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Kenneth B. Alexander BSL, JD, Deacon

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Table of Contents Principles of the Kingdom of God – Title Page Table of Contents Preface Introduction To Principles of the Kingdom of God God Is Real Who and What Is God? Introduction – Names of God In the Old Testament – Names of God In the New Testament – The Father – The Son – The Holy Spirit – Oneness of the Trinity Man: Body, Soul and Spirit The Soul – The Body – The Spirit The Principle of Faith More Things About Faith The Principle of Hope The Principle of Love The Principle of Spirituality Transference and Appropriation – How God Transfers His Nature to You; The Way He Removes Sin The Principle of the Father's Family The Principle of Prophecy and Prophets The Principle of Salvation Becoming a Son of God The Body of Christ The Principle of Resurrection Life Hell; Hades; Gehenna; Sheol Satan: His Nature; Purpose and Spiritual Warfare The Lord's Supper and the Last Supper The Principle of Worship The Second Coming of Jesus Christ The Principle of Authority Over Futility Creators of a New Age Principles of the Kingdom of God is the title of this Book. This Book explores spiritual principles as opposed to the principles of this present age. In everyday life we are well familiar with the principles that operate here on the earth. We know that when a door is shut we must open it in order to pass through. We know that touching a hot stove will cause pain and a burn. Science is aware of the rules and boundaries of the laws of physics and chemists know the results of mixing elements together to cause a certain result. Although there are many of the scientific laws of nature currently unknown to mankind, he continues to strive to find answers and to reconcile the scientific world of which we are aware using out five senses. What science does not understand, or is unwilling to admit, there is a realm beyond the certainties of this physical realm that is incapable of scientific proof. That realm is called "The Spiritual Realm". Most deny its existence or if they mentally assent to the possibility that such a realm exists they know little about it and certainly don't apply it to their everyday lives or scientific pursuits. Some look on such things as foolishness as the Apostle Paul said: "But a natural [unspiritual] man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised" (1 Corinthians 2:14). However, as this book will attempt to point out, the spirit realm is very much a real place, actually more real than our physical world. The spirit world has its own set of rules and principles that govern it. However its ways are past finding out by the natural mind of man and thus invisible to those without spiritual sight. The Apostle Paul said in the Bible: "because the human mind is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so" (Romans 8:7). Thus our intellect is useless in knowing anything beyond what we can see or touch. Just taking the most basic of the spiritual laws, the 10 commandments for instance, who can argue that we all would be a little better off if everyone was able to follow these basic rules? There would be no crime, therefore no expensive jails to confine criminals. The family unit, which has been broken down in this generation, would stay intact as children would respect their parents; there would be no adultery to break up the family and coveting would all together cease. There would be no serious disparity between the rich and the poor and the poor would be taken care of without great expenditure of funds to do so. There would be no greed, war, competition etc. just to name a few. Jesus said that if we were to pray at all we should pray to God: "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). In other words, let the spiritual Kingdom and its principles be done on earth as it is done in the spiritual realm. According to His words we need not worry about our food, our clothing, our finances and worry would be a thing of the past. "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? "And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' "For the Gentiles [unbelievers] eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first His [spiritual] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you. "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:25-34). Forgiveness would rid us of all conflicts including wars and the destruction that goes along with them. And do not let us be tempted to do evil which itself leads to ruin. We are not saying we will wake up one morning and find that Earth has become a heavenly paradise but that is God's ultimate goal. And there are principles applicable to this end that we should be aware. Under spiritual principles perhaps there are no doors we can't go through without opening them. Perhaps there are solutions to our problems that appear unsolvable to man. If you believe in a Supreme Being God once said: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9). Yet His thoughts and ways are available to us if we only seek them. Maybe this Book will open human eyes to the potentials that are available to us here and now. We don't have to die and "go to heaven" to have these unlimited realities. We just need to be aware of Him, get to know Him and watch your life become fuller, richer and eternal.

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Автор произведения Kenneth B. Alexander BSL, JD, Deacon

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Table of Contents Introduction-Fall of Man Before and Immediately After the Flood Nations and gods After the Flood Wilderness, Conquest, Promised Land The Fall of Israel and Judah God Uses Nations To Accomplish His Will God Uses Satan to Accomplish His Will Miracles In the Old Testament Christ's Sacrifice Jesus In the New Testament Birth of Christianity Men Sent By God After Christ Conclusion Bibliography The purpose of this Book is to show how God used aspects of creation to accomplish His will on the earth. God will use anything, even if it seems not to be logical. He uses Satan, men, nations, miracles, sinners, prostitutes, wars and just about anything He can lay His hands on all to glorify himself in His creation. He will call men His servants who don't know Him. He will destroy the love of His life if they disobey Him. All of this he does in the name of love even though it may not seem so at the time. He honors and blesses those that are His. He destroys that which prove themselves not to be His. All his ways are just and righteous. He is our personal Father not some far off God living in a spirit realm we can't understand. He is omnipresent (everywhere at once), omniscient (knows all) and fills all things. He speaks a Word and it comes to pass. He is always on time (His time) as He rushes to deliver one of His possessions. This book will reveal His ways most of which are past finding out. He will annihilate His enemies. God's greatest intervention history is that He created the vast havens and the earth from nothing visible. He created everything we can see and much we cannot. Man was the jewel of that creation and the earth was His focus. He filled created space and filled it with galaxies and trillions of stars and planets with distances between them to far to contemplate. He filled the microscopic world of quantum mechanics too small to see. He foresaw everything that was ever to exist in this physical realm and spoke it into existence with a word: "let it be". He carved a section out of eternity, called it time, and included in it the physical heavens (universe) and the earth. His spiritual heaven was already created. He created all manner of life including man made in His image. His purpose in physical creation was to integrate this physical realm in the likeness of the eternal Spirit realm (heaven if you will) where He lives. One of the few specific prayers He gave man was: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven" (Mt 6:10). God began with "the heavens and the earth," (Gen 1:1) but then chose to the earth, not the heavens, as the theme from which He chose to inhabit man. Having chosen the earth, God now bypasses the angels (fallen angels included) and elects to deal with man. Man is first created below the angels with the expectation that he will rule angels and will in fact rule all of His creation (Psalm 8:5-6). From Adam's many sons, God chooses Seth (4:25). Of Seth's many descendants (Gen. 5), God chooses Noah (6:8), and from Noah's family, He chooses Shem (11:10), Terah (11:27), and finally Abraham (12:1). Abraham has many children, but Isaac is the chosen seed (21:12). Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau, and God chooses Jacob to be the recipient of His blessing. He chooses His younger Son Joseph to save a world from starvation. God left the remainder of the heavens to the other nations of the earth (Deut 4:15). Most ancient civilizations worshipped Satan through the heavens or the pagan gods associated with him (Sumeria, Babylon, Canaanites, Chaldeans, Medes and Persians, Grecians, Macedonians, Asiatic nations, Native Americans, Romans and countless others. God made this clear in Deuteronomy: So watch yourselves…"so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, THOSE WHICH THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS ALLOTTED TO ALL THE PEOPLES UNDER THE WHOLE HEAVEN" (Dt 4:15-19). His intention for the heavens were for planting, keeping time and navigation and looking up to see the glory of God. Most other civilizations used the heavens for divination, fortune telling etc. Man asks the eternal question "Why are we here?". He searches the earth, the vast heavens and the minute quantum realm seeking answers to this question. He asks "Are we alone in the universe?" and searches for alien beings and misses what is right in front of his nose. He asks "What was before our beginning 13.7 billion years ago?". "How did life begin?" The deeper he searches the more questions he uncovers but no answers. Man does not comprehend the basic truth that: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT!" (Ro 11:33-34). Only the Son knowns the Father who is the creator of all things and those whom the Son chooses to reveal Him (Luke 10:22). Man and all his efforts to know God, without accepting the Son, are utterly useless and futile. The human mind, no matter how intelligent, can never know God and the mind is actually hostile to God because it does not think His thoughts (Romans 8:7). Only those with the mind of Christ will know the truth (1 Co 2:16). Why are we really here? The answer for the believer is clear. We are not an insignificant being on an insignificant planet. The answer is that we are responsible for converting the earth into a place that mirrors the spirit world (heaven if you wish). He didn't make it an easy task. He placed Satan "the adversary, [Peter 5:8] and the accuser" [Rev 12:10] directly in man's path to challenge him every minute of every day. Jesus defeated Satan through His death and resurrection. But it remains for mankind to make what Christ accomplished on the cross a reality in the earth. Adam and Eve were created into an atmosphere of sinless perfection but they lost it by disobedience to God. However God created a path back to a perfect world and we know the end from the beginning (see Revelation). "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, [from Eden[ who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;… When the thousand years are completed… the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Rev 20). So God had a plan for mankind, that is why he is here. He is working toward the redemption of mankind and he works toward that plan every day. God uses man/women to accomplish this plan. However He intervenes in the affairs of mankind when He finds it necessary. He uses what we call miracles, He uses Satan, He uses nations hostile to Him, He uses men of God (prophets and Kings), He uses secular leaders and all the tools in his arsenal when there is a need. But he does not come down soveringly to do the job delegated to mankind with his invisible hand always in the background. That is primarily the function of this Book, to show how God intervenes in history to accomplish His will. His workings on earth are more of a nudge in the right direction as He accomplishes full redemption for His people. When considering God and His plan for mankind after man's fall from the Garden of Eden we must view secular and religious history in a completely new light. After the fall of man from Paradise in the Garden of Eden He, of necessity, subjected all of creation to a curse of futility. "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope" (Rom 8:20). We continue to live in that futility today but with hope that: " …that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body" (Rom 8:21-23). In protecting and creating israel as His special nation great world Empires crossed paths with God to their ultimate detriment. He used and destroyed great nations at His whim. Learn a side of God you haven't seen before.

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Автор произведения Kenneth B. Alexander BSL, JD, Deacon

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In subsequent pages we will learn much about Satan: his ways, how he works deception on the whole world, his role as the accuser, his vicious, murderous nature, his role as God's servant, his power, his weaknesses, and his drive to survive even after he has been condemned to eternal suffering by God in his own created pit of hell. Although Satan has been limited by God in what he can and cannot do we must not forget that he is very real and very dangerous to both the believer in Christ and to all inhabitants of the earth. After Christ's resurrection, Satan became a defeated foe and his outcome made certain (see Revelation 20:1-10). However to this day he rages in anger seeking who he may devour. 1 Peter 5:5 says: "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour". Satan is not the enemy of God he is the enemy of man Some think that Satan was inert during the years comprising the Old Testament and only made his appearance fully known at the time of Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth. Satan was at work from the inception of the matters recorded in the Old Testament. He was at work in every nation on the earth from the beginning. Every nation that worshipped pagan gods and was at odds with Israel was ruled/inspired by Satan. This began with the Sumerians (the first civilization) to Babylon, Egypt, Chaldea, Philistines, Persians, Greeks/Macedonians, Rome, The Roman Church, to name just a few. John wrote in the First Century a verse of scripture that could easily be applied throughout history: "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father;" (1 John 2:22-23). Since the entire Old Testament wrote of Christ this scripture applies both to the New and Old Testaments. Christ said to the religious leaders of the day: ""You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life" (John 5:39-40). The entire Old Testament was written about Christ the Savior and Messiah who was to do away with sin and would banish Satan forever. There are two scriptures in the Bible which clearly define Satan. In Isaiah 14:12-17, which began as a taunt against the King of Babylon, he speaks of Satan showing the close tie between Babylon and Satan. He starts the taunt referring directly to the King of Babylon then mid-way through he changes and begins speaking of Satan directly. By doing this he is not distinguishing one from the other showing that God saw Babylon and Satan as one in the same (a subject that will be discussed in detail below). Isaiah speaks prophetically of Satan: "You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, [Heb Helel; i.e. shining one] son of the dawn!, [Dan 5:22, 23; 8:10; 2 Thess 2:4] And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself LIKE THE MOST HIGH.' "Nevertheless [says God] you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit. "Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?" (Is 14:12-17). In the end Satan is shown to be no more than a man. The "Mount of Assembly" probably refers to Mt. Sinai where God had all the Israelites assemble as Moses received the Laws of God. It also may be an allusion to a probable Babylonian legend relating to the dwelling of the pagan gods (cf. Jb. 37:22; Ezk. 28:13f.) In pagan mythology the uttermost part of the north was the home of the false gods. What are "the recesses of the north", mentioned by Isaiah (above)? The Babylonian empire attacked Israel from the north. However, the operative word "north", as used in Isaiah14, is "saphon", pronounced "saw-fone'" and indicates generally the direction north. However, the word is derived from "sapan" (Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume 4, page 451) which means a hidden or dark place, gloomy and unknown, to hide, hidden, secretly, secret place, lurk, private, the hidden ones and laid up (Strongs, 6828, 6845) In other words, Isaiah tells us that Satan wanted to set up his own rule and kingdom, in order to receive adoration and worship, like God, and to call the shots, like God. But he wanted to (or had to) do it as far away from God as he could. The "recesses of the north" is the hidden, "dark", gloomy and secret place, away from the "light" of God. In the light of God everything is laid open and bare, and nothing is hidden from His sight (Hebrews 4:13). In Ezekiel 28:12-19 the prophet also spoke about Satan while rebuking the King of Tyre, who he considered one and the same as Satan "You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. "You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. "You were the anointed cherub who covers, [guards] And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. "You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you…You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you. "By the multitude of your iniquities…You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you. "All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever". Satan was brought down by pride the enemy of humanity as well. All of the nations of the earth were Satanically possessed and/or influenced by Satan. These were polytheistic nations, with many gods, worshipping things of the earth and the physical heavens. Many of the nations were astrologers and worshipped the heavenly bodies. This was by design. God constantly differentiated Israel from all other nations. Israel was His favored nation. He told Israel in Deuteronomy the following: "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven" (Deut 4:15-19). What He was saying was that He had allotted to the other nations to be soothsayers, stargazers and astrologers but that Israel was not to adopt these practices. He said the heavens were reserved for the godless: Those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven". Israel was to worship the one true God as soothsayers and astrologers could easily be led astray since Satan ruled all occult practices. Thus is an overview of Satan from God's perspective written centuries before Christ. It is obvious from the words that Satan had an influence far before the time of Christ's appearance on the earth. As we read on we will discover the extent of his influence on the earth from the beginning to the present day. He was the originator of sin from the time of the Garden. He is responsible for the subjecting of creation to futility. He originated greed, pride, deception, violence, murder, the destroying the concept of family and all else that was good about mankind. He caused man to have a sin nature that was not present in the Garden. He created war and the devastation of the nations. People say "How could God cause such evil in the world?" The truth is that God did not create evil but man himself created evil by listening to the deceiver rather than God. It is said that "the wicked destroy themselves". In combination with Satan mankind today is on the brink of total annihilation which is not God's fault. Today we must enforce Christ's victory over the devil one and put him away forever. To elaborate on this subject, and to clarify, Christ's resurrection defeated Satan as certainly as if he were thrown into the pit at that moment. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was the defeat of the devil, among other things. However His victory must now be manifest, here on earth. In other words by faith we know he is a Satan is a defeated foe but we don't yet see it with our physical eyes. God could at any time have wiped the devil from both earth and heaven. But He chose to do it another way. He wants to use His people to accomplish this for Him – His Sons, His Saints. He wants to humiliate Satan by defeating him through the agency of the weakest part of his creation – mankind. He has spoken the Word of Satan's defeat but is up to the faithful to finish the job. Satan himself rages on the earth to prevent this but everything he does is not effective because God has already spoken the Word of his defeat and sent his Son to "crush the head of the serpent". We, His believers, must appropriate what is a potential in the Spirit realm and make it a reality on the earth. And we must do it in a hurry. Matthew 24:21-22 says: "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect [chosen ones] those days will be cut short" (Mt 24:21-22). We are in a life or death struggle with the evil one but we know we are the winners because God, who is stronger that Satan, has predetermined it. But this does not make the battle any less lethal as we set about to put Satan into the pit of hell. We will examine all aspects of Satan's moving in the following pages so that we can fully know our battle and the adversary who opposes us. We must know our enemy. As Paul said: " For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). It is a spiritual war in which we are engaged.

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Автор произведения Kenneth B. Alexander BSL, JD, Deacon

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