10.1 A Broken Ecosystem
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The world is the same thing as the Kingdom of God, an entire ecosystem. The world is the opposite of the Kingdom of God at its heart, functioning entirely in opposing ways. The Kingdom of God is completely other than the world, with no bridge of meaning leading from one to the other.
In this first lesson on defining the world, we will look at how the world functions as a complete ecosystem similar to the Kingdom. Then, we will look at the opposing heart of the world and finally, as we explore the setting for God proving Christ, we will see that the Kingdom and the world are different universes.
The Cosmos
The world is the same as the Kingdom in that it, also, is an entire ecosystem. Now, this ecosystem called the world works out from a heart in opposition to the Kingdom and for purposes that are found in a different universe (old versus new) than the Kingdom, yes, but as an overall ecosystem, we find many similarities.
The world is the Greek word cosmos, meaning the entire arrangement or order of all things, in other words, an ecosystem. The world is the entire order of relationships among men and demons inside the context or environment of this heaven/earth in which we live.
Relationships Only
Heaven/earth is not the world. Individual humans and individual angels, all humans and all angels as individuals, are not the world. You see, both of those entities, heaven/earth and individual persons, all belong to God and are coming every moment out of the good speaking of Jesus. Every person and every element in heaven/earth exists entirely inside the Spirit of God and is being turned towards the goodness of God’s ultimate purposes. None of that is the “world.” The world, rather, is the system of relationships between and among persons, humans and angels, living in this context, persons with backs turned towards Jesus.
A Face of Darkness
When any created being inside heaven/earth turns its back on the good speaking of Jesus in order to spin its own self story, then that face is to darkness. The face of a person turned to darkness, then relates together with other persons, both humans and angels, out from that face of darkness.
This relating is really contrived, however, for we are speaking of face only. Each individual person is always being sustained good and all actions continue inside the Holy Spirit, the only place there is. Thus all dark-facing relationships are coming out of an inner, desperate desire to evade the truth.
No “Universal” Power
When Paul calls the evil one “the prince of the power of the air,” he is using the concept of the air, thin and in-substantial, to refer to the power ruling over these pretend, contrived, and controlling relationships between and among dark-facing humans and demons. This “power” must be command and control; it cannot be a universal breathing of life as is the Holy Spirit.
There is no all-pervasive angelic spirit. Angels are formed, confined, and limited. An angel may be very large in form, but it is still a form that begins here and ends there. An angel’s “power” is only that of persuasion.
Human Relationships
We have a session coming up soon in which we will explore the kingdom of darkness, the “rule” of angelic spirits and how they operate in and among humans. That session will be a further development of this lesson.
In this session, we are more concerned with the role of human relationships in this ecosystem that is “the world,” although we understand that this hierarchy of command and control operating in the demonic realm is always an essential part of all human relationships in “the world.” The inner core of every human is a hatred of what they are, of the image they are constructed to be. This is why every human is so busy trying to make themselves “better.”
Contrived and Mechanical
Think of that. Because we are discovering the joy of the Kingdom of God, we can understand the world better. Relationships in the kingdom are organic, that is, they grow naturally out of the joy of our complete rest in Christ. Relationships in the world are contrived and mechanical, that is, they grow out of the desperate need of each individual to make themselves “better” or to avoid their real selves.
When we walk through every circumstance together with Father, we see all things as Father and us making them good. But people whose faces are turned away from accepting the being Christ is speaking them as, gain the meaning of their self-story as Adam did, by manipulating Eve, that is, others.
Two-Faced Christians
Then there are Christians. Because most Christians believe they continue as “wrong,” with a split-soul, they live in a two-faced dimension. This is the place Jesus said, it’s better to be one-faced cold or one-faced hot than two-faced lukewarm. Living two-faced truly is Christian hell.
Thus Christian relationships tend to be two-faced in a more contrived way, sometimes, than in the world. For me, it became a dance of faces, putting on a new mask for each next relating coming my way. I hated it. The world in the church can be worse than the world.
A State of Freedom
Remember that the world is the relationships between and among individuals. Once we understand the psychological and spirit source of those relationships, we can look more closely at how they operate as a broken ecosystem.
Now, the majority of humans will live together in peace, inside their own tribal boundaries. When this majority is allowed to do so inside of the rare experience of human freedom, they get along decently and become quite prosperous. In this state of freedom, human society nearly resembles the freedom and honor found among the budgies of Australia.
Freedom and Respect
In order for such a state of freedom to exist, there must be a universal acceptance of personal boundaries (private property) and the honor of relationships between two (the sanctity of contract). When there is any friction between two in this state of freedom, then all have agreed to accept the determination of what is called “due process of law.”
On the political side this state of freedom, each individual free in itself to chart his or her own course, yet also respectful of all other humans in proximity to it, is called today “libertarian.” On the economic side this state of freedom becomes known as free-market capitalism.
Rivers of Death
Although this way of living together has been tried occasionally and to great success, it cannot last very long. We no longer have such a condition to observe, however, anywhere in our world today.
Three things are working always to eliminate the possibility of neighbors living together in respect for one another and thus in peace and prosperity. All three of these things are essential elements of the curse, spoken by God, but chosen by Adam and sent out from him as rivers of death upon all heaven/earth. In an upcoming session we will explore the curse in more depth; here we want to see its role in the world ecosystem.
Sweat and Thorns
The first effect of the curse that eliminates freedom in society is at the bottom, the curse upon the work of man’s hands. Even in the most Christian expression of a free society (there have been a few instances of such in history, thus we can speak from knowledge), still things don’t work out. Man works by the sweat of his brow, and thorns are often the fruit of his labor.
In other words, even in a state of freedom in this world, things don’t work out about 15% +/- of the time. About 15% fall through the cracks, fail, turn to thievery, go bankrupt, drop out of school, and so on. The desire to “fix” this problem is the death of freedom, and always increases the percentage of failure.
The Rule of Cruelty
The second part of the curse turning this broken ecosystem of the world into chaos is God’s statement, “Your husband shall rule over you.”
We now understand this to be that sub-group of humans now known as psychopaths, around 6% +/- of any given population. Inside this sub-group is a small percentage who are brilliant, cunning, and who cannot live except by ruling over their fellow humans in brutal ways and to stroke their own sense of “I am power,” a self-story that has no thought of the suffering of others. In any conflict, the one who will always win is the one who combines two qualities, the most cunning and the most cruel.
The Face of Eve
An upcoming session, “The Mystery of Iniquity,” will explore how this subset of humans has worked together through the centuries as the heart of this broken ecosystem of the world. Just as the Kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, has a very specific heart made up of individuals who reveal the Heart of Father, life laid down and love poured out, so the world as an ecosystem is governed by the heart of those who will destroy everyone else’s lives in order to feel pleasure in themselves.
Finally, the third element that prevents any natural state of freedom to exist among humans, the normal condition of being real, we can call “the face of Eve.” It is the natural outflow of humans being judges, but empty of God.
Busybodies
Paul called it “being busybodies in other people’s affairs,” but this part of the curse goes much deeper than that. People can’t stand leaving their neighbors alone to do and to be as they wish. Everyone thinks that if their neighbor chooses “wrong,” then the tribe should inflict pain on that person until they comply.
And, of course, that’s the other side of this false spin of self-identity, the need to identify with a group. Identifying with a group is the most powerful and the deadliest element in the chaos of broken relationships called the world. “What will other people think about me?”
The Group
Because people are constantly turning away from their true identity, the good speaking of Christ, they are forced, then, to look outward to find a substitute identity. That substitute identity is the group, first the nation, then the party, then the organization.
Every group develops insignia, symbols, so that members can know they are with the right group. Every group, then, allows itself a level of criminality that is felt instinctively to be wrong if practiced by an individual. If the group does not survive, then how can the fake self-identity survive? Thus someone who does not worship the flag, for instance, must be punished.
Tribalism
The worst expression of group identity is known as tribalism. Members of a tribe can show genuine love and concern for one another, though they can pretend that show just as much. When one family sorrows, all the other families of that tribe at least pretend to sorrow with them. But the individual members of another tribe have no meaning.
Thus if an American fighter pilot turns the joy of an Afghani wedding party into brutal horror, throwing many families into loss and grief, that has no meaning to the American tribe. Now, that is just an example of the power of cruelty found in group identity; I certainly saw that same cruelty working inside the tribal world of Christian community, in spite of our being Christians and knowing much genuine care.
Outward Rules
Every individual member of this broken ecosystem of the world is seeking an identity separate from who they really are inside, including those who “look inside” to find themselves. If they are not finding Christ, they are not looking “inside.” Only two possibilities of self-identity exist, fantasy and the group. These two are always working together in all.
Out from these unreal self-stories, then, people relate together by a set of outward rules. These rules can be written down or simply assumed. Written down rules can be enforced by due process of law, but assumed rules are always more powerful and are always enforced by the most cruel and devious members of society.
All Groups Are the Same
Study any street gang or any classroom of children and you will see the exact same dynamics that operate in the political hierarchy of the school administration or in any political state. There is no difference between the Hell’s Angels and the historic British aristocracy, both are violent gangs who require an awful rite of passage for entry and who identify each other by outward insignia in order to strike down any non-members.
Because of the close link between the more powerful demons and the more successful psychopaths, this gang/group order of society is always structured in the same command and control power hierarchy as is the kingdom of darkness. The heart of the world is cruelty.
Comprehending the World
Nothing is coming “out from” the evil one, as is coming out from the Holy Spirit, that is life. For that reason, command and control, punishment and cruelty, outward laws and group-think conformity are the only way by which this broken ecosystem of the world can function.
As I look back through this lesson, it has not formed itself as a strict definition. By our bouncing around among different perspectives, however, a clear picture of the world ecosystem has appeared. Here is the most important thing we have learned. We do not “define” the Kingdom by the world, but knowing the Kingdom first allows us to comprehend the awfulness of the world.