Welcome – Origins, Structure, and Navigation

Presenting the Kingdom of God

As I approached “graduating into retirement” from medical practice in 2018, I strongly sensed that the Lord was calling me to change my focus from medical care and administration to actively pursue my studies about the Kingdom of God and to make my work public. I’ve long sensed an affinity with Luke, the Gentile physician who was Paul’s New Testament traveling companion and became the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Luke announced his intent and purpose in writing as follows:

Luke 1:1-4 – Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

How to do it?

Was I to write a book, develop speaking materials, do PowerPoint presentations? Perhaps some of this will come, but the clear guidance I received was to use my emerging skills as a website developer as a staging ground for developing and sharing my studies and growing understanding of the Bible, faith in God, and the reality of God’s Kingdom with a broader contemporary audience in the hopes that people in these troubled times would sense my yearning and sincerity, deactivate any preconceived triggers that might distract them from the main message that I’m carrying, and hear my voice. Like Luke, I’m less of an author and more of a “compiler” – my strengths are better at sorting, gathering, and assembling what others have written. How to go about it?

Building a Website

Constructing a website like the one you’re visiting resembles, in some respects, assembling a very large and complex jigsaw puzzle similar to the one above. In this case, the Box containing the pieces is the entire Holy Bible, both Old and New Testaments. The picture on the cover of the box is missing, but numerous illustrated story books have been published with imaginative pictures representing artists’ renditions of what they think different portions of the contents might portray. There are other books adjacent to the Bible like the Apocrypha, commentaries, systematic theology textbooks, histories, timelines, scientific studies, articles, charts, narratives, and study guides to augment and clarify the contents. Over the years I’ve gathered enough puzzle pieces and have been slowly putting portions of them together to have finally reached a point in my eighth decade where a vision is developing in my mind about what they will depict when completely assembled as designed.

There are problems along the way. Many of the pieces seem to be printed on both sides, others could fit in several places, and an indeterminate number appear to be missing or hidden somewhere in plain sight. It’s possible to use human reasoning alone without seeking the Artist’s input by eliminating some of the pieces and putting the remaining ones together in a way that produces quite a different picture from that intended by the Artist. Perhaps this is because the end result is more like coming up with a pictorial tapestry that has a clear image on one side and a lot of loose and apparently disorganized threads, strings, and knots on the back side: with His help we see the front side only, but without it we’re more likely to see a jumbled amalgam of both sides.

Another problem with documentation that is part of a religious or spiritual tradition, like the Bible, is what is “real” history versus “just Bible stories”? As modern, seemingly rational human beings we may make unexamined distinctions within ourselves based on how we learned what we think we know. Most likely we were exposed to the Bible in Sabbath or Sunday School as isolated stories from lay teachers on weekends but were formally taught the history of secular civilizations and societies out of “official” textbooks by professional teachers in school during the week. Two different sources teaching about what appear to be two different categories of material, one somewhat fanciful in nature and the other dry and historical. In this website we will attempt to synchronize all of these histories, so that we get a clearer picture of the development over time of mankind and its cultures, beliefs, and ideologies around the world. This raises the question: to what degree is the Biblical account as central and reliable an index to history as our divisions of time into BC and AD would suggest?

Countless excellent minds over the centuries have attempted to assemble the pieces we’re working with, each with somewhat different outcomes and varying degrees of success. How can I hope to succeed where others have fallen short? My hopes and confidence are rooted in knowing the Artist/Author personally and include the following observations:

1. The Box has 66 separate compartments, which together contain every piece that’s needed to guide completing the picture.
2. The whole picture was created by one Artist with its particulars described by many gifted authors working under His supervision.
3. The Artist affirms that every piece of history and instruction will eventually fit together into a coherent and helpful unity.
4. Discovery of how and where each piece fits is a process of progressive revelation guided by the Author.
5. Progressive revelation happens over time within individuals and societies who choose to seek the Author and His Plans.
6. I am at a time in my life and in the unfolding history of mankind when a fuller revelation seems to be drawing closer.
7. It will be valuable for all of us going forward to have a better idea of where we’ve come from and where we’re going.

Approaching the task

As I approached the task, it became clear that the subject material covered in the Bible is essentially arranged in chronological order from the beginning of time as described in Genesis through history to the end as revealed in Revelation. Therefore, my first steps in mapping the outlines of my material onto the website medium were to divide the material into 3 main parts based on time: The Beginning before and during Creation, The Middle during mankind’s history on Earth up until now, and the projected End of history as we know it. Working it down further, the website is now subdivided into seven sections in the main menu tabs at the top of each page, as listed below:

Main Navigation Sections

1. Home – The introductory section has several pages of preparatory background material before you embark on the main topics.
2. Alpha – This section is devoted to the beginnings of our existence in space and time through the several stages of Creation, drawing on writings in the early chapters of Genesis and material derived from contemporary scientific speculations.
3. Kingdom BC – The 3-section central Kingdom part of the website begins with the history of mankind before Christ, noting its ups and downs and examining the ongoing role of God in interacting with His Creation as time unfolds.
4. The King – The second Kingdom part focuses on the Person, witness, teachings, actions, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the prophetically promised Messiah or Christ.
5. Kingdom AD – The final Kingdom part picks up with the history of mankind after the death and resurrection of Jesus through to our current time.
6. Omega – Here the subject of the future, both near and far, is addressed with even more guided speculation and insights from current events, prophetic writings, and the Book of Revelation.
7. About – The closing section is essentially an Appendix and contains more about the website and my background, a Contact page and additional pages for Articles, Bibliography, lists of Persons and Terminology, and closing out with an illustratively imperfect and unfinished work called “Hydra” that I began in 1974 before coming to a living faith in God through Christ.

Project initiation and progress

My work on HisKingdom.Us started in December 2018. Since then most of the material in Sections 1, 2, 4, 7, and much in 3 and 5 has been framed up with most of it posted, leaving a fair amount yet to be done, especially in Section 6. You should be able to see the bold outlines and a fair amount of detail emerging while the work is in progress, however.

Source of Bible references

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Study Bible® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission, All rights reserved.

Scope of material and navigation tips

Given its broad scope, HisKingdom.Us is understandably becoming a large website that contains an extensive amount of material, some of which I’ve written myself but much of which is an almost impressionistic compilation of work that others have done. I’ve tried imperfectly to give proper credit where due and make the presentation consistently appealing, engaging, intriguing, informative, and thought-provoking. Please remember that this site is essentially a workshop open to change, input, and ongoing modification and improvement. It’s designed to be a place for information and ideas to be gathered and assembled in an orderly way, not a finished treatise or magnum opus. Overall, the site will have well over 130 individual web pages and will reference at least as many books and articles when it is complete, many of which have internal references to other supportive articles and websites.

You can navigate through the entire website in sequential order by using the buttons at the bottom of each page, much the way you would read a book from beginning to end starting with the introductory material and then going through the chapters in order. If you approach it as you would an illustrated book of some complexity, you would do well to set aside about the same amount of time and focus that you would to read one of Charles Dickens’ more complicated books like Little Dorrit or Dombey and Son. You can stop and start as you go along, covering several web pages (equivalent to a book chapter) at a sitting if you like, and then noting where you are in the Main Menu when you stop so that you can pick back up where you left off. When the site is complete, a few days a week at this pace with time set aside for your own study should get you through in a month or so.

A further word about navigating while under construction

There are two ways to visit and view this website, on a full screen computer/pad or on a smartphone. A computer with a large screen is the most satisfactory, but other devices will also work. Smartphones will display better if you turn the phone sideways into the horizontal landscape mode.

There are also two ways to browse the website, by using the top Menu tree or by following the navigating buttons at the bottom of each page. We suggest that you use the buttons at the bottom, as noted above, and then use the Menu to come back to check for new material and find things you want to review.

John 15:15 – No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My father I have made known to you. 

Thank you for your ongoing interest and engagement. Please come back from time to time to review our progress. I would love to receive any comments you would like to contribute along the way.

Click here to print this page as a handout.