THE GREATEST HINDRANCE TO KINGDOM TRUTH
USA
I am sure we have all heard it said, “A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country.” But do we know where, and by whom, these words were first uttered? Turn with me to the 13th Chapter of Matthew, and beginning at verse 53 we read these words: “It came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence. And when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, in-so-much that they were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? ls not this the carpenter’s son? ls not His mother called Mary? And His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then, hath this man all these things? And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said unto them, ‘A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house.’
So we see that it was Jesus Himself who declared that a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country. As Jesus taught in the synagogue in Nazareth, the people who heard Him were astonished and marveled at His words. No man ever spake like this man. They were deeply impressed with His wisdom and knowledge-probably because He had not graduated from the school of prophets, or, He was not a member of their religious group. And they were offended at Him. The Weymouth translation says, “They turned angrily away from Him.” It mattered not that they marveled at His teaching. Much of what He said may have been at variance with what they believed and taught; and since was not accredited in their eyes, He was just a religious upstart who was not to be taken seriously.
Everywhere Spoken Against
Now I have called your attention to this incident in the life of our Lord because it has its application in our day with respect to the Kingdom and National message of the Bible-God’s message for our people and nation. Our churches, for the most part, are not preaching it. The fact is, most of them are given to denouncing it as a heresy. It is much the problem that Paul relates when he was taken to Rome as a prisoner. He called certain of the religious leaders together, and explained to them why he was in chains. And in replying to Paul, they told him that no one had come speaking against his ministry, nor had they received any letters speaking ill of him, and thev were desirous to hear what Paul had to say. “As for this sect,” they said, “We know that it is everywhere spoken against.” The religious leaders to whom Paul spoke were thus prepared, in part, not to accept Paul’s message.
In like manner there are many today who are mentally prepared to reject the Kingdom Message and the Israel Truth because “everywhere it is spoken against.” Religious leaders today who are the propagators of tradition which makes the Word of God of none-effect, warn their hearers against this “cult” which they denounce as heresy. Without examining the evidence, they shut their eyes and close their ears, and refuse to believe the facts before their eyes. The blind are thus leading the blind, and both are falling into the ditch.
A Disregard for Facts
“But if this message be true ,” it is sometimes asked, “why doesn’t Dr. So and So believe it and preach it?” As though that was a governing and determining factor. It sort of reminds us of the words of certain religious leaders in Christ’s day who refused to believe the claims of Christ. As though justifying their unbelief, they cried out, “Have any of the rulers, or the Pharisees believed on Him?” What Jesus said and did seemed to be all unimportant to them. With complete disregard for the facts and the truth before them, they held that because the religious leaders did not believe the claims of Christ that made them untrue.
Now what I would have us see here, is that just as false concepts and preconceived notions caused the people of that day to reject the claims of Christ, so it is that many in our day are led not to believe in our Israel Identity and the Gospel of the Kingdom. When you seek to show how the people from the Scriptures and the facts of history just Who national Israel is, and who it is that has fulfilled the role that God destined for National Israel, and who it is that has served as God’s witnesses, the average Christian is so uninformed and so misinformed in the Scriptures as not to recognize the truth when they see or hear it.
Instead of searching the Scriptures to see if these things be true, they want to know what church you belong to. And if you are not associated with any of the popular denominational churches – you are not one of them facts or no facts – and that settles it! You are just a heretic and a cult. It but reminds us of what Paul said as he made his defense before Felix in Acts 24. In verse 14, Paul says, “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing in all things which are written in the law and the prophets.”
And when you talk to these people about the Kingdom of God being resident in a nation, yea, in a great and mighty nation as God declared that it would, even in America; and when you talk to them about the need of national repentance on our part preparatory to the Kingdom Age which is nigh at hand, they have eyes that see not, and ears that hear not. How about you? With the end of the age upon us and the Kingdom of Heaven at hand, the Gospel of the Kingdom and the National message of the Bible is God’s message for this hour, and we had better best believe it. This is the time for a special emphasis on the Gospel of the Kingdom which Jesus said would be preached as this age came to a close. Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:14 confirms this biblical fact:“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then the end shall come.” (End of the age) But no such message as this will ever come from our churches until they recognize the true, biblical identity of National Israel, and the land of their regathering in these last days.
The Land of Israel’s Regathering
Need I remind you that Israel’s regathering was not to take place in Palestine, or modern Israeli. The land that had cradled Israel in their infancy is much too small for their great National development. Furthermore, despite what today’s Fundamentalist/Futurists promote, Old Jerµsalem does not figure favorably into end-time events. Just as Divine abandonment happened to Shiloh, God also noted that He would make Jerusalem “like Shiloh”, no longer a Divinely favoured city. (See Jer.26:6, Psalm 78:60)
What is more, the Scriptures declare that Israel was to have a new home, a place other than Palestine. To this new home God would allure His people. In it He would ” plant them”, or see that they got there. And once they did, they would move no more.” Here are His words spoken to the prophet Nathan when Israel was at peace and quiet. “Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will ‘plant’ them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more as beforetime.” (Confirmation of this edict found in 1 Chronicles 17:9 – almost verbatim.)
Now the question is, has God re-planted His people in keeping with His promise, or not? The facts of history declare that He has! And the place is none other than our own United States, and other Celto/Anglo-Saxon nations.
The fact is, you and I are living in the greatest era of fulfilled Bible prophecy relative to the covenant promises of God to Israel that the world has ever seen, and great and terrible things are in the making. As never before, our people need to know Who they are (and who are not as they claim), needing to know what God is doing, and what He would have them to do. This is especially true of our leaders of State who have been groping and stumbling along without chart or compass. They have no vision because the clergy are without vision. Neither the religious nor the political leaders see any plan of God that is being worked out here in America. They see no law of God that they are violating, and thus are given to taking the way that seems right unto them, or what the majority want!
To further worsen the picture, we are trying to work out our National destiny with pagan and heathen nations who know not our God, and confusion abounds on every side. As a nation, we have been brainwashed with a lot of ideas about the “one world” that man is attempting to build without God. They envision a world government, a world court, a world religion, a world bank, etc. – all of which are contrary to the Kingdom purposes of our God.
But even many religious leaders acclaim all this as being preparatory to the reign of some Antichrist whom they imagine is to arise shortly, and rule the world.
The Need of Vision
All of this but reminds us that it is not enough in this momentous hour that we be religiously active. We have plenty of this; but altogether too many of our churches are just “playing church.” They are going through the forms of religion, but have lost the Divine perspective of things. They are not getting anywhere because they are going around in circles. Violence and lawlessness are on the increase as though our churches did not exist. The average Christian has been led to believe that this world was not his home, and he has thus been getting ready to leave the earth, rather than to live upon it. The ill-advised and non-biblical, “rapture theory.”
Ignoring the fact that the world, Zion in particular, is to become God’s own Home!“For the Lord hath chosen Zion: He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest forever: Here will I dwell; for I have desired it.” (Psalm 132:13-14) Jesus affirms this fact, saying in Matt. 23:21: “And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by Him that dwelleth therein.”
The vision we need is that of the Kingdom for which our Lord taught us to pray. We need to see that Kingdom as something that is here and now, and not something wholly future, as when Christ returns. We need to see that Kingdom that God is building as being established in a great and mighty nation as God said it would, even in America!
We need to see the Kingdom of God as established in a nation which is basically Christian and which has in some measure brought forth the fruit of the Kingdom. Remember, the Kingdom was taken from Jewry and given to Israel because the Jews were not bringing forth the fruits of the Kingdom. (Matt.21:43)
No, this nation was not to be perfect, anymore that we should expect perfection in our churches. In the 13th Chapter of Matthew, our Lord pictures His Kingdom as something that has been corrupted by an element of humanity called the “Tares.” It was to be a nation characterized by sin, lawlessness and irreligion. It was a nation that would need to be cleansed of all of these things that defiled it! A condition induced through alien influences.
And this is exactly the condition of the Kingdom to which our Lord returns as our Deliverer, our Kinsman Redeemer. (Read Matt.13 verses 26-30 & 36-43-note too, that in concluding this event He sends in His angels to remove the Tares)
Having said all this, we are confronted by the sad fact that the average religious leader is not prepared to proclaim such Kingdom truth. If they see any kingdom at all, it is usually a “spiritual something in your heart”, or which they identify with the “church.” The reason for this pathetic condition of things lies in the fact that about 98 percent of modern preaching is almost wholly personal! It has to do with getting men saved so  they won’t go to hell, and so they can go to heaven when they die. The Kingdom and the National message of the Bible have been left almost untouched.
For the most part, our people have been fed on a diet of skimmed milk and pablum. They are untaught in the Word, especially the prophetic Word, as it relates to Israel’s prophetic regathering and restoration in these last days. Religious leaders have tried to squeeze the Jew into the role of National Israel, and have thus made the prophetic Word of non-effect.
So far afield have they gone in their prophetic utterances that the truths of Bible prophecy sound like fable and fiction. For nigh unto 70+ years, prophecy preachers have been trying to get the Jewish usurpers in Palestine justified as Israel. The net result of such preaching is that when you present America as being the land of regathered Israel, it sounds like heresy.
Thus it is that the greatest hindrance, and the greatest obstacle to the proclamation of Kingdom truth today, is an inadvertent unbelief in the Word of God as it pertains to our people and our Nation! The promises made to our fathers all go for naught when misapplied to the Jew, or to a so-called ‘spiritual” Israel which they identify with the church.
May God be pleased to open our eyes to the acknowledging of His truth.
