As I have been traveling the world teaching on the kingdom of God in many large Christian leadership conferences, I have noticed something of great concern to me. Since many pastors in Latin America, Europe and North America have come from a Roman Catholic background (or a city with a heavy Roman Catholic religious paradigm), their local church application of the kingdom message reflects this influence.
For example, the Roman Catholic Church, in theory, largely believes that their (Catholic) church is the physical manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth. This is why the pope is referred to as the vicar of Christ or as the prince of the kingdom on earth, representing God Himself as the leader of His church on earth. Hence, the Vatican is viewed as a nation with innumerable riches and her hierarchy has accumulated enormous wealth (its own Vatican Bank), political influence (the Vatican has its own ambassadors to various nations), as well as its own institutions of education, art, music and canon law (church doctrine, councils and legal procedures regarding various situations of applying church law both in church and in secular culture).
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