouble beyond anything the world has ever seen, or will ever see again, he finishes by saying,

But he shall be saved out of it (Jeremiah 30:7).

Again, God speaking through Jeremiah declares that the disaster does not have to come. Read it in Jeremiah the 18th chapter, and verses 7 and 8:

The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it (Jeremiah 18:7-8).

And He offers hope to the man who puts his trust in Him, who repents and turns to God with his whole heart. Notice it in the previous chapter, chapter 17 and verses 7 and 8:

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

Jeremiah’s message is a warning to turn from our evil ways, but if we don’t, sorrow and heartache such as the world has never seen is on the way. Will Americans, Canadians, Britons, Australians, New Zealanders, and South Africans, and others turn from the dictates of our evil hearts? The evidence is not encouraging as we descend further into behaviors condemned in the Bible. When these things come upon us, remember where you heard it—right here on Tomorrow’s World.

In the meantime, be sure to come back next week, and every week, when Richard Ames, Wallace Smith, Rod McNair and I will again bring you the warnings from God, along with the good news of the return of Jesus Christ to save us from ourselves and to set up a glorious Kingdom of peace and prosperity for all.

Thank you for watching! To understand why God is bringing disaster upon the nations, order your free copy of The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy by clicking the link in the description. And remember to subscribe to our channel so you can continue to learn the truth as given in the Bible. See you next time.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

A Most Unusual Question

More than two billion people—approximately one-third of all humanity—claim to be Christian, a religion that takes its name from Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ and Son of God, according to the Bible. But here’s a strange question that almost seems silly until you take the time to really think about it: Is Jesus Himself a Christian? Today, we’re going to tackle that question together, and we’ll discover that the answer is far more revealing that you might think. Join us here on Tomorrow’s World as we answer the question “Is Jesus a Christian?”

What Did Jesus Really Do and Practice?

Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where we help you make sense of your world through the pages of the Bible.

Now I know our title seems unusual today. After all, if anyone can be described as a Christian, surely it is Jesus Christ, the very founder of Christianity! The answer seems obvious! However, I am certain that you will find that that simple question leads to other intriguing questions—and to intriguing answers—that reveal far more about Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity than you might have guessed.

Today, we’re asking the question, “Is Jesus a Christian?” And I hope you don’t think I’m asking the question to either make light of Christianity or Jesus Christ. I’m not. Here at Tomorrow’s World, all of us believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, who died for our sins, rose again three days and three nights later, and lives now, guiding His Church from Heaven—the Savior whose return and reign is getting closer day by day.

In fact, it is because we take Jesus Christ and His teachings seriously that we ask this question today: “Is Jesus Christ a Christian?”

Most of us know Christians in our lives—many of us believe we ARE Christians. In fact, as we mentioned at the very beginning of our program today, more than TWO BILLION people claim to be Christians today—literally almost one-third of humanity. The influence of the religion going by the name of “Christianity” touches every continent on the globe, and its principles and precepts have impacted governments, cultures, and traditions all over the world.

Of course, the details about what “Christianity” means vary from place to place, culture to culture—and, in some towns, even street to street, as the church on one block may teach a very different set of doctrines than the church just one block down.

Still, most of us have personal experience that gives us a sense of what the word “Christian” means in real life, based on the beliefs, practices, and lives of those we know—or even own.

So, with that in mind, is Jesus a Christian? That is, if Jesus were walking among us today—as He did in the flesh 2,000 years ago—but you did not know ahead of time that He WAS Jesus Christ, would you conclude that He was a Christian? If you compared HIS beliefs, practices, and life with the beliefs, practices, and lives of those who make up “Christianity” today, what would you conclude? How would Jesus “measure up”? Would you believe He was a Christian, or would you conclude that He belonged to some other faith—a different religion entirely?

We don’t have to guess the answer to this question. Jesus answers it for us! The Bible is, in a very real way, His book! From its first page to its last, He inspired its writing through the Holy Spirit, and His teachings are perfectly recorded within its pages. We can know what He believed and practiced, because the record of His life on earth has been preserved for us faithfully for almost 2,000 years, as have the teachings and practices of His very first disciples—personally trained by Him to represent Him to the world.

For the remainder of today’s program, we will examine the beliefs and practices of Jesus Christ and compare them to the beliefs and practices most common among Christians today—and in answering the question “Is Jesus a Christian?” we will let Jesus speak for Himself.

How Does First Century Christianity Compare to Today?

Since we have the perfect record of His beliefs, teachings, and practices. So let’s ask some questions and compare what Jesus Christ did and thought to what we see in the beliefs and practices of modern Christianity, today.

First, let’s look at holidays.

Christians around the world vary in the days they keep sacred, but there is a large consensus around some days, such as Christmas in the winter and Easter in the Spring. While these days are often described as a celebration of Jesus’ birth and resurrection, respectively, it is also a fact of history that both days derive from and are adorned with pagan practices and traditions—trappings associated with heathen gods and goddesses and pagan cultures, some of which predate Christianity by many centuries.

You don’t need to take my word for it, and even the laziest of Internet searches will dig up any number of resources for you—for instance, showing how Christmas traces itself back to customs such as the Roman worship of the Sun on the day of Sol Invictus, around the time of the winter solstice, and how many of the trappings of Easter trace back to heathen fertility rituals and the worship of gods and goddesses, such as Eostre, from which the English word “Easter” is believed to be derived.

Now, this may be news to some of you, but many Christians KNOW about the pagan origins of their favorite holidays. They simply believe that God doesn’t mind—as if, perhaps, those days have been “baptized” now, and can be celebrated by Christians with new meaning. After all, Christians don’t believe they are worshiping heathen gods on those days—they are trying to worship the God of the Bible.

Now, compare this to Jesus’ own stand.

Just as it is beyond dispute that these days and many of their traditions originate in paganism, it is also beyond dispute that, in the Bible, God commands us NOT to keep days with such origins. For instance, consider Deuteronomy chapter 12 and verse 31, where God speaks to ancient Israel of the pagan practices of other cultures and commands very clearly: “You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way.” Now notice, He does NOT just say, “Don’t worship those gods.” God plainly says not to worship HIM in THOSE WAYS. We could read of other places, as well, where God’s command is clear—for instance, in Jeremiah 10, where God describes the pagan worship practices of the Gentiles and says with absolute clarity…

“DO NOT learn the way of the Gentiles…” (Jeremiah 10:2).

Of course, these commands are given in the OLD TESTAMENT, yet, what was Jesus’ position on the traditions of men when they conflicted with the commands of God? Jesus Himself tells us in Mark chapter 7, where He is accusing the Jewish leaders of His day of IGNORING God’s clear commands so that they could keep their own traditions, instead:

“He answered and said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men”… All too well you REJECT the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition’” (Mark 7:6–7, 9).

It seems like Jesus’ position is pretty clear, and it is NOT in favor of keeping ANY days of pagan origin or tradition.

Still, this does not mean that Jesus observed no holy days or festivals at all, In fact, quite the opposite! While He refused to compromise and accept the traditions of men when they conflicted with God’s own commands, He DID keep the Holy Days listed in the Bible—specifically, those listed in Leviticus 23—Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day.

For instance, in John chapter 7, we see Jesus keeping the Feast of Tabernacles, which is listed in Leviticus 23:33–43.

Of course, some will say, “Well, that’s different—Jesus HAD to keep them, because He was Jewish! All those days were done away with when He died!”

Except they’d be wrong. The New Testament describes the followers He trained keeping those very same days. For instance, Acts 20:16 mentions Paul’s intention to keep the Day of Pentecost, and in 1 Corinthians chapter 5—written decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection—the Apostle clearly instructs not just Jews but non-Jewish GENTILE Christians to keep the seven-day long Feast of Unleavened Bread.

God’s word makes it plain that Jesus not only condemned elements found in today’s modern Christian holidays, but it also makes plain that He AND HIS DISCIPLES would have observed Holy Days completely foreign to those who call themselves Christian today.

We see a similar discrepancy when we look at the weekly day of worship Jesus kept.

While the vast majority of those today who consider themselves Christian keep Sunday, the first day of the week, as their weekly day of worship, Jesus plainly kept the SEVENTH DAY holy, as the Sabbath. Luke 4 and verse 16 plainly says that it was Jesus’ custom to observe the seventh-day Sabbath.

Now again, some might protest that this was before Jesus’ death and resurrection—that Jesus, as a Jew, HAD to keep the Sabbath, but that after His resurrection, Christians began keeping Sunday because it was the day of the week He was resurrected.

Well, the confusion of the day of the week Jesus was resurrected will be a topic for another program. But, again, we must highlight that the BIBLE shows Jesus’ own followers disagreeing with modern Christianity and keeping the VERY SAME DAY JESUS DID, even when they were Gentiles and not Jews, at all.

For instance, in Acts 13 we read of Paul preaching to both Jews and Gentiles on the seventh-day Sabbath. The non-Jewish Gentiles among them were so excited by what they heard that they begged for more. As we read in Acts 13 and verse 42:

“So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath” (Acts 13:42).

Now, did Paul say to them, “Well, hey, Gentiles, you guys aren’t Jews. Let’s just meet tomorrow on Sunday when my fellow Christians and I are going to have services”? NO, HE DID NOT! Verse 44 says,

“On the next SABBATH almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:44).

He did not invite them to meet for a Christian service on Sunday because there WAS NONE! The Apostle Paul continued, even among the GENTILES, to follow the practice and teaching of Jesus Christ and set apart the seventh-day Sabbath as God’s day for instruction and worship! Even many modern, Sunday-keeping Christian scholars agree on this point: The Bible endorses the seventh-day Sabbath as the day of worship, including the record of Jesus’ teachings and practice and those of His personally trained disciples.

So, what have we seen so far? We’ve seen that, if Jesus were alive among us today IN THE FLESH, as He was 2,000 years ago, He’d find that people who call themselves His followers, all over the world, go to their worship services on completely different days than He does and keep traditions that violate God’s commands in exactly the ways He taught them not to do.

It seems that, concerning the question “Is Jesus a Christian?,” we are beginning to see a very interesting answer ahead.

Jesus Preached the Coming Kingdom of God, and Kept the Ten Commandments!

Now, let’s continue our exploration of the question “Is Jesus a Christian?” by looking at His teachings and attitudes about the law of God and the Ten Commandments.

For most modern Christians, if they are familiar with the law of God and the Ten Commandments at all, there is a sense that the law has been effectively done away by Christ’s sacrifice—the idea that He kept God’s laws perfectly so that we don’t HAVE to keep them. Many modern Christian churches teach that Christ removed the “burden” of God’s laws from us so that we aren’t “weighed down” by such concerns.

That might explain why many Evangelical, Protestant, and Catholic Christians are beginning to live together, or cohabit, before marriage—after all, if God’s prohibitions against fornication are essentially done away with in Christ, then why not?

As Christianity Today reported in March of 2021, “Evangelicals, especially those under 40, increasingly see cohabitation as morally acceptable. Most young evangelicals have engaged in it or expect to” (“The Cohabitation Dilemma Comes for America’s Pastors,” March 16, 2021).

As I’ve said before on Tomorrow’s World, modern Christianity considers the Ten Commandments to be the Seven, Eight, or Nine Good but Not Necessary Suggestions.

But what is JESUS’ take on the Ten Commandments and the Law of God?

Not only does He reaffirm the Ten Commandments, He explains that those who follow Him should consider them even MORE binding. For instance, Jesus taught that you violate the Sixth Commandment against murder, even if you only hate someone in your heart—and if you lust after someone, then He says you are breaking the Seventh Commandment against adultery. Far from “doing away” with the Law of God, Jesus taught OBEDIENCE to them, even telling a young man in Matthew 19:17,

“[I]f you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Again, this was NOT just because He had not been crucified yet. In fact, John, the Apostle who wrote more about love than any other biblical author, explains in his first epistle, speaking of Jesus Christ:

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3–4).

So, clearly Jesus and His disciples don’t exactly “line up” behind modern Christianity’s attitudes and beliefs about God’s Laws. But what about this: What is the MESSAGE of Jesus Christ? What is the actual GOSPEL MESSAGE that He came to preach?

Most modern Christians, if they’ve thought about it at all or have listened in Church, might believe that the Gospel Jesus brought was about His life, death, and resurrection, and that through believing in Him, your sins can be forgiven through His death.

Now, I am not here to disagree that forgiveness of sins comes through repenting and believing in Jesus Christ—I am grateful for that fact! But is THAT the message Jesus came to preach? Is that the Gospel? Do Jesus and most modern Christians agree on this?

No, they don’t. Passage after passage after passage after passage in the Bible makes plain that Jesus Christ came to preach about the coming Kingdom of God! Yes, salvation through Him is a part of that message—without that, we could become no part of that Kingdom! Yet, when one actually looks at the accounts of His teachings and of His disciples’ teachings, the idea that the message was merely one about His life, death, and resurrection begins to be seen as nonsense.

For instance, at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, what do we see? Mark chapter 1 and verses 14 and 15 make it plain;

“Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’”

But the more carefully you look, it becomes even clearer. For instance, in Luke chapter 9 we read that during His ministry Jesus called His disciples together to instruct them on teaching others. Verse 2 plainly says,

“He sent them to preach the kingdom of God [there it is again] and to heal the sick.”

But ask yourself: If the Gospel is centered on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then how did the disciples preach those things when none of those things had happened, yet? In fact, events LATER in the gospels show that they didn’t even understand yet that Jesus would DIE, let alone be RESURRECTED! And they sure didn’t understand forgiveness of sins through His shed blood! No, they preached about the coming Kingdom of God, in which the Messiah would reign over the world. THAT was their message, just as it was Jesus’ message.

We see this time and again in the biblical account. In fact, many times when Jesus heals someone in the accounts, He instructs them NOT to tell others who He is—the exact opposite of what you would expect if the very center of Christ’s message was about His person.

Finally, more than a month after His resurrection, just as Jesus is about to ascend to heaven where He would reside until His Second Coming, what does the Bible say He emphasized to His disciples in preparation for their commission to the world? Look at it in Acts chapter 1 and verse 3, where the resurrected Jesus’ instruction to His disciples is described, saying that

“He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

Yet, again, if we compare Jesus to modern Christians and their beliefs and practices and teachings, we see a stark and important difference.

We are coming to the point where our question “Is Jesus a Christian?” is pressing us to draw an important conclusion.

We’ll come to that conclusion in a moment.

Are YOU a Christian?

But regardless of what anyone else may think, the only definition of “Christian” that makes any sense is “someone who truly follows the teachings of Jesus Christ.” So if the beliefs and practices of modern Christians are out of step with Jesus Christ, it isn’t Jesus who needs to change.

Faced with these facts, those who truly long to be followers of Jesus Christ are the ones who have some thinking to do.

Thanks so much for watching! If you want the free literature that we offer on today’s program, there’s a link in the description. And people often ask us, “How do you do this for free? Why do you do this for free?” Honestly, because Jesus commands us to do it for free; “Freely you’ve received, freely give,” so as always, everything that we offer is absolutely free, and this is no different. We work hard at producing these programs; we put one out every week here at Tomorrow’s World, where we work hard to explain to you your world through the pages of the Bible. We hope that you will join us again. We hope that if it’s been interesting at all, you’ll click on the subscribe button, and if you want to be notified when we do put another one up, just click on that bell. Thanks again!