By Dennis Peacocke
July 2012
«But seek first his kingdom
and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.»
–Matthew 6:33
Here in the United States, in New York City, we have a home-based railroad terminal called Grand Central Station. All railroad tracks in the greater New York City area and beyond lead in and out from this nexus. Grand Central Station is, so to speak, the common point of departure for all railroad traffic.
So it is in God. The message of the King and His Kingdom is scripturally designed by God to be the point of departure for all other doctrine. Every «track» of doctrine, beginning with the message of salvation in Christ, is to go out from and stay integrally connected with the centering point of the King and His Kingdom. Theological error or imbalance can then be easily described as either turning any subordinate doctrine into a place of its own «Grand Central Station,» or disconnecting its relationship back to the Kingdom’s context and preeminent position.
By this standard, much of our current and past theological foci are misplaced, disconnected, or in direct competition as «false Grand Central Stations» being claimed for adherents.
I do not praise Satan, but rather recognize his malevolent genius for the ways he has worked to divide and conquer the Church. He has «helped» so many valid doctrines either disconnect from Christ’s place for them, or claim a priority only belonging to the King and His Kingdom. Virtually every denomination has some core focus or doctrine that has misplaced the centrality of the Kingdom and defined itself as that group’s Grand Central Station. I dare say, no other theological error in the history of the Church has caused more damage since its insidious nature has allowed its existence, largely unidentified, to remain so prevalent inside the Church for so
long.
Today, all over the world, the message of Jesus as a current King pressing a current Kingdom upon the earth through His people and through His Holy Spirit, is slowly moving to rectify Satan’s ingenious plan! Praise His glorious name, Christ is on record as saying that His return is dependent upon this Gospel of the Kingdom being preached (and engaged), and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14). The sheer spiritual audacity of any believer or group attempting to say otherwise, or attempting to place a subordinate doctrine in the Kingdom’s place is… I have no words.
Brothers and Sisters, we need to repent for any complicity in this ungodly misshaping of Scripture in an attempt to one-up Jesus’ prayer for «Thy Kingdom come» at some later date than its gradual emergence throughout history, its manifestation now, and its full revelation when He returns. Where is the message of the King and His Kingdom in your theology? Does it have any misplaced doctrines parading as its own Grand Central Station with the message of the Kingdom functioning on a parallel or even subordinate level? The New Testament message Jesus brought was to preach and demonstrate the Kingdom, and that is…….the bottom line.
