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30. The entire earth was evangelized before the end of Paul's ministry and will not be evangelized by Christians again before Christ returns. The vast majority of pastors embrace and teach Satan's lie that the entire earth has never been evangelized and that the so-called Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 automatically applies to all Christians. Many of these same pastors embrace and teach Satan's lie that Jesus will not return until the Church evangelizes the world, supposedly in fulfillment of the so-called Great Commission. Many of these same pastors embrace and teach Satan's lie that the world will be evangelized by the 144,000 Jews who will be saved during the Great Tribulation. The main work of the Church has always been to evangelize the unsaved and make disciples of the converts until Jesus returns. But the so-called Great Commission was given to the Eleven apostles. It was not given to them and the more than five hundred brethren by whom Jesus was seen after His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:6). The Eleven were commissioned and empowered after becoming disciples (according to the conditions of Luke 14) to go and teach all nations (ethnos), to go into all the world (kosmos), and to preach the Gospel to every creature (ktisis); and, before the end of Paul's ministry, they did exactly that. According to the Scriptures the world has already been evangelized in fulfillment of Matthew 28:19-20. Because of the apostasy of the Church, Christians will not evangelize the world again before Jesus comes back. The Gospel will, however, be proclaimed throughout the earth by an angel near the end of the Great Tribulation (Rev. 14:6). There is not even a hint in the Scriptures that the 144,000 Jews, who are seemingly saved during the Great Tribulation will evangelize even a single person, much less the entire world. In fact, there is not even a hint in the Scriptures of anyone repenting, much less being saved (except the 144,000 Jews) after hearing the preaching of repentance by the Two Witnesses, who preach for 42 months. The commission to the Eleven, in part, was: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations [ethnos]" (Mat. 28:19); "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations [ethnos]" (Lk. 24:47); "Go ye into all the world [kosmos], and preach the Gospel to every creature [ktisis]" (Mk. 16:15); "and ye shall be witnesses...unto the uttermost part of the earth [ge] (Acts 1:8)." Paul wrote, "Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ...now is manifested, and...according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations [ethnos]" (Rom. 16:25-26 NASB). Paul used the word ethnos here, just as the Gospel writers did in Matthew 28:19 and Luke 24:47. To the Christians in Rome Paul also wrote, "Your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world [kosmos]" (Rom. 1:8). Paul also used the word kosmos in Colossians 1:5-6: "The word of the truth of the gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world [kosmos]." Jesus used the word "ge" for "earth" recorded in Acts 1:8, as Paul did in Romans 10:18: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth [ge], and their words unto the ends of the world [oikoumene]." Oikoumene denotes the inhabited earth. Paul said, "Therefore, let it be known to you that the salvation of God was sent to the nations [ethnos]" (Acts 28:28, KJIIV). The word ktisis used by Mark in 16:15, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature [ktisis]," was also used by Paul: "The gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature [ktisis] which is under heaven" (Col. 1:23). Again, the main work of the Church has always been to evangelize the unsaved and make disciples of the converts until Jesus returns. However, it takes wheat to reproduce wheat and it takes disciples to reproduce disciples. Also, before the Lord sends out anyone who is His disciple and who has been prepared by Him, he must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Very few Christians have been filled with the Holy Spirit, and even fewer have become disciples according to the conditions of Luke 14, and even fewer Christians have become disciples and been filled with the Holy Spirit. In fact, most true Christians, including most pastors, are in a state of apostasy (falling away from the truth---Jesus is the Truth personified) and refuse to become a disciple of Jesus, and are not obedient enough to the Lord to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Because of this great end-time falling away from truth, and because most true Christians refuse to love the truth (Jesus is the Truth), God will allow Satan to give all his power to the Antichrist and overcome true Christians during the Great Tribulation. Because most true Christians refuse to become disciples of Jesus, He will not fill them and send them out to evangelize the world. The vast majority of so-called missionaries have gone out, but God did not send them. And many of them are preaching a watered-down "gospel" that leaves out the absolute necessity of repentance in order to be saved, which means those "missionaries" are accursed by God (Gal. 1:8-9). Jesus will return on the last day of the Great Tribulation, which is the last day of the earth, the universe and heaven, after an angel, not Christians, preaches the Gospel "to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people" (Rev. 14:6). Then the end will come as Jesus said it would (Mat. 24:14). |