governments, we are in a much greater sense under the authority of God’s government as citizens of a heavenly kingdom.
The Kingdom of God or American Civil Liberties By J. Samuel Willoughby
The thing about kingdoms is, there are only two kinds of kingdom dwellers. The King, and His subjects/servants. Everything in the kingdom is subject to the will and behest of the king; or as it is in our case, the King of kings. EVERYTHING in the Kingdom is subject to the will and good pleasure of our Sovereign Lord. WE HAVE NO RIGHTS but what our King grants unto us. And as Americans with all of our “civil rights” indoctrination that chafes us; not just a little, but A LOT! But if we are ever going to get out of this world alive and to that “home country” we sing, preach, and pray about we’re going to have to adjust ourselves to Kingdom understandings and concepts. To have the kind of victorious living and spiritual conquests that we say we are seeking, WE MUST RELINQUISH some of the rights that we seem to hold quite dear!
It seems that, as American Christians, we struggle to attain the kind of results in prayer and evangelism that are seen in many other parts of the world. I know that modern convenience and ease play a large part in stymieing our spiritual efforts. However, I believe that as Americans, a HUGE factor in our blunted spiritual urges are found in our understanding of what we consider “our inalienable rights”.
I found this list below some time ago. I don’t know who the original author was. But this gives us an idea of some of the rights that we MUST give up to live successfully within Kingdom structures…
What we seem to fail to realize is that as bornagain, Spirit-filled believers we no longer “belong” to the kingdoms of this world. We with our Christian rebirth become citizens of a heavenly kingdom. Our time in this world is spent merely as strangers and sojourners, seekers after and citizens of, a spiritual kingdom. And the Kingdom of God is not a democracy, nor is it a federal state, or constitutional republic. So that while in this life we may dwell under the authority of earthly 47