Those That Never Heard The Gospel

[Pariah]

These questions were asked in another forum:

Who knows how many thousands of years, natives in Australia, the Americas, and other remote parts of the earth, knew nothing about Jesus or the Bible. Did the God who wants no one to perish leave them without a chance of salvation?

God knows whom are seeking Him from those that are not.

Acts 16:6Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, 7After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. 8And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. 9And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. 10And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

So here we see what appears to be the breaking of His commission to preach the gospel in all nations....but this was an exhortation to believers, not a commandment to be followed by the letter since we are led by the Spirit in serving Him.

In this, those that worry about those that have never heard the gospel or to answer those that deem God unfair in condemning anyone to hell for not hearing the Gospel, they should know these verses below:

Matthew 7: 6Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. 7Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

So God knows whom are seeking Him from those that are not.

John 10:3To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

This is the explanation below as to why some will not believe in the gospel .... thus God will not bother to cast pearls before swine of those that are not seeking Him, but pearls will be cast out for those that are seeking Him.

John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

So it is a comfort by His Word, that all those that seek, shall find as those that have never heard the Gospel, but have died, God knew they wouldn't have received Him.

So this exhortation of the great commission remains below:

Romans 10:14How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

Romans 10: 8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That is why His yoke is easy and His burden is light for God is the One doing His work in His ministry as well as in us, so we can rest in Jesus while serving Him as well as living as His by faith & not religiously.

Brings a whole new meaning to grasp when we say: Jesus is Lord.

[canny]

I am curious about this, and I have been pondering it,,,, when explorers have discovered remote tribes, they usually have a spirit of some kind,, how do we know that God has not presented himself to these people in a way they can understand ? Explorers then march in and tell them its all wrong... How do we know that God has not presented himself. ? Just thinking thats all

[Pariah]

I am curious about this, and I have been pondering it,,,, when explorers have discovered remote tribes, they usually have a spirit of some kind,, how do we know that God has not presented himself to these people in a way they can understand ? Explorers then march in and tell them its all wrong... How do we know that God has not presented himself. ? Just thinking thats all

If the sounds went throughout all the earth as Romans 10:18 declares, then one can ascertain that as churches go astray, the Gospel message had gone astray as well. That is why those that love Him will keep His words and do them so that they may be found abiding in Him by faith in the grace of God. There can be no other gospel, so it is the keeping of the faith which is the good fight.

On the Day of Pentecost, many visiting Jews from other countries heard the Gospel in their native language and some believed, took that Good News back to their country. Scriptures can attest to the spreading of the Gospel there.

Although it cannot be confirmed about reports of Jesus appearing to the native American Indians, it stands to reason that wherever the Gospel message was received, it had gotten lost along the way, just as easily as an organized church can lose her way through the course of time.

Those that loved His words, kept them, having them written down out of love for the brethren that came after them, but even then, as scriptures also testify, there are many that will misapply scriptures in their walk with Him as given in "The History of the Keeping of His Word" thread.

So it may be odd that explorers may find that these people in farway places got it wrong, but only because the written word exposes the error since the gospel message doesn't change for there is no other gospel.

[canny]

If the sounds went throughout all the earth as Romans 10:18 declares, then one can ascertain that as churches go astray, the Gospel message had gone astray as well. That is why those that love Him will keep His words and do them so that they may be found abiding in Him by faith in the grace of God. There can be no other gospel, so it is the keeping of the faith which is the good fight.

On the Day of Pentecost, many visiting Jews from other countries heard the Gospel in their native language and some believed, took that Good News back to their country. Scriptures can attest to the spreading of the Gospel there.

Although it cannot be confirmed about reports of Jesus appearing to the native American Indians, it stands to reason that wherever the Gospel message was received, it had gotten lost along the way, just as easily as an organized church can lose her way through the course of time.

Those that loved His words, kept them, having them written down out of love for the brethren that came after them, but even then, as scriptures also testify, there are many that will misapply scriptures in their walk with Him as given in "The History of the Keeping of His Word" thread.

So it may be odd that explorers may find that these people in farway places got it wrong, but only because the written word exposes the error since the gospel message doesn't change for there is no other gospel.

it changed when Jesus came ?

[Pariah]

it changed when Jesus came ?

How can the gospel change when Jesus came? There was no good news before Jesus Christ.

[canny]

How can the gospel change when Jesus came? There was no good news before Jesus Christ.

*sigh* ok thats not what I mean,,, Gods Words for all that time,, is what I mean,, Jesus came and said ang on a mo ,,, thats not quite what was meant, lay off all this literal law stuff and Love each other.

I just wonder,, if those primitive tribes who simply know that the spirit will feed them are not subject to dogma and mans view of what they should interpret

[Pariah]

I just wonder,, if those primitive tribes who simply know that the spirit will feed them are not subject to dogma and mans view of what they should interpret

If you are referring to something specific for an example, you are going to have give more than that.

If not, there is no point of reference to answer that, seeing how we know not what spirit fed them.

There are other forces at work: but I believe God knows those that seek Him, and He will get the Gospel to them. Whethor or not the Gospel received is kept by those around the ones that have received Him, is another matter.

The others in the area may have taken the Good News and modified it to their own liking while the only believers that God sent the Good News to, had received Him, but had died out in the area. Knowing God's Providence and promise, itis a safe to say that no one else was going to receive th

[canny]

If you are referring to something specific for an example, you are going to have give more than that.

If not, there is no point of reference to answer that, seeing how we know not what spirit fed them.

There are other forces at work: but I believe God knows those that seek Him, and He will get the Gospel to them. Whethor or not the Gospel received is kept by those around the ones that have received Him, is another matter.

The others in the area may have taken the Good News and modified it to their own liking while the only believers that God sent the Good News to, had received Him, but had died out in the area. Knowing God's Providence and promise, itis a safe to say that no one else was going to receive th

Nothing specific, I was just pondering an idea. It often happens that once these remote tribes are found, who have survived perfectly well believing in a spirit or various spirits, that food will come, or rain will come, Once infiltrated can no longer surivive. How do we know that God has not been there before us.

[Lily]

it changed when Jesus came ?

I know what you mean Canny

I'm not speaking to you like you are a fool now, you know you are not a fool, I know you are not a fool, I speak to you like the lovely simple little soul you are and we could all take a leaf out of your book by looking at it in such a simplicitc way and not looking upon it as rocket science.

"I tell you the truth. You must change and become like little children {in your hearts}. If you don't do this, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The greatest (most important) person in the kingdom of heaven is the person that makes himself humble like this child. "If a person accepts a little child like this in my name, then that person accepts me.

I wanna tell you a story
A little bird every morning does his jolly best to fly into your conservatory, he wants to get to you. And every morning that little bird comes flyinnnnnnnng into the glass, BOOMPH !
Over and over every morning he does the same thing time after time nearly knocking himself senseless in the process.
You are looking at this bird doing this and you think, " what on EARTH is he trying to do ? Can't he see the glass ? That small window is open there, can't he see that ? Why is he trying to get to me the hard way ? "
But all that little bird wants to do is please you by getting to you, yet he still thinks that this crazy repetitive behaviour is going to impress you. He's trying to EARN good standing with you.
He may fly off and have a little think, comes back, does the same thing again, nothing has changed, he still can't get to you so the repetitive behaviour of flying off to think somemore hoping the situation will change but no matter how much he does this, the result will be the same. BOOMPH,, oooo Mother of all headdddddddddsssssssss
Now, I didn't mention something important,,,, that glass is tinted.
You come out into the garden, you point to the open window and say,, " you silly little thing, can't you see that little open window there ? THATS the way to me "
But you look soooooooo different to him now you have come out from behind that tinted glass and he doesn't believe you. There is only one way in but to that bird it can't be, it's to easy, how can he please you if he doesn't get to you without EARNING his way in ?
He doesn't believe you because YOUR way is not HIS way.

Thats why the Jews had such a hard time when Jesus came to show them another way.
Prior to Jesus, they thought obeying all of God’s laws (and many added on by their religious leaders) was the way to get to God.
It was very much like that crazy repetitive behaviour of that little bird of trying to hard to earn good standing with God.
But nothing was changing in their lives. Instead of trying something else, they carry on with repetitive rituals just hoping that things will eventually get better.
Jesus was basically say, " Look, stop beating yourselves up over this. Stop trying to earn your way in because ya just like that little bird who keeps banging his head on that glass. Just accept that you aren't perfect, admit that you mess up once in a while ( can you imagine their faces at that ) you are sinners, just BELIEVE me because I am here to save you and stop you banging ya heads against that glass. Just believe me when I say YOUR way in is not MY way in. JUST believe, thats allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll you have to do "
Oooooooo the frustration he must have felt. No wonder he cried when Lazarus died ( cos I've never bought the idea he was crying over his friend, why would he cry over a man he knew he was about to bring back ? ), he must have thought,,, " what on EARTH have I got to do to get you to JUST BELIEVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVE ME ! "
Wonder what happened to that bird

[Lily]

Nothing specific, I was just pondering an idea. It often happens that once these remote tribes are found, who have survived perfectly well believing in a spirit or various spirits, that food will come, or rain will come, Once infiltrated can no longer surivive. How do we know that God has not been there before us.

Simple answer is Canny,, we don't know