Paul's Passing Thoughts

One of the biblical doctrines brought under sharper focus for me in recent months is so-called kingdom theology. If you don’t mind, I would like to claim the following view of kingdom theology for the home fellowship movement: we do not believe that God’s kingdom is presently on earth enforcing its authority over creation. If it was, the results would be obvious, as it will be when Christ returns and sets up His 1000 year kingdom on earth, and will rule the world from David’s throne in Jerusalem.

Secondly, God is not all that big on authority. The last enemy of God to be defeated will be death and that will occur at the end of His 1000 year reign. That means there will be some sin in the kingdom because some death will remain, although nothing like what we see now. Why would God work with such a plan? Because He is primarily concerned with love which is not valid without freewill. In the Old Testament, there was taxation under the law, and then there were freewill offerings that were driven by love, not compelled by force. God is love, and all about love, not law.

Hence, under the new and better covenant, there is no institutional Judaism, only love offerings. There is no tithing. God’s kingdom manifestations through Israel were ended with the destruction of the second temple. No temple, no kingdom. Period. The church institution tries to get around this by claiming a “spiritual kingdom” of God and claiming that the church is the visible institution of it on earth. For some reason, God decided to put men in charge of a kingdom on earth that competes with all of the other worldly kingdoms, while claiming that God is “sovereign” and “all powerful.” Meanwhile, supposedly, despotic kingdoms constantly give Him a run for His money. Nope, don’t think so. What I think follows: when Satan took Christ to a mountain top and offered Him the kingdoms of the world in exchange for His worship, it was a legitimate offer.

So, why is there a struggle between good and evil presently? If Satan is king of this present kingdom, why doesn’t evil rule the day? One, because of the conscience within every human being, at least, most of them. Second, God’s kingdom has ambassadors on earth. Third, the presence of the Holy Spirt. Fourth, man’s practical commonsense that avoids unnecessary suffering (what is “self-evident” to all). Fifth, what God creates is still good.

Yet, the present kingdom on earth prefers death—death is its calling card. It partakes in slow death through lifestyle, promotes anti-humanity ideologies, is full of control-lust, and thinks of people on different social strata as worthy of death. Justice is illusive because justice speaks to life value. When it gets right down to it, people who value life are seen as ignorant and uneducated. God demands justice and the defense of the weak because he values His creation generally, and individual human life in-particular.

Good people are a good thing, and when they are courageous enough to defend good, that is even better, but they still need to take the extra step and rescue themselves from this present kingdom of death. They need to prepare themselves for God’s coming kingdom. There is no neutral ground between these two kingdoms. And, I do think there are hedges of protection for those who belong to God in this world. And, I do think those guided by conscience receive blessings from God.

The present COVID pandemic has revealed this world’s overt disregard for life. Politics clearly trump any regard for life. If you cannot be controlled, or you are unwilling to be controlled, you are worthy of death. For many, money has a much higher value than life. Regardless of the fact that Chinese ill behavior has claimed the lives of 250,000 people worldwide, don’t expect the NBA or its players to express horror over it. For the NBA, China represents billions of dollars in yearly profits, and often toe the Communist line for this very reason. The COVID pandemic overwhelmed healthcare systems in many countries resulting in people having to place their deceased loved ones at the street curb for eventual pickup and burial with no funerals. Yet, the production and market of expensive tennis shoes far outweigh any concern for such horrific results from the Chinese playing with dangerous viruses for questionable reasons. Past that, they CLEARLY allowed flights out of Wuhan to the rest of the world, hoarded PPE, moved in January to obtain a patent on remdesivir, and threatened to withhold it and other drugs from the United States.

My friends, in this kingdom, fancy tennis shoes are much more valuable than any life.

New York city is the blue chip of anti-humanity death ideology. CLEARLY, human life is far from being the highest priority there. Nurses from other parts of the country went to New York to help in the hospitals, and have testified to the horrifying disregard for life. At least two ER nurses have testified that patients are “being murdered” by the hundreds in New York hospitals through incompetence and indifference.

Though I am no big fan of the church, I would see the Samaritan’s Purse medical efforts there as totally positive. Yes, Billy Graham’s total inability of man doctrine is annoying, but nurses confused about religious issues can still be good nurses. The bottom line should be a question of whether or not their presence there saved lives. For certain, as a patient there, your survival chances are demonstrably higher in the Samaritan Purse tents. As a healthcare worker, I can tell you where I would have worked without a second thought. Yes, the mentality that prayer is needed at every turn to be successful lest we do good “by our own power” would have been annoying, but the bottom line is how many lives are saved.  Yet, Samaritan’s Purse was harassed and bullied by the New York city politicians because of their anti-homosexual position. However, I think we know a Muslim organization would not have received the same treatment though Muslim countries execute homosexuals.

Regardless of overwhelming evidence that certain treatments cured COVID patients, such treatments were deliberately withheld for political reasons. Governors even banned the treatments through executive order and threatened to jail doctors who administered the treatments. Many effective treatments for COVID were discovered early in the pandemic, but the pandemic was deliberately extended with no holds barred fear mongering for purely political reasons. Again, we must remember, control-lust is a primary element of sin, and in this present kingdom, those who will not “humble themselves” and submit to being controlled, are worthy of slow death.

And finally, regardless of the resources sent to New York to guarantee its health system would not be overwhelmed, those resources were saved for those better suited to “contribute to the group (society at large).” Older people who were hospitalized were mandated to LTC facilities that lacked proper PPE and training. This resulted in isolating infected people with non-infected people where distancing is difficult. This resulted in mass death in New York nursing homes. This was completely foreseeable. In LTC facilities we call the people who live there, “residents” because it is their home in the strictest sense of the definition. By law, they are endowed with rights to be treated with dignity, and to be free from abuse and harm. New York ran over those rights with a Mack truck.

God’s creation has value. What God creates is still good: “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.” The Bible doctrine that substantiates that is “Redemption.” Redemption is NOT salvation. Something that is redeemable has value. The fact that God will resurrect dead bodies speaks volumes to life value.

And that is what justice is all about; justice speaks to life value. Any religion that downplays justice because “we all deserve hell anyway” (Luther/Calvin) is a religion that disdains life and God’s creation.

But don’t make this a religious matter only: in the same way, politics are founded on life value. Though not our kingdom, and we look for that city built God, Christians are worthy ambassadors according to their politics in this kingdom.

paul