Eph 306 6/16/86

DOCTRINE OF REACTION

A. The Reaction Progression, Part 1.

1. Reaction to life is a sign of failure; it is how to be weak without really trying. The easiest thing to do in life is to become a loser and weak; that requires nothing.

2. The whole process first begins when someone wrongs you, allegedly or in reality.

a. You will be tempted to cut off Bible doctrine when you react to some real or alleged wrong. The result is that you get your eyes on man, in spite of Jeremiah’s warning, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man.”

b. Today there are many neurotic or psychopathic believers who imagine things that don’t exist, such as being wronged. But since their imagination, although erroneous, is real to them, they react.

3. Reaction does a very strange thing to all of us. Reaction removes normal restraints on your area of weakness. We all have an area where we are inclined to sin easily. We all have “sin preferences” which are habitual; e.g., all the mental attitude sins, loss of temper, hatred, bitterness, or self-pity. Whatever it is, we move to it rapidly.

4. Ordinarily, as an advancing believer, we begin to practice self-restraint. But when we are crossed or wronged or hurt, we begin to react, and we do things where we previously exercised self-restraint compatible with our spiritual growth.

5. The first thing we do when we remove self-restraint is to justify our reaction, such as the sins involved, the loss of temper, the mental attitude sins, the arrogance, the wrong actions, or the bad habits. We justify these by blaming them on the person who has allegedly wronged or hurt us. This becomes a terrible spin which, if you don’t pull out of it fast, you’ll crash! All too often believers today are crashing and burning all over the landscape!

6. Removal of restraint by reaction, being hurt, becoming instantly self-centered, and instantly involved in self-justification (we’re always right) removes the general and overall restraint on your volition. So that instead of gravitating to just one sin or area of weakness, you now enter series of failures.

7. All of us have our own area of weakness. It may start with jealousy or bitterness or self-pity, but it moves into a series of failures because now there is no self-restraint. This ends up in blind arrogance, implacability, and a desire to strike back and hurt.

8. In striking back, we justify the sins involved, the vindictiveness and the bitterness: “I did . . . because you did . .” We set ourselves up as little protestors. In effect, we say, “You’ve been unkind to me; that’s why I’m doing this.” As soon as we think or say to someone else, “It’s your fault,” we have divorced ourselves from reality and taken a silent step toward psychosis. 9. Once self-restraint is removed, we commit all these sins because we wanted to do them. But we justify them by saying, “You have hurt me and that’s why I’m doing this!” But that isn’t why!

10. So we divorce ourselves from reality because we fail to take the responsibility for our own decisions when self-restraint has been removed.

B. The Reaction Progression, Part 2.

1. We now move into a state of self-justification, doing things that are sinful, wrong, or that are irritating to others. We move into a shell of indifference to the feelings of others. That means we are hypersensitive to ourselves and insensitive toward others.

2. We justify anger, bitterness, arrogance, maligning, jealousy, and self-pity by blaming someone else who has been cruel, unkind, unfaithful, or hostile without a cause. Sometimes this is imagined; sometimes it is reality. But the effect is the same. The only difference is that if you were not really wronged but only thought that you were in hypersensitivity, then you’ve taken a second step in divorcing yourself from reality, which is one step closer to becoming a Christian psychotic.

3. In preoccupation with self, all restraint is removed, and you do those things you really wanted to do but before were restrained by your residence, function, and momentum inside the divine dynasphere. Your magnificent virtue restraint is gone.

4. So in reality, you wanted to do those things which were sinful and bad habits, but your volition would not permit it until you reacted to someone else. Once you react to someone else or to some set of circumstances, you begin self-induced misery in your own life, and you start to use your volition to reject doctrine. And while you’re doing all this, you blame others for your lack of self-restraint.

5. Therefore, you justify your sinful reaction by blaming someone else who has allegedly or really wronged you. It doesn’t matter whether the wrong is real or alleged, for under the royal family honor code, you are to love those who despise you and feed those who hate you. 6. You are not justified in doing wrong because you have been wronged. But you have reacted, and your reaction removes self-restraint.

7. Therefore, you’ve taken the first step toward being a loser, as well as toward being divorced from reality, and toward psychosis.

8. You have therefore removed restraint on something we all have: latent arrogance. You’ve taken the lid off of it, which is like opening Pandora’s Box. You’ve taken the lid off all the facets of arrogance, which all become activated in your life.

9. If you continue to react to people with or without justification, you will eventually destroy your own spiritual life. You will permanently gravitate to areas of weakness and then you will develop the old sin nature side of your life, rather than virtue.

10. This self-justified removal of restraint will result in a permanent status of self-induced misery. All your priorities with regard to what makes you happy, what entertains you, and what you enjoy will change, and you will become self-centered. That’s the third step in becoming divorced from reality - a fatal step!

11. Now you are a walking bomb. You demand to be entertained, recognized, and you demand what is unreality. You begin the downward path of punitive suffering: the three stages of divine discipline. You will have warnings, but you will ignore them. You’ll then suffer intensive discipline, but it’s always someone else’s fault, even though you are actively involved in your own volition. Remember, all sociopaths, neurotics, and psychotics have a very active volition, and they are doing exactly what they want to do, and they can only be restrained by certain drugs that restrain and tranquilize.

12. So you’ve worked yourself into a permanent jam, and until you become aware of this, you are in trouble!

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

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