Stewards of the Kingdom

Introduction Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. (1 John 2:6 NLT) No one will argue that the 21st century world is more complex and more technologically advanced than all the previous worlds before it. And yet, despite its unprecedented technological achievements––improved living standards, reduced travel times and infrastructure enabling human beings to communicate with each other over long distances and to see events happening in real time––many citizens of this seemingly overachieving world go to bed at night hungry.

On reflection, why should assessment of humanity’s advancements through the centuries be limited to only physical achievements? Shouldn't the spiritual component be part of the conversation too? Science conditioned the world to equate humanity's progress with physical achievements (because they are supposedly measurable) and to discountenance non-physical or spiritual achievements (because they are supposedly not measurable). Followers of Christ, instead of buying into this flawed hypothesis, should insist that spirituality is indeed measurable, albeit with different set of instruments. We should argue that because the spiritual drives the physical, it should have greater weighting in any assessment of human progress.

The present world celebrates its great physical achievements, and sees itself as the greatest age since the advent of human beings on earth (a questionable assumption when one considers human progress as comprising both the physical and the non-physical). Rather than celebrate, it should weep at its continuing neglect of the poor and at its paucity of God-breathed spiritual knowledge despite easy availability of God's word. The story of the three wise men from the East who came to see Jesus (Matt 2:1-2) is one example of God-breathed spiritual knowledge. These three wise men, just like many others in that world, were aware of God and His creation (Rom 1:18-20). Regrettably, though God-breathed spirituality is no longer evident in many churches, we cannot say the same about “dark spirituality.”

Satan-breathed “dark spirituality” has been gaining strength since the advent of the modern world when people began to see science as the cure-all for all humanity’s ills. Steadily, it has been making inroads into churches. Its “mists of deception” have blinded many and its assaults have gone largely unchallenged because churches (especially those belonging to “Religious Christianity”) are powerless. Sadly, churches belonging to “Biblical Christianity,” and who know how to engage in spiritual warfare, are themselves becoming increasingly lukewarm. To counteract this onslaught by the kingdom of darkness, “Bible-believing-practicing churches” need to reconnect with God because only God-breathed spirituality (the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed and embodied by empowered churches) can obliterate the “dark spirituality” currently enveloping the whole world. . . .