Describing A New World Map

The concept of ‘nation’ keeps on changing; it is undergoing a metamorphosis as humanity continues to experience radical social, economic and political changes on a global scale. As a kingdom people, we do know that such changes are not merely rooted in social scientific reasoning but that God Himself is effecting these changes.

Act 17:26  From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

We know that the creation of nations (ethnicities or people groups) is an act of God Himself. God does not only create nations, but He also creates times (seasons, opportune times, period of opportunities) and places (boundaries or spheres) within which such people groups are to exist.

Let us track three major phases in the evolution of the concept of ‘a nation’.

• (1) Nations as ethnic-based and geographical defined entities: there was a time when nations were defined along clear lines of colour, culture and geographic boundaries. This was largely before cross interaction of different ethnicities through human migration and nomadic lifestyles. This was a reality in the pre-Colonial Age, before European voyages into the nations of the South. In this age, nations were easily discerned and human politics was quite simple. The example here is that the Zulus, Xhosa etc. had their own lands where they expressed their culture, politics and economics.
• (2) Nations as Ethnically Integrated but Geographically defined Entities: this represents a second generation of nations. These national entities were created as voyagers travelled around either in a quest to search the cosmos or as a result of desire to expand their political-economic territories. These are the national entities that we currently have in the 21^st century. These national entities have produced new identities and cultures, e.g. there is a big question in Africa right now as to who is truly an African. When you listen even to Pan-African Scholars, they no longer define ‘African’ only by colour but by consciousness. One example of this is SA; here we have Whites, Blacks, Indians and Coloureds all living together in one geo-politically defined state as South Africans. There is currently migration by Africans into Europe and this will raise serious questions about who is a Europeans, and European countries on the other hand are battling with these new social developments. European Political Thought has to migrate in order to embrace this new reality.
• (3) Nations as Consciousness Based Entities that are not defined by Geo-Political Boundaries or Ethnic Identities: The next phase in the evolution of the concept of a nation will be the formation of Consciousness Based National Entities. These nations are not defined by geo-political boundaries but by shared consciousness. These nations therefore exist as custodians of human civilisation. Congress WBN is an example of such a nation in the earth with no geo-politically defined economic and social arrangement. This issue actually reminds me of the wisdom of the ant, the ant has no commander, no overseer, no ruler and yet ants have a properly working socio-economic activity (Prov 6:6&7). The arrangement of ‘ant life’ therefore allows us to peep into a fully matured apostolic reformation age, that such an age becomes a time of rearranged and redefined human existence, a time of removing all forms of institutionalism (no commander, no ruler, no overseer). The second example of such a nation is AlQaeda. You will never see the Office of the President of AlQaeda, you will never see its foreign ministry or its department of economics and yet the entity is alive and functional. AlQaeda has been giving the 21^st century empire (the United States) sleepless nights. Its (AlQaeda’s) military is functional and effective and yet it has no military base. These developments give us sight into the mind of God, to see where humanity is going and how we need to rearrange church.

There are therefore three elements that glue or that make up a Consciousness Based National Entity:

• (1) Shared Consciousness: in this nation group, people have same mentality and worldview. They have a common angle from which they see the world and from which they approach life in general. To them, colour of skin is becoming more and more an issue of skin pigmentation; these people are glued by spiritual intangible elements. They are glued by a common system of thought (philosophy).
• (2) Shared Value System: in these nation groups, people share moral standards and they have a common source from which they define morality, it can either be religion or whatever.
• (3) Shared Cause: in these nation groups, people share a cause and such a cause can be about global justice, economic development etc.

The Role of the Internet in the emerging Consciousness-Based Nations: Internet is already providing platforms for consciousness-based nations to emerge. Communities in the internet are being formed along the lines of shared cause and shared consciousness. There is a lot of dialogue, persuasion and conversion happening on-line as we speak. If the word says, ‘Paul reasoned with them, explaining and proving’ (Acts 17:2&3) then we need to rethink platforms of evangelism and teaching.

What is the Real Prophetic Context of this new emerging national entity?

• God talks about His own nation in 1 Pet 2:9. This nation of God is not premised on cosmetic identity but on spiritual identity. The new world map is therefore providing for the first time, an environment in which we, the nation of God can function freely without hindrance. This is why God is changing the way human existence is arranged. Remember in Isa 45, when God talks about Cyrus, He says, ‘for the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen one, I summon you (Cyrus) by name’ (vs.4). This implies that God is bringing significant political changes in 21^st century human existence in order to create a context and space for His people to shine and express the kingdom of God without hindrance.
• God talks about building a city without walls (Zech 2:4). And so God is calling for the building of a borderless civilisation that knows no cosmetic limitation (ethnicity, gender, colour etc.). God in fact says He will be the wall of the city (Zech 2:5), and so the only limitation to this civilisation will be a defined nature or value system of God.
• The new emerging national entities are providing a new world order in which Zion can be expressed without limitation. Apostle John says, ‘I saw new heaven (i.e. new spiritual architecture) and new earth (new natural architecture) Rev 21:1’. Zion lands upon a newly defined human existence.
• This new generation of nations is providing an environment for our effective discerning of an anti-Christ system. For the first time, we will see that truly the anti-Christ system is a system of thought and human doings that express itself equally to the rich and the poor, the young and the old etc. (Rev 13:16). For the first time we will see that human politics that is still locked up in First World-Third World battles or on the colour of skin is actually obsolete. The kings of the earth (both in first and third world nations) committed adultery with the prostitute (Rev 17:1-2), and so for the first time we will see that first world-third world politics is second-level politics, above which is a reality of one king, the prostitute who sits upon many waters (Rev 17:1). We will see that the mix of development and underdevelopment is in fact the manifestation of a satanic system – within this frame of human existence, there will never be global balance, hence Africa’s Development must be led by Architects who are Apostles and Prophets if it is not to introduce humanity to a new age of inequality (there is significant wisdom in the positioning of Africa’s Development with Apostolic Reformation). We will therefore see that the anti-Christ system extends its reach equally to the rich and the poor, first and third world. And so therefore we are talking about the rising of our prophetic consciousness to see the same world we have always seen but now from an elevated sight.
• This new dispensation is facilitating for the emerging of a true church, one whose identity is not rooted in physical tangible elements. Jesus talks about the rising of true worshippers, who will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem but those who will worship in truth and in spirit (John 4:21, 23&24). This represents our ultimate adjustment process as we align ourselves with divine architecture (God is Spirit and His worshippers must worship in Spirit). And so we are talking about the redefinition of points of common identity, that points of identity are no longer connected to the building in which we gather to worship but to the value system we share. We are therefore being brought to a place of venueless-ness in terms of our shared identity.

What are the Implications of Living in the Age of Consciousness-Based National Entities?

• (1) We need to rethink the Model of Church. If we find ourselves functioning in the midst of the world where institutionalism is becoming obsolete, we also need to move away from an institutional leadership-administrative orientation of church development, where everything is measured by the meeting of the saints on Sunday and not by the co-existence of the saints in Christ. The generation and or the age in which we find ourselves is being more and more obsessed with crafting systems that facilitate how humans live as opposed to crafting systems that facilitate how humans meet in a building. If we fail to adjust, we will see a major exodus out of the church by emerging generations in the same way that obsolete church movements experienced youth exodus in the past. Every Senior Elder has to rethink the building process, the big question being, are we building church meetings or systems for collective integrated human existence. Our measuring rods must be changed radically where we do not merely celebrate numerical increase and successful meetings to celebrating harmonious on-going co-existence by the saints. So that as long as there is jealousy and quarrelling among the saints then we know that we have not attained to mature spiritual positions (1 Cor 3:1-3). Mature spiritual positions have to do with how believers co-exist and not mere manifested gifts and expression of revelation on Sunday. Mature spiritual positions therefore have to do with building social, economic and even political systems to facilitate our co-existence in Christ, where giving ceases to be a Sunday ritual only into becoming the ethos of our existence (if one has two tunics, he must share with the one who does not have – Luke 3:11). The Bible talks about the ethos (the habit, the culture) of meeting in Heb 10:25 and not the programme of how to share a cup of tea after Sunday meeting. And so within this context, fellowship becomes a behavioural pattern and not simply a church or institutional programme. We need to build systems of our collective existence in Christ; this is why Paul was even talking about establishing judicial systems right inside the church (1 Cor 6:4) – he was talking about building systems for human existence.
  We therefore need to create a new operational base for churches, where the thing that brings the saints together is not the activity of meeting but shared existence – shared values, shared cause, shared consciousness. We have to bring the church to a place of venueless-ness, meaning that the primary point of identity among the saints is not the place or day of meeting but shared existence, upon which we then can meet. The big issue is how many churches can exist like AlQaeda, administering operations effectively without a formal operational base – such questions are crucial especially if we will live successfully in times of intense persecution.
• (2) Senior Elders must function more and more as Architects of Human Civilisation and Facilitators of Human Existence and not as Priests who function in a Temple – and this automatically calls for new competence. The big question that any Senior Elder (SE) will have to answer primarily is how do SEs help people live together in Christ. The emphasis of a ‘Blessed Zion Life’ is rooted in the pleasure of seeing systems being built for humans to live together in unity (Ps 133). We still have to address issues of human integration, the breaking of the dividing wall of hostility (i.e. all forms of human intolerance, including racism) so that we create one new man (Eph 2:14-20). And so true Apostolic thinking is producing a new fresh spiritual orientation, we are in a time of rethinking church.
• (3) Senior Elders must function in a broadened framework where they are building their Kingdom Communities (or local churches) within the broader context of crafting Zion, a civilisation for perfected humanity. Within this context, it makes sense to relate with a fellow Senior Elder. We have to come out of isolated spirituality rooted in individualistic ambitions (Isa 14:12-15) and learn to function in apostolic spheres: where what we are building on the ground is rooted on globally declared apostolic standards – ‘the laid foundation’ – [note that the word ‘foundation’ is a singular form] (1 Cor 3:10,12-15), where our individual prophetic insights are marinated by apostolic frequency (1 Cor 14:36-38), expressed in a systematic coordinated fashion (1 Cor 14:29-33) and expressed with a deep sense of apostolic protocol (1 Cor 14:31-33&40). Truly, when nations come to such an environment, they will acknowledge that God is with us (1 Cor 14:24-25).
• (4) In this age of consciousness-based nations, the saints must break limited ‘local church’ mentality and develop global consciousness in their hearts. Apostle Peter says, ‘we must resist the devil, standing firm in the faith (shared consciousness, shared value system and shared cause) because we know that ‘our brothers throughout the world’ are undergoing the same kind of suffering’ (1 Pet 5:9). The NKJV calls this: ‘our brotherhood in the world’. We therefore are coming to an age where for believers to resist oppositional forces effectively, there must be a heightened global consciousness in their hearts, so that even though they find themselves in their own little gardens (Gen 2:8&15) yet they do not lose sight of a globally shared life.
• (5) In such an age, the Christos will be seen in how we co-exist and not just in how we meet and perform spiritual operations (John 13:34&35). So therefore we have to rethink the faith, the faith must be expressed more and more as a civilisation (a city) and not as religion (the temple).
• (6) This age of new national entities is also bringing change of thought in terms of systems of governance. That big question, ‘who is the king’, when the Bible talks of kings coming to our light, comes to mind (Isa 60:3). The current reality in 21^st century global politics is that platforms like United Nations are becoming more and more obsolete in solving global political crises. E.g. you can never go to UN to address the issue of terrorism because an institution like UN does not acknowledge AlQaeda as a nation state nor does it acknowledge Osama Bin Laden as a President of a nation. This therefore means that you can never address the topic of terrorism at the UN, with one very important stake holder (Osama) being absent. At the same time, if we talk about mediation initiatives between nations then we need to create new diplomatic platforms; we need new global institutions (I saw a new earth – Rev 21:1) that acknowledge consciousness-based nations.

We therefore find ourselves living in times of radical world changes, but such changes are ‘summoned by God for the sake of Jacob my servant’ (Isa 45:4). It has never been so exciting to live – when we interact with all these changes, nothing moves inside our lives because we were brought to ‘this kingdom’, we were brought to the earth for such a time as this. Like Jeremiah, we once existed in the mind of God as divine thoughts, we once existed in God’s Divine Consciousness and now we find expression in time and space, well configured for these times. Competencies are arising inside us, such an arising; such activation will not end until all is built completely for us to migrate to the next age!