There Are No Denominations in the Kingdom

July 11, 2011 By 2 Comments

I have read many articles written by various people in assorted denominations about how they define legalism and I have often commented to let them know it goes much deeper than what they have described. Many have said that legalism is ‘commandments of men‘ that are commonly called “extra-biblical”. They intend to say that the only form of legalism among the churches is about whether or not to wear nylons to church or men not being allowed to wear pink ties. Legalism goes beyond that as they tie in the twisted scriptures of the Christian Religion and attempt to enforce that legalism, as if the Lord would have you adhere to it. In my intro article to Leaving Legalism, I explained that it’s the difference between the Christian Religion and the Christian Faith. It’s important to understand the difference between the kingdom of religion and the Kingdom that is within you.

In the kingdom of religion there are multitudes of denominations, while there are no denominations in God’s Kingdom. The kingdoms of the Christian Religion are always at war with one another, competing for the attention of the people, and accusing each other of being heretics. In previous years they have been known to threaten people who don’t convert, imprison them, or even burn them at the stake. It’s of no surprise to me that over the course of the latter years of the first apostles, we begin to see factions among the people and denominations beginning to form. God is so multi-faceted that people in various regions were growing, learning, and increasing in numbers. People learn and grow at different times and while one gathering in a city may be growing in leaps and bounds in their faith, those younger in the faith may not understand that growth. In the process the people began questioning the validity of the teachings the people were following.

Even the apostles warned the people about those who sneak in to steal their liberty, those who would cause divisions, and people who teach false doctrines. We’re obviously going to see varying doctrines and teachings among the churches and of course the denominations formed alliances and some become somewhat of the ‘heresy hunters’ in their attempt to prove who was ‘right’ and who was ‘wrong’. The problem with this, is that it puts mankind in the position to be the authority and only Jesus is our authority. I’ll write more on the topic of authority, but for now I want to challenge this idea of denominations.

The Christian Religion has over 30,000 denominations world wide. So the people are left with trying to decide for themselves which one is right and in turn they’ll believe all the others are wrong. Some have become wiser and come to understand that no one has the corner market on truth and each denomination could possibly have some things not quite accurate. At least these folks are humble enough to admit that, but eventually the people will become dogmatic in their beliefs and the unity of all the brethren diminishes over time. The Christian Religion is always seeking to be more right than the next and the competition between the churches has become ludicrous. Pastors hack away at pastors, deacons bash book authors, ministry leaders excommunicate each other through Twitter and Facebook. It’s an absolute mess!

In the Kingdom of the Christian Faith, the people strive to remain humble, allowing each other to question and sort through the so called heresies and come together with mutual love and respect. These people are growing! I believe we’re in an age of revealing, revival, and renewing as folks are coming together through online forums to discuss these matters. So while the 30,000+ denominations are at war with one another, the people of the Christian Faith are studying together and coming to a healthy balance of understanding the scriptures. The most exciting thing is that they don’t profess to have “the” ultimate denominational answer, although they do recognize WHO the answer is. As far as all these ‘heretical doctrines’ out there, they are cutting to the quick and re-examining old traditions taught through centuries of man made interpretations.

The difference between this ‘doctrinal war’ we have been seeing for thousands of years is that the Christian Religion continues to be at war with one another and those who have become tired of the bickering are finding one another outside of the Christian Religion, they are walking by faith, and getting along in love. It’s certainly a wonderful thing to become free from the religion, but ancient teachings have bore such a deep groove into many generations that it can be quite a wrestling match to have your mind renewed. Having a renewing of the mind is an ongoing process and it’s part of our journey to having Christ disciple us through His Spirit. It means he is not only challenging us to think differently, but he is changing us in the process. He said to repent, which means to change your mind.

Luke 10:27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

The Lord wants us to understand how important it is to use our minds. Sort through the traditions and commandments of men. Find out what is truth and what is not. But in all our getting we are to get understanding. It’s not about who has the ‘smarter’ doctrines, it’s about coming to an understanding of the Divine who resides within and how to walk wisely in this Kingdom.

Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding

You see, people can chomp away at doctrines and they think they find their salvation in their theologies, but God shows us that the theologies are not what saves us.

John 5: 39You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

That word ‘eternal’ is not a definition that is to be taken lightly. In the Greek the word is ‘aiónios‘ and has a much broader concept that just a single English word can accurately define. Through the lens of the whole counsel of the scriptures, we find a much deeper definition that is spiritually applicable and has been at the root of the entirety of the teachings of God as, ‘partaking of the character of that which lasts for an age, as contrasted with that which is brief and fleeting.’ It’s about having  a particular character and quality of life. Even verse 40 reveals this truth as he says they refuse to come to the One the scripture points to, so that they may have life. This ‘quality and character of life’  is much better described as an ‘enduring, rich, and abundant life‘.

But what is the problem with these religious people Christ was speaking to? They were standing before their very Messiah, yet they refused to believe that the Truth was standing right there in their presence. Jesus explains exactly what the problem was.

John 5: 41I do not receive glory from people. 42But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

There are many religious teachers in the world who come and go in their own names. They have built their own religious kingdoms and they receive one another in their own names. Religious leaders who have built up large church kingdoms become popular among one another and they seek after them to come and teach in their churches. They seek after notoriety! History is repeating itself. He goes on to let them off the hook. He is not condemning them.

John 5: 44How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.47But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Jesus hit the nail on the head and He’s been hitting it on the head ever since then. The people chose to remain under Moses as their leader instead of learning of the One in whom Moses put this trust. They became so ‘well versed’ about the Law, that they forgot to see that the Law points to Christ. Instead of receiving the One who paved the Way for us, they chose to worship their own paved ways.

There has never been anything wrong with studying the scriptures in an effort to understand God’s amazing love, grace, mercy, and justice. When interpretations point people to religion then we have again missed the mark. When an interpretation of the scriptures point to Christ then it encourages our faith. This is the Way of the Christian Faith.

The Christian Religion points to the religious system, while the Christian Faith points to Christ and He points us to God and how to walk in the Kingdom.

We certainly have the freedom to study with whoever we feel God is leading us to and we also have the freedom to walk away and go study with another gathering when we realize their ways are leading the people into legalism. I have no qualms with denominations as long as they allow the people to come and go in love and keep the door open to freedom. The heresies are when the Christian Religion binds the people into isolated controlling environments and limits their freedom of conscience. This is precisely what many of the early Protestants stood up about. Here it is again, history repeating itself. Many denominations have allowed themselves to become that which their ancestors fled from. There are no denominations in the Christian Faith. Just people who are seeking to walk by faith, study together in love, and continue to walk in the liberty that set us free.

Filed Under: Faith, Inquisition, Kingdom Living, Legalism Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Intro to Leaving Legalism

July 5, 2011 By 8 Comments

*Disclaimer, this article may be judged as highly controversial.

Leaving legalism is not an easy journey and is impossible if you aren’t aware that you’re steeped in it. I have spoken with many people who claim to refute legalism, yet they were so deeply ingrained in legalism and didn’t even know it. Just as with any 12 step program teaches, you must first realize the problem is at hand in your life.

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over our addiction – that our lives had become unmanageable

Identifying legalism is tricky business and many in the Christian Religion think they know what legalism is, but so many don’t notice the deeper roots of legalism thus they don’t become truly free from it’s vicious cycle. Legalism is an addiction and is present in many religions world wide. Even some Atheist groups can become legalistic. Legalism stems from any set dogma that you allow to govern your life. This is why legalism has infiltrated the Christian Religion. The Christian Religion is fraught with dogma that governs their lives.

It may help to understand that the Christian Religion and the Christian Faith are two different concepts and are easily misunderstood because they use similar lingo and the same book, the Bible.

The Christian Religion was established by mankind and they set their dogma based on their interpretations passed down from various religious forefathers. One of the biggest problems in the Christian Religion is that the people submitted themselves to government tyranny masked with the Bible. Without the Bible, they would not have been able to gain the power it has over the people today. They used the Bible as a weapon, not a helpful tool for faith. The leaders of yesteryear have used the Bible to force people to adhere to their tenants of religion ‘or else’. That ‘or else’ is somewhat different, depending on which denomination you follow.

Some threats include disassociation from the group, breaking off of relationships, financial down fall due to lack of economic support to your business (boycotting), and character assassination for leaving or not adhering to their group’s dogma. In former years, they would imprison you or have you burned at the stake. Some historians have recorded that if you had your own copy of the bible to read for yourself, you were killed in their attempt to remove it from your possession. This wasn’t because they hated the Bible, it was because they didn’t want you to read it for yourself. They wanted full control over the Bible and over the people’s ability to reason the interpretations for themselves.

In the Christian Religion today, many clergy and seminaries do not want the people to study the Hebrew and Greek outside of their control. They also don’t want you studying other dogmas outside their own, even from their own pet version of the Bible. When you walk into the Christian Religion with control such as this, it is a clear indicator that you are entering the realm of legalism and it goes quite deep.

On the surface it seems to be “right” as they tell you to “rightly divide the word of God”, but only as far as they want you to. If you go outside your chosen denomination for an interpretation they will tell you that you are either disobedient to the “man of god” or you are “on a slippery slope”, and even “walking with the devil”. Don’t forget the ever so popular threat of “you’re going to hell”. There are many other statements in which the Christian Religion and it’s devotees will say to you if you venture out of their elite realm of “understanding”of Christianity.

Then there is the Christian Faith. This is a community of folks who walk by faith, not dogma. They seek to follow the Divine and listen to this leading aside from dogmas. They indeed read the Bible and study it, but they realize that the Bible is not a closed canon as once forced by the Christian Religion. There were many other books and letters from prophets and disciples that the Christian Religion does not accept. Those who walk in the Christian Faith believe that one could read anything and know if it’s to instruct them in their walk or not, because they hear from the Divine directly. This is not to say that those in the Christian Religion don’t also hear from God directly. The difference is that in the Christian Religion one must seek the clergy’s guidance on what is from God and in the Christian Faith the people rely on their faith to know if it is from God or not.

The Christian Religion claims to follow “Biblical facts” to support their dogmas guided by their traditions, while the Christian Faith takes everything by faith and simply walks in the confidence of their hope in the Divine.

It is evident to me that there are folks who walk in both communities, but it often leads them to confusion. When they are faced with this crossroads, they are coming face to face with the reality that these are two communities that do not agree.

If one wants to follow the Christian Religion you must adhere to your chosen denomination and all of it’s dogma. Only those who adhere to it are welcome.

If one wants to walk in the Christian Faith, it simply requires faith. In the Christian faith, all are welcome.

One leads to legalism, while the other leads to freedom.

You can leave the road to legalism, but you will suffer the onslaught of modern religious warfare. The Christian Religion is a jealous sort that does not take kindly to “defectors” of their Religion. In some extreme cases, one might need professional assistance in leaving. Some families are so integrated into the Christian Religion, that even choosing another denomination will land them in “hot flames” with families members, co-workers, and church members. They might put you through “hell” trying to flee to another denomination, let alone leaving it entirely.

A word about leaving “Christianity”. To leave the Christian Religion does not mean one has fled from the Christian Faith. They are two different realms.

This is the first of a series I will be sharing to help those seeking to leave legalism.

Filed Under: Inquisition, Kingdom Living, Legalism Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

How the Gospel Divides

July 3, 2011 By 5 Comments

There are some perspectives in the teachings of Jesus and Paul about division that seems to pull a popular audience of those who think they need to be offensive with the Gospel in order to be like Jesus. They are under the impression that they are justified in being offensive and that their manner of presenting the Gospel is meant to divide.  But lets take a deeper look at just what is divisive about the Gospel. Some believe that this division is how God divides between who enters the Kingdom and who doesn’t. Of course, people from over 30,000 denominations have their prescription for how one enters the Kingdom, but we won’t get into that this time. In this article my reference to the Kingdom is about the here and now, not the after life.

In the book of Hebrews we see the unknown author explaining his/her perspective on entering the Kingdom. I like to look at passages like this in the ESV since it clarifies which statement is of the author and which is a quote from a previous book of the bible. In Hebrews chapter 4 the main point of entering the Kingdom is to enter into his rest. It was being explained that there are some who did not enter his rest (the Kingdom) and some who did. The author goes on to explain why some didn’t enter the Kingdom. It was through their disobedience to rest.

Hebrews 4: 6 “Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,”

The author clearly says that it was those who DID receive the Gospel, but they didn’t enter into the rest of the Kingdom. It’s important to understand that this Kingdom is here and now. Jesus said in “The Kingdom is within you”. {Luke 17:21}

The Old Covenant gave a clear instruction that the 7th day was a day of rest. It was the foreshadow of the “rest” to come, which is in Christ. The 7th day was God’s day of resting from His works and thus he wanted the people of the old covenant to also rest and it was to reveal to them that the day would come when they could spiritually be at rest in the Kingdom. This Kingdom rest is while we are here on earth. Just as the 7th day was on this earth also.

Hebrews 4: 10 “for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.”

The Kingdom is not a place where we have to work, it’s a place of rest. We are not bound to perform religious rituals (works), we are free to rest. When we cease from rest and attempt to perform religious rituals thinking that those works make us something special or better people, then we have disobeyed what God has said, rest. Any time we begin to partake in religious rituals in our attempts to be ‘something’ in the Kingdom, it is then that we have shut ourselves out. In the Kingdom, it is all about resting from our religious works.

This is an offending Gospel to those who want to work towards their own righteousness.

In verse 12 it says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” It’s important to see that it’s the LIVING Word that is active and causing a division and the purpose is for God to discern the ‘thoughts and intentions of the heart”.

God is discerning the hearts and thoughts of the people. His LIVING Word is searching us and by His Spirit, we will hear him tell us to rest. He knows if our charitable works are done with a deceptive heart or not.

The entire chapter is devoted to pointing out that we have that rest today in Christ and that God wants us to rest from our works based religion so we can be at rest as He is. No where in this chapter is the author indicating that we need to divide people by condemning them with sin. The only ‘disobedience’ mentioned in this chapter was that of ‘not resting’.

In verses 14 and 15 the author says, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” I find great comfort in knowing that Jesus understands our weaknesses! No matter how weak we are in our faith, he understands. The author goes on to explain in verse 16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

The Gospel is an open door to come with confidence to the throne of grace to receive mercy in our time of need. This is a divisive teaching to the works based religious crowd, because it points out their error of not halting their works. It reveals that those who stop their religious works can not only be at rest, but they can still come to the throne of grace, without works, and still receive mercy. The religious crowds who do not halt their works and enter the rest, will not be pleased with this grace. This grace is what divides.

Now we also need to take into consideration that there certainly are times when the Spirit says to reach out to those in need. In the book of James we see him correcting the churches in the matter of their works. This book has been the center of much controversy over the years as people think they still need to “work”. But as we saw above in the book of Hebrews, that we are indeed at rest and to do ritual religious works towards our own righteousness is an act of disobedience.

In James chapter 1, he rebukes the people and tells them,  21“Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

When you read the entire letter of James, it is evident that he is speaking of how we live our lives in the Kingdom now. So put aside the thoughts you have of the after-life. No where in the book of James will you find him speaking of what happens after we die. In verse 21 he says that we need to have meekness. To receive the implanted word requires meekness. Then the question of what does it mean “to save your souls”?

A quick reminder to help with this study is that God already reconciled us to himself through His Son. {2 Corinthians 5:18} So I do not believe that James is speaking about us needing to “do” anything to “get saved”. There is another context in which we need to understand this word, “saved”. For surely we know that it’s “not by works lest any man should boast”. So just what is James talking about? I believe he is referencing the saving of our souls from religious works.

I believe that James’ letter was a letter of correction to the early churches. James rebukes them first of being angry people. James 1:20 “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” When I look in the Greek literal translation, this is what is revealed.. ‘the anger of man does not accomplish the justice of God’. This is a very important concept to understand as it seems that James is rebuking the people of attempting to use anger to bring people into Kingdom living. He says it does not work! He calls it filthiness and rampant wickedness.

He then goes into telling them about being doers of the word. Keeping in mind that we are at rest and need no more religious ritual work to enter the Kingdom, what is James talking about? In verse 25 he speaks of looking into the perfect law of liberty. Liberty is the freedom we have in Christ because of God’s grace. We are free from religious rituals for our righteousness, because we have the righteousness of Christ. Then James hits the nail on the head when we mentions the widows and the fatherless.

26If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Remember that the Gospel can discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart and God knows if our works are genuine or if they are empty religious rituals. Jesus saved us from religion, but James seems to be putting a stark truth and rebuke in the faces of the people. He mentions the widows and orphans. Such a serious rebuke and so applicable to the churches of today. Most widows are on SSI and orphans provided for by the state while the churches pour their finances into fancy buildings and $500 suits for their pastors.

What did James mean about remaining unstained by the world?

In James 2 he addresses the problem at hand, wealth. There’s nothing wrong with being wealthy, again the Gospel  discerns the intents of the heart. Is the wealth being shared? It was shared in the book of Acts, so equally that no one had lack. But now James reveals a different progression of the lives of the people.  Lets stay on topic though, the topic of the Gospel being divisive and living in the Kingdom.

James’ words in chapter 2 has been a hot topic for centuries. What is it about our faith and works, when we know our works has ended and we are at rest in the Kingdom? It takes faith to enter the Kingdom we have on this earth and we can only enter in as we rest. So what is James speaking of?

Those who live in the Kingdom can rest all they want, but where is the love for the widows and the orphans? Does the fact that we rest mean that we neglect the widows and orphans? God forbid! Our faith in God organically manifests from the outpouring of love and compassion we have for those in need. James’ letter was rebuking the wealthy for their ambitions to be rich while neglecting those in need. When we walk in the Kingdom we become people who make a difference in this world. He gives us the illustration of Abraham, whose faith manifested in his willingness to sacrifice his own son.

In James 2:22 we see in the ESV “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;” and a closer look at the Greek gives us a clearer picture of what was meant. The words in ESV ‘active along with’ is sunergeó, which means ‘to cooperate with’. The words ‘completed by’ is teleioó, can be said ‘accomplished’. So the popular AKJV says “See you how faith worked with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” has been misunderstood by many as saying ‘your faith doesn’t save you unless you also perform works’. He goes on to explain in verses 18- 26 that our faith will manifest in our lives by works. But remember that the works he used as an example was caring for the needy. When we care for the needy out of a compassionate heart, an outpouring of God’s love, that is a manifestation of our faith. Do not perform religious ritual works in an attempt to ‘prove’ your faith. To do so would be arrogance and a lack of faith that God already performed the final work through His Son on the cross.

It’s important to understand the context in which James was writing about and take into consideration all of the letters from the apostles and the very words of Jesus as well. Remember that in James 1 he rebukes them of anger? Then in chapter 3 he brings it up again in how they used their tongues to cause chaos in their churches.

James 3:6 and the tongue is a fire, the world of the unrighteousness, so the tongue is set in our members, which is spotting our whole body, and is setting on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by the Gehenna.

Ouch! James uses the scariest place in their earth at the time to describe their angry tongues, Gehenna. The garbage dump where the Sanhedrin would burn the bodies of those they judged as ‘sinners’.

He brings up the context of the letter again in 13Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

Here it is again, the consequences of their actions 15 “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”

We live in the Kingdom, at rest. Yet we have an outpouring of organic love and compassion when we reach out to help the needy. When we make our lives into selfish ambitions to become wealthy, and deny the outpouring of love to those in need, we forget the Kingdom in which we have been given entrance to. When we rest in the Kingdom and do not follow the outpouring of love, we remain idle in our faith. We become lazy and forgetful of what we have been forgiven of and we neglect others who need so desperately to enter the Kingdom and also be at rest.

Yes, we are at rest, and we also have a work to do. But our works do not gain us entrance to the Kingdom, our entrance is by grace. However, being a citizen of the Kingdom will have it’s organic manifestation of compassion that pours out to help those in need. We see the encouragement in verses

17“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

Our manifestation of faith is pure in heart (no secret agendas to become wealthy or gain popularity for our works), to be gentle (not aggressive with angry tongues), open to reason (understanding), full of mercy and good fruits (loving compassion that pours out), impartial (not showing preference to the wealthy or popular over the poor), and sincere. Then we will have a harvest of righteousness (justice) and it is sown in peace (not anger) by those who make peace.

The Gospel is good news to everyone, but is divisive to those who puff up their own self righteous works, that are motivated by selfish ambition, and tainted by the world of wealth and popularity. The Gospel brings peace and division. But the division is not done in haste, anger, unruly tongues, or condemnation. The Gospel simply divides the oppressors from the oppressed. The Gospel gives entrance to living in the Kingdom to the weak and weary. Our genuine faith will have an outpouring of love and compassion to others as we reach out by that faith and bring them into the fellowship of rest. They are included and as we welcome them into the Kingdom that is theirs, it divides the hearts of the self righteous, revealing to them that their ambitions are deceitful. It is then that they realize that they have left living in the Kingdom and have been put out into the darkness again, making them blind due to the beams in their own eyes. They will gnash their teeth as the weak and oppressed enter into this fellowship of Kingdom living.

So in my conclusion, I present my view that James is cautioning the people not to be idle in their faith, but to respond to the compassion of the Lord by caring for the weak and abused, the widows and the orphans. In our world today, that includes anyone that the self righteous have pushed away from this fellowship of the Royal Priesthood. You can read more about James’ rebuke to the churches in the final 2 chapters (4 and 5) of the book of James.

We are at rest and this Gospel of inclusion is surely offensive to the self righteous and divides them from living the Kingdom life and from partaking in the fellowship of the Royal Priesthood.

Filed Under: Grace, Kingdom Living Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Dual Citizenship

June 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There is a powerful truth spoken of in the scriptures that seems to get tucked out of sight in order to force another issue into our minds that leads us to think God will continue to dangle us over a hot pit until we get things in our lives all worked out. There are perspectives that will tell you that it’s not by works, but by His grace that you are saved and that “once saved always saved” but they keep dangling you over the pit as if it matters. Seems like a contradiction to me. Then there’s another camp that says you can still end up in the pit of flames even if you do believe in Jesus. I can see why they think so, because Jesus said many would say they served him, but he does not know them. These conflicting perspectives puts people in a constant state of panic, fear, and doubt that God has them securely in His grasp. So maybe it’s time we sort all these matters out and try to find some balance and accountability.

I know the hell debate has spanned for centuries, but for the sake of this very powerful, yet often ignored topic, lets put hell aside for the moment. I don’t believe that the popular doctrine of hell is needed in order to believe in Jesus. There are other denominations that do not believe that hell is defined the same way and they still effectively preach Jesus. I believe that in order for us to be able to really begin to be discipled we need to be able to put our full trust in the redemptive finished work of the cross. Until we do, we will continually walk in doubt and fear and that is not the way of the Kingdom. Jesus wants us to be able to enjoy the blessings of living the Kingdom life as a Royal family together. Trusting that we are reconciled to God through the work of the Anointing is just the beginning of our abundant lives.

If we think that living the Kingdom life means we walk a tightrope over hell and can fall at any time, then that is not the Kingdom. There are no threats in the Kingdom of God and Jesus said the Kingdom is within you. So lets put our perspective on the fact that he completed his work of reconciliation so we can learn to navigate this earthly life and walk in the Kingdom at the same time.

There is a song that says “This world is not my home” and for some this gives them the sense of what is to come and while this is a great and wonderful thing, let us not forget that the meek inherit the earth. Jesus said his kingdom is not of this earth, yet he also said his kingdom would be here with us and God told Adam to take care of the earth. It’s a paradox.

We have dual citizenship.

We live on earth, inherit the earth, and reign in the Kingdom as a Royal Priesthood all at the same time. Knowing how to navigate this earthly life is found in walking in the Kingdom. Here is where I will introduce you to such a powerful truth that seems to get ignored so much of the time. The King reveals to us that when we live by the powerful principle of “reap what you sow”, we can effectively live within the bounds of our dual citizenship. You may also see the same concept in the golden rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. If we took this matter seriously, then we do not need the threat of hell to navigate in this life.

Living by the understanding that we will reap what we sow is a powerful teaching of personal accountability. Some in the camp of “once saved, always saved” have committed such atrocities in the Body with the deception that their actions won’t matter because they are “saved and can’t lose their salvation”. I have ministered alongside my husband in an addiction and recovery ministry for over a decade and I can tell you very clearly from personal experience that our decisions always matter. We have seen pastors commit horrible crimes against their congregations and cover it up because they think they can “rule” their church kingdoms as if they are gods. Their actions have infiltrated their churches and put the lives of their congregants in a literal hell on earth and they think they are above the law. This is a gross misrepresentation of the Kingdom. Jesus is always going to bat for the oppressed and abused. Through their deception, the wounded now feel as though they will not be avenged because their abusive clergy is “the Lord’s anointed” and “saved” and therefore will not suffer judgment for what they have done.

Let me assure you that is not the case. We live in the Kingdom that is governed by the principle of reap and sow. Many clergy in several denominations have covered for molesters only to later fall victim to becoming a molester themselves or their kids grew up to be molesters. Clergy in various denominations have been deceitful in manipulating people to give money to their ministry and misused those funds only to be stolen from later in life. Ministry “leaders” have manipulated and abused clients in their programs only to later reap destruction on their ministries as another in their ranks swindles them out of their own ministries. Why do these things happen? Do the actions of a parent come back to haunt them through the lives of their children? Some seem to think so, but my friend Laurie pointed this out to me..

Jeremiah prophesied about the days of the New Covenant (which Jesus instituted) that: “In those days they shall no longer say:

”The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. ‘But everyone shall die for his own sin. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.” (Jer. 31:29-30)

Thank God there is great hope for my children – the hope of the Gospel, which is the only hope for any of us.

My friend Lois says, “No…..we can only reap in ourselves what we have sown…they have to do their own sowing and reaping.”

Then my friend David says, “No way! But we’re gonna totally reap what we sow to them by our deeds. Again and always, the thing is… teaching by example.”

In the examples of abusive clergy that I gave above, we can see all this advice from my friends is valid. Now what happens when an abusive Christian seems to get away with what they’ve done, because they had a hot shot lawyer get them off the hook? God doesn’t miss a thing! God has given us the nation’s justice system, but it is not a perfect system and although we have it at our disposal, we can not rely on it the way we can rely on the Lord.

It may be that an abusive Christian is Christian in name only and not really living the Kingdom life. They might look the part and participate in all the religious activities, but not have the fruit of the Spirit and they allow their flesh to run their lives. This is an unfortunate thing and there are times when we do need to BE the Body and step in to assist in situations that require our intervention. But even in the cases where someone seems to be getting away with what they have done, the Lord sees it all and will deal with them in his own ways. They will not get off “scott free”.

We need to take this “reap and sow” principle to heart! No matter what you believe about hell, the Kingdom is not governed by the threat of hell, it is governed by Christ and he clearly says that we will reap what we sow. If you reap ‘a hell’ on someone’s life, be prepared that ‘a hell’ will be sown in yours at some point as well.

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