3 Jn 28; Rev 439; Eph 650, 772f; Jam 13ff; Eph 1303; Isr 54

DOCTRINE OF HUMILITY

A. Introduction.

1. Humility is freedom from pride and arrogance. Therefore humility cannot and does not exist in the cosmic system; it is the first thing to go when you get out of the divine dynasphere. Cosmic one is the arrogance complex. Gate number one of cosmic one is the pin in the grenade—all the mental attitude sins. These combine to form the problem solving devices of arrogance that believers have. Arrogance has so many facets that sooner or later people are captured by it apart from residence in the divine dynasphere, under the enabling power of the Spirit and momentum from metabolized Bible doctrine.

2. So the virtue of all believers is humility. Humility is total freedom from cosmic one. Humility is gate number three of the divine dynasphere, which includes enforced humility and genuine humility, plus objectivity and teachability. Therefore, gate number three is a prerequisite for learning doctrine.

3. Learning doctrine requires the three R’s.

a. Reception, in which the pastor communicates Bible doctrine to a group of believers, and the information goes to the believer’s human spirit. The Holy Spirit makes that doctrine PNEUMATIKOS, i.e., spiritual phenomena. It then goes to the NOUS or left lobe and becomes GNOSIS doctrine. Then the positive believer has faith perception, the metabolization of that Bible doctrine by which it goes into the KARDIA or right lobe, where it becomes EPIGNOSIS doctrine. Only epignosis doctrine has momentum.

b. Retention is epignosis doctrine by which we grow in grace, the basis for momentum.

c. Recall is the application of epignosis doctrine to experience, the basis for creating invisible heroes, the objective of the spiritual life.

4. Enforced humility is submission to legitimate authority. Genuine humility is the virtue of complete grace orientation through perception of Bible doctrine.

5. However, humility must be distinguished from humiliation. Humility is the virtue of freedom from arrogance. Humiliation is to reduce your view of self to a lower status in your own eyes or in the eyes of others. Humiliation is being mortified, while humility is being grace-oriented.

B. Meaning and Definition.

1. Humility is the quality or status of being humble. While the noun “humble” has many definitions, ranging from “feeling of insignificance and feeling of inferiority” to “low in rank or low in importance,” none of these definitions relate to the Biblical word.

2. Humility or being humble in the protocol plan of God is recognition of the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and submitting to that authority. Humility is recognition of authority. Since the Bible is the mind of Christ, submission to the authority of our Lord is tantamount to consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. We submit by our daily intake of the Word of God. If we become neglectful of doctrine, we are in a state of rebellion. The result of postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation should be grace orientation and humility.

3. Through consistent perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine arrogance is brought low or humbled, while the filling of the Holy Spirit, grace orientation, personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, a personal sense of destiny, and occupation with Christ are raised to the highest level of function.

4. In Biblical humility, the independence of human power and ability is reduced to zero, so that dependence on the power and ability of God are increased to the maximum through the function of grace. This becomes grace effectiveness in the Christian way of life. At the point of faith in Christ, you reduced yourself to a state of total humility.

5. Biblical humility is neither derogatory nor undue self- depreciation. The mandate of James 4:10 to “Humble yourselves before the Lord” is a mandate that precedes any effective use of a problem solving device.

a. This means that humility is a system of divine viewpoint thinking related to grace orientation and occupation with Christ.

b. This means that humility is a system of recognizing the authority of Jesus Christ as the ruler of the Church, and that He has delegated all authority in the Church Age to the Word of God, especially the mystery doctrine found in the Church Age epistles, and the pastor-teacher as God’s delegated authority to teach the Word of God.

c. This means that humility is a system of cognition of Bible doctrine, resulting in the believer living in the directive will of God rather than the permissive will of God.

C. Humility as a System of Thinking and a Way of Life.

1. As a system of thinking, humility is freedom from both subjective and objective arrogance related to Christian degeneracy.

a. Humility is both a system of thinking as well as a way of life. Humility is a system of thinking before it becomes a way of life. Humility is comfortable, relaxed system of thinking. It is not thinking in terms of inferiority, for we are all equal as royal family of God from the baptism of the Spirit. We have equal privilege and equal opportunity, wiping out any human distinctions.

b. Humility is a system of thinking that reaches its peak under spiritual self-esteem. Spiritual self-esteem is the quintessence of humility. In spiritual self-esteem, you no longer feel threatened, have self-pity, and no longer make an issue of yourself in hypersensitivity. You are totally relaxed, and this is the most comfortable possible status quo until you finally advance to God’s perfect happiness, the greatest of all problem solving devices, the sharing of the happiness of God.

c. Humility as a system of thinking doctrine becomes a way of life.

d. As a system of thinking, humility is freedom from cosmic one, i.e., from arrogance in any form. There are many hidden forms of arrogance of which we are unaware, but humility protects us from all of them.

2. As a way of life, humility is the virtue of grace orientation and occupation with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is both submission to legitimate authority in life and capacity for life, love and happiness.

a. As a way of life, humility is grace-orientation and capacity for life, to include capacity for love, happiness and gratitude.

b. As a way of life, humility includes, as one of its many expressions, a recognition and submission to legitimate authority in life without any feeling of inferiority or of feeling threatened.

3. Humility must never be defined in terms of legalism, self- effacement, asceticism, or any form of subjective arrogance, including unrealistic expectation, role model arrogance, iconoclastic arrogance, self-righteous arrogance, crusader arrogance, or any of the other things that are mistaken for humility in life. Humility is not self-effacement, or any form of asceticism or sincerity. Asceticism is basically hypocrisy and/or stupidity. It is a form of pride rather than humility. All forms of asceticism are related to the most subtle forms of arrogance.

4. Humility is mandated by Jam 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will promote you.” Therefore, it is a Christian virtue, not a form of arrogant hypocrisy. This humility is the very core of integrity and virtue.

5. Humility as a system of thinking has many synonyms, such as spiritual poise and courage.

a. Poise is the expression of humility under pressure or grace dependence upon the Lord. It is recognition that a far greater power is operating in your life.

b. Courage is the expression of humility under great adversity. It is the ability to think doctrine under pressure, hence, a combination of grace orientation and doctrinal orientation.

c. Humility is the basis for thinking under pressure. Courage and poise are the clothing which covers such thinking with glory. Poise is the function of humility in normal life; courage is that function in abnormal circumstances of life.

6. Humility is freedom from pride and arrogance. Humility cannot and does not exist inside the cosmic system.

7. Humility is a state of honor and integrity. It is living inside the divine dynasphere, gate number three of the divine dynasphere. Humility is the motivation of your “station in life,” as per Eph 4:1.

8. Humility is not humiliation or mortification. Prov 15:33, “The fear [respect for] the Lord is instruction for wisdom, and before honor comes humility.” There is no honor without humility. Respect for the Lord is the prerequisite for humility. Humility is the prerequisite for honor in the Christian way of life. Respect for the Lord is personal love for God, one of the characteristics of spiritual self-esteem. No believer can have honor or integrity in his life without the virtue of humility.

9. Prov 11:2, “When arrogance comes, then comes dishonor; but with the humble is wisdom.” The only basis for having wisdom in life is through humility.

10. Prov 29:23, “A person’s arrogance will bring him low, but a spirit of humility will attain honor.”

11. Humility is first of all a mental attitude directed toward yourself. Then it is a mental attitude directed toward other people. Above all, humility is a mental attitude directed toward legitimate authority in life.

12. Humility is the means by which the protocol plan of God is executed, for humility is one of the productions of the Holy Spirit.

13. Humility is teachability, Ps 25:8-9, “Good and honorable is the Lord; therefore, He instructs sinners in the way. In justice [divine integrity] He guides the humble; consequently, He teaches the humble His way [plan, purpose].” No believer in the cosmic system can learn doctrine; gnosis never becomes epignosis. Without humility there is no teachability. Teachability demands enforced humility and genuine humility.

a. Without teachability there is no humility. Humility is the most basic system of teachability. No one has the ability to learn, no matter how great his I.Q., unless he also possesses humility. A great I.Q. can only learn to distort or refuse to learn Bible doctrine. Humility is what keeps the person with a high I.Q. in a teachable state.

b. Teachability recognizes two things: the authority of the teacher and the content of the message; hence, the authority of the Word of God as the thinking of Christ.

c. Humility is the sum total of grace orientation. Grace orientation occurs in three categories:

(1) Pre-salvation grace—common and efficacious grace.

(2) Salvation grace through faith in Christ.

(3) Post-salvation grace—logistical grace.

d. Humility responds to many kinds of truth. First, it responds to establishment doctrine by submitting to legitimate authority. Humility responds to the mystery doctrine of the Church Age by executing the protocol plan of God, living inside the divine dynasphere. When outside the divine dynasphere in the cosmic system, humility uses rebound instantly.

D. Humility as a Mandate and Motivation for Life.

1. The mandate for humility is found in Prov 3:33-35, “The curse of the Lord is on the house of evil, but He blesses the home of the righteous. He makes war against the arrogant, but He gives grace to the humble. The wise person will inherit honor, but fools carry away dishonor.”

a. “The house of evil” is the family living in the cosmic system, having neither enforced humility nor genuine humility. An evil family is a family that rejects authority. The parents pass on to their children their own rejection of authority. It is family which promotes the many aspects of arrogance.

b. “The home of the righteous” is the family living under the laws of divine establishment, or the family of believers living under God’s plan for that dispensation.

c. The wise person is the one who, through humility, is teachable.

d. “Fools carry away dishonor.” In other words, they take it and steal it. The fools spends his whole life taking dishonor.

2. Jam 4:5-6 quotes this passage: “Or do you presume that the Scripture speaks in vain against jealousy. The Spirit who dwells in us pursues us with love, and He gives us more grace. Therefore, it says [Prov 3:34], `God makes war against the arrogant but He gives grace to the humble.’” In the context of Proverbs, the “arrogant” refers to the believer or unbeliever who is anti-establishment and anti-authority. But in the context of James it refers only to believers.

3. God can only give blessing and deal graciously with those who have true humility. True humility is the virtue which parallels the concept of grace. 1 Pet 5:5-6, “Likewise, you younger men, be subject to your elders [pastors]. In fact, all of you [in the congregation] cloth yourselves with humility toward one another, for `God makes war against the arrogant but He gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves [become grace oriented] under the powerful hand of God [Bible doctrine], that He may promote you at the proper time.”

a. The relationship among believers in a congregation should always be one of humility or grace thinking. That means you never make an issue out of others’ sins or failures; you never superimpose with your own legalistic ideas. You make sure every believer sitting in the congregation has the same opportunity of listening to the teaching of the Word of God that you possess.

b. To “cloth or fasten yourselves to each other” is the Greek way of expressing interaction.

c. If God doesn’t promote you, you are not promoted. You can only be promoted through your residence, function, and momentum inside the divine dynasphere.

d. Achievement belongs to God; happiness belongs to the believer. This principle is only true when the believer is functioning at gate number three of the divine dynasphere. The believer living inside the divine dynasphere will have degrees of happiness compatible with his spiritual growth. But the believer living in the cosmic system will be confused and bored. He will try to achieve by his own ability and by his own wiles, failing to recognize that if he advances in the divine dynasphere, God will promote him. Then he will really achieve.

e. Achievement is like human life: they both belong to God. God will only give achievement when the believer advances to a point where his achievement is compatible with his capacity, so that his achievement will not make him miserable.

4. Lk 14:11, “For everyone who exalts himself [in cosmic system] shall be humbled [divine discipline], and he who humbles himself [in divine dynasphere under the authority of God] shall be promoted.”

a. Self-exaltation includes all the facets of arrogance, such as: jealousy, bitterness, implacability, hatred, slander, maligning, gossiping, judging, hypersensitivity, legalism, asceticism, Christian activism.

b. Christian service performed in the cosmic system glorifies self, while the same Christian service performed in the divine dynasphere glorifies God. So the difference is not what you do in Christian service, but where you are when you are doing it. Are you controlled by the Holy Spirit or by the old sin nature?

c. Christian service is not the means of fulfilling the plan of God, but is the result of fulfilling the plan of God inside the divine dynasphere. In other words, as a result of growing in grace you produce legitimate Christian service. As a result of living in the cosmic system, though you may do the same things, it has no meaning.

5. Humility orients everything in life to the grace of God while arrogance orients everything in life to self. Without humility there is no virtue.

6. Humility is the basic ingredient for the believer’s capacity for life, love, happiness, blessing, and Christian service; for only humility keeps the grace perspective of life.

7. Humility is the basis for gratitude, appreciation for people, and true thanksgiving in worship. Many people have no gratitude because they are arrogant.

8. Humility is a defense against the cosmic system with its demonizing influence.

9. For the unbeliever, humility is developed from the laws of divine establishment. With the great virtue of humility, the unbeliever is protected from demon possession and demon influence in the cosmic system.

10. For the believer, humility is developed only inside the divine dynasphere under the filling of the Spirit, through the daily perception and metabolization of doctrine. With the great virtue of humility, the believer is protected against demon influence in the cosmic system. In fact, humility protects the believer from almost everything in life because it is a total grace orientation.

11. Therefore, humility is based on truth: the laws of divine establishment or Bible doctrine.

12. Humility is very important in view of the three areas in which we must all grow up.

a. When we are born, we must grow up as a human being under a system of establishment authority.

b. When are born again, we must grow up as a Christian under the authority of the protocol plan of God.

c. When are married, we must grow up as a spouse. Arrogance is the cause of all the problem solving devices in marriage. Losers in life are losers in marriage.

E. The Provision for Humility at Birth.

1. Introduction.

a. For all members of the human race, humility is developed through the authority system of laws of divine establishment. It is stated in the Mosaic Law and in Rom 13.

b. For the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, humility is developed through consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.

c. No one is born with genuine humility. We are not born with this virtue.

d. Since humility is not inherent, it must be attained through a legitimate authority system under the laws of divine establishment. That legitimate authority system is parents, one or more.

2. Humility is an anti-cosmic system. It is also anti-demonization. Therefore, it is important for both the unbeliever and the believer to identify authority and to function under it.

a. The believer cannot be demon possessed because he is indwelt by all three members of the Trinity. But he can be under demon influence through his thought pattern. Human viewpoint thinking becomes a form of demonization.

b. No one can be demonized apart from his own consent. The great protection against demonization is volition. All decisions made from the virtue of humility are decisions made from a position of strength. Therefore, such decisions avoid involvement in the cosmic system and resultant demon influence.

c. Demon influence is simply demon invasion of the mentality of the soul with Satan’s policy. The demon invasion of both soul and personality is accomplished by thought transference inside the cosmic system. This means that arrogant people learn just as humble people, but they learn the wrong system, the one that disorients them to life; e.g., psychopathic arrogance.

d. Both believers and unbelievers in the cosmic system are vulnerable to demon influence. Unbelievers are also vulnerable to demon possession.

3. To avoid demonization, the mechanics of humility must be understood and delineated. God has provided humility from the moment of our birth.

4. God has provided for every normal person of the human race a mechanical system to develop the virtue of true humility. It all starts at physical birth. Here, human life is imputed from God to the human soul. No one is born humble. All members of the human race are born arrogant, self-centered, and with an old sin nature.

a. No one is born with genuine humility. Humility is not genetic or inherent, but it must be acquired as a virtue. Therefore, humility is something that has to be developed and learned.

b. The first system for the development of humility is the authority of the home. Authority can be administered in justice or in injustice. But there is a chance for any child.

c. Sometimes the child learns the concept of virtue faster from bad and unjust authority than from fair authority. Therefore, God has made it possible in homes with unfair authority for the acceleration of virtue or the acceleration of evil; it goes either way. With either type of authority, the person leaving the home with an adult body must also emerge with an adult soul.

d. There must be humility for maturity. Humility is acquired, attained, developed by degrees. While the environment of the home is not the issue, the authority in the home is the issue. We are born with parents because we need a system of authority to orient to life.

e. All degeneracy in society begins with the malfunction of authority in the home. Today we see permissiveness in the home: the failure to punish, to teach what is right and wrong, to reward for doing right, and to punish for doing evil. After about two generations of this, we go into a dive of social degeneration.

f. Since we are not born with virtue, the only chance we have of acquiring virtue is the training we receive in the home where normal morality is taught, where normal authority is used, where discipline is fair and firm and consistent. Everyone in life at some time faces the unjust use of authority, and orientation to it at an early age merely stabilizes humility. Whereas resentment, bitterness, reaction, implacability towards unfair authority is a guarantee that you will be a child all your life.

5. Only the adult soul takes responsibility for his own decisions. So its important to attain genuine humility in life, not only for capacity for love, for life, for happiness, but to avoid the prolonged residence in the cosmic system and resultant demonization.

6. Since humility must be acquired in life, God has provided the basis for the development of this number one virtue, “the potter’s wheel” of Rom 9:19-21. The passage regards the entire human race as clay in the hands of the potter. It is the potter’s wheel of authority that shapes the life of everyone, apart from being born-again and growing in grace.

7. Rom 9:19-21, “Therefore, you will say to me, `Why does He still find fault [with me]? For who has resisted His will?’ On the contrary, mankind, you, who are you that answers back to God? Shall the thing formed say to Him who formed it, `Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter [God] possess authority over the clay [mankind] from the same lump to make, on the one hand, a vessel for the purpose of honor, and on the other hand, a vessel for the purpose of dishonor? Of course He does!”

a. The sovereignty of God and free will of man coexist in human history. God has provided His authority and authority He has delegated so that you can steer through life with virtue from humility and have a marvelous life.

b. Whether a person becomes a vessel of honor or dishonor depends upon the function of his own volition with regard to divine authority. The difference between being a vessel of honor and a vessel of dishonor is your response to authority.

c. What does a potter do with good vessels? He keeps them. With those of dishonor, he smashes them, and God has designed a system for doing so. Authority in establishment preserves those with humility and destroys those with arrogance (who are self-destructive first).

d. God does not create dishonor. But God provides a potter’s wheel, which is legitimate authority in life.

e. Whether a person becomes a vessel of honor or dishonor depends on the function of his own volition and attitude toward authority. His first contact is his parents, and the delegation of authority under the laws of divine establishment extend out from the home to every possible type of authority in life; e.g., the teacher, police officer, coach, rules.

f. The potter decides how a vessel will be molded. But the vessel will only be molded as it responds to the potter’s wheel. Just as the potter doesn’t “pat” out the vessel by hand, but he uses a wheel, so God also uses a system—authority.

g. The issue is how you, the clay, respond to the potter’s wheel. God has delegated authority in life so that the basis of virtue, humility, can be attained. The first authority is parent(s). Those who are negative become a vessel of dishonor, whether believer or unbeliever. Those who respond begin to shape up as a vessel of honor. Therefore, whether a person becomes a vessel of honor or a dishonor depends on the function of their volition regarding first the authority of their parents, and after that authority in many areas of life.

8. The principle of authority is not only delegated, but invented by God. God has invented authority as the environment of freedom for the function of human volition.

9. Just as the chicken came before the egg, so authority comes before human freedom. No baby is ready for freedom. The baby has natural, instinctive self-centered arrogance. Virtue has to be acquired and learned, and it must be done before you step out into the world of freedom.

10. So the first responsibility of the child in the home is obedience to the authority and mandates of the parents, whether they seem to be reasonable or unreasonable.

11. Authority is the key to freedom, humility and honor. You cannot have authority without freedom, nor freedom without authority. Freedom without authority is anarchy; authority without freedom is tyranny. Once you reject authority, you enter into the frantic search for happiness.

12. Therefore, the potter’s wheel is divine authority delegated to the human race under the laws of divine establishment; e.g., parents, the judge, police officer, coach, teacher, boss, etc.

a. The most basic authority delegated to the human race is the authority of parents over children. This authority determines the difference between vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor.

b. Freedom is designed for adults. Freedom was never designed for children. When children are allowed too much freedom and have no virtue and no respect for the authority of parents, then they become society’s monsters, and society begins to degenerate. Children are not to be allowed freedom. Freedom belongs to those who can take responsibility for their own decisions.

c. In the rearing of the child in the home, freedom is given gradually as virtue builds. The child who does not respond to authority is going to be demonized sooner or later, and become a monster in life.

d. Children are not commanded to love their parents, nor parents their children. Later in life, respect for authority will develop into love.

e. Col 3:20, “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.” Whether you agree or not is not the issue. If children, whether believers or unbelievers, are to be protected from demonization and ever learn any virtue, there must be a basic authority for all members of the human race.

f. The home is the system of organized humility. The parents are the authority designed to provide enforced humility. They have the authority for teaching, training, inculcating, punishing. The child’s volition determines whether he will be a vessel of honor or dishonor. The child’s positive response is genuine humility; his negative response is the process of being broken by the potter’s wheel.

g. Parents are the first authority in life to train, teach, inculcate, and to bring the child to the virtue of humility. There are a lot of things a child must be taught: vocabulary, language, how to think with words, sentences and paragraphs. Until a child learns to think, he must be dealt with by use of the rod. Sparing the rod is why so many children have had such a terrible start in life, managing to bypass the first system of authority.

h. Since virtue is not acquired instantaneously, but with many contacts with authority, the first stage of this virtue is enforced humility. Enforced humility at home eventually will develop into genuine humility where there is response to the authority of parents, teachers, coaches, etc.

i. Divine institutions always have options in life. Divine institution number one is the soul, a system for organized humility. The volition of the soul is the option for enforced humility and genuine humility on the one hand, or the cosmic system and arrogance on the other hand.

j. Positive volition toward enforced humility at home develops genuine humility through acceptance of parental authority. Negative volition at home results in life in the cosmic system.

k. As the first authority in life, parents become the first potter’s wheel to train, to shape, and to inculcate. Parents teach children the principles of self-control, self-discipline, poise, and restraint by the use of volition as the means of reaching genuine humility in life. In this way, the potter’s wheel of authority manufactures a vessel of honor, which is characterized by good manners, sensitivity, thoughtfulness of others, and respect for the privacy, property and rights of others. From this comes capacity for freedom, life, love, and happiness.

l. In other words, the organizational humility of the home provides the environment for enforced humility of parental authority, which eventuates in the function of genuine humility on the part of the child. The sooner genuine humility comes, the sooner the child is oriented to life.

m. Genuine humility develops a sense of destiny, makes decisions from a position of strength, avoids the cosmic system and resultant demonization, and uses one’s freedom without endangering the freedom of others. No human being attains humility and maturity without genuine humility. No one attains genuine humility without first the enforced humility of authority in life.

n. An immature child’s mind is arrogant and cannot cope with life except under the highest form of prosperity. Since life does not offer a perpetuation of prosperity, such immature people become problem solving devices for society and form a reverse pivot. They form a large part of degenerate society. It is almost impossible to become mature spiritually without having some maturity from the human and temporal standpoint. From this group of immature persons comes the demand syndrome and self-righteous arrogance. As this reverse pivot inflates, so arrogance increases in the client nation.

o. Once you leave the home, you revert to divine institution number one—volition. Now your soul is organized humility. This is the most powerful thing you have in all of your lifetime. Your volition is designed to resolve the angelic conflict, for the only thing we have in common with angels is volition. You must learn to make good decisions based on facts and related to the divine dynasphere rather than bad decisions based on emotion related to the cosmic system. Your volition, not your emotions, becomes the basis for how things turn out in your life.

p. The vessel of honor is molded with good manners, thoughtfulness of others, respect for privacy, property and the rights of others. The vessel of honor is trained by parents to respect all systems of authority delegated under the laws of divine establishment. From this comes orientation to life. The vessel of honor accepts these things in the status of humility. The vessel of dishonor rejects these things in the status of arrogance.

q. When children reach puberty, the vessels are formed into two categories: the vessel of honor is humble and teachable, the vessel of dishonor is arrogant, unteachable, and resistant to authority. The only hope for the vessels of dishonor is regeneration.

13. The issue in the angelic conflict in human history is the use of your volition to make decisions, either from a position of weakness, or from a position of strength. Decisions from a position of strength start from the recognition, the identification of authority, and submission to it. Humility is submission to authority in its early virtuous state.

F. The Principle of Divine Institutional Humility.

1. Following the home there is the provision of institutional authority. With one exception, all authority in life is institutional; i.e., authority does not depend upon love for its function, but upon professionalism.

2. Institutional authority in life is exercised as a legitimate function of life. There are three factors in any institution.

a. The authority of the organization.

b. The purpose of the organization.

c. The policy of the organization.

3. All divine institutions under the laws of divine establishment have a structured system for developing genuine humility from authority; all except for divine institution number one, the soul, whose organizational authority is the mentality.

4. Divine institution number one is the soul, whose mentality is organized humility for the environment of thinking. The volition of the soul is the authority for making decisions. Positive volition toward authority means good decisions in life which open up options for greater decisions. Negative volition means bad decisions resulting in cosmic involvement.

5. Divine institution number three is the family in the home. The home is the structure for organizational humility, the parents are the authority for enforced humility, and the child’s volition is the basis for genuine humility, or the basis for developing tragic flaws if parental authority is rejected.

6. Divine institution number four is human government. The client nation to God is organizational humility, the government is the authority for enforced humility, and the volition of the people is the basis for genuine humility and the vigor of the nation. The authority of government is designed by God to protect your privacy, property, and life, all of which are sacred. Government is not designed to solve your problem solving devices. When government is most vigorous, people with personal problem solving devices and poor people are cared for by their families and charitable institutions, and the government does not get involved at all.

7. The exception to this rule is divine institution number two- -marriage. The exercise of authority in marriage demands impersonal love and capacity for life along with the authority. Marriage is a system of organized humility. The husband is the authority over the wife. Volition here is not for the development of genuine humility but for the response of love.

a. In marriage, the husband’s authority is exercised in virtue-love and the wife must respond in kind.

b. Marriage presupposes genuine humility for its success. One reason why marriages fail (after picking the wrong spouse) is arrogance. The tremendous divorce rate today can be ascribed to arrogance alone. Arrogance destroys humility. No marriage can succeed without both enforced humility and genuine humility. The husband’s periodic “no!” is enforced humility. But without genuine humility in a marriage, there is no capacity for love or for life, and arrogance always starts looking around and will always find something!

c. Volition cannot be developed into genuine humility by means of marriage. Humility must have been developed first before marriage, or it must be developed from Bible doctrine during marriage. However, what usually develops is humiliation.

d. The exercise of authority in life is based on honor, integrity, wisdom, leadership, and ability. It is not based on love, with the one exception of marriage.

e. For love to be successful between a man and a woman, genuine humility must precede as a part of capacity for love. This is often why unbelievers find great happiness and succeed in marriage where believers fail. Eccl 9:9, “Enjoy life with your right woman whom you have loved all the days of your life of vanity which God has given you under the sun. For this is your reward in life; this and your occupation in which you are working under the sun.”

8. Eph 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.”

a. When Christ gave Himself for the Church when He went to the cross, His motivation was impersonal love for all mankind. We were all under total depravity, spiritually dead, with no ability to have a relationship with God.

b. So the man must have impersonal love. The unbeliever can acquire it through the laws of divine establishment, the believer through spiritual growth. Impersonal love emphasizes the virtue of the subject. The object can be attractive or unattractive, beautiful or repulsive. The issue is not what is the object, but what is the subject.

9. The big problem solving devices in marriage is that it does have a system of authority. The husband and the wife do not have equal authority, except where children are concerned. The husband is the authority over the wife in marriage.

10. Eph 5:22, “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands as to the Lord.”

a. The last qualifying phrase immediately defines the problem solving devices, for how can you be subordinate to your husband, when you are not subordinate to the Lord?

b. The husband is the authority in marriage. But because his authority functions on the basis of love, and because it must be based upon his humility and the humility of his wife, there are certain things the husband never demands of his wife in life.

(1) The husband has no right to the wife’s money, whether she inherited it or earned it, unless she consents from her own volition, and that willingly.

(2) The wife has a right to her personal convictions in matters of religion and politics. This means she has the right to attend the church of her choice and to vote her own convictions.

c. Because love is the basis for the husband’s authority, the wife must have a right to her privacy and to her personal opinion. Intimacy will never work without privacy.

d. Because love is the basis for the exercise of the husband’s authority, there must exist in marriage a system of communication between husband and wife in all matters of mutual interest.

G. The Provision for Humility at Spiritual Birth.

1. Spiritual birth is regeneration, and means starting all over again. A new language of Bible doctrine must be learned just as at physical birth. Many things must be learned, and this again requires humility and teachability.

2. Three factors related to your free will are involved in the fulfillment of God’s will, plan, and purpose for your life.

a. Self-determination is related to right priorities.

b. Self-determination is related to teachability. Enforced and genuine humility provides the objectivity for teachability.

c. Self-determination is related to the function of post- salvation epistemological rehabilitation.

3. The potter’s wheel is composed of two factors: the divine provision of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age; the divine provision of the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher as the means of communicating this doctrine. The pastor takes the place of the parent in communicating the necessary information.

4. Humility is again the key to the vessel of honor being formed. And arrogance is again the key to the vessel of dishonor being formed. The humble believer is teachable and honors God. The arrogant believer is unteachable and dishonors God.

a. The humble believer is the recipient of grace.

b. The arrogant believer is the recipient of self-induced misery and divine discipline.

c. The humble believer grows in grace and becomes a winner.

d. The arrogant believer rejects grace and becomes a loser.

5. With the imputation of eternal life at the point of salvation, you have another chance, even if you blew it at home: the local church or its equivalent.

6. At the moment of salvation, God provides for every believer the game plan for the Church Age: life and residence inside the divine dynasphere. A series of mandates and priorities go with that life in the divine dynasphere.

7. God’s plan and will for the believer is delineated only in the Word of God, the Bible. Therefore, it becomes necessary for a spiritual gift to have authority over believers for the communication of the Word of God. The pastor’s authority is related to his accurate teaching of the Word of God.

8. The pastor must have authority, because when you are born again you are a spiritual baby. Just as parents are not commanded to love their children but to rear them in the admonition of the Lord and to train and inculcate them, so the same is true of the pastor in the local church. The church is a Christian institution, and there need be no love reciprocation between the pastor and the congregation.

9. Part of God’s plan is that the local church is the classroom for learning God’s plan. The cosmic system is the classroom for the inculcation of demonization.

10. Therefore, the local church becomes organized humility. Positive volition means life in the divine dynasphere or spiritualization, as opposed to negative volition which is life in the cosmic system or demonization. Positive volition means residence and function inside the divine dynasphere.

11. The pastor of the local church is the authority for enforced humility. Enforced humility is a virtue anywhere you find it. But it is especially a virtue in the Christian life, because it is the only basis for settling down in the Christian life and learning under some pastor’s ministry.

12. There is also a system of authority within the local church in deacons and church government. Administration is extremely important. Often how administration is handled represents the teaching ministry of the church. No pastor in his right mind will ever try to handle administration!

13. Humility is determined by the volition of the members of the congregation. Positive volition resides in the divine dynasphere; negative volition rejects doctrine and becomes a cosmic Christian. If your attitude is negative toward the pastor, it will always be negative, and you will never find your right pastor. If you are positive, you can make it. Your chance to grow up is the divine dynasphere.

14. You must start out with enforced humility to grow and to learn doctrine. Enforced humility means you are not going to like a lot of things you hear taught. You’re not going to like the personality of the pastor from time to time. There may be a lot of things you don’t like, but you are there to learn. You need only have rapport with doctrine. That is where objectivity versus subjectivity comes into play.

15. Some believers never grow up because they reject authority. They are in competition with the pastor. They are then demonized once again. But God has provided the system of rebound to get back in the divine dynasphere.

16. Eventually, teachability develops at gate 3 of the divine dynasphere. Teachability is humility, and no one can learn without humility.

17. Genuine humility is an even higher virtue, because it has the virtue of application, and operates under the last four gates of the divine dynasphere. What the USA needs today is more believers advancing to maturity. The country is beyond the help of normal functions under the laws of divine establishment.

18. Prov 3:33-35; Jas 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5-6; Heb 13:7, 17.

H. The Principle of Organizational Humility.

1. The virtue of any organization is measured by the use of authority and the inculcation of discipline. Such discipline becomes enforced humility and the molder of virtue. Enforced humility is the basis for genuine humility, one of the greatest virtues in life.

2. No organization can continue its function with arrogant people. Hence, the importance of authority and discipline to bring enforced humility to arrogant people so they can function. This is the whole concept of basic training in the military.

3. Arrogant people rob an organization of its purpose, policy, virtue and merit. Arrogance within the function of an organization has to be controlled. The only way to do this is to have some system of enforced humility, for arrogance can only be controlled by authority and discipline.

4. The response to authority and discipline must be enforced humility, the basis for the function of any organization. Enforced humility means that even if you don’t like anything about the one in authority, you accept his authority. That’s the beginning of virtue and growing up.

5. An organization can be marriage, the home, an educational system, athletics, business or professional groups, the military, law enforcement, public service, medical centers, religious organizations, and for us local churches and missionary organizations.

6. No organization is composed entirely of honorable, virtuous and competent people. But the success of an organization always depends upon the honorable, the virtuous, and the competent. Hence, the arrogant, incompetent, troublemaker, and the inefficient must be controlled by discipline so that they can function reasonably well on the job.

7. The only place where arrogance functions efficiently is in Satan’s cosmic system.

8. Organizational virtue is the function of enforced humility responding to the authority, policy and purpose of the organization, so that eventually genuine humility is produced in the individual.

9. So that whether the person is on or off the job, genuine humility is the basis for happiness in life. It is something the unbeliever can acquire through establishment, and which the believer can acquire through both establishment and spiritual growth under the filling of the Spirit.

10. Virtue is produced from authority; virtue is never produced from freedom. Virtuous people enjoy freedom the most, but freedom does not possess or produce virtue.

11. Humility is the only force stronger than arrogance. Between arrogance and humility stands authority.

12. When you undermine and reject the authority of your boss, you are arrogant, demonized and non-virtuous. The issue is that you learn to maintain your integrity, not only in times of prosperity but also in times of adversity.

I. The Perfect Example of Humility and Virtue in Life: The Lord Jesus Christ, Phil 2:5-8.

1. The greatest example of genuine humility in all of human history occurred during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union with our Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity. His mental attitude in His humanity and His tremendous humility gave Him capacity for life and love and happiness, and gave Him the most fantastic problem solving ability.

2. This is the subject of Phil 2:5-8. It begins by pointing out where humility exists: in the mental attitude. “Keep thinking this within you which was also in Christ Jesus, who though He eternally existed in the essence of God, He did not think equality with God [Father or Holy Spirit] a profit to be seized and held; but He deprived Himself of the proper function of His deity when He had received the form of a servant [hypostatic union], when He had been born in the likeness of mankind [incarnation]. In fact, although He was discovered in outward appearance as a man, He humbled Himself [enforced and genuine humility] by becoming obedient to the point of death, that is, the death of the cross.” There is no greater illustration than this.

a. As a member of the human race, our Lord had to learn humility from the authority of His parents. His parents had trained Him to use His volition so that He never sinned by His own free will.

b. He accepted the authority of God the Father. He was free to avoid the cross but He humbled Himself to become obedient. There would be no salvation without our Lord’s humility.

c. Our Lord humbled Himself in a special way: by becoming obedient to the point of death.

J. Mankind is designed for humility.

1. Mankind is designed to be happy, to be oriented, to be virtuous only when he has genuine humility as his foundation. Genuine humility uses enforced humility in order to function in any organization or group. All of us are involved in some organization or group.

2. Everywhere we turn we are involved with people. Only genuine humility can eventuate in impersonal love so that we can have a relaxed mental attitude about all people, obnoxious or attractive.

3. Genuine humility is the foundation for virtue. Therefore, we are born again to learn obedience. Divine mandates require obedience to God resulting in virtue first as part of the protocol plan of God.

4. Humility is the foundation for virtue, as well as for capacity for life, love, and happiness.

K. Humility is the only force stronger than arrogance.

1. Arrogance is stronger than perfect and good environment, as illustrated by the Garden of Eden and the Lord’s rule during the Millennium.

2. Arrogance is stronger than love. It is stronger than any sane and normal function in life. Prov 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5 indicate that God makes war against arrogance and against every believer in the cosmic system.

3. Ps 25:8-9. The only way the believer can learn God’s way is through enforced and genuine humility.

4. When a person is negative toward authority, he becomes a vessel of dishonor. Prov 11:2, 16:18, 29:23, “A spirit of humility will attain honor.”

5. Enforced humility is necessary to learn anything in life, Job 33:16-17.

L. Humility is necessary for the perpetuation of the client nation.

1. Everyone is in contact with some organization which possesses authority, purpose and policy. Our response to authority is the basis for our orientation to life. All of this is part of our national function.

2. Isa 11:13, God constantly judges various nations and groups in history. This is necessary for the perpetuation of the angelic conflict. For a client nation there are five cycles of discipline.

3. 2 Chr 7:13-14 says you have a choice of submitting to the legitimate authorities in life. Without the proper use of authority there is destruction of freedom.

4. Once you have learned the secret of genuine humility, it immediately spawns the second virtue in life, concentration. All who are successful in life and in God’s plan have the ability to concentrate. Those who fail cannot concentrate.

5. The believer, and only the believer, is responsible for the downfall of the client nation.

6. The believer is responsible to humble himself under the authority of his pastor-teacher and the Word of God. This is enforced humility inside the local church which is organizational humility. This produces genuine humility whereby the believer can grow to spiritual maturity and be a blessing by association to his nation. This is the only thing that delivers a nation in time of crisis. Ps 10:17.

M. Christian Service as a Distraction to Humility.

1. The road to blessing is organized humility, then enforced humility, followed by genuine humility. The road to cursing is entering any of the gates of the cosmic system.

2. If your parents train you properly, you learn to regulate your own life by your most basic authority, your own volition. You are your own regulator. Genuine humility is the way to be well organized.

3. If your authority comes before your freedom, then authority will spit you out oriented to life and you will always use your freedom properly.

4. Lk 14:11, “For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” To exalt one’s self is involvement in the cosmic system; humbling one’s self is done by direct authority from God, via divine discipline. The worst thing you can do to an arrogant person is to humble him. Divine discipline produces an enforced humility that is negative. If you are humbled by divine discipline, it does not lead to genuine humility and there is no blessing.

5. All momentum in the Christian life is based on continued and consistent perception of Bible doctrine. This cannot occur without enforced humility and genuine humility.

6. When believers begin working for the Lord and serve in various capacities and functions in or out of the local church, they often lose their momentum. Missionary organizations outside the local church are fine, but they cannot produce the momentum that comes from doctrinal teaching.

7. Loss of momentum can occur through arrogance, or preoccupation with what one is doing for the Lord by way of Christian service. So although your service may appear excellent, it is not good to God because of arrogance. Doctrine, not service, is your momentum. You could be executing Christian service and be in reversionism.

8. Loss of momentum can occur when one becomes preoccupied with the pleasures of life. Bible doctrine is neglected, or taken in spasmodically. 9. When Christian service becomes a distraction to the perception of doctrine, then loss of momentum destroys the spiritual life of the believer and the possibility for blessing.

N. Summary.

1. Humility is recognition and respect for legitimate authority in life.

a. It is function under the laws of divine establishment for the unbeliever. Both believer and unbeliever can posses humility.

b. It is recognition of authority delegated by God in the Christian way of life. The Bible is the authority, and the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher is the communicator of that doctrine.

2. Humility is divine viewpoint thinking, which means that humility is related to grace orientation and occupation with Christ.

3. Humility is poise and courage under pressure.

4. Humility is teachability which recognizes the factors in the protocol plan of God.

a. Recognition of the authority of the pastor-teacher who communicates doctrine.

b. Recognition of the content of the message of the pastor who communicates doctrine.

5. Therefore, humility is the sum total of grace orientation and teachability.

6. Humility is capacity for life, love, and happiness.

7. Humility is the basis for gratitude and appreciation in life.

8. Humility is the function of establishing right priorities in life.

9. Humility is the right function of self-determination in life.

a. Self-determination related to God’s grace policy.

b. Self-determination related to right priorities.

c. Self-determination related to teachability.

d. Self-determination related to spiritual growth.

10. Humility is making right decisions from a position of strength.

11. Humility is the recognition of failure in the Christian life and the willingness to recover through rebound.

12. Humility is the basis for flexibility in life, the basis for God molding a vessel of honor which glorifies Himself.

13. Humility is related to promotion.

a. Humility is the basis for grace orientation. Grace orientation is the basis for promotion.

(1) Jam 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will promote you.” There is no substitute for humility in the spiritual life. Humility is objectivity and teachability. Arrogant people are unteachable and never grow up. Teachability results in cognition of Bible doctrine; cognition of Bible doctrine results in execution of the protocol plan of God. Humility is an expression of doctrine circulating in the soul; it is understanding your own helplessness and appreciating what God in His grace can do.

(2) Lk 14:11, “For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled [this is humility through divine discipline], and he who humbles himself shall be promoted.”

(3) 2 Cor 10:18, “For not he who promotes himself is approved, but whom the Lord promotes.” Never covet what God has not provided in grace.

b. Arrogance inevitably becomes involved in the lust pattern of the sin nature, but humility or grace orientation sets aside lust and through perception and metabolization of doctrine develops capacity for life, love, happiness.

c. No Church Age believer can be promoted without the cognition of God’s plan, which has already been provided in eternity past as a part of our portfolio of invisible assets.

d. Promotion in the protocol plan of God is based on momentum from metabolized doctrine, never on Christian service or action. Humility is a system of thinking, a system of orientation to life; it is orientation to reality; it is recognition of God’s power and ability and understanding of our own helplessness. Promotion in the protocol plan of God necessitates humility, objectivity, teachability, grace orientation combined with consistent cognition of Bible doctrine. It took Moses forty years in the desert to be prepared to lead the Jews. The promoted believer is the invisible believer in the Church Age. God promotes the prepared believer and God promotes the humble believer.

O. Addendum.

1. Because humility makes an issue out of Bible doctrine, it does not get caught up in the functions of subjective or self- righteous arrogance nor self-consciousness related to the arrogance complex of sins.

2. Humility is not self-demeaning but functions under the problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God, including grace orientation and occupation with Christ.

3. Humility is objective and genuine evaluation of your own helplessness to solve the problems of stress, pressure, calamity, and disaster.

4. Humility, from the biblical viewpoint, is always God consciousness rather than self-consciousness. God consciousness includes personal love for God the Father and occupation with Christ.

5. Humility does not deny the function of self-consciousness of the soul but, in the Christian life, relates it to Bible doctrine, the portfolio of invisible assets, and the problem solving devices.

6. Humility cannot coexist with sin—the arrogance complex of sins or the emotional complex of sins.

7. Humility is the basis for objectivity in life as well as keeping professionalism and integrity together.

a. Professionalism in the protocol plan of God is the objective function of the Christian way of life through metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness of the soul by means of the filling of the Spirit.

(1) Professionalism is defined as professional character, professional spirit, professional methods, and therefore, the standing practice of methods of a professional as distinguished from an amateur.

(2) A professional is someone pertaining to or connected with a profession. A professional person may also be defined as a learned and competent expert in a given field of activity. This would apply to any believer in spiritual adulthood.

(3) The noun profession means public declaration or open avowal as pertaining to Christian faith or purpose; therefore, a theological system or the faith in which one is professed. The word means a calling or a destiny to which one has professed or openly avowed.

(4) Professionalism in the protocol plan of God means several things.

(a) Professionalism is the objective function of the Christian way of life through metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness of the right lobe of the soul.

(b) Professionalism is the awareness of, as well as the perception as to, how the portfolio plan works in the protocol plan of God. Professionalism is, therefore, understanding the problem solving devices of the protocol plan, and integrity or virtue is the spiritual strength to use those problem solving devices.

© Professionalism is the cognition of spiritual skills, knowing doctrine, awareness of the uniqueness of the Church Age, academic understanding without the power of execution. The power of execution comes from your overall intake of Bible doctrine producing virtue and integrity to execute what you understand. Applying doctrine once does not make you strong. Your spiritual strength comes from understanding all kinds of doctrines and applying the problem solving devices on a consistent basis. Understanding is not enough; you must have the spiritual strength to use the doctrine you have learned.

(d) The power of execution comes from spiritual strength, and that is what we call virtue. Virtue is another word for spiritual strength.

b. Integrity in the protocol plan of God is virtue which results from the attainment and use of the spiritual skills (the filling of the Spirit, cognition and inculcation of Bible doctrine, and the execution of the protocol plan of God).

c. Humility keeps professionalism and integrity unified together, i.e., in a state of harmony, and avoids both the sins of arrogance and the sins of the emotional complex. Humility keeps professional and integrity together, consolidating them into one unified function of the soul. Every believer needs professionalism. Lack of professionalism reflects lack of Bible doctrine.

d. The protocol plan of God demands that professional and integrity be unified and coordinated through metabolized doctrine resulting in spiritual adulthood. The greatest function of the unity of professional and integrity occurs in spiritual adulthood.

e. Professionalism without integrity is arrogance. Integrity without professionalism is emotionalism. Therefore, professionalism and integrity must be unified; they go together and cannot be separated.

f. Professionalism is the function of the problem solving devices and demands integrity.

(1) Rebound is the maintenance of integrity.

(2) The filling of the Spirit is the power of integrity.

(3) The faith-rest drill is the function of integrity.

(4) Grace orientation is the application of integrity.

(5) Doctrinal orientation is the mental attitude of integrity.

(6) Personal love for God the Father is the motivation of integrity.

(7) Impersonal love for all mankind is the function of integrity, and illustrates how professionalism and integrity must harmonize in the Christian way of life. Professionalism is the function of the problem solving devices; integrity is the objectivity of the problem solving devices.

(8) Sharing the happiness of God is the tranquility and contentment of integrity.

(9) A personal sense of destiny is the result of integrity.

(10) Occupation with Christ is the ultimate expression of integrity combined with professionalism overcoming subjective arrogance.

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