UNDERSTANDING, KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM BY DR. MYLES MUNROE

You are the serious students of the word of God. You are not here for a thrill. You are here for change. You are not here for feelings. You are here for experiencing Revelation. Truth and God will not disappoint you, guaranteed.

First, let me say thank you for coming. We've got people that have flown from far away to be in this class tonight and will be with us for the next three, three days, two and a half days. I have never done this before, so you are my first prototype where I will pour all my life out in three days concerning the kingdom. That is not all I know, but you will get three days' worth of it. And we are here not just to listen. We are here to discuss. We are here to explore. We are here to ask questions. We are here to study together. We are here to learn from each other. And we are here to also understand. As a matter of fact, I think the most important word I want you to write down first is the word understanding. You got notes in the back of your folder, a lot of note paper, so turn there and find page one, blank, and just write the word understanding down. If you are watching, of course, on our pay-per-view, you got no paper in front of you, please write that word understanding.

It was the understanding. Understanding is more important than knowledge. It's also more important than wisdom. These three words are used very often in God's communication with humans. He uses these three words together. He does that because the three words are related: knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. You might want to write it down. You would remember that the wisest man that ever lived, according to history, was supposed to have been a king whose name was Solomon. And Solomon was asked by God one day a question. I wish he would ask all of us: "What do you want?" Ask anything. "What do you want?" Of course, Solomon was not from the United States because he would have given a capitalist answer. He's not from the Bahamas or the Caribbean, he would definitely broke God's bank. He's not from Italy, you'd probably ask God to restore Rome. But Solomon asked God for three things: knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

This week is about understanding. You will get knowledge, and that's important. As a matter of fact, let me give you the meaning of three words very quickly. The first word, and I'm giving them in order of process, the first word is knowledge. Knowledge always comes first. What is knowledge? Right next to that word: information. Knowledge is information. The second word in the process is understanding. Understanding means comprehension. Write it down: comprehension. To comprehend. The third word, and last one in the process, is wisdom. Wisdom is always last because wisdom means application. Application. So look at that list. You can see how the process works. First, you get information. But the information will never benefit you until you understand it. Once you understand it, now you can move to stage three. You can apply it. The most critical part of the process is wisdom. Wisdom is supreme because you can have knowledge and understanding and still not apply it. It's like a smoking doctor. So the ultimate goal in life is wisdom, but the important goal in life is understanding. Many of you drive a car but don't know how it works. All you know is you turn the key in the ignition and it turns on. And when it doesn't turn on, you are lost. So you have knowledge of the fact that the car will start, but you don't understand how it works. So understanding destroys frustration. This seminar is about understanding so that you can gain wisdom. That means you can now apply.

There is a statement made in the Book of Matthew by Jesus Christ. I want us to turn to that statement first. If you have your Bible, I want you to see where he uses the word understanding in relationship to the revelation of the Kingdom. Matthew chapter 13, 13. Matthew chapter 13. You would remember this was a seminar he had after a question, and this seminar is a result of questions that people kept asking me. If you look at this chapter, you will see that he had a session with a large crowd of people in verse 1 and 2. A large crowd of people came, and he sat by the lake, and he began to teach them. The only problem is, he taught them in what they call parabolic language. Parabolic language is a style of teaching where you hide truth from the listeners so that they can discover it when they are ready. Can I repeat that? A parable is a style of teaching where you use small stories that people can relate to. You always use symbols or items that people consider to be common, and you use them to tell a story. And the purpose for a parable is not to tell the truth, but to hide the truth. And you hide it because you are working with a principle that is based on a premise. Here's the premise: nothing is yours until you discover it. That's the premise of the purpose of a parable. Repeat it: Parable is used based on the principle that nothing is yours until you discover it. So it doesn't matter how much information your teacher knows, that information can never be yours until you personally discover it. So a parable is designed to hide the truth until the listeners are ready to discover.

Okay, so he's using this style of language. And if you look at verse 10, his students, hey boys, say students. Now the word students is translated as disciples. So please write that down. Write the word disciple and right next to it, the word student. The word disciple is not a religious word. It's an academic word. It means learner or student, like you are. You are not normal people. You are not the multitudes. This is why he hides truth from multitudes because multitudes are not interested. They are only entertained. You paid a price to come here. That immediately separates you from the multitudes. Multitudes love free things. God never reveals the depth of his revelation to people who love free things. I remember a principle God gave one time to the prophet. He says, "You will seek me," he says, "but you'll find me only if you seek me with all of your mind." The word heart means mind. That means you concentrate to want to know. So these students, disciples, said to him, verse 10. They said, "Master," 's referring to teacher. "Master teacher." The word Rabboni means Master Teacher. A master teaches, one who is expert in a field of knowledge. Means Master Teacher, an expert in a field of knowledge. They are telling him, "You are our teacher. We are your students. Why do you speak to the people as the multitudes in parables?" That's verse 10. "Why do you hide the depth of what you want to share in these parabolic symbols?"

His answer, he said, "Because the knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven has only been given to you." Now, who's he talking to? The students. Who are students? Those who pay tuition. They left their fishing boats, left their families, left their farms, left their medical practice like Luke, left their accounting office like Matthew. They left their jobs to follow him. He said, "Now, you, I will give secrets to. But those folks are there, it's a holiday. I don't want 5,000 people. I just want students in this seminar." So it cost you. You had to leave your home, leave your normal schedule, give up some money, buy a ticket, invest time. I guarantee you, he will give you secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven because you are students.

The next verse says, "But not to them," referring to the people who just show up for a good time. "Now then, he said, 'Whoever has will be given more.'" Most of you read this and never understood it because it doesn't make sense on the surface. "Whoever has will be given more, and he will have what? An abundance. Only the ones who has already." Then he says, "Whoever does not have." Can I use two words to help you understand it? Okay, let's inject just two words in two places. First part: "Whoever has interests will be given more. Whoever does not have any interest, even what he has will be taken away." He's referring to again, commitment. Remember what the question was? "Why do you tell them things, but you tell us different things?" He said, "Because you paid the price. Your interest level is different. You left home, you forsook boats, you gave up business. So I will give you a level of information I can't give them because their interests determines my level of information."

Can I put it another way? One time he told them, he said, "I have much to say to you now, but you cannot take it now." What does it mean? What it means is, write this down: The teacher does not determine the lesson. The student determines, with the teacher. Teachers in the Kingdom of God. So he's telling them, "Your interests determines my subject." This is why the average person doesn't understand the kingdom. This is why when you begin to understand it, you begin to feel friction, opposition, because they are at a different interest level than you in pursuit of the things of God. So he said, "I cannot tell them what they don't want to know, but I will give you all the secrets because you left home, you left your normal life. Your hunger attracts my subjects." Simple.

Okay, so you all are here, Malcolm, to the secret seminar. It's a seminar of secrets. I will give you the secrets of the Kingdom. Then he says, verse 13, "That is why I speak to them in parables, so that seeing they will not see and hearing they won't understand." Why? They're not interested. There are many religious leaders who have no interest in the Kingdom. So God doesn't tell them anything. Some may even be your pastors in this room. You got to go back to a pastor who will think you are a heretic now because he's a good person, or she's a good person, but they are at a different level of revelation with God.

Verse 14. Matthew quotes a prophecy. He says, "Oh, this is fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. You will be ever hearing but never what? Understanding." It's possible to hear information, he says, and not understand. My fear is, God has been very gracious to us. He has allowed us to disseminate a minute fraction of the revelation of the Kingdom of God to millions of people, and some of them grabbed it and ran without understanding. Nothing is more dangerous than zealous ignorance. When a person becomes excited about something they don't understand, you are in danger. So I have been encountering many thousands of people, and especially leaders, that have caused me great fear. I see they are promoting conferences and revivals and all these different names they give it of Kingdom, Kingdom this, and Kingdom that, and kingdomness. And I'm becoming very afraid because I know they don't understand it. He said, "They are listening but not understanding. It is still a parable to them. They are preaching what they don't understand." And he goes on to talk about this prophecy: "You will be ever hearing but never understanding. You will be ever seeing but never what? Perceiving." Same word for understanding. "They hardly hear with their ears. They have closed what? Their eyes. They don't even want to know anymore. They got enough and they ran. They hear what their ears don't understand." And then he says, "This is why I speak to them in parables, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would have to heal them."

Here's the paradox. This gets deep. You want to understand it? Asia? Okay, okay. Jesus uses parables because of his integrity. Now let me explain that statement. Integrity is another word for holy. To be holy means to be integrated. Integrity. That means what you are, what you say, what you do, and what you mean are one. That's holy. We use the word pure. We use the word PR because holy means there is no ulterior motive. A holy person is one what they say, what they do, what they promise, what they think are always the same. There's no self-contradiction. Now, this creates a problem for a holy person, especially God himself. Case in point: If I give you something but you didn't ask for it, I violated my integrity because I have presumed you needed it. So I have basically moved on an assumption. You know, look blank. Okay, what he's saying is this: You're understanding it, right? He's saying, look, I cannot give them information because they don't want it yet. If I give it to them without them requesting it, asking for it, I have violated their right toward it. So he says, "I cannot just give them truth because they do not desire it yet." And if I impose it on them and they accept it because I impose it on them, I'll have to save them because of my presumption, not because of their requirement to need it. Okay, this is why God says, "Ask, and it shall be given unto you." Now, it's not that you don't know what you need, but he wants you to express that you know that you need it. So when he gave it, he doesn't violate your desire and right to want to want it. Did not make sense? Okay.

So a parable protects the integrity of holiness by giving you truth without giving it to you until you're ready to receive it. Now, let's look at verse 18. As a matter of fact, I think for the sake of this seminar, we may want to take a look at verse 16. He said to his students, "But blessed are your eyes because they see what the multitudes can't see." Tell your neighbor, "We are exceptional. We made it to the seminar." See what he's saying is, look, you guys are different because you left home, business, boats, fishing industry, accounting office, and you've spent three years following me. I will hide nothing from that hunger. So your eyes will see what their eyes just look at. Your ears will understand what their ears just listen to. In other words, you could be right next to another person and have a different experience because of your hunger level. So he says, verse 17, "I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men long to see what you see." Who's he referring to? He's referring to Moses, he's referring to Isaiah, Jeremiah, folks who impress you. Do you know why they talked about something they never saw? You guys are seeing it. You're greater than they are. Isaiah prophesied about the King coming. You are talking to him. You are greater than how you say it. Daniel talked about the kingdom coming to Earth. You are now entering it. Makes you greater.

Later on, next couple of days, you'll understand this. Understand this. But I want you to look at verse 18. Underline it. It is the point of this whole seminar. They asked him a question: "Why are you speaking in parables?" In verse 18, he said, "Listen now, let me tell you what the parable means." Okay, that's an important verse to underline. Remember now, parables are not to be explained, but he is talking to students. He said, "Look, if you guys don't understand this parable, what's the parable of the sower? Someone sowing." He said, "I have to make sure you get it." So let's read what the parable means. Just one verse is enough. Push 19. "When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the devil himself comes to snatch away even what he begins to understand." Did you get that? That brings chills to my body. He said, "Look, when you sit in a place where the kingdom message is being taught and you don't understand it completely, the devil himself, not demons, he personally comes because he is so afraid of one message." Satan doesn't care how much you learn about the resurrection, how much you learn about faith. He has no fear about what you know about being born again, which is only mentioned once in the four Gospels. He has no fear of you learning about the crucifixion and the blood. He sends demons to arrest you. But if you begin to understand what is the scripture says, the message of the Kingdom, specifically, it says Satan doesn't send anybody, he comes himself because this is big business now. This is serious business now. His fear is of a message, not a people.

So this seminar is a response to instruction based on hunger that came from thousands of people who began to understand the kingdom message and they said, "Please teach me more." That's what the seminar is. It's to protect you from the devil stealing the little that you got. Amen. Notice it says he comes to what? Not he wants to send you back to your old theology quickly. So the key then is understanding. We are going to invite the devil to join us for the next three days. You can sit anywhere you want to sit, but we are going to give you a nervous breakdown because we are going to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. And God, if you agree, clap.

Now, this is a seminar to help you understand how to understand the kingdom and to communicate it and to teach it effectively, and of course, in wisdom, to apply it. So this first session, I simply want to talk about the long search in the heart of humans. My objective tonight is very simple. Here's the objectives. Write them down. Number one: I want to show why the kingdom message is important to the world and to our contemporary society. It is vital. Secondly, I want to help you understand why the kingdom message has to be taught to all humanity. So these are my two objectives tonight: one, to explain why the kingdom message is important to the world, including our contemporary society, and secondly, why it must be taught to all humans. And this is not a difficult thing to do because when you understand where I'm going with it, a new you capture it. This session will produce boldness in you. It will produce a conviction that no one can touch. It will give you an audacity that is divine. It will also make you unintimidated by anybody. You know, my boldness to advise heads of state or to speak to prime ministers or converse with economic gurus is not because of my personality, but because of my deep conviction that I understand them. When you understand human need, you are in control. I'm going to repeat this: Whenever you understand human need, you are in control of the relationship. This is why Jesus Christ was so bold, so dedicated, so peaceful, always so calm, because his understanding of the need of humans. It makes you bold.

Two verses I want to hang my hat on in this session. Matthew 13, verse 44. Let's read it together: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field." This is a parable. What's the truth in it? Well, those who understand Kingdom will understand this is no longer a parable to them. What it simply means is everything you need is in the Kingdom. That's what the parable means. Everything you're searching for that you consider valuable is in one place. It's in the Kingdom. So when you find the Kingdom, you stop searching. None of scripture verse I want to hang my hat on. It's Matthew 13, verse 45. Let us read it again: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." End quote. It's the same principle. He uses two different stories, very common symbols, but he hides the truth in it. What he's saying is, he will search and search and search and even collect pearls like Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Scientology, Baha'i, Unitarianism, Islam, maybe even Christianity. You collect all these pearls. He says, and then you find one. What do you do? You run away and sell all the others. You give up all the stuff you've been looking at because everything you've been looking for is in this one value of the Kingdom. So what our goal is tonight is to show you that that is true. Everything any human is seeking for is in one place: the Kingdom of God.

Talk a little bit about the search. I believe that all human beings are the same, and history has proven it. We have the same desire for the same things. 6.7 billion people on Earth, and throughout recorded history, we've been searching for the same thing. We search for purpose, for meaning, for Utopia. And these are the forces that control us. They make us do what we do. As a matter of fact, I call it the unnamed, misunderstood, and unidentified human search. We don't know what we're searching for. We haven't named it. We can't identify what it is, but we know we want it. And every human I've ever met have the same search. I've met a few humans in my life so far, and not a one of them is different from the other when it comes to the search. They want the same thing. Matter of fact, that's where your power lies. Your power lies in the knowledge that all of us seek the same thing.

So write this down: Every generation is seeking Utopia. Do you agree? Everybody wants a perfect world. Secondly, all humans are searching for the ideal. The ideal life. Third, the search for the ideal is the source of all human development. You think about the inventions that man has created. Are all because of man's desire for a better world. When you talk about philosophies, we come up with new ideas so we could have a better life. So even our progress is built on our search. The search and the desire for the idyllic world is the source of ideologies. It's also what we call schools of thought. School of thought is important. Matter of fact, those who study philosophy and history would remember that terminology, right? School of thought. School of thought. Israel is in reference to a belief system. And in the days of Plato and Aristotle and Socrates, this very term was the foundation of their schools. They had schools of thought. Jesus Christ would have been considered a philosopher in the context of the Greeks, and he would have been considered one who have a school of thought. His school of thought would have been: What do you think? This Kingdom of Heaven, because that's all he talked about. So his school of thought was: there was another country, invisible country, that could come to Earth to solve Earth's problems. That was his school of thought.

Now, other schools of thought existed, and they still do today. We call them theologies, doctrines. These are all schools of thought. Schools of thought are products of the search. These ideologies are the source of developing systems of government. And this is important because man is trying to find this world that he can't explain. He keeps developing new ideas that give him hope that he will eventually get it. He converts these ideas into systems that could be religious or political or social, and he tries to apply them to see if he can get this perfect world. Problem is, he keeps failing. I'm going to prove tonight that our best idea is not working. I'm gonna show it to you right now in a few minutes. So we are seeking this idea. Here's some thoughts to make a note of: One, the long search of the human spirit was never given for religion. And what I mean by this is, if you study history, man is not seeking a religion. He's seeking a better world. This is very important. What I'm saying, this is very important. This is a secret I'm giving you right now. Humans are not seeking religion. Am I right? Listen. You, your search in life is not for religion. What you're looking for is answers to the question of meaning, purpose, and a better world. It's not religion. You want. No human being on Earth is born seeking a religion. They are born seeking purpose, meaning, and a better world. And every human being on Earth today is still seeking those three things: meaning in life, purpose for life, on a better country. This is why we move from country to country. This is why we move from neighborhood to neighborhood. This is why I moved from job to job. We are seeking a better life. We don't like the house we're living in. Don't like the neighborhood we're in. Don't like the people we are working with. In other words, we keep running and running, looking for this perfect neighborhood. Have you found it? I said, we found it. Your neighbor just murdered his wife. This is an upstanding neighborhood, like California, the other day, where a guy in one of the best neighborhoods walks in the house and kills his wife and three kids in a million-dollar house. Is there any place we can find this world for the search?

Isn't everybody's heart? Why are there so many refugees in the world? They want to search. "If I can just get to America." Some say, "If I can get to the Bahamas." And they risk their lives on broken boats trying to find a better world. They don't. They're looking for Christianity. They're looking for a world where they can eat, dress, live, smile, be happy. Things that no worship. They're looking for what? A better world. Here's my point: They don't seek religion. They use religion to try and get it. Let me tell you something. You don't follow Jesus Christ because you like him. You say that, but you lie. You follow him because he promised you some things. Let's be honest now. First of all, he promised you eternal life. Oh, you like that. Meaning in life. Then he promised you to pay all your bills, prosperity. Then he promised you life after death, resurrection. This is a package deal. You are after him because you get this dream of Heaven. There'll be no more troubling us there. No more weeping, no more crying, no more pain, no more. So what are you talking about? You're trying to get out of the world you are in. Heaven is attractive because we hate the world we are in. How can you sell the idea to a 15-year-old young man to strap a bomb on his chest, walk into a shopping market filled with people just going about their daily life, and make him pull the trigger and kill 28 of them, blow them into smithereens, because you promised him he will enter a better world? The search. See, no human is searching for religion. Settle that now. Don't sell your religion to anybody. That's not what they really want.

All humans are searching for certain things. Listen them. Number one: The ideal Utopia world. That's what they want. They want to work without racism, prejudice, corruption, poverty, fear, crime, broken homes, abuse, incest. They are looking for this Utopia. Number two: Everyone's looking for the perfect civil society. You want to live in a place where everybody is safe and everybody likes one another. Third: Every human is looking for a just world. A just world of equality and fairness. You don't want to wonder when you go before a court whether your opposition paid the lawyer off or the judge. We want just and fairness. We search for a world that has a community of love and security. Everyone wants that. We also search, really, for another world. This is the human search. We are running after this place. We're not sure what it is. We're not sure where it is. As a matter of fact, the beauty of this whole discussion tonight is we're not even sure why we're searching for it. What makes us all want it? That's the power of the knowledge of human need. See, put it this way: The spirit of man cannot search. Write that down. See? Okay. You can never know what salt tastes like unless you had salt. You can never miss sugar unless they had sugar in the conflates when he was a kid. In other words, you cannot miss what you never had. This is important. Understanding the kingdom that leads me to number two. The very nature of search implies that you once had something. Am I right? You don't look for things that you never had. When you turn your house upside down, turn the chair over, turn the bed over, there must be something you knew you had before that you cannot find. Such implies previous possession. Why does every government promise you security? Because somewhere in the heart of humans, in the deep heart of the human spirit, was a place where he used to be where there was no insecurity. He's not sure where it is or where it's from, but he knows it exists because somewhere in my spirit, I used to be there. Anyone get me yet? Okay.

That leads me to number three. The great unknown human loss factor is the source of human hope. I call it the loss factor. That's a Miles Monroe invention. The loss factor. What's the loss factor? It's the human search for something he cannot define that he lost. And 6.7 billion of us looking for it. We get married hoping it's in the marriage. We have kids hoping the kids are in that world. We go into business and give people our money to invest, hoping they are honest. We give our vote to politicians because they promise us they are not corrupt. In other words, there's something in us which says, "There's got to be somewhere where it's perfect." And then they disappoint you. The loss factor. And so here's my conclusion: The undercurrent of the human hope for the loss factor controls all human behavior. Everything we do is because we're looking to what we lost. Everything. Couldn't believe in this. And this was explained to me in the depths of my spirit. I meet, you know, when I first met, he is now Prime Minister again, Prime Minister Honorable Netanyahu of Israel. We sat and talked in a room privately. And his question to me was, "Why can't we have peace in the Middle East?" He's the Prime Minister. He said, "I don't know what to do." He said, "Peace is somewhere." And I looked at him and I said, "It's from another place." You know, I don't want to get into deep things yet, but the Kingdom. But let me just quote a verse for you, one you know well. Isaiah chapter 9 says, "For unto us a child will be born, and a son will be given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Now, here's the head of the country of Israel saying peace got to be somewhere. And here's this promise saying it's coming. The next verse says, "And he shall reign on the throne of David, and to his kingdom there will be no end, and of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end." I mean, this answer is so perfect for the human search that we just can't see it. We keep turning him into a religious man, and he's a prince. Prince means ruler. He's a king. He has a kingdom, not a religion. And so everything we do is trying to find this lost factor.

What do we lose? I call it the forgotten world. We forgot the where we used to live in. This is my conviction. Deep in the forgotten crevices of the secret subconscious chambers of the human spirit is a memory of a utopian world. I guarantee that's true. Do you know that's why we can actually create comic books? You know, comic books are actually glimpses of lost human experience. When I think about the comic book Superman, oh, I loved it. Do you know what I liked about Superman? He came from another place. That's why we loved him. He wasn't tainted by our idiosyncrasies, our defects. He, he even was immune, came sickness, disease. Sound familiar? He could walk on water and fly from Canada to the Bahamas. This is where did we get this idea? Something in the human heart. It's been forgotten, but it's buried deep. It's searching for something. Here's a thought: You cannot miss what you never had. We miss the world, the perfect world, don't we? Yeah. We miss the world. We missed something. Another thought: You cannot desire what you never saw or felt or experienced. You know, we desire Utopia. We desire the perfect world because somewhere in the history of our subconscious spirit, we used to be there. We miss it. Anybody getting me yet? I'm trying to drive him one point tonight, and the point is all humans are searching for something they had. They don't know what it is. Don't know what to call it. And because all of them are searching for it, you got them. Because once you find it, you know. I was telling my friends in the boardroom tonight, "The Kingdom of God is like everybody in the room is thirsty, and I'm the only one with water." Everybody's parched tongue burning, and I'm the only one with water. Kingdom of God is like that. No wonder why Jesus could make statements so boldly in the middle of 250,000 people on the day of Passover. He would break the jug on the glass on the on the terrace trunk, and they were all sip of that. Everybody would sip the water up because it was holy water from the temple. And he would stand up in the middle of the water and say, "Stop it. What do you drink today, you shall thirst again. But I am the Water of Life," he said. And he would make this statement to destroy rituals that are 4,000 years old. And then he would say, "Moses spoke about me when he talked about the water from the rock." And they say, "Who do you think you are?" He said, "I am your quencher. He that drinks from me will never was." He was talking about, he said, "Look, I know what you're looking for. If you ever get it from me, no more searching." The Kingdom.

So here's my advice: I believe the deepest human passion is to recreate the lost world. We got stories about this. And all you know, matter of fact, here's a little note I thought was interesting. This search for Atlantis. The search for Atlantis is really a cry in the heart of humans. There's got to be a place that was perfect. When you study the at the, what they call, I guess, the fable of the Atlanteans, you know, they're not sure what it is, whether it was real or not real. But when you read, but that that so-called civilization, it's unreal. These people lived underwater and on land. They were full of love. They were compassionate people. There was no crime in the city. It was a perfect city. It was called Atlantis. Something is in the Bahamas. Let me tell you right now, it is not in the Bahamas. You, you know, you go across the bridge here to Atlantis. They got people in that hotel stealing stuff. I'm sorry, that's the way it is. We are searching for this lost Utopia. And this leads to big problem. It's called the Messianic conviction. All civilizations have developed a Messianic philosophy. All, you know, when they did studies on civilized and uncivilized people, and in all of their studies, they discovered that every civilization, even the most primitive, had a hope of a savior coming to save them. That's because humans have become so discouraged by their own search. They are beginning from the beginning. They began to think there must be another answer from another place.

So here's what they call the Messianic beliefs. The Messianic belief, which I think is put in your heart by God, is a belief that somewhere, somehow, in some distant future, from some unknown place, there will arise a person who will provide all the answers. They will establish the ideal world, free from pain and hatred, fear and poverty, and injustice, and they'll bring peace and joy, love, justice for all. That's the Messianic belief. The Buddhist believe it was Buddha. The Hindus believe it was Maharaja, and all of the six million gods. The Muslim believe it was Muhammad. The Scientologists believe it's a cosmic mind in space that you connect to and become one with. Then the Christians believe it's a young Jewish guy that you worship and keep church around. And then we search. You know, the entrance of Jesus Christ in the world was celebrated by different groups of people. It was a public entrance. Angels sang. Shepherds found out about it. Kings in Africa discovered it. I mean, it was a big entrance. No one knows when Muhammad was born. Don't know where Buddha was conceived. We have no idea where Maharaja was conceived. But this man had a public global announcement: "Born this day in Bethlehem, Savior, Christ the Lord." Christ means Mashiach. And then it says, "And he will bring peace and goodwill to a certain group of people." No, to all men. Peace, goodwill. Goodwill means you are secure. People ain't trying to get you. This love. That's the entrance.

So we have this search for Messiah. Let me drive this home. Write this down: The search for the ideal world was produced in many different varieties of searches, and we have developed our own human results: kingdoms, imperialism, colonialism. We've also invented humanism, which is as old as Pharaoh. Pharaoh believed he was God. So don't be impressed with humanism. They are old. They are six million, six thousand years old, rather, as an old philosophy. Don't be impressed with a humanist. Communism. Communism is the kingdom and our God. You cannot have all things common without love. And God is love. The Communists are amazing people. They're the only folks who try to do the impossible. You couldn't work. They got rid of the only thing that could have made it work: God. I can't share my farm with you if I don't love you. So don't take God from me, otherwise you'll never get my farm. You and I will always be enemies. So if you cut my farm and give him half of my farm to you, you're my enemy for life, till I get my half back. You can't force distribution in the Kingdom of God. You give because you love. Communism was a miserable failure and always will be. Then we invented socialism, which is a strain of communism. Then we developed deism, but we see God in everything. Then we developed communal living. I'm sure we've seen Jonestown and all the others tried this experiment. It doesn't work. And then we develop dictatorship, where we force our will on people. In other words, man keeps trying to solve the problem. And then he came up with an idea that he thought was the ultimate, the last one. We're still struggling with it today. We've concluded we got it. This must be the kingdom. We've invented democracy. Mercy is still the best idea. But I told you tonight, I want to show you that it can't work because you cannot replace the Kingdom of God with anything.

Let's take a look at democracy real quick. This man's best idea. And I must confess, it's a pretty good idea. Democracy is man's ultimate fear of himself. Put it another way: Democracy is the manifestation of man's distrust of himself. Think about it. Okay? You know what they call it? They call it democracy. Democracy have checks and balances. But why any checks and balances? I can't check you if I can't balance you. Democracy is the ultimate manifestation of distrust. If your theory is built on distrust, how can it work? Because I don't trust you with power. I can make sure I hold it and loan it to you for four years, and if I don't like you after four, I take it back. Or maybe even before the fall, we have a referendum. I don't trust none of y'all. So just in case you begin to get a little bit high-minded, I'm gonna withdraw my power, which I loaned you in a vote. In other words, it's a manifestation of which, you know, is the opposite of love. See, it's probably best described as a prenuptial agreement. You all know what that means, right? I love you. I can marry you, but just in case, you ain't getting my car, my house, my land, my real estate. You can just in case. But I love you. Now, you know I love you. It's the ultimate prenuptial system. That's our best. It's built on some things: individual freedom, self-determination, just society, protection of individual rights, a civil society, the rule of law, civil rights. These are nice words, huh? Are they working? Well, this is our best. They better work. No human have yet invented a more reasonable system of government than democracy. Democracy was invented by the Greeks, not by the Bible. Plato and Aristotle and Socrates perfected democracy. It was introduced by the Greeks. The Romans tried to implement it, but they converted themselves into a kingdom. Democracy, when you think rule of law, it depends on who makes the law, am I right? That's why they're changing the laws now. Rule of law is subjective. Since we create the law, we could change it. Matter of fact, let's take a look at some of the weaknesses of democracy because you see the Kingdom of God is going to be the opposite. Democracy: Number one, rule of majority. That's dangerous, huh? Because the majority could be wrong, depending on who defines wrong. Hey, so is it wrong for a man to marry a man? Well, if the majority say it's not wrong, it's not wrong. So right is a matter of majority, not a matter of conscience. This is disaster from the beginning. Number two, democracy, the use of protection of the majority of the minority. Okay, first of all, the majority rules the place, but you gotta make room for the minority to be protected. Why? Because the minority can't trust the majority. So the majority have to protect the minority, even the disagreement and minority who disagrees with the majority. So you have this tension of fear and distrust. This is the best we came up with. And then the democracy has to do with discrimination. Eh, you gotta discriminate in democracy. We talk about equal rights. Come on. Democracy is filled with racism. It's not best. Democracy is filled with corruption. But it's our best. Democracy is filled with capitalism, which capitalizes on the weak to benefit the strong. We, we, you gotta have a poor market to have a rich company. This is why you send your companies to India because they're poor people. You could make them work the same amount of hours for one dollar that you make a guy work for 20. It's capitalizing on the weak. That's democracy. It's completely opposite to Jesus's teaching. Be good to the poor, give to the poor, help to the poor. Money says no, use the poor to make yourself richer. Democracy. So they say things like, "We are losing jobs to China, Mexico, India." So what you're going to do about that? I own the business. What you're going to do about that? I have a right to be put. Remember, as a minority, you got to protect my right to take my business out of the country. We're confused. I'm trying to show you that man's search for this Utopia is fruitless, useless, and it's an exercise in frustration. When you leave here, I want to leave here never being impressed again by any ism, communism, socialism, any kind of crazy like aristocracy, democracy. You, you need to leave your understanding the kingdom is it. That's it. That's my point. You. Because as long as you think that there's another alternative, you will never sell the kingdom as the pearl. Democracy has inequality. Every democratic society, come on, talk to me. You live in one. Oh my God. You get ghetto and high society in the same island. We call it equality. I have another word for it: inequality. Rich versus the poor. Democracy, abuse of privilege. Thy power and democracy, he starts getting stuff under the table. Most people in democracy, when they pursue power in politics, that's not for service. That's for self-service. It's for privilege abuse. It's the heart of man that's desperately wicked. And whatever position you put that heart in, it'll manifest itself, whether it's in the pulpit of a church or in the halls of justice or in the assembly halls of government. That heart will manifest. And this is why the Kingdom of God begins, "Create me a clean heart," verse. Because of the heart ain't right, no position will protect it. It simply will expose it.

So here's what I call democracy: the freedom experiment. It's an experiment. It's good materially. That's what it is. I, I did research on this stuff in college. I read books after that. I'm getting more and more depressed over man's feeble attempt to fool himself that he is smart. We ain't that smart. No wonder why God says, "You are all like sheep gone astray, each one to his own way." And therefore, the Lord had to put all of that on himself and just fix it with his death. It's something. The democratic idea. Here's what they just, that's what they talk about. They say, uh, democracy is about pursuing personal freedom. Yes, pursue your dreams, maximize your potential. We believe in a free society. Okay, what's the result? Here's some words: jealousy, suspicion, competition, prejudice, neglect, disparity, haves and have-nots. These are results of the freedom society. In other words, the experiment has failed. Now, don't get me wrong. Democracy is the best we've come up with, but it is just as bad as the others. I heard a term the last few years: democratic dictatorship. Interesting term. Depends on who got the seat, but the.

Experiment, we've become imprisoned by our own pursuit for freedom. And so I present to you tonight, therefore, a simple conclusion. The source of our desire, and write this down real quick. Why man is searching? Here's what man is searching. Because all humans want the same thing. I beg you to understand, you and I are the same. But here's the problem. We are looking for the same answers to the same questions, but we use different routes and systems to try and find them.

This is where we get this idea about Unitarianism. You know, where all religions are right, all philosophies are right. This either comes from that concept that, well, since we're all the same, we are using different ways to get to the same place. But you see, I disagree with that because we began with the wrong question. The question is not what route are you using. The question is, have you identified the destination? This is very important, okay? Put another way, you thirsty? I'm thirsty. We're in a desert, and somewhere in the mountains, far away, is a pool of cool water. You decide to go that way. I decided to go this way. Now, what's important? The journey or the water? Huh? You know what's important? The thirst. You think it's the water. The water is the solution to the thirst. So the question should be, what are you thirsty for? Because you might not want water. So once identify what we both thirsty for, then water becomes the answer. So the human search has more to do with the question, what are we searching for, then what route are we taking.

Let me tell you what got. Demonstrate this. Every one of you need water. But each one of my friends over there have different things. He got to buy the rocks, a bag of sand, a bag of leaves. He got to buy a plastic jars. None of us, everybody got something. But I'm the only one with water, and you're thirsty. If you go a thousand routes and get to them, you're still thirsty. It's my parable. Are you getting it? You work hard, you go a thousand, everyone go their own way, and you end up with those guys. You, you're thirsty for water, but you find the guy where to buy the rocks. You are still thirsty. Another person find a guy with the plastic jugs, still thirsty. You find the guy with the by the sand, still. In other words, it's not just how you search, it's what do you need. If you can define what your need is, you can define what your destination should be. Your destination for thirst is water, not just people with other things. Is this getting through? Oh, this is so exciting to me because you see, we don't take time to think about what is the human searching for. And remember, all humans are searching for the same thing. They just don't know what it is because they lost the same thing. The question, what did they lose? This week is about what they lost.

So humans create religion. Religion is not the destination. Religions are the routes. So don't get excited about your religion, whether it is Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Scientology, Baha'i, Islam, or even Christianity. Because Christianity may not lead you to the kingdom. Oh boy. It might lead you to rituals. It might lead you to some, some other experience. But, but is it leading you to what Jesus brought? I put it this way. If Jesus Christ is God and he came to Earth to solve humans problems, then it's important to study what he brought. I put it another way. You know, if someone is taking Tylenol, what do you think is wrong with them? Headache. How about insulin? Diabetes. Oh, you guys are good. If someone needs water, what's wrong with them? Must be thirsty. If somebody needs food, what do you think is the need? They hungry. Their food. Yeah. In other words, you can tell what a person need is by what they want. Hallelujah. So if Jesus Christ is who he says he is, I'm bought what he said he bought, then we need to study what he bought. He never brought a religion. Which means then that in any religion, you're looking for the heart of man. Doesn't need religion. He never bought one. If you study what he bought, you discover what you lost.

So I go to see Seminary, spent four years, and they never told me what he bought. I studied all the commentaries on his life, but never what he bought. So I know everything about Augustine and it struggles with his sexual problems, which made him hate Earth and fall in love with heaven because he could not control his passions. And therefore, he created a theology of escapism. And that's the foundation of the Catholic and Anglican Church is Saint Augustine's theology, which was built on his struggles. They never taught me about Jesus and what he bought. If I was in Augustine, I too would want to lock up in a monastery and hide because I couldn't handle my loins. Jesus Christ enjoyed being with women and never had sex. He enjoyed being with 12 men and never slept with one of them. Total control. Why should I follow a man who had to hide behind a wall because he couldn't handle his loins, and he built a theology of hatred for the body when the Bible says the body was made for God and it's God's temple? How can I hate the temple? See, our theology have been built on things that are not what Jesus bought. He bought a kingdom with dominion and control. So our theology is built on the fear of our own bodies. Whatever you fear will always destroy you. What's the story of the church? Our bodies. We've learned to hate it. He made it. The last thing he said about the body was, this is good. He loves it so much, he wants to live in it. And we hate it.

Friends, all religions are result of the search. And we create this passion because we're all searching for someone we lost and something we lost. We searched for what we call the Supreme Being, divinity, the big man upstairs. They call them all kind of things. They, I mean, even though you know, even the atheist makes me smile. The atheist believes that the guy who is there doesn't exist. Let me say it slowly. The atheist believes that the guy upstairs doesn't exist. So they believe they got faith. Belief means faith. So there's no atheist on Earth because he believes there is no guy up there. So that's his faith. Now, he better be right. That's the issue. I'm not impressed with atheists. They got faith. Religion, the human search is a common denominator. We're all the same. I hope you leave this place tonight knowing that every society expresses this search in a Supreme Being somehow. I remember when I first went to Zimbabwe, they took me to the old ruins of the Africans who were there before it was Rhodesia. And when I went there, they had all these massive stone pillars and temples and these things, I mean, thousand years old. And the tour guide said that the Africans used to sacrifice, you know, animals and even sometimes their own children looking for this Supreme Being. In the back of those bushes, heart of the man, someone he misses, misses and something he misses. So he creates religion. Religion is the search. It's not the discovery. Trust no religion. They are just a search.

What you want to find out is, what did I miss? What did I lose? Because that determines which one of the guys have the right basket. You will discover in this seminar, without a doubt, and it'll be confirmed by your own conscience, that you missed dominion over Earth. You missed power. You miss the ability to control circumstances. You miss the power to dominate Earth. That's where the source of the desire comes from. We miss control. This is why witchcraft is so attractive. It gives you the promise of controlling people and circumstances and situations. That's why we love to be attracted to black magic and white magic. There's this hunger to control. That's why we love astrology. Somehow we believe if I could just figure out what tomorrow is before it comes, to control it. And so we are attracted to astrology. Whenever there's an offer of control, we are attracted because that's what we lost. We ain't lost what we were given. You were given dominion over Earth. We lost it.

Listen, no one in this room wants to be a millionaire. You know, it's not the money you want. It's to control. The money gives you. It gives you the power to control what you eat, what you wear, where you live, what you drive. You under control. So it ain't the money, it's the dominion it gives you. You want to be in charge of the department. You want your own business. You know why? It's the control. I got you. I know what you want. That's why in Christ came. Matter of fact, that last promise Jesus gave his students was this, you shall receive power. In other words, I know what you're looking for. Give him a handy. You say, hey, don't you want? He didn't say, I will give you worship. I will give you prayer meetings. I will give you songs. No, that ain't what you want. You want power. Not what you lost. And this search is not a choice, it's a necessity. And that's the power. The search gives you as a kingdom practitioner. When I walk in, I just came from Brazil three days ago, standing in front of 10,000 people. Stood up there with no fear. They were all business people, man, just powerful. Drum instead of. They have a joy. Him grabbed that microphone and confidence knowing what all them want. They don't want money, they want power. I gotta see. Once you know what they need, you in control. They gave me 10 standing ovations. Every word. Yes, yes. It was all Kingdom stuff. Christ never begged anyone to receive him. Never. Matter of fact, he said to them, without me, you can do nothing. I mean, he insisted you needed him. Why? He got your number. You want what he got. I got power. You need power. You, you were born a king. You lost your kingdom. You missed that. You are a king without a kingdom. He brought the kingdom back so you can be king again.

You lost control. You know what makes you depressed? By going to your house, they own your car, they own your furniture, they own your children's tuition payment, and they can call it in anytime. That's why you're sick. You're not built. Your blood pressure can't take it. The cells cry out saying no, and so the tumor starts to grow. And you're growing, and you wonder, why am I so sick? It's because the pressure. You ain't built for it. The Bible calls it worry. The world calls it stress. I call it lack of control. You know it feels good when you pay a bill off. Come on, y'all talk to me. I'm the last bill you paid off. You felt like running down the street saying, yes! Why? You tasted dominion for a brief moment. You were in control. I prophesy this will return. This will return. You'll see when you begin to understand this Kingdom revelation, you begin to see things that used to make you worry now make you smile. Well, we pick up here tomorrow morning. Take a deep breath. Thank you for joining us tonight. All right.