CONFESSION OF A FALSE PROPHET

This message is very immature, and leads one to Wonder how anyone in their Right Mind could continue to think they were EVER a Prophet in any way shape or form. Just because God Forewarns and gives Words of Knowledge, does not mean you are a PROPHET. So this Term is being Used in ways that has no Application whatsoever to what PROPHECY REALLY IS. There is NO RESPOSIBILITY for one's UTTER FAILURE to get it right. Their People just make excuses, and continue to act like it is OK to give out FALSE WORDS, that end up the EXACT OPPOSITE of what they were Predicting? This is the CARNAL MIND AT WORK.

THERE IS NO MIND OF CHRIST OPPERATING in this MINISTRY AT ALL. THESE ARE FALSE PROPHETS.

(Deu 18:20) But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

(Deu 18:21) And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

(Deu 18:22) When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

(Mat 24:11) And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Well, Jesus' prophecy in Matthew is certainly true.

Subject: Storm Harvest December 2016: Prophets are not always right - our failed Hillary Prophcies

 

Dear family and friends,

In May we asked God what Robert Holmes and I should be sending out in our May 2016 Storm Harvest Newsletter.

God gave us a vision telling us to stop sending out Storm Harvest Newsletters. However, due to recent events I have prayed and asked God to allow us to send out this special newsletter.

In the 2016 US election, Trump won.

Robert and I have been hearing from God over the past few years that Hillary should be the next US president, and that Hillary will be the first female leader of the USA. At this moment, those prophecies appear to have failed.

Since then our community at Cootamundra, Australia, has been seeking God for an explanation for these failed prophecies. I have sumarised the answers that we have received in the following article to share with you.

May God bless us all.

Mario Liu.
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Why did our “Hillary Clinton being the next US president” prophecy turns out to be wrong?
By Mario Liu
9th December 2016
 
A Prophecy that Failed
I have been involved in publishing Prophetic Mailing Lists on the Internet with my friend Robert Holmes since 1998.

Robert is an anointed prophet. Over the past eighteen years we have received many accurate prophecies from God, and we have shared some of these prophecies on the Internet Lists.

Examples of fulfilled prophecies that we have received were the prediction of the Columbine High School Student Massacre, visions of the New Orleans floods caused by Hurricane Katrina, and the correct prediction of ten election results both in Australia and the USA.

So it came as a total shock to me a few weeks ago to be watching Donald Trump giving his victory election speech on TV News.

I was thinking that this could not be real, because God has told Robert and me many times over the past few years that Hillary Clinton will win the 2016 US Presidential Election, and that she will become the first female leader of USA.

I have shared some of these ‘Hillary Clinton to become president’ prophecies in the Storm Harvest Newsletter several times.

In the 2016 March issue of the Storm Harvest Newsletter, I said the following:

“In April 2015 Robert and I prayed about the 2016 US election. We asked God ‘Who will be the next US president?’

“God said ‘Remember that after Bill Clinton stepped down, I told you then that Hillary Clinton will run for president, and that she will become America's first female leader?’

“I asked God for further insight on the Hillary presidency. 

“God said: ‘Mercurial is a word to describe the leadership style of Hillary Clinton.’

“On 30th May 2015, after I studied Daniel 8, I asked God ‘Robert and I cannot understand the four horns and a stern-faced king. Is Hillary Clinton one of the horns, or is she the stern-faced king?’ 

“God said ‘Think about rulers like books on a bookshelf. Hillary is a slender volume, but she is not the book-end.’

“Hillary is a ‘slender volume.’ This may mean that, unlike Obama, Hillary is not a big part player in the Biblical end-time scenario. Maybe I will need to look among other world leaders, or to wait for the next USA president after Clinton, to get an understanding of the four horns and the stern-faced king [as mentioned in Daniel 8:22].”
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On the night of the 2016 US Election, after watching the TV News for a while, I realized that this was not a bad dream. The impossible had happened. Donald Trump had won the 2016 US Presidential Election, and Hillary had lost. Our prophecy has failed. It was wrong.
 
There is no escaping the reality, and I need to find out why. Had Robert and I ‘dropped the ball’ somewhere along the way, resulting in us hearing from another spirit that was not God? Has God changed His mind? Or was it that our God has been telling us lies?
 
Answers from God
 
After praying with a group of prophetic friends asking God about our failed “Hillary Clinton to become president” prophecies, we have received the following answers:

On Saturday, November 12 2016, I met up with Robert in Belconnen, Canberra. We asked God why the Hillary prophecies were wrong.

God’s reply was as follows:

“This is a hard thing to say to you. From the beginning to the end of the world, prophets aren’t always right. Prophets get it wrong, even the best of them.

“Do you remember I asked you and Mario what error rate you thought you have?

“You said you have about 10% error rate. Now you have made 10 correct predictions out of 11 of the past political predictions. This is better that a 10% error rate. Then why do you feel so discouraged and beat yourself up over this one failed prophecy?

“Remember Paul Cain prophesied that there would be a revival in London in the 1980’s? That did not happen.

“Remember in the bible Agabus correctly prophesied that there would be a great famine?  [Act 11:28 One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)] 

“Later Agabus wrongly prophesied that Paul would be bound by the Jews to be handed over to the Gentiles? What actually happened was that Paul was bound by the Gentiles so as to protect Paul from the Jews.

[Act 21:10-11 Several days later a man named Agabus, who also had the gift of prophecy, arrived from Judea.  He came over, took Paul's belt, and bound his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, "The Holy Spirit declares, 'So shall the owner of this belt be bound by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles.'"…..
Act 21:33  Then the commander (of the Roman regiment) arrested him (Paul) and ordered him bound with two chains. ]

“I can give you many reasons why errors enter true prophets. The core lesson to learn is for the prophet to admit that he can get it wrong.
 
I then asked God whether He would like to say something to our friends on the Internet.
 
God said “You ain’t seen nothing yet. Babylon is falling. Obama has done his work! Now watch Trump.”
 
I asked “Can You tell us something about the Trump presidency?”
 
God showed Robert the word ‘Chimera.’
 
I remember that God has showed us the same word when I asked Him about “Hillary’s presidency.” This appears to me that whether Hillary or Trump becomes president of the United States, the outcomes may be similar. According to the Internet ‘Chimera’ (in Greek mythology) is a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.
 
God then said “The Donald it takes to get the presidency is not the Donald who runs the Whitehouse. There are three Trumps: the Business Trump, the ‘get the presidency’ Trump, and the ‘run the country’ Trump.”

More answers from God

Tue, Nov 15, 2016
I sent Robert an email requesting that he asks God the following question on behalf of our friends:

“Lord thank you for the discomfort that You have caused us using the failed Hillary Word. Now Lord we plead to You please either tell us straight out that we gave a wrong word because we were hearing in our flesh after our own bias, or else show us the higher dimensional issue you have hidden from us in this matter so we may have an answer that reveals your greater glory to the body we are accountable to for our gift. If it was caused by our own bias please show us what that was so that we can repent of it and to learn to grow from it.”

Wed, Nov 16, 2016 - Robert Holmes sent me the following reply:
 
When praying for an answer to your question I felt the Lord say, "To answer your question posed this way puts both you (Robert) and me in a bind. So let me answer you in this way: You need only look at the story of Moses and my children in the desert to see that I, through my servant Moses, told them I would provide daily manna. There's my will, there's my prophetic intent, there's Moses' word. But Israel cried out, they wanted meat, so I relented and provided for them quail. Is Moses now wrong? Am I not to be trusted? Which will you look to, the word or the action? They contradict.
 
We're taking the long way round, and included in my mercy (answered prayer) is judgment (quail is not my best). Indeed eventually even Moses and that entire generation must be sacrificed, with only Caleb and Joshua cross over into the promise. So answer me this. Where now is my glory? I will take my people into the Promised Land and they will reject me generation after generation but eventually they will ask me for a king.
 
Samuel was a prophet of God, who heard my word, that I the Lord was king of Israel. There's my will, there's my prophetic intent, there's Samuel's word. But Israel cried out to me and yearned for a king, 'like the other nations' and so I relented and appointed Saul. Is Samuel now wrong? Am I not to be trusted? Which will you look to, the word or the action? They contradict.
 
We're taking the long way round, and included in my mercy (answered prayer) is judgment (Saul is not the best). Eventually I establish David, but not because he was any better, no he was worse. But I did it to establish the line for my son. Can you see such glory as you observe Solomon's reign of sin? I very much doubt it. So I run the risk of making Samuel look false, every time I yield to the prayers of my people, be they right, righteous or not."
 
Robert asked me to find some bible references to the stories quoted by God. The following verses are what I considered useful as a reminder for us:

On Quail and Manna:
Exo 16:2  There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron.
Exo 16:3  "If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt," they moaned. "There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death."
Exo 16:4  Then the LORD said to Moses, "Look, I'm going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow My instructions.
Exo 16:5  On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual."

Exo 16:16  These are the LORD's instructions: Each household should gather as much as it needs. Pick up two quarts for each person in your tent."
Exo 16:17  So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little.
Exo 16:18  But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed.
Exo 16:19  Then Moses told them, "Do not keep any of it until morning."
Exo 16:20  But some of them didn't listen and kept some of it until morning. But by then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. Moses was very angry with them.
Exo 16:21  After this the people gathered the food morning by morning, each family according to its need. And as the sun became hot, the flakes they had not picked up melted and disappeared.
Exo 16:22  On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much as usual—four quarts for each person instead of two. Then all the leaders of the community came and asked Moses for an explanation.
Exo 16:23  He told them, "This is what the LORD commanded: Tomorrow will be a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath day set apart for the LORD. So bake or boil as much as you want today, and set aside what is left for tomorrow."
Exo 16:24  So they put some aside until morning, just as Moses had commanded. And in the morning the leftover food was wholesome and good, without maggots or odor.
Exo 16:25  Moses said, "Eat this food today, for today is a Sabbath day dedicated to the LORD. There will be no food on the ground today.
Exo 16:26  You may gather the food for six days, but the seventh day is the Sabbath. There will be no food on the ground that day."
Exo 16:27  Some of the people went out anyway on the seventh day, but they found no food.
Exo 16:28  The LORD asked Moses, “How long will these people refuse to obey My commands and instructions?
 
Num 11:18  "And say to the people, 'Purify yourselves, for tomorrow you will have meat to eat. You were whining, and the LORD heard you when you cried, "Oh, for some meat! We were better off in Egypt!" Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will have to eat it.
Num 11:19  And it won't be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty.
Num 11:20  You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the LORD, who is here among you, and you have whined to Him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'"
Num 11:21  But Moses responded to the LORD, "There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet You say, 'I will give them meat for a whole month!'
Num 11:22  Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?"
Num 11:23  Then the LORD said to Moses, "Has My arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not My word comes true!"
Num 11:24  So Moses went out and reported the LORD's words to the people. He gathered the seventy elders and stationed them around the Tabernacle.
Num 11:25  And the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Then He gave the seventy elders the same Spirit that was upon Moses. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this never happened again.
Num 11:26  Two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed behind in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but they had not gone out to the Tabernacle. Yet the Spirit rested upon them as well, so they prophesied there in the camp.
Num 11:27  A young man ran and reported to Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"
Num 11:28  Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' assistant since his youth, protested, "Moses, my master, make them stop!"
Num 11:29  But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them all!"
Num 11:30  Then Moses returned to the camp with the elders of Israel.
Quail and a Plague
Num 11:31  Now the LORD sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp. For miles in every direction there were quail flying about three feet above the ground.
Num 11:32  So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail all around the camp to dry.
Num 11:33  But while they were gorging themselves on the meat—while it was still in their mouths—the anger of the LORD blazed against the people, and He struck them with a severe plague.
Num 11:34  So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah (which means "graves of gluttony") because there they buried the people who had craved meat from Egypt.
 
On Samuel and Saul
1Sa 8:4  Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel.
1Sa 8:5  "Look," they told him, "you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have."
1Sa 8:6  Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the LORD for guidance.
1Sa 8:7  "Do everything they say to you," the LORD replied, "for it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don't want Me to be their king any longer.
1Sa 8:8  Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned Me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment.
1Sa 8:9  Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them."
….
1Sa 8:19  But the people refused to listen to Samuel's warning. "Even so, we still want a king," they said.
1Sa 8:20  "We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle."
1Sa 8:21  So Samuel repeated to the LORD what the people had said,
1Sa 8:22  and the LORD replied, "Do as they say, and give them a king." Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home.
 
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On Saturday 19th November 2016 several members of our community gathered to seek God for more answers about the failed Hillary prophecies. I was hoping that we can obtain an answer from God that might be more suited to our friends on the Internet Lists.

I asked God how the failed prophecies can demonstrate God’s glory.

In God’s answer to us He quoted the example of Jesus:

John 17:1-4
After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so He can give glory back to You.
For You have given Him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one You have given Him.
And this is the way to have eternal life—to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the One You sent to earth.
I brought glory to You here on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do.”
 
God said to us “And soon after Jesus said all this Jesus was hung on the cross naked for many people to scoff at. How can most people see My glory in this?”
 
I told God that Storm Harvest does not have too many friends. Many American Christians are hearing exactly opposite to what we hear, and they are celebrating Trump’s victory. I saw on a Youtube video that both Rick Joyner and Jim Bakker, whom I have a lot of respect and affection towards, are promoting Lance Wallnau and his theory that Trump is Cyrus that God would use to revive and bless America.

By giving us a failed Hillary Prophecy that we have published on the Internet over a few years, God has damaged our credibility among some Christian circles, and this may also cause some of our friends to turn against us. This will make our circle of friends smaller still. There will be even less people who want to listen to the God whom we know.

God said “Can you love Me like Noah did? Can you prepare diligently like Noah?”

2Pe 2:5b (NIV)…(God) protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;

Noah was “a preacher of righteousness” with a congregation of seven people. Noah was commanded to build a huge boat on dry land. Noah had to tolerate being laughed at by the people in the world he lived in.

I think God is telling us that we should not worry too much about us having only a few friends.

On that same day, my wife Linda’s quiet time bible reading happened to be Mathew 24:36-42:

“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son Himself. Only the Father knows.
“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah's day.
“In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat.
“People didn't realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.
“Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left.
“Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.
“So you, too, must keep watch! For you don't know what day your Lord is coming.”

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God continued to say to us “I have turned USA over to Trump, and some Christians are celebrating. These Christians are drunk with the wine of Babylon. The wine of Babylon is the wine of adultery.  No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. My Kingdom is not of this world. Jesus is neither Democrat nor Republican. Christians in America are not capable of separating church from state, or politics from the Kingdom of God. To stay pure when living in Babylon you have to learn from Daniel and his three friends: do not eat Babylonian food, and do not worship their gods.

“Remember that when Robert and Mario first landed in USA in 1998 at LA International Airport I said ‘welcome to the fountainhead of filth, the vanguard of violence’? Remember that I told you recently that USA is not even present in the end-time history?”
 
Notes: On September 17, 2016 out of the blue God reminded us of when Robert and Mario landed in USA in 1998 at LA International Airport, on their very first ministry trip to the USA, God said ‘welcome to the fountainhead of filth, the vanguard of violence.’
 
Notes: On July 23, 2016 when we were praying for USA God told us “America is the land of the whirring wings [Isa 18].”   God said, “America does not appear in the end-times story, not to crush China nor to oppose Russia nor even to rescue Israel.”
 
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Some more comments from Mario:

God spoke about some America’s Christians “getting drunk with the wine of Babylon, the wine of adultery.”

This sounded harsh. To get a better understanding of this I have enclosed below some extracts from Ray Ashmore’s book “Thy Kingdom Come – Just Don’t Bother Us With It” :
 
pp 21 to 27:
 
The Boundaries of the Kingdom

The Kingdom's Sworn Enemies
There are three kingdoms that war against the kingdom of heaven. Know this: all three enemy kingdoms are not separate entities but are intertwined, related by their shared philosophies and corruptions. They contribute to one another and reinforce one another with their mutual hatred for the Kingdom of God.

• The kingdom of darkness
• This evil world system
• Our personal kingdoms

The first kingdom is the prime mover of evil in the world, the “kingdom of darkness.”
Luke 11:18 “If Satan is divided against himself how will his kingdom stand?”

John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

Ephesians 2:2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

I'm not telling you anything you don’t already know; so I’ll be brief. Satan, the fallen archangel of God, has structured his kingdom the way the world structures its governments. Or is it vice versa? Well anyway, it is hierarchical in nature with Satan as the supreme ruler, then legions of fallen angels, and finally, under them demonic spirits. Nope. Demonic spirits are not fallen angels, but ..... why don’t we leave that extensive discussion for another book.

Satan’s dominion is committed to the realm of death—not that anything passes away into oblivion, but “death" is the characterization of life lived without the Life of God. It is a realm of disease, sickness and physical death; a realm of darkness where the light of God has been extinguished in its subjects; and a realm of destruction, existing under the judgment and condemnation of God.

The enemy of God and of our souls seeks to postpone his inevitable trip to the fires of hell. He does this by attacking the saints of God and frustrating their attempts to extend the Gospel of the Kingdom to every tongue and tribe and nation—because he knows that when the mission of the church has been accomplished, his fate is sealed and the time of his doom has arrived.

One method Satan uses is to attack the saints with accusation, accusing them according to the dictates of the law for their failures and weaknesses. Another strategy is to seduce God's children into the mire of sin, side-tracking them and defeating them in their calling. And then he confuses and befuddles the saints, counterfeiting truths from God with subtle variations that, in effect, sell religious paradigms and false causes to unwitting and unthinking believers.

The second kingdom is this present evil world or “world system.”
James 4:4 Adulterers and adulteress! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

John 15:19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

This kingdom is the full expression of all that Satan calls his own; an amalgam of all the pride and politics of the world and its citizens. It includes all the lusts and immorality in which the world wallows. And it is made up of all the economic self-interests of the world nations and their peoples.

All the advertised appetites, Hollywood promotions, and secular philosophies; all the office seekers who proclaim themselves “servants of the people,” while reveling in personal and officious power; all the pomp and pretense of ‘A list” celebrities and sports heroes, and all the posturing and posing of the little people, like you and me and our next-door neighbors—these are just the beginnings of describing this world system.

Perhaps the most potentially evil part or the world system is religious. From Buddhists to animists, from Muslims to various Christian groups, there is nothing quite so potentially enslaving as a religious stronghold. And this includes conservative Christians who are “set” in their theological and social positions, unwavering, and resistant to change—even when the Holy Spirit in the scriptures is trying to break through to them.

The third kingdom system that is antithetical to and at war with the Kingdom of God includes “all our personal kingdoms.”
“What are these?" you ask.

Look first at some scriptures:

1Corinthians 3:3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Hebrews 11:24-25 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

Matthew 19:20-22 The young man said to Him, ‘All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Each one of us has his own personal kingdom. That's right. Even you and I are kings of sorts.

You see, whatever I rule and have authority over is my kingdom. It might be my vocation, or my home, or my recreational choices, or my vices. Whatever I have the final say in. that is my kingdom. We may be church leaders who exert our wills over congregations or domineering husbands who verbally abuse our wives. Whatever exists in our lives where we call the shots, those are our kingdoms.

The length of time one rules over persons, places, or things is the reign of his kingdom. The persons one subjugates to his own will through intimidation, manipulation, or domination is the realm of his kingdom. The whole manner of one's life and lifestyle reflects his kingdom choices.

One Baptist pastor, Mike Wilkins, said this: “We all rule or want to rule in some area of our lives. Are you living like the beast - ruling by force, devouring and trampling? Or are you living like the son of man - serving in humility and love, laying you life down for the sake of your friends?”

Please notice: Jesus Christ, as Lord, never rules through the manipulation of people to do His will or the domination or them with emotional, mental, or physical force to do His will. Nor does He rule through intimidation. He straightforwardly calls, commands, or compassionately leads us into His kingdom will. He does not contaminate His gospel message with licentious allure — encouraging us to give in order to get, indulge in order to be happy, flatter in order to win praise.

His voice calls us to His cross, leads us to embrace our own crosses, and in love encourages us to support others as they bear their crosses. Oh, and yes, lay all our kingdoms at His feet.

Seduced by the World System
John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

What kingdom were the people of Israel expecting? Just this: a physical and social ruler; a deliverer from the Roman yoke; a kingdom that effected political, judicial, and cultural change.

Mark 11:10 "Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

A few days later some of the same people were crying. “Crucify Him.” Know why? Because they didn’t get what they expected. “This guy is just a pretender. Give us someone who will light for us, a real ‘Commander-in-Chief’ not a wimp that reminds us of one of our blemished temple sacrifices.”

What they got was unexpected and disappointing to the flesh. “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus said. “Put up your sword.” That is. “My kingdom is separate from and distinctly different than this world system, and it has a very, very different agenda.”

Luke 8:10 And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’”

These words of the King apply to some of my evangelical and charismatic brethren who promote cultural change through legislative and judicial means and call it the works of the kingdom. Do they really know what they’re talking about and what they’re trying to promote? To quote Paul:

1 Timothy 1:3-7 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia— remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they confidently affirm.

He then went on to say,

1 Timothy 2:1-6 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

This is one of the most misquoted passages of our day. People take this to mean that we should pray for leadership that they might be “Christians”— legislating cultural change based upon biblical values—that Christian precepts might rule the nation's laws and courts. Think that do you? Not so. Look at the passage. What are we to pray for? No, really, look at it. What does it say?

Pray that we might go about our task of proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and of extending the King's dominion to those who are dead in their trespasses and sins - growing the ‘‘holy nation” within the nation—without undue interference from anyone. That we might live godly lives in quietness and peace, without governmental or social harassment or persecution. “That we may lead .....” That is the purpose of our praying.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

To make 1 Timothy 2:6 support our Christian political and social agenda is a significant misinterpretation, and it displays the degree to which the church has drifted from its mandate.

Cultural change will indeed take place as a byproduct of Christians living a kingdom lifestyle. But Christians are to be totally focused on the mission of the kingdom, not the byproducts of that mission. Proclaiming, demonstrating, and sacrificing for the kingdom—that is our holy purpose—nothing less, nothing more.

To put it another way, culture can never be equated with the kingdom of God. The kingdom is distinct from and in tension with even a “Christianized” culture.

Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit. and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another."

That’s why we need to be praying the 1 Timothy prayer the way it was meant to be prayed.

What is the Christian’s responsibility to his resident nation’s government? Pay taxes, vote if one's government allows, and obey all ordinances that don’t conflict with our faith. We are to pray that leaders will ensure our freedom to proclaim and extend the kingdom, and pray that they will ensure a peaceful social order. Other than that, even as Americans with constitutional rights, we are to be kingdom focused, not nation focused, not culture focused. We are to be a priestly and prophetic voice in the culture. But if we’ve lost our kingdom identity how can we speak with clarity the truths of God to those in our nation?

The Kingdom of God has a governmental authority, a heavenly culture, and a set or values.

What is the government of the kingdom? Is it the same as our nation of residence? What is the culture of the kingdom? Is it the same as the world system around us? What are the values of the kingdom? Are they the same as the unsaved people in our political party of choice or on our radio station of choice?

Televangelists running for office; preachers promoting a “morality” of the majority; family focused ministers converting to political lobbying; Christian lawyers advocating social change through judicial means - these are examples to us that we have, as a Christian people in America, misunderstood the kingdom and our place in it. We’ve skewed our understanding of the scriptures to fit our culturally conditioned predispositions. And while these Christian leaders have accomplished some lasting value in their ministries, they have diverted many of us from authentic kingdom-focused living.
 

 

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