“But He answered and said, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’”
(Matt. 15:24-25)
When Jesus came to this earth, the above was His stated mission. At the time, those lost sheep lived under a government far more oppressive that any we have experienced here in America [haven’t seen any hills covered with crucified enemies of the state lately], the same government that slaughtered the male infants of an entire town in an effort to derail His ministry before it began and beheaded the man sent to herald His coming for challenging it. But did Jesus care about doing away with, or reforming, Rome to make her a great nation again?
Those lost sheep in His Father’s house wanted Him to, for after witnessing Him feed the five thousand we find this scene: “So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone” (John 6). It was Barabbas’ misled clan that wanted to do the same thing, and it is no mere coincidence that we see in the Scriptures one final juxtaposition displayed between the two kingdoms we can elect citizenry to in this world before Jesus was crucified. We had the “make Israel great again-ers” who were misled by their religious leaders to live worldly lives, and were, justifiably, “lost.” Then we had Jesus, Who came to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. He was a “make My Father’s House great again-er” and His message to make that happen was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3).
He told His followers in the Garden of Gethsemane He could have “sent twelve legions of angels” to make Israel great in the kingdom His lost sheep were most concerned about, but He knew in the kingdom He wanted to make great there would have been no cross, no salvation, and no coming of the Holy Spirit if He did. The difference between Jesus and everyone else at that point was what I dedicate a chapter to in my book, The Kingdom Election, and that is perspectives. Everyone but Jesus on that day was coming from a worldly perspective that had allowed outcomes for governments and nations to blind their eyes. Jesus was seeing it from a kingdom perspective where there was a totally different mindset and no such distractions.
The kingdom perspective they were coming from was the reason you will not find Jesus, nor a single New Testament apostle, trying to make Israel great again through political means. There was only one disciple who tried to do that. His name was Judas and He tried to force Jesus and the San Hedren [a body that was more political than spiritual and largely responsible for the lost condition of God’s sheep] to come together for the glory of Israel. No, Jesus and His men all cared for the church, and bringing its lost souls into their kingdom.
Which begs the question that is the title of this article. Conservatives, and thus most Christians who vote, are dancing in the streets over the re-election of Donald Trump and the prospect of control of all three houses of government here in America. They can’t wait for him to “clean the swamp” and make America great again. And I must admit, though I don’t vote, my flesh is rejoicing with them because I see four or more years of prosperity and freedom from oppressive government laying before us. But what does this victory mean for the church, for that is what my soul and spirit should be most concerned with?
My spirit was burdened on election night because four more years of worldly prosperity will mean four more years of, well, the church we have had here in America for decades, if not centuries—four more years of Laodicea. It is common knowledge amongst church historians that she flourishes in persecutorial environments and languishes in comfortable ones. What has always made America great is what has always caused the church to languish, and that is why we see the dismal polling results among born-again Christians when asked critical questions about their depth of faith and belief in what the Bible says—results that reveal over 90% of them are “lost sheep in their Father’s house.”
Wealth, security, comfort, and freedom—all the qualities that have marked America’s greatness in a worldly sense, make for “lukewarmth” in the church in the kingdom sense. It leads to deceived people saying, “We are rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” when Jesus says, “You are poor, pitiful, blind, and naked. You are lukewarm and deceived, and you make me sick to my stomach” (Rev. 3). There is no greater rebuke to any of the churches of the Revelations than this.
Ever since God opened my eyes to the reality of the kingdom of heaven on earth, downloaded all I wrote in The Kingdom Election, and how that transformed my perspectives from those of the kingdom of man and religion to those of the kingdom of heaven on earth, I care only for the church and to see her “great again.” Unfortunately, that will mean considerable doses of persecution in this world and so I was saddened to see Trump victorious.
If you are rejoicing in the Republican landslide today, I would ask you “why?” Is it because you feel it will somehow awaken all those lost sheep in God’s house, or because your comfortable lifestyle, 401K, and all the other “stuff” that makes you secure has a bright new future? The answer can’t be the former because history says that’s not true, so what is it? If it’s the latter I think John would say, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2).
We have far too many who claim Christ living with dual citizenship. They want to think they’re spiritual, and so they pay homage to the kingdom at church and in Bible studies. But they also love the world and the stuff and comfort it gives them. So, they live with one foot in each kingdom and end up hypocrites in both. We all have an election to make—one far more important than who runs our country, and it means forsaking one kingdom for fealty to the other. Dual citizenship doesn’t work because God won’t let it work. I hope this article, and my book, will open the eyes of our dual citizens and they will “Repent [change their perspectives], for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
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