“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom [realm] against kingdom [realm]. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matt. 24:7-8)
“My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is My kingdom is not of this realm.” (John 18:36-37)
Peter said, “I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder…” (2 Pet. 1). This article will be a summary of issues I have already discussed, to bring us up to date with the C-19 phenomenon. I am certain, when Peter wrote this, he was speaking of things he considered absolutely critical to the understanding of his readers. The Bible is replete with repeated teachings and warnings and I believe that’s because God knows our proclivity for forgetting important messages as we live lives that tend to lead us into numb repetition. We get up, hopefully spend some time with God, go to work, come home, eat, watch some TV, and go to bed, only to repeat the same numbing process daily. We lose what’s important amongst the bevy of every-day affairs that are not, and thus we need “reminding” to help us shake the sleep from our eyes.
The first reminder is one I wrote about back in February of 2019 [see my blog, Realm on Realm at TheawakenedChristianman.org website]. Thanks to C-19, what I believe we are now witnessing is an all-out power grab for the souls of men revealed in both realms. There are two kingdoms in play in this world, only two, and we must make a choice. They are the kingdom of flesh and man [KOM], and the kingdom of heaven on earth [KOHE]. John the Baptist came heralding it, and Jesus came preaching it in His first sermons, “Repent, for the KOH is at hand [the literal kingdom of heaven come to earth]!”
The stark contrasts between these realms is revealed in the verses from John above. Pontius Pilate lived in and for the KOM, where politicians are the ultimate authority and armies are used to gain and maintain control. When he questioned Jesus about the lack of an army to fight for their “King of the Jews,” it was coming from the only perspective he understood. To his thinking, if Jesus was a King, He had to have armies. Ah, but Jesus told him of another kingdom, totally separate from Pilate’s in both substance and spirit, where “King” meant something entirely different and armies fought via entirely different means. Jesus told Pilate if His kingdom was of Pilate’s kingdom, His people would certainly be fighting. But, He said, “My kingdom is not of this realm,” and therefore war would be waged in an entirely different way. Jesus was about to gain the ultimate victory in a war that had raged since the Garden of Eden, but He would do it through death to the flesh and the arising of a new kingdom on earth!
The second reminder is this: Back in October of 2019, I wrote I believed we were entering those kingdoms clashing and the “beginning of birth pangs, or sorrows” Matthew 24 spoke of began with the flashpoint of Donald Trump’s miraculous election [see my series, Why the Insanity (part IV)? same blog page]. Why then? Prior to that election, America was heading towards becoming a part of the global community that would pave the way for the reign of the Anti-Christ, and that process would have rapidly increased under one of the most evil women ever to have lived, much less gained such high positions of political power, Hilary Clinton. But when Trump, with his “make America first” anti-globalist platform, was elected the puppets of Satan were all revealed and have been acting as those under his thumb ever since.
Enter C-19 and how it is now become a part of this clash between kingdoms. When the Devil tempted Jesus in the desert, he came at Him with three temptations. After rebuffing the first two, the Devil just moved on to the next temptation [everyone here who has experienced that, please hold up your hands]. Ah but after the third, where he took Jesus to a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world [KOM], and offered them to Him if He would just bow the knee, Jesus rebuffed that one and “the Devil left Him.” Why? He had shot the big gun! He had offered all he could possibly offer and been turned down. He had no greater gift to offer than all the kingdoms of the world, and therefore gave up.
The ultimate authority for those who live for the KOHE is Jesus Christ and the ultimate authority for those who live for the KOM, apart from any belief in God, is governments that rule over “all the kingdoms of the world.” Through C-19, we now see both of these ultimate authorities vying for the souls of men in technicolor and surround-sound! For those who walk in faith this has been a wake-up call, a time for repentance, the richest of times and a call to draw near to Him at an entirely different level. I have stated before, my quiet times now averaging 2-3 hours each day, whereas before our sequestering I only had time for 30 minutes or so. I now spend time just sitting and listening to the Spirit’s voice, something I’ve never done in my life. I’m reading the Word with a thirst I haven’t had since I first came to faith and getting downloads from the throne that have me archiving idea after idea for future articles because I can’t keep up with them! I’m on the phone or video conferencing with my brothers in Christ daily, some days for hours at a time, and this is not just me. Many people I know who truly live for the KOHE are experiencing many of the very same things.
Likewise, in the KOM and for those who walk in fear, the forces of darkness are subjecting its followers to government authority by drawing them nearer and making them more dependent upon them. They are jumping on the ultimate opportunity to subject the masses entirely to their authority. The fear engendered by governments and their willing accomplices in the press presents the beginning of real strides towards micro-chipping us all, camera surveillance of everything, and assuming power over everything we do, think, or speak. It is preparing us for life under a one-world, ultimate authority, government, I believe in preparation for the appearing of the Anti-Christ, just as in the KOHE God is calling us to total subjection to Christ’s authority, preparing us for His return. In other words, both ultimate authorities are calling their people to them: “realm arising against realm.”
When Paul said we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds it will be to a true, undiluted kingdom perspective. Now, more than ever, we must understand the nature of “realm arising against realm,” and renew our minds to a level of trust in God that will allow us to endure what is to come. We must completely forsake the world and embrace our King and His kingdom! We must divorce ourselves from being that army Pilate spoke of: rejecting the politicians and politics of the KOM, living in fear and frustration, fighting flesh with flesh so that we might enter in His blessed kingdom filled with faith, hope, enduring love, and rejoicing!
My final “reminder:” just last month I released and article stating the perfection Jesus spoke of when He said, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” [see The Pursuit of Perfection, same blog page] could be found in James 1 where he said, simply, enduring would make us “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” I also pointed out the numerous times Jesus said those who endured to the end, or overcame to the end, would be saved. Most recently I read Paul’s quote in 2 Timothy 2, “For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”
Paul says it all! Jesus is now calling us to die with Him [to the KOM], so that we might truly live with Him [in the KOHE]. He is preparing us to endure with Him the persecutions now begun towards perfection, that we might ultimately reign with Him. Finally, there is a warning for those who think they can continue to straddle the line between worldliness and godliness, as most led astray by modern Christendom’s teachings on false grace now do, along with those who refuse to take this time to renew their minds to an entirely different level with Christ. They will end up denying Him as the persecution ramps up, for I believe C-19 is just the beginning of “the time of sorrows.” For those who do fall to the pressures of the KOM, the grace they have been promised regardless of how they lived will not be there for them. Jesus is ultimately faithful to Himself, His truth, and His righteousness far over and above His faithfulness to disobedient, lukewarm children, and He stated the trees would be known by their fruit” (Luke 6), and “His friends were those who did what He commanded” (John 15). Their Savior whom they were led to believe would forgive them anything, anytime without true repentance and transformation will now face their Judge: fire in His eyes, robe dipped in blood, and sword drawn to make war against all who have denied Him!
Use this time, O saints of the Living God, to draw nearer, deeper, and with greater fealty than you have ever known to your Lord of lords and King of kings, for “if we draw near to God He will draw near to us” (Jas. 4). Use it to shrug off all the deceptions of the Devil, for if we submit to God and resist him, he will flee (Jas. 4). Forsake all that is in the world and trust in your ultimate authority, not its. When the Devil takes you out into the wilderness to a high place and offers you all the kingdoms of man, just say no. Then he will leave you and the angels of God will come and minister to you.
I close with a final verse from Ephesians 6 that is the ultimate “reminder” of our day, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Realize the true nature of the realm that is arising against us, and stand in the only realm that offers peace, confidence, hope, endurance and, ultimately, salvation.
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