Notes from Ephesians chapter four

P-T: Joint of the body analogy

All members of the royal family are linked together, not by similarity of personality, not by conformity to standards of legalism, not by human rapport concepts, not in conformity to false standards of one kind or another, but the doctrinal teaching of the pastor and the resultant advance to spiritual maturity. All co-ordination in the body is based then on the function of its joints and ligaments which represent the pastor fulfilling the ministry of teaching the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Joints are the basis for exercise and building strength in the body. Without the faithful function of the pastor-teacher the body of Christ or the royal family of God would lack spiritual growth and retrogress from lack of spiritual food, vitality and power. The word joint refers to the pastor-teacher and that gift only. Repetition and beneficial exercise involves the consistent and constant function of the joints and ligaments analogous to the consistent, faithful Bible teaching by the pastor.

In the development of strength the joints function against pressure and as you learn the ten problem-solving devices and use them under the pressures of adversities and tragedies and difficulties in your life, then you begin to grow and utilise the doctrine that you have learned. Therefore perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine, the function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation is absolutely impossible without the pastor-teacher. And as a result the congregation is consistent in learning doctrine, consistent in growing up, and this is how the congregation puts on muscle.

Joints provide body action. By analogy every function and action in life must be motivated by thought energy, the divine viewpoint printed on the brain in the form of metabolised doctrine. There are two kinds of doctrine that cause you to grow spiritually: e)pignwsij and sofia. E)pignwsij is the doctrine going in, the metabolised doctrine; sofia is the doctrine on the launching pad being applied to every experience in life. Those two categories can only come through the function of a prepared teacher communicating Bible doctrine and the Holy Spirit metabolising that doctrine so that it might become e)pignwsij and sofia and usable for growth and application and everything that makes your life wonderful. But there would be none of this were it not for the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 begins the paragraph dealing with the function of the pastor-teacher. It also has a great deal to say about everyone involved in the protocol plan of God, either negative or positive.

Corrected translation: “Then he gave spiritual gifts [a reference to our Lord Jesus Christ in the triumphal procession, tantamount to His resurrection, ascension and session, and the calling out of a royal family].”

We are in the post-canon period of the Church Age and all of the temporary gifts are gone and we have permanent spiritual gifts. The various categories are represented only in one way in verse 11. We have two spiritual gifts: The gift of apostles — the apostles are pre-canon — and the gift of prophecy. Those two spiritual gifts no longer exist. Since 96 AD there are two communication gifts left: the gift of evangelism and the gift of pastor-teacher. The temporary spiritual gifts were designed to implement the plan of God before the completion of the NT canon.

In verse twelve we have the purpose of the pastor-teacher: “For the purpose of equipping the saints.” This is the inculcation of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age by the pastor-teacher; “for the work [accomplishment or production] of Christian service.” There are four categories of Christian service: related to your spiritual gift, related to your royal priesthood, related to your royal ambassadorship, related to the laws of divine establishment. And the third prepositional phrase: “for the edification of the body of Christ.” This is the individual connotation of the final phrase and it means the execution of the protocol plan of God resulting in the manufacture of invisible heroes for the glorification of God.

In verse 13 we have a phrase which is very important: “until we all obtain the objective.” It refers to the fact that every believer has the same opportunities and the same privileges for executing the protocol plan of God for the Church Age.

How do we fulfil God’s plan? “Because of the system from doctrine” — perception, metabolisation, and application of Bible doctrine. This is a reference to the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.

Again, verse 13 — “Until we all obtain the objective because of the system from doctrine, and by means of the e)pignwsij knowledge of the Son of God, resulting in a mature believer.” The mature believer comes in three classifications related to his very own palace, the operational type divine dynasphere. Gate 1, the filling of the Holy Spirit; Gate 2, Basic knowledge of doctrine and basic problem-solving devices; Gate 3, Enforced and genuine humility, objectivity, teachability; Gate 4, The function of epignosis in momentum; Gate 5 (The first category of spiritual adulthood), Spiritual self-esteem, cognitive self-confidence; Gate 6, Spiritual autonomy, cognitive independence; Gate 7, Momentum testing; Gate 8, Cognitive invincibility.

“to the measure of the maturity of the fullness of Christ” — and that refers to the standard for execution of the protocol plan of God. Spiritual maturity is the standard and the standard is the spiritual maturity of the humanity of Christ during the dispensation of the hypostatic union. The humanity of Christ occupied the prototype divine dynasphere. When we are in fellowship we occupy the operational type divine dynasphere, the only place of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord was born into the prototype divine dynasphere; we are born again into the operational type divine dynasphere in the Church Age only. Our Lord had the filling of the Spirit to sustain His humanity; we have the filling of the Holy Spirit plus the mystery doctrine of the Church Age to execute the protocol plan. When it talks about the fullness of our Lord it is talking about the fact that through the virgin birth He did not have a sin nature, and therefore when life was imputed to Him at birth He entered into the prototype and He remained in that.

Verse 14 — “In order that we no longer be childish or fragmented, destabilised [failure to use the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan] in heavy seas [adversities, problems pressures, sufferings, catastrophes and disasters of life], and driven out of control by every wind of false teaching, by the trickery of men, by cunning deception, for the purpose of deceitful scheming;

Verse 15 — “But by teaching doctrine associated with virtue-love, that we [pastors] may cause them [congregations] to grow up with reference to the all things [at least four things: the unique characteristics of the Church Age, the protocol plan of God for the Church Age, the manufacture of invisible heroes in the Church Age, the glorification of God through the tactical victory of Church Age believers], with reference to him who is the head, Christ.”

Jesus Christ is the ruler of the Church by virtue of His strategic victory of the dispensation of the hypostatic union. He is the ruler of the Church by virtue of His third royal patent which He received at the moment of the session of Jesus Christ. He is the ruler of the Church as the royal family of God which He purchased with His own blood on the cross.

Verse 16 — “Because of whom” — a reference to Jesus Christ as the head of the Church; “the entire body having been joined together” is a reference to the results of the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation through personal faith in Jesus Christ. It includes the concept of different spiritual gifts but equal privilege and equal opportunity for the execution of the protocol plan of God; “and being inculcated [repetitious teaching of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age resulting in consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation by which the believer becomes an invisible hero and glorifies God] by every joint of supply [ “joint” refers to the function of the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher; “supply” is a metaphor emphasising the fact that God provides the gift of pastor-teacher for every generation of believers and always enough to cover positive volition and an overage to cover negative volition, for negative volition is condemned in every generation].”

Principle: The spiritual gift of pastor-teacher is not only the means of inculcating the mystery doctrine of the Church Age but a vital link in the perception, metabolisation and application of that doctrine as the only means of spiritual growth and of glorifying God.

kata e)nergeia is literally, on the basis of the operational power. There are two categories of operational power in view in this passage:

A. The availability of the three categories of divine omnipotence to every Church Age believer: 1. The omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets; 2. The omnipotence of God the Son related to the preservation of the universe and the perpetuation of human history; 3. The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit related to residence, function and momentum inside our very own palace — the operational type divine dynasphere.

B. The operational type divine dynasphere, the place of the filling of the Holy Spirit, the location for the execution of the protocol plan of God.

Identification and preparation

God has designed for the Church Age a measuring rod for history. The secret to that measuring rod is the amount of positive volition among believers. God honours positive volition; God provides for positive volition in grace, always and inevitably.

We now come to God’s measuring rod under the principle of election in every moment of history:

The preposition e)n plus the locative of sphere from the noun metron. It means “in measure.” It is followed immediately by the adverbial genitive of measure from a numeral e(ij. Now we have a measuring rod that explains all of history from the time of 30 AD to the present: “in measure of one” (one — e(ij, refers to the pastor-teacher). It is followed by the genitive of advantage singular from two words, an adjective e(kastoj [each] and a noun meroj [part]. It is translated, “in measure one pastor-teacher for each part.” This a part of logistical grace support for the royal family during the Church Age. In addition it explains all of the concepts of history, for all concepts of history revolve around a pastor and a congregation. The response of that congregation to Bible doctrine determines the course of history in the client nation and the course of history in non-client nations related to the principle of missionary activity. If we have a situation where a large group of people are evangelised in a given generation and only a small part are positive, God still provides the gift of pastor-teacher to cover all believers. That means that the demand for pastor-teachers is going to be minimal, and so only a few will actually function.

What about all those to whom God has given the gift? They perform the function of condemnation at the Judgement Seat of Christ, but because they are not able to function as pastor-teachers God provides for them special blessing.

Principles

1. An excess of pastors without a ministry in an apostate generation will serve as the basis for the condemnation of the apostate generation at the Judgement seat of Christ.

2. All positive volition toward Bible doctrine in a given generation will be honoured by the logistical grace provision of a pastor-teacher to satisfy the desire to know the will, the purpose and the plan of God.

3. No positive believer is ever left without the opportunity of hearing the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. It is available in every generation.

4. Every segment of positive volition will have a prepared pastor to satisfy the need and longing for understanding God and His plan, purpose and will.

“he himself” poiew [pres. mid. indic.] to cause. He himself, the pastor-teacher, causes the royal family to advance spiritually to maturity and become invisible heroes and thereby glorify God as well as having that fantastic invisible impact on history.

“increase” — a)uchsij refers to growth; “body” — swma, referring to the royal family of God under the analogy of a body.

Principles

1. The function of the pastor is to teach, to inculcate the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. This is the means by which the royal family of God not only orients to this dispensation but is caused to grow and attain spiritual maturity. In spiritual maturity invisible heroes are manufactured and God is glorified.

2. The pastor cannot teach what he does not know. Therefore the importance of the pastor’s cognition of the following concepts: a. Precedence for the Church Age is taken from the dispensation of the hypostatic union, not from the Mosaic law and not from the dispensation of Israel; b. The believer must understand his portfolio of invisible assets; c. The unique divine provision for the Church Age becomes absolutely necessary; d. The protocol plan of God and how it is executed inside the operational type divine dynasphere; they must understand the mechanics; e. The problem-solving devices of the Church Age; f. Spiritual momentum through suffering for blessing; g. The spiritual impact of the invisible hero.

“for” — e)ij indicates the result of attainment of spiritual maturity, the construction of the edification complex of the soul.

What happens to the men whom God the Holy Spirit has given the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher?

1. Some believers never recognise the gift for it can only be identified by spiritual growth.

2. Some male believers recognise the gift but negative volition toward doctrine ends any use of that spiritual gift.

3. Other believers recognise the gift but are never properly prepared to use it.

4. Other believers identify their spiritual gift as pastor-teacher and begin a somewhat lengthy and often very painful function of preparation.

5. Of those male believers who are properly prepared a certain number never find pulpits in which they can communicate and express their spiritual gift.

6. Lack of placement is no reflection upon the prepared person but on the apostasy of any given generation. Nevertheless, God honours their preparation and blesses them in the other activities of their life.

7. This category stated will act as condemnation on that generation at the judgement seat of Christ.

8. Other male believers with the gift of pastor-teacher and proper preparation are placed in pulpits and cause spiritual growth through faithful teaching of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age and the mechanics of the protocol plan.

There are two prepositional phrases in the closing part of this verse. The first phrase indicates the result of the attainment of spiritual maturity, the construction of the edification complex of the soul. The second phrase indicates the means of attainment of spiritual maturity which is the function of all ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan. Both prepositional phrases emphasise spiritual momentum in the protocol plan of God, and obviously this spiritual momentum depends on accurate teaching of pertinent Bible doctrine by the pastor.

“building” o)ikodomh with the absence of the definite article. The absence of the definite article in the Greek emphasises the qualitative aspect of the noun rather than its mere identity. With this we have a possessive genitive singular from e(autou the reflexive pronoun which modifies the noun. When the action expressed by the verb is referred back to its own subject it is classified as reflexive. In this case e(autou is translated by the word “its.” Lit. “resulting in

its edification”.

The second prepositional phrase is en plus the instrumental of means from the noun a)gaph. The noun is not used for love in the ordinary sense, it is a reference to virtue-love. It is translated, “by means of virtue-love” .It refers to three of the ten problem-solving devices.

The Doctrine Of The Edification Complex

1. We are dealing with the word o)ikodomh. It is always used in a technical sense. There are two connotations: collective and individual. The collective connotation is a reference to the formation of the royal family of God in the Church Age. This is the way the royal family of God is formed. Once it is completed then it is removed from the earth by the Rapture of the Church. The individual connotation is a reference to spiritual growth. Those believers who attain spiritual maturity build a structure, an edification complex. When the collective connotation of o)ikodomh is used it should be translated “construction” or “building up” or “building process.” When the individual connotation is used we translate it “edification.”

2. The importance of the pastor-teacher in the construction of the edification complex. Your life is either going to be one of spiritual growth or failure. If you grow in grace you will attain spiritual maturity, you will become an invisible hero. You will then have an edification complex. But the only way anyone can have an ECS is by sitting under the ministry of a pastor-teacher while he communicates the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.

3. Motivation. Positive volition as a motivation is taught in Romans 14:19 “pursuing those things.” There is also the importance of humility and mental attitude in the construction of the ECS, Romans 12:2-5. Edification is the status of the invisible hero and edification is impossible without humility, objectivity and teachability.

4. Edification is the key to the proper function of the local church. 1 Cor. 14:12 — “seek to abound in the spiritual gifts that edify the church.” 1 Cor. 14:26 — “when you assemble let all things be done for edification.” Everything has an objective in assembly worship, and that is edification. Therefore the objective is to communicate doctrine which has the purpose of producing edification. The key to the modus operandi of the local church then is this word “edification.”

In the concept of the pattern for the manufacture of the ECS we go right back to an old principle. Priority number one, the perception, metabolisation and application of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Therefore, priority number one means that you must concentrate on priority number one. By concentrating on priority number one you, under the ministry of the Spirit, are learning doctrine. Therefore you organise your life around priority number one. As you do you expose yourself to the teaching of Bible doctrine, and as a result of doing so you begin to think in terms of the mystery doctrine and you organise your thinking around priority number one. What you do in effect when you organise your thinking around priority number one is to use the ten problem-solving devices of the Church Age. As a result you concentrate on execution through the doctrine that you have learned. That is how the ECS is constructed.

The Structure Of The Edification Complex

1. The foundation is eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. A structure is then built on this foundation — operation Z, the first floor of the ECS, the teaching of Bible doctrine which becomes gnwsij and then e)pignwsij. Only e)pignwsij has momentum in the spiritual life.

2. The unique characteristics of the Church Age. Understanding, for example, the baptism of the Spirit, the protocol plan of God, your portfolio of invisible assets, the equality factor, your unique royal commissions (royal priesthood, royal ambassadorship), the mystery doctrine, the indwelling of the three members of the Trinity, the unique availability of divine power, the Church Age is a dispensation of no prophecy, the objective is to become an invisible hero. The principle is that no believer ever advances in the plan of God apart from dispensational orientation.

3. The problem-solving devices. Rebound, the filling of the Spirit, the three stages of the faith-rest drill, grace orientation, doctrinal orientation, personal love for God the Father — motivational virtue in the protocol plan; impersonal love for all mankind — functional virtue of the protocol plan, +H or actually sharing the happiness of God, a personal sense of destiny, occupation with the person of Jesus Christ, the priority solution to the problems of life.

4. Spiritual self-esteem. This is cognitive self-confidence, this is the first stage of spiritual adulthood; this is the time when suffering for blessing begins, spiritual self-esteem plus providential preventative suffering equals spiritual autonomy.

5. Spiritual autonomy, the second stage of spiritual adulthood. This is the place of cognitive independence. There is also suffering for blessing, spiritual autonomy plus momentum testing equals spiritual maturity. All of the great areas of suffering for blessing really begin with spiritual adulthood.

6. Spiritual maturity, the third stage of spiritual adulthood. Cognitive invincibility. There is also a category of suffering — spiritual maturity plus evidence testing equals glorification of God to the maximum as a witness for the prosecution in the rebuttal phase of Satan’s appeal trial which runs co-terminously with human history.

7. The function of the invisible hero. We have the distribution of escrow blessings for time; we have historical impact and the anticipation of the escrow blessings for the eternal state.

This is why we are here. We are gradually building, under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, an ECS. Once it is constructed we have the tiger by the tail for this is the devil’s world, but you will never know it once you put that seventh floor on it.

It is necessary to define some of the problems which hinder the believer from executing the protocol plan. Basically there are two problem classifications: categorical problems and problems of modus operandi — functional problems. Categorical problems are defined as those relating to sins and emotions in the life of the believer. These problems are caused by two things: ignorance of Bible doctrine and therefore ignorance of the ten problem-solving devices. Therefore categorical problems emphasise the sins of Christians and emotional malfunction in the spiritual life. Emotion is given far too great a role when in reality emotion has no role at all except as the normal function in response to things you appreciate. The problems to note are distractions, related to self and to others, and the problem of fear which covers a realm of emotional problems. Then there are the problems of rejection, dying, timing, promises vs integrity.

There are four problems of modus operandi. The believer’s emphasis on relationship with people over against relationship with God; the believer’s attempt to execute God’s plan in the energy of the flesh rather than through divine power; thirdly, the ignorance of the biblical subject of love; fourthly, the malfunction of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.

Solutions are understood when problems are defined. Hence the importance of having a general concept of what are the major problems in life.

Categorical Problems

1. Distraction. Two categories: distraction related to self and distraction related to others.

Distractions related to self begin with the fragmented life. Every believer is a walking grenade with the potential for a fragmented life. All the believer has to do is to use his own volition to pull the pin. Fragmentation is the state of being fragmented; the disintegration, the collapse, the breakdown of your motives, your thoughts, your norms, your standards, your behaviour pattern The analogy in this biography is the fragmentation grenade. Fragging is an army (US) slang term for assaulting, attacking an unpopular officer with a fragmentation grenade. However, in the analogy we frag ourselves. This is a major distraction and is the number one categorical problem of the Christian life. The pin of the grenade is the arrogance complex — jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, hatred, implacability, self-pity, hypersensitivity, motivational and functional revenge (gossip, slander, maligning, judging others). Inevitably we blame someone else.

Ephesians 4:31 is the mandate to utilise the problem-solving devices which are very important in any recovery from fragmentation. Notice it begins with the pin of the grenade: “all bitterness” .Everything that follows is a fragment of the grenade. “Anger” — the emotional sin of anger, “wrath” — which means fury, bitterness, bitter resentment, the mental attitude sin of anger expressed through hatred, etc., “must be taken away from you” — beginning with the rebound technique — “along with all malice.”

Two thoughts about malice: Malice is the motivation and desire of the fragmented believer to inflict suffering on others; malice is motivated by such sins of the grenade as jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, hatred, implacability, revenge.

Distraction is something we do to ourselves, not what someone else does to us. Ephesians 4:32 says: “But become kind [perform many acts of grace. A believer who performs many acts of grace is one who uses the ten problem-solving devices] one toward another [interaction of impersonal love], compassionate [the capacity for impersonal love through personal love for God, PSD 6, and occupation with Christ PSD 10].” Notice: In doing something the right way it is not a change of personality.

We have noted many times Romans 12:3: “For I say through the grace which has been given to me, to every one who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance [The problem of self-distraction] beyond what you ought to think, but think in terms of sanity for the purpose of being rational without illusion as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from doctrine.” That standard of thinking from doctrine are the problem-solving devices which are absolutely necessary for the advance to spiritual maturity.

Distraction related to others

It is inevitable that a fragmented believer whose trend is toward self-righteousness will begin to judge others. And with this judgement of others comes slander, maligning, gossip, unrealistic expectations, role-model arrogance. The fragmented believer becomes pre-occupied with the sins and the failures of others, whether they are real sins or imagined. The others, by the way, are distracted by his attitude. Hence, such a fragmented believer is distracted under two categories: the sins or the failures of others; he becomes a distraction to others through the modus operandi of moral degeneracy.

Principle: You cannot be occupied or pre-occupied with the sins or the failure of others and at the same time advance in the protocol plan of God. Spiritual advance requires consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. That means the perception, metabolisation and the application of doctrine. It means life in the divine dynasphere and life in the divine dynasphere is not fragmented. You have to pull the pin of the grenade and fragment your life in the cosmic system.

Spiritual advance then requires understanding and utilising the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God. In this dispensation the sins and the failure of other believers must be left in the hands of the Lord for judgement, for discipline, for any punitive action that God may take. The exception of course is that parents have the authority to punish their children, and the state has the authority to punish criminals. The problem of distraction from others comes from the fragmented life.

Principle: If believers were more concerned about learning the mystery doctrine of the Church Age they would be less concerned about sticking their nose in to the lives of other Christians. We fragment our own lives once again by intruding on the privacy of other believers.

In John 8:3 we are introduced to the most self-righteous, fragmented people who ever lived! The scribes and the Pharisees represent the trend toward self-righteousness, they are religious types but unbelievers. The woman was caught in the act of adultery and immediately we ask the question: Why was the woman caught in the act of adultery? To catch someone in the actual act means you have to snoop! Also, anyone who knows anything about life knows that it takes two to tango! Where is the man? Why did they just bring the woman? Because some of them were bitter, vindictive, implacable, full of hatred and jealousy; and therefore they didn’t even bother to bring the man. And that in itself is a violation of the Jewish law which demanded that both parties must be brought in — Deut. 22. They made the woman stand before a crowd, they didn’t take her into a court. This again shows terrible vindictiveness and the fragmentation of life. Furthermore they were full of their own sarcasm, v4: “Rabbi,” a title used as a respectful vocative addressed to a teacher, but used here by the scribes and the Pharisees in sarcasm. They have no respect for Christ, they are trying to prove Him to be a liar. They are trying to discredit Him. And so we see a second failure of the fragmented life: an attempt to discredit the legitimate God-Man, the Son of David. Also here there should be a man but they didn’t want him brought into this case at all. They wanted the woman stoned to death.

Immediately they quote the law, v5. “What do you say?” they then ask the Lord. Well Deut. 22 states certain conditions under which the woman could have been executed but the man would have to be executed with her. They were to be tried. But that is not the case here. Obviously someone is trying to get revenge on this woman. The scribes and Pharisees were not interested in justice, they were interested in two things: they wanted revenge on the woman and they wanted to discredit our Lord’s ministry, v6. They were using this question as a trap in order to have grounds to accuse Him.

The important thing in what follows is that He changed His posture and did not speak. When you speak to some people and even give them the truth, they are there to distort. Jesus ignored them because He already knows they are self-righteous, arrogant, and fragmented. The interesting thing is that they are sinning while they speak. They caught the woman in a sin, she is now just standing there, and now they are doing all the sinning. Why did Jesus stoop down to write? Probably because He was not even concentrating on what they say. He is isolating Himself from them in the crowd. He is not leaving but by writing He is showing them He is not listening any more. Jesus, in effect, is isolating Himself from their fragmentation. (Lesson: When you’re judged, maligned, slandered, ignore it.) Jesus has no intention of compromising with evil or condoning self-righteous arrogance. And He is not condoning the adulteress either. He is just not saying anything.

Verse 7 — “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first one to throw a stone at her.” There He again isolates Himself from their sins, v8. He is dealing with the worst sinners first.

Verse 9 — the religious crowd begins to leave. In verse 11 notice the woman’s answer: “No man Lord.” The woman’s viewpoint: “Lord,” no one can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit. They called Him Rabbi; she called Him Lord. They were unbelievers; she was a believer. “And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: from now on stop this category of sinning.” Jesus recognised that the woman had sinned and He recognised the fact that He had a right to condemn her but our Lord also recognised that the scribes and the Pharisees, her would be judges, were guilty of far greater sins related to a fragmented life. The woman was now a forgiven believer and would shortly live in the dispensation of the Church where precedence was not based on the Mosaic law but the grace policy of Jesus Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union.

Application: When you see too much of other people’s sins you have a tendency to be blind to your own sins. You compare yourself to others and to you they look gross. In your own eyes you look great and so you confuse grossness and greatness and you become blind to the fact that you sin and you fail, and that the mental attitude sins are the worst sins, except for one overt sin — murder.

Principle: You cannot be occupied with the sins and the failures of other people and at the same time advance in the protocol plan of God.

A good representative of the emotional sins is fear. The problem of fear represents, therefore, the entire concept of the emotional sins. Emotion is not sin in itself but emotion does produce sins under certain conditions. Fear is lack of thinking under pressure and therefore a good representative of the emotional sins. Fear is also irrational and therefore follows the same concept, that is, it is irrational as far as the believer is concerned because the believer has all of the answers in the problem-solving devices. Ignorance of the problem-solving devices means failure to utilise and therefore the function of fear in the life. For the believer, then, fear is failure to apply Bible doctrine to the problems of life and, specifically, the ten problem-solving devices. Fear is actually a system of sins just like arrogance; and it includes worry, anxiety, incapability of doctrinal application, and ignorance of and failure to use the problem-solving devices. In other words the loser is bogged down with fear, worry anxiety and other sins of emotion.

The principle: The more things that you as a believer surrender to fear the more things you come to fear. To the extent that 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 greater your capacity for fragmentation.

Arrogance, fear, worry, anxiety, and other emotional sins, are all related to irrationality, and irrationality is a major contradiction to the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. In 1 John 4:18 we read that fear does not exist in virtue-love. Remember that three out of the ten problem-solving devices are related to virtue-love. But virtue-love (problem-solving devices) drives out or expels fear for fear causes punishment. Fear actually causes two categories of punishment: self-punishment and divine discipline. The person who is afraid has not been matured by virtue-love.

The Church Age believer cannot think doctrine, apply doctrine, or solve problems through fear. Fear is emotional. Emotion cannot think, cannot apply doctrine, cannot learn or use the problem-solving devices, and therefore fear or emotion cannot function as the criterion for the Christian life. In fact fear is the emotional means by which people fail under any kind of pressure or even normal circumstances. Courage on the other hand is thinking doctrine under pressure, claiming promises from God in adversity, understanding and thereby utilising the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan for the Church Age.

It becomes necessary to understand emotional sins to first of all understand emotion. Emotion is defined as the status of the believer who does not have the ability to think doctrine or to use the problem-solving devices. The status of spiritual self-esteem in the Christian way of life begins the grace function of cognitive self-confidence. Cognitive self-confidence, of course, is the antithesis of fear and therefore thinking in terms of metabolised doctrine — cognitive self-confidence — the function of the ten problem-solving devices puts fear in its proper place and also gives a legitimate function to emotion. It is emotion out of order that is the problem, emotion dominating the soul.

The believer in spiritual adulthood eliminates emotion as a criterion for Christianity since emotion cannot think, emotion cannot apply doctrine, emotion cannot rationalise, emotion cannot estimate a situation, and it was never designed for these things. When emotion is out of line in the soul the result is irrationality. Emotion, also, is not capable of using the problem-solving devices of the protocol plan. The right lobe of the soul is called kardia. There are a lot of good reasons for it because of the “heart.” There is a tremendous analogy between the circulation of the blood, which is related to physical life, and the function or circulation of doctrine in the soul and in the life of the believer.

Kardia has eight compartments in which there are two kinds of spiritual information: 1. E)pignwsij — metabolised doctrine going in; 2. Sofia — the wisdom which comes out, the wisdom which is related to the ten problem-solving devices. You have to remember that the emotions in the Christian way of life are to be subjective to the kardia. “Heart” is never used in scripture for emotion, it is used for the right lobe of the soul. This is where the doctrine that gives you momentum and wisdom is located.

The Bible “heart” has eight different parts

1. The frame of reference, the area for retention of metabolised doctrine.

2. The memory centre which circulates e)pignwsij doctrine to the various parts of the right lobe under the principle of recall.

3. The vocabulary storage which is the new language of biblical theology learned after salvation.

4. Categorical storage where classification of doctrines are located.

5. The conscience, the storage compartment for individual norms and standards.

6. The momentum department which is the mental area for spiritual growth, the function of metabolised doctrine in both normal and accelerated growth. It is in the momentum department that you have the function of the ten problem-solving devices, along with the seventh part, wisdom.

7. The wisdom department, the launching pad for the application of doctrine to experience.

8. The subconscious which is storage for impressions, thoughts, emotions, which do not exist in the conscious mind or in the emotions of the soul.

The “heart,” kardia, has the important function of master of the emotions. The emotions are to be subordinate to what is in the right lobe of the soul.

Proverbs 23:15-17 David is speaking to Solomon. “My son, if your right lobe or your heart is wise [chakmah = metabolised doctrine], my own heart or right lobe will be glad [a normal function of the emotion].”

“My emotions will rejoice [here is happiness when emotion responds to something in the right lobe] when your lips speak what is right [when you hear truth you have norms and standards in your soul and therefore you rejoice].”

“Do not let your right lobe envy sinners [if you start to envy you start to pull the pin of the grenade — envy] but live in respect for the Lord all of the day [the tenth problem-solving device or occupation with the person of Jesus Christ].”

Emotion as a problem

Romans 16:17-18 — emotional pattern as a distraction to the plan of God. They obey their own emotions.

2 Corinthians 6:11,12 — emotions as a hindrance to the perception of doctrine.

Philippians 3:18,19 — for those who have emotional revolt of the soul, emotions become the god of that believer.

There are emotions good and emotions bad. Fear and emotion are inseparable; you cannot have one without the other. Fear is an emotional sin. Courage is the ability to think under pressure; cowardice is dominance of emotion under pressure. Emotion is irrational arrogance using feeling or emotion as the criterion for life instead of Bible doctrine. There are, however, two categories of emotion in view: 1. Normal emotion, which is under the authority of the right lobe and responds to the thinking of the epignosis doctrine in the right lobe; 2. Abnormal emotion which is the emotion controlling the right lobe or the mentality of the soul. Abnormal emotion produces sin: fear, worry, anxiety, anger, hatred, and is the motivation for all sorts of other sins such as gossip, slander, maligning, judging, murdering etc.

Emotion does not have

1. The ability to reason

2. A content of thought

3. Common sense

4. Vocabulary as a tool for mental function

5. Doctrinal content

Principle: Emotion is never the criterion for Christian experience.

Emotional arrogance includes the following blasphemies:

1. You are not saved unless you feel saved.

2. You are not spiritual unless you feel spiritual.

Emotional arrogance results in constant fear, worry, anxiety, insecurity. Emotion is defined as that complex biochemical, physiological process or function concerned with somatic expression of feeling. There are two functions of emotion: the conscious sensation of emotions in the soul and the effects of emotions on the organic functions of the body.

Principle: Under the protocol plan of God emotions are not adequate guides for motives, thoughts, decisions, or actions on the part of the believer. Emotions are not tools of cognition nor criteria for life. 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 John 4:18.

The last half of the fourth chapter of Ephesians deals with the biography of the fragmented life, how believers fail. Categorical problems are defined as those which are related to sins and emotions of the believer. These problems are caused by two things: ignorance of Bible doctrine through lack of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, and ignorance of the divine provision and human mechanics of the ten problem-solving devices. Therefore categorical problems emphasise the sins of Christians and emotional malfunction.

The problem of rejection

This problem has to be explained in terms of the rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the hypostatic union was rejected by the religion of the day, He was rejected by the Jewish people even though He was their Messiah, He was rejected by God the Father on the cross. Cf Psalm 118:22 — Jesus Christ as the stone was rejected by the nation; Isaiah 53:3 — He was despised and rejected by men. There was a double rejection during the incarnation, the first advent, mentioned in John 12:48, “He who rejects me and does not receive my doctrine” — First of all there was rejection of the Person of Jesus Christ who is the only saviour. They rejected Him by refusing to believe in Him. Secondly there was the rejection of doctrine. This applied to those who personally believed but who failed to execute God’s plan.

What sustained our Lord’s humanity during the time of the cross? cf 1 Peter 2:20-24. Three things: In v23 He kept entrusting Himself to Him — the function of the faith-rest drill, problem-solving device number three; The filling of the Holy Spirit, Heb. 9:14, problem-solving device number two; He was sustained by +H and a personal sense of destiny related to His perception of doctrine.

The rejection of Bible doctrine. This is the greatest problem after salvation that the believer has. Without post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation through perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine, it is impossible to execute the protocol plan of God.

Rejection: Nothing is more discouraging to a believer than to be rejected. Nothing causes more reaction which further complicates the life. The believer can be rejected in many areas of his life: friendship, romance, marriage, by his peers, in his social life, society in general, in a business or professional way. When a believer is rejected by those with whom he associates, or with those he admires, respects or loves, that believer has a tendency to react. Reaction to being hurt is a sign of malfunction. It is a sign that you have failed to use or even understand the problem-solving devices of the protocol plan. All rejection by mankind is designed by God for your ultimate blessing.

Principle: Rejection is one of the greatest opportunities to utilise the ten problem-solving devices and to accelerate spiritual growth in your life. This means also that rejection alerts the believer to change his perspective in life from people emphasis to God emphasis.

The Christian way of life is divided into two categories: the living part and the dying part. The living part begins at the moment of salvation. Then there is the point of dying when we are absent from the body and face to face with the Lord. In the living part of the Christian way of life the believer has the use of his volition to fulfil one of two categories. He can be a winner and an invisible hero or he can be a loser and be fragmented throughout his life. It is the day by day intake of doctrine or the rejection of it that determines which category. The winner having executed the protocol plan of God through post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation is in the position to have a wonderful life and a wonderful experience in dying, unless the rapture occurs first. The loser fails to execute the protocol plan of God for the Church Age and becomes involved in a fragmented life. His life is miserable and as a Christian his dying is miserable because he goes out under the sin unto death. He is, of course, included in the resurrection of all believers but minus escrow blessings for time, minus escrow blessings for the eternal state.

The principle: Every believer has equal privilege and equal opportunity to execute the protocol plan under the computer assets of election and predestination.

In dying God has saved the best until last. Dying is part of Christian experience which does not depend, however, on the volition of the believer, but on the sovereignty of God. And it fulfils the concept that if you like living as a Christian you will love dying.

In the living phase of God’s plan the believer has control over his life for success or failure, for execution of God’s plan or failure to do so. Therefore the believer faces dying as either a winner or a loser, as an invisible hero or one who has fragmented his life. In the dying phase then the believer has no control over the time, the place, or the manner of his death. The death of the believer is a matter of the integrity, the wisdom and the sovereignty of God.

The integrity of God, which is often called holiness, is composed of His righteousness and justice. And because divine integrity cannot be unfair, it cannot be unjust in time or manner or in place of our death. And because of the infinite and eternal wisdom of God He cannot be wrong in any decision He makes. And for all of us, apart from the rapture generation, there will be a time when we will die. Therefore it is not a question of our design in the matter, it is a question of the wisdom of God combined with His sovereign decision. For the believer who has the ten problem-solving devices dying is the ultimate experience of all. All decisions from the sovereignty of God are made in perfect and eternal wisdom, including the time, the place, and the manner of dying. Furthermore, apart from the rapture generation, we are all going to have this wonderful experience. The problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God are just as pertinent in dying as they are in living. And for the person who has been using these problem-solving devices he is ready to die. After dying comes the problem of timing, one of the great problems in life. Timing is defined as the selection of the best time or speed for doing something in order to achieve the desired effect and have maximum results. For the Church Age believer timing is a matter of synchronisation with the protocol plan of God. Good or bad timing is a matter of utilisation of the problem-solving devices. Good decisions from a position of strength cause the believer to be in synchronisation with God’s plan and God’s will; bad decisions have an antithetical effect. Bad decisions from a position of weakness causes the believer to be out of synchronisation with the protocol plan of God.

Every detail of life is involved in timing, such as being in the right place in the right time. Timing is a problem when incompetent people are promoted because they are in the right place at the right time but definitely not qualified. Others who are better qualified are sometimes passed over because they were neither in the right place nor the right time. And what often passes for luck or good fortune is merely a matter of timing. Human timing may be related to luck but God’s timing is related to doctrine.

In God’s plan for your life bad timing is a matter of the fragmented life, pulling the pin of the grenade in one of the areas of the arrogance complex. Indifference, apathy, rejection or antagonism toward Bible doctrine, causes the believer to be out of synchronisation with God’s plan, God’s purpose, God’s will for your life. Principles: God’s will is perfect, therefore His timing is perfect. Believers are imperfect, therefore our timing is imperfect.

The principle of timing can be reduced to the simplest of terms: bad timing — arrogance in life; good timing — humility, objectivity, teachability, resulting in perception, momentum and the utilisation of the ten problem-solving devices. Timing in the Christian life is the issue of doing the will of God or doing your own will. God promotes the believer who is in synchronisation with His plan. Good timing is the matter of execution of the protocol plan. God promotes the doctrinal believer because through synchronisation with the protocol plan he advances to spiritual maturity and he becomes an invisible hero. It is the invisible hero who has maximum impact in every generation of Church history.

As a result then of spiritual self-esteem and cognitive self-assurance from metabolised doctrine the believer relies on God for good timing, which is the execution of the protocol plan. Grace orientation is one of the factors in problem-solving devices. It relies on God’s timing. Enforced and genuine humility is the basis for grace orientation. God promotes the humble which means that enforced and genuine humility leaves the matter of timing in God’s hands. This avoids inordinate ambition and inordinate competition. Wrong timing in life can be out of synchronisation with God’s protocol plan. Wrong timing in dying can be out of synchronisation with God’s will and therefore we have such illustrations as the believer committing suicide.

Your life only has significance, now that you are a believer, only as it is related to the mystery doctrine of the Church Age and the ten problem-solving devices.

There are two categories of timing in the protocol plan. There is good timing in which the believer’s life is synchronised with the will, plan, and purpose of God. And there is bad timing in which the believer pulls the pin of the grenade and frags his own life. Until the believer’s life is synchronised with the protocol plan of God through consistent function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, timing will always be a serious problem. Timing ceases to be a problem after you learn and use those ten problem-solving devices.

The next problem is integrity verses promises. The tendency among human beings is to depend upon promises rather than integrity. People who make promises without integrity are the worst possible people. Promises are no greater than the integrity of the person who makes them. Principle: We are benefited more by the integrity of a person than by the promises that we seek to extract from that person.

There are two general classifications of problems related to Christianity: 1, Categorical problems which are related to sins and the emotions of the believer; 2, Functional problems which are related to the modus operandi of believers.

The functional problems: 1. The believer’s emphasis on relationship with people taking precedence over relationship with God; 2. The believer’s attempt to execute the protocol plan of God through human dynamics and works rather than divine power and omnipotence; 3. The believer’s ignorance of the biblical subject of love resulting in failure to execute the divine mandates regarding love which are located in the scripture; 4. The believer’s failure to metabolise Bible doctrine, which we classify as the malfunction of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.

Principle: Solutions are best understood when problems are defined.

The Problem-solving devices

1. The rebound technique. 2. The filling of the Spirit. 3. The faith-rest drill. 4. Grace orientation. 5. Doctrinal orientation. 6. Personal love for God the Father. 7. Impersonal love for all mankind. 8. Plus H or sharing the happiness of God. 9. A personal sense of destiny. 10. Occupation with the person of Jesus Christ.

The problem of the OSN

The old sin nature is genetically formed. This means that God is not the author of sin because human life is not imputed by God until the point of physical birth. The OSN is in the cell structure of the body. It has an area of strength in which we are not prone to sin but it produces human good or what is classified in the scripture as “dead works.” It also has an area of weakness where we are prone to temptation and sins are produced from this area of weakness. These sins always gravitate to a trend, so the OSN has trends: 1. To legalism, which is self-righteous arrogance; 2. Lasciviousness and lawlessness. When the sins have a trend toward legalism and self-righteous arrogance they produce what eventually becomes moral degeneracy. Moral degeneracy is the destruction of the freedom of others through self-righteous arrogance. When the trend is toward lasciviousness and lawlessness it eventuates in immoral degeneracy.

What is spiritual death? The very nature of spiritual death at birth eliminates any system of salvation by works. But spiritual death can be characterised by four principles: 1. Total depravity includes both moral and immoral degeneration, or the trends of the OSN; 2. Total separation from God, that is the meaning of spiritual death. The solution is impossible because of a total helplessness to attain a relationship with God. God must provide the work. 3. The status quo of dichotomy. We cannot understand spiritual things because all we have is a body and a soul.

There are three grace functions of divine sovereignty in evangelism: 1. The ministry of God the Holy Spirit in making the gospel understandable; 2. The invitation of God the Father and God the son to believe in Jesus Christ; 3. The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit in making faith in Jesus Christ effective for eternal salvation.

Self fragmentation. Every believer is a walking grenade and he has a potential for the fragmentation of his own life. All he has to do is use his own volition to pull the pin of the grenade. Apart from using the problem-solving devices this fragmentation is perpetuated so that the believer exploits every avenue, every lust, related to the OSN. The pin of the grenade is the arrogance complex. It includes all the sins that are directly related to arrogance such as envy, jealousy, bitterness, hatred, vindictiveness, implacability, self-pity, egotism, self-centredness, conceit, pre-occupation with self resulting in pre-occupation with others through gossip, slander, maligning, judging, inordinate ambition, inordinate competition. The pin of the grenade is mentioned many times in scripture. For example, Proverbs 11:2: “When arrogance comes [the pin of the grenade] then comes dishonour [fragmentation] but with the humble is wisdom [the metabolisation of Bible doctrine].”

The fragments of the grenade are where we have a tragedy today. We have the trends again of the OSN, the trends of lasciviousness and lawlessness on the one hand and the trends toward legalism and self-righteousness on the other hand. The tragedy of the fragmented life is the fact that God has provided so much to protect the believer from fragging himself and becoming a loser. There are at least five areas of ignorance which prolong and perpetuate the fragmented life. This results in the believer practising his own tragic flaw and polarising with other believers practising under the same tragic flaw. This is given in great detail in Romans chapter 7 verses 1-25, a passage which is describing believers only.

What is this ignorance? Well first it is the ignorance of our portfolio of invisible assets provided by God the Father for each one of us in eternity past; secondly, it is the ignorance of the mechanics for the execution of the protocol plan of God for the Church Age; third, it is the ignorance of the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan; fourth, it is ignorance of the ten unique characteristics of the Church Age and how these work into the significance of our lives; fifth, ignorance of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, and that means of course malfunction in post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. All of the fragments of the grenade then are related to the OSN in its three categories: Lust pattern, trends,

The trends of the sin nature results in two tragic flaws: 1. Self-righteous arrogance and legalism which contends that believers who commit sins related to lasciviousness and lawlessness are not really saved; 2. Lasciviousness lawlessness in which believers associate the slander, the maligning, the criticism that they receive, they associate it with Bible doctrine and they therefore react to Bible doctrine.

Principle: Individual fragmentation leads to group fragmentation in the royal family of God. This polarisation has destroyed the unity of the body of Christ in the area of Christian modus operandi. The sin nature is the source of lust and temptation but the sin nature cannot make the believer to sin. Temptation, to be converted into sin, requires the use of the believer’s volition.

How does God work in solving problems? For every one of the problem-solving devices there is a manner in which God solves problems through these systems. But the greatest problem that God ever solved is the problem of spiritual death. We have noted how we are born physically alive and spiritually dead. Human life is imputed to the soul at the moment of birth. Adam’s original sin is imputed to the genetically formed old sin nature so that we are physically alive but spiritually dead. Under spiritual death we have noted the principle of being totally separated from God in a state of total depravity and of being totally helpless to do anything about it. Consequently the OSN becomes the villain in our lives.

The old sin nature has a lust pattern and trends. All of the sins we will have in our lifetime all have a trend either toward self-righteousness [legalism] or lasciviousness/lawlessness. And when the sins have a trend toward self-righteousness it degenerates into moral degeneracy. But when the sins gravitate toward lascivious/lawlessness then the trend is toward the immoral degeneracy factor.

The problem with people is they are polarised by these two trends. People are naturally self-righteous and being self-righteous they are usually moral and the sins are very subtle. They have sins related to arrogance and jealousy and inordinate ambition and inordinate competition. Therefore they become very critical of those whose sins are in the licentious or lascivious, lawless area. And they spend their time actually criticising these people and judging them. And then their targets react. They polarise and react against them. In their reaction they say “If that’s Christianity and if that’s the way Christians are I don’t want any part of it.” Or they can say, “If that’s all Bible doctrine can do for them then it certainly can’t do anything for me.” They bypass the solutions to the problems of life.

How God solves problems

Psalm 22:1. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In the Hebrew we have a repetition here of the word “My God” in the vocative. In the Hebrew it is Eli, Eli, the nominative subject vocative, addressed to God the Father. In fact it is addressed to Him as a call for help, a call for solving a problem. The repetition of the vocative in the Hebrew means perfection. In the singular it is addressed to God the Father only. The repetition of the noun in the Hebrew is an idiom of intensity. It expresses the highest quality of two categories: 1. The highest quality of the person — God the Father; 2. The highest quality of the two attributes of the Father which are used in problem-solving devices — His perfect righteousness and justice.

The righteousness of God cannot accept mankind because +R cannot have fellowship with -R. So God has to solve the problem and He does so with two attributes, His justice and His love. The problem, however, deals with the sins of mankind and all of these sins have been collected in the computer of divine decrees [ROM chip, the sovereignty of God chip, and the PROM chip which is the free-will of man]. In human history the sovereignty of God and the free-will of man co-exist. Inside of this one PROM chip all of the sins of mankind in the history of the human race were kept.

When our Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross God the Father called for the print-out of all personal sins of history. Then the justice of God imputed all of those sins to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how the problem was solved. It was solved by the work of God. The justice of God the Father judged all of our sins on the cross. And our Lord began to cry out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” The answer to that question is found in Romans 5:8.

Psalm 22:3 — “Because you are holy,” qodosh, absolute perfection. Holiness is a combination of two words: righteousness and justice. The righteousness of God the Father rejects sin in keeping with His perfect character. All of the sins of the world are imputed to Christ on the cross. These sins are rejected by God the Father and that is the function of His righteousness. The justice of God, therefore, does something about it. The justice of God judges every one of those sins — 1 Peter 2:24.

In Psalm 22:6 there is another phrase which describes the function of our Lord. “Worm” — tolaath, a reference to a very special type of worm which was harvested and crushed in a large vat. The blood of this worm was taken from the vat and used to manufacture the robes of kings. It was the most beautiful crimson dye of the ancient world. The Lord Jesus Christ was crushed on the cross that we might wear the robes of kings forever.

The omnipotence then of God the Father imputed the sins of the entire world to Christ on the cross. The justice of God the Father judged all of those sins and therefore a problem was solved. Salvation was provided.

There are three categories of love that belong to God

1. God the Father loves God the son because He has a perfect righteousness. God the Father loves God the Holy Spirit because God the Holy Spirit has a perfect righteousness. In other words the object of God’s personal love is always +R or perfect righteousness.

2. At the same time God loves His own righteousness which is divine self-esteem. This is true of each member of the Trinity.

3. Then God has a love for the human race; the human race in spiritual death, the human race unable to do anything about the problem of sin and entering into a relationship with God. This love is called impersonal love, emphasising the virtue of the subject rather than the object. cf. John 3:16.

Eph. 2:8 begins with a post positive conjunction gar. It is an explanatory conjunction, correctly translated “for.” Next comes the definite article which is used with an abstract noun to draw attention to the grace policy of God in dealing with spiritually dead people and, of course, sins. God solved the greatest problem in all of history and He did it for man; He did it to provide eternal salvation for mankind. And, therefore, we have the principle that in spiritual death we are totally helpless to do anything by way of human works to attain salvation. It is all accomplished for us — “grace,” xarij. Correct translation: for by means of grace.

“saved” — swzw, salvation. The perfect tense emphasises the present state of being. We are now believers in Jesus Christ. The passive voice represents the subject being acted upon by something or someone else. Hence the subject does not produce the action of the verb. In other words we cannot work for our salvation. We cannot add anything to faith.

“through faith” is dia plus the ablative of means pistij. The subject has no merit, the work is already accomplished. When we say: “I believe,” Christ is the object; Christ has the merit.

Verse 9 — “boast” — aorist middle subjunctive of the verb kakauomai, which means to boast as a sign of arrogance or subjective preoccupation with self. In other words it was anticipated that after people believed they would become preoccupied with self because in the OSN their trend was toward self-righteous arrogance and legalism. Therefore, in some form of sinfulness they would come to the point of saying, “I had something to do with my salvation. I was good, I was moral, I did something, etc.” They want to add to faith.

Once we believe in Jesus Christ we still have the sin nature. That means that we are still going to sin; we are still going to fail. And so the analogy. Every believer is like a walking grenade with a potential for fragmenting his own life. All the believer has to do is to use his own volition and pull the pin of the grenade. What is that pin of the grenade? Well, it is arrogance, jealousy, bitterness, hatred, vindictiveness, implacability, self-pity, or revenge motivation, etc. All of these are sins related to arrogance.

It is inevitable that the fragmented believer, whose trend is toward self-righteous arrogance and legalism, will enter into the heresy of trying to change other people by bullying them, by forcing them into a course of action, by the demand syndrome. This is why the fragmented believer with a trend toward self-righteousness and legalism enters into the sinful sphere of slander, gossip, maligning, judging, unrealistic expectations, role model arrogance, etc.

In Romans 14 judgement arrogance is the function of the self-righteous legalistic believer who is seeking to superimpose his standards on others and judging them for not accepting these standards. Rom. 14:8 — Here we are told that if we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s .

Verse 9 — For this purpose Christ died and lived that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living believer. Note that at the moment of salvation through faith in Christ we enter into union with Christ, Christ is Lord, therefore Christ is Lord at salvation and always will be. We do not make Christ Lord, He is Lord through that ministry.

In verse 10 we now have the challenge to self-righteous arrogance. “But you, believer, why do you judge your brother? Or you, again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? (Legalism always regards with contempt those whose area of weakness and trend is related to antinomianism.) For we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ.” The judgement seat of Christ is for evaluation after the resurrection of the Church.

Romans 14:13 — “Therefore, do not judge one another any more; but rather determine this: not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.” How is this accomplished? By fragmentation of one’s life.

The trendy attitude toward legalism: You cannot commit the sins of lasciviousness and lawlessness and be a Christian. (Untrue). Those believers with a trend toward lasciviousness/lawlessness react to the arrogance of legalism and they often renounce or reject Christianity in one of several ways. 1. They associate self-righteous arrogance and legalism with Bible doctrine. Therefore they reject Bible doctrine; 2. They associate self-righteous arrogance and legalism with the local church and therefore they stop going to church; 3. They associate self-righteous arrogance and legalism with Christians in general and avoid Christians in general; 4. They associate self-righteous arrogance and legalism with hypocrisy and become critical of polarised legalism. The result of this polarised fragmentation into legalism versus antinomianism means failure to execute God’s plan, God’s will, and God’s purpose for your life. Legalism versus antinomianism is really a false issue. The true issue is the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. That requires: 1. The understanding and the utilisation of the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God; 2. Understanding the ten unique factors of the Church Age — the baptism of the Spirit, the unique protocol plan, the unique equality factor in the protocol plan under the computers assets of election and predestination, our wonderful portfolio of invisible assets, our unique commissions, the unique mystery doctrine of the Church Age, the indwelling of all three persons of the Trinity, the unique ability of divine power, a dispensation of invisible heroes.

The trendy attitude of legalism

Legalism is shocked; legalism reacts; legalism says: You can’t be a Christian and commit those sins. Legalism wants to help God in salvation and so it gets into “faith plus” .What is faith plus? It is the reaction of the self-righteous arrogant, legalistic believer saying: You, by the very sins that you are committing, are telling me you are really not a Christian. They say, You may have received Christ as saviour but you didn’t make a commitment. There is no such thing as a commitment. Commitment is post-salvation modus operandi at best, but it is works. We have noted that it is “By grace are you saved through faith; and that not from yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” They also want to add “making Christ Lord” (He is Lord already) or they want to add baptism. There is no such thing as faith plus baptism or faith plus feeling sorry for sin or inviting Christ into your heart. Christ invites us to believe in Him. When we believe in Christ we come to Him.

The trendy function of legalism

1. All false concepts of spirituality or life after salvation originate from polarised fragmentation.

2. Often some form of morality is substituted for the filling of the Spirit inside the divine dynasphere. The trendy function of legalism among believers substitutes morality for virtue which can only be produced through residence, function and momentum, inside the divine dynasphere.

Generally speaking the trend toward legalism produces tyranny. This is because the legalist is always trying to superimpose false standards on others. The trend toward lascivious/lawlessness has the tendency to go towards anarchy. Legalists establish tyranny under the principle of authority without freedom is tyranny, whereas the antinomians establish anarchy under the principle of freedom without authority is anarchy. Both polarised groups have distorted and abused both concepts of legitimate freedom.

There are two concepts of freedom which are taught in the Bible. First we have freedom under the laws of divine establishment. We call this temporal freedom. Secondly there is freedom inside the divine dynasphere where we have spiritual freedom. Spiritual freedom is the right to utilise our positive volition under the grace of God and execute God’s plan, God’s will and God’s purpose for our lives.

The Authority Problem

One of the problems with the trendy function of legalism is lack of authority orientation. The legalist has the tendency to be a tyrant. All legalism has some form of tyranny related to it and this tyranny functions under the principle of authority without freedom. Authority without freedom is tyranny. And the legalist, the self-righteous, arrogant person, wants you to comply with his standards and he abuses you for not complying with his standards. On the other hand antinomianism establishes the principle that freedom without authority is anarchy. Both polarised groups have distorted and abused both concepts of legitimate freedom.

There are two concepts of legitimate freedom: 1. Temporal — freedom under the laws of divine establishment. 2. Spiritual — freedom inside the divine dynasphere.

To avoid polarisation of the sin nature with its trends we have 1 Peter 2:16: “Act as free men, do not use your freedom as a covering for evil [the trend toward lascivious/lawlessness], but use your freedom as the servants of God.”

So God has delegated authority to human beings under two categories. Be sure that you understand them because this is how the principle of separation of Church and State is formed. 1. The divine institutions as authority under the laws of divine establishment. 2. The basis for all authority in the Church is the Word of God.

Each trend of the old sin nature produces its own problems and these problems can only be solved by the ten problem-solving devices.

The trendy attitude of lascivious/lawlessness

This attitude is characterised generally by reaction. As the recipients of gossip, slander, maligning and judging by other believers their trend is toward moving deeply toward lascivious/lawlessness. They react toward doctrine because they associate it with self-righteous arrogance, or they associate some church with self-righteous arrogance and therefore they reject churches, they reject doctrine, they reject a ministry that could be helpful to them. Because this category of believer associates self-righteous arrogance with legalism, and with Bible doctrine, and in many cases with confused pastors who are condemning rather than helpful, they therefore reject all churches, all pastors, and consequently the only thing that could help them — Bible doctrine and, in the framework of that doctrine, the ten problem-solving devices.

The trendy functions of lascivious/lawlessness: Ephesians 4:14: nhpioj — childish. Nhpioj is a word that belongs to legalism and the trends toward self-righteous arrogance; they are nhpioj. And it also belongs to the lascivious/lawless group who are antinomian; they also are nhpioj. And whichever trend one happens to have in their old sin nature and whichever direction they go when they fragment their lives, they still are childish as far as their spiritual lives are concerned.

To understand the fragmentation of the double standard we have to go back to iconoclasm. First of all an iconoclast is a person or persons who destroy icons or idols. Iconoclastic arrogance is defined as subjective preoccupation with other people. This results in disenchantment, disillusion, or what we might classify as the feet-of-clay syndrome. In iconoclastic arrogance an idol is created through excessive or misguided admiration or genuine love for another person. The method is simply this: We have a pedestal, we admire someone, and we place them on that pedestal. But of course the person on the pedestal has the OSN. The area of strength produces human good and dead works. The area of weakness produces sins. Some have a trend toward self-righteous arrogance which we call legalism, and some have a trend which is called lascivious lawlessness which we call antinomianism. And believers commit their sins in these two antithetical polarised regions. As a result the believer who is in self-righteous arrogance condemns the believer who shocks him in the lawless area. So we have a pedestal with the person that a believer has placed on that pedestal. At some point the believer is going to sin and when this happens the feet of clay show. Once the feet of clay are observed, then the person reacts and seeks to destroy the very image or icon that they have created. So the iconoclastic believer discovers a sin, a flaw. He becomes disenchanted with the object of his admiration and he reacts. Iconoclastic arrogance then is divorced from the reality of human relationship.

Principles

1. The arrogant iconoclast never blames himself for what he has done in creating and then destroying his own idol. In fact in his irrational state of arrogance he blames the idol for being created by his own fantasising.

2. Arrogance never takes the responsibility for being arrogant. That is the blind side of arrogance.

3. Illusion created by arrogance becomes illusion destroyed by arrogance.

4. Arrogance creates illusion and the fragmented life destroys that illusion.

5. Iconoclastic arrogance and the feet-of-clay syndrome is the inevitable result of the fragmented life with its polarisation of trends of the OSN.

6. Once you transfer the blame for your own disillusion, disenchantment and disappointment to the idol that you, yourself, have created then you malign or slander or judge or enter into conspiracy and seek to destroy the very idol which you yourself have created.

7. Arrogance destroys what arrogance creates. Therefore the feet-of-clay syndrome is the arrogant irrationality of rearranging the doctrine of sin to suit yourself, to be compatible with your own self-righteousness, your own arrogance, your own trend toward legalism. Role-model arrogance then is a part of iconoclastic arrogance.

There are four post-salvation principles

1. God has a plan for your life.

2. God is perfect, therefore His plan is perfect.

3. Contradictions cannot exist in a perfect plan.

4. Fragmentation is contradictory to the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. (Fragmentation is the greatest spiritual problem after we believe in Jesus Christ.)

Principles related to spiritual promotion

1. If God doesn’t promote you you’re not promoted.

2. God promotes prepared people.

3. God promotes the humble or the grace-oriented individual.

4. God provides hearers for prepared and grace-oriented people.

It is metabolised doctrine which provides momentum in the spiritual life.

There are six categories of fragmentation which are found in the Scripture 1. Personal fragmentation, related to the sin nature’s area of weakness. Tantamount to self-fragmentation.

2. Polarised fragmentation, related to the sin nature’s trends. It is the old story of legalism versus antinomianism.

3. Fragmentation related to subjective arrogance. There are two categories: a. Unrealistic expectation, which is subjective preoccupation with self; b. Role-model arrogance, which is subjective preoccupation with others.

4. Human relationship fragmentation.

5. Fragmentation related to emotion.

6. God relationship fragmentation, which is, first of all, failure to learn and use the problem-solving devices of the protocol plan for the Church and, secondly, failure to execute the protocol plan.

There are two categories of decisions that we make once we become believers. The first category: Good decisions from a position of strength — metabolised doctrine. The second category: Bad decisions from a position of weakness — pulling the pin of the grenade.

1 John 1:9. The position of strength decisions are always related to this verse. “If” — e)an. That particular conjunction plus the subjunctive mood of the verb introduces the protesis of a third class condition. “We” is the subject — believers only, mentioned in the context. “Confess,” o(mologew, a word very commonly used in ancient Greece. It was used in a legal sense for a courtroom case, and a lawyer would cite a case that proved his point. Therefore it meant to cite a courtroom case. It also meant to name, to admit, to acknowledge, to make a statement. It should be noticed that in any one of those words one thing is missing: no merit, no feeling, no crying, no weeping, no wailing.

Remember that the verb o(mologew, name your sins or cite your sins, is totally a non-meritorious function.

“sins” — a(martia, a plural noun referring to personal sins. It refers to fragmentation, and specifically it refers to the sins of the born-again believer only. The sins mentioned here are the post-salvation sins of the Church Age believer. Hence rebound deals with the problem of post-salvation sinning, as noted in the context, 1 John 1:8,10.

The sin nature’s trends toward legalism want to insert some system of penance. Legalism ignores the fact of God’s grace policy, which means that God did all of the work at salvation and in the execution of the Christian way of life which is the protocol plan of God, God provides the portfolio of invisible assets and the work will be accomplished by the omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets, the omnipotence of God the Son giving us a day at a time, and the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit who provides the means of understanding the mechanics and the execution of the plan.

But there are two verbs which are both non-meritorious. The first of these verbs is pisteuo. The second is o(mologew. Both of them have a subject. The subject of pisteuw is the unbeliever, and the object is the Lord Jesus Christ — “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” But sin is still a problem after salvation. We still have volition, we still pull the pin of the grenade. And therefore, once again, the object is the basis for the function of the verb — “if we admit our sins.” We confess them to God, we name them, we cite them, and we are forgiven.

Since God the Father judged our sins on the cross they’ve already gone to court. The sins that we commit today were judged over 1900 years ago. Therefore post-salvation sins of the believer must be dealt with through a non-meritorious function. The most basic problem-solving device is the rebound technique.

Principle: The basis for the forgiveness for post-salvation sinning is the work of Christ on the cross, not the penance of the Christian. No system of penance is a part of the rebound technique. And just as there is nothing that we can add to faith in Christ for salvation, so there is nothing that we can add to acknowledgement of our sins for the recovery of our fellowship with God and the filling with the Holy Spirit.

Both believing in Christ for salvation and simply acknowledging or naming our post-salvation sins for forgiveness, are non-meritorious. They are totally and completely compatible with God’s grace policy. Legalism wants to help God by adding human works — which cancel grace. The rebound technique of 1 John 1:9 is the only solution to the problem of self-fragmentation and the life of carnality.

Next comes the apodosis, and in the apodesis we are immediately brought face to face with the fact of the perfect virtue of God. Two of the virtues of God are mentioned: pistoj — faithful. The faithfulness of God “does it in every case”; dikaioj — righteous or just. God is righteous and just because when Jesus Christ was on the cross every sin in the history of the human race was in one PROM chip, and God the Father imputed those sins to Christ and the justice of God the Father judged every one of them. Those sins have already gone to court and the believer simply cites or names those sins and God is righteous in forgiving the believer who commits those sins.

“forgive” a)fihmi — forgive, cancel, pardon. “With the result that he forgives [cancels] our [a(martia] sins.”

A second result: When we commit sins of cognisance and confess them, what about the sins of ignorance that we have committed simultaneously? In fragmentation there is always a tremendous number of sins of ignorance. In fragmentation we accumulate sins which we do not know are sins. We call them sins of ignorance. Now we want to do them and the fact that we use our volition to do them means that even though we are not aware that these are a sin we are held responsible for them because we use our volition to do them. What about them?

“cleanse” katharizw — to cleanse or to purify. Jesus Christ was judged for those sins on the cross. He was judged for our pre-salvation sins, He was judged for our post-salvation sins, He was judged for our post-salvation sins of ignorance.

Those who fail to rebound perpetuate their own fragmentation. The perpetuation of self-fragmentation leads to polarised fragmentation, human relationship fragmentation, emotional fragmentation, fragmentation in our relationship with God.

“from all unrighteousness” a)po pas a)dikiaj. “All unrighteousness” refers to the unknown sins, the sins of ignorance.

Corrected translation: “If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and righteous with the result that he forgives our sins, and he cleanses us from all unrighteousness.”

Thereare two categories of decisions that we make once we become believers. The first category: Good decisions from a position of strength — metabolised doctrine. The second category: Bad decisions from a position of weakness — pulling the pin of the grenade.

1 John 1:9. The position of strength decisions are always related to this verse. “If” — e)an. That particular conjunction plus the subjunctive mood of the verb introduces the protesis of a third class condition. “We” is the subject — believers only, mentioned in the context. “Confess,” o(mologew — a word very commonly used in ancient Greece. It was used in a legal sense for a courtroom case, and a lawyer would cite a case that proved his point. Therefore it meant to cite a courtroom case. It also meant to name, to admit, to acknowledge, to make a statement. It should be noticed that in any one of those words one thing is missing: no merit, no feeling, no crying, no weeping, no wailing.

Remember that the verb o(mologew, name your sins or cite your sins, is totally a non-meritorious function; “sins” — a(martia, a plural noun referring to personal sins. It refers to fragmentation, and specifically it refers to the sins of the born-again believer only. The sins mentioned here are the post-salvation sins of the Church Age believer. Hence rebound deals with the problem of post-salvation sinning, as noted in the context, 1 John 1:8,10.

The sin nature’s trends toward legalism want to insert some system of penance. Legalism ignores the fact of God’s grace policy, which means that God did all of the work at salvation and in the execution of the Christian way of life which is the protocol plan of God, God provides the portfolio of invisible assets and the work will be accomplished by the omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets, the omnipotence of God the Son giving us a day at a time, and the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit who provides the means of understanding the mechanics and the execution of the plan.

But there are two verbs which are both non-meritorious. The first of these verbs is pisteuw. The second is o(mologew. Both of them have a subject. The subject of pisteuw is the unbeliever, and the object is the Lord Jesus Christ — “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” But sin is still a problem after salvation. We still have volition, we still pull the pin of the grenade. And therefore, once again, the object is the basis for the function of the verb — “if we admit our sins.” We confess them to God, we name them, we cite them, and we are forgiven.

Since God the Father judged our sins on the cross they’ve already gone to court. The sins that we commit today were judged over 1900 years ago. Therefore post-salvation sins of the believer must be dealt with through a non-meritorious function. The most basic problem-solving device is the rebound technique.

Principle: The basis for the forgiveness for post-salvation sinning is the work of Christ on the cross, not the penance of the Christian. No system of penance is a part of the rebound technique. And just as there is nothing that we can add to faith in Christ for salvation, so there is nothing that we can add to acknowledgement of our sins for the recovery of our fellowship with God and the filling with the Holy Spirit.

Both believing in Christ for salvation and simply acknowledging or naming our post-salvation sins for forgiveness, are non-meritorious. They are totally and completely compatible with God’s grace policy. Legalism wants to help God by adding human works, which cancel grace.

The rebound technique of 1 John 1:9 is the only solution to the problem of self-fragmentation and the life of carnality.

Next comes the apodosis, and in the apodesis we are immediately brought face to face with the fact of the perfect virtue of God. Two of the virtues of God are mentioned: pistoj — faithful. The faithfulness of God “does it in every case”; dikaioj — righteous or just. God is righteous and just because when Jesus Christ was on the cross every sin in the history of the human race was in one PROM chip, and God the Father imputed those sins to Christ and the justice of God the Father judged every one of them. Those sins have already gone to court and the believer simply cites or names those sins and God is righteous in forgiving the believer who commits those sins; “forgive,” a)phiemi — forgive, cancel, pardon. “With the result that he forgives [cancels] our [a(martia] sins.”

A second result:

When we commit sins of cognisance and confess them, what about the sins of ignorance that we have committed simultaneously? In fragmentation there is always a tremendous number of sins of ignorance. In fragmentation we accumulate sins which we do not know are sins. We call them sins of ignorance. Now we want to do them and the fact that we use our volition to do them means that even though we are not aware that these are a sin we are held responsible for them because we use our volition to do them. What about them?

“cleanse,” kaqarizw — to cleanse or to purify. Jesus Christ was judged for those sins on the cross. He was judged for our pre-salvation sins, He was judged for our post-salvation sins, He was judged for our post-salvation sins of ignorance.

Those who fail to rebound perpetuate their own fragmentation. The perpetuation of self-fragmentation leads to polarised fragmentation, human relationship fragmentation, emotional fragmentation, fragmentation in our relationship with God.

“from all unrighteousness” a)po paj a)dikias. “All unrighteousness” refers to the unknown sins, the sins of ignorance.

Corrected translation: “If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and righteous with the result that he forgives our sins, and he cleanses us from all unrighteousness.”

The problem of the old sin nature

The OSN is a part of spiritual death, Rom. 5:12. In other words the original sin involved two things: Adam, from his volition, disobeyed the mandate of God resulting in the manufacture of the sin nature. Therefore just as through one man sin nature entered into the world and spiritual death through sin, so death spread through all mankind because all sinned (as it were, when Adam sinned).

The characteristics of spiritual death. (We are not born, then sin, and enter into spiritual death. That is a false doctrine based on over-simplification. When human life is imputed to the soul Adam’s original sin is simultaneously imputed to the genetically formed OSN. The OSN came out of biological life. Biological life starts with copulation. But soul life starts with birth. Therefore, we are born spiritually dead. And having an OSN and being spiritually dead we eventually get around to personal sin. So personal sin comes afterwards.)

1. Dichotomy: Spiritual death describes only a dichotomous person. A dichotomous person is a person who has a body and a soul. When we believe in Jesus Christ we become trichotomous. Spiritual death means no human spirit, no relationship with God is even possible. This is why in 1 Cor. 2:14 we are called the yuxikoj [soulish] man.

2. Total depravity: This means that both moral and immoral degeneration is the inevitable result of having a sin nature and moving in the direction of the trends.

3. Complete separation from God. There is no way we can do anything to have fellowship with God or enter into salvation. It is complete separation, total helplessness to establish a relationship with God on the basis of human merit or human works.

The Old Sin Nature: Designations

1. a(martia — this is the basic word to designate the OSN but it is always a(martia in the singular. The plural, sins, generally refers to personal sins.

2. sarc — translated “flesh” because the sin nature resides in the cell structure of the body. The sin nature was passed down through 23 chromosomes which the male provided for the female ovum. The old sin nature came down through the man. We are sold into bondage to the sin nature at birth when the imputation occurs.

3. The Old Man. Ephesians 4:22 — “with reference to your former lifestyle [self fragmentation through post-salvation sinning] you yourselves lay aside the old man [synonym for the OSN].” Laying aside of the sin nature is the rebound technique. The sin nature is called “the old man” because it originated in the Garden of Eden. It is older than anything else.

4. Fleshly or carnal. When the sin nature controls the believer’s soul because the believer uses his volition to sin, the believer is classified as carnal, of the sin nature, under the control of the sin nature.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3, “unto spiritual persons” -believers in fellowship, inside the divine dynasphere.

(Distinguish: Spiritual growth is relative; spirituality is an absolute).

“unto carnal” — the Christians, believers controlled by the sin nature; “unto babes in Christ” — childish believers.

v2 “milk” — they could only take very superficial things because they were babies. “Babies” here means “ignorant,” they didn’t know anything. “Not with solid food” — advanced doctrine. They are “not yet able” because they are under the control of the OSN.

v3 “still carnal” — they don’t even know rebound. They can’t recover fellowship and begin to learn doctrine. The rest of the verse illustrates the pulling the pin of the grenade — fragmentation.

When the sin nature controls a believer’s soul through sin or fragmentation the Christian is classified by the Greek noun sarkinoj — fleshly, belonging to the flesh, or of the flesh. It is translated in the King James version by the word “carnal” — Rom. 7:14.

There are six categories of fragmentation

1. Personal Fragmentation, related to the sin nature’s area of weakness. It is tantamount to self-fragmentation.

2. Polarised Fragmentation, related to the sin nature trends (lasciviousness/lawlessness or antinomianism; self-righteous arrogance or legalism). Legalistic fragmentation perpetuated results in moral degeneracy; antinomianism perpetuated results in immoral degeneracy.

3. Fragmentation related to subjective arrogance. That includes unrealistic expectation and role-model arrogance. Unrealistic expectation is subjective preoccupation with self; role-model arrogance is subjective preoccupation with others.

4. Human relationship Fragmentation, in the problem of Christian fellowship, in the problem of marriage.

5. Fragmentation related to emotion. The emotional sins that are perpetuating fragmentation: fear, worry, anxiety, anger, hatred, violence, etc.

6. God-relationship Fragmentation.

The two problems: The problem of pre-salvation sin and the problem of post-salvation sin.

The solution to pre-salvation sins comes first. Galatians 3:26 tells us “For you are all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” cf Gal. 2:16. Faith stands alone, it is not faith plus. The problem of pre-salvation sinning is solved by personal faith in Jesus Christ.

The solution to post-salvation sinning is found in 1 John 1:9: “If we acknowledge [o(mologew, to cite a courtroom case] he is faithful and righteous [dikaioj] with the result that he forgives us our sins [the post-salvation sins of cognisance] and cleanses us from all wrong doing [post-salvation sins of ignorance].”

Every believer in Jesus Christ must take the responsibility for his own decisions. There are two categories of decisions: good decisions from a position of strength [the position of strength is metabolised doctrine in the soul]; bad decisions from a position of weakness [includes pulling the pin of the grenade]. Self-fragmentation occurs when we make bad decisions from a position of weakness. Every time the believer uses his volition to pull the pin of the grenade he fragments his own life. This is a bad decision form a position of weakness. And the pin of the grenade or the position of weakness are all of the sins related to the arrogance complex — envy, jealousy, bitterness, hatred, vindictiveness, implacability, self-pity, hypersensitivity, motivational and functional revenge, inordinate ambition, inordinate competition, malice, slander, gossip, maligning, judging, etc. This personal or self-fragmentation is perpetuated unless the believer utilises the ten problem-solving devices.

Number one problem-solving device is the rebound technique and to confess or name or acknowledge in the privacy of our priesthood our sins to God is a good decision from a position of strength. Only the rebound technique of 1 John 1:9 can check fragmentation and hinder its insidious growth in our lives. Perpetuation of self-fragmentation results in polarised fragmentation — the fragmentation of subjective arrogance, human relationship fragmentation, emotional fragmentation, God-relationship fragmentation.

When Christianity is highly accepted in a society it has the tendency to become apostate. Part of it we can lay at the door of polarised fragmentation. Polarised fragmentation is defined as the conflict between two categories of carnality — legalism versus antinomianism. The trends of the sin nature are the source of the problem. They are the trend toward self-righteous arrogance and the trend toward lascivious lawlessness. Most people have, in the area of sinning, a trend one way or the other. Self-righteous arrogance is classified as legalism. When fragmentation is perpetuated in one’s life legalism eventuates in moral degeneracy. In the trend toward lascivious/lawlessness, which is classified as antinomianism, when fragmentation is perpetuated we have immoral degeneracy. Unless believers get some doctrine quickly after salvation they are going to fall into one these two camps.

Two principles: a. No one sins apart from human consent. Therefore, human volition is the source of sin. Denial of this principle means that people are not taking responsibility for their own sins. This results in failure to rebound and blaming others. If you don’t take responsibility for your own sins you will never grow up. b. The sin nature is the source of temptation. Human volition or self-determination is the source of sin. So once you pull the pin of the grenade the OSN which dwells in the cell structure of the body moves up into the soul so that you have a conflict.

Seven principles related to polarisation

1. The believer after salvation sins under two categories of self-determination: a. The sins of cognisance in which the temptation from the sin nature was recognised as a temptation to sin and volition decided to commit the sin; b. The sins of ignorance in which the sin nature was not recognised as a temptation to sin. But the believer wanted to do it and did it.

2. When the believer uses his own volition to sin he fragments his own life. Clear thinking is not restored until rebound occurs and is supported by the other nine problem-solving devices.

3. This self-fragmentation is called in scripture carnality and is tantamount to living in the cosmic system and entering into the stages of reversionism.

4. Self-fragmentation follows the trends of the sin nature and these trends are solidified as we stay out of fellowship.

5. The trend toward self-righteous arrogance is classified as legalism and if fragmentation is unchecked it will result in moral degeneracy.

6. The trend toward lascivious/lawlessness is classified as antinomianism and when perpetuated results in immoral degeneracy.

7. Self-fragmentation perpetuated, unchecked, means moving in the direction of the trend of your sin nature and polarising fragmentation in legalism or antinomianism.

Moral Degeneracy

Moral degeneracy is always related to the sin nature trend of self-righteous arrogance or legalism. Moral degeneracy expresses itself in the sins of arrogance, the function of arrogance like revenge, gossip, slander, maligning, crusader arrogance, spirituality by asceticism.

Moral degeneracy is a distortion, it combines morality with arrogance in the fragmented life and contends that such modus operandi is spirituality. In rightly dividing the word of truth then the believer must distinguish between morality which is related to laws of divine establishment, and virtue which is related to the protocol plan of God, and especially the function of the ten problem-solving devices.

Immoral Degeneracy

Immoral degeneracy results from the sin nature’s trend toward lascivious/lawlessness [antinomianism]. It is a part of the fragmented life and is manifest in sexual sins, chemical sins [drug addiction or an alcoholic problem], sins related to crime. In the status of fragmentation believers are capable of the sins of antinomianism. Perpetuation in the fragmented life results in the Christian committing the sins of antinomianism and entering into a state of immoral degeneracy. In other words if you don’t check fragmentation you are going to end up in what the Bible calls corruption.

The reaction of legalism to antinomianism results in the heresy of faith plus, or salvation by works, and spirituality by works. Legalism erroneously contends that believers who commit the sins of antinomianism and perpetuate this fragmentation are really not saved in the first place because they didn’t add something to faith.

Then we have the problem of judgement arrogance, the function of the self-righteous legalist who seeks to impose his standards on others and judges them for not accepting these false or non-pertinent standards.

Loneliness is one of the easiest of all problems to resolve. Any time you are lonely you can thank God for it because loneliness is often a means of accelerating your spiritual growth. Once you have reached a certain point and you have a greater capacity for love, for friendship, for happiness, when you are using the problem-solving devices, all of a sudden that loneliness comes to a halt and you find yourself involved in wonderful relationships with people as a result of your momentum in the protocol plan of God.

The third category of fragmentation: Subjective arrogance fragmentation

It all begins with unrealistic expectations. This is because all people, and especially it is true of believers, are involved sometime or other in the subject of unrealistic expectations. Very few people are loved the way they want to be loved and very few people are treated the way they want to be treated. And when this attitude is combined with the arrogance of unhappiness or subjective preoccupation with self the result is the arrogance of subjectivity. The principle is a fragmented life is an unhappy life and one reason is the arrogance of subjectivity. The fragmented believer who is not loved the way he wants to be loved is frustrated and does not have the solution to the misery and frustration he encounters. The believer who is not treated the way he wants to be treated is unstable and often becomes what we call a church tramp, hopping from one church to another looking for someone who will give him enough attention. All this adds up to unrealistic expectation in which the believer seeks to solve his frustration by adding arrogance to arrogance. This adding arrogance to arrogance is preoccupation with self. For first there is the arrogance of preoccupation with self and secondly there is the arrogance of preoccupation with others. And in this subjective arrogance phase of it the great tragedies of the spiritual life develop.

We have a bad combination which comes out of this. The unrealistic preoccupation with self or unrealistic expectation forms a bad combination with role-model arrogance. Unrealistic expectation is the state of unhappiness in which the believer blames others for his unhappiness and his misfortune. Unrealistic expectation never takes the responsibility for one’s own decisions, mostly bad decisions from a position of weakness, i.e. he is using his own volition to pull the pin of the grenade to fragment his life.

The arrogance of subjectivity is constantly trying to change other people to conform to one’s unrealistic expectations. Consequently unrealistic expectation never realise that you can only change yourself and actually no one else.

The ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God are designed to change self and not others. So the arrogance of unhappiness or subjective preoccupation with self is associated with unrealistic expectation. Unrealistic expectation intensifies the problem of the fragmented life to the point of no return apart from the ten problem-solving devices. And under the problem of unrealistic expectation the fragmented believer involved with subjective preoccupation with self assumes that certain things will bring happiness. Actually only Bible doctrine will bring happiness, or +H as one of the problem-solving devices. People cannot make you happy, only perception of Bible doctrine can produce +H or sharing the happiness of God.

Principles: You are not happy because you are free to do what you want. You are free to use your own volition to fragment your own life and become frustrated, unhappy, and miserable.

We have the problem of subjective preoccupation with others and, therefore the problem of role-model arrogance. We have to begin with iconoclastic arrogance because all of us at some time in the arrogance of our soul are going to make an image or an idol out of someone else. An iconoclast is defined as a person who destroys icons or images. And iconoclastic arrogance is defined as subjective preoccupation with others resulting from disenchantment, disillusion, and the feet-of-clay syndrome. In iconoclastic arrogance an idol is created through the excessive or misguided admiration or love for another person. This is apart from realism; this is unreal expectation.

The object of admiration is often a believer with attractive qualities but, like all believers, possesses the same OSN. When iconoclastic arrogance discovers some sin or some flaw he becomes disenchanted with the object of his admiration and he reacts to it. Often this is a part of the problem of polarisation where the self-righteous, legalistic believer becomes disenchanted with the believer whose trend is toward lascivious/lawlessness. The arrogant iconoclast reacts and seeks to destroy the idol which he has created.

Nine principles

1. The arrogant iconoclast never blames himself for what he has done in the creating and then destroying of an idol. In fact in his irrational state of arrogance he blames the idol for being created by his own fantasising. This is a tragic flaw.

2. Arrogance never takes the responsibility for being arrogant. That is the blindness of arrogance.

3. Illusion created by arrogance becomes illusion destroyed by arrogance.

4. Arrogance creates illusion and the fragmented life then destroys that illusion.

5. Iconoclastic arrogance, the feet-of-clay syndrome, is the inevitable result of the fragmented life with its polarisation of the trends of the OSN.

6. The arrogant reaction of idolising and rejecting your own icon is the vanity of transferring the blame of your fragmented life to an innocent party.

7. Once you transfer the blame for your own disillusion, disenchantment, and disappointment to the idol that you yourself have created, then you malign, slander, judge, enter into conspiracy, seek to destroy the idol.

8. Arrogance destroys what arrogance creates, always.

9. The feet-of-clay syndrome is the arrogant irrationality of rearranging the doctrine of sin to be compatible with your own self-righteous arrogance and legalistic trend in the sin nature.

Role-model arrogance is a part of iconoclastic arrogance. “Role” is defined in this study as the proper or customary function of an individual. When anyone departs from his role-model he is slandered, maligned, criticised and rejected. People in society in general have a predilection for demanding that everything in life be in its proper place. Consequently society resents any deviation from an assigned role-model. The conclusion then: society has a double standard.

Human relationship fragmentation

Two problems in this connection: The first has to do with the problem of Christian fellowship. Christian fellowship, like any area of social life, is a wonderful thing or it is a very detrimental thing. It all depends on with whom you associate. This is just as true before salvation as afterward.

Fragmentation always destroys the advantages and the blessing which comes from Christian fellowship. Christian fellowship can only be a blessing where believers are consistent in post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation and executing the protocol plan of God under those two problem-solving devices we call doctrinal orientation and grace orientation.

However, a serious problem arises when fragmentation becomes a substitute for perception of Bible doctrine and Christian fellowship then becomes the social life of fragmented believers, and often the social life of polarised fragmentation. A by-product of Christian fellowship in the status of fragmentation results in people emphasis taking precedence over God emphasis. Fragmentation then not only means neglect or rejection of Bible doctrine but it inserts a very serious problem into human relationships. And that includes Christian fellowship.

Polarised fragmentation causes Christian fellowship to become a battleground among believers and as a result of this the outside world of unbelievers are laughing at fragmented believers because they always want to air their dirty linen in public. The privacy of the royal priesthood is one doctrine that has totally escaped this category.

Principles

1. Christian fellowship is never a substitute for fellowship with God.

2. Christian fellowship is never a substitute for perception of Bible doctrine.

3. Christian fellowship is destroyed by the various categories of fragmentation.

4. The assembly of believers in the local church is designed for worship, which emphasises perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine.

5. Fellowship or friendship with other believers is optional, it is never mandatory.

There are at least six disadvantages to Christian fellowship

1. The establishment of wrong priorities in the Christian life through the influence of confused or fragmented Christians.

2. Distraction from Bible doctrine through preoccupation with friendship, romance, or marriage.

3. The polarisation of the sin nature’s trend toward self-righteous arrogance and legalism through association with legalistic believers.

4. The polarisation of the sin nature’s trend toward lascivious/lawlessness and antinomianism though association with antinomian believers.

5. Using Christian fellowship as a means of advancing self in business in business or a profession.

6. Fragmentation of the life through interaction with other believers.

It should be noted that positive believers will always be provided with Bible doctrine, but not always provided with Christian fellowship (It’s nice to have it if it’s right; it’s a distraction if it’s wrong). Christian fellowship really isn’t necessary for your spiritual growth.

Christian fellowship can be very stimulating and very enjoyable if there is no detrimental influence from fragmentation. Christian fellowship cannot advance the believer in God’s plan, God’s will, or God’s purpose — only the mystery doctrine of the Church Age can do that.

Social life in the form of Christian fellowship can be a refreshing interlude but it can never replace fellowship with God through post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. Therefore Christian fellowship cannot replace the execution of the protocol plan. It cannot replace becoming an invisible hero and thereby glorifying God. The real problem is beware of assigning to Christian fellowship a role it can never play.

The other problem is a little more extensive. In interaction with people there is no greater dramatisation of the problems than the subject of marriage.

The reason why marriage becomes a problem manufacturing device is people are no better in marriage than they are as individuals. It isn’t the divine institution of marriage that is at fault. Only the plan of God and problem-solving devices really have the answers. In the problems affecting marriage you can only change yourself you cannot change your spouse. People are no better in marriage than they are in single bliss.

Happiness in marriage depends on virtue-love in three categories: 1. Personal love for God the Father (problem-solving device number 6); 2. Impersonal love for all mankind (problem-solving device number 7); 3. Occupation with Christ (problem-solving device number 10). These three problem-solving devices are the road to recovery from the fragmented life, and also the road to solving the problems of marriage. They function effectively at the point of spiritual self-esteem and even more effectively at the point of spiritual autonomy, and fantastic at the point of spiritual maturity.

The arrogance of unhappiness seeks to control in two ways

1. Make the person feel guilty for alleged neglect. Hence motivate attention though guilt. This intensifies the problems of marriage.

2. Motivate attention through the arousal of pity. Motivate others by making them feel sorry for you.

The arrogance of unhappiness seeks to dominate, control, and enslave the opposite number in marriage.

The illusions related to the arrogance of unhappiness are many

1. You can’t build your happiness on the details of life.

2. You can’t build your happiness on pleasant environment.

3. You can’t build your happiness on that fragment of the grenade called crusader arrogance, social engineering, Christian activism, civil disobedience, etc.

4. You can’t build you happiness on someone else’s unhappiness or by hurting someone else.

5. You cannot build your happiness on a moment of time.

6. You cannot build your happiness on self-gratification.

Principles

1. Marriage cannot make you happy, only Bible doctrine.

2. Sex cannot make you happy, only Bible doctrine.

3. Prosperity and power cannot make you happy, only Bible doctrine.

4. Money cannot make you happy, only Bible doctrine.

5. Health cannot make you happy, only Bible doctrine.

6. People cannot make you happy, only Bible doctrine.

7. A friendly church cannot make you happy, only Bible doctrine.

You cannot solve the problem instantly for you cannot learn all the doctrine you need in a few minutes. Desperate and instant solutions, therefore, are no solutions at all.

Principle: When you have lost control of your life through fragmentation and neglect of Bible doctrine there is no instant solution outside of rebound and keep moving while you’re learning the doctrine. Perpetual fragmentation involves too many bad decisions from a position of weakness, and the position of weakness includes your neglect of Bible doctrine and entering into the various stages of reversionism.

Therefore we have what might be classified as the aspirin panacea. The aspirin panacea says: Desperate people want simple solutions. Divine solutions require the time it takes to learn pertinent doctrine which can be applied to the situation. So the principle: You cannot recover in a day what you lost over a long period of time.

Principles

1. Marital problems are symptoms; fragmentation is the disease.

2. Only the problem-solving devices of the protocol plan can solve the disease of the fragmented life of the Christian.

3. People are no better in marriage than they are as people.

4. Marriages fail because believers fragment their own lives. Therefore marriages fail because people fail as human beings.

5. Marriages fail because people believe that marriages are panaceas and the solution to all their problems.

6. Actually marriage intensifies the problems of life by merging the problems of two people.

7. Marriage is not designed for happiness but for virtue.

8. Virtue is designed for happiness.

9. Therefore happiness in marriage depends on learning as quickly as possible and utilising the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

Luke 11:26

In the context our Lord Jesus Christ is giving a dissertation on demon possession. He is explaining how when the unbeliever is demon possessed (the believer cannot be demon possessed) and the demon is removed, and that person becomes a very sweet person with a nice personality. They have cleaned up their house as it were. Jesus goes on to explain that once you sweep and clean the house then the demon decides to come back but he brings seven more demons worse than he is, along with him. And therefore Jesus says at the end of Luke 11:26: “… and the last state of that man [an unbeliever] is worse than his first state”.

At this point our Lord Jesus Christ was interrupted by a woman in the audience with a loud voice. Luke 11:27: “Now it came to pass, while he was teaching these things, a certain woman from the crowd interrupted him and shouted with a loud voice, Blessed is the woman whose womb carried you, and whose breasts you have sucked” .What she didn’t say is what is important. Biological life begins at conception and none of us would have a human body apart from biological life. But biological life in itself is not a human being.

In responding to the woman our Lord did not address the problem of the womb directly. But He did address the problem of the womb indirectly for He replied to her: Menoun — Wrong, on the contrary, incorrect. Then He addressed the problem of happiness, not the problem of the womb, and He said: “Happiness belongs to those who keep hearing and keep guarding the Word of God.” This woman did not understand the Word of God as it then existed, she did not understand the Old Testament scriptures. So He dealt with her problem. She was making an issue out of the womb. He made a very important issue out of the fact that the problem of the womb, and every problem in life, is addressed in the Word of God.

Several things the woman did not understand

Exodus 21:22. If two men fight and one strikes a pregnant woman so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury to the woman, what happens to this person?

Answer: He will be fined, not tried for murder. It isn’t even a criminal trial.

Every demonstrator carrying a sign in front of an abortion clinic saying, “murder", is wrong as far as the Word of God is concerned.

Since there is only biological life and not soul life in the womb there can be no death penalty for murder, since miscarriage or forced abortion is definitely not murder. However, if during the struggle the woman is killed then the death penalty for murder is applied in that case — but not in the case of the foetus being aborted because of being struck. Miscarriage or abortion involves biological life and therefore damages are paid according to this passage.

Isaiah 42:5. “ … he who giveth breath.” Lit. who gives the spark of life. The word in the Hebrew is neshamah. The spark of life is not developed in the womb. “ … to people on it.”

The womb is defined as the uterus of the human female, the place where biological life is formed and the OSN is transmitted. The womb did not come into existence until after the original sin of Adam and the woman, Genesis 3:16. In other words when the man was created Adam had trichotomous life, a body, a soul, and a human spirit. The spirit was designed for fellowship with God, the soul was designed for man having fellowship with mankind and perfect Adam as a rational creature ruling the world. The body was designed for a home for actual human life.

In original creation there was no womb. After the original sin the soul is totally apart from sin and totally apart from the womb. The soul is not a part of the womb, ever. Never has been, never will be. There are certain functions related to the mentality of the soul that we call format soul but they are related to biological life. And as of the original sin soul life was never inside of the womb.

This means that God did not create the womb in original creation.

It was not until after the fall that the woman received the womb for two purposes: for the development of biological life; and secondly, the womb is the basis for the transmission of the OSN.

God created man “out of the dust of the ground [biological life was created] and he breathed into the nostrils the breath of lives, and man became a living soul” .Biological life by itself is not a human being, there must be soul life added to it.

Death — Ecclesiastes 12:7. “Then the dust [biological life] will return to the earth as it was [the decomposition of the body that was biological life] and the breath [the soul life] will return to God who gave it.” God gave soul life. Soul life is not formed in the womb, it is given by God at birth.

Job 33:4 — “The breath of God [ruach-el — soul life] has made me, and the spark of life from the almighty gave me life.” What is the spark of life? — neshamah.

Principles

1. While biological life begins at conception soul life begins at birth, given directly by God.

2. Biological life is the transmitter of the sin nature. Consequently the sin nature resides in the cell structure of the body.

The problem-solving devices always depend on learning a lot of Bible doctrine around them. They are not simply isolated mechanics; they depend upon a full knowledge of certain categories of doctrine. If your number one priority is not Bible doctrine there is no way you can effectively use the problem-solving devices. Reason: the problem-solving devices are encapsulated in Bible doctrine. The people who do not get the encapsulated doctrine that goes with these problem-solving devices never use them effectively, are never consistent, and they fall back on everything that destroys their spiritual life and makes them function like an unbeliever would in any crisis of life. The only way for the problem-solving devices to work is to make priority number one to be Bible doctrine and to be consistent in the intake of doctrine.

The problem-solving devices

1. Rebound.

2. Filling of the Spirit.

3. The faith-rest drill.

4. Grace orientation.

5. Doctrinal orientation.

6. Personal love for God the Father

7. Impersonal love for all mankind.

8. Plus H or sharing the happiness of God.

9. Personal sense of destiny.

10. Occupation with the person of Jesus Christ.

The rebound technique is problem-solving device number one. The reason is because in the OSN the area of strength produces dead works — human good. Production of dead works is the worst thing that could happen to you because it gives the impression that you are doing something for God when in reality you are creating wood, hay, and stubble which will be burned at the judgement seat of Christ. The OSN’s area of weakness which produces personal sins follows the trend toward self-righteous arrogance [legalism] which if not checked will eventuate in moral degeneracy. The OSN’s trend toward lascivious/lawlessness [antinomianism] when unchecked results in immoral degeneracy.

The trouble is if both of these systems of fragmentation are polarised, and the legalist is criticising and judging the antinomian, and the antinomian is reacting and saying “If that’s what they believe in that church I’ll never go back,” etc.

The importance of the rebound technique

1. Without rebound as a problem-solving device it would be impossible to utilise your portfolio of invisible assets. You cannot learn without the Holy Spirit.

2. Without rebound as a problem-solving device number one it would be impossible to learn and use the other nine problem-solving devices.

3. Without rebound as a problem-solving device number one it would be impossible to execute the protocol plan of God. No one has ever fulfilled God’s plan for the Church Age unless he is consistent in the use of the rebound technique.

4. Without the problem-solving device of rebound it would be impossible to become an invisible hero and therefore a member of the pivot.

5. Without the rebound technique as a problem-solving device it would be impossible to be filled with the Spirit.

6. Without rebound as a problem-solving device it would be impossible to reside in the palace God has provided — the divine dynasphere.

7. Without the rebound technique as a problem-solving device the believer will end up being at least nine things: a. He will be an enemy of the cross, Phil. 3:18; b. He becomes an enemy of God, James 4:4; c. Believers become haters of God, John 15:23; d. Believers become double-minded, James 4:8; e. The use of the word “antichrist” to describe believers who are unchecked in the fragmented life, 1 John 2:18,22; 4:3; 2 John 7; f. Believers are called “carnal” and g. a “disciple of the devil,” 1 John 3:8,10.

Post-salvation sins fragment our lives unless there is the use of the rebound technique as problem-solving device number one. Ephesians 4:22: “ … with reference to your former lifestyle, you yourselves lay aside the old man [OSN]” — the function of the rebound technique.

Philippians 3:13 — Whenever you rebound forget that sin. If you don’t you will have repercussions in your thinking that will put you out of fellowship. It will affect others. “ … forgetting those things which are behind.” Acknowledge, isolate, and forget.

The sin nature is transmitted at conception by the 23 male chromosomes which fertilise the female ovum. This is because the woman was deceived in the original sin — taught in Genesis 3:13. “The serpent deceived me and I ate.” In 1 Timothy 2:14 “It was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” There we have the fact that Adam committed the sin of cognisance and the woman committed the sin of ignorance, in the original sin. In the imputation at birth it is Adam’s sin that is imputed. In 1 Timothy 2:15 the first part of that verse is a part of a parenthesis. “And the woman shall be saved in the bearing of children.” That is where the parenthesis ends, the rest of the verse does not belong. Our original parents did not have any children in the Garden of Eden. There is an obvious reason why they didn’t, the woman was not ovulating. No ovulation or pregnancy occurred until after the original sin and the fall of mankind.

After man acquired the sin nature the woman began to ovulate, pregnancy occurred, and biological life plus the old sin nature occurred in the womb. And those are the only two things that have ever been in the womb. Biological life minus soul life is not a human being and soul life has never been in the womb. Soul life is created by God at birth.

Two things must be learned: Biological life was developed in the womb; human life was developed outside the womb. Any one who says that there was human life in the womb is saying that God is the author of sin. God is not the author of sin, God is the author of human life. How can God be the author of human life? By keeping human life out of the womb. God is not the author of sin because soul life is not imputed to biological life until the foetus emerges from the womb. Then soul life is imputed to biological life called the foetus.

Principle: Biological life minus soul life is no human being. For a human being to exist biological life plus soul life equals a human being. And there never has been a human being in the womb. After mankind acquired the sin nature the woman began to ovulate, pregnancy occurred, and biological life plus the OSN occurred in the womb.

There were two mandates given prior to the fall; they were not executed until after the original sin and the acquisition of the sin nature. Original sin plus the acquisition of the sin nature means to us spiritual death. The mandates were given before the fall but they were never executed until after the fall.

Mandate number one: Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply.” They couldn’t be fruitful until ovulation occurred. They couldn’t multiply. In fact there was no need for the perpetuation of the human race until after sin occurred. And when it says “rule over the earth” we know that at the moment of original sin Adam lost rulership of the earth. But that isn’t what this mandate says, it says “subdue the earth” and is then amplified in the middle of the verse and it means control or rule lower creation, which is not rational. Rationality belongs to homosapiens.

Mandate number two: Genesis 2:24 [This is before the fall] “For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother.” Adam and the woman didn’t have a father and a mother. In fact they would turn out to be the first father and mother. So it is quite obvious that certain mandates related to mankind were designed for after the fall even though they were given before the fall.

No ovulation, no pregnancy. In other words the womb was there but dormant during the amount of time that the man and the woman lived in the Garden. What is a dormant womb? No ovulation, that’s all. The incubator was there but not being used.

Part of the judgement of the original sin was ovulation and pregnancy, Genesis 3:16 “To the woman God said [Two things], I will multiply your pain” — pain related to menstruation — “and pregnancy.” The dividing line is a conjunction — AND. The pain is related to menstruation and then to giving birth. Ovulation is how conception occurs and birth is how biological life [the foetus] comes into the world and God then imputes soul life to that biological life of the foetus, that is when a person becomes a human being. Biological life is not a human being. It cannot be without soul life and God gives soul life directly.

Because of ovulation and the function of the dormant womb after the fall, Adam changed the name of the female. The female was always called Ishah, which is translated “woman.” Don’t ever call the woman in the Garden “Eve.” She was never “Eve” in the Garden. But after the fall, after the woman ovulated, just before the first pregnancy occurred, in Genesis 3:20 “Adam called the name of his Ishah, Chawua.” Why is it Chawua? Because it is based on a Hebrew word which means “life” .All it means is life. Chawua is life. Her life? No, she has already been alive for a long time, she wasn’t Chawua in the Garden. She is now called Chawua because she ovulates, she is going to become pregnant, and she will carry biological life in the womb and the OSN contributed by Adam. And when the foetus emerges she will call it Cain. So Adam called her name Life because she carried the equipment by which biological life becomes human life at birth.

There are two categories of biological life: In the uterus biological life is developed so it is ready to be the basis for receiving soul life at birth. That is biological life in the womb. The, when the foetus emerges from the womb, God then creates the soul life and imputes it to biological life. That is what God did to Adam. God breathed into his nostrils, soul life, and man became a living soul. Man was not a living soul until biological life, which in the original creation came from the dust, received the breath of life. Man became a soul having life.

Soul life is given by God — outside the womb. Biological life is developed in the womb, along with the OSN. If human life was in the womb then God would be the author of sin, which is blasphemous and unthinkable.

That is the first stage of biological life — in the womb. The second stage is: biological life is then the human body until death. At death the soul departs either to be with God or to go to Hades in preparation for the Lake of Fire. But is departs from the body and, as we see in Ecclesiastes 12:7, biological life returns to the dust and the soul goes to God WHO GAVE IT.

Just as there are two categories of biological life — in the womb and as a part of a human being when God imputes soul life — so there are two categories of soul life: from birth to death in the human being and in eternity either in heaven or in Hell.

The eventual disposition of the soul is heaven or Hell, depending on attitude toward Christ. John 3:18 “He who believes in him is not judged, but he who does not believe is judged already because he does not believe in the unique Son of God.” There is one exception to this: the humanity of Jesus Christ. We have a virgin pregnancy because the Holy Spirit provided 23 perfect male chromosomes which fertilised the ovum. Now you have a virgin pregnancy minus the old sin nature. When the foetus emerges there is the fulfilment of John 3:16,

“… he gave his uniquely-born son — monogenhj u(ios.” U(ioj is deity; monogenhj is humanity. God the Father made the greatest decision in our favour that you could ever imagine. He knew that His Son would go to the cross and He would judge our sins as He imputed them to Him. But God the Father created neshamah, soul life, which is also called nephish ruach and He imputed to the foetus, to the biological life, that emerged from the womb. And at that point Jesus Christ became the God-Man. This is the point of the hypostatic union. There is no hypostatic union in the womb. The hypostatic union began with the birth of Jesus Christ. The virgin pregnancy provided biological life minus the sin nature; the virgin birth provided a human being who was like Adam — trichotomous. Jesus Christ was born trichotomous, the only one who ever was.

Where the soul life resides in eternity is very important. You have to believe in Jesus Christ for soul life to reside with God forever. So the merging of biological and soul life at birth has two results. 1. A human being now exists in dichotomous state by the imputation of soul life to biological life; 2. The human being is under spiritual death by the imputation of Adam’s original sin to the OSN that emerged from the womb with biological life, genetically formed.

Spiritual death includes at least four things: 1. A dichotomous status quo of soul and body; 2. Total depravity related to the functions of the sin nature; 3. Total separation from God — he is yuxikoj man, the human being under spiritual death, he has a body and he has a soul; 4. Man can do nothing about entering into a relationship with God, he is totally helpless.

The genetic perpetuation of the sin nature. Both male and female homosapiens possess the sin nature but only the male can transmit it. The male transmits the sin nature in copulation through the 23 chromosomes which fertilise the female ovum. This is because Adam committed the original sin of cognisance, while the woman committed the original sin of ignorance. In conception the sin nature is transferred to the womb, along with biological life. Remember that pregnancy occurs in the uterus and pregnancy means two things in the uterus or the womb: biological life and the OSN. The sin nature does not become active until birth, until there is a yuxikoj person.

Principle: Biological life without soul life is not human life. Biological life exists in the womb; human life exists outside the womb — and God must step in for that to occur. Biological life became mother-dependant in the womb; soul life is God-dependant at birth.

God is never the source of sin, temptation, or the sin nature. The sin nature originated by Adam’s original sin in the Garden, Romans 5:12 ff; biological life begins at conception; soul life begins at birth. Soul life is a human being. The sin nature is part of biological life, therefore the sin nature and biological life reside in the womb. But because there is no soul life in the womb God is not the author of sin.

Principles

1. Biological life and the sin nature begin at conception; soul life begins at birth.

2. Because the sin nature originates from the 23 male chromosomes which fertilise the female ovum at conception the sin nature is transmitted through biological life.

3. Biological life begins with mother-dependence in the womb; soul life begins with God-dependence at birth.

4. If there was any soul life in the womb then God would be the author of sin, which is blasphemous and unthinkable.

5. But because there is no soul life in the womb God is not the author of sin.

6. The sin nature, however, is formed in the womb along with the rest of biological life.

7. Human life does not exist until birth when God imputes soul life to biological life at the point of birth. 8. Biological life minus soul life is not a human being.

The Bible distinguishes between two things: conception and birth. The distinction emphasises two different categories of life: biological life which begins at conception and soul life which begins at birth. Biological life is formed in the womb so that at birth a body is prepared for mankind. Along with biological life being formed in the womb the sin nature is transmitted in a dormant state. While biological life is formed in the womb, soul life is formed entirely outside the womb. Biological life is not human life until birth when God imputes soul life to biological life to form the human being. Biological life minus soul life is never a human being and therefore the Bible constantly distinguishes between the life at conception manufactured by man and the life at birth manufactured by God.

Psalm 51:5 in corrected translation should read: “Behold I was born sinful.” Immediately we have no human being until birth, hence birth is mentioned first. When soul life is imputed to biological life at birth simultaneously Adam’s original sin is imputed to the genetically formed OSN. David is saying that he was born physically alive and at the same time spiritually dead. Then he adds: “ … and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Sin refers to the origin of the sin nature. The sin nature originates from the 23 male chromosomes which fertilise the female ovum in conception. In other words the sin nature is transmitted in biological life. Therefore the womb contains both biological life and the sin nature.

The same distinction between life at birth and life at conception is given in Psalm 139:13: “ For you created my innermost being [soul life given at birth]; you covered me in my mother’s womb” [occurred at conception. The womb is the covering, the incubator for biological life].

Isaiah 44:2 — The beginning of human life. “Thus says Jehovah who made you, who formed you [mi beten].” First of all we have a preposition in the Hebrew — min (In its full form). It means separation, removal out from and away from. We have in the Hebrew min plus beten. (The word beten is the word for the womb) It should be translated: “Thus says Jehovah who made, who formed you away from [separated from, removed from, out from] the womb.” This is comparable to the Greek preposition e)k plus the ablative of separation. The human being was not formed in the womb but away from the womb.

Isaiah 44:24 — “Thus says Jehovah, your redeemer, even the one who formed you out from the womb” [mi beten].

Psalm 22:10 — A messianic psalm referring to our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking at His incarnation in verse 10. “I was cast upon you out from the womb” — the true doctrine of Kenosis, our Lord’s dependence on God’s power and the fact that He did not use His own divine essence; “ … you have been my God away from my mother’s womb” — separated from my mother’s womb, removed from my mother’s womb, out from my mother’s womb. There was not God dependence in the womb, not until He became a human being at the virgin birth.

Principles

1. Biological life and the sin nature begin at conception; soul life begins at birth.

2. Because the sin nature originates with the 23 male chromosomes which fertilise the female ovum at conception, the sin nature is transmitted through biological life.

3. Biological life begins with mother dependence in the womb; soul life begins with God dependence at birth, outside the womb.

4. If there was any soul life in the womb then God would be the author of sin, which is blasphemous and unthinkable.

5. Because there is no soul life in the womb God is not the author of sin.

6. The sin nature, however, is formed in the womb with the rest of biological life.

7. Human life does not exist until birth when God imputes soul life to biological life.

8. Biological life minus soul life is not human life.

Exodus 21:22 — “If men who are fighting, hit a pregnant woman so that she has a miscarriage, [expulsion of the foetus before it is viable — Hebrew word is the qal perfect of jatsa — to go out].”

Principle: Why translate it miscarriage rather than premature birth? Because Isaiah 44:2 & 24 and Psalm 22:10 — human life begins separated from the womb.

“ … and yet there is no further injury [to the mother]; he will surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand from him; therefore he will pay damages as the judges render a decision.

v23 — “And if there is any further injury [to the mother], then you will appoint as the penalty a life for a life.” If the woman dies, capital punishment for the crime of murder — Genesis 9:5,6; Exodus 21:12; Numbers 35:30; Matthew 26:52; Romans 13:3,4.

Obviously these things do not apply to a non-viable foetus; they apply to the mother. The foetus is never on an equal basis with the woman. Since there is only biological life in the womb, and never soul life or human life, there can be no death penalty with regard to the foetus, since miscarriage or forced abortion from violence is not murder.

Conclusions

1. There is no soul life in the womb; furthermore there has never been soul life in the womb.

2. Soul life or human life existed before the function of the womb in ovulation and conception.

3. Soul life or human life is always the creative act of God at birth, which means that God is never the author of sin.

4. Soul life or human life develops in the body after birth, while biological life develops before birth in the womb.

5. There is no human being in the womb for mankind does not exist until birth.

6. Soul life or human life begins with mankind in the status quo of being physically alive and simultaneously spiritually dead.

7. Biological life minus soul life is not human life.

Psalm 22:1 — Why was Jesus Christ forsaken? Because He was perfect, He was trichotomous, He was qualified to be judged for the sins of the world. But more than that this phrase that was uttered on the cross repeatedly indicates that the Psalm 22 is a messianic psalm. Why was He forsaken? Ps. 22:3 “Because you [God the Father] are holy” God the Father has justice and righteousness [that is what holiness is] and the justice of God called for a printout of all of the sins of the world and they were imputed to Jesus Christ on the cross. Qualified to be judged for those sins, He is the last Adam, He is perfect , He is trichotomous, but the justice of God judged those sins. In justice He is forsaken. Why? Justice and holiness is judging the sins of the world, the basis for salvation.

Psalm 22:10 — How did Christ get to the cross? The humanity of Christ in hypostatic union — “I was cast upon you [God], mi beten, out from the womb.” This is the humanity of Jesus Christ. “ … you have been my God [This is His humanity speaking], mi beten, away from my mother’s womb.”

Note: In the incarnation, which began with the virgin birth, he was God-dependant. In His mother’s womb there was only biological life and it was mother dependant. He became incarnate “away from my mother’s womb.”

Luke 11:26 — Jesus was giving a dissertation on demon possession. He was explaining that a demon had been cast out of an unbeliever but the person did not become a believer. He swept out his house, he merely cleaned up his life, so that the demon finding that the house was now clean gathered up seven other demons and they all went back and possessed it.

Verse 27 — “Blessed is the woman whose womb carried you and whose breasts you have sucked.” This woman was confused. How do we know? Because she could not distinguish between biological life and soul life. She talked about the womb carrying Him. The one who sucked the breasts, that was human life; the biological life in the womb was not human life. And no distinction was made by this woman.

Verse 28 — What did He say to her? “You’re wrong!” — menoun, on the contrary. He is now going to make an issue out of human life, out of soul life: “Blessing belongs to those who keep hearing and keep guarding the Word of God.” Bible doctrine, not what is in the womb, is the true issue.

Review

Biological life is not human life, it is the basis for the structurising of the human body and the transmission of the old sin nature. There are two categories at the point of conception: biological life and the sin nature which is transmitted with biological life. Biological life without soul life is not human life. In the womb the sin nature is genetically formed and becomes active at birth. Then the justice of God imputes Adam’s original sin to that OSN.

Isaiah 44:2 — “Thus says Jehovah who made thee, who formed thee [out from] from the womb [mi beten].” In the Hebrew mi(n) means separated from, away from, removed from, and out from.

A little bit of grammar on the preposition min: It may stand alone or it may be prefixed to a substantive or a noun. Before a non-guttural (like the “b” in beten) you drop the “n.”

Job 1:21 — Job’s response to the death of all of his children: “Then he said, Naked (The biological foetus) I came [mi beten] separated from [immi] my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there [When biological life ends with physical death].” Principle: Biological life minus soul life is not human life.

Job 33:4 — “The breath of God hath made me [The breath of God is soul life; breath of God, ruach el.] and the spark of life [neshamah] from the Almighty gives me life” .The word ruach is defined as breath, wind, spirit, and even soul. Biological life plus soul life equals human life; biological life minus soul life means no human life.

Psalm 51:5 — In the womb we not only have biological life but the OSN is transmitted in that biological life. Just as the womb was dormant before the fall, no ovulation, so the sin nature is dormant until birth, but it is there. Since the sin nature is a part of biological life it resides in the womb until the viable foetus emerges. At birth the justice of God imputes Adam’s original sin to that genetically-formed sin nature so that human being is spiritually dead. That is what David mean’t when he said: “I was born sinful [awon].” Since there is no human being until birth, birth is mentioned first. He is going to start from the foetus emerging from the womb.

Why was he born sinful? Because the sin nature is transmitted in biological life and when biological life emerges from the womb it brings the sin nature along.

“ … and in sin [chataah] did my mother conceive me.” Sin refers to the origin of the sin nature.

Psalm 139:13 — “For you created my innermost being [soul life imputed at birth resulting in a human being]; … “ Biological life is now activated because soul life has been added to it. “ … you covered me in my mother’s womb.” The word for cover is sakak and it simply points out that the womb is an incubator. The womb is a covering then for biological life in its developing stages.

The Bible distinguishes between biological and soul life

Biological life originates at conception and is mother dependant; soul life originates at birth and is God dependant.

1. Biological life and the OSN begin at conception; soul life begins at birth.

2. The content of the womb is twofold: biological life in the process of development; the sin nature in the process of transmission.

3. There is no human life in the womb.

4. Human life is formed at birth by that imputation that combines soul life and biological life.

5. Since the OSN resides in the womb but human life does not reside in the womb, God is not and cannot be the author of sin.

6. The conflict between volition of the human soul and the OSN does not exist until after birth because there is no human life in the womb.

7. Biological life minus soul life is not human life; biological life plus soul life equals human life.

The ten unique factors of the Church Age

1. The baptism of the Holy Spirit.

2. The protocol plan of God.

3. The equality factor of the protocol plan in both election and predestination.

4. Our portfolio of invisible assets.

5. Two royal commissions: Every believer is a royal priest; every believer is a royal ambassador.

6. The mystery doctrine of the Church Age.

7. For the first and only time in history every member of the Trinity indwells the believer.

8. The divine power available to the believer: the omnipotence of the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets, the omnipotence of the Son giving us a day at a time and seeing to it that history will continue until the end of the Millennium, the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit by which we execute the unique protocol plan of God.

9. This is the only dispensation in which there is no prophecy.

10. This is the dispensation of invisible heroes. (We are designed for low profile and invisible impact. Our invisible impact comes through executing the protocol plan of God.)

Verses 17ff — the story of negative orientation. In other words there are literally millions of believers who have never heard of the protocol plan of God and these believers are going to commit every sin, be involved in every failure, live fragmented lives, and will not be distinguished in their modus operandi from the unbeliever. In vv17-19 we note that the protocol plan of God is designed to avoid the maladies of the soul. Soul maladies continue as a part of post-salvation sinning.

In verse 17 we note the subject: The vacuum of the mind.

v17 — “therefore,” o)un introduces an inference from what precedes. It resumes an exhortation which was begun in verse 3: “Be motivated to maintain the unity from the Spirit [baptism of the Spirit] by means of the bond of peace.”

“I say” present active indicative of legw plus the accusative singular direct object of the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. Literal translation: “Therefore I communicate this,” a powerful message to avoid the pre-salvation thinking, the bad habits we had before salvation.

“and testify” kai marturomai, and insist, “in the Lord” e)n plus the instrumental of cause from kurioj, “because of the Lord” — “henceforth” mhketi, no longer. It is dividing between life before salvation and life after salvation. The Ephesian believers could not distinguish between before and after and the reason they couldn’t is because they are negative toward doctrine and therefore in a state of ignorance. They do not understand the protocol plan of God; they have yet to enter into consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation; “walk” present active infinitive of peripatew — has to do with lifestyle, modus operandi, what you think, what you do. The retro-active progressive present denotes an action that began in the past, before salvation as an unbeliever, and continues into the present. No change because of no doctrine; no doctrine because of no positive volition. So we have a carry-over of pre-salvation modus operandi into post-salvation modus operandi.

Failure to execute the protocol plan of God is based on either indifference or active rejection of the mystery of the Church Age. Whether it is apathy or rejection the result is the same — ignorance of the protocol plan of God.

“as” is the comparative adverb kaqoj plus e)qnoj — unbelievers. A reference to pre-salvation modus operandi. These believers are Gentiles in Ephesus who are living exactly the same way they were before they were saved — “walk” peripatew. Ignorant believers functioned just like they did before they were saved. They haven’t learned anything about the principle: After salvation, What?

“in vanity” — e)n plus the locative of sphere from mataiothj. With this we also have, to indicate that this is a very personal factor, a possessive genitive plural from the intensive pronoun a)utoj. A)utoj is simply an intensive pronoun but it is used as a personal pronoun since in the Koine Greek at the time of the writing of the New Testament there was no third personal pronoun still functioning in the Greek language. So it is translated: “in the vacuum of their.” Then there is the descriptive genitive from the noun nouj which refers to the mind, especially to the left lobe.

Correct translation of verse 17: “Therefore I communicate this, and because of the Lord I insist that you no longer walk even as Gentiles [unbelievers] walk, in the vacuum of their mind.”

The unbeliever is represented by the word “Gentiles.” They have a vacuum in the mentality of the soul and into that vacuum every false concept is drawn. Therefore there was tremendous amount of confusion at that time, even as there is today among believers. The principle is, the believer minus Bible doctrine is exactly like the unbeliever. He possesses a vacuum in the mind which draws into his mentality everything that is void of truth, everything that is futile, everything that is worthless and empty. When the believer thinks like an unbeliever, acts like an unbeliever, sins like an unbeliever, he is classified as a reversionist. So both the believer and the unbeliever and the reversionist each use rationalism and empiricism to understand God. Neither system of thought is capable of anything but relative concepts.

At the time of the Ephesian church believers were failing to fulfil their function, they were failing to divide the word of truth, they did not distinguish between their responsibility to God in the execution of the protocol plan of God and their responsibility to their civil government and the whole concept of freedom being involved. For freedom to exist there must be certain principles that are well delineated in the scriptures. For example, in Romans 13, there must be freedom and freedom protects the volition of the individual so that he has the right to say Yes and No to certain things in life. Freedom must exist for evangelism to exist, for believers to accept or reject the plan of God after salvation. This is the whole issue of the angelic conflict, there must be freedom.

The key to everything historically in the Roman empire depended upon Ephesus and the surrounding territory. This Ephesus became the true “Holy City” because of the effectiveness and impact of the Ephesian epistle. As a result, between Paul’s time around AD 60-61 when this was written, in 30 years there would be one of the greatest pivots of all time which would come from the ministry of three people — Paul, Timothy, and John.

In verse 17 there are certain key words. For example, peripatew, which means to walk but is rarely used for walking. Occasionally it is used for literal walking but actually it is used for modus operandi of both unbeliever and reversionistic believer, in this passage for example.

The believers were not executing the Christian way of life; they didn’t even understand God’s will or God’s purpose in sustaining them. How did they walk? It isn’t their modus operandi that is important first, it is the way they think. This is because the way you think determines the way you are going to live, and therefore the apostle says, “they walk in the vacuum of their mind.”

Another key word is mataiothj, it refers to a vacuum, the vacuum of the mind. And where the vacuum of the mind [nouj] exists, it draws in everything that is false, everything that is erroneous, and it makes an issue that there is no such thing as absolute truth; that only relative truth can exist.

How does this vacuum of the mind exist? The vacuum of the mind comes through negative volition toward truth. Truth comes in two forms: the Gospel and doctrine. People say No to the Gospel and therefore a vacuum is formed in their mind. That is how they accept Marxism, that is how they accept all kinds of false concepts and get involved in everything that is contrary to the laws of divine establishment. In the other form of truth, doctrine, which refers to the believer (the protocol plan of God), the doctrine is rejected and the believer has a vacuum in his mind.

The doctrine of reversionism

Definition and description: It is an act of reversing or turning in the opposite way, or a state of being so turned. As believers in Jesus Christ we were designed to execute the protocol plan of God but in reversionism we turn the other way. And while we still have eternal salvation we still cannot be distinguished from our pre-salvation status or from unbelievers who are functioning under the modus operandi of their old sin natures.

Reversionism is the result of fragmentation. The thinking of the reversionistic believer is exactly the same as the thinking of the unbeliever who possesses the vacuum of the mind. That is because the vacuum is first of all created by negative volition but it draws every system of erroneous thinking, every system of false doctrine into the mentality of the soul, and it leads to practices which result, with unbelievers, in demon possession and demon influence, and with believers, demon influence.

Reversionism

1. Reversionism is defined as an act of reversing or turning in the opposite way, (In the case of believers, in the opposite way to God’s plan, God’s will, God’s purpose.) or being in a state of being so turned, which means believers thinking human viewpoint.

2. Reversionism may also be defined as reverting to a former state, to a former belief, to a former practice, hence the practice of fragmentation.

3. Reversionism is the status of the believer who fails to execute the protocol plan of God for the Church Age.

4. The reversionistic believer is classified as a loser in the Christian way of life.

5. Reversionism is lack of spiritual growth, apostasy, failure to attain the three stages of spiritual adulthood, failure to possess spiritual self-esteem, failure to reach the point of spiritual autonomy and spiritual maturity.

6. Reversionism is the believer’s retrogression because of negative volition toward the mystery doctrine of the Church Age which both defines and reveals God’s plan, God’s will and God’s purpose for our lives.

7. Reversionism then is a technical theological term from rejecting absolute truth and therefore drawing into the mind or accepting relative truth. Relative truth without an absolute premise of some kind is disastrous to the one who thinks it, to the one who practices it, and to the government which adopts it, the result is tyranny.

8. Reversionism then is a technical theological term for the results of fragmentation.

9. Reversionism, of course, must be distinguished from carnality. Carnality is an absolute, the believer out of fellowship and in a state of sin under the control of the OSN. Reversionism is a relative thing. It is a relative state of the believer which emphasises the various categories of retrogression.

The believer cannot be demon possessed but he can be demon influenced. In demon influence the soul of the unbeliever or the soul of the reversionistic believer is infiltrated by false doctrine, called in 1 Timothy 4:1, doctrine of demons. This comes through a vacuum of the mind that opens up. Just like a vacuum cleaner it picks up all the dirt in its vicinity. That is the concept.

Stage 1 of reversionism: reaction and distraction

There are many who believed in Jesus Christ in their youth. They lived in a Christian home. At their parents’ insistence they attended certain services — maybe evangelistic services — and they believed in Christ. But as they began to advance in age, and as they came into contact with peer pressure, and as they got into the educational system, they began to become “sophisticated” and they began to change their thinking and to reject everything that their parents had accepted. Even though they are still believers and still have eternal life they are thinking in an entirely different way to the absolute concepts of Bible doctrine. So there was a point in their life when they reacted to Christianity.

For one reason or another distraction from the protocol plan of God is based upon reaction. That reaction takes us right back to fragmentation. In the fragmentation the first thing one does is start to react to everything that was once important. Therefore there are various expressions of negative volition which result. First of all there is apathy or indifference. Secondly there are wrong priorities. But most of all there is arrogance involved.

In Romans 12:2-3 we see something of how this reaction is formed. Literal translation: “Stop being conformed to this world [e.g. peer pressure], but be transformed by the renovation of your thought [consistent post-salvation rehabilitation], that you may prove what the will of God is [the execution of the protocol plan], namely, the good of intrinsic value achievement, the well pleasing to God, the mature status quo [execution of God’s plan].”

Verse 3 — “For I say through the grace which has been given to me, to every believer who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance [self-fragmentation], beyond what you ought to think, but think in terms of sanity [absolute truth is always related to reality], for the purpose of being rational without illusion [the result of the daily perception of doctrine] as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from doctrine.”

These scriptures verify the fact that fragmentation is the number one avenue which leads to reversionism. The presence of reactor factors in the life result in distraction from doctrine. The reactor factors include many antithetical concepts which follow the trends of the believer’s OSN.

Reactor factors

1. Wrong priorities in which the believer can place money, success, pleasure, loved ones, social life, friends, sex, health, material things, etc. ahead of God emphasis. This develops a scale of values that excludes God-relationship.

2. Rejection of authority in general, rejection of the authority of the pastor-teacher, hence the rejection of the message which is communicated regarding God’s will and plan for the life.

3. Personality conflict, often coming from hypersensitivity and other forms of fragmentation.

4. A lack of objectivity when reprimanded, either by the scripture or by someone in authority.

5. Reaction to gossip, maligning, or unjust treatment of one kind or another.

6. Frustration, divorce, disaster in life from one kind or another.

7. Drug addiction, a drinking problem, criminality, mental illness, inability to concentrate from failure to learn the problem-solving devices.

8. Bad decisions from a position of weakness.

9. Subjective arrogance, pre-occupation with self to the exclusion of reality.

10. Lack of motivation from a lack of a personal sense of destiny.

Three words we need to understand: 1. Implosion; 2. Explosion (fragmentation); 3. Reversionism. Implosion is bursting inside, within, inwardly. It has to do with collapsing inwardly and, in our study, it means technically, yielding to the temptations of the OSN. The principle is that implosion leads to explosion or fragmentation. Explosion or fragmentation leads to reversionism. Once negative volition sets in there is a vacuum in the soul, and this vacuum is the beginning of reversionism. The beginning of reversionism is always related to reaction and distraction because of negative volition to Bible doctrine, cf. 1 Timothy 4:1.

Stage 2 of reversionism: a frantic search for happiness

Once a believer goes negative toward doctrine he becomes frantic in his search for happiness.

1. If you are not content with what you have now you will never be content with what you have in the future. That is what happens in reversionism.

2. Contentment is based on capacity for life from Bible doctrine and not from prosperity. (One thing a reversionist does not have is Bible doctrine, he has a vacuum in his soul.)

3. Prosperity is never the source of happiness.

4. If you are unhappy with what you have at the moment of implosion, explosion, and reversionism, you will be the same if every wish and every desire of your soul were given to you at the moment you entered into reversionism.

Point of doctrine: The only truly happy people are born again believers who through the consistent function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation have amassed enough doctrine in the soul to reach the point of +H, one of the problem-solving devices. Doctrine in the soul gives the capacity. And it has to be metabolised doctrine, not just doctrine perceived but doctrine perceived and metabolised, doctrine which is called in the Greek sofia, wisdom — doctrine which can be applied.

Principle: Advance in the protocol plan of God always provides a balance between capacity for what you have and the enjoyment of what you have.

The frantic search for happiness finds the believer going in another direction, going with the trend of his OSN.

If you concentrate on priority number 1 you will organise your life around it. If you do you will organise your thinking around priority number 1 and you have capacity. That capacity increases and there is your contentment, not in the things that you have but in the doctrine resident in your soul. In the frantic search for happiness the priority becomes romance, friendship, business, success, social life, etc. and you concentrate on that so that you organise your life around it; therefore you organise your thinking around it; therefore you are involved in stage 2 of reversionism which is the frantic search for happiness. The vacuum of the soul which produces emptiness, futility, nothingness, creates a demand for happiness in your life, a demand to replace the truth of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. A frantic search for happiness then becomes the alternative to the daily perception of Bible doctrine and the execution of the protocol plan.

The frantic search for happiness follows the trends of polarised fragmentation. The trend toward legalism results in moral degeneracy and no happiness, and the trend toward antinomianism results in immoral degeneracy and no happiness. The trend toward legalism includes crusader arrogance or self-righteous arrogance, or self-righteous arrogance, or personality arrogance, the arrogance of Christian service, or irrational arrogance, the arrogance of unhappiness (subjective preoccupation with self). The trend toward antinomianism is related to motiferous sexual sins, drug addiction, violence, criminality, total self-indulgence of one form or another. Other believers seek their happiness in the false emphasis on experience, the so-called victorious life commitment, pseudo tongues, tithing for blessing.

Stage 3 of reversionism: operation boomerang

The frantic search for happiness boomerangs; it comes back and knocks down the thrower. It intensifies the original reactor factors so that the believer loses control of his life. Frustration becomes greater frustration. Every search for happiness makes happiness more elusive and therefore the believer is bored and disillusioned. Pleasure and social sexual distractions, drug addiction, only intensifies the problem in life. That goes for all of the problems related to legalism as well.

Operation boomerang means loss of control of your life and intensification of fragmentation and reversionism. It destroys any use of the problem-solving devices of the protocol plan. Instead of +H as a problem-solving device the believer has -H and under -H you cannot build your happiness on the details of life. Minus H depends upon involvement with some form of success or stimulation which is related to a moment of time, a moment of pleasure, a moment of success, power, approbation. But all of this boomerangs and the believer discovers that romance, marriage, sex, prosperity, does not mean happiness but an intensification of an already miserable life.

Principle: Promotion can not make you happy for in operation boomerang you are going to be promoted beyond your capacity and you have the unhappiness of knowing your limitations too late.

Stage 4 of reversionism: emotional revolt of the soul

Emotion is designed as a responder but when emotion takes over the soul you have no mental function any more. Emotion was designed to be an appreciator to respond to the functions of the rationality of the soul. Emotion has no doctrinal content, no mentality, no rationality. Furthermore emotion in control of the soul has no virtue. For emotion to be in its proper place it must be under the control of the right lobe of the soul where doctrine is stored.

When emotions become the dictator of the soul and become the aggressor it neutralises or distorts doctrine in the soul and hinders the execution of the protocol plan. Emotional revolt of the soul is described in Philippians 3:19: “Whose destiny is destruction, whose god is their emotion, whose fame comes by means of dishonour, who keep on thinking about earthly things.”

Emotion takes over the soul and dominates to the point of disorientation to reality. Emotional revolt of the soul can very quickly become a part of a psychopathic condition. Emotion is a hindrance to the perception of Bible doctrine or consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.

Emotions have no capacity for thought, for reason, for discernment, therefore the soul becomes blind, unreasonable, unrestrained, arrogant, immoral, legalistic, antinomian, anti-doctrine. In other words what we have is fragmentation parlayed into reversionism. This emotional revolt of the soul. It means loss of a personal sense of destiny, failure to execute the protocol plan of God, it means failure to understand and utilise the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan, it means failure to understand and apply the ten unique situations of the Church Age.

Stage 5 of reversionism: permanent negative volition toward Bible doctrine

Eph. 4:22: “With reference to your former lifestyle” — here it means the believer in self-fragmentation, post salvation sinning — “you yourselves lay aside the old man [synonym for the old sin nature. Laying aside is a reference to the rebound technique].” Rebound is the only way to check three things which are a part of post-salvation sinning: 1. Implosion; 2. Explosion; 3. Reversionism. “ … on the basis of the lusts of deceit” .Lusts is a reference to power lust, approbation lust, sexual lust, money lust, chemical lust, etc. Deceit refers to implosion, explosion, reversionism, and also cosmic involvement.

To implode means to burst inwardly, to fall apart under pressure. Implosion is a bad decision from a position of weakness whereby the born-again believer uses his own volition to commit a sin. Implosion is the first stage of post-salvation sinning.

Next comes explosion or fragmentation which results from another bad decision from a position of weakness, using your own volition to pull the pin of the grenade. The pin of the grenade includes the entire arrogance complex. Fragmentation comes in six categories: Self-fragmentation, polarised fragmentation, fragmentation of subjective arrogance, human relationship fragmentation, emotional fragmentation, and God-relationship fragmentation.

God-relationship fragmentation

There are four concepts in God-relationship fragmentation.

1. Failure to learn and to use the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

2. Failure to understand and apply the ten unique characteristics of the Church Age.

3. Failure to execute the protocol plan of God through consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.

4. Failure to learn and to use your very own portfolio of invisible assets.

The portfolio of invisible assets

There are first primary assets including your escrow blessings and your computer assets. Then there are secondary assets which include volitional assets, production assets, and assets related to undeserved suffering. The there are personnel assets which are related to your spiritual gifts provided at the moment of salvation.

The third part of post-salvation sinning is reversionism. There are eight stages

1. Reaction and distraction.

2. A frantic search for happiness.

3. Operation boomerang.

4. Emotional revolt of the soul.

5. Permanent negative volition or permanent cosmic involvement.

As a result of the first four stages the believer suffers a loss of biblical priorities, biblical norms, and biblical standards resulting in bad decisions from a position of weakness. This means loss of control of the life and loss of a personal sense of destiny. Stage five is the malfunction of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.

Only e)pignwsij doctrine is metabolised doctrine and again there has to be positive volition. Negative volition does not metabolise doctrine and negative volition toward Bible doctrine means that the believer can never understand God’s will, God’s plan, and God’s purpose for his life. And if he cannot understand these things then he cannot grow spiritually. All of his works are dead works and all of his good intentions are human good totally unacceptable to God. Therefore he is operating in the energy of the flesh rather than in the power of God the Holy Spirit.

Understanding our destiny depends on our understanding of the mystery doctrine which is pertinent to the Church Age. Through physical birth we have a purpose in life; through regeneration we have a destiny in life. God gave us eternal life at regeneration which means we have a twofold destiny. First we have a destiny in time which means the execution of the protocol plan of God by which we become invisible heroes. Secondly, the destiny in eternity related to our resurrection bodies. Negative volition toward doctrine cancels the fulfilment of our destiny in time. The final three stages of reversionism are the result of permanent negative volition toward doctrine and of course subsequent ignorance of the protocol plan for the Church Age plus ignorance of the ten unique factors, ignorance of the problem-solving devices. Those final three stages are: blackout of the soul, scar tissue of the soul, and reverse process reversionism.

Some of the characteristics of negative volition toward doctrine should be noted

a. Indifference or apathy toward Bible teaching from a pastor-teacher.

b. Wrong priorities. Too busy for consistent hearing of doctrine. There are two problems in consistent hearing of doctrine. The first is the pastor doesn’t consistently teach night after night. The second is the people have to be consistent in coming to hear.

Wrong priorities do not mean that the things we like are wrong. Far from it. It means simply that we are putting something before Bible doctrine.

c. Antagonism or personality conflict with a pastor who is actually teaching doctrine. And because of having your eyes on the pastor and resenting him in some way you are not hearing what he is saying and therefore you are missing the content of the message. This is where the filling of the Holy Spirit comes in because He gives you the power and the ability to hear what is said rather than how it is said or who says it.

d. Failure to learn and to use the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

e. Some people have never been taught good manners. Good manners are basically thoughtfulness of other people. Poor manners is a major problem because if you start talking while doctrine is being taught you can’t listen at the same time. Furthermore you are distracting other people. f. Inability to cope with prosperity or adversity. When people become prosperous they often say, “Good-bye God, I’ll see you in eternity. I know I’ll be in eternity but I’m going to have a good time in the meantime.” Some cannot cope with adversity and therefore seek psychological solutions.

g. Failure to understand your very own portfolio of invisible assets and how to use them.

6. The blackout of the soul. Based upon one Greek word found in Ephesians 4:17, mataiotes. It means a vacuum that sucks in false doctrine. Through this vacuum comes the doctrine of demons. That includes religionism, liberalism, crusader arrogance, anti-establishment thinking. The false doctrine passing through the vacuum of the soul is called demon influence or being influenced by evil. It is not the same as demon possession. Demon influence comes through false doctrine, false teaching.

7. Scar tissue of the soul. This is prolonged residence in the cosmic system, prolonged fragmentation unchecked, reaction to any form of accurate Bible teaching, strong reaction to those who communicate accurately the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. This is tantamount to freezing the valves of the heart or the right lobe. There is no longer any circulation of doctrine in the frame of reference, in the memory centre, in the vocabulary storage, in categorical storage, in the conscience, in the momentum department, in the wisdom department, and in the sub-conscious mind. This is called in the scripture, “hardness of heart", or in some cases dealing with the Jews, “hardening of the neck,” or “hardening the face.” Hardening of the neck is insubordination to the point of revolt, failure to be authority-oriented in spiritual things. At this point the believer cannot be distinguished from the unbeliever and he is very anti-authority, not only where spiritual things are concerned, but other things as well.

8. Reverse process reversionism. This is the final stage of reversionism; this is the antithesis of being an invisible hero. Prolonged residence in the cosmic system causes a complete reversal of all mandates, all priorities, all norms and standards related to the protocol plan of God. The believer in reverse process reversionism cannot be distinguished in any way from an unbeliever.

In this stage the believer reverses the objects of his love, the objects of his attention, the objects of his concentration, the objects of his priorities.

This stage is characterised by a reversal of love objects or leaving the first love as described in Revelation 2:4,5. The “first love” is the Lord Jesus Christ, the living Word, and then of course the written Word, Bible doctrine. Both are abandoned.

The believer in reverse process reversionism cannot be distinguished from the unbeliever as far as his modus operandi is concerned. In this stage the believer reverses the object of his love, his attention, his concentration, and his priorities.

Revelation 2:4,5 mentions reverse process reversionism as being characterised by reversal of loved objects. “But I hold this against you, you have forsaken your first love [the Lord Jesus Christ], therefore recall this to mind from where you have fallen and change your mind.” The use of rebound and the other problem-solving devices to recover from the disaster of the six stages of fragmentation and the eight stages of reversionism, for the two of them mesh to form the greatest possible disaster that could overtake a Christian — a life of terrible misery as long as he lives, misery which is only changed by physical death in which such a believer would be absent from the body and face to face with the Lord in a place of no more sorrow, no more tears, no more pain, no more death, the old things have all passed away. “ … otherwise if you do not change your mind I am coming to you in discipline …,” a reference to the sin unto death.

The seven characteristics of reverse process reversionism

1. Prolonged residence in the cosmic system is the inevitable result of unchecked fragmentation and fragmentation moving into reversionism.

2. Some of the phrases that deal with Christians involved in it. There are six general characteristics:

a. The believer becomes the enemy of God, James 4:4.

b. The enemy of the cross, Philippians 3:18.

c. A hater of God, John 15:23.

d. He suffers from spiritual schizophrenia, he is double-minded, James 4:8.

e. He becomes anti-Christ — meaning against Christ — 1 John 2:18.

f. Disciples of the devil, 1 John 3:8, 10.

3. Reverse process reversionism is a status quo of unrestrained and perpetual sinfulness, perpetual fragmentation, perpetual reversionism, extensive and continuous cosmic involvement. Therefore, obviously brainwashed by Satanic propaganda.

4. In reverse process reversionism the believer branches out into the various categories of reversionistic activity. E.g. legalistic reversionism, Colossians 2:16-18; Hebrews 5:11-6:16. On the other side of the fence there is phallic reversionism, polarised antinomianism — 2 Corinthians 12:21; Ephesians 4:19.

5. The biblical nomenclature for reversionism. There are ten words or phrases found in the Bible that describe reverse process reversionism:

a. Drifting off course from grace, Galatians 5:4.

b. The enemy of the cross, Philippians 3:18.

c. Uncircumcised of heart, Jeremiah 9:25,26.

d. Falling from grace (not loss of salvation) — total malfunction of any grace modus operandi and total ignorance of the grace policy of God in the protocol plan, Hebrews 12:15.

e. The tortured soul, 2 Peter 2:7,8.

f. The unstable soul, 2 Peter 2:14.

g. Fallen, Revelation 2:5.

h. Left your first love, Revelation 2:4.

i. Lukewarm, Revelation 3:15,16.

j. Shipwrecked, 1 Timothy 1:19.

6. Profile of the reversionist is found in Psalm 7:14-16.

v14 “Behold he shall have labour pains of vanity [the whole arrogance complex], because he has become pregnant with frustration [the first three stages of reverse process reversionism], therefore he has given birth to a life of deceit [the rest of the stages of reversionism].”

v15 “He has dug a grave [self-fragmentation, pulling the pin of the grenade], and he has explored it [the eight stages of reversionism], therefore he has fallen into the pit which he made [the sin unto death].”

v16 “His frustration will return upon his own head, and his violence [crusader arrogance, Christian activism] will descend upon the crown of his own head.”

7. Hosea 4:1-6. Reverse process reversionism destroys the client nation. Why? We had a pivot and prosperity as a nation from that pivot. Now the pivot has diminished.

v1 “Hear the word of the Lord, you citizens of Israel; because the Lord has a legal case against the inhabitants of the client nation, because nothing of doctrine is being taught and nothing of grace is being applied, there is no knowledge of God.”

v2 “Instead there is lying, dishonesty [lack of integrity and virtue], deception, murder, rape, therefore criminal violence [terrorism, total breakdown of establishment freedom in the land]”

v3 “Consequently the land mourns, and all who live in it languish [they have lost their dynamics, their strength], along with domestic animals, birds, fish”

v4 “Yet let no-one find fault [don’t start looking for a patsy] let no-one offer criticism, for your citizens are like those who are contending with doctrinal communicators [the Levitical priesthood].”

v5 “Therefore you have stumbled in the daylight [you have had clear doctrinal teaching, you have had fantastic warning], and even the false prophet will stumble with you in night darkness [total reversionism], and I will destroy your mother [nation].”

v6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge [of doctrine], I will reject you from being a priest nation [client nation to God]; since you have neglected the doctrine of your God, I, even I, will neglect your sons [the next generation would be in slavery].”

The policies of Satan as the ruler if this world are called evil. Evil comes in sweetness and light; evil comes in darkness and terror. The policy of God is revealed only in the Word of God; the policy of God is grace. These two antagonistic forces have pre-existed the creation of the human race and the beginning of human history. But they continue in human history. The absolute truth of Bible doctrine versus the relative concepts of Satan are the great battle-ground. (True conservatism is always based on absolute truth. All absolute truth is found in the Bible, whether we are talking about establishment principles for the human race in general or Bible doctrine for the believer specifically. A conservative is one whose premise is always absolute truth; a liberal is one whose premise is always relative truth.) Relative truth versus absolute truth is a part of the angelic conflict which is now perpetuated in human history.

Bible doctrine portrays the grace plan of God while evil reveals the genius of Satan’s administration of the rulership of this world. Satan’s policy of evil includes, not just sins, but a tremendous amount of human good; and it includes immoral as well as moral degeneracy.

Evil includes all the sins of arrogance, all of the pins related to fragging ourselves — the pins of the grenade. Evil is a major factor then in the function of reversionism. It comes in many forms.

It comes in the form of religion, in the form of putting a good foot forward in human good. remember that Christianity is not a religion. Religion is man seeking to gain the approbation of God by his human works and energy of the flesh; Christianity is God seeking man and finding him through the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Religion and Christianity are antithetical.

Evil comes in the form of socialism. Evil is a major factor in the function of reversionism. Evil then is a factor in religion, socialism, political internationalism, government abuse of power, panaceas of crusader arrogance, various functions of the arrogance complex, just to name a few.

There are four principles to remember about the study of reversionism

a. Both evil and Bible doctrine were here before we came into this world.

b. You cannot change evil, but evil can change you apart from Bible doctrine, absolute truth.

c. The believer who seeks to change evil is changed by evil.

d. Evil produces reversionism.

God removes from this world those who are changed by evil. This is the ultimate divine discipline. Furthermore, when the saturation of evil related to reversionism jeopardises the course of human history, that saturation of evil is removed under the principle: Jesus Christ controls history. For this reason races, empires, nations, organisations, families and individuals, are removed from history as a part of God’s grace pruning. Were it not for divine grace pruning there would be no twentieth century. In this dispensation of the Church Age God has provided the means of avoiding evil and subsequent reversionism. Therefore we conclude with the mandate: Romans 12:21 “Stop being conquered by evil, but conquer evil by means of the absolute good [consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation].”

When legalism is perpetuated unchecked it results in moral degeneracy. When antinomianism is perpetuated it results in immoral degeneracy. When the believer reaches either of these categories he cannot be distinguished from his unbeliever counterpart. Furthermore, by that time he has developed tremendous concepts of heresy from prolonged cosmic involvement.

When either of the trends of the OSN go unchecked there is great disaster in the spiritual life. That disaster is either moral or immoral degeneracy.

No-one sins apart from human consent and therefore human volition is the source of sin. The OSN is the influence of sin and the temptation of sin and of course human volition or self-determination is the source of sin.

Self-fragmentation perpetuated means moving in the direction of the sin nature’s trends and eventually in polarised fragmentation.

Where the unbeliever is concerned the sins of pre-salvation experience were all in one prom chip in the computer of divine decrees. These sins were all imputed to Jesus Christ on the cross and were judged. That is true of the post-salvation sins as well.

Moral Degeneracy

1. Legalism unchecked results in moral degeneracy.

2. Moral degeneracy expresses itself in various sins of arrogance. E.g. motivational sins such as jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, self-pity, hypersensitivity, seeking to change others to conform to the pattern of legalism. Secondly there are functional sins such as revenge, inordinate ambition combined with inordinate competition to form conspiracy, slander, maligning, gossiping, judging, crusader arrogance resulting in Christian activism which results in the destruction of property, civil disobedience, violence, and even in Christians committing murder in the name of Christ.

There are the sins of asceticism including the commitment of heresies, extreme self-denial, and self-mortification, abstinence from normality, abnormal austerity.

3. Moral degeneracy substitutes human ability, human energy, human power, for the ability and the energy and the power of God the Holy Spirit.

4. Moral degeneracy justifies sinful and evil action through distorting morality into a system for justifying tyranny and evil.

5. Moral degeneracy follows the pattern of post-salvation sinning in three categories: a. Implode; b. Explode; c. Revert. Degeneracy is defined as decline from standards considered normal, to revert from divine standards, to sink to a state below normal for the protocol plan of God.

If moral degeneracy has any predominant characteristic it is the tendency to judge others. We will classify this tendency as judgement arrogance. Judgement arrogance is the function of the self-righteous legalist who is seeking to impose his false standards on others. He is judging them for not accepting his standards; he is judging them for not being like he is. He is in moral degeneracy.

Romans 14:8 “For if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore, whether we live or die we are the Lord’s.”

v9 “For this purpose Christ died and lives, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

v10 “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?” [The one who is in polarised legalism always judges the believer in polarised lawlessness and lasciviousness. He always regards him with contempt.] “We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ.”

v13 “Do not judge one another any more [this is the function of legalism, of polarised self-righteous arrogance]; but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.” What is that obstacle? Legalism. It is a distraction to the Christian way of life. Such judging is blasphemy for it interferes with the disciplinary function of our Lord. Such interfering brings judgement to the legalist.

Matthew 7:1-3. v1, “Judge not that you be not judged.” V2 gives us the mechanics of legalism in every dispensation. “For in the manner you judge [the arrogant motivation of the legalist. Verbal sinning that includes slander, gossiping, maligning] you will be judged; and by what measure you measure it out, it shall be measured back to you.” Moral degeneracy is under the most awful judgement from God. v3 “Why do you look at a speck of sawdust in your brothers eye and do not notice that you have a log in your own eye?” The log refers to the worst of all sins, the sins of arrogance, the sins of judging.

There are four patterns of post-salvation sinning: a. Frequent sinning. It is the status quo of polarised fragmentation. It is the final stages of reversionism. b. Continuous sinning — the status quo of both unchecked fragmentation and unchecked reversionism, therefore moral degeneracy. Continuous sinning in the field of polarised fragmentation toward the trend of legalism is moral degeneracy. c. Sporadic sinning — both fragmentation and reversionism checked by the rebound technique of 1 John 1:9 d. Occasional sinning — both fragmentation and reversionism overcome by the following factors: 1. Perception and application of the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God; 2. Learning and applying the ten unique factors of the Church Age; 3. Consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation — perception, metabolisation, application of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age; 4. The advance to spiritual adulthood — spiritual self-esteem, cognitive self-confidence, spiritual autonomy, cognitive independence, spiritual maturity, cognitive invincibility; 5. By the impact of becoming an invisible hero.

Immoral degeneracy is polarised fragmentation toward the lascivious lawless trend of the sin nature. Immoral degeneracy among believers is expressed in the various sins of licentiousness, self-indulgence, and lawlessness. For example there are at least three categories of sinning involved in this trend:

* The category of licentiousness which is expressing the polarised trend of the sin nature in sexual sins — fornication, 1 Cor. 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Secondly, adultery is referred to in this connection, Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18. Mental adultery, Matthew 5:27,28. Incest, Leviticus 18:6-17; 20:14. Homosexuality is mentioned in Romans 1:26,27 and Leviticus 18:22; 20:13. Bestiality is mentioned in Leviticus 18:23; 20:15. Pimping and prostitution, Leviticus 19:29; Deuteronomy 23:17. Rape is found in Deuteronomy 22:25-27.

* Chemical sins is a second category in which believers become involved in drugs.

* The third category is criminality among Christians which includes murder, rape, robbery, burglary, con-games,and so on.

Immoral degeneracy follows the same pattern as moral degeneracy. Three words become the key: 1. Implode; 2. Explode; 3. Revert. Here implosion is used in the technical sense of succumbing to the sin nature’s trend toward antinomianism, which is also called lascivious lawlessness. Implosion is the first step toward immoral degeneracy. If unchecked by the rebound technique and doctrinal orientation implosion becomes explosion. Explosion is the second stage of post-salvation sinning and a major step toward immoral degeneration. Fragmentation or explosion occurs in six categories and if unchecked by the rebound technique it will pave the way for immoral degeneracy.

These six categories include:

1. Self or personal fragmentation; 2. Polarised fragmentation; 3. Fragmentation of subjective arrogance which includes unrealistic expectation or subjective preoccupation with self and, secondly, role-model arrogance which is subjective preoccupation with others. (Note that role-model arrogance is related to peer pressure in the function of antinomianism.) 4. Human relationship fragmentation; 5. Emotional fragmentation which includes fear, worry, anxiety, anger, hatred, violence, murder; 6. God-relationship fragmentation which includes, a. Failure to execute the protocol plan of God through perception, metabolisation, and application of Bible doctrine; b. Failure to learn and to use our portfolio of invisible assets; c. Failure to learn and to use the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan; d. Failure to metabolise and apply the ten unique features of the dispensation of the Church is also a factor in this category. This failure includes: Failure to understand the baptism of the Spirit, the protocol plan of God, the equality factor in the computer of divine decrees, our portfolio of invisible assets, unique royal commissions — a royal priesthood and a royal ambassadorship, the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, the indwelling of every member of the Trinity, the unique availability of divine power — the omniscience of God the Father related to our invisible assets, the omnipotence of God the Son who guarantees the perpetuation of human history and guarantees to us a day at a time in history, and the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit which is the means of executing the protocol plan of God, this is the dispensation of no prophecy, this is the dispensation of invisible heroes.

The pattern of post-salvation sinning emphasises the last stages of reversionism in the context of Ephesians 4:17-19. The last stages of reversionism include permanent negative volition which means permanent cosmic involvement. It also means blackout of the soul, scar tissue of the soul, and reverse process reversionism. The blackout of the soul comes from the vacuum of the mind. Negative volition toward truth in two categories: establishment truth for the entire human race and the mystery doctrine of the Church Age for the believer.

When the unbeliever is negative toward establishment truth a vacuum is created that destroys a nation. And when there is a rejection of Bible doctrine on the part of the believer the client nation goes down under the 5th cycle of discipline. Remember the principle: there is a true difference between conservative and liberal in this life, not just politically which is the way it is usually emphasised. But a conservative is any person who establishes his life on the absolute truth of Bible doctrine; a liberal is a person who establishes his life on relative factors.

In Ephesians 4:18, as a result of that vacuum in the mind, “they are darkened in their way of thinking.” The vacuum of the mind brings darkness to the soul. They have been alienated or excluded from the life of God — believers excluded from the protocol plan of God because they have entered into these stages of reversionism. They have been alienated from the life of God because of scar-tissue in their right lobes.

So in this context we note three principles: a. Scar tissue of the soul precedes immoral degeneracy; b. Scar tissue of the soul becomes motivation for immoral degeneracy; c. Scar tissue of the soul becomes part of immoral degeneracy, Eph.4:19.

There are three categories involved in Ephesians 4:19. There is normal immorality in scar tissue of the soul which includes fornication and adultery. There is abnormal immorality in scar tissue of the soul which includes homosexuality, and incest. There is criminal immorality in scar tissue of the soul which includes rape, molesting or child abuse, and bestiality. Only the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God can solve the problem of polarised fragmentation. Polarised fragmentation is related to reversionism. The biblical nomenclature for reversionism in itself helps us to understand that this is the stage of degeneracy.

The nomenclature for reversionism: Drifting off course from grace, Gal. 5:4; The enemy of the cross, Phil. 3:18; Falling from grace, Heb. 12:15; Tortured soul, 2 Pet. 2:7,8; Unstable soul, 2 Pet. 2:14; Lukewarm, Rev. 3:15,16; Shipwrecked, 1 Tim. 1:19.

There are four patterns to post-salvation sinning. There is the Christian who is involved in the category of frequent sinning, the status quo of polarised fragmentation and the final stages of reversionism. Then there is continuous sinning, the status quo of both unchecked fragmentation and unchecked reversionism, therefore immoral degeneracy. Thirdly there is sporadic sinning, both fragmentation and reversionism checked by the rebound technique. Fourthly there is occasional sinning, both fragmentation and reversionism are overcome by the following factors: a. Perception and application of the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God; b. Learning and applying the ten unique features of the Church Age; c. Consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation; d. Advance to spiritual adulthood; e. The impact of the invisible hero, which is tantamount to maximum glorification of God.

Immoral degeneracy is defined as the decline from normal standards of the protocol plan of God. Therefore, the believer sinks into such below normal categories as unchecked fragmentation and unchecked reversionism. Immoral degeneracy, then, follows the road of implosion, explosion, reversion.

Verse 17 — “therefore” the inferential particle o)un which denotes that what it introduces is an inference from what precedes. The preceding concept is found in verse 14, the pattern of failure to execute the protocol plan of God. In verse 14 it says “that we no longer be childish” and the whole problem that is brought out by one word, “therefore,” is based on the fact that in any generation when the majority of the believers are childish it is a disaster for Christianity. It means the shrinking of the pivot; it means that the principle “as goes the believer so goes the client nation to God” is in trouble. So our little word o)un actually takes us back to another word, nhpioj — childish. Fragmented believers are described by this word.

When it says in verse 14, “that we no longer be childish, destabilised in heavy seas,” this is a reference to implosion, explosion, and reversion. And “driven out of control by every wind of false teaching, by the trickery of people [people who teach false doctrine], by cunning deception for the purpose of scheming of deceit,”

Our first word that we note, o)un, means that Paul is going to pick up the subject of verse 14 and amplify it in verses 17-19. When he picks up the thread he is explaining what he is doing in the present active indicative of the verb legw, to speak, to communicate, or sometimes to teach. In anticipation of the context Paul is about to teach the pattern of Christian apostasy, failure to teach the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. We will note this pattern under three words: implode, explode, revert. We have implosion in verse 17, reversion in verse 18, fragmentation and degeneracy in verse 19.

The pin of the grenade for implosion is anything related to the arrogance complex or to the complex of emotional sin. Arrogance is a complex in itself. Every believer is a walking grenade with the potential of implosion and explosion and the pin of the grenade that can only be used by the use of your own volition or self-determination, includes the sins of the arrogance complex and the sins of the emotional complex. The sins of the arrogance complex include everything from jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, guilt, revenge motivation, revenge function, gossip, slander, maligning, judging, inordinate ambition combined with inordinate competition to form the undermining of authority. The sins of the emotional complex include far, worry, anxiety, hatred, anger, violence, and even murder. Either group pulls the pin of the grenade resulting in self-fragmentation.

Implosion is the first stage of post-salvation sinning. The second stage is called explosion or fragmentation and is the fragmented life which results from implosion.

4:17b: We now come to the phrase in which we are going to note the principle that all contradictions to the plan of God must be eliminated.

1. God is perfect therefore His plan is perfect.

2. Perfect God can only devise a perfect plan.

3. Believers are imperfect. Therefore the plan of God includes ways and means to resolve our imperfections.

4. We cannot execute the protocol plan of God while we are in a state of post-salvation sinning.

The second phrase in 4:17 begins with a conjunction, kai. It is followed by the present active indicative of the verb, marturomai, to insist or to affirm. Translation: “and I insist.”

Then follows the prepositional phrase en plus the instrumental of cause from the noun kurioj. Translated: “because of the Lord.” It is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ in hypostatic union as the prince ruler of the Church.

Translation of verse 17 so far: “Therefore I communicate this, and because of the Lord I insist.” When it says “because of the Lord” this is a reference to the hypostatic union. All precedence for the Church Age is taken from the previous dispensation.

For the gospels to be interpreted require understanding three things. First of all Jesus Christ, during that particular dispensation, was presenting Himself to Israel as their Messiah, as the Son of David, as the fulfilment of the Davidic covenant. And He therefore gave a message dealing with that fact. This explains Matthew chapters 5-7 which is called the sermon on the mount. It just so happens that this was a presentation of our Lord’s policy when He rules Israel. Now He was rejected as the ruler and therefore the sermon on the mount will not be in effect until the second advent of Jesus Christ will rule both Israel as the Son of David, and the entire world. The concepts given in the sermon on the mount are related to the perfect environment of the Millennium.

Then there is a second thing about the gospels. The Messiahship of our Lord is postponed and therefore there are certain parts of the four gospels which are nothing more than eschatology. They are a prophecy about the future, about the Tribulation.

There is a third type of prophecy which is mentioned in the dispensation of the hypostatic union, and that has to do with the Church, the first announcements of the Church. And the first one to talk about anything related to the mystery doctrine of the Church Age was our Lord’s message. So we have the upper room discourse, all about the Church.

The gospels set a precedent for the Church Age. We do not get our precedence from Israel, we do not have Sabbath worship, we do not have tithing (a system of income tax), we do not have a specialised priesthood (every believer is a priest), we do not take anything from Israel except the laws of divine establishment. Precedence for the Church Age is taken from the dispensation of the hypostatic union. Precedence means simply this: Our Lord’s humanity lived in the prototype divine dynasphere during the 33 years of that dispensation. His humanity remained in the divine dynasphere so that He was qualified to go to the cross and be judged for our sins. And of course everything that the humanity of Christ did was dependant on the provision of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Now we have a precedent, we have the operational type divine dynasphere, and therefore we are mandated to execute the protocol plan of God inside the operational type divine dynasphere.

Now this meant that the apostle Paul often used words that were very strong in the original languages. He said: “I insist.” Why could he insist? Because his interpretation was correct, and because he had an accurate interpretation of absolute truth he could follow it up with the various words of command. He did not pull any punches, he spoke in the power of the Spirit, and therefore we have to take what he says as a mandate from God.

“Because of the Lord,” i.e. because of the dispensation of the hypostatic union which provides the precedence for the protocol plan for the Church Age, and because the humanity of Christ was victorious in the prototype divine dynasphere the Church Age believer in the body of Christ can be victorious in the operational type.

The victory of the Church Age believer then is based on two facts: either on avoidance of or recovery from post-salvation sinning, and the utilisation of our portfolio of invisible assets, especially the ten problem-solving devices.

Then we have the appeal to abandon or to overcome the pre-salvation pattern of sinning. We begin with the accusative plural of general reference of the personal pronoun su — you. Then we have a negative adverb mhketi — no longer; “walk” — peripatew, often used for modus operandi. The present tense is a retroactive progressive tense because it denotes an action that began in the past when we were unbelievers.

The pre-salvation pattern of sinning remains unchecked by God’s grace provision and the believer continues the pattern of implosion, explosion, reversion, in the status of a born-again believer. The retroactive progressive present poses the question then: After salvation, what? A question not answered as yet by some of the believers in Ephesus and in the Roman province of Asia, the place that would eventually become the source of the first great pivot in the Roman empire and one of the greatest pivots of all time. Failure to execute the protocol plan of God after salvation is based either on indifference or on active rejection of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Whether apathy or active rejection the result is always the same, you go back to what you were before salvation.

“even as” kaqoj. “Gentiles” e)qnoj — used here as a term for unbelievers — “even as Gentiles walk.” A reference to pre-salvation modus operandi. Hence the believer in ignorance follows the function of whatever his pre-salvation modus operandi was; “walk” peripatew. This time the word is a descriptive present or a progressive present of description. This use of the present tense describes what is now actually taking place. Paul is talking to people who are now believers and this is what they were now doing, what they used to do, following the same pattern. They had not understood the Christian way of life was required after one becomes a Christian and that you have to learn how to execute the Christian way of life.

Principle: The believer who is negative toward doctrine or who is not even interested and fails to learn doctrine from a pastor who is teaching, is not going to change his pattern. He is going to live exactly like an unbeliever.

Principle: You cannot tell the difference between the believer who is negative toward doctrine and the unbeliever who is his counterpart. There is no difference. They are actually following the same pattern.

“in vanity” — e)n plus the locative of sphere, mataiothj. Mataiothj refers to a vacuum caused by negative volition and subsequent ignorance of Bible doctrine; “mind” — nouj, refers to left lobe of the mentality of the soul in contrast to the right lobe which is kardia or the heart. It means mind, sometimes thinking. The believer who does not learn doctrine will never get past the left lobe of his soul. And when he hears Bible teaching it will always be gnwsij; it will be academic. He has no spiritual understanding and therefore he cannot possibly execute the protocol plan.

Ephesians 4:17, corrected translation: “Therefore I communicate this, and because of the Lord, I insist that you no longer walk even as Gentiles walk, in the vacuum of their mind, ...”

Implosion is the volition succumbing to the pressure, temptation from the sin nature in the left lobe of the soul. The implosion is self-fragmentation or succumbing to the sins of the pin of the grenade. The pin of the grenade is pulled by volition or self-determination. Remember that the pin of the grenade is the entire arrogance complex with the emotional sin complex thrown in as well.

To irritate means to cite impatience or anger, to cause or to induce impatience or anger, to exasperate, to annoy, to irritate to the point where self-control is lost. Now the interesting thing about irritation is that it is a good illustration of implosion. Under the protocol plan of God the believer in Jesus Christ cannot be irritated by other people, only by self. In other words there is always an object of irritation and the object of irritation is blamed. But actually what irritation is generally an emotional sin, implosion, you do it to yourself. Implosion then is self-irritation, we do it to ourselves. In reality we as believers must take the responsibility for our own irritation. Always there is an object and we always blame the object, that is where the disaster begins.

The source of all sin is volition so it is the pressure on the temptation of the old sin nature, plus our volition, that produces sin. There are four words in the New Testament for the sin nature: 1. A(martia — sin in the singular; 2. Sarc — flesh, which tells us the location of the sin nature [in the cell structure of the body]; 3. Two words are used for a third nomenclature — __palaioj plus a)nqrwpoj, translated “old man.” That is because the sin nature originated in the Garden of Eden, it is as old as the history from the time of the fall; 4. Sarkinoj — belonging to the flesh or belonging to the sin nature. It is translated “carnal” in the King James version.

Polarised fragmentation is the second step toward Christian degeneracy. It follows the trend of the OSN, either lascivious lawlessness or antinomianism, and self-righteous arrogance or legalism.

Reversion is not only the third stage of post-salvation sinning but it is also the final step of moving into degeneracy. Degeneracy for our study is defined as decline from the normal standards of the protocol plan of God through implosion, explosion, and reversion. Therefore the believer unchecked by rebound sinks into subnormal categories of personal sinning.

There are eight categories of reversion

1. The reaction and distraction stage.

2. The frantic search for happiness stage.

3. Operation boomerang.

4. Emotional revolt of the soul.

5. Permanent negative volition where the moral or immoral believer cannot be distinguished from his unbeliever counterpart.

6. Blackout of the soul. [The beginning of Christian degeneracy].

7. Scar tissue of the soul. [The continuation of Christian degeneracy].

8. Reverse process reversionism. [Locked-in degeneracy].

The guide for post-salvation sinning becomes important

There are four categories of post-salvation sinning

1. The believer in frequent sinning — the status quo of the believer who follows the pattern of implosion, explosion, and the first half of reversion. It is characterised by ignorance and therefore failure to utilise the rebound technique.

2. Continuous sinning — the status quo of the believer who follows the pattern of implosion, explosion, and continues in the last half of reversion.

3. Sporadic sinning — occurs when the believer checks implosion, explosion, and reversion, through the consistent utilisation of the rebound technique. He follows up with the use of the other problem-solving devices.

4. Occasional sinning — occurs when the believer checks implosion, explosion, and reversion, through rebound and the other problem-solving devices. It is the status of the believer in spiritual adulthood.

The definition of reversionism

To revert is defined as returning to a former practise, a former habit, a former belief, a former status quo. Hence reversion is the act of reverting to a former practice, habit, belief. In this study it is to return to the former habits of post-salvation sinning, post-salvation thinking, and the modus operandi of implosion, explosion, and revert. It is maximum control of the old sin nature over the life of the believer so that the believer functions under the dictates of the sin nature exactly as he did as an unbeliever. The reversionistic believer then is classified as a loser, not in the sense of losing salvation which is impossible, but failing to exercise the protocol plan and losing escrow blessings for time and for eternity.

Next we note the distinction between carnality and reversionism. Carnality is an absolute status quo of being out of fellowship, of being in a state of sin; reversion, on the other hand is a relative state of decline in which the believer retrogresses toward Christian degeneracy. The carnal believer is generally positive toward doctrine, faithful in the use of the rebound technique, and never loses interest in Christian doctrine. The reversionistic believer follows the pattern of implosion, explosion, and sinks into the various stages of reversion, unchecked by rebound.

While all reversionists are carnal, under the control of the sin nature, all carnal believers are not reversionistic. Carnality can exist temporarily while the believer is advancing in the protocol plan.

Degeneracy is defined as a state of deterioration, a decline to false standards, a decline to inferior standards, loss of integrity, the process of passing from the higher to the lower, to decline progressively. Degeneracy is defined as the decline from normal standards of the protocol plan of God to sink into the subnormal status quo of self-fragmentation and the eight stages of reversionism. Degeneracy then is the decline form the true standards of the protocol plan to the inferior and sinful standards of polarised fragmentation. In polarised fragmentation there are two categories of false standards or distorted standards — the false standards of legalism and the distorted standards of antinomianism. Degeneracy then is the loss of integrity resulting in passing from a higher to a lower level of motivation and modus operandi.

Implosion — inward explosion, inward burst. That inward burst destroys the integrity so while implosion is an inward burst it results in an outward burst. To implode is defined as succumbing to temptation. It is followed by explode in which the believer moves toward one of the trends of the sin nature. We then get into the third category which is reversion.

Moral degeneracy actually begins with blackout of the soul. It actually continues and gains momentum in the scar tissue of the soul, but it reaches its peak in reverse process reversionism.

Implosion: Integrity is used in engineering for a skin or an envelope or anything in a quality or state or being complete. Integrity means that it is unimpaired, unmarred in its status or condition. It means entire, the quality or state of being complete. It is used, for example, of a ship’s watertight status — watertight integrity. To implode means to burst inwardly to penetrate the integrity with a greater pressure which forces the inward burst. Therefore implosion is used in the connotation of the believer succumbing to the pressures of temptation from his OSN. This is analogous to self-fragmentation or the believer pulling the pin of the grenade.

Degeneracy means to decline progressively. Moral degeneracy not only advocates salvation by works but confuses morality with spirituality. Morality is the legal function of the laws of divine establishment; it is designed for believers and unbelievers alike. Morality assumes human freedom to both believer and unbeliever — that is temporal freedom — and therefore one of the great principles of morality. Morality is something that the unbeliever can execute in the energy of the flesh. Morality is understanding freedom and its execution — temporal freedom that is. Moral degeneracy does not recognise any category of human freedom. Moral degeneracy rejects temporal freedom for both believer and unbeliever under the laws of divine establishment. And spiritual freedom is also rejected — residence, function and momentum inside of the divine dynasphere. And the Christian way of life of course is a supernatural way of life and therefore can only be executed in the power of the Spirit; it cannot be executed by morality. Morality is the basis for human freedom and that does not mean that immorality is advocated for the believer, but in the execution of God’s plan for your life we go into something much greater than any system of morality. Moral degeneracy cannot understand God’s grace or God’s policy, nor the power of the Spirit-filled life. Moral degeneracy judges and slanders and maligns other believers. One of the greatest areas of arrogance in moral degeneracy is the believer setting aside the prerogatives of God in judgement and using his own prerogatives. Judgement belongs to God and not to believers as far as other believers are concerned.

Judgement is the weapon of moral degeneracy. In Romans 14 this is presented as one of the problems of moral degeneracy:

v8. “For if we live, we live for the Lord [living the Christian life]; and if we die, we die for the Lord [the Lord makes the decision as to when we die]; therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s [regardless of our spiritual status].” (The true evaluation of our lives is in the hands of the Lord).

v9. “For this purpose Christ died, and lived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.

v10. “But you, why do you judge your brother? [Moral degeneracy sets aside the divine prerogative of judgement.] Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we all will stand before the judgement seat of Christ.”

The whole point is: If the Lord is going to judge us in the future, and the Lord is evaluating us now, what are believers doing judging other believers?

v11. “For it stands written [Quotation from Isaiah 45:23], As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall acknowledge the Lord.”

v12. “So, then, each one of us shall give an account of himself to the Lord.”

v13. “Therefore, do not judge one another any more; but rather determine this: not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in another’s way” [How? By slander, by maligning, by judging].

Matthew 7:1 — “Stop judging, that you be not judged.

v2. For in the manner you judge, you will be judged;

(You do three things in the manner of judgement. First of all you have mental attitude sins which are the motivation. Secondly, you have verbal sins in which you express this judgement. Thirdly, you name or cite or express sins that you associate with someone else. So therefore you have a manner of judging.) and by what measure you measure it out, it shall be measured back to you.

Stage 6: Blackout of the soul

The interesting thing about blackout of the soul is that you cannot distinguish the thinking of the believer with the thinking of the unbeliever. This relates to the left lobe of the soul called the nouj. Then we have scar tissue of the soul and that relates to the kardia. These two, when they add up together, they move into stage 8 which is reverse process reversionism, the final stage of Christian degeneracy. We must remember the vacuum of the mind refers to two factors in the decline to Christian degeneracy. The first is implosion in which the vacuum is created by succumbing to the temptations of the OSN, and secondly the fifth stage of reversionism which is permanent negative volition toward doctrine. In the 5th stage of reversionism the thinking of the believer cannot be distinguished from the thinking of his unbeliever counterpart.

When we start v18 it is a continuation of the sentence begun in v17, “In the vacuum of their minds they have been darkened in their way of thinking.”

v18. “darkened” perfect participle from the verb skotizw, to become dark, or to be darkened. This verb is only found in the passive voice and would be the word skotizomai. The present state of the believers to whom Paul speaks in verse 18 is blackout of the soul. They arrived at that through implosion, explosion, reversion.

“being” — eimi. The present tense is a durative present. It is also known as a retro-active progressive present for an action that began in the past and continues into the present. The action that began in the past was implosion, explosion, and polarised fragmentation, and is now in the 6th stage of reversion. The action continues to the point of blackout of the soul.

Next is the locative of sphere, also called the locative of influence. It includes two words: first, the definite article toi, and dianoia — understanding or intelligence. Dianoia is an alternative for the noun nouj which is the reference to the left lobe of the soul. Dianoia refers to academic perception, not metabolised. They are darkened in that area, and because they are darkened in that area the vacuum concept continues. That vacuum sucks in everything that is false. This is a reference to the inability to think in terms of absolutes and Bible doctrine. Christian degeneracy also means exclusion from the protocol plan of God, and that is what we have next, another perfect passive participle, and this one indicates what type of thinking is completely blotted out of their mind. The perfect passive participle of a)pallotriw which means to be estranged, to be alienated, excluded. The intensive perfect tense denotes a present state resulting from a past action. The present state is the 6th stage of reversionism. They are now in the first part of Christian degeneracy. In this case it is moral degeneracy because they are very self-righteous, arrogant, and extremely inaccurate in their thinking. The present state is the blackout of the soul, the beginning of Christian degeneracy. They are what they are because they have made all of these bad decisions from a position of weakness.

Principle: Just as unbelievers have been alienated from the life of God, now these believers are exactly like unbelievers. You cannot distinguish between the believer and unbeliever in thinking once the believer reaches stage 6, the blackout of the soul. The only difference is that the believer has eternal life and the unbeliever is under eternal condemnation. John 3:18 says, “He who believes in him is not judged; but he who does not believe is judged already, because he has not believed in the uniquely-born Son of God.”

So we can translate: “they have been alienated, been estranged, been excluded.” Next we have an ablative of separation from two words: thj, a definite article, and zwh, life. It is translated “the life of God.” The definite article is used to identify the protocol plan of God. The word in the ablative denotes that from which Christian degeneracy is separated. It is separated from the life of God. Just as the unbeliever is separated from the life of God, so the Christian in degeneracy is separated from the plan of God.

Ephesians 4:18 in translation (the first part of the verse): “They [believers in Christian degeneracy] have been darkened in their way of thinking [in their left lobes] and they have been alienated from the life [the protocol plan] of God ...”

Christian degeneracy occurs in two categories related to the OSN: moral degeneracy is related to the trend of self-righteous arrogance [polarised legalism]; immoral degeneracy is related to the trend toward lascivious lawlessness [polarised antinomianism]. Christian degeneracy is defined as that believer who has declined from the superior standards of the protocol plan of God and therefore has moved into the sub-normal standards of fragmentation, reversionism, degeneracy.

Degeneracy, then, is defined as a state of deterioration, a decline to false and inferior standards, a decline from the true and superior standards of the protocol plan, to the sub-normal status standard of implode, explode, revert. Christian degeneracy, then, is a state of ignorance as well as a state of experience or practice. The state of ignorance is related to God-relationship fragmentation and the blackout of the soul.

This comes out in the phrase that follows: dia plus the accusative of cause from a)gnoia. It should be translated “because of the ignorance.” The accusative of cause indicates the ground or the reason for the action. It explains Christian degeneracy in terms of ignorance of Bible doctrine. Not that people haven’t learned it in the past, but once blackout of the soul is reached, everything learned is forgotten. The vacuum in the left lobe draws in so much false doctrine, so much false teaching, so many erroneous concepts, that it completely blots anything that may have been learned that might be helpful.

Now we have a prepositional phrase: en plus the locative of sphere from autoj — in them. Trans. “because of the ignorance which is in them.”

V18 “because of the ignorance” in the accusative case indicates the ground or reason for the action. And the ground or the reason for the action is Christian degeneracy in terms here of ignorance of Bible doctrine. Therefore, Christian degeneracy is related to God relationship fragmentation.

“which is in them” — an ignorance first of all manifested in God relationship fragmentation. Secondly an ignorance which is manifest in the vacuum of the soul. Thirdly an ignorance which is manifest in the blackout of the soul.

Principle: Ignorance of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age is a major factor in combining with fragmentation and reversion to produce Christian degeneracy.

God relationship fragmentation is defined as failure to execute the protocol plan of God through neglect of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. Lack of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation means failure to perceive, to metabolise, and to apply Bible doctrine. This means ignorance of your very own portfolio of invisible assets; this means failure to learn and to use the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God; this means failure to understand the mechanics as to how the protocol plan of God is executed; this means failure to metabolise the ten unique features of the Church Age and their significance in human history. Such ignorance of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age means God relationship fragmentation, blackout of the soul. The regenerate Christian is generally ignorant of Bible doctrine under these conditions.

Scar Tissue Of The Soul: No 7 stage of reversionism

This is introduced with another prepositional phrase. While the blackout of the soul relates to the left lobe of the soul or the nouj, the right lobe is of the soul — kardia.

We have a preposition dia plus the accusative singular of cause again from the noun pwrwsij. Can be translated “because of the hardening, because of the callousness, or because of the scar tissue.” Here this accusative of cause explains why such believers are involved in scar tissue of the soul. This is followed by three possessive genitives. The first is the definite article, thj. The second is a)utoj, an intensive pronoun used as a personal pronoun. The third is the noun, kardia. Literal translation: “because of the scar tissue which is in their right lobes.”

Remember: blackout of the soul — left lobe, nouj; scar tissue of the soul — right lobe, kardia. Left lobe, academic understanding; right lobe, metabolised understanding.

Characteristics of the right lobe include

1. A frame of reference — the entrance of all spiritual phenomena, metabolised doctrine. It enters into the frame of reference. This is the conceptual chamber where doctrines, principles, categories of scripture, are all stored. It is where everything you have learned has the basis for understanding what is now entering. It is the area of retention for all metabolised or e)pignwsij doctrine. Therefore the frame of reference is the location for the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, the ten problem-solving devices, the ten unique characteristics of the Church Age, the edification complex of the soul, the portfolio of invisible assets, the mechanics for understanding after salvation, what?

2. The memory centre — While the frame of reference in the right lobe is the place of retention of metabolised doctrine, the memory centre is the place for recall of that doctrine — of vocabulary, of concepts, recall of mechanics, recall of problem-solving devices. The memory centre is the location of sofia — wisdom, wisdom department or launching pad for application of doctrine.

3. Vocabulary storage — Thoughts are made up of words. You do not understand anything in life until you understand its technical language. E.g. philosophy, theology, engineering, computer science, etc. The Word of God has its own technical language. A baby must learn a vocabulary of a language in which to think, so at the point of regeneration, we born-again believers must learn a new vocabulary of technical, theological and Biblical terms so that we can understand God’s plan.

4. Categorical Storage — fulfils the hermeneutical principle of comparing a scripture with scripture. Scripture often has a large number of areas in the Bible where a same subject is presented. It is presented from different angles and therefore different categories develop. Categorical storage is the basis for the classification of Bible doctrine; it is tantamount to the principle of cognitive independence or spiritual self-esteem; it is the basis for conceptualism and the function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.

5. The conscience — of our right lobe or heart is the location of our norms and standards extrapolated from Bible doctrine, therefore true norms and standards as over against false norms and standards. From the norms and standards of the conscience comes the individual’s priorities in life, and these priorities form the believer’s scale of values. false standards in the conscience can cause spiritual weakness as in 1 Corinthians 8:7 — divine omnipotence and human power are mutually exclusive. The execution of the protocol plan of God, therefore, cannot be accomplished by any form of human power, energy of the flesh, human good — dead works.

Now these are the first five characteristics of the right lobe, and where you have scar tissue you have no frame of reference, no memory centre, no recall, no vocabulary storage, no categories, no conscience that lines up with the Word of God.

6. The momentum department. Obviously when you have scar tissue of the soul you’re in Christian degeneracy and there is no momentum in the spiritual life — retrogression and progressive decline, no momentum, no advance. This then is the department of spiritual growth and hence the function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation in reception and retention and recall. This is the essence of operation Z in which there is perception, metabolisation, and application of Bible doctrine, therefore spiritual momentum. Accelerated growth occurs when suffering for blessing is combined with the function of the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

7. The wisdom department — classified as the launching pad for the application of metabolised doctrine only. There is no metabolised doctrine in scar tissue of the soul. Whatever has been learned formerly has been forgotten or buried, and therefore is not usable. Wisdom is the application then of metabolised doctrine and problem-solving devices to the various experiences, adversities, sufferings, and problems in life. Hence wisdom is the application of Bible doctrine to suffering for blessing. The Greek sofia and the Hebrew chakma is the function of applying metabolised doctrine to life.

8. The subconscious mind — a burial plot for many things learned in the past but in the subconscious mind they are not available. All they can do is provide some bad dreams from time to time — causes you to be worried about something but you’re not sure what it is.

The subconscious department of the heart, or the right lobe, is the place for the storage of impressions, thoughts, emotions, which do not exist in the conscious mind. The subconscious includes aspects of the mental life which are not immediately, therefore, a part of the individual’s conscious mind, since certain emotional factors would not ordinarily permit the content to surface in the conscious mind.

The subconscious mind affects thoughts, feelings, and behaviour, without even entering into awareness. Therefore the subconscious is the impression or mental activity just below the threshold of consciousness. Metabolised doctrine in the right lobe, the use of the ten problem-solving devices, the application of wisdom, can remove obstructive repressions and the content emerges then into awareness — but not in the status quo of scar tissue of the soul. For blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul equals locked in Christian degeneracy and/or reverse process reversionism. Scar tissue of the soul hinders the proper spiritual function of the right lobe.

A divine mandate regarding scar tissue of the soul is given in 1 John 2:15: “Stop loving the cosmic system or anything which is in the cosmic system. If anyone keeps loving the cosmic system, the love of the Father is not in him.”

The divine mandate as the enemy of evangelism is found in John 12:40: “He has blinded their eyes [blackout of the soul], he has hardened their right lobes [scar tissue of the soul]; lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their right lobe, and receive conversion, and I restore them.” “Conversion” here means recovery from degeneracy.

2 Peter 2:22 — the unbeliever inside the cosmic system. Here’s the Gospel, shows momentary interest and rejects it. He is compared to the dog returning to his own vomit.

Scar tissue of the soul has eternal repercussions as far as the unbeliever is concerned — Romans 2:5: “But because of your hardness [scar tissue] and unrepentant right lobe you store up and accumulate wrath, even the manifestation of the just judgement of God.”

The mechanics of the scar tissue in relationship to the unbeliever is described in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12: V10 “And with every deception of evil for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so as to be saved.” V11 “And for this reason God sends them a deluding influence [something they brought on themselves by an accumulation of bad decisions] so that they might believe the lie.” V12 “In order that they all might be condemned in judgement who do not believe the truth, but take pleasure in wrongdoing [has to do with fragmentation leading into reversion].”

For believers, scar tissue of the soul results in malfunction of problem-solving devices. That’s why Psalm 95:8 says: “Do not harden your heart, as at Meribah [the Meribah revolution was the result of a maximum number of Jewish believers in the Exodus generation becoming involved in reversionism so that the function of the faith-rest drill was superseded by scar tissue of the soul].”

Ephesians 4:18 “They have been darkened in their way of thinking [blackout of the soul], and they have been estranged from the life of God [the protocol plan] because of the ignorance which is in them, and because of the scar tissue which is in their right lobes”.

Romans 9:17: “For the scripture says to Pharaoh, I have caused you to continue in history in order that I might demonstrate my power by means of you, and in order that my person might be proclaimed throughout the earth.”

It will be noticed that there are two objectives in this verse in keeping a blasphemous Pharaoh [who was in scar tissue of the soul] alive. They are: “In order that I might demonstrate my power by means of you” and “in order that my person might be proclaimed throughout the earth [world wide evangelism].”

Exodus 9:12: Five out of the ten plagues had already been in function. “And the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart” — scar tissue of the soul. But the problem here is it said the Lord did it. How is that explained?

“and he did not listen to them [Moses and Aaron], just as the LORD had predicted to Moses.”

v13. “Then the LORD said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus decrees the LORD the God of the Hebrews, Release my people, that they may serve me.” This is a reference to the fact that Israel would be the first client nation to God.

v14. “For this time I will send all my plagues [judgements] to your right lobe, both to your servants and to your people, that there is no one like me in all the earth.”

v15. “For if by now I have put forth my hand and struck you down and your people with disease, then you would have been cut off from the earth.”

This alternative must not enter into the divine decrees because it did not happen and, therefore, is a statement from divine omnipotence showing the alternative. God didn’t cut him out; He didn’t kill him for his hardness of heart. He permitted him to continue to live.

In each of the five plagues we have the fact that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. So it was his negative volition at the end of the sixth one where you have blackout of the soul and you go on to scar tissue of the soul. In one through six plagues he has used his own volition to get to the point of scar tissue of the soul. Now, it says, the Lord is going to harden his heart. What does it mean? It means simply that he will continue negative volition in each one of these plagues, and the Lord permitted him to live. And by being permitted to live Pharaoh broke the world’s record for scar tissue of the soul.

What was entered into the divine decrees then was scar tissue of the soul used by God for two things: First, to demonstrate His divine power and, secondly, world wide evangelism.

v16. “On the contrary, I have established you [permitted you to continue in history knowing that you will say, No], that I may demonstrate to you my power; in order that my person may be celebrated in all the earth.”

In the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, or in the continuation of Amenhotep’s life on earth, we have the world’s record in history, up to that time, of scar tissue in the soul. Human resistance to the divine plan and will always reveals the power of God. This is a principle that must be remembered. When great human resistance exists it is always followed by world wide evangelism.

In the first five plagues Pharaoh hardened his own heart; he expressed his own scar tissue. He was degenerate. It was only beginning with the sixth plague that we have any reference to the Lord hardening Pharaoh’s heart. And the pattern for the first five plagues is stated in Exodus 7:13: “Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he did not listen to them [Moses and Aaron].” So after each of the first five plagues Pharaoh demonstrated scar tissue of the soul, total lack of integrity, status quo degeneracy. After each plague he actually was demonstrating the phenomenal power and motivation of degeneracy. Principle: Degeneracy has power and motivation, and it is seen in every generation of history.

Pharaoh had many opportunities for positive volition: cf Exodus 7:22; 8:15,32; 9:34,35. But every message of truth and every demonstration of divine power was unimpressive to Pharaoh. Why? Because he was in scar tissue of the soul. Principle: Scar tissue of the soul says No to God. And the more times scar tissue says No to God it strengthens the scar tissue to the point where the scar tissue of the soul is completed, you have reverse process reversionism, and that person can’t even change his own mind at that point.

God kept permitting Pharaoh to live. That’s what it meant when it says, He hardened Pharaoh’s heart. He permitted Pharaoh to live and say “No” five more times. This is called God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. God does not Himself do it; God permits Pharaoh to live and to express to the maximum scar tissue of the soul. God did not coerce Pharaoh’s volition; He merely gave him extra opportunity to express negative volition in the status quo of the scar tissue of the soul. So the justice of God provided Pharaoh maximum opportunity to express scar tissue by keeping him a live and exposing him to plagues six through ten. And this extension of Pharaoh’s life by divine decree is expressed under the principle: “The LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”

Godpreserved the life of Pharaoh to demonstrate His divine power. And to demonstrate the fact that even Pharaoh Amenhotep II was one of the three most powerful men in all of the world in his time God’s power, God’s omnipotence was infinitely greater. All the power that this world had at that time was used to hinder the formation of the first client nation to God. The power of a mighty ruler of a great empire, plus the power of Satan as the ruler of the world, plus the whole system of self-determination — implode, explode, revert — that Pharaoh had used, could not frustrate the plan of God.

Principle: There is no system of degeneracy linked with unusual power that can ever hinder God’s plan. The more Satan and Pharaoh combined their volitions to resist the power of God, the greater the demonstration of that power. The ten plagues demonstrate that “greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.” God uses the wrath of man to praise Him.

The combination of Satan’s power and Pharaoh’s human power and authority not only advanced the plan of God so that in every generation the believer has the application of the essence of God rationales but, even more than that, it is the means of evangelism in any given generation.

When Paul quotes Exodus 9:16 in Romans 9:17 he does so to prove that the Jews living at the first advent — the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union — and for the century thereafter of the Church age, had broken Pharaoh’s record in the Exodus generation.

Revelation 1:8: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” “I am” — perfect active indicative of e)imi plus e)gw, the nominative singular subject, first personal singular pronoun, for it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is speaking. The pronoun is in the emphatic position to emphasise the fact that Jesus Christ is A)lfa and W). A)lfa refers to Jesus Christ as eternal God. There never was a time when Jesus Christ did not exist, co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and with God the Holy Spirit. Because of the first advent of Jesus Christ; because of the virgin birth and everything that followed. We are talking here about the hypostatic union: A)lfa, Jesus Christ is God; W), Jesus Christ is the God-Man, the hypostatic union, undiminished deity and true humanity in one Person forever — “I am the Alpha and the Omega.”

And that is as close as we can come to that very famous statement in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Shema Israel (Hear O Israel), Adonai Elohenu (Jesus Christ is our God), Adonai Echad (Jesus Christ is unique).”

The deity of Christ = His Alpha glory. Omega refers to our Lord Jesus Christ in hypostatic union. The Omega glory of Christ starts with the virgin birth, the fact that Jesus Christ became true humanity in order that He might be judged for the sins of the world, the fact that He was qualified to be judged for the sins of the world because of His impeccability, and therefore His saving work on the cross, His physical death, His resurrection, His ascension, His session — and after His session the award of His third royal patent: King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Bright Morning Star.

The Omega glory of Jesus Christ indicates two things: not only the fact that Jesus Christ is God, but also that He is the creator of the universe, and as the God-Man, Alpha and Omega, Jesus Christ controls history. This means that the Church Age is a dead spot as far as prophecy is concerned because it is what we have to classify as the only truly historical dispensation — no prophecy.

We have all of the prophecies relating to the dispensation of Israel and how Israel was formed. We have all the prophecies related to the dispensation of the hypostatic union, from the virgin birth to impeccability, to the fact that Jesus Christ was sustained in His humanity inside the prototype divine dynasphere, the filling of the Spirit, the cross, resurrection, ascension, session, ands the award of His third royal title. All of those things were prophesied and fulfilled. Then one prophecy that begins the Church Age, given by our Lord just before He ascended: the prophecy of the baptism of the Spirit.

But you see when our Lord received His third royal title He was minus a royal family. In His first royal title, Son of God, He has a royal family — God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. In His second royal title, Son of David, He has a royal family — the Davidic dynasty. In His third royal title, awarded after the ascension, He has no royal family. The baptism of the Spirit is the means of forming that royal family, and that was prophesied by our Lord. So it belongs to eschatology. Then we go all the way to the resurrection of the Church. And in between, no prophecy. Therefore, our second illustration of scar tissue of the soul is in a period of no prophecy. In the Church Age we have to go by historical trends.

Historical trends in any given generation depend upon the number of believers residing and functioning inside the divine dynasphere, and advancing to spiritual maturity in what we have classified as the doctrine of the pivot. Church Age believers live between the two greatest political events in history, and therefore in between we have a principle: Jesus Christ controls history — Jesus Christ as Alpha and Omega controls history. Alpha — undiminished deity; Omega — true humanity. Historical blessing is administered through client nations to God. Historical disaster results with a maximum number of believers living in the cosmic system. Historical disaster is administered through evil nations who are anti-God. Whenever you see a small pivot of believers as we have today, it means you have a maximum number of believers on the road to Christian degeneracy. And, of course, once you get into a polarised trend you move right into reversionism. When you have a maximum number of believers who attain scar tissue of the soul, you always have a holocaust.

History repeats itself but people act as though the holocaust was something new. It has happened many, many times in history. It is something that happens at least once or twice in every century of the Church Age — and it is directly related to scar tissue of the soul. And we will see the scar tissue of the soul produces the destruction or heavy discipline or destruction of client nations to God on the one hand, and on the other hand has a direct effect on Jewish people. It explains that monstrous evil called anti-Semitism.

We have to see a principle: Jesus Christ controls history, and Jesus Christ in His Omega glory is the key to history. And historical blessing is administered through client nations to God. Historical disaster results from a maximum number of believers involved in the road to degeneracy, with emphasis on scar tissue of the soul. The Omega glory of Jesus Christ includes His uniqueness as the God-Man, His salvation work on the cross — which means He is the only saviour, His royal commission received after His ascension. We are living under the Omega glory of Jesus Christ in this dispensation, and God’s blessing and administration of grace to us as believers is based on our Lord’s Omega glory.

When our Lord said to John on the Island of Patmos, “I am Alpha and Omega,” He was saying, “I am the God of Israel.” “Adonai echad” = Jesus Christ is unique — that is Omega! This was the issue the prophets all the way from Isaiah to Zechariah taught — the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. This is the stumbling stone over which the Jewish unbeliever stumbles — Deuteronomy 6:4. What does the next verse (Deut. 6:5) say? “And you shall love the LORD thy God with all thy heart (right lobe, leb, the exact equivalent of kardia).” You love God with your right lobe only. Why? The eight compartments of the right lobe is the only place where spiritual phenomena resides, and you cannot love God without doctrine in your soul. In the left lobe we have academic understanding but it has no spiritual connotation. We can’t love Him if the kardia or the leb is filled with scar tissue. That’s how the record for scar tissue in the soul was broken in the dispensation of the hypostatic union, and how it is being broken in every generation, resulting in some form of terrible tragedy to Israel, but a tragedy that they bring upon themselves because no Jew can keep saying, “No", “No", “No,” to Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad, without coming up with a permanent “No.”

If you love the Lord with your right lobe, you love Him with your soul. Because all spiritual phenomena (all e)pignwsij doctrine, all chakma) is in the right lobe. So if you love Him with your right lobe (occupation with Christ) then you love Him with all of your soul, and with all of your power.

When Moses under the ministry of the Spirit wrote Deuteronomy 6 he said in verse 6: “And these doctrines, which I have commanded you today, shall be in your right lobes.” That’s the only place they can be profitable.

Self-determination is the basis for misery in life long before God adds any punitive action.

Romans 9:1-6. The real Israel is not the racial Jew but the born-again Jew. The Jew today recognises that there is a God of Israel but he does not recognise that He is the God-Man, even though the prophets made it very clear. What Israel is constantly seeking (Romans 11:7) is salvation through the God of Israel but they cannot find that salvation because of scar tissue of the soul. That scar tissue of the soul recognises Alpha but not Omega; it recognises Adonai Elohenu but not Adonai Echad.

The Jews who have recognised the Omega glory of Christ have attained salvation. The others show the manifestation of the scar tissue of the soul (Romans 11:7 — “the rest were hardened”).

Romans 11:8 — Documentation by bringing together three verses from the Old Testament: Isaiah 29:10, Deuteronomy 29:4, Isaiah 6:9,10. “The God [Jesus Christ in His Alpha glory, as the God of Israel, as the Shekinah glory] has given to them a spirit of stupor [scar tissue of the soul] …”

A holocaust is not unique, it happens frequently in history. It is a terrible thing that can happen anywhere at any time. All that is needed is the combination of two things: the religious degeneracy of the Jews (their rejection of Omega) and historical degeneracy. A holocaust is simply a combination of religious degeneracy [negative volition of Israel] plus historical degeneracy [negative volition of power]. The religious degeneracy is the scar tissue of Israel in rejecting Christ as Saviour and historical degeneracy is the power that under Satan’s influence persecutes the Jew. This will reach its peak in the middle of the Tribulation.

Rom. 11:8 “ … eyes to see not, and ears to hear not, down to this very day.” In other words the world’s record once held by Pharaoh Amenhotep II has been broken in very generation from the virgin birth and the dispensation of the hypostatic union right down to our generation, because of scar tissue on the soul.

Verse 9 — (Psalm 69:22,23). “ … Let their table [spiritual food, the doctrine of Israel as found in the Old Testament] become a snare, and a trap, [by means of rejection which builds up scar tissue] and a stumbling block [Jesus Christ is the stumbling block to Israel while the building of the Church is being erected], … ”

When you have enough Jews who are negative and are in religious degeneracy, and you have a power on the earth in historical degeneracy [the abuse of power] you always are going to have a persecution of the Jews. Note: The same principle applies to the Gentiles as well.

“ … and for a retribution [holocaust].”

Verse 10: “Let their eyes be darkened [negative volition] and see not [build-up of scar tissue of the soul], and bend their backs forever” — i.e. whenever there is a large enough reverse pivot of Jews who are negative toward doctrine their “backs will be bent,” they are in slavery to this principle because of their own self-determination, the temporal judgements of history.

Verse 11: “I say, then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? No, definitely not; but by their apostasy [religious degeneracy] the salvation message belongs to the Gentiles [the times of the Gentiles], in order that they might be stimulated to emulation [to faith in Christ].”

right lobe (occupation with Christ) then you love Him with all of your soul, and with all of your power. We have seen how historical degeneracy always persecutes religious degeneracy. Three principles: 1. Blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul equals religious degeneracy. That comes from religious legalism. 2. Blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul equals historical degeneracy. 3. Historical degeneracy persecutes religious degeneracy, except where religious degeneracy possesses political or historical power.

Deuteronomy 6:4 — “Shema Israel” [Hear O Israel].

“Adonai elohenu.” This is the exact equivalent of Revelation 1:8 where Jesus Christ said: “I am the Alpha.” This is the Alpha glory of Jesus Christ as the eternal God.

“Adonai echad” — Adonai is unique [Jesus Christ is unique]. The Jews translate that as the word “one” and because of that they are blinded, for they accept the Alpha glory of Jesus Christ but they reject His Omega glory.

Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet; Omega is the last. Omega refers to Jesus Christ as the God-Man, as undiminished deity and true humanity in one Person forever. And there is a category of people in Israel which always functions under the same category of implosion. The integrity is destroyed through their negative volition toward the dispensation of the hypostatic union. Once the integrity is broken then these Jews move toward religious legalism. This is the trend toward religion.

On the other hand we have another trend of the sin nature related to historical power. Historical power distorted because this is historical power in the sin nature. This explains Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin, etc.

The religious side goes into reversionism which results in religious degeneracy. This is the unbelieving Jews beginning in the dispensation of the hypostatic union. Then we have the rise of historical power distorted — historical degeneracy. When there is a maximum saturation of negative volition there follows one of the principles of divine judgement administered through historical degeneracy. This explains the holocaust.

Romans 11:7-12

Verse 7: “Therefore to what conclusion are we forced?” — an idiom for “How stands the case?” What is Israel constantly seeking? They are seeking the Omega glory, the Messiah. He has already come. And why do they not know this? Because they are in the state of reversionism — implode, explode, and revert — they finally reached the stage six, [blackout of the soul] and with that scar tissue of the soul. They are locked in to a degeneracy that must be dealt with.

So what is Israel constantly seeking? This salvation it did not attain, “but the elect attained it” — they recognised the Omega glory — the Jews who recognised Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the God-Man, the Son of David, Son of God.

“and the others” [the Jews who rejected Christ in His Omega glory] “were hardened” [blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul equals religious degeneracy]. Religious degeneracy, like historical degeneracy, must be dealt with by God under the principle that Jesus Christ controls history.

Verse 10: “Let their eyes be darkened” — from negative volition they rejected their own doctrine — “so that they see not” — the Omega glory of Christ — “and bend their backs forever” — the temporal judgement of a historical holocaust but it is also an eternal judgement; they have rejected Christ as saviour but it also has to do with the fact that they are spending eternity in the lake of fire.

Verse 11: “I say, then, they did not stumble so as to fall did they? No, definitely not; but by their apostasy [implosion, explosion, revert] the salvation message belongs to the Gentiles [times of the Gentiles], so that they [the Jews] may be stimulated to emulation [by believing in Jesus Christ].”

Verse 12: “Now if their apostasy [religious degeneracy] becomes the riches of the world, and if their failure [religious degeneracy, fifth cycle of discipline, loss of client nation status, the times of the Gentiles] became the riches of the Gentiles [and it did] how much more will their fullness [refers to the restoration of client nation Israel at the second advent of Jesus Christ].”

The removal of Israel means the riches of the Gentiles in two ways: Gentile client nations to God and, secondly, we have many born-again Gentiles who now have equal privilege to the Jews in the body of Christ through the baptism of the Spirit. It is the Gentiles who are the outsiders but who are now equal with any Jew who believes in Jesus Christ.

Isaiah predicted all of these things: the rejection of the Omega glory of Jesus Christ, the Jewish rejection of that final phrase “Adonai echad,” in Isaiah 29:9-14:

Verse 9: “Be shocked and amazed;” [result of the discipline which came to Israel from blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul equalling religious degeneracy] “blind yourselves and be blind” [blackout of the soul and scar tissue] “they are drunk, but not with wine; [drunk with a holocaust] “they stagger but not from drinking strong drink.”

Verse 10: “For the Lord has poured over you [the Jews involved in religious degeneracy] a spirit of deep sleep, [blackout of the soul, scar tissue of the soul, religious degeneracy] “regarding the prophets he has shut your eyes; regarding the seers, he has covered your heads.”

Verse 11: “Therefore, the entire vision [first advent, resultant Omega glory of Jesus Christ] shall be like to you the words of a sealed book, and when they give it to someone who is literate, saying, Please read this to us; he will reply, I cannot; for I cannot understand it.”

Verse 12: “Then the book will be given to someone who is illiterate, saying, Please read it; but he will reply, I cannot understand it.”

Literacy is used here for Adonai elohenu, and illiteracy is used for Adonai echad.

Verse 13: “Then the Lord said, Because this people draw near with their mouth, and honour me with their lips [they recognise the God of Israel], but have removed their hearts [their right lobes with scar tissue of the soul], Furthermore, their respect for me is in the commandments learned by memorising”

Verse 14: “Therefore, behold, I will once again deal magnificently with this people, doing a magnificent thing ...”

Even though Israel has failed throughout the centuries, even though Israel failed in the dispensation of the hypostatic union, God is going to do a marvellous thing, a gracious thing: He is going to restore Israel at the second advent of Jesus Christ. Once again Israel will be a client nation to God in that sublime dispensation of a thousand years of perfect environment.

And in the meantime “the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the intelligence of their intellect shall vanish.” This is because they are rejecting Jesus Christ as saviour. Today the hope of Israel is to believe in Jesus Christ as it has been through all of the centuries.

Holocaust means devastation. Holocaust historically is the systematic mass extermination of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps prior to and during world war 2. However, we will expand the concept to include all persecution of the Jews or the violent expression of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is evil and Satanic for it is motivated by Satan himself. The objective of Satan, of course, is to destroy all Jews on the earth prior to the Second Advent of Christ so that God cannot fulfil the unconditional covenants to Israel. It is a part, then, of the angelic conflict.

Degeneracy is defined as the decline from normal or superior standards to inferior or sub-normal standards. It is further defined as loss of integrity resulting in a state of deterioration, the process of passing from the higher to the lower, and therefore degeneracy means to decline progressively. The progressive decline includes three stages: implosion or self-fragmentation, explosion or polarised fragmentation, reversion or the degeneracy of declining progressively. The progressive decline includes the eight stages of reversionism.

The principles we are noting with regard to holocaust include: 1. Blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul equals religious degeneracy. 2. Religious degeneracy of the Jews is defined as going from superior standards of the Mosaic Law to the inferior standards of fragmentation and reversionism. 3. Blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul also equals historical degeneracy. 4. Historical degeneracy is defined as going from the superior standards of establishment power and authority to the inferior and subnormal standards of distorting authority into tyranny and power, and thereby persecution. 5. Historical degeneracy persecutes religious degeneracy, except where religious degeneracy has historical power. Self-determination is the issue all the way through.

Reverse process reversionism is always the status quo of locked-in degeneracy whether it is moral and immoral degeneracy in Christian degeneracy, or whether it is religious and historical degeneracy. In reverse process reversionism the superior standard is always rejected for the inferior standard through the process of decline. This is true of Christian degeneracy where the superior standard of the protocol plan of God is rejected and the inferior standard of either legalism or antinomianism is substituted as the modus operandi of the degenerate believer. The degeneracy is implode, explode, revert.

So what is true of Christian degeneracy where the superior standard of the protocol plan of God is rejected and an inferior standard is substituted, is also true of religious degeneracy. The superior standard of the Jews was the Mosaic Law; it was rejected for legalism. The prophecies of the Messiah in the Torah were rejected and ignored so that Israel at the first advent broke all records for scar tissue of the soul. Therefore you have religious degeneracy.

This is true of historical degeneracy. Where the superior standards of divine establishment are rejected and the evil functions of implode, explode, and revert results in the destruction of human freedom, the destruction of human power, and the tyranny of persecution. All these things are a factor which explains very simply, holocaust.

Romans 9:17: Pharaoh Amenotep II was permitted to live to break the world record for scar tissue of the soul so that both Egypt and the entire world would be evangelised in that generation.

Exodus 9:12: “And the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart …” That is scar tissue of the soul. In the first five plagues of Egypt it says Pharaoh hardened his own heart. In plagues 6-10 God permitted Pharaoh to continue to live. That is why it says “The LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart,” so that there might be a demonstration of divine power such as few generations have ever seen. The pattern of the first five plagues is found in Exodus 7:13 “Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he did not listen to them” .This means that Pharaoh is a case of historical degeneracy and he has come to the place where the scar tissue in his right lobe is tremendous — but it isn’t a record, not until we get to the tenth plague. At that time the scar tissue of the soul has destroyed all eight compartments of the right lobe of the soul.

God preserved the life of the Pharaoh to demonstrate a point of doctrine: Divine power is infinitely greater than any human power. “If God be for us who shall be against us?” “Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.”

Exodus 9:27: “ … this time I have sinned [no-one has ever been saved by admitting they have sinned. Repentance is a complete change of mind, not about yourself, but about who and what Jesus Christ is] the LORD is the righteous one, and I and my people are evil.” That is not repentance; it is not a change of mind.

Exodus 10:16: “Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you” .Not enough. It is “believe … and thou shalt be saved.” Talking about sins is adding to faith.

Because the objective of God was fulfilled in the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart the new client nation was actually accompanied in the Exodus by a mixed bag of Gentile believers. Paul quotes Exodus 9:16 in Romans 9:17 to demonstrate a fact of history: that the Jews living in the dispensation of the hypostatic union, and the next few years of the Church Age until 70 AD, had now broken Pharaoh’s record for scar tissue of the soul. And to this very day the record for scar tissue of the soul is held by those who Jews who have rejected Jesus Christ as Lord, saviour, Messiah, King, God of the Hebrews.

The divine plan and purpose in the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart then was threefold: 1. To liberate the Jews from slavery to form the first client nation to God; 2. The evangelisation of Egypt; 3. The evangelisation of the world.

What a tragedy that scar tissue of the soul used by God to deliver Israel to deliver Israel would some day be scar tissue of the soul in Israel to reject the God of Israel.

The Jewish race is the last racial species in history. We have Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and all Gentiles are descended from these. But from Shem came Abraham, a Gentile. He was a Gentile for 99 years and became a Jew at the point of his circumcision. The new racial species was founded on regeneration. Abraham became a believer in Jesus Christ when he lived in Ur of the Chaldees [Genesis 15:6] and God credited it for righteousness, cf Romans 4:3.

Romans 4:1-5

Verse 1. “What shall we say, then, that Abraham, our forefather [as a Jew] has found according to the flesh?

Verse 2. “For if Abraham were justified by works, he has something to boast about, but never before God.

Verse 3. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed the God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.

Verse 4. “Now to the one who works for salvation his compensation is not credited on the basis of grace, but on the basis of debt.

Verse 5. But to him who does not work for salvation, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly [unbeliever], his faith receives credit for imputed righteousness.

Verse 9. Is this salvation blessing then for the circumcision [the Jews] only, or is it also for the uncircumcised [Gentiles] also? We maintain that faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.

Verse 10. How then was it credited? When he was in circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision [when he was a Jew] but in uncircumcision [when he was a Gentile].

At the point of circumcision God created a new race on the earth that had never existed before. That new race is the Jew.

Why did God create a new race? Because by this time all of the old races were incapable of fulfilling God’s next plan. There was a lot of internationalism in the world and nationalism was going to be the order of the day because internationalism always leads to Satanic domination of the international organisation. International power is too much for anyone to handle. National power is as far as it goes and under the laws of divine establishment national power is it. Therefore, for the Word of God to spread and for evangelism to occur in every generation there had to be client nations. And the old races at this point were not capable of producing a client nation, so God developed a new race through regeneration. The genetics came through natural generation and the day that Abraham was circumcised a new race existed on the earth. That new race would eventually become a client nation — Israel.

Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel [Shema Israel]: The LORD our God [Adonai elohenu], God is one [Adonai echad].”

Literal translation: “Hear, O Israel: Jesus Christ is our God; Jesus Christ is unique.” “Unique” started with the virgin birth. The word in the Greek is monogenhj, uniquely born. There is only one Person in all the universe who is undiminished deity and in the same Person true humanity. This is the doctrine of the hypostatic union.

Deuteronomy 6:5: “And you shall love the LORD your God [occupation with the Person of Jesus Christ] with all your heart, and with all your mind, and all your soul.” That is the ultimate problem-solving device. “Heart” — leb, the exact equivalent to kardia, the eight categories of the right lobe of the soul. The left lobe of the soul is academic understanding which is not capable of this kind of love.

Verse 6: “And these doctrines, which I am commanding you this day, shall be in your right lobes [metabolised doctrine — chakma, e)pignwsij].”

Verse 7: “And you shall teach these things diligently to your children, and you shall talk about them [you learn by conversation] when you sit in your house, and when you walk down the road, and when you lie down, and when you get up.”

Blackout of the soul is failure to recognise Jesus Christ as the God-Man; scar tissue of the soul is rejection of Jesus Christ as saviour; blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul equals religious degeneracy.

Revelation 17:16 — The beast and the prostitute! Political degeneracy persecutes religious degeneracy.

The beast dictator of the revived Roman empire is the sponsorer of ecumenical religion of the Tribulation. He uses this as a means of extending his power and his influence — the picture of the prostitute riding on the beast. During the last half of the Tribulation both the beast dictator of the revived Roman empire and Babylon the prostitute reach degeneracy — implode, explode, and revert. The beast dictator represents historical or political degeneracy; the prostitute of Revelation 17:1 represents religious degeneracy. And it was inevitable that in the last half of the Tribulation historical degeneracy or political degeneracy would persecute religious degeneracy in one of the greatest holocausts of all time.

Rev. 17:16: “Both the beast and the ten horns which you saw will despise the prostitute, therefore they [the ten-nation confederation of the revived Roman empire] will destroy her [holocaust], and she shall be naked [stripped of her powers, glamour, influence], they will both devour her converts and destroy her with fire.”

Verse 17: “For because of their right lobes [scar tissue is always in the heart or the right lobe of the soul] God has permitted them to execute his purpose, therefore to give their power [ecumenical religion] to the beast dictator [political or historical degeneracy], until the doctrines from God shall be fulfilled.”

This suggests seven things

1. God uses evil to destroy evil. [Evil is always a function of self-determination].

2. Holocaust occurs in the last half of the Tribulation when the beast — political or historical degeneracy — persecutes and destroys the prostitute representing religious degeneracy.

3. Political degeneracy of the revived Roman empire at the end of the Tribulation [the beast] persecutes and destroys religious degeneracy of the Tribulation [the prostitute]. This pattern is always the same; it is the pattern of holocaust.

4. In this holocaust situation no human volition is violated. God simply uses evil to destroy evil, and evil is always the product of human volition.

5. Holocaust judgement in which evil destroys evil, dramatises the fact that mankind is simply the product of his own volition.

6. Evil is the product of human volition and God uses the wrath of man to praise Him. Psalm 76:10-11.

7. Jesus Christ controls history, and He often uses the volition of evil to destroy the volition of evil. Political or historical degeneracy persecutes religious degeneracy.

Romans 9:1-6. We note that when we talk about religious degeneracy related to Israel we are not talking about regenerate Jews.

Verse 2: The greater the accumulation of metabolised doctrine the greater the sensitivity to the suffering of others. Whether it is deserved or undeserved suffering the believer with doctrine never makes that distinction — compassion should be for those who are suffering whether they deserve it or not. Bible doctrine in the right lobe produces compassion.

Religious degeneracy emphasises the fact that the Jews rejected the Omega glory of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union. In fact scar tissue is built upon that third line: Adonai echad.

Jesus Christ was qualified to be judged for our sins. He had to become true humanity; He had to be the last Adam; He had to be perfect as Adam was before sin in order to carry our sins in His own body on the cross — “This is my body which is given for you” .It is a human body; not His deity.

Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to be the mediator between God and man. Job 9:33 “Who will be a mediator between us?” In Job 9:32,33 we learn a great principle: the mediator must be equal with both parties in the mediation. That means that Jesus Christ has to be equal with God and He has to be equal with mankind if He is going to be a mediator.

I Timothy 2:5,6: “There is one God [in essence] and one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus.”

Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to become our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus Christ is in the line of Judah, and the priestly line in Israel is Levi. So Christ’s priesthood is a royal priesthood because He is descended from David, and David was a king. And the pattern for His priesthood is taken from Melchizedek who was king of Salem, the original Jerusalem. But Jesus Christ is a King-Priest. But a priest is a man who represents man before God and Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to become a priest — a royal priest.

Jesus Christ had to become true humanity to fulfil the unconditional Davidic covenant of II Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 89:20-37. David is going to have a Son who will reign forever- That Son is Adonai echad, the Omega glory of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:5: “Therefore when he entered the world [first Christmas — the beginning of the dispensation of the hypostatic union] he said, You [God the Father] do not require sacrifice and offerings [Codex number two was but a shadow pointing to the reality], but you have prepared for me a body; [A human body has to bear our sins]”

Verse 6: “You have not been propitiated by whole burnt offerings [propitiating offerings] nor by sin offerings.”

These animal sacrifices were shadows, they looked forward to the reality of the cross, and therefore animal sacrifices were not capable of propitiating God the Father.

Verse 7: “At that time I said, [First Christmas eve, the beginning of the dispensation of the hypostatic union which would terminate in the Omega glory of Jesus Christ] Behold I have arrived (in a scroll of a book it stands written about me) to accomplish your will [Jesus Christ speaks from His humanity] O God.”

There are three elections in history: the election of Israel related to the ritual plan of God, the election of Christ related to the incarnation plan of God, and the election of the Church related to the protocol plan of God.

Each election has a significant factor of emphasis: the election of Israel is related to the new racial species, but true Israel is born again; the election of Christ is related to the hypostatic union so, that our Lord has two glories — Alpha glory as eternal God, Omega glory as the God-Man; the election of the Church is related to the new spiritual species.

Now the problem with the election of Israel is that it requires regeneration for compliance. You are not elected as a Jew unless you believe in Jesus Christ. “All Israel is not Israel.”

Verse8: “After the saying of the above, Sacrifices and offerings, and whole burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin, you have not desired, nor have you been propitiated by them, which sacrifices are offered according to the law.”

Verse 9: “Then he said, Behold, I have arrived to execute your will, O God. This means he has taken away [abrogated] the first [the first covenant, the Mosaic law], that he might establish the second [the protocol plan of God for the Church Age].”

“Establish the second” means five things

1. That this plan means regeneration for both Jew and Gentile, both must be born again.

2. When any Jew believes in Jesus Christ during the Church Age he becomes a member of the royal family of God through the baptism of the Spirit.

3. God has a plan for regenerate Jews in every dispensation.

4. When any Jew rejects Jesus Christ as saviour he implodes, explodes, and reverts, and therefore is a part of the world record for scar tissue of the soul.

5. Religious degeneracy is persecuted by historical or political degeneracy. Hence throughout all of history in the Church Age there have been a series of holocausts.

Verse 10: “By which will [purpose, plan] we have been sanctified [to God forever] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.” The true meaning of Christmas is the cross.

Isaiah 29:9 — “Be shocked, be amazed; blind yourselves [blackout of the soul, the function of human self-determination], and be blind [implosion through rejection of Christ as saviour, explosion, reversion, religious degeneracy]; they are drunk, but not with wine [prophecy of the holocaust judgements of Israel resulting from religious degeneracy]; they stagger, but not from strong drink.”

Verse 10 — “For the Lord has poured over you [Israel] a spirit [or life] of deep sleep [recognises the apostasy of the Jews in the reversionism stage]; regarding the prophets he has shut your eyes [those who were communicating spiritual truth, allegedly, actually were communicating religious false doctrine which only shut their eyes and strengthened the scar tissue of the soul] …”

The shutting of the eyes is a synonym for negative volition toward Bible doctrine, therefore the willingness to listen to false doctrine.

“ … regarding the seers, he has covered your head [scar tissue of the soul].” The are false prophets and false preachers or false seers.

Verse 11 — “Therefore the entire vision [the first advent of Jesus Christ, the dispensation of the hypostatic union, the time of the Omega glory] shall be to you like the words of a closed book [they read the Torah and they do not see Jesus Christ even though He is found in almost every chapter of the prophets], …’

Verse 12 — “Then the book will be given to someone who is illiterate, saying, Please read it; but he will reply, I cannot read it.”

Verse 13 — “Because this people draw near with their mouth, and honour me with their lips [ritual without reality], but they removed their heart [right lobes] far from me, furthermore their reverence for me consists of traditions learned by memorising them [or traditions that are being passed on from one generation to another].” The last part of this verse could be translated this way: “their worship of me is made up of rules taught only by men.”

Verse 14 — “Therefore I will once again deal graciously with this people [at the second advent], doing a magnificent thing [restoration of Israel at the second advent]; but in the meantime [under scar tissue of the soul] the wisdom of their wise will perish, and the intelligence of their intellectuals shall vanish [from history].” This is always accomplished by holocaust judgements.

Romans 11:7 — “To what conclusion are we forced? What Israel is constantly seeking this it did not attain, but the elect [Jews who have believed in Christ] have attained salvation, and the others were hardened [scar tissue of the soul].

Verse 8 — “(And just as it stands written, God has given to them a life of stupor, eyes to see not, ears to hear not) down to this very day.”

Verse 9 — “David also says, Let their table [doctrine, spiritual food] become a snare [negative volition], and a trap [blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul], and a stumbling block [the first advent of Christ was a stumbling block], therefore for a retribution to them [holocaust, which appears periodically];”

Verse 10 — “Let their eyes be darkened and see not [blackout of the soul], and bend their backs forever [two categories of judgement to the unbelieving Jew: temporal judgements and the eternal lake of fire for rejecting Christ as saviour].”

Verse 11 — “I say, then, They did not stumble so as to fall did they? No, definitely not; but by their apostasy salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them [the Jews] jealous.” In other words, some will be stimulated by this motivation to re-examine the dispensation of the hypostatic union and to believe in Jesus Christ.

Verse 12 — “Now if their apostasy [scar tissue of the soul] becomes the riches of the world, and if their failure [religious degeneracy] the riches of the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness? [reference to the Millennium, when the fullness of the Jew will be reflected in the great Jewish client nation of the Millennium].”

The fragmentation of subjective arrogance is divided into two categories: subjective pre-occupation with self and subjective pre-occupation with others. Subjective preoccupation with self is also divided into two categories:

1. Unrealistic Expectation.

Very few people are loved the way they want to be loved, or treated the way they want to be treated. Unrealistic expectation is a state of frustration and unhappiness in which the believer often blames others for the fact that he is not loved, not appreciated, not treated the way he wants to be treated or the way he wants to be loved or appreciated. Unrealistic expectation then is a part of the fragmentation of subjective arrogance and is divorced from reality by never taking responsibility for one’s own decisions. In unrealistic expectation the believer blames others for his own self-fragmentation; the believer uses his own volition to pull the pin of the grenade and frag himself but he never seems to understand that.

The arrogance of unhappiness is subjective pre-occupation with self associated with unrealistic expectation.

2. Unrealistic Self-image.

This creates a hero or role model out of self as long as the arrogance of subjective fragmentation continues. This pseudo self-respect or pseudo self-esteem becomes the basis for disorientation in life. It follows three principles: 1. Disorientation to relationship with God; 2. Disorientation to relationship with self; 3. Disorientation in relationship to others. Subjective preoccupation with others has three inter-related concepts: role-model arrogance, the feet of clay syndrome, and iconoclastic arrogance.

It is inevitable that when the believer in subjective arrogance creates a hero image or a hero role-model out of himself, that self-image will all too often construct a counterpart which will overflow to others in role-model arrogance. In other words, role-model arrogance creates an unrealistic image out of someone else. Then comes the feet-of-clay syndrome. You discover that the role model that you have created has feet of clay. The feet-of-clay syndrome is simply discovering someone else’s failures, flaws. The believer in subjective arrogance then seeks to destroy the very own image which he himself has created. That is what we call iconoclastic arrogance.

Two things can be devastating to the creation of an unrealistic self-image or a hero image about self. First of all you can often discover your own feet of clay and therefore become disillusioned about yourself. Someone else can also bring you face to face with your feet of clay, in which case you can either react or respond. If you react you cling to your hero image and permanently divorce yourself from reality. This tragic flaw will result in everything from mental illness to one of the categories of Christian degeneracy. If you respond, on the other hand, you will turn to Bible doctrine and this will remove the cobwebs of unreality in your life and eventually produce an invisible hero, a product of the grace of God. But unrealistic self-image always results in unrealistic expectation.

The fragmentation of subjective arrogance produces a tremendous number of spiritually self-inflicted wounds. These are divided into two categories: subjective preoccupation with self and subjective preoccupation with others. Subjective preoccupation with self is the tragic flaw of arrogance divorcing the believer from reality — through unrealistic self-image created from arrogance and from unrealistic expectation created from subjective arrogance. Subjective preoccupation with self produces a sequence of arrogant functions and these accompany the progressive decline into Christian degeneracy.

Iconoclastic arrogance represents the inconsistency and the instability of subjective arrogance — you create the image; you destroy the image. But the greatest inconsistency of all is when arrogance destroys, not the hero image of another, but when you destroy your hero image through becoming distraught. The same arrogance which preserves the hero image of self under unrealistic expectation destroys a hero image of someone else.

Ephesians 5:1: The corrected translation has two concepts in this verse: 1. There is the solution to the problem of subjective arrogance of creating a false image in your mind of yourself, of seeing yourself in the mirror of arrogance rather than in seeing yourself in the mirror of the Word of God. 2. This solution is for believers only.

“Be ye therefore” — an inference from what precedes. What precedes? Ephesians chapter four verses 17-32 — mostly negative. Here in 5:1, which is a transitional verse, we go from the negative to the positive, and the last two chapters of Ephesians are generally positive.

“Be” — present active imperative of ginomai, which means to become something you were not at the time. It should be translated “become” — become something else. Here the word indicates an action mandated by God but at the moment not taking place.

“followers” mimhthj — imitators (plural). It implies that there is a true role model for Christians. However, that role model is not either self creating the hero image of self or self making a role model out of another person.

The role model is found in the genitive of relationship of two words: First of all the definitive article tou used here for a possessive pronoun and translated “your.” Then the genitive of relationship from Qeoj.

Translation: “Therefore become imitators of your God.” “Your God” is a reference to our Lord Jesus Christ as the Alpha and Omega (Deity and hypostatic union) of Revelation 1:8. We can imitate the true humanity of Christ in the hypostatic union during the time between the virgin birth and His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, for all of that time He resided in the prototype divine dynasphere under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. So it is possible to become an imitator of God and in becoming an imitator of our Lord Jesus Christ we fulfil the tenth and final problem-solving device — occupation with the Person of Christ.

In some cases when a person is reprimanded the reprimand is useless because the individual involved has developed an unrealistic self-image, a hero image which makes him unteachable. The person would cling to that image and in their own mind justify self so that all benefit from reprimand was useless. This incorrigible attitude of being impervious to reprimand or punishment is a manifestation of fragmentation of subjective arrogance. The unrealistic self-image of arrogance is unteachable, untrainable, and therefore unimprovable, a problem that some parents have had with children. By “unimprovable” is meant not developed to the full potential of the divine resources provided for the execution of the protocol plan of God. Furthermore, the arrogant self-image or hero image never recognises its limitations. And failure to recognise one’s limitations means failure to look into the mirror of the Word of God and see one’s self as they really are, and consequently to evaluate self objectively. And by looking into the mirror of arrogance a self-image is created that is false, but by looking into the mirror of the Word of God the self-image, the hero image is destroyed and the believer under enforced and genuine humility can execute the protocol plan of God. In other words he is teachable.

Remember the principle found in Proverbs 3:34 which is quoted in James 4:6 speaking of believers, “He gives greater grace. Therefore it says, God makes war against the arrogant, but He gives grace to the humble.”

The unrealistic self-image creates a hero or a role-model of self through arrogance, specifically the fragmentation of subjective arrogance. The fragmentation of subjective arrogance includes two things: subjective preoccupation with self and subjective preoccupation with others. There are two categories of subjective preoccupation with self: unrealistic self-image and unrealistic expectation. Unrealistic self-image always creates a hero or a false image of self from subjective arrogance. This is tantamount, of course, to pseudo self-respect or pseudo self-esteem — this causes distortion and disorientation in the life. The tenacity of clinging to the self-image created by arrogance means that the believer is flawed with the following results: 1. He does not grow up as a person — childish for life; 2. He does not grow up as a believer; 3. He is totally unteachable, he cannot learn Bible doctrine; 4. He does not learn from reprimand from legitimate sources; 5. He does not learn from reprimand from Bible doctrine.

Under the fragmentation of subjective arrogance it is inevitable that if the believer has created a hero image of self, which we might call a role-model of self. He also constructs a counterpart in relationship with others. There’s where we get subjective preoccupation with others which has three inter-related functions: role model arrogance, the feet-of-clay syndrome, and iconoclastic arrogance. It is role-model arrogance, of course, that creates an unrealistic hero image or an idol of someone else. The feet-of-clay syndrome follows and one of two things can occur: The image created by one’s own arrogance is discovered and one reacts by seeking to destroy the image. Or the image you have created by arrogance either reprimands or offends you in some way and you react by seeking to destroy that person. And in seeking to destroy the idol or the image you have created from your own arrogance you have fulfilled the fragmentation of subjective arrogance under the concept iconoclastic arrogance.

By way of summary the fragmentation of subjective arrogance produces a number of spiritual self-inflicted wounds. These wounds include two general categories which we have noted: subjective preoccupation with self and subjective preoccupation with others.

Ephesians 5:1 — “Therefore, become [ginomai, to become something you were not before] imitators [mimhthj] of your God [a reference to our Lord Jesus Christ as the Alpha and Omega of Rev.1:8 — Alpha as His deity, Omega as His hypostatic union].”

Our role-model cannot be the deity of Christ but it is the humanity of Christ as He lived on the earth during the first advent in the prototype divine dynasphere. The command to be imitators is a mandate to grow in grace through residence, function and momentum inside the divine dynasphere. The principle then: Precedence for the Christian way of life is taken from the dispensation of the hypostatic union. Note that we are not to imitate other believers or other persons whom we admire. Nor are we to create a self- image, a hero image of self which hinders becoming imitators of our God — our Lord’s humanity during the incarnation.

“as [o(j — comparative particle which introduces a true analogy. Who can become an imitator of our God? Only the believer. So we have a nominative plural of apposition from two words: a)gaphtoj and teknon which refers to children who need to learn.] beloved children.”

“Beloved” — a)gaphtoj — was first used as a title for Jesus Christ in the hypostatic union, during the time that He resided in the prototype divine dynasphere. It is a title for our Lord Jesus Christ with emphasis on His humanity in the hypostatic union. And because of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and resultant positional sanctification every believer is not only a member of the royal family of God and the new spiritual species but because he is in union with Christ and because Christ is called beloved” now God the Father regards us in exactly the same way. Therefore the word “beloved” is used for believers, it becomes a title for believers in recognition of positional sanctification, cf. 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 6:9; 2 Peter 3:1,8,14,17; 1 John 3:1,2; 4:1,7,11.

Jesus Christ as God cannot be imitated but Jesus Christ as true humanity can be imitated, but only through residence, function and momentum inside the divine dynasphere. As true humanity inside the prototype divine dynasphere our Lord’s humanity was sinless and impeccable. This we cannot imitate, we have an old sin nature and we come under the category of post-salvation sinning. Our sinning is accomplished outside the divine dynasphere but when we are inside the divine dynasphere we are filled with the Spirit and motivated to learn doctrine. Imitation is therefore accomplished through residence inside the divine dynasphere under the filling of the Spirit, with momentum from metabolised doctrine. Imitating our God is the execution of the protocol plan of God through consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. The humanity of Christ was constantly filled with the Holy Spirit in the prototype divine dynasphere. This is taught extensively in both testaments.

Inside the divine dynasphere the believer imitates the humanity of Christ during the incarnation in two ways: 1. The filling of the Holy Spirit; 2. The teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Immoral degeneracy is related to reversion in the first two words of Ephesians 4:19. We have a nominative masculine plural from a qualitative relative pronoun o(itinej, indicating a person who belongs to a certain category, believers in this case who are in reversionism. Blackout of the soul is the start of it; scar-tissue of the soul is the perpetuation of it; reverse process reversionism is the finalising. The second word is a present passive participle from the verb a)palgew — to become callous, and it is used for scar tissue of the soul. “Who because they have become callused” is the way we translate the first two words. The present tense is an intensive present for a present state resulting from a past action. The past action includes implosion, explosion, reversion. This is a reference to scar tissue of the soul, the seventh stage of reversion, the status of Christian degeneracy.

This verse is the scar tissue of the soul as the status of immoral degeneracy. Scar tissue of the soul can be the status of either moral or immoral degeneracy. Illustration: Zedekiah who was the last king of the southern kingdom, destroyed in 587 BC — 2 Chronicles 36:12: “And he (Zedekiah) did evil in the sight of the Lord, his God, and did not humble himself [lack of objectivity, lack of teachability] before Jeremiah, the prophet, who spoke for the Lord [He rejected the message of Jeremiah].”

Verse 13: “Then he also revolted against King Nebuchadnezzar, [In that arrogant self image he thought of himself as a hero who would deliver Israel by getting out from under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar.] who had made him sware allegiance by God [He took an oath before the God of Israel that would be an ally of Nebuchadnezzar — all that was required]; but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against the Lord God of Israel.”

In starting a revolution against Nebuchadnezzar he was in the status quo of scar tissue of the soul. The result of the scar tissue of the soul was the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline.

Ephesians 4:19b — [immoral degeneracy is related to polarised fragmentation], aorist active indicative of the verb paradidomi, to give one’s self over. “ … they have given themselves over [believers in Christian degeneracy make all of the decisions to get there] unto [toi — used to denote a category. The category is immoral degeneracy.] lasciviousness [a)selgeia — licentiousness or debauchery], …”

Prohibitions against adultery — Exodus 20:14; Deut.5:18; Acts 15:20; 1 Cor, 6:18; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 4:3.

Against incest — Leviticus 18:6ff; 20:14; Deut. 27:20; 1 Cor. 5:1-7.

Against homosexuality — Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26-27.

Against bestiality — Leviticus 18:23; 20:15; Deut. 27:21.

Some observations regarding sexual activity

1. The sanctification of category two love (an intimate relationship between a man and a woman) is marriage. 1 Thess. 4:3,4; Heb.13:4.

2. We should note that the glory of category two love is described in the analogy between marriage and the relationship between Christ and the Church. 1 Cor. 11:7; Eph.5:25-28.

3. Adultery is a bonafide basis for divorce. Matt. 5:32; Luke 16:18.

4. Adultery and fornication are often used in the scriptures as analogies or illustrations of apostasy. Jeremiah 3:8-10; Ezekiel 16:23-43; 23:24-28; Rev.17:1-5.

5. Promiscuity and fornication is forbidden as a part of the protocol plan of God. Ephesians 5:3; Hebrews 13:4.

6. The principle of scar tissue of the soul is the status quo of immoral degeneracy.

7. Scar tissue of the soul is also motivation for immoral degeneracy and is part of immoral degeneracy.

In the final phrase of verse 19 we have the fact that immoral degeneracy is related to reverse process reversionism: eis plus the accusative singular of result from e)rgasia — should be translated “resulting in the practice ...” Then we have the accusative of result which indicates that that which takes place or occurs is a result of the action of the main verb, and the main verb is “who have given themselves over to licentiousness.”

“ … resulting in the practice of every kind of immorality” — the adjective paj — “every kind,” plus a)kaqarsia, “immorality.”

Immoral degeneracy is related to other categories of lust: e)n plus the instrumental of manner from pleonecia — greediness, insatiability, grasping beyond, covetousness, lust, hunger for power. The noun means greed in three categories: lust for power and approbation, or lust for sex, or lust for money, wealth and success. Generally pleonecia must be associated with degeneracy since it connotes snatching beyond the sphere ordained for a person in society. Translation: “ … with insatiable lust.”

Principle: Immoral degeneracy is related to insatiable lust in three categories — related to sex, related to power and approbation, related to money and success.

This verse is where inordinate ambition ties in to immoral degeneracy. Scar tissue of the soul is the status of Christian degeneracy in two categories. In our verse, immoral degeneracy related to the trend toward antinomianism and polarised fragmentation. But don’t forget moral degeneracy related to the trend toward legalism in polarised fragmentation.

So in this verse the category of Christian degeneracy is immorality. And the principle, scar tissue of the soul, is the motivation for immoral degeneracy. Scar tissue of the soul is the function of immoral degeneracy. Immoral degeneracy reaches its peak by passing from scar tissue of the soul to reverse process reversionism.

Definition and description: Strictly speaking, adultery means the voluntary act of sexual intercourse of a married person with someone other than his or her lawful spouse. However, we are using the term right now in the broadest sense of sexual activity outside the divine institution of marriage, and we are also using it as the first of three illustrations of immoral degeneracy. The divine institution of marriage provides the boundaries for legitimate sexual activity.

Principle: All too often sex is a meaningless physical encounter.

The biblical prohibition of illegitimate sex: Physical adultery is prohibited in Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18. Corrected translation: “You will not commit adultery.” Mental adultery is prohibited in Matthew 5:27,28.

Fornication is also prohibited. It is defined as sexual intercourse between two persons who are not married to each other. 1 Corinthians 6:18 — “flee fornication.” There are two ways that this command is executed. If a person finds himself getting mentally involved in adultery or fornication he flees mentally. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 — “ … abstain from fornication”; Colossians 3:5 — “Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to the following: fornication, unnatural sexual vices, degenerate passion, evil desire and lust which is idolatry [referring to the phallic cult], ...”

Illegal sex is an expression of immoral degeneracy; it is the function of reverse process reversionism — the final stage of Christian degeneracy, the locked in stage where people rarely, if ever, recover. Reverse process reversionism reverses all of the mandates, priorities, norms and standards, related to the protocol plan of God. And in this stage the believer reverses the object of his love and gravitates toward pseudo love objects — Rev. 2:4: “ … you have forsaken your first love ...”

Principle: Losers are not believers who fail but believers who never do anything about their failure.

Marriage principles

1. Marriages fail because believers are failures as human beings.

2. Most people try to solve their marital problems by changing partners.

3. Changing partners means divorce, and generally for the wrong reason.

4. You cannot change your partner in marriage and solve anything. You can only change yourself.

5. Counselling is a waste of time. All it does is provide individual attention, stimulate arrogance, and give an excuse to drop someone you can’t stand.

6. You cannot go through marriage walking on crutches, depending on the counselling of someone else.

7. IMPORTANT: Most people approach marital problems from the standpoint of subjectivity. They want to justify themselves.

It never occurs to people that no solution to marital problems will be permanent because they are failures as believers.

Many marriages fail for a lot of different reasons

1. Bad decision in the selection of a mate — getting married for the wrong reason: sex, security, etc.

2. Inability to handle your personal problems. If you cannot handle your personal problems in single status quo you will never handle them in marriage.

3. Taking one’s frustrations out on the other partner in marriage — result of #2. If you can’t handle your personal problems you’re frustrated. And who is the closest person to take out your frustrations on? Your mate!

4. You think you have found a better deal and you want to get rid of the present spouse.

5. No woman can be successful in marriage until she has learned to entertain herself. It is inevitable that the man is not always going to be there and the woman who can’t entertain herself is possessive.

6. No man can be successful in marriage and as the lover of his wife and at the same time live in the arrogance of self-love.

7. People fail in marriage because of that inflated self-image.

Our second paragraph deals with the basic problem of neglect or indifference to Bible doctrine. When we get to verse 20 we have Christian degeneracy is contrary to Bible doctrine, the protocol plan of God. Christian degeneracy is contrary to the will of God, the plan of God and the purpose of God.

“but” — de. This conjunctive particle emphasises the contrast between Christian degeneracy and the mandates of the protocol plan of God which called for advance, for spiritual growth, for the attaining of spiritual maturity, for becoming an invisible hero, for becoming a part of the pivot. So consequently we have quite a change here. There is a great contrast between executing the protocol plan of God and the concepts of Christian degeneracy.

Next we have the nominative plural subject from the pronoun su, referring to certain believers, not only living in Ephesus but in the Roman province of Asia. “But all of you,” emphasising the fact that certain believers in Ephesus were in violation of the protocol plan of God and they had now attained spiritual degeneracy.

The pattern of degeneracy followed by so many believers not only contradicts the protocol plan of God but emphasises several major problems in Christian experience. The first is the rejection of Bible doctrine with special emphasis on the stages of reversionism. The second is having the wrong priorities in life. Whatever the priorities are they are in conflict with Bible doctrine. The third problem is the problem of lust. There is power lust, approbation lust, success lust, sexual lust, money lust, social lust, etc. The lust problem always takes the focus off Bible doctrine for believers who are functioning under their old sin nature rather than inside the divine dynasphere under the Holy Spirit. The fourth problem has to do with the creating of a self-image, the creation of a hero image from the fragmentation of subjective arrogance.

“learned” is the aorist active indicative of manqanw and with it the negative o)uk. The two words together describe the various categories of Christian degeneracy and the fragmentation of subjective arrogance. Manqanw means to learn from someone as a teacher, to learn through instruction, to learn in the sense of coming to know or understand something that you previously did not know or understand. The negative particle o)uk is used with the indicative mood to state a negative fact which is both objective and final — “But you have not so learned.”

The morphology of manqanw is rather important. This is a culminative or resultive aorist tense. It contemplates negative volition toward Bible doctrine in its entirety — negative volition taking you through implosion, explosion, and reversion — but it regards it from the viewpoint of existing results, which is the apostasy of Christian degeneracy, the apostasy which ends up in reversionism. There can only be two results of this culminative aorist tense: one is moral degeneracy emphasising the trend toward legalism and the other is immoral degeneracy emphasising the trend toward atinomianism.

With this we have the accusative singular, direct object from two words: ton Xriston. The definite article calls special attention to the proper name, it does not have to be translated. The noun Xristoj, proper noun for our Lord Jesus Christ, the only saviour, the God-Man, undiminished deity and true humanity in one person for ever. So we translate: “but you have not learned Christ.”

The word “Christ immediately introduces the subject of precedence. What is the precedence for the Christian way of life? What is the precedence for the protocol plan of God? The precedence is taken from the previous dispensation which is the dispensation of the hypostatic union.

One more Greek word, the adverb o(utoj refers to what precedes. What precedes is the description of reversionism which results in immoral degeneracy in verse 19. It is translated “in this manner.” The corrected translation of our passage: “But you have not learned Christ in this manner.”

What does it mean to “learn Christ,” or to learn even from Christ? Remember that Bible doctrine is called the thinking or the mind of Christ in 1 Corinthians 2:16. We are said to have the mind or thinking of Christ, a reference of course to the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, the doctrine directly pertinent to the dispensation in which we live.

The degenerate Christian has believed in Jesus Christ as his personal saviour and in doing so became the possessor of eternal life. But he was not interested in getting any information on what he was to do after salvation. After salvation what? was something that didn’t interest him and therefore for one reason or other he became negative toward Bible doctrine. So the degenerate believer has believed in Jesus Christ for his salvation but by rejection of Bible doctrine after salvation he has rejected Jesus Christ as the Ruler of his life, and the one who is his Lord and saviour. He has rejected Jesus Christ as the head of the royal family of God. Rejection of Bible doctrine is tantamount to rejection of the plan, the purpose, and the will of God for your life.

The inconsistency then is obvious. You have to believe in Christ for eternal salvation but you have rejected the way of life Christ mandates for His royal family. This is tantamount to saying that you trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life but you reject Him for temporal life which is your time on earth — between salvation and death or the resurrection/Rapture, whichever occurs first.

Remember that the verb manqanw is a technical term for the academic study of scripture and it is so used in John 7:15; Galatians 3:2; 1 Corinthians 14:31; Philippians 4:11. “But you have not learned Christ in this manner.”

Principles

1. The correct and accurate teaching of the Word of God never encourages any category of degeneracy. It does not encourage implode, explode, or revert.

2. The correct and accurate teaching of the Word of God rejects both legalism and antinomianism — the two polarised trends of the sin nature.

3. The status of Christian degeneracy is always the fault of the individual believer who makes too many bad decisions from a position of weakness. We do it to ourselves.

4. The believer who implodes, explodes, reverts, blames others for his condition. He always finds a scapegoat and typically never assumes responsibility for his own negative attitudes, decisions and actions.

5. Inevitably Christian degeneracy blames other people, and even God, which is why some people never recover from their degeneracy, stages of reversionism.

6. By taking the full responsibility for your own apostasy, your own degeneracy, your own cosmic involvement, you can use your volition to rebound; you can check the action and get on the road to recovery.

7. Recovery demands consistent function of perception, metabolisation, and application of Bible doctrine (post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation).

8. Recovery demands learning and using the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

9. As long as you are alive you can recover from Christian degeneracy.

So this verse has a dual connotation and refers to two major principles of dispensational theology. The first principle is precedence: from what source do we as believers in the Church Age derive precedence or post-salvation modus operandi? The second: what is the function of the protocol plan of God in the Church age?

Precedence: The first thing we have to remember is that dispensational theology is not dead. For those attending the funeral, the coffin is empty. The Reformation did not settle the question of: What is the Christian way of life? What is Christian responsibility after salvation? The only answer is found in the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. It must be defined in terms of the uniqueness of the two Christological dispensations and their relationships to each other. The first Christological dispensation is the hypostatic union — the incarnation which began on the first Christmas with the virgin birth of Christ. Secondly, the dispensation of the Church recorded in two categories, the pre-canon period which is found basically in Acts, and the post-canon period which is the New Testament epistles collected and finally canonised.

A royal family of God and a new spiritual species can not be ignored. Never before in history was there a royal family of God; never before in history was there a new spiritual species; never before in history was there a baptism of the Spirit; never before in history was there a protocol plan of God; never before in history have all three members of the Holy Trinity indwelt the body of every believer; never before in history has there been a portfolio of invisible assets for every believer; never before in history has so much divine power been made available to the individual believer: the omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets; the omnipotence of God the Son related to the preservation and the perpetuation of human history; the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit related to our execution of the protocol plan of God.

Jesus Christ is the God-Man and through the virgin birth He came into the world as true humanity to take away the sins of the world, that’s the meaning of Christmas. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes (death clothes), clothes which are prepared for a corpse, significant because the cross must come before the crown and the shadow of the cross was hanging over that place in Bethlehem. We understand the purpose and the significance of all this because it means Jesus Christ went to the cross and there He was judged for the sins of the world.

There are three concepts to the true meaning of Christmas, the first of which is the love of God. God is sovereign, therefore His love is self-motivated and totally compatible with His divine essence and character. God is infinite and therefore He possess infinite love. God is eternal and therefore God possess eternal love. God is immutable, and therefore His divine love is unchangeable and can never be corrupted in any way. God is holy, and therefore His love is perfect; it is compatible with His perfect righteousness and also His justice, which means that God’s love is always fair. And since eternal, infinite and holy God possess both self-consciousness and self-determination He always acts rationally in the function of His love. God’s love exists with or without an object since His eternal and infinite love is a part of His divine essence. This means that God’s love is not sustained by attraction, rapport or any category of human merit or worthiness.

Romans 5:8 — “God demonstrates His love …” The love that He demonstrates is impersonal love toward us. “ … in that while we were yet sinners Christ died as a substitute for us.” It is to our advantage that God has impersonal love toward us. Impersonal love emphasises the integrity of the subject and recognises that the object has nothing to recommend it.

John 3:16 — “God loved the world so much [impersonal love] that he gave his uniquely-born [monogenes — the unique one] son [u(ioj — deity] …”

The true meaning of Christmas can never be divorced from the cross. And even on that first Christmas day in Bethlehem the cross was present.

Luke 2:8 — “And in the same region there were shepherds living out in the field …” These shepherds, by the way, were under a ban from the Pharisees because they didn’t observe the Sabbath. Therefore legalism had persecuted these shepherds and rejected them. Religion rejected them to whom the message came; … “keeping watch over their flock by night.” They worked around the clock and observed no legalistic activity and therefore they were banned by the religious crowd of the day.

It was to these people “the Angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shined around them: and they were terrified.” It is said that this occurred near a famous tower built in David’s day called Migdal-eder [the tower of the flock]. That particular tower was built for one particular reason, for defence of Bethlehem. This was a very rugged piece of country and therefore a very fine place for the shepherds and the sheep.

Verse 10 — “And the angel said to them, Do not be afraid: for behold, I bring to you [plural, not to the scribes, the Pharisees, not to the people celebrating Hanukkah in the Temple in Jerusalem that very night — the deliverance through military victory, the Maccabeans defeating the great forces of the Hellenistic monarchy of Syria. But there was no grace in their celebration. It was ritual without reality and, therefore, where could the message be taken to someone to whom it had significance. It was taken to the shepherds] good news of great joy, which shall be for all people [not just for the Jews].”

Verse 11 — “For today in the city of David there has been born for a substitute for you, a Saviour who is Christ the Lord [the good news is that there is now a Saviour born into the world, someone who will provide salvation]”

The word “Lord” is kurioj in the Greek, referring to His deity; the word Xristoj refers to His humanity. In His humanity He is the Son of David; in His deity He is eternal God, the God-Man, the hypostatic union.

Verse 12 — “And this shall be a sign for you [how do you know which one it will be?]; You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes [accusative singular, perfect passive participle from the verb sparganaw — “the baby will be wrapped in spargana,” not swaddling clothes but the bandages used to wrap the dead].

We know a great deal about spargana from a noun sparganoma which means to be bandaged. There is another word, sparagma, the word from which it is all derived, and it means a mangled corpse, but a mangled corpse that has now been wrapped in spargana. In the singular spargana refers to the bandages used to wrap the dead.

Jesus Christ, as a baby, was not wrapped in swaddling clothes. He was wrapped in the bandages of death, clothed in death clothes. Wrapped for death, as it were. That is the meaning of this phrase and that is how they would identify the baby. Hanging over Bethlehem was the shadow of the cross at the very Christmas day of the virgin birth.

Verse 13 — “And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God [because here is the ultimate in the manifestation of His love. God loved the world so much that He gave His Son, the unique One, knowing that the One whom He had loved from all eternity past and would love through all eternity future would have to be judged at the cross. Therefore God gave. There’s Christmas, the giving of the One, that indescribable gift, Jesus Christ who makes the difference between eternal life and eternal condemnation.

At the birth and the giving of life God gave — that’s Christmas. And at the cross God judged. God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died as a substitute for us. He was judged for our sins. So God gave Christ true humanity so that as true humanity, and remaining perfect and resisting all temptation He could go to the cross and be judged for the sins of the world. That is love. That is the demonstration of His love.

And so it is not surprising that on the first Christmas the angels had to do the praising and the appreciating because the religion of the time, Judaism, couldn’t appreciate anything. Religion doesn’t appreciate; religion is ritual without reality. Therefore an army of elect angels was called out on the first Christmas to render the proper praise and recognition because human beings were not so doing. And it has been that way ever since.

Why is it necessary for heaven to turn out for Christmas on a parade of praise? Because it is something very few believers do.

Verse 14 — “Glory to God in the highest, [no manifestation of glory greater than God the Father gave the Lord Jesus Christ to us] and on earth prosperity among people with whom he is well pleased” — corrected translation.

That prosperity is logistical grace; it is the reason we are alive. That prosperity goes right back to the love of God on Christmas. Before salvation we were spiritually dead, even our righteousnesses were as filthy rags. And yet God said to us when we were unbelievers: I love you. What kind of love is it? A love that emphasises the integrity of the subject — impersonal love, the greatest virtue in the human race today. Even though we were spiritually dead God loved us. The two demonstrations: Christmas and the cross.

Here is the point. Now you have believed in Christ; now you receive the imputation of God’s righteousness; and now instead of being loved with impersonal love, you are loved with the personal love of God. Why? Because you possess His righteousness.

What is the true meaning of Christmas in relationship to love? Now that you are a believer you should appreciate Christmas. God’s righteousness has been given to you and it is mentioned in the last part of verse 14:

“ … and on earth prosperity among people with whom he is well pleased.” And He is well pleased with those who have His righteousness; He is well pleased with the believer. And the integrity of God is made up of two characteristics, justice and righteousness. And every day you are alive because God sends life support to you and to me as believers in Jesus Christ.

Righteousness demands righteousness; justice demands justice. Before we believed in Christ that meant condemnation. Justice condemns -R — the unbeliever.

The Mosaic Law has nothing whatever to do with the filling of the Spirit, the indwelling of all three members of the Trinity, the protocol plan of God, the baptism of the Spirit — all of the unique factors related to the Church Age. And these unique factors were not taken from the Mosaic Law but from the dispensation of the hypostatic union which began on the first Christmas day and terminated with the resurrection, ascension, and session of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Mosaic Law has been adopted as the Christian way of life by reformed denominations, by legalistic fundamentalists, by evangelicals, and by almost every group that has come along in the Independent or Protestant circles. This means that there has been a great deal of confused, mixed up activity among those who are Christians. And it means that many generations have been almost totally apostate when it comes to the Christian way of life. Sabbath observance is a good sign of that. There never has been any justification for Sabbath observance in this dispensation and there never will be. We live every day as unto the Lord as members of the royal family of God. Tithing is another one. There is no such thing as tithing as a system of Christian giving. Whatever you give is between you and the Lord and it is not a tithe. Tithing belongs to the Mosaic Law, Codex number three, the Laws of divine establishment for Israel.

Since the Reformation most Protestant groups have taken their precedence from the Mosaic Law which actually belongs to the dispensation of Israel. Therefore, we must look at the Mosaic law.

The Mosaic law is divided into three parts

1. The decalogue which consists of ten mandates called the Ten Commandments. This is a freedom code which defines freedom in terms of morality, privacy, property and authority. Furthermore, the Ten Commandments define freedom in terms of relationship to God as well as relationship to authority and to sin. The Ten Commandments express freedom in relationship to the divine institutions and in relationship to God. There is nothing in the ten commandments that belongs to us unless it is restated as a part of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. And many of the things are restated but we take them from the mystery doctrine of the Church Age in the epistles, not from the ten commandments or the decalogue. The Mosaic Law as a total code has been abrogated in the dispensation of the hypostatic union and only what is pertinent to us has to be restated, and is restated in the epistles.

2. The second part of the Mosaic Law is called the ordinances. This is the spiritual code. The spiritual heritage of Israel includes a complete Christology and soteriology. However, it is given in ritual form; it is communicated through ritual and taught through oral messages of both the prophets and the priesthood. The ritual communication includes the structure of the Tabernacle, the delineation of the Holy Days, the modus operandi of the Levitical priesthood, and the significance of the Levitical offerings.

3. The third category of the Mosaic Law is called the judgements. This is the establishment code. Every principle related to the function of the client nation to God includes the judgements in some way. Any civilised nation has picked up on some of these things. For example, freedom is one of the great principles; freedom related to privacy, property and life. Freedom and authority are a part of the establishment code. (Freedom without authority is anarchy; authority without freedom is tyranny). Privacy, marriage, taxation, the military policy (the entire book of Numbers) is the military policy of Israel and is one of the greatest statements of the principle of freedom through military victory. Criminal law, diet, health, quarantine, sanitation, economic principles related to free enterprise, and many other things — but all of these things belong to believers and unbelievers alike and none of them have a spiritual connotation that is in any way related to the protocol plan of God, except by application.

So the principles that are rejected by Codex Number Three: It rejects civil disobedience, and today fundamentalist believers walk in the streets, and they walk in apostasy and confusion. Prayer in the public school is idiotic and has nothing to do with the Christian way of life. We are told when and where to pray — in public, when we sanctify the food — and we are told where to pray in our private prayers: “Go into your closet” or literally: Go into your private bedroom or the privacy of your home and pray. And then there is prayer in church. But prayer in public schools … If they ever get laws for it we will have kids bringing their rugs to school so their Muslim teachers can point to the proper area in the east and they can get down on their knees two or three times a day during school!

The recipients of the Mosaic Law

The Bible is very lucid on the recipients of the Mosaic Law. There are three concepts here: The Mosaic Law was given to client nation Israel only. It wasn’t even given to the Jews before Moses; it was given to the first client nation, the theocracy Israel. And the Mosaic Law applied only to the nation Israel, Exodus 19:3; Leviticus 26:46; Romans 3:19; 9:4. Specifically the Mosaic Law was not given to the Gentiles — Deuteronomy 4:8; Romans 2:12-14 — and specifically, it was never given to the Church — Acts 15:5,24; Romans 6:14; Galatians 2:19.

The limitations of the Mosaic Law

The Mosaic Law cannot justify, Romans 3:20, 28; The Mosaic Law cannot provide eternal salvation, Galatians 3:21-26.

The Mosaic Law cannot provide the Holy Spirit and therefore it has no spiritual connotation, Galatians 3:2ff. Here again is the issue of precedence for the Church Age. The issue of precedence is not from the dispensation of Israel and the Mosaic Law, precedence is taken from the dispensation of the hypostatic union; precedence is based upon the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to the humanity of Christ inside the prototype divine dynasphere. We have the operational type divine dynasphere and that is where the protocol plan is executed.

The Mosaic Law cannot, and never has done, solved the problems of the sin nature and spiritual death — Romans 8:2-4. You have to remember that the Mosaic Law can reveal sin but can do nothing about sin. The Mosaic Law is not then a document for the Christian way of life.

The Law and the dispensation of the hypostatic union should be noted. The doctrine of the impeccability of our Lord Jesus Christ includes the fact that our Lord was born under the law; that He is the Son of David as well as the Son of God. And the fact that our Lord kept the law perfectly was the end of the law. “Christ is the end of the law for all who believe as a result of that” says Romans 10:4. And during the dispensation of the hypostatic union our Lord commended to us the fact that He not only kept the law perfectly but that at the same time He condemned every legalistic interpretation of the law, including the rich young ruler and including the scribes and the Pharisees whom He called hypocrites. He actually made it very clear in Matthew 23, His great discourse to the religious people, the Scribes and the Pharisees, that they were hypocrites and that the law was not a spiritual factor. Jesus Christ then is not only the end of the law for those who believe but the modus operandi of the protocol pan of God for the Church Age, therefore, can never take its precedence from something that has been completely and totally abrogated. Therefore we must look elsewhere for the protocol plan, the Christian way of life, and we find it in the dispensation of the hypostatic union. Furthermore, the protocol plan of God for the Church is classified as mystery doctrine and the mystery doctrine was never revealed to the Old Testament prophets; it was never revealed in the Old Testament. By very definition that is what the mystery doctrine is: it is the way of life for the royal family of God in the Church Age. But in every definition of the mystery doctrine it was hidden from the Old Testament prophets — Romans 16:25,26; Ephesians 3:2-6; Colossians 1:25-27. All three of those passages make it very very clear that the mystery doctrine of the Church Age was never revealed to the Old Testament prophets nor is it found in the Old Testament. Therefore, the Mosaic law as an Old Testament subject can be related in any way to modus operandi of the Church which is strictly a New Testament subject.

Legalism and the Mosaic Law

Hebrews 7:19 — we learn that even when the law was operational it did not have a spiritual connotation. In corrected translation we start out with an aorist active indicative of the verb teleiow. With this we have a strong negative adverb o)uden. Teleiow means to accomplish and it should be translated “for the law accomplished nothing.” The aorist tense is a dramatic aorist; it states a present reality with the certainty of a past event. In the past the law did not accomplish anything because of the negative volition of Israel in general. The exception would be that many were born again simply by understanding the significance of the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; the Lamb without spot and without blemish, our Lord Jesus Christ who came on that first Christmas day, and that Lamb went to the cross and became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

What does it mean when it says that the law accomplished nothing? Simply this: the Jews took the law and tried to use it as a system of salvation, therefore nothing was accomplished. The exceptions were those who were true believers and followed the pattern of Abraham — “Abraham believed in the Lord and it was accounted to his account for righteousness.” He was justified by faith in Christ as He was revealed at that time. The Jews tried to be saved by works; they tried to keep the law for salvation — e.g. the rich young ruler.

“but on the other hand the bringing in of a better hope did.” The “bringing in” is a noun e)peisagwgh, correctly translated “the bringing in” if you understand its true significance. The bringing in began on the first Christmas day in history, the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ. Eternal God became true humanity and was virgin-born on that first Christmas day. That was the bringing in of a “better hope.” “Better hope” in contrast to what? — the Mosaic law cannot save. Cf. Romans 3:19-22,28; Galatians 2:16; John 3:18.

The legalism of salvation by keeping the law represents all systems of salvation by works. These systems fall into three categories: 1. Salvation by works alone, Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8,9; 2. Salvation by faith plus works, faith plus commitment, faith plus Lordship, faith plus repentance when repentance is merely an expression of common grace, changing your mind because God the Holy Spirit provides the necessary Gospel information on which to make a decision, baptismal regeneration (faith plus baptism), salvation by emotion or feeling, etc.; 3. Salvation by works without faith. There are two categories. The first is by “inviting Christ into your heart” which doesn’t say anything about faith at all (What does it mean? Jeremiah 17:9).

Degeneracy is defined as decline to a false or inferior standard, the process of passing from a higher to a lower standard with loss of integrity, resulting of course in a standard of deterioration. Degeneracy means to decline progressively, and for our study is defined as decline from the superior standards of the protocol plan of God — the Christian way of life — to the inferior standards of fragmentation and reversionism. Degeneracy means to decline progressively and we have used this under the principle of implode, explode, and revert. And two false standards exist in polarised fragmentation — the false standard of legalism, which is based on the sin nature trend toward self-righteous arrogance, and the false standard of antinomianism based on the sin nature trend toward lascivious lawlessness. Degeneracy is loss of integrity resulting in the passing from a higher to a lower level of modus operandi and modus vivendi.

The law is divided into three parts

1. The decalogue — a freedom code. The ten commandments define freedom in terms of morality, privacy, property, authority; they also express freedom in terms of relationship to God. They provide two categories of freedom in the human race: temporal freedom for all mankind and, for the believer in Jesus Christ, spiritual freedom to grow in grace.

2. The ordinances or the spiritual code. The spiritual heritage of Israel includes a complete Christology and soteriology communicated through ritual as well as through the statement of the prophets. There are the holy days, the modus operandi of the Levitical priesthood, the very structure of the Tabernacle, the significance of the Levitical offerings; all of it adds up to a very wonderful Christology. There had to be a system of teaching and ritual was a great system when there was very little paper and everything was done verbally.

3. The Judgements — an establishment code. Every principle related to the function of client nation to God is included — freedom, authority. Freedom without authority is anarchy; authority without freedom is tyranny. Privacy is a great part of freedom, and of course there is marriage, taxation, military policy, criminal law, diet, health, sanitation, economic principles. Civil disobedience, violence and revolution, is rejected.

The recipients of the Mosaic Law

1. The nation Israel — Exodus 19:3; Leviticus 26:46; Romans 3:19; 9:4.

2. Specifically the Law was not given to the Gentiles — Deuteronomy 4:8; Romans 2:12-14.

3. It was not given to the Church — Acts 15:5,24; Romans 6:14; Galatians 2:19.

The limitations of the Law

1. It cannot justify — Romans 3:20 “Because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin,” cf. verse 28.

2. It cannot provide eternal salvation — Galatians 3:21-26.

3. It cannot provide the Holy Spirit — Galatians 3:2.

4. It cannot solve the problems of the sin nature or real spiritual death — Romans 8:2-4.

The Mosaic Law in legalism

Hebrews 7:19 “For the law accomplished nothing, but on the other hand the bringing in of a better hope (Jesus Christ) did, through which we draw near to God.” The word “hope” (e)lpij), when it is used in the New Testament, means “confidence.”

Galatians 1:4: “Who gave himself a substitute for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age, on the basis of the will of God, even the Father.”

Verse 6: “I am amazed that you have so quickly deserted from the grace of Christ [the present passive indicative from metatiqhmi, to desert in battle] to another gospel [another e(teroj gospel — the Mosaic Law].” Codex number two of the Mosaic Law points toward the cross. The cross was camouflaged and Israel couldn’t see it until the Mosaic law came along and pointed to it with all of its significance.

Remember that the Mosaic law was abrogated as a total code. Therefore, only what is related to the New Testament is pertinent to the law of God, sometimes called “the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus” — cf. Romans 8:2-8.

While the Jews of the Old Testament lived by the Mosaic Law, Church Age believers live by the protocol plan of God. The dispensation of the hypostatic union stands as a permanent line of demarcation between Israel and the Church. Therefore, during the dispensation of the hypostatic union Jesus Christ fulfilled the Mosaic law on the one hand and through life in the divine dynasphere (filling of the Spirit) established a precedent for the Church Age on the other hand. Principle: The Mosaic law does not define the Christian way of life. Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets: I came not to abolish, but to fulfil.” And even though the Mosaic law is not a part of the Christian way of life it is still a part of the Word of God. Romans 10:4 “For Christ is the end of the law for the purpose of righteousness to every one who believes.” The entire Mosaic law is a particular expression of God’s eternal and holy character, according to Exodus 19. It is given to a distinctively defined group of people, Exodus 19:3; Leviticus 26:46; Romans 2:17-20; 3:19; 9:4. It is given specifically to client nation Israel and is designed for several explicit purposes. While the law regulates the lives of the Jews in the dispensation of Israel, now long past, its primary purpose was to anticipate the first advent of Christ as noted in Matthew 5:17.

After the law was fulfilled by Jesus Christ in hypostatic union, this unified code no longer governs any people or any nation. The regime of the Mosaic law has ended with its fulfilment in the dispensation of the hypostatic union. However, the abrogation of the law by Jesus Christ does not leave either unbelievers or believers in a state of lawlessness.

In summarising, then, why the believer cannot be under the Law

1. A believer under the law makes Christ a minister of sin, Galatians 2:17.

2. The believer has died to the law, Galatians 2:19.

3. A believer has received all the benefits of the Spirit through faith, Galatians 3:1-5.

4. The law brings nothing but condemnation, Galatians 3:10-14.

5. God’s promised blessings to Abraham, of which Abrahamic root all believers partake, antedate the giving of the law. Therefore, the law cannot be a prior claim, Galatians 3:15-17.

6. The law has no power to give life or sustain life, Galatians 3:21.

7. The law is intended only for the immature while positionally believers are full-frown sons, Galatians 3:23-4:7.

8. The law is a bondage to the believer, Galatians 4:9.

9. Law and grace are mutually exclusive principles. Therefore, it must be one or the other, Galatians 4:21-31.

10. The believer has an abiding freedom in Christ, Galatians 5:1.

11. The believer must keep all the law if he would attempt to keep even part of it, Galatians 5:2-4.

12. The persuasion to put the believer under the law is not from God, Galatians 5:8.

13. Legalism of the believer does away with the offence of the cross, Galatians 5:11.

14. All the law is fulfilled by the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:16-24.

15. The life of the believer must be sustained by the same principle as his new birth or regeneration, Galatians 5:25.

16. The believer’s proneness to sin calls for dealings of grace and not dealings according to the law, Galatians 6:1-5.

17. All who advocate the law for the believer cannot keep it themselves and there intention is ultimate glory in the flesh, Galatians 6:13.

..… Dr Charles Lee Feinberg.

Our first conclusion: The termination of the Mosaic law does not leave either unbeliever or believer in a lawless status quo. God does not condone lawlessness — Romans 6:15. God’s perfect character remains immutable through all dispensations in history. God expressed His perfect virtue or holiness to mankind long before the Mosaic law existed. And He continues to prove ethical norms, morality, virtue, and spiritual instruction after the law has ceased to govern. Before, during, and after the time when the Mosaic law was in effect in Israel divine law functioned among the Gentiles to whom the Mosaic law never applied — taught first in Genesis 26:5 and then in Exodus 19:5; Romans 2:14-16; 1 Corinthians 7:19; 9:20,21.

In the Church Age the operational divine law is not the Mosaic law but the law of Christ — 1 Cor. 9:20,21; Gal. 6:2. The humanity of Christ in hypostatic union fulfilled the Mosaic law in the power of the Holy Spirit while He was residing in the prototype divine dynasphere. We have the operational type to execute the protocol plan; He had the prototype to fulfil the law. The Church Age believer obeys the law of Christ by following our Lord’s precedent. This means for us by application the execution of the protocol plan of God inside the operational type divine dynasphere under the filling of the Holy Spirit and perception of Bible doctrine. Because the first advent of Christ included both the fulfilment and the culmination of the Mosaic law many practices mandated for the nation Israel are not included in God’s plan for the Church.

While the Mosaic law as a total code became obsolete not only was the spiritual code fulfilled and replaced but the temporal portions of the law also ceased to be literally in effect. The temporal aspects of the Mosaic law like Codex 1 and Codex 3 define freedom within the national entity and they institute the laws of divine establishment for Israel specifically. During the dispensation of the hypostatic union our Lord inaugurated new policies for both the Church and the Millennium. In doing so He restated many individual commands found in the Mosaic law but if they were not restated, as noted in the Gospels, for both the Church and for the Millennium they are not pertinent. This continuity existed because the source of all divine law has always been the same immutable essence of God. Although continuity with the Mosaic law exists in both the Church Age and the Millennium the new policy for both dispensations is not the Mosaic law itself. The Church Age derives its doctrine form the New Testament epistles under the classification of the Mystery Doctrine. And the mystery doctrine is defined very lucidly in Romans 16:25,26; Ephesians 3:2-6; Colossians 1:25-27, not revealed to the Old Testament writers but now revealed to the New Testament writers. And the Mosaic law was revealed to the Old Testament writers and only that which is re-mandated is pertinent.

Three great discourses in the New Testament Gospels prophesied divine policies mandated for the Church Age on the one hand, the second advent on the other, and thirdly the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. For example, the upper room discourse anticipates prophetically divine policies for the Church Age — John chapters 12-17. For example, regarding the 2nd advent the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 and 25 describes in detail how Jews will survive the last half of the Tribulation in order to become a cadre for the Millennium. And thirdly there is a very controversial area of the scripture, the Sermon on the Mount which is not the Christian way of life but is for the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. The sermon on the mount can only be enforced when Jesus Christ rules on the earth personally.

The New Testament epistles provide the divine mandates for the protocol plan of God in the Church Age, and if Old Testament precepts apply they do so not because they belong to the Mosaic law but because they are repeated to the Church as a part of the royal family of God modus operandi.

Regarding the principles of divine establishment found in Codex 1 and 3, some are restated as the law of Christ or the law of God. Others are excluded from Church Age modus operandi. The excluded principles are still divine truth but they do not bare the force of law for any nation except the five Jewish client nations of the past — first the theocracy of Israel, secondly the united kingdom of Israel, thirdly the divided kingdoms (the northern and southern kingdoms), and finally the kingdom of Judah. And in the future there is the possibility that much of the Mosaic law will apply to client nation Israel in the Millennium.

It should be noted, however, that wise political leaders in the Church Age who desire prosperity for their nation will adopt principles in the Mosaic law and integrate them into their culture and heritage. However, these principles adapted from the Mosaic law are not and do not constitute any part of the Christian way of life. During the Church Age the principle of separation of church and state leaves many establishment issues simply to the judgement of civil government. For example capital punishment is restated for the Church Age in Romans 13:4 but some of the specific applications in the Mosaic law are not confirmed today.

Another point which we need to understand: the present value of the Mosaic law. The Mosaic law belongs to the Word of God and still has value for the Church Age believer. Codex number one, the decalogue, is a case in point. It is still the basis for defining human freedom but not spiritual freedom. Spiritual freedom is defined in terms of residence inside the divine dynasphere but temporal freedom is defined in terms of the precepts which are located in the Mosaic law — the sacredness of property, the sacredness of life, the right of self-determination. Hence, like Codex 1 and 2 the Mosaic law contains truth that applies to every generation of history, the principles of freedom, authority, property, jurisprudence, and so on. All systems of freedom are based on absolute truth and that is why most countries will never have freedom in contemporary history. Why? Because you cannot have freedom unless the principles of freedom are based on absolute truth. Relative truth immediately takes you to everything from psychology, sociology, philosophy, etc. all of which are systems of relative truth with a relative premise and relative conclusions which are often very destructive.

When it comes to the freedom of the royal family of God in the Church Age this freedom is related to life in the divine dynasphere and completely excludes the Mosaic law — Galatians 5:1, the “yoke of slavery” refers to the legalistic believer living under the Mosaic law which he erroneously assumes is the Christian way of life. Principle: Temporal freedom is the heritage of physical birth; spiritual freedom is the heritage of regeneration, the new birth — 2 Corinthians 3:17.

The Mosaic law is completely excluded from the believer’s spiritual freedom but still has value in defining freedom in the human race.

The characteristics of temporal freedom: Temporal freedom is based on the laws of divine establishment which were defined, by the way, for Israel in Codex 1 and 3. Of course it recognises the sacredness of privacy and property and life. But to make them sacred you must have them based on absolute truth which recognises the right of every member of the human race to determine for himself his life. Self-determination, the function of the volition of the soul, is sacred because it is a part of the angelic conflict. And self-determination demands a personal sense of responsibility for one’s own decisions and the subordination to establishment authority.

The characteristics of spiritual freedom: a. It is not based on the Mosaic law, Galatians 5:1; b. It is based upon the absolutes of Bible doctrine, John 8:32; c. It is based on the filling of the Spirit inside the divine dynasphere, 2 Corinthians 3:17.

The contrast then between temporal and spiritual freedom is very important. Temporal freedom is the heritage of physical birth; spiritual freedom is the heritage of regeneration. Spiritual freedom is only located inside the divine dynasphere and spiritual freedom can function with or without the support of temporal freedom. For example some of the greatest believers in the Roman empire were slaves and Paul said: “Remain in slavery.” You can grow spiritually in slavery just as easily as you can in temporal freedom. Temporal freedom is based on human merit; spiritual freedom is based upon divine merit — grace.

Note: 2 Corinthians 3:13-18. “Their minds were hardened” — a combination of two things: stage 6 and stage 7 of reversionism. Principle: blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul equals degeneracy, in this case religious degeneracy based upon the Jewish trend in their OSNs toward religious legalism. The “veil” can only be lifted by faith in Christ. The Jews go through the law and never see Christ — scar tissue of the soul.

“where the Spirit of the Lord is” — inside the divine dynasphere” — “there is freedom” — spiritual freedom, for what reason? For post-salvation, epistemological rehabilitation, for perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine.

“we all” — believers; “with an unveiled face” — why unveiled? Because we now own the glory and it has nothing to do with the Mosaic law; “looking into a mirror” — what is the mirror? The Word of God;“to produce a reflection” — what is that reflection? Spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, spiritual maturity, the three stages of spiritual adulthood in the protocol plan of God. That is the glory.

The veil is scar tissue of the soul and if you look into the Word of God with scar tissue of the soul you get nothing. But if you look into the mirror and you lift the veil and you see something, what you see is the protocol plan of God. And when you see and execute the glory is there.

“the same image” — what image? The image of Jesus Christ who resided in the divine dynasphere during the 33 years of His tour on earth in the dispensation of the hypostatic union.

“from glory” — the glory of the humanity of Christ in the prototype divine dynasphere; “to glory” — the glory of the believer who executes the protocol plan of God inside the operational divine dynasphere.

“as it were from God the Holy Spirit.” Remember in Galatians 3 beginning at verse two: the Mosaic law could not give the Holy Spirit to anyone.

2 Cor. 3:18: “But we all with an unveiled face looking into a mirror to produce a reflection, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory, as it were from God the Holy Spirit.”

Legalism is the “yoke of slavery.” The characteristics of temporal freedom are based upon the laws of divine establishment defined for Israel in Codex 1, the recognition of property, privacy and life, the emphasis on self-determination and a sense of personal responsibility for one’s own decisions and subordination to the authority of establishment. The characteristics of spiritual freedom are not based on the law — Galatians 5:1. They are based on Bible doctrine — John 8:32; they are based on the filling of the Holy Spirit — 2 Cor. 3:17.

2 Cor. 3:13 — “And they are not as Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the sons of Israel might not see it while the glory was fading away.” The law has a temporary glory and so that the Jews would not see the fading glory Moses was commanded to put a veil over his face.

Verse 14: “But their minds were hardened:” (blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul equals Christian degeneracy. And the same thing is true of religious degeneracy) “ for until this very day at the reading of the Old Testament the same veil remains unlifted because it is only removed in Christ.”

The spiritual freedom of the Church inside the divine dynasphere exceeds any freedom defined by the law. The best the Mosaic law could do was to define human freedom in terms of morality. Never before in history has so much freedom, so much privilege, so much opportunity, so much quality been given to believers as in the dispensation of the royal family of God which we call the Church Age. And never have such objectives been given to every believer as in the Church Age; objectives that exceed any objectives ever stated in the Mosaic law. In John 1:17: “The law was given by Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

The principle

1. The Mosaic law has been abrogated as a total code.

2. Only what is restated in the New Testament is pertinent to the Christian way of life as the law of Christ, as the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus.

3. Though abrogated as a code, and not part of the protocol plan, the Mosaic law has a definite purpose for the unbeliever.

4. Though abrogated as a code and not a part of the protocol plan the Mosaic law is a still part of the canon of scripture.

5. Abrogation of the Mosaic law does not mean cancellation from scripture for the law is a teacher of sin and is a reflector of God’s perfect standards.

The pre-salvation function of the Mosaic law comes into focus then in the New Testament.

Romans 3:19: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law: that every mouth may be closed and all the world may be accountable to God.”

Verse 20: “Because by the works of the law no works shall be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

1 Timothy 1:9,10 — an amplification of Romans 3:19,20: “Realising this fact, that the law was not made for a righteous man (not for a believer), but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who murder their fathers and mothers, for murderers in general, for fornicators and homosexuals, for kidnappers and liars, and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.”

Galatians 3:24 — What is the purpose of the law? “It has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

Verse 3:25: “But now that faith has come we are no longer under the tutor.”

Verse 26: “For you are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

The purpose of the Mosaic law to the unbeliever then is first to reveal sin but not to remove it. Secondly, the law was not to prevent sin but to reveal sin. Thirdly, the purpose of the law was to prove all human beings as sinners, but it was not a standard by which one might prove himself holy. Man does not become a sinner when he sins. We sin because we are sinners. We have a sin nature which means spiritual death. The law was added because of transgressions, it was a minister of condemnation, it was a minister of spiritual death. The believer is not under the law; it is not a part of the Christian way of life.

Precedence

The dispensation of the hypostatic union has two precedence functions. First, it is the dividing line between the dispensation of Israel and the dispensation of the Church. The dispensation of the hypostatic union divides forever the dispensation of Israel and the dispensation of the Church. This is where the Reformation went astray. It tried to go back to the dispensation of Israel for the Christian way of life. Second, the dispensation of the hypostatic union separates Israel from the Church so that all precedence for the Church Age is taken from the dispensation of the hypostatic union, i.e. the fantastic victory of the humanity of Christ in the prototype divine dynasphere. We have the operational type. Principle: No precedence for the Church Age is taken from Israel, which means that the Mosaic law has nothing to do with the Christian way of life.

Three categories of dispensations emerge as a result of this principle

1. The theocratic dispensations. There are two of them and they are entirely different because God provided establishment principles for the dispensation of the Gentiles totally apart from the law. And then in the dispensation of Israel in which the Mosaic law belonged and nowhere else.

2. The Christocentric dispensations. The dispensation of the hypostatic union and the Church Age. These two go together; one blends right into the other. Both are grace dispensations; both are dispensations related through precedence, and both are the unique dispensations of history. The hub of history is the hypostatic union and the Church Age.

3. The eschatological dispensations. The Tribulation and then the Millennial reign of Christ where we have perfect environment on the earth. The challenge to believers under perfect environment on the earth through the reign of Christ is nothing compared to the challenge of the dispensation in which we live because as goes your spiritual life so goes the country in which you live. We are to be an invisible hero and under the principle of separation of Church and state we have responsibility to “render unto Caesar", but our impact is going to come from our spiritual maturity, from the execution of the protocol plan of God.

The protocol plan of God for the Church Age supercedes the ritual plan of God for Israel. Precedence for the protocol plan is derived from the dispensation of the hypostatic union only. Because of this principle the Mosaic law again is not a part of the Christian way of life.

Legalism such as tithing, Sabbath observance, the substitution of morality for spirituality, originate from the erroneous premise that the Mosaic law is a part of the Christian way of life. However, neither salvation nor spirituality are in any way related to keeping the law. And the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross fulfilled in detail Codex 2 of the Mosaic law. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the basis for a new spiritual species and a royal family of God and the protocol plan of God. The protocol plan of God and the Mosaic law are mutually exclusive.

Furthermore, the resurrection of Jesus Christ which occurred at the end of the dispensation of the hypostatic union provides precedence for the Church Age. The omnipotence of God the Father restored our Lord’s human spirit from the third heaven to His body in the grave. And the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit restored our Lord’s human soul (which was located after His physical death in a compartment of Hades called Paradise) to His body in the grave — Romans 1:4; 8:11; 1 Peter 3:18. Therefore the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now available to every believer — for the first time in history.

The first resurrection occurred in the first Christological dispensation, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was raised from the dead of the dispensation of the hypostatic union, and consequently, all precedence for the protocol plan of God is based on the power or the omnipotence that raised Christ from the dead. This excludes entirely the Mosaic law which could not provide spirituality or resurrection. The Mosaic law provides neither precedence nor authorisation for the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. Furthermore, all doctrine related to the modus operandi of the Church Age is classified as mystery doctrine, hidden from the Old Testament writers according to Romans 16:25,26; Ephesians 3:2-6; Colossians 1:25-27. And the mystery doctrine therefore was not known to the Old Testament writers. The Mosaic law was known.

1 Cor. 10:11: “Now these things happened to them [The dispensation of Israel] as an example [of the law of volitional responsibility], furthermore they were written for our instruction, upon whom the accomplishments of the ages has come” — the execution of the protocol plan of God under the power of the Holy Spirit. There was nothing like this in the Old Testament.

What can we now learn from the Old Testament? We can learn the tragedy of negative volition under the law of volitional responsibility. What we sow we reap. And this is an application, this is not the Mosaic law as the Christian way of life.

Verse 12: “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” — polarised fragmentation.

That brings up again the problem of the interpretation of the Gospels. In the Gospels Jesus Christ presents Himself to Israel as their Messiah, the Son of David, the legitimate King of Israel. This is taught in Romans 1:2ff: “Which he promised before hand through his prophets in the holy scriptures.”

“Concerning his Son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh", [All prophesied in the Old Testament].

“Who was declared to be the Son of God in an act of power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Once again we have the principle: the Mosaic law fades out. The Mosaic law and the Old Testament advised Israel with regard to the coming of Messiah. They rejected the whole package. The resurrection was the beginning of a new way of life for believers that had never existed before and will never exist after the Church Age. The first advent of Christ was designed to fulfil the unconditional covenants to Israel. They were not fulfilled because the One who was going to fulfil them was rejected. Christ was rejected as Messiah and, therefore, the fulfilment is postponed until the second advent.

In the presentation of His Messiahship the policy of our Lord’s kingdom was in amplification of the Mosaic law. And what is the amplification of the Mosaic law? Our Lord said there is something better coming up when I rule on earth and He demonstrated that He related it to the Mosaic law but He said it was better — the sermon on the mount. But when the Messiah was rejected the sermon on the mount is postponed until the Millennium. But if you study the sermon on the mount where it says “the law says this but I say that,” you find out something. The Mosaic law will not even be operational in the Millennium. Something far greater will be operational, something that approximates virtue. And the Millennium will be the only other dispensation in history where the believers will have the filling of the Holy Spirit. So the sermon on the mount is not a part of the Christian way of life.

However, there are certain things stated in the Mosaic law that are restated in the epistles. And they do belong to the protocol plan. Unless a principle of the sermon on the mount is specifically restated it is not a part of the Christian way of life. Anything pertinent to the protocol plan of God is restated in the epistles where we have the content of the mystery doctrine.

And in the dispensation of the hypostatic union our Lord anticipated the Church Age, the prophecy of the Church, beginning in John 12 and going through John 17.

Then we have the Olivet discourse, Matthew 24-25, which recognises the rejection of Messiah and the coming of the 5th cycle of discipline to Israel and, therefore, how do the Jews survive in the Tribulation until the second advent occurs? It has nothing to do with the Church Age, it is the antithesis.

In Ephesians 4:20 then “But you have not learned Christ in this manner.” What does that mean to us? It means that the Church Age is absolutely unique: the baptism of the Holy Spirit which creates the royal family of God and, at the same time, a new spiritual species that never existed before and never will exist again. The baptism of the Holy Spirit does more for you in one second than the entire Mosaic law did over 400 years for Israel. The equality factor in the Church Age did not exist in the Mosaic law. It is an equality factor where no one makes you equal, you are equal under the principle of your own self-determination.

The equality factor of the computer of divine decrees. For example, under the doctrine of election, election is defined as the expression of the will of God for the believer in this dispensation. And under election we have equal privilege. The Mosaic law had a specialised priesthood — family of Aaron, tribe of Levi. You were born physically into that priesthood and any priesthood where you are born physically into it is no good spiritually because the only thing that counts spiritually must be related to regeneration. We are priests through regeneration. Therefore it is very important for us to understand that every believer is a priest — there is equality. Each one of us represents himself before God; each one of us is a priest. Furthermore, we are royal priests; we are not in any way related to the tribe of Levi or the family of Aaron. We are through the baptism of the Spirit royal family of God and a royal priesthood. That never existed before. And then we have that equal opportunity through logistical grace, that wonderful pipeline that we have. And in this pipeline the justice of God sends to each one of us every day, to divine righteousness imputed to us, everything it takes to keep us alive, not because we are good, not because we are bad. This is given those who are winners and those believers who are losers! We are kept alive equally. We are kept alive on this earth long enough to execute the protocol plan of God. God knows every factor related to it and therefore down that pipeline every day from the justice of God through the righteousness of God comes everything necessary to keep us alive. And blessing as well to losers as well as winners!

Then under predestination which is the sovereign will of God for every Church Age believer. We have equal privilege, union with Christ, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, positional sanctification, equal opportunity, the provision of our very own palace, the operational type divine dynasphere. It is the perfect palace and to live in it requires self-determination, rebound and keep moving. Now the Mosaic law never provided anything like that. We have our very own portfolio of invisible assets provided by God in eternity past. Why does anyone want to go to the Mosaic law? It is a rejection of grace.

We have two unique royal commissions. Every believer is a royal priest, we represent ourselves before God; but every believer is also a royal ambassador, we represent God to the human race. And it is a dynamic thing and its primary emphasis is on execution of the protocol plan and becoming an invisible hero. Never before has there been something written for one dispensation only that includes spirituality; that is what we have, the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Never before in history has God ever indwelt anyone.

God the Father indwells the believer’s body, and it is related to glorification of His plan for the Church Age. The indwelling of God the Father provides divine assurance of the Father’s efforts on the part of each believer in eternity past. He is the author of our portfolio; He is the grantor of our escrow blessings, He is the mastermind of the protocol plan which is the only plan for the Church Age; He is the designer of our very own palace, the operational type divine dynasphere, and He guarantees all of these things by indwelling us.

Never before in history has Jesus Christ indwelt the body of anyone and it will never happen after the Church Age — Romans 8:10; Colossians 1:27. The indwelling of Christ is both a sign and a badge of the royal family of God at regeneration and also it is a demonstration of the Shekinah glory. The Shekinah glory indwells the believer’s body as a guarantee of blessing. Christ also indwells to motivate momentum in the execution of the protocol plan. He indwells as the basis for worship and assigning number one priority to God relationship over people relationship.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit: to provide a temple in our body. Our bodies contain the OSN and, therefore, a temple has to be constructed; the Holy Spirit indwells for that purpose — 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19,20; 2 Cor. 6:16. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit also provides the base of operations for the execution of the protocol plan. “And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness” — Romans 8:10.

Never before in history has divine omnipotence been available to every believer, and never before in history have we had a dispensation in which the dispensation itself has had no prophetic events. There are only two prophecies related to the Church Age: the baptism of the Spirit which began the Church Age and the Rapture of the Church which concludes the Church Age. In between — no prophecy! Only historical trends.

Never before in history has the ordinary believer been given so much. This includes the principle that this is the dispensation of the invisible hero. If you advance to spiritual maturity you may be anonymous as far as society is concerned but you will have a fantastic personal impact wherever you go. You will have an invisible, historical impact as a part of the pivot and an international impact if you go as a missionary to another country. You will have angelic impact. They will applaud because you will be a witness for the prosecution in the rebuttal phase of Satan’s appeal trial in history. And you will have an heritage impact. When you die, those of your loved one’s who are left behind will be blessed after your death.

Along with this the believer learns ten problem-solving devices that are absolutely phenomenal. All of this is a part of precedence and all of that precedence excludes completely the Mosaic law.

Eph.421. “e)i gh,” e)i plus the indicative mood introduces the protesis of a first class condition, a supposition with the viewpoint of reality. Plus the enclitic particle ge appended to the word to which it refers to emphasise that word. Translated “if indeed.”

Then the aorist active indicative of the verb a)kouw — “if indeed you have heard. This is a culminative aorist tense which views the hearing and understanding of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age in its entirety but it regards it from the viewpoint of existing results — momentum and the execution of the protocol plan of God. We take the high ground by hearing the teaching of the Word of God. This is how we keep advancing.

“him” is the accusative singular direct object from the intensive pronoun a)utoj — the Lord Jesus Christ who made the first announcement of the Church Age during the dispensation of the hypostatic union. The believers in the Roman province of Asia had never heard Jesus preach and teach. Jesus had His ministry in the middle east and it centred around Jerusalem and Galilee. These believers heard it through the apostle Paul.

“and” kai, continues the protasis of the first class condition, a supposition from the viewpoint of reality.

Then we have the aorist passive indicative of the verb didaskw, one of the great words for teaching. This word calls attention to two aspects: knowledge of doctrine presupposed in the teaching and the insight of the one who is taught the mystery doctrine, for it’s built doctrine upon doctrine, etc. his is the momentum in the spiritual life. The teacher forms a bridge through the knowledge of doctrine to the positive believer only. Hearing represents positive volition. Didaskw represents communication to positive volition. The verb didaskw implies a gathering of students to hear the teaching of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. The classroom is generally the assembly of the local church where the pastor teaches and the congregation listens attentively under the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Those assembled to learn are called maqhthj, translated in the King James version “disciples.” It really means “student,” not disciple. Students are assembled to be taught. Maqhthj is taken from the Greek manqanw — to learn.

Finally there is a prepositional phrase: e)n plus the instrumental of means from a)utoj, correctly translated “by him.” You will note that this is called “impersonal means” for a personal agency would have a different preposition. If this was personal (one on one) then it would be u(po, but you do not have u(po here. This is impersonal means, communication from the pulpit and in the privacy of the priesthood of the believer it is heard and utilised. There is no force; it has to be self-determination, not the self-determination of the pastor. The pastor’s self-determination ends with communicating accurately what is there. The believer’s self-determination picks up on responding to what is there in the privacy of his priesthood in a group.

Believers are either winners or losers. Not one has any less opportunity than anyone else; it is a matter of self-determination, volition, priority.

Jeremiah 18:12 — a description of the loser. “But they will say, It is hopeless, for we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act upon the basis of the stubbornness of his heart [scar tissue of the soul].” That is locked in negative volition. And with locked in negative volition you have equal privilege and equal opportunity, and you are not only destroying your own life but you are making a contribution to the client nation.

Isaiah 57:10 — a description of the winner. “You were tired out by the length of your road; but you did not say, It is hopeless. You found renewed strength; therefore, you did not faint.” Those of you who fall into this category are the ones who stand between the prosperity or failure of the nation. As goes the believer, so goes the client nation to God. The “renewed strength” comes from metabolised doctrine and is built up over a period of time — positive volition toward Bible doctrine.

Projections: The year 1989 is going to be a piece of cake. The ingredients in the cake include controversy and conflict, optimism and inflation, divorce and unrest, crime and no punishment. The icing on the cake is self-deceit which leads to diffusion. The American people will ignore both historical and spiritual reality. Controversy will break out in the coming year — controversy which has already begun.

Politically, one of the greatest disasters is going to be the conflict between the executive and legislative branches of our Government, between the President and the Congress. Already the Congress has destroyed some of the checks and balances that out forefathers founded on this continent.

Controversies over economic policies always leads to lack of sound judgement. When we are in an economic jam sound judgement is thrown out the window and every goofy thinker with every goofy idea will get a crack at it to our detriment. I see the possibility of our Government even using Internal Revenue for redistribution of wealth — a disaster which only those who are familiar with the industrial revolution can realise. You cannot attack wealth without impoverishing a nation. The redistribution of wealth, then, will utterly destroy any possibility of economic recovery in the United States. Economic recovery always demands strong capitalism, never strong socialism.

And to make matters worse, controversy in the theological realm will shrink the pivot and advance client nation USA to the brink of disaster. Theological controversy will undermine the nation more than anything else. This is because the evangelicals, the fundamentalists and other Christians, will be locked in to horrible legalism — faith plus for salvation, absolute understanding of the protocol plan of God, and substituting the Mosaic law. And unless positive believers are consistent in post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation the US will cease to exist as a client nation to God before the next decade is concluded.

What is even worse, the frosting on this piece of cake is sweet and full of sugar. That is, false hope, optimism, divorcement from reality [the head in the sand syndrome]. Client nation USA is passing the point of no return in divine judgement. And yet we are constantly bombarded with information that things have never been better. That is not true. The USA can no longer depend, therefore, on visible heroes.

Next year will see the emergence of the pseudo hero on the historical scene — the demagogue, the power-mad person in all categories of life lusting to fulfil inordinate ambition. These pseudo heroes become the basis for establishing false hope. For the only deliverance we have left to us is the invisible hero, the believer who executes the protocol plan of God and becomes instantly a member of the pivot.

There are seven principles of hope

1. You cannot buy hope. It is not for sale.

2. You cannot legislate hope. No laws have ever been passed to produce hope.

3. Therefore, government cannot give you hope.

4. Hope is the monopoly of God; hope is a system of absolute confidence [The Greek word e)lpij means confidence]. And the only hope for the client nation is a pivot of mature believers who are classified in our studies as “invisible heroes.”

5. Hope in the nation depends on attitude toward Bible doctrine but that attitude must be that of the believer only.

6. Only those believers who execute the protocol plan and become invisible heroes can be the source of deliverance for our country.

7. Therefore, the only hope for client nation USA is to relate to the three categories of hope in the protocol plan of God — Hebrews 7:19 — X+Y+Z.

Principle: False hope permeates the nation where Christian degeneracy predominates.

Today Christian degeneracy, both moral and immoral, is taking over the USA. And what will undermine the nation in 1989 will be moral degeneracy based on the polarised trend of the sin nature which we classify as legalism. Legalism will dominate Christianity in the next year.

1989 will be a year of diffusion. Diffusion is defined as an intermingling of molecules, ions and so on, resulting in random thermal agitation, as in the dispersion of vapour in air. Or it can be defined as refraction of light or other electromagnetic radiation from an irregular surface or an erratic dispersion through a surface. Light doesn’t come straight through [analogous to Bible doctrine] but it is refracted and fragmented to the hearer.

By way of illustration, then, light represents absolute truth of Bible doctrine in all of its aspects — relating to salvation, the Christian way of life and to the laws of divine establishment. And it is refracted so that people never put it together and understand.

All of this truth will be diffused, then, through a screen during the coming year. We are going to see truth mishandled, truth distorted, Bible doctrine not properly interpreted, and therefore we are going to see the truth or the light diffused through a screen composed of six things:

1. Controversy.

2. False teaching.

3. Political deception.

4. Avoidance of historical reality.

5. Ignorance of historical trends.

6. The decline of the pivot.

Principle

1. You cannot have prosperity without marital and family stability.

2. You cannot have prosperity where crime goes unpunished and is unrestrained. This means you cannot have national prosperity in a drug culture.

3. You cannot have national prosperity without the potential for freedom through military victory.

4. You cannot have national prosperity where the citizens are over taxed.

5. You cannot have national prosperity when the Government is solving personal problems of individuals and special groups rather than sponsoring freedom for all.

6. You cannot have national prosperity with unsound banking.

7. You cannot have national prosperity without individual patriotism.

8. You cannot have national prosperity without a pivot of mature believers.

Prediction: Confusion (1988) plus diffusion (1989) equals national disaster (1990 and following).

The comparative adjective in the English language for the word “good” is “better.” Better is the subject of numerous biblical concepts. Proverbs 15:16: “Better a little with fear or reverence of the Lord than great wealth with misery”; 16;16: “How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to choose understanding of doctrine over money”; 16:8: “Better a little with honour than great wealth with dishonour”; 17:1: “A dry crust with peace and quiet is better than a house full of feasting and strife”; 28:6: “Better a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man whose ways are crooked”; 16:19 “It is better to be humble with the lowly than to share the plunder with the arrogant”; 25:24: “Better to live in an attic than to share a house with a nagging wife”; 21:19: “Better to live alone in a desert than with a contentious and argumentative woman”; Ecclesiastes 7:5: “It is better to hear the reprimand of a wise man than to listen to the song of fools”; Proverbs 12:9: “Better is he who is lightly esteemed and has a servant than he who honours himself and lacks bread”; 28:6 “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is a crook though he is rich”; Ecclesiastes 9:4: “There is hope for him who is joined to the living; for truly a live dog is better than a dead lion”; Ecclesiastes 6:3: “If a man sires a hundred children, and lives many years, yet no matter how long he lives, if he has no capacity for his prosperity, and does not receive a proper burial, better he a miscarriage than he.”

The Church as the royal family of God has a better precedence. Heb. 7:19 — “For the law accomplishes nothing, but on the other hand the bringing in of a better hope did, through which hope we draw near to God.” The better hope is Jesus Christ in hypostatic union. The dispensation of the hypostatic union is the source of precedence.

Hebrews 7:17 — “For it is testified concerning him [a quotation from Psalm 110:4].” We start with the basis for a better covenant. The Mosaic law has a priesthood based on one tribe, the tribe of Levi, one family in that tribe, the family of Aaron. Aaron had four sons, two of whom survived to form the two lines of the Levitical priesthood. People were born physically into that priesthood.

The Mosaic law was for believer and unbeliever alike in Israel. Codex 1 taught the concept of freedom — the decalogue. Codex 2 — designed to evangelise, a perfect Christology and soteriology but one which was based upon ritual that looked forward to the cross. Codex 3 — the laws of divine establishment. But what kind of a priesthood would administer under such a covenant? It is a priesthood based on physical birth. And any time a priesthood is based upon physical birth or human talent it is inadequate for spiritual things, just as the Mosaic law is inadequate and has no part in the Christian way of life.

“ … the order of Melchizedeck” [a royal priesthood]. Historically Melchizedeck was the King of Salem which was the original city founded on the site of Jerusalem. He was also the priest of Salem and therefore he was a king priest. Our Lord came into world from the tribe of Judah, not from the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Levi provided the priests of the family of Aaron; the tribe of Judah provided the kings in the family of David. Our Lord through His physical birth was not qualified in any way to be a Levitical priest. But then it wasn’t necessary for Him to be a Levitical priest for the Levitical priest was basically inadequate. It administered a system for believer and unbeliever alike, and a true priesthood must administer a system for those who are born again, for those who are the possessors of eternal life. So when our Lord was seated at the right hand of the Father He was seated as a King Priest. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords and He has also a royal priesthood and so it follows the pattern of Melchizedeck. Now in following that pattern it means that when Jesus Christ sat at the right hand of the Father with His third royal patent and did not have a royal family it was necessary to provide for Him a royal family that followed the pattern of His royalty. That patter requires not only royalty but universal priesthood. The family of our Lord Jesus Christ to accompany His third royal patent is composed of those who believed in Jesus Christ during the Church Age. From the moment we believe two of the forty things given to us — we become members of the royal family of God through the baptism of the Spirit and we become, each one of us, a royal priesthood.

When Jesus Christ rules the world that will be the perfect government in history. The last one thousand years of history will have perfect government because perfect God, Jesus Christ our Lord, will rule. He will rule as a King and He will rule as a Priest. And, furthermore, those who execute the protocol plan of God will rule with Him as royal priests. We have a royal priesthood.

Hebrews 7:18 — “For on the one hand there is the abrogation of a former commandment [the Mosaic law] because if its weakness and its uselessness.” The Mosaic law was useless and weak when it came to the administration of spiritual things for its priesthood ministered to believer and unbeliever. And the Levitical priesthood was the administrator of an inferior covenant. The administration included the fact that the priests offered animal sacrifices whether they were born again or not.

Verse 19: “For the law accomplished nothing, but on the other hand the bringing in of a better hope did, through which hope we [believers in the Church Age] draw near to God.”

Verse 20: “And inasmuch as it was not without a divine oath.” Our priesthood is based upon divine oath. The priesthood of the Mosaic law was based on physical birth.

Verse 21: “For they [Levitical priesthood] indeed became priests without an oath [because they were born into it. Physical birth was the basis of all priesthood], but he with an oath through the one who said, The Lord has sworn and will never change his mind, You are a priest forever [God the Father to the humanity of God the Son] on the pattern of Melchizedek.”

Verse 22: “So much the more also [by so much doctrinal evidence] Jesus has become a guarantee of a better covenant.”

We know that the Mosaic law is a covenant to Israel. It was a conditional covenant; blessing depended upon its execution. There were also some grace covenants which have yet to be fulfilled. We in the Christian way of life do not deal with covenants. The protocol plan of God is not a covenant as such. Nevertheless, our priesthood is related to a better covenant. So in that sense, the sense of the universal priesthood of the believer, the royal priesthood of the believer, we are under a covenant that is fulfilled every time a person believes in Christ. And this covenant is made between God and the person at the moment of salvation. One of the forty things that God does for us at the moment of salvation is to make us a royal priest. How does He accomplish it? The baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 23: “And the former priests [the Levitical priests under the Mosaic law] on the one hand existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing.” The whole priesthood depended on physical birth and so there were a tremendous number coming down in every generation from the line of Aaron and the two sons that survived. And so they existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death — death terminated the priesthood. Not so the believers priesthood which continues forever and ever.

Verse 24: “But he on the other hand, because he abides forever, holds his priesthood permanently.” And by union with Christ, that is the priesthood to which we belong. It is a royal priesthood; it is an eternal priesthood; it has certain functions on earth related to the protocol plan, and it has certain functions in eternity related to that wonderful status quo of being in a resurrection body in the presence of the Lord forever.

Verse 25: “Therefore, also, he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him [How do we draw near? Personal faith in Jesus Christ], since he [our High Priest] always lives to make intercession for them.”

Principles

1. The Levitical priesthood was based on physical birth. The royal priesthood of the Church is based on regeneration.

2. A priesthood based on physical birth will never be as effective as a priesthood based on regeneration and subsequent eternal life.

3. Therefore, an eternal priesthood demands a new covenant since there is no authorisation for the royal priesthood under the Mosaic law.

4. Note that covenants like the Mosaic law and the new covenant to the Church were based on a priesthood.

5. A priesthood based on physical birth can never be as effective as a priesthood based on regeneration. Therefore we have a better covenant because we have a better priesthood.

Verse 26: “For it is fitting that we should have such a high priest [Why? We are royal family], holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens [a description of His humanity. His priesthood resides in His humanity].”

Verse 27: “Who does not need daily, like those high priests [of the Mosaic law], to offer up sacrifices [like the Levitical priesthood], first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people [Jesus Christ was perfect in His humanity, He did not sin]; because he did this once, as our high priest he offered himself on the cross.”

Verse 28: “For the law appoints men as high priests because they are weak [their priesthood is based on physical birth. In physical birth there is spiritual death and a priesthood based on spiritual death can never be as effective as a priesthood based on regeneration], but the word of the [God’s] oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son made perfect forever.”

Hebrews 8:6 — “But now [Church Age] he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been ordained on better promises.” This better covenant is ordained on the promises related to the royal priesthood, on the promises related to the baptism of the Spirit, on the promises related to the protocol plan of God, on the promises based on the portfolio of our invisible assets, on the promises based on the indwelling of Jesus Christ and the other members of the Godhead, based on divine omnipotence directly available to each one of us.

Verse 7 — “For if the first covenant [Mosaic law] had been faultless [but it was not faultless], there would have been no occasion for a second one [which involves a priesthood]” .We are talking about a contrast between the Mosaic law with its priesthood and the new covenant to the Church with its priesthood.

The quotation which follows from Jeremiah 31:34 indicates that the Mosaic law is abrogated as a total code, including its Levitical priesthood. Never again will there be a Levitical priesthood based on the tribe of Levi and the family of Aaron, for the new covenant to Israel supersedes the Mosaic covenant and in the new covenant to Israel it applies to believers only — believers in the Millennium, believers in the eternal state. It applies to true Israel and it would be impossible for the Levitical priesthood to administer to believers only. However, the new covenant to Israel does not function until Israel is regathered at the second advent and restored to their client nation status. But never again will there be a priesthood based on physical birth or physical descent. There are only two priesthoods after the abrogation of the Mosaic law — the royal priesthood of the believer of the Church Age and the priesthood of the new covenant to Israel in the Millennium, which is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:8-12. Therefore, precedence for the Church Age believer is not taken form the Mosaic law or the dispensation of Israel but from the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union. The new covenant to Israel illustrates the fact that the Church must go elsewhere for its precedence; that no precedence is taken from the Mosaic law; that the Mosaic law as a total code is abrogated and what we have is something far better. Therefore, there is a transitional verse in Hebrews 11:40 — “Since God has provided something better for us.”

Hebrews 11:40 — “Since God has provided something better [than the greatest in the OT] for us [the Church Age believer], so that apart from us [each one of us as believers] they [Old Testament believers] should not be made perfect [teleiow — be completed or brought to a goal or objective].” In other words, Israel has not reached its goal. There were five Jewish client nations in the dispensation of Israel — the theocracy, the united kingdom, the northern and southern kingdoms, the kingdom of Judah. But they were never completed, in fact the dispensation of Israel was never completed, it was seven years short of its completion.

But the dispensation of the hypostatic union — the time when Jesus Christ, eternal God, became true humanity in one person forever — was terminated by the physical death, resurrection and ascension of Christ.

Then comes the Church Age. And when our Lord was seated at the right hand of the Father He received His third royal patent. His first royal patent, His deity and His royal family, composed of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. His second royal patent came at the beginning of the dispensation of the hypostatic union — born in the line of David, called Son of David with a royal family, the dynasty of David.

But when He was seated at the right hand of the Father and given His third royal title He was minus a royal family, and therefore the Church Age is the calling out of the royal family. And when it is completed it will be called out under what we call the rapture of the Church. Once that occurs there will no longer be any Gentile client nations to God. For then, Israel is given its last seven years which we call the Tribulation. During this time Israel will be persecuted; anti-Semitism will reach its peak. Then the second advent, the deliverance of Israel and the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

Now we must locate ourselves under the protocol plan of God. We were designed to be winners and the only thing that will keep us from being winners is our own negative volition. Whether we are winners or losers is a matter of self-determination. Therefore when it says in Hebrews 11:40 “Since God has provided something better for us …” etc. we are talking about the fact that Israel’s objective cannot be attained until ours is completed. The next objective of God is to complete the royal family and once it is completed then it is resurrected en toto.

After that God will once again deal with Israel but the Mosaic law will not be the issue. New issues are created at this point. There will 144,000 Jewish evangelists and the greatest period of evangelism the world has ever seen, etc.

Notice how this applies to us when it says, “Since God has provided something better for us …” This means consistent hearing of whom ever is your right pastor-teacher and being taught by him. This means that Bible doctrine received number one priority in your life. Secondly it means that the believer must keep in mind that the mystery doctrine of the Church Age is absolute truth, whose source is Jesus Christ Himself, as we have noted in Ephesians 4:20-21.

The believer must never give up even though he may fall into some stage of Christian degeneracy at some time in his Christian experience. [As long as you are alive you should never give up. Just rebound and keep moving]. Cf Isaiah 57:10 which is in contrast to Jeremiah 18:12.

Note: Hebrews 6:1-10 in corrected translation.

Verse 1 — “Therefore graduating from the elementary teachings about Christ [dealing with the dispensation of the hypostatic union which is precedence for the protocol plan of God for the Church Age], let us advance to maturity; not laying again the foundation of basic doctrines, of a change of mind about dead works [the Mosaic law and all forms of legalism emphasise (dead) works], of faith toward God [salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ and, secondly, the three stages of the faith-rest drill],

Verse 2 — “About the doctrines of baptisms [identification — two categories found in the Scripture, real and ritual], and the laying on of hands [Levitical code (Lev.1:4), identification of blessing (Acts 19:3), the ordination to the Gospel ministry (Acts 6:6; 1 Tim. 4:14], and of the resurrection form the dead, and eternal judgement [Two general resurrections: 1. Believers — Christ, Church Age, Tribulation, Millennium; 2. All unbelievers — at the end of human history].”

Verse 3 — “Furthermore, assuming that God allows it [an assumption based upon the fact of logistical grace for everyone has enough time to execute the protocol plan of God], we will begin to do it.”

Verse 4 — “For those [legalistic believers] who have once been enlightened [Jewish believers in Jerusalem] and have tasted the heavenly gift [ministry of the Holy Spirit in efficacious grace].”

Verse 5 — “And have tasted the good word of God [they have been briefed on the protocol plan], and the powers of the coming age [Church Age]",

Verse 6 — “And then when they go astray [aorist active participle of parapiptw, to drift off course], it is impossible [a)dunatoj] to renew them again to a change of mind [change of mind was number one on a list of six basics, (v1)] with regard to the basics; so long as they again crucify to themselves the son of God, and expose him to public defamation.”

Who was doing this? Jewish Christians in Jerusalem who had gone back to the Mosaic law as the Christian way of life. The Jews of Jerusalem had returned to the shadow worship of Codex number 2, including animal sacrifices, and these Jews were believers living in the Church Age. They had believed in Christ who was the fulfilment of these sacrifices and, in effect, these Christian Jews in their moral degeneracy had returned to the function of the Mosaic law and had substituted the Mosaic law, now abrogated, for the protocol plan of God.

Principle: As long as a believer clings to the Mosaic law as the Christian way of life he cannot execute the protocol plan of God.

The Mosaic law used as the Christian way of life results in two kinds of fragmentation: self-fragmentation from the arrogance complex as implosion and, secondly, polarised fragmentation in the sin nature’s trend toward legalism. The inevitable result is that the believer keeping the law in the Church Age enters reversion resulting in moral degeneracy, the ultimate apostasy related to the Mosaic law.

The illustration of the winner is given in Hebrews 6:7 — “For the ground that drinks in the rain [consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation] which so often falls on it, and brings forth a crop which is useful for whose sake it is farmed, they [the winners] receive blessing from God.”

The illustration of the loser, verse 8 — “But when it produces thorns and thistles, it is not qualified for escrow blessings, and near to being cursed; whose end [of the production] is for burning [of works at the judgement seat of Christ].”

Verse 9 — “Even though we [pastor-teachers] speak in this manner beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation [the protocol plan of God which can only be executed through reception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine]:”

Verse 10: the communicator of better things — “For God is not unfair to forget your work and the virtue-love you have demonstrated toward his person, because you have ministered to the saints, and you keep on ministering.”

So “better things” comes to those Church Age believers who persist in the perception of Bible doctrine. But for the believer who is negative toward Bible doctrine and fails to understand and execute the protocol plan of God, all is hopeless.

We are fighting against the unseen hosts of Satan, against the strongest anti-Christian documentation from two antithetical sources that has ever existed. One antithetical source is religion and the other is anti-Godism which is a combination of atheism and agnosticism. On the one hand the communists are totally anti-God and, on the other, religion has no morality, e.g. the Muslims.

Ephesians 4:22-24 — recovery from the fragmented life. This recovery has to begin with the problem-solving device called the rebound technique. In the King James version we read: “That ye put of concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.”

To translate correctly we begin with a prepositional phrase, kata plus the adverbial accusative of reference from three words. “That” — kata should be translated “with reference to.” The three words: thn — a definite article used as a personal pronoun. “With reference to your.” Then we have an adjective proteroj — former (but not former before salvation), referring to your lifestyle as a believer in decline — everything related to Christian degeneracy. The we have the noun a)nastrofh. It does not mean conversation, although conversation is certainly a manifestation of some ways of lifestyle. It means “lifestyle.” So the first phrase is translated: “With reference to your former lifestyle.”

Pre-salvation sinning is not in view here; it is a reference to post-salvation sinning. That takes us into the Christian degeneracy subject. Some people call it apostasy but in reality it is degeneracy because it is taking the perfect and high standards of the protocol plan and rejecting them, and accepting lower standards. The acceptance of lower standards and their application in your experience is degeneracy. Specifically it is a reference to implode, explode, revert.

This verse simply lists the problem with reference to your former lifestyle. The integrity envelope is broken by negative volition, toward temptation, toward the OSN. Once the envelope is broken then the fragmentation keeps going, just like the explosion of a vacuum tube which is really implosion. Explosion is polarised fragmentation in one of two directions, legalism or antinomianism. Once you move into explosion — the fragment keeps moving to a polarised position — then you move into reversionism. In reversionism we have eight stages and at the end of legalism we have moral degeneracy and at the end of antinomianism we have immoral degeneracy, both are very prominent. In fact this is the explanation of the 70 or 80 per cent of all born again believers. All of us sin occasionally but we are talking about getting into a system of degeneracy and apostasy.

From this system of degeneracy there has to be a recovery. Therefore, a verb: an aorist middle infinitive from a)potiqhmi — to take off clothes, but used figuratively here for putting away something or laying aside something. Usually it used for putting away or laying aside something that is obnoxious, something that is detrimental to yourself and something that overflows into being obnoxious to others. Plus the accusative plural of general reference from the pronoun su. A noun in the accusative describes who performs the action of the infinitive. This is in the plural and refers to all believers in this system of Christian degeneracy. The issue is not only of recovery but of advancing in the protocol plan of God. Translation: “ … you yourselves lay aside” — the function of the rebound technique which is the first problem-solving device of the protocol plan. The rebound technique is mandated for both recovery from the fragmented life as well as reversion recovery.

The we have the accusative singular, direct object, of two words: palaioj translated “old.” The definite article is ton and is used to identify and to note something specific that is old, something that we have that is older than we are. That something is said to be a)nthrwpoj here. The old man is a synonym for the sin nature. And laying aside the old man is the function of the rebound technique which is a problem solving device. The sin nature is classified as the old man because it is much older than we are; it originated in the Garden of Eden with our first parents. The sin nature as “old” means it is as old as the human race. We actually possess something that came all the way from the Garden of Eden.

Corrected translation: “With reference to your former lifestyle, you yourselves lay aside the old man.” What does it mean? Well, what is the old man? In context it refers to post-salvation sinning which comes from the sin nature. Post-salvation sinning and the domination of the sin nature is the issue.

Romans 7:14-25.

Verse 14 — “For we know that the law is spiritual [came from God]: but I am fleshly [belonging to the flesh, or under the power of the old sin nature], sold in bondage to the sin [the sin nature].

Verse 15 — “For that which I am doing I do not understand: for I am not practising what I would like to do; but I am doing the very thing that I hate [yielding to the temptations of the OSN resulting in sin].

Verse 16 — “But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the law that it is good. [The law teaches us that we are sinners].

Verse 17 — “But as the case really stands no longer am I doing it [I am not executing God’s plan], but the sin nature which is indwelling me [runs the show].

Verse 18 — “For I know that nothing good dwells in me [the sin nature], that is in my flesh [the location of the sin nature]: for the wishing is present in me [I want to do God’s will], but the doing of that good is not.

Verse 19 — “For the good of intrinsic value that I desire to do, I do not do it: but the evil which I do not desire to do, I keep on practising it. [Fragmentation plus reversionism].

Verse 20 — “But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish to do [and I am], I no longer accomplish it [I no longer execute the protocol plan], but the sin nature runs the show.

Verse 21 — “Consequently I discover this principle, that when I desire to do the good, evil is present with me.

Verse 22 — “For, along with other believers, I delight in the law from God [the protocol plan for the Church Age], but with reference to my inner man [the operational type divine dynasphere]:

Verse 23 —"But I see a different law in the members of my body, making war against the law of my mind [it is the mind that is captured. Note: the OSN is in the body and cannot control the body apart from human volition], and making me a prisoner to the law of the sin nature which is in the cell structure of my body.

Verse 24 — “I am a miserable man! who will rescue me from the body of this death [the OSN]?

Verse 25 — “Grace belongs to God [God has provided the ten problem-solving devices] through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, on the one hand with my mind [the battlefield] I myself am serving the law of God [rebound and being filled with the Spirit]; but on the other hand with my flesh [OSN] I am serving the law of sin.”

The sin nature is designated by certain terms

a. The first of these is called hamartia or sin in the singular. In the singular generally (not always) refers to the sin nature. In the plural it always refers to personal sins.

b. The word “flesh” — sarc. The reason the sin nature is called flesh is because the OSN dwells in the body. It does not dwell in the soul. It takes over the soul when we sin but actually dwells in the body. Because the sin nature is related to biological life and resides in the cell structure of the human body it is called flesh. It is so called in Romans 6:6; 7:14; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 2:3. The sin nature is transmitted at conception through 23 male chromosomes which fertilise the female ovum. However, the sin nature does not become active until birth where biological life is combined with soul life to form human life. Biological life begins at conception; soul life begins at birth. We are not human beings until we have soul life. The sin nature is transmitted through biological life and therefore the sin nature is transmitted through the body, not the soul. Biological life begins with mother dependence; soul life begins with God dependence.

God did not and cannot create the sin nature. God is not the author of sin; such a thought, of course, is blasphemous and unthinkable. Biological life comes from mankind at conception; soul life comes from God at birth. It is the objective of the sin nature through temptation to control the soul. That is why we are mandated in Gal. 5:16: “Keep walking by means of the Spirit and you will not execute the lusts of the flesh.” The culprit in personal sin is the OSN.

The culprit for personal sin in Christian degeneracy is related to two factors: a. The OSN which is the source of temptation — but not the source of sin; b. Human volition — which is always the source of sin.

Personal sins occur in two categories: Sins of cognisance in which volition recognises temptation as a sin and commits the sin and, secondly, sins of ignorance in which the volition is not aware that the temptations solicited through the sin nature is sin. It wants to do it and does it. We are responsible for both sins of cognisance and sins of ignorance. The reason being because all personal sin originates from the volition, and if you do not know it is a sin but you still want to do it, you are responsible for your own decisions. The fact that you are ignorant of something being a sin is no excuse before God.

In the final analysis the believer’s volition is responsible for all personal sins. Therefore the believer must take the responsibility for his own decisions — all of his decisions. Consequently, this same volition functions in a non-meritorious manner to recover from personal sin. We recover in the execution of the rebound technique. But in so doing it is the one decision that we make that is non-meritorious.

c. palaioj a)nthrwpoj — old man. Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9.

d. sarkinoj — belonging to the realm of the sin nature, or the flesh. (Translated “carnal” in the King James version.)

1 Cor. 3:1: “ … but as to belonging to the sin nature.”

Romans 5:12 — “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world [personal sin], and death by sin [spiritual death]; so this death passed upon all men, because all sinned:”

Spiritual death means loss of human spirit and therefore we are in a dichotomous state. But the human soul would live on without fellowship with God because it was soul life minus the human spirit. Therefore man was created trichotomous; we are born dichotomous.

God’s initial warning of Genesis 2:17 makes a definite distinction between biological life and soul life. The soul never dies physically, only the human body. The soul only dies spiritually through separation from God. Therefore we are born physically alive but we do not have spiritual life.

Only the body dies physically and therefore God warned our first parents when He said: “Dying [spiritual death; the act of original sin] you will die [physical death]” .Physical life died — which means that biological life is not designed to last forever — cf Ecclesiastes 12:7. This is why we will have a resurrection body; it will last forever.

Job 33:4 — “The breath of God has made me, And the spark of life from the Almighty gave me life. (Nothing about conception or biological life in the womb!)

Principle: Human life is a combination of biological and soul life or a combination of body and soul.

Therefore it is important that we distinguish between biological and soul life just as we distinguish between the dispensation of Israel and the dispensation of the Church. Biological life is created at conception by mankind; soul life is created by God at birth.

The sin nature is transmitted through biological life; hence the sin nature resides in the cell structure of the body. The soul resides entirely apart from cell structure. only the biological life actually contains the sin nature. However, the sin nature is not activated until birth when soul life is created by God and imputed to biological life. This means that the conflict between the sin nature and the human soul does not and cannot exist until after birth.

When soul life is finally imputed to biological life at birth, simultaneously Adam’s original sin is imputed to the genetically-formed OSN and this results in the activation of the sin nature and spiritual death. This means total depravity — the potential for degeneracy — total separation from God, total helplessness to do anything about it, and dichotomous status quo.

Isaiah 44:2 — “Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you out [separated, removed] from [mi beten] the womb.” There is no life in the womb. You were separated from the womb, removed from the womb. Soul life was given out from the womb at birth.

Isaiah 44:24 — “Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, the one who formed you out [mi beten] from the womb.”

Biological life minus soul life is not human life. Only when biological life emerges from the womb as a viable foetus and God imputes soul life to that biological life does human life exist.

See also Isaiah 49:1; 49:5; Job 1:21.

The law (US) is No. 70-18, Rowe versus Wade who was the District Attorney of Dallas Country. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States from the United States District Court of the northern district of Texas.

In arguing the case the pro-life forces wanted the right to save foetuses. In arguing the case the pro-choice forces wanted the right to terminate pregnancies, especially when the pregnancy jeopardised the life of the mother.

There were three hearings. The case was argued on 13 December, 1971 and reargued on 11 October 1972. The case was decided on 22 January, 1973. In the Rowe case the Justice rejected the major philosophical, theological, and moral arguments pressed by both sides. (No one really brought in the Biblical view. The theology was false theology all the way.) In the Rowe case the Justice rejected the philosophical as well as the theological and moral argument. Instead they chose the ground of the Constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy in a scientific and technological situation. To do this the Supreme Court divided the nine months of a normal pregnancy into three trimesters, each one covering a period of three months.

The decision of the first trimester is as follows: during the first three months the mother is paramount, so that no State can regulate or prevent a legal abortion. This means that the pregnant woman has a near absolute right to end her pregnancy during the first three months. Hence abortion during the first three months is a private matter between a patient and a doctor.

This finding was based on the decision that in the first trimester abortion is a safer medical procedure than childbirth. Great wisdom was used here. The Court declined to consider the pro-life argument that the foetus is a human being. (Theologically correct.) Instead the Court reduced the abortion issue to the question of choosing the best treatment — abortion or childbirth for the medical condition of pregnancy. The Rowe versus Wade compromise represents a medical and scientific approach to the subject. Also, it represents the quintessence of understanding human freedom based on privacy. There can be no human freedom without privacy.

The condition of the second trimester: in the middle trimester the Supreme Court rules that the balance of interest exists between three parties — the mother, the foetus, the State. The various States could make reasonable regulations for abortion without totally abandoning abortion. The Sate is included at this point because it was of a general interest to preserve both health and welfare of the people. So in the second trimester Sate government has the prerogative in regulation of abortion but it cannot forbid abortion.

The third trimester: the interests of the foetus at this point becomes paramount because it is in a state that potentially viable. (Great wisdom) That is, the foetus is able to survive outside the womb during the last three months of pregnancy. Therefore the decision of the Supreme Court bans abortion during the last three months of pregnancy. Hence, the State’s authority to restrict abortion is related to the last three months of pregnancy.

In summary, then, the Supreme Court of the United States made a decision that permits abortion during the first three months of pregnancy, forbids abortion during the last three months of pregnancy, and leaves the middle trimester to the State. The guiding rule in the Supreme Court decision is related to what is paramount in each trimester.

The strongest argument against abortion was the argument that the foetus is a human being, therefore the State has both the right and the responsibility to protect it. (Not true!) The argument before the Supreme Court said in effect, that the foetus resides in the body of the mother and if her right is terminated by law she will be forced to carry the foetus to term regardless of mitigating circumstances (That is a violation of human freedom).

Pro-life, which is made up primarily of Christians, demonstrates once again the horrible apostasy that has come to this country. People are making decisions on emotion.

Exodus 21:22-23 — The legal problem of the womb

(The word “pro-life” has been taken out of its normal context. By whom? Apostate believers in a state of terrible legalism. This legalism results in moral degeneracy.)

Here (Exodus 21:22-23) is the Supreme Court of heaven ruling on the subject. Two men were fighting and in the fight they hit a pregnant woman “so that she has a miscarriage [expulsion from the womb of a foetus before it is viable], yet there is no further injury [to the mother]: he will surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand; therefore he [the fighter who injures the woman] will pay damages as the judges decide” .There is no trial for murder. The mother is alive and the foetus is not a human being.

Note: Human law always deals with human life. It does not deal with biological life. It does not deal with the foetus because the foetus is not a human being. No human government can ever govern effectively by regulating or enacting laws dealing with the content of the womb. That is outside the prerogative of government. If you set up a system of laws of that sort you will destroy the nation. Governments administer laws to the living; governments do not administer law where life does not exist. The content of the womb is under the personal decisions of the mother. Biological life in the womb is under the control of the volition of the mother. Biological life resides in the womb, not in human life.

Verse 23 — “And if there is any further injury [to the woman beyond miscarriage], then you shall appoint as the penalty a life for a life [capital punishment for murder], …” The Bible mandates capital punishment, first in Genesis 9:5-6; then in Exodus 21:12; Numbers 35:30; Matthew 26:53; Romans 13:3-4. The mother’s life is infinitely more important than the foetus.

God is the author of human life; man is the author of biological life. Inside the womb is biological life and the old sin nature which is transmitted with biological life. No decisions are made in the womb and the sin nature is not active. The sin nature is not tempting biological life because biological life has no volition. (All sin comes through human volition which responds to temptation.) When biological life emerges from the womb then God creates soul life which is imputed to biological life, and this is when man becomes a human being. And because emerging at the same time is the OSN we have the imputation of Adam’s sin to the genetically-formed sin nature. Man is therefore spiritually dead while physically alive.

This is the basis for our so great salvation. Spiritual death means that we are incapable of having a relationship with God; it means total depravity which means total degeneracy; it means we are separated from God; it means we are dichotomous.

So now we need to develop how our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world and what is the issue there. Note: Isaiah 44:2,24 — no life in the womb, it is (mi beten) away from the womb — 49:1,5; Job 1:21.

The sin nature originates at conception through the 23 male chromosomes which fertilise the female ovum. The sin nature is then transmitted in the womb as a part of biological life. The reason for this is the difference between man’s original sin and the woman’s original sin. The original sin of the man was the sin of cognisance; the original sin of the woman was the sin of ignorance, she was deceived. This difference means that the sin nature is passed down through the human race by the man. Just as the womb of the woman was dormant at the fall (no ovulation) so the sin nature transmitted in biological life is dormant until birth. There can be no temptation from the sin nature until a soul exists. The soul has volition and temptation is designed to reach volition. Sin is the result of volition succumbing to temptation.

Psalm 51:5 — “Behold, I was born sinful;” Since there is no human being until birth — the imputation of soul life to biological life — birth is mentioned first. When soul life is created by God and imputed to biological life at birth, simultaneously Adam’s original sin is imputed to the genetically-formed OSN and, therefore, we are born sinful.

“And in sin my mother conceived me.” The psalmist goes back to conception. The word for “sin” is chatah — it refers to the sin nature, not to a human being. The sin nature is transmitted in biological life and therefore the womb contains not only biological life but the OSN in its dormant state. Chatah is the sin nature at conception. When he says: “I was born sinful,” he uses the Hebrew word awon, the sin nature at birth.

Psalm 139:13 — “You created my innermost being,” a reference to soul life imputed to biological life at birth. “You covered me in my mother’s womb” — biological life is in the womb. The word for “cover” is very important because it indicates once again that the womb is simply an incubator for biological life.

There are some mistranslated passages in the New Testament, like Luke 1:15 — “He will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Spirit [e)k plus the ablative of separation koilia] yet separated from his mother’s womb.” You cannot be filled with the Spirit until you are a human being and there is no human life in the womb.

Again in Luke 1:41 — “And it came to pass, when Elisabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the foetus [brefoj] leaped in her womb” — reflex motility, the functional state of the sensory nerves and their endings plus the function of intermediary and motor nerve cells, but not soul life and not human life. Brefoj is used for a foetus.

Psalm 22:9 — “For you are he [Jesus Christ speaking on the cross to God the Father] who brought me [mi beten] out from the womb” — that is when life began. And then He says: “You caused me to trust on my mother’s breasts” — the hiphil participle of batach has to do with the faith-rest drill; “you caused me to trust” — this is nourishment out from the womb.

Verse 10 — referring to the humanity of Christ in hypostatic union. Jesus Christ came into the world trichotomous, body, soul, and spirit. He was born as Adam was created. Therefore because He was body, soul, and spirit there was no transmission of the sin nature. “I was cast upon you from out from birth [mi beten]: you have been my God separated from my mother’s womb.” We are dealing with the humanity of Christ. There was no humanity at conception; there was no humanity of Christ until He was separated from His mother’s womb, away from His mother’s womb, removed from His mother’s womb. This refers to the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Love is a part of the essence of God; it is a divine attribute which belongs to all three members of the Trinity. Since God is eternal God’s love exists eternally, unsustained by Himself or any other source. And since God is sovereign His love is self-motivating and is compatible with all divine decisions. Since God is holy — composed of His justice and righteousness — this is compatible with all points of reference: God is fair, God is just, therefore He is always infinitely and absolutely fair in every function. God is immutable, therefore, His divine love is unchangeable and cannot be corrupted. God is omniscient, therefore, God always acts rationally in the function of divine love. God is veracity and truth, therefore, divine love is rooted in every doctrine and in every form of knowledge which resides in His absolute being. God is infinite, without boundary, without limitation. God unites in Himself those perfections which belong to His character. This means that the love of God cannot tempt, cannot solicit to sin, cannot sponsor evil or human good, and cannot be complicated by ignorance or absurdity. Infinity characterises all that God does, including the function of His divine love, His integrity, His veracity, His infinite energy and power. And because God is immutable His love cannot change, which means that divine love does not improve, does not decline, increase or decrease. In other words God’s love always remains the same. Human love has no capacity apart from virtue, integrity, or truth. Therefore, because God is veracity and truth He has perfect capacity for love at all times. Furthermore, divine integrity is maintained by the will or the sovereignty of God. He is incorruptible, unchangeable, infinite, immutable, virtuous, which means perfect capacity for love and no compromise of that love. Divine knowledge and omniscience does not change or cancel God’s love; therefore, God gives of Himself whether there is an occasion or not. Since God is love, always has been love and always will be love, God does not fall in love. Nor can His love be compromised or corrupted or bribed by any form of human works. This means that God’s love does not increase or diminish; therefore cannot be changed by human sin, failure, evil or the instability and vacillation of those who are believers in Jesus Christ.

Therefore several principles

1. God’s love is never frustrated and never disappointed.

2. God’s love exists with or without an object since divine love is always a part of divine essence.

3. God’s love is not sustained by attraction or rapport or any category of human merit.

4. Neither self-righteousness, human good or morality are the basis for God extending His love to human beings.

5. Since God’s love is always perfect virtue and a problem-solving device it cannot be divorced from either His holiness or His divine attributes.

6. Since God is holy He is perfect in both justice and righteousness. Therefore, God cannot be anything less than perfect; God cannot be anything less than fair.

God’s love has found a way to provide eternal life for each one of us. John 3:16: “For” is an explanatory use of the post positive conjunction gar. This explains a relationship; it explains a conclusion that is so important to us. It guarantees that under certain conditions that are totally non-meritorious to man, and at the same time are totally compatible with divine essence, we enter into an eternal relationship with God — a perfect relationship with God both in time and in eternity, divided by death.

But in death we are said to be absent from the body and face to face with the Lord; we enter into an eternal state which has phenomenal happiness. Therefore it is contradictory to God’s plan for us in time to have unhappiness, to possess problems without solutions. Therefore, we have noted the ten problem-solving devices. God did not design us to walk on crutches spiritually and therefore we are dependant upon the fantastic grace provision which He has made for us.

“God”— Qeoj. There is a definite article in the Greek but the definite article is used to identify the Father as a member of the Trinity. Next we have an adverb o(utoj, so much. Next is the verb a)gapaw, correctly translated “loved.” The verb must have an object and the object is developed in the sense of evil or rejection — kosmoj referring to the entire human race. So far should be translated: “For God loved the world so much.” This is impersonal love based on the virtue of the subject.

Love produces motivation and this case we have a conjunction to introduce an actual result clause: o(ste, that or so that; “gave,” didomi always emphasises two things: firstly, the subject who gives and the virtue of the subject in giving; secondly, what is given. The gift and the subject are always involved in the verb didomi. The dramatic aorist tense indicates the present reality of the hypostatic union. So it was a dramatic moment when God the Father imputed the spark of life to the biological life of our Lord, resulting in Jesus Christ becoming true humanity, perfect humanity, the last Adam, the only saviour.

God demonstrates His love toward us by solving the problem of sin. He solved it by giving something, by giving His Son. The active voice indicates that God the Father produces the action of the verb, and in producing the action of the verb He gave to us His Son, the accusative singular, direct object from u(ioj. Next we have an appositional accusative: monogenhj, the uniquely-born one. What was His purpose? We have the conjunction i(na (that) which introduces a purpose clause. With it we have a nominative singular subject referring to us as individuals. It should be translated “anyone” paj. Anyone means any member of the human race, without exception, and often translated “everyone” — “that everyone who believes,” the articular present active participle of the verb pisteuw. There we have the only non-meritorious system of perception — faith. Only the object of faith has merit and in salvation the object of faith is Jesus Christ who was judged for our sins on the cross, who took our place. In other words the salvation work of Jesus Christ is efficacious.

Next: a)pollumi plus the negative me which goes with the subjunctive. Corrected translation: “shall never perish.” Once we believe in Jesus Christ we have something which can never be reversed, we have eternal life.

In the final phrase we have a conjunction which sets up a contrast: “but” a)lla. With that the present active subjunctive of the verb e)xw which means to have, to possess. There never will be a time when we do not have eternal life through one simple act of faith in Jesus Christ.

The problem of post-salvation sinning

The culprit for personal sin after salvation and resultant Christian degeneracy is related to the temptation which comes from the old sin nature and human volition. Personal sins occur in two categories: a. Sins of cognisance in which volition recognises the temptation as being a temptation or a solicitation to sin and goes ahead through volition and commits the sin; b. Sins of ignorance in which the volition is not aware that the temptation is sin but desires through the lust pattern to do and does it. We are held responsible for both categories. In the final analysis the believer’s volition is responsible for all personal sins.

The importance of the rebound technique

1. Without rebound as the basic problem-solving device for post-salvation sinning it would be impossible for any of us as believers to execute the protocol plan of God. The protocol plan of God is executed in a state of non-sinning which we call the filling of the Holy Spirit.

2. Without rebound as the number one problem-solving device it is impossible to learn and use the other nine problem-solving devices of the protocol plan.

3. Without rebound as the basic problem-solving device it would be impossible to avoid Christian degeneracy.

4. Without rebound it would be impossible to be filled with the Spirit. Without the filling of the Spirit you can’t learn Bible doctrine and therefore cannot fulfil the principle of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation — perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine.

5. Without rebound sooner or later all believers enter into the pattern of implosion, explosion, reversion and eventually into the total status of Christian degeneracy.

6. Some of the characteristics of Christian degeneracy include the following: a. Becoming an enemy of the cross, Phil.3:18; b. To become the enemy of God, James 4:4; c. To become a hater of God, John 15:23; d. Double minded, James 4:8; e. To become ant-Christ, 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7; f. Carnal (under the control of the OSN), Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 3:1-2; g. Becoming a disciple (student) of the devil, 1 John 3:8,10; h. Drifting off course from grace, Galatians 5:4; i. Falling from grace, Heb. 12:15; j. A tortured and unstable soul, 2 Peter 2:7,8,14; k. Shipwreck, 1 Tim.1:19.

1 John 1:9: “confess” — o(mologew means to confess a crime in court, but it also means to cite a courtroom case, it is a legal term. It means to name, admit, acknowledge a crime. Another meaning is to make a legal statement and always it means to make a statement regardless of how one feels about the statement made. The important fact is that the statement is true.

Putting off the old man is the rebound technique which protects us from implosion, explosion and reversion, or the three stages of entering into Christian degeneracy.

The second result: there are eight principles that we need to know

1. Self fragmentation produces sins of ignorance which intensify the status of fragmentation.

2. Polarised fragmentation produces more sins of ignorance, which intensifies that status of carnality or explosion.

3. In the mechanics of the rebound technique the believer can only acknowledge known sins.

4. This means that we can only acknowledge or confess from the privacy of our royal priesthood the sins we know are sins.

5. During any period of carnality or fragmentation the old sin nature controls the soul.

6. The second result clause in our passage deals with the unknown sins accumulated during carnality, fragmentation, implode, explode or revert.

7. Christ was judged on the cross for both post-salvation sins of cognisance and post-salvation sins of ignorance.

8. Therefore, when the believer from the privacy of his own priesthood acknowledges known sins, simultaneously he is purified or cleansed from the

accumulation of unknown sins.

These eight principles explain our second result clause which begins with the conjunction kai which indicates the continuation of the result clause and introduces a very important second result.

The verb is the aorist active subjunctive from kaqarizw which means to cleanse or to purify. The gnomic aorist tense is for a dogmatic statement of Bible doctrine which is so fixed in certainty, so axiomatic in character, that it is described in the aorist tense as though it were an actual occurrence. This idiom is best translated by the English present tense. The active voice, as in the previous result clause, God the Father produces the action of the verb when the believer acknowledges or confesses the known sins of carnality, fragmentation, cosmic involvement, reversionism, sins related to Christian degeneracy. The principle is that Jesus Christ on the cross was judged for the sins of cognisance and the sins of ignorance.

Those believers who fail to utilise the rebound technique perpetuate fragmentation in their lives and eventually come to the point of Christian degeneracy. Perpetuation of self-fragmentation results in polarised fragmentation with its moral or immoral degeneracy eventuating. Perpetuation of polarised fragmentation results in human-relationship fragmentation and God-relationship fragmentation. So perpetuation of both human and God-relationship fragmentation inevitably results in emotional fragmentation, subjective arrogance fragmentation, fragmentation which destroys the believer.

“And he cleanses us” — the accusative plural direct object of e)gw — us. This translation becomes the basis for handling the unknown sins. The final prepositional phrase is a)po plus the ablative of separation. The ablative of separation is one of the greatest discoveries in the ablative case; it is one in which the word in the ablative denotes that from which the believer is separated. In this case we have an adjective and a noun. The adjective is paj and it means “all.” The noun is a)dikia, not just unrighteousness but “wrong-doing.” And so the translation: “out from, separated from wrong-doing” .All wrong-doing refers to the post-salvation sins of ignorance. Only the rebound technique of 1 John 1:9 can protect the believer from entering into Christian degeneracy. Without the use of rebound or 1 John 1:9 the believer inevitably will wind up in Christian degeneracy.

Translation: “If we acknowledge [cite, admit, confess] our sins, he is faithful and righteous [He always does the same thing and He does not compromise His holiness by doing it] with the result that he forgives us our sins [the post-salvation sins of cognisance], and he purifies us from all wrong-doing [the post-salvation sins of ignorance].”

Post-salvation sins of ignorance accumulate to perpetuation of implode, explode, revert. Perpetuation of this system of fragmentation means failure to understand and utilise God’s grace provision for us. God has always provided for sin. All of the sins we committed before salvation were blotted out when we believed in Christ. So the solution to pre-salvation sins: faith in Jesus Christ; post-salvation sins: the rebound technique.

There are a number of synonyms for rebound found in the Scripture: 1. Self-judgement of our sins, 1 Cor. 11:31; 2. Yieldedness — Greek: to place yourself under orders to God, Romans 6:13; Romans 12:1; 3. Lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles you, Hebrews 12:1; 4. Be subject to the Father of your spirits, Hebrews 12:9; 5. Lift up the hands that hang down, Hebrews 12:12; 6. Make straight paths [Use the other problem-solving devices. Don’t simply rebound and get back in fellowship, once you are there start moving in the right direction, toward the high ground of spiritual maturity.] Matthew 3:3; Hebrews 12:13 — once you have recovered move in the right direction, don’t simply jump in and out of fellowship; 7. Arise from the dead [Temporal death], Ephesians 5:14; 8. Lay aside the old man, Ephesians 4:22 — the sin nature is classified as the old man because it originated in the Garden of Eden through the volition of our original parents.

The momentum of the rebound technique should also be noted. There are four parts to it, the first is the rebound technique itself, acknowledge, name, or cite your sins. But once you do take this first step you have to have momentum and you cannot have momentum if you are in and out of fellowship, you are a destabilised believer and eventually this ends up under the concept of “shipwrecked.” So you have to isolate that sin — Hebrews 12:15. So, first we name it, then we isolate it. The third part is that you have to forget it. That is what Paul said in Philippians 3:13, “forgetting those things which are behind”; Philippians 3:14, “I keep advancing toward the objective for the prize, that upward call from God in Christ Jesus.” What is the prize? They are those wonderful escrow blessings which God the Father prepared for us in eternity past. God the Son makes distribution of our greater blessings for time when we reach spiritual maturity. [If you don’t reach spiritual maturity they remain in escrow forever. In eternity you will be able to see how you missed the boat in time by failing to execute the protocol plan of God. You had equal privilege and equal opportunity to do so and the fact that many believers are not going to receive their escrow blessings for time or eternity means simply this: that they [the blessings] will remain on deposit forever as a memorial to failure to execute the protocol plan of God.

The nation that is a client nation to God must always have two categories of freedom. The first category is temporal freedom which has to with the sacredness of property and life, the freedom to function under one’s volition as long as no criminal activity is involved. In addition to that there must be spiritual freedom, spiritual freedom to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. This spiritual freedom is based upon life inside the divine dynasphere. The divine dynasphere is the place of the filling of the Spirit, the place of perception of Bible doctrine, the place therefore of spiritual momentum and growth which glorifies God.

A client nation to God also has certain liabilities called the cycles of discipline. There are five cycles of discipline which God administers to the client nation who fails. There are two categories of failure. The first is in the temporal realm: the malfunction of human freedom. Human freedom always produces inequality. That is the whole purpose of freedom, to give everyone equal opportunity. But equal opportunity under freedom means that some will advance and some will fail. People are free to succeed and free to fail. And because these inequalities exist because of the function of freedom there is always, therefore, reaction, and the reaction is always a sign that the client nation is beginning to fall apart. But the saddest thing is that very few born-again believers are interested in the teaching of Bible doctrine.

Today there is very little interest in Bible doctrine, except to prove a point in theological controversy. And one of the signs of the decline of Christians in a nation is the fact that on the one hand there is tremendous theological controversy and on the other there is great indifference. People are simply not interested.

Christian degeneracy is a reverse pivot. In Ephesians 4:22 we have studied so far: “With reference to your former lifestyle [the lifestyle of post-salvation sinning], put off the old man [OSN.,”

The passage goes on, then, with an articular present passive participle from the Greek verb fqeirw which means to destroy, to ruin, to corrupt, to spoil. But in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 9, p103, it says, degenerate. So it should be translated: “you who are becoming degenerate.” This is addressed to believers. In other words, rebound is the only way to stop the road to Christian degeneracy. The definite article of the participle is used for the personal pronoun and it refers to a category of believers, those who are moving down the road of degeneracy in this context. The present tense is durative or progressive for an action or a state of being which began in the past — implosion or self-fragmentation. What is this implosion or self-fragmentation? Every time that you are jealous or bitter or implacable or filled with hatred or self-pity. Or entered into gossip or maligning or inordinate ambition or inordinate competition or revenge motivation, you have pulled the pin of the grenade and have fragmented your own life. This is the first step in moving toward Christian degeneracy. Actually reversionism is a synonym for Christian degeneracy.

Note: Stage six is degeneracy in the left lobe of the soul, stage seven of scar tissue is degeneracy in the right lobe of the soul. Stage eight is reverse process reversionism which is locked-in degeneracy.

There must be a halt in the slide into reversionism otherwise that believer forms a reverse pivot and God often destroys a nation on the basis of Christian degeneracy. Christian degeneracy is the ultimate coup de grace to the client nation to God.

With this we have the lust pattern which is amplified through this Christian degeneracy, one prepositional phrase, the preposition kata plus the adverbial accusative plural from two words. First of all there is a definite article, taj which identifies the categories of lust. Then we have with that e)piqumia — lust (pl). It is translated “on the basis of the lusts.” It refers to the lust pattern of the OSN.

With this we have an ablative of source from a noun a)path — deceit. Lusts are very deceitful. You think you are going to have happiness from these lusts but always end up in great misery. So there is self-deceit. Any time that the lust pattern of the OSN controls your life you are in a state of self-deceit. Translation: “on the basis of the lusts of deceit.”

Corrected translation of the verse: “With reference to your former lifestyle, you yourselves lay aside the old man, you [believers] who are becoming degenerate on the basis of the lusts of deceit.”

Definition of degeneracy: Degeneracy is defined as a decline to false or inferior standards, the process of passing from the higher to the lower. (Therefore, you have to first of all have superior standards, and Christianity has just that.) Loss of integrity resulting in a state which we call degeneration.

“Former lifestyle” is the lifestyle of the born-again believer who enters into implosion, explosion and reversion. “Deceit” is the status quo of the believer who is declining into Christian degeneracy. The lusts of deceit that accompany this pattern include power lust, approbation lust, inordinate ambition and subsequent inordinate competition, sexual lust, social lust, chemical lust (drugs and alcohol), crusader lust and money lust.

The Doctrine of Christian Degeneracy

1. Definition and description: Degeneracy is defined as decline to false and inferior standards, the process of passing from the higher to the lower, the loss of integrity resulting in a state of deterioration. Actually degeneracy means to decline progressively. For our study degeneracy is defined as decline from the superior standards of the protocol plan of God to the inferior standards related to implosion, explosion, reversion. In other words, the inferior standards related to fragmentation and reversionism.

The first stage, implosion: Integrity is a word which is used in many ways. It is used of people characterised by certain virtues. It is also an engineering term for a quality or state of being complete. For example, in naval engineering watertight integrity is a word used in that connection. Integrity means to be unimpaired, unmarred in status or condition. It means to be entire, the quality or the state of being complete. And that is exactly what we are when we are living inside the divine dynasphere.

Spiritual maturity is the status quo of the invisible hero. This is when we enter the pivot. To operate here requires a tremendous amount of concentration on what is important in life, namely Bible doctrine. Every time we sin we go outside of our very own palace and, of course, at that time we have broken the integrity envelope of our palace, we have stepped outside, and there is an implosion.

The integrity envelope is inside the divine dynasphere, the place of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Outside is only grieving and quenching the Spirit. And inside we have volition and positive volition keeps us inside; our negative volition does not. When we receive temptation from the OSN and succumb with that negative volition we break the integrity of this envelope. And when we break this integrity we have the inward burst described by the word implosion. This is the first stage toward moving toward Christian degeneracy. The believer makes a bad decision by using his own volition or self-determination to commit a sin. Therefore, he implodes. To implode means to burst inwardly, hence the decision to sin, to create a vacuum inside so that the OSN pressure outside the envelope is greater than the pressure inside. Negative volition removes that pressure just like the explosion of a vacuum tube and there is implosion. Temptation plus negative volition equals implosion, the destruction of the integrity envelope, the fragmentation bursting inward, the assimilating explosion by the continued velocity that broke the envelope.

What causes us to get into this state? There is the vacuum of the soul and that vacuum means there is no Bible doctrine, no ten problem-solving devices, no understanding of the ten unique factors of the Church Age, and therefore there is no way to equalise the pressure of temptation. The rushing fragments moving inwards from the implosion destroy the integrity envelope so that they continue their progress toward the sin nature trends. And this appears on the surface as an explosion but the fragments keep right on going. The implosion’s inward burst to fill the void or the vacuum results in increased pressure which then takes the fragments outward in explosion. This combination of rapid fragmentation and increased pressure cause the scattering of the fragments.

Therefore a second analogy: the grenade. The grenade has a pin. When the pin is pulled and you hold it in your hand you fragment yourself. The pins of the grenade are jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, self-pity, inordinate ambition, inordinate competition, revenge motivation.

These two analogies describe the first step toward Christian degeneracy: implosion resulting from temptation pressures of the sin nature plus the believer’s use of his volition to accommodate that temptation; self-fragmentation in which the believer uses his volition to pull the pin of the grenade and frag himself. Self-fragmentation simply means that every believer has a sin nature, therefore every believer is a walking grenade. When you pull the pin of the grenade it fragments or explodes and the pin of the grenade includes all the sins of the arrogance complex. Once the pin is pulled through any part of the arrogance complex the believer immediately frags himself and so fragmentation, unless it is checked, leads to the second stage in the decline toward Christian degeneracy. The second stage is polarised fragmentation which is related to the trends of the old sin nature. The sin nature has two general trends: the first is the trend toward self-righteous arrogance which we call legalism, the second is the trend toward lascivious lawlessness which is classified as polarised antinomianism. If unchecked by rebound, then, polarised legalism means decline into moral degeneracy or immoral degeneracy, depending upon whether the trend is toward legalism or antinomianism.

What happens in implosion or self-fragmentation? We have, first of all, the breaking of the virtue envelope and that means the inward burst. It is caused by the function of negative volition toward temptation. In other words, the temptations from the old sin nature get a negative response which means you want to do those things and you do it. If this is unchecked then what ever your trend is, either toward legalism or toward antinomianism, that is the second stage.

Implosion is described in Proverbs 11:2 — “When arrogance comes, then comes dishonour: but with the humble is wisdom.”

Proverbs 16:18 — “Arrogance precedes degeneracy, And before a fall there is a lifestyle of arrogance.”

Proverbs 29:23 — “A person’s arrogance will bring him low [degeneracy]: but a lifestyle of humility will attain honour.”

James 4:6 — “He gives greater grace [post-salvation grace]. And this is why the scripture says, God makes war against the arrogant, but he gives grace to the humble.”

James 3:14 — “If you have bitter jealousy and inordinate ambition in your right lobe, stop being arrogant and stop lying against the truth.”

James 3:16 — “For where jealousy and inordinate ambition exist, there is fragmentation, disorder [implosion, explosion, reversion, degeneracy] and out of that comes every evil deed.”

The next point is explosion: the second step toward Christian degeneracy.

Explosion or fragmentation results from another series of bad decisions — bad decisions from a position of weakness. Failure to check fragmentation through the use of rebound is always a bad decision. Getting into fragmentation is a bad decision. Implosion or self-fragmentation is only the beginning of the fragmented life.

As we have noted before fragmentation occurs in six categories. The first one is self-fragmentation or personal fragmentation, synonymous with implosion. The second is polarised fragmentation which is the key to entrance into reversion or into degeneracy. The third is fragmentation of subjective arrogance: unrealistic expectation which is subjective preoccupation with self and role model arrogance which is subjective preoccupation with others. Then the fourth is the human relationship fragmentation. The fifth is emotional fragmentation [the origin of life and the concept problem that comes out of holocaust]. The sixth is the concept of God relationship fragmentation.

God relationship fragmentation refers to: a. The believer becomes a loser through ignorance of pertinent doctrine related to the planned will and the purpose of God. b. The believer functions under the principle of man dependence taking precedence over God dependence. Actually this is simply divine versus human viewpoint. c. The believer fails to learn the problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God. There are ten of them. d. Failure to understand and apply the ten unique characteristics of the Church Age. e. Failure to execute the protocol plan of God through lack of consistency in post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation includes failure to expose yourself to Bible teaching, failure to metabolise it once you have, and if you metabolise, failure to apply it — the function of wisdom.

Legalistic explosion: most believers have a trend toward legalism. Most believers who do not understand the Word of God but are serious about practising Christianity always seem to fall into legalism. The polarised trend toward legalism is characterised by self-righteous arrogance — the motivation for judging other people. Antinomianism is the biggest target in the world for the legalist. And the legalist acts as though he never sins at all when in fact his sins are really the worst of all. The sins of antinomianism or lascivious lawlessness actually fall into three categories: polarised sexual sins, polarised chemical sins — drug addiction or alcohol, and polarised criminal sins. These categories shock the legalist who says: “You can’t do that and be a believer.” He is wrong. The believer can commit any sin that an unbeliever can, including murder.

Polarised legalism: Romans 14:10 — “But you [legalistic believer], why do you judge your brother? [God has the prerogative of judgement] or you again, why do your regard your brother with contempt? [polarised legalism] for we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ.” Now it is interesting to have verses like 2 Peter 2:12 which talks about moral degenerates. Moral degenerates are believers who went through the legalistic pipe — “But these moral degenerates, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge [legalism reviles where it has no knowledge] will in their destruction also be destroyed [discipline].”

Romans 14:11 — “For it stands written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall acknowledge the Lord.” This is accomplished after the Rapture of the Church. Then the judgement seat of Christ follows, the evaluation of every believer’s life during post-salvation experience on earth. Hence, this is accomplished in the status of ultimate sanctification or in a resurrection body.

So verse 12 adds: “So then each one of us shall give an account of himself to God.”

Verse 13 — “Therefore, do not judge one another any more: but judge rather this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way [legalism and antinomianism does this].”

As a believer continues toward moral degeneracy he has a predilection for judging others. And this judging is tantamount to blasphemy for it assumes the prerogative of God in the administration of divine discipline. So in the status of fragmentation the legalistic believer is guilty of gossip, maligning, judging other believers. God has actually delegated the prerogative of judgement to very few, in fact “very few” can be six categories of human beings: parents in the evaluating of the their children, government has the prerogative of evaluating people related to criminality, capital (management) has the prerogative of evaluating labour (those under its jurisdiction), teachers, coaches, school administrators have the authority to evaluate students, officers have the authority to evaluate enlisted personnel inside the military establishment, pastors and church officers have the right to evaluate those who violate the privacy of other believers. And there again you have gossip, maligning, slandering and other things that might be dangerous to a congregation. Outside of these and similar categories there is no mandate for legalism or self-righteous arrogance to be judging other believers. Such judgements result in both self-induced misery and divine punitive action.

The transition for implosion to explosion

1. The believer in fellowship with God is protected by a virtue envelope. In effect it is tantamount to the operational type divine dynasphere.

2. The virtue envelope can only be penetrated when the believer uses his own volition, his own self-determination, to succumb to the temptations of the OSN.

3. Once volition originates the sin implosion occurs — the inward burst which removes the believer from the operational type divine dynasphere, removes him from the filling of the Spirit, places him in the status of grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit.

4. Once outside the divine dynasphere the believer moves toward the trend of his old sin nature — explosion.

5. The OSN has two antithetical trends: toward self-righteous arrogance (legalism), and toward lascivious lawlessness (antinomianism).

6. If these trends are unchecked by the use of the rebound technique and other problem-solving devices the believer will move from implosion to explosion.

7. This move is synonymous with going from self-fragmentation to polarised fragmentation. Explosion, then, is the second step toward Christian degeneracy; it is synonymous with polarised fragmentation.

Self-righteous arrogance is the motivation for judging other believers. Matthew 7:1 — “Stop judging, that you be not judged.” You can’t be judging, gossiping, maligning, slandering other people without it coming back to you.

Verse two — “For in the manner you judge, you will be judged:” You will be judged for the mental attitude sins which motivate gossip, slander, maligning. You will be judged for the sins you verbalise. The rest of the verse amplifies this: “and by what measure you measure it out.” How does the legalist measure it out? He is motivated by mental attitude sins; he actually functions under verbal sins and he mentions or verbalises other sins. Now he has measured it out. “and by what measure it out, it will be measured back to you.” That means triple compound discipline. The most awful type of divine discipline really comes in triple compound discipline.

Verse three — “And why do you look at a speck of dust in your brother’s eye, and do not notice that you have a log in your own eye? The polarised trend toward self-righteous arrogance produces every kind of legalism and legalists always are judgmental.

Legalism is defined as the pomposity of the energy of the flesh, the insolence of replacing grace with works, the arrogant pretension of fulfilling God’s will and plan through human ability, the blasphemy of substituting so-called Christian service and works for the grace of God. So the ultimate arrogance of legalism is the conceited conclusion that Bible doctrine doesn’t work and the plan of God has failed because I have failed.

Legalism is one of the polarised trends of the OSN. The polarised trend toward self-righteous arrogance produces at least nine different categories of legalism. The first is the legalism of salvation by works, usually faith-plus or some other form of salvation by works. Secondly, spirituality by works. And the third is the vanity of the unique experience (some people assume that they are perpetually spiritual because they have had some kind of a unique experience). The fourth is the emphasis on human ability and achievement. The fifth is substituting morality for the Christian way of life (morality is for believer and unbeliever alike. It is the basis for the function of human freedom). The sixth is blessing from God through human good or dead works. The seventh is blessing from God through human achievement or self-sacrifice or some other form of asceticism. The eight is spirituality through health foods, vitamins, good diet, and confusing health as spirituality. The ninth is spirituality through taboos, activism, manner of dress, personality, and so on. Self-righteous arrogance is the motivation while legalism is the function of that motivation from arrogance. Legalism is defined as the pomposity of the energy of the flesh, the insolence of replacing grace with works, the arrogant pretension of fulfilling God’s will and plan through human ability, the blasphemy of substituting so-called Christian service for the grace of God. The ultimate arrogance of legalism is the conceited conclusion that Bible doctrine doesn’t work and the plan of God has failed because I have failed. Self-righteous arrogance erroneously concludes that the plan of God succeeds or fails on the basis of human works rather than on divine grace provision. Legalism establishes false standards, false measures for spiritual success and legalism always seeks to change others by superimposing these false standards on other believers. The polarised trend toward legalism seeks to dominate people, policy and authority in one’s periphery. And therefore the polarised trends toward self-righteous arrogance produce a domineering, bullying believer who assumes that he is never wrong in any form of human interaction.

Remember that legalism is irrational, never satisfied until every believer is a puppet on a string, dancing to the tune of legalism. There are two great attacks from legalism. Legalism always attacks the grace policy of God and legalism attacks the grace communicator of Bible doctrine. Self-righteous arrogance, then, superimposes false doctrine on the teaching of the Word of God and seeks to discredit the pastor who communicates true doctrine from the Bible — 2 Peter 2:11,12.

Antinomianism (or lascivious lawlessness) is the other trend of the OSN. This is the gate that leads to immoral degeneracy. The antinomian explosion or polarised fragmentation toward lascivious lawlessness is characterised by three categories: 1. Pre-degeneracy sexual sinfulness; 2. Pre-degeneracy chemical sinfulness; 3. Pre-degeneracy criminal sinfulness.

Sexual fragmentation in explosion.

2 Peter 2:13-14, 18 — a description of believers! This is an excellent description of polarised antinomianism, moving into reversion and becoming involved in immoral degeneracy. So one of the areas of immoral degeneracy is sexual and if unchecked by the rebound technique the polarised trend toward antinomianism becomes sexual reversionism which we simply call immoral degeneracy. We have noticed this in Ephesians 4:19 — “they have given themselves over to licentiousness.”

What is meant by licentiousness? It refers to born-again believers involved in one or more of three categories of sexual sins. The first category we might classify as normal sexual sins, mental and overt adultery and fornication. Secondly there are abnormal sexual sins, homosexuality, incest, bestiality, necrophelia, voyeurism. The third category are criminal sexual sins, rape, petarasty, pimping, prostitution, mutilation.

“They have given themselves over to licentiousness resulting in the practice of every kind of immorality with insatiable lust” — immoral degeneracy related to sexual lust, criminal lust, power lust, chemical lust. The pre-degeneracy trend begins in antinomian explosion which, if unchecked, leads to the eight stages of reversionism.

So there is a gate that one enters for this particular category. Romans 13:13 says: “Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.” Remember we have studied strife and jealousy as pins on the grenade. Note that in all of this description of born-again believers involved in sexual sins that it is related to two things, strife and jealousy. Sexual sins go together with strife and jealousy.

The second category after antinomianism is chemical fragmentation in explosion. It becomes chemical reversionism and immoral degeneracy. There are two categories of chemical sinfulness and fragmentation. The first is drunkenness. (Careful: The Bible does not forbid alcoholic beverage. It forbids, however, that overindulgence or drunkenness which is a sin.) The second is drug addiction. There is one word in the New Testament that helps us with this, farmakeia, which means drug addiction. It is found in Galatians 5:20; Revelation 21:8.

Reversionism

Reversionism is the actual area of Christian degeneracy. There are eight stages to reversionism.

1. Reaction and distraction

By the time the believer has used his volition to travel through implosion or self-fragmentation and explosion which is polarised fragmentation, he becomes negative toward Bible doctrine. So the first stage of reversion, the beginning of Christian degeneracy, is reaction and distraction. Reaction is linked to polarised fragmentation, the conflict between legalism and antinomianism. Legalism is shocked at the sins of the antinomian believer and draws the erroneous conclusion that a person cannot be saved and commit those sins. Reaction from antinomianism results in negative volition toward Bible doctrine. So both the legalist and the antinomian involved in polarised fragmentation are involved in totally different categories of sin yet both of them react and are distracted from Bible doctrine.

Distraction, on the other hand, is caused by apathy, indifference, wrong priorities in which the antinomian believer places sexual lust, chemical lust, criminal lust first in his scale of values, whereas the legalist places such things as crusader arrogance first and he is always trying to change individuals and society, and he is erroneously doing it for he is attacking the laws of divine establishment and human freedom.

2. A frantic search for happiness

This is described in that phrase of 2 Timothy 3:4 — “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” In the frantic search for happiness each goes his own way. The legalist goes toward asceticism, he is “giving up everything for God,” etc. Sometimes it is the crusader activity. There are different ways in which they do it but this is legalism. On the other hand we have stage two with antinomianism. He is partying, raising hell, living it up, etc.

The frantic search for happiness is often the search for approbation and that is true of both groups. They are looking for approbation, they are looking for power, they are looking for influence, success, money, pleasure, sex, everything that confuses Christian association with happiness. In other words, the legalist has one idea as to what happiness is and the antinomian has another idea. This works into degeneracy because one of the greatest areas of lust is power lust plus approbation lust. When you take power plus approbation lust you are going to be the best in the church, you are going to be the best in whatever organisation or group, you want everyone to look at you and say what a great Christian you are, etc.

For some the frantic search for happiness is going in the direction of asceticism. For others it is going in the direction of stimulation. Once people go negative toward doctrine then they move toward whatever they associate with happiness. Actually they are moving toward -H. So it is obvious then that this is going to backfire.

3. Operation boomerang.

Every believer searching for this happiness makes happiness more elusive so that the believer becomes bored, disillusioned, frustrated, miserable. And in pursuit of happiness he actually accumulates a number of bad decisions from a position of weakness and this intensifies his unhappiness.

Principle: There is no true happiness for the believer apart from the execution of the protocol plan of God which includes the use of +H or sharing the happiness of God, that’s problem-solving device number eight. There is no happiness until you as a believer make Bible doctrine number one priority in your life, perception, metabolisation and application of doctrine.

4. Emotional revolt of the soul.

Emotion is the female part of the soul and is designed to be subordinate to the mentality which is the male part of the soul. Emotion, by the way, has no mentality, rationality, ability to solve problems. It has neither Bible doctrine nor virtue. In revolt emotion becomes the aggressor, taking control of the soul and moving the soul away from mentality and rationality, making the soul a slave to the sin nature. Emotional revolt of the soul divorces the believer from reality, hence substitutes irrationality for application of Bible doctrine and emotional sins for capacity for life.

What are some of the emotional sins? We have studied them under emotional fragmentation. They include fear, worry, anxiety, hatred, anger, violence, and even murder. These are all emotional sins and are a part of the emotional revolt of the soul. Therefore, emotion rather than Bible doctrine becomes the criterion for the Christian way of life. This leads to permanent negative volition to Bible doctrine which means both moral and immoral believers cannot be distinguished from their unbeliever counterpart in their thinking. In other words the moral degenerate believer thinks like a moral unbeliever, an immoral degenerate believer thinks like an immoral degenerate unbeliever. The first four stages of reversionism of course gradually remove any interest, motivation or desire to learn Bible doctrine. And therefore permanent negative volition not only begins the transition to Christian degeneracy but indicates locked-in cosmic involvement as well. Permanent negative volition guarantees progressive decline to degeneracy, the believer’s removal from the superior standards of the protocol plan of God to the inferior standards of fragmentation, reversion and degeneracy.

Christian degeneracy occurs in three categories: 1. Moral degeneracy which follows the polarised trend toward legalism or self-righteous arrogance; 2. Immoral degeneracy which follows the polarised trend toward antinomianism or lascivious lawlessness; 3. Historical degeneracy — The believer combining the functions of both sin nature trends in the exercise of power, like the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart.

5. Permanent negative volition toward doctrine.

This means that both moral and immoral believers cannot be distinguished from their unbeliever counterpart in their thinking. Therefore in the first four stages of reversion there is gradual removal of any interest or motivation or desire to learn Bible doctrine. At this point Christian degeneracy has entrenched itself in the soul where all of the thought process occurs. Permanent negative volition not only begins the trend into locked-in degeneracy but locked-in cosmic involvement as well. Permanent negative volition guarantees a progressive decline toward the principle of degeneracy. The believer’s removal from the superior standards of the protocol plan inevitably means the adoption of the inferior standards of fragmentation, reversionism, degeneracy, and cosmic involvement.

6. The blackout of the soul.

The degeneracy of the left lobe or the nous where we have our academic understanding of things. Blackout of the soul is Christian degeneracy but it is also involved with cosmic involvement. Blackout of the soul is tantamount to God-relationship fragmentation, failure to execute the protocol plan of God through negative volition toward Bible doctrine.

Blackout of the soul is failure to understand and appreciate the ten unique characteristics of the Church Age. Secondly, it is failure to understand and use the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

7. Scar tissue of the soul.

The believer with scar tissue of the soul has not perpetuated Christian degeneracy to a locked-in status quo, but he is close. He is almost there because blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul finally puts it all together. We now have a terrible condition of locked-in degeneracy. The blackout of the soul affects the left lobe (academic understanding) the scar tissue of the soul affects the right lobe where there are eight areas that are very sensitive. And with scar tissue of the soul all eight of these areas are blotted out — frame of reference, memory centre, vocabulary storage, categorical storage, the conscience, momentum department, wisdom department and the subconscious. When all of them are filled up with scar tissue of the soul it is very difficult for such a believer to recover.

So we could almost come to a conclusion that would sound like this: Once you get to blackout of the soul and there is not interested in rebound recovery you could say that blackout of the soul plus scar tissue of the soul almost guarantees the sin unto death for that believer.

The characteristics of reverse process reversionism degeneracy are also described in terms of six statements of the Scripture

1. The believer is described in reverse process reversionism as the enemy of the cross — Phil. 3:18.(The cross is a part of occupation with Christ but in reverse process reversionism you are occupied with the things of this life which are related to polarised fragmentation.)

2. The enemy of God — James 4:4.

3. A hater of God — John 15:23.

4. Double minded — James 4:8.

5. Antichrist (in the sense of against Christ) — 1 John 2:18,22; 4:3; 2 John 7.

6. A disciple of the devil — 1 John 3:8,10.

We are describing a believer. You cannot distinguish a believer in degeneracy from the unbeliever. Reverse means to face in the opposite direction. Reverse process reversionism is the reversal of priorities, concepts, in the status of Christian degeneracy. Reverse process degeneracy is defined as declined from the superior standards of the protocol plan resulting in retrogression into the subnormal status of fragmentation and reversion. We are warned against Christian degeneracy in 2 John 7ff: “Because many deceivers have gone out into the world, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh [These deceivers reject the doctrine of the dispensation of the hypostatic union. It refers in the first century, at the time of writing, to gnosticism].”

Verse 8 — “Look out for yourselves, that you may not lose your momentum which you have accomplished, but that you might receive a full reward [the distribution of your escrow blessings for time when you reach spiritual maturity, and at the judgement seat of Christ in a resurrection body the distribution of escrow blessings for the eternal state]

Verse 9 — “No one has fellowship with God who keeps advancing out of bounds [implode, explode, revert and to decline progressively into degeneracy] and does not remain on the playing field through the doctrine of Christ [the mystery doctrine of the Church Age]: he who resides in it [the divine dynasphere] by means of doctrine, he keeps on having fellowship both with the Father and with the Son”.

The categories of post-salvation sinning

1. Frequent sinning — probably the status quo of the new believer but it is also the status quo of the believer in implosion, explosion, and cosmic involvement. Frequent sinning includes the two categories of post-salvation sinning unchecked by rebound.

2. Continuous sinning, the status quo of the believer in reversionism and Christian degeneracy. It can only be checked by the use of rebound and the other nine problem-solving devices.

3. Sporadic sinning, believer sins are related either to implosion or explosion but they are often checked very early by the rebound technique. Sporadic sinning is generally related to adolescent believer who is on the verge of spiritual adulthood.

4. Occasional sinning, the status quo of the adult believer who not only checks implosion and explosion through the rebound technique but he has full use of all ten of the problem-solving devices.

Verse 23 emphasises the fact that there must be an exploitation of our recovery to fellowship with God through rebound. Rebound is only the beginning, it puts us back into fellowship inside the divine dynasphere. But we must add to rebound the other nine problem-solving devices if we are going to get out of the pattern of Christian degeneracy. So there must be a continuation of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, which means the perception, metabolisation and application of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Then, of course, there must be an understanding and the utilisation of those other problem-solving devices. This means that every believer should be spiritually self-sustaining, never seeking counsel, never needing help from anyone, but utilising the techniques and handling his own problems. There must be an emphasis on the fact that recovery from Christian degeneracy, the ultimate in apostasy, must come from one’s own self-determination.

Verse 23 — “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” We begin with the post positive conjunctive particle de. Here it means “then.” It is followed by the present middle infinitive of a)naneow, to become renewed, to become reinvigorated, to become refreshed. Any of these translations will suffice because we are talking about recovery. The tendencial present in the Greek indicates an action which is contemplated or proposed but is not actually taking place at the moment. It indicates that these believers must first rebound and then recover life inside the divine dynasphere where the filling of the Spirit exists and where we execute the protocol plan of God. Then they can move on.

Gate One is the filling of the Holy Spirit. The forty things that God gave us at the moment of salvation includes the entrance into our very own palace, the operational type divine dynasphere, the same palace that was given to the humanity of Christ in the dispensation of the hypostatic union. The second gate is, of course, the gate of basic doctrine, basic problem-solving devices. The third gate is enforced and genuine humility, objectivity and teachability. The fourth gate is the momentum gate, operation Z, perception, metabolisation, and application of doctrine. Gate five is the first stage of spiritual adulthood, spiritual self-esteem. Gate six, spiritual autonomy. Gate seven, momentum testing in four categories. Gate eight, spiritual maturity, the point of execution of the protocol plan of God, the point of becoming an invisible hero.

When it says to “become renewed” it means to get back inside your very own palace, the operational type divine dynasphere. Once inside you can execute God’s plan, God’s will and God’s purpose. You cannot execute it outside. But while these believers must first rebound and recover life in the divine dynasphere they must then exploit the grace of God in rebound through post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. And that means also learning that the filling of the Spirit is the basis for execution.

While verse 22 emphasised rebound, putting off the old man, verse 23 emphasises post-rebound function by which the believer fulfils God’s plan, God’s purpose and God’s will for the Church Age. The middle voice of this verb is a dynamic or indirect middle in which the subject acts for himself with reference for himself upon something belonging to himself. Hence the subject produces the action of the verb. Acting for ourselves we are functioning under divine provision of grace for execution of the protocol plan.

The middle voice describes “after rebound what.” After rebound the believer now decides once again then in the operation type divine dynasphere. And two results of living in the divine dynasphere come into focus: the filling of the Holy Spirit which is availability of the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit for the execution of the protocol plan of God and, secondly, the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit which is very important in perception, metabolisation and application of doctrine.

Note two parallel ministries regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit to each one of us. The first is a pre-salvation ministry called common and efficacious grace. The Gospel is spiritual phenomena, it cannot therefore be understood by anyone who is spiritually dead. For spiritual phenomena can only be understood by the human spirit and then transferred to the soul. And therefore it is impossible for a spiritually dead person to understand the Gospel for he has spiritual brain death. He is called the psuchikos or soulish man and he cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him and neither can he know them because they are discerned by a human spirit. Therefore, when the Gospel is presented whatever is accurate with regard to it the Holy Spirit acts as a human spirit and makes it understandable to spiritual brain death. Once it is understood academically it is moved to the left lobe or the nouj and there it is academically understood. The issue is that to believe in Christ is eternal life and to reject Him is eternal condemnation. This much of the issue, then, is understood. At this point the spiritually dead person has his call from God and the call is the invitation to believe in Jesus Christ. When the individual who is spiritually dead believes in Christ, God the Holy Spirit takes faith and faith and faith alone and makes it effective for salvation. That is the point at which God gives each one of us forty things, a part of our invisible assets, but we must understand these things to utilise them.

After salvation the same thing is true. Now it is Bible doctrine. This time Bible doctrine is communicated by the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher and it is communicated to the believer. Now he has a human spirit for at the moment of salvation one of the forty things he receives: God the Holy Spirit in regeneration created a human spirit and God the Father then imputed eternal life to that human spirit. Now we are trichotomous, now we have a human spirit. So the doctrine goes to the human spirit, the Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit when we are inside the divine dynasphere. Once it is comprehended it goes down the pipeline to the left lobe or the nouj and it is then understood academically. It is academic perception of doctrine.

However, there is no benefit yet from academic perception of doctrine. You can know doctrine academically but it does not contribute to growth, it has to be metabolised. When you go into a supermarket and walk by food on the shelf that food doesn’t benefit you, it doesn’t give you any energy, it is no help to you. Why? Because it has not been prepared, put in your mouth, chewed and swallowed. Eating is an illustration of the non-meritorious function of grace. The food goes into the stomach where it is metabolised. This what the New Testament calls gnwsij doctrine. Gnwsij has no benefit until it enters into the kardia or the right lobe of the soul where it becomes e)pignwsij. All spiritual growth is based upon epignwsij doctrine. How is it metabolised? Once again, the believer says, “I believe it,” and the Holy Spirit then matabolises it. Just as He made it possible to be in the human spirit, so He metabolises it.

So it becomes necessary, then, for us to understand the importance of the filling of the Holy Spirit and His teaching ministry. Remember that recovery from Christian degeneracy is tantamount to reversion recovery as well as recovery from life in the cosmic system. Momentum demands, then, the use of the rebound technique. But momentum also demands that the believer keep moving and this is not possible apart from consistent perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine.

The infinitive is the imperative infinitive of command. It is used here to express the modus operandi of the believer after rebound. After rebound the believer must continue under the filling of the Spirit to learn and to utilise the rest of the problem-solving devices. And not only that but the filling of the Spirit is absolutely necessary — operation Z at Gate Four — for momentum that leads to spiritual self-esteem, the beginning of spiritual adulthood. Without spiritual self-esteem it is impossible to utilise such things as a personal sense of destiny — +H, occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. And, therefore, it is absolutely necessary that we log as much time as possible inside the divine dynasphere, the place of the filling of the Holy Spirit.

When we use our volition to sin we go outside the divine dynasphere. We then implode, explode and revert, we go into the cosmic system. And when the believer sins, then, he leaves the divine dynasphere; he can only recover residence in the divine dynasphere through the rebound technique. Therefore, the imperative infinitive is used to express a divine command to exploit God’s grace, to exploit the rebound technique with momentum inside the divine dynasphere.

Principle

For the execution of the protocol plan of God the rebound technique must be utilised but it must be supplemented by post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. There must be perception, metabolisation, wisdom for application, and all of that is only possible as we learn Bible doctrine.

Doctrine goes, as it is taught, to the human spirit where it becomes pneumatikoj — spiritual phenomena — and then it goes immediately to the left lobe or the nouj where it becomes gnwsij. Then when it is metabolised through positive faith perception it goes into the eight sections of the right lobe or the “heart” — kardia — and there it becomes e)pignwsij. Only e)pignwsij means spiritual momentum.

Rebound puts a halt to implosion, explosion and reversion. Therefore rebound is the basis for recovery from decline in Christian degeneracy.

Recovery from Christian degeneracy, which is tantamount to reversion, demands residence, function and momentum in the divine dynasphere. Why? Because recovery is only the first stage. Then you must learn the doctrine, the problem-solving devices so that you can continue your momentum inside the divine dynasphere.

That is what we have in the beginning of Ephesians 4:23 when it says: “Then become renewed, reinvigorated, refreshed” .And what is the agency of this? We have the instrumental of agency from two words. First we have the definite article toi and, secondly, we have the noun pneuma. And the definite article in the Greek is used for a proper name. It is actually a reference here to God the Holy Spirit. Now pneuma refers to the Holy Spirit and remember the instrumental of agency expresses a personal agent rather than personal means. Hence the instrumental of agency refers to God the Holy Spirit who provides the enabling power for the perception, metabolisation and application of doctrine. “Then become reinvigorated by means of the Spirit.” Ephesians 4:23 gives us how we are going to make a recovery. This is a reference to the filling of the Holy Spirit which only occurs when we are living inside the divine dynasphere.

The filling of the Spirit only occurs when we are living in the operational type divine dynasphere. Two results of life in the divine dynasphere: first of all the filling of the Spirit which is the availability of the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit to execute the protocol plan of God for the Church Age, and secondly, the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit, as per Romans 8:16, and the actual teaching ministry was actually prophesied by our Lord Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the hypostatic union, taught in John 14:26 and again in John 16:12-14, and again in 1 Corinthians 2:9-16.

The three Rs of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation

.… or how we assimilate the Word of God, how we learn the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol

plan, how we learn the ten unique factors of the protocol plan and how we learn to apply these things to our lives so that we can have maximum happiness and blessing in this life.

1. Reception.

This is hearing whomever is your right pastor teach the mystery doctrine of the Church Age and other categories of Bible doctrine.

2. Retention.

This is the metabolisation of Bible doctrine.

3. Recall.

This is the application of Bible doctrine to experience.

Basically, then, there are three systems of human perception. Two are meritorious, depending on human IQ and one is non-meritorious, depending on spiritual IQ. Remember that IQ means intelligence quotient. It is the number assigned to a person on the basis of dividing his mental age by his chronological age. The mental age is determined by testing; the chronological age is determined by birth. The result is multiplied by one hundred to eliminate decimals. Generally the cut-off date for IQ testing is between 14 and 15 years of age. The principle, however: human IQ is not a factor in the perception of Bible doctrine for God in His grace policy has provided a system of spiritual IQ based on the filling of the Spirit inside the divine dynasphere.

Under the principle of grace IQ for the royal family of God [GAP] a believer with a low IQ can learn the whole realm of Bible doctrine and execute God’s plan and God’s purpose for his life. Whereas the believer with a genius IQ who is negative toward doctrine and has entered into implode, explode or revert, becomes a loser because he fails to utilise this grace apparatus of perception inside the divine dynasphere. Human IQ is no handicap in the execution of the protocol plan of God. Since it calls for perception of doctrine God has found a way in His grace policy to provide perception apart from any handicap that might occur from human IQ.

Actually, then, there are three systems of human perception, rationalism, empiricism and faith. Rationalism is a meritorious system of perception depending on human IQ. Under rationalism reason is the source of knowledge, superior to and independent of any sensory system of perception. Reason is the norm and criterion for perception under rationalism.

Empiricism also is a meritorious system of perception depending on human IQ. Empiricism is learning by observation and experimentation. Reality and empirical knowledge depends on the sensory system relying on observation from the frontal lobes.

Faith, on the other hand, is a non-meritorious system of perception which depends on God’s grace provision for post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.

In rationalism and empiricism the subject has merit in perception. That merit is human IQ but in faith God’s grace policy has provided both the means and the object of perception. The means of perception is the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit inside the divine dynasphere. The object of perception is basically the mystery doctrine of the Church Age taught by the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. However, other areas of Bible doctrine are also included.

Faith perception, then, is the believer understanding Bible doctrine academically and believing it. He believes what he has previously understood academically and under the filling of the Spirit, then, it is metabolised into the right lobe. Faith perception is the means by which God the Holy Spirit uses His omnipotence in order to convert gnwsij doctrine in the left lobe to e)pignwsij in the right lobe. So faith perception is the means of metabolising doctrine, while faith-rest is the means of application of that doctrine. We have faith at both ends, faith perception and the faith-rest drill.

1 Corinthians 2:4-16 — “Both my doctrine and my preaching were not in the persuasive words of wisdom [primarily a reference to Greek wisdom, to the sophistry of the past — platonism, etc.], but in a demonstration of the Spirit and his omnipotence:

“That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men [not based on human IQ], but in the power of God.

“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature [winners, invisible heroes, even people who have attained spiritual self-esteem and spiritual autonomy as well as spiritual maturity]: a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the leaders of this world, who are fading out [the leaders of this world have plans which come and go]:

“But we communicate wisdom from God in a mystery which has been concealed [the mystery doctrine of the Church Age was not revealed previously to the Old Testament writers], which God pre-destined before the ages for our glory:

“The wisdom which none of the rulers of this world have understood: for if they had understood [but they did not] they would not have crucified the Lord of glory [a title of Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory]

But as it stands written, Things which the eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard [doctrine understood from a system of perception called empiricism].”

And Bible doctrine which has not entered into the right lobe of mankind [a reference to rationalism],

What things God has prepared for those who love him [loving God is a matter of two problem-solving devices. Personal love for God the Father is the motivational virtue of the protocol plan of God. And the occupation with the person of Jesus Christ is the ultimate problem-solving device. Both are in view here.]

“But to us [Church Age believers under doctrinal teaching, living inside the divine dynasphere] God has revealed them through the Spirit: for the spirit [human spirit — the Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit] investigates all things [investigates that spiritual phenomena called pneumatikoj] even the deep things of God [once we have a human spirit we are then able to investigate the deep things of God, the absolutes].

“For who among mankind understands the things of mankind except the spirit [human life] which is in him? even so the things of God no one has known [the unbeliever is incapable of understanding Bible doctrine, he is spiritually dead] except the Spirit of God [the Spirit of God makes these things understandable].

“Now we have not received the world’s frame of reference [human IQ for perception], but the Spirit who is from God [the Holy Spirit]; that we might know the things that have been graciously been given to us by God.

“Which things we also communicate, not by teaching doctrine from the source of man’s wisdom, but by teaching of the Spirit; explaining spiritual truth to a spiritual apparatus.

“But the soulish man [ yuxikoj, the dichotomous unbeliever] does not receive [or accept] spiritual phenomena from the Spirit of God: for to him it is foolishness; furthermore, he is not able to understand spiritual phenomena because it is discerned in a manner caused by the filling of the Spirit.

“But the spiritual man [the believer residing inside the divine dynasphere, the place of the filling of the Spirit] discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one [in this dispensation, under the privacy of the priesthood, you live your life as unto the Lord. What your real spiritual status quo is known only by the Lord].

“For who has known the thinking of the Lord that he should instruct him? But we have the thinking of Christ [Bible doctrine is the thinking of Christ].”

The grace provision for the perception of Bible doctrine

1. The formation and the preservation of the New Testament canon which contains the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, that is a grace provision.

God the Holy Spirit so directed the human writers of the New Testament canon that without waiving their thoughts, their personality, there vocabulary and other human factors in their written expression, His complete and connected thought toward man was recorded in the original languages of scripture. [That means that Bible doctrine is absolute. That means that whenever a principle of doctrine is taught it is from God; it is an absolute, and whenever an application is given in relationship to that principle that is an absolute application.]

2. The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit available inside the divine dynasphere enabling us to understand [spiritual IQ, grace IQ] the mechanics for the execution of the protocol plan of God for the Church Age.

3. The divine plan for the Church. Hence, the protocol plan of God for the royal family of God.

4. A right pastor for the communication of Bible doctrine.

5. The privacy of the royal priesthood for the perception of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age as the means of executing the protocol plan of God.

6. Logistical grace support by which every member of the royal family of God is kept alive under equal privilege and equal opportunity for the execution of the protocol plan. Remember that logistical grace deals with the holiness of God, His justice and His righteousness.

7. Spiritual freedom which must be distinguished from human freedom. Human freedom is for believer and unbeliever alike. Human freedom goes with the function of man’s self-determination and it has certain principles such as the sacredness of privacy, the sacredness of property and life, a system of laws [establishment] by which it functions.

For those who believe in Jesus Christ there is a spiritual freedom inside the divine dynasphere. Inside the divine dynasphere we have spiritual freedom; outside of the divine dynasphere in some parts of the world there is human freedom, but there are places where there is no freedom. Nevertheless, a person can believe in Christ and in the freedom of the divine dynasphere he can grow in grace, and there we have spiritual freedom. Spiritual freedom inside the divine dynasphere is designed for His glorification and God is glorified when we fulfil the protocol plan of God through the advance to spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy and spiritual maturity.

8. The divine provision of a classroom — the local church or its equivalent for the perception of Bible doctrine under the privacy of the priesthood inside the divine dynasphere.

Ephesians 4:23 — “Then become invigorated by means of the Spirit …” Now this is not the way we have the translation in the King James version. But the word “Spirit” is here a reference to God the Holy Spirit. Though there are six or eight different meanings for pneuma this is the instrumental of agency and it expresses a personal agent rather than impersonal means. And because it is a personal agent it refers to the Holy Spirit who provides the enabling power for perception. Human IQ is not the issue here but spiritual IQ. This also means that we must come under grace IQ rather then human IQ.

Principles

1. Learning is understanding; thinking is application.

2. Learning Bible doctrine is understanding Bible doctrine but thinking Bible doctrine is application. It is one thing to learn, it is another thing to think in the realm of what you have learned.

3. You have to learn Bible doctrine before you can think or apply Bible doctrine.

4. Therefore, operation Z precedes the application of Bible doctrine to experience.

5. There are actually three principles in the utilisation of Bible doctrine: a. Perception and metabolisation of doctrine, learning and understanding; b. Application of doctrine which is thinking Bible doctrine after you have learned it; c. Solving the problems of life, understanding the mechanics and utilising the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

6. Application of Bible doctrine is the result of these three principles.

There are three words which are found at the end of this verse, tou nouj u(mwn. We note the ablative of means from the noun nouj. The word nous has several related meanings. First of all it means the mind or the intellect and in that sense we often refer to it as the left lobe. The left lobe is where the human being has academic understanding of things. Secondly, nouj refers to the mind as the faculty for thinking, and as such means the application of doctrine to life. Thirdly, the word means the mind as a way of thinking and, therefore, mental attitude in life. And, fourth, it refers to the mind as a seat of thought and therefore the basis for our opinion. We should translate it: “by means of your thinking.”

Occasionally the ablative of means is used to indicate impersonal means utilised in fulfilling or producing the action of the verb. That is exactly what we have here. You see, we have already had the genitive of agent or ablative of agent “by means of the Spirit.” Now we are going to see a little change. Agency is the issue in “by means of the Holy Spirit.”

The word pneuma is in the instrumental of agency in contrast here to the ablative of means. The instrumental of agency expresses a personal agent. Therefore, when we translate it “by means of the Spirit” we note it as God the Holy Spirit, instrumental of agency, God the Holy Spirit who teaches the believer’s human spirit Bible doctrine. So in that phrase “by means of the Spirit” we have the learning of Bible doctrine which refers basically to perception and metabolisation. The Holy Spirit also converts gnwsij into e)pignwsij. That is the process of learning or understanding.

“by means of your thinking.” Thinkingis perception and metabolisation of doctrine applied. Thinking, then, is the application of doctrine, the utilisation of the ten problem-solving devices, and it has to be your thinking.

Concept application

1. Learning is understanding and understanding is thinking. Therefore, thinking is the application of understanding.

2. Learning Bible doctrine is understanding Bible doctrine. However, thinking Bible doctrine is the application. Learning is one thing but don’t forget the second step, thinking doctrine. (You cannot think what you have not learned)

3. You have to learn Bible doctrine before you can think Bible doctrine.

4. You have to think Bible doctrine before you can apply it. Therefore no believer can apply Bible doctrine until he can think in terms of doctrine.

5. Operation Z precedes the application of doctrine to experience.

6. There are three concepts in the utilisation of Bible doctrine. a. Learning — perception and metabolisation of Bible doctrine, tantamount to learning and understanding; b. The application of doctrine (thinking); c. Solving the problems of life through understanding and utilisation of the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan.

7. By way of summary: There are three concepts involved in the application of doctrine. a. Learning; b. Thinking (application); c. Problem-solving (using the mechanical devices) from your own royal priesthood.

“by means of your thinking.” Whenit comes to application in any subject it is a matter of thinking. You cannot think in a subject unless you understand it. To understand it you must know technical words.

By learning something from the Bible every day you can develop the capacity for application to your own experience. You can’t stop with simply learning doctrine, you must learn to think doctrine in your daily life.

Grace provision for the perception of Bible doctrine

1. The formation and the preservation of the New Testament canon which contains the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Therefore, it is the royal family of God textbook; it is the textbook for the execution of the divine plan, the divine will, the divine purpose for our lives in this Church Age.

2. The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit available inside the divine dynasphere, providing us with a spiritual IQ no matter what our human IQ is.

3. The divine plan for the Church. It is the protocol plan because the Church is royal family. Therefore, God’s plan, will and purpose for us is stated in terms of theological protocol.

4. God has provided in grace a right pastor for the communication of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.

5. The privacy of your royal priesthood. You must have privacy to learn so that doctrine can be learned with objectivity.

6. Logistical grace support by which every member of the royal family of God is kept alive under equal privilege and equal opportunity.

7. Spiritual freedom inside the divine dynasphere for the glorification of God through the execution of His plan. (That is important because there could be times when you do not have human freedom, yet people who are saved can still execute God’s plan inside the divine dynasphere) The only way your spiritual freedom can be taken from you is when you no longer have the ability to think.

The application of Bible doctrine always has a direction. In fact there are three directions: a. Toward God. That includes everything from worship to personal love for God the Father and occupation with the person of Christ; b. Toward people. This demands impersonal love for all mankind; c. Toward self — spiritual self-esteem.

The importance of Bible doctrine

1. Doctrine is important because it is related to who and what God is. It is the study of the attributes of God — Psalm 33:4. “For the word of the Lord is integrity [Justice plus righteousness equals holiness] and all his provision [logistical grace] is in faithfulness.” God is faithful to us because we have +R; because God the Father is faithful to God the Son and God the Son indwells us; God the Father is faithful to God the Holy Spirit and God the Holy Spirit indwells us.

2. Doctrine is the basis for all true worship — Psalm 138:2. “I myself will worship toward your holy temple, And praise your person [On what basis can we praise God? You have to know something about God and you have to be able to think — the application of divine essence to your experience] for your grace and doctrine. For you have magnified your doctrine above your person.” Does this mean that doctrine is greater than God? Absolutely not. It means that the only way you can understand God and make application is to put doctrine first in your life, for doctrine tells you all about God.

3. By comparing Luke 23:46 in which our Lord said on the cross: “Into your hands I deposit my spirit,” with Psalm 31:5 we have what is not recorded in Luke: “Into your hands I deposit my spirit: For you have delivered me, O Lord, God of doctrine.” Once again we see doctrine is associated with God. We can’t understand God apart from doctrine. And we have to learn before we can apply. The order is learning, thinking, solving.

4. We have a question in Romans 3:3 — “Shall their unbelief cancel the faithfulness of God?” The answer is given in Romans 3:4 — definitely not. “Moreover, let God continue faithful even though every man is a liar [The point is that God only deals with us in truth. God never lies to us. Therefore all faithfulness is based on truth] even as it stands written, That you might be vindicated by your doctrine, and that you might prevail when you are maligned.” You can malign Bible doctrine, you can malign the truth, but you can’t destroy it. Bible doctrine is maligned in two ways: distortion [false teaching] and ignorance.

Proverbs 8

Verse 1 — “Does not wisdom call.” The word for wisdom here is chakmah, it is the equivalent of the Greek sofia and it refers to the application of e)pignwsij doctrine or metabolised doctrine to experience. Chakmah is epignwsij. Wisdom calling is the application of doctrine to experience; “and understanding lift up her voice?”

Verse 2 — “On top of the high places on the street [doctrine was taught in city auditoriums], At intersections she takes a stand.” The doctrine was taught outdoors in those days at places where people gathered. “She” refers to Bible doctrine.

Verse 3 — “Beside the gates leading to the city, At the entrance she communicates aloud.” They often had small auditoriums at the gates of cities.

Verse 4 — “To you, mankind, I call; And my voice [communication of doctrine] is to all mankind.”

Verse 5 — “You who are ignorant, learn doctrine [learning, of course, must precede thinking]; You who are fools [referring to negative volition], learn the importance of understanding [the importance of application of doctrine].”

Verse 6 — “Hear [qal imperative from shamah. You have to hear, concentrate, listen], for I [doctrine] speak noble things; And the communication of my lips is virtue.”

Verse 7 — “For my mouth [the personification of doctrine] communicates truth; For my lips detest evil.”

Verse 8 — “All the words of my communication are integrity; Nothing is twisted or perverted in them.” [Twisting and reversion refers to false application of doctrine or misunderstanding of doctrine or the heresies that are passed for doctrine. If you are twisted in your understanding you are perverted in your thinking. If you are twisted in learning you are perverted in application.]

Verse 9 — “To those who understand [the hiphil participle of the verb bin, causative active voice, which means we are caused to understand. This is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.] they are all to the point, And perspicuous to those who have obtained knowledge [the qal active participle of the verb matsa — to find]”.

Verse 10 — “ Seize [laqach — to seize or to grab] my instruction, rather than silver [a matter of priorities]; And learning doctrine rather than choice gold.”

Verse 11 — “For wisdom is better than precious gems; And all desirable things cannot be compared with her [doctrine].”

The results of doctrine

Verse 12 — “I wisdom have a lifestyle [once you begin to apply doctrine (thinking doctrine. Once there is understanding then there is thinking) that develops a lifestyle] of prudence [amarmar, the ability to regulate and discipline one’s self to the exercise of reason and common sense. Reason is learning the principles and common sense is the application of it]. I find [or discover] knowledge and discernment [knowledge is understanding of doctrine; discernment is thinking or application of doctrine].”

Verse 13 — “To respect the Lord is to hate evil: I [doctrine] hate arrogance and pride, and perverted speech.”

Verse 14 — “Counsel and sound judgement belong to me [Note: You are not counselled by someone on the outside; you learn doctrine and a part of the application is to self. We apply doctrine toward God, toward people and toward self]: I have understanding and power [understanding is the noun binah, metabolised doctrine. Power — giborah, (strong and intrepid of soul) means application of doctrine].”

Verse 15 — “By me [Bible doctrine and the laws of divine establishment] kings rule [ruling is an application], And rulers make just laws [Application of establishment principles].”

Verse 16 — “By me princes govern, And all honourable judges of the land.”

Verse 17 — “I [doctrine] love those who love me [for doctrine to love you, learning it and understanding it isn’t enough; it is understanding it and thinking doctrine or learning and applying doctrine. You begin to love doctrine, not by learning it, but by applying it. Love is an application of knowledge.]; And those who diligently seek me [the piel participle of shachar. The piel is the intensive stem and it means concentration. You learn by concentration but you also apply doctrine through concentration.] will find me.”

Verse 18 — “With me are riches and honour [escrow blessings for time]; Enduring wealth and prosperity [escrow blessings for the eternal state].”

Verse 19 — “My fruit [production] is better than pure and fine gold; And my profit better than the choicest silver.”

Verse 20 — “I walk in the way of righteousness, along the path of virtue:”

Verse 21 — “To give an inheritance [the hiphil infinitive construct from the verb nachal, to cause to inherit] to those who love me [doctrine], And I will make their treasuries full.”

The dynamics of metabolised doctrine

Verse 22 — “The Lord possessed me [doctrine] at the beginning of his work, Before his deeds of old [in other words, doctrine was in the mind of God before the creation of the universe]”

Verse 23 — “From eternity past I was established [the piel perfect of the verb nasak — I was poured in a mould. Established categorically would be a better translation. God thinks categorically! Absolute truth lends itself to categorical thinking; relative truth does not.] from the foundation of the earth.”

Verse 24 — “When there were no oceans, I [doctrine] was already formed; When as yet there were no springs abounding with water.”

Verse 25 — “Before the mountains were settled in place, Before the hills I [doctrine] was formed categorically:”

Verse 26 — “Before he made planet earth, or its fields, Or the sum total of the dust of the earth.”

Verse 27 — “When he established the heavens, I was there: When he marked out a horizon on the face of the deep:”

Verse 28 — “When he made the skies above: When he restrained the fountains of the deep:”

Verse 29 — “When he set the sea in its boundary, So that the water would not overflow his mandate: When he marked out the foundations of the earth:”

Verse 30 — “The I [Bible doctrine] was with him, as a designer of the work [creation]: Rejoicing always in his presence [Bible doctrine perceived, metabolised, applied is the true source of happiness in the devil’s world];

Verse 31 — “rejoicing in the world, his earth; And having my delight in the human race.”

Verse 32 — “Now therefore, human race, listen to me: Blessed [ashere — happiness] are those who guard my ways [the ways of doctrine].”

You have to start with understanding

Verse 33 — “Hear instruction [understanding doctrine] and become wise [thinking doctrine and/or application of doctrine], Do not neglect it.”

Verse 34 — “Blessed [happiness] is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates [the place of assembly worship], Waiting at my doors [when you really like it you wait for the doors to open].”

Verse 35 — “For he who finds me [doctrine] finds capacity for life [But remember: capacity for life is not just learning doctrine, it is application of doctrine], And obtains grace from the Lord.”

Verse 36 — “But he who misses me [Bible doctrine] injures himself: All who hate me [Bible doctrine] love the sin unto death.”

The mandates for the application of doctrine are found also in Romans 12 Verse 2 — “Stop being conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renovation of your thought [renovation of thought is necessary for correct application of Bible doctrine to experience], that you may prove what the will of God is, the good [of intrinsic value achievement, the execution of the protocol plan of God through the various categories of thinking, i.e. concentration on doctrine, perception of doctrine, metabolisation of doctrine and application of doctrine] acceptable [glorification of God through the execution of His plan, purpose and will, and the subsequent distribution of your escrow blessings for time] and perfect will of God.”

Verse 3 — “For I say through the grace which has been given to me, to every one who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance [arrogance hinders application] beyond which you ought to think; but think in terms of sanity for the purpose of being rational without illusion, as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from doctrine.” A standard of thinking is the basis of application; a standard of thinking from doctrine is the application of doctrine to experience.

The principle is that arrogance is the greatest enemy of perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine.

Complaining: An illustration of lack of Bible doctrine to living

The disoriented believer has failed to learn Bible doctrine and obviously, then, he has failed to make its application. You cannot apply what you do not know.

Constant complaining, of course, is disorientation to life, and among believers a manifestation of malfunction in the area of application of doctrine. Complaining is a false application to life, totally inconsistent with God’s plan, God’s purpose and God’s will for our lives under His protocol plan. As a matter of fact complaining is a contradiction to the protocol plan of God. It is often a reflection of a very sour mental attitude, the application of irritated arrogance to things both small and great. It means failure in one or two categories or both — failure to learn Bible doctrine and failure to apply Bible doctrine. Complaining can also mean a failure to understand and utilise the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan.

Complaining becomes a habit of human viewpoint about life, hence the elimination of divine viewpoint as expressed through both promises and doctrine. Application of doctrine will shut down complaining. The thought that causes one to complain is false application, and the thought that gives strength and blessing in every situation in life is a basis for victory on that battlefield. Thinking, then, is either the application of Bible doctrine to life or the application of arrogance, ignorance, irritation. Therefore the battleground of the soul must be dominated by divine viewpoint thinking.

Divine viewpoint thinking requires three functions: a. Learning, the inculcation of Bible doctrine through the perception and metabolisation of the Word; b. Thinking, the application of Bible doctrine to experience; c. Solving, understanding and using the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

The believer can only win the battle of thinking through these three factors which provide the dominance of divine viewpoint in the soul. This will eliminate the false applications to life, which include complaining, griping, harping, grumbling, etc. The sooner the believer attains spiritual self-esteem the sooner complaining will be replaced by divine viewpoint of life — unless it is a carry-over from a bad habit.

The Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, understood the principle of thinking: “Our life is what our thoughts make it.”

The real “you” is the thought content of the soul.

Spiritual self-esteem

Spiritual self-esteem is the beginning of contentment or happiness from God. Contentment or happiness from God is one of the problem-solving devices. It is sharing the happiness of God. Contentment, therefore, is tantamount to capacity for happiness, capacity for tranquillity of soul under every circumstance of life.

In 2 Corinthians 12:10 we read: “For this reason I find contentment (he has +H or he is now sharing the happiness of God) in weakness, in slanders, in pressures, in persecutions, in stresses on behalf of Christ: for when I am weak, then I am strong.” That means that spiritual self-esteem is characterised by the beginning of contentment. But it also means something else: “When I am weak, then I am strong” means that the believer with spiritual self-esteem has grace orientation, doctrinal orientation, and he begins to have a magnificent personal sense of destiny.

Spiritual self-esteem is characterised by mental stability, correct and accurate application of metabolised doctrine to both adversity and prosperity. Mental stability is renovation of thought (Romans 12:2) and it is also the basis for application of doctrine. Romans 12:3 — When you reach spiritual self-esteem you no longer think of self in terms of arrogance. He has a standard of thinking from doctrine.

Another characteristic of spiritual self-esteem is composure marked by self-assurance. This is based on correct and accurate application of metabolised doctrine.

Grace orientation in life is another characteristic of self-esteem. Again it is based on correct and accurate application of grace principles to life without distorting them. And the soul with Bible doctrine is now the master of the body. The body, then, is the slave to the soul so that divine energy is concentrated and converted into spiritual momentum. That is what happens at the point of spiritual self-esteem.

Then there is doctrinal orientation to reality — the fifth characteristic of spiritual self-esteem — the maintenance of humility, the avoidance of inordinate ambition and inordinate competition, the development of spiritual common sense, the development of spiritual independence and with it even a sense of humour.

The sixth characteristic, good decisions from a position of strength. This is based upon divine viewpoint thinking and motivation from personal love for God at gate five of the divine dynasphere.

The seventh characteristic, the beginning of personal control of your life. That is spiritual independence with maximum utilisation of your very own royal priesthood.

The eighth characteristic, the fact that is it able to use all of the problem-solving devices. Spiritual self-esteem solves your own problems of inadequacy, your own problems of fear, your own emotional problems, your own personality identity, your own niche orientation.

The ninth characteristic, spiritual self-esteem is the beginning of a personal sense of destiny. It is the first stage of spiritual adulthood and it is generally characterised by beginning to realise that you have a personal sense of destiny and that you have an important place in history as an invisible hero.

The tenth characteristic, epistemological rehabilitation. Post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation is synonymous with perception, metabolisation and application of doctrine. It means learning doctrine after salvation, learning and applying doctrine so in the privacy of your priesthood you eventually attain spiritual adulthood.

The eleventh characteristic, the believer is in command of himself. This includes the believer’s self-control, self-restraint, poise, self-regulation in the concepts of spiritual self-esteem. You cannot accurately communicate with others unless you have command of yourself. All successful relationships in life are based upon good communication and command of self.

The twelfth characteristic, a new attitude toward life. Personal love for God reverses all priorities of life, giving you a new mental attitude, a new scale of values. Entering into spiritual adulthood or spiritual self-esteem causes personal love for God and you now begin to think in terms of occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. The believer with spiritual self-esteem makes his own application of doctrine to experience.

The thirteenth characteristic, the believer in spiritual self-esteem is now qualified to face providential preventative suffering. This advances him to spiritual adulthood. This is the whole story of suffering for blessing.

There are three stages of spiritual adulthood: spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual maturity. Each one of these stages of spiritual adulthood is related to a system of suffering for blessing and that system of suffering for blessing is a test which you must pass to advance to the next stage.

There are three categories, then, of suffering for blessing: providential preventative suffering, momentum testing, and evidence testing. Each stage of spiritual adulthood is attained through the administration of suffering for blessing. In spiritual self-esteem you have providential preventative suffering. This is the first category of suffering for blessing. And again, then, you need Ephesians 4:23 for you can only pass providential preventative suffering in its four stages by means of the Spirit, by means of your thinking.

When you reach spiritual autonomy by passing providential preventative suffering you have to face momentum testing. And that comes in four categories and your ability to pass momentum testing depends again on the phrase of Ephesians 4:23 — “Then become renewed by means of the Spirit by means of your thinking.”

Then finally there is spiritual maturity and in spiritual maturity there is the ultimate in suffering for blessing called evidence testing. This category of suffering glorifies God to the maximum once we pass it.

Principle: No believer can pass a given category of suffering for blessing unless he has understood and acted upon the phrase found in Ephesians 4:23. It requires renewal, refreshment, reinvigoration.

No believer can pass providential preventative suffering without first attaining spiritual self-esteem. Why? Because spiritual self-esteem qualifies you to apply Bible doctrine to that magnificent blessing from God — suffering for blessing called providential preventative suffering.

Furthermore, no believer can pass momentum testing without first of all attaining spiritual autonomy. Why? Because in spiritual autonomy you have that mastery of the ten problem-solving devices that makes it possible for you to face each category in momentum testing, all four categories, and to pass them. Therefore, only spiritual self-esteem is qualified to pass providential preventative suffering and only spiritual autonomy is qualified to pass momentum testing. And then of course there is spiritual maturity, and that qualifies you to pass evidence testing. Therefore, the final characteristic of spiritual self-esteem is the ability to pass providential preventative suffering and to advance to the next stage. Here is the importance of application of Bible doctrine. But remember, no application without perception.

The fourteenth characteristic of spiritual self-esteem is characterised by that phase of the unique life known as “Christ being formed in you.” When you reach that stage it is the fulfilment of Galatians 4:19 — “My little children, I am sweating you out until Christ is formed in you.” This relates the believer’s self-esteem to the self-esteem of the humanity of Christ in the prototype divine dynasphere. This explains John 12:26 — “If anyone serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, [Where is Jesus Christ? He was in the prototype divine dynasphere] there shall my servant also be [the operational type divine dynasphere]: if any one serves me, the Father will honour him.” That is a prophecy that believers who advance to spiritual self-esteem are going to be honoured by the Father. Epistemological rehabilitation is, therefore, only the beginning. It is the application that becomes so important. These are characteristics of spiritual self-esteem.

Philippians 1:20 — “On the basis of my confident expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but with all boldness Christ shall even now as always be exalted in my body, whether by life, or by death.”

And then the verse that covers application of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age to our experience: Verse 21 “For me living is Christ, and dying is profit.”

This application has to be noted under two concepts: First of all “living is Christ” where many hundreds and even thousands of positive decisions are made with regard to assembling to hear doctrine, then perception through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, metabolisation through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and application through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. All of this brings us to “living is Christ.” We make the decisions.

However when it says “dying is profit” there is application, for we have to remember that the time, the manner, and the place of your dying is the decision of God. Our decisions have everything to do with living; God’s decision has everything to do with dying. Both categories have a panoramic application of our experience from the time that we believe in Christ until the time that we arrive in heaven — absent from the body and face to face with the Lord, in a place of no more sorrow, no more tears, no more pain, no more death, the old things have passed away.

Occupation with Christ is the ultimate problem-solving device. It is the priority solution of the protocol plan. The application of Bible doctrine in this area of “for me living is Christ” includes, first of all, learning. We have to learn the ten problem-solving devices, we have to metabolise the mechanics and then actually utilise them on a day by day basis. So we start by learning and metabolising the tenth problem-solving device which is occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. Once we have understood the mechanics the application comes in thinking. There are many experiences in life where the application of thinking occupation with Christ is very important. It is very definitely the manner in which we handle stress.

We handle stress with the first problem-solving device which is the rebound technique. But the rebound technique is because of failure to handle stress and therefore the necessity of rebound and recovering the filling of the Spirit. Once we recover the filling of God the Holy Spirit we are now able to begin to utilise again certain promises which relate to the stresses of life. And then after the faith-rest drill and we gradually work our way back into doctrinal orientation and with it grace orientation. Grace orientation becomes a major factor in motivating us to continue. And our motivation, then, takes us to the highest form of motivation in this life — personal love for God the Father. This requires a tremendous amount of perception and metabolisation of doctrine, a lot of exposure to Christology and all that it means. And with that, of course, our portfolio of invisible assets and all of the things that God the Father provided for us in eternity past.

And then we move on to impersonal love for all mankind for a certain amount of stress is related to people. And once we have personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind, we have reached that point which is spiritual self-esteem. But once we have reached that point we have to move on for spiritual self-esteem is also the beginning of +H or sharing the happiness of God and finding that happiness is not related to things or people or social situations or marriage, or all of the other fallacies in our thinking, but that it is related to occupation with the person of Christ. Now we are approaching that magnificent problem-solving device, the one problem-solving device that removes all stress in life. And with that a personal sense of destiny.

Now we are ready to understand what Paul meant when he said: “For me, living is Christ.” Occupation with Christ is the tenth problem-solving device, the ultimate in the application of Bible doctrine. We make a lot of good decisions resulting in application with Christ but remember that God makes the decision on which we utilise every one of the problem-solving devices to fulfil the last part of Philippians 1:21, for dying is profit to the believer who follows this particular pattern.

Occupation with Christ is a problem-solving device as well as a basis for worship. Occupation with Christ is, one of the three problem-solving devices which is related to virtue love. Problem-solving device number six — personal love for God the Father — is our motivation for continuing our momentum in the protocol plan. Problem-solving device number seven is the only way that we will successfully interact with people in life, for impersonal love for all mankind is the ultimate virtue related to people relationship. By functional virtue, of course, we have interaction with mankind. But then there is problem-solving device number ten — occupation with Christ — which is not only the priority solution in relationship with God and relationship with people, but also it is the priority answer to all of the personal problems related to self.

All three of these problem-solving devices begin at spiritual self-esteem. They continue in spiritual autonomy and they reach their peak in spiritual maturity. All three of the love problem-solving devices are fulfilled in 1 Corinthians 13:13 which says: “Now abides (or continues) faith (reference to the faith-rest drill, your ability to claim the promises of God under pressure and adversity — and under prosperity), hope (our confidence, the beginning of that problem-solving device of a personal sense of destiny, the confidence we have in God), and virtue-love [three categories of problem-solving devices, and so they are called, “these three"], these three; but the greatest of these is virtue-love.” Virtue-love includes, of course, occupation with the person of Jesus Christ.

This is because each stage of spiritual adulthood is related to maximum effectiveness in the function of perception and metabolisation of doctrine. Spiritual self-esteem is where we begin to develop the ability to concentrate, to realise that more than one subject in the Bible is important. We have a tendency to focus only on the subject that relates to what it happening to us at the moment. If we are under some form of adversity, if we are in some form of stress, if we have a problem, we are only interested in what the Bible has to say about our problem. But once you reach spiritual self-esteem you find that concentration on every subject is the priority of the moment, and you do concentrate, and you do spend time listening carefully, and you do find it interesting even though it is not a subject you are using at the moment in your life. So spiritual self-esteem begins cognitive self-confidence.

And then when you have passed providential preventative suffering, one of the three areas of suffering for blessing, then you reach spiritual autonomy. And by that time your occupation with the person of Christ and all of the functions of the problem-solving devices have accelerated to maximum mobility, and now you have cognitive independence. (By the way, in cognitive independence you never seek counsel from anyone else).

Finally, by passing momentum testing you reach spiritual maturity which is related to cognitive invincibility. This is the status of the invisible hero. This is the enviable status because there is no problem, no adversity, no difficulty in this life too great for what you have in your own soul. By now you have transferred so many principles, so many doctrines, so many verses, so many concepts into your own soul where they are metabolised that you can face instantly any adversity, any problem, or above all the fantastic blessings in prosperity that come to you in spiritual adulthood. For it takes scripture and problem-solving devices to handle prosperity. Prosperity can become just as much of a distraction as adversity, and because this is true and because prosperity and adversity are antithetical we often think that problem-solving devices are designed only for times of adversity and heartache and trouble. But they are designed for prosperity as well.

There is no greater illustration of this than occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. And so in Ephesians 3:19 we have the phrase, “and to come to know the love for Christ.” This implies that occupation with Christ is the result of a lot of exposure to Bible doctrine, and not only exposure but perception and metabolisation so that we are in a position to start making application. Occupation with Christ results in maximum function of continuing in the Christian life and handling the prosperity as well as the adversity. By definition, then, occupation with Christ is defined as personal love for God the Son, but personal love which only comes from the assimilation of pertinent Bible doctrine. Therefore, post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation in the field of Christology. And as we learn more and more about the Lord and as we come to know Him better our love increases. And with the increase of our love there is a co-ordination between the last five problem-solving devices. They all begin to fall into place. So we have 1 Corinthians 2:16 in which we begin to think as our Lord thought as He was on earth during the first advent.

What is the thinking of Christ? Specifically it is the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Having the thinking of Christ is designed to lead us to the point where we understand the thinking of Christ. Perception, metabolisation of Bible doctrine results in application of doctrine. As under perception and metabolisation we learn about Christ, under application we learn how the Lord thinks. And that becomes a major issue in our lives for we can in spiritual adulthood, spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, spiritual maturity, come to know how the Lord thinks. But we cannot know how the Lord thinks by merely understanding the doctrine. We must be able to make application.

In Philippians 2:1,2 we have a protasis of a first class condition — “Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ [What is encouragement in Christ? Occupation with Christ. Occupation with Christ comes with spiritual adulthood and it means that eventually we come to know how He thinks.] and there is, if there is any comfort from love, if any fellowship with the Spirit and there is, if there is any affection and mercies … “

Is there such a thing as affection? Is there such a thing as mercy toward people? Yes there is. Where does it begin? With a problem-solving device called grace orientation (problem-solving device number 5).

“Comfort from love” is the use of virtue-love in its various aspects of problem-solving. And it relates to God, and it relates to people, and it relates to self in spiritual self-esteem.

Verse 2 — “Bring to completion my happiness.” If we are ever going to understand the Lord’s thinking we have to understand the Lord’s happiness, and understanding the Lord’s happiness is possessing it, +H, sharing the happiness of God.

“that you might be thinking the same things” — thinking what the Lord is thinking, and thinking what the Lord is thinking is knowing the mind of Christ. And knowing the mind of Christ is perception, metabolisation and application of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. And then you have occupation with Christ.

“having the same virtue-love, united in soul, intent on one objective.” What is that one objective? Advancing to spiritual maturity, becoming an invisible hero, the execution of the protocol plan of God, and the glorification of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Learning doctrine is a grace function which must have as its final result Bible doctrine in the right lobe of the soul. The right lobe of the soul is called the heart. There are two things in the right lobe or the heart: first of all there is e)pignwsij doctrine, metabolised doctrine; secondly there is sofia which is wisdom, doctrine applied. E)pignwsij is the kind of doctrine you think, and when you think e)pignwsij you get wisdom. Wisdom is what you apply to your experience, if and when you ever get around to application of doctrine. This the whole point of the book of James: don’t be just a hearer of the Word but a doer. What is a doer? A doer is a believer who applies doctrine to experience. Listening is only a staging area; it is a means to an end. It is the application that counts.

In Bible doctrine we have sofia [wisdom] in the right lobe. It is the result of metabolisation of doctrine. The more you think doctrine the greater the possibility of having wisdom. The greater the amount of wisdom you possess the sooner you will be able to make personal application to all of your experiences, especially your adverse ones. All of this thinking takes place in the right lobe of the soul where there are eight compartments which help you.

The right lobe of the soul has first of all a frame of reference, and that is the area of retention of metabolised doctrine. After all metabolised doctrine is only helpful if you can retain it. And that is where you have a frame of reference. Furthermore, that frame of reference which starts with basic and simple things must become the basis for learning and metabolising more doctrine. Secondly, you have a memory centre in your right lobe. That is the place for the circulation of metabolised doctrine to the various areas of life. This would be the principle of recall. When you face a certain situation you have to be able to think under pressure, stress, adversity and even prosperity. Therefore, you have to have a memory centre for the circulation of metabolised doctrine. Then the third area is vocabulary storage, you learn technical words that cover paragraphs, e.g the divine decrees, the faith-rest technique, etc. In the right lobe of your soul you make your own dictionary. Part of learning Bible doctrine is to learn the meaning of technical words. With that you have categorical storage, a classification of Bible doctrine according to its subject matter. The fifth area is the conscience where perception and metabolisation of doctrine builds norms and standards. You go way beyond morality into norms and standards that have to do with the spiritual life — what is right and what is wrong. So all of your norms and standards and priorities are located in the right lobe’s conscience. The sixth category is the momentum department, mental areas of spiritual growth, especially from the two categories of Bible doctrine, e)pignwsij and sofia, metabolised doctrine and wisdom. This is the department where thinking becomes application to your own life and application to the situations that you face in life. And then the seventh category is the wisdom department where you launch from that launching pad application to every situation in life. Finally there is the subconscious which is the storage department for thoughts, impressions and even emotions which did not exist in the conscious mind or in the emotions of the soul.

There are four principles that we need to use to focus our attention on application of doctrine

1. The believer cannot think, apply Bible doctrine, or solve problems through the mind of another person. (You do not grow spiritually through counselling or getting advice from other people)

2. Emotion does not have the ability to think or to reason. It has no doctrinal content or common sense. Therefore emotion is not even the criterion for Christian experience. How you feel is not the issue; it is always, What does the Bible say? Eventually you must answer that for yourself through metabolised doctrine, through wisdom.

3. No believer can apply Bible doctrine to his own experience while he is in a state of fear, worry, anxiety, hatred, anger or other emotional sins.

4. Ignorance of Bible doctrine and the resultant failure of application of doctrine is a direct contradiction to the protocol plan of God.

The problem of emotion: Emotion produces sins. Neglect or rejection of Bible doctrine with its ten problem-solving devices results in many sins which are related to emotional result of the soul. Emotion is not a spiritual factor; it must be subordinate to what you are thinking.

We are talking about abnormal emotion which is sin. For example, fear is a sin. It is an emotional sin that includes worry and anxiety, all of which block thinking or application of Bible doctrine. Failure to think Bible doctrine is synonymous with inability to apply Bible doctrine to experience and this is where fear and courage are in combat, they are antithetical terms. Courage is the ability to think under stress and pressure while cowardice or fear is the domination of emotion under pressure or stress. The application of nothing to something is always nothing. You cannot apply emotion to the problems of life and ever come up with a solution. Emotion has no doctrinal content, no ability to reason, to think; it has no common sense. Therefore, fear is lack of thinking under stress and pressure. Fear is an emotional as well as an arrogant sin. Fear is the believer’s failure to apply doctrine to the problems of life. Fear, therefore, manufactures losers in the Christian way of life.

Normal emotional experience results in the subordination of the emotion to the intellect, but abnormal emotional experience produces emotional sins — not just fear, worry and anxiety, but hatred is an emotional sin just as is anger, violence and murder.

Fear is the believer’s failure to apply Bible doctrine to the problems of life. So the more things, then, you surrender to fear the more things you actually fear in your life. And the extent to which you surrender to fear the greater your capacity for fear, and the greater your capacity for fear the more you increase the power of fear in your life. The more things that acquire the power of fear in your life the greater your capacity for becoming a loser, because even if you have learned any doctrine you cannot apply it to your experience.

A loser, then, is the believer who fails to execute the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. Second Timothy chapter one puts it this way: “For God has not given to us a lifestyle of fear; but of power and virtue-love and sound judgement [which is also common sense in the application of Bible doctrine to experience].” Or 1 John 4:18 — “Fear does not exist in virtue-love: but virtue-love drives out fear, for fear causes punishment [self-induced and the three stages of divine discipline]; in fact the person who is afraid has not been matured by virtue-love.” Remember that virtue-love refers to three of the ten problem-solving devices, and these three are always for the believer who has attained spiritual adulthood. Virtue-love refers to personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind and occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. Fear hinders the application of Bible doctrine to experience even if you know the pertinent doctrine. Psalm 56:3 — “What time I am afraid I will trust in thee” — the faith-rest drill applied. The faith-rest drill is where we begin to make application of Bible doctrine.

The believer cannot think, apply doctrine, or solve problems in the following status quo

a. If he is out of fellowship he is quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit, so he cannot apply Bible doctrine. Whatever human viewpoint he has it reasserts itself in the cosmic system.

b. Through thinking or counselling from another person. You cannot think or apply doctrine when you are walking on crutches, i.e. depending on the counsel of someone else.

c. In a state of ignorance of doctrine. Again, nothing applied to something equals nothing. If you are ignorant of Bible doctrine it is obvious that you can’t apply what you do not know.

d. Failure to learn and apply the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

e. In a state of emotional revolt of the soul, the take-over of the emotional sins. Emotion can respond to doctrine but emotion can never apply doctrine.

Principles

1. God is perfect, His plan is perfect. Hence, perfect God has designed a perfect plan for imperfect Christians.

2. Therefore, God has implemented His perfect plan with problem-solving devices so that we as imperfect persons can fulfil that perfect plan.

3. Both arrogance and the sins of emotion are a contradiction to the protocol plan of God for the Church Age.

4. Only perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine can overcome our failures as believers.

The panoramic application of scripture, Philippians 1:20-21 — “On the basis of my confident expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but with all boldness Christ shall even now as always be exalted in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For me living is Christ, and dying is profit.”

When Paul says “For me living is Christ” that is the ultimate problem-solving device, occupation with Christ. It takes a tremendous number of decisions to reach that point. It takes a lot of positive volition, a lot of time logged in Bible class under the filling of the Holy Spirit so that you can concentrate on Bible doctrine. Then the grace process of perception begins, and it begins in the human spirit for the Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit. Then it continues in the soul for once the Holy Spirit teaches the human spirit then it automatically is transferred to the left lobe of the soul. But that isn’t good enough and it has to be metabolised. The ultimate is to come to the point where for you living is Christ. Thousands of decisions and applications are made to come to that point. One thing becomes obvious: your volition is involved. You have made x number of good decisions from a position of strength. And out of those decisions you have learned to think and in thinking you are applying Bible doctrine to your experience. So your volition is involved.

But when it says “dying is profit,” that is God’s decision. The reason that dying is profit is that you have made so many good decisions during your Christian life. You have learned doctrine, you have thought doctrine, you have functioned under perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine. Therefore you are prepared for dying, provided the Rapture doesn’t occur first. And when the moment of dying comes, no more decisions from you. Your dying will be profitable because you are occupied with the person of Jesus Christ. But the time, the place, and the manner of your death are God’s decisions.

“By means of your thinking” (Ephesians 4:23) is application of Bible doctrine to experience. Learning is understanding and understanding is thinking. Therefore thinking is application of understanding.

Principle: False application creates problems; true application solves problems.

Ignorance of Bible doctrine, of course, results in false application. Perception and metabolisation of doctrine paves the way for correct and accurate application of Bible doctrine to experience. The application of Bible doctrine to experience is classified in our study as thinking, under the principle of learning, thinking, solving. Thinking metabolised doctrine is classified in our study as wisdom, for wisdom is the application of Bible doctrine to experience.

Wrong application of doctrine is no application; false application creates more problems. True application solves problems, but there is no true application unless you are consistent in the perception and metabolisation of Bible doctrine. But once you have entered into perception and application then that very important final link — application. And application is thinking doctrine, but not just thinking doctrine academically but thinking metabolised doctrine which is in the eight compartments of your right lobe.

Only application of doctrine can produce +H. Life for the believer starts from the inside and works out — if there is doctrine. But if there is no doctrine the application of nothing to something is nothing. People are not going to make you happy.

We should begin to understand that for the believer who fulfils the principle of learning, thinking and solving, that believer is prepared for death. He is prepared for dying. It may be a short time, it may be a long time. But there are a lot of magnificent believers who are dying magnificently because of the application of Bible doctrine to experience. They have been doing it so long that when it comes time for dying they are there.

Phil. 1:21 “ … dying is profit.” Living actually begins day one of salvation through faith in Christ and continues, of course, to the point of dying. And while we are dying we are still living.

So there are two phases to the protocol plan of God. The first stage is living, “for me living is Christ” — occupation with Christ which is the tenth problem-solving device. “ … and dying is profit.” So if living is Christ — that is the mature believer, the winner, the invisible hero — and then dying is profit, that means that you have fulfilled application of doctrine. In the living status the believer has full use of his volition and continues to the point of dying. So in the living stage it is your positive volition that counts. But when you get to the dying stage it is God’s volition, the sovereignty of God, that is the major issue in our dying experience.

The option of positive volition toward Bible doctrine can lead to correct and accurate application of Bible doctrine to experience and as a result the believer becomes a winner, an invisible hero, and that of course is through the execution of the protocol plan of God for the Church. The option of negative volition toward Bible doctrine and failure to apply it — obviously you cannot apply what you do not know — results in the believer becoming a loser and he fails to execute the protocol plan of God. And therefore there is a conflict between two functions in your life.

Positive volition does three things: Learning, thinking, and solving; negative volition does three things: implode, explode, revert.

In the dying phase of the protocol plan of God, “dying is profit” — the profit comes from application and solving. However, dying is that part of Christian experience which depends on the sovereignty of God, not the believer’s volition. The reason the believer’s volition is no longer the issue is because death and dying is God’s victory, not the believer’s. That is because death or dying is God’s decision. We don’t decide the time, the manner and the place of our death, God decides. We decide whether we are going to be winners or losers by our attitude toward Bible doctrine. In the living phase of the protocol plan of God the believer has control over his life for success or failure; in the dying phase of the protocol plan of God the believer has no control over three things: the time of his death, the manner of his death or the place of his death.

There are three factors which depend on the sovereignty of God: the time of our death, the manner of our death and the place of our death. And if the believer has followed the three principles related to application of doctrine dying will be profit. If the believer has followed the pattern of Christian degeneracy, by way of contrast dying is going to be the most miserable experience of his miserable life. And that would be implosion (self-fragmentation), explosion (polarised fragmentation), and reversion (Christian degeneracy).

Because God is holy (justice and righteousness) it is impossible for God to be unfair to any one of us. And therefore the time, the manner and the place of our death is a matter of God’s sovereignty, God’s wisdom, God’s integrity and God’s love. All decisions of the sovereignty of God are made in perfect righteousness, eternal wisdom, absolute fairness and gracious love. No instrument of death, then, can remove the believer until God permits. None of the dangers of life can ever take our life until God gives the go-ahead. Once the sovereignty of God calls the believer home to heaven nothing can retain him on this earth. And since death is the decision of the sovereignty of God no believer has the right to ever question that decision.

There are only two categories of dying, then, as far as the believer is concerned. There is, first of all, the sin unto death, 1 John 5:16,17, which is maximum divine discipline. Secondly, there is dying grace where dying is profit. And that is for believers who have reached spiritual adulthood beginning in spiritual self-esteem. But regardless of the category of death, whether it is the sin unto death or whether it is dying grace, the death of the believer is always God’s victory.

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 — notice that God gives all believers the victory. The Corinthians were famous for their carnality but God gave them the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. For the believer, then, who has reached spiritual adulthood there is no fear of death when it comes. For the believer who is not prepared, who is a loser, is great fear. Job 5:21 — “You will be hidden from the lash of the tongue (gossip, slander, maligning) and you will not be afraid of death when it comes” — that is the mature believer. That is the only category that is not afraid of death. But remember this principle: whether the believer is a winner or a loser, death is God’s victory for both categories. Psalm 116:15 — “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”; Romans 14:8 — “If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord: therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” This is true of all believers, winners and losers. The death of every born-again believer is God’s victory. The only difference is that the winner is prepared for dying and the loser is not prepared. Winners or invisible heroes are filled with all the fullness of God so that the blessings of living extend into the blessings of dying. Losers face dying in Christian degeneracy so that their last experience on earth is the worst experience of their life. One thing that Christian degeneracy cannot do: it cannot handle the problems of living; it cannot handle the problems of dying. The grace policy of God, however, comes into effect immediately at the point of death. After dying both winners and losers go immediately to heaven.

Principle: For every believer in Jesus Christ, winner or loser, God has saved the best until last. What do we mean, God has saved the best until last? Well, let’s take the sequence of five things all believers have sooner or later. 1. Living. (In time we believed in Jesus Christ and that is the basis for eternal salvation. At the moment we believed God gave us 40 things). 2. Dying. 3. Heaven. 4. Resurrection. 5. The eternal state.

Now the question is, where do the good times begin? For the believer who is positive and reaches spiritual maturity the good times begin in living — “for me living is Christ.” And in dying they are only better. In heaven it is the best.

What about the degenerate believer? Where do the good times begin? At death and being in heaven. For him there are no good times in living; there are no good times in dying. It all begins when he is absent from the body and face to face with the Lord. He has missed the opportunity for using his own volition, while he was in this body of flesh with an old sin nature, to glorify God.

All too many born-again believers have missed the boat, and for them there is no “living is Christ and dying is profit.” This is the only time that we with an old sin nature and with stresses and pressures in this life have an opportunity to glorify God on our own. After we die God glorifies God on His own. It is God’s victory, the resurrection body is God’s project, the eternal state is God’s project. This is the only time when we can make decisions to take in Bible doctrine, apply doctrine, and reach the high ground of spiritual maturity. Winners or invisible heroes utilise the ten problem-solving devices both in living and dying so that the transition between life and death does not change their happiness or their blessing, it only increases it.

So we have a principle — dying grace. Dying grace is defined as the death of the believer who has executed the protocol plan of God. That believer is classified three ways: the mature believer, the winner, the invisible hero. Dying grace is God’s vehicle for transferring the invisible hero or winner from earth to heaven. Dying grace is the mature believer passing over the high golden bridge from earth to heaven, travelling from grace to grace. For the mature believer living is the best, dying is better. For the mature believer eternity is better than the best.

Verse 24 — we start with the connective use of the conjunction kai because the sentence begun in verse 23 continues because it is not complete.

The aorist middle infinitive from the verb a)potiqhmi is the verb that started verse 22 concerning rebound, and it was talking about putting off the old man. Each verse — 22, 23, 24 — has a special verb in the infinitive form. The verb in verse 23 is the present middle infinitive from a)naneow which is the word for residence in the divine dynasphere in reversion recovery. We noted that that includes the filling of the Spirit, the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, the execution of the protocol plan of God and the manufacture of invisible heroes. Now we have in verse 24 a third infinitive. In each of the three verses the thought centres around an infinitive in the Greek. In verse 24 we have the aorist middle infinitive from the verb e)nduw which means to put on clothes, and it is talking about building a structure in your soul.

The constative aorist tense views the action of the verb in its entirety with no reference to its beginning, its end or its progress. In other words, it takes some believers longer than others to catch on to the importance of learning doctrine, the importance of putting doctrine first in the life, the fact that Bible doctrine is the only absolute truth in existence in the world today, the fact that Bible doctrine is divine revelation and is the only way that you can ever apply absolute principles to the relativities of your own human experience. The action, then, simply is stated as a fact. And in this case the constative aorist sums up the action of long duration, the recovery from the implode, explode, revert which is recovery from Christian degeneracy, the advance to spiritual maturity through the execution of the protocol plan of God.

The middle voice is the combination of the indirect intensive and dynamic middle which emphasises the subject as producing the action. In other words, the middle voice not only represents the subject as participating in the results of the action but the subject relates the action to the individual believer who becomes intimately involved. The believer must come to the place where through thinking he puts on a positive structure.

Note the corrected translation of verse 22-24. “With reference to your former lifestyle [Christian degeneracy] you yourselves lay aside the old man [the beginning of recovery from Christian degeneracy], you believers who are becoming degenerate on the basis of the lusts of deceit; Then become renewed [refreshed, reinvigorated] by means of the Spirit [living again inside the divine dynasphere] by means of your thinking [application of Bible doctrine to your experience], …”

V24 — “put on” Put on what? We have an accusative singular direct object of three words. The first word is the definite article ton, used to distinguish one quality from another, hence to personify the noun and adjective which follows. Ton therefore can be classified as the generic use of the definite article. Next we have the adjective kainoj which means new in species in contrast to something old. The new in species is the edification complex which replaces the power of the sin nature in the life. It is the building or structure in the soul that replaces the power of the OSN. Finally there is the noun anthrwpoj, the word for man and it is the personification of the edification complex of the soul. You are alive because your soul is in the body and therefore certain principles can be personified in your soul. This edification complex is personified as being the living part of your soul whereby you grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

The structure of the new man

Foundation: 1 Corinthians 11:3 — No man can lay a foundation other than the one which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2:19 adds, “Nevertheless the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those who are his.” The foundation, then, is constructed through personal faith in Jesus Christ. The foundation actually includes the forty things that you receive at the moment that you believe in Jesus Christ. Building on a foundation of eternal life means that you can have a structure in your soul that you will have forever in heaven. You will even have it with a resurrection body. The first floor is operation Z.

On this foundation you have to build something. Now that you are saved you have to learn something, you have to think something. As a result of learning and thinking you resolve the problems of your life as well as growing up. So we have operation Z. What is operation Z? The gift of pastor-teacher communicates Bible doctrine. This Bible doctrine is communicated to the believer under the filling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the teacher of Bible doctrine; He teaches the human spirit.

Every time doctrine is communicated and you are filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit teaches your human spirit. Now you have in your human spirit only pneumatikoj which means spiritual phenomena. Once this spiritual phenomena is formed it goes into the left lobe of the soul which is called the nouj and there it becomes what is called gnwsij. Gnwsij means that it is doctrine understood academically, doctrine that has no spiritual value as yet for the left lobe of the soul is simply a staging area. Once again your volition now comes in and positive volition says, I believe it. That is called faith perception. The Holy Spirit picks up faith perception just as He picked up your faith in Christ and made it effective for salvation, and metabolises it. This means it goes into the right lobe of the soul which is the kardia. Now that doctrine is metabolised and has great spiritual value it is now e)pignwsij or metabolised doctrine. E)pignwsij is the basis for momentum and spiritual growth and application. The actual application or thinking of doctrine is called sofia — wisdom.

So we have the doctrine in operation Z, communication, reception, retaining it academically and then metabolising it. And from metabolising it we have thinking doctrine, thinking absolute truth and applying it to experience. That is the first floor of the structure.

Orientation to history

....orientation to the time in which you live. The second floor, then, would be the unique characteristics of the Church Age. You have to understand them. There are ten of them.

a. There is the Baptism of the Spirit. Once you metabolise that there are many applications, all of the racial problems are removed, the problems between the sexes are removed. On the positive side you are a new spiritual species, you are a member of the royal family of God, members of the royal family must have class. Not everyone born in aristocracy has class, scum can live in the palace as well as elsewhere. Therefore you have to learn protocol and learning protocol is learning Bible doctrine.

b. There is the protocol plan of God and the importance of understanding that plan.

c. There is our portfolio of invisible assets and in order for this floor to be constructed you must be familiar with the assets which God provided for you personally in eternity past.

d. There is the equality factor for the execution of the protocol plan of God. Only God can provide equality and only quality exists in the spiritual realm. Why? Because freedom and equality do not co-exist. There is no such thing as making people equal because to make everyone equal you would have to destroy human freedom. Only God can provide true and absolute equality and He has under election and predestination.

Under election we have equal privilege, our royal priesthood — every believer is a priest. There is equality. We have equal opportunity, we are all the beneficiaries of logistical grace. There is equality.

In predestination we have equal privilege, we are a new spiritual species, a royal family of God. We are created equal at the point of salvation through faith in Christ. We are created equal through regeneration. We are not born equal, we are born-again equal. We have equal opportunity, God has provided for each one of us our very own palace, the operational type divine dynasphere.

e. There is our unique royal commission. Every one of us has exactly the same priesthood. We represent ourselves to God. The only place where believers are not equal is in the area of spiritual gift. Also, every one of us is a royal ambassador, and as a royal ambassador we represent God to the human race, effectively or ineffectively.

In Ephesians 2:8 the corrected translation reads, “For you have been saved by grace.” Grace means that God does the work and that there is no work on the part of man necessary for salvation. Furthermore it means that no matter how much of a failure any person has been he can have eternal life by grace. Grace means, then, that God the Father planned eternal salvation. Grace means that God the Son on the cross executed that salvation and grace means that God the Holy Spirit reveals it. So in eternity past God planned for you to have eternal life and in that planning He also programmed into computer of divine decrees all personal sins in history since personal sin would have been an issue. All personal sins from the beginning of history to the end were actually put into one prom chip. The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and hanging on the cross God the Father called for the printout of all of those personal sins and He imputed every one of them to our Lord Jesus Christ and judged them. God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died as a substitute for us. This is not a reference to His physical death which came later but to His substitutionary spiritual death whereby He was judged for all of the sins in the history of the human race. So God the Father not only planned it but God the Father acted as the judge of our sins at the cross. And Jesus Christ received that judgement in His own body on the cross. Therefore the door of salvation is wide open and anyone can step through that door by faith in Jesus Christ.

But that faith requires a lot of help. Not anything that we can do, no works that we can do, but simply the work of God. In this case it is the work of God the Holy Spirit for when the Gospel is presented it is presented to those who need it and those who need it are spiritually dead, separated from God from birth, unable to comprehend any form of spiritual phenomena. And so we who have been the recipients of the Gospel and have responded were at one time under spiritual brain death. The Gospel to us was something we couldn’t understand because we did not have a human spirit. We were born into this world dichotomous , we have a body and a soul, and that means no ability to understand anything related to God. Our original parents at the point of original sin were trichotomous but they lost the human spirit and the ability to comprehend the things of God through personal sin.

So when the Gospel is presented to us it is impossible for us as unbelievers to understand it. We are in a state of spiritual brain death but God the Holy Spirit acting as a human spirit makes it possible for us to comprehend. Then the information goes to the left lobe called the nous. There it becomes academic understanding. We understand the issue; the issue is not personal sins, not our failures in life, the issue is actually who and what Christ is and what He did for us on the cross. The issue, then, is to believe in Christ and have eternal life or reject Him and have eternal condemnation. Therefore, still in spiritual death we believed in Jesus Christ — a non-meritorious system of perception. This is faith perception and the moment that we believed — for by grace you have been saved through faith — God the Holy Spirit once again takes the faith of the spiritually dead person and makes it effective for eternal salvation. And at the very moment that we believe in Christ God gives us forty invisible things which cannot be experienced but nevertheless are very real — and that is our so great salvation.

So in Ephesians 2:8 — “you have been saved by grace.” Grace excludes all forms of human merit or works. Faith is a non-meritorious system of perception, in contrast to rationalism and empiricism.

Verse 9 — “Not by works.” There is nothing that you can add to salvation. There is no such things as faith plus lordship, there is no such thing as faith plus commitment, there is no such thing as faith plus feeling sorry for your sins or inviting Christ into your heart. There is no such thing as ritual works such as baptism for salvation.

There is a second objective. What are we to do after salvation? After salvation what? What is the Christian way of life? Once we believe in Jesus Christ there is a Christian way of life; there is a plan of God. We have studied it as the protocol plan of God. It starts with the mandate, “put on the new man” — Eph. 4:24. Putting on the new man is a reference to something constructed in your soul. We call that structure the edification complex of the soul. The foundation for that structure is personal faith in Jesus Christ is eternal salvation. We have also noted the first floor of that structure which is operation Z, the perception of Bible doctrine through the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit as communicated by the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher.

Now the first objective in life is to be born-again, to believe in Jesus Christ. In the book of Ephesians the question, After salvation what? is answered very clearly. One of the great answers is in the objective we have in Ephesians 4:24. Corrected translation: “And put on the new man, which according to the specifications of God has been created by virtue-righteousness and devoutness from the source of doctrine.” There are two words that stand out after the words “new man. “New man” is the edification complex of the soul; “specifications of God” tells us how that building is constructed,created from the source of Bible doctrine. If you put them together you have the answer to After salvation what? It is the perception, metabolisation and the application of Bible doctrine, and “by means of your thinking. It takes thinking or the application of doctrine to grow in grace.

Now what is the objective of the protocol plan of God? We have a foundation,faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The first floor of that foundation is the perception and the metabolisation of Bible doctrine. And as there is perception and application of doctrine we eventually get to the top floor, the final objective is not to have a visible impact through activism which is a system of evil but the impact of the invisible hero by means of spiritual maturity. For as goes the believer so goes the client nation to God. hat is because of the invisible impact of the mature believer, the invisible hero. That invisible impact we call the pivot.

In the Church Age the demand of the protocol plan of God and all of the mandates which come from God are for invisible heroes. Therefore, the impact of the believer is a spiritual impact. He becomes an invisible hero by constructing this wonderful edification complex by this building in his soul. The Church, then, is under a protocol plan of God; it is a new spiritual species; it is the dispensation of invisible heroes. Invisible God plus invisible assets plus invisible power equals invisible hero. That is what we have as our responsibility in the Church Age. So the question, After salvation what? We execute the protocol plan of God. Furthermore it is executed in exactly the same way, under God’s policy of grace. Therefore it is the work and ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the perception of Bible doctrine; it is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in converting doctrine into epignosis or doctrine which is effective in our right lobe; it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the application of doctrine. No one can become an invisible hero apart from consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. And this means perception, metabolisation and application of doctrine. That is why the very first floor of the building is perception of doctrine. The mystery doctrine of the Church Age cannot be perceived and metabolised except through the filling of the Holy Spirit or residence in the divine dynasphere.

The pastor-teacher is the divinely appointed vehicle for the communication of this doctrine. And no believer can execute the protocol plan of God and become an invisible hero, which is the means of glorifying God, apart from the teaching ministry of the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. The trouble with the Church Age believer is two-fold: because of negative volition toward Bible doctrine he cannot learn the complicated things of biblical theology, and he forgets the doctrines that are too simple.

Thinking is the application of doctrine to experience but it has to start with concentration under the ministry of the Holy Spirit when Bible doctrine is taught. And this becomes tantamount to positive volition and spiritual growth. The things that we learn are the various flaws and concepts in that marvellous edification complex, “put on the new man.” The manufacture of the edification complex ends with becoming an invisible hero but first of all the invisible hero can only be manufactured out of the fulfilment of God’s plan, God’s will and God’s purpose. The believer can only glorify God through the execution, then, of the protocol plan, and arrogance hinders the execution of that plan. That is why we have noted with regard to the application of doctrine, Romans 12:2,3 — “Stop being conformed to this world but be transformed by the renovation of your thoughts [Renovation of thought is perception and application of Bible doctrine] so that you may prove what the will of God is, namely, the good of intrinsic value achievement.” There is the execution of divine good, there is the advance to spiritual maturity.

“For I say through the grace which has been given to me, to every one who is among you, stop thinking of yourselves in terms of arrogance [there’s your hindrance, there’s your negative volition, there’s your cosmic involvement, there’s your Christian degeneration] beyond what you ought to think; but think in terms of sanity for the purpose of being rational without illusion, as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from doctrine.” That standard of thinking from doctrine is the structure of this edification complex of the soul.

Now what is the result of all of this. The result is the invisible impact of the invisible hero. The magnetism of the invisible hero is not only related to his personal sense of destiny, his sharing of the happiness of God, his use for personal love for God as motivation, impersonal love for all mankind and interaction with people, and his occupation with the person of Christ. All of these things are a part of the magnetism of the invisible hero but remember he is still the invisible hero. Invisible impact belongs to the invisible hero, the believer who executes the protocol plan of God, the believer who erects the seven floors called the edification complex or, in our passage, putting on the new man.

Invisible impact, then, of the new man is broken down into categories. The first category is personal impact, related to blessing by association with a mature believer who is both a winner and an invisible hero. In other words, wherever the invisible hero is there is always blessing by association, and that includes family, business, schools, law firms, medical clinics, military organisations, etc. It includes social life, church life, Christian service organisation. It includes geographical periphery — neighbourhood, city, county, state. The invisible hero becomes the basis for blessing by association to all who are in his periphery.

The second is historical impact. This is defined by blessing by association to the Gentile client nation through the pivot of mature believers. They are both winners and invisible heroes. The believer who executes the protocol plan of God by advancing to spiritual maturity becomes an invisible hero and he becomes a member of the pivot of a client nation. The size of the pivot in the client nation determines the basis for blessing or cursing to the client nation. And when the pivot shrinks and almost disappears, then there are five cycles of divine discipline that God administers. The fifth cycle of discipline removes that client nation from its status and it is usually destroyed by an outside military power.

Principle

1. A small pivot of invisible heroes means the administration of the five cycles of discipline to the client nation.

2. As goes the believer, then, so goes the client nation to God.

3. As the pivot shrinks the client nation declines and it is destroyed.

4. A large pivot of invisible heroes means national blessing and prosperity as well as historical perpetuation and preservation.

The third category of impact from the invisible hero is international. International impact is defined as blessing by association to a non-client nation through missionaries who have attained spiritual maturity. The invisible hero can be a missionary with a dual impact of blessing by association. As a mature believer there is blessing by association to the client nation from which they came. And secondly they are a blessing by association to the foreign nation to which they go.

The fourth category of impact for the invisible hero is angelic impact. This is defined as the invisible hero becoming a witness for the prosecution in the rebuttal phase of Satan’s appeal trial. The Church Age is also the age of the rebuttal phase of a great invisible conflict. Satan’s appeal trial has been under way with human history. And now in the rebuttal phase of Satan’s appeal trial it is necessary for mature believers to exist on the earth. This is accomplished by the execution of the protocol plan of God or fulfilling the mandate of Ephesians 2:24, “put on the new man.” The principle is that angels are therefore observing human history right now. For example, 1 Cor. 4:9; 1 Tim. 5:21; 1 Pet. 1:12. Every time angels observe believers reaching spiritual maturity and become an invisible hero there is cheering among the elect angels.

The fifth impact: the invisible hero has a heritage impact. The heritage impact is defined as blessing by association with the invisible hero after his death. Heritage impact, therefore, is blessing by association to the next generation; it is the continuation of blessing by association after the death of the invisible hero and this blessing by association is generally on an individual basis. This means that bereaved ones and those close friends of the invisible hero, regardless of their spiritual status, are going to be blessed by association. Many an invisible hero has had children who failed to execute the protocol plan — some believers and some unbelievers — and yet they have been blessed by association. That is the heritage impact.

This explains the reason, then, why the wicked [believer or unbeliever] prosper in any given generation — not because they have done anything to prosper on their own but because there was a relationship with an invisible hero before his death. And another reason why the wicked believer prospers is related to the doctrine of logistical grace. Losers as well as winners prosper under that concept.

The first floor of the ECS is operation Z which is perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine.

The second floor is the ten unique characteristics of the Church Age, designed for maximum application. The third floor is also extremely important because these are the ten problem-solving devices. In other words, the second and third floors are actually designed for each one of us to take Bible doctrine and apply it to experience, to solve the problems of our own life apart from any counselling or any outside help, through these ten problem-solving devices.

The ten problem-solving devices include rebound, the filling of the Spirit, the faith-rest drill, grace orientation, doctrinal orientation, personal love for God the Father which is motivational virtue, impersonal love for all mankind which is functional virtue [interaction with people], +H or sharing the happiness of God, a personal sense of destiny, and occupation with the person of Jesus Christ.

The fourth floor is spiritual self-esteem. Once we have the ten problem-solving devices and once we begin to use them we now reach the point of spiritual adulthood. The first stage is spiritual self-esteem. In this floor we have cognitive self-confidence and there we learn how to handle a great blessing that comes into our lives, a principle of suffering for blessing called providential preventative suffering. And from this we advance to spiritual autonomy. So when we go from spiritual self-esteem to spiritual autonomy we do so through a principle called suffering for blessing. Therefore, we must divide the first three floors from the last four.

The fifth floor is spiritual autonomy and the sixth is spiritual maturity. Then the top floor is invisible heroes, the impact of the believer in history as well as in his personal life.

In the first three floors we have learning under the principle of learning, thinking and solving. This is where it all begins, in the first three floors. Learning Bible doctrine, this is perception and metabolisation of doctrine. Thinking Bible doctrine is the application to experience. Solving has to do with the mechanics of the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan.

These things become very effective when we reach spiritual self-esteem. This is the point at which our life is designed to have suffering for blessing. The first category of suffering for blessing is providential preventative suffering and when we pass the four tests in providential preventative suffering then we move to spiritual autonomy. And just as spiritual self-esteem was cognitive self-confidence, so spiritual autonomy becomes cognitive independence. Now we have a new category of suffering for blessing, momentum testing. And there are again four parts to momentum testing. When we pass those tests we then move to spiritual maturity. This is the execution of the protocol plan of God. In spiritual maturity we have cognitive invincibility and the point of suffering for blessing is spiritual autonomy plus momentum testing equals spiritual maturity.

So the sixth floor is spiritual maturity or cognitive invincibility and the system of suffering for blessing is evidence testing by which we glorify God to the maximum.

Finally there is the seventh floor; three things happen here. This is the penthouse of invisible heroes. First there is the distribution of escrow blessings for time. Also with that is the anticipation of the escrow blessings for the eternal state. Secondly there is the wonderful opportunity of being a part of the pivot of a client nation to God. Thirdly there is the manufacture of the invisible hero and all of those things that pertain to impact.

So we have in our first phrase of verse 24, “put on the new man.” This is a reference to constructing this invisible building in the soul, the construction of an edification complex, a permanent solution to the problems of life in every possible way, the means of glorifying God.

Next we have a rather strange organisation in the Greek. We have three words: ton, kata, and qeoj. Now ton actually goes with a preposition coming up. It a the definite article and the definite article is used as a relative pronoun and refers to the new man as a synonym for the edification complex. So we will translate it “which.” Then we have kata plus the adverbial accusative singular from the noun qeoj, the noun for God. The absence of the definite article with qeoj indicates the high quality of the noun rather than its mere identity. Therefore what we have is the specification; this building is built according to the specifications of God. The specifications of God have just been given in this description of the foundation and the seven floors of the edification complex. Remember that the ECS is only completed when the believer reaches maturity and has fulfilled the protocol plan of God.

So what we have in the first half of verse 24 is: “put on the new man [a reference to building in your own soul the edification complex, the permanent solution to all of the problems of life, the means of glorifying God] which according to the specifications of God”.

The building materials for this edification complex are now given to us with the articular aorist passive participle of the verb ktizw, which means to create. So we are going to translate: “which has been created.” The aorist tense is a culminative aorist which views the action of the verb in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of existing results. The action of the verb in its entirety is the construction of this edification complex of the soul resulting in the execution of God’s plan, God’s will and God’s purpose for our lives. In other words, the execution of the protocol plan resulting in becoming an invisible hero. That is why God sustains us in this life; that is the purpose of His faithfulness, His grace policy, of His protecting the Word of God and keeping it intact over all of these centuries so that you can become an invisible hero.

Remember that the invisible hero has a two-fold testimony toward the human race on the one hand and toward angelic creatures on the other. This means that our life has great meaning and purpose and definition.

Each floor of the edification complex contributes to the construction of this completed building in the soul. And the passive voice: the ECS as the subject is acted upon by your positive volition toward Bible doctrine. If you are negative this structure will never be built and you will never fulfil the plan of God. And we have to go back to a phrase, for it says “and put on the new man which according to the specifications of God.” Now the new man refers to this ECS, this invisible building in the soul, this structure which has seven floors built on the foundation of personal faith in Jesus Christ. So putting on the new man receives the action of the verb. Putting on the new man is the construction of the ECS and the solution to the problems of cosmic involvement as well as Christian degeneracy. Each of the seven floors of the ECS is a basis for executing the protocol plan of God.

We come now to the building materials of the ECS and it is presented to us in a prepositional phrase. It begins with two words e)n plus the noun dikaiosunh. En is used here with the instrumental singular of the noun dikaiosunh and it means righteousness in the sense of fulfilling divine mandates and divine statutes. This suffix is very important because all abstract thought in the Greek language began with a suffix like that. This is an abstract thought suffix, therefore dikaiosunh is not found in Homer, it begins in Attic Greek. It was used originally for civil virtue in the observance and the fulfilment of one’s responsibility to one’s country. It was Plato who first linked the Greek noun dikaiosunh with what comes up next, o(siothj. Dikaiosunh plus o(siothj are very strong virtue concepts. These two words emphasise virtue, not being sweet and kind or having a pleasing personality, but the function of virtue. When the two are together they refer to virtue. Dikaiosunh, for example, refers to virtue-righteousness, virtue required of men by God. So we translate: “has been created by means of virtue-righteousness.” Virtue- righteousness is produced by residence in the divine dynasphere under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit and from momentum in metabolised doctrine. It is the modus operandi of spiritual adulthood.

Next comes the conjunction kai. It means that this prepositional phrase continues, it doesn’t stop with dikaiosunh. And this comes directly from Plato who was the first one to use this phraseology, dikaiosunh plus o(siothj [devoutness or piety]. So we translate: “And put on the new man, which according to the specifications of God has been created by means of virtue-righteousness and devoutness.” With this we have one more word, the ablative of source from aletheia. Here we have again the abstract concept. This is the absolute truth. A)lhtheia connotes the embodiment of knowledge in truth, the content of Christian doctrine, absolute truth. “Devoutness from the source of [Bible] doctrine” or absolute truth indicates personal love for God the Father as motivational virtue, occupation with the person of Christ as the ultimate virtue in the spiritual life.

Now we can put it all together but remember that is a part of a sentence and we cannot take one part of a sentence without the entire sentence. Therefore we must look at the entire sentence as it is.

Corrected translation

Verse 22 — “With reference to your former lifestyle, you yourselves lay aside the old man [rebound technique] you believers who are becoming degenerate on the basis of the lusts of deceit.

Verse 23 — “Then become renewed [refreshed, reinvigorated] by means of the Spirit [filling of the Holy Spirit after rebound] by means of your thinking.

Verse 24 — “And put on the new man, which according to the specifications of God [construction of the ECS] has been created by means of virtue-righteousness [produced through residence in the divine dynasphere] and reverence from the source of Bible doctrine.”

Ephesians 4:25 through verse 32 is the fourth and last paragraph in this chapter. It gives us the results of reversion recovery. Degeneracy recovery is the subject of the first thirteen verses of the next chapter. In this particular passage the King James simply says, “Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man the truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.”

The expression of reversion recovery is found in the royal family honour code which is introduced by the first four Greek words in this passage. The first Greek word is an inferential conjunction which denotes the inference is obvious or self-evident. It is the particle dio which is correctly translated “therefore.” The self-evident inference is based on two factors implied in verses 21 through 24. The first is the recovery of the filling of the Holy Spirit and therefore the recovery of life in the divine dynasphere through the rebound technique. The second is recovery from Christian degeneracy, which is synonymous with reversion recovery, through consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. The second word is the aorist middle participle of the verb apotiqhmi which means to take off, as with clothes, to lay aside, to put away, to rid one’s self. We translate this participle, “Therefore, having laid aside.”

Next is the accusative singular direct object from the generic use of the definite article to. The definite article in the generic use is to distinguish the lie from the truth of Bible doctrine. With this there is the noun pseudoj which is the Greek word for lie. The key to understanding pseudoj is Paul’s usage in Romans 1:25 where humanity in spiritual death changes the truth of God for the lie. This is not simply telling a lie; this is any false system of thought, any system of relative thought that becomes false. So our correct translation: “Therefore, having laid aside the lie.”

The loser or the believer in Christian degeneracy is always involved in false doctrine. That is the major part of the lie since his very rejection of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age creates a vacuum for the infiltration of false doctrine which is related to Satan’s cosmic system and results in becoming involved in Christian degeneracy, either moral degeneracy or immoral degeneracy.

The morphology of apotiqhmi is important. The culminative aorist tense views recovery from Christian degeneracy in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of existing results; namely, the divine viewpoint replaces the human viewpoint and the fact that we are going into degeneracy is replaced by momentum in the direction of fulfilling God’s plan. The culminative aorist tense emphasises the believer’s recovery from Christian degeneracy. Reversion, of course, is a synonym for Christian degeneracy — moral degeneracy and immoral degeneracy. The middle voice in the Greek represents the subject as participating in the results of the action of the verb. This is an intensive or dynamic middle which emphasises the part taken by the subject — the believer in Christian in Christian degeneracy in the action of the verb. This is a circumstantial participle in which the action of the participle accompanies the action of the main verb given in the previous verse, which was “put on the new man” .The action of this aorist participle, then, is coterminous with the action of the main verb. Ephesians 4:25 says, “Therefore, having laid aside the lie.” Laying aside the lie or recovery from Christian degeneracy includes the renovation of thought which is, of course, a new mental attitude — Romans 12:2,3. Renovation of thought is necessary if we are going to lay aside the lie.

Next we have a phrase which is an exact quotation from the Septuagint of Zechariah 8:16. The context of Zechariah eight we need to understand if we are going to understand this quotation. How is it used in the Old Testament? It was used, first of all, in Zechariah 8:13 in the sense that Zechariah 8 is the excellent system of law which will exist during the Millennium.

Verse 13 — “And it shall come to pass that, just as you were a curse among nations [Illustrated by anti-Semitism today and the great Satanic attacks during the Tribulation. 5th cycle of discipline], O house of Judah [Southern kingdom] and house of Israel [Northern kingdom], so I will deliver you [the restoration of Israel at the 2nd Advent], that you may become a blessing:”

Verse 16 — Where we have the blessing mentioned in detail. “These are the things that you should do [the modus operandi of client nation Israel during the Millennial rule of Christ]; Speak the truth each one to his neighbour [A reference to the function of the Jewish honour code during the Millennium. Quoted in Ephesians 4:25]; decide cases with truth [all jurisprudence must be based on truth] and judgement for peace in your courts:” There will be peace among people because the law is properly administered.

One of the most important things in any civilisation and in any nation is first of all to have a good system of jurisprudence and then to have it properly functioning. Zechariah 8:16 is taken out of its Millennial context and applied to the royal family of God during the Church Age. Zechariah 17 then goes on to amplify what it means in Zechariah 16 to “speak the truth each one with his neighbour”: “Let none of you devise in your right lobes against another person [to avoid the motivation for going to court and suing other people over nothing. It includes the avoidance of arrogance, jealousy, bitterness, implacability, hatred, or revenge motivation]; and do not condone perjury: for all of these are what I hate, says the Lord.”

“Speak the truth each one with his neighbour” has a great connotation as it was used in Zechariah, a Millennial connotation. Jesus Christ Himself will be the supreme court so there will be no failures. Therefore the importance of speaking truth each one with his neighbour [fellow believer]. We have a present active imperative of the verb lalew. This becomes the major verb in this passage at this point. It means to express one’s self, to speak, to assert, to proclaim, to say. The verb lalew is used for intimate speech in contrast to legw which is a general oral expression of direct discourse. The verb lalew in our passage has the connotation of telling what a person has seen or heard, and that is one of the ways in which it is used in Ephesians 4:25, for communication of truth accurately, or telling the truth about what you see and hear accurately. The present tense is linear aktionsart in the subjunctive mood, optative and imperative moods, as well as in the infinitive and participle. The exception to this rule is very rare. And in the indicative mood present tense expresses punctiliar action as well as linear action. So when you have a present indicative you have a problem of interpretation. It can be linear aktionsart or it can be punctiliar aktionsart. Here we have the durative or progressive present for an action or a state of being which began in the past and is described as continuing in the present, a mandate with regard to the royal family honour code or the modus operandi of the Church Age believer. In other words, the past and the present are gathered up into a single affirmation. The active voice, the Church Age believer produces the action of the verb under the mandate of the royal family honour code. This requires a getting away from Christian degeneracy. No believer in status quo Christian degeneracy fulfils this mandate of speaking the truth with your fellow believer. The imperative mood is the imperative of command; it is a direct command related to the function of the royal family honour code.

With this we have the accusative singular, direct object from the Greek noun a)leqeia. And the absence of the definite article emphasises the quality of the noun rather than its mere identity. [The presence of the definite article would emphasise identity; the absence of the definite article emphasises quality.] So we often have to translate by using the definite article in the English in the opposite way it is used in the Greek. When you emphasise in the Greek you leave the definite article out; when you emphasise in the English you put it in. So “each one of you speak the truth” is the way we translate it. But you must understand there is no definite article.

Then there is the nominative singular subject e(kastoj, and it means this is an individual thing. The nominative singular subject is an adjective used as a substantive and it is translated “each one.” It means the royal family honour code puts you as an individual on your own responsibility before the Lord.

And then we have “with his fellow believers.” This is a preposition meta plus the genitive singular of association from three words: meta plus tou and then plhsion. Plhsion simply means someone who is near and it is used with the definite article to become a substantive. In this context it refers to fellow believer. Then you have the possessive genitive of autos which is used as a personal pronoun and is translated “his.”

Translationso far: “Therefore, having laid aside the lie, each one of you speak the truth with his fellow believer.” Speaking the truth is a reference to the royal family honour code. It is a reference first to personal integrity, second to grace orientation, thirdly impersonal love for all believers, and fourthly, occupation with Christ.

The reason for the royal family honour code is given in the final phrase. We have a particle o(ti used as a causal conjunction. It is translated “since” or “because.” Then the present active indicative of the verb eimi, a gnomic present, it expresses a universal truth, a state or condition which perpetually exists. Hence we might even call it a static present; “because we are” — all believers. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of Bible doctrine, and the predicate nominative follows, meloj, correctly translated “members,” referring to the fact that while each believer has an individual personality we belong to the same family; we are all members of the royal family of God. Therefore we have a genitive plural a)llhlwn, “of one another.” So we translate it “since we are members of one another.” This means that we are members of the body of Christ, that we are all of the same royal family with equal privilege and equal opportunity to execute this marvellous plan that God has provided. All of this is necessary for us to begin to understand the royal family honour code.

Definition: The royal family honour code is a system of spiritual integrity mandated by God and revealed by the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.

The royal family honour code, then, relates to personal integrity in relationship with other persons. In that sense the royal family honour code is a supplement to impersonal love for all believers and other pertinent problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God, specifically the filling of the Spirit, grace orientation, doctrinal orientation, and a personal sense of destiny. The royal family also relates to spiritual self-esteem, the first stage of spiritual adulthood. Bible doctrine is absolute truth from God and therefore the recipients of Bible doctrine must not only apply that truth but communicate to each other in terms of that truth. Therefore the royal family honour code centres around two things: truth and integrity. Integrity is defined as adherence to spiritual, moral and ethical principles related to truth and honesty. Hence the royal family honour code relates to both the protocol plan of God and the laws of divine establishment. Gossip, maligning, and slandering is a violation of the royal family honour code because it deals with that which is false.

In addition to the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God two things are necessary for the application of Bible doctrine to experience. First the attainment and function of spiritual self-esteem [the first stage of spiritual adulthood]. The royal family honour code functions best where spiritual self-esteem exists and therefore the second factor is the function of the royal family honour code. Spiritual self-esteem is the basis for resolving otherwise unsolvable problems. It becomes the base of operations for the effective application of Bible doctrine to experience, and with the attainment of spiritual self-esteem the believer has learned enough Bible doctrine to make application to every experience of life. Therefore the believer in the status of spiritual self-esteem has the environment for fulfilling the pattern of application, which is: a. Learning, perception and metabolisation of Bible doctrine; b. Thinking, which is the application of metabolised or e)pignwsij doctrine to experience; c. Solving, which is understanding and using the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

This brings us now to the general problem of self-esteem. One of the great problems with believers is that they do not have something that many unbelievers have — human self-esteem. Because of this they lack the ability to apply any truth of Bible doctrine, or anything else in their experience. Lack of human self-esteem puts them into a vacuum. Believers without human self-esteem suffer, then, from motiferous problems of dependency. The whole objective of the Christian way of life is to make you independent. Dependant of God but independent and above all of the problems of life which come your way.

Seven areas of dependency are problems to the person who is a believer who doesn’t even have human self-esteem

a. Dependency which results from bad childhood or from difficult environment in childhood. This limits capacity for love and produces many problems of human relationship, especially in marriage. People who come out of a difficult childhood rarely come out with self-esteem. Now they are born-again and are still minus human self-esteem which complicates their spiritual life.

b. Chemical dependency which is used as a substitute for self-esteem. Basically that could be broken down into three categories: alcohol dependence, drug dependence, and cross dependence [where people get hooked on drugs, for example, and then get off and on to something else such as alcohol, codeines, etc.]

c. Peer pressure dependence, which means never being able to think for yourself, being herd-bound and simply succumbing to the pressures of your peers which are generally erroneous pressures.

d. Resentment of those who possess self-esteem and therefore entering into competition with them.

e. Self-pity as a substitute for self-esteem. It means inability to think or resolve problems. Even people with a good IQ or a high IQ cannot solve any problems in their life. Therefore they become dependant on self-pity.

f. Self-fragmentation as a substitute for self-esteem. It can be caused by bitterness, jealousy, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, even self-pity, or revenge motivation and so on.

g. The emulation of self-esteem through role-model arrogance, emulating someone you admire and thinking this a substitute for self-esteem. And a large percentage of born-again believers enter the Christian life with a terrible problem: they have no human self-esteem.

What does this mean, then?

1. Lack of self-esteem in marriage means that problems in marriage are never solved. Inevitably there is incompatibility.

2. There can be no royal family honour code function without self-esteem.

3. The royal family honour code cannot function without spiritual self-esteem.

4. Lack of human self-esteem can be resolved by the attainment of spiritual self-esteem.

So the attainment of spiritual self-esteem becomes a key in so many things related to the protocol plan of God, including the function of the royal family honour code. The royal family honour code is related to the laws of divine establishment as well as one of the great problem-solving devices which we call impersonal love — Romans 13:8-10, “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another [the function of impersonal love here, the royal family honour code]: for he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law [of divine establishment].

So there are two factors in verse eight: Spiritual self-esteem, “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another”; Human self-esteem, “He who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law.”

Verse9 — “For instance this, Thou shalt not commit adultery [the original purpose of this (Mosaic) law was to provide freedom for a man and woman in a state of marriage to resolve their own problems. As believers they going to attain spiritual self-esteem as a base of operations. As unbelievers they must attain human self-esteem. But when someone interrupts that thing (adultery) then the solution goes out the window], Thou shalt not commit murder [Murder is crime and is depriving a person of their freedom.], Thou shalt not steal [People have a right to privacy]. Thou shalt not covet [This says in effect you must have human self-esteem as an unbeliever and spiritual self-esteem as a believer. You can be broke and poor and have self-esteem and you don’t covet. If you have self-esteem you can be satisfied with what ever you already have.], and if there is any other commandment [and there is] it is summarised in this doctrine, namely, You shall love your neighbour as yourself” [human self-esteem]. Loving self is free of arrogance. Self-esteem looks in the mirror and finds out where you part the hair, where you put your tooth brush, your razor, etc. It never thinks about what you really look like, except to be presentable.

Leviticus 19:18 — “You shall not take revenge [Who takes revenge? People who have no self-esteem. It is a sign of hared, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, self-pity], nor bear any grudge against the children of your people …”

That is the negative side, and the negative side says lack of self-esteem. What is the positive side?

“ … but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.” This applies in all dispensations. It applies to the royal family of God. The last half of Leviticus 19:18 summarises the execution of the laws of divine establishment through self-esteem and impersonal love. As quoted in the New Testament Leviticus 19:18 has another and similar connotation. The first half of Leviticus 19:18 demands both freedom and morality in compliance with the laws of divine establishment. Self-esteem keeps morality from becoming legalism, it keeps arrogance out of morality. The last half of the verse demands integrity in the execution of the royal family honour code.

We need to remember something. Morality is necessary for the entire human race to fulfil the principle: live and let live. However, there is something beyond morality in the Church Age and that is the function of the royal family honour code, the execution of the protocol plan of God. The execution of the protocol plan of God and the function of the royal family honour code cannot be divorced and, of course, that means that they stand or fall together. The royal family honour code, then, demands morality related to the laws of divine establishment, morality without arrogance, without legalism. Secondly, it demands grace orientation related to impersonal love. Thirdly, it demands spiritual self-esteem for the believer, human self-esteem for the unbeliever. The integrity of spiritual adulthood begins with spiritual self-esteem.

Morality demands obedience to s series of negative and positive commands. The royal family honour code demands the filling of the Holy Spirit as the means of executing positive and negative commands. Morality can be executed by self-determination of human self-esteem but the royal family honour code can only be fulfilled through residence in the divine dynasphere under the filling of the Holy Spirit and attainment and function of your spiritual self-esteem.

What does it means, then, in Leviticus 19:18 and in the quotations in the New Testament, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”? First, it does not imply that love for yourself is the standard, but rather a human definition of impersonal love where spiritual self-esteem exists. The phrase emphasises two things for the believer: the function of impersonal love as a problem-solving device which begins to become truly effective with spiritual self-esteem; secondly, it further means that you do not lower your standards to those who do not have self-esteem, and you do not emulate them in controversy or strife. “Yourself” means that in spiritual self-esteem you function in impersonal love toward all and thereby avoid revenge or reciprocation in kind. Reciprocation in kind lowers yourself to the standards of your antagonist. Instead, under the royal family honour code you utilise the problem-solving device number seven — impersonal love for all mankind. You are most effective by reaching and attaining spiritual self-esteem. Therefore under impersonal love as a member of the royal family of God you do not hold a grudge, you do not retaliate, you do not seek revenge, you do not function under jealousy, hatred, implacability, bitterness, etc.

Therefore, impersonal love fulfils two concepts: impersonal love executes establishment principles in recognising the freedom, the privacy, the property in the life of others, hence, adds the honour code to morality. Secondly, impersonal love executes the mandates of the protocol plan in human relationships.

Romans 13:10 adds — “Love [impersonal love as a problem-solving device] does not practice evil to a neighbour: therefore impersonal love is the fulfilment of the law.”

The royal family honour code centres around three principles related to people: truth or integrity, impersonal love [virtue], grace orientation. The principle: the royal family honour code cannot be divorced from impersonal love as a problem-solving device, nor can it be divorced from spiritual self-esteem. Believers and unbelievers alike are commanded to observe the morality of the laws of divine establishment. For the believer integrity demands under the royal family honour code that he should observe the morality of the laws of divine establishment (Romans 13:1-10). However, the royal family honour code demands more than morality for the Church Age believer. More than morality means the function of virtue-love and the execution of the protocol plan of God. The motivation: spiritual self-esteem. The motivation for the royal family honour code is not only spiritual self-esteem but personal love for God the Father.

The royal family honour code related to the protocol plan of God

In Proverbs 6:16 — “There are six things which the Lord hates; Yes, seven are an abomination to his soul:

Verse 17 — “Haughty eyes [a synonym for arrogance and it represents the entire arrogance complex], a lying tongue [a direct reference to the honour code], and hands that shed innocent blood [homicide or murder];

Verse 18 — “A right lobe that devises evil plans [conspiracy, rejection of authority, it even includes revolution and civil disobedience], Feet that run rapidly to evil [a reference to trouble makers. Again, the lying, the deceit involved in violation of the royal family honour code];

Verse 19 — “a false witness [violation of the royal family honour code] who utters lies [gossip, slander, lies, perjury, are all a part of the royal family honour code violation], one who spreads strife among the brethren”.

So most of the seven worst sins are related to sinful violations of the royal family honour code. (Note in the seven that there is only one overt sin) Believers who violate the royal family honour code are described in 2 Tim. 3:2-8 — a passage talking about believers.

Romans 14:4 is a good place to note the sins of the tongue in violation of the royal family honour code. “You, who are you who keep judging a servant who belongs to another.” This means a fellow believer, we belong to the Lord. This phrase is based on the principle in Roman society that no one judged or punished the servant of another Roman. Therefore this phrase is used for the arrogant self-righteous believer who violates the royal family honour code by judging another believer who is the servant of the Lord?

Principle: Under the tyranny of the weak everyone is weak, but under the royal family honour code everyone is strong. And through perception of doctrine, its metabolisation and application, adherence to the royal family code plus the utilisation of the ten problem-solving devices in the protocol plan becomes the basis for establishing the virtue required by the royal family honour code.

It is the quintessence of human arrogance to assume divine authority and to judge or malign another believer who is a member of the royal family. Impersonal love for the royal family plus integrity from the positive side of the honour code eliminates all lying, gossip, maligning and other sins of the tongue. Impersonal love for all mankind is both freedom from mental attitude sins as well as sins of the tongue. All members of the royal family of God on earth continue to possess the OSN but spiritual growth and momentum reaching spiritual self-esteem is the key to everything in the application of the honour code. And that gives the believer the opportunity of getting straightened out as far as his integrity is concerned and it provides for new believers breathing space, freedom, to advance to spiritual adulthood themselves. The weak believer is the one who is involved in polarised legalism. The strong believer is the spiritual adult who is functioning under the royal family honour code.

“You, who are you who keep judging a servant who belongs to another? to his own lord he stands or falls.” Judgement belongs to the Lord. The believer is only authorised to judge himself under the rebound technique. “And stand he will; for the Lord is able to make him stand.”

In Romans 14:10 we have another statement of violation of the honour code. “But you, why do your judge your brother? or you also, why do you regard your brother with contempt? for we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ.” All of us are going to be evaluated by the Lord Jesus Christ immediately after the Rapture. We will stand in a resurrection body before our Lord and there we will be evaluated. This is called the judgement seat of Christ.

In Romans 14:13 — “Therefore let us no longer judge each other: but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle [or distraction] in a brother’s way.” Judging another believer is not only a violation of the royal family honour code but it becomes a terrible occupational hazard in the execution of the protocol plan. This is especially true of the adolescent believer or the child believer whose norms and standards are based on things he had before salvation, and not upon the teaching of the Word of God and its consolidation under the royal family honour code. Because of false norms and standards it is impossible for the adolescent believer or the cosmic believer or the fragmented believer to evaluate himself or another with biblical accuracy. Furthermore, other believers in spiritual adulthood must be careful to provide for those who have not attained their stage of growth, breathing space, spiritual freedom for the new believer to learn in the privacy of their priesthood. Therefore, to make the corrections without becoming involved in this terrible interaction that is caused by legalism. And so the divine monopoly on judging the believer is maintained and the function of the royal family honour code continues to protect believers who have just been saved, believers who are ignorant of doctrine.

Verse 26a — “Be angry and sin not.” A lot of people think that there is righteous indignation found in this passage. This is a favourite camping ground for legalism and for people who want to stick their nose into your business. This is a quotation from Psalm 4:4 in the English and Psalm 4:5 in the Hebrew.

We have to go back to the qal imperative of the verb ragaz which means to be agitated, to quiver or tremble with anger. It means to be enraged or to be angry. And it is a command in Psalm 4:4, and “Tremble with anger” is the way in which it should be translated. Next we have a waw adversative which should be translated “yet.” “Tremble with anger, yet.” Then we have the qal imperative of chatah plus a poetic negative l. Corrected translation: “Tremble with anger, yet do not sin.” David wrote this line in this Psalm when he was fleeing from Absalom, and in this case there was the potential for righteous indignation. The principle which we should notice from Psalm 4 is that it is possible to react to unfairness apart from sin. It is possible to be angry because of gossip, maligning, slander, maltreatment, and still put the matter in the Lord’s hands. If reaction or righteous indignation causes the believer to retaliate however, or to seek revenge, or to do something nasty in return, then the reaction is sin, and the motivational sin in this case is called anger. In other words, there are times in your life when you will fulfil the principle, “tremble with anger, yet do not sin.” Never let reaction become sin, which is actually what it means.

When maltreated the believer must avoid any retaliation and put the matter before the supreme court in heaven which, by the way, is exactly what David did in the Absalom revolution. So this concept in Psalm 4:4 becomes one of the principles of the royal family honour code in which the Church Age believer avoids judging, maligning, slandering and all of the other factors relating to reaction. This concept in Psalm 4:4 is also part of the concept of the royal family honour code in which grace orientation replaces retaliation or vengeance. And as quoted in Ephesians 4:26 revenge, retaliation, vindictiveness, implacability, recrimination, interferes with the justice of God punishing the guilty. Furthermore, retaliation lowers the believer to the level of his antagonist and this is the type of anger which is sin. The royal family honour code demands that we never stoop or lower ourselves to the level of the vindictiveness, implacability, jealousy, hatred or sinfulness of those who are antagonistic toward us.

However, the Greek is slightly different from the concept in the Hebrew of Psalm 4:4. In the Hebrew of Psalm 4:4 the emphasis is on righteousness maintained in the face of unfair and unjust treatment, sometimes misclassified as righteous indignation. In Ephesians 4:26 the quotation is used to emphasise something else — anger as a motivation for violating the royal family honour code. In other words, we are going to see from the Greek of Ephesians 4:26 that there is no righteous indignation in this passage.

In the Greek of our passage we have the present middle imperative of the verb o)rgizw — to be angry at someone because of something. Because you have been somehow mistreated, maligned or been the recipient of the many areas of hostility of which smart people are capable of demonstrating, and dumb people are capable of fouling it up so that it is so bad that they want to react. This is an aristic present tense. It means actually to be indignant or to be angry. The aristic present tense is for a simple expression of undefined action in present time. The specific or aristic present presents the action as a simple event without any relationship to its progress. The middle voice is a permissive middle in which the subject causes the action to take place on one’s self. And this is not the imperative of command, this is the imperative of concession. And while the imperative mood generally follows the same limits as Attic or Classical Greek, occasionally in the Koine it expresses a request or, in this case, a concession. Now when it is an imperative of concession it has to be translated by supporting words, and the translation should be “Although you may become angry.” Which means that all of us have the potential at some time in our lives of entering into the sin of anger.

“Although you may become angry” means you may become angry as far as I am concerned if you cannot help your anger. But stop your anger before it leads to an honour code violation. You see the honour code violation angers are sin and it motivates honour code violations — retaliation, revenge in the form of gossip, slander, maligning, judging.

We have a conjunction kai which emphasises a fact as noteworthy. So we can translate it “and yet” or “in spite of that” or “nevertheless.” So we translate this part of the verse: “Although you may become angry, in spite of that.”

So we now have a negative with a present active imperative — the negative me plus hamartano, to sin. It should be translated “stop sinning.” So the corrected translation so far: “Although you may have become angry, in spite of that stop your sinning.”

The descriptive present is for what is actually taking place, the sin of anger has already begun. The active voice, the sin of anger produces the action of the verb. Anger has already begun and if anger continues it will function as a trigger mechanism for violating the royal family honour code by becoming motivational for retaliation, vindictiveness, implacability, revenge, putting down other people. Some people in their old sin natures have a real bad weak spot, putting down other people. And if they are not putting them down overtly they are doing so in their soul under the function of hypocrisy. There is no impersonal love here.

There are two concepts of anger. The first is in Psalm 4:4 — “Tremble with anger, yet do not sin.” David had righteous indignation because Absalom had a weak streak. He was a great personality, a great leader, an outstanding person, but he used his personality when he became bitter toward his father and started a revolution against him. David as a result was shocked and then he was indignant. And if continued this righteous indignation would become the sin of anger. It would become the motivation for vindictiveness, retaliation and revenge. But David succeeded in stopping it before it was converted into sinful anger. Sinful anger is an emotional sin and therefore always irrational. David was not irrational.

David trembled on the brink of anger but never got around to the sin of anger. Therefore he was never motivated to seek revenge against Absalom. This might be classified as anger on the brink. It is the temptation to anger without becoming angry. Once you make a decision to become angry irrationality begins and motivation for many other sins will follow.

Now in Ephesians 4:26 — “although you may have become angry.” Here is a case of where the anger on the brink is not checked and the temptation is not resisted and the person actually is angry and in a state of sin. “Although you may have become angry, in spite of that [the fact that you are now in a state of sin] stop it.” So this is not checked. Whenever we are angry we must rebound instantly before other damage, often terrible damage, occurs. Anger is not only a sin but becomes the motivation for many violations of the royal family honour code. Anger is an emotional sin, therefore totally irrational in its function which can include everything from slander to murder. As an irrational sin of emotion mental attitude anger expresses antagonism, hatred, resentment. Anger often expresses itself in violence and in murder.

Under the royal family honour code anger violates many principles: a. Two wrongs do not make a right. Adding revenge or violence to anger is two wrongs; b. You cannot build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness; c. To punish someone else in anger by slander, maligning, gossip or other revenge modus operandi is synonymous with obstruction of divine punishment and blasphemy for divine justice; d. Anger becomes involved with arrogance, including all of the manifestations of arrogance; e. Anger is motivation for murder, and murder is one of the seven worst sins.

What anger can do

1. Anger motivates jealousy and cruelty, Proverbs 27:4.

2. Anger is related to stupidity, Ecclesiastes 7:9.

3. Anger is a sin from the OSN, Galatians 5:20.

4. Anger is never an isolated sin, Proverbs 29:22.

5. Anger destroys a nation, Amos 1:11.

6. Anger is associated with grieving the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 4:30,31.

7. Anger is a violation of the royal family honour code, Colossians 3:8.

8. Anger hinders effective prayer, 1 Timothy 2:8.

There is such a things as what people call “righteous indignation.” But it is not anger, it is not an emotion, it is a clear understanding of a bad situation. When it says Jesus became angry with His disciples when they forbade the children to be brought to Him in Mark 10:14, it is not anger. It is simply the understanding of a wrong and therefore not appreciating it at all. Having good norms and standards but not anger.

Jesus expressed what might be called righteous indignation when the Pharisees were involved — Matthew 23:13-36. In Matthew 23:33 Jesus wasn’t angry when He said, “You serpents, you brood of vipers. How shall you escape the judgement of Gehennah [The Lake of Fire]?” Our Lord expressed what people might call righteous indignation but what is really the understanding of injustice when He said to Peter in Matthew 16:23: “Get behind me Satan: you are a stumbling block to me: you have not concentrated on the doctrines of God, but on the things of man.”

Anger is used as an anthropopathism. Two phrases found in the Bible many times: “the anger of the Lord” and “the wrath of God” .This is not the sin of anger, it is an anthropopathism expressing a divine concept in human terms so it could be understood.

Principles

1. Anger destroys virtue in the subject, therefore anger destroys the function of impersonal love.

2. Anger which does not destroy the virtue of the subject is classified, as in Psalm 4:4, as being tempted but not doing it.

3. Anger as a sin is a violation of the royal family honour code.

4. Impersonal love for all mankind maintains the virtue of the subject but sinful anger destroys the function of virtue.

5. When anger is perpetuated it becomes the motivation for many sins. Therefore do not let the sun set on your anger.

6. To be angry and sin not — all too often so-called righteous indignation is an excuse for the function of legalism.

7. All unbelievers in their status of spiritual death are said to be in the status quo of wrath. E.g. Romans 9:22 — unbelievers are called vessels of wrath.

The mandate to “stop your sinning”

First there must be rebound, then immediately other problem-solving devices under the enabling power of the filling of the Spirit must go into the function of the life. Under the faith-rest drill the cause of anger must be placed in the Lord’s hands and the matter must be on the agenda for the supreme court of heaven. This is especially true if your anger is the result of being wronged by others. Being wronged by others does not justify anger for under the first three problem-solving devices anger can be removed under this mandate: “stop anger sinning” — the rebound technique, the filling of the Spirit and the faith-rest drill. This combination begins the principle of “stop the sinning” and fulfils the next phrase, “the sun must not go down on your angry mood or your wrath.” Rebound recovers the filling of the Spirit or life in the divine dynasphere and the filling of the Spirit provides the power or the ability to cease and desist from anger. How quickly you cease and desist depends often on your spiritual growth. Once you have put your anger in the Lord’s hands through the function of the faith-rest drill you are now ready for problem-solving device number four which is grace orientation. Your attitude eventually toward those who have wronged you unjustly must be the attitude of grace. Furthermore, personal love for God the Father, problem-solving device number six, becomes the motivation for fulfilling the next part of our passage, “the sun must not go down on your wrath” .Impersonal love as problem-solving device number seven replaces your anger. And then occupation with Christ, or problem-solving device number ten causes you to move on in your spiritual experience, and not be stopped or embittered in any way by what you consider to be unfair or unjust treatment. You cannot be angry and happy simultaneously. Therefore, +H or sharing the happiness of God — problem-solving device number eight — replaces anger and the angry mood. And like arrogance, anger is set aside and replaced by a personal sense of destiny — problem-solving device number nine — so that you can get on with the plan of God for your life instead of being hindered by anger. Anger is one of the most devastating of all sins. The angry mood not only violates the royal family honour code but totally hinders any execution of the protocol plan of God. It is both emotional and irrational as a sin and, therefore, must be subject to recovery as quickly as possible.

Now for the second negative command in verse 26. It begins with the nominative singular subject made up of two words. The first is the definite article o(, and the second is the noun h(lioj, “the sun.” With it we have the negative mh plus the present active imperative of e)piduw which means to go down or to set. It is translated: “the sun must never set” (on anger). The pictorial present tense conveys to the mind a sunset in the process of occurrence, the transition from light to darkness. The active voice, the sun as the subject produces the action of the verb and being removed from our view by simply continuing its progress from out of our sight. This is on the imperative of prohibition with the negative me and it expresses the negative command. And the sun must never set. In other words you must not go from day to night in the status quo of anger. If you do so then all of these sins that we have studied become a part of your life. We have a prepositional phrase, e)pi plus the dative of disadvantage from the noun parorgismoj which refers not to anger as such but the perpetuation of anger as a sin. Therefore it should be translated, “the sun must never set on your angry mood.” The possessive genitive singular from the pronoun su is where we get the word “your” angry mood. That makes it personal.

Sunset is the end of the Jewish day in contrast to our conception of the day. Our conception of the day ends at midnight. In other words this phrase prohibits ending a day with the sin of anger or being in an angry mood. Like a hurricane gathering energy from heat, so the believer gathers evil energy from the heat of perpetuated anger.

Verse 27 — “Neither give place to the devil.” It is interesting that we should have this phrase at this time because on one side of verse 27 we have anger as a quick and easy way to get into moral or immoral degeneracy. Then we have some information about Satan in verse 27. Then on the other side we have criminal Christianity, Christians who actually become criminals.

We start out with a negative disjunctive particle mhdh, used when continuing a preceding negative word. The negation, “the sun must never set on your anger” now goes right on because this could be very easily translated, “and stop giving opportunity to the devil.” So the sentence continues; it does not end in verse 26. The present active imperative of didomi [stop giving] with mhdh is where we get “stop doing something you are already doing.” This means that this is something the believers in Ephesus were doing. This is a durative or progressive present tense for an action or state of being in the past described as continuing into the present. Hence the past and the present are gathered together in a single affirmation. Three things were happening which were negative among then Ephesian believers. The first one was that they were involved in anger and as such were involved in either moral or immoral degeneracy. Secondly, this resulted in giving opportunity for Satan to pile up sin upon sin and to gain control of their lives. And thirdly, this results in — verse 28 — believers becoming involved in criminal activity.

With this we have the accusative singular direct object from the noun topoj [the word that means “place” or “opportunity"]. It really means “room” and we could translate: “Stop giving room to the devil.” Satan doesn’t control all believers but he gains control through anger. For anger is a fuse that opens the door for all of the other sins. So we are going to translate it: “Stop giving opportunity.”

Then we have a dative singular indirect object from the noun diaboloj, referring to Satan. Diaboloj is an adjective which means slanderer. One of the functions of anger is slander. The greatest slanderer of all time is Satan himself. Diaboloj means slanderous and is used as a noun, “the slanderer.” It is one of the titles of Satan as the ruler of this world. The fact that Satan has been the ruler of this world since the fall of man is found in many passages of scripture — Luke 4:5-7; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 1 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2.

This brings us again to the pattern of immoral degeneracy. It should be reviewed it at this time to understand what is meant by “giving opportunity to Satan” .Satan cannot indwell the believer but instead he uses the millions of demons that are his control for that purpose. The believer cannot be demon-possessed because he is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit as well as God the Son and God the Father. The pattern of Christian immoral degeneracy relates to criminality and to anger. Both of these are indicative of giving opportunity to the devil. Anger is giving opportunity to Satan and one of the results is immoral degeneracy in the field of criminality.

Brief profile of the devil

He is an angelic creature, the most beautiful to come from the hand of God — Is.14; Ezek.28. He is a prehistoric super creature. As the anointed cherub the devil was the highest of all angelic creatures before his fall. Now he is lower than the seraphs, a reward for elect angels only, but still commands all fallen angels according to Matthew 8:28; 9:34; 12:26.

As a prehistoric super creature the devil has had three falls. His prehistoric sin which began the angelic conflict in eternity past. In the middle of the Tribulation Satan will be thrown out of heaven and will therefore rule the earth directly from on the earth. And then at the second advent of Christ Satan is seized and incarcerated for a thousand years. At the end of that time he is released for a brief time for the last revolution in history.

So as far as human history is concerned the devil may also be classified with relationship to his two advents. His first advent is when he entered the Garden of Eden and through the indwelling of the serpent he tempted the woman. After the thousand year imprisonment and during the Millennial reign of Christ the devil returns earth the second time. Then he is incarcerated in the Abyss and then released according to Revelation 20:7-10.

The rulership and the power of the devil is far greater than any other creature has ever possessed. He is the ruler of all fallen angels and this includes fallen angels that are incarcerated at this moment in Tartarus and the Abyss. Fallen angels which are operational are called demons. There are literally millions and millions of angels who are under the rule of Satan. The devil is also the ruler of this world and this means three categories: the devil rules demons, all unbelievers and certain believers — Ephesians 4:27.

There are five major demon attacks on the human race in human race. The first is the genetic attack on the antediluvian civilisation in Genesis 6:1-13. The second is the attack of demon possession which is on the rise today. The third is the attack of demon influence which involves cosmic one and cosmic two. The fourth is the attack of demon armies in the Tribulation — Revelation 9.

Satan has a strategy to control believers as well as a strategy to control other types of creatures. The control of believers is mentioned in James 4:7 — “Submit to God; resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Resistance of the devil is a combination of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation plus the utilisation of the ten problem-solving devices. Inside the divine dynasphere we have the ability to resist because that is the place of the filling of the Spirit and the place of the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit. The utilisation of the ten problem-solving devices results in the execution of the protocol plan and glorification of God. There is the warning that we should learn these things — 2 Corinthians 2:11, “In order that no advantage be gained of us by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his strategies.” Satan, therefore, is the enemy of the Church. This is brought out in Revelation 2:9 where certain churches are called the synagogue of Satan. The Church is attacked by religion which is called the throne of Satan — Revelation 2:13. The Church is attacked by false doctrine, the deep things of Satan — Revelation 2:24.

We are told in 1 Peter 5:7 to cast all of our worries on Him before He cares for us. Why? 1 Peter 5:8 — “Be vigilant, be on the alert: your enemy the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Verse 9 — “But resist him, being firm in doctrine” .Christian activism, by the way, is a satanic device to distract believers from the protocol plan of God.

Some of the Satanic devices and strategies

1. The devil is the accuser or the slanderer of believers — Job 1:6-11; Zechariah 3:1,2; Revelation 12:9,10; 1 John 2:1,2.

2. The devil sponsors reversionism — 1 Corinthians 10:19-21; 2 Corinthians 11:3, 11-15.

3. The devil sponsors fear as another emotional sin. Fear and anger are the two great emotional sins that he sponsors in order to distract believers from the protocol plan. There is mental fear in Ephesians 4:14; geographical fear in 1 Thessalonians 2:18; operational fear in James 4, for the devil seeks to frustrate the will of God in these three areas. And the will of God pertains to what we think, to where we are, to what we do.

4. The devil seeks to neutralise perception, metabolisation and application of doctrine, according to 1 Peter 5:7-9.

5. The devil sponsors the destruction of the believer’s focus on life by removing it from God and from our Lord and putting it in the sphere of eyes on people, eyes on self, eyes on things.

6. The devil sponsors Christian activism which is becoming involved in improving the devil’s world. This is tantamount to becoming occupied with temporal solutions to man’s problems when we have spiritual solutions which are far greater.

The devil’s power control system, then, has been organised since the fall of man. Angelic creatures are designed to neutralise mankind in the historical phase of the angelic conflict. The devil has a system of demonic aristocracy. And since the word “Satan” means enemy it is synonymous with the devil in that Satan is the enemy of all believers. The devil is the enemy of the Church — Revelation 2:9ff, the enemy of Bible doctrine — Revelation 12:13,15, the enemy of Christ — Revelation 12:4, the originator of murder and violence in the human race — Genesis 6:4-11; John 8:44.

6. The devil has a strategy to control nations — Revelation 12:9.

7. The devil has policy and strategy regarding unbelievers — Luke 8:12; 2 Corinthians 4:3,4; 2 Thessalonians 2:9,10.

Religion is one of Satan’s greatest distractions. It is the creation of the devil’s genius to counterfeit the protocol plan of God. The believer must distinguish between Christianity and religion: Christianity is a relationship with God through personal faith in Christ; religion, by way of contrast, is man seeking to gain the approbation of God through his own plans, works, activity and merit. As such, Satan has created a system called religion. And while religion is the quintessence of Satan’s evil genius it is viewed from the standpoint here of its motiferous counterfeits. For example, Satan has a counterfeit gospel, 2 Cor.4:3,4; counterfeit ministers, 2 Cor. 11:13-15; counterfeit doctrine [called the doctrines of demons], 2 Tim. 4:1; counterfeit spirituality, Gal. 3:2,3; counterfeit righteousness, Matt. 19:16-28; counterfeit modus vivendi, Matt. 23; counterfeit power, 2 Thess. 2:8-10; produces counterfeit gods, 2 Thess. 2:3,4; a counterfeit communion table, 1 Cor. 10:19-21.

False teachers, then, are a part of Satan’s strategy. He not only uses demons in the angelic realm but he also uses human beings to communicate false doctrine. The Bible provides for us a profile of these false teachers. They are said to have a phoney facade in Matt. 7:15; Rom.16:18. False teachers flirt with believers in the sense that they use human public relation systems and other concepts such as legalism and activism to distract believers from doctrine — Gal.4:17,18; 2 Tim.3:5-7. False teachers appeal to human ego and arrogance to distract believers from grace in 2 Cor.10:12. They promote idolatry as a part of the devil’s communion table, Habbakuk 2:18,19. They promote legalism as pseudo spirituality, 1 Tim.7,8. They possess a false spirit, 1 John 4:1-3.

God’s policy with regard to you and to me: Grace

Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind without compromising His divine essence. Grace is free, unmerited favour from God. The doctrine of grace means that all things, including salvation, are received from God as a free gift. They are never merited; they are never earned by mankind. Grace is benefit from God totally belonging to the work of God and totally apart from the works of mankind. Grace is a manifestation of power, virtue, efficacy, mercy, compassion, indulgence, forbearance, pardon and unmerited favour from God, based on the exclusive work of God. Grace is undeserved blessing from God to mankind. Hence, grace is free, unmerited love and favour from God. Grace implies that all things, including salvation, never compromise divine essence or divine effort, and this means that divine essence and effort in bestowing blessing and favour on mankind. Grace is unmerited favour and unmerited divine provision for mankind before, during and after salvation.

In grace God works and mankind benefits. In grace God provides and mankind receives. Therefore grace is the policy of God in establishing a relationship with mankind. And the principle: relationship with God precedes fellowship with God. Grace is the policy of God in providing and maintaining fellowship with God. Grace is the policy of God in providing everything necessary for the believer to execute the plan, the purpose and the will of God in the Church Age. And therefore grace is the policy of God in dealing with mankind in two categories: a. Relationship with God which is a grace policy of eternal salvation for all mankind; b. Fellowship with God which is the policy of all Church Age believers; c. God’s policy, the grace policy belongs to all Church Age believers to execute the protocol plan.

Two key words are related to the divine policy of grace. The first is relationship, i.e. relationship with God. The second is fellowship, which is fellowship with God.

We start by looking at relationship with God. Relationship with God must precede fellowship with God. You cannot have fellowship with God until you have a permanent eternal and secure relationship with God. A spiritually dead person cannot have a relationship with God. Consequently the status of spiritual death cannot have fellowship with God. The unbeliever is spiritually dead and in a hopeless situation which originates from physical birth.

At the point of physical birth two things happen. First of all there emerges from the womb biological life plus the old sin nature, so that we have at birth biological life and simultaneously we have the genetically-formed old sin nature. God does two things immediately. He creates soul life and imputes that soul life to biological life so that at that moment a human being now exists. Until that time no human being. Simultaneously God imputes Adam’s original sin to the genetically-formed old sin nature, and that means spiritual death. We are born physically alive and spiritually dead. That is exactly what happens to every member of the human race. This means immediately, as you can see, being dichotomous and having only a body and soul means we are in a hopeless situation. And being spiritually dead we are in a helpless situation. Obviously then we can do nothing for ourselves in relationship with God. God must do it all. [God has done it all, that’s grace]

Spiritual death is a dichotomous state, which means that we are born with a body and a soul. The body was biological life and the soul is called in the Hebrew neshimah and it refers to the soul life which God created. Being born with a body and a soul this adds up to the fact that we have spiritual death. Spiritual death emphasises the importance of God’s policy of grace. Spiritual death, then, is defined as a dichotomous state of mankind at birth under three categories of condemnation from the justice of God. Category one, total separation from God through the imputation of Adam’s original sin. Total separation means totally helpless and useless is any work of man in trying to gain the approbation of God. Category two, total depravity resulting from personal sins. Category three, total inability to attain relationship with God in any form of human merit or works. This is what spiritual death means.

Grace is the provision and the policy of God in establishing a relationship with mankind. Therefore, God takes the initiative in providing the means for each one of us to have an eternal relationship with Himself. That includes eternal life, regeneration, the imputation of divine righteousness, all in all forty things are given to us as a result of the grace policy of God at salvation. Each person of the Godhead, however, functions under the grace policy of God to provide eternal salvation; it is the work of all three members of the Trinity.

In eternity past God the Father, in His divine omniscience, did a remarkable thing. Omniscience knew everything that would happen in human history and therefore in one prom chip [the freewill of man chip] in the computer of divine decrees was programmed every personal sin in all of human history. That particular chip was isolated for God hates sin. This was a grace function of God the Father for at the proper time God the Father sent God the Son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins. This was the beginning of the dispensation of the hypostatic union, for Jesus Christ in a moment of time became the God-Man. Jesus Christ is now undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever. The greatest moment in history occurred during that dispensation of the hypostatic

union when the omnipotence of God the Father from His justice called for the printout of all personal sins in history. Once Jesus Christ came to the cross in a state of absolute perfection, qualified as the Lamb of God without spot and without blemish, then God the Father imputed every sin in the history of the human race to Jesus Christ and the justice of God the Father judged every one of them.

So you will note: the Father programmed the prom chip, the Father sent the Son, God the Father judged our sins. We should have been judged for our sins but God the Father judged them on the cross and God the Son received that judgement. The justice of God the Father judged our sins on the cross because they were imputed to the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. There is no place for human works there. God did all the work.

Jesus Christ, as eternal God, was willing to become true humanity in order to be judged for the sins of the world. Therefore the hypostatic union, and there is no more dramatic passage in the Word of God than Hebrews chapter 10 verses four through ten where we have the words of our Lord on the first Christmas eve in Bethlehem when He expressed to God the Father that He had come to do His will and that He had come to be judged for the sins of the world. In hypostatic union Jesus Christ became undiminished deity in true humanity in one person forever. On the cross the impeccable humanity of Christ received the imputation and the judgement of all sins inhuman history. And through His substitutionary, unlimited atonement Jesus Christ provided the way of eternal salvation, eternal life. So we have the grace function of our Lord Jesus Christ and that means that through His substitutionary unlimited atonement Jesus Christ provided the way of salvation, the way of eternal relationship with Him. And when anything is added to faith grace is cancelled and there is no salvation. For the only way of salvation is clearly described in terms of a non-meritorious function, faith. And therefore, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

When we believe, as those who are spiritually dead, once again God the Holy Spirit takes that faith and makes it effective for salvation. At that moment all three members of the Trinity give us a sum total of forty things which are eternal salvation. That is what we call, then, relationship. We now have a relationship with God. All three members of the Trinity had a part and now we have something far, far greater than we had before. We now have, not just soul life, but eternal life.

Note: God the Holy Spirit created the human spirit. That is called regeneration or being born-again. God the Father then gives eternal life to that human spirit, so again we have all three members of the Trinity being involved in establishing a relationship with God. So the grace function of the Holy Spirit includes form the fact that the unbeliever is dichotomous — a body and soul. He has no human spirit — and is spiritually dead, in common grace the Holy Spirit acts as the human spirit to make the Gospel perspicuous to the unbeliever in brain death. This causes Gospel information to be transferred to the left lobe of the soul where the unbeliever now understands the divine call or invitation to salvation, to believe in Jesus Christ. And he understands, then, the issue of John 3:18 — “He who believes in him is not judged: but he who does not believe is judged already, because he has not believed in the unique Son of God.”

So the conclusion is very simple: Salvation is the exclusive work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This work of the Trinity is classified as grace because the work of God excludes all human work and co-operation. This grace work excludes human works and therefore is effective for salvation because the only response to grace in salvation on the part of the spiritual dead person is to believe in Jesus Christ.

So the principle of grace: God solves the problem of eternal relationship with Himself through the grace policy, and at the moment of faith in Jesus Christ each member of the Godhead provides something for the new believer under the principle of grace as free unmerited love and favour. And the grace provision at salvation adds up to forty things every believer in this dispensation receives at the moment he believes in Jesus Christ.

Then there is a second principle: After salvation, what? Fellowship with God is also on the same pattern and the same policy, grace. Every born-again believer in Jesus Christ can have fellowship with God in time under the principle that relationship must precede fellowship. Therefore, through the policy of grace God has solved the problem of fellowship with Himself in time just as He has solved the problem of relationship with Himself for eternity.

There are three major problems regarding our temporal fellowship with God

1. Post-salvation sinning.

— personal sinning after salvation destroys our temporal fellowship with God. This is the pattern of Christian degeneracy. However, the grace policy of God provides a solution for post-salvation sinning. This goes back to cross where all post-salvation sins of the believer were judged. The grace solution for the recovery of fellowship with God and the filling of the Spirit is the rebound technique. Post-salvation sins were also judged at the cross.

2. Ignorance of Bible doctrine.

3. Failure of application of Bible doctrine.

The protocol plan of God is synonymous with the Christian way of life. Without metabolised doctrine in the right lobe the believer will never understand grace. Grace orientation is both a problem-solving device and the modus vivendi for the Christian way of life. Grace orientation is the only means of executing the protocol plan of God and the invisible hero is the believer who glorifies God because he has made maximum use of God’s grace policy.

In Romans 5:8 we notice the principle of grace in salvation: “God demonstrates his love toward us.” That means God has perfect self-esteem; God has never felt threatened by anyone’s sin or failure. Not only does He have perfect self-esteem but He has perfect integrity and therefore emphasis on the subject “ … in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died [u(per e)gw, a genitive plural of advantage which should be translated correctly “as a substitute for us” ] as a substitute for us.” [U(per is used with the genitive of advantage to express substitution]. The only thing that satisfies God the Father with regard to human sins is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. 1 Peter 3:18 — “Because Christ also died once for our sins [substitutionary spiritual death], the righteous one [because of His impeccability He was qualified as a lamb without spot and without blemish. Therefore God the Father imputed all the sins of human history to Him and judged every one of them. Therefore Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world] as a substitute for the unrighteous ones, that he might bring us to God [There is relationship]; having been put to death in the flesh [as God, Jesus Christ could not be judged for our sins but as true humanity Jesus Christ was judged for our sins on the cross] but made alive [resurrection] by means of the (Holy) Spirit.”

2 Cor. 5:21 — “He who did not know sin [impeccability] was made sin as a substitute for us [u(per e)gw]; … “

Galatians 3:13 — “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by means of becoming a curse as a substitute for us [u(per e)gw]: for it stands written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on the cross.”

So the solution to pre-salvation sin is quite obvious. It is always the same — personal faith in Jesus Christ.

If God can solve the greater problem of salvation, the greater problem of relationship with Himself, He can solve the lesser problems of fellowship with Himself. And He always solves them by the same policy — grace. If God uses His policy of grace to solve the greater problem of salvation. i.e. relationship with Himself, He can solve the lesser problems of the Christian way of life — fellowship. This is the A Fortiori argument found in Romans 8:31-32. God did the greater at salvation and if God can do the greater at salvation in grace He can do the lesser in grace. The grace policy of God that provided salvation or relationship also provides the post-salvation plan or fellowship.

James 4:6 — “But he gives greater grace [or, more grace, i.e. beyond salvation].” We are saved by grace. That is the policy of God and as we have seen, grace excludes human works. The response to grace is a totally non-meritorious thing: faith. The object of faith has the merit. The object of faith is Jesus Christ. Now, after salvation, God is still in the problem-solving business — “more grace.” Grace saved us, now in James 4:6 we have “more grace.” So it has been demonstrated that relationship with God is established by the grace of God. Fellowship with God is established by more grace, or greater grace, for grace is the policy of God in His protocol plan. Therefore, a reminder that there is application of grace to our lives and that grace orientation is a problem-solving device — James 4:14, “Why do you not know what your life will be like tomorrow. What is your life? You are just a vapour trail, that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.”

But there is more to it than that for the grace-oriented believer. For in that short time that the vapour trail begins and then disappears, the sky is still there like history is still here. You have the opportunity of the greatest impact in all of human history — invisible impact, the impact of the invisible hero, the invisible hero as a total product of grace. Your life can be meaningful beyond your imagination. He has done exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think, through his grace policy. And he has provided Bible doctrine, He has provided problem-solving devices so that your life can be meaningful. The vapour trail is a mark of the power of the grace of God in your life. Behind that vapour trail is the invisibility of a soul, a right lobe, filled with metabolised doctrine converted into sophia or wisdom in the application of that doctrine. Think of your life in terms of the grace of God and therefore think of your life as a vapour trail, a vapour trail by the way which is wiped out by Christian degeneracy.

Ephesians 4:28 tells us that a certain amount of born-again believers have always been involved in crime. Criminals are created by volition, not by circumstances.

In a two-volume book written by Doctor Samuel Yochelson and Dr Stanton Samenow called The Criminal Personality, volume 1 chapter three there is a very lengthy discussion lasting over 100 pages on the criminal’s way of life. The chapter presents a detailed comprehensive picture of how criminals live, including how he interacts with his family, his peers, his teachers, his superiors at work and in military service.

Certain things that these two doctors say are very important. They also made some observations about criminals that are also true about non-criminals. They gave an illustration. They pointed out that the criminal as a child plays one parent against the other in an attempt to achieve his objective. Although a responsible child may well take advantage and even create parental differences of opinion he does not have to have a prevailing attitude of divide and conquer. Regarding the family they pointed out very clearly that the parents are not responsible for criminal behaviour. Over half of the criminals they dealt with came from stable families in which the parents had lived together, raised their children, and have experienced the usual tensions of living. Like other researchers, they said, we have also found broken homes, poverty, and other truly adverse circumstances. However, as we probed beyond the fact that a home was broken we found that the breaking up of a home in some cases helped to stabilise the life of the children because what remained was cohesive concerning the family unit. Many of the criminals, when children, rejected the people who attempted to show them affection and stabilise their homes.

They went on to talk about criminals, who when children, resented anyone who tried to limit their freedom. And this was true in poverty, in stabilised homes, and in adverse circumstances. Both biological parents and surrogate had a difficult time if they tried to restrict a criminal child’s activities. Some criminals came from homes of severe poverty and deprivation. What is striking is the sacrifices made by hard-working parents who struggled to surmount the adversity. And many of their siblings were some of the fine law-abiding people.

Then they started with grandparents. One of the things they said was that one criminal in his youth spent time with his grandparents if it meant less supervision or somehow a better deal than he had with his parents. Looking back men who had spent time with their grandparents were sentimental in their reflections. The grandparents of the criminals were from a variety of social stations, so it has nothing to do with poverty or wealth, a stabilised home or an unstabilised home or anything else. Nearly all of the grandparents lived by a strict moral code, being honest, hard-working people to whom the family was of primary importance. Most of them tried to improve their lot in life and provide for their children.

Then they go to the mother. The criminal’s mothers ranged from poor farmer’s daughters to the daughters of socially prominent families. Many grew up under conditions of hardship that precluded adequate education — so they had educated and non-educated mothers. Yet in spite of all of that when a criminal initially described his mother to an interviewer he generally presented her in an unfavourable light, citing what she did to him and what she failed to do to him. They found out later that this was a cover-up for the use of their own volition to enter into criminal activity. Criminals are created by volition, not by circumstances.

They pointed out that many of these criminals that they interviewed came from the most fantastic circumstances and many of them came from the worst of circumstances, and circumstances and environment had nothing whatever to do with it. It was volition all the way. For example, in the chapter on the fathers, the father could be a friend or a foe depending on whom the criminal talks to and what he wishes to establish. The criminals knew little about their father’s backgrounds or occupations because they were nor interested in their fathers. This was also true of their mothers. They only used them for an excuse when they learned the tricks of some of the psychologists who were trying to make them say, in effect, that they were maltreated by their father or their mother. But that wasn’t really the case. Instead it was the criminal who was not really interested in his parents, not the parents lacking interest in the criminal. As youngsters the criminal children were outsiders to the family life. Rather than being rejected by their parents the parents were rejected by them. They rejected their parents! These youngsters chose a way of life they wanted to keep secret from their parents. They rejected their families and often declined to participate in family activities which they found dull. Even a father who clearly favoured his son and wanted to spend time with him was spurned because the criminal was interested in other things. The fathers of our criminals came from a variety of backgrounds, educational, occupational, social, and therefore the issue was not fathers who neglected their children in any way.

Then there was an interesting development in the sibling part of this. Most of the brothers and sisters of the criminals they interviewed were responsible kids. They had not all achieved highly but they functioned quite differently in life from their criminal siblings. They said: Our findings confirm with other studies that we have noted that several offsprings from one family may follow different paths. The responsible siblings try to guide their criminal brothers and sisters in the direction of a more responsible behaviour. They often help their criminal siblings out with money and other resources. In many instances they take a protective attitude and cover for a criminal when he violates the law. They may not turn him in when he is a fugitive. Throughout their lives they attempt to advise, exhort, persuade, their criminal brothers and sisters to reform.

Note: It is the criminal who rejects parents, brothers and sisters.

The criminal distorts his relationships with brothers and sisters when he talks to others. He may say that a brother or a sister got more attention despite the fact that he compelled more attention by the things he did, and they, indeed, had been the favourite child in the family initially. Of course, in some instances the sibling did receive greater attention if the parents had to protect them from a criminal youngster.

In another part of the chapter, The Criminal Child Being Different, he says: “An important commonality among most family members is that they live responsibly. Where there is parental irresponsibility some children seem to be determined to be responsible because of it.” In other words, he points out that a lot of children who have an irresponsible parent go in the opposite direction. Then he points out that these criminals when they were children had a mantle of secrecy surrounding themselves. Parents slowly begin to sense that they do not know their own youngsters. They are uneasy, especially, those having another child with whom they can make comparisons.

The secret life is established early in the criminal child. Lying is a major ingredient. His accounts of what he does are vague and superficial, he is hard to pin down and with lies of omission being far more frequent than lies of commission. He may even lie when there is seemingly no point to it. For example, saying he is going to the grocery store when he knows he is going to a pool hall. What seems to matter to him is getting away with things. The criminal child sets himself apart (volition). This keeping to himself also is a self-imposed isolation; he simply does not want other members of the family to be privy to what he is doing. The family may be having fun on a picnic. The criminal child does something to spoil it. He is the one who plays with the Bar B Que fire. In playing ball he starts a fight over an umpire’s call. If he attends a family activity or school function because he is required to he wanders off and others do not know where he is. With so much lying, sneaking and concealment there is clearly a communication gap in the home of the criminal child. Usually the parents are faulted for not understanding the younger generation but he wants to keep his activities secret (Volition) so that others will not interfere with him. Indeed there is a communication breakdown but the child is the cause of the communication breakdown, not the parents.

The criminal child gets his way in one fashion or another. Sometimes it is through secrecy and slickness. Perhaps even more frequently he engages in constant battles with his parents, wearing them down until they capitulate. The youngster makes a contest out of anything no matter how minor. He looks for a victory in a dispute about whether he will clean up his room, hang up a wet towel, take out the trash or be in at a specified hour. Winning the fight overrides the significance of the issue at hand. It results in attrition of parental moral. Eventually his parents decide to ignore certain behaviour. Another technique the child uses to get his way: he makes so many requests an contests so many things that the parents cannot keep track of them.

The criminal child appears to be unsociable because he rejects being friends with responsible children who are in the majority. His enjoyment of other children depends on opportunities to violate them, but he generally does not retain the same association even with criminal groups. He lacks stable relationships and deep friendships. Liaisons that do continue are based on mutual exploitation or manipulation. This is the criminal view. The criminal does not maintain associations with responsible people. Basically people are to the criminal what money is in the bank to a responsible person. The criminal wants people available to draw on them, to manipulate them, even being seen in the company of a respectable person builds up the criminal.

Many criminals do not know how to act with responsible people because they have never learned the rudiments of social behaviour, and when a criminal says, Yes Sir, it may be to ingratiate himself as part of a conning effort rather than a sign of courtesy or genuine respect. Or it may be a rejection with ill-concealed contempt. He may become a socialiser as he frequents bars, pool rooms, street corners, restaurants, homes and apartments where criminals hang out. In time he comes to believe himself to be a big man, although this might not be objectively verifiable.

In this particular section what we try to show is that crime does not come to or force itself on a child. It is not the neighbourhood, it is not the bad company that makes him bad. Rather a child decides very early whom he wants to be with and what kind of a life he wants to lead. He makes choices all along the way and criminal patterns are identifiable by the age of ten.

Verse 28: We start with an articular present active participle from the verb kleptw which refers to the criminal act of stealing. The present tense is an iterative or a present tense of repeated action describing what occurs at successive intervals or is conceived in successive periods of time. In other words when you can get away with it you do it, is what the iterative present says. The iterative present depicts a criminal action which is repeated only at intervals when the criminal believer thinks he can get away with it. The active voice, born again believers produce the action of the verb.

The definite article is used as a personal pronoun and it refers to believers as criminals. And this is a circumstantial participle and is translated, “he who steals.” The participle connotes criminal activity in a specific area. Stealing will be used as the illustration but it could be any type of criminal activity. However, the participle also applies to other forms of dishonesty, dishonesty in business or in other fields. Criminality is a function of arrogance and volition; it is a matter of self-fragmentation in the implode sequence .

The believer who is a loser in the protocol plan of God is involved in the cosmic system. That is where criminal believers pick up their little ideas: “I had a mother who threw acid in my face” [a lie], “I had a father who beat me up when I got drunk” [a lie. So did a lot of law-abiding citizens.] Arrogance plus volition equals criminality.

Leviticus 19:11 — “You shall not steal; nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” In that verse you have the whole system of criminality: steal, deal falsely, lie. These commandments refer, by the way, to believers as much as to unbelievers. Jeremiah’s description of the apostate nation, the southern kingdom, included stealing in Jeremiah 7:9 — “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, and lie under oath, and offer sacrifices to Baal, and walk after other gods you have not known?” When Jeremiah said that he was talking to believers as well as unbelievers in client nation Israel.

Criminal believers are involved in degeneracy; they have reached the peak of Christian apostasy. All criminality is acquired through arrogance plus volition. What are some of the areas of arrogance? Authority arrogance, mental attitude arrogance, self-righteous arrogance, sexual arrogance, arrogance of unhappiness related to subjective preoccupation with self, psychopathic arrogance. The criminal believer lives inside the cosmic system; he is totally preoccupied with himself; he is anti-authority and ant-establishment and always gets into immoral type Christian degeneracy. He is a con-artist, a liar, a thief, etc. Criminality does not distinguish between the believer and the unbeliever.

“He who stole” — now the present participle often follows the Classical Greek here for something which happened previously. “He who has been stealing up to now” is a good way to translate it, or “He who stole up to now.” Here is a Christian criminal involved in immoral degeneracy and up to now he has been stealing. Therefore this is a reference to the believer under the control of his sin nature.

Then there is an adverb meketi which means “no longer,” but there is a problem here. You see, this is a pictorial present here and as a pictorial present with a negative adverb it demands a cessation of the activity. So how are we going to translate this with the present active imperative of kleptw? The corrected translation: “He who has been stealing up to now, from now on stop stealing.” The active voice, the believer produces the action of the verb by obeying the command to stop it. This implies that the born-again criminal can make the break. It is possible through conversion and doctrine that the person can do it. When the Bible says “Stop it,” God in grace provides a way to do it. The imperative of prohibition plus the negative mh or its equivalent means to stop an action in progress. The reversionistic believer is the believer in Christian degeneracy. He is in the cosmic system as well and because of the volition and lust pattern in his life he is a Christian criminal. And the trend of Christian criminality is crime, unless he has spiritual growth by perception, metabolisation and application of doctrine, and then solving. There is no substitute for the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God. That is the only way that the born-again criminal will ever climb out of his hole.

Born again believers become criminals. Some of them are criminals before they believe in Jesus Christ; some became criminals after they believed in Jesus Christ.

The articular present active participle of kleptw, the word from the which we get our word “kleptomaniac,” means to steal. This present tense is a perfective present which denotes a continuation of existing results of Christian criminality. The definite article used as a personal pronoun refers to believers who are criminals, in contrast to unbelievers as criminals. And the perfective present denotes a continuation of existing results of Christian criminality. Hence it refers to a fact which has come to be in the past but is emphasised as a present reality. The present reality is that status of Christian degeneracy known as Christian criminality. The active voice, the born-again believer produces the action of the verb in the status of Christian immoral degeneracy. The participle is circumstantial.

Principle: How do Christians get that way? Go right back to the doctrine of the pattern of Christian immoral degeneracy. Implosion or self-fragmentation. They pull the pin of the grenade.

The categories of immoral degeneracy: 1. Sexual sins; 2. Chemical dependant sins — drug and alcohol addiction, etc.; 3. Criminal sins.

The articular present active participle of kleptw denotes a particular criminal activity that represents the entire concept. The participle is designed to cover every category of Christian criminality. The context does indicate believers involved in this form of immoral degeneracy. Their criminality cannot be distinguished from the unbeliever involved in the same category.

Jeremiah described one of the reasons why the southern kingdom, as a client nation to God, went out under the fifth cycle of discipline was because of criminality — Jer. 7:9. A criminal nation cannot continue as a client nation to God.

Paul in the Church Age recognises the fact that a certain number of believers have fallen into criminality as an expression of Christian degeneracy. This is recognised in Romans 2:21 — “You therefore who teach another, do you teach yourself? you who teach that a person should not steal, do you steal?”

Criminality is a part of Christian degeneracy and this circumstantial participle recognises that a certain number of believers are dishonest to the point of being criminal. All criminals are the product of their own volition. They choose to be criminals.

The doctrine of the characteristics of criminality

The criminal is irresponsible. All criminality is the product of human volition. They are not criminals because of their environment but because of the function of their volition in relationship to the trends of their old sin nature. The criminal is not a mature person because he does not take the responsibility for his own decisions in life. Therefore criminality is characterised by irresponsibility and childishness. Criminals do not grow up and mature. Criminality is characterised by irresponsibility; he is not responsible, answerable or accountable to any authority in life. Therefore, the criminal lives in a state of self-fragmentation. Responsible persons in life relate to some form of virtue, virtue related to people, virtue related to obligations, virtue related to the work ethic. This virtue produces self-esteem under the laws of divine establishment and spiritual self-esteem under the protocol plan of God. The unbeliever from his own achievement actually derives self-respect, respect for others, and a lifestyle which we call concurrence with or related to or subjected to the laws of divine establishment.

On the other hand the born-again believer, under three principles, attains spiritual adulthood which not only complies with the laws of divine establishment but executes God’s protocol plan. And it is accomplished through learning, thinking and solving. In this way the born-again believer renders unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s, and simultaneously avoids all the sins and all of the evil of implode, explode and revert, which is the basis for the making of all criminals. However, the believer who is negative toward Bible doctrine fails to execute the protocol plan and becomes a loser. It is inevitable, then, that losers will enter into some form of fragmentation and some form of Christian degeneracy. Some believers become criminals and as such are irresponsible as well as losers in God’s plan.

A law-abiding citizen may be irresponsible without being a criminal but all criminals are irresponsible. Criminal irresponsibility translated in terms of the laws of divine establishment includes at least six things.

1. The criminal has no respect for the freedom of others.

2. The criminal does not recognise the rights of others in a free society.

3. The criminal does not understand, or if he understands he totally rejects the concept of freedom, which includes privacy, and the sacredness of property and life.

4. Therefore, the criminal is insensitive to others. 5. The criminal is totally preoccupied with himself, totally subjective, totally arrogant, therefore totally irresponsible.

6. The criminal has no sense of obligation to such divine institutions as marriage, family, government, and therefore his relationships in life are superficial, self-centred, irresponsible.

The criminal lacks authority orientation.

— so do a lot of non-criminals as well. Criminality includes rejection of all legitimate authority in life, beginning with parents. Rejection of parental authority results in life disorientation which becomes the basis for criminal self-justification. The criminal is always justifying himself. He never thinks of the victim, except that he was a dummy to be there at the time! He is guilty of authority arrogance which begins with parents and extends to every facet of authority including teachers, coaches, police officers, management, military authority.

As criminality increases unchecked the authority of the local county, state, and national government is undermined and when crime gets out of control there is no freedom. When freedom is lost and crime is out of control street gangs of children and teenagers are formed and run loose. Criminality begins before puberty and extends into the teens. The result is that violence becomes a way of life for the criminal. And while society erroneously blames guns and weapons it is not the fault of guns and weapons. Probably 2% of all the people in the United States who own weapons have ever been remotely in a crime. It is volition, it is mental attitude, which results in criminality. The criminal has a basic sense of insecurity. This may result from various categories of fear. Why? Because criminals are emotional and people who are ruled by their emotions become fearful, angry, and full of hate, and have a predilection for violence and even murder. Emotional revolt of the soul can produce criminal activity or produce sins that are common to all. So insecurity may result from fear such as fear of injury, fear of death. Fear is related to peer pressure, fear of ridicule. The criminal fears being reduced to what is called “nothing in life.” But psychologists do not call it that, they have a psychological name for it called “the zero state.” The criminal’s lack of self-esteem to a state of worthlessness, hopelessness or futility, the psychologist simply calls it “zero state.” And the criminal’s sense of insecurity includes a sense of failure in terms of the extremes of life. The criminal is therefore a “top dog” or he is nothing. All criminals fear the zero state even when he is not in it. A sense of insecurity leads a criminal to what is classified in psychology as transparency in which the criminal believes that his worthlessness is obvious to all and everyone perceives it. And when the criminal thinks that he has succeeded in life through a life of crime, society and establishment regards him as a failure. But when the criminal thinks he has failed then the society regards him as a success. He has a reverse trend in his thinking. Consequently, criminal insecurity keeps him disoriented to life in terms of establishment or in terms of Bible doctrine.

In the zero state the criminal often blames others for his real or imagined failures. In this way his arrogant self-pity interacts with arrogant self-righteousness resulting in instability and insecurity.

The criminal has no control over his emotions. Because a criminal has no control over his emotions he has no control over his temper, his antagonisms, his functions of hatred. Of course this is true of many law-abiding citizens as well but when related to criminal arrogance and a distorted conscience this flaw becomes the property of criminality.

Anger is a sin, therefore pertinent to the entire human race but criminality is characterised by chronic anger. Chronic anger is the criminal personality, often outwardly suppressed, but inwardly the criminal boils continually. Anger is the motivation for violence, homicide, revenge modus operandi and other forms of criminal activity. Many people, of course, have an anger problem and lose their temper but only the criminal personality parlays his anger into criminal modus operandi.

Criminality is characterised by boredom.

Boredom actually means no capacity for life, no ability to entertain self, no interest in life outside of self. Of course how you handle loneliness as a believer and how you handle boredom is very important. One of the keys to handling loneliness is to completely outlaw boredom by a tremendous number of interests that have been developed from metabolised doctrine in your soul.

The believer who is a criminal has no interest in Bible doctrine except when he is in trouble. He has no self-control based on the understanding and utilisation of the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God.

The criminal wants excitement; he wants proof of his power. In fact, the criminal’s desire for excitement is so great and so much a part of himself that he becomes jaded and he requires constant stimulation from excitement. The criminal wants people to see his power, to feel his power. He is abnormal. To live without increasing excitement is a “put-down” and therefore the criminal requires constant stimulation from sex, from torture, from making others afraid of him. Eventually only violence and extreme criminal activity is the antidote for the criminal’s boredom. And that means torture, rape and murder. This is why terrorists often abuse their hostages even though they may have been ordered not to abuse them.

All terrorists are criminals, not patriots, as illustrated by their treatment of hostages and many other things. The idea that terrorists are actually patriots is one of the most idiotic thoughts that has ever been published. Terrorism is not patriotism, it is criminality. Blowing up innocent people is not patriotism, it is murder. All criminals are liars.

All liars are not criminals but all criminals are liars. For the criminal lying is a way of life. Hence, the criminal is a pathological liar and habitually he deceives. So habitual deceit and lying is the criminal’s demonstration of his total disdain and disregard for truth in any form. Lying is the criminal’s standard way of dealing with the world. He lies to achieve his objective; he lies for self-preservation or to build himself up. Lying is a major part of criminal manipulation.

The criminal is arrogant.

Arrogance is inflexible about self and criminal arrogance is total preoccupation with self to the exclusion of any form of law or any establishment principle. Arrogance is the motivation of criminal personality. Remember the criminal is a walking grenade and he pulls the pin and keeps it out; he is constantly blowing up — the pin of jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, hatred, self-pity, revenge motivation. Neither argument, persuasion, reason, logic, or even punishment can modify the inflexible and subjective arrogance of the criminal, for he rejects all authority in fear of entering the zero state, or becoming a nothing.

Criminal arrogance rejects Bible doctrine which is the only real source of help and hope. And from life in the cosmic system the criminal becomes a sociopath. But you must remember about the criminal: he will come and listen to Bible doctrine and get the language, and he uses the language for manipulation. It was the famous thief, Judas Iscariot, who used the facade of hypocrisy to cover his criminality. John 12:3-6 — Judas didn’t care about the poor, he cared about his own bank account. He was a thief and had the money box. And he used to steal what was put in it. Criminal arrogance hides behind a facade of self-righteousness.

The criminal is irrational.

The motive for crime against property is not money, the motivation for sex crimes is not sex. In both cases the criminal is acting to assert control and superiority over a victim, over the authorities, over the non-criminal way of life. This is also true of senseless violence. The criminal feels superior when he hurts others and when he makes a lot of people scream. The criminal irrationality is very simple: his rationale is to avoid the zero state by getting back at society for not admiring him. And this is the Mr Big syndrome which also includes going down in a blaze of glory if cornered, to bomb a public place, to rape a housewife, to burn down a building with many people inside is the objective of criminal arrogance and irrationality.

We now move into the work ethic and we do so with a post positive Greek particle de which is used to emphasise a contrast between believers involved in crime and the function of the work ethic as a part of the protocol plan of God. We have the comparative adverb mallon which is used with de to express the concept which corrects the function of crime among believers. And as a result you finally come to the work ethic of the protocol plan. So we translate it: “but rather.”

The context is discussing believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of these believers were involved in criminal activity and had become criminal personalities as a part of their expression of immoral degeneracy. And from all of this the recovery from the reversionistic aspect, the reversionistic stages, recovery from the polarised fragmentation, and finally they get to the place where they level off with regard to implosion. Once they do that by the use of the ten problem-solving devices plus their consistent perception of Bible doctrine and its metabolisation there is a new thing that is introduced to them. And something they will enjoy, not while they are in criminality but after they begin to recover.

And this is one of the ways they know they are recovering. The present active imperative of the verb kopiaw, which means to work hard. It means also to work to the point of exhaustion. It means even to get worn out occasionally through physical and mental labour. And twice in this verse the King James version has the words “let him” .It translates the imperative mood that way. The only imperative mood that can ever be translated with the word “let” is the permissive imperative and this is not the permissive imperative, this is the imperative of command; it is a mandate. Usually in the imperative there is no need for the word “let.” It does not express a command properly.

The correct translation is: “but rather begin to work hard.” The active voice, the criminal believers in the process of recovery through the use of the ten problem-solving devices, through perception, metabolisation and application of doctrine, are beginning to recover. The imperative mood, this is a divine mandate. That phrase, “but rather begin to work hard", introduces a part of the protocol plan of God where the work ethic is involved.

Next we have a participle. The present middle participle of the verb e)rgazomai which is another word for working. The present tense this time is a futuristic present for an event which has not yet occurred but it is regarded as so certain in recovery from immoral degeneracy — the person who is going to recover is going to learn and use those ten problem-solving devices. The futuristic present recognises that the person to whom this is addressed has yet to do this and that is why it is translated “begin to work hard.” “Working” is the next word and the middle voice of e)rgazomai represents the subject as participating in the results of the action, or acting in relationship to himself, hence being personally involved in the action. He now begins to make money to earn a living by hard work. This is called a dynamic middle in which the subject acts for himself with reference to himself, hence the subject produces the action. The dynamic middle gives the verb an individualistic application. You see, always with your problems it is an individualistic application which you must make from doctrine you have learned. You learn the doctrine, you make the application. You don’t have to run around and tell your problems to other people. That isn’t solving them. So learn the doctrine in the privacy of your own priesthood; solve your problems in the privacy of your own soul. That is the design of the Word of God.

With this the instrumental plural of means from two words. First a definite article used as a possessive pronoun, taij and with it the noun xeir which means hands — “working with your hands.” Translation so far: “He who stole up to now, from now on stop stealing: but rather begin to work hard, working with your own hands.”

Now we have an accusative singular, direct object from two words with no verb in between — “doing what is right.” The generic use of the definite article to and with it our great word a)gaqoj, good of intrinsic value, and it refers to divine good versus human good. We translate it: “doing what is right.” Doing right is good of intrinsic value or divine good produced by the filling of the Spirit, produced by the application of Bible doctrine, produced by the utilisation of the problem-solving devices.

As a member of the royal family of God and as a Church Age believer who was formerly a criminal, he must now demonstrate his life inside the divine dynasphere — the filling of the Spirit — through hard work, and he should be motivated to work hard. Just as he was motivated from the OSN to steal now he is motivated to work hard. So this is the good of intrinsic value manifestation of his spiritual progress inside the operational type divine dynasphere. And to see a former thief now earning his living through hard manual labour is an overt manifestation of an inner change of life.

Now the inner change is accomplished through consistent perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine. When a thief takes a job and begins to earn a living, an honest living, it means one of two things: 1. He is a hot item and hiding out until things cool off! In this case the job becomes a cover and he is still a thief. In other words he is still manipulating; 2. He could be a believer in reversion recovery from degeneracy and in this case the work is a manifestation of his spiritual progress. He is earning an honest living.

Now there has to be motivation in working and there always is. It could be good motivation or bad motivation. Here is a number of good motivations for working found in the Bible. This doesn’t deal with all motivation for hard work, motivation and so on. This is merely one of them that applies to this situation. We have a conjunction i(na which introduces a semi-final purpose clause which denotes the direction of the action of the main verb toward a given result. We are responsible for our own decisions whether we know we are doing wrong or not. And with the use of our volition is what we might classify as a mind set. It might be an OSN mind set and it might be a doctrinal mind set. This brings in a doctrinal mind set, doctrinal motivation. And this is only one of many; it is not the only motivation for hard work; “that” is the way it is translated here. And with it we have the present active subjunctive of the verb e)xw, to have. Here it means to possess money, so we translate “that he may have money.” This is the tendencial present for an action which is contemplated but which has not actually taken place. And please notice the possession of money does not become an issue until the money is earned honestly. The active voice, criminal believers in the process of recovery from Christian degeneracy produce the action of the verb. The recovery, however, is potential — because of the subjunctive mood. This is a potential subjunctive, it implies a future reference and is qualified by the element of contingency. That is, reversion recovery from criminal behaviour.

With this we have a present active infinitive from the verb metadidomi — to share, to give, or to share a part of it. “That he may have money to share.” The recovered criminal is now motivated with a new motivation. Before he stole to satisfy himself; now he works hard to share. Next, the verb “to have” is the present active participle and with it the definite article translated “with him,” it is an instrumental singular from toi and the pictorial present presents to the mind a picture of one of a number of motivations, sharing in the process of occurrence. Finally, there is one more word, the accusative singular, direct object from the noun xreia, which means need or necessity. How is this translated? “He [the believer who was a criminal] who stole up to now, from now on stop stealing: but rather begin to work hard, working with your hands doing what is right, that he may have money to share with him who has a need.”

The Doctrine of Money

Money is a medium by which prices are fixed, debts are discharged, goods and services are paid for and bank reserves are held. The term is synonymous with circulating medium and it includes everything from coins, bank notes, paper money issued by Government. Money is the means of stating prices of goods and services as well as expressing debts, salaries, wages, rents, insurance obligations and innumerable contracts. Money serves as a reserve for ready purchasing power. Hence, money is the only completely liquid asset.

In the ancient world money was used as a store of value and the rise of commercial and central banking resulted in corresponding increases of the importance of money used as reserves of the banking system. Money is unique among economic goods; it is regarded not as wealth but as a device for exchanging and measuring wealth. An increase in the quantity of money in a nation does not necessarily constitute an increase in the country’s wealth. [Sometimes it indicates a decrease in the country’s wealth — inflation].

The Doctrine of the Poor

1. Until the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ there will always be poverty on the earth. Poverty cannot be solved by governments or masses of people; there will always be the poor — Matthew 26:11.

2. The poor are a target for hypocrisy — James 2:2-4. Verse 2 — “For if a person comes into your assembly and he is dressed in fine clothes, and there comes a poor man with shabby clothes; Verse 3 — “And you give you give your attention to the one who is wearing fine clothes, and say to him, Sit down here in a good pew; and you say to the poor man, You stand over there, or you sit on the floor by my feet; Verse 4 — “Have you not discriminated among your selves, and you have become judges with evil motivation?” This principle is also taught in John 12:5 with regard to Judas Iscariot who was a thief. To be interested in the poor requires genuine compassion.

3. Poor believers have the same equal privileges and the same equal opportunity to fulfil the protocol plan of God. cf James 2:5,6. A person may not have much of this world’s goods but they can advance to spiritual maturity, they can be rich in doctrine. The poor have the ability to love God and to execute His Word just as much as those who have wealth.

4. It is possible for the poor to be generous and magnificent in the use of whatever money they have. cf Mark 12:41-44.

5. Charity to the poor is a bonafide function of the establishment. It is a part of the laws of divine establishment — Proverbs 14:30-31.

Verse 30 — “A tranquil right lobe is life to the body; [When a believer has a large inventory of Bible doctrine he has tranquillity] But jealousy is rottenness to the bones.” [Or jealousy rots the bones]

Verse 31 — “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker: but he who is kind to the needy honours God.” Charity to the poor is a bonafide function in this life.

a. Learn to distinguish between charity and the welfare state.

b. Charity is for the helpless poor.

c. Welfare is for the poor helpless! Welfare makes the poor helpless.

Galatians 2:10 — “They only asked us to remember the poor; the very thing we were eager to do.”

6. There is a special curse on those who ignore helping the poor — Proverbs 21:13. “He who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, Will also cry himself, and not be answered.”

Proverbs 22:23 — “For the Lord will plead their case [the case of the poor], And take the life of those who rob them.”

7. God can raise the poor out of their poverty. Psalm 113:7 — “He raises the poor from the dust, And God lifts the needy from the ash heap;”

8. The poor are not only delivered by God from their poverty but the reality of poverty causes them to see the need for eternal salvation. Therefore they respond to the Gospel — Psalm 72:12-14; Matthew 11:5.

9. The poor have very few real friends — Proverbs 19:4. “Wealth adds many friends: but the poor man is separated from even one friend.”

Now lust for money creates power struggles so we will note four principles

a. Lust or love for money creates power struggles which destroy the balance of power and creates what is called an imbalance of power [a state or condition of lacking balance].

b. Imbalance of power destroys both freedom and economic prosperity in the client nation to God.

c. Power struggles which create imbalance in the economy of a nation result in great suffering to the poor. It is the poor who are hit the hardest.

Application: The problem of imbalance of power in a nation

a. The application of the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution is mechanised production as opposed to hand production; it is mechanised transportation as opposed to animal or sail transportation; it gave rise to three categories in our lives — capitalism or free enterprise, factories for mechanical production, and systems of mechanical transportation; it gave rise to a middle class as opposed to aristocracy and different from the poor.

b. The categories involved in the industrial revolution. 1. Management; 2. Labour; 3. Government.

Management is defined to convert money and investment into industrial efficiency which includes production and marketing.

Labour is designed to execute production and marketing. There are three categories of labour — skilled and unskilled, administrative labour which must not be confused with management, and marketing labour which is sales personnel.

There are three categories of national government [in the USA]: The executive branch as represented by the President and those who serve under him, the Legislative branch [Congress], the legal branch [Supreme Court]. The three branches provide a check and balance system to avoid the problem of imbalance of power.

c. National prosperity depends on the three categories of the industrial revolution. It depends on management, the proper use of capital. It depends on labour, the proper function of industry. It depends on Government, the proper maintenance of freedom.

These three categories must always be kept in balance, which means that power imbalance destroys prosperity and causes the industrial revolution to move to another geographical area.

d. We lose out to the problem of imbalance of power. The decline of the industrial revolution in the US means malfunction in all three categories. First, Government fails to provide freedom which is the environment of the industrial revolution. Second, management is both inefficient in the use of capital and often indifferent to the stabilisation and the security of labour. Three, labour unions seek monopoly of labour markets rather than the benefits that belong to labour.

The Doctrine of Giving

Definition:

Giving is an expression of worship which commemorates the grace policy of God. Giving in the Church Age is the function of the believer’s royal priesthood, and since it is, giving must be accomplished in privacy without being pressured. There are four categories of Christian service,

one of them is giving.

The first category of Christian service is the function of your spiritual gift under the filling of the Holy Spirit. The second category of Christian service is related to your royal priesthood and it includes prayer, giving, and the execution of the protocol plan of God through learning, thinking, solving. Christian service is related to your royal ambassadorship and that includes evangelism, personal witnessing, administration in the local church, function in the mission field, working with young people or functioning in the various legitimate Christian service organisations. The fourth category of Christian service is related to the laws of divine establishment and it includes military service, law enforcement, government, but never activism.

Giving is further defined as the presentation of money or other valuable commodities which may be used in the sustaining the ministry of communication in the spiritual gift of either evangelism or pastor-teacher.

Motivation is the major issue in giving. People think in terms of the amount given but that is wrong. In fact, even if you cannot even give you can still give through your mental attitude. Mental attitude is the key to giving, not the amount given — 2 Cor. 9:7. “ … for God loves a grace-oriented believer” — corrected translation. Grace orientation, problem-solving device number 4, is the true basis for giving. 2 Corinthians 9:8 goes on to say that when you find this kind of person God provides the money to give — “for God is able to make all grace abound unto you.” God graciously provides extra finances for the grace giver to give. For the only legitimate system of giving is a grace giver giving to a grace cause.

Verse 9 is a quotation from Psalm 112:9 — “Just as it stands written, He scatters abroad [God gives extra money to certain people], he gave to the poor; His righteousness abides forever” .God provides under grace but God’s grace righteousness also meets at the point of grace giving.

Verse 10 — “Now he who supplies seed to the sower [capital] and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;

Verse 11 — “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

Verse 12 — “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanksgiving to God.”

There is a passage that starts with a mental attitude, never giving under compulsion, and ends up in many expressions of thanksgiving to God. Giving is a mental attitude based upon a problem-solving device — grace orientation.

The Doctrinal Principles Of Grace

1. Giving is an expression of the royal family honour code, Romans 16:26.

2. Giving is an expression of freewill, 2 Cor. 8:3.

3. Giving is an expression of mental attitude in every circumstance of life, 2 Cor. 8:2.

4. Giving must express an attitude toward the Lord before it can express an attitude toward people, 2 Cor. 8:5.

5. Giving depends on consistent function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation — perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine, 2 Cor. 8:7 — “But just as you excel in everything, in faith-rest, and in doctrine, and in knowledge, and in all diligence, and in love [impersonal] from you to us, and also you excel in this grace giving.” They excelled in giving not on the basis of whether they liked someone or not but on the basis of impersonal love, the virtue of the subject rather than the attractiveness of the object.

Precedence for giving is derived from the dispensation of the hypostatic union and is predicated on grace, 2 Cor. 8:9 — “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich [He was eternal God], yet for your sakes he became poor [true humanity in hypostatic union], so that you through his poverty [being judged for our sins on the cross] might become rich.”

Giving is a mental attitude related to an overt act, 2 Cor. 8:12 — “For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable on the basis of what one has [willingness counts for giving], not on the basis of what one does not have.”

Therefore giving is related to motivation from metabolised doctrine in the right lobe of the soul, 2 Cor. 9:7 — “Each one as he has determined in his right lobe, so give; not from distress of mind, or under compulsion: for God loves a gracious giver.” The key to giving is grace orientation.

God in His matchless grace provides both the spiritual motivation and the monetary capital for grace giving, 2 Cor. 9:8.

God in His matchless grace provides both the monetary capital for grace giving and makes it part of your Christian service, 2 Cor. 9:10.

Generosity of mental attitude results in generosity of giving, 2 Cor. 9:11 — “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

Giving is a part of Christian service, 2 Cor. 9:12 — “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanksgiving to God.”

The concept of giving is also related to two spiritual gifts: the gift of pastor-teacher and the gift of evangelism. The problem here is that the gift of pastor-teacher must make an issue out of two things as a recipient of support from believers. He must make an issue out of the Gospel and, therefore, while he does not have the gift of evangelism he evangelises. And he must make an issue out of “after salvation what?” — what is the Christian way of life? the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Therefore the pastor must constantly use his spiritual gift to proclaim the Gospel when it is in a passage. If you make an issue out of money you cannot make an issue out of the Gospel. The pastor must never make an issue out of money — 2 Cor. 11:7, “Because I preach the gospel to you without charge …” 2 Cor. 11:8 — “I robbed other churches [like Philippi], taking wages from them to serve you;” Paul wasn’t supported by the Corinthians. He couldn’t have made an issue out of the Gospel and the mystery doctrine. So the Philippian church supported Paul in Corinth.

The pastor exchanges spiritual blessings to the congregation in exchange for material blessing from the congregation. Hence the fulfilment of the principle: mutual blessing by association. Philippians 1:5 — “Because of your contribution from the first day until now for the purpose of spreading the gospel;”

Giving reflects the mental attitude of the congregation towards their right pastor, Phil. 4:10 — “I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed you have been concerned but you lacked opportunity to give.”

Giving is the application of Bible doctrine on the part of the congregation, Philippians 4:14 — “And you yourselves also recognised that in the beginning of my ministry with reference to the gospel, when I had departed from Macedonia, not one church contributed to me in the application of doctrine of giving and receiving, except you [Philippians] only.”

Giving is a grace production in Christian service, Phil. 4:17 — “Not because I seek the gift from you; but I seek after the grace production of divine good which accumulates to your account.”

Giving to one’s right pastor is maximum blessing to the pastor and pleasing to God, Philippians 4:18 — “Moreover I have received all of your gifts and I have an abundance: I have been filled with blessing, having received from Epaphroditus the things [money] from you, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.”

The grace concept of giving is found in both the Old and the New Testament. Proverbs 11:24 — “There is the one who gives generously, yet he becomes more prosperous; and there is also the one who holds back in giving what is fitting, and he becomes impoverished.”

There is a second principle in Proverbs 11:25 — “The generous person will be prosperous: and he who gives water will himself also be caused to have water” — agricultural economy relating, of course, to irrigation.

The grace concept of giving in the New Testament: 1 Cor. 16:2 — “On the first day of the week let each one of you put aside, and save on the basis of his prosperity, that no collections be taken when I come.”

Tithing

Tithing is not spiritual giving in the Old Testament. Spiritual giving is limited to believers only and tithing was a ten per cent income tax under the Mosaic Law, Codex number three, which deals with the laws of divine establishment.

Actually there were three ten per cent taxes under the ten percent rule of income tax in the Mosaic Law. First there was the tithe or ten percent income tax for all Jewish citizens, believers and unbelievers, for the maintenance of the Levites — Numbers 18:21,24. The second ten per cent income tax from all Jewish citizens was to defray the cost of the feasts and sacrifices — Deuteronomy 14:22-24. And the third ten per cent or tithe, income tax from all Jewish citizens, believers and unbelievers, was to be paid every third year for the relief of the poor in the land — Deuteronomy 14:28,29 [charity and not socialism].

Remember that the tithe is defined in the scripture as a ten per cent income tax for the citizens of Israel only, both believers and unbelievers. Because it included unbelievers and because it was a tax it is not regarded as spiritual giving, it is regarded as an obligation called income tax. Spiritual giving is presented in the Mosaic Law under one word — “offerings.” Offerings were for believers only.

In the time of apostasy in Israel the citizens, both the believers and unbelievers, failed to pay their taxes and believers were not fulfilling their obligation in spiritual giving as well — cf. Malachi 3:8.

In Ephesians 4:29 we have one of those passages that would appear to be talking about how you talk. But actually it is a message designed for pastors and therefore it is very important for us to understand.

The King James version says: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” This is actually a mandate to pastor-teachers. It begins with a nominative singular subject from three words, an adjective paj (every or any) plus and the adjective sapraj. Sapraj has a number of different meanings but we will translate it “unsound” because of the noun that goes with it — logoj, which among others things means “doctrine,” words put together in doctrine. So we are going to translate this: “Every unsound [or false, or unusable] doctrine.” With it we have a present active imperative that gives us our first mandate in this verse. It is the present active imperative of the verb e)kporeuomai — to go out or proceed. With this we have the negative me so it means to stop doing something that a lot of the ministers at that time were doing. It should be translated: “Do not permit any unsound or false doctrine proceed.” The imperative mood of prohibition plus the negative mh means to stop something you are doing as ministers. Certain pastors were communicating false doctrine which is emphasised as unusable, bad, unsound, rotten. Then we have a prepositional phrase e)k plus the ablative singular of source from stoma and with that the personal pronoun su in the genitive — “from your mouth.” This verse is a challenge to the ministry, hence a special exhortation to pastors regarding the communication of doctrine. It is a grim reminder to pastors to teach Bible doctrine accurately under the ICE principles.

The ICE principles: “I” stands for isagogics which is the interpretation of scripture within the framework of its historical setting or prophetical environment. The Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written, and from the original languages. The “C” stands for categorical communication of doctrine, and this fulfils the hermeneutical principle of comparing scripture with scripture, hence the concept of rightly dividing the Word of truth. And scriptural comparisons determine the classification of doctrine and results in biblical systematic theology. Categorical communication of Bible doctrine cannot be divorced from dispensational considerations, and this in itself leads to many categories. Basically that distinction must be made between Israel and the Church and precedence for the plan of God for the Church Age is based upon the dispensation of the hypostatic union. So categories of doctrine must be assigned theological nomenclature for retention. “E” stands for exegesis, defined as the expository approach to scripture, hence interpretation based upon the analysis of the grammar, the syntax, the etymology of words in the original languages of the Bible. Every verse given in context must be correctly translated to be accurately interpreted. This includes understanding the etymology of words in the original languages which must be traced for their meaning and usage at the time of writing. The true object of interpretation, then, is to determine under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit the exact thought of the human writer in any given context. This requires proper exegesis. Remember, once again, the definition of inspiration of the scripture:

God so supernaturally directed the human writers of scripture so that without waiving their intelligence, their individuality, their literary style, their personal feelings or any other human factor, His 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.

Please note: there is no such thing as an inspired translation! The scripture says in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is God-breathed", and the function of words in context always depend upon their association with others words, and this function can only be determined by an exegesis of the original languages. The principle: one cannot interpret without understanding what he interprets and the true object of Bible teaching is the accurate communication of the Word of God. There must be an accurate translation for an accurate interpretation.

Verse 29 begins by saying: “Do not permit any unsound doctrine to go out of your mouth.” Today we are in the midst of a great controversy and there is inaccuracy that is going to prove devastating during the last decade of this century. The last decade is going to be terrible in many ways. There is going to be confusion in Christianity but the confusion in public life as well as private life is going to be something that some of us could never dream could happen.

Paul goes on to say in verse 29 that to get out of the nursery the believer has to have an edification complex. We begin at this point, then, with the adversative conjunction a)lla. The adversative conjunction sets up a contrast between the false doctrine, the unsound doctrine taught by all too many ministers and the true doctrine which is taught by the few pastor-teachers. The word is correctly translated “but” .Next we have a conditional particle used with an indefinite pronoun; it is an Attic idiom, tij. It is correctly translated: “But whatever.”

“But whatever is” refers to accurate Bible teaching, especially related to the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. And then comes the predicate nominative of a)gathoj, good of intrinsic value. That which has intrinsic value in this context is doctrine. Bible doctrine wherever you find it has intrinsic value. Next we have a prepositional phrase, proj plus the accusative of purpose of o)ikodomh, “for the purpose of edification,” to get out of the nursery. The purpose of edification is the fulfilment of the protocol plan of God which is coterminous with the construction of the edification complex of the soul. Every mature believer is a winner; he is an invisible hero; and he possesses an edification complex. Momentum through post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation is tantamount to the construction of the edification complex of the soul.

Notice is says, “for the purpose of edification,” not “the edification. There is no definite article in the Greek. We call this an anartherous (a technical word which means the absence of the definite article before a substantive) construction of the noun which indicates the qualitative aspect of the noun as the objective of the protocol plan of God. The fulfilment of the protocol plan of God, then, is coterminous with the construction of the ECS; and the ECS is quality, the highest quality of human being on the face of the earth. Who is the real aristocracy of world history? Believers who attain spiritual maturity, believers with an ECS.

Principle: The pastor must teach the mystery doctrine of the Church Age for several good reasons

1. For understanding and executing God’s plan, God’s will and God’s purpose for your life.

2. For understanding and using the ten problem-solving devices of the Church Age.

3. For understanding and using your very own portfolio of invisible assets. God the Father in eternity past prepared for you personally your very own portfolio of invisible assets.

4. For understanding and appreciating the ten unique features of the Church Age, for never before in history has God done so much for the ordinary believer.

5. For the attainment of spiritual maturity which is becoming an invisible hero and glorifying God thereby.

Principle: The individual believer cannot achieve these things on his own, including the daily reading of his Bible. It has to be explained.

The purpose of the ministry is the accurate communication of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age to positive believers so they can grow in grace and glorify God.

Finally in this verse we have the purpose for the teaching of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. We begin with that conjunction which is used to introduce a purpose clause, i(na plus the subjunctive mood of a final purpose clause which expresses a distinct purpose conceived as the aim of the action of the main verb. We will translate it “that” or “in order that.” This is followed by the aorist active subjunctive of the verb didomi. It should be translated “in order that it may give.” “It” is the subject and refers to accurate teaching of the mystery doctrine in order that accurate teaching of the mystery doctrine “may give.” And then we have the culminative aorist which views the action of the verb in its entirety — that is, consistent accurate teaching of the Word of God by a prepared pastor — but regards it from the viewpoint of existing results, the consistent hearing of born-again believers with the result that they reach grace orientation, and from grace orientation as a problem-solving device they attain spiritual maturity. The active voice: the mystery doctrine of the Church Age produces the action of the verb and this is a subjunctive mood used in a subordinate clause indicating the purpose of the action of the main verb in that final purpose clause. The main verb is to “proceed” or to “go out of your mouth” — “Do not permit unsound doctrine to proceed out of your mouth, but whatever is good of intrinsic value for the purpose of edification, in order that it may give ...”

Principle: No one executes the protocol plan of God without grace orientation.

Next we have the accusative singular direct object from xarij, used here for grace orientation as problem-solving device number four. The absence of the definite article indicates the qualitative aspect of grace orientation as the only problem-solving device. The dative plural indirect object from the articular present active participle follows. The present active participle comes in the verb a)kouw. We would translate: “In order that it [the accurate teaching of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age] may give grace orientation to the hearers.” And you will note that the participle is used as a noun for those who are consistent in listening to the teaching of the Word of God, the participle used as a noun for positive consistent positive volition.

Principle: Grace orientation originates from consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, which is perception, metabolisation

and application of Bible doctrine. And remember that only metabolised doctrine in the right lobe has momentum and wisdom as well as application.

Corrected translation: “Do not permit any unsound doctrine to go out from your mouth, but whatever is good of intrinsic value [Bible doctrine] for the purpose of edification [the fulfilment of the protocol plan], in order that it [accurate teaching of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age] may give grace orientation to the hearers.”

Since Satan is the ruler of this world it is obvious that he does not have any blessing for us. It is obvious also that he resents our presence and especially any place where there is positive volition coupled with accurate teaching of Bible doctrine. Yet we find blessing in every circumstance of life. We find blessing in adversity; we even find true blessing in prosperity.

Why do we have good health or bad health? Why do we outlive our peers? Why do we have this, that and the other thing? But not one of us ever earned or deserved the right to be alive right now. And we all have some kind of blessing but here we are? Why are we here? “In order that it [accurate teaching of Bible doctrine] may give grace orientation to the hearers” — Ephesians 4:29. Who are the hearers? You are the hearers. What is “it”? “It” is the subject here and refers to the teaching of Bible doctrine and the teacher is responsible before the Lord to be accurate in that teaching.

Grace is all that God is free to do for us [members of the human race] on the basis of His justice and impersonal love which never compromise divine essence. But furthermore, they never compromise divine effort in bestowing blessing and favour on mankind. Grace is unmerited divine provision for mankind before, during and after salvation. Grace is not the exclusive property of the believer. We are beneficiaries to be sure but all of us have been benefited long before we were saved. Grace also means that God knows best. That is why we have so many divine mandates which run counter to our desires in life. Grace therefore is the policy of God in establishing a relationship with mankind, and that relationship begins when God creates human life at birth, not before. That is why Jesus said we have to be born again. He didn’t say you have to be conceived again.

Relationship with God precedes fellowship with God. Grace is the policy of God in providing and maintaining fellowship with God. Grace is the policy of God in providing everything necessary for us at salvation, more than any other dispensation. While believers in the other dispensations received six or seven things, we received forty. That is significant, very significant. It means that God has more for the individual believer in this dispensation than ever before.

Grace is the policy of God in dealing with man in two categories. Category one is relationship with God which is the grace policy for eternal salvation. Category two is fellowship with God after salvation. There is no fellowship with God before salvation or during salvation. It comes after, not during. The grace policy of God for Church Age believers is designed to execute His plan. Very few people are doing it, because they won’t listen. (When you are born and do not grow up you are a spiritual moron.

We are living in a period of our history when we have a majority of spiritual morons.)

So the keys words are related to the divine policy of grace as such: 1. Relationship with God is salvation grace; 2. Fellowship with God is post-salvation grace. And the two must never be confused.

Relationship with God

Relationship with God must precede fellowship with God. In this case we are talking about a permanent relationship for once you believe in Jesus Christ God gives you forty things that forever settles the matter of salvation. From then on it is relationship. A spiritually dead person cannot have a relationship with God. Consequently the status of spiritual death cannot have fellowship and therefore demands a change. One of the things that happen at salvation: no more spiritual death. Two things happen at spiritual birth: God the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit — regeneration; God the Father imputes eternal life to the human spirit and now we are trichotomous. Spiritual death is the dichotomous state of mankind at birth under three categories of condemnation from the justice of God. God never waited until we committed our first personal sin; He condemned us at birth by the imputation of Adam’s original sin to that genetically formed old sin nature in the cell structure of the body. And when soul life was imputed to biological life we became human beings — when we were born, not before, and that is when we became human beings. When we are born again is when we become trichotomous — regenerate. When we are born physically we are spiritually dead and that is one of the most gracious acts that God ever performed. Why? This is an act of the justice of God and it is important because anyone who does before reaching accountability is automatically saved. Why? Because you cannot be saved unless you have been condemned. Condemnation must precede salvation. And this is grace; none of us earn it or deserve it.

Spiritual death, being in a dichotomous state at birth, is under three categories of condemnation from divine justice: a. Total separation from God through the imputation of Adam’s original sin. That separates us from God; that is spiritual death; b. Total depravity which results in using our volition in connection with the temptations of the old sin nature and committing personal sins; c. Total inability to do anything to attain a relationship with God through anything we have.

Grace, then, is the provision and policy of God in establishing a relationship with mankind. Therefore, since grace is the provision and policy of God, God takes the initiative in providing the means for eternal relationship with Himself. And each Person in the Trinity had a part in establishing the basis for an eternal relationship with God.

The grace function of God the Father in salvation

God the Father in eternity past used His divine omniscience to program into that one prom chip all the personal sins of the human race and, at the proper time, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to be the propitiation for our sins. This was the beginning of the dispensation of the hypostatic union. In John 1:1 we see Jesus Christ as eternal God, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit, face to face with God in eternity past. In John 1:14 the Word became flesh. In a moment of time eternal God became true humanity and undiminished deity in one person forever — the hypostatic union. As God, Jesus Christ couldn’t be judged for sin; he couldn’t have anything to do with sin; so He had to become a member of the human race, but He had to be perfect, the Lamb without spot and without blemish, before He could take away the sins of the world. The Father gave freely of the most precious thing possible, His Son with whom He had eternal fellowship. The greatest moment of history occurred when the omnipotence of God the Father, thirty-three years later, called for the printout of all these sins and imputed them to the humanity of Christ. He carried our sins in His own body on the cross. He who knew no sin was made sin for us. He died as a substitute for us.

The grace function of God the Son in salvation

Jesus Christ as eternal God was willing to become true humanity in order to be judged for the sins of the world. Therefore, the hypostatic union — Hebrews 10:4-10. On the cross the impeccable and perfect humanity of Christ received both the imputation and the judgement of all sins in human history. The perfect God-Man became the substitute for every member of the human race in total depravity and spiritual death. That is grace.

The grace function of God the Holy Spirit

The unbeliever hears the presentation of the Gospel. He is spiritually dead — spiritual brain death. No way can he understand the Gospel because to understand the things of God requires a human spirit, which the unbeliever does not have. But he is willing to hear. Hearing is non-meritorious. So the Holy Spirit acted as a human spirit, and that is how it became what the Greek calls in the New Testament, pneumatikoj, spiritual phenomena. Then down the pipeline it went to the left lobe, the nouj, and there it is only understood academically and the unbeliever is still spiritually dead. He understands but he is required to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Once he believes then God the Holy Spirit helps him out and makes that belief effective for salvation — common and efficacious grace.

In salvation God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit did all the work. Nothing was done by us. Salvation is the exclusive work of the Trinity and this work is classified as grace and it excludes human works. The intrusion of human works cancels out grace; nothing can be added to faith in Christ for eternal life and nothing can be taken from faith in Christ for eternal relationship with God. The principle: God solves the problem of eternal relationship with Himself through the grace policy.

After salvation, does God have anything for us? The answer is, yes. He not only has a fantastic plan but He has something even more unusual than that, and that is the means by which the plan is administered, the policy by which the essence of God, the faithfulness of God is expressed to us as believers. Therefore through His policy of grace God has solved every problem of having fellowship with Himself in time just as He has solved every problem with regard to having fellowship with Him in the eternal state. There are three major problems in our temporal fellowship with God: post-salvation sinning, ignorance of Bible doctrine, and failure in the application of doctrine. Ignorance of Bible doctrine means failure to make application of divine viewpoint to life. But it is more than that because ignorance of Bible doctrine indicates that we have failed to appreciate who and what God is.

Sin becomes one of the major problems after salvation and because of this people don’t know what to do about it; they don’t know how to handle it. When you sin you are grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit in three ways: a. You grieve the Holy Spirit by entering into cosmic one; b. You quench the Holy Spirit by entering into cosmic two; c. By pulling the pin of the grenade in implode — self-fragmentation.

But the grace of God has solved the sin problem; we do not resolve it. Our sins were judged on the cross. How are we saved? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Salvation is the work of God; spirituality is the work of God. And we enter into it in a non-meritorious way. The grace solution for post-salvation sinning is o(mologew — confess, to name, to cite a courtroom case, to acknowledge. In the privacy of our priesthood we name to God those sins which we have committed and He is faithful and just to forgive us because those sins were judged on the cross.

At the moment of physical life we have spiritual death — our total helplessness, our total inability to do anything about relationship with God, for spiritual death is the status quo of dichotomy. We are minus a human spirit and this means spiritual brain death, total inability to comprehend in any way what God has done for us.

But at the same time let us remember that it is as simple as “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” And in that moment of faith God the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit, and that human spirit is then the target for another imputation. God imputes eternal life to the human spirit. This we call regeneration or being born again.

There are three basic characteristics of spiritual death. First of all total depravity which includes moral and immoral degeneracy. Secondly, there is total separation from God. As spiritually dead individuals we can have no relationship with God. And that is only part of the problem. The rest of it is that we are totally helpless in ourselves to establish that relationship by any merit, by any works, by any system of doing good that we can even begin to conceive or understand or perpetuate or put together in any way. And because all mankind is in the status of spiritual death from the moment of birth the work of salvation must be the work of God on behalf of mankind. Therefore it falls into the pattern of grace and is one of the places where we learn something about grace and begin to appreciate the principle of grace orientation.

Now you have to remember that man is born spiritually dead, and being spiritually dead includes being spiritually brain dead, no way he can even begin to understand these things. He is called in the Greek of 1st Corinthians 2:14, yuxikoj — “soulish” man. He has a soul but no spirit. It takes a human spirit to begin to understand anything from God and being spiritually dead he is totally helpless. And because all mankind is in the status of spiritual death the work of salvation must be the work of God on behalf of all three members of the Trinity.

God the Father in eternity past took all of our personal sins and put them into one PROM chip in the computer of divine decrees. That, by the way, is the free will of man chip. All personal sins are the product of our own volition.

But long before we committed our first personal sin we were all spiritually dead because of the imputation of Adam’s original sin to the genetically-formed old sin nature. Adam’s original sin is the basis for the origin of the sin nature and therefore there is a great attraction between the two. Now by so doing God demonstrates grace once again. There are X number of people in each generation that never reach the point of accountability, and in order for them to have eternal salvation at the point of their death before accountability God must make some provision. That provision is condemnation for condemnation must precede justification, and condemnation does in every case. And therefore the fact that God imputed Adam’s original sin at the point of birth and made this the point of condemnation means that anyone who dies before the point of accountability automatically goes to heaven. But for everyone else accountability is the issue and accountability always has to do with “what think ye of Christ?”

But the problem with accountability is understanding it all. How can we as unbelievers, before we accept Christ as saviour, ever come to the point of understanding spiritual phenomena? When the Gospel is understood as gnosis that is God inviting the individual to believe in Jesus Christ and the person who is being invited is spiritually dead. He is totally helpless. There are two functions of the spiritually dead person, however, [both non-meritorious] by which he can enter into a relationship with God. They are found in Ephesians 1:13 — “In whom also when you heard [common grace in which the spiritually brain dead person hears the Gospel which is made perspicuous and understandable by the Holy Spirit] the message of truth” .This is a grace orientation passage; hearing has no merit in itself. The message of truth is simply heard and the one who hears it is in spiritual brain death. Nevertheless he hears it and the understanding is the work of God the Holy Spirit. So hearing is a non-meritorious function compatible with grace. What is the second one? “In whom also you believed,” the spiritually dead person believes but the faith of spiritually dead person has no effectiveness. The Holy Spirit, then, steps in and makes it effective for salvation. So we hear, we inhale the Gospel; we believe, we exhale faith in Jesus Christ.

Here we have it then, “when you heard … having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit with reference to the promise.” And the sealing of the Holy Spirit is the signature guarantee of, first of all, eternal salvation; secondly, eternal security; thirdly, a guarantee of our portfolio of invisible assets for the execution of the protocol plan; fourth, the validity of common grace, the divine call, and efficacious grace. All of this is involved in the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit. The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit is His signature guarantee. Sealing of course must go back to the time in which the Bible was written. The Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written and sealing was used as a signature, the guarantee of the validity of what God has done for us is the illustration. The guarantee of eternal life, the guarantee of eternal security, the guarantee of our portfolio and other grace assets. And so by way of definition common grace is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in making the Gospel lucid, perspicuous and understandable to the unbeliever in spiritual death, and efficacious grace is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in making faith of the spiritually dead person effective for eternal salvation.

What is the divine call? There are many erroneous concepts as to what constitutes the divine call. The divine call was given to the individual in the status quo of spiritual death and, therefore, it illustrates the principle of grace and helps to fulfil the concept of grace orientation to the believers of this dispensation. By definition the divine call is the invitation to the spiritually dead person to believe in Jesus Christ. This divine invitation is tantamount to the Gospel as gnwsij residing in the left lobe of the soul.

Generally the passage dealing with the calling originates with God the Father. The exception, of course, occurs during the dispensation of the hypostatic union for our Lord was on earth and during that time and He did issue the divine invitation on several occasions, e.g John 6:35. However, in all other dispensations, including our own, the divine call is presented between common and efficacious grace by God the Father. The principle: The call of God is the invitation of God the Father for anyone to believe in Jesus Christ. It must follow the ministry of common grace where God the Holy Spirit makes the Gospel perspicuous to those who are spiritually dead.

Several heresies exist in reversing that invitation. One of those is inviting Christ into your heart. We are told in Jeremiah 17:9 that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked and that heresy is like inviting Christ into a garbage dump. No one has ever been saved by inviting Christ in to his heart. It is blasphemy to think that we can invite Christ anywhere as those who are spiritually dead.

Then, of course, there is a second such blasphemy, inviting Christ into your life. Romans 5:12ff tells us that we are spiritually dead, and how it came about. This heresy is based upon misinterpretation of Revelation 3:20 which is a passage in a context dealing with born-again believers only. It has nothing to do with the unbeliever; it has to do with fellowship, not relationship. Revelation 3:20 is the rebound technique for born-again believers.

The call of God is an invitation. If we accept His invitation by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ we are born again. But there are two factors to the call of God. First of all the invitation of God the Father to accept or to believe in Jesus Christ. Then it also includes the doctrine of election — the election of the believer. The call of God, then, follows the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in common grace — Romans 1:6. Generally the call of God is said to originate with God the Father as illustrated by Romans 8:30 — “And whom he predestined, these he also called … “ Predestination is merely the omniscience of God knowing who would believe in Christ. “ … and whom he called, these he also justified: and whom he justified, these he also glorified.” You will notice that calling is found in this particular context. In Romans 11:29 that calling is explained — “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” In other words, that word “irrevocable” means that the moment that you personally accept God’s invitation you have eternal life, and that eternal life is irrevocable. The gifts have to do with happens to the believer at the moment of salvation faith. The moment you believe in Jesus Christ one of the forty things you receive is a spiritual gift and no matter how you sin, no matter what type of Christian degeneracy you become involved in, you cannot cancel your spiritual gift. Nor can you cancel the divine invitation. It is legitimate because Jesus Christ did all of the work for salvation.

2 Timothy 1:9 — “Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling [the divine invitation again], not according to works, but according to his own purpose and grace [grace orientation], which was given to us [to believe] in Christ Jesus from all eternity past.”

There never was a time when God has not given to every person the opportunity, even those who reject that invitation and remain unbelievers in spiritual death.

Hebrews 3:1 — “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.” We are therefore partners in this invitation. 1 Corinthians 2:16 — the thinking of Christ is the application of Bible doctrine. Furthermore, in Philippians 2:2 — “Bring to completion my happiness [We are designed to have great happiness in every situation in life. But this happiness is a problem-solving device; it is sharing the happiness of God. It is designed for the greatest of disasters; it is designed for the greatest areas of prosperity] that you might be thinking the same things.” To be thinking the same things is the application of Bible doctrine to our experience. And the failure to apply Bible doctrine brings out many many problems in life. The believer, then, cannot think and apply Bible doctrine or solve problems in his life through the mind of another person. God has designed you to solve your own problems. You are a royal priest and therefore you have the privacy of your priesthood. And as you learn Bible doctrine and fill your right lobe with doctrine you begin to learn all of these wonderful things and to apply them to your circumstances. You were not designed spiritually to walk on crutches, you were designed to resolve your own problems from the storage of Bible doctrine in your soul.

Ignorance of Bible doctrine results in false application. The application of something to nothing is always nothing. Perception and metabolisation of Bible doctrine paves the way for correct and accurate application of the Word. The application of Bible doctrine to experience is classified as thinking metabolised doctrine. Thinking metabolised doctrine is classified as wisdom.

Dying is always the greatest illustration of whether you have used your positive volition to grow in grace and execute the protocol plan of God or whether you have used your negative volition. You have an option. Death is God’s victory. Why? because the sovereignty of God chooses the time, the place and the manner of our dying. The only thing that prepares us for dying is Bible doctrine resident in the soul, metabolised, Bible doctrine that we can apply, Bible doctrine with which we can think.

But there is a great enemy to all of this. Emotion is legitimate and normal. But what happens in the spiritual-religious realm is that emotion takes over the thought pattern of the soul. Emotion was designed to be the responding part of the soul, not the thinking part. The danger is when emotion takes over the soul and wipes out the thinking part and this is why so many believers are not prepared to die. So let us look briefly at the sins of emotion that inevitably cause the problem. Neglect or rejection of Bible doctrine with its ten problem-solving devices results in many sins related to what is known as emotional revolt of the soul. For example, fear is an emotional sin which includes worry and anxiety, all of which block thinking or application of Bible doctrine. Failure to think doctrine is synonymous with inability to apply doctrine to experience. Fear and courage are, of course, antithetical terms. Courage is the ability to think under pressure or stress, or the ability to think in that period called dying. Cowardice or fear is the domination of emotion under pressure. The application of nothing to something is nothing, and therefore you cannot apply emotion, fear, worry, anxiety to the problems of life and come up with solutions. Emotion has no doctrinal content, no ability to reason, no ability to think, no common sense. Therefore fear is a lack of thinking under pressure and stress.

Fear is actually a sin; it is the believer’s failure to apply Bible doctrine to the problems of life, and therefore whether it is suffering, pressure, stress, disaster, pain, fear takes over rather than the application of doctrine through thinking. Normal emotional experience results in subordinating the emotion to the intellect but abnormal emotional experience produces emotional sins: fear, worry, anxiety, violence, hatred, anger and even murder is a part of that pattern. Fear, then, is the believer’s failure to apply doctrine to the problems of life. The more things you surrender to fear the more things you fear in life. The extent that you surrender to fear the greater your capacity for fear. The greater your capacity for fear the greater you increase the power of fear in your life. The more things that acquire the power of fear in your life the greater your capacity for becoming a loser. A loser is a believer who fails to execute the protocol plan of God.

Always we find courage related to the application of doctrine to experience. The believer cannot think or apply doctrine or solve problems, however, when he is out of fellowship or through the thinking or the counselling of another person, or in a state of ignorance of Bible doctrine, or in failure to learn and to utilise the ten problem-solving devices of the protocol plan of God, or in a state of emotional revolt of the soul, or functioning under the sins of emotion. Emotion is not the criterion for Christian experience. Emotion is always related to human power and influence, it has no connotation in divine power and influence. Emotion is irrational; it is irrational arrogance to use feeling as the criterion and the final test to see if you made it or not is always when you become aware of the fact it is time for you to depart from this earth, unless the Rapture occurs first. And if you have lived your life by emotion rather than by Bible doctrine, then you are going to fall apart once you are aware that you are in the status called dying. Emotion can respond to doctrine but emotion cannot apply doctrine. Emotional arrogance then is both a distraction to the execution of the protocol plan of God and a system of converting reality into illusion and hallucination. When emotion dominates the soul then we become weak. So the emotional activity includes sins like fear, worry, anxiety, hatred, anger, temper leading to violence and this, of course, is the antithesis of doctrinal conceptualism.

Now God is perfect and therefore He has a perfect plan for us who are believers in Jesus Christ. God has implemented His perfect plan with problem-solving devices so that the believer can execute His plan and face any situation in life, in fact the ultimate situation which is dying. Both arrogance and the sins of emotion are a contradiction to the protocol plan of God. And, therefore, only post salvation epistemological rehabilitation or perception, metabolisation and application of Bible doctrine can rectify the situation. But it is something we have to do constantly and when we do we grow in grace and we reach the point of Philippians 1:21 where Paul has said: “For me living is Christ but dying is profit.”

Living, then, begins day one of salvation with faith in Jesus Christ and continues to the point of dying. In the living state the believer has full use of his volition to exercise the options of the protocol plan of God and, of course, in the option of positive volition toward Bible doctrine and its correct application to experience the believer becomes a winner, an invisible hero. He can handle any situation in life and above all he can handle dying. In the option of negative volition toward Bible doctrine and failure of application the believer becomes a loser and fails to execute the protocol plan of God. So we have a simple pattern: learning, thinking and solving. And if you have been doing it all of your Christian life, first learning doctrine and then thinking doctrine, and then using the ten problem-solving devices, there is no situation in life to great to overcome you. But if you have been living in a state of emotion and therefore in a state of fear, then you are in a position of great tragedy.

Because God is holy (His justice and righteousness) it is impossible for God to be unfair and therefore the time and the place of our death is not our decision. During the living phase of our Christian life we have options. We have options to learn doctrine and to apply it. We have options to understand the mechanics of the ten problem-solving devices and use them. And if we use them then the greatest experience that we will ever have on this earth is going to be the experience of dying. Because God is infinite and eternal, because He is immutable, because He is perfect in His wisdom, His integrity and His love, all are related to His sovereign decision regarding the time, the manner and the place of our death. Because God, therefore, has provided so wonderfully for us in time and we have responded, we can handle the greatest of all pressures which is dying. All decisions of the sovereignty of God are made from His perfection, from His love, His eternal wisdom, from His absolute fairness. And God decides for each one of us when that will be. Therefore, no instrument of death can remove the believer until God permits but on the other hand once the sovereignty of God decides the time the manner and the place, then God calls the believer home to heaven and it is always under the principle that living is Christ and dying is profit. And since death is the decision of the sovereignty of God no believer has the right to question this divine decision based on His love, His justice, His righteousness, His fairness. And therefore, even though we sorrow about loved ones who depart we do not sorrow as those who have no hope. Therefore we have the principle which is given in Job 1:21 — “The Lord gave, the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

The principle of dying grace: Dying grace is defined as the death of the believer who can apply doctrine to his experience in dying. Usually it is the mature believer, the believer with spiritual self-esteem, the believer with spiritual autonomy, the believer who has become an invisible hero. And it is open to everyone. We have equal privilege and equal opportunity to do so. Dying grace is the believer passing over the high golden bridge from earth to heaven, travelling from grace to grace. For the mature believer, the believer who is a winner, the believer who in time applied doctrine to his experience, living is the best but dying is even better. And then for eternity in the interim life and then the resurrection, it is better than the best. The exception for dying: there will be one generation that will go in resurrection.

When Lazarus died and Jesus came after his death to the home of Mary and Martha, there was some complaint that had He been there sooner Lazarus would not have died. Now the strange thing is that Jesus Christ is God and both Mary and Martha knew it. And as God it doesn’t make any difference when He arrives because they had seen Him heal from a distance and they had seen Him heal while He was present where the illness or the problem was. Therefore they were not making the proper application of the essence of God to the situation. The interesting thing is that when Jesus arrived at the grave of Lazarus there had never been a resurrection in history. Within several weeks there would be the first resurrection, the resurrection of our Lord. People had been brought back to life but subsequently had died. Miracles had been performed but in these miracles of bringing people back to life, eventually they died like everyone else. There had never been a resurrection. The doctrine of resurrection is found in certain passages of the Old Testament. Isaiah preached a resurrection message and Job understood a resurrection message. But when our Lord turned to Martha and said as He did in John 11:25 — “I am the resurrection and the life: he who believes in me shall live [have eternal life] even if he dies,” that was the first announcement that our Lord Jesus Christ was going to be resurrected from the dead. And not only would He rise from the dead but so would a royal family that would result from the Church Age.

In 1 Corinthians 15:57 Paul understood these words even though he was not present, when he said: “Thanks be unto God who gives to us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” .For death is God’s victory because God chooses the manner, the time and the place of our death. But our resurrection is also God’s victory. The resurrection of the believer is the wise and sovereign decision of God. Furthermore, since resurrection is the work of God for all believers, whether they are winners or losers, it is a matter of God’s grace and never a matter of human merit. Therefore the believer’s resurrection is God’s grace and also God’s victory. And just as the grace policy of God has provided everything for us in living, so the grace of God has provided everything we need for dying, death and resurrection. Since the resurrection of the Church Age believer — called the Rapture of the Church — does not depend on any form of human merit it is both God’s grace and God’s victory. The believer’s volition, his works, his merit, his service is not a factor in the resurrection of the Church. And just as the believer has no control, then, over the time, the manner and the place of his death, he has absolutely no control over the time of the Rapture or the resurrection.

For all believers in human history the resurrection occurs in four categories. When Jesus Christ said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” He was announcing something that would be followed up by the Apostle Paul under one Greek word, tacij. And, as a matter of fact, in 1 Corinthians we have “every man in his own order” in the King James. But it should be translated “every man in his own battalion. There are two battalions in resurrection, the battalion of believers and the battalion of unbelievers. The battalion of believers is found in four companies.

The first company: Christ the firstfruits, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is Alpha Company. And the picture in 1 Corinthians 15 is of a battalion review. It begins in 1 Cor. 15:20. In the resurrection of our Lord He has passed the reviewing stand, so Alpha Company refers to the Lord Jesus Christ who is now resurrected.

Approaching the viewing stand is Bravo Company, the Church, and this is the Rapture of the Church. Behind will be Charlie Company, the Old Testament saints and the Tribulational martyrs.

Behind that, Delta Company, the Millennial saints.

At the end of the Millennium there is a second resurrection, all unbelievers. They are resurrected, they stand before the Great White Throne in judgement and then they are cast into the Lake of Fire after they have had a very fair trial, and a trial based not on the fact that they are sinners but based on the fact that they have rejected Jesus Christ as Saviour. They are judged on the basis of their good deeds. Their good deeds are not good enough, and therefore they spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, as per John 3:18.

So the resurrection of the Church is God’s decision, God’s grace, God’s victory. Since resurrection of the Church is divorced from any form of human ability or achievement it is compatible with the grace of God and another manifestation of God’s victory in human history. The resurrection, then, of the Church is the wise and sovereign decision of God, totally apart from human merit or preparation. Therefore the Rapture is not subject to either man’s timetable or any form of human speculation. The principle then: human speculation is not a part of eschatology. Eschatology is the prophecy of the Word of God. The Rapture is prophesied as occurring but the time is never prophesied. Therefore the Rapture is immanent because no prophecy has to be fulfilled before it occurs. The time of the Rapture is God’s decision, it is not our decision or our desire. Therefore, we as members of the royal family of God live every day as unto the Lord, not every day as unto the Rapture of the Church.

The resurrection of the Church is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 — “We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep; that you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.” [Because the death of every believer is the sovereign decision of God, it is not our decision.]

“If we believe that Jesus died and rose again [and we do], even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus [body sleep, not soul sleep].”

“For this doctrine we communicate to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who are asleep.” [The Thessalonian believers had bitten off a false doctrine, that if you weren’t alive at the Rapture you wouldn’t be alive at the resurrection.]

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout [a voice command of Gabriel here who assembles those who are alive on the earth. And the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit provides them with a resurrection body. This is what is called in 1 Cor. 15, the mortal becoming immortal] , with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God [trumpets were used for commands in the ancient world at the time of writing. And the trumpet command assembles the dead in Christ]: in fact the dead in Christ shall rise first.”

“Then we who are living and remain on the earth shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we always be with the Lord.”

“Therefore comfort each other with these doctrines.”

The mechanics of the Rapture of the Church are given in 1 John 3:2 — “Royal family, we are now the children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know, however, that if he should appear, we shall be exactly like him; because we shall see him just as he is.”

In Philippians 3:21 we read that Christ will “transform this body of humiliation [called so because the sin nature resides in the cell structure of the body; because it is a body of pain; because it is a body that has so many problems and will only last for X amount of time], so that it will be like the body of his glory, on the basis of that power that also enables him to bring into subjection all creation to himself.”

Job 19:25 — Job said: “As for me, I know that my redeemer lives [anticipation of the resurrection], In the last time he will take his stand upon the earth [reference to the second advent]:

Verse 26 — Job made application from his understanding of resurrection: “Even after my skin is destroyed in death [decomposition of the body], Yet in my flesh [resurrection body] I will see God [the resurrection of the Old Testament saints]:”

In 1 Corinthians 15:54ff we go back to the Rapture. “But when this corruption [physical death and after] shall have put on incorruption [those who die before the Rapture], and this mortal [one generation will be alive at the Rapture] shall have put on immortality, then the doctrine which stands written will occur, Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

Remember that death is God’s victory. That is why in corrected translation it says in 1 Corinthians 15:55 — “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Verse 56 — “The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law [the law defines sin]:”

Verse 57 — “But thanks be to God, who gives to us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Rapture is imminent, which means that no prophecy has to be fulfilled. Jesus said — quoted by the Apostle John in Revelation 22:7 — “I am coming soon” ."Soon” means immanency, no prophecy to be fulfilled. This statement was made in 96AD and throughout all of these centuries the Rapture has not occurred. The resurrection of the Church does not depend on human merit, it depends on the grace of God. The Rapture will not occur until the royal family of God is completed and only God knows when that will be. Therefore the Rapture is not subject to any form of human speculation.

Titus 2:13 — “Waiting with keen anticipation for the blessed hope, even the appearance of the glory of our great God and saviour Jesus Christ;” We all long for that day and we look for that day but it is an application of doctrine. But until the Rapture occurs prophecy is a dead issue. Historical trends is the issue.

Death and resurrection are never under the control or the merit of the believer. Death and resurrection of both winners and losers is God’s victory. As God’s victory the Rapture of the Church is a function of the sovereignty, the wisdom and the grace of God. Death and resurrection are under the Lord’s direct control. The sting of death and the power of the grave are removed by maximum doctrine resident in the soul. And the victory of resurrection: all Church Age believers, winners or losers, will be there at the same time. The victory of resurrection is patterned after the resurrection of the humanity of Christ at the end of the dispensation of the hypostatic union.

For those who crack the maturity barrier there will be a crown of righteousness — mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:7,8 — for the attainment of spiritual maturity by which the believer becomes a winner and an invisible hero.

Secondly there is a crown of life which is awarded for invisible impact in four categories, mentioned in James 1:12; Revelation 2:10 — personal impact of blessing by association which every mature believer has, historical impact through blessing by association to the client nation as the pivot, international impact through blessing by association by means of the missionary who became a winner and invisible hero. There is also angelic impact as a part of the crown of life. This is the function of the winner as an invisible hero as a witness for the prosecution in the rebuttal phase of Satan’s appeal trial. This is accomplished through passing evidence testing.

Then there is the crown of glory — for pastors only — for faithful teaching of Bible doctrine [Mentioned in 1 Peter 5:4 and Philippians 4:1], not of results [which belong to God].

Then there is the highest of all decorations in heaven, the order of the morning star, awarded to winners and invisible heroes for maximum impact and glorification of God. It is the order of chivalry in the eternal state.

There is also the presentation of the uniform of glory [Revelation 3:4], a translucent uniform of light worn over the resurrection body. The name of the invisible hero appears on the honours list so that during the tribulation he will be presented in the court of heaven — Revelation 3:5.

The invisible hero rules with Christ during the Millennium — Romans 5:17; 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 2:26; 3:21. Then the invisible hero is awarded a new order of knighthood in the eternal state — Revelation 2:17, and it includes a royal title which appears with his name in the Lamb’s book of life. In the eternal state the Lamb’s book of life is the registry of the royal family of God in heaven. The name and title of the invisible hero is recorded with his deeds in the permanent historical records section in heaven — Revelation 3:12. This is the historical account of the invisible impact of the mature believer during the Church Age. The invisible hero receives the coat of arms of glory — Revelation 3:12. He is a member of the Paradise club forever — Revelation 2:7; 22:14. This includes special privileges related to both the tree of life and the gazebo in the garden which is the Paradise of God — Revelation 2:7. All of these things belong to those who stay with Bible doctrine. You can be a plugger, that’s good. You don’t have to be some flash in the pan.

To understand how dying is profit the believer must become aware of the fact that death is God’s victory. While we make choices constantly either for or against the plan of God we have the use of our volition during the living stage. But in the dying stage it is a matter of strictly the sovereignty of God. That is how death for both winners and losers becomes God’s victory. In the living stage the sovereignty of God and the free will of the believer co-exist. God has designed it that way as a part of the extension of the angelic conflict. The dying phase of the protocol plan of God emphasises the fact that the believer has no control over three things: the time of his death, the manner of his death, the place of his death. The death of the believer, then, is a matter of the sovereign decision of God based on His wisdom, His integrity, His fairness and His love for each one of us as believers. It is hard for the believer to understand how much God loves him until he learns Bible doctrine, especially the essence of God. Therefore the application of doctrine to dying is the last phase of our experience on this earth; one exception, the Rapture generation.

So Philippians 1:21 expresses it all: “For me living is Christ [that is the mature believer], and dying is profit.” That is the greatest blessing in life for the mature believer. If the believer has followed the three principles related to the application of doctrine then dying is going to be profit, learning which is perception, metabolisation of doctrine, thinking which is the application of doctrine, solving which is understanding and using the ten problem-solving devices. Along the way we learn some great principles. We learn that God is holy, that He is justice and righteous and therefore fair, that He is just, therefore the time of our death is perfectly fair. God is perfect righteousness, therefore it couldn’t be a little earlier or a little later. Because God is wise He decides the time, the manner, the place of our dying and the moment of our death. Because God is infinite and eternal and perfect, He has perfect wisdom, He has perfect love, He has perfect integrity, perfect fairness and graciousness beyond our comprehension — except for the mature believer. God makes the decision therefore regarding death. Death is no accident, it is God’s timing, His perfect decision. And since our death is the decision of God, totally apart from our own volition, the death of every believer, winner or loser is God’s victory.

Death is God’s victory but in grace He gives the victory to us. How? By choosing the time, manner and the place of our death. That is the principle of grace. So 1 Corinthians 15:57 tells us that death is God’s victory but in His grace God has given to us that victory. This means that regardless of the category or the status of the believer the death of the believer is God’s victory, and in His grace He has given that victory to us.

Grace is noticed in Psalm 116:15 — “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” It doesn’t distinguish between the saints, between the carnal and the spiritual, between the winners and the losers. No distinguishment is made. That is grace.

Psalm 68:19 begins a concept which adds to this principle of grace, “Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burdens, the God who is our deliverer.” Even losers, God bears their burdens.

Then Psalm 68:20 adds: “God is to us a God of deliverance; And to Jehovah the Lord belongs escape from death” .In other words God causes us to escape from death until it is His timing. We escape from death until He decides to call us home. There is no greater manifestation of God’s grace than how He handles the manner of dying.

Job 5:26 — “You will come to the grave in a full age.” That is the right time, the right manner and the right place. It doesn’t mean old age it means a full age. What is a full age? Well we have an illustration from agriculture — “Like a shock of corn in its season.” In all matters of life and death timing is very important. God is perfect, therefore His timing is perfect.

Now because God’s decision is perfect we must accept the wisdom and the decision of God in the death of someone we love, or in our own death. “Like a shock of corn in its season” is the illustration. There is a right time and a wrong time to pick corn. Only the expert can determine. The principle is: God knows best. All corn does not ripen at the same time but when the corn is ripe it is harvested from its sheaf. That is a good illustration of dying. Since God knows best, no one should ever question His judgement. This should eliminate bitterness with regard to the death of a loved one or bitterness with regard to your own dying experience when it comes. And you will note that this verse does not promise long life, but a full life, especially for the believer who executes the protocol plan of God. And while it is normal to think of life in terms of longevity we must remember that God thinks of life in terms of His infinite wisdom and His eternal love. The principle is: God always knows what He is doing.

The manner of death then becomes an issue. Apart from the Rapture generation all Church Age believers will experience physical death. The physical death of the believer is the decision of the sovereignty of God and it is based on His wisdom and His integrity. The integrity of God is composed of two divine attributes. The justice of God means that God is always fair and the righteousness of God means that God makes all decisions in perfect integrity. And since it is impossible for God to be unfair, it is impossible for God to be unjust, the time the manner and the place of our death is a wise decision, just as the time and the manner of the Rapture is a perfect and wise decision of God.

In dying, both winners and losers enter into the presence of the Lord in heaven where during the interim state, between death and resurrection, they remain in the status quo of perfect happiness. Both of them now have perfect happiness and no distinction is made regarding them at that time, not until the resurrection at which both the winner and the loser receive their resurrection bodies at the Judgement Seat of Christ. God’s grace honours the one grace decision that every believer makes. Grace and faith go together, Ephesians 2:8,9.

Under the category of post-salvation grace we have the principle that God’s grace which began at salvation extends to the believer in Jesus Christ through the protocol plan for the Church Age. The extension has a link between pre and post-salvation. At the moment of saving faith God gives each one of us forty things. We do not see them, we do not feel them, we do not hear them, we do not taste them, we do not smell them. They are there nevertheless.

On the post-salvation we have God’s perfect righteousness. If you are going to live with God forever you are going to have to be as good as God is — the imputation of divine righteousness and resultant justification. We also have eternal life. How did we get it? We got it through being born again. Soul life begins at birth and eternal life begins at new birth. What is the new birth? God the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit and God the Father imputes eternal life. There are two of the forty things right there.

So between the pre and the post-salvation situation we receive forty things from God. Now we are on the other side. God treated us in grace as those who were spiritually dead; now God treats us who are born again in grace. So grace is extended to the believer in Jesus Christ and now it is extended through a plan, the protocol plan for the Church Age. So grace is defined as all that God is free to do for each Church Age believer without compromising His essence.

Now we go all the way from two to the Church Age where every believer in the Church Age at the moment of salvation receives forty things. There’s a lot of difference between two and forty! That is our first clue that God has something fantastic for us, something that was never in existence before. There were few visible heroes in the Old Testament compared to the millions of people who were believers. Now we have something new. Every believer is designed to be an invisible hero by reaching spiritual maturity, which is the execution of the protocol plan of God. But we know that in the Old Testament that wasn’t true and for every winner and for every visible hero there were thousands and hundreds of thousands of losers. So God in this dispensation has does something for us because one of the forty things that happens is the baptism of the Spirit and by that we are made royal family of God and a new spiritual species. So obviously God has gone all out to take the ordinary believer, the unheralded believer, the anonymous believer, the believer whose name is only known to a few people in a local church or in a city or a town or a village, and give him a greater opportunity than ever existed on Old Testament times.

There is a complete swing away from miracles, from extranatural phenomena. In Old Testament times God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit never indwelt anyone and there was no such thing as the filling of the Spirit or a mandate to be filled with the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit empowered a few people who were kings and priests and princes and judges and prophets and writers of the Old Testament canon. They were very few. We call that the doctrine of endewment. We in the Church Age have more assets than anyone ever had in the Old Testament. God has done more for us than has ever been done before and at the judgement seat of Christ every one of us is going to have to answer a question, if it is pertinent: With the fantastic things that I did for you in grace, what did you accomplish in life?

Post-salvation grace is totally divorced from any system of merit on our part and under the divine policy of grace everything depends on who and what God is, and nothing depends on who and what we are. Under the divine policy of grace everything depends on the ability of God and nothing depends upon the ability of each one of us. Under the divine policy of grace only the ability and power of God can meet the needs of helpless mankind in two categories: helpless mankind in spiritual death [pre-salvation grace] and helpless mankind as a believer in Jesus Christ and a member of the royal family of God [post-salvation grace]. And under the divine policy of grace God has found a way to bless the believer, provide for his needs, provide the means of resolving all the problems of his life, giving each one of us ten perfect problem-solving devices. And under the grace policy all believers are mandated to grace orientation. We saw that in 1 Peter 5:12 — “I have written you briefly, exhorting, and testifying to you that this is the true grace of God: now stand fast in it” — use it, live by it. For the believer who fails to execute this command he is described in terms of God’s grace policy, three ways: 1. In Hebrews 12:15 he is said to come short of the grace of God; 2. He receives the grace of God in vain, 2 Cor. 6:1; 3. He nullifies the grace of God, Gal. 2:21.

The Church Age is called the dispensation of the grace of God, Ephesians 3:2. Why is it called the dispensation of grace? Because God has provided more for the individual believer than in all of human history before the Church Age and all of human history after the Rapture of the Church. Never before in human history has the grace policy of God provided so much for the ordinary believer. In the Church Age the believer cannot earn grace (He can distort grace to his own detriment) and therefore the royal family of God is the beneficiary of a firm and unchanging policy from God. We call it grace.

Logistics (Military definition): the provision, the movement and the maintenance of all resources necessary to sustain military forces. Most of these services and resources originate in the civilian sector. Hence logistics involves the national economic capacity and closely related capability of the nation to support its military forces. Logistics includes the design, the development, the acquisition, the storage, the movement, the distribution, the maintenance, the evacuation and disposal of material. Logistics also includes hospitalisation of personnel, the acquisition or construction and maintenance of housing facilities on all military posts. Logistics therefore must be distinguished from administration. Administration is the management of all services and resources necessary to sustain military forces. And since the administration implies management, management is the function of logistics, and the two therefore become inseparable.

The word actually comes from two Greek words. The first is logisthj which means an inspector of accounts, an auditor, a calculator. With this is another Greek word, logismoj, which means a thinker. It takes a lot of thinking in order to put troops in the field and sustain them. (In our case the thinker is God Himself who has provided for each one of us under the principle of logistical grace.) Logistics becomes a very important part of national life under the principle of freedom through military victory. Therefore, logistics is a technical military term for sustaining troops in every form of its activity and manoeuvre.

There is a spiritual analogy to logistics. From the military nomenclature comes the spiritual analogy and we call it logistical grace. The definition of logistical grace is found in 2 Corinthians 9:8 — “And God is able to make all grace abound to you; that always having all sufficiency in everything [reference to life support to both winners and losers alike], you may have an abundance [logistical grace blessing to winners and losers alike] for every good of intrinsic value production.” This applies to all of us; this is why we are alive; this is why God blesses us even when we have failed Him in so many ways. Logistical grace actually includes three categories: life support for every Church Age believer, winner or loser; blessing for every Church Age believer, winner or loser; divine provision for every Church Age believer to execute the protocol plan of God.

The basis for logistical grace is divine holiness. The word holy is actually taken from Greek word which means set apart to God, or God set apart in a unique way. Holiness is perhaps not the best word today; integrity may be better. Logistical grace is divine integrity.

Four principles emerge: 1. What the righteousness of God rejects the justice of God condemns (Righteousness and justice are God’s holiness). God’s standard is always in His perfect righteousness. What the righteousness of God rejects the justice of God judges; what the righteousness of God accepts the justice of God blesses. That second principle is where we have the basis for logistical grace; 2. What the righteousness of God accepts the justice of God blesses; 3. The justice of God administers what the righteousness of God demands; 4. At the moment of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ the justice of God is one of the forty things given to every believer. Every believer receives from the justice of God the righteousness of God imputed.

Every believer possesses God’s righteousness and the fact that you possess it is just like a radar going to heaven demanding support. We are blessed, we are sustained, we are supported by the justice of God which, by the way, is our point of reference. The righteousness of God rejects certain things in us, such as our sin, our fragmentation, etc. When we are involved in certain things the righteousness of God rejects and, therefore, God sends divine discipline. The divine discipline comes in three categories: warning discipline, intensive discipline, dying discipline — outside of logistical grace. Then, the righteousness of God takes the loser who is under discipline as well as the winner, and demands blessing [life support] from the justice of God. They don’t deserve it; it is simply because of God’s grace, His policy.

So God has given to us as children of God something that we possess from the moment of salvation and forever. It is the basis of justification it is the basis of the fact that the righteousness of God indwelling each one of us demands life support [whether you fail or succeed] and demands blessing [whether you fail or succeed], and this is never turned off, it goes on as long as we live. It is the basis of this wonderful principle of logistics.

Logistical grace is defined as divine provision for every Church Age believer whether he succeeds in fulfilling the plan of God or not. Logistical grace is in three categories: life support for every Church Age believer; blessing for every Church Age believer; divine provision for every Church Age believer to execute the protocol plan and therefore to glorify God.

God doesn’t bless us because of what we do, God blesses us because of who and what He is. And so a pipeline is established for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. At one end of the pipeline is the justice of God, the frame of reference for mankind since the fall of man. On the other end of the pipeline is the righteousness of God which each one of us has received at the moment we believed in Jesus Christ. The pipeline excludes all human ability, morality, talent, giving, sacrifice, service, and all patronising function of legalism as a source of blessing — God cannot be patronised. Because God is love it doesn’t mean that you can play games with Him.

The existence of this pipeline after salvation means that God is free to bless all believers, not on the basis of who and what the believer is but on the basis of who and what God is. Without compromising His own divine attributes God found a way. The principle: God found a way to bless us through the divine policy called grace. The second principle: God cannot accept anything less than perfect righteousness and He cannot bless anything less than perfect righteousness. He gave us that perfect righteousness, His own, at salvation — not only for justification but for blessing. Consequently the justice of God sends down the grace pipeline every day our life support, our blessing for every member of the royal family, winners or losers.

This means that in logistical grace the justice of God is the source of all divine support, all divine blessing, and the righteousness of God which we now possess is the recipient of that life support and blessing. From the moment of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ perfect divine righteousness resides in every member of the royal family. And don’t try to compete with God’s perfect righteousness by thinking that you can do something to extrapolate blessing from God. In this way logistical grace avoids compromise with the divine attribute and in this way logistical grace is compatible with the integrity of God. God loves His own integrity. We talk about how God loves us but what is important is that God loves His own perfect righteousness. That is divine self-esteem. It is because God has never made a mistake and can’t make a mistake. He never has failed, He never will fail. And God’s self-esteem is divine self-esteem. God cannot bless you because you have done something wonderful. The only production that ever counts in eternity for reward is production which results from what God has provided in grace through the filling of the Holy Spirit and operation Z, a grace system of production by which we gain momentum in the spiritual life and by which we are motivated. God loves His own righteousness, not ours.

Principles

1. Righteousness demands righteousness; justice demands justice. Therefore, it is what the righteousness of God demands that the justice of God executes.

2. This is compatible with the fact that divine righteousness is the principle of divine holiness.

3. What the righteousness of God the rejects the justice of God condemns.

4. What the righteousness of God accepts the justice of God blesses.

What is it that the righteousness of God accepts? Take a look at the pipeline. The righteousness of God accepts His own righteousness; we have it. That is where our life support comes and that is where our blessings come from.

5. The justice of God administers what the righteousness of God demands.

Put all that together and you have the principle of logistical grace.

In addition to the grace pipeline located between the justice and righteousness of God there is also another pipeline. That is between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit — that is operation Z. That is how we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ.

The testimony of logistical grace

Throughout history there has been a testimony recorded in the Word of God since believers of all time receive the righteousness of God. In this dispensation we receive forty things; in the old dispensations they received five. So we have a testimony.

Psalm 37:25 — “I have been young, but now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his seed begging bread.”

Psalm 23:1 — “The Lord is the one shepherding me; therefore, I cannot lack anything. He causes me to lie down in pastures of choice food: He leads me to waters of refreshment. He restores my soul [rebound]. He guides me in paths of righteousness [the ten problem-solving devices] because of His reputation [holiness]. Also when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I cannot fear evil; because you are with me: Your rod [divine discipline] and your staff [deliverance — the pipeline] they comfort me [David knew he had the righteousness of God and that righteousness was the principle of divine integrity and the justice of God was the function of divine integrity and he can only derive comfort from logistical grace and from discipline by grace]. You have prepared before me a table in the presence of my enemies [David’s enemies always rose up to ridicule and malign him when he failed and was under discipline. But he was still the King even though he was driven out; he still had rulership, he still had blessing, etc.]: You have anointed my head with oil [promotion]; my cup [escrow blessings for time] is overflowing. Only the prosperity and grace [the good, the absolute good] shall pursue me all the days of my life [David recognised that there never was a day after he believed in Jesus Christ that grace did not pursue him because he had the righteousness of God]. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever [status quo eternal security].”

Philippians 4:19 — “My God shall supply all of your needs [logistical grace support and blessing] according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” What are His riches in glory? Riches refer to virtue — God’s virtue.

2 Corinthians 12:9 — “My grace [the provision of our portfolio of invisible assets] has been and is sufficient for you: for the power is achieved with weakness [weakness refers to grace orientation as a problem-solving device, humility or lack of arrogance, suffering for blessing in three categories. Weakness means orientation to logistical grace, understanding the pipeline]. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, in order that the power of Christ may reside in me [he had come to the place of occupation with Christ in the suffering for blessing category].”

Lamentations 3:20 — “Surely my soul remembers, and is humbled within me. This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope [hope — jachal, which means faith under pressure]. The Lord’s gracious functions never cease [the perpetuation of logistical grace], his compassions never fail [the integrity of God is the basis for logistical grace support and blessing, not the worthiness of the believer]. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul [logistical grace rations]; therefore I have faith under pressure in him.” The Lord is good to those who trust in him [qawah — to have consistent faith-rest drill].”

Psalm 56:13 — “For you have delivered my soul from death; indeed my feet from stumbling. That I may walk with God in the light of life.”

Psalm 116:8 — “For you have rescued my soul from death.” Under logistical grace God can and does prolong life.

There are many other passages which all add up to this fact: fear, worry, anxiety, apprehension, is rejection of logistical grace provision — ignoring it, refusing to accept the reality of it, and yet God continues to provide. The principle is: God provides logistical grace support to losers as well as winners.

therefore to glorify God.

Ephesians 4:30 is the recovery of the power of the Holy Spirit. We start out with the conjunction kai, used as an adverb. Kai is occasionally used as an adverb and when it is it means “furthermore,” in addition to what we have in the context. Now we are going to get an overall picture of our failure in he spiritual life from our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Next we have the present active imperative from the verb lupew. And with it we have the negative mh, and when you have the negative mh plus the present active imperative it means to stop doing something that you are already doing. So we have an overall command now to finish up this chapter.

Remember that the fourth chapter is what the Ephesians were doing and generally what was happening in the Roman province of Asia. These Ephesians in their Christian sinning were second only to the Corinthians and actually they were more diversified in their areas of sinning than the Corinthians. The Corinthians had very few legalists; there was more legalism and more moral degeneracy in Ephesus at this time. However Paul cleaned it up pretty well and it became the basis for one of the greatest pivots of all time.

“Furthermore, stop grieving.” This is a durative or progressive present tense. It denotes what was begun in the past and continues up to the present time. The active voice: believers involved in moral and immoral degeneracy produce the action of the verb.

With this we have the accusative singular, direct object from four words. We begin with the definite article to, and with it we have pneuma, the proper designation of the third Person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. The definite article is repeated to again emphasise the proper name, a(gioj. With this we have a genitive of apposition, called the genitive of identity, meaning the proper noun in the genitive is identical with the word that it modifies. In other words, what we have is simply, “Furthermore, stop grieving the Holy Spirit, the God.” This emphasises our first doctrine in this passage which is the deity of the Holy Spirit.

Grieving the Holy Spirit is a sin against the Holy Spirit and therefore we note some of the sins against the Holy Spirit which are mentioned in the Bible. Some of these can only be committed by an unbeliever.

Inasmuch as God the Holy Spirit has certain specific relationships with members of the human race there are certain ways in which mankind sins against the third Person of the Trinity. And since the human race is divided into two categories, believers and unbelievers, the sins against the Holy Spirit are divided into two categories: sins committed by the unbeliever and sins committed by the believer.

Sins committed against the Holy Spirit by the unbeliever are sins related to spiritual death. For example, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in Matthew 12:13-42, is a sin committed in spiritual death by unbelievers only; believers cannot blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Secondly, resistance of the Holy Spirit in Acts 7:51 is a sin committed against the Holy Spirit by the unbeliever only. These illustrate the principle that in spiritual death certain members of the human race commit sins against the Holy Spirit.

There are also sins against the Holy Spirit committed by believers only. For example, we will note lying to the Holy Spirit in Acts 5:3. We will note quenching the Holy Spirit in 1 Thessalonians 5:19. We will note grieving the Holy Spirit which is our passage in Ephesians 4:30.

The first of the sins committed against the Holy Spirit actually recorded as such in the scripture: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 12:24 — “But when the Pharisees heard it (His healing of the demon-possessed man), they said, This man casts out demons only by Beelzebub the ruler of the demons.

Verse 25 — “And knowing their thoughts he said to them, Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined; and any house divided against itself will not stand:

Verse 26 — “Consequently, if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?

Verse 27 — “Furthermore, if I by Beelzebub cast our demons (and you assume I do), by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they will be your judges.

Verse 28 — “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come in your midst” .(He is casting our demons, not in the power of His own deity but in the power of the Holy Spirit)

Verse 31 — “Therefore, I say unto you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men (Why? Because every sin and blasphemy was judged on the cross. Only rejection of Christ was not judged on the cross); but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven.”

Jewish religious types such as the Pharisees were unbelievers. They rejected Christ as saviour, as Messiah. And when our Lord performed signs of Messiahship in the power of the Holy Spirit they rejected Christ as Messiah. Therefore, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an unbeliever, like a Pharisee, in the dispensation of the hypostatic union rejecting Christ as saviour in the face of overwhelming evidence presented in the power of God the Holy Spirit.

There is one other sin against the Holy Spirit which is committed by unbelievers in this dispensation. It is found in Acts 7:51, resistance of the Holy Spirit. This is the statement of Stephen prior to his martyrdom. He is describing scar tissue of the soul and reverse process reversionism among the Jews. By “ears” he meant hearing the gospel and rejecting it; by “heart” he meant understanding the gospel and rejecting it. Therefore the ears indicate rejection of Jesus Christ as saviour at the point of common grace; the heart represents rejection of Jesus Christ as saviour at the point of the divine call or divine invitation. “Uncircumcised” means they were unbelieving Jews. “Resisting” the Holy Spirit means rejection of Christ at the point of gospel hearing, rejection of Christ at the divine invitation or call of God. And then Stephen added, You are doing exactly what your ancestors did. This is tantamount to John 16:9 — “concerning sin because they do not believe in me.”

No believer can resist or blaspheme against the Holy Spirit because he has heard an understood the gospel through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in common grace. He has heard the divine call and he has responded as one who is spiritually dead by believing in Jesus Christ. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is tantamount to rejection of Jesus Christ as saviour; it is called resistance of the Holy Spirit; it is committed by unbelievers only. Inasmuch as God the Holy Spirit has certain specific relationship with members of the human race there are certain areas in which mankind sins against the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has a relationship with unbelievers — common and efficacious grace, and in between the two of them is sandwiched the divine call. And since the human race is divided into two categories, believers and unbelievers, sins against the Holy Spirit are divided into the same two categories.

There are five such statements in the Word of God. Two of these statements talk about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and resistance of the Holy Spirit. And these are sins that only the unbeliever can commit. Actually, blasphemy is a sin against the Holy Spirit which can only be committed in the dispensation of the hypostatic union, which is the context for Matthew chapter twelve. Resistance of the Holy Spirit is rejection of Christ at the point of gospel hearing, at the point of divine invitation or the call of God. This is tantamount to John 16:9: “concerning sin because they believe not on me.”

Resistance of the Holy Spirit includes three stages of negative volition: negative volition at the point of gospel hearing, negative volition at the point of divine invitation or the divine call, negative volition at the point of salvation opportunity through faith in Christ. In other words, at each stage of the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit to the unbeliever the person in spiritual death is negative.

There are two categories of negative volition in operation Z. In the dispensation of the hypostatic union hearing the gospel from our Lord Jesus Christ and rejecting it is called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit; or seeing signs of Messiahship and rejecting it — blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. In the dispensation of the Church, hearing the gospel from an evangelist, a pastor, or a witnessing believer is called resisting the Holy Spirit. Note that these two categories of sins against the Holy Spirit are committed by unbelievers only.

Three sins that are committed by those who are born-again believers

1. Lying to the Holy Spirit, the sin of implosion or self-fragmentation. The Biblical illustration is inordinate competition in Acts 5:3. The background for this is the fact that Barnabus owned a tract of land in Jerusalem. He sold it and gave the entire proceeds to the apostles in order to support their ministry. Ananias and Sapphira heard the praise of Barnabus, they were under inordinate ambition, they were in competition with Barnabus. In competition, in arrogance and jealousy of Barnabus, Ananias pulled the pin of the grenade by coming and lying. He said: “This is all of it,” and it wasn’t .He didn’t have to give all of it but he had to try and put himself in competition with Barnabus who had given it all. This was “lying to the Holy Spirit.”

2. Grieving the Holy Spirit — Ephesians 4:30. Lying to the Holy Spirit is simply related to the sins of self-fragmentation. Grieving the Holy Spirit refers to perpetual living inside of cosmic one, the arrogance complex. However, grieving the Holy Spirit also refers to polarised fragmentation.

Ephesians 4:30 — “Furthermore, stop grieving the Holy Spirit, the God, by whom ye have been sealed to the day of redemption.” The day of redemption is the redemption of the body which is resurrection. There are two categories of redemption found in the scripture: the redemption of the soul which is salvation through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ — the moment we believe in Christ the redemption of the soul has occurred — and then there is the redemption of the body which occurs at the Rapture or the resurrection of the Church when we receive our resurrection body.

Principles of grieving the Holy Spirit

1. Grieving the Holy Spirit refers to perpetual living in cosmic one.

2. Grieving the Holy Spirit refers also to polarised fragmentation. Polarised fragmentation in the sin nature trend of arrogant self-righteousness or legalism; polarised fragmentation in the sin nature trend of lascivious lawlessness or antinomianism.

3. Furthermore, grieving the Holy Spirit refers to the first five stages of reversionism, or what we might classify as the early stages of Christian degeneracy. The first one is reaction and distraction as far as Bible doctrine is concerned. The second is the frantic search for happiness which always comes from negative volition — a dead end always. The third stage is operation boomerang; it comes back and hits with great misery. The fourth stage is emotional revolt of the soul. The fifth is locked-in negative volition and at that point you cannot distinguish between the thinking of the believer and the thinking of the unbeliever counterpart.

The third and final sin against the Holy Spirit is called quenching the Holy Spirit: “Quench not the Spirit,” the present active imperative of the verb sbennumi. The word means three things: to extinguish, to suppress, to quench. With this we have the negative, mh. It is translated “stop quenching,” “stop extinguishing,” or “stop suppressing.” The present tense is called the durative or progressive present. It is used for an action or a state which began in the past and continues into the present. In other words, the past and the present are gathered up into a single affirmation. The active voice: believers actually produce the action of the verb. They do it by entering into the last three stages of reversionism. The sixth stage is blackout of the soul; the seventh stage is scar tissue of the soul; the eighth stage is reverse process reversionism. The result of quenching the Spirit is either moral or immoral degeneracy and it is now locked in.

The imperative mood is called the imperative of prohibition. It means to stop an action already in progress. The Holy Spirit is in view because of the accusative singular direct object from two words. The first is the definite article, to; the second is the noun pneuma. How do we know it is the “Holy” Spirit? The definite article calls attention to the proper name and pneuma refers to the Holy Spirit.

What is quenching the Spirit? First of all it refers to perpetual living inside of cosmic two. Secondly, quenching the Holy Spirit refers to the final stages of reversionism or the final stages of Christian degeneracy, stages 6-8. Christian degeneracy comes in two categories: moral degeneracy which extends legalism into the eight stages of reversionism, or immoral degeneracy which extends antinomianism into the eight stages of reversionism.

We should note carnality. Carnality is taken from the King James version and it is the Greek word sarkinoj, which means fleshly but it really means old sin naturish. It refers to being under the control of the old sin nature: “Are ye not carnal and walk as men?” — 1 Corinthians 3:3.

Basically there are two categories of believers out of fellowship which we call “carnal Christians.” They are defined as: a. The positive believer who sins but recovers quickly through the use of the rebound technique — 1 John 1:9; b. The negative believer whose sins remain unchecked. He gets out of fellowship; he stays out of fellowship, and as a result he enters into the pattern — implode, explode, revert.

The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit is one of the things that happens to us at the moment of salvation. We start out with a prepositional phrase, en plus the instrumental singular of agency from the relative pronoun o(j. O(j is referring to God the Holy Spirit. “By whom” is the translation. This is a reference to one of the seven things that God does for each of us at the moment of salvation — specifically these things are done by God the Holy Spirit.

The seven things that the Holy Spirit does for us at the moment of salvation

1. The doctrine of efficacious grace starts out with the gospel being presented to those who are in spiritual brain death, and therefore God the Holy Spirit makes the gospel perspicuous because spiritual brain death cannot understand any part of spiritual phenomena. The gospel is spiritual phenomena. The Holy Spirit makes the gospel perspicuous under the concept of pneumatikoj which is spiritual phenomena. Now it goes down the pipeline to the nouj where the spiritually dead person understands that Christ is the issue, not sin, not human works, but Jesus Christ. That is the point of the divine call to believe which is nothing more or less than an invitation from the Father to believe in Christ, and an invitation that is given through our understanding of the issue. Then in spiritual death we can believe in Jesus Christ. Only faith in Jesus Christ can be taken by God the Holy Spirit and made effective for eternal salvation. This is called efficacious grace, a ministry of God the Holy Spirit at salvation which cannot occur if you add anything to faith.

The positive volition of the spiritually dead person is described in two non-meritorious functions: a. The spiritually dead person can do one thing that is non-meritorious: he can listen to the gospel; b. The unbeliever believes in Christ.

Because the unbeliever has spiritual brain death, according to 1 Corinthians 2:14, he does not understand what he hears. He uses his volition to listen because listening is non-meritorious. But the problem is that when you hear what is being said with regard to the gospel you cannot understand it apart from the ministry of God the Holy Spirit who makes it understandable. The Holy Spirit acting as the human spirit makes the gospel perspicuous and this is what we call common grace.

The faith of the spiritually dead person has no power to produce the intended effect — salvation — and therefore God the Holy Spirit has to take our faith and make it effective for salvation. Common grace understands the gospel, the divine invitation or call works on the human will, not common grace. Efficacious grace is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in taking faith in Christ of the spiritually dead person and making it effective for salvation. Efficacious grace works on the faith of the spiritually dead person, not his will. The decision to believe has already been made and the Holy Spirit makes that faith effective.

The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit is related to common and efficacious grace. When we believe we are spiritually dead. The Holy Spirit makes our faith effective and that is sealing salvation. The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit is actually a signature guarantee that includes four principles: the guarantee of the ministry of the Spirit in efficacious grace; the guarantee of eternal life; the guarantee of eternal security; the guarantee that in eternity past God the Father provided for each one of us our very own portfolio of invisible assets. The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit covers eternity past, time, and the eternal future in these four guarantees.

2. Regeneration — Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:23. Defined as the ministry of the Holy Spirit at salvation in creating a human spirit which causes the believer to become instantly trichotomous.

The origin of the body is conception — biological life. There is the old sin nature in the biological life but it is not active in the womb because there is no human being, there is no volition, there is not temptation in the womb. But when biological life emerges from the womb (and simultaneously the OSN) God creates soul life and imputes it to biological life, and now you have a human being. In physical life we become dichotomous: a body, biological life, and soul life created by God imputed to it — a human being and a spiritually dead one.

So we need salvation, the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. How? Because at the moment we believed in Christ God the Holy Spirit created the human spirit. This is the second birth, this is what it means to be born again. God the Father imputed eternal life to the human spirit. We had soul life prior to salvation, now we have soul life and eternal life.

3. The baptism of the Holy Spirit.

God the Holy Spirit takes each one of us at the moment of faith in Christ and enters us into union with the person of Christ. We are in that circle and we can never get out. That is positional sanctification. The baptism of the Spirit is the basis for the new spiritual species and the royal family of God. (The baptism of the Spirit is the only case in all of history where everyone is on an equal basis. There is absolute equality because every believer receives the same baptism of the Spirit at salvation). The baptism of the Spirit distinguishes the Church Age believer from all other dispensations. It never occurred before and it will never occur again after the Rapture.

4. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer at the moment of salvation.

This is something that never happened before. Neither the Father nor the Son nor the Spirit indwelt Old Testament saints. When the Rapture occurs and the Tribulation and Millennium there will be no indwelling by any member of the Godhead. Scripture for indwelling: 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19,20; 2 Corinthians 6:16. These passages are important because they also explain the purpose of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit indwells our bodies. Why? To provide a temple. In every cell of the body, with one exception, the old sin nature resides. The Holy Spirit provides a temple for the indwelling of God the Father and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

5. The filling of the Holy Spirit.

It occurs at the moment of salvation but it is experiential.

6. The sovereign distribution of a spiritual gift.

God the Son, who was involved in the initial distribution of spiritual gifts in the beginning of the Church Age, Ephesians 4:7,8, has now turned that over to the Holy Spirit. So at the moment of salvation, 1 Corinthians 12:11, God the Holy Spirit gives to each one of us a spiritual gift.

7. The sealing ministry of the Spirit — a signature guarantee.

(Sealing in the ancient world was a signature guarantee) It is a signature guarantee of four things: a. Efficacious grace — the Holy Spirit takes the faith of the spiritually dead person and makes it effective for salvation; b. The guarantee of eternal life; c. The guarantee of eternal security; d. The guarantee of your very own portfolio of invisible assets which God the Father prepared for each one of us in eternity past.

The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit covers eternity past, our life in time, and our eternal future. That is the subject of Ephesians 4:30. Corrected translation of Ephesians 1:13,14 where this subject is first encountered:

“In whom also, when you heard the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, — in whom also when you believed, you were sealed by means of the Holy Spirit with reference to the promise,

“Who is the guarantee of our inheritance, for the release of your assets for the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 4:30b — “by whom.” Now we come to the verb, the aorist passive indicative of the verb sfragizw. It means to seal. “You have been sealed” is the correct way to translate it. That is because it is a culminative aorist tense, it views the event in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of existing results. The passive voice represents subject, every Church Age believer, as being acted upon by God the Holy Spirit at the moment of our salvation. Therefore, the subject receives the action of the verb at the moment that he believes in Jesus Christ. That is faith plus nothing. The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit is the unqualified statement of fact, a dogmatic statement of Bible doctrine.

Next we have our prepositional phrase. We have e)ij plus the adverbial accusative of two words. We have the adverbial accusative of the extent of time from the noun h(mera, correctly translated, “you have been sealed to the day.” Now the day is given in the adverbial genitive of time, a)polutrwsij — redemption. A)polutrwsij or redemption is used two ways in the scripture. First of all there is the redemption of the soul, freedom from the slave market of sin at the moment of salvation through faith in Christ — Romans 3:24; 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:12; Gal. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:18. It is the redemption of the soul. The second redemption in the Bible is the redemption of the body, and it is a reference to ultimate sanctification or resurrection — Rom. 8:23.

Redemption of the soul is related to the salvation work of Christ on the cross whereas the redemption of the body is related to the resurrection body of the believer, which is provided courtesy of God the Father whose omnipotence is involved, and God the Holy Spirit whose omnipotence is involved in, our resurrection.

Ephesians 4:30, corrected translation: “Furthermore, stop grieving the Holy Spirit, the God, by whom you have been sealed to the day of redemption.”