Let’s start this section
by meditating on the following quote,
Christianity
as a religion is well-known, well-established, well-studied, well-researched,
well-recorded, and well-distributed; but little or nothing is known about
the Kingdom. As a matter of fact,
most of those trained in official institutions to understand the Christian
faith and propagate its purported message graduate without ever taking a single
course in Kingdom studies. Often, no
such course is available (underlining added by author of this article).[1]
The author goes on:
The
result is that few so-called ministers and priests have any formal instruction
at all in any Kingdom concept. Their
priority is to propagate the Christian religion rather than a message and
concepts of the Kingdom."
He concludes by
saying, “This perpetuation of the Christian religion and its rituals, customs,
and rites has left a great vacuum in the world that must and can be filled only by
understanding the Kingdom."[2]
1 & 2. Myles Munroes, Kingdom Principles, Preparing for Kingdom Experience and Expansion, Destiny Image Pub., Inc., Shippensburg, PA, c. 2006, p. 20.
I know that in my ministerial preparation what Dr. Munroe said was true. I heard messages about the kingdom of God being within us but that was about the extent of it. Thankfully that is changing.
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all
the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14.
When John the Baptist came on the scene his
message was, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Jesus repeated that message over and over
again in His earthly ministry and reinforced it numerous times with parables
describing what the kingdom of God is like.
When Jesus sent His disciples out He commissioned
them to preach the same message and assured them that as they preached it (the kingdom) the
word would be followed with signs and wonders attesting to the validity of the
message.
What these two men were doing
was reintroducing to the world the plan of God that had been laid out from
before the foundations of the world. It
was their top priority and it should also be ours.
We are not told to preach the gospel of self-identity, positive thinking, how to be a better person, achieving personal goals, etc. We are commanded to preach The Gospel of the Kingdom.
Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and everything else would be added to us as needed. That isn't just a nice sounding platitude, it's and imperative.
We need to become intimately acquainted with this kingdom and how it functions and how we fit into it.
How extensive is your investigation into this subject? My prayer is that if you haven't given thorough thought to it this article and others that will follow will spur you into a deeper knowledge and participation in what God has established.
Great topic and great points!
ReplyDeleteEach decade seems to be highlighted by a theme that permeates the church. In the past century the decades were highlighted by Evangelism, Healing, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Prayer, Worship, etc.
Perhaps in these Last Days there will soon be a decade with a Spirit-inspired theme of The Kingdom of God where the recognition and knowledge of its essence will permeate the Church.
I think your emphasis on The Kingdom of God (an emphasis you have had for several years now) indicates you are a forerunner in that future movement.
A “Blue Flame,” my friend!