Kingdom Principles

Introduction

nature—our desire to worship and serve some deity that we claim to be benevolent and loving, while at the same time demonstrating a destructive zeal motivated by our “allegiance” to this same deity. Along the way I too lost faith in the concept of religion and in a real sense had to seek for something beyond and superior to these defec tive practices created by man. Yet religion is a natural phenomenon that exists in some form in every human culture—and always has. Primitive and modern human societies alike manifest religious rituals that define their cul ture and communal life. This raises the natural question: What is the source of religion, and why is it such a natural, inherent characteris tic of the human spirit? Thirty-five years of research and personal exploration of this question have led me to the conclusion that religion is the result of an inherent hunger in the human spirit that man cannot define yet must seek to satisfy. This indefinable hunger, arising from a vacuum created by the loss of something man used to possess, drives him to pursue answers beyond his own realm. Generations of humans have attempted to satisfy this hunger through superstitions, sophisticat ed rituals, customs, and practices that often seem to defy human logic and reason. Most human religious activities attempt to deal with the questions of mankind’s existence and purpose as well as life after death and the unknown spiritual world. Many of these religions are attractive because they promise their adherents power to control the circumstances of their daily lives. Whether or not they can deliv er on this promise is another matter. The purpose of this book is to help you address these questions and to present to you a proposition that goes beyond religion straight to the heart of mankind’s greatest need and offers a solution to this universal human search. I am convinced that every person on earth ultimately is searching for two things in life: power and pur pose . All of us look for meaning for our existence and the power to control our lives and our circumstances; power to determine the future and predict the unknown; power over death and life. We seek

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