Let us put things in proper context.
When we’re talking about kingdom takeover we’re talking about taking over the political, economic and cultural dimensions of a nation. You can’t take over a national expression without acquiring control of those strategic assets. You have to take over political power, control the economy and influence popular culture if you want kingdom takeover. Christians don’t pay enough attention to culture. But culture is a soft instrument of power. It’s persuasive mass technology that relies on buy-in. And the most potent cultural tools are media and music. You can’t take control of culture without those two platforms.
We do not have time to focus on all three dimensions of kingdom takeover i.e. politics, economy and culture. In this session I will be concentrating on the political dimension. In my afternoon lecture we’ll be looking at the economic dimension. What I want to do in this session is give you the scriptural basis for political takeover.
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There was a furore in the Christian world when Professor Yemi Osinbajo ran for office as the vice-presidential candidate to President Buhari. Professor Osinbajo is an erudite lawyer but also a pastor. How can a pastor run for political office? That was a big debate for some, and for some others the question was, how can a Christian even run for political office!
As I listened to the debate I realised many Christians don’t have a fundamental grasp of God’s conception of Christianity. It’s a decades old problem. It’s been like that since I was in university some thirty something years ago. In those days Christians specialised in prayer, they didn’t run for office. Our job was essentially to pray bad people out of power, not take over the reins of power. I remember the case of a brilliant law student, a Christian who ran for the office of President of the Students’ Union. He was absolutely phenomenal and charismatic. His base was of course the Christian Union. The Christians had the numbers. All they needed to do was vote. But the Christians decided to seek the face of God as to the propriety of a Christian seeking to be president of student union. They needed God’s direction and so a prayer meeting was called. By the time they finished praying it was 6.30pm. The ballots closed at 6pm. And that was how the wrong fellow took over the student union administration.
When you consider these and many other incidents you discover there’s a paucity of knowledge in the Christian world concerning God’s conception of Christianity.
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There are two mystical orders in the Bible: they are the Levitical or Aaronic order, and the Order of Melchizedek. The Levitical order was a group of priests who served in the temple under the terms of the old covenant. Membership is genetic. You have to descend from Levi. Aaron was the first in that order, but the job of these priests was to serve in the temple.
Jesus belongs to the second political order, the order of Melchizedek. (Heb. 7:13-17) By that very fact all Christians belong to that order. That’s because you have no identity outside of Jesus. You are united with Christ, you’re in him. (Colossians 2:10, Ephesians 1:11)The order of Melchizedek is a priest-king equation.
Of course we all know Melchizedek. He’s that guy to whom Abraham paid tithe. He was both a priest and a king. In other words God’s idea of our priesthood is not a strict religious priesthood like that of Aaron, but a political priesthood. Jesus himself didn’t qualify as a priest under the Levitical order. He’s from the tribe of Judah not the tribe of Levi. And of course none of us can qualify for the Levitical order. We’re not even Jews! How’s a man from Ogbomoso going to qualify as priest in Jerusalem? And if Jesus didn’t qualify how can you qualify?
The priests under the Levitical order cannot function in any other capacity but as priests. They can’t work in the secular field, can’t work in the corporate world. They operate an economy dependent on the contributory scheme from other tribes. Part of the reason for tithing under the Old Testament was to take care of Levitical priests.
The Melchizedek order on the other hand is a religio-secular order. And so we have priest-doctors, priest-lawyers, priest-entertainers, priest-musicians, priest-fashion designers, priest-technologists, priest-engineers, priest-bankers, etc. It is because of the order of Melchizedek that a pastor can serve as Vice President or President of a country. You can’t be more Melchizedekian than that – a Pastor/Vice President. That’s literally a priest-king.
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Now, sometimes we don’t appreciate how radical Jesus was for his days. His cabinet composition was built on the platform of the order of Melchizedek. The disciples were non Levitical personnel functioning in the capacity of priests, healing people, casting out demons. These disciples were entrepreneurs, government revenue agents, professionals and political activists. Peter was a fisherman, Luke was a doctor, Matthew was a revenue agent, Simon was a political activist. He was in fact an alt-right extremist who sought violent overthrow of the Roman government. Perhaps only Levi came from the tribe of Levi.
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The gross implication of the order of Melchizedek to our topic of deliberation is that you’re dispensationally out of line trying to take the kingdom as a mere priest. Prayers and praise-worship alone will not deliver political power to the church. You can’t take the kingdom by prayer alone, it’s impossible. Which is why the church is politically weak in Nigeria despite the numbers. Ignorance has robbed us our patrimony. We’re not just priests, we’re kings as well. The order of Melchizedek is a sacred-secular anointing. You’re anointed to succeed in the secular and political spheres. If God didn’t intend for us to exercise political authority on earth we won’t be priest-kings we’ll just be priests. And all of us will be serving in the temple in Jerusalem.
Why was the priesthood added to a political equation? It’s simple. The kingship gives you access to terrestrial authority, the priesthood gives you access to celestial authority. But why do you need celestial backing? Again, simple! Your political opponent, Satan is a spiritual being functioning in a political capacity. He’s very much interested in controlling the world and only the priest-king equation can deter him. If you’re just a priest and you pray his people out of power he’ll come back and fill the space with more potent demons. But if you dislodge him from office and fill the space then you’ve taken the kingdom.
Note that Satan is a noun but also a political title. Satan means accuser. Accusation is a political tool. It’s a tool of oppression and subjugation. When you accuse someone you’re trying to subjugate them, exercise control over them; you’re sitting as a judge. Satan’s other name, Devil is also a political title. Devil means adversary. And so when our political foe operates in an oppressive mode he’s operating as Satan, and when he operates in adversarial capacity he’s operating as the Devil.
The Devil is not a religious figure, he’s a political entity. His problem with God is political. He led an insurrection in Heaven. The character and composition of his cabinet is brazenly political. Look at Paul’s revelation about his organisational organogram: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph. 6: 12)
To explain that organogram to you, let me quote from my book, Of Madmen, Senators and Ambassadors: “The titular heads in Lucifer’s organogram are Principalities, Powers, Rulers of Darkness and Spiritual Wickednesses. These are political titles. “Principalities,” “Powers,” “Rulers,” are political terminologies. Even in today’s language, in the ordinary sense, a principality is a political space governed by a prince, in much the same way that a kingdom is an area ruled by a king. Monaco is a principality for example. Clearly Lucifer is focused on nations, politics, peoples and power.
The word “Principality” is the Greek word “Arche.” It means “cause.” The verb is “Archo”. It means to be the first. In other words principalities are “firsts” and they have “causative responsibilities.” They are the first line of consultation, and they function as strategic advisers (to the Devil). They constitute the inner council. As causative chiefs, they are the conceptualisers of Lucifer’s strategic programmes. They have overall responsibility for execution and strategy. They constitute the intellectual think tank – the brains. They design blueprints. They anticipate God’s moves and strategise counter measures. As firsts they have pre-eminence.
Next in line are “the Powers.” The word “Power” is the Greek word “Exousia.” It denotes executive power. The word is also linked in meaning to governments. The Powers execute the vision and strategy set by the Principalities at national and international levels. The Powers are directly in charge of the government of nations, influencing decisions at policy level and coordinating national programmes. Wars, rumours of war, coups, revolutions, anarchy, mayhem, unrests, insurgencies, insurrections, economic meltdowns, leadership ineptitude, ethnic cleansing, pogroms and holocausts are coordinated by the Powers. They invented kakistocracy – government by the worst of the lot. The first and second World Wars, the Congo Wars (First Congo War, Second Congo War and the Kivu Conflict), the Nigeria civil war, the Somalian war – were all managed by The Powers.
The next in hierarchy are the “Rulers of Darkness of this World.” The word “darkness” is the Greek word “Skotos.” It means to stop or restrain as through an instrumentality. For example when one is overcome by the night he is forced to stop. The Rulers if Darkness are the restraining forces. They are also the “technologists.” They have strategic responsibility for the development of critical technologies, to overcome governments, nations and individuals. Sin, misery, ruin, unhappiness, ignorance and error are deeply associated with Rulers of Darkness. They create domestic and personal trauma. That pastor going through a tragic divorce of the incomprehensible variety that hampers his ministry… That woman going through enormous life difficulties… Every step is blocked… That gifted young man on the verge of a mental breakdown. That senseless horrific accident that hacks away two feet on the eve of a wedding… These are the works of the Rulers of Darkness. They stop you.
The last rung on the hierarchy are the “Spiritual Wickednesses.” The word “wickedness” in Greek is “Ponerai.” It means a malicious person who is not only evil but expresses his malice and thus affects others. They are the tertiary deployers. They deal in retail. They are malevolent local administrators. The Wickednesses are in charge of “agent” recruitment – humans who facilitate the emotional destruction of other humans. When jealousy, envy, bile and hatred are directed at you, it is the work of Spiritual Wickednesses. They recruit and control human assets for nefarious ends, turning them into means. That vicious rumour attack that keeps you defending yourself against non-existent facts… These ruinous spirits are tenaciously focused on the Luciferian motto and mission statement: To Kill, To Steal and To Destroy.”
Whether you like it or not you’re locked in a political struggle for the soul of Nigeria with a very experienced and powerful political foe. It’s why you need to assess spiritual power. You’re to maintain Heaven’s control over Planet Earth. The Earth is Heaven’s colonial entity. It’s why the Lord’s Prayer contains those famous lines – “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven…” It’s why Jesus said to us, whatsoever you bind on earth is bound in heaven!
And so you see how incredulous it is when people say Christians should not go into politics or hold political office. That’s the devil’s play-script. Satan understands the implication of the order of Melchizedek. He knows the devastating potential of the priest-king equation. The only way for him to maintain his political authority on earth is to remove the hyphen from priest-king. Then you’ll have priests and kings. The Christians will be priests of course; they’ll keep praying in church, locked up in church like the Essenes who did not want to contaminate themselves with society. That’s a mechanically deficient understanding of holiness. Meanwhile Satan’s children will be kings controlling levers of power and the economy. And with that control Satan can finance his local and international campaigns.
You have to get involved in politics one way or the other. You have to be interested in governance. If you don’t, your political adversary will take over and when he does the first order of business is to eliminate the church and banish God’s authority. There are regions of the world Christianity is outlawed.
Now, we’re not all going to be President, Vice President or governors. We’re not all going to be senators, or members of the House of Representatives. But we can all vote. Some of us will contribute to policy, some of us will agitate as activists, and some of us will function as economists. Do your part.
In closing let me show you a generally overlooked scripture – Ephesians 1:23:
First the King James version
“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
We don’t fully appreciate the import of that passage so I’ll read from the Message translation:
“At the centre of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.”
In other words, the church is the nucleus of society. Brilliant ideas, policy papers, economic solutions should be coming from the church, not the world.
In conclusion, remember it’s not just about prayers. You have to get involved. Nigeria belongs to you.
Thank you and God bless!
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