Charlie Lewis

Earlier this year, I wrote a blog series entitled “Who Am I?” in which I explored questions of identity, origin, and purpose for humanity (you can revisit the series here: Part One, Part Two, Part Three). I have since expanded and developed this content into a book entitled Who Am I? 5 Breakthrough Questions and Answers – Identity, Origin, Purpose. It will be the fifth book in the Kingdom System Series. We are preparing this book for launch very soon, and you will be able to pick it up for a donation at the Kingdom School & Ministry website.

In Who Am I?, the foundation is presented with supporting evidence for answers for your consideration to some of humanity’s most dominant and challenging questions. The quest for answers and for understanding these questions that are presented is universal. Everyone who is capable of thought and consideration asks these same questions. They are not complicated. However, so many of the answers and the assumptions that we have accepted in the past fall short of providing workable and satisfactory results and outcomes. They are often based on religious assumptions and not on relational and experiential data and facts. Finding correct answers is crucially important for the development of an accurate understanding of what is a real and an accurate description of success and in humanity’s ability to experience a successful and a meaningful life on this planet and forever.

Are we asking the correct questions? Most of the books and materials that are available for our consideration of what success is, address in detail “how” we can be successful in this life. I have written several books and a great deal of other materials that address our God’s plan for humanity’s success. Our God’s plans for us are for our success. Success that is real and that lasts forever, not just an understanding that is based only on the temporary, in-time portion of our life. What are the directions and the provisions that are supplied to us from our God? The short answer is that the Kingdom System is the method and the plan that our God personally delivered to the Earth for humanity to engage in and to employ in order understand what real success is and how to achieve their success personally.

For all of this to operate and to function successfully we must first understand “what” success is. I am confident we have developed a picture in our minds of what we have decided that success is for us and for others.  Are we correct? How did we arrive at our understanding? Was it by observation of the things that we see around us on this planet, and have we made a decision from that observation of what we wanted to accomplish and what we wanted to become in our life on this planet? Or, was it by the objective analysis and the critical evaluation of the issue of what success is in order to form a correct and qualified decision and understanding? Has your evaluation proven to be accurate? Can you look at your own experience and the results of others that you have observed, and categorically say, “I have it, this is it. This is what real and lasting success really is? Accurately understanding what success really is, is important. This is where we begin. What is real success for us personally?

The measure and the most commonly used determinant that most of humanity today and in the past considers to be the real test and the accepted standard for success is based on money and what money can buy. How much money do you have? How many “things” do you have that money has bought? Houses, property – land and buildings, automobiles, airplanes, boats, yachts, travel, vacation, entertainment, memberships, grown-up toys – motorcycles, water toys, ATVs, and clothes, jewelry, Businesses, Power, Fame, and a host of other “things.” All of these and many more that are not referenced here, are all temporary and they will not leave this planet with you. They are not transferrable.

Time is a finite commodity. We only get a set amount of time. Time is an extremely small portion of our eternity. When we depart time and enter the next component/experience of our eternity, the hereafter and our forever hereafter, there will be no more time for us. The here and now, is the smallest and the shortest component of our eternity, and the only time that we will ever receive or get in our existence as an eternal spirit. Is it worthy of note and important for us to recognize and to understand that we do not take the “things” that we have accumulated in time with us? Nor do we get credit for having had them. They do not add points to our hereafter experience.

Why then, do we live our lives as if time is all there is for us? Why would we spend and expend all of our time, and all of our effort in time, on time and in pursuing something or simply “things” that will not exist in the forever hereafter component of our eternity. We cannot be focused on the things that are confined to our present time and our experience on this planet and leave out and miss the most important part of who we are.

Outside of Family and our relationships on this planet that impact eternity, ours and theirs, most everything else (things) could be considered disposable. What does that mean? Intended to be used once, or until no longer useful, and then thrown away. We are only in-time once. This may be shocking and even appear to be somewhat severe. However, if the things and the pursuit of things which are exclusive to time are shutting out our ability to focus and to concentrate on things that are eternal and on our eternalness and the important matters of our forever, we should take whatever measures that are necessary to change the direction and the course of our lives, beginning with correctly prioritizing the way that we think and what we believe about time and what really matters in our life in time.

I have more thoughts on this subject that I will share with you next week. I’d love to hear from you in the comments below if the concepts I’m talking about resonate with you. Blessings on you!

How Then Shall We Live? The Answer

A Positional Statement

God the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth, Creator of everything, did not forget or leave out anything in His plans and directions for living successfully on planet earth. He did not leave us lost and without clear, precise directions. His plans are complete. His plans are not difficult to know. They are written clearly in His Word. They are difficult to perceive only when viewed through incorrect eyes. The eyes of this world. They are, however, crystal clear when viewed through the eyes of a reborn spirit and a renewed mind that is trained in His Word and directed by the wisdom that comes from the ever-living, abiding presence of the Holy Spirit God. It is inconceivable and utterly ridiculous to believe that our God, who has so completely provided such a beautiful place for us to live and furnished it with everything we need to live well, would not have provided a plan, a guide, telling us how to be successful no matter what the Kingdom of Darkness creates in situations, circumstances, and relationships around us.

It is important and extremely imperative to know that the Kingdom of Darkness has no power over the reborn spirit, or for that matter anyone who does not give them permission. Satan and his Kingdom work through deception. They create situations, circumstances, and relationships that appear insurmountable and look and feel certain to control your destiny. They cannot. They do not have the authority or power unless we/you give them permission.

Too often we have yielded authority and permission because we did not know we had power over the works of the Kingdom of Darkness and did not know how to use the tools God the Father has delivered to us as citizens in His Kingdom, The Kingdom of God. Citizens have rights under the Government (Kingdom) of which they are citizens. Each Kingdom (Government) has territory and the citizens in that territory have rights given to them by the King of their Kingdom. Their safety, well being, prosperity, healthcare, opportunity, and protection are the sole responsibility of the King of the Kingdom in which they are citizens. It would be a derelict, unworthy King who did not provide for the citizens of his Kingdom. The King actually owns everything in the Kingdom, and it is his honor and function to be the complete and only source and supply for his citizens. He must provide an atmosphere where his citizens can prosper and be in good health.

Citizens are not free to act indiscriminately without regard to and in consideration of the government of the Kingdom. Citizens are special. They are the highest form of recognition provided by the King. They have rights and privileges and responsibilities. They are not slaves or mindless, blind clones or robots. The King allows them the right to choose, the choice of how they will then live.

The King must provide the laws (Dynamics) of the Kingdom. The government – the rules, the dynamics, the principles and the opportunity to choose, is solely the discretion of the King. There is no Congress or Legislature to decide and write the laws. There is no majority voice of the people. The King decides and provides the laws (Dynamics) of the Kingdom. His laws must not be onerous or overbearing. They must be fair and reasonable. There is a conduct of behavior that goes with being in right standing with the King. Right standing entitles citizens to full Kingdom benefits. To be in right standing, a citizen must know the laws of the Kingdom. Not what someone said the laws were, but what the King said the laws are. If they know what the King has decreed then they can follow and obey and be in right standing with the King. Right standing entitles citizens to the full provisions of the King for his Kingdom. To enjoy the benefits of the Kingdom, one must know the benefits that are provided by the King.

All through the King’s Word, He tells His Citizens how they then shall live in order to be a Citizen in good standing and to be entitled to and receive the full benefits of the Kingdom. Those directions provide complete and total health, wealth, prosperity, peace, joy, love, redemption from the Kingdom of Darkness and full restoration of the government relationship and benefits of the Kingdom of Light – The Kingdom (Government) of God. The Words of the King are sure, they are steadfast and eternal. They cannot be voided. They do accomplish what the King says they will accomplish. They are immutable.

The King tells us that His plans for us are for good, for hope and for a future, and not for disaster.

This is Part 3 in an ongoing series I am writing about Justice, Equality, Law, and Fairness. Click here to read Part 1, and click here to read Part 2. In Part 2, we discussed our culture’s blatant disregard for our offspring — children — and how this disregard impacts our world. We pick up here on that same idea.

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On our planet today the number of orphans is quickly approaching two hundred million children. These are mostly biological orphans, and most of them are Fatherless orphans. However, where absentee Fathers are in large the greatest number, it is not limited to Fathers. In our travels around the Globe we have seen firsthand that in many countries the Mothers continue to have babies they cannot support or take care of and they end up abandoning these children as infants. Many are placed in dumpsters. In many countries the Governments do not make provisions for these children. If there are not missionary organizations or other concerned groups who sponsor and who take care of the orphans, they are left on their own. If there is an impairment or deformity, many (if not most) of these children are discarded, often in dumpsters.

I recall in Costa Rica a Lady who had gone there to teach English for a year, stayed several years and when the time was up, she hung around to enjoy the place. She encountered a group of several orphans who were severely deformed and there was no provision being made for them by the Government or anyone else. She spent her own money and lived in extreme poverty, caring for them. Four years later when we went to spend time helping her to get her place more accessible for the children (pouring concrete walks for the wheelchairs, painting the various small buildings inside and out, cleaning, securing clothes for her and the kids, among other things,) her number of children had grown to more than twelve. She had no help, financially or physically to assist with the children. They slept on bare mattresses without linens.  We were all contributing to buy linens, and when she discovered what we were doing, she came to us crying, thanked us, and asked if we would just help her purchase food for the kids and for herself.  We looked in the cabinets and storage areas, and there was no food anywhere. They had taken all of the food that they had to prepare a meal for us. We declined the meal and asked her to share the food with the kids.

In South Africa we took several loaves of bread to a small (6′ x 9′) shack in a village outside of the grounds of an orphanage where we were working, to give food to a family. When we entered the structure, there was a small cot next to the wall with an elderly man on it who was sick and confined to the bed. His wife was with him taking care of him as best she could. They both appeared malnourished. The smell of urine was very strong. They had four daughters living with them, probably late teenagers or in their early twenties. Each daughter had a child that appeared to be around a year old, and each daughter was very pregnant. There were no Fathers or men anywhere there to assist with the overwhelming needs. The daughters stated that they were not married. Yet, men had participated and contributed greatly to the horrible situation there. They had abandoned their seed and their responsibility to their seed.

In the more than sixty countries we visited where we taught Kingdom Values and Principles for a quality life of purpose, and where we did humanitarian and philanthropic works, without exception, each country had the same problem.  The number of orphans primarily from children without Fathers in their lives has grown at a staggering rate. This is a global challenge.

The United States is no exception. It has been said that “as goes the United States, so goes the World.” Every cultural and ethnic group is experiencing this. During the Depression in the 1930’s the Black Family in the US consisted of more than eighty percent of two parents. Today that number has almost reversed. Almost seventy plus per cent of Black Families in America today are single parent Families, with these offspring being raised by older Family members, usually Grandparents. Blacks are not alone in this. Hispanic children born out of wedlock now approach forty-two percent. American Indians are at the very high percentage approaching  sixty percent. Caucasian out of wedlock birth now approaches thirty percent. None of this is something we can or should be proud of.

The impact of this this is of grave concern for many reasons.

What has caused this shift in how we view our children and our responsibility to our children, our seed, our offspring? And, what does it matter? The results on our kids is devastating. We will review the impact on our children who do not have a Father in their life first, and then I want to research and review with you how we got here.

The following is a quote from President Barack Obama in his Father’s Day address in 2008.

We know the statistics – that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and twenty times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it.” 

President Barack Obama, 2008 Father’s Day Address

How large is the problem of Fatherless Families? How prevalent is this in our culture? The following is data from the Safe Haven Foundation report recently released.

One in three American children grow up without a Father. Approximately 15 million children according to the U.S. census. In fact, as the census recorded, the fact that 160,000. New families with children were added, the number of two parent households decreased by 1.2 million and nearly five million children live without a mother.

• An estimated 24.7 million children (33%) live absent their biological Father
• Of students in grades 1 through 12, 39 per cent (17.7 million) live in homes absent their biological Fathers.
• 57.6% of black children, 31.2% of Hispanic children, and 20.7% of white children are living absent their biological Fathers.
• According to 72.2% of the U.S. populations, Fatherlessness is the most significant family or social problem facing America.

Father absence contributes to crime and delinquency. Violent criminals are overwhelmingly males who grew without Fathers.

The poverty rate for Fatherless Households triple the rate for children in two parent families. In 2012, 47% of children in single parent families were poor, compared to 13% of children in two parent families. 47% of children in Fatherless households live in poverty.

75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers (drug and alcohol) are from Fatherless homes.

71% of high school dropouts come from Fatherless homes.

75% of teenage pregnancies are adolescents from single parent homes.

Children in Father-absent households have significantly higher odds of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a Father in the household experienced the highest odds. Department of Justice survey revealed that 39% of jail inmates lived in mother-only households. Approximately 46% of jail inmates had a previously incarcerated family member. One fifth experienced a father in prison or jail.

Children from Fatherless homes are 5 times more likely to commit suicide. Every 78 seconds a teen attempts suicide. Every 90 seconds they succeed. Separation, divorce and unmarried parenthood seemed to be a high risk for children/adolescents in these families for the development of suicidal behavior.

Do we understand the facts that are presented by these statistics? Have we not seen? Have we not observed for ourselves the tragic and the devastating impact on our Kids, our seed, the bone of our bone, and the flesh of our flesh, when as their Father and even as their Mother we are not there for them in their lives? It is as if we are condemning them to certain failure and assuring for them a life of misery and defeat.

No one who was thinking correctly would choose such a life for their offspring, their seed. Yet, this is so obvious. The results are not fabricated, and they do not lie. This is cultural, our beliefs, the way that we think, and what is acceptable to us, and this crosses all of humanity. Every race and every creed.

In our next installment in this series on Justice, we will continuing examining how we got to a place in our country and in our world where we have become comfortable with neglecting our responsibility towards our children. May our eternal, heavenly Father help us as we turn the tide in our culture, and once again place the correct value on our children, families, and above all, doing what is right.

In last week’s post, I mentioned that I believe Matthew 6:33 is one of the keys to resolving the inequity many people experience between the kind of life they actually experience day-to-day, and the victorious, triumphant, successful kind of life we read about in our Constitution, the Scriptures.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His way of doing and being right/correct, and as we find the Kingdom we will receive all the other things we perceive that we need in life. They will be added to our experience on Earth.”

Matthew 6:33 paraphrased

The Kingdom of God was not a new subject for Christ. It was the central theme of His teaching while He was on the Earth. It is not prominent in the teachings of faith today. It is not in the Apostle’s Creed, nor is it found in most of the doctrine of large organizations of faith. Why? That is an answer for another time. The answers we must address today are: 1) What is the Kingdom of God? 2) How does it operate, and how do we make it the experience of our lives? This knowledge and understanding directly impacts our ability to operate on the Earth in power, and authority and in dominion. We will answer these questions.

When Daniel was interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that God wanted him to know what was going to happen in the future on the Earth. He stated that there would be a succession of Kingdoms that would follow that would control the Earth. He stated that after these Kingdoms, another Kingdom would arrive on the Earth that would be an “everlasting, eternal Kingdom and its reign would not end.” Daniel further stated that this Kingdom would, “smash all the other Kingdoms into nothingness.”

History has shown that Daniel was describing (thousands of years before their appearance) the Medes, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. All of these Kingdoms operated under a system of laws and disciplines that they called Government. These governments required obedience and support from their citizens. In return, the citizens received benefits from the governments. It was during the reign of the Romans that Daniel said another Kingdom would arise and bring its government to the Earth. This is the Kingdom/government Daniel said would be eternal, everlasting and would be more powerful than any other nation before.

When Isaiah the Prophet spoke about the arrival of Jesus, he said the government would be on His shoulders. When God Himself as Jesus Christ brought the government of Heaven to Earth, it did not appear as many thought it would. No visible throne, or Army, or organization of 15 governmental houses for Senators and other Leaders was established or built visibly on Earth. John the Baptist continued to say the Kingdom of God is coming, and Jesus clearly stated that the Kingdom of God is here. Jesus said, I place it in you. Many then and today continue to miss it because its workings and operations do not often fit our preconceived perceptions.

We can be confident and know that the Kingdom of God is the government of God and is operating in the Earth. And it is very important that we recognize and engage/employ/utilize it, because as Jesus stated, His Kingdom/government rules over everything. Lesser authority must always yield to greater authority. There is no authority above the Kingdom/Government of our God.

Further research into our Creator and God and His nature, shows that He is a God of systems. Everything He has created operates within a system. The solar system, the system of stars, the system we call the Life Cycle, and the human body is an amazing example of many systems working together. For the Earth to remain in balance, these systems must operate as designed. It is clear that the Kingdom of God is the governmental system that God Himself delivered to the Earth for man/humanity to live and operate within so that man will have the power, and authority and dominion to direct the affairs of their lives. This system, the Kingdom of God, and its understanding are the missing piece for humanity to have the power to influence the outcomes of our lives. We do not have to be hopelessly swept along by the current of the lies of the defeated Satan. Through this system, our Creator has provided access to the power humanity needs for dominion and victory over the defeated Satan’s lies.

The tragedy is that for so long we have accepted his lies simply because we did not know about the Kingdom of God and its provisions and purposes. We do now, and we must tell everyone this Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom governmental system of our God. Our Creator would not give us a charge to live in dominion without providing a way to perform the directive. The written Agreement we have from our Creator is filled from beginning to end with the laws and disciplines necessary to follow and obey in order to walk experientially in a Kingdom governmental system relationship of power and authority of dominion.

In a recent study, I printed for our group’s review the places in the Agreement where the directions begin with the instructions that “if” and are followed immediately with the resulting “then”. It was over one hundred pages. Too often today we are taught the resulting benefits of the “then”, and the discipline of the “if” is not presented. Could that be why we appear powerless in our battles with the already defeated foes of the Kingdom of Darkness? We stand and declare the benefits and we have not been taught the discipline that activates them and makes them work in our lives. The results are that we get our backsides beaten by an already defeated enemy.

Israel complained to the Prophet Micah about a very similar situation. They performed all of the mechanics – sacrifices, attendance, prayer, etc., but none of it was being accepted. They did not know why or what to do. Micah told them that they knew because God had told them. He said, “Do what is right, love mercy and walk humbly before your God”. Discipline and obedience are the activators of the blessings. There is a most interesting phrase in these instructions that God as Jesus Christ gave to us in His instructions concerning the seeking the Kingdom governmental system of our God first. He followed those instructions with an explanation. He said that we were to operate within the guidelines of “His way of doing and being right or correct.” This must mean that there are many other ways we can choose to operate other than “His way of doing and being right.” How do we know the difference, and how do we engage and operate in “His way?”

In the letter to the Romans, we are told not to think like the world thinks, but to allow God to change the way we think to become the way He thinks. We are told to do so by renewing our minds with the Words of our Agreement with our Creator. We are then immediately told that we will understand how simple and clear His will is for us to see and know what to do in every situation we encounter. In summary, we are told to seek first the Kingdom governmental system of our God. We are then told to determine His way of doing things correctly. His way will very often be completely opposite of what we have learned. It may be uncomfortable at first. We are told to follow His way, and everything we need on Earth will be provided by those actions. We will fulfill the dominion mandate, and operate in power on Earth. We will be free from the tyranny and oppression of the Kingdom of Darkness.

So that is how the plan comes together. That is how it all fits into place. When we understand and operate within the living power of the Kingdom of our God, we will begin to experience the powerful, miraculous, and successful lives we were created to live. Does that excite you? It excites me! Praise be to our God!

In last week’s blog, I concluded with a question: Have you ever asked yourself why your/our experience is not in keeping with what we are told it is to be? Have you wondered, “Where is the ‘more than conquerors,’ ‘being made to triumph in every situation,’ ‘greater than he that is in the world,’ kind of life?” Is it reasonable for us to accept a way of life and relationship with our Creator that is far below what we are promised in our Constitution, the Scriptures? No, it is not.

And I have come to believe if a situation or circumstance is not reasonable based on the Agreement I have with my Creator, then there is something I do not know. Nothing can separate or keep me from Him or His blessings, except me. There has to be something I do not know and something I am not doing. Or, something I know but I am not doing. We are told to ask if we do not know and we will be told in clear terms and we will understand. I find in reality that more often than not it is a matter of relationship. Redemption gives access to all of the information about life we will ever need. Relationship is what opens the pipeline so communication and the resulting understanding functions properly, continually, and without a break in the flow. It is important to know that for there to be relationship, there must be fellowship.

Our Creator is continually asking us to spend time with Him. He longs for us to set aside time just for Him. He wants us to desire and to be hungry — ravenously hungry — to fellowship and spend time with Him. We must at first make the commitment for the time. Soon it will become a desire and a passion of our spirit. We will not be able to function without the time of fellowship. Most important, the fellowship will open a communication that cannot be obtained any other way. This is simple, but in relationship it is powerful and true. Spending time in fellowship will produce a relationship that will provide clear insight and direction on what the purposes and plans of our Creator are for humanity. That knowledge and understanding will be so evident and so simple that never again will it be difficult to see and to understand what our Creator’s plans and purposes are.

God’s plans do not change. And, His plans will not change. When He states something, it may seem like a very long time before it happens, but we can rest assured it will happen. Can anyone think of a better example than Joseph? How about Moses, or David, or you and I?? Abraham did not stagger at the promise of God, but held fast to His Words. When we spend time in fellowship with Him, our relationship will cause us to recognize His voice, and we will not follow the voice of another. We roll our works completely on Him. We commit and trust them completely to Him. We know and are comfortable with His will, His ability, and His commitment to perform His Words as we request.

So why then is there such inequity in what He says and has said about what our earthly experience is to be, and what we experience in our daily walk? When God came to earth as Jesus Christ, He told and taught us many things. One day He was teaching about life and the things we need for life, and He said something very important. He said that we should “seek first the Kingdom of God, and His way of doing and being right/correct, and as we find the Kingdom we will receive all the other things we perceive that we need in life. They will be added to our experience on Earth.”

I believe that this statement that Jesus made in Matthew 6:33 is one of the keys to living the kind of life that Jesus so frequently talked about. Next week, we will continue unpacking this thought, and we will see how the Kingdom of God relates to living the life you were created to live. I believe you will also begin to see the plan come together!