-
From Discipleship to Dominion: Why the Early Church and the Seven Mountains Mandate Follow Different Spirits
The following essay was generated through a series of Perplexity AI prompts exploring the difference between church mission exemplified in the Book of Acts and the claims of Dominionist Theology, a theology underpinning the Seven Mountains Mandate (7MM), and the wider Christian Nationalist movement in America.
——-
The Book of Acts opens with a clear mission: Jesus commissions His disciples to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). That single verse defined the orientation of the early church for centuries. Their purpose was to multiply disciples through the power of the Holy Spirit—not to seize cultural, political, or economic power.
Fast forward to the 21st century, and a very different narrative has emerged: the Seven Mountains Mandate, a modern movement within dominionist theology claiming that Christians are called to take control of seven cultural “mountains”—government, education, business, media, arts, family, and religion—in order to establish God’s kingdom on earth. Proponents insist that until believers “occupy” these arenas of influence, Christ cannot return.
So what happened between Acts and today’s dominion-minded Christianity? And does any so-called “progressive revelation” justify such a dramatic shift in mission and theology?
The Early Church’s Mission: Witness, Not Warfare
The early Christians understood Jesus’ words about the kingdom literally: it was not of this world. When questioned by Pilate, Jesus said, “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting” (John 18:36). The apostles followed this logic completely. Their “kingdom work” was spiritual, not political; redemptive, not revolutionary.
Their strategy was simple but subversive: change the world by changing human hearts. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the apostles carried the message of a risen Christ across empires, yet never sought to overturn those empires by force or control. When ordered by authorities to stop preaching, Peter responded, “We must obey God rather than men”—and then returned to evangelizing. They wielded no political weapons, but the gospel itself became their revolution.
Paul captured this vision in Philippians 3:20: “But our citizenship is in heaven.” The early church defined identity not through nationality or empire, but through belonging to Christ. Their eschatology—belief in the soon return of Jesus—fueled urgency for mission, not a plan to “Christianize” Rome. Dominion, to them, meant the rule of Christ in human hearts transformed by grace.
The Seven Mountains: Dominion by Another Name
By contrast, the Seven Mountains Mandate redefines mission as the conquest of cultural power. Emerging in the 1970s through leaders like Loren Cunningham and Bill Bright, and later popularized by Lance Wallnau and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), the movement teaches that Christians must “take dominion” over seven societal spheres to usher in Christ’s return.
In their view, the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20) is not merely a call to make disciples but a blueprint for societal takeover. Wallnau reframed evangelism into “cultural influence,” arguing that Christians are to lead every major institution until nations conform to God’s laws.
But this reading stretches scripture beyond recognition. The “seven mountains” in Revelation 17:9 refer symbolically to oppressive world powers—most likely ancient Rome—not to modern cultural sectors awaiting Christian CEOs. Linking that imagery to a global leadership mandate is a textbook example of reading our agendas into God’s Word rather than letting Scripture interpret itself.
Premillennial Hope vs. Postmillennial Domination
The theological roots of dominion teaching lie in postmillennialism, which envisions a future “golden age” of Christian rule before Christ returns. This outlook claims that human effort, empowered by the Spirit, will eventually convert the world and set the stage for Jesus’ physical reign.
The early church, however, embraced premillennial hope—Christ returns first to restore justice and establish His kingdom. They expected persecution, not political triumph, viewing suffering for the gospel as participation in Christ’s victory. The difference between these eschatological perspectives explains why one inspires humility and service while the other fuels triumphalism and control.
The Seven Mountains model thus inverts early Christian priorities: instead of waiting faithfully for the King, it rushes to build the kingdom without the King.
The Illusion of “Progressive Revelation”
Some proponents claim that modern apostles and prophets have received new revelations to guide this end-time strategy. But historical Christianity affirms a closed canon—the Bible contains the complete revelation of God necessary for faith and doctrine.
Church fathers like Hippolytus and Jerome taught that prophetic revelation ceased with the apostles because the deposit of faith was complete. Contemporary “new apostolic” claims fail this test. The apostles were eyewitnesses of the risen Christ, authenticated by miracles. No modern figure meets those criteria, and repeated prophetic failures—such as the false “prophecies” surrounding U.S. elections—reveal the fragility of this so-called revelation.
To call the Seven Mountains strategy a continuation of God’s revelation is to confuse ambition with inspiration.
A Kingdom Not of This World
Jesus intentionally distanced His kingdom from worldly power because political coercion corrupts the soul of faith. When the church aligns with the state—or tries to rule the state—it loses its prophetic voice. Ellen White captured this danger powerfully: “The union of the church with the state, be the degree never so slight… does in reality but bring the church nearer to the world.”
Seventh-day Adventist theology, long an outlier to dominionist thinking, maintains a clear warning: any claim to “build the kingdom” through politics contradicts the gospel’s voluntary nature. True reform begins in the heart; the gospel changes the world not by legislating righteousness but by revealing Christ’s love through transformed lives.
Conclusion: The Spirit of Mission or the Spirit of Power?The divergence between the early church and dominion theology is more than generational—it’s spiritual.
* The early church advanced by witness and suffering;
* The dominionist movement advances by influence and control.
* One trusts the return of Christ;
*The other attempts to bring Him back through conquest.
There has been no “progressive revelation” authorizing this shift, only a regressive yearning for power dressed up as prophecy. The same Jesus who refused an earthly crown still calls His followers to bear a cross, not a scepter.
The early believers changed history not by taking the seven mountains, but by lifting up one name. That remains the church’s only mountain worth climbing.
-
A Scenic Drive in the Kentucky Snow / 2025
Driving from home to The Family Dollar in Crab Orchard, Kentucky after last night’s snow.
-
Voices in the Garden
I start at an innocuous place and proceed into the abyss from there. This is not channel promotion but internet critique.
My YouTube channel, Voices in the Garden, has gone over 3,000 lifetime viewing hours (in 4 years). I currently have 1,780 subscribers.
Those are very minuscule numbers in the YouTube digiverse, but they exceed my expectations.
If I followed the rules for social media marketing my numbers would be much greater. But I happen to hold the philosophy that less is more, especially when it comes to the way social media shortens the attention span of every living thing.
I’m still not convinced of its benefits and I’m concerned that it is often a little more than adventures in vanity.
It is the nature of the addict to deny our own powerlessness over distractions that numb the pain of the reality we are so desperate to escape. The addict, by virtue of their disease, persistently insists, with fanatical zeal, that they control the very thing that is consuming their life.
Social media is, by design, addicting and trivializing. It is created and marketed to feed addictive viewing habits for one simple reason: that’s how money is made in the digital world. It creates a shorter and shorter attention span, less and less rationality, so that the finger will click and click and click to the next view.
In the social media world content is nothing more than bait.
I can hear several screaming in their brain that it’s still a benefit if “used wisely”. That is addictive thinking. That’s the same voice incessantly whispering in a heroin addict’s mind.
The dictum most hated by social media is the truth told by the late media critic, Marshall McLuhan:
The medium IS the message.
The media we use, from smoke signals on a mountain top, to a pencil and paper, a keyboard, to a microphone, to a screen, to a digitized text, or video bite shape the nature and content of the communication. The message is fashioned by the tool that creates it.
There has never been a time in the history of the world when the mediums of communication were more shallow, less rational, less dehumanizing, yet more addicting in the ability to entertain the mind that craves numbness against the chaos and ever growing uncertainty of life.
From the fall of Adam we have been digressing in stature, in spirit, and in mind. We have arrived at a place where we can no longer stand upright without a digitized exoskeleton to support our flabby thoughts.
The Babylonian spirit is ensconced in a digital technopoly that counterfeits the work of the Spirit, creating a stream of consciousness that flows into the chaotic abyss well maintaining the illusion of floating on an ocean of light.
But I digress. My YouTube channel is getting a lot of views.
Maybe this book will help.The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003R7L90I?ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_mwn_dp_P9RJ7JVGBQ82HZMFYKH3&peakEvent=5&dealEvent=0&language=en-US&bestFormat=true
-
The Cost of Discipleship (and the blessings)
Jesus knew the cost, and the blessings, to himself and for his disciples. Do we? Do I?
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”
– The Apostle Paul, Philippians 3:7
“It is only because he became like us that we can become like him.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
“As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
— Luke 9:57-62
“Earthly goods are given to be used, not to be collected. In the wilderness God gave Israel the manna every day, and they had no need to worry about food and drink. Indeed, if they kept any of the manna over until the next day, it went bad. In the same way, the disciple must receive his portion from God every day. If he stores it up as a permanent possession, he spoils not only the gift, but himself as well, for he sets his heart on accumulated wealth, and makes it a barrier between himself and God. Where our treasure is, there is our trust, our security, our consolation and our God. Hoarding is idolatry.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
— Luke 14:25-33
“The vows which we take upon ourselves in baptism embrace much. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit we are buried in the likeness of Christ’s death and raised in the likeness of His resurrection, and we are to live a new life. Our life is to be bound up with the life of Christ. Henceforth the believer is to bear in mind that he is dedicated to God, to Christ, and to the Holy Spirit. He is to make all worldly considerations secondary to this new relation. Publicly he has declared that he will no longer live in pride and self-indulgence. He is no longer to live a careless, indifferent life. He has made a covenant with God. He has died to the world. He is to live to the Lord, to use for Him all his entrusted capabilities, never losing the realization that he bears God’s signature, that he is a subject of Christ’s kingdom, a partaker of the divine nature. He is to surrender to God all that he is and all that he has, employing all his gifts to His name’s glory.”
– Ellen White, Counsels to the Church, 295
“But man cannot transform himself by the exercise of his will. He possesses no power by which this change can be effected. The leaven—something wholly from without—must be put into the meal before the desired change can be wrought in it. So the grace of God must be received by the sinner before he can be fitted for the kingdom of glory. All the culture and education which the world can give will fail of making a degraded child of sin a child of heaven. The renewing energy must come from God. The change can be made only by the Holy Spirit. All who would be saved, high or low, rich or poor, must submit to the working of this power.
As the leaven, when mingled with the meal, works from within outward, so it is by the renewing of the heart that the grace of God works to transform the life. No mere external change is sufficient to bring us into harmony with God. There are many who try to reform by correcting this or that bad habit, and they hope in this way to become Christians, but they are beginning in the wrong place. Our first work is with the heart.
A profession of faith and the possession of truth in the soul are two different things. The mere knowledge of truth is not enough. We may possess this, but the tenor of our thoughts may not be changed. The heart must be converted and sanctified.”
– Ellen White, Christ’s Object Lessons, 96-97
“Fruit is always the miraculous, the created; it is never the result of willing, but always a growth. The fruit of the Spirit is a gift of God, and only He can produce it. They who bear it know as little about it as the tree knows of its fruit. They know only the power of Him on whom their life depends.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
“The messengers of Jesus will be hated to the end of time. They will be blamed for all the division which rend cities and homes. Jesus and his disciples will be condemned on all sides for undermining family life, and for leading the nation astray; they will be called crazy fanatics and disturbers of the peace. The disciples will be sorely tempted to desert their Lord. But the end is also near, and they must hold on and persevere until it comes. Only he will be blessed who remains loyal to Jesus and his word until the end.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
“…and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
— Matthew 10:22 -
Filled With The Spirit of God
Being filled with the Spirit of God is not an optional experience for an elite or special group of Christians. The Spirit-filled life is the normal Christian life, the highest privilege of the Christian, yet one that is often misunderstood or neglected, as if it were an add-on experience, something only available to ministers, missionaries, or the specially selected of God.
However, it is the infilling of the Spirit that Jesus said all must have if they would see the kingdom of God. Such was his teaching to Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came to him at midnight.
“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
— John 3:3
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
— John 3:5-8
The Spirit-filled life Is evidence of Christ abiding in the heart, the union of divinity with humanity, making us partakers of the divine nature, our only source of power in the fight against evil and the sin that so easily besets us.
Paul the apostle declared that the Spirit-filled life is the true evidence that we have been adopted into the family of God, being made one with him in character and purpose, as well as one in spirit with all our brothers and sisters in Christ. This was the sign of New Testament believers, evidence of a changed life, a new creation made in the image of Christ for obedience to and the worship of God.
“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
— Romans 8:8-9
“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
Romans 8:12-17
Old Testament prophets proclaimed this New Covenant experience: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.”
Ezekiel 36:26.
On this Ellen White remarks:
“The change in human hearts, the transformation of human characters, is a miracle that reveals an ever-living Saviour, working to rescue souls. A consistent life in Christ is a great miracle. In the preaching of the word of God, the sign that should be manifest now and always is the presence of the Holy Spirit, to make the word a regenerating power to those that hear. This is God’s witness before the world to the divine mission of His Son.”
Ellen White, DA 407.1
It would be well for us to study the following passages on the the promise of Jesus for his indwelling Spirit.
Many are confused regarding spirits work, always looking for ecstatic experiences, extraordinary signs, or some manifestation of power that proves they are Christians. The biblical truth is that the Holy Spirit comes to be the abiding presence of God with us, so that all that Jesus was physically to his disciples of old will be to us today. He is the spirit of truth. It is only in this Spirit that we can be called children of God.
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:23,24
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:16-18
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”
John 15:26
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
John 16:13-15
“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 2:12-16
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
— Acts 1:8
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
— Acts 2:1-4
“But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
— Acts 2:14-21
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
— Galatians 5:16
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
— Galatians 5:22-25
All who have been born of the Spirit, in all who are baptized in Jesus name and receive His Spirit, all of the fruits of his Spirit will be manifest. Not one will be missing. And as we continue to grow in Christ, we will experience more and more of these fruits, a full and rich and abundant life for the glory of God.
It is thus that we fulfill the promise of Jesus that we would be one with him as he is with his Father, also making us one with each other through the abiding of his love in the heart.
“I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17:23-26 -
The Fellowship of His Sufferings
Jesus suffers with the suffering ones, “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”. He was wounded for our transgressions and with his stripes we are healed.
He is the wounded healer who will for eternity bear the scars of loving us, serving us, “even unto death”. We will know the King in heaven by the scars that crown of thorns made, by the nail pierced hands, the long gash left by a Roman spear thrust into his side. We will know him by the wounds we gave him, the wounds he accepted at our hands.
Without suffering, his and ours, we cannot know God.
“The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.
— Matthew 4:24
“…and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.” – Isa. 53:6
Jesus still walks the dark hills with those who suffer. If that is where Jesus is, where are we? What does it mean to “be with” him who is still with those who suffer?
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
— Luke 4:18-19
Who did we imagine Jesus was when we answered his call to follow him, where did we think he was going, what did we think he was doing, what did we think he was calling us to in our fellowship with him?
Did we think that when Jesus met us in our darkest place, in our shame, in our disease, that he stopped with us?
“As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
— Luke 9:57-58
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
— Matthew 16:24-25
The Jesus we follow is Christ of the cross who even in his glorified body bears the scars of his service, his ministry of healing.
“Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe…Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
— John 20:25,27
Our calling for communion with the resurrected Christ is the call to share the fellowship of his sufferings until they are made complete, for we are his body on earth, living in this war zone of sin, death, and trauma. Jesus still ministers in the darkest places of the earth in the person of his church, that place where his Spirit abides in the flesh, that body that follows him in ministry with hands to help, eyes that weep, a mouth that comforts, a heart that cares until it is broken like his.
This is the way of love, to sacrifice for the good of others, to spend and be spent as workers together with Christ.
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”
— Colossians 1:24
Only those who have lost all things, lost all those things that satisfy our love of adulation, our pride, our lust for pleasure, the loss of all of our idols, only these can experience the resurrection power of Christ that is revealed in the fellowship of his sufferings, suffering that comes with bearing the bruised and wounded souls of others as we help them out of the pit.
In weakness, pain, broken promises, lost dreams, unfulfilled expectations, humiliations, hopelessness and despair, we find communion with the resurrected One because he always lives to minister to those who suffer.
Or have we not read, have we not understood the call of Christ to be with him where he is?
Only those who bear the cross will wear the crown.
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
— Luke 14:27
In the path we follow there is blood in the tracks. It is only in following the blood that we know the way.
“Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
— Philippians 2:1-11
“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.
For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
— Philippians 3:7-21 -
His Divine Economics
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
— Matthew 13:44
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
— Matthew 6:21
In treasuring Christ our hearts become rich with faith; in the divine economy our treasure grows as we give it away. While the hoarding heart is truly empty, an idle pile of useless clutter, the expansive, wanton giver of all, in Christ, is multiplied with blessings. Just as Christ fed 5,000 with a few fragments of fish and bread, those who come to him empty with hunger abide in a filling fellowship of grace, love, and truth.
How deeply satisfied was the apostle Paul in this divine economy, where the greatest loss proved his greatest gain:
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
— Philippians 3:7-11
“In all things…remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
— Acts 20:35 -
Prophetic Waymarks: Jesus is coming soon
The thoughtful, diligent, prayerful student of Bible prophecy, especially the apocalyptic books of Daniel and Revelation, sees the hand of God establishing his kingdom amidst the opposition of kings and nations. History repeats itself.
The principles of good and evil remain the same, the conflict playing out over and over again, but with the greatest intensity at the end of days. (Rev. 12)
All of the so-called great nations of the Earth, what we call superpowers today, are portrayed in apocalyptic prophecy as ravenous, carnivorous beasts of prey, tearing it one another, devouring lesser nations in their lust for glory. They are doubly dangerous as they combine political power with idolatrous religious practices. Professing qualities of the Lamb, the best of them speak like dragons in their imperial bigotry, intolerance, and ultimately brutal suppression of the truth (Rev. 13:11-12).
All of them are known as persecutors of God’s covenant people, Jew or Gentile, who have been reconciled by the blood of Christ and become a people of peace, not war.
You’ll want to study the history of Babylon in Daniel as it is a type of the political / religious power of the last days in the Book of Revelation. Historical Babylon is a type of what is to come, of what is even now here.
If you’re not familiar with this pattern of historical repetition in the rise and fall of nations, begin your study in Daniel 2, then continue to Daniel 7, 8, and 9. Compare these with Revelation 12 through 19. Note the versus carefully. The symbols are explained. The outcome is made sure.
You may not understand every prophetic detail but you can see the broad picture that God has clearly painted. The nations are known for their lawlessness, for their sexual immorality and idolatry, for their will to power, no act of cruelty too great to consolidate their governments. They make their way with bigotry, intolerance, compulsion of the conscience, with blackmail and seductions, with murder and lies, full of injustice, all the while clothing themselves in the regalia of pomp and ceremony, their leaders acting as gods while speaking as demons.
Scripture interprets scripture. Keep reading. The light of God’s word will show you the difference between the kingdoms of this world and the kingdom of God. All must choose, almost take a side. And all will be held accountable by God in the judgment for the decisions they make in this great controversy between good and evil.
All of the time prophecies have been fulfilled. We have no date for the coming of Christ but we have signs of the times. His coming is near even at the door. We see from Daniel 7 and 8 that the judgment begins before the coming of Christ, the books having been opened, the decision made by our judge on who will be saved and who will be lost at his coming. “The hour of his judgment has come”. Rev. 14:7
Jesus will not come secretly as some of the deceived now proclaim, but as the lightning comes from east to west so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Every eye will see him. Second coming of Jesus is cataclysmic, a day of fire and destruction, a day of plagues ended, recompense paid, the dead raised, and saints delivered.
Jesus showed us these things, warned us, and promised us the blessing of eternal life through faith in him. Read Matthew 24 look up through the chaos and confusion all around you. Your redemption is drawing near. False prophets are here, false Christ will claim your worship. Sons will betray fathers and daughters their mothers. Your enemies maybe those of your own household. The greatest sign we see today is the apostasy of Christianity, Eastern and Western, the church filled with immorality and idolatry. (Rev. 17-18). Many will fall away said Jesus but his gospel would be preached to the whole world before the end comes
At every prophetic intersection along the historical line of divine revelation we see the hand of God working his providential appointments, not to make the nation’s great, but to prepare them for his just and righteous dominion. What Adam lost through sin in the Garden of Eden will be restored at the end, Christ giving his faithful children a seat with him on the throne. We will be a kingdom of kings and priests, that is, royal ministers of an eternal grace even the angels are strangers too. Throughout the coming ages we will explore and expand our knowledge of God’s redemption plan. We will tell all the created hosts of Heaven and Earth about the glories of redeeming love.
So be encouraged, so be patient, be faithful even to the end. It is near and will not wait. He who has promised is faithful.
You ask how to be prepared? Jesus knew we would and should. Preparation for his coming was his greatest concern because he said it would be like a thief in the night, when we least expect it despite having all the signs. As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be, the world coming to an end amid the laughter, the parties, most being lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, professing godliness but denying its power in their lives. (2 Timothy 3).
Our preparation is living by every word that comes from the mouth of God, being filled with his spirit, our hearts surcharged with his love and grace, our wills daily surrender to him, living in a relation to others as we would to Jesus, using every talent he has given us for the advancement of his kingdom.. See Matthew 25.
King David, the Lord’s psalmist, prophesied of these days 3,000 years ago. The Anointed One is coming, the Son of God upon his throne. All who meditate day and night on the Word of God may meet him in peace (Psalm 1).
“Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
— Psalm 2:1-12 -
On Psalm 25, / “Let me not be ashamed”.
Psalm 25 is one of 9 Acrostic Psalms, that is, each verse or a stanza (see 119) begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet which was to help in memorization of the Psalm. The other acrostic psalms are: 9-10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119 and 145.
In this Psalm King David prays for protection, guidance, and pardon especially in the context of shame and honor.
Throughout Book 1 of Psalms (1-42), God’s anointed one, David, is pursued and attacked by enemies. Because he is God’s anointed, even a type of Christ to come, an attack upon David is an attack upon God and his purposes for his people.
To heap shame on God’s anointed, even when he has sinned, is to dishonor God who is ever working to lift him out of shame and in doing so bring honor to all who are part of his kingdom (Vs. 22).
Throughout the Psalms David prays that his enemies will not shame him, but that the shame they seek for him will be brought back on their own heads. He not only asks for protection from those who would shame him because of its personal pain, but because in shaming him God would be dishonored.
In the Bible, an oriental culture, most resembling eastern culture today, the themes of honor and shame involve the whole community, not simply the individual. We miss this when we read the Bible with Western eyes that are so taken up with individualism.
When one is dishonored all of the community is brought to shame. When God’s children are shamed, the whole family of God is dishonored, but more importantly, God himself is dishonored in the eyes of others.
Sin, from the very beginning, from the time of creation with the fall of Adam and Eve, is bound up with the themes of honor and shame.
Psalm 25 moves deeply through this dynamic of sin and shame, of restoring honor, giving us a brief and concise theology that pervades the Bible message of salvation from sin.
I’ve chosen the LSB (Legacy Standard Bible) for its translation of Lord as Yahweh, the eternal covenant name of God. You will notice that both Yahweh and Elohim (God) are names for God in this Psalm. Elohim was a name for God used by the pagan nations as well as by Israel and represented God as the Mighty One, the Most High God of all those who called themselves gods.
Note the deeply personal way that David addresses God, which is brought out more in the way the ESV translates verse 14, “The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.”, also brought out in the margin of the LSB or NASB.
The whole tone of the Psalm is one of intimacy with God through his covenant of grace.
May we pray this prayer in Union with Christ, the Word made flesh, who prays with us, for us, and in us by his Spirit. It is a prayer of One anointed by God. Let him anoint us in prayer as we come to him with this word.
Psalm 25
Aleph
1 To You, O Yahweh, I lift up my soul.
Beth
2 O my God, in You I trust,
Do not let me be ashamed;
Do not let my enemies exult over me.
Gimel
3 Indeed, let none who hope in You be ashamed;
Let those who deal treacherously without cause be ashamed.
Daleth
4 Make me know Your ways, O Yahweh;
Teach me Your paths.
He/ Vav
5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
In You I hope all the day.
Zayin
6 Remember, O Yahweh, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they have been from of old.
Heth
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
According to Your lovingkindness remember me,
For the sake of Your goodness, O Yahweh.
Teth
8 Good and upright is Yahweh;
Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.
Yodh
9 May He lead the humble in justice,
And may He teach the humble His way.
Kaph
10 All the paths of Yahweh are lovingkindness and truth
To those who guard His covenant and His testimonies.
Lamedh
11 For Your name’s sake, O Yahweh,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
Mem
12 Who is the man who fears Yahweh?
He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
Nun
13 His soul will abide in goodness,
And his seed will inherit the land.
Samekh
14 The secret of Yahweh is for those who fear Him,
And He will make them know His covenant.
Ayin
15 My eyes are continually toward Yahweh,
For He will bring my feet out of the net.
Pe
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
For I am alone and afflicted.
Tsadhe
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
Bring me out of my distresses.
Resh
18 See my affliction and my trouble,
And forgive all my sins.
Resh
19 See my enemies, for they are many,
And they hate me with violent hatred.
Shin
20 Keep my soul and deliver me;
Do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in You.
Tav
21 Let integrity and uprightness guard me,
For I hope in You.
22 Redeem Israel, O God,
Out of all his troubles. -
Just Because…
Just because religious people are the most dangerous people, the cruelest on the face of the earth– bigoted, racist, greedy, lusting, judging, condemning, proud, always pointing the finger, hypocrites, full of hatred with murderous hearts– it does not mean you cannot trust God or his love for you.
Look to Him who was crucified by his own. That’s the love you want and the mercy you need.
He can save you from them, from the devil, the world, the condemnation of the law…and even from your own sinful self.
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”
— Acts 2:36-40
Home
About Me
A Christian, thinking, vlogging, and writing online. I live elsewhere as well. I follow the theology of the cross in the faith and practice of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Formerly a pastor in Europe and America, now living semi-retired in Kentucky (U.S.), driving for the Amish and in-home carer.
Crucified Hearts 