THE TWO KINGDOMS by Anita Keith-Gillon

INTRODUCTION
The Kingdom of God is an eternal kingdom, unique in its function and government, where Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always existed in an equal relationship. God is the King who governs with laws that are absolute; nothing gets out of hand. He is immutable, unmovable, omnipresent, omniscient and all-powerful.
The principles of the Kingdom of God are infallible.
All that is directed by the King, He calls perfect, making the Kingdom of God invincible.
THE TWO KINGDOMS
God is the Creator of the universe. Nothing exists that He has not created. His desire is to have a relationship with the beings he creates. When He created millions and millions of angels, He created them with the need to worship Him in order to sustain the relationship. These spiritual beings were free to worship Him and have a relationship with Him if they so chose. We must keep in mind that God doesn’t need to be worshipped; all He wants is to love and relate to His creation.
One of the infallible principles of God’s Kingdom is freedom. He does not enslave, dominate or manipulate in order to keep His creation in His Kingdom. He leaves them free to remain there or leave.
God divided the angels in three groups with three leaders: Lucifer, Gabriel and Michael. But wickedness was found in Lucifer¹ which led him to want to be worshipped like God. As a created being, he had been created to worship so when he sought worshippers for himself, his relationship with God was broken. He formed another kingdom ─ the kingdom of darkness.
In contrary to the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of darkness is a kingdom of slavery, control and manipulation. The fallen angels soon discovered that Lucifer worship was not a choice; it was an obligation. The ruler of darkness had become a ruthless, cruel dictator, obsessed with the worship he demanded from his subjects.
This situation however, did not in any way change or alter the principles of God’s Kingdom; His kingdom cannot be altered.
The Creator God continued with the creation, expressing Himself in its splendor. He created the universe and all that exists, culminating in the creation of the human being. This was a spiritual being, made in the image and likeness of God² who is Spirit, and with a human body in order to exist simultaneously on the earth and live spiritually in God’s Kingdom. The bridge between the spirit and the body is called the soul, making man a tripartite being.
Adam and Eve as spiritual beings were created to have a relationship with their Creator through worship, and free to be directed by Him. They were given rule over the creation³. This was a delegated authority. God delegates authority ─ this is another principle of the Kingdom of God. Everything Adam and Eve did was perfect because all their actions were directed by God.
They were clothed with the Glory of God. This indicates that they saw one another through His Glory.
God’s warning to man to keep the Garden of Eden⁴ indicates the existence of an immense and unavoidable danger.
In the book of Genesis we read how the cunning serpent directed by Satan caused them to leave God’s Kingdom and enter the kingdom of darkness. Through their obedience to Satan they worshipped him. Immediately their relationship with God was broken and they fell short of the glory of God. Their perspective of life changed forever; they focused on the natural and spiritually they died⁵.
They entered the kingdom of darkness where the absolute does not exist, where everything is relative. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil that introduced them to a supposed freedom was indeed what led them to a kingdom where they could do whatever they wished, be it good or evil. Everything done in the kingdom of darkness is called sin and worships Satan.
When man became independent from God and entered the kingdom of darkness, all of creation became distorted. The authority delegated by God to Adam and Eve was handed over to the ruler of darkness⁶.

1 Ezek. 28:15 2 Gen 1:27 3 Gen1:28 4 Gen 2.15 5 Gen 3 6 1John 5:19

To be continued …