There is a Kingdom...

Christianity had always seemed pointless and useless to me, because, when you think about it, there are really great alternative to what it appears to offer. So, think about it for a few moments and ask yourself, what does the Christian worship comprise of?

Songs: The fact is that there are a million more songs than many of the variants sung by the Christian faithfuls, and many of these are even more melodic and sometimes, even better composed. This is not to say there aren’t totally brilliant works of music composed by Christians in every possible genre – but there are a million more alternatives.

Shows and Concerts: I have been in so many jaw-dropping Christian concerts where extremely skilled musicians make drums speak and guitars cry like soul searing sirens. I have also been in non-Christian concerts where it is a larger crowd, more electricity is in the air and the crowd wave their hands as they sing in tear-evoking unison to tunes by Linkin Park or maybe Cold Play or Fela.

Services: Services are great because they are often like a cocktail of everything nice and spicy – when everything goes according to plan. The singers sing with velvety voices to a band that is more precise than a metronome and then prayer points are called out, raining spiritual fire at unseen enemies which normally leave the crowd with a sense of accomplishment and hope that with the enemies out of the way, maybe they'd make a little more money during the week. The preacher climbs the podium, bible in hand, smile on his face, silk tie and Prada suit – and the delivery is electrifying, so much so that the congregation can hardly sit still as they encourage him with feedback of “Ride on, Pastor!” while he delivers golden “nuggets” from a para-christian motivational speaker, with rhymes that will make JayZ blush – or blanch: “To refire your desire, retire to the fire that is higher in God’s spire…”

That doesn’t make sense, but you catch my drift.

Point is, it is a charged ceremony – but again, it is often not the way I have described. There are gatherings of genuine saints seated to hear scripture dissected and taught, and though it may happen rarely in certain circles, there is fellowship and mutual confession of sins, breaking of bread and helping one another. Saints also tap into the spiritual with prayers that do unlock the heavens and favour, or that provide alignment with a divine plan, and giving the needed strength to plough through the week in a sin-drowned world…

Again, the fact is that there are many alternatives. It was Karl Marx who said religion is the opiate of the masses – and Karl Marx was right! The suffering find it easy to believe in the unseen and in many less developed societies, religion is a popular trend when compared to more developed society where the illusion of self-sufficiency is stronger. So the very elements that make the practice of Christianity so appealing can be found in other places like social circles that provide friendships, the ability to bond and even the motivation needed to go through the rigours of life.

But think again.
Is that what this is all about? Do you really believe in your head and heart that when Jesus lay dying on that cross, he did it so you could be “Pentecostal” or “Lutheran” or “Jehovah’s witness” or “Redeemed”? Do you think that God came down to earth to make people gather together to sing or that his central reason for coming down was to gather a group of people who could use his power to meet their needs?

In case you missed that, do you think that the reason God created earth was to have a throng of people who would use his power to meet their needs? Do you think that was the main reason why he came?

I think nothing is as painful as speaking to a person who calls himself or herself a saint and yet who does not realize the whole of the God walk simply comes down to two words – The Kingdom. The very truth is that There Is A Kingdom.

Let me tell you a story…

Long, long ago, there was a King who ruled well and who was beloved by his people. But then, among them, there arose a rebellious one who decided he would fight the King because, in his limited understanding, he would do better than the King in his rule. The King thought it beneath him to fight his adversary, so he left that task to a trusted solder, who led his troops and destroyed that rebellion. However, like all things that have life, the Kingdom was to expand and a new land was built with new inhabitants who were under the King’s rule.

We know the story so well: The enemy won over the new inhabitants and bent their minds to spite the King. In time, even their children grew up with less knowledge of the King, and without the life he gave, each generation grew more deformed than the last. In his goodness, the King decided he would win over the lost inhabitants. He sent to them many messengers of peace, many of whom were killed – and then he sent his son to speak to them – and he, like others before him, was killed. However, his death was no mistake. That death was the price that would allow the inhabitants to become adopted by the King and come into that Kingdom.

When a person chooses to accept that price, he accepts to come into a Kingdom and the implication of being in a Kingdom is that the King has all authority and his will alone is done. We are not saved primarily to gather in a service, to give alms to the poor, to do nice things, to attend Sunday school. We are saved to come into a Kingdom where we are to learn to hear the King’s voice and do his will alone. All other things are secondary.

When we understand there is a Kingdom, we will learn not to fight because others do things in a different way than us – because the command from the King to them may be different from what he has told us to do, though we all are citizens in that Kingdom. When we understand we are in a Kingdom, we understand that something is not good because it gives us pleasure or advantage, but “good” is anything the King desires – even if it involves losing our lives as part of his plan. When we are in that Kingdom, we start to understand patterns and trends in the world around us as the adversary fights to take over the battle ground that is the heart and souls of men, influencing media, politics, culture and society in a bid to make the King’s will strange.

There are no fences, just a Kingdom and the adversary that hates it – and  every ground in Heaven and Earth is taken up by one or the other. The Kingdom of the King is every heart, soul, being, family, business, gathering, city, continent, sphere where his will alone is done and where his authority is recognized and stands. We are not called into practices or religion or even frequent gathering alone. We are called out of darkness into a Kingdom and its order. Everything done afterwards must flow from this understanding. 

There is one body, one God, who is the One Father over ALL…