“I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth.”

Now, first of all, the ruckus that would be raised should any GOP candidate speak such words isn’t hard to imagine. Indeed, President Bush is regularly ridiculed for his faith, and all one needs to do is turn on the television or radio, open a magazine or popular novel, or imbibe any mainstream “culture” and you’ll find that people of Judeo-Christian faith, the Christian faiths especially, are castigated as rubes, fanatic, deeply flawed and hypocritical with no true kindness or love, intellectually deficient, and so forth. But Hillary, Barack, and other leftists can speak of God, faith, prayer, and other symbols of America’s traditional faith in God without an eyelash being batted, without anyone’s hackles lifting in the slightest.

Secondly, and most importantly, this “Kingdom of Heaven on earth” garbage is coming at us from all quarters right now, but most obviously from the political left (we on the right are too busy thinking about how we can starve your children, tap your telephone, and kill innocent black people in other countries, you know) and, not surprisingly, from the church itself.

According to Michigan’s own Rob Bell,

Salvation is the entire universe being brought back into harmony with its maker. This has huge implications for how people present the message of Jesus. Yes, Jesus can come into our hearts. But we can join a movement that is as wide and as big as the universe itself. Rocks and trees and birds and swamps and ecosystems. God’s desire is to restore all of it.

…For Jesus, the question wasn’t how do I get into Heaven?, but how do I bring heaven here?… The goal isn’t escaping this world but making this world the kind of place God can come to. And God is remaking us into the kind of people who can do this kind of work.”

There is so much sadly and heartbreakingly wrong with this statement it would take a rather lengthy essay to discuss it, so I’ll stick to the topic at hand: bringing God’s Kingdom here to planet earth.

Where this idea comes from, other than Marxism, Stalinism, and their kin I’m not sure; what these ideas are doing in church is even more amazing. Then again, when one looks at the structure of most modern churches and their emphasis on media, church events and the like, it’s not so surprising after all. They’ve turned away from Scripture and instead are gazing at the sparkling fools’ gold of marketing schemes, “relevancy to the culture”, and even environmental activism. But fools’ gold it is; this is proven by the fact that the shimmer eventually wears off and the church(es) in question move on to the next “big move of God”, never seeming to stop and ask God if that’s the move He has for them, much less whether or not the latest and greatest is actually Biblically supported. According to Gary Gilley,

…evidence is mounting to the effect that culture is having more impact on the emergent movement than the other way around. As a matter of fact emergent seems to be chasing culture, even imitating culture, rather than changing it.

(I’ll admit to finding this a rather humorous situation because these tend to be the same folks who routinely complain that CCM mimicks the popular music of the world instead of coming up with something new, interesting, or solid.)

Our bringing the Kingdom to earth is not Biblical. It sounds great, but it’s not possible.

The Bible is very clear on this topic. Jesus noted that the poor would always be with us, though of course that doesn’t excuse us from caring for them. We’re told we will have troubles, trials, and tribulations. God also tells us that Heaven (most scholars believe this refers to the heavens consisting of the stars and planets) and earth will pass away, and He will replace them with new, un-fallen ones. These are just the things off the top of my (slightly sunburnt) head, notwithstanding the promised, capital-T Tribulation, when God gives final, extremely clear warnings that will result in the deaths of millions, not to mention widespread impoverishment, environmental and ecological destruction, epidemics, you name it.

Do those subscribing to the idea that we, humanity, can bring God’s kingdom down to earth (as if He should want to sully it so) just not believe the Bible’s promises, or only some of them? One cannot take seriously the admonition to care for the sick and help the poor without also taking heed of our Father’s warnings that in order to gain eternal salvation in His presence we must renounce our sinful natures and turn to Him.

This could go on forever, but in short, the idea — whether it’s from B. Hussein Obama or your local pastor — that we, humanity, even those who love, believe in, and rely on Father God, can actually bring Heaven to earth is dangerous and irrational. The only one who can do such a thing is God Himself, and He, being sovereign, will do so in His time, on His schedule. Nothing you or I or your ladies’ small group or church can move Him or convince Him to end the age sooner or later than He’s had planned since the dawn of time, or at least since He flipped on the countdown for us. To say that we can bring about Heaven on Earth is also dangerously prideful and hubristic, something that seemed to get Lucifer in quite a bit of trouble, to name just one.

As the Proverbs note, pride goeth before a fall; to assume that we, humankind, can abolish poverty, disease, war, and environmental degradation has got to be right up there with building a tower to heaven or scheming to be above God. Who are we, how highly do we think of ourselves, that we believe we can dictate to God conditions on this planet? Surely we can affect them, but we cannot possibly create a utopia. We’re capable of and often commit great horrors and atrocities upon one another, sometimes for power, sometimes on a whim. Our nature is fallen, decaying, susceptible to evil; all that can save us is the creation of a new man by accepting the Blood of Jesus and then doing our very best to follow in His footsteps. I’ll say it one last time (today, at least): To even imagine that we, the faithful (or otherwise), can bring about the Kingdom of Heaven on earth is pride, foolish pride, and it flies in the face of what the Bible says.

That leads me very nicely into my final point, which is the manner in which these people want to bring about their own little heaven on earth. Do the words “socialist utopia” or “Communist paradise” mean anything to you? For that is what Hillary, Barack, et al intend to use to turn this world into heaven, a world of equality, progress, fair distribution, educational excellence, and all their other “promises”. These promises are too expensive, not to mention bound to fail. Furthermore, they’re entirely unBiblical: just as God gives us the freedom to fail, often miserably, He gives us the freedom to succeed. Indeed, God, in His mercy and love, gives us the freedom to fail, fail again, then succeed on another attempt. Socialism, Marxism, communism, Islam — none of those allow for the freedom to do anything. Keep that in mind when you vote on a tax increase “Oh, for the children!” or “for the poor!”.

True love and true help comes from individuals, often individuals working in concert urged on by God, but never, ever from a government. “Giving” through your taxes isn’t “giving”, it’s coercion at best and theft at worst.

One more thing. Iran is promising a “final response” to the United States and Israel on October 12, Quds day in the Islamic “Republic” (America is a Republic, Iran is a dictatorship and tyranny of the mullahs).

“Supporters of the Zionist regime will receive their response during the world Quds Day’s rallies,” Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said at a weekly press conference Wednesday.

“The US loses all opportunities to cooperate with regional and other world states by trying to support a regime (the Zionist regime) which is now at its weakest political and social position,” Elham said. “Supporters of the Zionist regime will definitely receive the final response for their support on Quds day.”

It is also being painted as a response to Condoleezza “Surrender” Rice’s visit to “Palestine”, just as there are serious talks about splitting Jerusalem in half. Sooo…they’re either going to try and nuke someone, Ahminajihad and Kim Jong-Il will announce their eternal love for each other with the transfer of weapons, or there is going to be another riot in the streets. I’m not sure what this “final response” will be, but you might as well publish your Mohammed cartoons now, since they’re riling up already. I think it’s time for me to pull out the old “Super-Infidel!” tee, don’t you?

Have a great night, dearhearts.

God bless America and Israel, and may He guide and protect our troops.

Oh, one more thing…note the cropping of the photo of Barack. Interesting, isn’t it? Almost like…propaganda…