The word kingdom in the New Testament is written over seventy times. Most of those uses are describing "The Kingdom of God" or "The Kingdom of Christ". Obviously this concept is an important doctrine in the Bible. But how does God describe his kingdom? How is it brought into being and what is our role in the Kingdom? Unfortunately, what the emergents would have us believe is false.
As we discussed in our last podcast a major portion of the emergent's doctrine is the use of the social gospel. Believing that by doing good, helping the poor, and fighting aids you are spreading the gospel, has influenced much of what their ministries are all about. However this idea has also influenced another big part of their ministries, Kingdom Dominion Theology. Kingdom Dominion Theology is the doctrine whereby we, human beings, bring God's kingdom here to this earth. There are many different groups who offer various ways to cause this, but the method the EC promotes is the social gospel.
Clearly the doctrine of Kingdom Dominion is contrary to scripture. The entire book of Revelation is the prophetic telling of Christ's coming and
establishing his own kingdom. John 18:36 says, Jesus answered, “
My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” When Jesus said his kingdom was not of this world he did not mean that his kingdom would never be a part of this earth. He merely meant that for right now his kingdom is not on this earth. But why is that?
God's kingdom and our world are two completely different places. One is a sin cursed fallen world where Satan is the prince of the power of the air. The other is a holy unblemished realm where Christ is the king. When saying that we must bring the kingdom to this earth, the EC is saying that we must make the world a better place. This however cannot be accomplished. We as sinful fallen human beings cannot bring this world to the perfection it once was. The book of Revelation is the account of Christ destroying the earth by fire in order to create a new heaven and new earth which will be completely without sin and death.
A major reason many of the EC leaders believe that we must bring this kingdom to the earth, is that they have a faulty understanding of heaven. Many have adopted the mindset that heaven is not a place; it is a state of mind. in doing this they completely disregard John 14:2-3 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. By diminishing the idea of heaven they completely demolish the faith. Like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and
your faith is also empty. Paul is saying here that if Christ didn't rise from the dead, then there will be no Resurrection and our faith is in vain.
Many of the emergents will point to what we call the Lord's prayer which states, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, the kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." They will say, "see, we should be praying for his kingdom to come and for his will to be done on earth". In reality all this verse is saying is that we are to
pray that Jesus will bring his kingdom, not for us to bring it for him.
Bottom line: 1 Corinthians 15:24 Then comes the end, when
He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
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