As a replacement for the kingdom of God

Christendom is not the creation of God.  It is an interchangeable created substitute for both Israel and the Body of Christ (the true church) in the relevance they serve in post-cross history to this present point in time.  This is because it is the machinery of centuries of religious and political manoeuvring in creating a substitute for the real kingdom of heaven on earth.  Hence the term "Judaeo-Christian", which acts as a double edged sword in achieving its aims.  Its ultimate goal is in relocating its HQ in Rome to Jerusalem, in order to set up a pseudo kingdom of God under a false christ.  For centuries it has tried to do this by force, but will eventually succeed through diplomacy and compromise.  This is the religious sphere of man which envelopes three main faiths of the so-called Christian world (see diagram below), bringing millions upon millions of its devotees and offspring under its global umbrella through both conflict and dialogue working together. All for the purpose (unbeknown to man) of diverting countless souls from the narrow way (the true access to the real kingdom) to the abyss of eternal suffering and separation from God.

Many professing Bible believing Christians are not aware there is a kingdom in a present real sense.  They only know of it as a concept or phrase from apparently 'out of the Bible'.  Moreover, they do not know it as a reality or even seek it as a reality.  They have been so conditioned and cushioned by their religious upbringing and tradition that the word of God, contained in the scriptures, is only some sort of moral guideline for them, or spiritual reference point.  This is the reason they are ignorant and closed off to anything to do with the kingdom.  Furthermore, they will never understand what is the contents of this page unless they come to a place of discerning the kingdom and renouncing everything that has hindered them from entering in.

The biggest obstacle and blockage of course has been due to this master counterfeit of Satan, masquerading in place of God's kingdom, as the "spiritual" alternative.  Christendom can be summed up in terms of being this religious alternative to the kingdom.  It is the place true saints of God have been called out of, after allowing themselves to be snared by its false claims and false security.  Or by placing credence to the religious environment they have been converted in, not realizing the sovereignty of God is above all things, and that they have been saved only on the grounds of Calvary, despite their false devotion to the system.

In a line ...  Christendom is all that represents nominal Christianity!  That's the world of denominations and cliques masquerading as biblical churches.  Biblical Christianity is a totally different event and phenomena, and found at a totally different place.  It is only seen in terms of the spiritual, where only the Spirit of God can bring home this reality to the believer.  The whole point of the high call in Christ Jesus is to get the believer into the Spirit, constantly; not relying on the methodologies of man.  Neither relying on trained spiritual proxies and religious structure he has set up in order to compartmentalize the truth, and henceforth trap its constituency into mini empires and religious institutions, which ultimately block out the kingdom.

Contrary to the main thrust of the NT, Christendom is all that is suppose to represent heaven but is in fact a world conglomerated around the inventions of man, giving the world a visible reference point to what Christianity is suppose to be, when in essence it is not.

Many also are not aware that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are one and the same.  Yes, I am fully aware that even though the kingdom should be a present reality for those who have been born again, I am also aware that God's kingdom expressed through the book of Matthew as 'the kingdom of heaven' is a future reality for natural Israel during the 1,000 year reign of King Jesus after the great translation of the body of Christ to heaven.  I have no problem with this teaching which is biblical.  However, as in the saints of God living in the present tense (those born again by the Spirit of God, whether Jew or Gentile) it should be our only concern now that we live and move and have our being here, being seated and reigning with Christ in heavenly places, and being partakers of the divine nature, from henceforth.  Because, from the time of rebirth, this is our rightful place in Christ and our place and eternal inheritance to enter into.

However, if your church (as an institution or as a mere parishioner's club) carries this importance for you (that "being in church" presides being in the kingdom) then in actuality you are missing the kingdom and need to leave Christendom in every aspect.  You cannot have one and the other.  You can only belong to one kingdom.  How does the verse go?  "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other."

The kingdom!!!  Are you in it?  Are you discerning it?  Furthermore, are you aware it is here, for eternity, and for you to enter into?  Or have you never exchanged your temporal kingdom for the everlasting one to come, which is already here?

The kingdom - by revelation only

In this age where knowledge was prophesied to increase (hence the term "information overload" or TMI - "too much information") and education is seen as just about the answer to everything, the gospel comes across more than ever as foolishness to those who perish.  The fact of the matter is, the further man explores into space by spending billions in technology, while parts of the globe are devastated by conflict and famine, and the further man looks intricately "beyond", the further he misses the mark by millions of "light years".  At the moment the West is experiencing great prosperity.  Therefore, reason would say "why do we need God when we can achieve so much without Him?"  This type of thinking is also the reason for the great spiritual laxity that is evident at present, with the Laodicean spirit permeating into every facet of the Western Church and modern culture, where the following passage of scripture applies:

"Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked".

Oh how the riches and treasures of Christendom has had so much sway on believers in this age with their love affair with her, and the very reason God says:

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."

Many were stunned or without understanding when we dropped out of the Institutional Church many years ago.  However, we had scripture fully on our side.  Religionists don't when they choose to justify staying on, and the very reason the Lord Almighty gives this strict and ultimate command to His people in 2 Cor. 6:17:

"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

Conveniently, the system has swung into 'damage control' and created a doctrine to expel any thought that God would spew His children out of His mouth or reject those who reject Him, contradicting scripture in the first place.  Or counteracting the Dark Age tactic and lie of using fear to keep the people bound within the system by them being damned to hell should they happen to even question the church, let alone leave.  This is the doctrine which has been coined "Once Saved Always Saved".  Meaning, you can do what you like with the pearl of great prize after attaining it.  Whether you keep embracing it or decide to trample it under your feet, then throw it away, will have no consequences whatsoever to your free trip to heaven, according to this (unsound) doctrine.  In all common sense, how can a man marry his would-be bride after she has told him just before the wedding that she no longer loves him, and that during their honeymoon she expects him to respect her wishes and free choice, and understand how she also intends to have other lovers when it suits her?  Understandably, according to her, this is her right and comes part and parcel to the freedom she has been called to, and granted by her Maker.  Yeah ...  right!!!  Well is this not the same sort of excuse conjured up by lukewarm Christianity to be able to rise up and play while we have been espoused to one husband, that we may be presented as a chaste virgin to Christ?

There is a reason of course why believers can't see the light for false light after conversion.  This is because the religious apparatus has already been conveniently set up in order to molly cuddle new born babes in an unnatural environment and make them more into clones of the system, than new creatures in Christ.  It may not occur behind a walled convent or in a cloistered faraway abbey somewhere, but the incubation process will be happening in a subnormal, spiritual hothouse environment, nevertheless.  This is the school of the Nicolatians where the importance of theology is fed above revelation, bamboozling the native and incircumspect with liturgy and tradition.  This is also why many have never had a revelation of what they are saved into or what the kingdom of God is. Paul made it clear that it is not through human aids or agencies:

"For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."

He went onto say:

"To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood".

What did Jesus say to Simon Barjona ...  "for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven"!  Moreover, why are gutsy verses like the following (1 John 2:27 in this case) skipped over or brushed aside in churchie institutions, with importance and prominence always placed on scholarly proxies and religious academics?  Moreover, to use the art of learning as "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."  Following is how we are to continually abide in Him, and not in "church life" or "church culture", or in a pyramid type covering.  Nor behind cleverly orchestrated confusion, to obscure the simplicity that is in Christ:

"But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."

This is also where the art of 'damage control' kicks in again by the "but" "however" "whattabout" 'department', fulfilling Matt. 23:13 ...  "for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men".  Even Israel or the saints of old, where not brought into this beneficial place of spiritual revelation, which God's people have the privilege of today, through the Holy Ghost:

"Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began".

This mystery, which was once a mystery to the world, has now been made manifest through the Son of God, and likewise imparted to His brethren to make it known further afield.  Of course, without the Holy Ghost nothing can happen.  Moreover, where man is in control, the Spirit of truth cannot move, as He is also quenched and grieved when God's people choose man's methods above God's.  This is the very reason the Holy Ghost is kept in check in revival situations, when people allow themselves to be seduced away by smooth false teachers, who arise in the midst to hi-jack the move of God.  Therefore, where there is no truth, the Spirit of truth cannot function.  Whereas, those who refuse a love for the truth are handed over to another replacement spirit called delusion.  In the OT this spirit or delusion is also called a lying spirit.  If someone who is suppose to represent truth forfeits truth, a greater condemnation is released, greater than the disposition of the unintended naive, where these reprobates are handed over to lying and seducing spirits from below, and have no choice in following a lie unto the end.

Very serious stuff really, as the recipient has really convinced himself he is a Christian serving the living God, when in actual fact his life is a lie and a contradiction, and he can no longer produce fruit for the kingdom but only bastards for the system.  All the while Christendom's gates are enlarged, its occupancy looks more attractive, and the narrow way looks even more foolish, while (as the verse says) "hell hath enlarged herself ".

Here are some more verses for us from the NT to ponder over, consider, and hopefully embrace as meat from heaven.  May it be revelation for us and substance (bread) to apply and digest:

Eph. 1:17.  "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him".

Which spirit is this?

Eph. 3:3.  "How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery".

What library, Rabbi, Curate or seminary did Paul, or we, get this from?

1 Pet. 1:13.  "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ".

Is Jesus a revelation or just a chance encounter?  Or a mystical union or special apparition?

Rev. 1:1.  "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John".

Who is this revelation for?  The special elitist superior few?  Or those who have received the deep meanings of life through a religious initiation rite and a lifetime of meditation?  The Bible clearly says it is for His servants!  Only reserved and exclusive to those who give their whole lives to Christ, in other words.  Hence, the biblical term called "the elect" or "the remnant", for those who choose to follow His word!

What is revelation?  What I mean by revelation is 'biblical revelation' lending itself over to be experienced as 'divine revelation' ...  knowledge with light that only comes direct from God Himself ... sovereignly, independently and minus human proxies and add-ons, to assist in bringing forth truth to the individual.  In other words, seeing things the way God sees things. Spirit to spirit; without outside interference or aids.  This is not convenient truth (sorry Al), or ear tickling truth, by the way!  However, it is truth to live by and experience, from rebirth to freedom and life in the Spirit.  As in the words of Paul again:

"And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain."

Did you get that?  If Paul had gone to the hierarchy in Jerusalem for their approval, or to dialogue or negotiate the truth with (the so-called pillars - the apostles who had caved into the demands of the concision) then there would never have been a New Testament.  Nor would there have been the reality or possibility of indigenous fellowships for us to function as, in the case of the seven churches found in the book of Revelation who acted on revelation direct.  However, Paul chose the wisest and best thing to do ...  he went direct to the Lord.  As in the spirit of the Psalmist ...  "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me"!

Based solely on scripture and in righteousness

Moving on:  Truth and the word of God (contained in written form called the scriptures) are one and the same according to John.  The converted men of Berea were well aware of this when the apostles brought forth the word from the holy writings in Acts.  Bearing in mind, the words and warning from the Lord Jesus to His followers, in allowing no man to deceive them.  "Let no man deceive you", was a warning from above.  Meaning, no man was exempt from being deceived.  Remember, even Peter's good intentions to Jesus before the cross had to be tested and came out as being from Satan.

Let no man deceive you ...  whether saint or stranger, brother or outsider, "qualified" or unqualified.  Every doctrine, statement, claim, verbal or written conveyance or expression (whether from friend or foe) and angelic visitation, had to be judged besides God's recorded word ...  the scriptures!  The scriptures were and are to be the believers final authority in all that attains to faith, revelation, application and practice.  Not even an explained verbal voice, spirit, or even the Holy Ghost can be the final source for decision making on doctrine, righteous judgement, and divine guidance.  Reason, the precious Holy Ghost sent from above, was sent for the very reason of backing the word, publishing and manifesting it, as well as empowering the believer to witness to this fact.  He was never sent to glorify or point to Himself, but Jesus (the real Him).  Using the Spirit of God as the final authority is very dangerous ground to be on.  Because beyond ignorance, it proves intentional deviousness.  Whereas, for a novice, it will appear the obvious choice for them, along for the enemy to hone in, exploit and take advantage of, in the situation.

Besides; the Holy Ghost cannot be used ...  it uses us!  Furthermore, in referring to those yielding to Him that is, He will never force Himself on anyone.  Nor can He abide in anyone without permission from the spirit subject to the individual.  Those who claim to make use of the Holy Ghost or use it to get their way, are operating in the realm of witchcraft, and are diametrically opposed to the Spirit in every sense anyway.  Meaning, they have tired to make the Holy Ghost their servant replacing themselves as servants of God.  Subtle, typical, and devious!

Do you want the truth?  Do you really want the truth without it being for pretence or for mercenary reasons, which you can only receive and live through by divine revelation?  This is the only way to discern, know and see the kingdom ...  by hungering and thirsting after it in righteousness!

Many want the kingdom, because of its ultimateness or what it beneficially represents or can give.  They try and take it by force or set up a counterfeit by pre-empting its imminent arrival.  Not knowing, through revelation, you have to become a meek child to enter.  Or being spiritually reborn to even see it.  If it can be observed by banners, edifices, apparel, symbols, flags, fanfare, locality, geography, or any physical sphere or reference point, then it is not the kingdom but a man made substitute.  It can only be found and attained by a constant thirst and hunger for righteousness.  This is the reason why many of the new age bible versions have tampered with the word righteousness or simply omitted it.  In the end, this confuses God's requirements and hence, once again, confuses the way in.  Would you ever be reminded of, or taught these following verses as vital to our pilgrim walk, within Christendom's schools of religious academia?:

Matt. 6:33.  "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

A wrong heart condition is not fit for the kingdom.  That's why we need His righteousness!

Rom. 14:17.  "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

Doing the right things or impressing will not qualify you.  Again, it is to do with a heart condition that only God can give.

Matt. 5:6.  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

In other words, if righteousness of heart is not a top priority to the believer, then granting the kingdom to you will not be God's top priority either.  You simply can't have one without the other!  Still want the kingdom?

This is the eternal kingdom that cannot be shaken, stolen, infiltrated, perverted, or moved; that God has made the prime thing for His children!  Also, it is here, now, in our midst, and fully attainable for those who are prepared to meet the King of the kingdom under His conditions.  Do you want to attain it?  Have you entered into it?  Then be aware that it is always on God's terms and only for those who receive this gift and become contrite, repentant and humble enough to bow the head, bend the knee, and call out to the God of all creation, through His only begotten Son, in what He accomplished at Calvary.

Simple?  Always has been!  As in the words of Jesus Himself,

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."