“And so not becoming weak in that faith, he completely understood his own body which had become [sexually] dead when he was approximately one hundred years old likewise, he completely understood the deadness of Sarah's womb [passed the menopause]. He [Abraham] staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what God had promised [a son through Sarah], God is able also to perform.” (Romans 4:19-21)

 

You see, as Abraham learned more and more about God, his confidence in God increased.  Romans 10:17 states, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." The believer listens to the Word of God today, and a little faith is developed. Then he listens tomorrow, and a little more faith is developed, and then the following day, and he continues to do so for his entire life. In this way his faith becomes stronger and stronger.

 

This stage-by-stage development of faith is illustrated by one of the Hebrew words for faith, “Qawah.” Qawah is a strong rope that does not break even under great pressure and is used to illustrate the strong faith of the mature believer waiting on the Lord (Isaiah 40:31). In order to make this strong unbreakable rope, one begins with a single strand of rope which would easily breaks under pressure.  However, when this single strand is twisted around a second strand and then around another and another until it becomes thick, a strong rope is developed. The principle is as follows: as more and more strands are twisted together, the stronger the rope becomes.  This process involved in making a strong rope depicts how faith is developed in stages. The first strand of faith is extremely weak. However, as the believer twists more and more strands of faith together, he will eventually have a strong faith. As baby believers, our faith is like a single fine thread. It has no strength at all. However, as the believer learns more and more doctrine, he develops a strong ropelike faith.  At that point he can walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). 

 

Before the Church Age, the spiritual life of the believer emphasized living by faith. For example, the Jews of the Exodus generation were taught how to walk by faith while they were still in Egypt. They were all taught about the promise which God had made to Abraham namely that God would give the Jewish people a country of their own, a prosperous land, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Before Joseph died, He made the Jews promise to take his bones out of Egypt and bury them in the promise land.  So, when Joseph died, he was embalmed and placed in a vault above ground.  So, every time a Jewish family living in Egypt would pass by the vault of Joseph, the Jewish Father would relate this story to his children. The story of how God had promised the Jews a promised land. In this way they learned to trust in the Lord. They were taught that their spiritual life was to trust in the promises of God just as Joseph believed the promise of God.

 

When God gives a spiritual life to the believer, he is going to test him regarding that life. Therefore, the Jews were tested regarding their spiritual lives as they were leaving Egypt at the Red Sea. As the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, God the Son, the only manifest person of the Trinity, led them deliberately into a trap. He led them into a cul-de-sac at the Red Sea.  There were mountains to the north and south and the Sea was to their front. Suddenly, behind this great multitude of Jews, arose a great cloud of dust. Pharaoh Amenhotep II was leading the greatest military force in the world at that time. Facing this great military force were over a million untrained Jewish slaves. The only Jewish people with any military training were Moses and possibly Joshua and Caleb. This was a hopeless situation from the human viewpoint. However, nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). All the Jews had to do was to believe what God had promised them. In this way, they would have passed this test regarding their spiritual lives.  

 

Exodus 3:7-10, “Then the Lord said, "I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, (8) and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey [idiom for a prosperous land], to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (9) And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. (10) Come, I will send you [Moses] to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt."

 

God also promised the Jews of the Exodus that they would worship him at Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb). 

 

Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the desert, and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God. (Exodus 3:1)

 

And he said, certainly I [God] will be with you [Moses], and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain [Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai]. (Exodus 3:12)

 

How did the Jews of the Exodus respond to these promises stated above? Exodus14:9-12, “The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army and overtook them [the Jews] encamped at the sea, by Pi-ha-hi'roth, in front of Ba'al-ze'phon. (10) When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after [pursuing] them, and they were in great fear [no Faith-rest Drill]. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord [help, help]; (11) and they said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt [apparently, they were cremated in Egypt] that you have taken us away to die in the desert? What have you done to us, in bringing us out of Egypt? (12) Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, 'Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert."

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Although there were more than one million Jewish adults, only Moses and possibly Joshua and Caleb had the spiritual strength to apply the promises of God to this hopeless situation. While the majority of Jews were immersed in fear and screaming about dying [no faith application of the promises of God], Moses said, "Do not fear. Stand still [in your minds] and watch the deliverance of the Lord. The Lord will fight for you today" (Exodus 14:13). The Jews should have passed this test, but they kept concentrating on the problem namely the advancing Egyptian military, rather than the solution, trusting in God’s promises, not only to protect them, but also to bless them by making them his first Client Nation. Initially, Moses concentrated on the advancing Egyptians in order to understand the situation, but when he realized that their situation was militarily hopeless, he concentrated on a divine solution, a solution based on his confidence in God and the promises which God had given him. So, he walked by faith and remained very calm in this tense situation. 

 

Now, after God had delivered the Jews from the Pharaoh, they sang beautifully praising him for their deliverance (Exodus 15:1-18) but singing does not imply spiritual strength. These believers were not praising and singing because they respected and loved God. They were expressing their appreciation to God for having delivered them. Their appreciation was based on their emotional relief from being delivered, not on their appreciation for the Lord. To these Jews the most important priority in their life was their safety, not a harmonious relationship with God. Praising God and singing hymns has meaning if one has a close relationship with God based on knowledge. However, if the believer is ignorant of God and God’s plan, his relationship with God will be related to emotion. An emotional relationship has no strength!

 

One can relate to a hymn cognitively or emotionally or both since a hymn contains both lyrics and melody. The purpose of the lyrics is to stimulate thought whereas the purpose of the melody is to stimulate one’s emotions pleasurably. If the believer understands and appreciates the lyrics of a good hymn only then can he benefit from his singing and at the same time enjoy the melody. However, if the believer does not understand and appreciate the lyrics of a good hymn, his singing becomes a meaningless emotional activity related only to the melody as the following few verses will illustrate. 

 

The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my deliverance. This is my God, and I will praise him. My father's God; I will extol him. (Exodus 15:2)

 

The chiefs of Edom were dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. (Exodus 15:15)

 

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah [rebellious, disobedient, bitter], they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah [named by Moses].)  So, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What are we to drink?’ (Exodus 15:22-24)

 

Three days after the Jews sang “the Lord is my strength,” they demonstrated that they had no spiritual strength at all for they immediately began complaining under this simple pressure.  Then, one year later after singing how brave they would be in combat, and how fearful the Edomites, Moabites and the inhabitants of Canaan would be of them, the Jewish army refused to enter the land and wept all night in their fear of the Canaanites. So, the Edomites, Moabites and the inhabitants of Canaan didn't need to worry about that generation of Jews for those men were too cowardly to fight their way into the land (Num. 14:1-11). You see, a believer can sing and praise God until he passes out from exhaustion, but all of this is meaningless unless that believer has strength in his soul from knowledge of God and rapport with God through his understanding and appreciation of God’s plan.   

 

These Jews produced sinful emotion on one side of the Red Sea and non-sinful emotion on the other side of the Sea. They swung from one end of the emotional spectrum (fear) to the other end (relief from being delivered). Only Moses had divine thought in his soul and true capacity for life. So, when he sang, it had meaning. 

 

During their first year in the Sinai Peninsula, every time they had a pressure situation, they would worry and fear about their safety and never even once considered God’s provision and plan for their lives. So, they continued to complain and complain until they died in the desert for the majority of these Jews never learned to apply the Word of God by faith to their experience. 

 

For we also have been evangelized as they had been [the intensive perfect emphasizes the result: evangelized and had believed: the Jews of the Exodus generation were believers.), but the word they heard [after salvation] did not profit them, because those who heard it [God’s word taught by Moses and others] did not mix it [knowledge of the Word] with faith [no faith perception]. For we who have believed (in the promises, principles and doctrines of God’s word) enter into the rest (of contentment and tranquility from trusting in God). (Hebrews 4:2, 3)     

 

The Jews used faith in salvation; now they needed to apply God’s promises by faith to the tests which the Lord would provide for them that they might grow spiritually. If one does not use faith for salvation, it is hopeless, so also if one does not use faith in the spiritual life, it is hopeless. Colossians 2:6 states, "Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus your Lord [a metaphor for believing in Jesus Christ as one’s savior], so be walking in him [the spiritual life after salvation]." We used faith for salvation, now we must use faith for the spiritual life. The only difference is the object of faith. In salvation, the object of faith is the Lord Jesus Christ.  In the spiritual life, the object of faith is the thinking of Jesus Christ. 

 

To the Exodus generation security was more important than applying Bible doctrine. As a result of their false priority, they became involved in the emotional sin of fear. Fear is not only an irrational state of emotion, but it is also a destructive sin. God does not answer prayer when the believer is out of fellowship and controlled by his sin nature. The Jews should not have prayed the prayer of “help, help”. Rather, they should have prayed to the Father thanking him for this opportunity to watch the Lord’s power in delivering them at the Red Sea.  Fear however destroyed their perspective of the situation.

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Principles related to fear:

 

1. It is possible to learn a lot of doctrine and yet fall apart in a sudden pressure situation.

 

2. Sudden disaster often places the believer in a panic situation resulting in a failure to apply doctrine to that situation.

 

3. The difference between fear and courage is important in a crisis situation. The courageous person is able to think under great pressure, whereas the person with fear is not able to think rationally under great pressure. The difference is the ability to concentrate under pressure. Now, if you have a problem concentrating in normal situations, you will surely have a problem concentrating under pressure in an abnormal situation.

 

4. A coward is a person who cannot think under pressure, whereas a courageous person can think under pressure.

 

5. Concentration is not only required in learning Bible doctrine, but even to a much greater extent in applying Bible doctrine. This is especially true when historical disaster occurs, because in historical disaster one has two categories of pressure namely personal and national.

 

6. Adversity and great pressure can easily cause stress. When a believer is under stress, he is not able to think objectively.

 

7. Many disasters come suddenly and with great intensity. So, these disasters can easily hinder the believer from concentrating on the promises and doctrines of the Word of God.

 

Now back to Exodus and quoting again Exodus 14:11a, “They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?”  Now keep in mind that these Jews did not have to leave Egypt. Moses did not force them to leave. Arrogant people never take responsibility for their decisions. Furthermore, Moses was only God's agent. It wasn't his idea to bring the Jews out of Egypt; it was the command of God. God was going to remove the Jews from Egyptian slavery in order to make them a special nation (client nation) in history. (Exodus 3:6-8)

 

A coward dies many times, but a brave man dies only once. Under fear emotion controls the soul. When emotion is in control, the believer becomes irrational.  In a state of irrationality, he assumes that he is already dead. This was true of the Exodus generation.  In a state of irrationality, they possessed a false view of their situation.  Their false viewpoint was that they were already dead. The true view was that God would deliver them. 

 

Is this not the word which we spoke to you in Egypt?  Let us alone that we may be slaves to the Egyptians because it is better for us to be slaves to the Egyptians than to die in the desert. (Ex. 14:12)

 

Initially, when the Jews heard that God was going to remove them from slavery, they welcomed the idea.

 

And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped. (Exodus 4:31)

 

However, once the Egyptians started to give them a hard time, they changed their minds about going.

 

And they said, may the Lord look upon you and judge you [Moses and Aaron]! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials [through the Plagues] and have put a sword in their hand to kill us. (Exodus 5:21)

 

And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.  I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord. Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage. (Exodus 6:8, 9)

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PRINCIPLES OF STRESS:

 

1. Adversity is outside pressure of life; stress is inside pressure of the soul.

 

2. Stress is caused by oneself; adversity is caused by self, by others or circumstances.

 

3. Adversity is inevitable; stress is optional.

 

4. Stress destroys the spiritual life of the believer. Therefore, the believer must name his sins to God the Father as soon as possible.  

 

5. There is a definite relationship between stress and cognition, namely stress lowers cognition.

 

6. Stress makes a person forgetful and impairs the memory. Therefore, stress impairs the ability to learn.

 

7. Stress affects a person's perception of reality. For example, at the Red Sea, the Jews with stress in their souls considered themselves already dead.

 

8. If a person remains in a stress-situation too long, all of his cognitive ability will be destroyed, and he will enter into a neurotic or a psychotic state.

 

People controlled by emotion and possessing false priorities easily succumb to fear when pressure occurs. Only the stable Christian with doctrine in his soul is able to handle the pressures of life. If the Faith-rest Drill or some other problem-solving device is not used when the believer faces a difficult problem or pressure, he will easily enter into a state of fear. In a state of fear and stress, he cannot solve his problems rationally. 

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Dying the Sin unto Death as a result of failing in the Spiritual Life:

 

The Christian who fails to achieve the objectives of the spiritual life will experience maximum suffering as he approaches and enters into his dying stage. The “sting of death” is a metaphor for the sin unto death. As the Jews were about to enter the Land, many rebelled against God and Moses, so God executed them through the sting of serpents. In disgrace they died the “sin leading to death”.

 

The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert?  For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food [delicious food with a perfect nutritional balance].” The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people [a sting leading to their death] so that many people of Israel died (Numbers 21:5, 6).

 

Paul wept privately when he realized that most of the thousands of Christians whom he had led to the Lord, were distracted from executing the spiritual life and would die the sin unto death.

 

For many [the majority] keep walking [out of fellowship] concerning whom I have told you many times [Paul warned Christians many times], and now even weeping [in private] I tell you that they [Christians] are the enemies of the Cross of Christ whose end [of their lives] is destruction [sin unto death]) whose god is their emotion, and whose [pseudo] glory is in their shame [of living in the Cosmic System], who keep thinking about earthly things [emphasis on social life, education, family, money etc. to the exclusion of living the spiritual life] (Philippians 3:18, 19).

 

Walking is a metaphor for the believer’s lifestyle. When we walk, we take one step at a time.  So, it is with the believer. The spiritual life is moment by moment, step by step way of life. These Christians had forsaken the spiritual life and were constantly walking out of fellowship.

 

Paul’s mental sorrow regarding Christian failure: Paul warned these Christians many times not to be distracted from the spiritual life. He warned them not to be distracted by emotion, by false values and priorities, by lust related to the things of this world. Since Paul realized how great the spiritual life was, it made him terribly sad to see large numbers of his converts leave the spiritual life. Occasionally, in private, he would weep when he thought of this great tragedy. 

 

The Christian who does not execute the spiritual life will die the sin “leading to death.”   He will die in terrible disgrace, and if he should have time to think about it, he would experience terrible regret. 

 

“If anyone sees his brother [a fellow believer] committing a sin not leading to death [to the Sin unto Death but under intensive discipline], he shall ask [in prayer] and He will give to him life [extend his life] to the one [a believer advancing spiritually] committing a sin not leading to death [sin unto death].  However, there is a sin [the Greek word hamartia also has the meaning of ‘failure’ or missing the mark’] leading to death [the believer is dying because he has failed, he has missed the mark of the spiritual life].  I [the apostle John] do not say that you should pray for that one [ask God to restore such a believer who has rejected the spiritual life]” (1 John 5:16).

 

What a Christian should not do for a believer dying the Sin Leading to Death. He should neither gossip nor pray for that person. What can you do for a reversionistic believer who is dying the sin leading to death?  If the dying person should come to you for help, explain to him that he needs to get into fellowship and learn the Word of God.  If he does so, God may permit him to live as He did for King David.

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Dying is different for believers, but death is the same. At the death of the believer, the soul leaves his mortal body and enters an interim body.  Paul mentions being face to face with the Lord at death.  “Face to face” implies a body.  

 

We are of good courage I say and prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home face to face with [the Greek preposition “pros” has this connotation] the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). 

 

Once the believer dies, he will never experience death, pain, or sorrow again. 

 

And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes [much of this comes from divine discipline]; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying [much from self-pity] or pain; the first things have passed away (Revelation 21:4).

 

Whether the Christian experienced victory in dying or disgrace in dying, he will be treated the same at death. He will be absent from this mortal body, face to face with his loved ones in heaven. 

 

We have seen that there is a difference during dying. In heaven however, the differences do not take place until after the Rapture of the Church. At which time, each believer will be evaluated by the Lord at the Evaluation Platform of Christ and be given or denied rewards. 

 

1 Corinthians 10:6

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Now, these things have become as examples [the failure of the Exodus Generation] for us [by interpretation to the Corinthians; by application to all Church Age believers], so that we would not lust-after evil things as they [the Exodus Generation] also lusted-after.

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ταῦτα δὲ τύποι ἡµῶν ἐγενήθησαν, εἰς τὸ µὴ εἶναι ἡµᾶς ἐπιθυµητὰς κακῶν, καθὼς κἀκεῖνοι ἐπεθύµησαν.

 

This generation of Jews were minus Faith Perception and consequently failed in the Faith-rest Drill. They had no spiritual life. When you reject the spiritual life, a vacuum in the soul is formed and into this vacuum is sucked, a Satanic counterfeit system which in this case was idolatry as per the next verse. When Moses, for example, went up Mount Sinai to get the Law, they embraced idolatry. They lusted for some God they could see and worship. So, they made a golden calf, one of the gods of Egypt. They lusted after a religion and it took on the form of idolatry.

            

Today, Christians may lust after something else, but as the golden calf did not make the Jews happy so whatever the Christian should lust after as a substitute for a relationship with God, will not make him happy.  Whatever type of lust it is, it will only make one miserable. This lust will control the life to the point of great misery.

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The Categories of Lust. (Taken from R. B. Thieme Jr’s doctrine of lust)

 

1. There are many categories of lust, all of which relate to the old sin nature.

 

2. When it comes to lust, all members of the human race are swimming in the same gene pool. None of us are free from lust. If you are human, normal or abnormal, you have lust problems.

 

3. Because of the different categories of lusts, all believers do not function under the same category.

 

4. The category of lust related to your modus operandi is directly related to both your personal areas of weakness and your personal areas of strength in your old sin nature.

 

5. All of us possess an old sin nature in the cell structure of our bodies. Therefore, all of us as humans have areas of strength and weakness. Remember that our areas of strength are very deceiving, and we often build a false self-esteem on those areas of strength which quickly leads to arrogance. 

 

6. This means that one person’s weakness is another person’s strength which becomes the basis for our arrogance, self-justification, and rationalization about inferiority and superiority. To go through life trying to prove others inferior and yourself superior is the worst concept in life.

 

7. The lust pattern of the old sin nature includes at least seven categories.

 

a. Power lust is the worst of all, for almost all other lusts are related to this one, especially if you have any inferiority problems. Power lust is the most devastating force for evil in human history. It doesn’t require leadership ability or a prominent position to have power lust. You can be at the lowest echelon, rejected by all, and have a strong power lust. Power lust is one of our greatest enemies. It comes in dozens of different packages and in all flavors.

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b. Approbation lust is merely one of the extensions of power lust, and it is separate because some people do want approbation without power. A beautiful woman may not desire power at all, but she certainly wants someone to tell her she’s beautiful.

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c. Stimulation lust has many parts, in which we cater to the nerve centers and functions of our body in the name of pleasure. (1) Sexual lust, or lasciviousness. (2) Drunkenness. (3) Drug addiction. (4) Mental stimulation or intellectual arrogance. 2 Tim 3:4, “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” Pleasure lust is a destroyer of honor, virtue, and integrity through sin and perpetual carnality. There is nothing wrong with pleasure as long as that pleasure does not involve sinful activity. Pleasure of the moment is not worth the displeasure of God.

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d. Killer lust is the problem-solving device of the weak. Inferior people trying to prove they are superior often resort to violence, torture, murder. (Legitimate killing, within the confines of military function, police work, and capital punishment, is not the same as murder.) Murder often occurs within one’s own family, as with Cain. For once this lust comes, it does not discriminate between family, friends, or enemies. Some people live to kill, love to kill and lust to kill.

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e. Anger lust or cruelty. Anger does not always but definitely can bring out a cruel streak. Some people are genetically mean and naturally cruel. Some people hide it well and some do not. This lust is the evil desire to hurt others, e.g., the object of one’s love, the object of one’s hatred, or anyone who causes you a problem. Some people cannot stand glitches, and when anyone opposes them, whether it is a loved one or an enemy or someone at work, cruelty lust surfaces. Some people by nature are kind; some people by nature are cruel. It starts as a genetic factor. However, both can also be developed, and can also be overcome by both believers and unbelievers. Variations in cruelty lust depend upon cosmic living.

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f. Money lust is called by the Scripture the “root of all kinds of evil.” It expresses itself in all the categories of evil. (1) There is nothing wrong with having and acquiring money; that is not evil or sinful, as communist propaganda says. Marxism says people have no right to wealth; it belongs to the state. (2) The USA was founded not only by Anglo-Saxon culture but also by the Protestant work ethic, which went so far as to say that people who were wealthy were blessed by God or even spiritual. Now with the influence of Marxism, we take the opposite view. Between the two is the truth. (3) God does bless some people with money; God blesses other people in other ways. We must distinguish between the blessing of God in monetary success and the acquiring of money apart from any divine blessing. (4) One index to the soul of every person can be read loud and clear by his attitude toward money. This doesn’t mean that a person who saves is tight or stingy, nor that a big-time spender is necessarily generous. But one’s attitude toward money very clearly delineates one’s overall philosophy of life or one’s spiritual condition or lack of spiritual life. 1 Tim 6:10, “For the love for money is the root of all kinds of evil, and some by lusting for it have wandered away from doctrine and stabbed themselves with many griefs [heartaches].” (5) It is a very definite fact that love for money can distract people from Bible doctrine. Heb 13:5, “Let your life be free from the love for money, and be content [+H] with what you have. For He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor will I ever forsake you.’”

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g. Crusader lust, which is Christian activism. Christian activism includes civil disobedience, criminality, paramilitary organizations, vigilante activities, social engineering, anti-Semitism, refusal to pay taxes, terrorism, utopian socialism.

1 Corinthians 10:10

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Nor grumble [complain], as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer [the Lord: a warning to the Corinthians].

 

µηδὲ γογγύζετε, καθάπερ τινὲς αὐτῶν ἐγόγγυσαν, καὶ ἀπώλοντο ὑπὸ τοῦ ὀλοθρευτοῦ.

 

This simply is a type of unbelief, dissatisfaction with divine provision. This is actually the story of Numbers 16 where we have the revolt of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.

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Numbers 16:1-35, “Now, Korah [a Levites operating under power and approbation lust sought the high priesthood via a spiritual rebellion against Aaron] the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth [a political rebellion seeking rulership], sons of Reuben [the first born of Jacob who was dispossessed], took action, (2) and they rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation [250 princes of Levi who joined Korah in the rebellion], chosen in the assembly, men of renown [one’s reputation before people means nothing]. (3) They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy [set apart to the Lord], every one of them [we have our human rights and equality which sounded good to the people], and the Lord is in their midst [the Lord is with them which was not true]; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord [accusing Moses of being arrogant as if Moses had made himself the leader]? (4) When Moses heard this, he fell on his face [this was his posture for prayer; in prayer he received an answer regarding the Lord’s choice]; (5) and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, ‘Tomorrow morning, the Lord will show who is His, and who is holy [set apart to do His work], and will bring him near to Himself [who will function as high priest]; even the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself. (6) ‘Do this: take censers [usually brass shovels used by the sons of Aaron to take ashes out of the brazen altar and deliver those ashes to the golden altar of incense in the Holy Place] for yourselves, Korah [the mastermind of the conspiracy] and all your company [the 250 Levite princes], (7) and put fire [the hot coals from the Brazen Altar] in them, and lay incense upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow [indicating prayers]; and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the one who is holy. You have gone far enough, you sons of Levi! ‘(8) Then, Moses said to Korah, ‘Hear now, you sons of Levi [the 250 princes], (9) is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you [Korah with the 250 princes] from the rest of the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord [to teach doctrine], and to stand before the congregation to minister to them [as Bible teachers]; (10) and that He has brought you [Korah] near, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking for the priesthood [which belongs to the family of Aaron, an appointment from the Lord] also [inordinately ambitious]? (11) ‘Therefore, you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord; but as for Aaron, who is he [he isn’t much] that you grumble [complain] against him?’ (12) Then, Moses sent a summons to Dathan and Abiram [other conspirators who were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ], the sons of Eliab; but they said, ‘We will not come up [to discuss this matter with you]. (13) ‘Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey [a reference to Egypt which was a land of bondage and slavery] to have us die in this desert, but you would also lord it over us [you have assumed the role of a tyrant; how can Moses rule over dead people!]? (14) ‘Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. [though they in cowardice had refused to enter the Land flowing with milk and honey, they now blame Moses for their failure] Would you put out the eyes of these men [accuse Moses of blinding anyone who opposes him]? We [Dathan and Abiram] will not come up [that you might blind us]!’ (15) Then, Moses became very angry [righteous indignation] and said to the Lord, "Do not regard their offering! I have not taken a single donkey [apparently, they also accused Moses of stealing from them] from them, nor have I done harm to any of them [Moses hasn’t blinded anyone].’ (16) Moses said to Korah, "You and all your company [the 250 princes] be present before the Lord tomorrow, both you and they [the 250 Levitical princes] along with Aaron. (17) ‘Each of you take his firepan and put incense on it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord [in front of the Tabernacle], two hundred and fifty firepans; also, you [Korah] and Aaron shall each bring his firepan [a total of 252 shovels].’ (18) So, they each took his own censer [the shovel] put fire [the burning coals] on it, and lay incense on it [the burning coals]; and they stood at the doorway of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron. (19) Thus, Korah assembled all the congregation [proving that the majority are nearly always wrong; Joshua and Caleb would be the only exceptions] against them [Moses and Aaron] at the doorway of the tent of meeting [in front of the Tabernacle]. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation. (20) Then, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, (21) ‘Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly [the entire congregation of Israel],’ (22) but they [Moses and Aaron] fell on their faces and said, ‘O God, God of the spirits of all flesh, when one person sins, will You be angry with [destroy through divine judgment] the entire congregation?’ (23) Then, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, (24) ‘Speak to the congregation, saying, ' Get back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram [the Lord will isolate the leaders of the conspirators].' (25) Then, Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him, (26) and he spoke to the congregation, saying, ‘Depart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, or you will be swept away in all their sin.’ (27) So, they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and their sons and their little ones. (28) Moses said, ‘By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not my doing [I didn’t appoint myself as the ruler of Israel]. (29) ‘If these men die the death of all men or if they suffer the fate of all men [if they should die a natural death], then, the Lord has not sent me. (30) ‘But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing [the first to go down to Sheol alive] and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord [rejected the Lord’s authorities].’ (31) As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; (32) and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions [not included were the sons of Korah as per Numbers 26:11; these sons will become singers in Israel]. (33) So, they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. (34) All Israel who were around them fled at their outcry [at their screams], for they said, ‘The earth may swallow us up!’ (35) Fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men [these men of renown were consumed by the fire on their shovels] who were offering the incense.” Another nearly 15,000 had to die the Sin unto Death before this revolt was finally put down as per Numbers 16:49, “But those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who died on account of Korah.”

 

1 Corinthians 10:11

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Now, these things happened to them [the Exodus Generation] as an example [of a warning by interpretation to the Corinthians; by application to all Church Age believers], and they were written for our instruction [admonition], upon whom the ends of the ages [It is an idiom which refers to the dispensation of the Church because the Church Age is the only dispensation that has nothing in it to be fulfilled before it terminates] have come.

 

ταῦτα δὲ τυπικῶς συνέβαινεν ἐκείνοις, ἐγράφη δὲ πρὸς νουθεσίαν ἡµῶν, εἰς οὓς τὰ τέλη τῶν αἰώνων κατήντηκεν.

 

1 Corinthians 10:12

 

Therefore, let him who thinks [subjectively] that he stands, take heed lest he falls [that he should not fall].

 

ὥστε ὁ δοκῶν ἑστάναι βλεπέτω µὴ πέσῃ.

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Romans 12:3, "For I say through the grace which has been given to me [Paul’s humility and grace orientation expressed], to everyone [Church Age believer] who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance [using the arrogance skills] beyond what you ought to think, but think in terms of sanity [objective spiritual thinking] for the purpose of being rational without illusion [about self and others], as God has assigned to each one a standard of thinking from doctrine [James 4:10]."

 

Humility, not arrogance: James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will promote you.” In his humanity Jesus Christ demonstrated how to develop humility. Philippians 2:8, “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross.” Hebrews 5:8, “Although being a Son He [a reference to His humanity] learned obedience [to authority] from the things which he had suffered.” Humility then is developed through one’s submission to all legitimate authorities. When you are consistently obedient to all legitimate authorities, you develop humility and the Lord then is able to promote you.

 

1. Proverbs 23:7, "As a person thinks in his soul so he is".

 

2. Marcus Aurelius, one of the emperors of the Golden Age of the Roman Empire had this to say, "Our life is what are thoughts make it".

 

3. Galatians 6:3, "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing and he does [the function of the 1st Arrogant Skill], he deceives himself [self-deception, the 2nd arrogant skill]."

 

4. Isaiah 59:7, "Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction are in their way."

 

5.Doctrine in the soul is designed to eliminate the goofy thinking and the arrogant dreaming which is so prevalent among believers today.  Doctrine causes the believer to think in terms of common sense, rational and sane divine viewpoint, which inserts doctrine into the daily life and avoids irrationality.  

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Arrogance related to Personality: the assumption that a good personality means a great person; that greatness is found in personality.

 

1. While it is true that some people do have great personalities, it is not true that a great personality has greatness.

 

2.  While flair may accompany greatness, flair in itself is not greatness, it is merely a personality trend.

 

3.  What the average person fails to realize is that personality often obscures the real person.          

 

4.  It is true that personality often reveals the person, but it is also true that it can be a disguise as much as a manifestation. Personality can obfuscate the real person.

 

5.   Having a great personality does not imply greatness. This does not downgrade personality but merely places personality in its proper perspective.

 

6. Personality is merely what people see. No one can see inside of your soul where the real person exists.

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7.  Personality, then, can be a manifestation or an obfuscation of the real person.

 

8.  Furthermore, personality can be used to disguise hypocrisy for example a coward may have a pleasing personality, but a coward is still a coward.

 

9.  In reality good personality is a non-essential in life, and those who confuse a good personality with greatness do not have the ability to appreciate a great person with integrity.

 

10.   The essential is the function of the soul; the non-essential is the personality which covers the soul. By analogy, the essential is the function of the human body; the non-essential is the clothes that cover the human body.

 

11. So the essential is the norms of the soul, the norms of the conscience of the soul. The non-essential is the personality which fronts for the soul.

 

12. The believer must be inflexible about Bible doctrine in his soul, but he must be flexible about the non-essentials of personality.

 

Arrogance related to Success:

 

1. Arrogant presumption can occur when a person has by some standard been labelled or qualified as being successful or the person who has come into public notice, has achieved some kind of public attention may develop an arrogant problem.

 

2. People who are brilliant or successful in a certain field assume in their arrogance that they are an expert in all fields or subjects. Therefore, in their arrogance they feel qualified to express an opinion on any subject that may come up. The momentum for this tragic flaw comes from success in one field of endeavour which linked with arrogance assumes expertise in every field of endeavour.  

 

1 Corinthians 10:13

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No testing has caught up with [has over taken] you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not permit you to be tested beyond your capability [what you are able to handle], but with the testing, will provide a solution [literally ‘a way of escape’ through the Ten Problem-Solving Devices] also, so that you may be able to endure it [possess the staying power of the spiritual life and the happiness which comes from it].

 

πειρασµὸς ὑµᾶς οὐκ εἴληφεν εἰ µὴ ἀνθρώπινος· πιστὸς δὲ ὁ θεός, ὃς οὐκ ἐάσει ὑµᾶς πειρασθῆναι ὑπὲρ ὃ δύνασθε, ἀλλὰ ποιήσει σὺν τῷ πειρασµῷ καὶ τὴν ἔκβασιν τοῦ δύνασθαι ὑπενεγκεῖν.

 

The Faithfulness of God:

 

There is only one person who is totally faithful to you and that is God who can only be faithful because of His perfect character. Divine faithfulness is God’s grace expression to the believer with emphasis on His integrity along with His immutability.

 

God’s faithfulness is manifest at salvation, 1 Corinthians 1:9, “The God is faithful through whom you have been called [invited] into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord.” The call of God the Father occurs at the point of Common Grace (The enabling power of the Spirit is given to the unbeliever that he might comprehend the Gospel). So, the call of God occurs in time; whereas election occurred in eternity past. Thus, the unbeliever who accepts the invitation or the call of God the Father to believe in Jesus Christ has been elected into the Father’s plan in eternity past. “Just as He [the Father] has elected [from the Greek word, eklego] us for Himself in Him [positional sanctification] before the creation of the world that we may be set apart [experiential sanctification] and blameless [ultimate sanctification] in the presence of Him [Father].” (Ephesians 1:4). Believers are commanded to make their calling and election a reality in 2 Peter 1:10-11. "Therefore, rather brethren, be more motivated [perception of doctrine regarding your portfolio of invisible assets] to make your calling [the Greek word, klesis] and election [the Greek word, ekloge] a spiritual reality; for by doing these things [fulfillment of the protocol plan of God], you will never stumble at any time [become a loser].  For in this manner [execution of the protocol plan], your entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ [ultimate sanctification in the resurrection body] will be richly supplied [conveyance of eternal escrow blessings to winners]."

 

Our salvation does not depend upon our faithfulness. Rather, it depends upon the faithfulness of God. 2 Timothy 2:11, “Faithful is the Word. If we died with him [and we have in retroactive positional truth], we will live with him [in the eternal future].”   

 

1 Thessalonians 5:24, “Faithful is He [God the Father] who called you, who also will do it.” After the Holy Spirit makes the gospel lucid to the unbeliever under the concept of Common Grace, the Father invites or calls the unbeliever through the gospel message. Since God the Father has perfect righteousness, justice and omnipotence, He will do all that He has said that He would do. Perfect integrity (righteousness and justice) plus immutability equals faithfulness.

 

Jeremiah tells us of the faithfulness of God in providing logistical grace provisions. Lamentations 3:21-23, “This I [Jeremiah] recall to my mind, Therefore, I have hope. (22) The Lord’s loving-kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. (23) They [logistical grace provisions] are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” Since you are alive with perfect divine provision, it is proof of God’s faithfulness to you. 

 

God’s Faithfulness in Testing, 1 Corinthians 10:13, our passage. 

 

1. God will not allow us to be tested or tempted beyond our capacity and capability to pass the test or say no to the temptation.

 

2. We are tested in the area of logistical grace support from God. We are also tested regarding our love of doctrine versus social life, loved ones, our failures, other distractions, and our families.

 

3. Prior to spiritual maturity, we must all pass through the valley of momentum testing at gate #7 of the divine dynasphere.

 

4. Even in spiritual maturity, we face evidence testing, as did Abraham when he was commanded to offer his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice.

 

5. So you are tested in all stages of spiritual growth, but never beyond your capacity.

 

6. As a part of God’s faithfulness, He always provides the doctrine or the opportunity to get the doctrine necessary to pass each test before it comes. Therefore, Bible doctrine is your way of escape from each test, and that doctrine is provided by the faithfulness of God.

 

7. God will never give you something for which you do not have the capacity, be it blessing or testing.

 

God is faithful to growing believers. Testing passed has eternal repercussions as per 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Romans 8:18. “For I conclude that the sufferings of the present period of time [undeserved suffering] are not comparable to the glory [receiving of one’s Escrow Blessing for eternity] which is destined to be revealed in us.”

 

2 Timothy 2:12, “If we endure [advance and pass the three underserved suffering tests], we will rule with him [in the Millennium]. If we reject [him: rejecting the spiritual life which He has given us], he will deny us [rewards in eternity].”  The believer is going to receive rewards from the Lord Jesus Christ or be denied rewards depending on whether he has fulfilled God's plan for his life.  The phrase “if we endure”, means constantly learning Bible doctrine and successfully applying it to the pressures and problems of life including the three undeserved suffering test. The believer who continues advancing spiritually to a state of spiritual maturity will reign with Jesus Christ in the Millennium: “Furthermore, the winner, even he who keeps my assignments unto the end [of physical life of the individual believer], I will give to him authority over the nations.”

 

God is faithful to the royal family of God.

 

1. Hebrews 10:23, “Let us keep holding fast the acknowledgment [the whole body of doctrine] of our expectation [of fulfilling our spiritual objectives] unbending [consistent with the principle of remaining positive to doctrine] because the one [the God] having promised [blessings] is faithful.”        

 

2. You have the most fantastic escrow blessings on deposit for you, protected by the faithfulness of God.

 

3. The more doctrine you have in your soul, the more you see God’s perfect character, and the more you advance to spiritual maturity. This results in the things around you which were formerly distracting to your spiritual growth becoming less and less important.

 

God is faithful to us in rebound, 1 John 1:9. God the Father is immutable, and so He is always faithful. Therefore, every time you name your sins to Him, He forgives you and restores you to fellowship. His faithfulness is never wearied by your confessions nor becomes irritated by your failures. God knew our sins in eternity past. He imputed them to Christ on the cross and judged them. God is interested in the fact that Jesus Christ took our place as our substitute. God is justified to forgive us because He has been propitiated by the sacrifice of His perfect Son. Therefore, there is no compromise to His integrity when He faithfully forgives us when we name our sins. When God the Father faithfully forgives us in grace, it is never a license to sin, but is the motivation to press on to spiritual maturity.

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God is faithful in discipline: Psalm 119:75, “I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”

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God is faithful to the reversionistic believer, The Lord is faithful to believers even when they completely fail to execute the spiritual life. If you fail to advance to spiritual maturity and glorify God in time, you will be denied eternal rewards at your evaluation for Jesus Christ will evaluate all believers after the Rapture.  However, failure to execute the spiritual life does not mean loss of salvation: 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are unfaithful [to our 2nd husband by functioning under the sin nature, our 1st husband], he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself.” Even though a Christian may be totally unfaithful to Jesus Christ in time, he is still in union with Jesus Christ. Therefore, for Jesus Christ to reject the believer in union with Him is to reject himself which is blasphemous even to suggest it.

 

Since God has perfect character, how can He not be faithful to us even if we reject and deny Him? God cannot be anything less than He is. God is faithful in keeping the reversionistic, degenerate believer alive for discipline. That same believer still goes to heaven after an entire life of rejection of Bible doctrine, just as surely as the apostle Paul went to heaven.

 

God is faithful to the believer in the realm of the angelic conflict. God is faithful to protect and guard you in the midst of the unseen angelic battle which is fought daily all around you, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil [Satan, the fallen angels, and evil people and entities].” He is the greatest deceiver in history. To be such a deceiver the devil must be the greatest and most effective liar in history, John 8:44, “You [scribes and Pharisees] are from your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand for the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; because he is a liar, and the father of lies.”

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Truth in the soul protects a person from the lies of Satan who is totally devoid of truth. When there is no doctrine or establishment truth circulating in the stream of consciousness of either believers or unbelievers, they will automatically lie since they are like Satan, their mentor. The power of truth in the soul of an unbeliever or believer is the greatest factor in insulating him from the power of Satan.

 

Application of God’s faithfulness to the spiritual life:

 

1. You should never worry about the basic necessities to sustain your life. God will provide everything you will never need.

 

2. It was harder for God to find a way to save us than it is for God to bless us in time. If He could do the most for us at salvation, it follows, a fortiori, that He can provide the lesser blessing of logistical grace support in time.

 

3. God’s perfect faithfulness to you in eternity past inevitably leads to His perfect faithfulness to you in time. There never was a time when God wasn’t totally faithful to you.

 

4. Principle: If God was faithful to you in eternity past, He can only be faithful to you in time and eternity as well.

 

Conclusion.

 

1. Faithfulness is the consistency and stability of God. Hebrews 13:5, “Let your way of life be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never abandon you, nor will I ever desert you [the Lord remains faithful].’”

 

2. Faithfulness is the perfection of God’s essence and the fact that He cannot be inconsistent or compromise His essence.

 

3. God is consistent with Himself; therefore, He is faithful and consistent with us.

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4. God keeps His word. He has never made a promise He has not kept, Psalm 119, “Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands.”

 

5. Therefore, unfaithfulness is totally incompatible with the very nature and essence of God, Malachi 3:6, "For I, the Lord, do not change [immutability]; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed [the Lord remains faithful].”

 

6. The very existence, function, and provision of blessing for the royal family of God, both now and forever, depends on the faithfulness and character of God.

 

1 Corinthians 10:14

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Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry [worship of Satan and his organization].

 

∆ιόπερ, ἀγαπητοί µου, φεύγετε ἀπὸ τῆς εἰδωλολατρίας.

 

We covered the subject of idolatry in 1 Corinthians 10:7.

 

1 Corinthians 10:15

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I speak as to wise men [those with metabolized doctrine in the Corinthian Church]; you indeed discern [evaluate] what I say.

 

ὡς φρονίµοις λέγω· κρίνατε ὑµεῖς ὅ φηµι.

 

Discernment comes from metabolized truth in the soul. The more metabolized doctrine circulating in the soul, the more is the potential discernment of the believer. The only ones who could discern with regard to what Paul is about to say about the devil’s communion table are those who have the doctrinal background. You have to know doctrine before some principles of doctrine are understandable. The word “discern” doesn’t mean to learn something entirely new, but because you have certain doctrines and you understand certain principles when you hear new information it will make sense and you put it into a category which already exists. So, the point is that knowledge is built on knowledge.

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1 Corinthians 10:16

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Is not the cup of blessing [The cup is called “blessing” because we are blessed by what Jesus Christ did on the cross. It was a cup of cursing for Christ during those last three hours on the cross] in which we rejoice, communion [fellowship] with the blood of Christ [linking the animal sacrifices with the cross; His work on the cross]? Yes, it is [expects a ‘yes’ answer in the Greek] Is not the bread [Christ in hypostatic union] which we break [a picture of His Substitutionary Spiritual Death], communion [fellowship] with the body [person] of Christ? [Fellowship with the body of Christ is a reference to Current Positional Truth.]? Yes, it is [expects a ‘yes’ answer in the Greek]

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τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας ὃ εὐλογοῦµεν, οὐχὶ κοινωνία ἐστὶν τοῦ αἵµατος τοῦ Χριστοῦ; τὸν ἄρτον ὃν κλῶµεν, οὐχὶ κοινωνία τοῦ σώµατος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστιν;

 

The reason that He called it the cup is because you pour something into a cup and drink it with the result that it becomes a part of you. It was just as if God the Father took all the sins of the world, poured them into a goblet and Christ drank it. The cup which Jesus took was a cup of cursing. To us it is a cup of blessing, and the principle is that He had to be cursed before we could be blessed.

 

Matthew 20:22-23, “But Jesus answered [Salome by addressing her sons] and said, “You [plural: a reference to James and John] do not know what you [James and John] ask. Are you [James and John] able to drink of the cup [bear the punishment of all the sins of the world] that I am about to drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism [the sins of the world identified with Christ followed by the Father judging them] that I am baptized with [identified with]?” They [James and John] said to Him, ‘We are able.’ [the dumbest statement that James and John ever made] (23) And He said to them, ‘You shall indeed drink of My cup [not in participation, but in Retroactive Positional Truth] but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but to those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

 

The communion table, then, comes from the principle of positional truth. Christ died on the cross. We accept Christ as savior, we are identified with Him as He died on the cross; doctrine of Retroactive Positional Truth. At the same time, we enter into union with Christ as He is seated at the right hand of the Father, the doctrine of Current Positional Truth.

 

The cup then stands for retroactive positional truth and the bread [the impeccable person of Christ who is now in heaven] stands for Current Positional Truth. “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins” speaks of His impeccability and His sacrifice on the cross. Now, that His sacrifice has been accomplished, we use the term ‘bread of life’ emphasizing His position at the right hand of God the Father. In anticipation of the cross, the lamb was always one of the sacrifices. However, after the cross all sacrifices were eliminated and bread [representing both His impeccability qualifying Him for the cross and His present position at the right hand of the Father] is used rather than a sacrifice to represent Christ.

 

Five preliminary questions with regard to the communion table

            

1. Should wine or grape juice be used at the Lord’s table? In the New Testament the Greek word for wine is used 33 times, and it refers to two different kinds of juice from the grape. Most of the time it refers to that which is fermented like at the wedding feast at Cana, but at the Passover, unfermented grape juice was used. Any time that the Jews drank at the Passover, they drank boiled grape juice rather than fermented grape juice. At the Lord’s Last Supper, he converted the Passover into the Eucharist.

 

Yeast is necessary to convert grape juice into wine, and since yeast is a specific type of a leavening agent, wine was not used at the Jewish Passover, and since the Lord had converted the Passover into the Eucharist, wine should not be used at the Eucharist as well.

 

Why the Jews did not use a leavening agent in any food or drink at the Passover for leaven always represents something evil in Scripture (Exodus 12:8, 19; 13:7; 34:25).  There are five different kinds of leaven in Scripture.  In Mark 8:15 there is the leaven of Herod: worldliness.  In Matthew 16:6 there is the leaven of the Sadducees: rationalism or human viewpoint. In Mark 8:15 and in Luke 12:1 there is the leaven of the Pharisees: religion. In 1 Corinthians 5:6, 7 there is the leaven of licentiousness. In Galatians 5:9 there is the leaven of legalism. The legalism of circumcision turned their entire lifestyle into a lifestyle of legalism.

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Matthew 13:33, "He [Jesus] spoke another parable to them: The kingdom of Heaven [regenerate believers on the earth] is like leaven [false doctrine in the Church and Tribulation], which a woman [ecumenical religion in the Tribulation] took and hid [the leaven analogous to evil] in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened [there will be apostasy in every organization in the Tribulation]."

GATE 2:  NEGATIVE VOLITION ARROGANCE.

         

1 Timothy 6:3-4 is the transition from gate 1 to gate 2, “If anyone teaches a different doctrine [false doctrine] and does not concur with sound doctrine; those doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ even doctrine pertaining to the spiritual life, (4) he has become puffed up with arrogance, understanding nothing [He doesn’t understand anything about the spiritual life] having a morbid obsession about controversies [He wants to argue about everything he doesn’t understand or agree with.] and verbal conflicts from which originate jealousy, strife (discord), abusive language, evil speculation [as found in certain gates of Cosmic 2].” True doctrines come from our Lord Jesus Christ; furthermore, all precedence for the Church Age was established in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union. Mental attitude arrogance results in preoccupation with self, which results in indifference to Bible doctrine, which indifference results in accepting the cheap substitutes of emotional activity, Satanic good from operating in the Cosmic System and legalism. He has become a fragmented believer in the state of Reversionism, a loser in the Christian life. The believer who rejects God’s system of power for Satan’s Cosmic System cannot acquire truth and so has personality conflicts with people; only truth in the soul can deal with these conflicts successfully. He will embrace Satan’s policy of evil and as such will become involved in evil speculation. In evil speculation, he will propose socialism as a substitute for capitalism; he will propose gun confiscation to resolve crime rather than good jurisprudence and the tough punishment of criminals just to mention a few things. In summary, he will propose to remove all of God’s mandates and policy regarding the Laws of Divine Establishment and to replace them with the goofy, unrealistic ideas of Satan.   

 

There are three stages where doctrine can be rejected namely at the Gnosis stage, the Epignosis stage and finally at the application stage (reception, retention and recall). At the reception stage (Gnosis Stage), arrogance rejects doctrine by failure to be consistent in the daily exposure to Bible teaching; arrogance fails to concentrate or distorts what is taught.  At the retention stage (Epignosis Stage), arrogance attacks this stage by relating metabolized doctrine to personal self-righteousness or to personal self-justification; arrogance attacks by making doctrine one’s servant instead of one’s master. Also, doctrine stored as epignosis can be removed through black-out and destroyed through scar tissue of the soul. At the recall or application Stage, arrogance rejects doctrine by failing to apply metabolized doctrine to experience through the utilization of the Ten Problem-Solving Devices of the Protocol Plan of God.  Recall then is the application of metabolized doctrine to the various and multifarious experiences of life. The believer must be successful in all three stages of learning Bible Doctrine.

 

Negative volition rejects finding the right pastor namely someone who is faithful in the verse-by-verse teaching of God’s Word under the principle of line upon line, precept upon precept and consistent if not daily exposure to Bible teaching either through attendance at a local church where doctrine is taught, called face-to-face teaching or through a consistent program of non-face-to-face teaching, such as audio, video, radio, television or the printed word. Positive volition toward doctrine means that spiritual growth has number one priority in your life, and nothing takes precedence over it, including Christian service.  Concentration and the avoidance of distractions, whether they are from your own soul or from others.  2 Timothy 3:2-7, "For persons [Church Age believers] will be lovers of self [in Cosmic One], lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers [abusive], disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy [wicked], (3) without love [no capacity for love from lack of virtue, wisdom, humility and grace orientation], implacable [unforgiving], slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good [of intrinsic value], (4) treacherous, thoughtless [rash], being puffed up or conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (5) having an overt appearance [outward form] of being spiritual, although they have denied its power [the two power options].  Therefore, avoid these believers. (6)  For among them are those believers who creep [worm their way] into homes and captivate [gain control over] weak-willed women who are loaded down with sins, led on by multifarious lusts, (7) always learning [gnosis only: academic understanding only] but never able to come to the epignosis knowledge of truth."

 

Gate 3:  Self-Righteous Arrogance.

 

Self-righteousness means to be righteous in one's own esteem; in fact, to be Pharisaical. Our Lord condemned self-righteousness in His great dissertation of Matthew 23, which begins:  "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites."  It is the arrogant reliance on one's own assumed, inconsistent, and hypocritical righteousness. Self-righteousness is the arrogant conviction that one's own righteousness is superior to that of all others. It is the conclusion that one's own righteousness is so great that intolerance of all others becomes the modus operandi of such blind arrogance. You’ve heard someone say, "after all I've done for you." Self-righteous arrogance is defined as divorcement from reality; it is the logical progression from preoccupation with self. It always produces a system of fantasizing, of bolstering self at the expense of others. There are seven categories of self-righteous arrogance such as: (1) The arrogance of legalism; (2) Personality arrogance; (3) The arrogance of morality; (4) Authority arrogance; (5) Crusader arrogance and Christian activism; (6) The arrogance of Christian service; (7) Transference arrogance:

 

Arrogant self-righteousness is the motivational arrogance which manifests itself in these seven categories, all of which comprise another step in the drive toward unreality. By the seventh category, the person is locked into arrogance, explaining why believers can become mentally ill. If a believer divorces himself from Bible doctrine, he divorces himself from reality, and the drive toward unreality results in becoming mentally ill.

 

(1) The arrogance of legalism: From self-righteousness, originates the arrogance of legalism from which comes the vanity of the unique experience and erroneous emphasis on human achievement. It begins with believers not understanding the uniqueness of the Church Age, their portfolio of invisible assets, their escrow blessings, the divine decree, equal privilege and equal opportunity in the protocol plan of God, their union with Christ producing the royal family of God and a new spiritual species, the ten problem solving devices, the indwelling of the Trinity, and the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and how it is perpetuated into the Church Age.  (Failing to understand these things, they go back to the Mosaic Law for their spiritual life.)  Self-righteous arrogance includes any form of legalism. It has three general categories.  (1) Salvation by works or human achievement namely adding to faith for eternal life.  (2) Spirituality by works, in which people observe certain taboos and get involved in some type of Christian service and call it spirituality; (3) Blessing by works which teaches that blessings from God is based on works, human achievement, self-sacrifice, morality, giving, conforming to a church program, or participating in some ritual.  This leads to the erroneous conclusion that the believer is victorious, mature, or great because of some unique experience, some sacrificial modus vivendi, or some system of human works. Self-righteous arrogance is the motivation, while legalism is the function which comes from that motivation. Self-righteous arrogance correlated with the arrogance of legalism concludes that the plan of God succeeds or fails on the basis of human works, rather than concluding the truth, which is that the plan of God succeeds on the basis of what He does in grace, working on our behalf.  Therefore, legalism establishes false standards and measures spiritual success on the basis of complying with these false standards. Self-righteous arrogance seeks to impose its standards on others, judging them for not complying.

 

(2) Personality Arrogance: From the arrogance of legalism comes a change in personality, called personality arrogance. Self-righteous arrogance seeks to dominate people, policy, and authority in its periphery. Self-righteous arrogance establishes false standards and then seeks to impose those standards on other people. Therefore, self-righteous arrogance produces a domineering personality and a bully, a person who assumes that he is never wrong in human interaction, a person who often claims sinless perfection. Yet 1 John 1:10 says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and doctrine is not in us." The result is the blind leading the blind, or personality arrogance motivated by self-righteousness rejecting human privacy, forcing erroneous standards on others in the name of Christianity. (People have a right to make their own mistakes before the Lord. Correction comes either through the teaching of Bible doctrine or divine discipline.) Personality arrogance is irrational and never satisfied until everyone in his periphery is a puppet on a string dancing to his tune, using his standards, fulfilling the principle of the blind leading the blind. Anyone who succumbs to personality arrogance and legalism falls into the worst possible ditch. Personality arrogance attacks the teaching of Bible doctrine at two points: its subject matter, and its communicator. Personality arrogance is the superimposition of personal and false opinions over the principles of God's Word. If the pastor does not agree with their false concepts, personality arrogance attacks the pastor, seeking to discredit him and his ministry. So, indirectly, personality arrogance seeks to destroy true Bible teaching.   

 

(3) The Arrogance of Morality: Legalism, personality arrogance, and the arrogance of morality all go together. There are two categories of morality found in the Bible. True morality is based on the Laws of Divine Establishment as delineated in the Mosaic Law. True morality is designed for both believer and unbeliever. It is related to one’s responsibility to government, society, and the authorities delegated by God under the Laws of Divine Establishment including its ethics (moral duty and responsibility), motivation, conduct, honor, and integrity. Genuine morality includes respect for privacy, freedom, property, and life and is the basis for the right of evangelism and to hear Bible doctrine taught. Arrogant self-righteousness distorts human morality into a system of works in opposition to the Protocol Plan of God. Salvation by morality, spirituality by morality, and blessing from God by morality is the three tenets of this blasphemy. The Protocol Plan of God for the Church Age produces something higher than morality through residence, function, and momentum in the spiritual life. It produces virtue and the Ten Problem-Solving Devices/two through ten being the spiritual life. Morality is the function of the human race living under the Laws of Divine Establishment. Virtue is the function of the believer who, under the Filling of the Spirit, has advanced to spiritual adulthood. Virtue and grace orientation must be added to morality to avoid arrogance and the fragmentation of one’s spiritual life. Morality-arrogance is the ignorant and self-righteous believer substituting human morality for virtue produced by the ministry of God the Holy Spirit and consistent cognition of Bible doctrine. Furthermore, morality-arrogance produces a pseudo happiness in contrast to sharing God’s happiness by the execution of the spiritual life. Morality has limitations which are completely ignored by arrogance. Morality cannot provide salvation, but the arrogant seek salvation through morality and works. Morality is not spirituality, but arrogance alleges so. The morality of establishment cannot compare with the virtue produced by the two power options of the spiritual life.  Morality relates to freedom; the spiritual life relates to that which is greater than freedom: the Christian way of life, the foundation for all systems of freedom in life. Morality is not the means of establishment function in the client nation, but the result of it. Therefore, morality is everything from paying taxes to serving in the military, respect for law and law enforcement-agencies, recognition of the privacy of others, respect for freedom, and recognition of the sacredness of the property and lives of others. Morality demands that the believer and unbeliever be law-abiding citizens and patriotic, dedicated to the principle of freedom plus the authority necessary to protect that freedom; willing to join the military, pay taxes, and do jury duty. Morality is related to freedom: freedom to believe in Christ, freedom to learn Bible doctrine, freedom to grow in grace, or freedom to reject Christ and to reject learning Bible doctrine. So, morality is very vulnerable to distortion. Just add arrogant self- righteousness and the virtue is gone from morality.

 

(4) Authority Arrogance: Legitimate authority in life is defined as those powers delegated by God to the human race in such categories as husband over wife, parents over children, government over the people, management, coach, teacher, professor, senior rank in the military, the judge on the bench, the police officer and the traffic light. When does legitimate authority break-down? Well, authority-arrogance always begins in the home. The family is Divine Institution #3. The parents have the opportunity of teaching their children, establishment principles, the greatest of which is respect for authority. The objective of parenthood is to train children in all the principles of life, especially respect for authority in every area of life. Christian parents have an additional responsibility of evangelizing their children and after their salvation, to teach them the spiritual life.

 

In the spiritual realm, authority orientation of the royal family of God includes the Word of God, the pastor of the local church, and the volition or self- determination of the believer to respond to or reject Bible doctrine. While God has delegated authority in these realms, such authority is useless without human consent. Human acceptance of authority is often negated because arrogance rejects authority with devastating results, such as crime, violence, terrorism, civil disobedience, and revolution. All misery comes from individual volition, from making decisions from arrogance, and from losing all sense of destiny in life. It comes from our failure to accept authority and learn. Authority arrogance is the enemy of freedom, privacy, property, and life. Privacy is destroyed through gossip, maligning, judging, which stems from jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, or hatred. Freedom is destroyed through the malfunction of our divine institutions in the arrogant attack upon authority. Freedom without authority is anarchy; authority without freedom is tyranny.

 

Authority arrogance results in the destruction of freedom through socialism, crime, drug addiction, violence, crusader arrogance, the attempt of self-righteousness to superimpose one's will on others. Drug addiction takes away one's individual sense of responsibility, and destroys the proper use of volition. Authority arrogance attacks free enterprise by destroying capitalism via redistribution of wealth and lately via lock-downs. Authority arrogance attacks military establishment, destroying the command structure (for example peer ratings) necessary for the preservation of the nation. Authority arrogance attacks law enforcement, destroying governmental authority.

                             

Where does this arrogance originate and how does it affect the local church?  The organized humility of the home includes a system for teaching. No parent is always fair. Yet children must learn to face situations which are not fair and still respect and obey the authority of their parents. Without respect for parents and without learning to take responsibility for their decisions, children leave home immature.

 

At salvation, eternal life is imputed to the human spirit. Spiritually, organized humility is found in the local church; the authority for enforced humility is the pastor and his doctrinal teaching. Authority arrogance attacks the pastor who is faithful in teaching doctrine, distracting believers from learning the Word.  So vital is the doctrinal message to the royal family of God that many Scriptures warn against undermining the authority of any pastor, no matter how bad or good any pastor is. He is responsible to the Lord directly. Isaiah 54:17, "`No weapon formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that accuses you in judgment, I will condemn.  This is the heritage of the servant of the Lord, and his vindication is from Me,' says the Lord." Hebrews 13:17, "Keep obeying those pastors who themselves are ruling over you. Submit to their authority, for they keep watching for the benefit of your souls as those who have to render an account [to the Lord]." The pastor receives his authority from God through the delegation of the spiritual gift, proper preparation, and a call from a specific congregation. The pastor exercises his authority through exegetical teaching of the Word of God. His authority does not exist apart from the Word. Thus, the local church becomes the environment for the authority of teaching the Word of God. It is inevitable that some persons in a congregation will become dissatisfied or disenchanted with a specific ministry. If the dissatisfaction originates from some form of arrogance, the believer will suffer from the law of volitional responsibility including divine discipline. If the fault lies with the pastor, God will punish him beyond anything you could even imagine. If you change churches or reject a ministry, do so without undermining the authority of the pastor. Leave him entirely in the Lord's hands. Otherwise, you will reap triple-compound divine discipline doubled; so, you get discipline six-fold.

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In the home, children are blessed by accepting parental authority; they are cursed from rejecting parental authority. In the local church, believers are blessed by consistent positive volition toward the doctrine; they are cursed by negative volition toward doctrine. Just as a child or adolescent in the home who rejects parental authority is disciplined for authority arrogance all his life, so the believer who rejects the authority of good Bible teaching spends his entire Christian life on earth under discipline.

 

Authority arrogance comes from having more authority or power than you can handle. Instead of producing a sense of responsibility and challenge to leadership, it produces arrogance. Such a person has no capacity for authority, and no sense of responsibility toward God or others in relationship to that authority. He relates that authority only to himself. He uses his authority for his own personal advancement rather than to fulfill the purpose and policy of an organization.

                  

All legitimate organizations have three principles of normal modus operandi:  authority, a purpose, and a policy. Institutional arrogance attacks one or more of these three principles of organizational modus operandi. Institutional arrogance assigns more importance to self, the opinions of self, and self-righteousness, and thereby undermines the authority, attacks the purpose, and seeks to destroy the policy of a legitimate organization. Changes in purpose and policy of an organization must be accompanied by consensus or respectful approach to authority through a form of grievance committees.

 

To bring about changes in authority, purpose, or policy of an organization through any function that undermines that authority is generally associated with some form of arrogance. When you are on the job, what you think is not important. What is important is the purpose, the policy, and the authority of the organization. Your opinion is totally inconsequential. We all face the temptation of this institutional arrogance when we are overlooked, maltreated, under an inferior or jackass authority, etc., but if you succumb to this temptation, you've had it! 

 

Conspiracy arrogance, a sub-category of authority arrogance is the function of a mutual admiration society designed to overthrow legitimate authority. The mutual admiration society is composed of two categories of arrogance and subjectivity. The arrogant who have aggressive subjectivity. The inadequate who have passive subjectivity. The arrogant one assumes that he is greater than the system and the authority structure of the system. The inadequate one assumes that the system has overlooked his talent and ability. The arrogant leads the inadequate in forming a conspiracy against a person or persons who represent authority in that system. These societies are started by someone who is ambitious to take over. This takeover starts with complimenting, then socializing with the inadequate. As they criticize, they slowly but surely build up their own organization to take over. The pattern for conspiracy arrogance is the subject of Psalm 12:2-4. “They [mutual admiration society] speak each one [arrogantly] to his friends [inadequate] with lips of flattery. They speak heart to heart [idiom for double standard]." The arrogant flatters the inadequate so that he will join him in the conspiracy, using the old ploy, "You have been overlooked; you are better than they." The arrogant flatters the inadequate, causing the inadequate to become dissatisfied with authority. They both malign and slander the authority. Finally, they both combine to form an effective conspiracy.

 

The purpose of the conspiracy:  the arrogant wants to replace the authority, and the inadequate wants to be recognized by the authority as being great in the organization. Psalm 12:3-4, "The Lord will destroy all flattering lips [conspiracy of the arrogant], the tongue [conspiracy of the inadequate] which speaks boastful things, who have said, `We will triumph in this conspiracy with our tongues. Our lips are with us; who is our master?'" They use verbal language to undermine the authority by slander, gossip, maligning, judging, and false propaganda. Their authority arrogance is seen in the last rhetorical question:  "Who is our master?"  They are an authority only to themselves and recognize no other.

 

Absalom is the perfect illustration: 2 Samuel 15:2-6, “And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that, when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and would say, ‘Of what city are you? And he would reply, ‘Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. (3) Then, Absalom would say to him, ‘See, your claims are good and right; but no man listens to you on the part of the king. (4) Moreover, Absalom would say, ‘Oh that one would appoint me as judge in the land, then every man who has any suit or cause could come unto me, and I would give him justice!’ (5) And it was so, that, when any man came near to prostrate himself before him, he would put forth his hand, and take hold of him, and kiss him. (6) In this manner, Absalom dealt with all Israel who came to the king for judgment: so, Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel.”

 

(5)  Crusader Arrogance: Crusader arrogance is defined as self-righteous arrogance with strong or impulsive desires to superimpose one's opinion and principles on others without their consent. The person afflicted with crusader arrogance believes he is so right and his cause so just that he is justified in using any means to gain his objective, including violence, destruction of property, and causing others to lose their jobs or to be driven from their environment. The perfect illustration of this is the fundamentalist groups who attack abortion clinics. They do not know that the Word of God says that, in every case, God creates life and imputes it at the point of birth.  So, abortion in the first tri-semester of pregnancy is a private matter between a woman and her doctor, and it is no one else's business. However, crusader arrogance in ignorance ignores the honorable and judicial system for the redressing of grievances. Crusader arrogance believes in vigilante solutions which bypass governmental law and order. Hence, crusader arrogance practices and advocates civil disobedience.

 

(6) The Arrogance of Christian Service: Every believer is in full-time Christian service from the very point of his salvation until his death or the Rapture. However, Christian service to be meaningful requires spiritual growth and consistent function under the two power options. Therefore, there is no such thing as dedication to full-time Christian service. Motivation for Christian service must relate to spiritual growth, to the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, to humility, and to cognition of Bible doctrine. Christian service performed outside of God’s power system is service performed in Satan’s Cosmic System and is classified as wood, hay, and stubble in 1 Corinthians 3:12. It will be burned at the Judgment Seat of Christ [Evaluation Platform of Christ].

         

Therefore, Christian service should not be confused with spiritual growth and spirituality. It is all too often executed while grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit. Christian service is a legitimate function in the Protocol Plan of God, but always as a result of spiritual growth, never as a means. 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness. (17). that the man of God might be proficient [capable], having been well equipped [prepared] for every good work [Christian service]." Verse 17 is the result of verse 16. You are not spiritual or mature because of your Christian service. Christian service is never a substitute for momentum in the Protocol Plan of God and resultant glorification of God. Therefore, it becomes imperative to understand that Christian service is the result of momentum and spiritual growth in the Protocol Plan of God, not the means. Christian service must never be confused with spirituality or the Filling of the Spirit, the means of effective service. The arrogance of works or Christian service is the erroneous conclusion and the false doctrine that Christian service and works are the means of fulfilling and executing the Protocol Plan of God. In Luke 14:11, Jesus said, "Everyone who exalts himself [arrogance of Christian service] shall be humbled [losers under divine discipline], but he who humbles himself [enforced and genuine humility] is exalted [by the fulfillment of the Protocol Plan of God]." Arrogance substitutes Christian service for spirituality and for spiritual growth, both of which are unacceptable to the plan of God. You were given a spiritual gift at salvation by God the Holy Spirit, eventually to be manifest in some type of Christian service, but the function of this gift and any other production is destroyed completely by this arrogance. Only the daily feeding on the Word of God can protect your motivation, guarantee your momentum, and maintain your status of genuine humility. Hebrews 6:1, "Not laying again the foundation of a change of thinking from dead works." Christian service without momentum in the Protocol Plan of God is dead works, works produced in the Cosmic System.  It is the quintessence of human arrogance to assume that Christian service without doctrine in the soul is pleasing to God.

                  

(7) Transference Arrogance: Becoming involved in transference arrogance namely assigning one’s own arrogance to another. One example should do. Joseph's brothers assumed in arrogance that once their father Jacob died, Joseph would take revenge on them for selling him into slavery. It was the brothers themselves who had motivational and functional revenge in their souls which flaws they transferred to Joseph. The brothers assumed that because they had such arrogant thoughts, that Joseph had them also. Therefore, they concluded that Joseph was biding his time, waiting to take his revenge on them, waiting until Jacob’s death. However, this was not true.

                     

Gate 4:  Sexual Arrogance.

 

Not only is sexual arrogance defined as illegitimate sex namely any sex outside of marriage, but it is sex in which there is total preoccupation with self. This preoccupation disregards every factor of virtue or consideration of others. Sexual arrogance belongs to those who are classified in 2 Timothy 3:4 as "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." Hence, sexual arrogance is ritual without reality. It precludes love as a motive for sex, and so destroys the honor and integrity of the individuals involved. It is one more step toward unreality.

 

Lasciviousness is a trend in the old sin nature which seeks self- gratification from some form of illegitimate sex. When linked with arrogance, it produces three categories of sexual arrogance namely normal, abnormal and criminal. Normal sexual arrogance includes adultery, fornication and polygamy. Adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone else other than his or her spouse. Fornication is voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons, and of course, polygamy is having more than one wife.  Abnormal sexual arrogance includes at least four categories: (1). Masturbation as sexual self-gratification, (2). Homosexuality as sexual activity with a person or persons of the same sex. This includes lesbianism which is sexual activity between two women. (3) Incest is sexual intercourse between members of the same family. (4) Voyeurism is sexual gratification while watching others engage in sex like on a TV screen. Criminal sexual arrogance includes at least four categories. (1)  Rape is forcing a person against their will to have sex. (2)  Pederasty is an adult male having sex especially with boys. (This is popular with many Muslims.) (3)  Necrophilia is erotic attraction to a corpse or having sex with a corpse. (4) Bestiality is sexual relationship between a human being and an animal.

 

Promiscuity in the man and woman is detrimental to every facet of life, including the spiritual life. Above all, it is detrimental in developing capacity for love, life, and happiness. This is why the Word of God forbids adultery, fornication, pederasty, incest, masturbation, and bestiality. God is not trying to deprive anyone of fun; rather he is trying to guide the person toward happiness. Sex can only be a blessing as an expression of love in monogamy.

 

Sexual arrogance in the woman can manifest itself through seduction of important persons; e.g., Cleopatra's seduction of Caesar, Messalina's seduction of Claudius, or the famous Aspasia of fifth century B.C. Miletus who seduced the great Athenian statesman, Pericles. Sexual arrogance in the woman relates to the number and importance of her conquests. Her flirtatious attitude is designed to receive flattery and to stimulate her arrogance. On the other hand, male sexual arrogance includes possessing a harem or being involved in a multiplicity of seductions. The more women with which a man has sex, the more intensified becomes his lust and arrogance. In conclusion, sexual arrogance in both women and men is extremely destructive to the soul.  It destroys any capacity for love, life and happiness that the person may have had.

 

Gate 5:  Criminal Arrogance.

 

There are two categories of criminals in the world today: unbelievers and believers. All criminality is acquired through arrogance. No one is born with a genetic tendency toward crime. It is all a matter of arrogance; e.g., authority arrogance, mental attitude arrogance, self-righteous arrogance, sexual arrogance, the arrogance of unhappiness, and above all, psychopathic arrogance. All criminals are such because of their own volition, because they have made many decisions in becoming a criminal. Environment is not the issue in criminality. The environment does not mold the criminal, rather the criminal molds the environment.  Honor and integrity can belong to all, not just to one social caste. There may be 8 siblings from a very poor home. Seven become wonderful responsible citizens while one becomes a criminal. Criminals are criminals not because of their environment, but because they will to be so.

 

Criminality actually begins with rejection of authority in the home. Rejection of parental authority eventually results in the rejection of all legitimate authority including God’s Laws of Establishment, and therefore is totally disoriented to life. The criminal seeks to superimpose his authority on society. In arrogance, he gives lip service to the authority he encounters, but in his soul, he despises any and all authority except his own. A law-abiding citizen may be irresponsible without being a criminal. But all criminals are irresponsible all the time.

 

The criminal lives inside the Cosmic System. He is totally preoccupied with himself. He is hypersensitive about himself and insensitive toward others. Strangely enough, he is very self-righteous, and filled with self-justification regarding his criminal deeds. It happens many time in prison-riots during which criminals will kill other criminals. When asked why they killed another criminal, they will answer because the other criminal deserved to die. In self-righteousness, he may state about the other criminal that he raped and killed children whereas I merely raped and killed adults; I would never touch a child!

 

The criminal is a bored person. He seeks excitement and many times in the form of possessing power over individuals. In fact, the criminal's desire for excitement is so great that he becomes jaded without constant stimulation from excitement. To the criminal, living without excitement is a put-down. Therefore, the criminal requires constant stimulation related to his crimes and making others afraid of him gives him a false sense of superiority. Eventually, only extreme criminal activity related to torture, rape, and murder is satisfactory as an antidote to his boredom.

 

All liars are not criminals, but all criminals are liars. For the criminal, lying is a way of life. Therefore, the criminal becomes a pathological liar. Habitual deceit and lying is the criminal's total disregard for the truth in any form. Lying is the criminal's standard way of dealing with the world, a part of criminal manipulation.

 

The criminal is saturated with a lust pattern of arrogance. He has sexual lust, killer lust, power lust, approbation lust, money lust, stimulation lust requiring extensive use of drugs or alcohol, cruelty lust from which comes torture and abuse of others, as well as homicide. From his arrogant preoccupation with self, the criminal is involved in a lust pattern from which it is almost impossible to break away. His only hope is to become a believer followed by intensive study of God’s word. He needs several years of listening to good Bible teaching just to become a normal human being with a normal soul filled with correct norms and standards and priorities etc. Very few are able to make this transformation even after becoming believers. This is one reason why the Word of God demands the use of capital punishment for criminals.

 

The criminal believer: The arrogant factor in crime is the major issue. The only way a criminal can break out of criminal arrogance is by making good decisions; he made many decisions in becoming a criminal; now if he desires change, he must make many decisions in becoming a normal human being. No one can help him. Only he can help himself. If he should become a Christian, he must be consistent in his daily exposure to good Bible teaching. If there is any inconsistency, the criminal factor will continue. The real problem for a believer-criminal is not occasionally getting doctrine, but permanently accepting the authority of some teacher and staying with doctrine. Any personality conflict immediately arouses the arrogance in him, and he's right back in the arrogance complex, and right back into crime. The criminal believer being anti-establishment is often, anti-God and anti-doctrine.

 

The believer living in the Cosmic System and involved in the various stages of reversionism (spiritual apostasy) is capable of burglary, robbery, kidnapping, shoplifting, mugging, blackmail, larceny, drug activity, prostitution, rape, murder, etc. The criminal often pretends to accept some authority, like that of pastor or evangelist or psychiatrist. Often, he appears to be positive to the Gospel, and even to believe in Christ, but all of this is to advance his own ends in most cases.

 

If you are interested in further study regarding how a criminal thinks, may I suggest reading, “The Criminal Personality Volume I: A Profile for change” by Samuel Yochelson and Stanton Samenow.           

        

Gate 6:  Psychopathic Arrogance.

 

The pre-psychotic personality is subjective, inhibited, chronically worried, always stubborn, intolerant, inflexible, always lacking a sense of humor. This personality is further characterized by rigidity (inflexibility) which acts as a neurotic defense, plus arrogance related to self-righteousness, perfectionism, and/or the guilt syndrome. Instability is caused by the oscillation between these things. It is irritable, peevish (querulous in temperament or mood), complaining, unable to concentrate, depressed, and full of paranoid ideas (excessive or irrational suspiciousness and distrustfulness of others). It is full of anxiety, has a tendency toward hypochondria (extreme depression often centered on imaginary physical ailments), and has a morbid anxiety about one's own health accompanied by the conjuring up of imaginary illnesses.

 

Psychopathic arrogance is a volitional drive toward unreality, and it begins with arrogance at a very young age. In the normal person, (the non-psychopathic person) the emotion is under the control and domination of the intellect, the right lobe or mentality of the soul, and so always blends with the intellectual life so as not to disrupt rational modus operandi. Arrogance, the seed for psychopathic arrogance, begins in childhood, where personality is dominated by primitive basic drives to the exclusion of rational behavior. This is seen in children who are permitted tantrums by permissive parents, children who are allowed to sulk, who are deceitful, obstinate, boastful, shameless, and erratic. Christian parents with locked-in legalism who are so involved in their own arrogance that they have actually established an environment for others, such as their children, to move step by step in the drive toward unreality into a psychotic condition. Parents living in the Cosmic System can rear their children under legalism from the cradle, creating the environment of unreality, so that if the children have the same predilections, they will move, step by step, toward a psychotic condition.

                

The mind in the normal soul is designed to control the emotions and to make the emotions responsive to certain things in life, but when emotion takes over the mind, then there cannot be any rational thought since emotion has no ability to think, to rationalize. In fact, emotion is not related to any field of cognizance by design. The emotions were designed to respond to what is in the right lobe: the frame of reference, memory center, vocabulary and categorical storage. In the psychopathic person, this normal subordination of emotion to the intellect is not present because of cultivated arrogance and cosmic involvement with its resultant drive toward unreality. 

 

Psychopathy is a general term for mental disturbances or mental disorders. However, psychopathy is also used specifically for certain mental disorders characterized by emotional instability, perversity of conduct, undue conceit, suspiciousness, lack of self-control, lack of social feeling, lack of truthfulness, lack of common sense, and lack of persistence. The psychopathic personality likes to surround himself with others who also lack common sense and who are also moving toward unreality. A society of arrogant people with no respect for legitimate authority, naturally breeds psychopathic personalities. This is prevalent in our fragmented society today. As a result, America's psychopathic persons find the environment in which they live so filled with categories of arrogance that their drive toward unreality seems perfectly normal to them! 

 

The arrogance of self-righteousness and legalism is one of the greatest contributing factors to this problem of Psychosis especially among believers. Typical characteristics of the psychopathic believer include the following: instability namely oscillation from self-righteousness in prosperity to self-pity in adversity, egocentricity regarding everything in relationship to oneself, and egoism which is an excessive love of self which divorces the individual from reality, so that eventually mental disorders occur. The psychopathic believer is the product of his own arrogance and multifarious bad decisions from a position of weakness (Decisions made out of fellowship with God). The environment for his bad decisions is provided by certain segments of so-called Christianity, the holy rollers, the Pentecostals, and the legalistic fundamentalists. These groups have provided a tremendous environment of unreality which is an incubator for these bad decisions.

 

In a psychotic state, the believer can no longer recover through perception of Bible doctrine and the use of the Recovery Procedure; he first requires psychiatric treatment. Whereas normally, perception of Bible doctrine causes recovery from many things and puts us back on the right track, it cannot cause one to recover from a psychotic condition. Until such a person has psychiatric treatment, there can be no recovery. Psychiatry has made tremendous advances in the field of drugs and medicine, so that the psychotic person can function in an almost normal manner. However, without the use of these medicines, it is impossible for such a believer to learn doctrine, regardless of how much and how often he listens. There can be no recovery without medicine!

 

It is the tendency of those who have provided the environment of unreality through legalism to try to resolve this problem of psychosis through prayer. This problem of mental illness cannot be resolved through prayer since prayer cannot reverse the process by which a believer has become psychotic. A thousand bad decisions cannot be reversed by fervent, daily prayers. That is not the purpose of prayer; prayer was never intended to reverse the Law of Volitional Responsibility just as you are not going to deliver a person through prayer if he has just jumped off the Empire State Building.  He will hit the pavement with a splat!

 

The psychopathic believer or unbeliever lacks the ability to evaluate realistically the object of his emotional responses or reactions. Arrogant preoccupation with self excludes reality and leads to the drive toward a false object. For example, a psychopathic female may fall in love with a male in her periphery, making him the object of her hallucinations (imaginary perceptions) and fantasies, pursuing this pseudo-love with arrogant fanaticism. The arrogant psychopath loses all objectivity, reasoning power, and moral stability. Regarding procedure, the psychopathic person parlays arrogance into illusion and hallucination. Also, because of his arrogance related to psychosis, he becomes very hypersensitive about himself. He may feel slighted where slighting does not occur. He may blame others for his failures and avoids taking any responsibility for those same failures. Because of his preoccupation with himself coupled with his hypersensitivity, he easily becomes jealous, implacable, resentful, bitter, and can easily entertain delusions of persecution. Apart from medicine, his situation is quite hopeless.

 

Locked-in arrogance in the psychopathic person results in several categories of psychopathic personalities, such as the manic-depressive person. You may ask, “How does this state begin?” In the mild depressive state, the Christian has physical complaints which have no factual basis. This is followed by a lack of confidence and a lack of a sense of destiny; instead, he has a sense of inadequacy, unable to stay with a job. This is followed by the manic phase where the believer is very self-righteous, very self-satisfied, and even arrogantly aggressive. He is childish, proud, and intolerant of criticism, irrepressible (without self-control), uninhibited (not discouraged from spontaneous activity), effusive (marked by excessive emotion or enthusiasm), and often unconventional in speech and manner. Such a person courts the limelight as boastful, flippant, argumentative, has wandering thought patterns, is easily bored, lacks the ability to sustain anything, and never has an enthusiasm sustained for very long.  Arrogance in the manic phase is characterized by hostility toward members of one's own family, combining arrogance with unreasonable and unprovoked anger. Oscillation of emotions is very common. In the middle of exuberance, the person may suddenly burst into tears. The manic is self-righteous, officious, and meddlesome. Hallucinations (to affect with visions or imaginary perceptions) in manic excitement are usually arrogant illusions as the manic (unreasonable enthusiasm combined with an elevated mood) builds himself up in order to interfere and straighten out everyone. Therefore, the manic depressive-believer is characterized by alternating mania (emotional highs because of unreasonable enthusiasm) and mental depression. He goes from being depressed to being very excited and self-righteous. 

Gate 9: Rational and Irrational Arrogance.

 

Rational arrogance is pseudo-intellectualism whereas irrational arrogance is the arrogance of emotion. These are the inevitable result of the arrogance-gates 1-8. Rational arrogance is the vanity of intellectual arrogance, or the elitism of the genius I.Q. Elitism might be defined for this study as that arrogant consciousness of pride which belongs to a select or favorite group of people for people with a high I.Q. have a tendency to look down their noses at those who are less endowed. Rational arrogance is the vanity of giving precedence to human I.Q. and intellectual attainment over spiritual I.Q. and momentum from doctrine.  The human viewpoint of life rejects or sets aside divine viewpoint.

 

Rational arrogance generally afflicts those believers in Jesus Christ whose superior I.Q. or educational background gives them a false sense of elitism or superiority. All too often, rational arrogance a type of intellectual arrogance compromises Bible doctrine by attempting to reconcile those things found in the Word of God with philosophical or scientific speculation. Because rational or intellectual arrogance is so anthropocentric, it has a tendency to accept as fact theories and philosophical speculations in the field of rationalism and empiricism, and make them a part of Christian doctrine. For example, a favorite practice of rational or intellectual arrogance is to choose something like the theory of evolution over creationism, because it seems to them to be "more reasonable" than divine revelation in the canon of Scripture. This is consistent with the human viewpoint objective of glorifying self over God.

 

The trends of rational or intellectual arrogance are noted in the attempt to reform Christianity, beginning with Gnosticism starting in the latter part of the first century and becoming quite popular in the second and third centuries which heresy tried to reinterpret the Scriptures by adding philosophical concepts to the Word of God. The scholasticism of medieval times, beginning in the 12th century, made popular in the 13th and 14th centuries, tried using reason to merge the theories of Plato and Aristotle with Christian doctrine. While previous scholars depended heavily on the Bible and the writings of the early church fathers, the scholastics felt that their newly developed logical methods were authoritative regardless of previous writings. These were extremely brilliant men with tremendous academic ability and very scholarly, but they operated outside of the spiritual life and so used their great minds rather than the Two Power Options of the spiritual life. For example, they would write academic papers and books on what is the relationship between faith and reason without understanding the spiritual life. Anselm of Canterbury claimed that faith preceded reason; Peter Abelard argued that nothing is to be believed until it is first understood. Peter Lombard stated that the limits of faith should be settled by reason; Thomas Aquinas stated that natural reason leads the student to the vestibule of faith. In summary, scholasticism was a detraction from the spiritual life.

 

Starting in the twentieth century up to this point rational arrogance is manifest in existentialism, social action, socialism, utopianism, and in communism. Existentialism is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the nature of existence by emphasizing the experience of the human subject. An existentialist would say that we must search for meaning in a meaningless world in which there are no guidelines nor moral code. The existentialist must create meaning for himself out of a world without any inherent meaning. There is no meaning in the world in which he is born. So, he must exist first and then create meaning and purpose in life.

 

The truth of Bible doctrine forms a system of absolutes, but arrogance intrudes with the glorification of some form of human speculation which excludes doctrinal viewpoint. This results in such philosophies as existentialism just mentioned and the arrogant system of subjective humanism (a system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. The beliefs of the humanist stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems.) Without the truth of Bible doctrine as the means of establishing the norms of life, intellectualism is meaningless and often very harmful. Existentialism glorifies man by saying that man is good and honorable by nature and by birth. Therefore, it denies the existence of the old sin nature and the total depravity of man. This arrogance is advocated by such men as Kierkegaard, Sartre, Carl Barth, and Emil Bruner. They call themselves modern theologians, but they are really philosophical speculators. They do not to teach doctrine, but attempt to explain Christianity in terms of philosophical speculation.

 

Intellectual arrogance is difficult to overcome even with good Bible teaching.  It often distorts the trends of history and establishes false trends. It uses academic subjects to contradict the lucid and perspicuous statements of Scripture. It uses history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, historical geology, anthropology, and certain aspects of political science; it ends up glorifying Marxist theories, inserting them into academic subjects. Learning these academic subjects often create in the believer an intellectual arrogance which is difficult to overcome when he hears Bible doctrine which contradicts these subjects.

 

Irrational or Emotional Arrogance is the antithesis of rational arrogance. Rational arrogance uses human viewpoint and academic theory as the criterion for life instead of Bible doctrine. Irrational arrogance uses feeling and emotion as the criterion for life instead of Bible doctrine. Normal emotional function responds to the thinking of the precordial frontal lobes of the soul. Emotions are designed, under normal living, to respond to the content of your intellect and to the standards developed from your thinking. When your standards are met in any field of life, your emotions respond.

 

Emotion is normal only when under the authority of thought. Just as your volition must be under human authorities of establishment and under the divine authority of the Word of God, so emotion is only normal when it is subordinate to thinking. Emotion is a responder and reflector of thinking or lack of thinking in a normal person.  As a system of feeling and response, emotion in itself does not contain any of the following: Emotion has no ability to reason. So, the ability to reason is lost if emotion dominates the soul. Emotion has no capability of thought. Emotion was not designed for thinking, but for responsive stimulation. Emotion has no doctrinal content or criteria, and so has no common sense. So, if emotion dominates the soul of a person, he will be irrational! 

 

Emotion is never the criterion for Christian experience. You are not saved or spiritual because you feel saved or spiritual. Your feelings have absolutely nothing to do with your spiritual status quo. However, your emotions can respond to your spiritual growth or to doctrines you finally understand, just as your emotions respond to other things. Under the principle of irrational arrogance, emotion becomes a major distraction to the execution of the Protocol Plan of God. Preoccupation with self in arrogance enjoys substituting emotional stimulation for Bible doctrine. Therefore, it forces doctrine out of your life. Emotion rejects the three ‘r's’ of Operation Z: reception, retention, and recall of doctrine, all of which require the function of the frontal lobe. Emotion is not involved in the process of learning doctrine. However, emotion benefits from doctrine learned and responds to it. To the extent that you get emotional about some doctrinal point in class, you lose your objectivity and your ability to actually take in doctrine. Emotional arrogance concludes the following blasphemies: A person is not saved unless he feels saved. A person is not spiritual without an ecstatic experience. A person is not forgiven of his sins without a lot of emotional weeping and wailing. 

 

Emotions cannot solve problems. They cannot solve problems since solving problems requires rational thought, judgment and decision making.  Emotional stress causes the believer to act on impulse rather than the application of Bible doctrine. A few examples: The emotion of fear causes flight. The emotion of disgust causes repulsion. The emotion of anger causes violence. Therefore, emotions are feeling functions, and they should never become the criterion for Christianity.

 

Emotion is defined as a complex, biochemical, physiological process or function concerned with somatic expression of feeling. The prefrontal lobes are the cortical areas associated with thought and decisions. Normal emotions respond to thought in the prefrontal lobes. In cases where the prefrontal lobes have been removed, such as a frontal lobotomy, such individuals still have emotional activity. So, while the removal of the prefrontal lobes may eliminate thought, it does not eliminate emotional activity. In summary, emotional arrogance (emotion dominating the soul) is a denial of divine power which is stored and utilized in the prefrontal lobes. 

 

The cosmic believer has three emotional malfunctions. He makes a god out of his emotions as found in Philippians. He is distracted from the Protocol Plan of God by the improper use of his emotions as found in Romans. He is hindered by emotion in the perception of Bible doctrine as found in 2 Corinthians. In these ways, irrational arrogance makes emotion the criterion for the Christian way of life.

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Philippians 3:18-19, "For many [cosmic believers] keep walking [modus operandi in cosmic system] concerning whom I have communicated to you many times and now continue communicating, even though weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction [sin unto death], whose god is his emotions, whose fame is by means of dishonor [the failure to execute the spiritual life], who keeps thinking about earthly things [no eternal priorities and values]."

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Romans 16:17-18, "Now I urge you, brethren, be alert for those who are causing dissensions and apostasies contrary to doctrine which you have learned. For such believers do not obey our Lord Jesus Christ, but their emotions, serving themselves, and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the right lobes of the ignorant [of Bible doctrine]."

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2 Corinthians 6:11-12, "O you Corinthians, our mouth has been opened face to face with you; [Paul, Apollos, Timothy] our right lobes have been enlarged [by Bible doctrine]. Therefore, you have not been hindered by us, but you have been hindered by your own emotions."

                         

Characteristics of emotional arrogance: Emotional arrogance is vulnerable to flattery, and flattery encourages unreality about self. Emotional arrogance encourages fear under pressure since emotion cannot think. (Courage is the ability to think under pressure.) Emotional arrogance produces personality disturbances, called psycho-neurotic disorders. Psycho-neurotic personalities use emotional arrogance to try to deal with stress, but instead of solving stress, they manufacture anxiety, piling more pressure on their life. Since emotional arrogance cannot handle anxiety. So, phobic, depressive, obsessive, and compulsive reactions result from emotional arrogance. Emotional arrogance not only eliminates rational thinking in the soul, but produces arrogant preoccupation with the insignificant. Arrogant preoccupation with the insignificant not only destroys any true scale of values in life, but develops an arrogant self-centeredness which destroys capacity for life, love, and happiness. Without capacity from correct thought, details of life will make you miserable. Again, knowledge is the environment for thinking - not emotion. Emotions are wonderful when they are the result of thinking; that's what emotions are for. Therefore, emotions are designed to enjoy life, not to run life.

 

Gate 10: Client Nation Arrogance.

 

The client nation to God is defined in terms of the Laws of Divine Establishment providing the necessary freedom for three great spiritual functions: Evangelism, the presentation of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ followed by the teaching of Bible doctrine, and finally missionary activity to non-client nations. (In addition to these three spiritual functions, the client nation has the responsibility of providing a safe haven for Jewish people fleeing persecution.)

 

The client nation to God is blessed by those who have reached spiritual maturity, and especially by those mature believers who have completed Evidence Testing.  These great believers whose invisible historical impact is the key to the Client Nation’s function and perpetuation. In principle, as goes the believer in any given generation, so goes the Client Nation and history in that generation.

 

Thus, the true issue for the Church Age is the invisible impact of the average believer’s spiritual life. This was never as true as it is in the Church Age. Always in the Old Testament it was a matter of visible, individual leadership, as with Moses, David, Hezekiah, Josiah and the many great prophets etc., but now the issue is the invisible historic impact of the greatness of the unknown believer. God has made blessing in this dispensation, dependent upon the individual attitude of the Christian toward Bible doctrine. 

 

However, when a maximum number of Christians are living in Satan's Cosmic System and, when the citizens of the Client Nation in general reject the Laws of Divine Establishment, and the believers reject the spiritual life, the nation comes under the cursing of the Five Cycles of Discipline. With the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline, the client nation status is removed, and all too often that nation goes into slavery.

 

A perspective regarding Client Nations: There are two categories of client nations in history namely the Old Testament category: Jewish client nations, of which there were four (Israel, the Northern Kingdom, the Southern Kingdom, and Judea). These client nations existed from Moses until the fall of Judea in August of A.D. 70, and the New Testament category: Gentile Client Nations exist during the times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24). These Client Nations began with S.P.Q.R. and continue up to the present with the U.S.A. assuming the U. S. still has its Client-Nation status.

 

Since we are discussing Client Nation arrogance, we should know something about nations and their governments.  So, let’s begin. There are two general categories of government in any nation in history: good government and arrogant government. It is important to distinguish between the two. There are three categories of good government, and three categories of arrogant government. It isn't the form of government that matters so much, but whether it functions on integrity or on arrogance. First category: Monarchy is the rule of one man in the interest of the common good (e.g., a king). The arrogant distortion of this is tyranny, the rule of one man for his own advantage (e.g., a dictator). Second category: Aristocracy is the rule of a group of men in the interest of the common good. The arrogant distortion of this is oligarchy, the rule of an interest-group for its own benefit. Third category: Republic is the rule of the better part of the people in the interest of the common good. Its arrogant distortion is democracy, the rule of the worst part of the people for their own selfish benefit.

 

But regardless of the form of government, the purpose of a Client-Nation is to establish freedom, privacy, and the sacredness of both property and life. The client nation, regardless of government, should provide an environment of freedom so that there can occur evangelism, Bible teaching, missionary activity; and should provide a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution. However, when arrogance begins to permeate the Client Nation in the form of apostasy among believers, indifference among unbelievers, and irresponsibility by all, then the Client Nation attacks the very purpose for its existence namely evangelism, Bible teaching and the sending out of missionaries.

 

Client Nation-arrogance includes moral and immoral degeneration, and blurs the distinctions between church and state, between the military and state, and between free enterprise and state. Therefore, client nation arrogance is characterized by social degeneration, economic depression, military disaster, and the apostasy of believers resulting in the shrinkage of the pivot of mature believers. It is characterized by an ever-increasing bureaucracy in government rather than leadership and integrity. Arrogance destroys consensus, neutralizes integrity, caters to privileged groups, and demands equality without earning or working for it at the expense of everyone else's labors. Client nation arrogance destroys human freedom and privacy and confiscates property. Client nation arrogance is that presumption that the blessings and prosperities from God to a Client Nation are the result of national and ethnic superiority. Arrogance rejects the Laws of Divine Establishment, ridicules the Gospel, and ignores the truth that all Client National blessing is associated with the pivot of mature believers. Under Client Nation Arrogance, the government advocates such evils as the welfare state, redistribution of wealth, big government, unjust taxation, the rule of the proletariat (blue collar workers) through labor unions, an irresponsible extension of the voting franchise, and the destruction of non-belligerent sovereign nations to gain some economic advantage. Client nation arrogance finds believers involved in activism, crusader arrogance, civil disobedience, violence, and revolution.    

        

In the United States, under client nation arrogance, we have extended the voting franchise to the point of irresponsibility. Everyone is arrogant enough to think that his vote is important, that he is discerning enough to distinguish the good from the bad. This results in silly laws, irresponsibility, stupid demagogues, arrogant bureaucracy, and the inevitable distortion of our own wonderful Constitution. Activism finds arrogant Christians living inside the Cosmic System, practicing that terrible evil of civil disobedience which is the quintessence of arrogance and demonization. Furthermore, nothing is ever solved by protests or violence. (Violence is distinguished from the function of law and order, i.e., executing violent criminals and destroying national enemies.) Christians involved in protest-functions are arrogant and have no sense of destiny from the inculcation of doctrine. Not only are we as individuals the products of our own decisions, but tragically today, we are also the products of our decisions collectively. Collectively, we are a nation of people who have been demonized by involvement in the Cosmic System.

 

So, what is your responsibility as a Christian to the United States of America? As a believer in the United States, it is your primary responsibility to grow-up spiritually in order for the Lord to have a reason for blessing Client Nation U.S.A. Only believers living the spiritual life, fulfill their spiritual responsibilities and have a true sense of destiny.

 

DOCTRINE OF COSMIC TWO:  THE ANTAGONISM COMPLEX

 

Introduction: The doctrine of Cosmic Two deals with the subject of quenching the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, "Stop squelching [quenching, extinguishing] the Spirit.” Since the Thessalonians were squelching the Holy Spirit, completely ignoring the spiritual life under the Filling of the Spirit, they were completely failing as Christians. If they had continued, they would have become antagonistic toward doctrine.

 

Cosmic two is the function of the believer in apostasy under the principle of antagonism. The gates of Cosmic Two are antagonistic not only toward Bible doctrine, but also toward the Protocol Plan of God in general and anything related to God, including the Laws of Divine Establishment.

 

Gate 1: Motivational Antagonism toward Bible Doctrine and the Protocol Plan of God: The Old Sin Nature as the agent.

 

We have a built-in system of antagonism toward God namely the sin nature. The old sin nature is the primary source of temptation in life, but more than that, it represents the corruption of the cell structure of the body through our relationship with Adam. (There are two general categories of temptation in life: Inner temptation from the old sin nature, outside temptation from Satan, demons, people, and situations or circumstances of life. However, there is only one source of sin:  human volition.  To be tempted is not sinful or evil, but to succumb to the temptation by utilizing your own volition in doing whatever the temptation suggests becomes sin. Therefore, the guardian of the human soul is human volition.) The old sin nature occupies every cell of the human body, except the twenty-three chromosomes of the female ovum. The old sin nature residing in the body is the major source of temptation directed toward the volition of the soul.

 

We must take responsibility for our sins. When we succumb to temptation due to negative volition, the old sin nature takes control over our soul and the believer is said to be carnal. We remain in this status until we use the recovery procedure.  At which time the Holy Spirit regains control of our soul. Every day, we make constant decisions for either the old sin nature or the Holy Spirit. Even when we sin in ignorance, we still wanted to do it, and so, we are responsible for that decision. Our volition gave the go-ahead to that temptation to sin, and so as far as God is concerned, we are guilty.

 

There are two categories of sin from human volition: The sins of cognizance in which volition is aware that a sin is committed, and the sins of ignorance in which volition made the decision to sin but was unaware that it was a sin. Both categories of sin make us equally guilty before the Lord and, as believers. Since volition wanted to and did commit the sin, whether in ignorance or cognizance, the individual is responsible for all of his sins.

 

There are three characteristics which form the essence of the old sin nature: An area of weakness, an area of strength and the lust pattern. There is such variation in temptations and sins from these two different areas and from the lust pattern among people that we cannot measure our spiritual advance by comparing ourselves with others. First, there is an area of weakness which tempts us regarding our favorite brand of sin. Secondly, there is an area of strength regarding certain sins; sins which we would never commit; This becomes the basis for developing a spiritual life based upon comparison. For example, you might say, “I would never get drunk like that drunken bum,” or “How could anyone steal a hymnal,” after hearing of a stolen hymnal. From this comes a strong tendency toward self- righteousness, and a holier-than-thou attitude. This is being neither devout nor pious, but simply a matter of comparing your sin nature with another person’s sin nature and deciding that yours is much better. Third, there is the lust pattern. The Categories of Lust. (Taken from R. B. Thieme Jr’s doctrine of lust)

 

1. There are many categories of lust, all of which relate to the old sin nature.

 

2. When it comes to lust, all members of the human race are swimming in the same gene pool. None of us are free from lust. If you are human, normal or abnormal, you have lust problems.

 

3. Because of the different categories of lusts, all believers do not function under the same category.

 

4. The category of lust related to your modus operandi is directly related to both your personal areas of weakness and your personal areas of strength in your old sin nature.

 

5. All of us possess an old sin nature in the cell structure of our bodies. Therefore, all of us as humans have areas of strength and weakness. Remember that our areas of strength are very deceiving, and we often build a false self-esteem on our areas of strength. It is quickly broken down by arrogance. The only answer to these things is spiritual self-esteem.

 

6. This means that one person’s weakness is another person’s strength which is the basis for our arrogance, self-justification, and rationalization about inferiority and superiority. To go through life trying to prove others inferior and yourself superior is the worst concept in life. The majority of people go through life trying to compensate for inferior feelings. They inevitably destroy themselves through their area of weakness and their area of strength.

 

7. The lust pattern of the old sin nature includes at least seven categories.

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a. Power lust is the worst of all, for almost all other lusts are related to this one, especially if you have any inferiority problems. Power lust is the most devastating force for evil in human history. It doesn’t require leadership ability or a prominent position to have power lust. You can be at the lowest echelon, rejected by all, and have a strong power lust. Power lust is one of our greatest enemies. It comes in dozens of different packages and in all flavors.

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b. Approbation lust is merely one of the extensions of power lust, and it is separate because some people do want approbation without power. A beautiful woman may not desire power at all, but she certainly wants someone to tell her she’s beautiful.

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c. Stimulation lust has many parts, in which we cater to the nerve centers and functions of our body in the name of pleasure. (1) Sexual lust, or lasciviousness. (2) Drunkenness. (3) Drug addiction. (4) Mental stimulation or intellectual arrogance. 2 Tim 3:4, “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” Pleasure lust is a destroyer of honor, virtue, and integrity through sin and perpetual carnality. There is nothing wrong with pleasure as long as that pleasure does not involve sinful activity. Pleasure of the moment is not worth the displeasure of God.

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d. Killer lust is the problem-solving device of the weak. Inferior people trying to prove they are superior often resort to violence, torture, murder. (Legitimate killing, within the confines of military function, police work, and capital punishment, is not the same as murder.) Murder often occurs within one’s own family, as with Cain. For once this lust comes, it does not discriminate between family, friends, or enemies. Some people live to kill, love to kill and lust to kill.

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e. Anger lust or cruelty. Anger does not always but definitely can bring out a cruel streak. Some people are genetically mean and naturally cruel. Some people hide it well and some do not. This lust is the evil desire to hurt others, e.g., the object of one’s love, the object of one’s hatred, or anyone who causes you a problem. Some people cannot stand glitches, and when anyone opposes them, whether it is a loved one or an enemy or someone at work, cruelty lust surfaces. Some people by nature are kind; some people by nature are cruel. It starts as a genetic factor. However, both can also be developed, and can also be overcome by both believers and unbelievers. Variations in cruelty lust depend upon cosmic living.

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f. Money lust is called by the Scripture the “root of all kinds of evil.” It expresses itself in all the categories of evil. (1) There is nothing wrong with having and acquiring money; that is not evil or sinful, as communist propaganda says. Marxism says people have no right to wealth; it belongs to the state. (2) The USA was founded not only by Anglo-Saxon culture but also by the Protestant work ethic, which went so far as to say that people who were wealthy were blessed by God or even spiritual. Now with the influence of Marxism, we take the opposite view. Between the two is the truth. (3) God does bless some people with money; God blesses other people in other ways. We must distinguish between the blessing of God in monetary success and the acquiring of money apart from any divine blessing. (4) One index to the soul of every person can be read loud and clear by his attitude toward money. This doesn’t mean that a person who saves is tight or stingy, nor that a big-time spender is necessarily generous. But one’s attitude toward money very clearly delineates one’s overall philosophy of life or one’s spiritual condition or lack of spiritual life. 1 Tim 6:10, “For the love for money is the root of all kinds of evil, and some by lusting for it have wandered away from doctrine and stabbed themselves with many griefs [heartaches].” (5) It is a very definite fact that love for money can distract people from Bible doctrine. Heb 13:5, “Let your life be free from the love for money, and be content [+H] with what you have. For He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor will I ever forsake you.’”

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g. Crusader lust, which is Christian activism. Christian activism includes civil disobedience, criminality, paramilitary organizations, vigilante activities, social engineering, anti-Semitism, refusal to pay taxes, terrorism, utopian socialism.

 

God has provided human volition as a defense against temptation related to sin, human good, and evil (a few examples: socialism providing the welfare state, redistribution of wealth, the destruction of privacy and property etc., and socialism evolving into Marxism). Human volition guards the gate of the soul against the pressure of temptation. Through temptation, the old sin nature is constantly seeking to gain control over our soul. Therefore, the soul of every believer is a battleground as long as he lives. The old sin nature has no power beyond temptation, so we are responsible for all of our sins.

 

The absolute status quo of every believer falls into two categories. The believer is either living the spiritual life in God’s Protocol Plan where he is said to be Filled with the Spirit, or he is living in the Cosmic System either one or two or both.  In cosmic one, he is grieving the Holy Spirit, and in cosmic two he is quenching the Holy Spirit. Therefore, spirituality and carnality are absolutes; you are either completely spiritual or completely carnal. No matter what your stage of spiritual growth, you are either controlled by the Spirit or by the old sin nature. Spirituality namely being in fellowship with God and carnality are mutually exclusive.

 

You can be spiritual as a baby believer; you can be spiritual as a mature believer. You can be carnal as a baby believer; you can be carnal as a mature believer. The relative status quo of every believer is his spiritual growth or retrogression. As a new believer, one begins as a baby, moves into adolescence, and eventually advances to spiritual adulthood in three categories, or one can retrogress through the eight stages of reversionism known as backsliding or apostasy. You are either a winner or loser at any given point in your spiritual life.

 

The use of the Recovery Procedure sometimes referred to as ‘Rebound’ is a grace decision by which we get out of the Cosmic System to reenter fellowship with God. We get into the Cosmic System through sin; we get out through naming that sin as a priestly function. Believers who never learn to use the Recovery Procedure spend their whole life outside of God’s power system. There is no way we can execute God's game plan with our ability; it can be executed only through God’s gracious power system. In grace, God does the work and man is the beneficiary apart from his merit.

 

Under the authority and power of the Holy Spirit, the believer does not sin.  When he decides to use his volition to sin, that decision removes him from the authority and power of the Holy Spirit. If the believer remains out of fellowship for a prolonged period of time, he will become demonized via blackout and scar tissue of the soul. Ephesians 4:17-18, “Therefore, I communicate this and because of the Lord [a reference to the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union in which Jesus establishes the precedence for the spiritual life of the Church Age], I insist that you no longer walk [have a lifestyle] even as the gentile's walk in the vacuum of their thinking [Because the unbeliever has very little truth in his soul, he cannot defend against false concepts], (18) having been darkened [by a lack of light (truth)] in their understanding [way of thinking] and having been alienated from the life of God [unbelievers and believers in degeneracy] because of the ignorance which is in them [in their souls], because of the hardness [callousness, scar tissue] of their hearts [of the mentality of their souls].” The old sin nature, gate one is the system by which we, as believers, give our own personal consent to demonization. It is also the gate in which the unbeliever begins to give consent in two categories: demon influence and demon possession.  So, the old sin nature is the snare that gets a person into the cosmic system through temptation, but he still has free will to escape. The believer through the Recovery Procedure and his spiritual advance.  The unbeliever through his learning and adhering to the Laws of Establishment.

 

Gate 2:  Negative Volition.

 

Cosmic one and cosmic two both have a negative volition-gates. The negative volition gate related to Cosmic One and Two emphasizes the basic difference between the two systems. Negative volition in Cosmic One always results from arrogance and preoccupation with self but does not necessarily indicate antagonism toward Bible doctrine. Negative volition in Cosmic Two is the direct result of hostility toward the Word of God or toward the one who communicates it. Gate 2 of Cosmic One can be described as either indifference to doctrine or possessing wrong priorities; both are related to arrogance. Gate 2 of Cosmic Two can be described as open antagonism toward the teaching of doctrine and the one who communicates it.

 

There are three areas of antagonism toward Bible doctrine at gate 2 of Cosmic Two. The negative volition of the unbeliever at God-consciousness and at Gospel hearing and the negative volition of the believer toward Bible teaching. The negative volition of the unbeliever at God-consciousness is explained in Romans 1:18-25, “For the wrath of God [in Latin ‘ira deum’] is being revealed [made evident, plain] from heaven [decisions and judgments from the Supreme Court of Heaven] against all ungodliness [heathenism or unbeliever reversionism] and unrighteousness [after they rejected the truth some become immoral and anti-establishment, others become self-righteous] of mankind who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, (19) because what may be known [evident, plain] about God is revealed in them [in their souls at the point of God consciousness]; for God has made it plain to them. (20) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly perceived, being perspicuous through the things He has created, namely, both His eternal power and His divine nature [such as grace, righteousness justice and omniscience] so that they [the human race] are without excuse. (No defense against the integrity of God for negative volition at God consciousness). (21) For even though they knew him as God [at God-consciousness], they did not glorify [honor] Him [Christ] as God [negative volition at God-consciousness] nor did they feel obligated to thank Him, in fact, as a result of their negative volition they became futile [received worthless thoughts] in their speculations [evil deliberations], and their foolish heart [ignorant stream of consciousness] receives darkness [black out of the soul]. (22) Although professing themselves [delusional unbelievers] to be wise, they became fools [from blackout of the soul], (23) and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and birds and quadrupeds and reptiles. (24) Therefore, God turned them over to the lusts from their stream of consciousnesses [the sin nature takes control of the soul in unrestrained sin nature function] to sexual impurity [any sex outside of marriage], for the degrading of their bodies with one another. [There is degradation and degeneration such as in homosexuality, lesbianism etc.] (25) for they exchanged the truth of God [understood at God-consciousness] for the lie, and they worshiped and served the creature [Satan and his cosmic system] rather than the Creator [the Lord Jesus Christ], who is worthy of praise and glorification forever, Amen.”

 

Negative volition at Gospel hearing, a characteristic of the unbeliever only as in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

 

Negative volition toward Bible teaching after salvation is a characteristic of the believer only. There are three spheres in which the believer can be negative toward Bible doctrine, called the three R's namely reception, retention and recall. There is no reception since negative volition refuses to listen to good Bible teaching on a consistent basis. Negative volition at the point of understanding rejects the message when it is presented by the pastor either in a local church or its equivalent. Therefore, the truth of God’s word is not metabolized-no retention. And finally, negative volition at the point of recall means that there is no application of metabolized doctrine, no use of the Problem-Solving Devices, no momentum, and no fulfillment of the Protocol Plan of God.

 

All negative volition in the human race can be classified as rejection or antagonism toward truth in one or more of the three categories of truth which are as follows: The Laws of Divine Establishment for believer and unbelievers, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for unbelievers, and Bible doctrine for believers in Jesus Christ. When a person rejects truth whether he be unbeliever or believer, he will enter into the Eight Stages of Reversionism (going backwards in the spiritual life). The first sign of this is social degeneration or anti-establishment which is gate 3 of Cosmic Two.

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Gate 3: Anti-establishment.

 

The Laws of Divine Establishment are for both believer and unbeliever. These are the basic laws of freedom which permit evangelism, Bible teaching, and missionary activity. The Laws of Divine Establishment balance freedom with authority. Freedom without authority is anarchy; authority without freedom is tyranny. The unbeliever involved in anti-establishment is described in Romans 1:26-32, “For this reason, God [the function of the Supreme Court of Heaven] he delivered them over to shameful lusts [turned them over to their sin natures]; even their own women exchanged their natural sexual function for that which is unnatural [lesbianism], (27) and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural sexual function with a woman and were inflamed with their lusts toward one another [homosexuality], men with other men committing the shameful deed [homosexuality: indecent acts] and receive in themselves the due penalty of their perversion [many plagues in history]. (28) And just as they did not see fit to have God in their knowledge any longer [negative volition at God-consciousness], God delivered them over [via black-out and scar tissue of the soul] to a depraved mind to do the things that are not proper, (29) being filled with all unrighteousness, greed, malice, full of jealousy, murder, dissension, deceit, evil motivation; they became gossips, (30) slanderers, haters of God, insolent, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, (31) without understanding, lacking honor and integrity, unloving [no capacity for love], implacable. (32) And although they know the righteous decree of God, that those who practice such things deserve death [capital punishment], they not only continue to do these very things, but also they approve of others who practice them."

 

The believer involved in anti-establishment is described in 2 Timothy 3:2-7, "For persons [Church Age believers] will be lovers of self [Cosmic One], lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self- control, brutal [emotion bringing about the irrational person: unreasonable, cruel, savage, violent, and inhuman], haters of good [of intrinsic value], treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having an overt appearance of the spiritual life [hypocrisy of legalism], but they have denied its power [the two power options of the spiritual life]. Therefore, avoid these believers [who are anti-establishment and anti-Protocol Plan of God], for among these are those who worm their way into homes and captivate silly [weak] women who are loaded down with sins and swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning [about the Bible] but never able to come to the epignosis knowledge of the truth."

 

Gate 4: Cosmic Panaceas.

 

The person who rejects all laws whether civil or spiritual and substitutes cosmic panaceas.  Rejection of the Laws of Divine Establishment and the delegated authority assigned to them results in the substitution of false solutions to the problems of life. The Problem-Solving Devices of the Protocol Plan of God are rejected or ignored or both. This gate is that function of seeking solutions to the problems of life apart from truth in its three categories: The Laws of Divine Establishment, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Bible doctrine. Human viewpoint solutions to the problems of life are no substitute for divine solutions which are resident in the Protocol Plan of God.

 

Cosmic panaceas demand a full mobilization of arrogance. (By definition, a panacea is a cure-all; a simple, stupid, disastrous solution from the tunnel vision of legalism or emotionalism.)  Both authority and freedom are sacrificed on the altar of equality. Laws may guarantee equal opportunity, but no sane government would attempt to provide equality such as in mental health, mental ability, strength, motivation, love ad nauseam, but irrational governments without truth try to make us all equal economically by taxing the rich to feed the poor, the redistribution of wealth, the break-up of successful business enterprises, the confiscation of property, the nationalization of industry, and the passing of laws to suit or conform to this false doctrine of equality.

 

Cosmic panaceas inevitably result in big government, fat with bureaucrats and little people with less and less freedom in terms of rights, privacy and property. Cosmic panaceas advocate the criterion that make people slaves to the state instead of the government being the servant of the people. In a democracy, the citizens become the slaves of the state while demanding their rights. Cosmic panaceas are based on self-righteous arrogance. Hence, they promise all sorts of things that cannot be fulfilled. They are divorced from reality. Some of the so-called greatest Christian leaders of our day advocate violence to get their way. They support violence in destruction of property and even in destruction of life; e.g., attacks on women seeking abortions. Cosmic panaceas promote tremendous prejudice, violence, terrorism and warfare. Too many believers are influenced by Marxism, Bolshevism, and Menshevism or some form of socialism, and other anti-Biblical idealisms which blind them to the evil which they both advocate and practice.

 

No government or personal interest group can create equality in the human race. Only God can create equality, which He has done with the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation. So, a myth is destroyed. Equal opportunity is not equality. In fact, equal opportunity guarantees inequality, as demonstrated in both the temporal and spiritual realm. By creating equal opportunity in the Protocol Plan of God, God has guaranteed that in heaven there will be great inequality. There are always some people who use their equal opportunity, and some who do not.

 

In the name of the greater good for the greater number, the government commits crimes, sets itself above the law, and therefore destroys the laws which protect our freedom, privacy, property and lives. Socialism and Marxism are anti-freedom and anti-God, though many Christian organizations advocate their false doctrines and try to merge them with Christian doctrine. Without freedom, the individual cannot have a destiny. Without authority or establishment, one cannot have freedom.

 

Cosmic panaceas are designed to promote the rule of Satan on earth. He is the ruler of this world in name, but he becomes the ruler in effect through the arrogance of believers and unbelievers who cooperate to help his regime through crusader arrogance and cosmic panaceas. History has demonstrated the failure of cosmic panaceas in the devil's world. Crusader arrogance and its resultant cosmic panaceas add up to a false premise, and there is no solution to life based on a false premise or a false conclusion. 

 

Gate 5:  Cosmic Degeneration.

 

Degeneration is defined here as deterioration or retrogression of born-again believers who constantly live in Satan's Cosmic System. They deteriorate spiritually and retrogress, so that they go from one category of degeneration to another.  Basically, degeneration means to become worse. Under cosmic degeneration, the standards and modus operandi of the believer who lives in the Cosmic System declines. Hence, degeneration in the Cosmic System is a process of deterioration, passing from a higher to a lower status quo. Cosmic degeneration rejects the doctrine and the power of the Protocol Plan of God for the Church Age believer. Cosmic degeneration means that the believer either does not understand or rejects the Recovery Procedure, The Ten Problem Solving Devices, the indwelling of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit; the power God’s thinking metabolized in the soul, the significance of the new spiritual species; and the unique ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the Church Age etc.

 

There are two categories of cosmic degeneration namely immoral degeneration which is obvious, and moral degeneration which is not so obvious. To understand this, let’s look at the Sin Nature. The old sin nature has both an area of weakness and an area of strength. This results in a diversity of sins, failures, and flaws. Therefore, we cannot compare our area of strength with someone else's area of weakness and conclude that we are spiritual. When the believer prolongs his residence in the cosmic system, he begins to deteriorate spiritually so that he moves toward his area of weakness which can be immoral or moral degradation. Therefore, a prolonged stay in the cosmic system can result in either immoral or moral degeneration.

 

Immoral degeneration includes such things as crime, violence, sexual perversion, and drug addiction. All of this goes back to a basic rejection of authority in the home and at God-consciousness (awareness). Romans 1:24-27 describes such a person who rejects God at awareness. "Therefore, God delivered them over to the lusts of their right lobes to an immoral status [through black-out of the soul], that their bodies might be degraded among themselves; they who exchanged the doctrine from God for a lie. They both worship and serve the creature [Satan] rather than the Creator [the Lord] who is blessed forever. Because of this, God has delivered them over to the passions of dishonor [or shameful passions namely immoral degeneracy].  For not only their women exchanged the normal function of sex for that which is contrary to nature [lesbianism], but also in the same manner, the men abandoned their natural relationship with women [homosexuality] and became inflamed with their lust for one another, males with males, accomplishing the perverted act of homosexuality, and received in themselves the judgment of their perversion which was inevitable."  When the believer becomes immoral, he sometimes shocks himself and often concludes that he is not saved, or he is convinced of this by his friends. Nevertheless, these things occur among believers every day. Abraham committed adultery with the Egyptian, Hagar; David committed adultery with the Jewish Bathsheba, and then murdered her gentile husband, an honorable believer and a general in David’s army. Paul mentions a partial list of sins that were prevalent among the Galatian Christians in Galatians 5:19, “Now, the works of the flesh [sin nature] are plainly seen such as [a representative list] fornication [pornea: including adultery], mental defilement from wrong doing [1 Thessalonians 2:3; Matthew 23:27] and sexual sins related to abnormality and criminality, licentious behavior [the Greek word aselgeia: extreme indulgence in sensual pleasure related to alcohol, drugs and sex including sexual sins related to idolatry and human sacrifice]”. The born-again believer in the cosmic system is far worse generally than the degenerate unbeliever, because the believer must go through far more systems of resistance to do what he does. Consequently, the worst people on the face of the earth are degenerate believers.

 

God's view and inevitable judgment of homosexuality is memorialized in the Dead Sea. AIDs and other plague judgments against homosexuality are God's way of protecting mankind. Inevitably, God must judge all forms of immoral degeneracy and eliminate such people from humankind for the preservation of mankind. For one of the greatest dangers relating to the destruction of mankind is immoral degeneracy, not nuclear weapons. Though, man has the potential for self-destruction, God keeps immoral degeneracy in check through judgment. The punishment for immoral degeneracy is related to two categories of suffering: The law of volitional responsibility, Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap,” and divine judgment administered from the justice of God i.e. Sodom and Gomorrah. 

 

Much more subtle is moral degeneracy which often passes for spirituality among believers who are ignorant of good Bible teaching. Moral degeneracy can be classified as uncontrolled and unrestrained legalism. Prolonged residence in the Cosmic System results in some believers exercising the functions of self-righteous arrogance to the point of violence, destruction of property, and murder. Peter was about to enter into moral degeneracy when Paul nipped it in bud. Galatians 2:11-13, "But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I [Paul] opposed him face to face because he stood condemned [for his legalism and hypocrisy which ultimately lead to moral degeneracy]. Before certain men [legalistic Jewish believers] came from James [a legalist himself for a while], he used to eat with the Gentiles, but when these legalists came, he began to withdraw and to separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of the circumcision party [Christian Jewish legalists]. Consequently, the rest of the Jews joined Peter in his hypocrisy with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by this hypocrisy." Saul of Tarsus as an unbeliever was guilty of moral degeneracy, resulting in his persecution of Christians. Act 8:3, "But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house. He would drag off both men and women and put them in prison." Because of the function of moral degeneracy in his pre- salvation days, the apostle Paul, the greatest Christian of all, states in 1 Timothy 1:15 by way of retrospective exposition, "It is a trustworthy statement [true deposition] deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the worst." So, Paul under the luminating ministry of the Spirit was commanded to rank himself as the worst sinner who ever lived not because of immorality for many people persecute and murder people for example Hitler and Stalin murdered millions, but because of his moral degeneracy for he was the most self-righteous person who has ever lived. There was no one in his league. So, one of the worst sinners who ever lived, Saul of Tarsus, was a very moral, self-righteous person, a strong adherent to the legalistic distortion of the Mosaic Law. Born-again believers through prolonged residence in the Cosmic System can also become involved in moral degeneracy. The Galatian believers were guilty of moral degeneracy which came from their keeping the Mosaic Law for spirituality. This is described as their problem in Galatians 3:1-3, “You foolish Galatians, who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing of faith [They were given the unique spiritual life of the Church Age at their salvation]? Are you so stupid? Having begun by the Spirit [unique to the Church Age], are you now being brought to completion [in the spiritual life] by the flesh [functioning out of fellowship under the legalism of the Judaizers]?”

 

Moral degeneracy often leads to false doctrines, such as sinless perfection.  1 John 1:8, "If we allege that we have no sin [hamartia in the singular many times refers to the sin nature], we are deceiving ourselves and the truth [Bible doctrine] is not in us."  Moral degeneracy is characterized by self-deceit combined with ignorance and/or rejection of doctrine. Moral degeneracy had become an evil influence in the Colossian church, as stated in Colossians 2:16-18, “Consequently, stop allowing anyone [legalists] to judge you in food [what kind of food] or in drinking [alcoholic beverage] or in the matter of a feast [Jewish legalist were insisting that the Christians observe their feast days etc.] (17) Which [feasts, new month, and sabbath] keep on being a shadow of things about to come; but the reality is from the source of the Christ [substance and reality in contrast to shadows]. (18) Let no one deprive [disqualify] you of your reward taking pleasure in false humility and in the worship [this word also means religion; worshipping Satan in the Cosmic System is a religion] of angels [demons], taking a stand on those things which you have seen [through dreams, visions, ecstasy and hallucinations], being inflated with arrogance [the reversionistic believer receives the action of the verb] under the influence of the thinking [the staging area where academic knowledge resides] from the source of his sin nature,”

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Gate 6: Demonism.

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1. There are four categories of fallen angels namely those incarcerated in the Abyss, in Tartarus and under the Euphrates River, and operational fallen angels who function under the rule of Satan during human history.

 

2.  There are two categories of demon activity in human history namely demon influence and demon possession. Demon influence is Satan’s thinking entering the soul of the believer or unbeliever through the concept of black-out of the soul.  When there is insufficient truth or a lack of truth in the soul, the person will accept the lies of Satan. Demon possession is a demon indwelling the body of an unbeliever only. Since the believer is indwelt by God the Father, God the Son, and Holy Spirit, no demon can indwell the body of a believer.

 

3.  For either demon influence or possession to occur, the person must be in the Cosmic System. There cannot be demon influence or possession apart from human consent, which requires decisions made from a position of weakness. The believer is in a position of weakness when he is functioning out of fellowship with the Spirit. The unbeliever is in a position of weakness when he rejects the Laws of Establishment.

 

4.  Demons are capable of two categories of violence namely indirect and direct. In indirect violence, the demon must attack either through demon influence or demon possession. Much more common today is demon influence from the Cosmic System, which is the source of most of the violence we face motivated by hatred, and anger, also criminal activity, and terrorism are an illustration of demon influence resulting in violence. Direct violence is a phenomenon reserved for the last half of the Tribulation.  The demon attacking force includes the three angelic assault armies.  (1) The attack of the first demon assault army stationed in the Abyss, Revelation 9:1-12. (2) The attack of the second demon assault army stationed under the Euphrates River, Revelation 9:12-21. (3) The attack of the third demon assault army stationed in heaven under the direct command of Satan, Revelation 12:7-17, and Satan’s attack at the end of the Millennium called Gog and Magog, Revelation 20:7-10.

 

5.  Believers and unbelievers in the cosmic system during the Tribulation are victims of violence from demon assault armies. Satan's rationale in destroying his human servants is that once he is cast to the earth, he doesn’t need them anymore. This is a case of finesse judgment, where God uses evil to judge evil.

 

6. Choose between living in God’s system or Satan’s. Every day, thousands of believers living in the Cosmic System make hundreds of thousands of decisions from a position of weakness. These decisions reflect the cosmic philosophy of Satan. Once decisions are made from the free will to live in Satan’s Cosmic System, the person loses his ability to make decisions from a position of strength. All decisions made under the influence of arrogance and in the Cosmic System are decisions from a position of weakness. All decisions made from the Filling of the Spirit and application of Bible doctrine are decisions made from a position of strength.

 

7. You make decisions all the time and they will eventuate in a trend. They are either from a position of weakness which leads to a self-destructive trend or from a position of strength leading to an upward trend of spiritual growth and virtue.

 

8. The believer living under the two power options makes decisions from a position of strength, whereas the believer living in the Cosmic System makes decisions from a position of weakness.

 

9.  Satan destroys his own losers in the Cosmic System because arrogance has no loyalty to arrogance as per Revelation 9:12-21 where one third of the population of the earth are killed. So also, people involved in demonism have no loyalty or integrity. The arrogance of the Cosmic System cancels integrity, honor, and virtue.

Gate 7:  Religion.

 

Christianity and religion are antithetical. In Christianity, God saves mankind through personal faith in Jesus Christ. In religion, man seeks to impress God with his works. Religion can be classified as the devil's ace trump. For religion has been invented by Satan to counterfeit God's plan, purpose, and will for mankind, to blind the unbeliever from the gospel and to divert the believer from the execution of the Protocol Plan of God for the Church Age. Religion is part of the devil's strategy in being "like the Most-High God," as stated in Isaiah 14:14. Christianity is not a religion, but an eternal relationship with God through personal faith in Christ. In religion, Homo sapiens seeks the approbation of God through good deeds, human merit, and various categories of works. Religion reflects the evil genius of Satan, whereas Christianity represents the perfect integrity of God combined with His grace policy.

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For deceit and error to be carried out effectively, Satan has devised a system of counterfeits which are the counterfeits of religion such as:

 

1. Gospel, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers [through religion, philosophy etc.], so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

 

2. Ministers, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, “For such ones are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. (14) Did not even Satan marvelously transform himself into an angel of light? (15) Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.”

 

3. Communion table, 1 Corinthians 10:19-21, “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols in anything or that an idol is anything? (20), No, I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I do not desire you to become fellow worshippers with demons. (21) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”

 

4. Doctrine, 1 Timothy 4:1, “But the Spirit [the Holy Spirit is the teacher of Bible doctrine] explicitly teaches that in latter periods of time [between the 1st and 2nd Advents are the Church Age and the Tribulation] some [believers] will withdraw from doctrine, concentrating on deceitful spirits [personalities] and doctrines from demons [involvement in Cosmic 1 & 2].” 

 

5. Spirituality, Galatians 3:1-3, “O foolish Galatians who has hypnotized you [has given you the evil eye]? Before whose eyes [refers to perception, they saw it in their mind’s eye] Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified [was designated clearly: You used to have your eyes on Christ, now you have your eyes on the Mosaic Law]. (2) This only I desire to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law [The Filling of the Spirit has never come through the Mosaic Law] or by hearing of faith [the Filling of the Spirit was given to them at salvation]? (3) Are you so stupid that having begun in the sphere of the [Filling of the] Spirit, are you now being brought to completion by the flesh [using human power out of fellowship to advance spiritually]?

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6. System of righteousness, Matthew 19:16-22, “Now behold a man came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good shall I do to obtain eternal life?” (17) And He replied to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good [What good shall I do]?  There is only one [Jesus] who is good. If you desire to enter into [eternal] life [through your righteousness], and you do, then keep the commandments [impossible]. (18)  The man inquired, “Which ones?”  Jesus replied, “You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness [in court]; (19) you shall honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. (20) And the young man answered, “All these, I have guarded.  What do I still lack? (21) And Jesus said to him, if you desire to be perfect [through works] and you do [though it is impossible], go and sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven then [return] here [after you realize that you are not perfect] and follow Me [in regeneration]. (22) After the young man heard the instruction, he departed grieving for he possessed a lot of property.”

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7. False gods: All throughout history people have and will worship demons as gods. In the latter half of the Great Tribulation the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire will be worshiped as a god. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, “Do not let anyone deceive you in any way since it [the Day of the Lord: the Tribulation and 2nd Advent] will not come unless the departure [Rapture], and the man who is lawless [anti-establishment] shall be revealed, the son of perdition [doomed to destruction], (4) who opposes [the Lord Jesus Christ] and exalts himself above every so called god, or object of worship, so that he is installed in the temple of God [the Jewish temple of the Tribulation], proclaiming himself to be god.”

 

8. Power (dynamics), 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9, “And then [after the Rapture] the lawless one [dictator of the revived Roman Empire] will be revealed, whom the Lord shall destroy with the breath of His mouth [the least power of God] in fact he shall neutralize him by the very appearance of His coming [2nd Advent], (9) the dictator whose presence [in history] shall be according to the modus operandi of Satan with all power and by means of miracles even wonder miracles of the lie. Satan promotes him by means of power and miracles.

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9. Way of life, Matthew 23:13-36: In this passage, the Pharisees emphasized the external condition of a person and ignored the internal condition. They emphasized taboos and outward morality. They ignored internal sins which made external righteousness a sham. Their outside was clean = morality and taboos, but their inside was filthy = mental sins and lusts.

 

Religion is Satan's strategy for distracting Homo sapiens from the three categories of truth. First, are the Laws of Divine Establishment as taught in the Mosaic Law.  Religion seeks to become the state and once it is in power, it attacks human freedom. Also, the union of religion and state is a major attack on human freedom. Second, is the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Religion distorts salvation by grace through faith into many diverse systems of salvation by works, and third is Bible doctrine for the believer. Religion substitutes false doctrine (or the "doctrine of demons," 2 Tim 4:1] for truth. Religion sets up a system of works and ritual to replace the protocol plan of God.

 

Religion motivates and produces, through false teachers, every category of evil, violence, terrorism, and murder to force people into their religion which is not only characterized by the doctrine of demons (2 Timothy 4:1), but it has both false teachers and false prophets to communicate this information.  There are at least five characteristics of false teachers in the Church Age.

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1. False teachers are masters of hypocrisy. They use a phony facade, first exposed by our Lord in Matthew 7:15, “Beware (constantly be on your guard) of the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves,” and further developed by Paul in Romans 16:18, “For such believers do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own emotions, and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the right lobes of the unsuspecting [those ignorant of truth].” Behind a public relations facade, false teachers use legalism to convert their victims to religion, Galatians 4:17-18, “They [Judaizers] zealously affect [seek or woo] you [into legalism], not well [not honestly] yes, they wish to exclude you [this means they wish to separate you from me, so that I can’t woo you with grace] in order that you might affect [court or woo] them. (18) But it is good always to be properly courted [by good Bible teachers] in an honorable manner, and not only when I am present with you.”

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2. False Teachers flatter their victim, making them feel wanted which flatter appeals to victim’s pride. 2 Timothy 3:5-7 “Holding to a superficial form [outward appearance] of the spiritual life, but they themselves have disregarded its power; avoid such ones as these. (6) For among them are those [immoral Christian men] who creep into homes [slyly enter the homes] and seduce [captivate] silly women [morally weak women because there is no doctrine in their souls] who are overwhelmed by their sins and are carried away by various lusts. (7) Always learning [these women], but they are never able to come to an epignosis knowledge of the truth.”

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3. False teachers promote idolatry as a part of the devil's communion table, Habakkuk 2:18-19, “What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image a teacher of falsehood?  For its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols. (19) Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it.” 1 Corinthians 10:19-21, “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? (20) No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become a sharer in demons. (21). You cannot drink the cup of the Lord [the Communion table requires fellowship] and the cup of demons [demon influence: living in the cosmic system]; therefore, you cannot partake of the table of the Lord [the Eucharist for this worship requires the spiritual life] and the table of demons [demon influence].”

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4. False teachers promote self-righteousness, to include legalism, personality arrogance, authority arrogance, crusader arrogance, and works arrogance, 1 Timothy 1:6-7, “From which some men [pastors] have deviated [apostasy through reversionism]. They themselves have turned aside to ineffective teaching desiring to be teachers of the Law. (7) Since they do not understand either what they are teaching or concerning the things about which they speak dogmatically. 

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5. False teachers continue to operate throughout the Church Age, as this is the intensified period of the angelic conflict, 1 John 4:1-6, “Beloved, do not believe every personality, but test the person to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have come out into the world. (2) By this you know the person of God: every person [pneuma] that confessed that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. (3) and every person that does not confess Jesus is from God: this is the person of the antichrist of which you have heard that it is coming and now it is already in the world. (4) You are from God, little children and have overcome them because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. (5) They are from the world; therefore, they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. (6). We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us.  By this we know the person of truth and the person of error.”  

 

Gate 8:  Evil as Satan's Policy.

 

Evil in two categories is the policy of Satan as the ruler of this world. The power of Satan is administered to the human race via the cosmic system. Evil is the ultimate expression of man's relationship with Satan. Evil in the cosmic system is both the motivation and momentum of the cosmic system. In 2 Tim 3:13, the advance to "more and more evil" is momentum in the cosmic system. Evil comes in two categories namely motivational evil, which originates from false doctrine in the cosmic system, and functional evil, which is the modus operandi and lifestyle within the cosmic system.

 

While the spiritual life is the place for the function of absolute good, Satan's Cosmic System is the place for the function of absolute evil. In the Protocol Plan of God, good and evil are mutually exclusive. This means that no evil exists in the spiritual life under the Spirit, and no good exists in the Cosmic System. Under the authority of God, the Holy Spirit and the use of metabolized truth, the believer can only produce agathos which is good of intrinsic value. The mandate regarding evil is given to us in Romans 12:21. "Stop being conquered by evil, [consistent living in the Cosmic System] but conquer evil by means of good [functioning under God’s system of power]." Living one’s life under God’s authority is classified as the purchasing the time as per Ephesians 5:16, "redeeming [purchasing] the time because the days are evil."

 

The protection of God’s power system and the continuance of evil will continue.  As long as Satan rules the world, evil will continue to be a part of human history. 2 Timothy 3:13, "But evil men, even deceivers, will advance more and more evil, deceiving and being deceived." Bible doctrine protects the believer from Satan's policy of evil. 2 Thessalonians 3:3, "But the Lord is faithful; He will both empower you and protect you from evil." The Lord's Prayer for the Church addressed this subject in John 17:15, when He asked the Father to "guard them from evil." 

 

Gate 9: Anthropocentric Academic Speculation.

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2 John 9, "Everyone who advances in knowledge and does not remain in the field of play [the spiritual life] by means of the doctrine of Christ does not have God [fellowship with God]; for he who persists with doctrine, this same one has both the Father and the Son [fellowship with them]." Pseudo-intellectual arrogance is the basis for many believers trying to reconcile philosophical and scientific speculation with Bible doctrine. Hence, the believer involved in this arrogance must choose between the truth of doctrine and the false concepts in the areas of academic speculation. For example, arrogance chooses evolution over creationism as found in Genesis. Psychology and psychiatry blame man's problems on his environment instead of his bad decisions. Many theories in many academic subjects contradict Bible doctrine in such subjects as history, philosophy, geology, economics, political science, etc.

 

1 Corinthians 10:22

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Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we? Of course not! [This question in the Greek demands a negative answer. The Christian cannot prevent divine discipline]?

 

ἢ παραζηλοῦµεν τὸν κύριον; µὴ ἰσχυρότεροι αὐτοῦ ἐσµεν;

 

When the Christian functions in Satan’s Cosmic System, he is serving and in certain cases, even worshipping Satan. This type of Christian will face severe discipline from the integrity of God.

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Anthropopathisms: human emotions ascribed to God:

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Definition:

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1. An anthropopathism ascribes to God a human characteristic which God does not actually possess, but is used to reveal and explain God's policy toward mankind in terms of human frame of reference by the use of language of accommodation.

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2. Accommodation means that human modus operandi is ascribed to God, such as human affection or human sins, so that man can understand divine policy and attitude in terms of his own frame of reference.

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3. Unless this doctrine is understood, the believer is going to assume that God has emotion and consequently this believer will be in a state of confusion regarding divine essence. Let’s examine a couple of passages just to get warmed-up. In Psalm 106:45b we are told that God relented [in other words changed His mind], but God is immutable and cannot change His thinking and 1 Samuel 15:29 confirms this, “The glory of Israel [God the Son] will not lie or change His thinking; for He is not a man that He should change His thinking.” In Psalm 110:4 it says, “The Lord [God the Father] has made a solemn promise and will not change His mind. You [Jesus Christ] are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”

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4. In order to explain divine policy in terms of human frame of reference, human characteristics are ascribed to God to explain His policy to human beings. An anthropopathism is a human characteristic such as: love when used as an anthropopathism, hate, wrath, change of mind, scorn, compassion, longsuffering, remembering. Hence, an anthropopathism ascribes a human characteristic to God which God does not possess.

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5. The purpose of the anthropopathism is to explain to us in a way so that we can more easily understand God’s attitude, policy, or modus operandi toward a person or persons. In this way, mankind can understand and adapt to God’s divine policy.

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Classification:

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1. Sinless anthropopathisms:

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a. Love. 2 Corinthians 9:7b, “For God loves a gracious giver [cheerful giver based on grace orientation].” Romans 9:13, “Just as it stands written, ‘I have loved Jacob but I have hated Esau [a parallel structure: as hatred is an anthropopathism so is love in this verse].’”

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The anthropopathism of love is an expression of divine approval, and acceptance. This is not the same as the divine attribute of love. Love explains God's approval of Jacob’s decision to become a believer and hate explains God’s disapprobation of Esau’s rejection of Christ as his savior. Hebrews 12:17, “For you know that even afterwards, when he [Esau] desired to inherit the eternal blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of thinking [toward Christ] though he sought for it with tears [no one is saved by weeping].” When the scar tissue of the soul equals the garbage in the subconscious, you have reached the point of no return regarding believing in Christ for salvation. Therefore, all you can turn to is your emotions.

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b. Compassion, Psalm 103:13, “Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear [respect] Him.”

 

Psalm 119:77, “May Your compassion come to me [forgive me in grace] that I may live, For Your law is my delight.”

 

Lamentations 3:32, “For if He causes grief [through divine discipline], then He will have compassion [forgive in grace] according to His abundant lovingkindness.”

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Romans 9:15, “For He communicates to Moses [a quote from Exodus 33:19], "I will have mercy [to the spiritually mature believer in the imputing of Escrow Blessing] on whomever I show mercy [am gracious at salvation], I will have compassion [the blessing of logistical grace] on whomever I show compassion [at salvation].

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James 5:10-11, “Brethren, as an example of suffering afflictions with their emotions under control [with patience], take the prophets who have communicated in the name of the Lord.  Behold, we recognize as happy [congratulate] these ones who having endured [remaining happy under the pressure of adversity through the application of God’s word].  You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the end [the result which came] from the Lord [Job was blessed and his friends survived], because the Lord keeps on being very compassionate [always treats people in grace] and merciful [grace in action].”

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c. Longsuffering and Patience, Exodus 34:1-7, “Now the Lord said to Moses, "Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. (2) "So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. (3) ‘No man is to come up with you, nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds may not graze in front of that mountain.’ (4) So, he cut out two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand. (5) The Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord.(6) Then, the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate [will forgive in grace] and gracious, slow to anger [slow to punish from his integrity], and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; (7) who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations [if the offspring commit the same sins as their parents and grandparents]."

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2 Peter 3:9, “And the Lord is not slow about his promise as some conclude slowness [that God is tardy], but is patient toward you not wishing for anyone to perish (to die without believing in Christ and to face the last judgment), but for all to come to a change of thinking (about salvation).”

 

2. Sinful anthropopathisms:

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a. Hatred: Psalm 5:5, “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes [anthropomorphism]; You hate [anthropopathism] all who do iniquity;” God cannot sin. Therefore, He does not hate. This only explains divine policy namely why God is doing what He is doing. Since man understands hatred as disapproval, he can easily understand divine disapproval expressed by hatred.  

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b. Anger and wrath: Numbers 22:21-22, “And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. (22) And God's anger was kindled [the righteousness of God demands punishment and His justice will execute] because he went; and the angel of Jehovah placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.”

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John 3:36, “He who believes on the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God [the righteousness of God demands eternal punishment for anyone who rejects faith alone in Christ alone and the justice of God will execute that demand] abides upon him.”

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c. Scorn: Psalms 2:1-6, “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 [God never loses control] at them. (5) Then he rebukes them in his anger [from His righteousness] and terrifies them in his wrath [great judgment from justice of God], saying, (6) "But as for me, I [God] have installed my King [David] on Zion, my holy mountain." To scorn means to ridicule someone. It is unkind and thoughtless, a sinful function. Scorn involves mental attitude sins. Again, these passages use human frame of reference to explain divine policy.

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d. Vengeance: Deuteronomy 32:25, “Vengeance [is merely the justice of God executing the demands of His righteousness] is mine says the Lord for the Lord will vindicate his people and will have compassion on his servants.”  

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Psalm 94:1-3, “O Lord, the God who avenges [again the function of God’s perfect integrity], O God who avenges, shine forth. (2) Rise up, O Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve. 3 How long will the wicked, O Lord, how long will the wicked be jubilant?”  We are to leave our court case in the hands of the Supreme Court of Heaven. Vengeance is language of accommodation to express God's policy of perfect justice.

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e. Repentance: Genesis 6:6, “The Lord himself changed his mind [anthropopathism: God is immutable, and so never changes his thinking] that He had made [after a pattern: the soul is made after a pattern] man on the earth, and He was grieved [anthropopathism: God is always perfectly happy] in His right lobe [an anthropomorphism: God is a spirit and does not have human anatomy].” These anthropopathisms and anthropomorphism are used to indicate that God was about to judge the ante-diluvian civilization.  

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f. Jealousy: Exodus 20:4-5, “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; (5) you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous [what the righteousness of God demands, the justice of God executes] God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,” Jealousy and bitterness go together and are vicious sins. It is blasphemous to assign jealousy to God.

 

God’s Integrity is immutable;

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1. God is holy. This means that God has integrity. Holiness is the integrity of God, both His righteousness and His justice.

 

2. The integrity or holiness of God is not attained by God or some sort of divine achievement. God has integrity but it was not attained, it wasn’t developed.

 

3. The integrity of God is eternal, absolute, infinite. It has always been a part of His perfect essence.

 

4. The integrity of God is not the mere absence of evil; it is the sum total of His perfection.

 

5. Therefore the integrity or the holiness of God is neither maintained nor attained, it is God’s immutable, eternal self.

 

6. The being of God cannot be better or worse for God is eternal, immutable, unalterable, an absolute being who is eternally consistent.

 

Conclusion:

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The complexity of a doctrine such as anthropopathisms is not going to be understood unless other doctrines are understood first. Understanding the doctrine of Divine Essence must precede a consideration of the doctrine of anthropopathisms. When both are mastered and mixed with a little common sense, it is not so difficult to understand anthropopathisms.  

 

1 Corinthians 10:23

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All things are lawful [the believer filled with the Spirit and operating under metabolized doctrine], but not all things are expedient [profitable; sometimes the Law of Liberty must be set aside for the Law of Expediency]. All things are lawful [under the Law of Liberty], but not all things edify [when two things are right, one is still better than another; in this case the Law of Liberty must be set aside to edify, in order to be completely right].

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Πάντα ἔξεστιν, ἀλλí οὐ πάντα συµφέρει. πάντα ἔξεστιν, ἀλλí οὐ πάντα οἰκοδοµεῖ.

 

This verse is not dealing with sin, but with superseding laws.

 

1 Corinthians 10:24

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Let no one seek his own benefit [under the Filling of the Spirit], but that of another [of a different kind, an unbeliever; in this case, the believer must switch to the Law of Expediency].

 

µηδεὶς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ζητείτω ἀλλὰ τὸ τοῦ ἑτέρου.

 

This is a case history where the Law of Liberty is superseded by the Law of Expediency. When it is a matter of choosing your benefit or another’s benefit, then choose the other person’s benefit. The salvation of the unbeliever is a greater benefit than any benefit you may gain.

 

1 Corinthians 10:25

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Eat anything that is sold in the meat market [the meat market which sold meat which had been offered to idols; the believer is commanded to eat this meat as often as he wants] without asking questions for conscience' sake; [your conscience or anyone else’s conscience; certainly, do not ask the unbeliever butcher whether that meat had been offered to an idol or not; that would be a false issue]

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Πᾶν τὸ ἐν µακέλλῳ πωλούµενον ἐσθίετε µηδὲν ἀνακρίνοντες διὰ τὴν συνείδησιν,

 

You don’t have to ask whether this meat has been offered to an idol or not.

 

1 Corinthians 10:26

 

For the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness [which includes beef; a quote from Psalm 24:1].

 

τοῦ κυρίου γὰρ ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωµα αὐτῆς.

 

Meat was designed to nourish man on the earth according to Genesis 9:3-4.

 

1 Corinthians 10:27

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If one of the unbelievers invites you [to a dinner party] and you want to go, eat whatever is served [is set before you] without asking questions [don’t make an issue out of the food] because of conscience [of the unbeliever; don’t make an issue out of the food by asking such questions as was this food offered to idols; the unbeliever needs norms and standards related to Christ]

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εἴ τις καλεῖ ὑµᾶς τῶν ἀπίστων καὶ θέλετε πορεύεσθαι, πᾶν τὸ παρατιθέµενον ὑµῖν ἐσθίετε µηδὲν ἀνακρίνοντες διὰ τὴν συνείδησιν.

 

If the Law of Liberty fails to make an issue out of Christ, then switch to the Law of Expediency as per the next verse.

 

1 Corinthians 10:28

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But if anyone says to you, "This is meat sacrificed to idols [someone has made an issue out of this]," do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience' sake; [the Law of Expediency directed toward the unbeliever]

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ἐὰν δέ τις ὑµῖν εἴπῃ, Τοῦτο ἱερόθυτόν ἐστιν, µὴ ἐσθίετε διí ἐκεῖνον τὸν µηνύσαντα καὶ τὴν συνείδησιν

 

Law of Liberty as related to other Laws:

 

1 Corinthians 6:12. All things are lawful for me [under the Law of Liberty], but not all things are expedient [suitable for achieving a particular end]. All things are lawful for me [under the Law of Liberty], but I will not be mastered by anything [I will not allow any of my freedoms to violate the Law of Expediency or the Law of Love].

 

Some distort this verse:

 

1. Our new position in Christ plus the doctrine of eternal security does not give us the right of licentiousness. Apparently, the Corinthians thought that it did. Though, we have a position in Christ which can never be changed, and we have eternal security and so cannot lose our salvation, these two doctrines do not give us the right of levity in moral matters or licentiousness.

 

2. The Law of Liberty is often confused with antinomianism. The Law of Liberty is not antinomianism (against the Law). We are not against Law. Just because we know we cannot lose our salvation we are not lawless.

 

3. The Law of Liberty gives us freedom in our modus operandi as well as freedom to serve God, but not freedom to sin. The Law of Liberty is superseded on certain occasions by three other laws. There will be times when the Law of Expediency, the Law of Love, or the Law of Supreme Sacrifice will be a superseding law, but this does not make them superior to the Law of Liberty, as is often implied.

 

The Four Laws of Christian Modus Operandi:

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1. The Law of Liberty and Love: This is directed toward oneself, 1 Corinthians 8:4-13, “Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God, but one. (5) For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, (6) yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. (7) However not all men have this knowledge; but some [weak but growing believers], being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled [the Christian should never violate his conscience]. (8) But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat [Don’t make an issue out of the Law of Liberty]. (9) But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak [but growing believer; this is not referring to a hard-core legalist]. (10) For if someone sees you [eating steak at some temple restaurant], who have knowledge [the advanced believer], dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols [A spiritually weak Christian will be encouraged to eat meat at a temple restaurant, but since his conscience cannot handle it, he will be destroyed spiritually]? (11) For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother [a fellow growing believer who is weak] for whose sake Christ died. (12) And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. (13) Therefore, if meat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.” [Even though we operate under the Law of Liberty, we must not use it to offend a weak believer. Under that situation, the Law of Love must overrule the Law of Liberty.] 

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2. The Law of Expediency: suitable for achieving a particular end; in this case the evangelism of the unbeliever. 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. (17) For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. (18) What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge [never take money from an unbeliever], so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. (19) For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more [souls for Christ]. (20) To the Jews I became as a Jew [for example abstaining from eating pork], so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law [the Jewish unbeliever]; (21) to those who are without law [Gentile unbelievers], as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. (22) To the weak [Jewish and Gentile unbelievers] I became weak, that I might win the weak [to the Lord]; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. (23) I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.” Summary: 1 Corinthians 10:23, All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

 

3. The Law of Supreme Sacrifice: This is always directed toward God. 1 Corinthians 9:1-15, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? (2) If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. (3) My defense to those who examine me is this: (4) Do we not have a right to eat [meat] and drink [wine]? (5) Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? (6) Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working [take the weekends off or take a vacation]? (7) Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense [Paul is a spiritual general]? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? [Paul functioning under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice, did not get paid.] (8) I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? (9) For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.’ God is not concerned about oxen, is He? (10) Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. (11) If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? (12) If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. (13) Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar? (14) So, also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel [to the apostles to the Lost Sheep of Judah]. (15) But I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an empty one.”

 

1 Corinthians 10:29

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I mean not your own conscience, but of another man's [an unbeliever]; for why is my liberty judged by another's conscience [because the issue must be Christ]?

 

συνείδησιν δὲ λέγω οὐχὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀλλὰ τὴν τοῦ ἑτέρου. ἱνατί γὰρ ἡ ἐλευθερία µου κρίνεται ὑπὸ ἄλλης συνειδήσεως;

 

Conscience:

 

The fifth compartment of the Stream of Consciousness is the Conscience in which is stored norms and standards, and priorities related to the absolutes of Bible doctrine. The Greek word for conscience is suneidesis which means 'to know with an absolute standard.' The English word conscience comes from the Latin, consciari which means "to know with." Conscience is the mental faculty by which one distinguishes between right and wrong and motivates the believer under the Filling of the Spirit to do what is right and not to do what is wrong. 

 

Conscience is that mental faculty by which one distinguishes between right and wrong, and urges the individual to do what he recognizes to be right and to restrain him from doing that which he recognizes to be wrong. The conscience is a sense or consciousness in the right lobe related to either moral or spiritual goodness of one's thoughts, motives, decisions, and actions. Therefore, conscience is a faculty, a power, or a principle conceived in the right lobe to determine the quality of one's thoughts, intentions, decisions, and actions. The conscience must be built on a vocabulary that begins with one word:  no, or don't. All consciences are built with negative words which forbid doing something. So, the conscience of man is first established by negatives, although eventually there are explanations in both positive and negative terms.

 

In the conscience of the believer, the norms, standards, priorities and values in life must be extrapolated from Bible doctrine. Let’s document this by siting some verses that discuss the conscience.

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1 Timothy 3:9, "Holding the mystery of the doctrine with a clear conscience."  You acquire a clear conscience by having and adhering to doctrinal norms and standards. The conscience of the believer must be formed from norms and standards obtained through cognition and inculcation of Bible doctrine.

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Romans 9:1, “I am telling the truth in Christ [positive affirmation regarding academic integrity], I am not lying [negative affirmation regarding intellectual dishonesty], my conscience bearing me witness [a genitive absolute emphasizing the importance of this joint testimony: everything which Paul says is in agreement with his conscience] by agency of the Holy Spirit.”

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Romans 2:14-15, "For every time that Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively those things from the Law, these [Gentiles] not having the Law, are a law to themselves [they have the norms and standards of the Law in their souls without knowing the Mosaic Law]. (15) in that they show the work of the Law printed in their hearts [souls], their conscience confirming the testimony [what is right and what is wrong], and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending themselves."

Accusing and defending oneself is the function of the norms and standards of the conscience of the believer. All normal persons develop some form of norms, standards, priorities, and concepts of life in the right lobe of the soul. Believers develop divine norms, standards, and priorities in the right lobe through perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine.

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Daniel 1:8, “But Daniel made up his mind [based on the divine norms and standards of his conscience] that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank; so, he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself [by violating his conscience: he did not want his success or promotion to be related to the king, but to the Lord].” A society without standards is no society at all. You were born into an aristocracy of honor as a believer. So, as a member of the Royal Family of God you should develop new standards compatible with your status as royalty. Your first standard should be recognition of all legitimate authorities as instituted by the Laws of Divine Establishment.

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Acts 23:1, "And Paul, looking intently at the Sanhedrin, said, 'Brethren, I have conducted myself as a citizen with a good conscience before God up to this day [from the time he became a believer up to this point].'" Acts 24:16, "In view of this, I myself keep on doing my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men." 1 Timothy 3:9, "but holding to the mystery doctrine with a clear conscience." We never have true happiness in our soul without a clear conscience.

 

Conscience is the most basic attribute of the soul related to self-consciousness and the basis for developing an honor code which recognizes authority, freedom, privacy and property. Citizens functioning under an honor code provide for an honorable society. A society without standards is no society at all. For example, the Roman Empire destroyed itself because it rejected its own standards and the better standards of Christianity.

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People have the right to learn their own standards and make their own decisions. No one has the right to superimpose their standards on anyone else. Privacy means you are allowed to hold any opinion until you grow up spiritually. You have the privacy to take in doctrine without anyone setting standards for you. As you learn doctrine your norms and standards will change for the better.

The Weak Believer, the weak unbeliever:

 

A few points on weak believers or unbelievers who are easily led astray.

 

1. There are two categories of weak people: the evil weak person and the good weak person. A lot of weak people are evil through legalism, but some are weak because they have not had enough time to accumulate correct norms and standards.

 

2. The insecure, irresponsible, thoughtless, selfish, and arrogant believers are legalistic. They tend to control policy, and procedures as a historical trend in social, business, governmental, professional, cultural, spiritual, and sexual life, etc.

 

3. One of the signs of a declining society is when the weak, the scum in society dominate the strong through arrogant self-righteousness, liberalism, socialism, violence and even bolshevism etc.

 

4. The scum, the criminal element, the irresponsible, control the strong as a historical trend toward cosmic involvement and inevitable degeneracy.

 

5. This is why a nagging wife who pouts, makes scenes in public, can dominate, control and manipulate an honorable husband, a person who is kind, considerate and thoughtful. And this is how a power-mad fourth estate, (an irresponsible press) without integrity can dominate the thinking of a nation.

 

Carnality and the Conscience.

 

1. Believers in two categories of prolonged carnality destroy their conscience through their use of the Arrogance Skills (Self-Justification, Self-Deception and Self-Absorption. These skills result in the believer functioning in Satan’s cosmic system. 1 Timothy 1:19-20, “keeping doctrine [faith] and a good of intrinsic value conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck regarding their doctrine [faith]. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered over to Satan, so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.” Titus 1:15, “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving [those who reject doctrine], nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” The believer in reversionism destroys his conscience through scar tissue of the soul, 1 Timothy 4:1-2, “But the Spirit explicitly states that in latter periods of time [the Church Age, and the Tribulation], some believers will become apostate from doctrine, paying attention to deceitful spirits [false teachers] and concentrating on doctrines from demons [cosmic involvement] by means of hypocrisy of liars [false teachers], seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.” The branding iron is scar-tissue in the soul from rejection of the truth.

 

2. False teaching sears the conscience like a branding iron and so, destroys the conscience. This searing refers to scar tissue of the soul and cosmic involvement.

 

3. A great deal of your strength comes from having the proper norms and standards in the conscience of your right lobe. Therefore, it is important to understand how apostasy can destroy the conscience.

 

The Conscience and Dead Works.

 

1. There is no work we can perform for salvation, for the Recovery Procedure and for the spiritual life. Dead works are human works, like faith plus anything for salvation. At the moment of salvation, the new believer has the potential for the purification of his conscience; the conscience can be purified from dead works by avoiding dead works through the Filling of the Holy Spirit. Precedence from the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union is taught in Hebrews 9:14, "How much more will the blood of Christ [His work on the cross], who through the eternal Spirit [a reference to the sustaining ministry of God the Holy Spirit toward the humanity of Christ on the cross] offered Himself without blemish to God [remained impeccable on the cross], purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." Metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness and its application purifies the conscience from dead works. In other words, anything performed outside of God’s plan is dead works. For example, in the spiritual life, dead works are from a bad conscience seared with legalism. Christian service that involves dead works is not Christian service at all. The great power experiment of the Church Age and the execution of the Protocol Plan of God demands the use of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit and the power of metabolized doctrine in the soul.

 

2. Divine omnipotence and human power are mutually exclusive. Serving God and fulfilling His plan cannot be accomplished by human power. Human power destroys the conscience and results in dead works. Legalism cannot execute the plan, purpose, or will of God in the Church Age. Serving God means the utilization of divine power and the cognition of Bible doctrine, which establishes the norms and standards for the right lobe.

 

3. When the norms and standards of the conscience are formed from Bible doctrine, the believer is grace oriented, 2 Corinthians 1:12,  "Now this is our boast [esprit de corps], the testimony of our conscience, that we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially in relationship to God, both in holiness [integrity from the Filling of the Holy Spirit] and godly sincerity [motivation from Bible doctrine], not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God." 

 

4. There is a conflict in the conscience of the believer in adolescence between the motivation of Bible doctrine and the problem of fleshly wisdom since he is still developing his conscience. Adolescent believers sometimes hallucinate spiritually when they assume that they have reached spiritual adulthood when they haven’t. For example, many adolescent believers have not yet developed a strong faith-rest drill. Joseph for example when he asked the Prince of the Cup Bearers a favor in lieu of putting his trust in the Lord.

 

5. The weak conscience: 1 Corinthians 8:7, “However, not all men [not all Christians] have this knowledge [about food offered to idols as per 1 Corinthians 8:4-6], but some being accustomed to idol worship until now [still have the same viewpoint as they did as unbelievers] eat the food as if it were sacrificed to idols [these Christians do not have the doctrine necessary to deal with this situation; they cannot distinguish between eating meat to an idol and idolatry; eating this meat is not a sin, but to indulge in idolatry is a sin], and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.”

 

A few points for elaboration:

 

1. Some of the best food in Corinth had been offered to idols and then sold both in the temple restaurants and as the choicest meat in the temple market. Food is food, and meat is meat. So, under the Law of Liberty it was alright to eat that food, once you sanctified it.

 

2. However, for those with an idolatrous background and a weak conscience, eating food offered to idols was very offensive. The one with the weak conscience has legalistic norms and standards in his conscience from his background and therefore was not able to eat this food without violating his conscience.

 

3. So, there is a conflict between those with a strong conscience and those with a weak conscience. A strong conscience has Biblical standards from metabolized doctrine. A person with a weak conscience lives by standards acquired from his background, which may or may not be good, or which may be distorted as being a part of the spiritual life. Eating is a physical issue, and has nothing to do with the spiritual life as such.

 

4. The person with a weak conscience assumes he’s strong, because a person functioning under legalism always assumes he is strong. Yet legalism is really weak. The invasion of guilt into the conscience is one of the biggest problems for the legalists if he should violate his legalistic beliefs.  

 

5. So the conscience is a very sensitive thing. It can be erroneous in its concepts apart from doctrine. If doctrine does not feed the conscience, false information will. Under demonization and legalism, pseudo norms and standards will develop in a hurry.

 

6. Grace orientation as a problem-solving device expresses itself through the norms and standards of the conscience constructed from Bible doctrine. 1 Peter 2:18-19, "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only for the good and gentle masters, but also for the unreasonable ones; (19) for this is grace, if for the sake of conscience toward God, anyone bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly." A conscience loaded with doctrine bears up magnificently under unfair treatment. Such a believer has a strong conscience. On the other hand, the weak believer complains and rejects authority, and so becomes a loser.

 

7. The conscience guides the believer in his life. 2 Corinthians 4:2, "But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame [false norms and standards related to guilt or other forms of arrogance], not walking in craftiness or watering down the Word of God [does not have a conscience related to divine standards], but by the unveiling of doctrine [cognition and inculcation of Bible doctrine produces more divine standards in the conscience], commending ourselves to every person's conscience in the sight of God." While you will build up norms and standards related to Bible doctrine, at the same time, you will set aside false norms and standards related to legalism. By learning and using doctrine without trying to run other people's lives, you commend yourself to other people's consciences in the sight of God. The conscience of the believer must be formed from the norms, standards, and priorities obtained through cognition of Bible doctrine. No one has a strong conscience until they reach spiritual adulthood. 1 Timothy 1:5, "But the objective of our instruction is love from a pure right lobe and a good conscience and a sincere faith."             

 

8. The believer's conscience demands that he submit to establishment-authority. Romans 13:5, "Therefore, it is necessary to be in subordination, not only because of wrath [law enforcement], but also for the sake of conscience." The conscience of the believer should motivate him to obey all the Laws of Establishment. The conscience in the soul is far stronger than any fear of punishment from law enforcement.

 

9. Conscience as a motivator: 2 Timothy 1:3, "I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way my ancestors did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers, day and night." So, your conscience has something to do with your effectiveness in prayer. Paul didn't pray for people because he liked them necessarily, but because his conscience required him to do so.

 

10. The conscience and love for Christ: 1 Peter 3:15-16, "but sanctify the Lord Jesus Christ in your right lobes [occupation with Christ], and always be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you to give an account for the confidence that is in you with grace orientation and respect [occupation with Christ].  (16) Be having a good conscience, so that in the things in which you are slandered, those who malign your intrinsic good in Christ may be put to shame." If you have a strong conscience, you will leave it in the Lord's hands and the supreme court of heaven. In this way, the Lord and the Supreme Court of Heaven will put the maligner of a great believer to shame. Occupation with Christ extends into the conscience and becomes the ultimate in problem solving devices.”

 

1 Corinthians 10:30

 

If I partake with grace and I do, why am I maligned concerning that for which I give thanks?

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εἰ ἐγὼ χάριτι µετέχω, τί βλασφηµοῦµαι ὑπὲρ οὗ ἐγὼ εὐχαριστῶ;

 

I have a perfect right to eat that food under the Law of Liberty. However, my Law of Liberty must be correlated with my overall objective in life which should be the salvation of the unbeliever.

 

1 Corinthians 10:31

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Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

 

εἴτε οὖν ἐσθίετε εἴτε πίνετε εἴτε τι ποιεῖτε, πάντα εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ ποιεῖτε.

 

1 Corinthians 10:32

 

Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks [the Law of Expediency] or to the church of God [the Law of Love];

 

ἀπρόσκοποι καὶ Ἰουδαίοις γίνεσθε καὶ Ἕλλησιν καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ,

 

1 Corinthians 10:33

 

Just as I also, please all unbelievers in all things, not seeking my own benefit [trying to gain a good impression from the unbeliever] but the benefit of the many [the salvation of the unbeliever], so that they [the unbelievers] may be saved [it is a potential at the point of their gospel hearing].

 

καθὼς κἀγὼ πάντα πᾶσιν ἀρέσκω, µὴ ζητῶν τὸ ἐµαυτοῦ σύµφορον ἀλλὰ τὸ τῶν πολλῶν, ἵνα σωθῶσιν.

 

It is not the unbeliever’s impression that counts, but the unbeliever’s understanding of the cross that counts.

 

Evangelism, Principles of:

 

Knowledge of salvation is necessary for witnessing. You cannot witness for Christ unless you know the gospel, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us [as ambassadors] the ministry of reconciliation: (19) Namely that God [the Father] was by means of Christ reconciling the world to himself [the principle of unlimited atonement] not counting their trespasses against them [the penalty of our personal sins were imputed directly to Christ on the cross], and he committed to us, the doctrine of reconciliation. (20) Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making His appeal through us. We [as ambassadors] invite you [through the gospel message] on behalf of Christ become reconciled to God. (21) And he (Father) made him [Jesus] who knew no sin [impeccability of Christ] to be a sin offering [Jesus Christ, the high priest offered himself as a sacrifice for the penalty of our sins] as a substitute for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him [positional truth].”

 

The Christian has a two-fold witness ministry. Being a witness to the unbeliever and before angels in the Angelic Conflict are the responsibilities of every believer as per Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you [the Filling of the Holy Spirit]. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [The human race was created to function as witnesses in Satan’s appeal trial. So, being witnesses to the unsaved human race is not the primary function of the Christian though important. So, even though a Christian may witness to many unbelievers during his lifetime, if that same believer does not function as a witness in this angelic appeal trial, basically he has failed in his primary mission.] 

 

The effectiveness and clarity of the believer’s witness depends upon his understanding of the last judgment as taught in Revelation 20:12-15 and the convincing ministry as per John 16:8-11. These two passages make it clear that person sins are not the issue in salvation except the sin of not believing in Jesus Christ.

 

Witnessing is impossible apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit, John 16:8-11, “And when that one comes, he will convince the world [the unbeliever] concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; (9)  concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; (10) and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me [the need for perfect righteousness]; (11) and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged [If the greatest creature ever created did not escape judgment nor will you].”
 

Pertinent content of the Bible is the believer’s weapon in witnessing, 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the Word of the cross to the ones who are perishing [the ones rejecting the gospel] is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” [If the unbeliever refuses to listen to the gospel or rejects the gospel information after hearing it (Common Grace followed by the Call of God the Father), then the gospel and all other spiritual information in the Bible will appear to him as foolishness. 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the soulish-man [ψυχικὸς δὲ ἄνθρωπος] does not accept the things from the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are discerned spiritually]” [Regarding God’s word, the unbeliever can only understand the Laws of Establishment and the gospel via Common Grace and nothing else since the unbeliever does not have a human spirit.]

      

The dynamics of witnessing depend upon the believer’s mental attitude, Romans 1:14-16, “I am under obligation both to the civilized unbelievers [those with Greek culture and language] and to the uncivilized unbelievers [like the barbarians of Spain] both to wise [mature believers] and to the ignorant [includes baby, adolescent, and reversionistic believers]. (15) Thus, my eagerness to proclaim the good news [both the gospel and the spiritual life] to you who are in Rome. (16) For I am not ashamed of the good news regarding salvation, for it is the power of God for providing salvation to anyone who believes in Christ, both to the Jew foremost [first in privilege] and likewise to the Gentiles.” [Paul had a sense of obligation based upon a sense of honor. From that sense of honor toward God comes a sense of duty or responsibility toward others, both to the unbeliever and believer.]

 

There are two areas of witnessing namely the witness of the life as per 2 Corinthians 3:3, “Being manifested [to people and angels] that you are a letter from Christ, having been ministered to by us; therefore, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone but on the tablets of the human heart [stream of consciousness].” and the witness of the lips as per 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, “For the love for Christ keeps motivating us, having concluded this, that one died [a substitutionary death] for all, therefore all died [real spiritual death at birth]; (15) and He [Christ] died as a substitute for all in order that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was resurrected [rose again] on their behalf. (16) Therefore, in the future we regard no one from the human viewpoint [according to the flesh]; even though we have known Christ from the human viewpoint [from the typical viewpoint that we had before we were saved], but now [with cognitive self-confidence and beyond] we know Him in this way no longer. (17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, and he is, he is a new spiritual species; the old things have passed away [lost their power over you like people emphasis over God emphasis]; behold, new things have come [the ten unique features of the Church Age; the ten Problem Solving-devices; the distribution of Escrow Blessings for time and the anticipation of the distribution of Escrow Blessing for the eternal state]. (18) Now, all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us [His ambassadors] the ministry of reconciliation, (19) namely, that God was by means of Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (20) Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God [by believing in Jesus Christ as your savior]. (21) He made Him who knew no sin to be a sin offering on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [in union with Christ].”

 

There is reward for witnessing in fellowship with God, 1 Corinthians 3:13-14, “each man’s work [Christian work or production] will become evident; for the day [evaluation seat of Christ after the Rapture] will show it because it is to be revealed by fire, in fact the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. (14) If any man’s work which he has built upon it [Christ, the Rock] remains, he will receive a reward.”

 

To the Corinthians it wasn’t so much what you said, it was how you said it. If you said it in an eloquent way with an excellent vocabulary it was very acceptable. However, Paul knew that all the human ability and power in the world cannot persuade even one sinner to trust in Christ as savior. Only the power of the Holy Spirit working through the gospel can break through into the human soul causing an unbeliever to believe in Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:4, "Both my doctrine and my preaching were not in persuasive words of man’s wisdom [not in Greek culture and philosophy; not in rationalism or empiricism], but in the demonstration of the Spirit [regarding the gospel: common and efficacious grace; Paul’s teaching after salvation was done under the Filling of the Spirit and the power of metabolized doctrine in his soul] and in his power [God’s power is used both in the presentation of the gospel and in the teaching of God’s word which follows]."

 

A few points for clarification regarding the presentation of the Gospel:

 

1. Human public ability and eloquence will not bring a sinner to Christ.

 

2. Human popularity or success will not bring a sinner to Christ.

 

3. Human attractiveness will not bring a sinner to Christ.

 

4. It is not necessary to be intelligent or an intellectual to reach intellectuals.

 

5. You do not have to learn the unbeliever’s philosophy or viewpoint to present him with the gospel-message.

 

6. You do not have to cultivate people or become friends with them to witness to them.

 

If faith in Christ were founded on logic it could be refuted by logic. All it takes is a greater debater, a smarter person using logic. The objective of witnessing is not to win a debate, not to present a logical platform subject to debate, but to present an absolute: the gospel. The Holy Spirit does the rest.

 

Proper Evangelism:

 

1. Give the unbeliever information pertinent to salvation and stay on the subject. Avoid false issues such as legalism, salvation by change of behavior, feeling sorry for sins, joining the church, etc.

 

2. Never put the cart before the horse. Do not try to get the unbeliever to live the Christian way life. The issue is not living the Christian life, the issue is “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved,” Acts 16:31; John 3:36.

            

3. Be sure to declare the good news [the gospel], and in the good news do not confuse it with the issue of sin for that has been removed. Only emphasize the person of Christ and His work on the cross. However, after explaining the good news, you may state what will happen if the unbeliever should reject the good news.

 

4. Do not add to the gospel. Nothing is accomplished by getting a person to give up his sins, to improve his behavioral pattern, or to feel sorry for his sins, to join a church or to walk down a church aisle.

 

5. Provide information and do not get in the way of the Holy Spirit with regard to the decision of faith. You can’t force the volition of any member of the human race; even God can’t do that.

 

6. Never ask an unbeliever for money, and avoid any kind of a gimmick that would confuse the issue like asking him to come forward or to stand up during an evangelistic appeal.