Prologue to The King and His Kingdom.

By Jeremy Woods

Jesus said that the merchant [Matt13:45] “… upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it”. In this parable Jesus was once again explaining how awesomely wonderful the message of the Kingdom is. Peter Whyte, the author of this book is similar in many ways to the merchant, as he strives to expose the fullness of this GOOD NEWS which is such good news that millions of God’s ‘imprisoned’ saints fail to believe or understand it.

Peter was, at one time in his life, considered to be an extremely knowledgeable Bible teacher in the hierarchy of Assembly of God and other churches. In Peter’s own words he said he was like an olden day Scribe or Pharisee, capable of cutting you to ribbons with scriptures if you challenged his religion or his interpretation of a scripture in the Bible. He was, later, not proud of his religious legalism and repented of the hurt he thought he might have caused to some people.

He got to a point in his life when the Holy Spirit was convicting him of his religiosity and legalistic perspective of Jesus and the Gospel. He told me that he prayed to God that “God would wipe his mind clean and teach him again”. Two weeks later, on one of his many trips to the European Fabric Trade Fairs, in Frankfurt, he stepped off the sidewalk looking for traffic coming from his right [as he would have in Rhodesia or any of the formerly British countries] and was hit by a tram coming from his lefthand side.

When he woke up he found himself in a hospital with the name “Heilige Geist” [Holy Ghost in German]. Initially he could not even remember his own name or where he was from. He said that if someone would have said to him “John 3:16” he would have asked “who is that?” So, it seemed, that God had answered his prayer and wiped his mind clear of all Scriptures and religion.

However, next to his bed in the nightstand was a Gideon type New Testament Bible, which he began to read from beginning to end and as he did, Peter describes seeing certain parts of text standing out as if back-lit. And so it was, during his lengthy recovery, that God taught Peter again from the start. He gradually regained a lot of his memory but not before God was finished teaching him anew.

I count myself highly blessed, by Jesus, to have had Peter Whyte as a mentor in my life from the first day when I was “Born Again”, for a season. He was the one who laid hands on me and prayed for me to receive the Holy Spirit baptism. As I learnt, through Peter’s guidance, to hear God speaking to me in my everyday life, I realized that this is how one becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ, disciplined by the Holy Spirit which is the gift of the Father [Acts2:38] to be obedient to the reign and rule of Jesus Christ in my daily life.

Peter was not only a disciple of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God but, similar to the Apostle Paul - the tent maker, Peter was a woman’s clothing manufacturer [tents of a different sort] and this forced him to travel often and widely, both here in southern Africa and overseas. Johannesburg, being the hub of most of his arrivals and departures, meant that he stayed in our home often. During one of his extended stays Peter experienced somewhat of a miracle. Miracles were not unusual in Peter’s life – it’s what you would expect when you live your life just seeking God’s will in everything.

On one of Peter’s visits to our home he began waking up in the middle of the night with the Holy Spirit urging him to start writing. He would write without stopping for a couple of hours and then return to bed where he slept soundly until morning. In the morning, as he read his notes, it was as if he was seeing them for the first time. My wife would then take the notes to her workplace and type them into Word Perfect each day as the writing from the previous night was handed over. I remember the excitement each day as we would read the new chapters, of this book, one after the other.

The Gospel [Good News] of the Kingdom of God / Heaven had become, for us, “a pearl of great value” which we just had to have. We longed, and still do, to have Jesus reigning in our lives each day.

Before you read this book, ask the Father to open your heart to the Truth that he might have for you. And don’t be tempted to dismiss it out of hand. If you trust the Holy Spirit, let HIM lead you to the truth as He promised.   [John16: 13 & 14]