OpenHeaven.com Digest October 19, 2017

The “Kingdom” Spin Masters

By Ron McGatlin

The most critical issue in the entire world among all the people of the world is the coming forth of the kingdom of God. The first priority of all life according to Jesus is seeking the kingdom and His righteousness.

Fresh pure kingdom truth from heaven is flowing by the Spirit into the hearts of true apostolic servants/sons of God to transform God’s people and eventually the world to the kingdom of God.

No sooner is the fresh word of the kingdom spoken or written than the merchandising spin masters begin to tweak it and twist it to fit their programs and further their causes.

This is not referring to saying the same things in a different way or making application to the same principles in different ways to communicate kingdom truth in unique cultures and circumstances. This is speaking about mixing in other fallacious teachings coming from the religious past and twisting the kingdom word to make it fit another agenda. It is also noted that people are in different stages of seeking transition, and some are battling with releasing previous beliefs attained prior to hearing the word of the kingdom.

We are all at different places in our transformation and transition into the fresh restoration of kingdom. Obviously, while in transition the old religious things may for a season and to a degree coexist with the new kingdom reality. It is our intention to encourage and not to accuse the brethren who are still in early process of transformation from past teachings which, are being washed away by the Spirit and replaced with the true gospel of the kingdom as Jesus first proclaimed and demonstrated it. However, it is important to know the difference between the kingdom of God reality and where we have been.

Beware of the spin masters. Not everything that says “kingdom of God” on it or in it is the pure word of the kingdom. Some of what is being proffered today has been spun off into a good sounding perversion to manipulate people.

Personally, I believe that God is not pleased with the contamination of the pure gospel of the kingdom. I am sincerely concerned for the continued well-being of some who are mixing the kingdom word with fallacious teachings from the old church systems to keep their thing going. This seems to me to be ultimate merchandising and is not going unnoticed in heaven.

There is a deadly drug the enemy uses as a tool. This drug causes people to get hooked on using good things of God to feed their own needs or desires. This drug is like a poison that tastes good. When one begins to use it, more and more is required until there seems no way out of the addiction. This drug might be called “ministry mammon.”

This is not at all a new problem; it has been around for millennia. What is new to the situation is that in this season, the real gospel of the kingdom is now being proclaimed on a broad scale.

To whom much is given much is required.

The restoration of the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom is a vital step in the history of mankind and the world. It is very important and is where we have been heading since Christ Jesus proclaimed and demonstrated it two millennia ago.It is not good that some are treating the precious word of the kingdom with the same devices that have been applied to teaching and preaching in the past church and ministry systems of mixture.

Simply stated spinning off the gospel of the kingdom for ministry mammon or any other purpose will be met with much more immediate and intense corrective response from God than similar offenses in the previous religious season. There is more accountability since the return of the “Christ in His Body (temple) understanding and reality” that brought the return of the proclamation of Christ’s gospel of the kingdom again on earth.

To pretend obedience to the gospel of the kingdom while seeking to provide for one’s personal gain or building one’s own kingdom will not be long tolerated in this developing apostolic age in which the risen Christ has returned as a life-giving Spirit to cleanse the temple (His Body) and build His glorious church (ekklesia) to establish the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Heaven’s New Jerusalem model is coming down and being formed on earth, and there shall nothing enter it that defiles.

Christ Jesus as a man in His natural body proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom and after Pentecost proclaimed it through His apostles as a life-giving Spirit. At that time there was immediate strong response to anyone who joined themselves to the kingdom movement and then subversively sought personal gain (ministry mammon).

Ananias and Sapphira became a recorded biblical example of the serious repercussions of this kind of offense while connected into the holy environment of the manifesting kingdom of heaven on earth (Acts 5:1-12).

A Warning from God

A warning from God today is not a threat; it is a loving plea to consider and change and to beware of a potential significant loss. Ananias and Sapphira were strong, capable people who had obviously been blessed of God to have things of substantial value. Yet in an instant of time, all their strength left them, and they could do nothing. They could not reply or get up or even move a muscle. They had nothing. Their life’s work, their goals, and ambitions for ministry and doing good things for others ended in a heap of dead flesh and bones. All of their dreams were gone, and their possessions were dispersed to others.

Think about this. The things they did were natural for the culture they had lived in. For them, a very short time ago before the coming of the Holy Spirit ushered in the apostolic season of the proclamation of the kingdom, their behavior would have been normal and even considered noble. They were doing a good thing and giving a lot of money to the cause at hand for meeting the needs of all the people in the community of believers.

Possibly, their reasoning for what they did was that they had seen others give much smaller amounts into the community treasury, and some of those giving may have had a number of dependent children who needed to be fed from the community coffer. It would make sense for them to put in a proportionate amount, plus possibly some more out of generosity, and at the same time hold back some for themselves. They could have even thought to give what they had held back, if it were ever badly needed to provide for the community later.

What was so wrong about what they did that is cost them everything?

One way to look at this is that their fatal mistake was connecting into the kingdom of God community. There were surely lots of people in the nation who had nothing to do with the kingdom movement who did much worse things. Yet, they did not suddenly lose all and drop to the floor dead.

If you are set and determined to be a merchandising minister, you will do well to stay far away from the pure gospel of the kingdom. You will last much longer in the old systems with the old ways. Do not connect with the apostolic kingdom of God reality unless you are willing to leave all ministry mammon desires behind.

A deeper look

However, if you are set and determined to move on with the pure, holy gospel of the kingdom, then let us take a deeper look for understanding into the picture painted for us in the case of Ananias and Sapphira.

First and foremost, they were not walking in the Spirit. They were walking in their natural minds trained in the synagogue with the ways of the past religious system that was only types and shadows of the coming kingdom. It is absolutely necessary to lose the old ways of past religious church systems. To mix them with the gospel of the kingdom will not turn out well.

God is doing a new thing. In recent years, we have seen many notable leaders involved in powerful moves of God that have suddenly lost all their strength, in some their entire ministry, and in some cases their lives. Like Ananias and Sapphira, the protection of God pulled back and Satan entered into the hearts of these once-powerful ministers because they were not fully walking in the Spirit and therefore became involved in ministry mammon. And these happenings were in the early expression of the fresh kingdom reality which is now becoming much more intense.

We cannot look to our natural minds for guidance and deny the leadership of the Spirit and still safely connect into the real kingdom of God. If we are not walking in the Spirit and thereby living a life that proclaims the reality of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, then we are not proclaiming the pure gospel of the kingdom. We must not try to add a portion of the kingdom word into our religion in order to maintain or increase our ministry’s share of the market and fund our operation.

Again, the word and ways of the kingdom will not mix with ministry mammon. Many things we have been taught and that worked to some degree in the past are not the gospel of the kingdom. Our past belief structure from previous religious teaching are often not kingdom and are subject to being changed by God in this kingdom transformation season to more perfectly align with His word.

Are we proclaiming the pure word of the kingdom?

We may not be IF:

• We modify the pure word of the kingdom to keep religious people from being offended.
• We speak of Jesus and not His kingdom to gather people and sell our books.
• We make room for the rapture theory because so many still believe it.
• We make room for the pastor/priest/bishop rule as clergy over a congregation of laity.
• We proclaim the Melchizedek priesthood to re-establish an order of priestly hierarchal rule over the priesthood of the believer.
• We teach the principle or law of the mandatory tithe is valid in the kingdom.
• We avoid the apostolic ministry to preserve our present structure of church rule.
• We see ourselves or anyone other than Christ as head of a church group. There is a distinction between Headship and leadership.
• We avoid clear teaching on the ministry and gifts of the Holy Spirit and the need to be fully saturated (baptized) in the Spirit, because it offends many who have been falsely taught in the past church systems.
• We are trapped in ministry mammon and refuse to obey the Lord in addressing open sin and spiritual lack among those we minister to because we may lose favor and reward from them.
• We feel that we want to really preach and demonstrate the kingdom, but it would cost us too much.
• We believe the kingdom should remain confined in the church and not also affect the culture areas such as government, education, business, media, and all facets of life.
• We are not willing to become living sacrifices for the furtherance of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Many reading this may be offended by at least some of these. It is our religious beliefs that are assaulted by the kingdom reality. Let these not become areas for you to defend and debate but rather points to really consider and seek the guidance of Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit to bring clarity of understanding and fresh wisdom and direction in moving ahead in the journey of kingdom transformation.

Obviously this is an incomplete list and a book or at least a chapter could be written on each of these things. These are not meant to be a teaching here but a check list to point up transformation needs. Therefore, scriptures are not included with each.

For kingdom teaching dealing with these things and more I heartily recommend the “Kingdom Growth Guides” and other books and resources available for Free Download on the archive.openheaven.com website.

Keep on pursuing love. It never fails
and His kingdom never ends.

Ron McGatlin

www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

(This was first written and distributed in October 2009)