“For the manifestation of the Spirit among men will lessen the egotism of nationalism, will weaken the hold of despotic political creeds and pagan philosophies, and will substitute brotherly love and trust for envy, hatred, greed, and suspicion in international relations, both political and economic. It will mean a transformed human nature in which men and nations will not only feel their unity but will be able to trust one another because they act on the same just and honourable and unselfish standards. When this Christian transformation of man through love and understanding of the One True God has gone far enough, the nature and purposes of mankind will be so changed that it will be natural, easy, indeed inevitable, to bring into being institutions which will deal with international problems from the standpoint of the well-being of humanity as a whole, and whereby the legislative, executive, and judicial functions of the world federation will be exercised under some kind of democratic control, and in accordance with moral and spiritual law, and without any of the despotic, repressive, illiberal features which would necessarily characterize a world state today. For the Spirit of the Lord will inform its policy and its acts, and ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.'” [emphasis added]
(See citation in “The Quote” below)
This is most evident in Rick Joyner’s latest post, “Taking the Land–The Coming Kingdom,” April 1, 2006, put out on the Elijah List [http://tinyurl.com/oxq9p] . In the selected excerpts below notice the switch from patriotism to international globalism. Joyner introduces the global concept at the very beginning:
“Our Promised Land in Christ is the nations, the very ends of the earth. . . . The Lord is coming back to restore the entire earth, and we are now laying the foundation for the coming of His Kingdom to do this.”
Joyner explains: “Many who are considered ‘the founding fathers’ of America had a theology that they were establishing the Kingdom of God on earth in what they called ‘the new world.'” Joyner then asked “where did they go wrong?” His answer is very illuminating. He states:
“The theology that was generally shared by many of America’s founding fathers is what is called ‘Reconstructionist Theology.’ A form of it has been more recently called ‘Kingdom Now’ theology. There are actually many variations of this doctrine, but it was the basic theology of the Puritans and greatly influenced most of the colonies in due time. These people really thought that America was a new Promised Land, and it was to be a representative of the Kingdom of God.”
“. . . However, let us be clear that America is not the Kingdom of God. . . . it is not the Promised Land.“
Joyner then explains how this “Kingdom” will be ruled. The following material may be a rude awakening for many patriotic American Christians who have been led to believe that they are working on implementing the best of American ideals around the world.
“The coming Kingdom is going to be just that, a Kingdom, not a democracy.”
Joyner prefaces his next remarks with the claim that “. . . the coming Kingdom will actually promote freedom and choice. There will be no question about who the Sovereign is. . . .” But he then explains just the opposite in the very alarming statements below:
“Almost every doctrine about the Kingdom has basically been about how to control people. . . .
“Restraints and controls are a good thing for this age and will actually be how the Kingdom age begins. However, the goal of the Kingdom is to not need any restraints. Everyone will have it in their hearts to do the right thing because all will be ruled by love. It will take a thousand years to get there. The Lord will rule with a rod of iron at first, even smashing many things that nations have been built on. Some of that smashing will have taken place before His return when everything that can be shaken will be shaken in preparation for the coming Kingdom.”
Joyner applies his Gnostic worldview to this statement: “We must also keep in mind that for the immature, control and dictating is essential.” The “immature” to this Gnostic are those who aren’t yet elevated to higher levels of spirituality. This particular leader teaches a form of elitism and spiritual control.
Finally, Joyner disingenuously concludes that “There is authority in the Kingdom, and for a time it will seem most severe to the nations that have not been built on the principles of the Kingdom, but its goal is always liberty. ” [All emphases added in above quotations]
The Quote: