|
Message from His Holiness “All have scorned and fallen short of the glory of God. “ So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.” Genesis 1:27. “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” Genesis 1:28. I write of man in this state and condition in which he has found himself. He could never be the same man that we read about in Genesis. He was a perfect man a little less powerful than the angels. Then came a second Angel full of wisdom, love and understanding: a person of the highest intelligence. God talked to him, God gave him laws, he understood, and he obeyed God. He was happy, he knew nothing of death, he experienced no sorrow, and he shed no tears as one in harmony with all creation and his God. He enjoyed the Glory of God, honoured with dominion and power. God visited him often, what a great being, what a wonderful time. We have never experienced any of this Glory, being children of the fallen. We are children of those who have known sorrow, grief, pain, sickness and death. Job 14:1. “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.” All men must now experience these things, pestilence, and ugly wars. It was in love that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” St. John 3:16. This man, the Lord Jesus Christ of whom I speak, is the second Adam, the second perfect man, who came to save mankind from the curse of sin, to teach us how to avoid eternal death, offering what was originally given to us, in our blindness. But we would not believe him. We despised and rejected him. We said away with this man and judged him unfit to live here. Before Jesus died, he said “forgive them oh my Father, they know not what they do. St. Luke 23:34. All that we do, all that we know, the Lord still says that we do not know what we are doing. Jesus still offers hope. How shall we escape (death) if we neglect so great a salvation through the gospel which is and must be preached throughout the world? Jesus has left very simple rites and laws to begin with: “go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of God the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost:” St. Matthew 28:19. And he said unto them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall be damned. For this reason, I hope that you are listening. In God's Service His Excellency Patriarch Dr. Granville Williams Barbados |