The Bible teaches that the kingdom of God has been established and exists on earth now."

The proposition is: "The Bible teaches that the kingdom of God as prophesied has been established and exists on earth now." That the kingdom of God was prophesied, I take it, my opponent will not deny, and I cite Dan 2: 44: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." One may note (1) a certain time-element to this prophesy "in the days of those kings" as well as (2) the event "shall " set up a kingdom." So the question becomes, "Who are "those kings"?" In Daniel 2, I presume that no one will deny the following order in fulfillment, although the dates are approximate: 1. The Head of Gold: the Babylonian Empire (606BC - 536BC) 2. The Breastplate of Silver: the MedoPersian Empire (536BC - 331BC) 3. Belly and thighs of Bronze: The Grecian Empire (331BC - 30BC) 4. Legs of Iron: The Roman Empire (30BC - 400AD) My opponent will have no choice, as I see it, except to endlessly quibble over Dan 2: 40-44 " with special attention paid to "and whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay", but for now I simply introduce the passage and await his response. The simple fact will remain, however, that "those kings" does refer to the kings or emperors of the 4th worldwide kingdom, the Roman empire. ** We now move to the words of John the Baptist: Matt 3: 1, 2: "In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near"." (KJV: "at hand") ** Jesus then stated the same thing more emphatically: Matthew 4:17 "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Mark 1: 14, 15 "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Question: WHAT time was fulfilled? I"ll submit that Jesus hearkened right back to Daniel"s prophecy in Dan 2 (and other prophesies) and emphatically stated, "The " TIME " is "fulfilled." My opponent speculates, for some reason, that the kingdom which was "near" and "at hand" in about 30AD hasn"t shown up yet " in 2012. Why is that? Do "near", "nigh", and "at hand" mean 1832 years? ** Then again, Jesus said in Mark 9: 1, "And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." Those people to whom Jesus was speaking were to see " to visualize " the arrival of the promised kingdom before they "tasted death." Alright, if Jesus told the truth, where are these folks? I don"t know, but when we locate them, they"ll make Methuselah look like a baby in diapers. Truth is: the kingdom came during their lifetime, and they are all dead now. Another thing: the kingdom was to come when the power came. ** Note Luke 24: 49, "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry you in the city of Jerusalem, until you are endued with power from on high." So the disciples would be in Jerusalem when the power came, and when the power came, the kingdom would come. ** And again: Acts 1: 8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Thus, the coming of power was synonymous with the coming of the Spirit, and it would all happen in Jerusalem. ** Now observe Acts 2: 1. Where? Jerusalem ("Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.) 2. When? During the days of the Roman Empire 3. Who? The disciples and apostles who whom Jesus said, ""shall not taste death" 4. What happened? "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." There"s the Spirit, and there"s the power. 5. What did Peter say about it? THIS " what you are seeing " THIS " what you are hearing " is THAT which Joel prophesied. "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." Peter said, "This is that." My opponent will most likely say, "No, it wasn"t." We shall see. Thus, we have this situation concerning the appearance of the kingdom: 1. To come in the days of the Roman Emperors 2. The time was fulfilled " it was near 3. Heralded as "near" and "at hand" by John 4. Heralded as "near" and "at hand" by Jesus 5. Awaited by Joseph of Arimethea (Mark 15: 43) 6. Would appear before some standing with the Lord would die 7. Would come with power, power would come with the Spirit 8. Would all occur in Jerusalem Alright, the Spirit came on Pentecost. The power came on Pentecost. They were in Jerusalem. Now comes Scotty and says, "Why, the kingdom that was prophesied and heralded simply hasn"t shown up yet." Pffft. It will evolve upon him to negate all these passages and offer his alternate explanation. ** Not only that, but prior to Acts 2, the kingdom is always referenced as future. But what about after Acts 2? 1. "Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Col 1: 13) Paul is among that "us". So Paul was in the kingdom. The Colossians were among that "us". So the Colossians were in the kingdom. It will be very appropriate here from Scotty to speculate for us and tell how Paul and the Colossians were all "translated into the kingdom" " but it didn"t exist then and still doesn"t. 2. "I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus" (Rev 1: 9). So John was in it. Not only that, but the readers of Revelation in the first century were in it. Yet it hadn"t come? Note now again Col 1: 13: 1. "Who" Who is "who"? God the Father 2. "Hath translated" (First aorist active indicative). Aorist is the English past tense, Scotty. It does not and cannot possibly refer to a future event. 3. "Us" Paul and the Colossians 4. "Into the kingdom" , i. e. the kingdom of Jesus Christ. My opponent simply stands up and says, "The kingdom wasn"t there." Well, how, do tell, were these people translated into a kingdom that didn"t exist " and still doesn"t, according to your speculations? Alright (for any readers who may not realize it), this entire discussion - including Scotty's point-blank denials that the kingdom exists now - are unto one end: to enable a belief in a future earthly kingdom, which in turn enables endless silly speculations and theories surrounding supposed "end times". That's all it boils down to. And the theories number in the hundreds. Every last one of them is based upon a flat-out and false denial that the kingdom of Christ never came. My position is that such a belief, if held, is a tendency towards infidelity because it reflects poorly on prophetic veracity as a whole. I'll pause and wait my opponent's denial of these affirmative statements rather than attempting to anticipate his responses.