Emotional Revolt of the Soul

THE VOCABULARY PROBLEM

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings (Jer. 17:9,10).

The emotional revolt of the soul centers around two words found in this passage, the “heart’” and the “reins” (kidneys). Although they are literal organs in the body, they generally do not refer to the physical organs when they are used in the Bible. Since there is no vocabulary word in either the Hebrew or the Koine Greek for certain functions of the soul, such as the “emotions,” words of anatomy which have parallel functions in the soul have been substituted. The words translated “belly,” “bowels” and “reins” refer to the emotions of the soul. “Heart” is usually the designation for the “right lobe'''' of the mentality of the soul. Let’s take a look, then, at the soul.

THE SOUL

The soul has essence, which is composed of six characteristics. First of all, it has self-consciousness, the element that makes you aware of your own existence. The soul also has mentality contained in two frontal lobes. The left lobe, translated “mind” from the Greek word “nous” is the perceptive lobe. This is a staging area from which, for believers, doctrinal information is transferred to the human spirit and then to the right lobe.

The right lobe is the dominant lobe and is designated’ by two different words in the Greek: “kardia’’ (heart) and “noema” (understanding or thought). It is the area referred to in Proverbs 23:7, which says, “For as he (a person) thinketh in his heart (right lobe), so is he.” “Heart” in the Hebrew refers to the divinely designated authority of the soul vested in the heart or right lobe of the mentality of the soul.

The right lobe has four areas: a frame of reference with a memory center; a vocabulary; norms and standards, called the “conscience”; and viewpoint. The frame of reference is the place where you store information. It is where you keep memories about people — people you love, people you dislike — all kinds of people. It is the place where you store your attitude toward country, toward life, toward your job, etc. When you began to think, you began to develop norms and standards. You have norms and standards about what is right and wrong, what things are proper, and so on. Some of your norms and standards may be compatible with God’s and some may not. Bible doctrine provides you with information whereby you can develop divine norms and standards.

The viewpoint is a combination of what you have in your frame of reference plus your norms and standards. You have a viewpoint about everything in life art, music, sports, country, God, church, to name a few. Your viewpoint determines your attitude toward life and your capacity for life. The believer’s viewpoint must have doctrine to launch into the soul and into experiences in life. Finally, technical, theological categories are identified by means of the vocabulary.

Another characteristic of the soul is volition. This means that you are capable of making decisions, and you are responsible for these. The soul also has emotions. We will be examining the emotions in our study of the “reins.” Every soul, since the fall of Adam, has an old sin nature, or Adamic nature, designated in Scripture by the terms "flesh'''' in Romans 8:3,4, and “old man’ in Ephesians 4:22. The sin nature has an area of weakness which produces personal sins, an area of strength which produces human good, a lust pattern, and trends toward asceticism and lasciviousness. It is the distorter of the soul.

THE DECEITFUL HEART

Our study begins with that part of the soul called the “heart” or right lobe. In Jeremiah 17:9, we are introduced to the “deceitful heart’’ “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Since the word “deceitful” is an adjective, the first phrase should have been translated “the deceitful heart.” What is a deceitful heart? Deceitful” here denotes some kind of phony, pseudo- activity — some action that is antagonistic toward God.

The same adjective is used in Jeremiah 15:18, relative to a description of Jeremiah’s right woman. This verse brings out the analogy between the woman Jeremiah loved and Judah, whom the Lord loved. Both were faithless to their “Right Man,” and both refused to be “healed.” Jeremiah asks, “Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable?” He could not get his right woman out of his memory. “ .. . which refuseth to be healed ‘ that is. Why does she refuse to be reconciled? “Wilt thou,” he continues, “be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?’’ Or, literally from the Hebrew, “Wilt thou keep on being unto me as a DECEITFUL brook whose waters do not endure '''

The “water” is doctrine. She was a believer who had been exposed to Bible doctrine; but doctrine did not take with her because it went in one ear and out the other! It did not reach her human spirit and was not found in her right lobe under the ordinary function of the “grace apparatus for perception” (GAP). She had a deceitful heart! As a result, she became involved in the phallic cult and plotted against Jeremiah.

To understand the deceitful heart, we need to understand that technically all the facets of the soul are linked and interrelated by a very intricate “wiring” system. There is wiring that goes from the human spirit to the right lobe, which takes care of doctrine; wiring also extends from the old sin nature to the right lobe. When the old sin nature produces mental attitude sins, they go from the sin nature through the wiring into the right lobe.

If you are thinking about a person or a situation from your frame of reference when these mental attitude sins come in, you will immediately regard that person with mental attitude sins. Jeremiah’s right woman enshrouded him with bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability and antagonism. Without Bible doctrine, and therefore without the capacity to love, her love turned to hatred. This is why she was called a “deceitful brook,” a brook whose waters disappeared. You go to the brook expecting to find water, but all you find is sand — no capacity to slake the thirst of the one who comes to the brook! The right man comes to the brook, but there is no water. Jeremiah came to his right woman, but she had no capacity to love; she had a deceitful heart.

A “deceitful heart’’ is the right lobe of the mentality filled up with mental attitude sins from the old sin nature. The mental attitude sins travel in the soul — from the sin nature to the right lobe. The deceitful factor is that mental attitude sins completely deceive you in your relationship with God. You are Ridding yourself if you think that you have fellowship with God when you are involved in mental sins. The worst sinning in the world never gets outside the soul, though obviously the repercussions do. You can be jealous and bitter and go in for revenge. Revenge becomes overt when you malign or gossip or try to hurt; but the mental attitude sin itself doesn’t leave the soul — apart from rebound, of course.

The deceitful heart is said to be “desperately wicked above all things,” or literally, “above all, desperately wicked,’’ In other words, the right lobe full of mental attitude sins is more desperately wicked than anything else in your life. So, when the old sin nature cycles mental attitude sins into your right lobe, if there is no doctrine there to meet the situation, you couldn’t be worse off spiritually: you are dangerously sick in your soul! That’s what “desperately wicked” means.

Now, “who can know (understand) it?” Anyone who is functioning under GAP, who has a frame of reference from some basic doctrine, and who is filled with the Holy Spirit can understand it. But the next verse is going to give some amplification.

THE HEART SEARCHED

“I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins . ...” These two verbs, “search’” and “try” are actually participles in the Hebrew text, and denote continuous action. In this case, there is never a time when God isn’t constantly searching the right lobe (heart) in order to provide maximum blessing. The primary meaning of “search’’ means “to explore.’’ God is an Explorer. In eternity past God explored every right lobe; therefore, He knew how each one would operate. Because He is the Explorer of your soul. He provided salvation for your soul through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross!

Now, once you are born again, God continues to explore your heart every second. Note that the exploration site is said to be the “heart.” This means that God is exploring the doctrinal content of your right lobe in three areas: first, the frame of reference with its memory center is being explored to see whether you have a doctrinal frame of reference. Second, God explores your conscience to determine whether your norms and standards are compatible with His absolute norms and standards. Third, your viewpoint is searched. Does your right lobe contain the necessary Bible doctrine that will give you a divine viewpoint about everything in life?

How do you feed your right lobe with doctrine? That is the whole subject of GAP. But briefly, doctrine is communicated by a pastor-teacher through ICE teaching; it then enters the left (perceptive) lobe as a staging area. From there it must be transferred BY FAITH to the human spirit. It is then cycled into the four areas of the right lobe. With doctrine in the right lobe fulfilling all its functions, your heart is not only non-deceitful, but it will be “enlarged,” as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:11.

Paul had to learn doctrine and build an edification complex (ECS) in his soul before he could communicate doctrine. The more doctrine he knew, the more he was able to teach. Thus his right lobe was enlarged or increased with knowledge of doctrine. Our right lobes are increased in the same way, and the result is maturity through an ECS!

God blesses on the basis of grace, and maximum grace blessing comes from that doctrinal content in the right lobe. So the Lord is continually exploring the content of your right lobe to see how much grace blessing He can give you. In addition, doctrine in the right lobe gives both capacity for temporal life as well as for spiritual life; capacity to enjoy pleasurable things and social activities, capacity to cope with danger, pressures and adversities in fact, capacity for everything in life.

THE REINS

“I try the reins. “ The word “try” here means “to test for function.” The Lord is constantly testing the “reins.” First of all, what are the “reins’’ ?The Hebrew word is “kiljah” (pronounced “keel-ya”) and is usually translated “reins.” This word in the Hebrew is in the feminine gender, and anything that is feminine is designed to be a responder. So, as we shall see, the reins have been designed to be responders of the soul.

Most dictionaries and lexicons will define ‘reins’ as the “kidneys.” But the word “kiljah” means more than just the kidneys. Every normal person has two kidneys, and on top of each kidney is an adrenal gland. Adrenal glands secrete at least two hormones, one of which is adrenalin. This is an emotional hormone, used to stimulate you for “fright, fight and flight.''''' The whole system is protected by a fat pad, which surrounds the kidneys and the adrenals. So “kiljah” actually refers to the fat pad; but by analogy it refers to the emotions. There is a very close relationship between the physiological functions of the glands in the fat pads and the emotions of the soul.

The heart, as the dominant lobe in the mentality of the soul, is analogous to the right man; while the emotions, as the responder and appreciator of the soul, are comparable to the right woman. For this reason they are linked together in certain passages (Psa. 7:9; 26:2; Jer. 11:20; 17:10; 20:12). Just as the right man initiates love to the right woman and she responds to his initiation, so the right lobe initiates to the emotions. The question is, do the emotions respond, or do they dictate and nag the right lobe? This question must constantly be answered to determine capacity for life.

CAPACITY FOR LIFE

Potentially, the believer has the greatest capacity for life; but experientially, he can wind up in the worst possible shape. You need not possess a lot of money to enjoy life; but you do need capacity! Although God will assign to you a certain amount of materialistic things, a right man or a right woman, a right amount of time, or whatever it might be, these all must be based on your capacity to enjoy them.

True capacity for both temporal and spiritual life results when the right lobe dominates the soul and the emotions respond. Emotion has no doctrinal content or knowledge of its own. It depends on the knowledge or doctrine of the right lobe. Therefore, emotion takes on the character of the thing to which it responds. If emotion responds to doctrine in the right lobe, it has great capacity for life under the happiness spectrum from tranquility to ecstatics. If, however, emotion responds to the old sin nature, it will produce the misery spectrum frustration, self-induced misery, revolt, loss of

freedom, scar tissue, sublimation, etc.

Notice that the word “reins’ is in the plural. Just as the woman’s soul responds to her right man in love and her body responds to him in sex, so there are two facets to our emotions. The left rein, through response to doctrine in the right lobe, gives the believer capacity for spiritual life. The right rein is capacity for temporal life and responds to human phenomena. When there is doctrine in the right lobe so that you have a doctrinal frame of reference, when the norms and standards are compatible with divine norms and standards, when the viewpoint lines up with the doctrinal perspective, then the heart becomes the right man of the soul, the initiator, and you have capacity for life. Capacity for life based on Bible doctrine will insure a full and wonderful life. Every facet of your life, whether spiritual or temporal, will be interesting and fascinating — even phenomenal — if the right lobe is the initiator of your soul!

The response of the reins or emotions to Bible doctrine is illustrated in Psalm 16:7: “I will bless the Lord (a response of love toward God) who hath given me counsel (doctrine categorically): my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.” The “night seasons” are times of pressure. When you have taken in doctrine under normal conditions, then in times of pressure it comes into memory center, the emotion responds to what you have learned, and you are able to have capacity for life in any circumstance. This capacity is described in verse 8: “I have set the Lord always before me (occupation with Christ): because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved (or unstable).”

Now, this is the optimum, the way things SHOULD work. But let’s see how things go wrong and how the system gets out of balance.

THE EMOTIONAL REVOLT

There is a tube called a “ureter” (see Chart #3) that goes from each kidney to the bladder. If the bladder backs up into the kidneys, there is trouble. We can liken the bladder to the old sin nature; for when the old sin nature controls your life, it is like the bladder backing up. As the old sin nature sends out its mental attitude sins, the emotion takes those sins and starts to dictate to the right lobe. What we have then is an EMOTIONAL REVOLT IN THE SOUL. This is a “deceitful heart”; this is “desperate wickedness”!

The right lobe should dominate the soul; but when the emotions revolt and start to dominate, the entire system is thrown out of kilter. For example, the right lobe should initiate viewpoints such as, patriotism, laws of establishment and divide institutions; but when the emotions are dictating, you have cowardice, draft-dodging, socialism and even revolution. The right lobe should initiate love; but when the emotions revolt, then jealousy, bitterness and implacability come into play.

The right lobe with doctrine in the frame of reference initiates to the emotions and. they respond with appreciation for doctrine, for who and what Christ is, for what God has given us; but when the emotions revolt and become the initiators, people get into the tongues movement, the “little flock” movement, legalism, and many other Weird activities where the emphasis is on how you feel rather than on Bible doctrine. That is emotional revolt of the soul!

The more apostate Christendom becomes, the more emphasis there is on emotional activities — the emotions dictating to the right lobe. As a result we have people singing “Do Lord” around a campfire, throwing faggots on the fire, dedicating and rededicating, trying to get a rosy glow through some emotional experience. God wants you to get the greatest thing in the world capacity for life and love and happiness; but that capacity comes from doctrine, not from the emotions!

THE REINS AND FEAR

Since the “reins” refer to the adrenal glands, which secrete the emotional hormone adrenalin (the stimulant to fright, fight and flight), it is not surprising to find Biblical references where the r, are linked with fear.

His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground (Job 16:13).

“His archers surround me round about,” describes a military situation in which the individual is at a tactical disadvantage and therefore is in great danger. He is outnumbered and surrounded by the enemy. When an individual is under great pressure, the stimulation of the emotion, which is related physiologically to the adrenal glands, comes into action. Often in desperate situations you are able to accomplish phenomenal things. However, if under pressure you operate on your emotions, you will panic or run away or give up! God has provided Bible doctrine so that you can have stability in every situation, including great pressure. Now, Bible doctrine is contained in the Bible, but to be usable, it has to be transferred into your right lobe.

“He pours out my gall upon the ground.'''' Physiologically, this refers to the backing up of the gall bladder; then breathing becomes very difficult. We can see here a direct analogy between physiology and the activity of the soul. When the old sin nature, which is analogous to the bladder, gets hold of the emotions, mental attitude sins of fear, worry, anxiety, guilt feelings, etc., (‘’gall”) move through the emotional pattern. In other words, mental attitude sins start in the old sin nature, but they go through the emotional pattern and end up in the right lobe. When this happens, the true function of the emotions is reversed: the emotions revolt in the soul and begin to dictate to the right lobe. They become a bossy female instead of a responsive woman. ‘’Soul breathings becomes impossible: you can’t inhale Bible doctrine or exhale divine good. As a result, capacity and/or appreciation for spiritual and temporal life is destroyed.

THE HINDRANCE TO CAPACITY FOR LIFE

The mental attitude sins from the old sin nature hinder the capacity for life as well as for love. This principle is found in Proverbs 23:15-17.

My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine (my very own). Yea, my reins shall rejoice. . . (verses 15,16a).

A wise heart refers to doctrine in the frame of reference; doctrine forming the basis of the conscience norms and standards; doctrine forming the basis of divine viewpoint; doctrine on the launching pad into the soul and into experiences in life. Now notice what rejoiced first: “the heart.” Who is the right man in the soul? The heart! And who is the responder, or the right

woman? The reins or the emotions! So the happiness in the right lobe finds a response in the emotions of the soul. A man who is happy makes his right woman happy. If he gets a little up-tight or a little short, then her reins backfire.

Do you see the principle? If you start in the right lobe, and you have inner happiness because of doctrine, you are going to have inner happiness in your emotions. Of course, the old sin nature, which is the source of mental attitude sins, might start a rumble; and whenever a mental attitude sin walks in, the trouble begins! We have a warning in verse 17: “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in fear of (occupation with) the Lord all the day long.'''''

All of a sudden, mental attitude sin jealousy or envy backs up the “ureter” and enters the emotion. If mental attitude sins are not handled promptly through 1 John 1:9, they back up further, so that eventually you get jealousy in the heart, and that is the same as the “deceitful heart,” or the “desperately wicked heart.” The old sin nature says, “Say, emotion, don’t you get tired of being kicked around by the heart? Don’t you get tired of being a responder all the time? Arise and re-

volt!’’ So up from the old sin nature comes jealousy; and once jealousy is established in the emotions, it is a mental attitude sin. Of course, it is true of any mental attitude sin. The emotion then revolts and you start wide emotional swings. You become frustrated and miserable, and in the extreme, neurotic or psychotic. You have a nagging emotion or a sick soul!

Finally, the backup of mental attitude sins causes the “reins,” or the emotions to dominate the right lobe; thus a beast or a monster is created in the soul.

Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked (punctured) in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant (of doctrine): I was a beast before thee (Psa. 73:21,22).

This person’s right lobe was grieved — he fell apart under pressure; his emotions were punctured — he had wide emotional swings. Therefore, he was foolish and ignorant and like an animal. “Before the ‘’ indicates that he was a believer. So, meet the believer-monster, the believer-animal! The believer-animal has reversed the whole procedure. When the emotion rules the soul, it shuts down the right lobe and no doctrine comes through. This is why we have legalism and human good; this is why we have draft-dodgers, liberals and traitors; and this is why some of the people most useful to the Devil in the angelic conflict are believers in apostasy; the result: liberal theology, social action and the tongues movement!

For this reason, divine discipline is Biblically related to the emotions of the soul.

He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins (Lam. 3:11-13).

All these phrases are pictures of discipline.

“He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood” (verse 15). As a result, he is filled with mental attitude sin bitterness. Here is a mental attitude sin going from the sin nature to the reins to the right lobe! Once the emotion revolts and becomes the aggressor, it loses all capacity for life and substitutes the misery spectrum for the happiness spectrum!

Interestingly enough, clinical psychology has described the characteristics of emotional revolt and reversionism, which are closely related, as the “psychopathic personality. In her book, “Psychopathic Personality and Neuroses,” Dr. A. A. Terruwe has the following comments, which you will recognize as symptomatic of both emotional revolt and reversionism.

Psychopath personality is a disease of the EMOTIONAL LIFE. The normal mature person controls his emotional life by the intellect. In this way the emotional life blends perfectly with the intellectual life. In the psychopathic person, the normal subordination of the emotions to intellect is not present

… it is deficient and in some cases completely lacking … It is the emotion that takes over at the expense of the intellect. Even in neurosis, the same mechanism seems to be the causative factor . . . that is to say that it is the emotions that control the intellect rather than the intellect controlling the emotions.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITY:

1. Imbalance

2. Instability

3. Egocentricity

The key defect is lack of regulation of the emotional life by the intellect. In the normal persons the intellect always knows more or less if the emotional reactions (responses) are adequate or not and is able to maintain a sound balance. The action of this regulating factor is diminished or abolished in the psychopathic personality. As a result, the relationships between stimulation and reaction lose all proportion.

The psychopaths lack the ability to evaluate realistically the OBJECT of their emotional reactions. This drive towards a false object becomes so intense that REASON no longer can govern their actions. They lose all objectivity and all intellectual reasoning abilities as they pursue the false object with PSEUDO-LOVE fanaticism. This imbalance leads to marked INSTABILITY and liability of their emotions. The normal person’s emotional life is controlled by the intellectual life, and this in turn leads to a certain degree of stability.

The psychopathic person in pursuit of his false object by purely emotional “thinking” can change from a violent love response to unreasonable hatred. This is why the psychopath is unpredictable . . . can never be trusted. You can never depend on him. The psychopath with his incapacity for true love becomes preoccupied with self-gratification.

This egocentricity is typical of most psychopaths. The true psychopath relates everything to himself.

True love and friendship are unknown to the psychopath. When they love, it’s for their own sake, and the friendship lasts only so long as it is to their advantage. A psychopath at times can be exceedingly pious and in fact some psychopaths claim to reach a level of spirituality that gives them supernatural powers, and many become totally involved in mystical existence. Their spiritual life is determined by what they desire . . .. meaningless babbling, which may be interpreted as

“tongues,” disorientation to time, disorganized delusions.…

THE SHORT -CIRCUIT OF GAP

Two of the most important things in life are the ability to concentrate and the ability to express in your own vocabulary or put together in your thinking the concepts of the divine viewpoint. Both of these come inevitably by a daily intake of the Word of God, and this must be based on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life. Thus the importance of rebound can never be minimized. It is the means of being filled with the Spirit, of checking the emotional revolt in the soul, and of following through in the function of GAP. While the emotion of the believer who is positive toward the Word appreciates doctrine and matures thereby, the emotion of the NEGATIVE believer binders the learning of doctrine under GAP.

0 ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels (2 Cor. 6:11,12).

The open mouth was the communication of Bible doctrine, first from the greatest of all Bible teachers, the Apostle Paul, then from that eloquent speaker, Apollos, then from Timothy, and later on from Titus. Four great Bible teachers! All of them taught the Corinthians. All of them taught on the basis of personal study. We have already seen that the ‘enlarged heart” is the study required before the presentation. Yet the Corinthians failed to learn doctrine. Why?

Your Bibles say, “Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels,” Paul is saying, “Ye are not LIMITED by us (Paul, Apollos, Timothy or Titus); you are limited by your own EMOTIONAL PATTERN!” Remember, emotion has no content; it does not produce character; it cannot hold doctrine or capacity for love. Emotion cannot, in fact, hold anything; it is merely a responder. So when the emotions revolt and take over the dictatorship of the right lobe, doctrine is shut off in the right lobe. It cannot get into the frame of reference, the norms and standards, or the viewpoint; and since there is no doctrine in the emotions, they get out of line. They initiate to the right lobe, and you have a stimulator without anything to stimulate. In other words, since there is no response from the right lobe, all you can do is emote and get ecstatic. Emotion becomes the criterion rather than the doctrinal content of the right lobe.

That is why the Corinthians were suckers for the “tongues movement,” which necessitated the long dissertation on tongues in 1 Corinthians 12-14. These people were in emotional revolt so that they could not take in doctrine. Doctrine is built upon doctrine through the function of the grace apparatus for perception: doctrine goes into the left or perceptive lobe; it is transferred by faith to the human spirit where it becomes full understanding; it cycles up to the right lobe to fulfill its various functions for application. Emotion can respond to doctrine, but it cannot learn it or build doctrine on doctrine.

The emotional revolution against the establishment of the soul, then, short-circuits GAP and causes the malfunction or total failure of the grace apparatus. This is what happened to Jeremiah’s right woman, as well as to Judah. Jeremiah 17:11b says, “… and at the end shall be a fool”; or literally, “and their end shall be stupid-wicked.” “Stupid-wicked” is the emotional revolt which upsets the balance of the soul’s function. “Stupid’’ means that doctrine is cut off from the heart; “wicked” is the influence from the old sin nature. Since the emotions have no doctrinal content, when doctrine from the right lobe is not controlling them, they are “stupid” and when they respond to the sin nature, and the sin nature fires up mental attitude sins, lust and human good, the emotions are “stupid-wicked.”

A nation which goes out under the fifth cycle of discipline has become stupid-wicked that is, its people have become totally negative to Bible doctrine and therefore totally degenerate. God wipes them out to keep the disease from spreading to other nations. The best thing that ever happened to the Japanese at the end of World War II was the atomic bomb! And it was moral! They were stupid-wicked and they had to go; otherwise today EVERY Japanese would be stupid-wicked, and the entire race would be annihilated. Every time there is a great disaster to a nation in history and a large segment of the population is wiped out, you can write that nation off as stupid-wicked! God has to preserve the human race. You are here today with some degree of sanity because God keeps wiping out stupid-wickedness. This, of course, is not a doctrine for the “bleeding hearts.” In fact, most of the bleeding hearts are stupid-wicked themselves with a guilt reaction!

SEPARATION FROM EMOTIONAL REVOLT

The failure of GAP because of emotional revolt in the soul frustrates God’s grace in the life of the believer and makes God’s plan impossible to fulfill. This is why Christians can and do become psychotic. For this reason, believers are commanded to separate from other believers involved in emotional revolt of the soul. We see this in Romans 16:17,18:

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

“Beseech” is actually a command. Believers (“brethren”) are commanded to make a reconnaissance to observe them which cause divisions and to beware of them. Why? Because they are in opposition to doctrine, and therefore, they cause stumbling, ruin and misery (“offences”) They are troublemakers! They are not serving the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies — EMOTIONS; they are in emotional revolt! They are serving their emotions, and there is nothing in the emotions.

Of course, they can still put out some good words: “by ‘sweet’ words and ‘flattering’ speeches, they deceive the hearts of the stupid” — those ignorant of doctrine and therefore lacking in discernment. They do the same thing to you that has happened to them. They get you to go into an emotional revolt, which cuts off the right lobe. That’s how the tongues crowd recruits followers.

Believers who live by their emotions are believers whose emotional revolt has produced chaos of the soul. The emotion is no longer a responder but an aggressor. Believers with chaos of the soul are troublemakers. This includes those involved in the tongues movement, and believers who have learned doctrine are commanded to separate from them. Remember, tongues was a

bona fide activity only for the first forty years of the Church Age.

THE OLD SIN NATURE, A PARAMOUR

In effect, emotional revolt is tantamount to the emotions fornicating with the old sin nature; they are unfaithful. The old sin nature is a paramour which turns the emotion from a responder into an aggressor or a tyrant-witch and upsets the soul. If your right woman becomes a fornicator and you try to go back to her, you are, as the saying goes, “beating a dead horse.” Just so, the old sin nature was the culprit that caused you to be born spiritually dead. Therefore, to respond to the sin nature is to go back to something that is DEAD!

The emotional revolt is always the result of the old sin nature’s refluxing in one of three areas: the area of weakness, which produces mental attitude sins; the lust pattern; or the area of strength, which produces human good. The emotions, which were DESIGNED to respond to the right lobe only, can, however, respond either to doctrine or they can respond to jealousy, pride, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability. They can respond either to the norms and standards of the right

lobe, or to approbation lust, power lust, materialism lust, sex lust. The emotions can respond either to the viewpoint of the right lobe or to human good.

Backed by the old sin nature, the emotions are the sponsors of human good, the motivation of the lust pattern and mental attitude sins. Emotion was never designed to be a sponsor! But once it revolts against the heart and becomes an aggressor, it comes under the influence of the old sin nature, and it loses all capacity for life.

CAPACITY FOR GRACE

The doctrinal content of the right lobe determines appreciation and capacity for God’s grace in the emotions of the soul. David said in Psalm 26:2, “Examine me, 0 Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.” Do you know why he wanted to be examined? He wanted a super shot of grace! It’s another way of saying, “Grace me, Lord.” Then he added, “Prove me.” Was he trying to tell the Lord that he was now such a good boy that the Lord just had to bless him? Not at all. He was not even close to saying that. David was one of the great believers of all time in the field of grace orientation, and he was now ready for that extra shot of grace. He had the capacity for life. He was not telling God something God didn’t know; he was setting up the principle for us. There was no legalism or self-righteousness; he was ready for the super abundance! Why? He had DOCTRINE in the heart, and doctrine in the heart causes response in the emotions.

David could therefore say with confidence, “Test my emotions and my right lobe. For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes . . .” (verses 2b, 3a). Do you know what “lovingkindness” is? It is grace supplied grace in action! “For your grace in action is before mine eyes.” Why? “Because (literally) I have walked in thy truth (doctrine).” Doctrine is the only way you can respond to God’s love!

God found a way in eternity past to bless you with- out your getting your legalistic oar into it. And doctrine comes through a whole grace structure. The very fact that we have doctrine is grace. The very fact that there are communicators of doctrine is grace. The response to doctrine is grace. The means of getting doctrine in the right place at the right time and the capacity for life is grace!

Further, doctrine gives the capacity for love, and capacity for love produces boldness. Some of you ladies are timid souls; some of you are considered to be very quiet; but when you have the capacity to love someone, you can be as bold as the brassiest woman who ever lived! David has that type of boldness with the Lord. But be careful — don’t start saying, “Now, look. Lord, I’m ready for all that grace; Fm loaded up in the right lobe, “ because if you’re not loaded up, you’re going to

get lightning!

When you function daily under GAP, a grace operation, the result is maximum doctrine in your right lobe. With a maximum amount of doctrine in the frame of reference, you can instantly bring into memory center doctrinal aspects which are used to give you a compatibility with God as a part of Category One love. God has perfect norms and standards. Doctrine in your frame of reference sets up divine norms and standards which are consistent with His. The result is a viewpoint which becomes divine viewpoint. Therefore, when you function daily under GAP, and as a result you have maximum doctrine in the right lobe, you then possess maximum emotional response and great capacity for responding to God’s love. More than that, when you have maximum doctrine in the soul, God possesses your emotional responses; and by possessing your emotional responses, He gives you in grace the most fantastic capacity for life:

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb (Psa. 139:13).

The first part of this verse is spiritual grace; the last part is physiological grace. The covering in the mother’s womb is the provision for the necessary parts of the soul so that some day there will be a functioning right lobe which can be filled with doctrine.

THE TRAGEDY OF EMOTIONAL REVOLT IN LEADERSHIP

The book of Jeremiah contains many instances of the emotional revolt of the soul. The fortieth chapter begins the background of a widespread emotional revolt, which finally led to complete reversionism among the remnant of Judah. During the first Chaldean invasion (Jer. 39), the army had dispersed: some escaped to Edom, Moab and Ammon; others hid out in the mountains after escaping from Jerusalem with Zedekiah, the king. When Zedekiah and his family were captured, most of the generals escaped with remnants of their commands. Some of these generals were unprincipled, without a sense of responsibility, and considered their own personal safety rather than the protection of the population of Jerusalem. These, notably Ishmael, would later return to precipitate a civil war among the remnant at Mizpah.

Word had gotten around that the remnant was enjoying prosperity under Gedaliah (Jer. 40:7,8), whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed as governor of the Chaldean buffer state (Jer. 41:2b). Prosperity always attracts scavengers and parasites who want to get their hands in the cookie jar (Jer. 40:11,12). For sixty days after the destruction of Jerusalem, the remnant in Mizpah, where Gedaliah had set up his headquarters, enjoyed a period of great happiness and tranquility and the realization of the divine principles of establishment which contribute to the stability of a nation. Gedaliah had been taking in the Word of God under the ministry of Jeremiah. Jeremiah himself was in the palace.

However, there is a danger, particularly in prosperity, of entering a mild emotional revolt. Of the three categories of emotional revolt Category One, a mental attitude sin motivation, Category Two, a lust motivation, and Category Three, a human good motivation, the latter is most apt to occur during a period of happiness and prosperity. It is very easy to fall into a trap known as “brotherly love” or “universal brotherhood.” I am not talking about the “agape” love — the relaxed mental attitude which we are commanded toward other believers; I am talking about the subtle pseudo-love-system, which is a sentimental substitute for Bible doctrine.

We are going to see that Gedaliah fell into this trap; he became extremely naive, and all the doctrine he had been taught went for nothing. As a result, there would be a civil war, which would eventuate in a general emotional revolt among the people. The original Mizpah crowd were believers who had edification complexes or who were in the process of building them. The Jews who were returning were apostate fugitives. In the ensuing civil war, the “ECS” crowd became the “establishment party,” while the fugitive crowd became the “revolutionary party.”

Ominous clouds were gathering on the horizon. The first of these clouds is evident in Jeremiah 40:9,10, as we begin to observe that Gedaliah had “brotherly love” tendencies. He made a solemn promise in verse 9 to people who were apostate, who came to cut his throat, and who planned to rob, plunder and enslave the remnant:

And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

Nothing that Gedaliah said at this point was non- Biblical, but he was naive about the type of people whom he was welcoming into the fold. He stated the Chaldean policy, a conciliatory policy, which if abided by, would guarantee their safety. The reason for this policy toward the believing remnant was that Jeremiah had been so faithful in his communication of doctrine that many of the hierarchy of the Chaldean military had become believers in Jesus Christ. Through doctrine, the Jewish

remnant had understood that the Chaldeans were the instruments the Lord had chosen to administer the fifth cycle of discipline to Judah, and these Jews were loathe to fight against them. The Chaldeans, impressed with their attitude, had reacted favorably toward them..

Foolishly, Gedaliah revealed his own plans to the revolutionists in verse 10, which would leave them free and undisturbed to make their reconnaissance throughout the land. He wisely took a stand, however, to be a loyal servant of the Chaldeans, for he understood that this was God’s will. He then told the conspirators, whom he failed to recognize as wolves in sheep’s clothing, not to fight the Chaldeans but to settle down to farming. The very fact that Gedaliah accepted them was the first sign of a breakdown of his own doctrinal discernment

The edification complex crowd were positive to doctrine and were continuing under Jeremiah’s ministry. The apostate crowd were negative toward doctrine and were infiltrating. This was a time when separation was necessary but would not be forthcoming. Remember that the source of prosperity at this time was doctrine — doctrine that was translated into the lives and souls of the remnant of believers who remained in the land. But Gedaliah was a weak leader who definitely had an emotional blind spot about a seemingly beautiful set of circumstances. His emotions were stronger than his doctrine. Without taking into consideration the consequences of the spiritual compromise involved, he thought that all these people would be a great help in the land. Yet they merely wanted to skim off the cream; they wanted the prosperity but not the doctrine! Inevitably, then, there would be conflict — unless Gedaliah as governor has the courage to suppress violence.

Who would have thought that during such a happiness interlude, during the time of glorious prosperity, war clouds were on the horizon? That most of these people would soon either be corpses or slaves? Yet that was exactly what was going to happen!

This leads to a very pertinent question for us to consider: Why are so many people unable to apply doctrine in certain areas, even though they may go to Bible class regularly? The more a believer advances, the greater is his potential of falling flat on his face because of blind spots. Every advance in doctrine has an increased area for blind spots. Therefore, it is imperative to keep application up with intake. We often fail to realize how many times each day God gives us the opportunity to apply some facet of doctrine. When we fail to do so, we become naive in certain areas; and if those areas happen to occur in a period when apostasy has infiltrated, we will come under the anathema of Jeremiah 17:5,6:

Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

Jeremiah had taught this, but Gedaliah never understood it. As a result, we are going to see Gedaliah trusting a monster who will murder him and calling his dear friend, Johanan, a liar. How could Gedaliah be so deceived? Ishmael was sweet and personable; Johanan was a plain, blunt and rough soldier. We all become blinded at some time or other by sweetness. We mistakenly assume that sweetness is spirituality and that bluntness is carnality. When we make this mistake, we create an area of naiveness which is incompatible with an edification complex or with the erection of one.

There was one general in Biblical history who passed this test one hundred percent, and that was David. During one of his campaigns, his canteen became empty, and he expressed a tremendous thirst. Some of his troops risked their lives to bring him water. David then did what seemed to be a very strange thing — he poured the water on the ground. This was a sign of super maturity — an ECS! When he saw how much these men loved him, he knew he could not order them into dangerous assignments which would mean their deaths if he drank that water, and thus he would become unfair as a field commander. He would have been weakened in moral courage and would have catered to the ones who brought him the water. Therefore, he could not take the water without blinding his eyes.

Gedaliah, on the other hand, had this malady which comes to all of us sooner or later — a mild attack of emotional revolt from human good — pseudo-love. Even a mild attack can so blind the mind that true issues are destroyed. Thus a potentially great leader was turned into a mediocre leader. By his own maudlin, brotherly love, he was actually responsible for the deaths and the temporary enslavement of many of that ECS crowd. He was also responsible for the deaths of seventy out of eighty pilgrims who came down from the north. It is very difficult to be a leader in a time of apostasy. Decisions have to be made objectively and on the basis of the Word of God — let the chips fall where they may! Gedaliah wasn’t up to it; David was!

THE WARNING OF THE CONSPIRACY

How many times are we as believers warned about something? It is imperative that those in leadership listen to and weigh carefully certain warnings. At one time David was about to slay a drunken bum named Nabal, who owed him a great sum of money (1 Sam. 25). David was angry — in Category One emotional revolt, mental attitude sin — and was going to take it out on Nabal’s

hide. A beautiful woman on her knees stopped David in his tracks. When he dismounted, she gave him excellent advice, which he took. Again, here was a mature man. He weighed the advice, made a decision on the basis of doctrine, and refrained from murder.

By contrast, Gedaliah failed to take good advice. Johanan was military advisor to Gedaliah. He was honest and blunt and a good soldier. His weakness was that he didn’t know how to follow through with spiritual life. It takes the military establishment to win freedom, but victory must be followed up with doctrine. Johanan, in Jeremiah 40:14, came to Gedaliah in great concern to warn him of a plot against his life. “Baalis, the Ammonite king,” said Johanan, “is behind this conspiracy.” It was the objective of Baalis to reap through plunder the benefits of the prosperity of Bible doctrine. The ECS crowd had done a great job in taking over industry, and the economic recovery of the land was phenomenal.

Now the plot was to be carried out by Ishmael, who was one of the generals of the army who had fled the Chaldeans. Josephus tells us that Ishmael had found refuge in the court of Baalis, and Baalis had found in Ishmael a willing accomplice to his plot to destroy Gedaliah’s government and plunder the country. Both Baalis and Ishmael were brilliant men. The difference between the two was that Ishmael was in emotional revolt because of mental attitude sins — he was jealous of Gedaliah — while Baalis wanted to rob Judah, but had no ax to grind. He was not jealous of Gedaliah or the remnant. A person who is smart but full of mental attitude sins often becomes the dupe of someone who has less intelligence but no personal emotional revolt.

Ishmael knew how to capitalize on Gedaliah’s naiveté. No doubt he had already sent word back to Ammon that his job would be easy. He had found that Gedaliah was a sucker for brotherly love. In effect, Gedaliah had implied that their doctrinal differences were not important — “Let’s just love each other; let’s be one big, happy family. You are all welcome to come to my palace at any time. And Ishmael, I want you especially to come and eat with me!” Ishmael assured him that he would. Gedaliah was the antithesis of Ishmael, and he was therefore no match for Ishmael.

Gedaliah was a man in whom there was no guile. His honesty and forthrightness in responding to Jeremiah’s ministry and staying in the Chaldean party revealed his own character. However, Gedaliah made the mistake of assuming- that everyone was like himself open and aboveboard. Those who are guileless find it difficult to detect or to believe guile in others. It never occurred to Gedaliah that Jews would return to the land for any except the highest motives of patriotism. The only protection that Gedaliah had was in doctrine — particularly Jeremiah’s famous message of the seventeenth chapter: “Cursed be the man who trusteth in man” — because they all have old sin natures! Furthermore, the happiness interlude had deceived Gedaliah into watering down doctrine.

Gedaliah was the kind of person who went to Bible class when the pressure was on; when the heat was off, Gedaliah took off! Everything was fine now and he didn’t need doctrine. Invariably when a person gets away from doctrine, he will go into some form of brotherly love compatible with his emotional revolt. Emotion is controlling the soul; and since emotion has no character, no doctrine, no common sense or discernment, it is inevitable that such a person will begin to trust and love everyone. This is not true love, but an emotional activity of the soul.

Gedaliah fell into that trap, and so he could not believe that the Jews who returned would have evil motives. Leadership demands discernment, which Gedaliah did not possess. If he would protect himself as well as those he is leading, a leader must begin by assuming that no one can be trusted — which demands knowledge of the doctrine of sin and the sin nature. Gedaliah’s naiveness will result in his own tragic death and civil war in the land.

Now there was still some common sense in the land. An excellent solution was offered in verse 15 by Johanan, his friend. He would simply kill Ishmael before Ishmael killed Gedaliah! Here is the principle of maintaining government or establishment. It takes violence to stop violence. This is also a DIVINE principle of law — the principle of capital punishment (Gen. 9:6; Rom. 13:4). Capital punishment puts teeth in the law. Johanan gave a very good reason for suggesting that he slay Ishmael. He had discovered the conspiracy and was well aware that if successful, it would cause the destruction of the remnant!

Unhappily, Gedaliah would not believe Johanan and refused to let him carry out the suggestion (verse 16). Furthermore, Gedaliah accused Johanan of the worst kind of lying. Thus his blindness was complete and his leadership neutralized!

THE ASSASSINATION OF GEDALIAH

Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah. Then arose Ishmael . . . and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah . . . with the sword and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war (Jer. 41:1-3).

Ishmael, the leader of the conspiracy, was the cousin of Zedekiah and therefore of the royal seed. Since Zedekiah had been blinded and taken to Chaldea, Ishmael considered himself to be the true king of Judah. He was guilty of power and approbation lust and was jealous of Gedaliah — two areas of emotional revolt of the soul. In Chapter 41, Ishmael had taken up the invitation of Gedaliah to be his guest for dinner. Ten men came with him. They were hand-picked. Ishmael had a whole army; but there is one thing a conspirator would never do and that is to show up with the entire army and frighten the intended victims so that they are put on guard.

Although they were outnumbered (the Chaldean garrison was close by, as were the palace guards), the revolutionists had a carefully laid plan arid would have the advantage of surprise. Theirs would be a sneak attack, such as we had at Pearl Harbor. Since the laws of hospitality in the ancient world precluded violence, this would be the ideal time for their treachery.

Note that Gedaliah has been so overcome by the prosperity of the land that his emotions have undergone a reverse process. He has been so stimulated by the happiness interlude that he thinks everyone is wonderful. Prosperity has caused his emotion to be stimulated, but not by doctrine! This false stimulation has cut off doctrine in the right lobe; and while Gedaliah has an

ECS, he could not apply doctrine in this situation. He is in very serious trouble!

This is what has happened to Christianity today even in fundamental circles. While still giving it lip service, they have actually departed from doctrine. They are still acknowledging the Bible as the Word of God; but when you bring up the importance of BIBLE DOCTRINE, they always come up with something that to them is more important … it’s more important to love everyone; it’s more important to work in the church or to get out and knock on doors or to help the helpless. They even

go so far as to say that if you emphasize doctrine, you don’t have Christian love! Doctrine is being attacked in one way or another. It no longer has its proper place.

Ultimately this leads to complete apostasy, as is evidenced by “churchianity” today. Under the guise of brotherly love, “Black Panthers” have been given refuge in these churches; funds have been provided for draft- dodgers; the religious leaders have sponsored the admission of that rattlesnake, Red China, into the United Nations. These are seeds for revolution! Religion in this country today is revolutionary, as is much of our academic training. A principle that we need to recognize is that once a national entity permits violent ones to run through the country without restraint, these can never be stopped short of greater violence! Johanan is the one who would exercise the greater violence to stop the violence of the revolutionary party in Mizpah.

The revolutionary party, which began with a Category One emotional revolt in the leader, Ishmael, now has the objective of overthrowing the establishment and taking over the fruits of prosperity for themselves. They have added a Category Two emotional revolt — power lust and covetousness, and are, of course, in reversionism. But in destroying the divinely appointed establishment, which contains the divine laws, they will neutralize the very basis of the prosperity!

The first action of the revolutionists begins in verse 2, and the action is violence. Revolutionists always seek to gain their objectives by violence — by the destruction of life and property, by intrusion on the privacy of others, and by intimidation through physical power. The violence which destroys revolution and preserves freedom must be a part of the divine institution, the establishment, and it must be enforced by a trained group of killers i.e., the MILITARY! Military is a bona tide function. Generally speaking, military types are the most law abiding group in the land. They learn how to live with others, to respect the rights of the individual, and yet to function with others as a team. So the military, both directly and indirectly, plays a great part in the function and maintenance of freedom, as well as in the economic success of life.

If Gedaliah in his position as governor of the land had exercised his authority, he would have put the conspirators on trial before they ever went so far as revolution. He would either have executed them or expelled them from the land, and the happiness and prosperity interlude would have continued. But he went soft, and in the name of brotherly love, maudlin sentimentality and false freedom, opened the door for the takeover of the revolutionists.

As a result, the establishment is going to be wiped out quickly. The conspirators are well organized and well prepared. They know what they are doing. The victims don’t know what’s going on. Lack of awareness of a conspiracy means a failure of preventive or defensive action when the time comes. We in this country are neither prepared nor conditioned mentally to meet our enemies, Our enemies comprise the whole Communist world. We are taking the soft attitude when we ought to be tough. What will it take for the United States to come out of its anti-military lethargy?

The only way we will ever be mentally conditioned is to have another tragedy such as that at Pearl Harbor. But that is the wrong way to face national catastrophe. Why should those men have died at Pearl? Every man who died there is a monument to the stupidity of this country. Those men were, in effect, murdered by our leadership and by those Americans who were so anti-military that a year before the Pearl Harbor attack, the military was still training with wooden guns I Leadership must recognize the dangers and warnings, face the issues and prepare the people. We entered World War n

on an emotional kick. But that isn’t the way to preserve freedom!

The account of the assassination of Gedaliah and the Jews who were with him indicates that, in effect, Gedaliah and the whole establishment party had brought about their own downfall by lack of awareness of the conspiracy and failure to have Johanan and the military in readiness. Emotional revolt in the soul destroys both discernment and alertness. Gedaliah represented authority; and the

elimination of that authority precipitated a civil war. That is the subject of the rest of Chapter 41.

The establishment under Johanan eventually won the civil war, but as has happened in our country, they lost the peace. Human freedom is perpetuated by DOCTRINE! The Mizpah group came out of the war in Category One emotional revolt — shock and fear — and did not continue with doctrine. They went negative to the Word of God as communicated by Jeremiah (Chapter 43); and even though God had promised deliverance and protection from Chaldean reprisals, they fled to Egypt. Thus the establishment which won the war destroyed itself. They went into reversionism and died the sin unto death (Chapter 44).

THE DIVINE SOLUTION

Now, how is it possible for a believer with an edification complex of the soul to revert to total apostasy? The answer for the Jews of Judah lay in the fact that they failed to pass the prosperity test during the happiness interlude which followed the fall of Jerusalem. During this period, the Jews were so intrigued with their prosperity that they forgot its source — Bible doctrine. They were like believers who come to Bible class during adversity but quit in time of prosperity. The enjoyment of prosperity turns them negative toward doctrine (Jer. 22:21); then begins the accumulation of scar tissue on the left bank of the soul. This, in turn, triggers an emotional revolt of the soul and quickly goes into reversionism (a subject which will be dealt with in another book). In emotional revolt, application of doctrine is impossible, and human viewpoint solutions preclude divine viewpoint.

It is tragic that this nation has lost track of the Biblical principles whereby we can maintain our freedom. But because we have, we are going to come to that very place to which the edification complex crowd finally came in Jeremiah 43, 44. Our country began very much like the remnant under Gedaliah — as a nation under God. There were very few people in the entire population of the thirteen colonies who were not either believers, Theists or Deists — the three groups who recognize the existence of God. Atheism and agnosticism represented a very small portion of our population.

In our brief history we have been blessed in a magnificent way by God. Part of God’s blessing is direct and part is indirect. Direct blessing belongs to the believer only. It starts at salvation, and is based on grace, which is God’s plan by which we enter divine blessing through faith in Jesus Christ.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8,9).

Indirect blessing, which comes through the divine laws, is for believer and unbeliever alike. The fact that we are still a nation under God enjoying some measure of freedom, is God’s indirect blessing from which all the people are benefiting, not just believers. In many cases, this freedom is neither understood nor properly used. Whenever apostasy, liberalism and potential revolution exists, liberty is always abused.

In effect, we have in our country today the same things which existed in the happiness interlude in Judah under Gedaliah. We have doctrine available, the concepts of freedom and the fantastic prosperity that comes from the operation of certain divine laws, such as, the divine

institutions, the military (Neh. 4:14), objective-type law (Ex. 20:1-7) compatible with Divine Institution #4 (Gen. 10:32), law enforcement and capital punishment (Gen. 9:6; Rom. 13:1-7). These principles are the reason that the “wicked” often prosper (Psa. 73:12; Jer. 12:1). God does not change His essence or His Word because He sees some unbeliever following the right principles of economy! Yet, in these days of apostasy, the very existence of this country depends on those who have Bible doctrine, on those who have an edification complex in the soul and use ill They are the “salt of the earth '''' the preservers of a nation!

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour (through emotional revolt),

wherewith shall it be salted (preserved)? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men (Matt. 5:13).

As never before in the history of our nation we need mature believers, stabilized by an edification complex in the soul. We must steer clear of the pitfalls of the emotional revolt of the soul. Our souls must function as God intended, according to the divine design: the emotions responding to doctrine in the right, or dominant lobe I Then, and only then — by God’s grace — can we hope to return to those principles which made our nation great!