Why We Have Tolerated The Weeds

    

     Once again, as I've studied familiar Scripture, the Lord has shined His light upon the Word to give me a new and fresh revelation. We are studying Matthew in our Home Church and, specifically, Matthew 13, best known for the richness of the parables Jesus shared with His disciples.

     If you've spent any time at all reading your Bible, then these parables are familiar to you. And if you are like me, my initial understanding of them was that Jesus spoke in terms of simple stories, in order to teach a moral or spiritual lesson. Theses "lessons" were to be applicable down through the centuries to His followers. And I thought I'd done a pretty good job of comprehending what He was trying to teach me. That is, until I discovered His message of the Kingdom. That changed everything!

     It began with the recognition that the Kingdom of God was the central point of the parables, and that the Parable of the Sower is the foundation for understanding all the parables. Jesus confirms this in Mark 4:13 when He asks His disciples, "If you don’t understand this parable [of the Sower], how will you understand any parable?"

     So, Jesus proceeds to explain the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:18-23. How many of you, like me, missed verse 19 completely? How many, like me, were stunned when the Lord shined His Light on this fundamental truth in His Word? He says, The hard path where some of the seeds fell represents the heart of a person who hears the Good News about the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it; then Satan comes and snatches away the seeds from his heart. As we've all been taught by the Church, the "Gospel" is the "Good News" of Jesus Christ. He couldn't make it any clearer in this parable ... He is the Sower bringing the Gospel of the Kingdom into the hearts of men who will receive it! It is important that we distinguish which Gospel Jesus is sowing into the hearts of men in this parable! Check out the various translations in the Bible.... almost all of them identify "the seed" as the "word of the Kingdom".

     As I've written in previous posts (here and here), I am not downplaying or discrediting the Gospel of Salvation, but that wasn't His primary message to the crowds or to His disciples. Salvation is the necessary and mandatory entry point into the Kingdom of God. Jesus explains that quite well in John 3:1-5. Please read that, if you are confused about the difference between the two Gospels. Because, today, I want to show you why this confusion even exists today. And believe me, the Body of Christ needs to understand this truth in this critical hour.

     All you have to do is query the internet about the meaning of the parable of the Sower and you will find such vague and misleading answers as these .... The man represents God and the seed is His message. But what Message? Salvation or Kingdom?.... The moral of the Parable of the Sower is that not everyone who hears the Christian gospel will understand and believe. But which Gospel? Salvation or the Kingdom?

     So, why is it so difficult for the Body of Christ to grasp this important and crucial message about the Kingdom? Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom message was of primary importance to Him. In Luke 4:43, He says, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” Why does the Church stay focused on the good news of Salvation, instead of taking the next step and sharing that once a person is Saved, they are to see and understand the Kingdom and enter into it? That's why they are here on earth!

     It's taken me a long time to get to the central point of this blog, but here it is .... In Matthew, after presenting the most important parable of the Sower, Jesus then shares the Parable of the Wheat and Tares [or Weeds]. Do you think that is a coincidence? If you believe as I do, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, then join me in understanding what our Lord is telling us in this pivotal parable.

     In Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus has this exchange with His Disciples, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

     We know from the previous parable of the Sower that the man is Jesus, the good seed is the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the field is the world which Jesus created. So how did weeds get in this field and what does it mean for us? This time, Jesus is more succinct in explaining the meaning of His parable. He says, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil."

     I want you to focus on this small portion of the parable ...  that Jesus sowed the good seed of the Gospel of the Kingdom, but while "his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also". Are you able to discern that Jesus accomplished His mission of sowing the Gospel of the Kingdom into the world, which means the Gospel was received by the sons of the kingdom [the Disciples] and the Body of Christ, or the Church, was born. But after that first generation of Disciples died [were sleeping], others came into the Church and sowed seeds from the Enemy. These seeds represent men who began to alter Jesus's Gospel of the Kingdom, to focus primarily on the Gospel of Salvation. While this Gospel is not wrong and is most important, it stops short of Jesus's full mission for us ... receive Salvation and then enter the Kingdom to bring the government of Heaven down to earth.

     And here is an expanded meaning of what the weeds represent: In the King James Bible, “weeds” is called “tares”, and this is how the Concordance describes them: “A kind of darnel (Eurasian ryegrass) that grows as tall as wheat and barley, and resembles wheat in appearance, except the seeds are black. It is seen by the Jews as degenerate wheat (it has lost the qualities of wheat). The seeds are poisonous to man, producing sleepiness, nausea, convulsions and even death. The plants can be separated out, but the custom, as in the parable, is to leave the cleaning out till near the time of harvest”.

      If as true Christians, we desire to righteously represent our Lord, why have we tolerated these "weeds" in our midst? It's because these “weeds” have grown up alongside the men of the Kingdom since the inception of the Early Church, poisoning its teachings. They introduced denominationalism with all its varied doctrines and traditions, and hid the Gospel of the Kingdom from the Body of Christ. They promoted Salvation as the be-all, end-all of our Christian experience, and these teachings have continued until today. That’s why the Church follows so many wrong man-made doctrine.

     We were unable to recognize the poisonous seeds because they resembled the seeds first sown by Jesus. We did not see what grew from the seeds; we ignored the blackness of the seeds which was a poison that produced apathy and passivity in the Church. We, as the Body of Christ, did not guard against imposters, but welcomed anyone whom we thought resembled us, without doing our due diligence.

     And now, the Body as a whole, cannot be trusted to recognize the pure wheat from the impure (or degenerate) wheat. Centuries of assimilation and accommodation have produced a crop within the Church that includes lethargy, sickness of soul and spirit, upheaval in the Kingdom on earth, and yes, even death. These conditions are the weeds grown from the seeds of Christ's enemy. And Jesus will come and gather them out of His true Church at the end of this age. He will be the One who separates the wheat from the weeds at His harvest. And I believe the Body of Christ will be shocked at what is revealed amongst them.

     But, I also believe this is the season before the harvest, when the Remnant can rise and boldly declare the full Gospel of the Lord ... He came bringing the government of His Father's Kingdom in Heaven; to show us why we were created -- to rule the earth [as images of our Creator] in the same way He rules Heaven. The first and crucial step is to recognize our unrighteous sin, and receive Christ as our Savior, and pledging to be obedient in all His ways. Then we have the credentials to enter into the Kingdom, where we are to spend the rest of our lives as ambassadors of the Kingdom and continuing Jesus's work to bring the heavenly model of God's Kingdom to earth. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven is not to just be spoken in reverent prayer, but is to be walked out and lived daily! 

     It is not too difficult to recognize that the wheat is ripening and the harvest is near. And I clearly distinguish the wheat from the weeds. The Good News that Jesus came proclaiming includes both Salvation and Kingdom! In this crucial hour, let us not rest on an incomplete Gospel. Let us bring Salvation to the nations and then encourage them to enter the Kingdom, where we might yet save more wheat from being destroyed by the weeds. I praise my Lord for calling my attention to His Word and revealing His truth where I have missed it. Let me be one of the righteous that shine like the sun in my Father's kingdom! Let me be an instrument to grow His harvest! Let's no longer tolerate the destruction that comes with the weeds!

Acts 20:29-30      I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

    

Mark 4:13

Then He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand and grasp the meaning of all the parables? 

     This last week my husband and I attended a potluck dinner at the local church for a young couple who will be moving from the community to Italy, as the husband fulfills part of his military service.  Although I am not a member of this church, I love so many of the people who are, and recognize them as faithful and obedient Christians.  

     I overheard my husband, who is continually challenging himself and fellow Christians to understand their Bibles at a deeper level, ask a young woman, "Tell me, do you think there is a difference between the Gospel of Jesus and the Gospel of the Kingdom"?  This young woman loves a good challenge and promised to get back to him after studying the matter.  But that got me to thinking ... How many Christians have even considered this question, or better yet, care enough to determine an answer for themselves?  

     Although I believe there is a difference and could give a pretty good apologetics argument for my opinion, I am never satisfied with my level of knowledge. So I decided to dig a little deeper to try to understand these two concepts and found that the Parable of the Sower is at the foundation of understanding the Gospel of the Kingdom.  In fact, the questions Jesus poses in the title of this blog are questions He asked after He taught His disciples this parable, and He makes it pretty clear that if we don't understand the parable of the Sower, then we will have trouble understanding all the rest of the parables.  Wow! I had never grasped that concept before!  Understanding this teaching is something worth pursuing.

     I want to begin by saying that I spend a lot of time in my Bible, studying for myself, but there are also good teachers in this day that I admire and respect; teachers who are following in the footsteps of teachers down through the centuries:  Origen, Matthew Henry, Dwight Moody, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Billy Graham.  These historical figures are flawed men, and you may not completely agree with their theology, but you cannot deny their passion for the Gospel.  The same is true of men that I admire today:  Justin Faull, Russ Dizdar, Michael Heiser, and Dan Duval.  In fact, it was a podcast of a sermon Duval delivered for his online ministry, The Fire Place Church, that helped me come to a new level of understanding regarding the Parable of the Sower and the Gospel of the Kingdom.

     We are all familiar with this parable ... chronologically, it is the 11th of 49 parables that Jesus taught.  It is important to understand the order in which Jesus taught them, and what came before this parable if it, indeed, is the one that understanding all the other parables rests upon.  Parables 1-10  focus on the fact that there’s a new story being told, that it’s not to be hidden, and it serves as a foundation for what’s coming next. These are the parables which involve new cloth, new wine, a lamp on a stand, wise & foolish builders, the moneylender who forgives unequal debts, a lamp on a stand (2nd time), a rich man who builds bigger barns, servants who must remain watchful, wise and foolish servants, and an unfruitful fig tree.  

     The 11th Parable, the one about the Sower of the Seed, teaches us to understand the foundation of what's coming next ... the Kingdom of God.  The parable relates the familiar story of a sower who sowed seed on four types of soil:  the wayside (or the hard road), where it failed to take root and the birds ate it up; on rocks where there was not much soil, although a plant sprang up and was quickly scorched by the sun because the roots had no depth; among thorns, where the seed took root, but the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit; and the good soil, where the plants grew, and increased, and yielded 30, 60, and 100 times what was sown.  

     How many of us have been taught that the primary purpose of this parable is to point out that it was only the good soil where the seed grew and yielded fruit; that this parable is all about the salvation of those people who occupy the good ground and their response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Yes, Jesus goes on to explain that the Sower "sows the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation]".  But if you re-read the parable, you will notice that all the types of soil but one received the Word and had an initial experience of salvation.  

     Jesus tells us that the seed that fell on the rocks represent those who "receive it (the Word that brings salvation; the Gospel of Jesus Christ) with joy [but accept it only superficially] -- but accept it they did! -- and they have no real root in themselves, so they endure only for a little while; then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, immediately they [are offended and displeased at being associated with Me and] stumble and fall away".

     He tells us that the seed that fell on the thorns are "the ones who have heard the word, but the worries and cares of the world [the distractions of this age with its worldly pleasures], and the deceitfulness [and the false security or glamour] of wealth [or fame], and the passionate desires for all the other things creep in and choke out the word, and it becomes unfruitful". They were still saved, but they fall away and are unfruitful!  Lastly, He tells us that the seed that fell on good soil represents "the ones who hear the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation] and accept it and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much [as was sown]." 

     I can just hear all my Baptist friends!  "Only the seed that fell on the good ground represents the truly saved!  The seed on the rocky and thorny ground represents those were were never really saved!"  I will agree to a point ... they experienced salvation, but did not keep it.  But stick with me -- I do not believe this is the point of the parable.

     We all understand what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is; Gospel means "good news", and the "good news" of Jesus Christ is that He died for our sins to save us from the hell we deserve.  BUT, is that what He is preaching in this parable?  Jesus hasn't died yet, so how could He be preaching how His death, burial, and resurrection would lead to eternal life?  No!  When asked to explain the parable of the Sower by the disciples, Jesus said, "“The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you [who have teachable hearts], but those who are outside [the unbelievers, the spiritually blind] get everything in parables...".  He did not say, "the mystery of the Gospel of Me has been given to you."

     Can you see that He is trying to tell them (and us!) that the good news is more than the Gospel about Him; it is about the good news of God's kingdom!  This parable is not only about the salvation experience of hearers of the Word -- it's more than that!  Our salvation experience is just the beginning of our purpose here on earth.  This parable is about understanding the mystery of the kingdom of God --- if we have teachable hearts like the disciples!  Jesus wasn't preaching his death, burial and resurrection with this parable.  He was preaching something else, something bigger than Himself.  He was preaching about the coming of the kingdom of God, the Gospel of the Kingdom.  But what is that? 

     The kingdom of God is the realm in which God exists; it is wherever God is.  And what does a King do?  He governs His subjects and servants.  The Gospel of the Kingdom is the good news of God's government.  It is the good news that God governs out of His realm, which is now dimensionally separated from the earth, and that He intends to govern the earth through us; to interact with us in order to transform the planet to His will in accordance with the faith and belief of His people.  

     Up to this point, God's government has been a spiritual government.  But when God became incarnate, in the figure of Jesus, His government was now interacting through a man on earth, and He was taking territory from the Enemy.  That is "the mystery" of how God would now govern the earth, and it was good news for mankind!

     Can you see that the Gospel of the Kingdom goes so much further than the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Please understand -- I am not diminishing the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  It is the key to the salvation message by which all men can avoid eternal damnation.  It is the necessary first step!  But let's not stop mid-sentence!  Let us not diminish the Gospel of the Kingdom which tells us the good news that God can now interface with saved men through dimensions, and can work with us to begin bringing heaven and earth back into alignment!  

     At the heart of the Gospel of the Kingdom is the knowledge that Jesus was the first man to manifest this interface, and then He turned around and gave that ability to us ... whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  He is telling us that the Father gave Him authority to help govern the earth (to do God's will), and now we can, too, because He is going back to the Father and will be personally interceding for us; interfacing through the dimensions with those who believe in Him.  

     Can you see that when we stop at the salvation message of the Gospel of Jesus, we lose out on a bigger revelation?  It is through the revelation of the death and resurrection of Jesus that we gain access to the dimension and realm where God is King.  

     So to bring it full circle, I believe this is what we need to understand about this parable:  Three out of four of the types of ground, or soil, received the seed; they were saved.  But not all experienced the same thing over the long haul.  It had to do with the state of the ground upon which the seed fell.  So what does the ground represent?  Remember, when asked by the disciples what the parable meant, He told them the mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to those who have teachable hearts. 

     Can you accept that perhaps that the ground represents the condition of our hearts; our belief system and where our faith is anchored?  Can the different types of ground represent our willingness to connect to the realm of God, and to becoming partners with Him to govern the earth.  The Kingdom of God (where God resides and governs from) works with our human hearts (belief system and depth of our faith).  But when the world challenges us through its problems -- bills that are due, family issues, health threats -- we choose fear instead of faith.  And fear closes that inter-dimensional connection.  

     Once we have received salvation, we are each responsible for our own heart condition.  Jesus is sowing Himself into our hearts.  How hard will we work to grow our roots deep; how hard will we fight to keep our roots from being choked out by the world? How teachable is your heart, and how much do you want to work with God to help govern His earth?  The extent of your ability to do that, as a saved Christian, depends on the condition of your heart -- is it hard, rocky, thorny, or good?  Think about it.

      

Part 1: Why We Need to Understand & Preach the Gospel of the Kingdom

I want to present an idea that is clearly explained in the Bible, yet we, as the Body of Christ, often don't recognize it. As elucidated in Luke 4:43, the purpose of Jesus's coming was to announce that the Kingdom of God would be established on earth. Christians today, however, tend to focus on His message of Salvation, and we rarely proclaim what He taught about the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, which are the same thing. Remember that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”(Matthew 6:33).  Salvation was not his primary focus ... the Kingdom of God was. 

Jesus is teaching His disciples the importance of knowing what He meant by the Kingdom of God, and making sure they knew it was His purpose; why He was sent. And when Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God, He spoke in terms of a real government—a structured, organized entity with the very authority of God behind it. (Certain rulers who heard Christ's message recognized the political implications and viewed His words as a threat to their own power. This became a factor in Christ's eventual crucifixion).  

But God is a God of order. To Jesus and His disciples, the term "Kingdom of God" meant a government that would be established on earth. They anticipated that its arrival would amount to nothing less than a sweeping, overwhelming change in the world order. And those in power could not let that happen. The powerful still don't want to recognize the supremacy of His government!

We also need to recognize that there are two different fulfillments we need to consider when discussing the Kingdom of God: 1) The Bible shows that when the Kingdom comes in the future, the returning Christ will take His place as divine ruler of the earth. It is a literal Kingdom on earth, with Jesus as the ruler.  2) Since the Kingdom is wherever the King is ruler, if He is the ruler of your heart, then the spiritual Kingdom of God exists in you HERE AND NOW.  

In light of these two fulfillments, it is important that we contemplate the chapter of Matthew 13, which consists entirely of parables about the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples asked Jesus, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And He answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” Notice that He doesn't say you have been given the knowledge of Salvation ... No! He was teaching them about the significance of the Kingdom of Heaven and why it was important, both in the present and in the future.

In each of the parables in Matthew 13, Jesus presents an argument that begins with, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like...".  I don't know about you, but for years, I read those parables in terms of what moral lesson He was trying to teach me. I never made the connection that they all pointed to the Kingdom of Heaven. As I looked for a lesson in each one, I missed that He was giving us valuable information that pertained to Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.  Let me give you a short synopsis on each of the parables and why it was important to Jesus that we get this concept. I recommend that you read these parables in Matthew, Chapter 13, with a new spiritual eye towards The Kingdom of God.

The Parable of the Sower:  Each soil represents one of four responses to the teaching of the Kingdom of God. With each response, but one, the message is lost. 

The Parable of the Wheat and Tares (Weeds):  There was corruption in the Kingdom, but it will be sorted out at harvest time.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed:  (This is the most fascinating to me, and is an alternate view of the one most often presented!)  This parable accurately describes what the kingdom community became in the decades and centuries after the Christianization of the Roman Empire. In those centuries the Church grew abnormally large in influence and dominion, and was a nest for much corruption.  Close study of birds as symbols in the Old Testament, and especially in the literature of later Judaism, shows that birds regularly symbolize evil and even demons or Satan.

The Parable of the Leaven: Three measures is far more leaven than is needed to make bread, and represents the addition of corruption and impurity through “paganizing influences” introduced into the Kingdom.

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure: The man is Jesus and this parable speaks of how highly the King values the people of His kingdom.  The treasure that is so wonderful that Jesus would give all to purchase is the individual believer. This powerfully shows how Jesus gave everything to redeem the whole world to preserve a treasure in it, and the treasure is His people.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value: Again, Jesus is the buyer and the individual believer is the pearl that He sees as so valuable that He would happily give all to have it forever. To the ancient peoples that Jesus was speaking to, a pearl was the loveliest of all possessions; Jesus is telling them that the people of His Kingdom are the most valuable thing to Him.

The Parable of the (Drag)Net: Jesus shows that the world will remain divided right up until the end, and the Church will not reform the world. The King will return, the angels will assist the King in the work of judgment, and He will establish His Kingdom on earth.

As I have studied further about Jesus's teachings on the Kingdom of God, I now understand how the early Church might have been confused about it's significance, and how that has translated to near ignorance on the part of the modern Church. 

In fact, the hope of the early church was that the Lord would return in the clouds to establish a Kingdom of peace and justice. That is what Jesus preached! They had yet to learn that the Kingdom was in them! The Disciples believed in the literal return and reign of Christ on earth. Jesus, Himself, said in Matthew 25:31, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.” He goes on to say in verse 32, that He will then judge the nations, separating the sheep from the goats. But He also told them in Luke 17:21:  "You won't be able to say, 'Here it is!' or 'It's over there!' For the Kingdom of God is already among you."  We can see both the future and the present Kingdoms of God presented here.

So, how have we come to lose the importance of Jesus's message about the Kingdom of God?  It began to change through the centuries as follows: The Church began to limit the idea of the Kingdom of God to just mean the 1,000 year reign of Christ in the Millennial Kingdom. While The Kingdom of God and the Millennial Kingdom aren’t the same, they do overlap. Then theologians began arguing if the Millennial Kingdom was literal or allegorical. The early Church fathers Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian believed in a literal Millennial Kingdom. In the 3rd Century, Origen was the first to present the allegorical theory. Then just a few years later, Augustine changed the theory even more.  He “identified the Church with the Kingdom of God and maintained that the millennial age had already come”.  In his highly influential book The City of God, Augustine wrote: “Therefore the Church, even now, is the kingdom of Christ, and the kingdom of heaven” (Book XX, Chapter 9). In essence, Augustine taught that the Church in this present world is the Kingdom of God, and “the thousand years stand for all the years of the Christian era”. 

We need to remember that the Hebrew prophets showed that the arrival of God's Kingdom on earth would bring worldwide peace, physical abundance and divine righteousness.  Isaiah 2:4 tells us that He will judge among the nations, and rebuke many people; that people will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; and that nations won’t lift their swords against other nations, and man will learn war no more.

But history shows us that the “Christian era” or “the Church era” that Augustine equated with God's Kingdom has been a time of violence, war, death, starvation and widespread lawlessness. We certainly can’t say mankind is no longer learning war! So the Church, in this "Age of Grace," has obviously not spread Jesus’s Gospel Message about the Kingdom of God! 

Continuing from the historical perspective, in the 18th Century mankind adopted “the Age of Reason”, and instead of basing all knowledge in Biblical revelation, they tried to build on the foundation of human reason.  Theologians that adopted this concept believed that “Western civilization was establishing Christ's earthly rule”. And they began to teach that Mankind was “improving” and through our human power and ingenuity we could establish a righteous world. (SIDE NOTE:  We’ve left the “righteousness” part of that world equation behind, and now through our human power and ingenuity, we’re going to “improve” through transhumanism, including man merging with machine).

Those theologians also taught that as the Church, we should set good examples of Christian living, which would influence society and culture… we haven’t done a very good job of that if you look at our society today. And even though that idea was preached by the theologians of the day, the Church received no commission to politically reform the society by seeking God’s righteousness, and from the Roman Empire on, we have NOT seen the governments of the world conform to what Jesus said the Kingdom of God was: a structured, organized entity with the very authority of God behind it.  And throughout the centuries, the Church has not preached that as a goal!  Instead, church members heard from their leaders that they should hope and pray for God's Kingdom to come [in the future], while concentrating on the Salvation message.

That literal Kingdom on earth WILL COME and Jesus WILL be the Divine Ruler of His Kingdom on earth.  In that sense the Kingdom of God is future and we look forward to our inheritance. BUT the Kingdom of God also refers to the King’s realm into which we may now enter to experience the blessings of His reign in our hearts.  REMEMBER:  the parable of the Sower is all about what is sown in our hearts; that’s the personal realm that Jesus concentrated on and wants to be King of.

So, in this earthly realm, it is perhaps easier to comprehend that the Kingdom of God exists in our hearts.  Our spirits give us hints that He is there, and our souls (our minds, emotions and will) will show us He is real and there is evidence of Him --- IF WE SEEK THE KINGDOM OF GOD FIRST.  

As for the literal establishment of God’s Kingdom at the return of Christ, God's timetable may differ from man's. God does not allow man to foresee the chronological details of His plan, but the outcome is certain. God will do what He has promised. 

Finally, here is the really important concept I hope you will grasp ... After the true biblical teaching of the Kingdom of God was removed, the gospel message was changed from the message about the Kingdom to a message primarily about Jesus Christ.  It would become a message that Christianity would triumph over its enemies in the world. And it was a message that faith in Jesus would yield eternal salvation ... both true, but these were not the "Good News" that Jesus had come to preach, nor the purpose for which He was sent.  (Read the Scripture that follows). In other words, Christianity kept the name of Jesus Christ, but abandoned His message.

Part Two of this topic will take a look at what Jesus meant by the "secrets" or the "mysteries" of the Kingdom.

Luke 4:43   But He said, “I must preach [the good news of] the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because I was sent for this purpose.”

Luke 4:43

 But He said, “I must preach [the good news of] the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because I was sent for this purpose.”

Today's blog post is Part One of a two-part teaching my husband and I presented to our Home Church on "The Kingdom of God".  Part One is an overview of why we need to understand and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.  Tomorrow, I will present Part Two, which takes a look at what Jesus meant by "The mystery of the Kingdom".     

     I want to present an idea that is clearly explained in the Bible, yet we, as the Body of Christ, don't recognize it.  As elucidated in Luke 4:43, the purpose of Jesus's coming was to announce that the Kingdom of God would be established on earth.  Christians today, however, tend to focus on His message of Salvation, and we rarely proclaim what He taught about the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, which are the same thing. Remember that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”(Matthew 6:33).  Salvation was not his primary focus ... the Kingdom of God was.

     Jesus is teaching His disciples the importance of knowing what He meant by the Kingdom of God, and making sure they knew it was His purpose; why He was sent. And when Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God, He spoke in terms of a real government—a structured, organized entity with the very authority of God behind it. (Certain rulers who heard Christ's message recognized the political implications and viewed His words as a threat to their own power. This became a factor in Christ's eventual crucifixion).  

     But God is a God of order.  To Jesus and His disciples, the term "Kingdom of God" meant a government that would be established on earth. They anticipated that its arrival would amount to nothing less than a sweeping, overwhelming change in the world order.

    We also need to recognize that there are two different fulfillments we need to consider when discussing the Kingdom of God:  1) The Bible shows that when the Kingdom comes in the future, the returning Christ will take His place as divine ruler of the earth.  It is a literal Kingdom on earth, with Jesus as the ruler. 2) Since the Kingdom is wherever the King rules, if He is the ruler of your heart, then the spiritual Kingdom of God exists in you HERE AND NOW.  

     It's interesting, in light of these two fulfillments, to contemplate the chapter of Matthew 13, which consists entirely of parables about the Kingdom of Heaven.  The disciples asked Jesus, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And He answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” Notice that He doesn't say you have been given the knowledge of Salvation ... No! He was teaching them about the significance of the Kingdom of Heaven and why it was important, both in the present and in the future.

     In each of the parables in Matthew 13, Jesus presents an argument that begins with, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like...".  I don't know about you, but I have read those parables so many times, and I never made the connection that they all pointed to the Kingdom of Heaven.  I looked for a lesson in each one, but did not recognize that He was giving us valuable information that pertained to Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven.  Let me give you a short synopsis on each of the parables and why it was important to Jesus that we get this concept. I recommend that you read these parables in Matthew, Chapter 13, with a new spiritual eye towards The Kingdom of God.

The Parable of the Sower:  Each soil represents one of four responses to the teaching of the kingdom.

The Parable of the Wheat and Tares (Weeds):  There was corruption in the Kingdom, but it will be sorted out at harvest time.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed:  (This was the most fascinating to me!)  This parable accurately describes what the kingdom community became in the decades and centuries after the Christianization of the Roman Empire. In those centuries the Church grew abnormally large in influence and dominion, and was a nest for much corruption.  Close study of birds as symbols in the Old Testament, and especially in the literature of later Judaism, shows that birds regularly symbolize evil and even demons or Satan.

The Parable of the Leaven:  Three measures is far more leaven than is needed to make bread, and represents the addition of corruption and impurity through “paganizing influences” introduced into the Kingdom.

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure: The man is Jesus and this parable speaks of how highly the King values the people of His kingdom.  The treasure that is so wonderful that Jesus would give all to purchase is the individual believer. This powerfully shows how Jesus gave everything to redeem the whole world to preserve a treasure in it, and the treasure is His people.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value:  Again, Jesus is the buyer and the individual believer is the pearl that He sees as so valuable that He would happily give all to have it forever.  To the ancient peoples that Jesus was speaking to, a pearl was the loveliest of all possessions; Jesus is telling them that the people of His Kingdom are the most valuable thing to Him.

The Parable of the (Drag)Net: Jesus shows that the world will remain divided right up until the end, and the Church will not reform the world.  The King will return, the angels will assist the King in the work of judgment, and He will establish His Kingdom on earth.

     As I studied further about Jesus's teachings on the Kingdom of God, I began to understand how the early Church might have been confused about it's significance, and how that has translated to near ignorance on the part of the modern Church.

     The hope of the early church was that the Lord would return in the clouds to establish a Kingdom of peace and justice.  That is what Jesus preached!  They had yet to learn that the Kingdom was in them! The Disciples believed in the literal return and reign of Christ on earth.  Jesus, Himself, said in Matthew 25:31, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.”  He goes on to say in verse 32, that He will then judge the nations, separating the sheep from the goats. But He also told them in Luke 17:21:  "You won't be able to say, 'Here it is!' or 'It's over there!' For the Kingdom of God is already among you."  We can see both the future and the present Kingdoms of God presented here.

     So, how have we come to lose the importance of Jesus's message about the Kingdom of God?  It began to change through the centuries as follows: The Church began to limit the idea of the Kingdom of God to just mean the 1,000 year reign of Christ in the Millennial Kingdom.  While The Kingdom of God and the Millennial Kingdom aren’t the same, they do overlap. Then theologians began arguing if the Millennial Kingdom was literal or allegorical. The early Church fathers Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian believed in a literal Millennial Kingdom. In the 3rd Century, Origen was the first to present the allegorical theory. Then just a few years later, Augustine changed the theory even more.  He “identified the Church with the Kingdom of God and maintained that the millennial age had already come”.  In his highly influential book The City of God, Augustine wrote: “Therefore the Church, even now, is the kingdom of Christ, and the kingdom of heaven” (Book XX, Chapter 9). In essence, Augustine taught that the Church in this present world is the Kingdom of God, and “the thousand years stand for all the years of the Christian era”. 

     We need to remember that the Hebrew prophets showed that the arrival of God's Kingdom on earth would bring worldwide peace, physical abundance and divine righteousness.  Isaiah 2:4 tells us that He will judge among the nations, and rebuke many people; that people will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; and that nations won’t lift their swords against other nations, and man will learn war no more.

     But history shows us that the “Christian era” or “the Church era” that Augustine equated with God's Kingdom has been a time of violence, war, starvation and widespread lawlessness.  We certainly can’t say mankind is no longer learning war!  So the Church, in this "Age of Grace," has obviously not spread Jesus’s Gospel Message about the Kingdom of God! 

     Continuing from the historical perspective, in the 18th Century mankind adopted “the Age of Reason”, and instead of basing all knowledge in Biblical revelation, they tried to build on the foundation of human reason.  Theologians that adopted this concept believed that “Western civilization was establishing Christ's earthly rule”. And they began to teach that Mankind was “improving” and through our human power and ingenuity we could establish a righteous world. (SIDE NOTE:  We’ve left the “righteousness” part of that world equation behind, and now through our human power and ingenuity, we’re going to “improve” through transhumanism).

     Those theologians also taught that as the Church, we should set good examples of Christian living, which would influence society and culture… we haven’t done a very good job of that if you look at our society today. And even though that idea was preached by the theologians of the day, the Church received no commission to politically reform the society by seeking God’s righteousness, and from the Roman Empire on, we have NOT seen the governments of the world conform to what Jesus said the Kingdom of God was: a structured, organized entity with the very authority of God behind it.  And throughout the centuries, the Church has not preached that as a goal!  Instead, church members heard from their leaders that they should hope and pray for God's Kingdom to come, while concentrating on the Salvation message.

     That literal Kingdom on earth WILL COME and Jesus WILL be the Divine Ruler of His Kingdom on earth.  In that sense the Kingdom of God is future and we look forward to our inheritance. BUT the Kingdom of God also refers to the King’s realm into which we may now enter to experience the blessings of His reign in our hearts.  REMEMBER:  the parable of the Sower is all about what is sown in our hearts; that’s the personal realm that Jesus concentrated on and wants to be King of.

     So, in this earthly realm, it is perhaps easier to comprehend that the Kingdom of God exists in our hearts.  Our spirits give us hints that He is there, and our souls (our minds, emotions and will) will show us He is real and there is evidence of Him --- IF WE SEEK THE KINGDOM OF GOD FIRST.  

     As for the literal establishment of God’s Kingdom at the return of Christ, God's timetable may differ from man's. God does not allow man to foresee the chronological details of His plan, but the outcome is certain. God will do what He has promised. 

     Finally, here is the really important concept I hope you will grasp ... After the true biblical teaching of the Kingdom of God was removed, the gospel message was changed from the message about the Kingdom to a message primarily about Jesus Christ.  It would become a message that Christianity would triumph over its enemies in the world. And it was a message that faith in Jesus would yield eternal salvation ... both true, but these were not the "Good News" that Jesus had come to preach, nor the purpose for which He was sent.  (Re-read the Scripture at the top of this page). In other words, Christianity kept the name of Jesus Christ, but abandoned His message.

Tomorrow I will explore the "secrets" or the "mystery" of the Kingdom of God.  

It's All About Our Hearts

     I have been so impressed with some of the interviews I have seen following the horrific events of last week.  The shootings in Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and Dallas, have rocked this nation.  I am saddened by the continuing vitriol, but I am also very hopeful at what I am beginning to see happening.  I think you will agree, as you read these interviews that each of the conversations came from the heart, which is the part of us where our emotions dwell.  I think we can all agree that as humans, we are flesh, soul, and spirit.  The soul is comprised of our mind, our emotions, and our will.  But while the heart would seem to be a part of the soul (because our emotions and desires dwell there), I actually believe that there is a spiritual component to our hearts.  I want to explore this further, but first, I want to share why the statements by these individuals moved me so much.
     To begin, all three people just happen to be Black.  But it wasn't their skin color that spoke to my spirit; it was what emanated from their hearts.   I think Benjamin Watson, the tight end for the Baltimore Ravens has given one of the most impressive interviews I've seen.  On NFL Access, he stated that the number one issue to tackle in our nation's attempt to heal from racial division is honesty.  "It's about stepping into someone else's shoes... and sometimes it hurts.  There's pain; there's tears that need to be shed; there's repentance that needs to happen, and forgiveness that needs to happen on all sides.  Healing comes when people's hearts are open to the truth; when they are open and honest and willing to get uncomfortable.  Racism is uncomfortable!  It's not easy to sit here and talk about this issue, but if this nation is going to get to a better place, then we have to realize it is a heart issue; something inside us and not necessarily something effecting us from the outside... We have to respect each other, and see people how God would see them."  On Fox News's The Kelly File, Watson said, "[We have to solve our race problem] through Truth, Justice, and Righteousness."  This man gets it!
     The other two interviews were held with Shetamia Taylor, a shooting victim from Dallas, and a surgeon who treated the officers that were killed, Dr. Brian Williams.  I highly urge you to click on both links, and watch them express their experiences that day.  I dare you not to shed a tear!  When discussing the current state of race relations, Ms. Taylor said, "It's disheartening. I'm angry and I'm frustrated because, of course, we want action, but you have to think first before taking that action. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm not going to stop. I want my community to be unified, I want my people to be unified, I want all of us to come together."  Dr. Williams stated, “I understand the anger and the frustration and distrust of law enforcement, but they are not the problem,” he said, his voice choking up. “The problem is open discussions about the impact of race relations in this country. And I think about it every day, that I was unable to save those cops when they came here that night. It weighs on my mind constantly.” And then here is the honest and uncomfortable part of the discussion that Benjamin Watson encouraged all of us to have ... Dr. Williams continued, “And I want the Dallas police to also see me, a black man, and understand that I support you, I will defend you and I will care for you. That doesn’t mean that I do not fear you. That doesn’t mean if you approach me, I will not immediately have a visceral reaction and start worrying for my personal safety.”
     Can you see the expression of the heart in each of these individuals?  And why is that so important, and what part does it play in spiritual warfare?  The term "heart" refers to the inner person, and it is central and vital to our spiritual existence.  It is very important, in the context of spiritual warfare and our spiritual life, to understand that God is deeply concerned about the inner man or the condition of the heart.  In fact, He make this point clear in 1 Samuel 16:7:  But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  Could that pertain any more to our what our nation is experiencing?
     It is obvious from this passage that God searches the heart.  Why?  He plainly tells us that Where your treasure is, there will be your heart, also (Matthew 6:21).  Everything about our lives -- how we act, our works, our desires and pursuits -- stem from our heart.  If our heart is sick with sin, then it produces sickness on the outside.  That's why God promises those who will follow Him that He will give them a new heart, and take away their "heart of stone".
     The website Bible.org sums it up precisely:  Since the heart is so important to what we think, say, and do, we each need to regularly do open heart surgery with the scalpel of the Word under the guiding hand of the great physician, the Lord Jesus. We accomplish this through the teaching, guiding, convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit. Like a sharp two-edged sword, the Word divides the inner man asunder to reveal the true condition and needs of our hearts, because this will truly reveal if they belong to Him.
     Do you remember the blog post I wrote a couple of weeks ago on the verse Mark 4:13 and the Parable of the Sower?  I invite you to go back and revisit it.  But here is a summary that ties into what we're talking about today:  "Three out of four of the types of ground, or soil, received the seed; they were saved.  But not all experienced the same thing over the long haul.  It had to do with the state of the ground upon which the seed fell.  So what does the ground represent?  Remember, when asked by the disciples what the parable meant, He told them the mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to those who have teachable hearts ...  The Kingdom of God (where God resides and governs from) works with our human hearts (our belief system and depth of our faith).  But when the world challenges us through its problems -- bills that are due, family issues, health threats -- we choose fear instead of faith."
     If those types of ground, or soil, represent the condition of our hearts, and the seed represents the Word sowed into our hearts, can you see the schemes of the devil to keep that seed from being firmly implanted?  Can you see that preparing the soil of our hearts to become fertile ground for the Word of God is an important weapon in our spiritual warfare arsenal?  The Enemy may disrupt your planting season with his lies, or with unfortunate happenstances that destroy the condition of your heart.  Or, as in the case of last week, he might send agents to kill and murder, sending a fiery dart of hate, causing the condition of your heart to be like barren ground.
     When I wrote my commentary on the Parable of the Sower a little over two weeks ago, the challenges brought about by the shootings in Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and Dallas had not happened.  Can you now apply what the Bible says about the state of the heart to Benjamin Watson's point that how we react to these tragedies is "a heart issue"?  That we need to repent and forgive in our hearts -- possible only through the conviction and presence of the Holy Spirit -- before healing can begin?
     If we allow satan any access to our heart, he will take advantage of our fleshly emotions and desires and sow his rocks, weeds, and thorns; reaping hate, division, and rebellion in our hearts.  That is why part of our spiritual armor is the breastplate of righteousness which protects our hearts and allows the Word to germinate, thrive, and produce much fruit.  That is the righteousness that Benjamin Watson says we must seek as we examine our hearts.  He's right, you know.  Unless we seriously deal with our heart issues -- fertilizing our hearts with the Word and rooting out the weeds that choke the spirit out of us -- and then allowing ourselves to be uncomfortably honest, and seeing each other as Jesus sees us, His healing balm can not mend our broken hearts.
     I may be an eternal optimist, but my faith gives me hope, and I see hope in the conversations these three remarkable people were willing to have.  There was honesty, which leads to Truth and the readiness to begin to forgive ... and those are powerful weapons against an enemy that seeks to enter our hearts and make them "deceitful and desperately wicked".   We would be wise to listen to the following words of Solomon ....

Proverbs 4:23       "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."

When the Idolatry of Religion Meets the Kingdom of God

     Continuing with the subject of the Kingdom of God, it is the desire of my heart that Christians seek it first, as Jesus instructs us in Matthew 6:33. But, in the Bible, we are also told to seek Him with our whole heart [in Psalm 119:2 and Jeremiah 29:13]. So, I hope to show you that our heart is not only important in establishing our faith and relationship with God and Jesus, but it is important in the matter of receiving the Kingdom of God.
     In the Old Testament, the hearts of the Israelites were often in conflict; their hearts being divided between idolatry and their allegiance to YHWH. [For the sake of this article, I will define idolatry as anything that we build an altar to in our heart, or that sits on the throne of our heart.] And through careful study, it has become clear to me that God will speak to us according to what sits on that throne.
     Just take a look at what God says to the idolatrous elders of Israel [through the prophet Ezekiel]: "these men have set up [and honored] their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the [vile] stumbling block of their wickedness and guilt; should I [permit Myself to] be consulted by them at all? Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Any man of the house of Israel who takes his idols [of rebellion] into his heart, and puts the [vile] stumbling block of his wickedness and guilt [images of silver and gold] before his face, and yet comes to the prophet [to ask of him], I the Lord will answer him, [but I will answer him] in accordance with the number of his idols in order that I may take hold of the heart (mind) of the house of Israel who are all estranged from Me because of their idols" (Ezekiel 14:3-5). 

     It is clear to me that God may not always speak His Truth to us, if our hearts aren't right with Him, but will speak according to what we are idolizing in our heart. Therefore, we have a responsibility to safeguard our hearts from any form of idolatry. Furthermore, God warns against receiving a false prophetic word in verses 9-11: "But if the prophet [who speaks without My authority] is enticed to speak a word [of his own], it is I the Lord who have caused that prophet [to speak falsely to please the inquirer, thus allowing himself to be a party to the inquirer’s sin], and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.  They [both] will bear the punishment of their wickedness; the sin of the [counterfeit] prophet will be the same as the sin of the [hypocritical] inquirer,  so that the house of Israel may no longer drift away from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions, but they will be My people, and I will be their God,”’ says the Lord God.” [NOTE: I hope it is clear to you that it is always God's desire that people recognize their sin, and return to Him].
     Further evidence that God will speak according to what sits on the throne of our heart is found in 1 Kings 22. This is the account of King Ahab and the false prophets. Ahab's heart had turned from God to wickedness and he idolized all that his status as king had provided him. When he seeks an answer from his prophets as to whether he should go to battle against the Syrians, God gives permission to a lying spirit to speak to the prophets of Jezebel to deceive Ahab because God knows the king will receive their prophecy according to the idolatrous state of his heart. 
     Just as Ahab found out, because God has given free will to mankind, there are consequences to having an idolatrous heart! And those consequences don't apply just in the Old Testament. We New Testament Believers are just as susceptible to idolatry [in our hearts] and its consequences. If our hearts aren't right with God, the word we think we are receiving may not be right, either. It is imperative that our hearts be pure and that we submit to the righteous Word of God, and then we will hear and receive His truth! 
     In addition, it is vitally important that we guard our hearts against all idolatry, because Proverbs 4:23 tells us everything we do flows from it. And sometimes I think we Christians get careless about idolatry in our hearts. We tend to think it is the obvious things of the world, like wealth or power or material things that can become idols in our heart. We think as long as we are Saved, there is no one but Jesus that occupies the throne of our heart. 
     But Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, not just the Gospel of Salvation. He says that is why He was sent (Luke 4:43). And that Good News of the Kingdom of God didn't sit very well with the religious leaders of Israel, the very people He came to deliver. Why? Because Religion always responds according to the idolatry of the heart. Even today, in the 21st Century, try to speak to some Christians about the rule and reign of God's Kingdom government on earth, and what it looks like, and you will meet the same kind of opposition Jesus did. 
     Religion idolizes its own traditions, rituals, denominational teachings, movements, and self-righteousness. They can all influence our heart. Kingdom is what Jesus did... setting people free; impacting everything and everyone on earth with the power and authority and love of God until it becomes "as it is in heaven". Just because we know the grace of God in our salvation, it does not mean our hearts are pure and free of idolatry. It does not mean that we have received the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus stressed throughout His ministry, nor that He alone sits on the throne of our heart.
       The New Testament tells us in Ephesians 3:14-19, that through the power of the Holy Spirit in us, Christ can dwell in your heart. Furthermore, as the Word, Jesus is living and active, discerning the thoughts and intentions of our heart (Hebrews 4:12). Other translations say He "exposes and judges the very intentions and thoughts of our heart", or that He "interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts". In other words the hidden aspects of our hearts are known by Him and any idolatry is uncovered.
      We can see a picture of this concept in Jesus's exchange with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, the council of religious rulers in Israel.  In John 2:23-3:5, Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. He has seen the signs of the Kingdom of God that Jesus has performed, but his religious heart is still skeptical. But notice what Scripture says just before Nicodemus speaks. ... Many people identified with Jesus because they had seen the miracles, but Jesus didn't trust them because He knew how fickle human hearts can be, and because He knew what was in each man's heart -- exactly what Hebrews 4:12 says.
     But also notice this ... when Nicodemus says to Jesus, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him", Scripture says, "Jesus answered him, 'I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.'" Wait a minute! Nicodemus didn't ask a question, yet Jesus answered him according to what was in his heart and what he needed!
     You see, Nicodemus is seeking truth but he is still steeped in religion as a member of the Sanhedrin, so he doesn't even know what to ask. The same holds true today -- Religion doesn't know the question nor the answer! But Jesus answers Nicodemus according to what Nicodemus needs -- the Kingdom Gospel! And the Kingdom will always answer the questions of your heart according to your need and not your idolatry. 
     Think about it -- Jesus never offered a Sinner's prayer to anyone -- that's Religion! He offered all who came to Him what they needed ... physical healing, spiritual healing through casting out of demons, and the hope of transformation and rebirth into a heavenly system; not a man-made system of religion. And it's important that we recognize that Jesus did not pray, heal, or cast out demons for everyone -- He knew who wanted Kingdom because He could discern the state of their heart and the presence of idolatry, if it was there. 
     Jesus's ministry of the Kingdom on earth began as a small mustard seed in the backwaters of the Roman Empire, but it was planned and designed [from Heaven] to expand across the earth. And whether a person's heart is free of the idolatry of wealth, status, power -- and yes, even religion -- and is ready to receive the Kingdom is exemplified in the Parable of the Sower ... "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart". 
     I can tell you that I have often seen this in my ministry. I have to be careful to discern who really wants Kingdom and who wants Religion, because the Kingdom message does not mix with any other belief system, nor will it compromise.  Those who try to divide the throne of their heart between Kingdom and Religion will find themselves indecisive, unstable in their thoughts, and wavering between different opinions and actions. To truly experience the Kingdom of God that Jesus came to establish, the Kingdom must occupy the throne of one's heart, along with one possessing a desire to align one's life with the government of God on earth -- a Kingdom where there is no sickness and no poverty; where one is ready to consider God's perspective in all we say and do; to "Kingdom-ize" everything!!!
     So, I did not write this post to condemn anyone or to question anyone's faith. My only objective was to point out that the Word of God shows us the dangers of idolatry in our heart, and how it can distort our own discernment. And as the parable of the Sower indicates ... if, as followers of Christ, we are not preaching "the word of the Kingdom", we are not providing good seed to be sown in the hearts of men. It's one thing to not understand it; it's another to never have heard it. May we all purge our hearts of idolatry of every kind and share what Jesus preached -- the Gospel of the Kingdom!

Luke 9:2    "And He sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal."