Two Gospels- By Blair Adams

[Josh]

Not seeking an entire thread (yet), but what is the consensus about this Homestead Heritage?

I'd be interested in a thread on the Homestead Heritage group.

Then by all means start one.

[Steven Avery]

Of all the presentations one could view this season, I think it would be hard to find something that Jesus would be more pleased with than this one.
Enjoy.

Although I've had the CD for probably 10-15 years, we were discussing it tonight and I watched it carefully with a few friends for the first time, one of whom had picked up the DVD down in Texas many years back (or maybe I picked up this copy in my 2009 visit.) My search on the net brought up this conversation.

And I did check the basic claim about Augustus Caesar and it seems accurate. Ironically some skeptics use that fact to attack Christianity as less authentic. (This is a humorous dynamic, clearly it is perfectly legitimate for Homestead Heritage to present this historical dualism in a more anointed pro-Christian manner.)

All in all I consider it pretty good, although I definitely would not see this production as any type of mirror on their community and its doctrines. Or even their depth of understanding of the history of the Christian church, since it was basically running with one small component and making one point. The closing Garden Tomb scene was neat, with connected music.

A couple of minor notes.

The Palestine reference (11:30) I consider to be a bit puzzling and anachronistic. The New Testament in the 1st century refers to the land of Israel, many times, quite clearly, and even in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. After the Bar Kochba rebellion c.130 AD Rome started to refer to the region as Palestine.

The Bible quotes are generally pretty good, but at times they are mixing from versions, even within one passage. This is something I call "version smorgasbording", which has had a very deleterious effect on their literature and doctrinal consistency and clarity. However, here it did not cause any problems.

The reference to a "radical , different gospel" is double-edged. However, on this thread I want to only deal directly with the 38-minute vid.

Blair Adams has a good voice with some sense of authority. Gary Linzer worked diligently on the production. You do have to be careful with Homestead Heritage books, because the names put on them are not always reflective of the actual labours. In this case, you can be sure the two gentlemen were heavily involved, although others who contributed may have been omitted. One of the reasons why it was sensible and clear would be that Blair Adams was very involved, his style of writing and speaking has generally been good and easy to follow (not always the case with Homestead Heritage material.)

Steven Avery

[temporal1]

2024 / Revisiting the OP link:

Two Gospels / 38min

Description:
Historical and cultural context often proves essential to fully understanding concepts, even ones we might confront and use every day. Most every Christian believes he or she knows just what the “gospel” is, but this moving historical documentary, Two Gospels, will deepen, and even revolutionize, your understanding of this concept so central to Christianity. Viewing Two Gospels has been, for many, an unforgettable experience that has drawn them “through the veil” closer to the essential meaning of Christianity, moving them closer to the very Presence of God.

Homestead Heritage
https://www.youtube.com/@HomesteadHeritageCommunity
Homestead Fair / Waco, Texas
https://www.homesteadfair.com/

Blair Adams 1944-2021 / obituary
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/wa ... d=14407193

[Sudsy]

Today I consider the other gospel to that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and perhaps even more deceptive to mankind is the 'Prosperity Gospel'.

A blend of the true Gospel and one of a gospel majoring on materialism being the 'good news' that in this present world we can have 'heaven on earth' with material abundance. This gospel is so captivating to fleshly desires that many are blinded to not see that Jesus, His disciples and the early church did not benefit from such a gospel nor did they preach it. This has lead many into a believing that the Kingdom of God here on earth is one that can best be had by supporting worldly leaders who present their ways as saviour of this world. These worldly leaders can lie, cheat and steal and many other sins that will be overlooked if they support a few key areas that Christians think matter most.

As Jesus said His Kingdom is not of this world and if it were He would have His servants physically fight to have it so. His Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom and in that Kingdom His servants are to fight the enemy, satan, every day. Scripture gives us the details on the armour we are to put on to do this job. The question, to me, is - am I involved in this spiritual fight and am I dressed every day in the armour required to fight it ? I would like to say I am but that would be a lie.

If only the 'Prosperity Gospel' folks would look at Jesus and His early followers and see that the abundant life Jesus spoke about is possible for us all regardless of our material state in this world. Today, I consider this 'other gospel' as the most dangerously deceptive gospel leading professing believers away from proclaiming what scripture says is 'the Gospel that saves us'. There is no indication that Jesus and the early church had the prosperity being preached by some today and to the contrary these early believers suffered and many were martyred for their faith. Yet through all this, they could live an abundant life in the Spirit.

Sorry, if this is getting side-tracked from the comparison to the gospel of Caesar but this video kept reminding me of the 'other gospel' that I believe is most dangerous in today's world, especially here in North America.

[temporal1]

2016:

Amazing how much the civil religion of the United States echoes that of the Roman empire, "Providence", "Nature's God", etc.

Well maybe I should be less amazed than I am.

Unfortunately, 2000+ years on, the world today is very much as it was when Jesus was born.
Including politics and human law. Some superficials have changed (like, technology).

Every generation seems to think it’s superior. It must be human nature.
In reality, the question each generation might ask would be, “Are we as good as” former generations?

i shudder to think.
as i apologize to those who went before - esp those who made it their life’s motivation to leave a better place for those to come.
if they had seen what has unfolded, they might not have sacrificed so much, so willingly.

[barnhart]

This is a very good presentation, thanks for posting.

I especially appreciate the attention to lengths to which the new testament writers went to parallel the kingdom of Jesus with Rome. Paul was especially given to this in his Epistles to Rome an Ephesus but the gospel writers were keen on this as well. Words, phrases, slogans and concepts originally intended for Caesar were intentionally repurposed to describe the scope of authority claimed by Jesus and his kingdom.
"The gospel"
"All the fullness of God in body form"
"Savior of the world"
"The gospel for all peoples"
"Wind and wave are his subjects"

Many attempts have been made to tame or domesticate the kingdoms of this world so the two gospels can lie side by side without conflict, but this was not a concern for the writers of the new testament.

Augustine imagined the worldly kingdoms would wither into the dust of irrelevance leaving Jesus as the unified ruler, medieval theology was spun to justify dominance by force, Luther envisioned and two kingdom theology where the "right hand kingdom" (church) and the "left hand kingdom" (state) ruled in harmony. The progressive church of the 19th and 20th centuries were back to an Augustine vision of God's rule extended by dominant civilization, Fundamentalism pivoted back to a dualist position similar to Luther in some ways except the church retreating from mainstream society.

Now I see a re-emergence of the raw power rule of nationalism where the church is hungry for lost cultural dominance and is on a quest to reclaim it. I am dis-quieted by this as it lies too close to other historical power grabs by Christians, like crusading for the holy lands, driving the Moors and Jews from Spain or purging Europe from Anabaptists.

The Heritage Homestead video did a good job explaining why I cannot join forces with the modern crusaders nor the fundamentalists in their material world/spiritual world dualism, neither encompass the vision and goals of the early church as defined by the new testament.