"The Kingdom Unveiled"

Just as we were born in and made aware of our physical environment, it is of utmost importance that we also experience the spiritual birth and become aware of our spiritual environment. To be aware only of our physical environment puts us in a very exposed and vulnerable position to some harmful and destructive elements in this realm that seeks to prey upon the naive and misguided. Just as the physical have laws that govern them, the spiritual have laws that govern them also. To learn only of the physical sets us up for bad judgement calls and decisions that can have long lasting and sometimes irreversible effects on our lives. Consider our knowledge of our physical bodies. If we only knew about our physical functions without knowledge of our spiritual (emotional and psychological part of our being), we would function in a lesser state of being than a common beast or animal. Even dumb animals understand and communicate with each other and function in their physical environment based on their knowledge of the spiritual (emotional and psychological) laws that govern how they function in the physical.

James, the apostle and brother of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, made an astounding statement that declares the importance of the spiritual to the physical. "As the body is dead without the spirit, so faith without works is dead." - (James 2:26). Here, James stresses the importance of works in faith, as important as the spirit is to the body. Without the spirit, the body is dead and soon to see corruption and destruction. Just as faith without works is dead and soon to see corruption and destruction. There is a point that James made that is often overlooked by most readers or hearers, "the spirit is the life of the body", just as "works is the life of faith". It is the spiritual that controls and influences the physical! Therefore, spending much time and effort responding, treating and correcting the physical with only physical means will prove ineffective and frustrating as the main source (the spiritual that controls the physical) is left out of the equation. This unveiling of the spiritual is the awakening of humanity to their true environment and purpose. Ignorance of this truth has kept humanity in error and dysfunction for a very long time. Which has, with each generation, degraded the life God had predestined they should have and pushed them further and further away from God's original intent and purpose for humanity. Religion, though having some good rules and self-imposed disciplines, could not solve this age old problem of humanity's disposition (Colossians 2:23). The Jews had religion, but this did not produce God's best (Galatians 1:13-17; 2:15-16). The Gospel that Jesus preached and taught (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 24:14) was not the announcement of a new religion! It was the announcement and demonstration of God's rule, power and authority being revealed in the earth! The announcement of God's Kingdom restoring his rule and order in the earth as revealed in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2:28-47) in the prophetic writings of Daniel, a prophet of God. Daniel declared, "No wise men, astrologers, magicians, enchanters, can show the king the secret that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and has made known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in latter days. Your dream.. He who reveals secrets made known to you what will be." - (Daniel 2:27-29). The Gospel was preached to the King Nebuchadnezzar at the time. "And in those days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break into pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that Stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the King what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and it's interpretation sure." - (Daniel 2:44-45). John, the Baptist, a preacher and prophet of God (a forerunner of Jesus Christ), came baptizing men not to start another religion, but to make know to the world of the King's appearance and reveal him to all men (John 1:19-34). When Jesus came on the scene what he taught was not common or known among the Jews! Their religion did not prepare them for this! Jesus came teaching and demonstrating the gospel of "the kingdom"! Not a kingdom, but "the kingdom"! Referring to that which was prophesied by the prophets through the ages (Hebrews 1:1-2). This was shocking to the religious crowd of Jesus days and still is this very day.

New Living Translation 2013 Luke 4:31-37 Jesus Casts Out a Demon Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught there in the synagogue every Sabbath day. There, too, the people were amazed at his teaching, for he spoke with authority. Once when he was in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demon—an evil spirit—began shouting at Jesus, "Go away! Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" Jesus cut him short. "Be quiet! Come out of the man," he ordered. At that, the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched; then it came out of him without hurting him further. Amazed, the people exclaimed, "What authority and power this man's words possess! Even evil spirits obey him, and they flee at his command!" The news about Jesus spread through every village in the entire region.

In the Old Testament, there are miracles such as leprous being healed (2 Kings 5), dead raised to life (1 Kings 17:17-24), supernatural provision for a widow and her son (1 Kings 17:8-16), but the manifestation of evil spirits inhabiting and speaking through humans is is never seen. It is the first time men are witnessing evil spirits speaking out of a human's mouth and with such authority and power being cast out by someone righteous. The belief under their religion is that evil spirits only obey evil leaders or powers. This error in their belief caused a division among the religious crowd (Luke 11:15-17) and even prompted some negative response of rejection and even attributing this work to "Beelzebub", a chief demon or a contemporary name for the Devil (Matthew 12:24; Luke 11:15-17). This exposing and eviction of evil/unclean spirits out human bodies was new to their experience and knowledge. Most person see evil as a thing done and not as evil thinking beings operating through human to produce evil things. The Gospel of the Kingdom must be taught and preached to expose this main cause of wickedness and mayhem in the world (the physical kingdom) and God's imposing his heavenly power (the spiritual kingdom) to restore it to its intended order. No amount of physical efforts by humans can correct this problem, because the main source of the problem is spiritual and must also be addressed spiritually. Religion is a physical attempt to correct the problem, but it doesn't make anything perfect or produce GOD's intended purpose. Religion, in its true operation and proper use, serve to show sinful humans how sinful by nature they are and their need for a Savior (Jesus - Acts 4:12; Galatians 1:13-16) to escape the penalty of such lifestyle (John 3:16-18 that attracts the wrath of God (Romans 1:18-32).

Apostle Richard A. Fagan