My friend and brother, Sebastiaan Van Wessem recently posted on Facebook a wonderful message about the Kingdom of God, which the Spirit of Christ used to grab my attention and focus me further on Himself. In his post, Sebastiaan noted many of the "gospels" that are being preached at the front of the pack in the world right now:
- Prosperity Gospel: This type of gospel emphasizes the belief that God will bless those who have faith with material wealth and good health.
- Social Gospel: The social gospel emphasizes the application of Christian principles to address social and economic problems.
- Liberation Theology: This type of gospel stresses the responsibility of Christians to aid the oppressed and emphasizes Jesus' mission as bringing freedom from social, political, and economic injustices.
- Gospel of Inclusion: This gospel teaches that everyone will be saved and that there are many paths to God.
- Health and Wealth Gospel: Similar to Prosperity Gospel, this doctrine asserts that God desires his followers to be physically healthy and financially prosperous.
- Charismatic/Pentecostal Gospel: These churches emphasize the Holy Spirit's gifts and miracles, and often include speaking in tongues and divine prophesy.
- Ecumenical Gospel: This branch of Christianity stresses the unity of all Christian denominations and tends to downplay differences in doctrine.
- Fundamentalist Gospel: Fundamentalist Christian groups typically adhere to a literal interpretation of the Bible and reject elements of modern culture that they perceive as contrary to Christian teaching.
- Evangelical Gospel: Evangelical Christianity emphasizes personal conversion, the authority of the Bible, and the importance of sharing faith with others.
- Name-it-and-claim-it Gospel: Also known as "Word of Faith," this belief system teaches that a believer can "name" their desires and "claim" them in faith, and God is obligated to fulfill it.
- Gospel of Self-help, Self-improvement, or Human Potential: Influenced by psychology and New Age ideas, it emphasizes self-fulfillment and personal success.
- Gospel of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism: This relatively modern belief system emphasizes being a good, moral person, with God as a remote figure who desires people's happiness but does not require involvement in their lives.
- Progressive Christianity: This form of Christianity focuses on social justice, inclusivity, and changing societal structures. It often questions traditional interpretations of the Bible.
- New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Gospel: A movement that believes in the restoration of the lost offices of church governance, such as prophets and apostles.
Each of these focuses tightly on some singular pet facet and then expands it in human understanding and terms, often using out-of-context scripture to validate and substantiate itself. This myopic distillation causes entire groups of people to be led into following men as they sink deeper into twisting scripture around their pet topic. It is disheartening to see how this gives rise to conflicts and divisions that barely connect with what God is genuinely accomplishing over the vast expanse of history.
And let's be clear—the list of fourteen "gospels" above is not even the complete picture. There are perhaps scores or even hundreds more where those came from; each cut from the same cloth of a demon tactic designed to distract, divide, and ultimately disappoint—while the core of what God is up to in the world is utterly missed by the blindness and vulnerability of men.
What is God up to?
God is a King and He is building a Kingdom that is His; it belongs to Him and He runs it His way. Everything good is focused on the Kingdom that God is making. Jesus Christ is the King and the Father has given the Son all authority and power in His Kingdom. He's earned it. He has it. He's building it. And He is coming.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Everything that God is doing through and in Jesus is about His Kingdom. It is not about our health, wealth, faith, success, comfort, or well-being. In fact, Jesus promises that in His Kingdom we will suffer, be persecuted, lose lands, lose wealth, and be attacked (even by family) as we seek the Kingdom and His righteousness. Yes, yes, yes—I know: All these things will be added to you—referring to our daily needs and essentials like food, drink, and clothing as mentioned in the earlier verses (Matthew 6:25-32). Understand, however, that we inhabit an earth where the kingdoms of gods and demons surround us; principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness. While God provides, the devil (and demons) actively seek to steal, kill, and destroy. There is a constant danger and tension.
War of the Kingdoms
Perhaps the greatest personal revelation any human being can have is how all of history is pointing at a war of kingdoms and where our loyalties lay.
Divine heavenly hosts (Watchers) who rebelled starting in Genesis 3 with the attack on Eve, and then again in Genesis 6 as a larger group, and then again in Genesis 11 as a new crop of rebel Watchers—they did not rebel to simply set up shop and harass human beings. They knew their rebellion would put them at war with their Creator—the Most High God. As such, they set up and established their kingdoms on the earth and went to war with God: their kingdoms against the Kingdom of Yahweh.
Your life and that of every human being living then, now, or ever in history is tangled up in this war. Eve was the very first victim and all of her children with her: you and I included. We are caught as slaves and subjects of a kingdom of a gods operating in unseen realms. We have no idea how it works, how we are attacked, or what the binding chains look like and how they operate. We are blind, ignorant, dull witted, and incapable of having the strength needed to free ourselves. We are born into subjugation to a dark kingdom of lords who hide. Truly, we are sheep for the slaughter.
King of kings, Lord of lords
God knew this war was coming. The primary and ultimate goal was to have a Kingdom of God ruled by Jesus Christ, filled with loving and loyal sons and daughters who could be eternally trusted in direct fellowship with the King—the son of God and with the Father and Spirit of God. But God knew that by creating creatures with free will like His own, they could not be initially trusted (Job 4:17-19). Therefore, war was coming. It could go no other way.
The constant question of men without knowledge is: How could a loving God allow all of this pain? The answer is: Because—even though He did not cause the pain, He wanted free-willed sons and daughters. To have them meant that some would fail, and by their failure would come pain, suffering, and the horrors of sin and rebellion against Him. And with that would come pain and suffering. God didn't want it, but to shake out the disloyal with rebellion in their hearts, the plan had to go forward. All this in order to get to the goal: A Kingdom of God with absolutely loyal children to live in it and fellowship with their Savior and Father.
This is the power released in you by knowing who and what the Watchers were, are, and will forever be—even in their destruction. This is what will cause you to respect the preciousness of your salvation—knowing the depravity of the rulers of the kingdom you were born into and in blind slavery to. If you cannot understand and know where you came from (i.e., the pit from which you were dug), then you cannot love and respect the love of Christ that reached out to you and freed you.
If you don't understand the Kingdom of God vs the kingdoms of gods from whence you came, then your "gospel" becomes about you and your comfort, health, wealth, and selfish desires. The irony of which will be that you believe a false gospel, whereby remaining in your sins, myopically focused on your own flesh, passions, and lusts, while you name the name of Christ, but He doesn't name you as His. You will have a false sense of being "saved", when in fact you will ignore the will of the Father and what it means to be in the Kingdom of His dear Son!
I will further argue that this is the potency of the 1 Enoch narrative when paired with the grand sweep of history as laid out in Old Testament Scripture. It is for this reason that Jesus did not refute the backstory of the sins of the Watchers in which those around Him steadily believed during the Second Temple Era and first century. Why? Because that backstory was the truth of our human situation and the dilemma that Jesus came to reverse in our lives to bring us to Himself, as King, in His Kingdom!
NOTE: When you reach the end of this article, carefully and honestly read the footnoted scriptures that follow. Let the scripture tell you the story of the importance and preeminence of the Kingdom of Heaven.
My deepest prayer for you!
My deepest and most heart felt prayer for each of you reading these words is that the story of the Kingdom of God vs the kingdoms of fallen and condemned gods will grab you by the throat and turn your head and mind towards the King in His Kingdom that is coming—and that right soon! My prayer is that we will all turn our heads, minds, and hearts towards the King and Kingdom business. This is not a joke. It is not trivial. It is not to be trifled with.
Utilizing this vast trajectory of history as a loyalty test allows for the singling out of defiant hearts, all in order to search for, locate, and save those hearts and souls who would exhibit infinite loyalty, powered by God through the Cross of Christ. Time is running out. It's the end of the fourth quarter and the clock stands at seconds before the end of the game. History will end and will finally be played out. The last soul will be examined and determined as a loyal family member or a disloyal rebel to be destroyed forever.
When history ends—where will you be found? In Christ? A loyal rebel? In what state will you be when He strips everyone of the capacity to lie and hide; when all is laid bare of us before Him? I pray with all my soul and heart that you will be His with demonstrated obedience in eternal loyalty by His power and love in Christ.
Footnotes
Related to the Kingdom
1. Matthew 4:17 - From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
2. Matthew 5:3 - “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
3. Matthew 5:10 - “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
4. Matthew 5:19 - Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
5. Matthew 6:10 - Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
6. Matthew 6:23 - But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
7. Matthew 7:21 - Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
8. Matthew 13:11 - 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.
9. Matthew 13:44 - “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
10. Mark 1:15 - And saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
11. Luke 9:2 - And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
12. Luke 10:9 - Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
13. Luke 13:29 - And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.
14. Luke 17:21 - Nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
15. Acts 1:3 - He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
16. Acts 8:12 - But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
17. Acts 20:25 - And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.
18. 1 Corinthians 15:50 - I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
19. Colossians 1:13 - He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.
20. 2 Peter 1:11 - For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
21. Matthew 8:11-12 - "I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."
22. Matthew 13:24-25 - "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."
23. Matthew 13:47 - "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind."
24. Matthew 18:4 - "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
25. Matthew 20:1 - "For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard."
26. Matthew 25:34 - "Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'"
27. Luke 22:29 - "And I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom."
28. John 3:5 - "Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.'"
29. Acts 14:22 - "Strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."
30. Romans 14:17 - "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
31. 1 Corinthians 4:20 - "For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power."
32. Galatians 5:21 - "Envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
33. James 2:5 - "Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?"
34. Revelation 1:9 - "I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus."
Related to the will of the Father
1. Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
2. Matthew 12:50: "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
3. Matthew 18:14: "In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish."
4. John 4:34: "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."
5. John 6:39-40: "And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."
6. Luke 22:42: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
7. Mark 3:35: "Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
8. Matthew 26:42: "He went away a second time and prayed, 'My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.'"
9. 1 John 2:17: "The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever."
10. Ephesians 6:6: "Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart."
11. Ephesians 5:17: "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is."
12. 1 Thessalonians 4:3: "It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality."
13. Matthew 6:10: "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
14. Romans 12:2: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
15. Hebrews 10:36: "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."
16. 1 Peter 2:15: "For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people."
17. 1 Peter 4:2: "As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God."
18. 1 Peter 4:19: "So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good."
19. James 4:15: "Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.'"
20. 1 Thessalonians 5:18: "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."