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# Clash of Kingdoms.
- URL: https://www.belonging.house/clash-of-kingdoms/
- Published: 2025-09-07T22:31:39.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-25T00:50:21.000Z
- Description: A series on Spiritual Warfare for Artists.
- Author: Christ John Otto
- Tags: Jesus, Kingdom of God, Spiritual Warfare, Podcast, #Migrated-1784940061448, #Import 2026-07-25 00:49

Clash of Kingdoms.

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Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMark 1:21-28  
  
This week we begin a series on   
the Clash of Kingdoms.  
We are talking about spiritual warfare.  
This week's teaching is dense,  
and I encourage you to take notes,  
and spend time listening to the recording.  
  
In this series we are going to cover  
the Kingdom grid  
your authority and identity in Christ  
the weapons of our warfare  
the nature of witchcraft  
curses, and how to be free from them  
and living a victorious Christian life.  
  
Very few people understand  
that all we do   
as Christian disciples  
is spiritual warfare.  
  
And for us in Belonging House  
we are called to the epicenter  
and the most intense area of this war:  
we are called to the area  
of culture,  
the arts,  
and the world of imagination.  
This arena  
is where the battle lines are drawn  
and the conflict over  
who will control the   
hearts and souls of men and women  
is waged.  
So for artists and creative people  
an understanding of spiritual war  
is essential.  
A lot of the stuff I see in the realm of  
Christians in the arts would not happen  
if more artists and leaders understood this.  
  
Most of the battles we face  
are between our ears.  
Mental battle  
is the core of the spiritual battle,  
and why the forces of darkness  
work so hard to fill our imaginations  
with lies, dark images, and bad thoughts.  
  
We heard the first reading from the Gospel of Mark  
because I wanted you to see   
the clash of kingdoms   
played out in scripture.  
This passage from the first chapter of Mark  
is the oldest written description of the ministry of Jesus.  
  
This is Peter's retelling of the events to Mark.  
The ministry of Jesus  
begins with him going to the Synagogue  
in Caparnaum  
near his own house  
and teaching.  
And the sound of his teaching:  
the proclamation  
that the Kingdom of God  
is at hand  
elicits a reaction  
not from the people  
but from the unclean spirits  
that had attached themselves to the people.  
  
And Jesus has authority,  
by his very nature  
as the Incarnate Son of God  
to cast them out.  
Right from the beginning of the ministry of Jesus  
we are presented with a conflict  
between unseen forces that are described as "unclean"  
and Jesus, who is the Holy One of God.  
  
Bill Johnson once said   
that in the Old Covenant you cannot go near a leper  
because you will become unclean.  
In the New Covenant when you go near a leper  
the leper becomes clean.  
And this is a great description of two grids:  
the Kingdom Grid  
and the Religious Grid.  
  
A lot of the teaching people receive   
on the subject of spiritual warfare  
is from a religious grid.  
Jesus Christ never came to start a religion.  
He came to establish his Kingdom.  
And so we have to sort out our belief system.  
I use the word  
"grid"  
but you could also use the word  
"worldview"  
or "filter."  
People organize their understanding of the Bible  
and their experience through a grid.  
And for most of us here,  
we have received a post-reformation  
religious grid.  
And for many evangelical protestants  
this grid is based in the legal system  
and the idea of the substitutionary atonement.  
  
In other words  
God is the judge,  
I am guilty,  
and Jesus, the perfect substitute  
takes my place and I am pronounced innocent.  
Unfortunately,  
God the Supreme Judge (a phrase that does not appear in scripture)  
still knows that I am really a rat  
so I better obey God as best I can  
and keep all God's precepts line by line  
or else I am going to suffer the consequences of sin.  
Amazing grace was great,  
but I am still a wretch  
who has to try to make God happy in my own strength  
or else.  
And so,  
I learn as much information as possible  
and memorize as much Bible as possible  
and be more disciplined  
in order to try to be more like Jesus  
and I learn as many ministry gimmicks as I can  
in order to get my prayers answered  
and in order to win in spiritual warfare.  
And so I need to name demons, and learn all about them.  
I need to learn the right prayers,  
and I need to disect my weak soul into all the parts that might need   
deliverance.  
And if I buy all the right books or go to the right training  
I can learn all the prayers that other weaklings found out  
work against the big fat demons  
who rule this present darkness.  
  
I will somehow be okay  
if I keep digging into my past  
to find the roots of all my wretchedness  
and hopefully be blessed somehow  
before Jesus comes   
and he rescues me   
with his rapture vac  
because things in this world are just going to get  
worse and worse.  
  
It makes me tired just talking about it.  
  
Because of this prevailing religious grid  
people come to the area of spiritual warfare   
making two critical, tactical mistakes.  
  
First, they believe they are weak sinners,  
except for the righteousness of Jesus   
if they hide behind him,  
and they believe that the spiritual forces of wickedness  
are very strong,  
and we have to do a lot of stuff to win   
against them.  
And if you don't do the right stuff,  
you are going to lose.  
It breeds a victim mentality,  
and an obsession with the demonic.  
And so people get fixated on naming demons  
and learning spiritual warfare methods.  
If our forefathers had done this,  
Pagan Europe would never become Christian.  
  
C.S. Lewis once said that Christians make two errors  
when talking about the demonic.  
Some believe that it should be ignored,  
and are blind to the supernatural conflict we suffer,  
and others become obsessed,  
and eventually get drawn into forms of the occult.  
Whatever you look at   
grows and becomes bigger.  
  
I have told you what a religious grid looks like,  
now lets look at the Kingdom Grid.  
Many people come to passages in their Bibles  
that do not make sense,  
and they do not fit the grid they were taught.  
Part of this is reading a verse by itself  
and trying to understand it with no context.  
Context is everything.  
And so,  
you either skip those passages  
or make up weird interpretations.  
There is only one interpretation:  
God is the Father.  
The Father is looking for a bride  
for his Son,  
so that he can have a big family  
who can sit around his table forever.  
In order to accomplish this  
the Son  
chooses to sacrifice himself  
for the Bride.  
And the son embraced the cross,  
and put to shame all forces of the demonic realm  
who oppose God's Kingdom.  
And now,   
it is finished.  
The Son died,  
and he rose again,  
and now has been given all rule and authority  
and is over and above all things.  
All things are now under his feet.  
Jesus is the King.  
And Jesus is taking territory   
for the Father   
by redeeming human beings  
and filling them with the Holy Spirit  
so that they can be his Image in the earth  
and expand the rule and reign of the Father.  
Every redeemed human being   
has been given dominion over the created realm  
to be God's Image in the earth.  
You are called to rule and reign on earth  
as a representative of the King,  
Jesus.  
Jesus accomplished D-Day,  
the victory is completely won.  
We are in combat to expand and increase that victory.  
  
Everything in this Kingdom  
is practical.  
If you cannot experience it  
it is not the Kingdom of God.  
  
And if you get a Kingdom Grid  
you soon discover that most of what Christians  
argue about is   
religion.  
  
Any time you come upon a passage of scripture  
that you cannot understand,  
sit with it,  
and ask the Lord to show you  
how this reveals the Kingdom.  
It will begin to make sense.  
  
Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God.  
Acts 10:38 tells us   
"Jesus Christ went about doing good,  
healing all those who were oppressed by the devil."  
Paul tells us in Romans 1  
that if you confess with your mouth  
Jesus is Lord  
and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead  
you will be saved.  
And Jesus tells us in John 3  
you must be born into this Kingdom  
by water  
and the Holy Spirit.  
So once you are baptized,  
you become a new member of this Kingdom.  
And this Kingdom is   
a royal priesthood,  
a holy nation,  
a unique people  
and you are new creation,  
a redeemed human being  
both spiritual and human  
and the old is gone.  
You are not a sinner anymore,  
you are now,  
as the Greek says a "Holy."  
In Romans 12:1-2  
Paul says  
that now you are "a holy,"  
you have to walk it out  
by worshiping God daily by offering your body  
to God as your worship  
just like when Mary said,  
"Let it be to me according to your word."  
Your body then  
becomes a physical temple for the Holy Spirit,  
and you have to choose to be transformed  
by the renewing of your mind.  
This is not about learning new information,  
but rather  
about giving up your human thought system  
for a Kingdom one.  
The Greek word for this is "metanoia."  
  
Isaiah 55 tells us   
His ways are not our ways,  
his thoughts are not our thoughts.  
You can't think up your own way and ask God to bless it.  
The core ideas of the Kingdom challenge our human thought system.  
And here they are:  
  
1.  
In this Kingdom  
every thing is about the voice of the King.  
Jesus said in John 10  
"my sheep hear my voice,"  
and the most important thing   
is to be in relationship with the Shepherd  
and follow that voice.  
  
Notice I never say,  
"learn what Jesus says and obey."  
That is the law and religion.  
It is death.  
I say, "listen to the Lord and do what he tells you."  
The Kingdom demands a relationship.  
Religious performance doesn't require your connection to Jesus.  
Leaning something and trying to be obedient  
implies human effort and punishment.  
The religious grid is fear based,  
the Kingdom grid is love based.  
  
2\.   
This Kingdom requires sacrifice.  
Jesus says  
"take up your cross and follow me  
and I will give you life."  
You die first  
and then you live.  
You let go first  
and then you receive.  
You step out of the boat  
and then you walk on the water.  
Again,  
this is all about trust and relationship.  
  
3\.   
This Kingdom is not about rules.  
There is only one law in this Kingdom,  
love one another.  
And Jesus defines love:  
a man lays down his life for his friends.  
The love of the Kingdom   
is laying your life down for others.  
Putting others first.  
We are back to sacrifice and listening to God.  
It is all about relationship.  
  
4.  
This Kingdom is supernatural.  
Sometimes we hear this word and we get weird.  
Weird is not a Kingdom value.  
Jesus said  
that the blind would see,  
the deaf would hear,  
the lame would walk,  
the dead would rise,  
the poor would be given good news,  
and the prisoners would be set free.  
These things are beyond our ability.  
They happen with resources   
that are beyond our earthly resources,  
and these abilities  
come from the Holy Spirit,  
who brings life to every person who comes into the Kingdom.  
The Holy Spirit working in our lives  
is the pledge and seal of eternal life  
and the power within us to live in the Kingdom.  
This is why Jesus said,  
"the Kingdom of God is within you."  
This is an inside out kingdom.  
When God lives in you,  
Paul said in I Corinthians we are given the mind of Christ.  
We can think like Jesus.  
Jesus said in John   
that out of our bellies would flow springs of living water.  
Jesus also said that if we dwell in him and   
make our home in him  
we can ask anything in his Name and he will do it.  
These are all expressions of the Kingdom.  
  
Once you understand the heart of the Kingdom  
a lot of things begin to fall into place.  
  
The Kingdom Grid is more than adequate,   
and when you see the Kingdom,  
you start to see things you didn’t see in Scripture.  
The Bible talks about the Kingdom on every page.  
And first and foremost,  
the Kingdom is personal.  
God is the Most Relational Being in the Universe,  
and Jesus is the King of the Kingdom.  
  
The heart of spiritual warfare  
is the Cross of Jesus.  
  
Let’s go back to the cross and look at it   
not through a substitutionary atonement grid,  
but rather  
through the Kingdom grid.  
Every detail fits when you use a Kingdom grid.  
  
And this will mess with your head.  
  
If humanity is given dominion  
over the earth,  
then the moment Jesus became King  
was when he received the crown of thorns,  
the purple robe and broken reed.  
His executioners proclaimed him King,  
and this cross bore the royal proclamation:  
"Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."  
The Cross was the Coronation of Jesus by human beings.  
Those executioners had no idea how much power they had.  
  
This Kingdom is personal,  
and this Kingdom is not like earthly kingdoms,  
this Kingdom does not seek to be served,   
but to serve.  
  
Kingdoms are also about a culture.  
Seth Godin describes culture this way:  
"People like us do things like this."  
Jesus makes it clear that this Kingdom is about   
eating and drinking at the Father's table.  
I would venture to say the that the theme of eating   
in the Father's Kingdom is the primary metaphor   
for the Kingdom in scripture.  
When ever you see eating and drinking  
bread and wine  
pay attention.  
And the second one,  
Marriage  
is closely related,  
because the Kingdom is going to be inaugurated with a Wedding feast.  
There are expectations for those who are part of this Wedding.  
Your robes must be washed in the blood of the Lamb.  
You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,  
that God physically raised him from the dead.  
And you must love one another.  
  
So when we pray,  
because of our position,  
as it says in Psalm 115:  
God lives in heaven  
and the earth he has given to the children of men.  
  
As members of the Kingdom  
we have authority to make a declaration in the earth.  
And we speak into this earth:  
“Come Kingdom of God.”  
And here is the interesting thing.  
This Kingdom is so powerful  
that even weakened versions of the Kingdom  
and distorted and corrupted forms of it,  
have the power to change things.  
This prayer and this Kingdom are that potent.  
  
The powers of hell and religion do all they can   
to prevent the full strength Kingdom to ever manifest.  
And so we have long periods of lukewarmness  
interrupted by short lived revivals.  
  
Even so this Kingdom  
continues to grow and expand all throughout the earth  
just like yeast gets into a mixture of flour, water, and salt,  
and turns it into bread.  
This Kingdom continues to expand   
continues to increase,  
and continues to jump over man-made fences,  
because it is a giant lump of dough.  
  
There is conflict  
because there are beings in the Universe  
and on this fallen earth  
that are in conflict with the Kingdom.  
There are those who will not bow their knee  
to the Name and authority of Jesus.  
And so  
we have this warning from St. Peter:  
Be sober be watchful  
for your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion  
seeking someone whom he may devour  
resist him  
being firm in your faith.  
And Paul tells us  
if we resist the devil  
he must flee.  
  
This indicates something  
that many people do not understand:  
You and I are a different kind of being  
in God's economy.  
The demonic and unclean  
must flee from us  
because we are by nature  
at a higher level than they are.  
You are by nature  
strong,   
alive,  
resurrected,  
and powerful.  
You are a member of the Royal family.  
And when a demon sees you,  
it sees Jesus.  
  
We will dig into this next week.

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