The Glory of the Lord, Moses, the priests, the Ark of the Covenant, so to speak, are far ahead moving toward the land of promise and it is up to the denominations and churches to make certain they are moving with them. The shout of war is in the camp as the saints prepare themselves for the violent installation of the Kingdom of God upon the earth.

The Book of Acts shows how the Great Commission is to be carried out. The apostles and elders were concerned with the proper presentation of the Gospel to the Gentiles and sent forth apostles and teachers to bring the good news of forgiveness through the blood atonement and also the necessity for godly behavior.

It was not as necessary to stress godly behavior to the Jews because they understood very well from the Law of Moses that God requires righteous behavior. But the Gentiles, having little understanding of the righteous, holy Nature of the true God, needed to be admonished to repent of their wickedness and to turn to God in righteous behavior.

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (II Corinthians 7:1)

The interaction of Paul with Felix reveals the manner in which the Lord's apostles are to approach the secular governments. We are to reason with the secular governments concerning righteous behavior, self-control, and the Divine judgment to come.

However, if the Christians are to reprove the secular powers regarding righteous behavior, then the Christians themselves will have to behave righteously. They will have to be filled with God's Spirit and holy in behavior.

The Christians guide the secular government by the testimony of their godly behavior, not by attempting to use fleshly means to compel the government to change. When fleshly means are employed the Christians are seen to be as full of guile and manipulation as is true of the unsaved. The Lord Jesus by His example of behavior toward the government of Rome shows us what our attitude should be.

The role of the Christian churches is to be the moral light of the world, the revelation of God, His prophet among men. The Christians are to be disciples of the Lord, walking in righteousness and always ready to teach God's provision for forgiveness and His righteous commandments to whoever will listen.

It seems to us that every government, whether it be socialist, or Islamic, or Hindu in philosophy, would be more than willing to insist on principles of righteous living. Honesty, integrity, faithfulness, industry, moral purity on the part of its citizens are of benefit to any government. It is not often we hear of a government honoring its citizens for dishonesty, treachery, laziness, drunkenness, or fornication.

The principal difference between Christianity and other religions and philosophies is that through Christ a person receives forgiveness of sins and then has access to the tremendous authority and power of God in order to become truthful, faithful, honest, industrious, and morally pure. All governments profit when these virtues are practiced by the people but only Christianity contains the power to produce consistently righteous behavior.

Perhaps we have not stressed repentance and righteous behavior to ourselves or our listeners. Perhaps we have diminished the demands of Christ.

Perhaps we do not realize that if we fill our building with people and then they do not turn away from the world, take up their personal cross, and follow the Lord Jesus, we have accomplished nothing of value in the Kingdom of God and in fact have produced a liability to the testimony. Do we truly understand what a disciple is or that the outcome of the Christian redemption is a morally transformed personality?

To be continued.