KINGDOM DYNAMICS

If it is popular in the world, then it is not of God. 

When I wrote that God hates the United States and all modern appliances, many lovers of life were offended.  Some even felt my article must have been intended as a joke.  But the joke is on them.  This is what happens when we are taught Jesus died to take away our sins and not that he laid down his life as a rejection of everything about this world. 

A different kingdom

Jesus told Pilate his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).  John counsels: “Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life- is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).  The United States and all modern appliances are of the world; therefore they cannot be of God. 

The ways of God are fundamentally different from the ways of men.  That means Christians must be schooled in “kingdom dynamics;” the ways of God.  God says through Isaiah: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8).  Jesus amplifies this to extremes.  He says: “What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). 

Diametric opposites

Indeed, everything in the kingdom of God is diametrically opposite to what obtains in this world.  If man thinks something is black, God is going to consider it to be white.  If man thinks something is good, God is going to consider it to be bad.  If man thinks something is beautiful, God is going to consider it to be ugly. 

The kingdom of God violates virtually all human yardsticks.  Every valley is exalted and every mountain and hill made low (Luke 3:5).  Disadvantages, such as ugliness; poverty; lowliness; stupidity; unskilfulness; illiteracy; and backwardness are exalted in the kingdom.  Advantages, such as beauty; wealth; high status; intelligence; skill; education and sophistication are made low. 

At the end of the ages, God says there will be a total reversal of fortunes: “All the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish” (Ezekiel 17:24).

Kingdom contradictions

In the kingdom, the way up is down.  In order to enter, we must be born again (John 3:3-5).  In order to see, we have to be blind (John 9:39).  In order to be full, we have to hunger (Luke 6:21).  In order to gain, we have to lose (Matthew. 13:44-46).  In order to be rich, we have to be poor (1 Samuel 2:7).  In order to be strong, we have to be weak (Judges 7:2-7).  In order to be masters, we have to be slaves (Matthew 20:25-28).  The elder must serve the younger (Genesis 25:23). 

In order to laugh, we have to weep (Luke 6:21).  In order to enter into glory, we have to endure suffering (Luke 24:25-26).  In order to be healed, we have to be sick (Luke 5:31).  In order to live, we have to die (John 12:24).  In order to save our life, we have to lose it (Matthew 16:25-26).  In order to be first, we have to be last (Matthew 19:30). 

Why is everything so contradictory?  Is God just determined to be disagreeable?  No.  It is the devil, the ruler of the darkness of this world, who is determined that everything here should be the antithesis of what obtains in the kingdom of God.  The prevailing way of doing things in this world is ungodly because the powers-that-be are under the control of Satan (1 John 5:19). 

Kingdom unpopularity 

Therefore, know this for certain.  If it is popular in the world, then it is not of God.  If a mega-pastor is approved of men, he cannot be of God.  If Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was the highest-selling album of all time, it must be because the devil approved of it.  If Bruce Wilkinson’s book “The Prayer of Jabez” was such a runaway best-seller, it must be because the principles it presents are fundamentally ungodly.  If Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ,” was so popular, it must be because it was designed to excite the flesh and not the spirit. 

Jesus says to his disciples: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.  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” (John 15:18-19).