Spir Dynamics 58-80, 289-325 12/30/93 Rev 588, PPG 174; Eph 271, 358, 765- 71, 847, 1164-5

DOCTRINE OF THE PROTOCOL PLAN OF GOD

A. Introduction.

1. God has a plan for your life.

a. God is perfect, and therefore, His plan is perfect.

b. A perfect God can only create a perfect plan for every Church Age believer. This plan is for every believer regardless of success or failure in their spiritual life.

c. We, as believers in Jesus Christ, are still living on this earth after salvation as imperfect and helpless persons when it comes to the fulfillment of God’s plan. If we do not think we are helpless, God will quickly show us just how helpless we really are. Helpless people are the ones who fulfill God’s plan. All the limitations in God’s plan come from us, not from God.

d. Under the concept of logistical grace, God has found a way, a means, and power for the execution and fulfillment of His plan. There is a pipeline for blessing from the justice of God to His righteousness imputed to us at salvation. This is the basis for all our blessing. What the righteousness of God demands (everything necessary to keep us alive on earth), the justice of God provides. Therefore, we have never done anything to earn or deserve blessing from God. Grace means that God does all the work.

e. The omnipotence of God provides the power for postsalvation spiritual dynamics. Since a perfect plan can only be executed by perfect power, all three persons of the Trinity have contributed a power to each one of us as believers living on the earth.

(1) God the Father provided for us our very own portfolio of invisible assets.

(2) God the Son created the universe and provided for us everything necessary to preserve it. Mankind cannot destroy the earth or the human race. Jesus Christ will do this at the end of the Millennium.

(3) God the Holy Spirit provided for us the both the power and the perception for Bible doctrine in a spiritual I.Q. framework, Jn 14:20; 16:12-14; 1 Cor 2:9-16. This is the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit.

f. The link between the power of God and the use of that divine power is the Bible. This emphasizes the importance of metabolized doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness through the filling of the Spirit.

g. God has found a way to make His perfect plan work in the lives of believers. There are two systems of divine power by which we execute the plan of God.

(1) A divine person—God the Holy Spirit—under two mandates.

(a) Be filled with the Spirit, Eph 5:18.

(b) Walk by means of the Spirit, Gal 5:16.

(2) The word of God, Heb 4:12.

h. God has designed a solution to every problem in life for every believer. This solution was provided in eternity past and is recorded in the word of God. Divine solutions can only become human solutions through cognition and inculcation of Bible doctrine under the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

2. What the protocol plan of God must have.

a. The protocol plan of God must have a system of authority. That system of authority begins in heaven. Some of that authority is delegated; some is in writing.

b. The protocol plan of God must have a system of communication. The system of communication is based on the Scripture. The concept is verbal-plenary inspiration of the Scripture.

(1) Verbal-plenary inspiration is defined thus: God so supernaturally directed the human writers of Scripture, that without waiving their intelligence, their individuality, their personal feelings, their literary style, or any other factor of expression, God’s complete and coherent message to mankind was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture, the very words bearing the authority of divine authorship.

(2) Verbal inspiration means that the Bible, in the original languages from first to last, is the exact record of the mind and the will of God as He intended it to be.

c. The protocol plan of God must have a communicator—the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. In our portfolio of invisible assets, God provided for each of us a spiritual gift. The gift of pastor-teacher requires tremendous preparation both academically and spiritually.

d. The protocol plan of God must have a system of solutions, that is, the ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul, which prevent the outside pressures of life from becoming the inside pressures of stress in the soul.

e. The protocol plan of God must have assets—a portfolio of invisible assets. After salvation, you are investing your life on this earth in God’s plan. Therefore, God has provided for you your very own portfolio of assets.

f. The protocol plan of God must have a system for production and service. Every believer is in full time Christian service. The most important factor of Christian service is the invisible heroship of the believer who executes the protocol plan of God. He has invisible impact on history.

g. The protocol plan of God must have a system of rewards for both time and eternity.

3. Since God has a plan for your life after salvation, His plan must go into operation as soon as we become aware of its various concepts.

4. Introductory Principles.

a. Contradictions cannot exist in the protocol plan of God.

(1) Contradictions do not exist in the plan itself, but do exist when the believer rejects, ignores, abandons the spiritual skills. Contradictions exist in believers, not in the plan. The plan is still perfect. Ignorance of the spiritual skills contradicts the protocol plan.

(2) Under the perfect plan of God metabolized doctrine functions as an exclusion clause. Divine power excludes human power. Grace excludes legalism. Divine viewpoint excludes human viewpoint. Divine solutions exclude humans solutions.

b. Ignorance cannot exist in the protocol plan of God for the Church; therefore, the necessity for the life beyond GNOSIS.

(1) Ignorance can and often does coexist with arrogance. We call it blind arrogance and strong delusion.

(2) Ignorance is the great enemy of the protocol plan. You have to have in your soul the proper information. The life beyond GNOSIS demands cognition, inculcation, metabolization of Church Age doctrine. Therefore, the number one priority in the spiritual life has to be learning Bible doctrine.

c. The Church Age believer cannot account for his thoughts, motives, decisions, and actions in undefinable terms; therefore, the importance of vocabulary and categorical storage in your stream of consciousness.

(1) The protocol plan of God demands cognition of technical, biblical theology. The protocol plan of God has its own vocabulary, categories, concepts, principles, and applications, which are the exclusive property of Bible doctrine.

(2) The ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul can only exist from one’s own function of going beyond GNOSIS, or being a hearer and a doer of the Word.

(3) Consistent exposure to expository teaching of the Word of God provides the vocabulary for divine viewpoint in your stream of consciousness. You have to deploy your problem solving devices in your own soul. When you do, you always win the battles of life before they begin.

d. Ignorance of Bible doctrine evades the true reality of God’s plan for your life. Without the reality of metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness it is inevitable that sooner or later you will enter denial or projection. This results in the sins of the soul—the arrogance complex of sins, the emotional complex of sins, and the domination of the lust pattern of the sin nature.

e. Your portfolio of invisible assets provides for you your very own spiritual life.

(1) You and you alone are the only one who can live it. This means there is no substitute for metabolized doctrine circulating in your own stream of consciousness. You were designed by God to solve your own problems with what God has provided.

(2) You cannot fulfill the plan of God for your life by imitating and thinking motives, decisions, and functions of another believer. Ignorance borrows from others. It borrows their personality, their habits, their functions, which become the distraction of the copycat syndrome.

(3) Only accurate Bible teaching can fulfill your soul with the ingredients of grace necessary to take the high ground.

5. The Definition of Protocol: protocol is a rigid, long-established code and procedure, prescribing complete deference to superior power and authority, followed by strict adherence to due order and precedence, coupled with precisely correct procedure. There is always a system of order in the plan of God and there is a system of precedence. Our precedence is based on the modus operandi of the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union. The phrase “precisely correct procedure” means a wrong thing done in a wrong way is wrong; a right thing done in a wrong way is wrong; a wrong thing done in a right way is wrong. Under the protocol plan of God for the Church, a right thing must be done in a right way to be right.

B. There are eleven principles related to the protocol plan of God.

1. The protocol plan of God has a system of authority which is God. However, God has delegated that authority in two spheres.

a. God has delegated authority in the temporal sphere, the laws of divine establishment and government. Government was never designed by God to run your personal life but to protect the privacy of your personal and private life and to give you equal opportunity so you can execute God’s plan.

b. God has delegated authority in the spiritual realm, Bible doctrine communicated by the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher.

2. The protocol plan of God has a spiritual life for each believer. Therefore, you and you alone are the only one who can live your spiritual life. No one else can live it for you. God provided for each believer in eternity past as a part of his own portfolio of invisible assets his very own spiritual life. The information by which you live it must be derived from the Scripture, not from the ideas of someone else. If you do not live your spiritual life, that has an affect on our generation.

3. The protocol plan of God recognizes the volition of each believer. Therefore, every believer is the production of his own decisions whether they are positive or negative. Volition is important for establishing values; for as you establish values, those values dictate the manner and function of your own volition. Every believer has spiritual freedom and spiritual equality to execute God’s plan for their life.

4. The protocol plan of God has a system for advancement or spiritual growth—metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness or your heart, the right lobe of the soul.

5. The protocol plan of God has a system of problem solving devices. They are related to metabolized doctrine in your soul, your stream of consciousness. The Christian way of life was designed for you to personally resolve your own problems before God without interference from others.

6. The protocol plan of God has both historical and individual time reference. The historical reference is the unique dispensation of the Church Age and the individual time reference is from the moment you believed in Jesus Christ until the moment of your death or resurrection, whichever occurs first.

7. The protocol plan of God has a portfolio of invisible assets provided for each believer in eternity past.

8. The protocol plan of God has a system of invisible impact on history, which comes in five categories.

a. Personal impact, which is blessing by association with the mature believer who is both a winner and invisible hero.

b. Historical impact, which is blessing by association through the pivot to the client nation.

c. International impact, which is blessing by association to a non-client nation through missionary function.

d. Angelic impact, which is the invisible hero becoming a witness for the prosecution in Satan’s appeal trial.

e. Heritage impact, which is blessing by association with the invisible hero after his death.

9. The protocol plan of God has precisely correct procedure. This precisely correct procedure is based on the fact that God has only one way of doing a thing.

10. The protocol plan of God has a system of eternal rewards and decorations for each believer who executes the protocol plan of God. Even if you fail to execute the plan, your rewards will be on record for you to see as a memorial to lost opportunity.

11. God makes war against the arrogant believer but give grace to the humble believer, and this becomes the basis for whether you are ever going to succeed or fail. Arrogance is always failure under the protocol plan of God. Arrogance is a whole complex of sins.

C. There never was a problem in your life for which God did not provide perfect solutions in eternity past as a part of His plan, Eph 3:14-21.

1. Eph 3:14, “For this reason, I kneel before the Father,”

a. Prayer can be offered in any particular posture, but must be directed toward the Father as a part of precisely correct procedure. All prayer is directed toward God the Father, Mt 6:6,9; Eph 1:17, 3:14; 1 Pet 1:17. All prayer is offered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest and through the filling of the Holy Spirit.

b. God the Father receives prayer from three sources.

(1) From the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the great High Priest of the Church, Heb 7:25.

(2) Special intercession from God the Holy Spirit, Rom 8:26- 27. The Holy Spirit offers these prayers totally apart from anything we could even think about, and He offers them with groanings which cannot be uttered. God the Holy Spirit offers a lot of emergency prayer to God the Father which we need.

(3) From the Church Age believer functioning under his royal priesthood, Heb 4:16. Every believer represents himself before God personally.

c. The effectiveness of prayer is based on the ten problem solving devices.

2. Eph 3:15, “From Whom the entire family in heaven and on earth derives its title.”

a. We derive our title from the Lord Jesus Christ and His ministry during the dispensation of the hypostatic union. Our Lord has three royal titles.

(1) “Son of God” is the title of His deity.

(2) “Son of David” is the title of His humanity.

(3) “King of kings and Lord of Lords, the Bright Morning Star” is the title of His strategic victory in the dispensation of the hypostatic union. He received this title upon His session in heaven but did not have a royal family to go along with this title. So from the day of Pentecost until the Rapture of the Church a royal family is being formed by the regeneration of anyone who believes in Christ. This is also called positional sanctification, which provides equality before God and excludes any prejudice based race, sex, economic status, social or cultural distinctions. Therefore, there is no place for personality conflicts and antagonisms or political and religious barriers.

b. You are a member of the royal family of God forever. You share in His heirship, His sonship, His righteousness, His eternal life, His priesthood, His election, His destiny. The royal family is divided into two parts: those in heaven who have died as believers in Jesus Christ and those still alive on earth.

3. Eph 3:16, “[I pray] that He may give you, on the basis of His riches in glory, to become strong by means of power through His Spirit in your inner being.”

a. Eph 3:16-21 introduces the subject of awareness of all that God has provided. Eph 3:16 introduces awareness of our problem solving devices from two viewpoints: from the viewpoint of our portfolio of invisible assets and from the viewpoint of the function of spiritual dynamics, in which the power of God is utilized and human ability is set aside. Eph 3:17 introduces awareness of problem solving devices through doctrinal orientation, personal love for God the Father, and impersonal love for all mankind. Eph 3:18 introduces awareness of the function of the ten problem solving devices en toto under one word—width. Eph 3:19 introduces awareness of the greatest of all problem solving devices—occupation with Christ.

b. The entire verse is a final purpose clause, designed to introduce the content of Paul’s prayer. Paul is not praying that you become spiritual because that is a matter of your own decision. What he is praying for is your awareness, so you can use the option of your free will to live your very own spiritual life. You cannot offer prayer to coerce a person’s volition, but you can offer prayer that God will make a person aware of certain things, such as the gospel. Awareness is always the key in our prayers for others.

c. Paul is praying that all believers will become aware of God’s plan for their lives, its problem solving devices, the fantastic happiness God offers. There are believers in every generation who will come to realize that God has a plan and spiritual life for them. This puts a tremendous emphasis, not only on your awareness, but on your volition to make the plan and spiritual life applicable in your living.

d. You must be aware of the fact that God has a plan for your life and this plan is revealed in detail in the New Testament Scriptures and nothing is left out. No one can make you be aware of God’s plan for your life. You must do this for yourself. It has to be your awareness, your interest. Awareness of the power of God’s plan comes with learning about the ministry of God the Holy Spirit controlling your soul and providing the spiritual I.Q. for the positive believer. Maximum Bible doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness increases awareness of the content of your portfolio, changes your values, and gives you the power of the divine capital that God has provided in that portfolio.

e. God’s riches in glory is your portfolio of invisible assets. Awareness of your portfolio of invisible assets means awareness of the essence of God. God’s essence is the source of your happiness, your blessing, your capacity for life, and everything that takes you out of your arrogant self. God has solutions, but you must become aware of them. Your riches in glory can never be destroyed. God never runs out of wealth for us. Our riches were prepared for us in eternity past as a portfolio of invisible assets with our very own name on it. Wealth comes in many categories, not just in money. Happiness is a far better category of wealth than money. We are acceptable to God on the basis of who and what God is, on the basis of His wealth.

(1) You have to live your life in the light of eternity, not in the darkness of the past. The believer who reacts to the past is a loser in the present and fails to glorify God in the future. You cannot live your life in the light of eternity until you open the pages of your portfolio of invisible assets. To live your spiritual life now, you have to live it in the light of eternity past as well as the eternal future. We will never have the awareness while on earth of the wonderful things God has for us in eternity unless we become of eternity past. In eternity past, God provided for us these assets and the power to use them. To go forward toward your future, do not try to explain your decisions of failure or the darkness of your past.

(2) We never become strong by means of human dynamics, only by divine power.

f. There are similar passages on the wealth of God and how He has invested it in us in the protocol plan of God.

(1) Eph 1:6-7, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, which grace He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved [Jesus Christ], on the basis of the riches of His grace.”

(2) Eph 1:17-18, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a lifestyle of wisdom and revelation about Him through metabolized doctrine. I also pray that the eyes of your right lobe may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the confidence of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance for the saints.”

(3) Rom 9:23, “That He might make known the riches of His glory on vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for His glory.” The problem is not lack of riches for you, but your lack of awareness of these riches.

(4) Col 2:1-2, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are in Laodicea and for all those who have not seen my face personally, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love and attaining all the riches from full assurance of understanding resulting from metabolized doctrine of the mystery of God—the mind of Christ.”

g. To solve problems, you must concentrate on your spiritual weapons—the problem solving devices. You cannot think about yourself and use your spiritual weapons. Spiritual strength comes from using your problem solving devices, from repetition. You become spiritually strong by the filling of the Holy Spirit plus the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit. You utilized divine power by putting the ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. It takes power to have power. You build strength on strength. You must have resistance (adversity) to build strength. You do not build your spiritual strength on weakness (being out of fellowship).

h. “To become strong by means of power.”

(1) We have this power as Church Age believers, 2 Cor 4:7, “We have this treasure in jars of clay that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God and not from ourselves.”

(2) This power becomes available at salvation when the Church Age began, Eph 1:19-20, “And what is the surpassing greatness of His power to us who have believed for the delegation of His superior power, which He put into operation by means of Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of the Father.”

(3) We are guarded by this power whether we ever use it or not, 1 Pet 1:5, “We are guarded by the power of God through faith, ready for a deliverance to be revealed in the last time.”

(4) The divine power is to be utilized and becomes the basis for true happiness in life, Col 1:11, “Because we have been endowed with all power from that superior power of His glory resulting in fortitude and steadfastness with happiness.”

(5) The prayer that recognizes doctrine as power, 2 Thes 1:11, “To this end we also pray for you that our God will make you worthy of your calling and fulfill ever desire for virtue and the work of doctrine with power.”

(6) The power of the faith-rest drill, 1 Cor 2:5, “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God.”

(7) Divine power is a basis for spiritual dynamics, 2 Pet 1:3, “Seeing that His divine power has given to us everything pertaining to life even your spiritual life through epignosis [metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness] knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and virtue.” Eph 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do infinitely more than all that we ask or think on the basis of the power that works for us.”

4. Eph 3:17, “so that Christ may be at home [colonize] in your hearts through doctrine; {and} that you, when you have become firmly rooted and when you have been established in virtue-love.”

a. Christ being at home in our hearts through doctrine is occupation with Christ.

b. This is not the indwelling of Christ which occurs in the body as the Shekinah Glory, but is Christ dwelling in the right lobe of your soul. Christ is at home where you have metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. Doctrine is the mind of Christ, 1 Cor 2:16, and Christ is at home in your soul where His thinking is resident. This is totally different from the indwelling of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our bodies. Christ being at home in our hearts is the experience of occupation with Christ. There are two concepts of the indwelling of the person of Jesus Christ.

(1) The indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah glory guarantees our portfolio of invisible assets, the existence of your escrow blessings.

(2) The indwelling of Christ guarantees eternal life and a resurrection body in the eternal state.

c. There is a distinction between the indwelling of Christ and the experience of the occupation with Christ. Occupation with Christ is a postsalvation experience, in contrast to the indwelling of Christ, which occurs at salvation and is not an experience. You cannot lose the indwelling of Christ, but you can lose occupation with Christ.

(1) Just as there is a difference between the indwelling and filling of the Spirit, so there is also a difference between the indwelling and occupation with Christ. You do not experience the indwelling of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the sealing of the Spirit, or the baptism of the Spirit. You do not feel these things.

(2) The indwelling of Christ belongs to every believer at the moment of faith in Christ and remains a permanent possession. Occupation with Christ belongs only to the believer with Bible doctrine as number one priority, who uses the spiritual skills to execute the protocol plan of God. Occupation with Christ is an experience for winners only.

(3) Every Church Age believer is permanently indwelt with the Lord Jesus Christ, but only winner believers attain occupation with Christ. Every Church Age believer is permanently indwelt with God the Holy Spirit, but only spiritual believers are filled with the Holy Spirit.

(4) Scripture.

(a) Indwelling was prophesied in Jn 14:20, “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father and you in Me and I in you.”

(b) Rom 8:10, “In fact, if Christ is in you (and He is), on the one hand the body is dead because of the sin nature, but on the other hand the spirit is life because of righteousness.”

© 2 Cor 13:5, “Be testing yourselves if you are in the doctrine; keep on examining yourselves! Or do you not know this thing about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you— unless of course you fail the test?”

(d) Col 1:27, “to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the confidence of glory.”

(e) Gal 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me; therefore the life which I now live in the flesh I live by means of doctrine with reference to the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself over as a substitute for me.”

d. You should be aware of the fact that the greatest problem solving device and the one you will use all of the time as a mature believer is the experience of occupation with Christ dwelling in your right lobe. When Christ is at home in the right lobe of the soul of the believer, he is using the greatest problem solving device.

e. The Greek word PISTIS in its passive use means “what is believed” and should be translated “doctrine” as in the following passages: Rom 4:20; Gal 1:23, 2:20; 1 Tim 1:19, 4:1, 6; 6:10; 2 Tim 2:8, 4:7; 2 Pet 1:5. The plan of God is executed through thought in the form of Bible doctrine. We execute God’s plan through three spiritual skills: the filling of the Holy Spirit, the metabolization of doctrine, and the use of the ten problem solving devices. Christ colonizes your soul through doctrine.

f. Christ being at home in your heart is tantamount to occupation with Christ.

(1) Occupation with Christ is related to all three stages of spiritual adulthood: spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual adulthood.

(a) When the believer reaches spiritual self-esteem, occupation with Christ begins under the statement of Gal 4:19, “Christ formed in our body.”

(b) The experience of spiritual autonomy is stated in Eph 4:17, “that Christ may be at home in your hearts through doctrine.”

© The experience of spiritual maturity is stated in Phil 1:20-21, “On the basis of my earnest expectation and confidence [hope], that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but with all confidence, Christ shall be exalted in my body, even now, as always, whether by life or by death. For me, living Christ, dying profit.”

i. Christ being at home in the right lobe of the soul is the ultimate problem solving device.

ii. Believers who fail to execute the protocol plan of God through use of the problem solving devices and the portfolio of invisible assets will be shamed at the judgment seat of Christ.

(2) Occupation with Christ establishes precedence for the utilization of the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul, Phil 3:10, “That I may know Him [occupation with Christ], and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

(a) The fellowship of Christ’s sufferings is the fact that the humanity of Christ had eight problem solving devices on the FLOT line of His soul, and that prevented the pressures of adversity or prosperity or dying or anything from breaking through to His soul. The more temptations He resisted, the more intensified became the temptations for Him to sin. The greatest pressure that ever came to Him was to be the victim of injustice

. (b) Heb 12:2, “Be concentrating on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our doctrine, who because of His exhibited happiness He endured the cross, and disregarded the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” All precedence for the Church Age comes from the dispensation of the hypostatic union. Our Lord did not react to the greatest shame ever committed on a human being.

(3) Occupation with Christ is not only the ultimate problem solving device but the concept of true Christian fellowship.

(a) 1 Cor 1:9, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Christian fellowship is with Christ not with a bunch of other believers.

(b) Phil 2:5, “Have this thinking in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” The Christian way of life is thinking not action. Action is only the result of correct thinking. 1 Cor 2:16, “For who has known the thinking of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” The emphasis in the Christian way of life is thinking doctrine.

(4) Occupation with Christ is associated with sharing the perfect happiness of God, 1 Pet 1:8, “And even though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with inexpressible happiness and full of glory [you are glorifying God].”

(5) Occupation with Christ is the greatest motivator in life, 2 Cor 5:14, “For the love for Christ keeps on motivating us, and we have reached the conclusion that one died as a substitute for all, therefore all [the human race] died [spiritually at birth].”

(6) Occupation with Christ is, therefore, the ultimate problem solving device, Eph 3:17.

(7) Occupation with Christ is the capacity for our escrow blessing for time and eternity, Eph 3:19, “And to come to know the love for Christ which goes beyond gnosis, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.”

(8) Occupation with Christ results from the past action of laying a foundation of Bible doctrine in the soul and when you have been established in personal love for God and impersonal love for all mankind.

g. Occupation with Christ is dependent upon being firmly rooted in virtue-love: personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind. Being firmly rooted means consistent function of the two power options of the Christian life: the filling of the Spirit and the circulation of metabolized doctrine in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness of the right lobe of the soul.

5. Eph 3:18, “that you may utilize the power to grasp the idea with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth.”

a. Introductory Principles.

(1) The believer who reacts to the past is a loser in the present and fails to glorify God in the future. Therefore, the importance of becoming aware of your very own portfolio of invisible assets, including your own spiritual life. Your spiritual life comes into focus through awareness and understanding plus the divine viewpoint or perspective. Everything in temporal life is borrowed, that is, family, friends, loved ones, material possessions, power, fame, etc.

(2) What is owned by the believer is permanent. Your portfolio of invisible assets is owned by you and includes:

(a) Your spiritual life. This means your spiritual gift, the filling of the Spirit, the problem solving devices.

(b) You have production skills of divine good. Christian service based on the principle spiritual skills must precede production skills for any Christian service to be divine good.

© You have escrow blessings for time and eternity.

(d) You have the unique assets of the Church Age: the baptism of the Holy Spirit, positional sanctification, the protocol plan of God, equal opportunity, the royal priesthood, the indwelling of the Trinity.

(e) You have permanent time which you purchase while filled with the Spirit. You carry permanent time into eternity and are rewarded for it. Bible doctrine is the coin of the realm by which we purchase time that glorifies God forever. Eph 5:16, “Keep on purchasing the time, because the days are evil.” Time that is not purchased through metabolized doctrine, the filling of the Spirit and the use of the problem solving devices becomes borrowed time. The time that is purchased through spiritual dynamics is time that belongs to you personally, time which glorifies God forever. Time logged under the control of the sin nature is borrowed time. The content of your portfolio of invisible assets is not borrowed. Your portfolio includes every moment spent utilizing the problem solving devices of protocol plan of God.

(f) The problem solving devices are not borrowed in time. They belong to you for fulfillment of the will, plan, and purpose of God.

(3) See also the Doctrine of Awareness.

b. Utilizing a power outside of yourself is using the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit to be cognizant of mystery doctrine of the Church Age.

c. You have the power of perception.

(1) The power of perception refers to the divine initiative of antecedent grace in time. It is related to the two power options of the protocol plan of God: the filling of the Holy Spirit and the metabolization of doctrine.

(2) The filling of the Holy Spirit plus human I.Q. equals spiritual I.Q. plus Operation Z equals the power of perception of Bible doctrine. The power of perception denotes the consistent function of the two power options. The two power options deploy the ten problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. The solution to every problem in life is found in the ten problem solving devices. The two power options are also the first two spiritual skills and produce the third spiritual skill. As goes the function of the three spiritual skills, so goes the function of your spiritual life.

d. One of the most important dynamics of the spiritual life is the ideas that you grasp and make your own, that circulate in your own stream of consciousness. Grasping the idea involves the thinking skills of your spiritual life. Thinking skills include:

(1) Comprehension—the function of spiritual I.Q. The believer’s perception, cognition, and metabolization of Bible doctrine, resulting in maximum metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness.

(2) Memory—the mental capacity to relate or to retain Bible doctrine as epignosis in the stream of consciousness and to have accurate recall from that metabolized doctrine for any circumstance in life.

(3) Problem solving—the formation and utilization of the ten problem solving devices in the stream of consciousness in the soul. All problem solving devices are manufactured out of epignosis doctrine in the stream of consciousness.

(4) Decision making—the precise and correct procedure of analyzing every circumstance in life in the light of the word of God and making decisions that are compatible with His plan, His will, and His purpose for your life; therefore, the power and ability from metabolized doctrine in the stream of consciousness to understand the issues in life, to classify the pertinent solutions, and to make decisions compatible with the will of God as revealed in the Scripture.

(5) Creativity—the recovery of truth based on divine viewpoint. This is the function of divine viewpoint from independent thinking based on metabolized doctrine circulating in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness through the filling of the Spirit.

(6) Awareness—the application of extensive knowledge of Bible doctrine from the wisdom department of the stream of consciousness.

e. The prepositional phrase “with all the saints” emphasizes equality of all believers of the Church Age. All believers are equally in union with Christ, made new creatures in Christ Jesus, become royal family of God, have the protocol plan of God. This emphasizes equal privilege and equal opportunity to fulfill the plan of God for the Church.

(1) Election is the expression of the sovereignty of God for every Church Age believer, providing equal privilege in the royal priesthood and equal opportunity through logistical grace. You have true equality encapsulated in true spiritual freedom. This guarantees inequality in the spiritual life. Some believers will be negative and some believers will be positive.

(2) Equality also includes the fact that God the Father, in eternity past, deposited into escrow for you blessings for both time and eternity. Every believer has a portfolio of invisible assets and equal opportunity to use those assets.

(3) Equal privilege and equal opportunity creates invisible heroes.

f. There are four nouns joined by the Greek conjunction KAI but only have one definite article at the beginning. If each noun had a definite article, then they would each refer to different things. But since they have only one article, they refer to the same thing. This is the Granville Sharp rule of interpretation of the use of the Greek article with nouns connected by the conjunction KAI. The four dimensions all refer to the same thing and explain how the spiritual life has been constructed by the grace of God. They refer to God’s plan, will, and purpose for every Church Age believer. The four dimensions emphasize the fact that God has provided the means of tactical victory for every believer becoming a winner, an invisible hero, following the precedence of the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union. For example, our Lord did not sin while bearing our sins. His problem solving devices prevented outside pressure from breaking into His soul. He handled every distraction to the spiritual life. Our precedence is not taken from the dispensation of Israel, from the Mosaic Law. Never has so much been given to any group of believers.

(1) The word width (PLATOS) refers to the formation of the problem solving devices on the defensive line or FLOT line of your soul. You have been given the divine power to have ten problem solving devices functioning in the right lobe of the soul. The ten problem solving devices functioning in your soul is the ultimate in experience in the Christian life.

(a) The word FLOT is a military term referring to the forward line of troops. FLOT is used as an analogy for the formation and function of the problem solving devices by the believer.

(b) FLOT is used to illustrate the believer’s defensive action against Satan and the demons. We are never to take offensive action against Satan and the demons, but are commanded to stay on the defensive (“stand fast"), Jas 4:7; 1 Pet 5:9. The FLOT line is the staging area for offensive action.

© Offensive action is the spiritual momentum generated by the function of the ten problem solving devices. Offensive action is the execution of the protocol plan of God through consistent use of the three spiritual skills in your portfolio of invisible assets. Offensive action is utilizing the power to grasp the idea with all the saints what are the dimensions of the spiritual life. The ten problem solving devices are a part of offensive action in spiritual growth and the execution of the protocol plan of God. Width is the third spiritual skill.

(2) The word length (MEKOS) refers to the two power options or first two spiritual skills—the filling of the Holy Spirit and the metabolization of doctrine. The two power options make it possible for the problem solving devices to be deployed on the FLOT line of the soul. When you combine width and length, you have the framework for any structure. Fellowship with God means all of the compartments of the stream of consciousness are operational. The combination of length and width gives you the function of the three spiritual skills of the spiritual life.

(3) The word height (HUPOS) refers to the execution of the protocol plan of God, becoming an invisible hero, the conveyance of escrow blessings for time and eternity, and glorifying God in the historical phase of the prehistoric angelic conflict.

(4) The word depth (BATHOS) refers to foundation, the endless riches of God, the portfolio of invisible assets by which the whole plan is put into operation, which God prepared for you in eternity past. Depth is the origin of your spiritual life. Depth is God capitalizing you in eternity past so you can glorify Him.

(a) The meaning of depth is described in Rom 9:22-23, “And if, as is the case, God, willing to demonstrate His wrath and to reveal His omnipotence, endured with great patience vessels of wrath having been equipped for destruction,” [Paul ends his protasis here and does not continue the thought because the apodosis is too horrible for him to utter.] “and [He did so] that He might make known the riches of His glory to vessels of mercy, which [riches] He has prepared beforehand for the purpose of His glory.” The riches of God’s glory is our portfolio of invisible assets.

(b) Compare Eph 3:16, “[I pray] that He may give you, on the basis of His riches in glory, to become strong by means of power through His Spirit in your inner being.”

© Rom 9:23 and Eph 3:16 are tied together in Rom 11:33, 36, “Oh, the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His decrees and His ways past finding out! ...For all things are from the source of Him and through the agency of Him and because of Him. The glory belongs to Him forever. Amen.”

(d) Eph 1:18, “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”

(e) 1 Cor 2:9-10, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him, but God has revealed them to us by means of His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things from God.” The deep things from God are the riches in glory.

(f) Depth and riches go together. Depth refers to our portfolio, where all of the riches of glory have been provided for each one of us on an equal basis, so that we can execute the protocol plan of God. Depth represents the divine initiative of antecedent grace in eternity past with emphasis on our portfolio of invisible assets. Depth also represents the divine initiative of eschatological grace in the eternal future with emphasis on the eternal rewards and blessings to the winner-believer. Depth goes from eternity to eternity.

g. The four spiritual dimensions of Eph 3:18 indicate how to construct a spiritual life, how to execute the protocol plan of God, and are the means of occupation with Christ. These dimensions indicate strict adherence to due order and precedence, as well as precisely correct procedure in the execution of the protocol plan of God. These dimensions are Paul’s way of explaining the fantastic plan God has provided for the Church Age. Out of these dimensions come a few principles.

(1) The divine initiative of antecedent grace in eternity past has provided for every Church Age believer equal opportunity and spiritual freedom to execute the protocol plan of God.

(2) The grace provision of equal opportunity includes spiritual freedom for the execution of the protocol plan.

(3) Therefore, equal opportunity is encapsulated in spiritual freedom for the fulfillment of God’s plan, will, and purpose for your life.

(4) The availability of the spiritual skills for all believers provides the options for the spiritual life.

(5) Volition, not environment or circumstances, is the issue in the spiritual life.

h. There are three results of verse 18 listed in the next three verses.

6. Eph 3:19, “and to come to know the love for Christ which always goes beyond [gnosis] knowledge, that you may be filled up with all the fullness from God.”

a. You do not suddenly just know everything about doctrine. Always going beyond gnosis is a system of priorities, volition, the filling of the Spirit, and thinking skills over a period of time.

(1) Gnosis is doctrine in the left lobe of the soul, the place where academic knowledge of Bible doctrine exists, but not where spiritual knowledge exists.

(2) You have to take the responsibility for believing or not believing what has been taught to you. You have to go beyond gnosis for your spiritual life. The filling of the Spirit teaches doctrine.

(3) There is no spiritual life until the believer uses the three spiritual skills to advance beyond gnosis on a regular basis. Beyond gnosis is the deployment of the ten problem solving devices.

(4) The life beyond gnosis is metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness. Gnosis makes the believer a hearer of the Word. Epignosis makes the believer a doer of the Word.

b. The key to the spiritual life, Christian service, and problem solving is the metabolization of Bible doctrine. You metabolize doctrine by your non-meritorious positive volition toward that gnosis doctrine which has been taught. The source of Christian service is related to your spiritual gift, your royal priesthood, your royal ambassadorship, your invisible impact. The metabolization of doctrine or epignosis is the life beyond gnosis. The greatest thing in the life beyond gnosis is sharing the happiness of God.

c. You grasp the idea of the four spiritual dimensions of verse 18 and then you come to know the love for Christ, which is occupation with Christ. This, in turn, results in being filled with all the fullness from God, which is your escrow blessings for time and eternity. All of this is capitalized for you by God in eternity past as part of your portfolio of invisible assets.

d. The love for Christ includes personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, sharing the happiness of God, and occupation with Christ. You do not really love Christ until you know an awful lot about Him. To truly love someone you have to know them. If that is true in the human realm, how much more in the spiritual realm?

e. Occupation with Christ goes beyond or surpasses all possibility of human perception and understanding. Occupation with Christ comes from the spiritual I.Q. of human thinking skills plus the filling of the Holy Spirit. Occupation with Christ goes beyond gnosis (which you understand from the human thinking skills) to epignosis or metabolized doctrine circulating in your stream of consciousness. The life beyond gnosis is consistent cognition, inculcation, and metabolization of Bible doctrine. It results in the function of your very own spiritual life and execution of God’s plan resulting in glorification of God for all eternity.

f. Being filled with the fullness from God is explained in Jn 1:14, 16, “The word became flesh and He tabernacled among us, and we saw His glory as the unique One from the Father, full of grace [grace orientation] and truth [doctrinal orientation]. ...Because from the source of His fullness we all have received, that is, [postsalvation] grace in exchange for [salvation] grace.”

(1) The fullness from God means the distribution of your escrow blessings for time and the conveyance of your escrow blessings for the eternal state after the rapture of the Church at the judgment seat of Christ. The first thing that God ever did for us is the means of glorifying Him. The first thing He ever did for us was to deposit our escrow blessings in Christ in eternity past. Being filled with the fullness of God anticipates distribution of your own escrow blessings for the eternal state. The emphasis of height is being blessed by God forever and ever.

(2) The fullness from God is the result of the four spiritual dimensions. The believer receives the fullness from God as a result of his consistent use of the three spiritual skills.

(3) Being filled with all the fullness from God is the inevitable result of the life beyond gnosis—receiving your escrow blessings for time and eternity. The fullness from God is your escrow blessings. Being filled with the fullness of God is receiving those blessings at maturity through the execution of the protocol plan of God. The life beyond gnosis is epignosis circulating in the stream of consciousness.

g. Rev 3:11, “I will come suddenly; seize [become master of, attain] what you have, that no one takes away your crown.”

(1) This verse commands us to seize the fulness of God which we have had from eternity past. You master the doctrine in the life beyond gnosis; you fulfill the function of the three spiritual skills; you attain what has been yours from eternity past—your portfolio of invisible assets. This is how you are filled with all the fulness of God.

(2) You have your very own spiritual life whether you like it or not. The purpose of the spiritual life is that you live the life beyond gnosis and take the high ground of spiritual maturity. Nothing has greater value than your spiritual life. The one thing you will take with you into heaven is the function of your spiritual life. What you have over and above the resurrection body is based on your spiritual life. All believers are warned not to be distracted from the function of the spiritual skills.

(3) Every believer has equal opportunity under spiritual freedom to execute the protocol plan of God and receive eternal rewards and decorations (crowns).

7. Eph 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do infinitely more than all we could ask for ourselves or think [imagine or dream], on the basis of the power that works for us [the omnipotence of the Trinity].”

a. God is able. This means there is no excuse at the judgment seat of Christ for not understanding or executing what was expected of you as a believer. You will take responsibility for your failures but not for your sins, which were judged on the Cross. The biggest failure you could ever commit is to have your portfolio of invisible assets and reject it. (1) God can do all He wills to do, but He may not will to do all He can do.

(2) God’s judgment is perfect, and He knows what we need better than we do. (3) Divine omnipotence is always compatible with doing a right thing in a right way. In the function of His divine power God is able to do anything compatible with His perfect divine essence; however, He will never do anything that is incompatible with His divine essence. The end never justifies the means nor does the means justify the end.

b. This verse describes the life beyond expectation, the life which is beyond are most fervent prayers, the life which is beyond the scenarios of our imagination, and our most extravagant expectations. The life beyond expectation is a result of the four spiritual dimensions (width, length, height, depth).

8. Eph 3:21, “To Him be glory by means of the church and by means of Christ Jesus with reference to all generations of this unique age of the ages. Amen.” The third result of the spiritual dimensions in verse 18 is the ultimate objective of the Church Age.

D. Definition of Protocol.

1. Protocol is a rigid, long-established code and procedure, prescribing complete deference to superior power and authority, followed by strict adherence to due order and precedence, coupled with precisely correct procedure.

a. The phrase “precisely correct procedure” means a wrong thing done in a wrong way is wrong; a right thing done in a wrong way is wrong; a wrong thing done in a right way is wrong. Under the protocol plan of God for the Church, a right thing must be done in a right way to be right. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. There is nothing sloppy in the procedure of the Christian way of life. With the introduction of human power and energy of the flesh function, sloppiness occurs. Sloppy procedure is always related to emotion, to human works, and to human activity, and is always a manifestation of arrogance. The power of God is not delegated to a system of sloppy procedure.

b. Anything the unbeliever can do is not the Christian way of life. The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life and demands a supernatural means of execution. It is executed through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit Who does not produce emotion. Emotion is produced by the body; the Holy Spirit produces the protocol plan of God - a vast difference.

2. Protocol is a rigid, long established code and procedure for every Church Age believer as a member of the royal family of God and body of Christ.

a. By long established is meant since the day of Pentecost, circa 30-32 A.D. This long-established code is almost 2000 years old, for it began with our Lord’s resurrection. Ten days after His ascension the Church Age began, the dispensation of divine power.

b. This code is God’s game plan for this dispensation only. It is the system God has devised to delegate His power to manufacture a winner out of the Church Age believer. The ability to fulfill God’s plan is provided in the delegation of divine power.

d. This code defines the modus vivendi or lifestyle of the believer who fulfills the mechanics of the Christian way of life by residence, function, and momentum inside the operational-type divine dynasphere. All divine power is relegated to the divine dynasphere. All human power is relegated to cosmic one and two. Inside the divine dynasphere, the believer functions under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit and momentum from metabolized doctrine, and under the application of these two factors he executes God’s plan.

e. The protocol code is the divine system for the utilization of God’s power whereby every Church Age believer is able to glorify God, though not through any human means. God would be compromised if any Christian could glorify Him through any system from the energy of the flesh.

f. The system for the utilization of divine power is called the divine dynasphere, i.e., power sphere. It is the only location for usable divine omnipotence. It is called a sphere because the boundaries of this divine power are confined to the eight gates of this palace, designed by God the Father in eternity past as part of your portfolio of invisible assets.

g. Inside the divine dynasphere, the believer functions under two categories of divine power related to the royal family of God.

(1) The enabling power of God the Holy Spirit.

(2) The dynamic power of Bible doctrine, Heb 4:12. This does not exclude the power of God the Father and God the Son in our lives. But we are now addressing the power that enables us to execute the protocol plan of God.

h. The long-established code is summarized in the believer’s day- by-day residence inside the divine dynasphere, under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit and momentum from Bible doctrine.

i. The rigid, long established code is based on the fact that God has only one way of doing a thing: the right way.

(1) The right way is compatible with God’s divine attributes, including His omnipotence. God is perfect. Therefore it would be impossible for perfect God to come up with an imperfect plan. God’s plan is perfect just as God is perfect.

(2) Therefore, a wrong thing done in a wrong way is wrong. A wrong thing done in a right way is wrong. A right thing done in a wrong way is wrong.

(3) In the protocol plan of God, a right thing must be done in a right way to be right. Both the right thing and the right way are clearly delineated in the Word of God.

(4) So the right thing done in a right way is the rigid, long established code and procedure which God has laid down for us in the protocol plan.

(5) A right thing can only be done in a right way through the utilization of divine power inside your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere. You cannot substitute human dynamics for divine power. There is only one way to do a thing in the protocol plan, and that’s the right way.

(6) A right thing done in a right way demands residence inside your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere, under the enabling power of the Spirit, and momentum from metabolized doctrine.

(7) A right thing done in a right way is postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation.

(8) Therefore, a right thing done in a right way demands two basic factors.

(a) You must have your right pastor-teacher communicating every aspect of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, including your portfolio of invisible assets, the problem solving devices, and how to execute mechanically the protocol plan of God.

(b) The positive believer must consistently function under postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation.

j. Under the protocol plan of God, the end does not justify the means unless the means is the function of divine power inside the divine dynasphere. Both cause and effect, antecedent and procedure, means and end must comply with the use of God’s power confined to life inside the divine dynasphere.

k. The humanity of Christ, during His incarnation and First Advent, utilized the prototype divine dynasphere to rely on divine power in the fulfillment of the Father’s plan for the incarnation. The operational- type divine dynasphere is the place of delegated divine power for the fulfillment of God’s plan for the Church Age.

l In God’s plan, there is procedure for the Church Age believer. A right thing done in a right way is the believer’s residence, function, and momentum inside the divine dynasphere.

m. Procedure implies persistent and consistent living inside your own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere.

(1) Procedure demands understanding and utilization of the problem solving devices, your very own portfolio of invisible assets.

(2) Procedure results in execution of the protocol plan through postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation.

(3) Procedure results in the manufacture of the invisible hero which is the only way to glorify God in this dispensation.

(4) Procedure demands dependence on divine power rather than on any form of human power or the energy of the flesh.

n. This procedure is the only place and the only way for the utilization of divine power for the fulfillment of God’s plan and the glorification of God.

o. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now available to each one of us to execute, under the prescribed Biblical procedure, the protocol plan of God. Therefore, there is special emphasis on the power gate of the divine dynasphere, the filling of the Spirit, acquired through the use of the rebound technique, 1 Jn 1:9.

(1) Eph 1:19-20, “And what is the surpassing greatness of His power to us who have believed for the working of His superior power. Which superior power He put into operation by means of Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places.” The protocol plan of God is the working of the superior power of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

(2) 1 Cor 6:14, “Now God has not only resurrected our Lord, but He will also raise us up by His power.”

p. Inside the divine dynasphere, the believer is using two categories of delegated power: the divine power of the Word of God, Heb 4:12, and the divine power or omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit. The only way we can use delegated divine power is to learn the procedures.

q. This fulfills the principle of doing a right thing in a right way, even as imperfect human beings. The filling of the Spirit is the means; the perception and metabolization of doctrine results in the momentum by which we execute God’s plan.

r. The believer who flunks the procedure test functions in Satan’s cosmic system. Learning God’s procedures is especially hindered by the two great enemies of the Christian: ignorance and arrogance. The energy of ignorance is arrogance, which is life in the cosmic system.

s. Protocol is the lifestyle of the royal family of God utilizing divine power in the divine dynasphere. Protocol is the modus operandi of Christianity, the execution of the Christian way of life. It is doing a right thing in a right way.

t. Divine power is manifest in operation Z, whereby the Holy Spirit teaches you doctrine, Jn 14:26, 16:12-14; 1 Cor 2:9-16. This requires that you reside inside the divine dynasphere where you are filled with Spirit. The provision of your divine dynasphere is called equal opportunity, because the power of God is the means of understanding the Word of God. Therefore, all believers alike have an equal opportunity to understand the Word of God, since it has nothing to do with different human I.Q. abilities or genetics.

u. Protocol is the procedure of doing a right thing in a right way. Protocol is spiritual class, the life of virtue produced from the power of God.

v. There is no place for human power in the execution of the protocol plan of God. Human power is unequal. Only divine power provides equality for all believers to fulfill the protocol plan of God.

w. By way of contrast, life in the cosmic system is displeasing to God and produces the loser in the Christian life. A believer is a loser because he operates under a Satanic system of human power. This Satanic system produces great inequalities. If you are in cosmic one, the arrogance complex, you are said to be grieving the Holy Spirit. In cosmic two, the hatred complex, you are said to be quenching the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the command in Eph 4:30 is to “grieve not the Spirit.” The command in 1 Thes 5:19 is to “quench not the Spirit.”

Ÿ Protocol is the modus operandi of virtue love as a problem solving device. First there must be love for God, gate number five, which comes through metabolization of doctrine. With that personal love for God comes spiritual self-esteem, the first stage of spiritual adulthood. At gate number six there is impersonal love for all mankind, at which point you move to the second stage of spiritual adulthood, spiritual autonomy. Spiritual autonomy is necessary to pass the four momentum tests of gate number seven: people, system, thought, and disaster testing. Passing these tests results in reaching gate number eight, the third stage of spiritual adulthood, spiritual maturity.

3. Protocol prescribes complete deference to superior rank and delegated authority from God.

a. Superior rank refers specifically to divine power and divine authority. All human authority is a result of the delegation of divine power.

b. As part of His plan, God has established a system of delegated authority to facilitate the perception of doctrine, to orient to God’s will, and to fulfill God’s plan under equal opportunity.

c. There are two areas of authority which demand your enforced and genuine humility to provide objectivity and teachability: the temporal realm and the spiritual realm. If you fail in one realm you will generally fail in the other realm.

(1) God has delegated authority in the temporal realm through the laws of divine establishment.

(2) God has delegated authority in the spiritual realm through the Word of God and its communication through the pastor-teacher.

d. There are two categories of freedom related to authority.

(1) Temporal freedom which is authorized by the laws of divine establishment.

(2) Spiritual freedom which is life inside your very own palace, the divine dynasphere.

(a) The privacy of this freedom is the universal priesthood of the believer. The purpose of spiritual freedom is the execution of the protocol plan of God.

(b) Spiritual freedom without authority is ignorance of Bible doctrine.

e. In the temporal realm, divine authority is delegated through the laws of divine establishment to believers and unbelievers alike in a national entity. This does not require the power of God, but human self-determination.

f. In this way, freedom coexists with authority. Freedom without authority is anarchy; authority without freedom is tyranny. Freedom includes the right of privacy, the right of self-determination, and the sacredness of property and life.

g. In the temporal realm, God has provided an energy of the flesh way, a human way of fulfilling the laws of divine establishment, called authority. This means people can recognize visible authority.

h. In the temporal realm of life, the believer is mandated under God’s plan to identify and to orient to human authority delegated under the laws of divine establishment.

i. The delegated authority from God in the temporal realm in the laws of divine establishment starts with the authority of the husband over the wife in marriage, with no exceptions. Then there is the delegated authority of parents over their children, government over citizens, teacher over students, coach over athletes, management over labor, superior rank in the military over those of lesser rank, and law enforcement over citizens to ensure their privacy, freedom, and the sacredness of their life and property. Rules of etiquette should govern social life, rules which manifest courtesy and thoughtfulness to others, including deference to the ladies, to the aged, and to the helpless.

(1) However honorable, obedience to these establishment laws do not imply the use of the power of God. No one can use the power of God until he personally believes in Christ. At the point of our salvation, we are given a new plan which is impossible for us to fulfill by our own energy and power.

(2) God’s will for our lives cannot be fulfilled by our becoming good citizens, law-abiding people, or a freedom loving people. These human virtues are acquired through the energy of the flesh, but God’s protocol plan demands that a right thing be done in a right way. So God’s procedures must be learned, so that we know how to use the power of God.

j. Authority cannot function apart from two factors in the spiritual life: the power of the Word of God, and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to the individual believer.

k. The principle of authority in human volition.

(1) Human freedom provides the option of accepting or rejecting both legitimate and illegitimate authority in life.

(2) All legitimate authority is delegated by God through two categories of truth: the laws of divine establishment and the content of Bible doctrine. (3) All illegitimate authority is based on arrogance and the function of mankind in the cosmic system. Arrogance results from the rejection of legitimate authority in life.

(4) While God has delegated authority to legitimate categories, this legitimate system of authority cannot function unless there is human consent. Authority is useless unless it is accepted by those under that authority. Legitimate authority is only effective where human volition responds to it under the principle of freedom.

(5) When we choose for legitimate authority, we are blessed both individually and collectively.

(6) Evil has no authority apart from human consent.

l. There are three categories of divine use of sovereignty in human history.

(1) The directive will of God, which mandates believers and unbelievers to function in a certain way.

(2) The permissive will of God, in which permits the function of free will in opposition to divine mandate.

(3) The overruling will of God, in which God prevents people or nations from destroying themselves because of the presence of the pivot.

m. God’s delegated authority in the spiritual realm applies to believers only. There are three concepts of authority in the spiritual realm.

(1) Bible doctrine is the absolute authority for the statement of divine policy. From doctrine we learn what the plan is and how to use God’s power to fulfill His plan.

(2) Bible teaching from the one with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher is the authority over the congregation for the communication of Bible doctrine, and therefore the clarification of God’s plan, purpose, and will for your life.

(a) Objectivity and teachability depend on your attitude toward authority. That means you do not regard the pastor as either friend or enemy, or as a personality, but only as a communicator of Bible doctrine. It is the doctrine, not the person, that counts.

(b) You cannot fulfill the protocol plan of God apart from Bible doctrine resident in your soul. You cannot learn, metabolize, and apply doctrine in your own soul apart from recognition of the authority of whomever is your pastor.

© Reading your Bible is fine, but it cannot advance you in any way in the spiritual life. You are not designed to learn the Bible on your own. You are designed to learn under authority. That authority is related to the local church with the pastor as the final authority. This is absolutely necessary for the communication of Bible doctrine to the privacy of your priesthood.

(3) The volition of the royal priest in the privacy of his priesthood is his own authority over his life. Your free will means you must take the responsibility for your own mental attitudes, your own motives, your own decisions, and your own actions under the law of volitional responsibility. Whether you have control over your own life or not depends upon your utilization of volition in establishing the right number one priority of the Word of God. n. Authority orientation is related to enforced and genuine humility, gate three of the divine dynasphere. From authority orientation originates objectivity and teachability for postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation.

o. The great enemy of authority orientation is arrogance in its every form. The Christian who has an authority problem always suffers from arrogance and can never fulfill the plan of God for his life. Arrogance and ignorance always travel together. Through ignorance or rejection of doctrine, the believer will function under his own power, such as individual talent, ability, or some form of works, and so become a loser in the Christian way of life.

p. No believer can execute the protocol plan of God apart from the utilization of divine power. We must learn to use divine power, just as we must learn procedures in many areas of temporal life.

q. After salvation, postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation becomes the major factor in your life. Bible doctrine must have number one priority.

r. Through the utilization of divine power and through the perception of Bible doctrine, there is a growth system. There are two categories of growth in the spiritual life: spiritual childhood and spiritual adulthood.

(1) In spiritual childhood, the believers starts as a baby, progresses to becoming a child, and eventually reaches Christian adolescence.

(2) In spiritual adulthood, the believer advances from spiritual self-esteem to spiritual autonomy to spiritual maturity.

s. Progression in the Christian life is impossible apart from residence, function, and momentum inside the divine dynasphere, the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the reception of Bible doctrine.

t. Spiritual freedom is found in Jn 8:32, “You shall know the doctrine, and the doctrine shall make you free.” 2 Cor 3:17-18, Gal 5:1.

u. The application of spiritual freedom is that one’s historical circumstances are no issue in fulfilling the protocol plan of God for one’s life. It is possible to live behind the bamboo curtain and the iron curtain and have freedom to execute the plan of God inside your very own divine dynasphere, even though you may be living in a system of tyranny. Spiritual freedom is the only freedom necessary to execute the plan of God.

4. Protocol is strict adherence to due order of precedence.

a. This means we must have certain priorities, e.g., God relationship over people relationship, the use of divine power and the shedding of human power in the execution of the Christian life.

b. Through daily consistent residence in the divine dynasphere, under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, and momentum from metabolized doctrine, the believer is able to understand and establish the right priorities for the execution of the protocol plan of God, to be properly motivated, and to possess a right scale of values.

c. Priority number one must always be doctrine, and that results in the greatest of all priorities, occupation with the person of Christ.

d. Due order of precedence identifies and establishes a system of six priorities in life.

1. In God’s authority, doctrine is first.

2. In God’s plan, mandates are first.

3. In God’s purpose, Christ is first.

4. In God’s policy, grace is first.

5. In God’s objective, momentum is first.

6. In God’s system, virtue is first.

e. Add to these the characteristics of the three stages of spiritual adulthood, i.e., spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual maturity, and you have the objectives necessary from these priorities. Each stage of spiritual adulthood complies with due order of precedence.

f. These priorities come from learning precedence, that is, relationship with God must precede relationship with mankind, and divine power must have priority over human power. Christianity emphasizes that there must be right experience with God before there can be right experience with people. Wrong experience with God results in wrong experience with people.

g. Therefore, your number one priority demands that you have a right relationship with God. As an expression of your God emphasis over people emphasis, divine power must take precedence over people power. Divine power is delegated and utilized only in the divine dynasphere, Eph 1:19-20.

h. When the precedence battle is lost, the believer becomes a cosmic Christian, functioning under his own human power which is no substitute for divine power. This is how the cosmic Christian comes into existence.

i. All precedence for the protocol plan of God in the Church Age is derived from the dispensation of the hypostatic union.

(1) The humanity of Christ during the dispensation of the hypostatic union utilized the prototype divine dynasphere to execute the incarnation plan of God. (2) The royal family of God during the dispensation of the Church utilizes the operational-type divine dynasphere to execute the protocol plan of God.

j. The dispensation of Israel establishes no precedence for the Church Age. Therefore, such things as tithing, Sabbath observance, and morality is not a part of a Christian way of life.

(1) While morality remains a part of establishment, it is not a part of the spiritual life. The spiritual life produces virtue, which is infinitely greater than morality, because it produces grace, more grace, and more grace.

(2) Precedence for Israel was based on being a new racial species. But precedence for the Church Age is based on being a new spiritual species.

(3) The Gospels present two categories of precedence.

(a) Precedence from Israel, as in the Sermon on the Mount, Matt 5-7. There is also precedence for Israel in the future in the Olivet Discourse, Matt 24-25.

(b) Precedence for the Church comes from the dispensation of the hypostatic union, as illustrated by the Upper Room Discourse, Jn 14-17.

(4) Morality taken from the Mosaic Law is not the Christian way of life. Anything the unbeliever can do is not the Christian way of life. The unbeliever in the dispensation of Israel as well as today can be very moral.

(5) The Christian way of life can only be executed in the power of the Holy Spirit. This means precedence comes from the dispensation of the hypostatic union. The first time any member of the human race was ever indwelt and filled by the Holy Spirit was the humanity of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union. The Old Testament ministry of the Spirit, called enduement, was neither indwelling nor filling, but was divine power given on special occasions to special people. Less than one percent of all Old Testament saints had any relationship with the Holy Spirit at all.

k. In the dispensation of the hypostatic union, the humanity of Christ executed God’s plan in the filling of the Spirit inside the prototype divine dynasphere.

l. The baptism of the Spirit and other features of the Church Age establish precedence from the strategic victory of Jesus Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union.

m. One of the daily battles of the Christian life is the conflict between the two categories of precedence: the priorities of the protocol plan of God versus the priorities of Satan’s cosmic system. The believer who is a loser will live in cosmic one and two.

n. The loser is a believer who fails to execute the protocol plan of God after salvation.

o. The loser either has consistent negative volition toward doctrine, or he listens but never metabolizes it. Therefore, he becomes a cosmic Christian. He’s described under nine characteristics.

(1) Enemy of the cross, Phil 3:18.

(2) Enemy of God, Jas 4:4.

(3) Hater of God, Jn 15:23.

(4) Double-minded, Jas 4:8. He has spiritual schizophrenia.

(5) Anti (against) Christ, 1 Jn 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 Jn 7.

(6) Carnal Christian, Rom 8:7; 1 Cor 3:1-3.

(7) Disciple of the devil, 1 Jn 3:8, 10.

(8) Grieving the Holy Spirit, Eph 4:30.

(9) Quenching the Holy Spirit, 1 Thes 5:19.

p. While the loser does not lose his salvation, he does lose his escrow blessings for both time and the eternal state. However, because his escrow blessings are irrevocable, they remain on deposit forever in heaven as a memorial to lost opportunity for the execution of the protocol plan of God in time.

5. Protocol means precisely correct procedure.

a. Since superior divine power or omnipotence has been delegated to the divine dynasphere, all precisely-correct procedure occurs in one place only: inside the divine dynasphere. Divine power can only be utilized inside the divine dynasphere.

b. Only divine power can execute precisely correct procedure. Divine power dispels our ignorance so that we understand that procedure. Divine power provides the ability to fulfill that procedure, which can only be fulfilled in the power of the Holy Spirit. The energy of the flesh cannot execute the protocol plan of God.

c. The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life and demands a supernatural means of execution, the filling of the Spirit.

d. The procedure is defined in the eight gates of the divine dynasphere.

(1) Gate one is the power gate, the place of the filling of the Spirit. The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life which demands a supernatural means of execution.

(2) Gate two is the gate of spiritual childhood, the beginning of epistemological rehabilitation.

(3) Gate three is the place of authority orientation. “God makes war against the arrogant, but gives grace to the humble,” Jas 4:6 and 1 Pet 5:5. Enforced and genuine humility result in objectivity and teachability.

(4) Gate four is the momentum gate of Operation Z.

(5) Gate five is spiritual self-esteem, personal love for God.

(6) Gate six is spiritual autonomy with impersonal love for all mankind. This is the place of cognitive self-confidence.

(7) Gate seven is momentum testing, and God has provided procedures to handle its four parts. Here you have cognitive independence.

(8) Gate eight is spiritual maturity, after which the believer faces and handles evidence testing by divine procedures. This is the place of cognitive invincibility.

e. The procedures of protocol must be precisely correct, because we are dealing with the power of God. And the power of God must be used properly. Why? Because this is the dispensation of the power of God.

It has been called the dispensation of grace, but it should really be called the dispensation of the power of God.

f. The mechanics of the protocol plan of God are related to equal opportunity. As a believer, you have exactly the same opportunity as all other believers to execute the protocol plan of God. The divine dynasphere is the precisely correct procedure.

E. Precedence for the Protocol Plan of God.

1. God has a plan for your life. The name of that plan is protocol. The policy of that plan is grace.

2. The precedence for the grace policy of God comes from the dispensation of the hypostatic union.

a. Jn 1:14, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the uniquely-born One from the Father, full of grace and doctrine.”

b. Jn 1:16, “Because from His fullness, all we have received grace in exchange for grace.”

(1) The dispensation of the hypostatic union was a grace dispensation, for in it our Lord became flesh, went to the cross, was judged for our sins, and provided the basis for our so great salvation.

(2) Believers have exchanged salvation grace for postsalvation grace.

c. Eph 3:2, “Inasmuch as you have heard about the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for your benefit.”

3. In the Church Age, God’s grace is the divine policy for God’s plan. God’s plan is the protocol plan of God.

4. This grace policy is also documented in Eph 4:7; Jn 1:17; Acts 4:33, 20:32; Rom 12:3, 6; 1 Cor 16:23; 2 Cor 9:8; Eph 1:7-8; Phil 1:7.

F. The Unique Lifestyle of the Protocol Plan of God.

1. Divine power is related to all the unique factors in the Church Age. A unique lifestyle is based upon the unusual facets of the Church Age.

2. The ten unique factors in the Church Age are:

a. The baptism of the Spirit created us a new spiritual species and royal family forever.

b. The unique protocol plan of God.

c. The unique equality factor related to the computer assets of the protocol plan. (1) Election expresses the sovereignty of God for every Church Age believer. It provides equal privilege in our royal priesthood and equal opportunity in our logistical grace support.

(2) Predestination is the provision of the sovereignty of God for each member of the royal family. It provides equal privilege in the baptism of the Spirit, and equal opportunity inside the divine dynasphere.

d. Our portfolio of invisible assets.

e. The unique royal commissions, whereby every believer is a royal priest, representing himself to God, and a royal ambassador, representing God to man.

f. The unique mystery doctrine of the Church Age is now revealed in the epistles of the New Testament.

g. The unique indwelling of all three persons of the Trinity.

h. The unique availability of divine power to every believer.

(1) The omnipotence of God the Father is related to our portfolio of invisible assets.

(2) The omnipotence of God the Son preserves and perpetuates human history.

(3) The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit is the power inside our very own palace, the divine dynasphere.

i. This is the only dispensation of no prophecy, only historical trends.

j. This is the only dispensation of invisible heroes.

3. See the Doctrine of the Uniqueness of the Church Age for details.

G. The Origin of the Protocol Plan of God.

1. The protocol plan of God originated in eternity past from your very own portfolio. The first thing God ever did for you, says Eph 1:3, was to provide a series of fantastic blessings. These escrow blessings were the start of your wonderful portfolio of invisible assets.

2. The primary assets in your portfolio are escrow blessings, Eph 1:3, and computer assets, Eph 1:4-5. The secondary assets in your portfolio include four categories: volitional assets, production assets, undeserved suffering assets, and invisible impact assets (personal as blessing by association, and historical as pivot impact).

3. The primary assets are the provision of the sovereign will of God in eternity past. The secondary assets are the function of your thinking, your motivation, your volition, and your actions in time. These are all based upon the use of your primary assets. So your utilization of the primary assets provided in eternity past will lead to the development of many things in your portfolio.

H. The Two Categories of the Protocol Plan of God.

1. The life beyond gnosis is the first category of the protocol plan of God. Eph 3:19, “And to come to know the love for Christ which goes beyond gnosis, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

a. The life beyond gnosis is epignosis, which is the perception and metabolization of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age under the concept of operation Z.

b. The life beyond gnosis is the fulfillment of the protocol plan of God through cognition of Bible doctrine. The life beyond gnosis results in the reaching the three stages of spiritual adulthood.

(1) Cognitive self-confidence in spiritual self-esteem.

(2) Cognitive independence in spiritual autonomy.

(3) Cognitive invincibility in spiritual maturity.

c. The life beyond gnosis is a consistent function of postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation. This results in understanding and utilizing the ten problem solving devices.

d. There are three areas in which human beings must grow up.

(1) When we are born, we must grow up as a human being by means of parental training, academic training, and the function of the laws of divine establishment. We become an adult when we take the responsibility for our own personal decisions in life.

(2) When we get married, we must grow up in marriage.

(3) When we are born-again, we must grow up spiritually. The life beyond gnosis refers to growing up spiritually after we have been born-again. Therefore, it refers to the execution of the protocol plan of God after salvation. Growing up spiritually is often the means of growing up in the other two areas as well.

e. “To be filled with all the fullness of God” is the transition stage which parlays the life beyond gnosis of Eph 3:19 into the life beyond dreams of Eph 3:20.

f. Spiritual maturity and becoming an invisible hero, i.e., “being filled with all the fullness of God,” is the transition between the life beyond gnosis and the life beyond dreams.

g. “Being filled with all the fullness of God” means the maximum use of the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

h. “Being filled with all the fullness of God” means the distribution of your escrow blessings for time, the life beyond dreams.

2. The life beyond dreams is the second category of the protocol plan. Eph 3:20, “Now to Him [God the Father] who is able to do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine on the basis of the power that works for us.”

I. Category One of the Protocol Plan: The Life Beyond Gnosis.

1. The life beyond gnosis is the function of the protocol plan of God from day one of salvation to the point of spiritual maturity. That definition implies spiritual growth. It does not take cognizance of negative volition, for there is no plan for negative volition except for self-induced misery and divine discipline, by which you ruin your own life.

2. Eph 3:18, “I pray that you may utilize the power to grasp the idea with all the saints [power of the Spirit in the function of postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation] what is the width [ten problem solving devices] and length [advance in protocol plan] and height [attainment of spiritual maturity] and depth [riches of His glory, i.e., the ten unique factors of the Church Age.]”

a. Perception of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age depends on the utilization of the power of the Holy Spirit in the divine dynasphere.

b. This in turn implies that human I.Q. is not a factor in the perception and metabolization of doctrine.

c. Spiritual I.Q. is the filling of the Spirit, the means by which believers can understand and execute God’s plan under equal privilege and equal opportunity.

d. God the Holy Spirit is the teacher of Bible doctrine, Jn 14:26, 16:12-14; 1 Cor 2:9-16.

3. The life beyond gnosis is epignosis, which is persistent function of postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation, the daily perception, metabolization and application of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.

4. Postsalvation epistemological rehabilitation is the manifestation that Bible doctrine is the #1 priority in your life.

5. Spiritual cognition results in the attainment of spiritual adulthood in three categories.

a. Spiritual self-esteem at gate #5 of the divine dynasphere which is characterized by cognitive self-confidence.

b. Spiritual autonomy at gate #6 of the divine dynasphere which is characterized by cognitive independence.

c. Spiritual maturity at gate #8 of the divine dynasphere which is characterized by cognitive invincibility.

6. The life beyond gnosis is both understanding and utilizing the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan.

7. The life beyond gnosis is understanding and utilizing the politeuma privileges, i.e., the ten unique factors of the Church Age.

8. The life beyond gnosis is growing up spiritually after we are born again. Growing up spiritually is the execution of the protocol plan of God, the attainment of spiritual maturity, and becoming an invisible hero.

J. The Transition Between the Life Beyond Gnosis and the Life Beyond Dreams: Being Filled with all the Fullness of God.

1. The transition from the life beyond gnosis to the life beyond dreams is the status of “being filled with all the fullness of God.”

2. “Being filled with all the fullness of God” actually refers to reaching spiritual maturity, becoming a winner and an invisible hero. At this point, the life beyond dreams begins, and it continues until physical death or the Rapture, whichever occurs first.

3. “Being filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19) parlays life beyond gnosis into life beyond dreams (Eph 3:20).

4. “Being filled with all the fullness of God” means distribution of your escrow blessings for time. You glorify God when you receive your escrow blessings, under the principle that the first thing God ever did for us is the means of glorifying Him. The first thing God ever did for us was to provide our escrow blessings in eternity past. God the Father is the grantor of these escrow blessings, we are the grantees, and our Lord Jesus Christ is the depositary or escrow officer.

5. “Being filled with all the fullness of God” means maximum use of the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan, which is necessary to pass evidence testing.

6. “Being filled with all the fullness of God” means the historical impact of the invisible hero in four categories: personal, national, international, and angelic.

7. “Being filled with all the fullness of God” means anticipation of your escrow blessings for the eternal state, which are received at the Judgment Seat of Christ after the Rapture of the Church.

K. Category Two of the Protocol Plan: The Life Beyond Dreams.

1. The life beyond dreams is the function of the protocol plan of God from day one of spiritual maturity to the point of physical death or the Rapture, whichever occurs first.

2. The life beyond dreams is defined as the modus operandi of the mature believer. He is both a winner and an invisible hero in the great power experiment of the Church Age.

3. His life beyond dreams is a continuation of his perception of Bible doctrine. It is a maximum use of the ten problem solving devices. It is receiving maximum blessing from the distribution of escrow blessings for time. It is maximum invisible impact in human history.

4. See the Doctrine of the Life Beyond Dreams.

L. Living and dying are also two categories of the protocol plan of God. See the Doctrine of Life and Death.

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R. B. Thieme, Jr. Bible Ministries 5139 West Alabama, Houston, Texas 77056 (713) 621-3740

© 1992, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.

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