Posted: 11/04/2010 at 8:00pm | IP Logged

Worldwide Kingdom Awakening News and Views

Published by Ron & Barbara McGatlin - Basileia Publishing

In This Issue
1. From False to True Responsibility 
2. The Simplicity That is in Christ
3. Top News Headlines



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1. From False to True Responsibility

By Ron McGatlin

We have entered an era of apostolic transformation sent to re-order the world to the plan of God’s full redemption. Since the coming of Christ over two millennia ago, we have continued to move slowly toward the inevitable fulfillment of the work of Christ Jesus to redeem and restore the kingdoms of this world to the kingdoms of God. We are only a link in the long chain of generations of God’s people inching the world toward the fulfillment of redemption. God will have a purified holy people in whom Christ fully dwells to finish the work of redemption.

While darkness increases upon the people the bright light of God increases upon those who come to Him with their whole hearts. God’s people are growing in number and in the stature of Christ, even as the world increasingly suffers under the weight of sin. At the same time the people of God are increasing and are being prepared to possess the land, the cleansing judgment against evil is increasing. The whole earth is under increasingly intense stress. The weight of the disorder of sin and death is upon the world causing its people to suffer stress.

There is no way to determine the massive number of people who suffer stress-related diseases and illnesses of many types. In 2007, there were 34,598 suicides in the USA. And the rate is much higher in some other countries. Not all who call themselves Christians are exempt from these tragic stress-related results. One factor involved in stress is that most of the people including many, if not most, Christians have long since abandoned their proper responsibility toward God and assumed false responsibilities that they are ill-equipped to handle. God has a much better plan. God’s plan involves the Kingdom of God coming and the will of God being done on earth as it is in heaven.

Assuming responsibility for supplying our daily provisions and meeting our inner needs and desires in this life is a great source of stress. Because we strive seeking to get what we feel we need, we are diverted from our area of real responsibility toward seeking God and His kingdom with our whole hearts.

If we fully care for our first responsibility, we will become free from the false responsibilities that plague our lives (Mat 6). Most people including Christians have been trained to not depend on the guidance, leadership, and empowerment of the Holy Spirit of God. We have been trained by life experience to depend on our intelligence and strength to sustain and maintain our lives.

The top priority and number one responsibility in the minds of natural human beings is to stay alive and provide the necessities and desires of life for ourselves and our families. These are considered noble and worthy first priority responsibilities in a life that is not filled and saturated with the Holy Spirit.

Being fully connected into Christ Jesus and Father God by the Holy Spirit brings a higher and greater everlasting life flowing from the Spirit. This everlasting life is not based in or focused first on natural life in the world. It is based in the spiritual realm of heaven and focused first on the kingdom of God. This supernaturally empowered life of God is then reflected through us into the natural world. We then function by the love, power, and wisdom of heaven flowing through the life of Christ in us. This causes us to become highly productive in serving God by serving His people and His world by bringing the order and life of heaven to the earth. This is our FIRST responsibility to seek and maintain this Spirit-filled, Spirit-saturated life in intimate communion with God in heaven and walking by His Spirit in this natural world.

As this happens we are thoroughly supplied in the provisions for this life. Though we do not seek them, they are added to us. Thus, by meeting our first real responsibility, we are totally freed from the deadly stress of striving in the natural and abide in the true rest of God. The kingdom of God – New Jerusalem lifestyle - is a life of effortless righteousness, perfect peace, and everlasting joy in the Holy Spirit.

Read the following verses slowly and allow the Holy Spirit to speak their life into you. Contained in them is the potential life-change from false to true responsibility. This is God’s plan for eliminating stress in this life.

In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

(Mat 6: 9-15, 31-33)

Day by day Father God continues to draw us unto Himself and into greater fullness of His kingdom. Jesus is the way and the empowerment of truth to free us from the restraining cords the enemy has tied us with through false concepts and beliefs. The kingdom of God lifestyle God is drawing us into and preparing us for is a life of peace and full rest in God – a life in which powerful works are done effortlessly as the Lord works through us. In this New Jerusalem ordered lifestyle we are free from myriads of false responsibilities heaped upon us by the works of the enemy working through natural thinking and religious traditions.

(For more on the Holy Spirit, Go Here http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=33790&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1 
And Here: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=17196&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1 :

 2. The Simplicity That is in Christ

By Kriston Couchey

DIVINE AUTHORITY EXPRESSING DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.~Paul~ The body of Christ on the earth is the dwelling place of God that expresses His heart on earth.  We are a temple, a body, a city for His dwelling(The New Jerusalem). His body, the ekklesia, is the earthen vessel that is the expression all that Jesus Christ is in both nature and authority. The simplicity of Christ is that we simply express His Divine Nature in us by His Divine Authority working through us. This expression of Christ in us is the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Another way to define these two aspects of the divine person of Christ in His people would be that we have within us the fruit (NATURE) of the Spirit and function in various operations or gifts (AUTHORITY) of the Spirit.

THE NATURE OF CHRIST SEEN IN RELATIONSHIP
Jesus Christ came to reveal the nature of Father to men. He told Phillip, "If you have seen me you have seen the Father." Father is good in nature. He is love. He is just. He is merciful. And He is much, much, more. All that He is in His nature cries out for relationship with mankind. The purpose for Father sending Jesus Christ into the world was to establish relationship, reconciling men to Himself and each other. As partakers of His divine nature, we also are to express His goodness in relationship. His will is this: That we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love one another as He loved us. It is His nature of goodness and love shared in relationship with and among men that is of supreme value to Father.

Years ago when my wife and I left the institutional church system, I began to understand that Father called us out of the burden of religion into the simplicity of relationship. We began to relate to others in Christ based upon love and unity in the Holy Spirit. What I had previously experienced in "church" was a unity focused around doctrine, expressions of worship, tradition, denominational affiliation, or submission to a particular leader. The simplicity of a relationally based ekklesia had been smothered and lost in the religious hierarchal chain of command I had been subjected to. I began to understand the church as a spiritual family relationship which was based on love with Father and loving others.  

THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST SEEN IN HOW WE ARE STRUCTURED AS A BODY
Love relationship is the most important aspect of the kingdom. But, it CANNOT establish the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven by itself. The love relationship we have With Father and others in Holy Spirit has a proper structure in which to reside and from which to be poured out. The nature of Christ is as wine, and the structure that contains and releases it is the wineskin. The wineskin (structure) that contains the wine of His Love is the many membered body of Christ. This body (structure) expresses the love relationship Father desires to have with all of creation. The structure of the church is a body with different parts and varying operations.

For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office(operation): So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. ~Paul~ Jesus is the elder, apostle, prophet, pastor teacher, evangelist, healer, miracle worker, exhorter, encourager, intercessor, etc. He expresses His Love through His people as He exercises His authority through each one as He has gifted each one; be it spheres of influence, ministry gifts, etc. These varying operations of Christ's authority through us is how He has "structured" us uniquely. This many membered structure is meant to express the very heart of God to creation just as Christ Jesus did to those He was He was sent to. These gifts of authority released in and through the body are truly Christ Himself expressing His nature through us as He serves and builds up His body. The body in compliance with the Head works as one in relationship (love) to express all that Jesus Christ is in fullness. 

But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head-Christ. From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part. ~Paul~

THE WINE AND THE WINESKIN
It is death to have a wineskin without wine, but it is loss to have wine without a wineskin. We must have the wineskin after we have the wine.~Watchman Nee~ When we experience the wine of God's love it is easy to enjoy the wine and not give a thought to the structure that contains it. I have interacted with some that want to revel in the nature of God and resist being contained within the wineskin in fear of the abuses of the past. It is important to recognize and reject false structure; which is religion that is burdensome and complicated. But, while love relationship is the the most important thing and the essence (wine), we need both the wine and the wineskin in order to preserve the wine.

When there is little or no wine(love relationship)present, men build complicated burdensome structures in their own wisdom after their own image. When the wine is flowing freely it is because the wineskin is preserving, containing, and pouring out wine as it was meant to; the Head is exercising His own authority through His body in the way it was meant to operate. The simplicity that is in Christ is not burdensome, but flows freely and brings liberty. 

In the Wine of His Love
Kriston Couchey
http://my.opera.com/Boanerges/blog/

3. Top News Headlines 

Conservative, Evangelical Voters Turn Out Strong for Midterms - 11/4/2010
Evangelicals and social conservatives made up the largest single voting block in the midterm elections. Survey results, released after the elections, showed that the two groups cast 29 percent of the votes, and a whopping 78 percent of them voted Republican. "People of faith turned out in the highest numbers in a midterm election we have ever seen." Read On: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34644&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1


Muslim ‘religiouside', in Iraq - Baghdad attack exacts a deadly price from Christians - 11/2/2010
Militants in Iraq say the fuse against Christians is lit. "It's been a repeated and systematic ‘religiouside', which is the attempt of Muslim extremists on both sides, Shia and Sunni, to eliminate the Christian population in Iraq." "We're finding that it is their intent to literally squeeze out the Christians. Their very words have said, ‘They have no place in Iraq.'" Read On: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34622&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1

Iraq’s Christians: The Final Squeeze? - 11/3/2010
This bloody massacre of children, women and priests was another attempt by Islamists to purge their nation of "infidels". by frightening Christians out of Iraq. But Christians are more Iraqi than Muslims; they were in Iraq before Islam. Iraqi Christians are being squeezed by threat of extinction. A Muslims forced a gun into the mouth of a three-year-old boy and shot him. Read On: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34631&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1


Pint-Sized Prodigy Becomes Gospel Sensation - 11/4/2010
A pint-sized gospel-singing phenom is expected to bring a tiny glimmer of light Friday to what will likely be a solemn service marking one year after the mass shooting at Fort Hood. Rhema recently turned 8 years old but sings with a voice well beyond her years - as evidenced by her angelic rendition of "Amazing Grace." Rhema's dad taught her the song when she was 6. Read On: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34643&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1


Muslims Beat Elderly Christian Couple Unconscious - 11/2/2010
An 80-year-old Christian in southern said Muslims beat him and his 75-year-old wife, breaking his arms and legs and her skull, because he refused a prostitute they had offered him. The couple was initially rushed to Hospital Burewala in critical condition, but doctors there turned them away at the behest of the Jutt brothers. Hospital officials confirmed the denial of medical treatment. Read On: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34624&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1


Bishop Eddie Long Files Response to Lawsuits - 11/1/2010
Long says the plantiffs' claims are not true. The four young men accuse him of forcing them into sexual relationships. Long does admits he sometimes shares rooms with members of his congregation while on trips. But he says he doesn't remember calling the four youths to his suite. A petition drive is seeking to have Long resign. Read On: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34615&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1


Coercion and enslavement of girls and women in India - 11/2/2010
Thousands of women are trafficked into brothels each year from the impoverished region of West Bengal. Estimates show that in the course of one year, 2,500 teenage girls were trafficked from West Bengal. "India is a hotbed for trafficking. There are approximately 3 million trafficked victims in India. It could be up to 50,000 women and girls trafficked into India annually. Read On: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34623&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1


Megachurch Pastor Comes Out of Closet - 11/1/2010
Jim Swilley founded the Church in the Now 25 years ago in Conyers. Georgia. But his wife Debye, from whom he is now divorced, said it was time to stop living a lie. The couple had four children. Swilley realizes the announcement might spell doom for his church. But he's prepared to start over at age 52. Read On:  http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34614&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1  


Vermont Supreme Court Affirms Activist Judge: Lisa Miller’s Daughter Belongs with Lesbian - 11/1/2010
Last year Judge Richard Cohen granted custody of Isabella Miller to Janet Jenkins, the woman who had been her mother’s lesbian “lover.” Now the Vermont Supreme Court says Cohen was correct. Isabella had been conceived by artificial insemination when Lisa Miller and Jenkins had been together. Miller left the gay lifestyle and disappeared with Isabella for her protection. Read On: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34613&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1


Oppression of Chinese House Churches Linked to Nobel Peace Prize Announcement - 10/30/2010
China is hopping mad that one of its political prisoners has won a Nobel Peace Prize. Now the country is taking it out on Liu Xiaobo's friends and supporters. One of the attacks is aimed against legal scholar Fa Yafeng. Another is more noticeable to the world -- many Chinese delegates to the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization were prevented from attending. Read On: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34590&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1


$3,000 Fine for Homeschool Parents, No Due Process - 10/29/2010
This story takes place in Sweden, although government attitudes are mirroring the anti-homeschool prejudice prevelant in Germany. The parents have successfully educated their son at home for the past six years, but that means nothing to school officials. The mom and dad were not even allowed at their court hearing. But they will be "allowed" to pay the $3,000 fine. Read On:  http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34587&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1 


Christian Villages Face Earthquake/Tsunami/Volcano Disaster - 10/29/2010
A seven-point-seven magnitude undersea earthquake triggered the three-meter high tsunami off the coast of West Sumatra this week. Mount Merapi spewed out clouds of ash and jets of searing gas. Thirteen villages were swept away. The combined death toll has topped three hundred. Four hundred are missing.  Tens of thousands are displaced. Read On: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=34586&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1


For More Top News Headlines, Go Here: http://archive.openheaven.com/news/headlines/ 

Posted: 11/09/2010 at 1:59pm | IP Logged

Dear Ron,

I found myself weeping as an intercessor over the Body of Christ this past Saturday..Feeling like we don't know what it means to "leave all and follow HIM", much less "deny self and take up our cross"..or, heavens, "lose our own life.".  Is this so called Kingdom Mentality a different Gospel?  There seems to be so much mixture..It's taught as though we're to "want Jesus" But "Get all you can out of the world too, money, fame, recognition, success, ~  Because We're the ones that are supposed to have it all!"  And, if you don't have it all or are not "going after it", you're left feeling like you must be doing something wrong!  Because it's up to you and your "arm of the flesh"to make it happen!  After all ,Jesus did all He is going to do when He said it is finished!

So this is what I was feeling on Saturday.. then Sunday I went to the local Morningstar Fellowship where they had a speaker, who used to be a Missionary but is now a motivational speaker & business consultant & this is exactly what he talked about. How we're Kingdom People and we're supposed to "go after it."  He even had everyone jump to their feet on the count of 3 and they did!  Everyone except me..  Help!  If I sound confused, it's because I am.