There are many other references throughout the Constitution that also clearly expresses God's original intention.
   
    For example:  Isaiah the prophet put it this way:

    For thus says the Lord, "Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited.  I am the Lord, and there is no other"  (Isaiah 45:18)

Please note:  God's original intent was to populate the earth with humankind, who then would rule and dominate the planet for Him and in His name. It's really very simple.

    God never intended to create the earth and then leave it empty.

    One of the ancient Hebrew psalms says:
    The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; But the earth He has given to the children of men.  Psalm 115:16

    God's desire was to extend His Kingly rule from Heaven to Earth.  Any religion, therefore, that teaches or emphasizes leaving the Earth to live forever in some other place in the "life to come" misses the point.

Constitutional Scripture:  I Corinthians 7:31  and those who use this world are not misusing it.  For the form of this world is passing away.

Please note:  Although the Constitution plainly states that this present world will pass away, it also promises that a new earth will take its place.

Constitutional Scripture:  I John 2:17  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Constitutional Scriptures:

    For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. Isaiah 65:17

    "For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me", says the Lord, "so shall your descendants and your name remain."  Isaiah 66:22

    Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.  II Peter 3:13

    Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.  And there was no more sea.  Revelation 21:1

Please note:  God's original intent, and His continuing purpose, was and is to extend His invisible heavenly Kingdom to Earth, to influence Earth from Heaven through the rulership of His earthly children created in His image. The expansion of a Kingdom government or any government, from one place to another by planting an outpost in that new place is called colonization, and the outpost, which is called a colony.  To put it this way, God's original intent was to make Earth a colony of Heaven.

    Colonization was God's original idea, but unlike the human way of colonizing.

    Jesus likened the process to the way yeast leavens bread:

    Another parable He spoke to them, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal til it was all leavened."  Matthew 13:33

    Then He said, "What is the Kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  19) It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches".  Luke 13:18:19

Please note:  God's ultimate goal in planting His garden "colony" was to fill the Earth with His glory.  The glory of God is one of the significant themes of the Constitution, what is known as the Bible.  In Numbers, God told Moses:

    but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.  Numbers 14:21

    God the Father and King reiterated this theme to the ancient Hebrew prophet Habakkuk when He said:

    For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.  Habakkuk 2:14

    The Hebrew word for "glory" is Kabod, and the equivalent Greek word is doxa.  Both words mean "weighty" or a "heavy weight"  More specifically, "glory" refers to the full nature of a thing.  The king want to fill the Earth with His full weight; the full nature of His truth.  The fullness of who He is and what He is like.

Constitutional Scripture:  Psalm 19:1  The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.

Religion is Man's Idea, not God's

God's thoughts are different from ours.

Isaiah 55:8  For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor your ways My ways, says the Lord.

Please note:  His plan was to populate this outpost with His own children; human beings created in His own image; who would live by and operate His heavenly Kingdom government in the earthly realm.

Genesis 1:28  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

    We have misunderstood God's original intent, we have misunderstood not only ourselves, but also God's purpose for us on earth.

    If intent is unknown, misunderstanding is inevitable.  Misunderstanding intent guarantees a waste of time, talent, energy, gifts and resources.

    That is the problem with religion.  Most religions focus on trying to get God's attention, which is the wrong approach.  We already have God's attention. The key to life and purpose, is to get God's attention. 

    He has revealed Himself and His intent through His creation as well as through His Word.

Constitution Scripture:  Psalm 19:1  The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.

    The Constitution is full of such statements of God's self-revelation.  

Genesis 1:26-28  Then God said, "Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."  27) So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  28) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Please note:  In order for the Lord to facilitate this, He prepared a special habitat for His human representatives.

Genesis 2:8,15  The Lord God planted a garden eastward of Eden, and He put the man whom He had formed.  15) The Lord God took man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

Remember:  God's original intent was to populate the Earth with humankind, who then would rule and  dominate the planet for Him and in His name.

As you read this title "Creating an Environment in Which to Grow" I want to inform you that the first environment must start from one's home.  Keep in mind, I didn't say a house.  There are many children living in a house but not a home.  To live in a home requires one to have information and a different mindset.

What I am finding today is many of the young men have a low mindset of their abilities and their purpose.  Allow me to share with you a strong mindset.

Now let's take a moment  to see what a mindset is:
1.  A mindset is an attitude, disposition or mood.
2.  A mindset is an intention or inclination.

    A mindset is the ideas and attitudes with which a person approaches a situation, especially when these situations are seen as being difficult to alter.

    Whatever you allow to take up your time--listening to, watching and reading--will most likely influence your behavior.  You have to guard your mind from people that are influenced by the world's activities that can effect your thinking and mindset.  It is our number one priority to study the Constitution every day.  For those of you who don't understand when I say the word Constitution, you know it as the Bible.  By studying and reading the Constitution it will transform our minds into Kingdom thinking.  This is why Paul says, in the letter to Timothy:

Scripture:  II Timothy 2:14-15  Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.  15) Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.

    Now the word study means an effort to learn by reading or thinking.  It also means a careful examination or investigation of a people thing or person.

    In order for you to create a right environment on the outside, you must first create a right environment on the inside; such as the way you must think.  King David put it like this:   Constitutional Scripture:  Psalm 119:11 
  
     Your Word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

    In the time of disaster and chaos, the Words of the King will most definitely comfort you and give you that environment of peace.  Here is how King David puts it:  Constitutional Scripture:  Psalm 119:50

    This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your Word has given me life.

    For the right environment to grow in our minds, we must have the right information on how to grow and be productive and that doesn't come with effort and a process.  Many of us came from a broken home, such as myself, and failed to get the necessary information to grow by.  We were fed the Bible as a religion, and not as the principles of the Kingdom of God.  So now we have to be detoxed from religion and filled with what our King taught us concerning the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is the Good News.

Constitutional Scripture:  Proverbs 3:5-6
    Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6) In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Constitutional Scripture:  Deuteronomy 6:5
    You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

    The words "trust in the Lord" echo the command of Deuteronomy 6:5 to love God with all our being.  The word trust is complemented by the verb "lean".  Trusting in God is a conscious dependence on God, much like leaning on a tree for support.  The idea is reinforced here by the command to  acknowledge Him, which means to observe Him and get to know Him in the process of living. In doing so, a person finds time and time again that God smooths out paths.

    Now please, let me stress that I am not denying the value or the role this identification has played in the life or the history of the Christian religion over the past 2000 years.  The concern that I have is the restrictive religious connotations that have distracted many people from the original purpose, message and mission of the Kingdom of God.  The term Christian tends to mentally lock a person into a religious mold and limits the reality of the truth about the Kingdom.

Please note:  The Bible refers to man's relationship to God with these phrases:  servants, by the way, (that is another word for "representative minister" as a government minister), saints, ambassadors, sons of God, citizens of heaven, kings, God's workmanship, children of God, and other terms of endearment, but not officially are they referred to as Christians.  Christianity was never a term given to us by Jesus Christ nor the apostles.  The term Christian was never to be a title nor label that we wore, but a lifestyle that we lived, demonstrating the nature of "Christ-likeness".  In essence, Christian was supposed to be a description of the culture of the kingdom being exhibited through our lives.  This is why the first believers were called Christians by the early observers of their lifestyle, their power, their boldness and their Christ-like authority.

    Right or wrong, most unbelievers have a definite idea of what they think a Christian should be.  If we are not careful, we can identify too strongly with their label and fall into the trap of trying to live up to their expectations.  We should stop trying so hard to live like Christians and all of the false assumptions associated with that ter, and instead work harder at living like sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Christ and citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

    Finally, God's purpose was to establish relationship, not religion.  As I stated earlier, religion is man's search for God and the kingdom he lost.  The original plan and purpose of God was to have a family of sons that He could relate to as a father to his children.

    Keep in mind, all of His actions throughout history were extensions of Himself to us, as He desired to tabernacle or dwell with man.  His ultimate goal was always to restore His original place with mankind.  How much more personal can one get?

    This is the truth behind Jesus' parable of the prodigal son:

Read Constitutional Scriptures:  Luke 15:11-24

    This is the way God is too.  He wants sons, not servants or subjects;  He wants citizens, not Christians; and He wants relationships and not religion.

    Keep this in mind, that people who adhere to some religious group, including "Christians" consider themselves members of that group, which they perceive as a religious and spiritual relationship with that organization or fraternity.  Now keep in mind, the term "Christians" refers to an individual who adheres to or sympathized with the "Christian faith", and is identified both inside and outside that faith as a religious entity.

    However, the concept of kingdom is completely opposite to the concept of religion.  A kingdom consists of a king with citizens.  Citizenship is essentially a legal entity with rights and privileges protected by a constitutional commitment of the king and his government.  Remember, that too many "Christians" are religious people, but citizens of the kingdom are legal people; legal in the sense that by virtue of a spiritual birth each individual in the kingdom has the right and blessings of citizens of this heavenly kingdom.  We must be delivered from our religious mindset and have our thinking readjusted so that we can take on a legal mindset.  Now, religious people have no rights, but legal people do.  God has always desired sons who are citizens of His kingdom, possessing the legal right to be part of His family.  Citizenship is always considered a privilege in all kingdoms and nations and is usually reserved for those born into that nation or kingdom.  There are special situations where one can become a citizen through privileges extended by the governing authority, but birthright is the guaranteed form of sonship and the resulting rights of citizenship.  In Jesus, these precious rights are conferred to everyone who trusts in Him.

Constitutional Scripture: John 1:12-13
   
    Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. 13) Children born not of natural descent, not of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 

Constitutional Scripture:  Philippians 3:20-21
   
    But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21) who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.

Please note:  Now something that you may or may not have known, that the term "Christian" was originally a derogatory label,which literally means "little Christ", given by pagans. The followers of Christ, through the centuries, have generally accepted the term and bore it with honor.  Yet the term Christian occurs only three times in the Scriptures:

Constitutional Scriptures:  Read Acts 26:28-29 and I Peter 4:16

    The Apostles were first called "Christian" at Antioch.

Constitutional Scripture:  Acts 11:25-26

    Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul.  26) And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.  So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people.  And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

    King Agrippa made this statement to Paul:

Constitutional Scripture:  Acts 26-28

    Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian".

    Peter had adopted this name "Christian".

Constitutional Scripture:  II Peter 4:16  

    Yet if anyone suffers as a "Christian", let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in this matter.

Please note:  My words to all those who read this:  If you allow anyone to name you, they will eventually define you.