Kingdom Congress
  • Home
  • Vision
  • State Districts
  • Kingdom Congress Documents
    • Purpose of Kingdom Congress
    • K. C. Documents & Decrees
  • 7 Mountain Articles
    • Family
    • Business
    • Religion
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Media
    • Education
    • Government
  • Biblical View on Issues
  • Illinois Cultural Issues
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Videos
    • Law and Grace Lessons 1-20
    • Law and Grace Lessons 21-40
    • Covenant and Law Lessons 1-20
    • Covenant and Law Lessons 21-40
Front Page Article  
"The Lenses of Reformation
​Concerning Biblical Principles of War"

By Patti Amsden
The serpent, who was identified as a cherub, brought rebellion into his conversation with Eve at the Tree of Knowledge. He came into the conversation with conflict in his heart, divergence in his words, and disparity in his allegiance. An earthly battle was introduced from the spiritual dimension when the enemy of truth sought to align humanity with his side of the conflict. Mankind was brought into a pre-existing war. The Lord did not initiate the war but did acknowledge the conflict that the serpent had introduced into both the heavens and the earth when He announced that the warfare would continue until the utter and complete defeat of the serpent and all those in alliance with him (Gen. 3:15). Scripture uses the designation Yahweh Sabaoth, meaning Lord of heaven’s armies or Lord of the hosts, as a title for God 261 times in the Old Testament. The Bible presents God as a man of war who commands His troops, who are His angels, who assist Him in His spiritual warfare. Psalm 24:10 declares, “Who is this King of glory? The Lord of armies, He is the King of glory” (NASV). Spiritual warfare is not a separate activity from other throne room governance, rather spiritual warfare is the implementation of throne room justice and judgment. 
Reformation lens #1 – God did not create warfare, but God also did not abdicate His sovereignty nor surrender His cause once the war had begun. God directs warfare for the cause of righteousness and kingdom advancement. 

At times within scripture, God called His people to engage in warfare. In the case of Joshua, the population of the promised land had a sinister point of origin. The Nephilim (giants) bloodlines had been produced by fallen divine beings, a storyline previously communicated in the pre-flood world (Gen. 6). These giant offspring were not created by God, nor did they belong to God’s seed. Not only was their origin from unholy beings, but their pagan practices were also unholy and destructive. Scripture states that the very land was vomiting out these earth managers (Lev. 18:25). God was leading His people through Joshua into a holy war. The idea of a holy war stands in stark contrast to other kinds of war. Before his death, Moses instructed Israel on the rules of war. Those laws are defined in Deuteronomy 20. When God told the people to go to war, they were not to be afraid of their enemies because “the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you” (vs. 4). Next, the passage describes those who could be excused from battle. God was reinforcing that the battle was not going to be won by the sheer numbers of soldiers, the superiority of their weaponry, or the wise strategies of their officers. Heavenly armies would sway the outcome in favor of the people of God. Moses then commanded the people to offer peace to any enemies. Only if peace was rejected could the armies engage. These passages and other passages in the Torah describe just and humane treatment of conquered people. In the middle of Moses’ war rules, he makes the one exception, which is found in Deuteronomy 20:15-18 where God described His war with the giant nations as His holy war to cleanse the land, uproot evil, and crush the seed line of the serpent. God was judging these nations. Everything and everyone within those nations had been contaminated by the occult pagan practices of the fallen seed line of the serpent and was set under an order for complete and utter destruction.
Reformation lens #2 – God, Himself, engaged in war against the corrupt seed line of the Nephilim by way of the flood in Noah’s day and by way of this people in Joshua’s day. Only the nations identified as giant nations, namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (Deut. 20:17) were set for utter destruction; while other non-giant pagan nations were conquered by God’s help but without annihilation. 

During the old covenant era, all the nations were ruled by the lesser gods and were under the human management of demon-controlled leaders who cooperated with the area’s prince in the execution of his schemes. With the coming of Christ, the warfare became less about natural, physical warfare and more about warfare executed in the heavenly dimension. Jesus accomplished warfare against fallen powers in His life and ministry. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (I Jn. 3:8). In His death, He stripped Adamic-granted authority from the fallen angelic beings (Col. 3:15), and in His ascension, He received all the nations to be His possession and inheritance (Dan. 7:13-14).

After Christ and the reclaiming of all nations, evil spiritual powers lost their authority. The church was commissioned to occupy the reclaimed territory, which meant deposing spirits from their seats of spiritual power. Apostle Paul informed the church in Ephesus that they must wrestle with the spiritual strata over territories. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. 6:10-12).
Reformation lens #3 – In the New Testament economy, individual believers and the church as the body of Christ have not been called into physical warfare; but, rather, our warfare is spiritual. 

Nations and national leaders are commissioned through the powers God has given to the civil jurisdiction to serve as guardians and protectors of the people and the land within their boundaries. Part of the responsibilities of the civil government is to defend the citizens from enemies within and enemies without. To do so, the civil realm trains and maintains an internal system in the form of police and courts and external defense in the form of military agencies. When an enemy invades, the nation should be prepared to defend. When the citizens or the assets of a nation are threatened by invading forces, the nation should be prepared to defend. First, the nation should seek the Lord for His council, as can be discovered in several stories in the life of David (I Sam. 23:1-2; 2 Sam. 5:18-19) If and when the Lord confirms a war strategy, the rules of war found in Deuteronomy 20 must apply. Modern day forms of rules of war have been written, such as those from the Geneva Convention or international humanitarian law. 
Reformation lens #4 – When a nations security is threatened by invading armies or through terrorist activities, that threatened nation has the authority of God to engage in war and to expect that the Lord will aid them in their warfare as they follow the rules of war outlined within the scriptures. 

As Reformers, we must understand the difference between spiritual warfare that the individual and the church have been assigned and the natural warfare that falls within the jurisdiction of civil governments and nations. God is not against warfare when a nation is provoked and must defend itself, its borders, and its citizens. God is against nations that invade other nations for the taking of land, confiscation of raw materials or national product that are the property of the invaded nations, subjugation of the citizens and government of the invaded nations to advance the empire of the invader, and conducting criminal acts of war against the citizens that are not part of the military. 

During this season of war in the Middle East, we as Reformers should stay vigilant in prayer, seek the Lord for prophetic insights as to how to inform our prayers, and join with other prayer groups and organizations to provide spiritual protection and divine guidance for the nation. We should give charitable contributions to agencies that can be trusted to bring humanitarian relief to the war-torn areas. And now – as always – we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem. 


Archived Articles

​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Pretrial Fairness Act 
              July 7, 2023
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning the Price Tag of a Bureaucratic Government 
             July 7, 2023
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Education Funding in 2024 State Budget 
             June 1​5,  2023
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Failure to Pass State Budget
             May 25,  2023
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Budget Deficits
             May 12,  2023
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Taxation Laws
           April 20,  2023
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Local Elections 
           March 30,  2023
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Assault on Families 
           March 10,  2023
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning River Convergence and Ports
             ​February 2023
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning ESG II
           November 2022
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning ESG
           November 2022
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning ESG
           September, 2022
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning State Schools
            July, 2022
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Punishment and Imprisonment
            July, 2022
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Biblical Use of Power
            June, 2022
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Primary Elections
            June, 2022
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Amendment 1 and Civil Overreach into Other God-ordained Jurisdictions 
            May, 2022
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Amendment 1  
            May, 2022
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Critical Race Theory  
    December, 2021
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Vaccination of Children  
    November, 2021
​The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Parental Notification in  Abortion
               October, 2021
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning the Myth of Neutrality in Education 
               October, 2021
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Shema and Biblical education vs. Public Education
                   July, 2021
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Sex Education in Public Schools, Part II
                   July, 2021
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Sex Education in Public Schools
                   July, 2021
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Thrones of Iniquity
                   May, 2021
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Police Reform Laws
             February, 2021
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR)
               January, 2021
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Redistricting
               January, 2021
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Mayflower Compact
            November, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Right to Vote
            October, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Graduated Tax Amendment​   
​
              September, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Awakening
            July, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Illinois Monuments
            July, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Illinois Governors and Corruption
            June, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Illinois Governors and State Racial Equality
            June, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning the Civil Realm and Overstepping Authority 
            May, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Righteous Civil Actions and the Pandemic
            May, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning the Curse and a Plague
            April, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Covenant
            March, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Societal Corruption
            March, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Corruption in Illinois Civil Servants 
            February, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning the Morality of Recreational Marijuana 
            February, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Legalizing Marijuana 
            January, 2020
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Ekklesia and Apostolic Alliances 
            December, 2019
The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Abortion and Gate-keepers
            November, 2019
 The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Restoring Ancient Pathways
            October, 2019
 The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Kingdom Management by the Ekklesia
          September, 2019
 The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Building Local Ekklesia Alliances
                August, 2019
 The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Covenantal Stewardship over the Earth
                  July, 2019
 The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Government Involvement in Farm Subsidies
                   July,  2019
 The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Progressive Income Taxes
                   June,  2019
 The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Income Taxes
                   June,  2019
The Lenses of 
Reformation Concerning Mercy and Natural Disasters

                   May,  2019
The Lenses of 
Reformation Concerning State Treasurer and Comptroller  

                   May,  2019
The Lenses of 
Reformation Concerning State Government and Record-Keeping  

                 April, 2019
 The Lenses of Reformation Concerning the Role of Courts and Civil Justice
                 March, 2019
Illinois:  The Apostolic State; A Call to Leaders
       November 30, 2017
Illinois:  The Apostolic State
       November 28, 2017
Biblical View on Minimum Wage, Part 3
     September 28, 2017
Biblical View on Minimum Wage, Part 2
     September 14, 2017
Biblical View on Minimum Wage
          August  31, 2017
Biblical Case for Civil Taxation, Part 3
           August 3, 2017
Biblical Case for Civil Taxation, Part 2
            August 3, 2017


Biblical Case for Civil Taxation, Part 1
               July 13, 2017

Business:  Plunder and Free Will Contracts
               May 25, 2017

Business:  The Engine of Dominion
               May 25, 2017

Man's Inheritance of the Earth 
            May 11, 2017

Building the City of God 
            April  2, 2017


Judgment on the Fallen Kosmos 
            March 2, 2017

Discipling the Nations: The Fallen Kosmos
        February 2, 2017


A New Administration Takes Office:  Who Must Keep the Law?
          January  19 2017

Welcoming 2017:  A Year of God's Provision
        January  5, 2017

Discipling the Nations: God's Earth under Man's Stewardship
        December 8, 2016

Discipling the Nations: Teaching all Nations
        November 17, 2016

Ekklesia:  Revelation of the Rock Mountain             August 25, 2016
Ekklesia:  Upon This Rock I Will Build My Church 
            August 11, 2016
..
Ekklesia; The Background of Caesarea Philippi 
              July 28, 2016.
Ekklesia; Moses #1 and Moses #2 
              July 14, 2016
Ekklesia; The Nature of the Christ's Courts, #3 
              June 23, 2016
Ekklesia; The Nature of the Christ's Courts, #2 
              June 23, 2016
Ekklesia: The Nature of the Christ's Courts, #1 
              June 2, 2016.
Ekklesia: The Nature of the Lowest Courts, #2 
              May 19, 2016

Ekklesia: The Nature of the Lowest Courts, #1 
              May 5, 2016
Ekklesia:  The Authority of Biblical Courts 
             
April 28, 2016

Ekklesia:  Judicial  Activity
             
April 14, 2016
Ekklesia:  Maturity through Responsibility  
             
April 7, 2016
Ekklesia:  Shared Yoke  
           
March 31, 2016.

Ekklesia:  Shared Power  
           
March 24, 2016.

Ekklesia: The Power of Unity       
           
March 10, 2016
.
Ekklesia: Economic
Subordination  
      
           
March 03, 2016.

Ekklesia: Earned Authority       
        
February 25, 2016

Ekklesia: The Nature of Ekklesia Authority       
        
February11, 2016

Ekklesia: Called-Out and Set-In Authority       
        
February 4, 2016.

Ekklesia: Greek City-States
       January 28, 2016

The Church: An Ekklesia not a Synagogue
       January 21, 2016

Ekklesia:  The Governmental Function of the Church
       January 14, 2016

Ekklesia:  The Quest for Truth
       January 7, 2016
Ekklesia:  Keys of Kingdom Management, Part 2
       November 24, 2015

 Ekklesia:  Keys of Kingdom Management
      November 17, 2015
 Ekklesia:  God's Appointed Stewards
      November 12, 2015
A Resurrected Ekklesia:
        November 5, 2015
Ekklesia:  Lift Up Your Heads, O You Gates 
        October 22, 2015

Ekklesia:  Opening the  Gates of Death 
        October 8, 2015

Ekklesia:  The Gates of Hell shall Not Prevail 
        October 1, 2015

The Ekklesia Built by Christ 
     September 24, 2015
Dismantling the Older Covenant Order 
     September 17, 2015
Blessed are the Meek and Inheriting the Earth 
       September 9 ,2015
Covenantal Faithfulness and Stewarding the Earth 
           August 27 ,2015
Covenantal Sanctions 
           August 20 ,2015
The Ratified Covenant 
           August 13 ,2015
God's Everlasting Covenant  
              August 6,2015
The Nature of Covenant  
                 July 30,2015
Leviathan and The Transfer of Wealth 
                 July 23,2015
Leviathan and Mammon 
                 July 16,2015
Leviathan, Cheating in the Trade 
                 July 9,2015
Leviathan and Power Economics
                 July 2,2015
Leviathan, A Demonic Principality
              June 18, 2015
Leviathan, Controlling the Commerce of a Nation
              June 25, 2015
Leviathan, King of Pride
               June 11, 2015
Escapist Religion
                 June 4, 2015
Dual Citizenship
                May 28, 2015
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.