The word \u2018kingdom\u2019 is from two words – \u2018king\u2019 and \u2018dominion\u2019. Fundamentally, it means \u2018the controlling influence or rule of a king or queen over an area\u2019.<\/p>\n
The concept of Kingdom was began by God on earth in the Garden of Eden \u2013 Genesis 1:26, \u201cAnd God said, let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over\u2026all the earth\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n
Thus originally, mankind was made a king and the dominion was \u201call the earth\u201d.<\/p>\n
Beloved, being in the \u201cimage\u201d of God implied (among other things) that humans could rule, manage or take charge on earth in the place of God. And, our being in the \u201clikeness\u201d of God implied that we could rule in
\nGod\u2019s way, as if God was the One directly ruling, because our daily style will be His style.<\/p>\n
Now, this way or style of God was the Kingdom-way of life expected of mankind that pleases God.<\/p>\n
Therefore, mankind was given a Kingdom lifestyle or way of life that was befitting their status as God\u2019s rulers or regents on earth; and a choice for a religious lifestyle that represented their own ways of ruling.<\/p>\n
This Kingdom-lifestyle or way of life was symbolized and promoted by the Tree of Life.<\/p>\n
And the religious-way of life was symbolized by the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that also promoted it.<\/p>\n
Kingdom-lifestyle, therefore, refers to God\u2019s original ways or system of going about things on earth; which brings about His rule on earth. Religious living, however, is man\u2019s own way of living to please God that
\nis based on a half-truth.<\/p>\n
Now, much as it seems good, appears wise to mankind, religion does not please God. This is because it has evil lurking behind its good, making it half good and half bad.<\/p>\n
Yes, beloved, religion is a mixture of good and evil, hot and cold, truth and falsehood; and this makes it the highest form of deception. Yet, it has always appealed to people who
\nare trying to live for God, like our first parents in Eden.<\/p>\n
Yes, this is what occurred in the life of the Apostle Peter also -\u201cHe (Jesus) rebuked Peter, saying, \u2018get behind Me Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men\u201d \u2013 Mk. 8:33, Matt. 16:23.<\/p>\n
Now, \u201cthe things of God\u201d are the Kingdom-ways of God and \u201cthe things of men\u201d are the religious-ways of Satan, because he backs it.<\/p>\n
Please understand that, the devil was a Kingdom creature who fell into religion, making him uphold half-truths and half-falsehoods, by which he deceived mankind into religion in Eden, and still does even now.<\/p>\n
So, just as experienced by the Apostle Peter, (the first leader of the followers of our dearest Jesus,) everybody following Jesus today will be torn between filling his mind and life with the Kingdom system of Jesus or the religious ways of humans.<\/p>\n
So, in times past, mankind through Adam chose a religious life that was offered by religious Satan in Eden. And since then, God has always been calling mankind to come out of it, for the original Kingdom-ways of life that He initially put mankind on in Eden.<\/p>\n
Yes, God first demonstrated this call by rejecting Adam\u2019s fig-leaf clothing. You know, this clothing stood for mankind\u2019s own efforts at helping themselves to please God.<\/p>\n
But, God\u2019s preference was His Animal-skin clothing, which stood for Jesus, the Kingdom-way of pleasing God in the face of sin.<\/p>\n
Beloved, in times past, mankind have therefore been saddled with Adam\u2019s choice to practice religion, since our fall from God\u2019s type of ruler-ship, until God graciously re-introduced His Kingdom-life and ways, in its fullest expression through our dearest Jesus \u2013 Is. 9:6-7.<\/p>\n
Through our dear Jesus therefore, God is asking you to change your mind (repent) about following your religious-ways to embrace His Kingdom-ways again \u2013 Matt. 4:17, \u201cFrom that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our immediate quote was Jesus\u2019 first recorded public preaching words. By the Law of first mention, they must mean a lot to Him.<\/p>\n
So, my friend, you have to make up your mind today, to reject the religious-ways you have been operating, for God\u2019s original way, as re-presented by Jesus, which we call the Kingdom-way – Acts 17:30, \u201cTruly, these times
\nof ignorance God overlooked, but now command\u2019s all men everywhere to repent.\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The word \u2018kingdom\u2019 is from two words – \u2018king\u2019 and \u2018dominion\u2019. Fundamentally, it means \u2018the controlling influence or rule of a king or queen over an area\u2019. The concept of Kingdom was began by God on earth in the Garden of Eden \u2013 Genesis 1:26, \u201cAnd God said, let Us make man in Our image, […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,13],"tags":[386,390,389,387,52,388],"class_list":["post-3295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kingdom-word","category-message-of-the-week","tag-concept-of-kingdom","tag-dominion-living","tag-kingdom-living","tag-kingdom-on-earth","tag-religion","tag-the-way-of-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3297,"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3295\/revisions\/3297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.new.dominionembassygh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}