HEAVEN AND EARTH: A CLASH OF CULTURES

1 Samuel chapter 2




Today we are walking in: Heaven And Earth: A Clash Of Cultures










Job 34:16




If now thou hast understanding, hear H8085 this: hearken to the voice of my words.

























UNDERSTAND







Today we look to the word-UNDERSTAND- H8085 shama`--to hear with attention or interest, listen to understand (language)






















The Torah testifies...............




Genesis 11:7




Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand H8085 one another's speech.






















The prophets proclaim..................




Nehemiah 8:2




And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear H8085 with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.

























The writings bear witness...........................




1 Kings 3:9




Give therefore thy servant an understanding H8085 heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?






HEAVEN AND EARTH: A CLASH OF CULTURES


NOT long after national elections in the Bahamas, someone asked me in an airport, “What do you think about your new government?”


I replied, “I only have one government.”


It doesn’t matter who occupies the prime minister’s chair or the Speaker of Parliament’s chair or the governor’s mansion; it doesn’t matter who sits on the throne and is called king or queen. There is only one government, and it belongs to Him whose throne will never be moved or toppled: Almighty Yah, the King of kings and Most High of Most Highs. His rule in Heaven is eternal, without beginning or end. But He also created the Earth and established His Kingdom there as well.


The Bible says, “He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are Yahuah's, and he has set the world upon them. SHEMU'EL RI'SHON (1 SAMUEL) 2:8 את CEPHER. The words earth and world often are used interchangeably, but here they refer to two different things. Earth refers to the place, the physical planet on which we reside, while world refers to order or governing affairs. Yah created the physical Earth and then set on it the “world” of His government and divine order. Earth, then, has to do with location, while world deals with who is running things.


Yah rules directly in Heaven, but His plan for the Earth was to rule it indirectly through human representatives that He created in His own image. Adam and Eve were to rule under Yah’s appointment and reproduce and maintain the order and government of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. From the beginning, the Earth was designed to be ruled by one government: the Kingdom of Heaven. Any other government is illegal on this planet. This is why the Bible makes it clear that human governments exist only by Yah’s permission and that He ordained them for the protection of society and the common human welfare until the day His Kingdom government on Earth is fully restored. In his letter to the believers in Rome, Paul leaves no doubt as to the true authority behind human affairs:


LET every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of Elohiym: the powers that be are ordained of Elohiym. Whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of Elohiym: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will you then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and you shall have praise of the same: For he is the minister of Elohiym to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of Elohiym, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. ROMAIYM (ROMANS) 13:1-5 את CEPHER.


HaSatan the pretender may believe that he runs the show and controls the governments of the Earth, but it is the King of Heaven who guides human history and destiny toward His desired ends. He raises up one power and brings down another, all in accordance with His sovereign will and purpose. Psalm 75:7 says, “But Elohiym is the judge: he puts down one, and sets up another. TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 75:7 את CEPHER.” In the Book of Isaiah, the Most High Himself declares:


Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am El, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. YESHA'YAHU (ISAIAH) 45:22-23 את CEPHER.


HEAVEN: EARTH’S ONLY LEGITIMATE CULTURE


Human empires rise and fall, but the Kingdom of Yah stands forever. Earthly rulers who forget or who refuse to acknowledge the One to whom they are accountable set themselves up for judgment, and even destruction. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, ruled the mightiest empire the world had ever known up to that time, but even he had to learn to humble himself before the Yah of Heaven:


At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babel. The king spoke, and said, Is not this great Babel, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O King Nevukadne'tstsar, to you it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from you. And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make you to eat grass as oxen, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that El Elyon rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nevukadne'tstsar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. And at the end of the days I Nevukadne'tstsar lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed El Elyon, and I praised and honored him that lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What do you? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and brightness returned unto me; and my counselors and my princes sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I Nevukadne'tstsar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. DANIY'EL (DANIEL) 4:29-37 את CEPHER.


To say that Yah is Most High of Most Highs means that He owns everything there is by right of creation; to call Him King of kings is to acknowledge that His government and authority are above all others. All earthly rulers, willingly or not, and consciously or not, are subject ultimately to Yah’s sovereign authority. In the end, His will shall prevail, His purpose shall be accomplished, and His Kingdom will come on Earth as it is in Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is the only order that Yah placed on the Earth. Anything else is disorder.


When HaSatan seized control of the dominion that rightly belonged to man, he brought disorder onto the world scene: pride, envy, greed, selfishness, hatred... and man-centered religion, which reduces the life-giving principles of Yah’s Kingdom to empty rites, rituals, and rules.


The point of all of this is to make it clear that the culture of Heaven is the only legitimate culture for the Earth. So-called human culture, which is influenced and controlled by HaSatan, and therefore is in conflict with the culture of Heaven—is an illegitimate culture. So we have two cultures in conflict, a cultural clash between Heaven and Earth.


CULTURE PROBLEMS


Anyone who pays any attention at all to human events at home or abroad knows that global society is in upheaval of unprecedented proportions. We face many global challenges that we just can’t solve. The United Nations was formed after the Second World War for the purpose of preventing war. Yet in the 60 years of its existence, there have been more wars than in all the rest of recorded human history. So even our best and most well-intentioned attempt to prevent ourselves from killing each other has failed. Even worse, corruption scandals in recent years have revealed that there are those within the UN itself who have placed their own enrichment ahead of the greater good and engaged in ongoing activities that have undermined the very goals the organization is trying to achieve.


If we judge only by what we see happening around us and around the world every day, how can we help but become frustrated, discouraged, and even fearful? Who among us does not wake up in the morning, glance at the news headlines or listen to broadcast news reports, and immediately become depressed? We are all looking and dreaming and hoping and praying for a better world, aren’t we? Imagine what it would be like to get up one morning and find no news of war, or genocide, or ethnic cleansing, or terrorism, or starvation, or poverty. Unfortunately, truly good news like that is an increasingly rare commodity in our world today.


Strangely enough, the single biggest cause of our problems is the very thing that was supposed to provide a solution: religion. Historically, religion has been the primary driving force behind the vast majority of global conflict. This is especially true today. Global terrorism is fueled by extremist religious ideology. In the name of Allah, radical Muslim groups such as Hamas and al-Qaida utilize violence and terror to either convert or destroy the “infidels” (unbelievers). In Iraq, Sunni and Shiite Muslims kill each other in a bloodletting unleashed by the release of years of pent-up anger, resentment, hostility, and hatred. The burning of churches in Pakistan results in the retaliatory torching of temples and mosques in India.


Religion is not a peaceful prospect. And religious conflict is not restricted to Islam or Hinduism or other “non-Western” religions. Christianity carries its own heavy burden of responsibility for religiously motivated conflict. The Crusades of the Middle Ages and centuries of hostility and persecution between Catholics and Protestants are two prime examples. Think of all the years that Belfast and Northern Ireland burned with unrest and violence because Catholics and Protestants were unable to live together in peace. Denominations within the Church are like little kingdoms of their own, jockeying for position and advantage and fighting amongst themselves over theology, doctrine, and theories of church government instead of working together for the common cause of the Gospel. This is why I make a clear and unambiguous distinction between the Kingdom of Heaven and institutional Christianity as a religious entity. They are not the same.


The shrinking of our global community through telecommunications technology and the Internet has greatly accelerated the rate and intensity of culture clash. A “take-no- prisoners” war is being waged for the soul of our culture, and it is vitally important that we identify the nature of the fight.


What do we do when a major newsmagazine runs a cover story titled “Muslims in the USA” or we discover that mosques are popping up next to churches all over America? It is a clash of cultures. How should we respond to the debate in England over whether or not female religious devotees can wear veils in school or for driver’s license photographs, even though the teachers and government officials need to be able to see their faces to identify them? It is a clash of cultures. The need to preserve democratic freedom and individual rights conflicts with the need for greater security.


What do we do when the counterculture of sexual perversion labors and lobbies vigorously to dignify and legitimize itself through legislation? How should we respond to the claim that two men or two women should be able to marry each other, and even to raise children in such a same-gender household? What do we do when we claim to believe in “family values” only to discover that society has redefined family to mean anything anybody at all wants it to mean? This is no time to play religious games; the very life of our culture is at stake.


What do we do when 70 bishops in a major American denomination vote to ordain an openly and active gay priest as archbishop of an entire diocese? What do we do? We can’t afford to remain silent. One of the worst things in the world is for people who know what is right to remain silent in the face of wrong. We need help from beyond ourselves—help from the Creator of the Earth’s original and only legitimate culture.


THE POWER OF CULTURE


Culture is stronger than politics. It really doesn’t matter who is in power. Politicians come and go, and governments rise and fall, but culture still remains. Culture is also more powerful than religion. One of the biggest challenges that Church leaders faced during the first few centuries of the Church’s existence was how to keep those who were coming into the Church out of pagan backgrounds from bringing elements of their pagan culture with them and blending these with their new faith in Hamachiach. Even today we continue to see the enormous power of culture in the fact that many believers and Kingdom citizens display lifestyles that differ little from those of people who make no claim to be in the Kingdom.


The United States of America has a rich historical heritage of faith and even today has the highest percentage of citizens who claim to be believers (Christians) of any of the industrialized nations. Yet every year in America, 500,000 unborn babies are aborted—legally. The most progressive nation in the world murders half a million babies in the womb every year, and the law protects both the mothers who choose to kill their children as well as the doctors who carry out the destruction. This is insanity, yet it exemplifies the power of culture over religion in its ability to shape the thoughts, values, and beliefs of people and to influence their behavior and what they are willing to accept.


In another example, gay rights activists in America have made great strides forward in their efforts to legitimize their lifestyle through the legal process. Gay marriage is already legal in the states of Massachusetts and California, and efforts to legalize it in other states are on the rise. An increasing number of Americans—many of the same ones who claim faith in Hamachiach—say they find nothing wrong with homosexual relationships and that gays should be afforded special “civil rights” protection under the law. Legislation has even been proposed that would make anti-gay speech or activity a hate crime.


I am not picking on America here but just illustrating the power of culture over religion—even in a nation that is still widely regarded as the most “religious” nation in the industrialized world. Similar developments are taking place in other parts of the globe. We are smarter but not wiser. We are in a pitched battle for the culture of the Earth. Most often what we assume to be issues of social, religious, or political activity are really issues of culture.


Culture is the manifestation of the collective thinking of a people. This means that whoever controls the minds of the people creates and controls the culture. Culture is also a product of law. The most effective way to change a culture is to control its laws, because whatever is instated into law eventually will become accepted as “normal” by most citizens, regardless of how they might have felt at the beginning. This is all part of the process of mind control.


Is it any surprise then that when Yah got ready to create a nation out of people who had been slaves for 400 years, He gave them a code of law encapsulated in the Ten Commandments? Yah knew that before the Israelites could become a holy nation and a people set apart for Him, He had to change their thinking. His purpose was to create a Kingdom culture on Earth by raising up a nation of Kingdom thinkers and Kingdomlivers.


This is why the Bible says that the law of Yah is good. When we obey the law of Yah, we are producing the culture of Heaven. This has nothing to do with practicing a religion, but rather with instating a culture based on the law of Yah that will permeate and transform every part of society. Paul described what it meant to exchange the world’s culture for the culture of Heaven when he wrote,
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of Elohiym. ROMAIYM (ROMANS) 12:2 את CEPHER.


To renew our minds means to take on the attitude of Hamachiach (see Phil. 2:5) and to understand that as believers and Kingdom citizens we have the mind of Hamachiach (see 1 Cor. 2:16). We need to know His mind and discern His thinking. Taking up the culture of Heaven means learning to think Yah’s thoughts and living accordingly.


The Kingdom of Yah is a kingdom of the heart and mind that manifests itself in culture. The secret to expanding Heaven’s culture on Earth is to change people’s minds, to cultivate them like a garden, carefully seeding their minds with the thoughts, beliefs, ideals, values, and convictions of Heaven. The end result will be the transformation of an arid, spiritually barren mental landscape into a verdant and vibrant garden full of life, hope, and unlimited potential.


In contrast to the world’s culture, which, reflecting the character and nature of the pretender, is a culture of desperation, discrimination, depravity, division, destruction, and death, Heaven’s culture is a culture of power, provision, and possibility. This is the culture of the King, of whom Paul writes,


Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, Unto him be glory in the called out assembly by Mashiach Yahusha throughout all ages, world without end. Amein. EPH'SIYM (EPHESIANS) 3:20-21 את CEPHER.


Yah wants us to become all that we can be, and He has the power to enable us to succeed.


DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE


The Kingdom of Heaven is not a religion; it is a government and a society with a culture that is just as real as any devised by man—but even more so. That is why Yah issued laws for us to obey in His Kingdom. Those laws produce a lifestyle, and that lifestyle manifests in a culture, in a community that creates a society that is totally unique. This is the culture that existed in the Garden of Eden, and the culture that all Kingdom citizens are to reproduce and manifest in the “gardens” of our lives as we put the Garden Principle into operation throughout the world.


Given enough time and influence, one culture can supplant another. For example, although the vast majority of Bahamian citizens are of African descent, ours is not an African culture. Visitors to our beautiful Caribbean country notice immediately that they are surrounded by the culture of Great Britain. We drive on the left side of the road, we traditionally drink tea rather than coffee, and, for many years, dressed in a “traditional” suit consisting of short pants, long socks, a long- sleeved jacket, and long necktie. For the longest time I could not understand why we wore ties in 90-degree weather, until I visited England, where it is always cold.


During the centuries when our country was a colony of Great Britain, the cultures of these islands and of our original African heritage were completely transformed by British culture. Every vestige of African or Caribbean culture was removed until today. Although we may look like Africans, we dress like the British, speak like the British, and act like the British. Even our system of government resembles that of England. One culture transformed and supplanted another.


Anyone can identify our culture by the way we look, speak, and act. Kingdom culture should be the same way. If we are Kingdom citizens, our culture should be evident to everyone we come in contact with. Worldly culture says, “Homosexual marriage is just as valid as heterosexual marriage.” Kingdom culture says , “ Marriage is exclusively a male -female relationship.” Worldly culture says, “Have sex as often as you like with whomever you wish without guilt and without commitment.” Kingdom culture says, “Reserve sex for the marriage relationship alone, and then stay married to the same spouse for life.” Worldly culture says, “Live for the moment. Watch out for ‘number one,’ and make sure you grab your piece of the pie.” Kingdom culture says, “Live with eternity in view, treat others the way you would like them to treat you, and put the interests of others ahead of your own.”


It was never Yah’s desire or intent that there be a British culture, or an American culture, or a Bahamian culture, or a Jamaican culture, or a French culture, or a Chinese culture. He wanted a Kingdom culture, one culture throughout the entire created realm. This is why Hamachiach taught us to pray, “Your Kingdom come. Your will be done in earth, as in the heavens. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:10 את CEPHER. Yah wants Earth to reflect Heaven.


Culture rests on the foundation of law. Yah’s laws are not to restrict us but to protect us and to ensure that His culture fills the Earth. This is what Adam and Eve forgot when they chose to rebel against the King in Eden. When they ate of the one tree in the Garden that Yah had placed off-limits, they did more than commit personal sins for the sake of pleasure and enlightenment; theirs was an act of treason against the government of their Creator. Their disobedience was, in fact, a declaration of independence from Yah and His righteous, loving, and benevolent rule. Adam and Eve turned their backs on Yah’s Kingdom in favor of setting up a regime of their own making. Unfortunately, HaSatan the pretender illegally seized the throne, began pulling the strings, and imposed his own culture of hatred, murder, and deceit.


It is no accident, then, that one of the first recorded events in this new illegitimate kingdom was an act of brother-against- brother murder. When Cain killed his brother Abel (see Gen. 4:1-16), he was simply reflecting his culture. And today, thousands of years and millions of deaths later, brother still kills brother in every nation, city, and town on Earth. It is part of our culture.


In the beginning, Adam and Eve ruled the Garden realm through the presence of the Spirit of Yah. When they declared their independence, the Holy Spirit departed and returned to Heaven, the home country. Man was on his own and at the mercy of the pretender. But Yah loved man too much to leave him on his own and with his original destiny unfulfilled. He did not leave us to fend for ourselves, spinning through space, lost in our own confusion. He said, “They may have declared their independence, but they will never survive without Me. I’m going to return to My own earthly territory and reclaim it, and them, whom I love. I planted a Garden there once. Now I will replant My Garden, but this time I will plant it in the hearts of My people, from where it will spread to the ends of the Earth.”


RESTORING WHAT THE PRETENDER STOLE


Yah’s purpose in reestablishing His Kingdom on Earth through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son is to dethrone the pretender, kick him out of the territory, and restore what he stole from the people he has tyrannized through the ages. If we want to know what kind of ruler HaSatan has been in his illegal regency of the earthly realm, all we have to do is look around us at the generally deplorable state the world is in spiritually, morally, and ethically. If we want to know what the pretender’s rule is like, all we have to do is review any of the abundant examples from history of despotic dictators and self- serving tyrants who raped the land, robbed its resources, and victimized its citizens for their own enrichment. And if we want to understand what the pretender stole from us, all we have to do is examine the common results of human colonization. As a case in point, let’s consider my own nation of the Bahamas.


As I said before, my country was a colony of Great Britain for over 200 years. We were British subjects, and the British government did everything it could to make us dress, speak, and act accordingly. They even sent a governor and other political officials to administer and enforce British law in the colony. I am not suggesting that all or even most of these people were evil or had evil intent, but their presence and work in the name of the British crown had a profound impact on the Bahamian people.


Over the course of more than two centuries, a succession of governors took away from us three important ingredients of our identity as a people and replaced them with those of the home government. The first thing the governor took away from us was our language. Even though most Bahamians are of African descent, we do not speak African languages or dialects. We speak “the King’s English” (or the Queen’s).


In the same way, when the pretender took over Adam and Eve’s domain, he stole their language—our ability to communicate intimately and personally with our Creator. He took away our ability to talk to Yah, and as a race we have been trying desperately to get it back ever since. This is why, when we become Kingdom citizens through faith in Yahusha Hamachiach, one of first things He does is restore our original language, enabling us to talk intimately, personally, and directly to Yah once again in a way that is not possible outside the Kingdom.


The second thing the governor took from us was our history. It was his job to teach us the history of the ruling kingdom, so instead of learning about Shaka Zulu and other leaders and events of African history and heritage, we learned about King Henry VIII and his six wives. We learned about Sir Francis Drake, Queen Elizabeth, and “Bloody Mary” Tudor. We studied Shakespeare. We learned about Oliver Cromwell and about the English Civil War, and thus we lost the sense of our own history.


Likewise, when the pretender seized control, he stole our knowledge of our history as a race. We forgot who we are and where we came from. We lost any sense of awareness of the Kingdom from which we originated and of the King who fashioned us in His own image. This too was restored when Hamachiach reestablished the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. When we first enter the Kingdom, we come to Hamachiach with a history of sin, rebellion, and estrangement from Yah. Hamachiach takes that away and gives us a new “history” of salvation, forgiveness, joy, and peace. He restores us to our rightful place as sons and daughters of the King.


Finally, the third thing the colonial governor took from us was our culture. We started drinking tea with chocolates three times a day. And even though few of us had ever been to England, we began each school day waving little British flags and singing, “Rule Britannia.” We sang to a queen and country we had never seen. In thousands of ways every day we were surrounded by, exposed to, taught, and indoctrinated in the ways and customs of British culture until virtually all traces of any indigenous African or Caribbean culture disappeared.


The same thing happened to humankind under the pretender’s rule. The more his spirit of evil permeated human society, and the more our human hearts departed from Yah and His ways, the more we took on the traits of the pretender’s depraved and decadent culture, and the less we remembered the righteousness, peace, joy, and abundance of the culture of Heaven. Hamachiach came to restore all of that. When we become Kingdom citizens, He gives us a new nature to supplant our old, corrupt, sinful nature—a new nature that loves Yah and delights to do His will and that understands, desires, and has the power to live according to Kingdom culture.


Hamachiach came to give us back what the pretender stole. We are talking about a complete change of culture. We cannot be in the Kingdom of Yah and continue to live the way we used to live. When His Kingdom takes over our lives, everything changes.


The colonial governor of the Bahamas lived in a large pink house built by the British, and when we declared our independence, he returned to England. The Governor of Yah’s Kingdom on Earth, on the other hand, will never be evicted and sent home because He does not reside in a physical building. Acts 17:24 says, “Elohiym that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Yah of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands; MA'ASIYM (ACTS) 17:24 את CEPHER.” Instead, through His Holy Spirit, He dwells in the hearts and lives of the citizens of His Kingdom.


THE RETURN OF THE KING


One of the biggest problems most of us face as believers and Kingdom citizens is that we try to reproduce the new Kingdom culture with our old, un-renewed minds. Our minds have already been tainted and corrupted by worldly culture, which makes our efforts to create good government, promote clean living, and improve society largely ineffectual at best. It is impossible to draw fresh water from a bitter source.


When Hamachiach came to Earth to restore His Father’s Kingdom, the first thing He had to do was clean house. Before He could send His Spirit to dwell in us, He had to wash away the filth He found there: the sin, immorality, degradation, evil, bitterness, envy, jealousy, anger, deceit, gluttony, greed, sexual perversion, prejudice, hatred, and lust. His death on the cross was the cleanup program. His blood has the power to wash away all the filth and degradation of the pretender and his evil rule. Hamachiach came to wash us free of our sins in order to prepare the “house” of our bodies for the return of the Royal Governor so that Heaven’s culture—our original culture—can come back.


Yahusha made it clear that restoring the Kingdom and reinstating its culture on Earth had nothing to do with buildings when He said,


For you bring certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) MA'ASIYM (ACTS) 17:20-21 את CEPHER.


But before the Kingdom can be within us, we must be thoroughly cleansed from the inside out so that the Holy Spirit can inhabit a holy temple. We are not talking about religion here but about the return of legitimate government. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us means that the entire government of Heaven is on the Earth today. This is what Yahusha meant when He said that the Kingdom of Yah is within us.


The Kingdom of Heaven has been reinstated in the territory stolen by the pretender, and it will continue to gain ground. A royal Garden has bloomed in the desert and is spreading inexorably and irresistibility over the barren ground, preparing the way for the day when the King Himself will return visibly and powerfully to take His throne. At that time, the Earth will be filled with the knowledge of His glory, as the waters cover the sea (see Hab. 2:14).


The culture of Yah must come back to Earth. He has called us and commissioned us to make a difference in the world. It is time for Kingdom citizens everywhere to infuse this sick world with the curative elixir of the culture of Heaven. Our King has placed us here to seed worldly government with the government of the Kingdom. He has called us to invade the culture of worldly business with the business of Heaven. This is not about profit but about permeation. Like yeast, we are to infiltrate and permeate the world with Kingdom culture until the whole is transformed—until the barren desert is a beautiful, fertile, and fruitful garden once more.


The Kingdom of Heaven is not about escaping Earth; it is about occupying the planet. As Kingdom citizens, we are destined to change the world. In the name of Yahusha the King, nations and peoples will be set free from the cruel bondage and deadly culture of HaSatan the pretender. The time of the Kingdom of Yah is upon us. Let His Kingdom come. Let His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Let us live according to His laws and principles. Let His culture reign supreme. Let the Earth be filled with His glory.