Hi Andrew Perriman,

Appreciate your effort brother, but I have to challenge you concerning an assertion you make and then try to defend. You wrote in about the 5th paragraph,

"There is no vision of the whole earth being brought under the kingship of God."

I love you brother, and believe your heart is in the right place, but I just have to say, "HELLO! Have you never read Psalms 2 and 22? Here is the NIV rendering. please take full notice of such words as:

nations (1),

kings (2),

EARTH (2),

and especially verses 8-10.

 Thanks.

Psalm 2

1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.

3 "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters."

4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,

6 "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill."

7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD : He said to me, "You are my Son ; today I have become your Father.

8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.

9 You will rule them with an iron scepter ; you will dash them to pieces like pottery."

10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.

11 Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

And then Andrew, Psalm 22, and I will simply present the ending:

27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,

28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive.

30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.

31 They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn— for he has done it.

If that is not a pronouncement of total victory over this EARTH, please brother, share with me what would be? These passages foreshadow the words of our Lord instructing us as to our perspective and proper focus, "Thy will be done, on EARTH, as it is in Heaven," and, "occupy until I come." And the ever expanding Kingdom (i.e., remember the mustard seed…) is bringing this to pass.

Consider these choice quotes:

The Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, clearly reveal that the gospel is to exercise an influence over all branches of the human family, immeasurably more extensive and more thoroughly transforming than any it has ever realized in time past. This end is to be gradually attained through the spiritual presence of Christ in the ordinary dispensation of Providence and the ministrations of His church.

A. A. Hodge

David was not a believer in the theory that the world will grow worse and worse, and that the dispensation will wind up with general darkness and idolatry. Earth’s sun is to go down amid tenfold night if some of our prophetic brethren are to be believed. Not so do we expect, but we look for a day when the dwellers in all lands shall learn righteousness, shall trust in the Savior, shall worship thee alone, O God, and "shall glorify thy name." The modern notion has greatly damped the zeal of the church for missions, and the sooner it is shown to be un-Scriptural the better for the cause of God. It neither consorts with prophecy, honours God, nor inspires the church with ardour. Far hence be it driven.

Charles Spurgeon

Warfield quotes, with approval, the words of William Temple who, in 1913, wrote: "The earth will in all probability be habitable for myriad’s of years yet. If Christianity is the final religion, the Church is still in its infancy. Two thousand years are as two days." The implication here is that in time the Church will cover the earth…

(On the Increase of His Government - Isa 9:7) "It would be easy to show that at our present rate of progress the kingdoms of this world never could become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Indeed, many in the Church are giving up the idea of it except on the occasion of the advent of Christ, which, as it chimes in with our own idleness, is likely to be a popular doctrine. I myself believe that King Jesus will reign, and the idols be utterly abolished; but I expect the same power which turned the world upside down once will still continue to do it. The Holy Ghost would never suffer the imputation to rest upon His holy name that He was not able to convert the world."

C. H. Spurgeon

The training of…mature men is the function of the church. The purpose of the church should not be to bring men into subjection to the church [as an end in itself], but rather to train them into a royal priesthood capable of bringing the world into subjection to Christ the King.

R. J. Rushdoony

Hope these might offer you some new ways of thinking,

 Blessings,

Richard Eric Gunby