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 the voice interviews
Dr. Myles Munroe
Dr. Myles Munroe answers your
questions about the Kingdom of God.
Interview By Jennifer LeClaire
 There is one thing on Dr. Myles Munroe’s mind these days:
the Kingdom of God. His book, “Rediscovering the Kingdom”
has helped open the eyes of countless Christians to the
Kingdom message.
Dr. Munroe is founder, president and senior pastor of
Bahamas Faith Ministries International, an all-encompassing
network of ministries headquartered in Nassau, Bahamas. He
is recognized as a leader in spiritual government and has
been honored by natural governments. The Queen of England
and the Governor General of the Bahamas have both recognized
his service to the islands.
With a strong commitment to transforming followers into
leaders, Dr. Munroe is addressing one of the greatest
challenges in the Body of Christ. His latest book release
“The Spirit of Leadership” is consistent with his mission to
help believers discover their purpose, potential and
leadership.
The Voice magazine sat down with Dr. Munroe to talk about
the Kingdom of God, how Jesus is raising up leaders in
developing nations to spread the Gospel, and strategies for
breaking down barriers within the Body of Christ.
THE VOICE:
The Spirit of God is speaking to His leaders about
the Kingdom in this time and season. What is God saying to
you about the restoration of the Kingdom of God?
DR. MUNROE: We’re finally getting to the original
message, the original assignment, and the original goal of
God. It has always been the restoration of His Kingdom on
earth. It is the only message Jesus preached that we can
verify. God is restoring the original message of the Bible.
This is very significant. It’s important to note that Jesus
placed the end of the age on the condition that the message
of the Kingdom is preached into all the world.
I went to college and have a degree in theology, but there
was not one class on the Kingdom. I read the four Gospels
and it was the only thing that Jesus preached. That was a
very strange contradiction to me. The Spirit of God has been
speaking about the Kingdom for years, but we are finally
listening and that’s exciting to me. We will see the true
impact of the Kingdom if we keep preaching it.
THE VOICE:
Many believe the Church is going to enter into a
time of greater manifestations of the power of God in the
years to come. What will it take to see the return of
greater miracles, signs and wonders at the hands of the
believers?
DR. MUNROE: Kingdom teaching. What we call signs
and wonders and miracles are simply the evidence of the
presence of another government – the Kingdom. A kingdom is
not a religion. It’s the influence of a government over a
domain or a territory. It’s the impact of a king over a
territory. That’s why it’s called a “king-dom” – a king’s
domain.
So miracles, signs and wonders are not for entertainment.
Miracles are not supposed to be used as a point of
attracting believers to big meetings. Miracles, signs and
wonders are supposed to show that another government,
another authority, another power, another Kingdom is
present. The more we preach the Kingdom, I guarantee you the
more we will see miracles taking place; I mean on a daily
basis. Just like any government impacts the land over which
it rules, so will the Kingdom of God impact the world when
we begin to appropriate its authority and power. That’s what
Jesus did.
THE VOICE:
Is there a need for more spiritual fathers in the
local church; are there enough?
DR. MUNROE: I believe there’s a great need for
spiritual fathers. That’s one of the greatest lacks we have
in the Body of Christ. That is why there is so much
immorality, unethical behavior and corruption. Families are
disintegrating, divorce is skyrocketing, rebellion is in the
Church, and congregations are splitting. I am certain this
is the result of a lack of fathering. We have many great
preachers, fantastic singers, awesome teachers but very few
fathers. Fathers are difficult to find because fathering has
more to do with care than with charisma. It has more to do
with responsibility than with performance. It has more to do
with leadership, accountability and love than with fame,
exposure and glory. Fathering requires a commitment to
nurturing and developing others rather than using and
benefiting from others.
In the Body of Christ lately there seems to be a tremendous
pursuit of titles. It’s amazing that everyone wants a title
but no one wants the title of father. They are pursuing the
titles of bishops and apostles and prophets and evangelists,
but how come no one desires to be a father? We are in dire
need of spiritual fathers. We have very few people who are
willing to lay their lives down for the sake of the
development of other people.
THE VOICE:
What’s it going to take for the eyes of those who
should be spiritual fathers to open and step into that role?
Where’s the disconnect?
DR. MUNROE: Many leaders today have not been
properly fathered. My hope is that there will be fathers who
will be strong enough in character to rebuke and correct and
to restore some sanity to the people who are in leadership
positions who have not been fathered.
THE VOICE:
You prefer to teach rather than preach and this
approach to ministry has obviously been well received by the
masses. Why do you think this method is so effective?
DR. MUNROE: Because that’s what Jesus did. In my
humble view, the difference between preaching and teaching
is very important. To preach means to declare, to pronounce
or to announce. To teach means to train and instruct for
change. Preaching doesn’t change people. Preaching may
attract, give information, alert people, even convict
people, but teaching brings understanding and you cannot
change until you understand. You cannot grow until you have
information. That’s why Jesus taught. Jesus never preached
to the disciples. He preached to the multitudes, but He
taught His disciples. He announced the Kingdom to the
multitudes but He taught the Kingdom to His disciples.
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THE VOICE:
As the founder of the International Third World
Leaders Association, you have a unique perspective on the
issues in these countries. What are the biggest challenges
to spreading the Gospel in developing nations?
DR. MUNROE:
The only ones that can reach these
people are the people themselves. I believe that the
greatest way to win the third world is to win the third
world people first and let them go back into their own
culture and into their own environment and share the Gospel.
One of the greatest obstacles is the misconception of who
Jesus is. Many third world people I work with have a concept
of Christ that comes from what religion calls Christianity.
In many ways Christianity has misrepresented Christ in a
very terrible way. I’m talking about hundreds of years of
history that has really damaged the image of Jesus. Many of
these people don’t want to hear about Christianity.
Secondly, in many of these countries there are very strong
cultic religions, and those religions have also twisted the
concept that people have of Christ. We need to correct that.
Thirdly, in many of those countries there is a misconception
of God and the reason why Christ came to earth. We have
misrepresented and almost made Jesus Christ synonymous with
democracy. That’s dangerous because Christ is a King, not a
president.
Finally, poverty and corruption are major issues in many of
these countries because of poor leadership that was a
product of oppression. People have been dispossessed. They
have been raped of their dignity, their self-concept,
self-worth and self-respect. Christianity is not enough as a
religion. These people need restoration of self-concept and
in many cases the religion of Christianity does not provide
these answers. Many times it can provide the religion but it
doesn’t provide restoration of the quality of life that
people need to have to believe in themselves. So these are
some of the issues that we need to look at in the 21st
century and I hope the Church will take another look at what
makes effective missions.
THE VOICE:
How do you see the role of third world countries in
spreading the Gospel around the world?
DR. MUNROE: I am convinced that the last world on
earth is the third world; that God has now turned His face
toward them. I am convinced that the greatest spiritual
movement on earth is about to emerge and it will not emerge
from the first world or the second world. It will emerge
from the third world. It has already begun. I am a part of
it. I represent them. The largest churches that exist today
and the massive growing emerging ministries are in
developing countries.
I believe that God is going to transfer the responsibilities
for winning the world in this century to the third world
people. Also keep in mind that the largest segment of the
world’s population is in third world countries. So it is
very natural for the Lord by His wisdom to move among those
people to win their own people. If the second and first
worlds are wise, they will begin to learn from the third
world and find out what’s going on and not to try to impose
their brand of Christianity on the third world because it
will not and cannot work.
God is raising up people without anyone’s permission. He is
calling them. He is anointing them without anyone’s sanction
and the greatest leaders in the world to come will be third
world leaders used of God. They are going to be products of
their culture and God is going to use them to impact the
world. And my prayer is that the second, first and third
world believers will cooperate and not compete with each
other and see the world won for Jesus.
THE VOICE:
What have been the benefits of networking with other
ministries?
DR. MUNROE: No one man can win the whole world but
all men together under Christ can win the world. God will
never place His program in the hands of any one person or
one ministry. He’s too smart for that. But He will make it
necessary for all of us to have a piece of everything and
that’s why we need one another. One of the weaknesses of the
Church in history is the spirit of exclusivity and
isolation. That’s why denominations were developed. One move
of God thought that it was the move of God and so they began
to believe that previous or future moves could not be moves
of God. This is very sad. The world seems to be wiser than
us because it realizes it has strength and it has weakness
and that’s why you have what they call merging companies.
Some of the most successful companies in history are those
that merged with other strong companies. The Church needs to
learn that lesson and begin to network.
Networking is first understanding your strengths and
weaknesses, appreciating the strengths of another and then
joining your weakness to that person’s strength so that you
can be stronger. We will not make it in this 21st century
without networking. Networking requires, first of all
maturity, secondly, the ability to submit to another man’s
strength. Without those two added elements we remain
prideful and weak.
THE VOICE:
How can we break down the barriers between races and
cultures in the Body of Christ?
DR. MUNROE: We have to reduce ourselves from every
race to one race – and that is the human race. As long as we
consider race beyond human race there will be racism. We
need to get a revelation of what it means to be human.
Racism and bigotry is not only related to pigmentation of
skin. It can also be related to differences of opinions or
differences of methods. We can be a racist between
denominations and belief systems.
The source of racism is low self-esteem, low self-worth and
a poor self-concept. Once you realize how valuable you are
as a human and recognize that everybody else is also made in
the same image as you are, then equality is an automatic
result. The greatest command in the law is the secret to
destroying racism and that is to love God with all your
heart, your soul, and your strength. Then love yourself and
love your neighbor to the same degree that you love
yourself. Until you love yourself, racism will always be
present.
Racism is a sign of self-hatred. I don’t care if you speak
in tongues. I don’t care how many miracles you work. If you
have problems with people who are different from you, then
you are still suffering from self-hatred. If you discover
and really understand God and love what God is and who God
is, then you’ll naturally love yourself because you are made
in His image. It’s impossible for you to love God and hate
your brother.
THE VOICE:
One of your key messages is “everyone is born for a
God-given purpose and potential to fill that purpose.” How
do you see the apostolic and prophetic ascension gifts
helping believers recognize and walk out their purpose?
DR. MUNROE: The Apostle Paul said Christ gave to
the Church some gifts, some functions. They are apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to train the
saints for the work of their ministry. That word “ministry”
means to exercise their gifts. So the goal of all leadership
is to help people under their care to first discover their
purpose (the word “purpose” means original intent) and then
help them develop the character and skill to execute that
assignment. Then the Body will never suffer weakness because
each one will bring to the table their gift, their strength.
Purpose is the discovery of your reason for existing.
Without purpose life is an experiment.
Find books by Dr. Myles Munroe at
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THE VOICE:
Many believe there is a restoration of arts coming
to the Church. You are a talented concert pianist, master of
the guitar and worship leader. What do you perceive God is
doing in the realm of arts and music in this hour?
DR. MUNROE:
I think God is reclaiming everything,
and rightfully so. He paid for it. Everything belongs to
God. Sometimes we believe there is devil music or devil
dance. There’s no such thing in Scripture. What we have is a
thief who stole it and corrupted it. We need to repossess it
and then convert it back to its original use: to show forth
the nature and glory of God.
THE VOICE:
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the
Body of Christ today and what must we do to address these
issues?
DR. MUNROE: The Church is becoming impressed with
itself. We seem to be preoccupied with promoting ourselves
to ourselves. There seems to be such a clutch for
self-promotion, self-labeling, self-advertisement, and
self-possession. That is very dangerous because the
commission God gave the Church is not to promote itself but
to reach the world. Also, the world is being given a very
distorted picture of the true message of the Kingdom.
Right now religion is the number one problem in the world
and we know that all the terrorism that we are experiencing
and the fear is mostly motivated by religion. Jesus Christ
did not bring a religion into the world. He bought a
Kingdom. The world doesn’t need another religion. It doesn’t
need traditions and rituals. The world needs a practical
application of principles and precepts that will impact
their daily lives. Jesus said blessed are those who are poor
spiritually for to them belong, not a religion, but the
Kingdom of heaven. Only the Kingdom satisfies spiritual
hunger – not religion.
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