Obliterating 5 Errors About the Insurgence

Now for today’s article. The following are five errors about the Insurgence that I keep seeing. So I’m writing this article to refute them.

Error 1: All preachers and authors who preach “the gospel of the kingdom” mean the same thing by the phrase.

This is one of the biggest misconceptions of all. Right now, I can count on my hand five different preachers who use the phrase (gospel of the kingdom), and none of them mean the same thing by those words.

And they certainly don’t mean the same thing I mean by the phrase.

Case in point. Recently, someone whose life was changed by reading Insurgence: Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom wrote a glowing testimony about the book on their Facebook wall.

Shortly after another person responded saying, “Oh yes, I listen to [name of TV prosperity preacher] preach the gospel of the kingdom and it’s glorious!”

Problem is, the TV preacher they named is preaching an entirely different gospel than what’s presented in Insurgence.

A number of other preachers and authors who use the term “gospel of the kingdom” preach intense legalism and religious duty. Something I took dead aim at in the beginning of Insurgence.

All told, not every preacher and author who talks about “the gospel of the kingdom” carries the same message.

Error 2: Most living authors who write about the kingdom of God have joined the Insurgence.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Not now anyway. While most of the living authors who have written on the kingdom of God have been sent a copy of Insurgence by my publisher, only a small number of them have joined the Insurgence.

(I hope that changes.)

The reason, I believe, is found in the two reasons I outlined in my article Why Christian Leaders Don’t Work Together.

Error 3: A person can join the Insurgence and then go on to other “Christian” stuff/things.

Countless Christians are fickle. They hitch their wagons to one thing, only to drop it and attach them to the next shiny, new thing. Kind of like moving through ice cream flavors (“I’m tired of eating Dastardly Mash, so I’m going to start eating Urban Jumble.”)

They do the same with books.

Example: If a person reads Insurgence only once and never implements the “Taking Action” parts, they’ve not joined anything. They’ve simply read a book. Something I warned against in the beginning of Insurgence.

In addition, just because a person says they’ve “joined the Insurgence” doesn’t make it so. (Especially when they say things like, “I’ve not read the book, but I’ve been part of the Insurgence for 10 years.” Really? How’s that? You can’t possibly know what I mean by that term without reading the book.)

When a person has truly understood and embraced the explosive gospel of the kingdom, a new page turns in their lives that wrecks them for anything else. Forever.

Their priority becomes deepening the experience and challenges of the gospel of the kingdom and connecting with others who are on the same exact journey.

Error 4: The Insurgence is another name for the Progressive Christian Left or the Conservative Christian Right.

Wrong. While both of these camps readily uses us the language of “revolution” to describe themselves and their convictions, neither are part of the present Insurgence.

In fact, in many respects, both camps run contrary to the Insurgence. (I made this point as plain as I could in my recent discussion with Greg Boyd.)

Error 5: The Insurgence has been around for a long time.

It’s funny how some people filter every word they hear through their present notions. I didn’t coin the term “Insurgence.” It’s a military word. But as far as I know, I’m the only person using it to refer to something presently taking place on the Christian landscape as it relates to the titanic gospel of the kingdom.

What I’ve called “the Insurgence” is quite recent. It refers to the recovery of the life-altering gospel of the kingdom for our day and time.

While there has certainly been interest in the kingdom of God well before then, the restoration of the gospel of the kingdom is something different.

Historically, there was an attempt to recover it in the 1950s in China and again in the early 1970s in the USA. (I’m not speaking of the “Jesus Movement” as the gospel of the kingdom was not its focus.) Both attempts didn’t spread widely, and now we’re in a new wave of that restoration in the USA.

I explain all of this in Insurgence. Hence, the title.

A Final Word

Those who have been impacted by the gospel of the kingdom wish to connect with each other, go deeper, and spread the Insurgence to others.

For this reason, soon I will be announcing (to this email list) three live events designed to both equip and connect those who have been impacted by the book and have joined the Insurgence.

We also have some other exciting new projects in the queue that will inspire, encourage, and help spread the Insurgence.

Stay tuned!

Related (if you missed them):

INSURGENCE: Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom (includes samples)

Greg Boyd Interviews Frank Viola on the Gospel of the Kingdom (includes a discussion on politics)

A Word About Political Elections

The Subversive Kingdom

Identity Politics and the Kingdom of God

A Clash Between Kingdoms (includes audio conference message)

The Origins of Human Government and Hierarchy

Q & A on the Kingdom

Bible Gateway Interview on the Insurgence