That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10)

The Divine purpose will be accepted only by those who truly have been called of God to be part of the Wife of the Lamb. The majority of the believers, being coached and encouraged by Satan, will insist that God primarily is interested in the immediate and apparent happiness and health of people; that He loves them and has come to deliver them from all their problems.

The cross-carrying disciple will be willing to embrace the purpose of the Kingdom as the bringing of the creation into subjection to Christ. Numerous believers of today will reject this concept in favor of a view of the Kingdom as the promoting of the immediate joy of mankind.

Antichrist desires all the gifts and blessings of the Kingdom of God but he rejects the concept that he must do the will of Christ when there is no apparent gain for himself. We can see from this that the spirit of the False Prophet has pervaded the ranks of Christians—particularly the ranks of the Charismatics.

Antichrist is the false kingdom of God that will set itself up to govern the earth. The False Prophet is the spirit of delusion that proceeds from attempts to gain the power of the Lamb apart from union with the Lamb. In the last days the False Prophet will assist the governments that set themselves up in the name of peace and morality but which actually are a front for Satan.

The union of the spirit of delusion with democratic government can be seen today as Christian leaders seek to assist the spread of democracy and capitalism, supposing that democracy is a Christian form of government and capitalism is the preferred economic system. This blindness has occurred because of the prevailing theological errors, in particular the doing away with the personal cross of the believer—the teaching that Christians are not supposed to suffer because "Jesus has done it all."

Until the concept of Christ-centeredness of the Kingdom of God assumes its rightful place in our thinking we shall continue to come short of the Glory of God. We never shall understand the importance of our union with Him, as distinguished from our attempts to get Him to do what we want—which is the current emphasis of Christian teaching.

The Christian must give back to God all he is, all he does, and all he possesses. The believer can then enter restful union with God through Christ.

What we are or do is of little consequence in the Kingdom of God. It is Christ alone who is of consequence in the Kingdom. God has commanded us to "hear Him." It is only as we are part of Him, of the Lord Jesus, that we enter eternal life, into significance as a creature. Whenever we make any person or thing other than Jesus central to our theology or practice we miss God's will and enter dangerous spiritual ground.

The Kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. When He is with us the Kingdom of God is with us. When He is in us the Kingdom of God is in us. We are not to attempt to use Christ in order to achieve our religious ambitions. This is to be a Judas. That is to be an Antichrist and a False Prophet. Many believers of today are attempting to make Christ and the Word of God their servants. They are on dangerous ground indeed. They are in deception.

To be continued.