United Church

 

of God International:

Preaching

 

the Gospel.

Preparing

 

a People.

CAN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD BE SCIENTIFICALLY PROVED? Where did the first life come from?

LET’S FACE THIS QUESTION! IS IT RATIONAL TO BELIEVE IN GOD? Is God merely a myth—an invention of an ignorant, superstitious past?

To answer this first and most important question, you first have to empty your mind of all prejudice. You have to seek the truth, whether it is what you want to believe or not.

There are two possible origins of man and the earth—special creation by a Creator God and evolution. It has become fashionable to accept the doctrine of evolution. It has won popular acceptance in science and higher education.

Many in professing Christian denominations have merely assumed God exists. Why? Simply because they were taught it from childhood. But few have proved it!

On the other hand, the vast majority who accept evolution, did so in college or university. It became the intellectually “in” thing.

People, in general, believe what they do simply because they have been taught it, or because it has been accepted in a particular social group. In general, they believe what they have taken carelessly for granted, without examining the proof!

All the proof and evidence in the world will never cause one to accept that he or she is prejudiced, because prejudice is a barrier to the entrance of truth into any mind.

If you examine it closely, evolution is merely a theory. There is no proof whatsoever for the theory of evolution. It is a faith—a belief. Though those who believe in it insist it is proven fact! But it is not — it is a theory!!

You can prove God exists! You can prove the Bible is the very word of God, the very inspired teachings from the ALL-KNOWING, SUPREMELY-INTELLIGENT, GOD, which are vital for man to solve his problems, prevent his troubles, and LIVE IN PEACE, HAPPINESS, and UNIVERSAL PROSPERITY here on earth.

There is a God who created the whole universe—He brought everything that exists into existence, He created matter, force and energy. He created all the natural laws and set them in motion. He created life and gave man intelligence and intellect. He is superior to all else that is called “God”. He, alone, is God.

Creation is the PROOF of God.

Life can only come from life! The United Church of God Hong Kong challenges you to find any life that has ever existed that did not come from life. You cannot do it. All life came from life. So, reason and intelligence, says there must be a Creator who created all things and gave life.

Once you accept that all life MUST come from life, you cannot deny the existence of God, unless you can accept the origins of life without a Creator, who Himself is life. The Creator, therefore, begins to be revealed by science and reason, as a living God—a God in whom is LIFE, who alone has imparted life to all that have it.

If you would like to learn more, we invite you to read —- the free publications from the United Church of God International, “Does God Exist?”, and “Who Is God”.

If you would like to speak with someone, please “Contact Us” and someone from the United Church of God Hong Kong will contact you.

Why were you born?

Let’s get right down to it — let’s understand God’s GREAT PURPOSE for man. God is REPRODUCING HIMSELF through man. In God’s great PURPOSE, man is to become part of the family of God! That is WHY you were born! That is God’s great PURPOSE for your life. And man needs God’s Holy Spirit to produce the character of God, to have the mind of God, to become God! When God injects His Holy Spirit a person, that means, the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit. Once injected into a person, God’s Holy Spirit imparts the CHARTER of God, the SUPREME MIND of God — the LIFE of God!

If you would like to learn more, we invite you to read —- the free publication from the United Church of God International, “Why Were You Born?”

If you would like to speak with someone, please “Contact Us” and someone from the United Church of God Hong Kong will be in touch.

Many professing Christians sincerely believe they have been “born again”, but do not understand what Jesus meant. The true answer, from the Church of God, is that it is not only surprising, it is astonishing!

When Jesus told the religious leaders present and Nicodemus, John 3:8, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Why did they not understand it? Why do people not understand it today?

Puzzled, Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Nicodemus was unable to conceive of any birth but a second physical birth, his mind could comprehend spiritual things.

Jesus had made clear that the Kingdom of God is something that can be seen but not unless one is “born again.” Also, verse 5, the Kingdom of God is something a man must enter into, but not until he has been born again. That is, an entirely different birth.

Here is the crux point: Jesus said: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Man is now flesh, human. He is mad out of matter, “dust you are,” God said to Adam, “And to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:19). Man is composed of physical matter

To be BORN AGAIN one must be changed from flesh to spirit, to be composed of Spirit — to have self-containing, inherent life. Eternal life! To be “born again” means to be born of God! To be composed of Spirit.

If you would like to learn more, we invite you to read —- the free publication from the Church of God, “Just What Do You Mean, Born Again?”

If you would like to speak with someone, please “Contact Us” and someone from the United Church of God Hong Kong will contact you.

What is a Christian? Is it someone who accepts Jesus Christ as their savior? Is it someone who has had water sprinkled on them and been “baptized”?

A REAL Christian (a truly converted person) is one who has received, and in whose mind dwells the Holy Spirit of God.” And who is then being led by the Spirit of God.

But how does one receive the Spirit of God?

On the day the Church of God was started, the Apostle Peter said, ““Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38).

The Church of God organization highlights that there are the two conditions to receiving God’s GIFT of the Holy Spirit: Repentance and Faith.

Repentance is not merely being sorry for something one has done. Real repentance is a total change of mind and heart and direction of life. It is a change to a new WAY OF LIFE. It is a turning from the self-centered way of vanity, selfishness, greed, hostility to authority, envy, jealousy to the God-centered WAY of obedience, submission to authority, love toward God more than love of self and of love and concern for other humans equal to self-concern.

The two above-mentioned conditions to becoming a Christian – REPENTANCE and FAITH – we ourselves must perform. But these do not make us Christians – do not convert us. It is what God does – giving His Holy Spirit by His grace as His free gift – that converts us.

Our repentance and faith do not earn the receiving of God’s Spirit. God does not give us His Spirit because we repent and believe. He gives His Spirit because He wants to give it. He wants us to have His Spirit as His gift before we repent and believe. He merely requires repentance and belief as conditions.

Yet no one can, of himself, say: “Oh now, I see – I must repent. All right, I hereby repent.” One does not just decide casually, as a matter of routine, to repent. Jesus Christ said that none can come to Him, except the Spirit of the Father draw him (John 6:44, 65). God grants repentance (Rom. 2:4). God calls one, and convicts the mind and conscience by His Spirit, working on the mind externally. Usually a real struggle goes on within. The person has been shaken to know he has done wrong – that he is wrong- he has sinned- he is a sinner! He is brought to real REPENTANCE, not only for what he has done, but for what he now sees that he is. It is not easy. The self never wants to die. To repent is to make an unconditional surrender to God – to obey His Law!

Yet the man or woman, themselves, must make the decision. If he or she does repent, surrender to God, and in FAITH accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior, then, upon performance of these TWO conditions, God promises to put within him the GIFT of the Holy Spirit. This is the very life of God – SPIRIT life. It imparts to him the very divine nature!

The Holy Spirit will open one’s mind to UNDERSTAND God’s instruction on how to live, but it will not force one to live God’s way.

Then what, at that stage, has happened?

This new convert has only been begotten of God – not yet BORN. Many who believe they are “born again” on receiving the Holy Spirit are more in error in terminology than in what happens.

This new convert has not received the full measure of God’s Spirit which Christ had; he is only a spiritual babe in Christ. He must now GROW spiritually, just as a newly conceived embryo in its mother’s womb must grow physically large enough to be BORN as a human.

This new convert has now REPENTED, in his mind, from the depths of his heart. HE MEANS IT, too! In all sincerity, in his mind and heart, he has turned around to go the other way – to live a different life. He is now a CHRISTIAN – he has received God’s Holy Spirit. He has been converted, He is a Christian. He really wants to do what is right – to obey God – to live God’s way. He is being led by God’s Spirit and he is following — by living God’s way of life!

If you would like to learn more, we invite you to read —- the free publication from the United Church of God International, “Why Were You Born?”

If you would like to speak with someone, please “Contact Us” and someone from the United Church of God Hong Kong will contact you.

One of the frequent questions we get at the Church of God, is did God create a devil? What does the Good Book actually teach?

Prior to creating the universe, God created angels, and one of the top angels was a super- archangel — a cherub— called Lucifer. God placed the great cherub, Lucifer, to administer God’s government on the earth. Of this super archangel God said, “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.” (Ezekiel 28:15). Notice Isaiah 14:12, ”How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Notice, this former archangel had been placed as ruler over the angels that sinned. He had a throne. He said he would exalt his throne above the stars (angels) of God.

God did NOT create a devil. He created a super-archangel called Lucifer, who was perfect in his ways from the day he was created. But with the power of free choice, this Lucifer transformed himself into a devil by rebellion against the Government of God, and he led one third of the angels to rebel against God. And this Lucifer became Satan the devil and the angels that followed him, became demons.

The free publication from the United Church of God International – “Did God Create A Devil?” would allow you to learn more. If you would like to speak with someone, please “Contact Us” and someone from the United Church of God HK will contact you. .

Very few understand what “predestination” is. First, consider what it is not. There is no teaching in the Bible, absolutely no text anywhere in it that says anyone is predestinated to be lost. But doesn’t it say anything about predestination? Yes. But it DOES NOT say what people seem to think.

Let us read the only texts speaking about “predestination”, and see if you can find anything in any of them about anyone being predestinated to be lost. The difficulty is that people have assumed and taken for granted what is not true.

There are just two places where predestination is mentioned.

Romans 8:28-30: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did PREDESTINATE to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did PREDESTINATE, them he also called: and whom he called, whom he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”

Ephesians 1:4-5, 11-12 “4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having PREDESTINED us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. . . in Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being PREDESTINED according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.”.

Notice, neither of the places in the Good Book, where predestination is mentioned, says anything about anyone being predestinated to be Lost — predestinated to reject Christ. No one is predestinated to make a certain decision, to accept or reject Christ to be saved or lost.

In the Bible, PREDESTINATION has to do with the time you are called by God. And in God’s great plan, all will be called by God, it is only a matter of WHEN.

Man is not “predestined” to be lost. Some have been predestinated to be called to salvation, now! Many others are predestinated to be called to salvation, in the future!

To learn more, we invite you to read —- the free publication from the United Church of God International, “Predestination, Does the Bible Teach It?”. Also, if you would like to speak with someone, please “Contact Us” and someone from the Church of God Hong Kong will contact you.

After His resurrection, Jesus gave His Apostles the final GOSPEL COMMISSION for this age, and in it He commanded baptism as an obligatory ordinance for this Gospel dispensation:

“And He said to them: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel (the message God sent and Christ proclaimed) to EVERY CREATURE. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (Mrs 16:15-16. Note these points: The Gospel to be preached was not the present-day message ABOUT the Person of Christ, but the Message He brought and preached- which is the Good News of the GOVERNMENT of God. What is it necessary to BELIEVE to be saved? That which is preached — the gospel!

When the preachers today do away with God’s LAW, and therefore the government (Kingdom) of God — for there can be no government without law —they deny that which must be believed to be saved — and their followers cannot be saved, but are deceived! And, also, it is “he that is baptized” that shall be saved. It’s part of the divine Commission — a required ordinance for salvation!

Notice Matthew’s version of the Great Commission:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,…” Surely the disciples were to teach these nations that which Jesus had taught them — the Message God had sent Him to deliver and proclaim to the world — the Good News of the government of God — a Message that has not been preached for 1900 years or more! “…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; (Matt. 28:19-20).

Here again, in the final Great Commission for preaching the Gospel in this age, Christ commanded BAPTISM. And here He specifically stated “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

God’s word teaches, and we the United Church of God HK teach and practice full immersion water baptism. Baptism is a BURIAL, and a RISING from a grave. Notice Colossians 2:12. “Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Neither sprinkling nor pouring is a burial, and

one rises up out of neither. They do not picture the symbolic meaning of baptism, and therefore are meaningless.

When one is plunged INTO the water, he is in a watery grave. He would not live ten minutes unless brought up out of the water — unless RISEN from this watery grave. Therefore a person immersed in water is in a literal grave.

Notice further: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,” (Rom. 6:305)

There is the beautiful symbolism-the real meaning of baptism. It pictures, in symbol, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

But it is a DUAL picture, as all things in God’s Plan are DUAL in operation. It also pictures the crucifixion of the old self (verses 6-7), or of the sinning life, the burial of this sinning self, and the coming up out of this watery grave, symbolic of a much CHANGED person resurrected to a new, righteous, spiritual life in Christ Jesus.

Going down into the water pictures the DEATH of Christ, and of the old self. Coming up out of the water pictures Christ’s RESURRECTION, and a spiritually resurrected person walking hence- forth “in newness of life.”

Water baptism is the ordinance ordained of Christ by which we express our FAITH in Christ as Savior, our ACCEPTANCE of His death, burial, and resurrection for us, and our repentance of the old life and burial of it, rising to new and higher life there after. It is a beautiful ordinance, full of meaning!

To learn more, we invite you to read —- the free publication from the United Church of God International, “What You Need To Know About Baptism”.

If you would like to speak with someone, please “Contact Us” and someone from the United Church of God Hong Kong will contact you. .

The Bible, the written word of God, makes plain, that man is mortal. Man has no immortality inherent within himself. Christ Jesus, only, of all men who have lived, has immortality (I Tim. 6:16).

All have sinned, and the penalty of sin is DEATH-the second, or eternal, death, from which there will be no resurrection. And ALL have sinned and come under this sentence.

Only Goo has eternal life inherent in Himself (John5:26) — and only God has eternal life to give. And as the Father has life inherent in-Himself, so has He given to the Son, Christ, to have immortal life inherent within Himself. And through Christ, God gives it to us (I John 5:11-12)- and whoever has not Christ has not eternal life. Eternal life is a GIFT no man has until he receives it as God’s GIFT (Rom. 6:23).

Is there life after death? Yes. All who have every lived will be resurrected to physical life, and that will be their day of salvation. The time when they too can freely choose to live God’s perfect way of life — God’s way!

If you would like to learn more, we invite you to read —- the free publication from the United Church of God International, “What Happens After Death?”

If you would like to speak with someone, please “Contact Us” and someone from the United Church of God will contact you.

At the Church of God we ask, does it make any difference which day we observe? Does it make any difference if we keep it? Does the Good Book say we should observe Sunday as the Lord’s Day? Was the Sabbath given for the Jews only, while Christians are commanded to keep Sunday as the Lord’s Day? Most professing Christians accept Sunday as the New Testament Lord’s Day. Can all these churches be wrong?

Notice Jesus’ own example. Jesus came into Galilee, after John the Baptist was thrown into prison, preaching the Good NEWS OF THE KINGDOM (government) OF God, calling on men to repent, and to believe. Yes, but to believe what? Believe the very GOSPEL which Jesus brought from God, so Jesus Himself said! (Mark 1:15.) He called His disciples, and immediately “they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the SABBATH DAY he entered into the synagogue” (verse 21). It was Jesus’ custom to attend the synagogue services on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16).

Very few realize it today – but the Sabbath was MADE BY JESUS CHRIST! No wonder, then, He said plainly that He is LORD also of the Sabbath! (Mark 2:28.)

Notice Mark 2:27! It was not only one of those things that was made – it not only had a Maker – but it was made for someone. Now today the prevalent idea seems to be that it was made “for the Jew.” But what did Christ Himself say? He said it was made “for man”!

I want you to read that pivotal text again!

Jesus said, “The sabbath was made.” It is one of those things that was made. It had to have a MAKER. Who, then, made the Sabbath?

God is the Creator. But it is written in Ephesians 3:9, “… God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”

John’s Gospel begins: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … ALL THINGS were made by HIM; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the Word was made

flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him” (John 1:1, 3-4, 14-15).

That “Word” was CHRIST. Christ was with God the Father from eternity. Christ was God! ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM – Jesus Christ! The Sabbath is one of those things that was MADE. So, it was Jesus Christ who MADE the Sabbath. God made it through Jesus Christ or by Him!

Men keep Sunday because of tradition. History and the Bible plainly show which day is the Sabbath. Also, that it DOES MAKE LIFE-AND-DEATH DIFFERENCE – for to break God’s Holy Sabbath is SIN, and the penalty is eternal DEATH!

Notice, too – verse 29: “The ETERNAL hath given you the Sabbath.” Nowhere in all God’s Word can you find any statement that “The ETERNAL hath given you Sunday”.

Who, then, did give the professing Christian world its SUNDAY? You can easily find the answer in HISTORY – carnal MAN gave professing “Christianity” its Sunday – pagans cut off from God – men in rebellion against God! It came out of paganism! And the world follows the custom!

If you would like to learn more, we invite you to read — the free publication from the United Church of God International, “Sunset To Sunset, God’s Sabbath Rest”.

If you would like to speak with someone, please “Contact Us” and someone from the United Church of God HK will contact you.

Are we now in the “Time of the end” prophesied in the Good Book?

Strikingly, biblical prophecy says a super one-world government is to appear in the end time. But do these prophecies make plain that our present living generation is the one to live into that time?

Even the original first century apostles expected this end of the world as we know it to occur in their lifetime. Individuals in every century since have believed the world was at “the time of the end”-that “Armageddon” was near.

But how may we know? How may we be SURE? Or can we know?

Jesus said in Luke 21:28: “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” These things he was talking about include many prophesied events now occurring for the first time in history.

One cannot look at one or two superficial signs or events and jump to any sure conclusion. We must comprehend God’s overall PURPOSE and how he is working out that purpose. Many prophecies must be considered. We must not guess or surmise, or jump hastily to conclusions.

In Matthew 24:14 Jesus comes to answer his disciples’ question: ” “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (verse 3). In verse 14 he answered that question, Jesus himself knowing it would not happen until some two thousand years later. Here is Jesus’ own answer to when the end of the world would come. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” That gospel was not preached to the world from about the middle of the first century until near the middle of the twentieth century.

Jesus was speaking, not of the end of the earth’s existence, but of the end of this world-this age- this present civilization in a world ruled by Satan, who still sits on the throne of the whole earth. God shows us in Bible prophecies, not the date or the year, but the approximate time when he will send Jesus Christ to end this world.

To learn more, we invite you to read “The Book Of Revelation Unveiled At Last” —- a free publication from the United Church of God International. Also, if you would like to speak with someone, please “Contact Us” and someone from the United Church of God Hong Kong will contact you.