KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES 

"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."

 THE KINGDOM OF GOD

 Part 16

HOW THE KINGDOM COMES

(continued) 

            When our Lord spoke of the Kingdom of God He said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”  Jesus had just told His disciples where the Kingdom is and how the Kingdom does not come.  Before you can ever see the Kingdom you have to know how it’s not coming — because the first thing we try to do is build it by the natural.  The spirit of wisdom and understanding from God must deliver us from our confusion about how the Kingdom of God comes.  It cannot be established by force.  It cannot be established by law.  It will never be established by any kind of political action.  It is impossible for it to be established by the will, efforts, or programs of men or of governments. 

NOT BY LAW 

            In the United States today we have the Fundamentalist and Charismatic Christian movements whose burden it is to restructure government and society in the name of the Lord, not by spiritual regeneration, but by constitutional legislation.  These are sincere Christians concerned for the social problems confronting the modern world who are being beguiled and deceived into accepting the premise that by partaking in the Babylonish systems of this confused world, they will be able to effect significant changes and bring about the Kingdom of God on earth.  To those on the “religious right” that seems to be envisioned as a political government that will outlaw abortion, re-institute public prayer in schools and legislate Christian morality on the whole of society.  It is their conviction that God’s Word gives them a mandate to infiltrate and exercise godly control over all the political, social, educational and judicial institutions of the nation.  They are convinced that the Bible gives us a divinely revealed pattern for social and political action.   

            But does the law of Moses give us a body of social, economic and political regulations which, when applied, will rescue our nation or any nation from its woes?  If a serious problem exists in our society, can we scan the precepts of Moses for a solution?  When we discover the Old Testament law to resolve a moral and social difficulty, is it an expression of the Kingdom Jesus taught to lift out the regulation as found in Moses and write it in the law books of our state?  Some are claiming that this is God’s method of establishing the principles and power of the Kingdom of God in our world today.   

            The Church goes out and protests abortion, they demand that the law be changed.  The people of God go out and protest homosexual activities, same sex marriages, and a score of other moral issues, demanding that laws be passed based on the laws of God.  They have the Old Testament mentality that thinks the way to make America a godly nation is to legislate morality.  Let’s force everyone to submit to our standards of right and wrong because we have this authority from God.  That’s what the Pope thinks, too.  And it’s what the Moslem Fundamentalists and the Orthodox Jews think.  It’s what the Serbs think.  That’s what Hitler thought.  They all think they have authority from God to legislate their particular standard of righteousness and enforce it as the law of the land.  With every law there is a punishment for breaking that law.  Thus, those who would, in the name of Christ, legislate morality also are responsible for the punishments meted out to those who break the law.  They thus become “bearers of the sword” and it brings Christians right back under the Old Covenant — an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth!  And they can no longer say with the merciful Jesus, “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (Jn. 3:17).   

            All Christians who are out protesting abortion and pressing for legislation to ban it and other evils are condemners of the world.  The spirit of sonship is not in them.  The priesthood of mercy has not been raised up in their hearts.  The spiritual dynamic of the Kingdom of God has never been quickened in their consciousness.  They would never be able to say to the woman taken in adultery, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.”  Instead, they would be carrying placards and petitioning the government for stronger laws against adultery.  If they themselves did not hold stones in their hands to stone her, they would at least rejoice in the government’s restrictions and be consenting to the stoning, as Saul of Tarsus consented to the stoning of Stephen.  They would say, “Praise God, justice was done and a strong signal has been sent out to all our young people and would-be law breakers, that adultery is sin and punishable by death!  This will put holy fear in their hearts and preserve the moral values of our nation.”  I do not hesitate to say that such an attitude is diametrically opposed to the spirit of sonship.  It has nothing whatever to do with the Kingdom of God.  It stands, in fact, in opposition to the Kingdom of God.  It is a monstrous heresy and a religious delusion.  It is spiritual treason.   

            People want to get all the pornography off the news stands.  Am I in favor of pornography?  Certainly not!  Am I in favor of legislating it out of the land?  If I am I become a minister of the law of the Old Covenant, not a minister of deliverance to creation.  I tell you today, I will preach to somebody, I will proclaim the love and power of God to him, I will demonstrate the mercy and goodness of the Lord toward him, I will do everything within my power to touch that heart and change that life with the grace of Jesus Christ to experience the holiness of God, but I will not compel him by condemnation and law and punishment — that is not the way of the Kingdom of God.  I am not a minister of the law, I am a priest of the Most High God.  God is raising up His Kingdom from within men, not from without men.  The sons of God are Ambassadors of that Kingdom that establishes righteousness in the earth by transformation, not by compulsion.  Man’s government is the instrument of the sword, not the sons of God.  We are bound in the spirit to represent only the interests and principles of the Kingdom of God, never the interests or policies of the kingdoms of this world. 

            Preachers travel up and down the land with their fingers pointed at sinners, picking out a new sin, the sin of the week, to preach against.  Their whole message is that the media is ungodly, the government is corrupt, the New World Order is a conspiracy, the educational system is immoral, the abortionists, homosexuals, and others must be stopped, and they breathe out threatenings, hell-fire and damnation against the world from their perch high upon a crag on mount Sinai.  That’s not God’s way at all!  Our heavenly Father calls us to assume a posture that causes the light of God to shine upon the just and upon the unjust.  The way of the Kingdom is not human government.  The way of the Kingdom is not trying to get everyone to agree on a law that forbids unrighteousness and godlessness.  That is the way of man’s government, they can only deal with evil by restraint.  But that is not God’s Kingdom economy.  To reign in the Kingdom the heart of the Father in heaven must be raised up within us.  Sin cannot be gotten rid of externally.  The whole concept of the Kingdom as taught by the preachers today is absurd.  

            This may surprise some of my readers, but sons of God are not called to point their fingers at the evils of society.  JESUS NEVER DID!  God did not call us to crusade and announce, “Abortion is evil, you should not do it.  There ought to be a law!”  No, I do not condone indiscriminate abortion.  No, I am not for drugs and immorality and crime.  But God did not call me to condemn the world — to condemn either these social evils or those who practice them.  The people of God must offer a solution to sin instead of preaching against it.  And our solution is not more laws.  History proves that laws solve nothing.  Does our “war on drugs” remove drugs from the streets and school yards of our nation?  Absolutely not!  Did “Prohibition” eradicate alcohol and drunkenness from America?  No way!  God does not need the church to tell society that adultery, hatred, lying, cheating, stealing and killing are wrong.  Too much of the message of religion is lambasting sin and telling sinners how evil they are and that they are headed for hell and damnation.  I can guarantee you that in their deepest heart they already know that!  God needs a people who can offer the solution — the love of God and the power of God to deliver, redeem and transform is the answer.  This is the power and glory of the Kingdom of God! 

            You can get rid of all pornography, you can close down all the abortion clinics, you can close up all the brothels, all the adult book stores, all the nude strip-joints, and all the hell-holes of sin, pass a million laws against sin, send out the army in the streets to enforce them, and sin will still erupt in your very midst because it is the heart that is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.  Outward sins are merely an effect of the inward sin of heart and nature — they are not a cause.  Man does not sin because he sees sin, he sins because it’s a nature to do it.  The fact is, I couldn’t have been anything at one time except a sinner because as long as I remained in the consciousness of Adam I would forever be in a consciousness of sinning.  But once you begin to come into the consciousness of the Christ the whole concept of sinning becomes foreign to you.  You become centered in a God-Christ consciousness which becomes the spirit motivating your actions, the law of life within.  Christ within becomes the animating principle and power of your being unto righteousness.  And this, precious friend of mine, IS THE POWER AND THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD! 

            Let me say it again — the laws of Moses have absolutely nothing to do with the Kingdom of God! With what divine genius does the Holy Spirit on the pages of God’s Word proclaim the eternal truth:  “The law and the prophets were until John, but since that time the kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it” (Lk. 16:16; Mat. 11:13).  According to Jesus the Kingdom involved such altogether new forces and such unparalleled blessings and realities, that all the works and provisions of former moves of God on earth paled by comparison.  They were the words of God, but not the reign of God.  They were the works of God, but not the rule of God.  They brought men into contact with God, but not under the dominion of God.   

            Times without number I have heard good people rejoicing in some “godly” piece of legislation that is before congress, or in their involvement in the anti-abortion movement, or that Christians have gained positions on the local school board, or that the ten commandments are posted in a court room or school building.  But consider this, oh tradition bound man!  “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”  May the Spirit of God make it powerfully real to all who read these lines that the Kingdom of God is not a kingdom of law — it is the Kingdom of Grace and Truth. 

            Righteousness cannot be legislated.  You cannot turn America or any other nation back to God with laws or any kind of governmental authority.  You can put prayer back in the schools, but they will be carnal prayers that will rise no higher than the ceiling.  You can outlaw this and that sin, but it will not change the hearts of men one iota.  What the world needs today is not laws or police action to establish righteousness — men must experience regeneration, transformation, a new birth from above.  This is only effected by SPIRITUAL POWER.  The Kingdom of God can only be established in the earth by the spiritual power that changes men and makes them new creatures in Christ Jesus.  “Except a man (any man) be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” is what Jesus taught.  Once a man is born again, truly born again by the Spirit of God, you need no laws to enforce righteousness upon him.  Once a nation turns to the Lord it will change the government — but changing the government cannot turn men to the Lord!  The so-called “Christian Right” in America today has the cart before the horse.  They have the whole thing backwards.  Their mission will fail.  They cannot and will not bring America back to God through the ballot box.  I tell you as a prophet of God that political action and organization by the religious people in the United States or anywhere else will not return the nation to its Christian roots and heritage.  They are barking up the wrong tree.  Only the mighty saving, delivering, transforming power of God can accomplish the work.  

            Let me illustrate.  Suppose that there are two meetings going on at opposite ends of the city.  Both are led by preachers.  One is engaged in spiritual ministry.  The power of God is moving and men are coming to Christ, broken, weeping, contrite, repenting, calling upon the name of the Lord, their chains of sin and darkness broken, washed away by the power of God, becoming new creatures in Christ Jesus.  Saints are being strengthened, the ways of the Lord are being established in hearts, the plan and purpose of God are being quickened in the consciousness of those seeking the Lord. The other preacher is heading a political movement to enlist “Christian political activists” in the project of holding demonstrations, lobbying government to put prayer back in the schools, initiate programs to get kids off of drugs, outlaw pornography, nude dancing, adult book stores, etc.  Now, which of these two preachers is acting as an Ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven; which of these preachers is doing the work of the Kingdom of God; which of these two is causing the Kingdom of God to come upon men; which of these two is introducing men to the Realm of Heaven; which is reigning in some measure with Christ from His throne of heavenly power? 

            There should be no doubt in any spiritual mind.  The soul-saving preacher is certainly moving in a dimension of the Kingdom of God even in this present “in part” realm, whereas the politically active preacher is trying by the energy of the flesh, by the principles of the kingdoms of this world, and by the methodology of the law of Moses, to reform the carnal government of man.  With the above truth gaining access and blooming in our hearts, let us prepare our hearts to now step beyond our present age to the more excellent glory of the new order which is now at hand in the Feast of Tabernacles, the third day, the Holiest of all, the manifestation of the sons of God.  Let us discard the silly doctrines, methods and programs of men and evil traditions inherited from the kingdom of Babylon that we may receive of God and become His sons and daughters.  The glory of this hope hastens my step.  It quickens my heart.  It speeds my writing.  It urges me to partake completely of Him, to crown Him my Lord and Head forever. 

            It is my deep conviction that the time appointed of the Father for the manifestation of the sons of God is nigh at hand.  Sons of God shout it loud and clear!  Let the earth know her redemption draweth nigh!  The King of Love is coming!  Hallelu-yah!  The Deliverer is coming out of Zion, the whole Christ-body is being prepared, and the time is at hand.  While the religious systems “play church” and the Christians “dabble in politics” trying to save the nation and the world, the royal heralds are going forth blowing their trumpets, proclaiming the message of the Kingdom in the power of the Spirit, preparing the stage for the appearing of the KING in a vast company of the sons of God — the King in the midst of the kings!  What a glorious and mighty and exultant victory lies before us! 

            Now don’t misunderstand me.  I certainly am not opposed to good and godly laws in our land, nor to Christians exerting their influence for righteousness in society or government.  That is all well and good and to be commended, and I praise God for it.  JUST DON’T CALL IT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.  It is not the Kingdom of God.  It has nothing to do with the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is not good laws or religiously oriented politics in this or any other land.  The Kingdom of God is “righteousness, and peace, and joy IN THE HOLY GHOST.”  What is the difference?  I will tell you!  When Christians exert pressure on carnal institutions and impose their will and standards on unregenerated men, you have just another function of human government.  It may be better human government.  But it is still just human government.  But, when those carnal institutions are changed because all the people in them have been transformed by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost — then YOU HAVE THE KINGDOM OF GOD!  You have now not a legislated righteousness imposed from without, but “righteousness...in the Holy Ghost.”  Ah, the former was imposed by the law of the statute books — the Old Covenant; the latter is the result of the laws written in the hearts of men by the Spirit of the living God — the New Covenant!  The Kingdom of God offers the solution to both sin and death.  The world needs the solution to its evils and sorrows, not another band aid.  God is preparing a people to step forth upon the world scene in the all nature, wisdom, power and glory of God’s Christ.  THIS IS THE POWER AND GLORY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 

            This is why I have consistently refused to become involved in movements, or organizations, in campaigns, crusades, and whatever work is dedicated to “anti” something.  If I become a militant moralist to fight the degeneracy in our midst, if I work myself to death screaming against the communists, if I labor day and night warning God’s people and the nation against politicians, the Illuminati, the world bankers, the Tri-lateral Commission, the United Nations, the New World Order, and all the other conspiracy theories — will it deliver even one soul from the power of darkness and translate him into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son?  Will it lead to transformation and to the glorification of as much as one life rescued from the power of hell, and raised up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus?  The answer is abundantly clear.  God’s purpose for His chosen ones is to become a part of THE STONE THAT IS CHRIST, which is cut out of the mountain without hands.  It is a Kingdom not of this world, out of the heights and depths of God.  BECOME WHAT CHRIST IS — that is the goal which He has set before us.  In becoming what He is, we become a part of that MIGHTY STONE which shall smite the kingdoms of man and become A GREAT MOUNTAIN to fill the whole earth.  Nothing less than that can satisfy the call of God upon our lives.  There is nothing else we can do to correct the world’s ills.  It will not be healed through religious efforts or through political schemes.  The only remaining hope for the world is for the Lord’s elect to become ONE WITH HIM WHO IS THE MIGHTY STONE which shall destroy all these kingdoms and become a great mountain that fills the whole earth.  And when we have sought the Lord and have given ourselves unreservedly to Him, He will speak to us as He did to Isaiah: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.  For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.  And the Gentiles (nations) shall come to thy light, and kings (rulers, governments) to the brightness of thy rising” (Isa. 60:1-3). 

THE NEW MAN OF THE KINGDOM 

            Our world today needs the new men that Christ makes.  New men are the key to everything else that must be renewed.   Therefore the making of new men is the first priority of the Kingdom of God.  Only by the making of new men can the Kingdom of Heaven come to earth.  Our world desires better schools, a better press, better government, a better business world, a better economy, better living conditions, better social institutions, better communities.  These desires are laudable, but they cannot be achieved with unchanged men.  The earth and all things in it are defiled and are being devoured because man has transgressed God’s laws, ordinances, and covenants.  But we also know that no man can keep God’s laws unless Christ dwells in him.  The great truth is that the man in Christ does not keep the letter of the law, which is merely the outward husk of type and shadow, but he keeps the spirit of the law which is the inward law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.  This results in the living expression of the nature and character of God in all things, not a keeping of external rules and regulations which give only the appearance of godliness.  Thus the righteousness of the law, and not its external forms, are fulfilled in them who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.  The answer to creation’s deteriorating state is not to preach the keeping of the law; the answer lies in the living out of Christ, and in Him alone.  When Christ comes to dwell in individuals, they will then keep Father’s Kingdom laws of life within, and the whole creation will be preserved, touched, affected, and transformed.  And unless He lives  within individuals, it is a useless waste of time to urge them to keep God’s laws. 

            At every point we are driven to the need for new men — a NEW CREATION.  Through two world wars men dreamed and talked of the coming of a better world when the nations would lay down their arms and begin to build that better world.  A half of a century has gone by since the last World War and it is not only the same old world, it is a much worse world.  We cannot build a new world out of men with old dispositions, old attitudes, old hearts and old natures.  The new world for which all creation groans and travails can only be fulfilled by new men with renewed minds, new hearts, and a new spirit. 

            The outward law of God is given to reveal to us the nature of God Himself.  I will use one illustration from the Ten Commandments to make the point.  When God says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” He is not simply trying to prevent us from enjoying the lusts of our flesh.  He is telling us something about Himself — how He is.  The only eternal, unchangeable, immutable, invariable, unalterable, firm, fixed, sound, solid, balanced, dependable, reliable, steady, steadfast, ethical, moral and totally trustworthy thing in the whole universe is — GOD!  “Thou shalt not commit adultery” — it means that GOD HIMSELF is committed, reliable, true, dependable, faithful and trustworthy.  He keeps His commitments.  He keeps His covenant.  He honors His word.  He is faithful in all His involvements.  He will not cheat on you, lie to you, deceive you, betray you, forsake you or fail you.  He loves you and will take care of you, cherish you, nurture you, protect you, and cleave to you.  He does not “chase skirts,”  He will not abandon you for greener grass on the other side of the fence.  He is not adulterous, with a roving eye and a lying, cheating heart.  He is love, He is good, He is faithful, He is persevering, and His nature is constant, abiding and unchanging.  THAT IS HOW HE IS!  When you understand the nature of one who is not adulterous in thought, desire or action, you understand something about the character of God.  And that is how He wants us, His sons, to be!  His law reveals His nature.  Study deeply the laws of God under the Old Covenant and you will learn the heart of God.  And when His law is written in our heart, His nature — how He is — is inscribed upon the tablets (genetic code) of our Inner Son. 

            This great faithfulness and unchanging nature of God is revealed with divine clarity in the words of the Lord through the prophet Hosea to backsliding Israel.  Israel was the wife of Yahweh, and she had played the harlot, shamefully abandoning her Husband, and had wantonly lain with all the gods of the heathen as her lovers.  Yahweh had entreated her again and again to return to Him and be a faithful wife, but she paid Him no heed and persisted in her abominations.  A lesser being would have put her away.  A lesser person would have been hurt, wounded, devastated, and said, “To hell with her.”  But not Yahweh!  He pursued her into the dens of her shame, saying, “And now I will discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand” (Hos. 2:10).  He spoke of chastisements, of judgments — loving corrections — He would bring upon her, but hastily added, “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness (testing, purging, purification, brokenness), and speak comfortably unto her.  And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor (trouble) for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.  And it shall be at that day, saith Yahweh, that thou shalt call me Ishi (my husband!)...and I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I shall betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.  And I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know (be intimate with) YAHWEH” (Hos. 2:14-20).  What a God!  When His law says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” He is revealing His nature, His heart, to us that we know Him as He is, and be like Him. 

            What is called “nature” in man is called “instinct” in animals.  For years debate has been underway amongst the modern-day scholars over whether instinct is real or not, or whether what appears as instinct in animals is really taught or acquired characteristics.  For a long time no conclusion was ever really made.  Then, not too many years ago, a scholar by the name of Dr. Maurice, decided that he wanted to conclude, once and for all, the lasting debate of instinct.  He went to Johannesburg, South Africa, to study the strange behavior of the Weaverbird.  It is the most amazing bird!  It builds an elaborate nest out of reeds from the lake where it lives.  It then lines the nest with silky grass.  The odd thing about this nest is that it is completely enclosed, with the exception of a hole in the bottom.  This hole is how the bird enters and exits the nest.  How the bird keeps its eggs from rolling out of the hole, is a mystery.  Why the bird does this, no one knows.  Ornithologists have long wondered. 

            Dr. Maurice thought that he could test the reality of instinct by taking two eggs from a weaverbird’s nest in South Africa, bring them to America, and then hatch those eggs and raise the birds isolated from the others of their kind, never being exposed to this strange behavior.  And that was what he did.  He hatched those eggs, raised the birds, hatched the eggs from those birds and raised them, and did this until he had raised five generations of weaverbirds here in the United States of America.  He then took the last generation of weaverbirds and returned them to their natural habitat in South Africa.  And guess what?  Those birds did an amazing thing.  They went straight and built elaborate nests from the reeds by the lake, lined them with the silky grass, and tore a hole in the bottom.  He proved that it was in their “nature” to do it!  It’s how they are.  They are pre-programmed, acting out of their state of being.  In just the same way the natural man functions out of the law of sin and death that dwells in his members.  We think people choose to sin.  We have had the mistaken notion that homosexuals are homosexual because they chose that lifestyle.  Or we think that prostitutes are prostitutes because of choosing that lifestyle.  But when we were born into this realm of sin and death we inherited a nature from Adam.  Now I know that some deny that the carnal man is Adam, but it was by one man that sin was passed to all men, and the root of sin is found only in the Adam nature.  The carnal man is ignorant and out of the way.  He is a slave to sin and in bondage to death.  He doesn’t understand.  He doesn’t know why he acts as he does.  He can’t help himself!  The only way out of that kingdom is by death and being born again into a new life in a new world.  “Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”  But when men and women are born again the law of God’s very own nature is transmitted by the Holy Spirit into the genetic code of the Inner Life of every son and daughter of God!  “As we have borne the image of the earthly, let us also bear the image of the heavenly.” 

            There would never be a broken home, a heartbroken wife or husband, or deserted and destitute children if the nature of God was written in all men’s hearts.  There would be no bigotry, no hatred, no crime, no war, no evil or trouble anywhere on earth if the nature of God was written on all men’s hearts giving them a heart in the likeness of His own and a mind as the mind of Christ.  From the redeemed and transformed heart the law (nature) of God flows forth as a river of life.  We still have those among us who thunder the letter of the law from Sinai’s mount — but all such will change their tune if ever they stand with the Lamb of God at Calvary’s hill, for there they find God removing His law from the external tables of stone to write them upon the fleshy tablets of the hearts of new born men, who no longer keep the law because they cringe in fear, but because the spirit of that law has become their nature, the law of life within them. 

            Can you imagine the United States Government passing one massive law that says, “WE FORBID ANYMORE CRIME OF ANY KIND.” — and it worked!  Impossible.  Laws are on the outside; you read them; you think about them; and if you have any morality at all, you even try to obey them, at least when the patrol car is driving in your lane of traffic, or when anyone is looking who might report, expose, or punish you if you do not.  Edicts of men are issued, but they cannot be imparted.  You talk them, but few walk them.  So laws cannot change the inner man; nor can the best of men follow the totality of any laws laid down in his behalf.  That is why there is such torment and slavery under the law, for we have become aware now of what God defines as sin, yet we struggle with it nonetheless.  But when the law is written in the heart no longer do men try to love God contrary to nature, but now, possessing the nature of God, love, joy, peace and righteousness flow like a river from the heart.  This is the power and glory of the Kingdom of God! 

            Herein lies the important significance of the great truth Jesus proclaimed when He explained where the Kingdom is and how it does not come.  “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation (outward show): neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”  There are still those among us who imagine that Jesus is coming back to earth with literal armies  to ENFORCE LAW AND ORDER.  But should the Lord come to establish His Kingdom by force it could only result in a world full of immense prisons and unprecedented numbers of executions.  It would demand a tyranny surpassing that of either Hitler or Stalin.   

            It is my deep conviction that social issues, economic issues, moral issues and political issues can be dealt with adequately only at the level of individual conversion.  When the firstborn Son of God came into the world to reveal the salvation and Kingdom of God, He did not engage directly in any social welfare work, or attack directly the social structure of the existing society.  Instead He gave Himself to the task of converting, remaking, transforming, and training of twelve apparently unimportant men.  These men, filled with the Holy Spirit of wisdom, holiness, and power went forth converting, remaking, and transforming the lives of countless multitudes of men and women in every nation under heaven.  They turned the world upside down and transformed the very moral and spiritual fabric of society from gross darkness to light and  truth and holiness.  And they did it by the power of the Spirit and the Word —  plus nothing! 

            As the sons of God destined to bring deliverance to the whole creation, dare we follow in the footsteps of  HIS holy wisdom?  The heart of any social, economic or political problem lies in the heart of individual men and women.  New social structures and systems, new laws, new judicial systems, new political systems, new economic systems, can never solve the problem so long as the heart of man remains selfish and corrupt.  Only when men pass over by conversion from self-centeredness to God-centeredness can the Kingdom of God become  a living reality on earth.  All of our external problems — race, nationalism, war, crime, poverty, oppression, sickness, death — all of these are but the external symptoms of an internal, deep-seated disease — the sin of self-centeredness.  The only strategy that will be victorious in the warfare against social and other problems is an offensive directed not against a nation, or a governmental system, but against the human heart!  The point of attack is the state of being of man himself.  The objective of attack is the conversion and transformation  of man with the law of God written in his heart.  What incredible wisdom Jesus revealed that day when He declared the fundamental principle of the Kingdom — “Behold, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS W-I-T-H-I-N YOU!” 

            On far-away Patmos John the Revelator penned the record of his vision: “And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals” (Rev. 5:1).  John saw the book that is written within.  He saw that new covenant that God would make with the house of Israel.  That’s what he saw.  He perceived in spirit that which is being written within.  He beheld the realm of the spirit.  He saw where you find the performance of the new covenant — not in your own strength, not in your fleshly ability, not in your natural way, but by the Living Word within.  He discovered that we would become living epistles, not of the letter, not of outward conformity to external laws, but of the spirit, the inward Law of Life.  The reason the “word” of God has bound and killed more people spiritually than it has helped is because it has been legislated outwardly. 

            Men make godliness a law rather than a life.  “God said!” they thunder from their pulpits high upon the craggy pinnacle of Sinai, and then lay an outward rule and observance upon the people — “Don’t wear make-up, don’t wear shorts,  don’t wear jewelry, don’t cut your hair, don’t go to movies, don’t dance, don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t remarry if divorced, be in church every time the doors open, submit, pay tithes...” and on and on the list goes...don’t, don’t, don’t, and do, do, do!  And if you fail to keep their laws, rules, regulations, and requirements you will burst hell wide open, they threaten.  They kill people with the letter of the Word, missing entirely the spirit, the compassion of God, the love of God, the heart of God, and the ability of God to grow men up into the stature of Christ and establish His will in each and every life.  People have been forced to go to the world to find some mercy, some encouragement, some understanding, some answers and solutions, some help because they couldn’t find it in the church, the preachers had no grace, no mercy, and no wisdom from the Lord.  Christian ministers of the grace of God LEGISLATING THE LAW!  What an enigma!  What a travesty!  “But the Bible says!” you contend.  You hypocrites!  You don’t even know what the Bible says!  You know the letter that kills!  You have never perused the pages of the blessed book which GOD IS, the revelation of God in Christ Jesus — the spirit that gives life!  The New Testament is not that black, leather-bound book we call the Bible.  The New Testament, the true Bible, the Living Epistle of Christ is the law of His life written upon the fleshy tables of the heart. 

            Ray Prinzing shared the following story which clearly illustrates the truth I now write.  “A certain woman who had been raised under the bondage of the law of ‘thou shalt and thou shalt not’ of a certain group, rebelled against it all and went her own way, and eventually became a slave to drink.  In due time her past ‘church acquaintances’ came to her with more of their ‘thou shalt not’ to see if they could turn her away from her alcoholism.  She already knew the futility of trying to quit in herself, and said to them, ‘When God writes on my heart, Thou shalt not drink, then I will not drink.’  Not long thereafter, GRACE sovereignly came to her, HE WROTE IT UPON HER HEART, and she was immediately delivered  from alcohol.  Christendom would impose their standard from without, HE WRITES IT WITHIN, AND IMPARTS THE ABILITY TO LIVE IT OUT!  That is GRACE!” 

            Mankind does not need a new social order, a new political system, or a new set of laws.  All mankind needs is CHRIST.  Furthermore, the whole world needs a revelation of Christ of unprecedented proportions and unparalleled intensity, power and glory.  Creation needs the manifestation of the sons of God.  Creation groans with unutterable longing for the full manifestation of God in His sons.  Sonship is the hope of the world and all creation!  It is my deepest conviction that it is through the ministry of the sons of God that all nations will clearly and powerfully hear the Voice from the throne of God proclaiming with divine, heavenly authority, “Behold, I make all things new!” 

            The Kingdom of God brings a mighty change within humanity — the destruction of the Adamic creation and the establishment of the Christ within.  This reality was accomplished by Jesus on the cross and through His burial and resurrection, but is made experiential in each of us through the present inworking of God.  In one of his inspired writings along this line Paul Mueller says, “Only God can remove this ‘man’ from us.  This is His battle, not ours!  By the Spirit, we know the Lord is now focusing on this ‘man’ who is the cause of the manifestation of all evil and darkness.  When once we are free of this carnal nature, there will be nothing within us that can respond to the devil’s evil thoughts.  Then the seed that we are shall be pure seed, identical to the Christ Seed, which shall be planted among men to establish the new creation of Christ in the earth.  So shall the kingdom of God be manifest with power in all the earth, and then in the universe, that God may be all in all.  And when this carnal, sinful nature is eventually removed from all mankind, Satan will have no place anywhere on this earth to plant his evil ideas and see them fulfilled.  He will be a defeated foe!  Then the cause of all the world’s problems will no longer exist, and mankind will live the Christ Life with peace, joy and victory. 

            “The new order of the fullness of the kingdom of God  will be free of the carnal nature, which is the man of sin, the real anti-christ.  And God is now beginning this new creation order with you and me.  He will no longer tolerate the evil that has been promoted in the world by the Adamic man.  The Lord is not only revealing the manifestations of this evil ‘man,’ He also is going right to the heart of the matter.  The Lord will take him out of us root, stock and branches, and eventually out of all others, so that he will never again trouble the world.  The true interest and purpose of the Holy Spirit of God for His elect in this hour is not the results and effects of all the evil in the world, but rather with the cause of all evil.  The Spirit of God is now dealing with the cause of all unrighteousness.  And all who are in harmony with His Spirit are also in full agreement with the work of the Spirit of God for this great day. 

            “Babylon, Assyria, Palestina, Moab, Tyrus and others are only representative nations listed in the prophetic word destined to be judged.  So also are Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, the Pope, Saddam Hussein and others but mere representatives of the carnal nature in man that seeks its own, carnal will.  We know that all the evil designs of the oppressive dictators of the world also will be destroyed.  Evil, carnal-minded world rulers may think they will gain sufficient power to take over the world, but they are wrong.  Their plans will come to naught when God destroys the carnal nature in mankind.  Because we are the firstfruits of the kingdom of God, which kingdom shall break in pieces and control all other kingdoms, He must begin that work with us.  What a wonderful hope!  The purpose of God during the early years of Israel’s history was to destroy the evil men and nations because of their sins and iniquities.  But that did not eliminate the cause of all unrighteousness.  As soon as one nation and its evil plans were destroyed, another more evil nation and people rose up to trouble Israel and the world.  His judgments then were only superficial and outward, as nations and peoples were destroyed by war and other disasters.  But His judgments today are inward, spiritual and absolute, for God is now dealing with His elect by His Spirit to remove from us the carnal, Adamic nature.  In the past, God dealt with men and nations by punishing sin outwardly.  Today God is dealing with His elect by cleansing us from within.   

            “Now, God is getting to the heart of the matter.  The judgments of this present time will not be outward, literal judgments such as war and other calamities, as most think.  The judgments of the Lord upon mankind will be moral and spiritual.  What good can it possibly do to focus on the results of evil when God is dealing with the root cause of all iniquity?  Must we kill the popes to eliminate all iniquity?  Nonsense!  Or should we wipe out all the suspected anti-christs?  More nonsense!  We must witness an all-out attack against the root cause of all iniquity, which is the carnal nature in all of us.  And the Spirit of God is beginning now to deal with this carnal nature by removing him first from His elect.  We are approaching the time of the harvest of the firstfruits.  God is dwelling within us as a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29) to purge us of the carnal nature.  This is the ‘day’ when all enemies shall be made His footstool.  When He has cleansed us of the carnal nature, He will then send His consuming, fiery presence to cleanse others, each man in his own time and order.  This is our Father’s purpose in redemption and restoration now coming to fulfillment.  And He is beginning this work with us.   

            “Evil rulers and despots rise up to become strong in military might and power.  They think they have the power to take over the world, but they are mistaken.  God has a plan already in effect by which He shall destroy the power of the carnal, Adamic nature that drives them, put them under His feet, and make them all subject to the dominion of His kingdom.  And Father’s great plan and purpose is now beginning to take effect as He reveals the seat of all iniquity within us, and commences to destroy this evil, Adamic man.  The evil rulers and despots, the new agers and other political, governmental rulers may think they will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity, but they are wrong.  God’s plan is already in effect, and it does not include their carnal ambitions.  He is beginning the new age of the dominion of His kingdom of peace and righteousness, and He is beginning it with you and me.  It is within you and within me that His kingdom must begin.  Therefore, He must remove this carnal nature from those of us who are the firstfruits, or the infrastructure, of this most glorious and righteous kingdom of God. 

            “Rejoice, saints of God, you have been chosen to begin the new world order of the kingdom of God!  And that new kingdom order must begin with us.  God must deliver us of the carnal nature, for we are the firstfruits of His kingdom, and that is what He is doing now.  If you want to know what God is doing now in the earth, look to the realm of the Spirit, and not to the events of darkness in the world.  Our calling is to flow with the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit and live in the Spirit!  And the Spirit of the Lord is now dealing with the great cause and source of all iniquity, not merely with the many manifestations of evil. 

            “The kingdom of God is the expression, revelation and manifestation of all that Christ is.  There is the body of Christ and there also is the Christ who is the Spirit.  We are the body of Christ because we are anointed with the Spirit that Christ is.  Christ is the Spirit, and He also is the Word!  He is that Spirit force by whose power the earth, the heavens, and everything of it was created.  It was all created by Him and for Him, and without Him nothing was made.  Christ created all things by the Word that He is.  He also sustains all things, keeping the entire universe in balance by His Spirit-power.  He also shall reconcile all things unto Himself, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven (Col. 1:16-20).  This is the same Christ who anoints His many-membered remnant to make us one body in Him.  He fills us with Himself, with the glory that He is, that He might fulfill His purpose to manifest the fullness of the kingdom of God in the earth. 

To be continued...                                                                                                                                                                       J.