INTRODUCTION
From God’s view, there are only two kingdoms. In one, you follow Him and
obey His will and ways. In the other, there is only worship of self,
which is always in competition against God’s ways, which are selfless.
In this season, we need to align ourselves to the culture of His Kingdom
and not make the mistake of thinking that western “Christian” culture
and Kingdom culture are necessarily the same!
NUMBER ONE
As we progress in these times, there is a monumental clash coming
between these two Kingdoms as they compete for the souls of humanity.
Competition first originated in heaven as Lucifer decided to strive
against God to become number one. The same powerful spirit is alive in
the world today, motivating people or groups to compete with one
another to try to become number one.
Competition is an integral part of life in Western cultures.
It has been accepted and celebrated as a very necessary ingredient for a
successful life. However, competition ultimately is self-seeking
and involves covetousness, which leads to envy, which results in in all
kinds of strife
and war.
The first earthly competition was between Cain and
Abel. Cain had had his own ideas on how to do offerings. However, when
Abel’s offerings were acceptable to God and Cain’s were not, Cain become
very angry and murdered his brother. Cain’s competition with Abel was
really his competition with God over who would be number one in his
life.
King Nimrod, who built the original city and tower of Babylon, was the
great-grandson of Noah. He discarded the faith of his fathers and
tapped into the occult. He was the first to put competition to work
within his army to train and toughen his troops. He enticed and
controlled men by using immorality, competition, and sorcery.
The Babylonian culture gave rise to the Greek
civilization, which gave rise to the Roman empire, which in turn laid
the foundations for Western civilization today. Competition can serve a
valuable purpose in our culture. It balances greed and encourages
quality service because businesses must compete with one another to
survive. In a similar way, it can motivate individuals to greater
performance. Competition is also generally believed by many to increase
production, and for the short term, it can stimulate production between
individuals and groups. However, over the long turn and in the bigger
picture, competition decreases production and efficiency, due to the
inevitability of strife and war as a result.
KINGDOM ECONOMICS
In the end, cooperation and collaboration will always prove to be more productive
than competition. Competition is not a Kingdom of God
principle. Cooperation and collaboration are the ways of His Kingdom.
Competition in Babylonian-style cultures is like the law of the jungle!
Only the strong survive.
The Kingdom of God is not a competition-oriented economy based on greed.
The Kingdom of God is a service-oriented economy based on love. Jesus
said in Matt. 22:39, “love your neighbor as yourself.” He told the
disciples to love one another as He had loved them, and that men would
know they were His disciples by their love (John 13:34-35).
Competition leads to unnecessary strife between individuals, families,
tribes, and nations. It has its
root in a fear of not having enough.
Whether it is not enough land, food, jobs or business, or whether it is
not enough praise, acceptance, affection, love or some other need, the
fear is that I will not have enough unless I strive against you to get
more.
A belief that there is not enough for everyone leads to wars and strife
of every kind. I must strive to get mine before you get it or from you
if you already have it. James 4:1-2: “Where do wars and fights come from
among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in
your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot
obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.”
Faith is the fertilizer of the Kingdom of God that brings increase!
Competition is striving against God and against others to be in control.
In the Kingdom of God lifestyle there is no striving. “And a servant of
the Lord must not strive but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,
in humility
correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will
grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they
may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been
taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim 2:24-26).
There is no strife or competition between individuals or groups in the
Kingdom of God. Everyone desires to take care
of himself and others o an equal footing.
NO LOSERS
In the Kingdom of God, there are no losers! Play is for fun, and work is
for serving, meeting the needs of others. No one must be made a
mockery or ridiculed for someone else to win. Jobs and businesses meet
the needs of people by providing needed products and services. If a need
is being met by one business, there is no need to start another one for
the same purpose in the same market area. Instead, the Kingdom
businessman will look for another need to meet, or assist the existing
business in meeting the need at hand.
The only competition in the Kingdom of God is with the devil! Every
person on earth is involved, whether they know it or not, in the great
conflict between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness! The
only strife in the Kingdom of God is directly, or indirectly, against
Satan and his kingdom of darkness.
There is never strife against any person. There is never competition
with any person for any reason. God is no respecter of persons. Everybody has the opportunity to acknowledge God and seek the Kingdom of
God. The way is open for everyone to come to Christ, and God is not
willing that any should perish. Any person seeking the Kingdom of God
must turn away from the kingdom of darkness, and let go of it.
Repentance is not an apology; it is turning from one kingdom to another.
The real sin is that we are still in love with the kingdom that
crucified our Lord. "We can forgive a child who is afraid of the dark;
the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light" (Plato).
THE CULTURE OF THE KINGDOM
As the Kingdom of God is coming forth into our world, more and more
people are seeing the value of living according to God’s Kingdom
principles. More and more are seeking the Kingdom of God, who is the true
number one, rather than seeking to be number one.
"Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to
feel important. They don't mean to do harm -- but the harm does not
interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they
are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves." - T. S.
Eliot
God's Kingdom only knows one direction -- forward. Most Christians in the
Western world are unaware that the Kingdom of God is advancing more
than ever before. Christianity is growing three times faster than the
world's population! Every day, nearly 200,000 people come into the
Kingdom of God! Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the
world, with a 6.9 percent growth rate, compared to 2.7 percent for
Muslims, 2.2 percent for Hindus, and 1 .7 percent for Buddhists! More
than 40 percent of the progress in world evangelism from the time of
Christ until today has occurred in the past three years!
Daniel 4:34b - "For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His
Kingdom is from generation to generation...."
#
(Research for this article
drawn from the Basileia Letter and the Patriot Post)
