Eph 1183-5, 1188-1203 5/20/90; Eph 719; Rev 4:2 8/12/82; Isr 166, 1/19/92
A. Definition and Description.
1. Contradictions cannot exist in the protocol plan of God for the Church. God is perfect; His plan is perfect. The problem is that we are imperfect. Being imperfect, we need something from God so that we can execute His perfect plan.
2. Therefore, the grace of God has provided two blessings to eliminate these contradictions.
a. The filling of the Holy Spirit.
b. Learning the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
3. All contradictions are the result of negative volition in three categories: sin, parlaying human good into dead works, and parlaying good works into evil.
4. Sin, good, and evil are produced outside the operational type divine dynasphere. Inside the divine dynasphere, the believer is controlled by the Holy Spirit under the concept of Eph 5:18, “keep on being filled with the Spirit.”
5. Spirituality is the term used for the “filling of the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, when we are in a state of sin, performing human good, or performing evil, we are not spiritual. We are outside of our spiritual palace (the divine dynasphere), and the sin nature controls the soul. Inside the divine dynasphere, the believer is controlled by the Holy Spirit.
6. The filling of the Holy Spirit (or spirituality) is an absolute. Either the believer is controlled by the sin nature or by the Holy Spirit. Spirituality and carnality are mutually exclusive.
a. Therefore, spirituality and carnality are absolutes in the Christian way of life, 1 Jn 1:6-7, 2:10-11, 3:4-9. You are either filled with the Holy Spirit or you are not. You either reside in the divine dynasphere or in the cosmic system.
b. Every time a believer sins, he steps outside of the divine dynasphere and uses his volition to commit that sin. He enters either cosmic one or cosmic two. In cosmic one, he is said to be grieving the Holy Spirit. In cosmic two, he is said to be quenching the Holy Spirit.
c. Therefore as absolutes, spirituality and carnality are mutually exclusive. If you are filled with the Spirit you are not committing sin, or out of fellowship, you are in the cosmic system and you are not spiritual.
d. The believer is spiritual when the Holy Spirit controls his soul, and thereby he lives inside the divine dynasphere. The believer is said to be carnal when the old sin nature controls his soul.
e. God doesn’t do something partially. He either does it, or He does not do it. God the Holy Spirit either controls your soul or He does not.
f. The believer is said to be a protocol Christian when he resides inside the divine dynasphere. The believer is said to be a cosmic Christian when he resides in Satan’s cosmic system.
g. The believer in fellowship with God is described in two different ways.
(1) He can be described as spiritual in the sense that the Holy Spirit controls his soul and he lives inside the divine dynasphere.
(2) He can also be described as a protocol Christian in the sense that, when he is living in his palace, the divine dynasphere, he is executing the protocol plan of God and gaining momentum from perception of Bible doctrine.
h. The believer who is out of fellowship can be described in many ways, but two simple terms are best.
(1) The carnal Christian is the believer whose life the old sin nature controls.
(2) The cosmic Christian is the believer who resides in Satan’s cosmic system.
i. Spiritual adulthood varies according to spiritual growth. Reversionism is a spiritual condition which varies according to spiritual decline. Both are relative. You cannot say someone is more spiritual than someone else, since any believer who is filled with the Spirit is filled as much as any other believer.
7. The relative concept of the Christian life is based on growth from perception of Bible doctrine, or lack of growth from ignorance of Bible doctrine. Spiritual growth is the relative concept of the Christian life.
8. The absolute concept of the Christian life (spirituality) begins at the moment of salvation. At the moment we believe in Christ we are filled with the Holy Spirit and enter our very own palace—the divine dynasphere.
9. Six of the ministries of God the Holy Spirit at salvation are permanent. They never change no matter how our experiential status may change.
a. Efficacious grace, in which God the Holy Spirit takes faith, and faith alone, and makes it effective for salvation.
b. Regeneration, in which God the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit for the imputation of eternal life by God the Father. Eternal life is imputed to the human spirit, Jn 3:1-6; Tit 3:5. The Holy Spirit is the agent of the new birth.
c. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, Acts 1:5; 1 Cor 12:13; Eph 4:5. We are entered into union with Christ.
d. The Holy Spirit indwells us to provide a temple for the indwelling of Christ, Gal 3:2, 4:6; 1 Cor 6:19-20, 3:16.
e. The sealing of the Holy Spirit, in which He stamps a seal on us so we can never lose our salvation. Eph 4:30, 1:13; 2 Cor 1:22. God has put a seal on you because you are valuable and belong to Him.
f. The distribution of spiritual gifts, 1 Cor 12:11.
10. Only one ministry of the Holy Spirit is temporary: the filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Spirit is synonymous with residence in the divine dynasphere. Only the filling of the Spirit is subject to a change of status because it is experiential, depending upon the believer’s residence inside the divine dynasphere. The first sin we commit puts us outside the divine dynasphere under the control of the old sin nature. The other six ministries of the Holy Spirit at salvation remain in a permanent state regardless of your personal experiential status quo.
11. The Concept of Place and Power.
a. The concept of place is the believer living inside the operational type divine dynasphere. Gate one of the divine dynasphere is the place of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Sin takes you out of the divine dynasphere, rebound puts you back in the divine dynasphere.
b. The concept of power is the Holy Spirit controlling the soul which is synonymous with the filling of the Holy Spirit. At any given moment the soul is controlled by either the Holy Spirit or the old sin nature. Spirituality and carnality are mutually exclusive.
c. There are two concepts of spirituality.
(1) The believer residing inside the divine dynasphere.
(2) The believer utilizing the power of the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit controls his soul.
d. The noun “spirituality” refers to the believer in the absolute status quo of the filling of the Spirit. The power of the filling of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit controlling the soul. The spiritual skill of the filling of the Spirit is the function of the Holy Spirit related to the believer residing inside the divine dynasphere. The adjective “spiritual” has several meanings depending on the noun it modifies. It can refer to a believer filled with the Spirit or to a believer who has attained spiritual adulthood.
12. If we are filled with the Spirit at salvation, then why are we commanded to be filled with the Spirit by Eph 5:18? Because the first time we sin after salvation, we lose the filling of the Holy Spirit. In the status of postsalvation sinning, God the Holy Spirit still indwells our body, but He does not control our life. The filling of the Holy Spirit is recovered through the function of the rebound technique, 1 Jn 1:9. Restored fellowship with God the Holy Spirit through rebound means:
a. We are restored to life inside the divine dynasphere.
b. We recover the filling of the Holy Spirit.
13. A short catechism on the filling of the Holy Spirit.
a. How does one lose the filling of the Spirit? Through postsalvation sinning.
b. How does one recover the filling of the Spirit? Through the function of the rebound technique, 1 Jn 1:9.
c. What is the purpose of the filling of the Holy Spirit? Perception of Bible doctrine, execution of the protocol plan of God, and glorification of God as an invisible hero.
d. Why is the Holy Spirit given to every believer? Cognition of Bible doctrine and the execution of the protocol plan is impossible with human IQ, even though a person may be genius. No one can understand doctrine apart from the filling of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit provides the divine omnipotence, the divine IQ, the enabling power to understand doctrine.
e. Are there degrees of spirituality? No! The filling of the Spirit is an absolute state. You are either filled with the Spirit or carnal. The filling of the Spirit and carnality are mutually exclusive.
f. What is the relative concept of the Christian life? Cognition and inculcation of Bible doctrine which results in the various stages of growth.
g. Does the carnal believer or believer in Christian degeneracy lose his salvation? No! The forty things God gives to every believer at salvation can never be cancelled by the failure of the believer. 14. Imitation in the Spiritual Life, 2 Cor 3:3.
a. In spirituality, the issue is imitation. The spiritual believer imitates the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union. Spirituality is imitating God, 2 Pet 1:4. Eph 5:1, “Therefore, become imitators of God as beloved children.” It is impossible to become imitators of God apart from the filling of the Spirit.
b. The carnal believer imitates the unbeliever. You cannot distinguish between the unbeliever and the believer out of fellowship. Carnality and reversionism is imitating the unbeliever, 1 Cor 3:3; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Jn 1:6.
c. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you imitate God the Son inside the divine dynasphere. We are epistles of Christ read by men when filled with the Holy Spirit.
d. A believer in carnality can do anything an unbeliever can do by way of sin. You can’t tell a believer from an unbeliever when the believer is carnal.
e. Any sin can be committed just as easily by a believer as by an unbeliever. The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life and must be executed by supernatural means, i.e., under the control of the Holy Spirit.
f. Anything an unbeliever can do, e.g., give up something, is not the Christian way of life.
15. Spirituality is the function of the royal priesthood.
a. The believer filled with the Spirit is not subject to the Mosaic Law because he is under a higher law which is called the law of spirituality. Therefore, spirituality is not subject to the Mosaic Law or the Levitical Priesthood, Gal 5:18,23; Rom 8:2-4, 10:4, 13:8.
b. The filling of the Holy Spirit fulfills the Mosaic Law. The Law condemns but the filling of the Holy Spirit produces the character of the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, Gal 4:19; 5:22-23; 1 Jn 2:5-6. The Law required a spiritual life.
c. The filling of the Spirit distinguishes the production of divine good from dead works. The spiritual believer produces divine good which is classified as “gold, silver, and precious stones” in 1 Cor 3:12,14. The carnal believer produces dead works, Heb 6:1; 9:12, which is classified as “wood, hay, and stubble” in 1 Cor 3:12,15.
d. The filling of the Holy Spirit distributes epignosis doctrine to the different parts of the right lobe.
e. The filling of the Holy Spirit also brings up doctrine in the frame of reference, so that new doctrine can be built upon doctrines already learned. This is why the filling of the Holy Spirit is necessary to learn doctrine.
16. The Results of the Filling of the Holy Spirit.
a. Residence, momentum, and function inside the divine dynasphere under the enabling power of the Spirit may be classified as the Church Age believer in partnership with the Holy Spirit, Eph 4:3-4; Phil 2:2.
b. Cognition of doctrine, Jn 14:26; 16:12-14; 1 Cor 2:9-16.
c. Imitation of the humanity of Christ as He functioned in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, Eph 5:1; Gal 4:19; 5:22-23.
d. The glorification of Christ in the body, Jn 7:39; 16:14; 1 Cor 6:19-20.
e. Christ is magnified in the inner life of the believer, Eph 3:16-17; 2 Cor 3:3; Phil 1:20-21.
f. Guidance and assurance regarding the protocol plan of God, Rom 8:14-16.
g. The true function of worship in the Body of Christ, Jn 4:24; Phil 3:3.
h. The production of divine good, 1 Cor 3:12-14. This results in:
(1) Effective witnessing, Acts 1:8.
(2) Effective prayer, Eph 6:18.
17. Principles.
a. Without the filling of the Holy Spirit, there can be no contentment, no personal sense of destiny, no occupation with Christ, therefore, no tranquility in life.
b. Under the law of volitional responsibility, grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit is guaranteed self-induced misery.
c. Hence, there are eight principles of unhappiness which result from failure to be filled with the Spirit.
(1) If you are not content with what you have now, you will never be content with what you have in the future.
(2) Contentment is based on the filling of the Holy Spirit and inculcation of Bible doctrine. You cannot have one without the other.
(3) Contentment is based on capacity for life from Bible doctrine and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Contentment is not based on human prosperity, wealth, or success.
(4) Discontent becomes malcontent. If every wish, dream, and desire of your soul were given to you without the filling of the Spirit and Bible doctrine, you would be miserable.
(5) The only true happiness in life comes from capacity for life. Capacity for life and happiness depends on the filling of the Holy Spirit and cognition of Bible doctrine. “The fruit of the Spirit is [joy] happiness.”
(6) God provides capacity for life and happiness at each stage of spiritual advance and growth through the filling of the Spirit and metabolized doctrine in your soul.
(7) Progress in the protocol plan of God means that the filling of the Holy Spirit balances the capacity for what you have with the enjoyment of what you have. (8) The only thing that improves with your spiritual growth is your capacity for life. Capacity for life combines the filling of the Spirit with metabolized doctrine in the right lobe of your soul.
18. The Alternatives of Life.
a. To believe in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation or spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. Jn 3:18, 36.
b. To make Bible doctrine your number one priority in life or live your life in ignorance of doctrine. Ignorance is the number one problem of the Christian life.
c. To get under the ministry of a pastor who teaches Bible doctrine and acquire the spiritual skills (the filling of the Spirit, cognition of doctrine, execution of the protocol plan of God) or live a life of confusion and failure to glorify God. Believers are not designed to live without doctrine.
d. To learn and use the problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God or live a life of misery and unhappiness—a life without capacity for life.
e. To die well under dying grace or to die under dying discipline—the sin unto death.
B. The Distinction Between the Indwelling and the Filling of the Holy Spirit.
1. The Indwelling of the Spirit.
a. The indwelling and filling of the Holy Spirit are not the same, and are basically not related. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit functions inside the human body and is permanent. The filling of the Spirit functions inside the human spirit and is temporary.
b. The purpose of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to provide a temple in our bodies for the indwelling of Jesus Christ as the Shekinah Glory.
(1) The indwelling of the Spirit is related to the believer’s body and taught in 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19-20, and 2 Cor 6:16.
(2) Jesus Christ indwells our bodies as the Shekinah Glory, as a guarantee of blessing. He could not indwell our bodies where the old sin nature resides unless God the Holy Spirit provided a temple for Him. So the Holy Spirit has built a temple in our bodies for the residence of God the Son.
c. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is Godward, permanent, and not affected by the status of carnality or spirituality. Regardless of the believer’s status quo, he is always indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The believer continues to be indwelt by the Spirit whether he is carnal or spiritual. The difference between being carnal and spiritual is the filling of the Spirit, not the indwelling of the Spirit.
d. Unction and anointing are synonymous with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, not the filling or baptism of the Spirit.
e. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit breaks the rule of the old sin nature experientially, just as the baptism of the Holy Spirit breaks the old sin nature’s rule positionally, Gal 5:17.
2. The Filling of the Spirit.
a. The filling of the Holy Spirit is related to a place—the divine dynasphere, and to a power—the believer’s soul.
(1) When the believer’s soul is controlled by the Holy Spirit, that believer is said to be spiritual or filled with the Spirit.
(2) When the believer is residing inside his very own palace—the divine dynasphere, that believer is said to be filled with the Spirit.
(3) The indwelling of the Spirit relates to the believer’s body rather than the soul or divine dynasphere.
b. The purpose for the filling of the Holy Spirit is to provide enabling power for the execution of the protocol plan of God through consistent cognition of Bible doctrine. Just as the enabling power of the Holy Spirit is necessary for common and efficacious grace in salvation, so the enabling power of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the cognition of doctrine and execution of the protocol plan of God. We cannot do anything in God’s plan apart from the filling of the Spirit.
c. The filling of the Spirit is manward and temporary, depending on whether the believer is in or out of fellowship, whether the Holy Spirit or sin nature controls the soul. Postsalvation sinning takes the believer outside the divine dynasphere where he is no longer filled with the Spirit. The rebound technique of 1 Jn 1:9 is the recovery procedure by which the believer reenters the divine dynasphere and thereby recovers the filling of the Spirit.
d. The filling of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere is the enabling power, which combines with Bible doctrine for the execution of God’s plan, will, and purpose for each of our lives. Since God is perfect and His plan is perfect, His plan demands a perfect power for its execution.
e. There are two basic experiential concepts by which the protocol plan of God is executed.
(1) The absolute concept—the filling of the Spirit.
(2) The relative concept—spiritual momentum, spiritual growth from perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine.
f. For believers who do not understand or use rebound, in a state of carnality they develop a system of pseudo spirituality. However, the filling of the Spirit is not the work of man; it is the work of God. It is the means by which we utilize the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit to execute the protocol plan of God.
g. Other synonyms for the filling of the Spirit.
(1) Paul’s vocabulary, Gal 5:16, “Walk by means of the Spirit.” Eph 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit.”
(2) John’s vocabulary, 1 Jn 1:7, “walking in the light.”
(3) Peter’s vocabulary, 2 Pet 1:4, “partakers of the divine nature.”
h. Confidence regarding the filling of the Spirit comes from knowledge of pertinent doctrine, 1 Jn 2:20-21, 3:20-21.
C. Biblical Documentation for Spirituality and Carnality.
1. 2 Cor 3:17-18, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with an unveiled face seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as it were from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
a. “The Lord is the Spirit” means that God the Holy Spirit is deity.
b. The Spirit of the Lord is inside the divine dynasphere, not inside the Mosaic Law. This is why there is spiritual freedom inside the divine dynasphere but not in the Mosaic Law.
c. The Church Age believer has an unveiled face when learning the mystery doctrine of the Church Age which was hidden from Old Testament saints.
d. From the teaching of doctrine, Jesus Christ becomes your best friend, and you move into the status of occupation with Christ. This is seeing the glory of the Lord in the mirror—Bible doctrine. We look into the Bible to see the glory of the Lord.
e. We are transformed into the same image of our Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity by studying Him daily in the mirror of the Word of God. “From glory to glory” refers to going from the glory of the Spirit- filled humanity of Christ in the prototype divine dynasphere to the glory of the Spirit-filled mature believer who executes the protocol plan of God inside the operational type divine dynasphere.
2. Eph 3:16, “That He may give you on the basis of the riches of His glory to become strong by means of power through His Spirit in your inner being.”
a. The riches of Christ’s glory to Church Age believers includes things that were never given before to any believers in history: the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the protocol plan of God, a portfolio of invisible assets, a royal priesthood and a royal ambassadorship, the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, the indwelling of the Trinity, the unique availability of divine power, a dispensation of historical trends and invisible heroship.
b. “To become strong” means the filling of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere. To acquire strength means doctrinal momentum through the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere and controlling your soul. We acquire strength through the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere, Jn 14:26; 16:12-14; 1 Cor 2:9- 16.
3. The filling of the Holy Spirit is the basis for spiritual freedom.
a. Gal 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Keep standing fast, therefore, and do not be entangled again in the yoke of slavery [carnality].”
b. Gal 5:13-18, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh [sin nature], but through virtue-love serve one another. For the entire Law has been summed up in one doctrine, namely this, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, beware that you are not destroyed by one another. Therefore, I command you: keep walking by means of the Spirit, and you will not carry out the lust pattern of the flesh [sin nature]. For the flesh [sin nature] desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit is against the flesh [sin nature]; for these are constantly opposed to one another, so that you may not do the things you wish to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.”
(1) We serve one another through the function of our spiritual gift for the benefit of the Body of Christ.
(2) The freedom we have is not any human power. We are not free to do what we want. We are free to learn Bible doctrine through the filling of the Holy Spirit.
(3) Never in history, before the Church Age or after the Rapture, will every believer have the freedom to execute a supernatural plan that depends entirely on divine power.
(4) Walking by means of the Spirit means to function at the various gates of the divine dynasphere.
c. Gal 5:22-23, “But the production of the Spirit is virtue-love, happiness, capacity for prosperity [peace], patience, integrity, generosity, faithfulness, humility, self-discipline; against such things there is no law.”
d. Gal 5:25-26, “If we live by the Spirit, let us advance by means of the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, challenging each other, being jealous of each other.”
(1) Jealousy is a manifestation of arrogance. It is a part of inordinate ambition and inordinate competition. As an emotional sin, it is irrational in its resentment of others.
(2) Jealousy is directed toward self as the subject and toward people as the object. It is a major stumbling block in the attainment of spiritual self-esteem. It is destructive wherever you find it.
(3) Jealousy is a major function of self-righteous arrogance, and therefore, a major motivating factor in Christian immoral degeneracy. Jealousy and the filling of the Holy Spirit are mutually exclusive.
(4) Jealousy is the handmaiden of legalism. Jealousy is tyranny in its simplest form. Where jealousy persists, it destroys human freedom. Jealousy does not permit people to love you from their own volition; it demands love and attention.
(5) Jam 4:5-6, “Or do you presume that the Scripture speaks in vain against jealousy. The Spirit who permanently indwells us pursues us with love. And He gives us more grace. Therefore, it says, `God makes war against the arrogant, but He give grace to the humble.’” 4. 1 Jn 2:27, “And as for you, the anointing [enabling power of the Spirit inside the divine dynasphere] which you have received from Him resides in you [indwelling of the Spirit in the body], and you do not need that anyone be teaching you [making you understand], but as His anointing keeps teaching you [making you understand] all things as it [enabling power of the Spirit] has taught you. Keep residing in it [divine dynasphere].”
a. One of the synonyms for the Holy Spirit indwelling the divine dynasphere is “anointing.” This is how we, as members of the royal family, fulfill God’s plan; not in our plan, energy, or ability, but in the ability and enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
b. The gift of pastor-teacher is for the communication of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. But no matter how eloquent or powerful the pastor’s message, there is no way you will understand it unless you are inside the divine dynasphere and filled with the Spirit.
c. You are commanded to keep residing in the divine dynasphere because it is the place of the filling of the Spirit. You are not controlled by the Holy Spirit unless you are inside the divine dynasphere.
5. 1 Jn 3:3-9, “And everyone who keeps having this confidence in Him purifies himself just as that unique Person [humanity of Christ inside the divine dynasphere] is pure. Every believer who commits sin also does lawlessness; in fact, sin is lawlessness. Indeed you know that He [Lord Jesus Christ] was revealed in order that He might carry our sins; in fact, sin is not in Him. When anyone resides in it [divine dynasphere], he is not sinning. When anyone sins, he has not seen Him nor come to know Him. My dear children, let no one deceive you; when anyone performs righteousness, he is honorable [virtuous], just as He [Christ] is honorable [virtuous]. When anyone commits sin, he has become the agent of the devil because the devil sinned from the beginning. For this reason, the Son of God was revealed that He might void the works of the devil. At the moment when anyone is born from God, he is not sinning because his seed [enabling power of the Spirit which begins at the moment of regeneration] keeps residing in it [divine dynasphere]. Furthermore, he is not able to sin because he has been born from God.”
a. The believer with momentum inside the divine dynasphere has confidence in God. He purifies himself because he is in the operational type divine dynasphere.
b. The decision to sin occurs outside the divine dynasphere and is tantamount to rejecting the enabling power of the Spirit. Therefore, the believer through sinning has left the divine dynasphere and entered the cosmic system.
c. The decision to sin puts the believer into Satan’s cosmic system which is lawlessness.
d. 1 Pet 2:24 also says “He carried our sins in His own body on the cross.”
e. “When anyone sins, he has not seen Him” means no motivational virtue from personal love for God.
f. Believers are spiritual children because “they are the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” John is addressing a nonresident congregation.
g. The performance or execution of righteousness is the fulfillment of virtue inside the divine dynasphere. The filling of the Spirit produces virtue.
h. The moment you believe in Christ, you enter into the divine dynasphere, and in that moment you are not in a state of sin. Your past sins have been forgiven. Your future sins will be a matter of rebound.
i. “His seed keeps residing in it” means the enabling power of the Holy Spirit continues to reside inside the divine dynasphere.
j. “He is not able to sin” is only true inside the divine dynasphere.
k. How to enter the cosmic system.
(1) When the believer succumbs to temptation, he makes the decision to sin. He is immediately involved in the cosmic system.
(2) The only way he can recover from the cosmic system is through his use of the rebound technique in naming his sins.
(3) Without life in the divine dynasphere and the enabling power of the Spirit, there is no way you can execute God’s plan.
(4) But by the use of the rebound technique, you are once again inside your own palace and you have at least the potential for fulfilling the plan of God. 6. 1 Jn 1:4-10, “In fact, we write these things in order that our happiness [+H] might be complete. This is the message which we have heard from Him and we have communicated it to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we contend that we have fellowship with Him and we keep walking in darkness [cosmic system], we are lying and do not practice doctrine. If we keep walking in the light [residence, function, momentum in the divine dynasphere] as He is in the light [humanity of Christ during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union], we keep on having fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus [saving work of Christ on the cross] keeps cleansing from all sin. If we [believers] contend that we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves and the doctrine is not in us. If we acknowledge [cite] our sins, He is faithful and just so that He forgives us our [known] sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If we contend that we have not sinned, we keep making Him a liar and His Word does not reside in us.”
a. Our +H is completed when we attain gate #8 inside the divine dynasphere.
b. You can’t walk in darkness and have fellowship with God. When you’re in the cosmic system, you are walking in darkness. When you’re in the divine dynasphere, you are walking in the light.
c. To “not practice doctrine” means we’re not living in the divine dynasphere and under the momentum from metabolized doctrine.
d. Christian fellowship is predicated on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere.
e. The present active subjunctive of HOMOLOGEO in verse 9 means to admit, confess, acknowledge, or name. We simply specify a sin we’ve committed that has already been judged on the cross. The pictorial present brings to mind a picture of rebound in the process of occurrence. When we are believers out of fellowship, we produce the action of the verb by simply naming our sins to God. The potential subjunctive is qualified by the element of contingency; first you must understand how to rebound before you can do it. The work of forgiveness was accomplished on the cross. We simply name a sin that has already been judged. That is why we are forgiven.
f. “He is faithful” means God always does exactly the same thing without variation because He judged that sin on the cross.
g. He is just, for forgiving our sins is no compromise to God’s perfect righteousness because that sin was judged on the cross.
h. He “cleanses us from all unrighteousness” means from all the sins of ignorance we committed. They are forgiven at the same time when we confess our sins of cognizance. This means full restoration to the divine dynasphere and we are again filled with the Spirit.
i. To reject rebound by grace is tantamount to blasphemy, for making God a liar is blasphemy.
7. 1 Cor 11:31, “If we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged.” Before we partake of the communion, we search our souls and judge ourselves so that we might rebound if necessary, so that we will not be judged.
8. Eph 5:14-17, “Wake up, sleeper! Rise up from the dead [rebound from temporal death in the cosmic system], and Christ will shine on you. Therefore, be alert regarding accuracy how you walk, not as foolish ones but as wise ones; purchasing the time because the days are evil. Therefore, stop being ignorance but understand what the will of God is.” 9. Eph 5:18, “And stop being drunk with wine which is dissipation, but keep on being filled with [controlled by] the Spirit.”
a. The present passive imperative of PLEROO has a number of meanings.
(1) To fill up a deficiency. The filling of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere fills up the deficiency of ignorance of the mystery doctrine.
(2) To fully possess. The filling of the Holy Spirit means you fully possess the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit in the enabling power for execution of God’s plan. The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life and demands a supernatural means of execution. It can only be executed in the power of the Holy Spirit.
(3) To fill up with a certain quality. The filling of the Spirit inside the divine dynasphere provides the quality necessary to execute. The quality is divine power.
(4) To fully influence. The filling of the Spirit inside the divine dynasphere fully influences so that metabolized doctrine is produced. Metabolized doctrine is necessary for divine viewpoint, spiritual growth, momentum, resulting in the manufacture of an invisible hero.
b. The present tense of PLEROO is an iterative present, or a present tense of repeated action. It describes what occurs at successive or various intervals of time. It does not imply that we are always filled with the Spirit. For when we succumb to temptation and sin, we get out of the divine dynasphere and into the cosmic system.
c. In too many cases today, this might be called a tendential present tense for an action contemplated, proposed, or attempted, but definitely not taking place because of ignorance of the doctrine of spirituality by grace. The problem today is that too many believers cannot answer the simple question, “After salvation, what?”
d. Because of the imperative mood, this can also be construed as a durative present tense, also known as the progressive present for an action in progress or a state of persistence. That describes the positive believer fulfilling this command.
e. The passive voice says the believer receives the action of the verb in two ways.
(1) At salvation, God the Holy Spirit enters every believer into his own palace, the operational type divine dynasphere. This is one of the seven ministries of the Spirit at salvation.
(2) As a result of sin, the believer is out of the divine dynasphere. But he can reenter through that grace provision, that problem solving device of rebound.
f. Therefore, the believer receives the action of the verb in grace totally apart from any human merit or any penance or any system of reform.
g. This is the imperative mood of command. It is a divine mandate to enter and remain in the divine dynasphere, and when you are out to recover through rebound.
h. The Greek preposition EN plus the instrumental of agency from PNEUMA means “by means of the Spirit.” “Be filled with [by means of] the Spirit.”
i. There is a similar command in 2 Pet 3:18 which has to do with the result of this. “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever.”
10. The law of carnality versus the law of spirituality is taught in Rom 8:1-8. Believers who reject certain aspects of the Doctrine of Spirituality believe they cannot change their personality. This is humanistic thinking.
a. Rom 8:1-2, “Now, therefore, there is no judgment for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
(1) There is a law that gradually changes people—the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. This law does not apply to any other dispensation.
(2) If you make Bible doctrine the number one priority in your life, there will be the most fantastic changes in your life. The idea that your personality cannot be changed is a denial of the fact that Jesus said, “You must be born again.”
(3) This new law for the Church Age believer is spiritual freedom inside the divine dynasphere. You are changed for the better by living inside the divine dynasphere. You are changed for the worse by living inside the cosmic system.
(4) The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the law that human power supercedes human power. Any changes you make in your life from the energy of the flesh are not a part of God’s plan. Human power is loaded with sin and is not a part of God’s plan.
b. Rom 8:3-4, “For what the [Mosaic] Law was powerless to do, in that it was weakened by the flesh [sin nature], God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and for a sin offering He judged sin in the flesh, in order that the legal requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
(1) The legal requirement of the Law is that we stand perfect before God. The filling of the Holy Spirit fulfills the legal requirement of the Mosaic Law.
(2) Carnality and spirituality are shown here to be absolutes. The law of the sin nature is carnality. The law of the Spirit of life is spirituality.
c. Rom 8:5-6, “For those [believers] who are according to the flesh keep thinking about the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, keep thinking about the things of the Spirit. Consequently, the thought pattern of the flesh is [carnal] death, but the thought pattern of the Spirit is life and prosperity,”
(1) The carnal believer has a mental attitude related to sin and carnality. But the spiritual believer’s mental attitude is controlled by the Holy Spirit.
(2) Your decisions in life are made on the basis of your carnal norms and standards from the old sin nature or on the basis of your spiritual norms and standards from the filling of the Holy Spirit. You are not stuck with your personality. Once you start to think doctrine, you are a different person. Application of doctrine to experience is a change in your personality. Momentum from spiritual growth is a change in your personality.
d. Rom 8:7-8, “because the thought pattern of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subordinate to the law of God, because it is not able to do so. Furthermore, those who are in the flesh [controlled by the sin nature] cannot please God.”
D. How We Recover From Carnality: Volition Related to Spirituality
. 1. The mechanics for recovery from carnality is the use of the rebound technique. Rebound is the technical term for two simultaneous things.
a. Recovery of fellowship with God.
b. Recovery of the filling of the Spirit.
2. The first time a believer sins after salvation, he loses his fellowship with God and the filling of the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit is replaced by quenching or grieving the Spirit. 3. Loss of the filling of the Spirit means the believer is outside his palace—the divine dynasphere and his soul is controlled by the sin nature. God the Holy Spirit indwells the body of the Church Age believer. The old sin nature also indwells his body. So the major issue for the Church Age believer is: Who will control his life?
a. The guard at the gate of our soul is volition. The old sin nature presents constant temptations to our soul, and our volition chooses for or against those temptations.
b. When first saved, the Holy Spirit enters us into the divine dynasphere through gate #1, the filling of the Spirit, and so He controls our soul. The first time we sin, the Holy Spirit no longer controls our soul but the old sin nature controls our soul instead, so that we are carnal.
c. The origin of all sin you commit is your volition. It is not sinful to be tempted. It is sinful when your volition accedes to that temptation and so sins. So your volition decides at any given moment whether you are controlled by the Holy Spirit or by your old sin nature. You must use your volition again to recover your status inside the divine dynasphere so that the Holy Spirit again controls your soul. You must use your volition to use the rebound technique of 1 Jn 1:9.
4. Recovery of fellowship with God is the same in the Old Testament as in the New Testament.
a. Ps 32:5, “I acknowledge my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, `I will acknowledge my transgression to the Lord.’ And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. How about that [SELAH]?”
b. 1 Jn 1:9, “If we acknowledge our sins to God, He is faithful and righteous with the result that He forgives us our [known] sins and He purifies us from all wrongdoing [the unknown sins].”
(1) All the sins of human history were imputed to Jesus Christ on the cross and judged by the justice of God the Father. Christ’s work provides two things: salvation, and restored fellowship with God.
(2) The way of salvation is faith in Jesus Christ. The way of spirituality is to cite or name the known sins in our life that took us out of fellowship with God. This is the only way we can reenter the divine dynasphere through gate #1, the filling of the Spirit, so that Holy Spirit controls our soul.
(3) Those sins we cite already went to court and were judged. Therefore, 1 Jn 1:9 says we simply HOMOLOGEO our sins, which means to cite a courtroom case, to name something, to acknowledge.
(4) Every believer is a priest and represents himself before God. So in the privacy of his priesthood, the believer simply names the sins he has committed, and “God is faithful [God always does the same thing] and justified to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That’s the only way anyone can ever be spiritual.
(5) Apart from this rebound technique, we would have been carnal the first time we sinned after salvation and there would be no plan of God for our lives, no spirituality, no protocol plan of any kind.
(6) There has to be a grace system for recovering fellowship. Yet just as there are so many false Gospels being declared, adding human works or gimmicks to faith in Christ, so there are many erroneous ideas of what we must do to be spiritual. If you add anything to faith in Christ, that is no salvation at all. People want to help God, but God doesn’t need our help! Just as He provided everything necessary for our salvation, so He provides everything necessary for the recovery of fellowship after salvation.
5. Therefore, spirituality is a matter of using the rebound technique. As long as we live on this earth, we will continue to commit sins. Of course, you must learn the doctrine of Hamartiology to identify what are sins. We do not reach sinless perfection in this life. The closest we come is positional sanctification, in which we are entered into union with Christ at the moment of salvation.
6. At salvation the Holy Spirit indwells your body, 1 Cor 3:16. The filling of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit controlling your life, i.e., your soul. Indwelling is permanent (1 Cor 6:19-20, 3:16) regardless of your spiritual status.
7. The believer who is out of fellowship is described in 1 Cor 3:1-3 and Rom 8:5-8 as being carnal. When we are carnal, we are described two ways.
a. Grieving the Spirit in cosmic dynasphere number one. We are commanded in Eph 4:30 to “grieve not the Spirit.”
b. Quenching the Spirit in cosmic dynasphere number two. We are commanded in 1 Thes 5:19 to “quench not the Spirit.” So grieving or quenching the Spirit means being out of fellowship in a status quo of carnality. Persistent carnality results in reversionism.
8. You are either spiritual or carnal. Both are an absolute status that finds the believer either in fellowship with God or out of fellowship with God. In other words, there are no degrees of spirituality; it’s either 100 percent or zero percent.
9. The relative status of the Christian life connotes degrees of growth but never degrees of spirituality.
a. The believer at any stage of spiritual growth can be spiritual or carnal. A baby can be carnal or spiritual. An adolescent can be carnal or spiritual; the same is true for a mature believer. Usually, the mature believer has very little carnality in his life. A baby filled with the Spirit does not have the power that a mature believer has who is filled with the Spirit. The power of the Spirit really becomes dynamic once the believer reaches spiritual self-esteem.
b. In the absolute status of carnality, there is a relative retrogression line. You can in any of the eight stages of reversionism. So there is a relative concept, either progressive or retrogressive, regarding Christianity. In the retrogressive concept, the believer is always carnal. But he can be spiritual or carnal on the progress line.
10. So there are three different categories of status for each believer: the filling of the Holy Spirit, grieving the Holy Spirit, or quenching the Holy Spirit. Each is the subject of a command in Scripture.
11. The misunderstanding of spirituality is the reason people do not advance to maturity. Apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit you cannot advance to maturity. Spirituality is the link between salvation and maturity.
12. A believer who is not controlled by the Holy Spirit cannot be distinguished from an unbeliever. When the old sin nature controls the soul, a believer can do anything an unbeliever can do.
13. There is a great danger in not rebounding immediately when you sin. This perpetuates carnality, entangles you in the Satan’s cosmic system, and enters you into the three stages of Christian degeneracy.
E. Enablement Versus Enduement.
1. Enablement Defined.
a. Enablement is the present ministry of God the Holy Spirit to Church Age believers. Enablement only functions when we are filled with the Spirit inside the operational type divine dynasphere—our very own palace.
b. Enablement is the availability of the power of the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit to every believer.
c. The same divine power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the power available to every Church Age believer. Eph 1:19-20, “And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who have believed for the working of His superior power, which superior power He made operational by means of Christ, when He raised Him from the dead.”
d. To utilize the power of the Holy Spirit, the believer must consistently execute the mandate of Eph 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit.”
e. Just as the protocol plan supersedes ritual in the Church Age, so enablement supersedes enduement.
2. Enduement describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit to a few Old Testament saints. In the Old Testament, God the Holy Spirit helped less than one percent of all born-again believers. He helped the prophets who wrote like Moses and David, and also the judges and kings. But every believer was not indwelt or filled by the Spirit. Specific cases of the provision of enduement.
a. Enduement was provided for Joseph, Gen 41:38.
b. Enduement was provided for Moses.
c. Enduement was provided for certain skilled laborers who worked on the Tabernacle in Ex 28:3, and those tailors who made the High Priest’s clothes.
d. Enduement was provided as administrative assistance to Moses and the seventy elders in Num 11:25.
e. Enduement was provided to Joshua in Num 27:18.
f. Enduement was provided to certain judges and kings:
(1) Othniel, Judges 3:10.
(2) Gideon, Judges 6:34.
(3) Jephthah, Judges 11:29.
(4) Samson, Judges 14:6, 15:14-15.
(5) Saul, 1 Sam 10:9-10.
(6) David, 1 Sam 16:13.
(7) Daniel for communication, Dan 4:8, 5:11-12.
g. Enduement was provided to the human authors of the Old Testament books, 1 Pet 1:11-12; 2 Pet 1:20-21.
h. Old Testament believers could request the Holy Spirit, as Elishah did in 2 Ki 2:9-10.
i. The disciples were told in Lk 11:13 in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union: “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” They never asked for enduement. Therefore, our Lord gave them enduement to last the period between His resurrection and the day of Pentecost.
3. In the Church Age, we have enablement. We have both the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit in our bodies, and the filling of the Holy Spirit controlling our souls, when we are inside the divine dynasphere. Enablement is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to every Church Age believer.
4. Enablement versus enduement is a contrast between power to a few in the past and maximum power available to all believers now. We have the opportunity to use a power that was never made available to even the greatest of all Old Testament believers.
5. To understand the ministry of grace on the part of the Holy Spirit, we must remember that God the Holy Spirit now makes available to us all His divine power, but we must be in the right place at the right time, i.e., your very own palace, the operational type divine dynasphere.
6. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit in providing power for the believer to live the Christian way of life is called the enabling power of the Spirit. Jesus Christ was the pattern for the enabling power of the Spirit.
7. Just as the unbeliever cannot understand the Gospel or receive Christ as Savior apart from the ministry of the Spirit in common and efficacious grace, so we as believers cannot fulfill the protocol plan of God apart from the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
8. While the indwelling of the Spirit is designed to provide a temple for the indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah Glory, the filling of the Spirit is designed to give you the necessary power to fulfill God’s plan for your life.
9. Principles.
a. Divine power does not and cannot coexist with human power and ability. Divine power and human power cannot and do not coexist. Therefore, spirituality is an absolute.
b. The use of human power instead of divine power is classified as legalism.
c. Legalism is the trend of the sin nature—the second stage of Christian degeneracy. When passing through the eight stages of reversionism, legalism is moral degeneracy.
d. You cannot mix divine power with human power and fulfill God’s plan. No believer can fulfill the protocol plan of God outside of the divine dynasphere, because no believer can fulfill the protocol plan of God in the energy or the power of the flesh. “`Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord.”
F. The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit is the means of execution of the protocol plan of God.
1. The primary function of the omnipotence of the Spirit is to understand Bible doctrine. For without the filling of the Spirit inside the divine dynasphere, the believer cannot learn the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
2. God the Holy Spirit is the teacher of doctrine, but He only teaches us when we are inside the divine dynasphere. Our Lord prophesied this in Jn 14:26 and 16:12-14. Paul reiterated it in 1 Cor 2:9-16, and John taught it in 1 Jn 2:27.
3. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is the means of execution of the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. However, the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is only available inside the divine dynasphere. When the believer is filled with the Spirit, he is residing in the divine dynasphere. When the believer sins, he is outside of the divine dynasphere and is said to be grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit. When the believer is in a state of carnality, he can only reenter through the rebound technique.
4. Inside the divine dynasphere, the believer is walking in the light, 1 Jn 1:7. But outside the divine dynasphere, the believer is said to be walking in darkness, 1 Jn 1:6,8,10.
5. Therefore, the logistics for the Christian way of life are provided in grace by the omnipotence of God, i.e., the omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets, the omnipotence of God the Son related to the perpetuation of human history, and the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit related to the utilization of divine power inside the divine dynasphere.
6. The historical environment for the Christian way of life is provided in grace by God the Father who has made available our portfolio of invisible assets, and the means by which the Holy Spirit fills and controls us. The filling of the Spirit and walking by means of the Spirit are different sides of the same coin. Both terms refer to spirituality.
7. When the believer is filled with the Spirit, he automatically resides in the divine dynasphere where he has equal privilege and equal opportunity for the execution of the protocol plan of God.
8. Outside the divine dynasphere, the believer functions on human power and human ability. Divine omnipotence and human power are mutually exclusive. The Christian way of life is a matter of utilizing divine power rather than human power and ability.
9. Divine power is necessary to execute the divine plan. A perfect plan demands a perfect power for its execution. Invisible heroes are manufactured by divine power only inside the divine dynasphere, the place of the filling of the Spirit. The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life and demands a supernatural means of execution.
10. The availability of divine power gives every Church Age believer equal opportunity for the execution of God’s plan, will, and purpose. Every believer has exactly the same power, plan, purpose and will from God.
a. Eph 3:16, “Now to Him who is able to do infinitely more than we could ever ask or even imagine on the basis of the power that works for us.”
b. 1 Cor 2:5, “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God.”
c. 2 Pet 1:3, “Seeing His divine power has given to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the metabolized doctrine from Him who called us to His own glory and virtue.”
d. 2 Cor 4:7, “For we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the surpassing greatness of His power may be from God and not from ourselves.”
e. Mt 22:29, “Jesus answered and said to them, `You are constantly being deceived, not knowing the Scripture; therefore, not knowing the power of God.’”
11. Principles of Divine Power.
a. God is perfect; therefore, His plan is perfect.
b. A perfect plan demands a perfect system of execution.
c. The only perfect power is the omnipotence of God which is made availability to every Church Age believer to execute His plan, will, and purpose.
d. The power of God the Holy Spirit is designed to execute the protocol plan of God for the Church, and this power is available to every believer who resides inside the operational type divine dynasphere.
e. Life inside the divine dynasphere is tantamount to utilizing the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit for the execution of the protocol plan for the Church.
f. Inside the divine dynasphere, the Holy Spirit is the teacher of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. This is necessary for the execution of the protocol plan and subsequent glorification of God.
g. The power of God the Holy Spirit brought to us to Jesus Christ in salvation and made possible our new birth—the creation of our human spirit. The same divine power is available to us for understanding the mystery doctrine of the Church Age and executing the protocol plan of God. This same power is the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
h. Outside the divine dynasphere, the believer functions on human power and ability. Therefore, he cannot execute the protocol plan of God.
i. Divine power and human power are mutually exclusive. The omnipotence of God is the supernatural means of executing God’s supernatural plan. The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit is related to three factors in the function of God’s plan in our lives.
(1) The filling of the Spirit inside the divine dynasphere.
(2) Cognition of Bible doctrine while we are filled with the Spirit resulting in its metabolization and application.
(3) The function of spiritual gifts inside the divine dynasphere.
j. The principle of God’s grace is that omnipotence does everything for the Christian believer.
(1) The omnipotence of God the Father provides the encouragement for the Christian through His grace policy and divine provision of our portfolio of invisible assets.
(2) The omnipotence of God the Son provides the necessary historical environment for the believer to execute the protocol plan for the Church.
(3) The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit provides the enabling power inside the divine dynasphere for the execution of God’s plan.
G. Pseudo Systems of Spirituality.
1. Most systems of pseudospirituality arise out of legalism.
a. Legalism is defined as the strictness in conforming to a code of deeds, observances, and dead works as a means of self-justification or self-promotion.
b. Legalism is spirituality by works and taboos.
c. Legalism originates from a combination of self-righteous arrogance and subjective self-justification.
d. Legalism is a trend of the sin nature which results in moral degeneracy.
e. Legalism is influenced by two carnal states: the carnal believer involved in the cosmic system of Satan, and the carnal believer involved in Christian moral degeneracy.
2. Some of the systems of pseudospirituality include the following.
a. Spirituality by personality imitation begins by creating a role model out of another person—getting your eyes on people instead of getting your eyes on Christ.
(1) It involves imitating someone whom you admire.
(2) It involves associating with the superficial mannerisms of that believer rather than having the filling of the Spirit. For example,
(a) Wearing certain dress or colors.
(b) Women not wearing or using make-up or cosmetics.
© Neglect of grooming associated with humility or spirituality by asceticism.
(d) Speaking in a certain way with stereotype cliches, holy language, or using “Thou” and “Thee” to address God.
(e) Having certain mannerisms such as poor posture and making certain facial expressions to connote sincerity and spirituality.
(f) The cultivation of a so-called sweet personality.
(3) All this adds up to the fact that the believer must learn to distinguish between spirituality and personality.
(4) God uses all different types of personality, and you do not have to create a “spiritual” personality.
b. Spirituality by “yielding” is a false interpretation of the verb PARISTEMI in Rom 6:13-19 and 12:1. Rom 6:13 really says, “And stop putting your members at the disposal of the sin nature as weapons of wrongdoing, but place yourself under orders to God as those who are alive from the dead.”
(1) The Greek word PARISTEMI means to place yourself at someone’s disposal. You place yourself under orders to God by the filling of the Spirit through rebound when necessary and the cognition of doctrine on a daily basis.
(2) Yielding is the day-by-day function of the spiritual skills in your life. Putting yourself at the disposal of God is the daily filling of the Holy Spirit plus consistent cognition of Bible doctrine.
(3) Pseudospirituality through yielding assumes that the believer is spiritual because of some overt act of dedication like coming forward at the end of a church service. Rededication and reaffirmation of faith can be blasphemy when performed by a Christian.
(4) True spirituality is the filling of the Holy Spirit, placing the believer at the disposal of the Lord every day through the function of spiritual skills. True dedication involves daily decisions from a position of strength.
(5) The true meaning of placing yourself at the disposal of God in Rom 6:13 and presenting your body as a living sacrifice to God in Rom 12:1 is the filling of the Holy Spirit and perception of Bible doctrine.
c. Spirituality by tabooism.
(1) A Taboo is something prescribed by society as improper and unacceptable; hence, a practice excluded from social intercourse. While a taboo is something forbidden by culture, tradition, or social usage, it becomes a false system of spirituality when such prohibitions are established by legalistic Christians. In this false system of spirituality, a taboo is a problem established by legalism and not really a true issue in the Christian life.
(2) A taboo is defined as a forbidden activity by a religious group or a mixed up Christian, but is not a forbidden activity by the Word of God.
(3) Tabooism superimposes legalism on the Christian community as if it were a mandate from God. Most taboos are mandated on the basis of human arrogance and prejudice. Hence, taboos are not a true issue as the modus operandi of the Christian way of life.
(4) The Bible is specific about forbidding sin, but taboos are not really sins.
(5) Legalistic taboos started with Sabbath observance, which meant you could not do anything fun on Sunday. This originated from failure to distinguish between God’s plan for Israel and God’s plan for the Church Age. Popular taboos of legalism include: do not drink, do not dance, do not go to movies, do not smoke, do not gamble, etc. These things may cause health problems or social unacceptance, but they do not indicate a lack of the filling of the Spirit. Taboos appear in different forms in different areas of a country—geographical taboos. For example, the use of cosmetics is a taboo in the north, while mixed bathing is a taboo in the south.
(6) Taboos must be regarded in terms of a certain amount of self-restraint under the filling of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the four laws of Christian behavior apply.
(a) The law of liberty. You have the right to do certain things which will not cause you to sin or enter into carnality. 1 Cor 8:4, 9. You have to be careful when you are around people who might be corrupted by something that is meaningless to you.
(b) The law of love. This is the function of impersonal love to avoid offending weaker believers and becoming a distraction to their spiritual growth. 1 Cor 8:13.
© The law of expediency is directed toward the unbeliever. The believer avoids doing certain things so that the unbeliever is not prevented from seeing the true issue of Christ. In self-righteous arrogance, the unbeliever often superimposes his own standards on the believer, and expects the believer to comply with those standards regardless of their true spiritual connotation. Therefore, in the interest of witnessing for Christ, the believer refrains from doing certain things because they prevent the unbeliever from seeing the true issue in salvation- -to believe in Christ for salvation. 1 Cor 9:18ff.
(d) The law of supreme sacrifice. This is the highest law of Christian behavior. It sometimes requires the believer to forsake even normal living and legitimate function in life, in order to serve our Lord in a special capacity. 1 Cor 9:1-15.
(7) What is wrong with taboos?
(a) Taboos reject the enabling power of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere.
(b) Taboos reject the doctrine that the Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life, and therefore, demands a supernatural means of execution.
© Taboos ignore the principle that spiritual skills must precede production skills for the performance of divine good.
(d) Taboos ignore the fact that no two believers have attained the same status of spiritual growth; therefore, there are differences of modus operandi among believers.
(e) Taboos produce legalistic bullying. The result of legalistic bullying is:
i. No development of spiritual skills.
ii. This means that production skills supercede spiritual skills, resulting in the performance of dead works and evil.
iii. Response to legalism converts weak believers to the practice of legalism, resulting in Christian moral degeneracy.
iv. Reaction to legalism not only rejects the taboos but results in going in the opposite direction—the practice of Christian antinomianism, resulting in Christian immoral degeneracy.
v. Distraction from Bible doctrine, so that the believer becomes a loser in the protocol plan of God.
(f) Taboos weaken volition.
(g) Tabooists judge and invade the privacy of others.
(h) Tabooism is an attempt to legislate the old sin nature.
(i) Taboos restrain without solution, glorify legalism and the function of human power to do something, and thereby hinder spiritual growth.
(j) Taboos obscure the uniqueness of the Church Age, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the portfolio of invisible assets, the royal commissions, the mystery doctrine, the indwelling of the Trinity.
d. Spirituality by respectability is the false contention that a believer is spiritual because his sins are more respectable than the sins of someone else.
(1) This is arrogant self-righteousness involved in arrogant self-vindication or self-justification of one’s own sins while condemning the sins of others. The believer involved in this system of pseudospirituality is very legalistic, very superficial, and involved in more subtle sins than the believer who is antinomian. This is Christian moral degeneracy.
(2) Spirituality by respectability establishes a system of overt morality, and calls it a system of spirituality, e.g., “you are spiritual because you do not do anything to offend me” or “you cannot do those things and be saved.”
(3) This system is heavily involved in inordinate ambition and inordinate competition.
(4) These believers rationalize divine discipline as suffering for blessing.
(5) These believers do not believe that one category of sin makes you just as carnal as another category of sin. Any sin destroys your fellowship with God and demands the use of the rebound technique
(6) Lack of human self-esteem is often the problem of spirituality by respectability. When people have no human self-esteem, then they strive to find something to make themselves important in their own eyes. By so doing, they develop a pseudo or human self-esteem instead of spiritual self-esteem.
(7) Lack of understanding of the doctrine of hamartiology results in the believer’s failure to address his or her own problems.
(8) Self-righteous believers always have a tendency to bully, judge, and meddle in other Christian’s business. Self-righteous believers have a tenacious arrogance. They think that if they loose their arrogance, they loose what they think is their self-esteem.
(9) Self-righteous arrogance is the base for spirituality by respectability. Spirituality makes you respectable, but respectability does not make you spiritual. Respectability is not spirituality.
(10) The sin pattern of self-righteous arrogance is often the worst, resulting in Christian immoral degeneracy and all of the attendant evils unrecognized by the performer. Morality is not spirituality.
e. Ritual spirituality is the belief that you are spiritual by observing certain rituals. This includes observing “holy days,” or certain rituals of a church, such as Lent, the Sabbath, or water baptism for salvation.
(1) Water baptism was a ritual for the precanon period of the Church Age to teach retroactive and current positional truth—union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. The only ritual that is significant and mandated for the postcanon period of the Church Age is the Eucharist—the Lord’s Supper. This ritual demands that you observe it under the filling of the Holy Spirit. Ritual in the Church Age is reduced to the communion service, designed to remember Christ through the filling of the Holy Spirit.
(2) False interpretation of these rituals has resulted in spirituality by ritual; for example, I am spiritual because I take communion or because I was baptized. There is very little ritual in the Church Age. The purpose of ritual in the Old Testament was to teach doctrine. There was no merit in the ritual itself. The merit was in learning the doctrine.
(3) Three failures are involved in spirituality by ritual.
(a) Failure of certain believers to understand that the protocol plan of God has replaced the ritual plan of God in this dispensation.
(b) Failure to understand the filling of the Spirit related to the Church Age.
© False interpretation of the Scripture resulting in emphasis on rituals and assigning to them a meritorious connotation.
f. Program spirituality.
(1) As a substitute for the spiritual skills, many local churches and denominations have devised a program system that emphasizes loyalty to the church through a system of works.
(2) Program spirituality implies that spirituality is doing something, production, working for God; hence, the accumulation of good deeds.
(3) Program spirituality says, “I am spiritual because I am active in the production of good deeds and Christian service. I am also active in community service.
(4) Program spirituality is doing things in the energy of the flesh rather than in the enabling power of the Spirit.
(5) Spirituality through the program system says you are spiritual based on church attendance, giving, participation in prayer meetings, bringing visitors, singing in a choir, participating in some program that has a systematic checklist, or because you teach Sunday school. The problem is obvious—activity is substituted for the filling of the Spirit. The program seeks to get everyone involved in church work; therefore, doctrinal teaching is relegated to a minor role.
(6) Program spirituality is a pseudo system which ignores the protocol plan of God, creating ignorance of Bible doctrine, cosmic involvement, and Christian moral degeneracy. The activity of this system caters to approbation and power lust.
(7) Spiritual skills must precede production skills for the performance of divine good. Action has been substituted for doctrine. Production is a result of spiritual advance, never the means.
g. Spirituality by emotion.
(1) Emotion is defined as an affective state of consciousness as distinguished from a cognitive and volitional state of consciousness. Emotion is usually accompanied by certain physiological changes and overt expression. Emotion is designed to be a responder and subordinate to the mentality of the soul.
(a) Spirituality by emotion attempts to duplicate the temporary spiritual gifts (tongues, healing, miracles, etc.) which only functioned during the precanon period of the Church Age.
(b) Spirituality by emotionalism is wrong; for emotion is not the criterion for the filling of the Spirit. This is the basis of the tongues movement and the holy rollers. Emotion does not possess spirituality. Being overly emotional and having a lack of emotion has nothing to do with spirituality. Emotion has no ability to reason. When emotion takes over, you lose your common sense, your vocabulary as a tool for mental function, your ability to think. Therefore, emotion is not a criteria for Christian experience.
(2) Emotion has two functions in life:
(a) Normal emotional response to the values of the mentality of your soul.
(b) Abnormal function, which is emotional reaction in the sphere of sinfulness or carnality. Abnormal emotion controls the soul’s brain and blots out Bible doctrine by overpowering the right lobe of the soul where metabolized doctrine is located. Emotional spirituality is an abnormal function. Abnormal emotion builds a wall in your soul that prevents the application of doctrine and develops emotional revolt of the soul. The wall is built by the various categories of emotional sin—fear, hatred, self-pity, guilt, jealousy. When you get involved in sin, including emotional sins, you have a malfunction of your personality. Doctrine does not change your personality, it refines it. There are at least five categories of emotional sin.
i. Fear, which includes worry and anxiety. The more things you surrender to fear, the more things you fear. The extent to which you surrender to fear, you increase the power of fear in your life. The more things that acquire the power of fear in your life, the more things in life you fear. Fear is inability to think under pressure. Courage is the ability to think under pressure.
ii. Hatred, which includes anger, violence, murder.
iii. Self-pity, which automatically stuffs problems into the subconscious.
iv. Guilt. Once controlled by guilt, you are a totally irrational person. You condemn yourself by your emotional sins, not by the norms and standards of your mentality. People get married, serve God, go to church, try to change their personality, and many other things because of guilt—all from wrong motivation.
v. Jealousy. Jealousy, as a sin, is part of the arrogance complex of sins and the emotional complex of sins. If you are jealous, you will have one of the following reactions: bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, inordinate ambition and competition, revenge, or verbal sins. Jealousy is emotional or irrational arrogance. Jam 4:5, “Or do you presume that the Scripture speaks in vain against jealousy.” Jealousy results in resentment and hatred of others. (See the Doctrine of Jealousy.)
© Emotion is related to human power and influence but never to divine power or the legitimate function of the protocol plan of God.
(3) Emotion or ecstatics does not characterize spirituality.
(a) In the Church Age, the filling of the Holy Spirit has no emotion connected with it. Only in the Millennium is the filling of the Holy Spirit associated with emotion, Rom 16:17-18; 2 Cor 6:11-12. This is because we represent the absent Christ in the Church Age, and are therefore minus ecstatics.
(b) Spirituality in the Old Testament was not related to the Holy Spirit directly. It was related to the function of the faith-rest drill, Heb 11.
© In the Millennium the believer who is filled with the Spirit appreciates Christ being present, therefore, has ecstatics. Joel 2:28-29; Isa 29:19, 32:15, 44:3; Ezek 39:29; Zech 12:10.
(4) Principles.
(a) The application of nothing to something is nothing. The application of emotion to life is nothing.
(b) Emotion often creates false identity so that the believer is distracted from the spiritual skills. Without the spiritual skills there is no advance in the Christian life.
© Believers without normal self-esteem often seek some spiritual superiority in this false system of emotionalism.
(d) Peer pressure instability produces a fear spawned by the arrogance of inordinate ambition and competition. This fear is an emotional sin related to the self-identity problem. This self-identity problem becomes involved in power and approbation lust, seeking to overcome the peer pressure instability.
(e) Peer pressure arrogance results in irrational self- deception, which in turn, results in self-fragmentation through the sins of the arrogance complex and the emotional complex.
(f) Emotional spirituality is vanity—a false system of spirituality.
(5) Emotional spirituality produces three spiritual disasters.
(a) Emotional revolt of the soul hinders postsalvation
epistemological rehabilitation or learning Bible doctrine. 2 Cor 6:11-12, “Oh you Corinthians, our mouth has been opened face to face with you, because our heart has been enlarged [with doctrine]. You have not been hindered [in spiritual growth] by us, but you have been hindered by your own emotions.”
(b) Emotional spirituality is a distraction to the execution of the protocol plan of God for the Church. Rom 16:17-18, “Now I urge you, brethren, look out for those who cause dissensions and hindrances which are in opposition to doctrine which you have learned. In fact, turn away from them. For such persons [believers] are slaves not to our Lord Christ but to their own emotions; and by smooth and flattering speech they deceive the right lobes of the stupid.” Job 30:27, “My emotions are boiling, and I cannot relax; days of affliction confront me.” Lam 1:20, “See, Oh Lord, I am in distress; my emotions are in ferment; my right lobe is overturned within me, for I have been rebellious.”
© Emotional spirituality makes a god out of emotion. Phil 3:18-19, “For many walk, concerning whom I have communicated to you many times, and now continue communicating even though weeping, they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose destiny is destruction, whose god is their emotion, and whose fame is in their dishonor, who keep thinking about earthly things.” When emotion becomes the believer’s god, that believer is in moral or immoral degeneracy.
(6) Ecstatics is an overpowering exaltation of feeling of rapturous delight that gives you a false sense of power, in which you imagine a personal sense of destiny or a status of spiritual maturity. In reality, this is simply emotional revolt of the soul. Ecstatics represents the maximum wish or dream fulfillment of the believer, but is not related to the filling of the Holy Spirit or execution of the protocol plan of God.
(7) The vocabulary of ecstatics.
(a) Ecstacy leads to emphasizing experience over doctrine.
(b) Tension as an emotion expressing dread, dissatisfaction, and restlessness is counterproductive to spiritual growth.
© Anxiety, as an emotional sin, is simply heightened or disrupted tension—an emotional state without cognition of Bible doctrine. (d) Panic is an emotional functional of fear based on prolonged tension.
(e) Insecurity is an emotional adoration from both lack of spiritual self-esteem as well as the cut off of Bible doctrine
. (f) Depersonalization is an emotional adoration in which the believer no longer perceives the reality of self or his or her environment; hence, the feeling of reality.
h. Spirituality through self-crucifixion simply confuses retroactive positional truth with Christian experience. Rom 6 mentions Spirit baptism, not water baptism. There’s no such thing as experiential self-crucifixion. Therefore, this is merely a case of arrogant subjectivity rather than the enabling power of the Spirit. This is a false system of spirituality often related to extremes in asceticism or failure to understand the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
i. Spirituality by asceticism and extreme self-denial is called monasticism.
j. Spirituality by personality change. Personality change is not spirituality. Doctrine may refine your personality, but you don’t become spiritual by you changing your personality.
H. The royal family is in partnership with the Holy Spirit, Phil 2:2. The partnership is with our volition. If we are positive to Bible doctrine, then we are totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit and relate our lives to Christ. The purpose of the filling of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ by our reaching maturity.
I. We must learn to distinguish between the power, the means, and the results in the spiritual life.
1. There are two powers in the spiritual life.
a. The filling ministry of the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere.
b. Bible doctrine in the soul of the believer.
2. The power of the Holy Spirit is declared in Acts 1:8. We lose the power of the filling of the Holy Spirit when we sin. We regain it when we rebound.
3. You must have more time in the filling of the Holy Spirit than out of fellowship in order to grow spiritually.
4. “Yielding” is a result of spirituality, not the means. You yield to God the Holy Spirit through spirituality. Divine guidance, the function of GAP, and production in the Christian life are results of spirituality.
5. Bible doctrine is also the power of the Christian life. The application of doctrine is the means of production. Production is the result of the function of GAP plus the filling of the Holy Spirit.
J. The Principle of the Spiritual Life of the Believer.
1. The spiritual life of the believer is based on what the Bible calls the heart or the right lobe of the soul that circulates metabolized doctrine in the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness. There are two concepts of spiritual life related to the heart.
a. The absolute concept of the spiritual life. The heart is the location for the filling of the Holy Spirit.
b. The relative concept of the spiritual life. The heart is the location for metabolized doctrine, which is the relative concept of the spiritual life. How much doctrine is circulating in the stream of consciousness is a relative concept.
2. Gnosis in the left lobe of the soul is academic understanding of doctrine. Gnosis doctrine has no spiritual connotation until it is transferred to the heart (to the stream of consciousness) where it becomes epignosis.
3. Gnosis minus epignosis has no spiritual life. If you do not metabolized doctrine, you are not going to have a spiritual life.
4. One of the major functions of the spiritual life is the use of the problem solving devices. The problem solving devices come into your soul from their extrapolation from metabolized doctrine.
5. You are the only one who can use your spiritual life. You cannot function on the spiritual life of another person. One of the greatest failures is to make role models out of other people. God intends for your personality to function in the spiritual life as you are, not as being someone else.
6. Therefore, whatever the benefits to the human being in counseling (which may be beneficial), being counseled is not a part of your spiritual life.
a. Whatever are the benefits of psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, it is not the function of your spiritual life. Many people benefit from psychotherapy, but it is not your spiritual life. Your spiritual life is in trouble, if you start blaming everything on your childhood, your parents, or some circumstance.
b. Whatever are the benefits of psychiatric treatment, it is not a part of your spiritual life. Your spiritual life is based on metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness by means of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Learn to distinguish between your spiritual life and the help you receive outside your spiritual life. Psychiatry is not bad; it is just not a part of your spiritual life. It is help you receive outside of your spiritual life.
(1) Psychiatry is the science of treating mental disorders.
(2) Psychotherapy is the science and method of curing psychological abnormalities and disorders by psychological techniques.
(3) Psychoanalysis is the systematic structure of theories concerning the relationship between the conscious and the subconscious; hence, a technical procedure for investigating either the subconscious or the unconscious mental processes for treating psychoneurosis.
(4) Psychotechnology is the body of knowledge, theories, and techniques developed for understanding and influencing individual, group, or societal behavior in specific situations.
c. Note that most of these are developed from theories, sciences, and techniques for the benefit of humanity in general (including unbelievers). Consequently, these categories cannot be construed as your spiritual life. These are sciences, systems, and theories for the benefit of both believers and unbelievers.
d. Psychotherapy has been and often is beneficial, but the medical practice of psychiatry and the psychological function of psychotherapy must not be regarded by believers as replacing Bible doctrine or the spiritual life. Your spiritual life is Bible doctrine in your soul you are using. The spiritual life of the believer is related to what God has provided for each one of us in grace, based on precedence of the function of the humanity of Christ in hypostatic union. There is no spiritual life until you are filled with the Spirit and begin to metabolize doctrine.
7. Conclusions.
a. The believer who reaches spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, or spiritual maturity, and glorifies God thereby, does so from the use of spiritual assets available and revealed in the Word of God only.
b. When we are ill, we go to a doctor and benefit from medicine, but medicine is not our spiritual life.
c. Believers are often involved in things which benefit the body and health, but this is not the spiritual life.
d. Many things may contribute to one’s ability to sit down and listen in Bible class, but only the doctrine which is metabolized as epignosis in the heart is your spiritual life.
e. Many benefits have been derived from health foods, exercise, and psychotherapy, but none of these directly relates to your spiritual life, and none of these are a substitute for God’s gracious extension to us of the problem solving devices.
f. As long as the believer is alive, there is no substitute for Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness, and there never will be a substitute for the problem solving devices. Problem solving devices have limited application until your relationship with God is established through metabolized doctrine. This is your spiritual life.
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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