First the religious year, and then the business year. First the heavenly kingdom and then the heavenly kingdom comes to the earth.

You may have heard it taught that there are two kingdoms, a Gentile kingdom in the heavens and a Jewish kingdom on the earth. I am sorry to have to say this because I do not wish to hurt the feelings of good brothers and sisters in the Lord. But this two-kingdom business not only is totally without foundation in the Scriptures and totally illogical but it is destructive of the one Kingdom of God.

I could regale you all afternoon with the total scriptural denial of this destructive doctrine and also the illogical consequences of it. As I said previously, if we have a Jewish kingdom on the earth made up of Jews who have not been born again because the Holy Spirit is in Heaven with the Gentiles, then matzo balls will go forth from Zion and gefilte fish from Jerusalem. All the Gentiles will eat kosher and keep Shabbat.

Will the Law of Moses be taught? Will the animal sacrifices be restored? The Jewish government on earth would not teach the new covenant because the new covenant is Christ in usùthe writing of the eternal moral law of God in our mind and heart.

Some have maintained that the Kingdom of God is one kingdom and the Kingdom of Heaven is another kingdom. More confusion! The most superficial reading of the four Gospels will reveal that the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom that comes from Heaven. There is only one kingdom!

To those who advance the two-kingdom doctrine, let me ask you a question. Jesus said we must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom. Is this the heavenly kingdom? If so, the Jewish kingdom on the earth will be governed by people who never have had Christ born in them.

But the Bible teaches that Messiah shall govern the earth, from the earthly Jerusalem during the thousand-year Kingdom Age and from the new Jerusalem throughout eternity. Will Messiah govern the earth from Jerusalem among Jews who never have been born again?

And here we Gentiles are forced to remain in Heaven while our Lord Jesus is on earth among Jews who do not have Christ in them?

Where are Peter, James, John, and Paul all this time? On earth among the unregenerate Jews or in Heaven as part of the so- called Gentile church?

Is this not foolishness?

The two-kingdom doctrine is destructive (and this is why Satan would endorse it) because it has removed from our thinking the utter importance of how we behave on the earth. The current idea is that we are being saved to go to Heaven so how we behave on earth is not crucial. The truth is, we are being saved from sin so we can enjoy Paradise on the earth without losing it again, as did the unconverted Adam and Eve. What a vast difference in concept!

The great hope of the Christian is that he or she will be raised from the dead. We will not be raised from the dead so we can go to Heaven but so we can live once more on the earth.

Do you want to remain with the dead traditions or ride behind the Lord Jesus into the Kingdom of God?