Reversionism

TECHNICAL CATEGORIES OF DOCTRINE

Vocabulary is absolutely essential to all thought: you cannot think without words! Vocabulary may be classified as either technical or non-technical, but by definition all categorical subjects are technical. Every occupation or professional sphere of life — medicine, philosophy, law, engineering, music, art, science, military — requires its own technical language. Every invention, every scientific or technological advance originated in a specialized field and necessitated the formation of new terminology.

The same principle is true in the categorical study of Bible doctrine. It is impossible to advance in the knowledge of the Word without the development and use of descriptive categories from a technical vocabulary. Yet, when confronted with unfamiliar nomenclature, many believers immediately criticize or reject this terminology, either because it is new to them or because they fail to understand it. It must be remembered that much of the Biblical expository teaching today reflects the stylized and limited expressions of Reformed Theology, which date back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and which may well have had the same unfavorable reception then.

Because of the philological changes in the English language, many Of these terms have since become meaningless, and there has been little attempt, perhaps even a lack of moral courage, to replace the traditional terms or to establish suitable theological designations that relate to the contemporary mind. It has been one of the aims of my ministry to take up the slack in this respect and to develop a meaningful technical vocabulary with which to expedite categorical teaching.

Throughout this book, I will refer to technical categories of Bible doctrine which are basic to the study of reversionism. To comprehend what I am teaching, you must become familiar with these specialized terms. If you have ever been told that you can advance spiritually simply by reading a chapter a day from the Bible, you have been grossly misled. No believer is capable of completely understanding the Word of God by reading the King James or any other version! If you were competent to interpret the Word on your own, there would have been no necessity for the local church or for the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. Both the communication of the content of the Scriptures by the pastor and the assimilation of doctrine by the positive. Spirit-filled believer are essential for spiritual comprehension and growth. I have designated the mechanics that lead to this objective the “grace apparatus for perception ”

GRACE APPARATUS FOR PERCEPTION

In grace, God has provided the means by which every believer can understand the whole realm of Bible doctrine and advance to spiritual maturity, regardless of education or human IQ. As in any learning situation, however, the student must begin with the simple precepts and develop a frame of reference and vocabulary before he attempts to assimilate the more complex doctrines. Failure to comprehend a doctrine often indicates a lack of the necessary background or vocabulary to grasp its significance. All Biblical truths are meant to be understood; however, in any given passage there may be “addition,” “number theory,” “geometry” and “calculus,” which must be mastered before the believer can fully-apprehend the “equation” of the passage. The divine Plan is so designed that you learn all these doctrines precept by precept through the grace apparatus for perception, which, for the sake of brevity, I have termed “GAP.”

When, by the filling of the Spirit, you take in doctrine on a daily basis through exegetical, categorical and isagogical teaching, God the Holy Spirit makes this information understandable. Under the designation of the Greek word gnosis, “knowledge,” this initial process is simply the objective comprehension of doctrine in the left or perceptive lobe, called the nous and generally translated “mind.” Such knowledge is totally apart from any mental attitude of agreement or disagreement. According to James 1:22, you are at this point a “hearer of the Word” only. You may be able to recite all the reasons why the Church will not go through the Tribulation, and you may know every characteristic of the Millennium, but as long as this knowledge remains in the staging area of the nous as objective information only, it has no real value to your spiritual growth or application to experience. To be usable toward spiritual maturity, doctrine must be transferred by faith into the human spirit where it is converted into epignosis.

While the meaning of epignosis is generally said to be “full knowledge,” this word actually becomes a descriptive technical designation for a concept or a category. Formed from two Greek words — epi, “over” or “beyond,” and gnosis, “knowledge” — “over or beyond knowledge” is Bible doctrine that is understood and believed and has therefore been transferred by faith to be processed in the human spirit (1 Cor. 2:12). Epignosis is the building material for the construction of the “edification complex” in the soul. From the human spirit, doctrine is also cycled into the right lobe to enter the frame of reference with its memory center; here, the application of doctrine actually begins.

As epignosis doctrine filters from the frame of reference into the conscience, divine norms and standards accumulate. The vocabulary, from which concepts are formed, plus the norms and standards of doctrine, shape the divine viewpoint of life and fulfill the principle of “bringing every thought into captivity for Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). At this stage, you possess wisdom the application of doctrine to experience. You now become a “doer of the Word”!

EDIFICATION COMPLEX OF THE SOUL

In compliance with the command to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18), the first objective of the Christian life is the erection of the edification complex in the soul (ECS). I have coined this term from the literal meaning of “edification” in the Greek. A compound word composed of the noun oikos, which means a “house” or “structure,” and the verb demo, “to build” or “to erect,” oikodemos describes an immaterial “edifice” constructed of Bible doctrine in the soul of a mature believer.

From the foundation of epignosis in the human spirit, a five-story superstructure is erected in the soul: (1) grace orientation (the proper perspective of your place and purpose in the Plan of God), (2) mastery of the details of life (the right scale of values regarding materialistic things), (3) a relaxed, mental attitude (agape love, which is freedom from mental sins and a stabilized attitude toward other members of the human race), (4) capacity to love (in three categories: toward God, toward right man or right woman and toward friends), and (5) inner happiness (termed “plus-H,” or sharing God’s happiness: a total spectrum of happiness which is not dependent upon things, circumstances or people). These five “floors” form the inner structure that characterizes a mature believer.

Doctrine cannot be applied to its optimum capacity apart from the edification complex in the soul and the resultant spiritual maturity. This principle is verified in 1 Corinthians 14:3, 4, 26, where the edification of the Church, that is, believers with doctrine in their souls, is stated as the supreme goal in the Christian life. Constructed through the function of GAP to furnish the believer with stability for every circumstance in life, the ECS becomes the backbone of the soul and the bridge to the supergrace life.

SUPERGRACE AND ULTRA-SUPERGRACE LIFE

The moment you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, you become a member of the royal family of God forever (Gal. 3:26), and you immediately advance from “saving grace” into that phase of the Christian life which I call “logistical grace” — the means by which God protects you and keeps you alive in the devil’s world (2 Pet. 1:3). This is God’s provision of the temporal necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, air to breathe, and transportation, as well as the spiritual requirements for assimilating Bible doctrine. These include the local church as a classroom, the Bible as the textbook, and a right pastor to study and teach the Word of God. Every item of logistical grace is supplied so that you can move into that greater sphere of grace, the supergrace and ultra-supergrace life.

Although a completed edification complex indicates spiritual maturity, it does not indicate that you have once and for all “arrived.” You never stand still in the Christian life! Either you progress into the supergrace phase or you begin to retrogress into reversionism, depending on whether or not you continue to function under GAP. As the initial stage of maturity beyond the edification complex and as the tactical victory of the angelic conflict, the supergrace status is the normal Christian life, the normal exercise of the believer’s royal priesthood, and the place of glorifying God. The nomenclature is derived from the literal Greek of James 4:6: “But He gives greater grace [superior or supergrace] ”

The believer who continues to progress beyond supergrace will pass through “no-man’s-land,” a period of acute pressures and rigorous testing, before he reaches ultra-supergrace, the most advanced stage of spiritual growth. The ultra-supergrace status is characterized by continual, maximum satanic and human opposition. But because the ultra-supergrace believer is totally occupied with Christ, these concentrated cosmic pressures only serve to intensify his happiness. The mantle of opposition is offset by divine blessing. The ultra-supergrace believer not only glorifies God but pleases Him as well.

ADJUSTMENT TO THE JUSTICE OF GOD

The essence of God is the key to all blessing. His integrity, often called His holiness, is composed of two attributes from the essence of God — righteousness and justice; righteousness as the principle of integrity, justice as the function. What the righteousness of God demands, justice executes. Omnipotence makes it possible for the justice of God to provide both blessing and cursing, but God’s essence cannot be compromised. God’s righteousness must be satisfied’, therefore, His justice must curse sinful man. In order for God to bless us through grace, we must adjust to His justice first by believing in Jesus Christ and thereby receiving the imputation of God’s righteousness.

By its very definition, justice is fairness; therefore, since we cannot adjust to God’s justice on the basis of our own merit or works, God always makes it possible for us to adjust on the basis of His merit. This provision is threefold: the instantaneous adjustments of salvation and rebound, and the gradual adjustment of maturity or spiritual growth.

The crowning demonstration of God’s justice was the Cross, where our guilt was transferred to Christ and all personal sins — past, present and future — were once and for all judged in Him. The judgment was total. Everything that justice demanded against us was poured out on Jesus Christ who took the place of the entire human “race’ Propitiated by the efficacious sacrifice of Christ, the justice of God is “now free to pardon anyone who, through non-meritorious positive volition, adjusts to His justice by believing in Christ (Acts 16:31). On the other hand, God is also free to condemn to the Lake of Fire those who by their own volition reject the saving work of the Cross and thereby fail to adjust to His justice (John 3:18,36).

Since God did not compromise His justice in providing salvation, we may be sure that He will never violate His own integrity at any point; thus. He will always be fair to us throughout our lives as believers on earth. Although we are eternally saved, we nevertheless continue to possess our old sin natures, and we will continue to sin as long as we live in this world. Every time we choose to function under the old sin nature by committing a sin, we are maladjusted to God’s justice. Rebound, however, provides instantaneous restoration to fellowship with God and recovery of the Filling of the Holy Spirit (1 John 1:9). This is the initial temporal adjustment to God’s justice. When we simply cite a sin privately to God, His justice is free to forgive us because that sin has already been taken to court and judged at the Cross.

Spiritual growth is gradual adjustment to the justice of God, and maturity is maximum conformity with and dependence upon His justice. Hence, God is free to bless the mature believer. God’s fairness will not permit Him to bless us in time unless we have the capacity of soul to appreciate the blessings and, more important, the One who blesses. How do we develop capacity? Again, God provides everything necessary. As in salvation, non-meritorious positive volition is the mechanics, but this time the object is Bible doctrine. God’s justice demands that we adjust to the reality of His character and His Plan through the consistent, daily function of GAP under the Filling of the Holy Spirit.

The believer who seizes and holds the high ground of spiritual maturity receives the blessings of two special paragraphs that were written into the Plan of God specifically for him. These paragraphs I have labeled “SG² (supergrace. Phase Two ) and “SG³ (surpassing grace. Phase Three).

Included in SG² are five categories of blessings: first, spiritual blessings of occupation with Christ, sharing the happiness of God, capacity for life and love, and the inner resources from Bible doctrine to meet every exigency of life. Second, there are temporal blessings of promotion, success, wealth, and various areas of prosperity — social, sexual, economic, cultural, mental, technical, military — as well as leadership dynamics. Third is blessing by association for those in the periphery of the mature believer. Fourth are historical blessings to the nation, which means that a supergrace or ultra-supergrace believer becomes the spiritual Atlas holding up his generation of history. Fifth, when a spiritually advanced believer makes the PCS (permanent change of station) from time to eternity, he crosses the high golden bridge of dying grace (unless he is in the Rapture ) and is blessed by a period of great happiness prior to or coterminous with dying.

On the other side of the bridge, the doctrinal believers receive their second paragraph (SG,) — the surpassing grace rewards and blessings over and above the normal blessings of Phase Three.

That in the approaching ages [Phase Three] He might demonstrate His surpassing grace riches in generosity toward us in Christ Jesus (corrected translation, Eph. 2:7).

When a believer possesses supergrace or ultra-supergrace capacity, God can pour out fantastic blessing by which He is glorified in time and eternity. Spiritual maturity is a marvelous goal to reach. Here, you reap what God sows, not what you sow. On the other hand, the believer in reversionism reaps what he sows — self-induced misery and divine discipline. Moreover, reversionism eliminates the special blessing paragraphs both now and in the future (Heb. 3:10-12). Exactly what is

reversionism?

DEFINITION OF REVERSIONISM

Many terms in fundamentalism have been used to describe reversionism, such as “backsliding” and “falling away from God,” but these terms have failed to fully define the concept.

Reversionism is a maladjustment to the justice of God. For the unbeliever, the basic maladjustment is rejection of salvation in the carnal believer, it is failure to rebound; but in the sphere of spiritual growth, maladjustment is reversionism, a state of spiritual decadence brought on by rejection or neglect of Bible doctrine. When a believer fails to grow spiritually or recedes from any stage of the partial or completed edification complex or the status of supergrace, it is evidence of reversionism. Consequently, reversionism is the condition of the believer who is negative toward Bible doctrine and refuses to function under GAP. As a result, he remains in a state of carnality (out of fellowship with God through failure to confess sin) and is therefore under perpetual divine discipline (Heb. 12:4-15). Mankind must either adjust to the justice of God, or the justice of God adjusts to him in cursing or punitive action.

Reversionism and evil are actually two sides of the same coin. Evil is what the reversionistic soul thinks; reversionism is the condition of that soul. In both believer and unbeliever, reversionism is a revolt against God or His Plan. For the present, the discussion will be confined to the believer’s reversionism.

BIBLICAL DISTINCTIONS

SIN AND EVIL

It is important that we recognize certain Biblical distinctions which relate to the subject of reversionism. First and foremost, we must differentiate between sin and evil. Although Satan is the author of both sin and evil (John 8:44), they are not synonymous. Evil encompasses the entire policy of Satan as the ruler of this world and reflects the subtlety of his genius. Evil is Satan’s thinking; sin is part of his function. But evil also includes the function of the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life.

While it is true that evil involves sin, the Word of God makes a distinction between them because of their differing treatments at the Cross: personal sins were imputed, while human good and evil were not imputed. Sins were judged, good and evil were rejected. Good and evil could not be imputed to Christ because they must remain an issue throughout the angelic conflict. Sin is the product of the old sin nature when the Law of God is transgressed and results in carnality. Evil also

originates in the sin nature, but it is essentially a system of thought by which Satan seeks to capture and control the soul.

Evil is applied in the human race through the intensification of sin or human good. Whenever one or both disrupt or adversely affect an entire system or society, they become evil. When even legitimate good deeds are parlayed into a system that stifles Bible doctrine, divine establishment” or the spiritual growth of an individual, the good turns to evil. Satanic evil, therefore, is the total inclusion of human ability, human talent and works on the one hand and the total exclusion of

grace on the other.

A believer can be carnal as a mature believer or as a reversionist; but in reversionism, he falls under the influence of evil and becomes entangled in Satan’s policies. Every believer sins (1 John 1:8, 10), but not every believer is a reversionist or under the influence of evil. Only when his failure to rebound becomes a pattern, precluding the intake of doctrine, does the negative volition of the believer culminate in reversionism and conformity to satanic policy.

CARNALITY AND REVERSIONISM

The distinction between carnality and reversionism parallels the contrast between spirituality and supergrace — the absolute versus the relative. At any given time, a believer is either spiritual or carnal. Both are absolutes in which either the Holy Spirit or the old sin nature controls the soul. Supergrace and reversionism, “on the other hand, are relative conditions of the soul that vary according to spiritual growth or spiritual decline. All reversionists are carnal, but not all carnal believers are reversionists. The carnal believer is under the influence of the old sin nature: the reversionistic believer is under the influence of evil as well as the old sin nature. While the carnal believer can be positive toward doctrine, the reversionistic believer is always negative toward doctrine.

Although a relative concept, spiritual growth has an influence on the believer’s absolute status. Growing believers run the gamut from spiritual infancy to adolescence and maturity. Any believer, the mature as well as the adolescent or spiritual infant, can be carnal. In carnality, the advancing believer is out of fellowship for a relatively short period; he recovers quickly by rebound and moves on. The reversionistic believer, on the other hand, perpetuates his carnality indefinitely by repeated failure to rebound. He thus intensifies the carnality through the various stages of reversionism until he gravitates into the sphere of maximum discipline, the sin unto death, and is removed before his time without benefit of dying grace (1 John 5. 6). He recovers only through a change of attitude toward doctrine and the renewed function of GAP.

Under the concept of spirituality, a believer in any stage of growth may be filled with the Spirit through the application of 1 John 1:9. However, the baby, devoid of the necessary doctrine in his soul, is controlled by the Spirit only a minimum amount of time and shows little or no evidence of divine production in his life. As the believer matures and achieves a balance of residency, in which the filling of the Spirit and the residence of doctrine eventually complement each other in his soul, there will be proportionate production manifest in all areas of his experience.

You should be warned that it is possible for a supergrace believer with an edification complex well established in his soul to completely lose his spiritual status and succumb to reversionism. But just as the ECS was not built in a day, so reversionism does not occur overnight. Rather, it is a gradual process, usually imperceptible at first to the one involved. It becomes imperative, therefore, that we examine in depth the various stages of reversionism. Although they frequently overlap, the stages must be isolated for analysis.

STAGES OF REVERSIONISM

REACTION

As a believer, you can either respond to circumstances, people or doctrine, or you can react to them. You may be extremely susceptible to reactor factors in life, such as disillusion, self-pity, boredom, loneliness or frustration. These factors might occur in every believer’s life at one time or another. You can meet them head on with doctrine or you can react to them. Reaction sets in where there has been a haphazard or indifferent attitude toward Bible doctrine, or even when

you have simply been unable to understand what is being taught.

Reaction creates a veritable “Pandora’s box” — a prolific source of troubles! The reaction period of reversionism has both primary and secondary phases. Disillusion is often the initial challenge to confront the soul. Basically a reaction to people, disillusion gives rise to personality hang-ups with, for example, members of the congregation or the pastor, as you begin to assume that they have let you down. If you react to these circumstances, you become discouraged and withdraw from those who have disillusioned you or depart from the local church entirely.

This hypersensitivity and lack of objectivity leaves a void in your life and invariably leads to boredom or the inability to cope with loneliness. Unchecked, it activates secondary reactive forces — frustration, self-pity, and the accompanying mental” attitude sins of jealousy, bitterness, pride, implacability, vindictiveness, guilt complex, etc. These trigger Operation Vengeance or the attempt to build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness through gossip, maligning or bad-rapping. When this negative attitude prevails in a congregation, objectivity and true worship are destroyed.

The reaction stage can include all manner of distractions, even such bona fide-pleasures of life as entertainment, family, health and business. These distractions become detrimental when they lure the believer from the routine of consistent intake of doctrine. The reactor factors are persistent snags to the believer in spiritual infancy. While the mature believer may experience one or more of-these attitudes from time to time, he overcomes them quickly; but the immature believer is often overpowered by them. If reaction characterizes your pattern of life, you can safely conclude that you are not yet in the area of spiritual maturity!

The presence of any one of these types of reaction in your life is your first warning signal to intensify your intake of Bible doctrine. If you ignore the warning and, in effect, blame your circumstances on Bible doctrine or use them as an excuse to absent yourself from all Bible teaching, you will only compound your problems and embark on a frantic search for happiness.

FRANTIC SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS

As an antidote to the reactor factors, the frantic search for happiness becomes the compensation, sublimation and accepted solution for the problems of loneliness, boredom or frustration. The frantic search can be a stimulus for either Operation Lasciviousness or Operation Asceticism, depending on the trend of the old sin nature. Although one trend may appear to be more respectable than the other, both are equally devastating.

The sin nature has trends toward sin, good and evil. Which trend dominates at a given period in your life is often influenced by your background. For example, if you have been reared in a legalistic Christian home, you will lean toward asceticism, for any tendency toward lasciviousness will have been repressed. Should your environment have been more on the liberal side, the trend could be toward lasciviousness. However, reaction to your environment can alter this

common pattern.

The greatest danger of these trends lies in their deceptiveness: the ascetic is often misconstrued as a spiritual giant, whereas the lascivious type is explained away as an unbeliever. Furthermore, the trend toward asceticism generally leads to a false emphasis on experience in which Christian service, for example, is construed as spirituality or even maturity. If you are in this bracket, you will go for the legalistic “victorious life” conferences with their “faggot-on-the-fire” gimmicks and one-shot decisions. Or you will become involved in works programs, false spirituality, tabooism, discipleship, pseudo-love and social action. You will succumb to a desire for the emotional stimulation of super-experiences, like the holy rollers and their pseudo-tongues, which are at best energy-of-the-flesh works, and at worst satanic and evil. Indeed, many of these signal the first entrance of evil in reversionism.

Under the trend toward lasciviousness, you may take the road of drunkenness, debauchery, chasing, sexual promiscuity or perversion, drug abuse or crime. Whatever direction you choose, your search for the elysium paradise becomes the alternative to the daily function of GAP. This search always results in self-induced misery!

OPERATION BOOMERANG

The failure to assuage the reactor factors and to achieve the desired happiness only causes the initial reaction to be intensified. When you lack true capacity for life, which for the believer comes only from Bible doctrine, and seek happiness through some other means, your attempt will inevitably backfire in an escalation of the reactor factors that initiated the misdirected search for pleasure. In other words, frustration becomes greater frustration; discouragement becomes depression; loneliness becomes desolation. You lose your common sense and operate only on emotion. Thus, the nightmarish search for happiness boomerangs and leads to a fourth stage in the process of reversionism, where spiritual factors enter the picture.

EMOTIONAL REVOLT OF THE SOUL

By the time you move into Operation Boomerang, evil is incubating in the soul, and the first signs of spiritual revolt appear. God’s order is reversed, and the emotion no longer functions as the appreciator but as the dictator of the soul.

Just as God created the man to rule the woman in Category Two Love (Gen. 3:16), so He has designed the right Lobe to dominate the soul. Under this concept, the right lobe is analogous to the right man, while emotion is comparable to the right woman. As the right woman responds to her right man, so the emotion is intended to respond to and appreciate the content of the right lobe.

While all normal people possess emotion, the stimuli which elicit individual responses vary. For example, I always respond emotionally to beautiful music, like “Dixie” or “The Eyes of Texas", but this emotion is simply a response to music already in my frame of reference.

Emotion in itself is empty; it is entirely dependent on knowledge resident in the right lobe. Since emotion contains no doctrinal content, no mentality, no character, no norms and standards, no common sense, it reflects the character of that to which it responds. If the right lobe initiates doctrine, the emotion responds with appreciation for doctrine and the divine viewpoint; the result is great capacity for life. However, if the emotion responds to the old sin nature, it rejects the authority of the right lobe and comes under the influence of the sin nature.

In the ancient world, the functions of the soul were described in terms related to various parts of the body. For instance, emotion is illustrated by the Greek words splagchnon, rendered “bowels’ in the King James Version but meaning “intestines”; koilia, “belly”; and nephros (kiljah in the Hebrew) which is literally “kidneys” but usually translated “reins.” Just as the kidneys are destroyed by reflux from the bladder, so the emotion is corrupted by revolt from any of the old sin nature’s three trends, whether, by mental attitude sins or by human good, or by some involvement in evil.

Emotional revolt of the soul is tantamount to the fornication of the emotion with the sin nature and with the satanic policy of good and evil; the true function of the emotion is reversed. In a state of revolution, the emotion begins to dictate to the right lobe. Instead of a “responsive woman,” .the emotion becomes a “bossy female,” and a monster is created in the soul!

Once the emotion assumes the role of aggressor, it not only becomes a tool for the old sin nature but loses all capacity for life and replaces happiness with the misery spectrum. Even though the believer may have accumulated-a great deal of doctrine, under emotional revolt the function of GAP is short-circuited and doctrine in the soul is neutralized. This was the-case with the Corinthian believers who, although they had the benefit of four. great Bible teachers, resisted doctrine and suffered from spiritual impotence.

0 you Corinthians, our mouth is open to you [Bible teaching]; our heart [right lobe] is enlarged [with doctrine] You are not hindered [from learning doctrine} by us, but you are hindered by your own emotions (2 Cor. 6:1 1, 12).

They were in emotional revolt. Believers who are controlled by their emotions or use them as the criteria for the Christian life are disoriented, reversionistic and apostate. They are not living according to God’s Plan for their lives (Rev. 2:23). As doctrine is neglected or rejected, Christendom becomes increasingly apostate, and emotional activities become the order of the day. Christian experience must be based on Bible doctrine; otherwise, it is merely “experience.” The Christian life is designed for optimum blessing and spiritual dynamics, but people in emotional revolt are seeking a “rosy glow,” or pseudo-blessing, from hyper-emotional experiences. Frequently they become suckers for such movements as the “charismatic” heresy or various organizations outside the local church that offer no provision for spiritual growth. Believers with such chaos of soul become first-rate troublemakers, and other believers are commanded to separate from them.

Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses in opposition to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. For they are such who serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own emotions, and by smooth and flattering speech they deceive the right lobes of the stupid [apostate believers minus doctrine, therefore minus discernment] (Rom. 16:17,18).

For the believer, the power and dynamics of life reside only in Bible doctrine. Apart from doctrine permeating the soul, there can be no capacity for loving God, no capacity for life, happiness or love in any area. When you turn your back on doctrine, you precipitate an avalanche in your soul which no emotional experience in the world can halt and you have had it! Emotional revolt of the soul, or spiritual anarchy, paves the way into the fifth stage of reversionism: the

believer’s negative volition toward doctrine.

NEGATIVE VOLITION TOWARD DOCTRINE

While negative volition toward doctrine is present in every stage in the downward plunge of reversionism, it now appears as a full-blown revolt. In the beginning, negative volition is characterized by apathy or indifference to Bible teaching and at this point is frequently as subtle as tuning out a subject that is familiar and thus tedious to you. You shrug it off as needless repetition.

Subject matter can be a primary reason for indifference. There are literally hundreds of doctrinal themes in the Bible. Some may be of interest to you; others may bore you. Some may be so contrary to your background that you will bristle in violent disagreement. Yet all of them are profitable for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). and the command to the pastor-teacher is to communicate the entire realm of doctrine. This demands exegetical teaching of the Word verse by

verse, chapter by chapter, book by book!

A second cause for negative volition pertains to antagonisms or personality hang-ups with regard to the pastor and his authority. The spiritual gift of pastor-teacher provides the ability as well as the authority to communicate doctrine; it does not include what you might consider to be the “pastor profile.” Most people think of a pastor as a stereotyped personality — a kindly, self-effacing, pious individual who always makes the right noises, whatever the occasion. This engenders the erroneous concept that in order for a pastor to be properly prepared, he must assume a certain image. Unfortunately, the cinema has generally propagated this myth by casting some spineless paragon of sweetness and light as the minister.

There is no standard personality for the pastor. The fact that God uses many dissimilar persons can be demonstrated by the apostles, who are a study in vivid contrasts. Peter, for example, was impulsive and precipitous; John, aristocratic and reserved; Thomas, intellectual and humanistic. Paul’s personality was characterized by forcefulness, sarcasm and brilliant virtuosity in the communication of doctrine. There was also a wide variation in vocabulary, presentation and use of

idiom by these individual teachers of doctrine.

If you have been accustomed to hearing the Bible taught in a certain manner, you will always expect it to be presented that way. You may be shocked to hear some pastor articulate in common “Koine English” !However, the main concern is that he fulfill his responsibility by communicating doctrine accurately yet within the framework of his own personality. Your personal preferences are never the criteria for the proper function of the pastor. The issue for you is, does he have the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher, and does he expound the whole realm of Bible doctrine? This is one reason why the filling of the Spirit in the function of GAP is so important: it helps you to concentrate on the

message without becoming entangled with the personality of the pastor.

A third cause of negative volition is antagonism or personality conflicts with other members of the congregation. You might attend church regularly yet still be negative because you are jealous or bitter or competitive concerning someone in the fellowship. Your absorption of doctrine always suffers when you are hung up with mental attitude sins

toward other believers.

A fourth problem resulting in a delinquent attitude is failure to utilize the grace provisions for GAP, which include assembly in a local church and application of the rebound technique. Even when you are present at class and positive toward learning Bible doctrine, it is impossible to assimilate the Word unless you are filled with the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:14). You accomplish this by confessing your known personal sins privately to God in accordance with 1 John 1:9.

A Fifth explanation for a lack of response to doctrine is failure to recognize the Source of prosperity. With many people, difficulty and adversity are the only stimuli for attending Bible class. When the pressure subsides and prosperity surfaces, these believers disappear until another catastrophe brings pain and suffering. Then, distraught and frustrated and aware at last that the only solution is doctrine, they scramble back to class. Unfortunately, however, prosperity or lack of it

becomes their gauge for determining whether or not they need doctrine, and this on-again, off-again type of thinking evolves into a syndrome of inconsistency, instability and. the erroneous conclusion that doctrine really does not work. Prosperity should never become an excuse for departing from doctrine — the very basis by which you enjoy prosperity! Your capacities to appreciate everything worthwhile in life depend on doctrine in the soul; therefore, the more prosperous you become, the greater should be your desire for Bible doctrine!

The sixth reason for rejection of doctrine is disorientation to the many facets of logistical or living grace. God graciously supplies all the spiritual-and temporal provisions you need in order to remain alive, to take in doctrine and to grow in grace even in the devil’s world. Negative volition to doctrine inevitably results both in failure to appreciate these temporal provisions and in rejection of the spiritual assets.

Seventh, the malfunction of the faith-rest technique can lead to negative volition. If under adversity you fail to remove roadblocks or hang-ups in the soul, you will be unable to apply doctrine because the hurt is more real than the Word.

Eighth, if the details of life are more important to you than Bible doctrine, then obviously you will be too preoccupied to avail yourself of Bible teaching. Your time and energies are immersed in the push toward success, status, wealth or power, to the total exclusion of doctrine. The allurement of pleasure, which may be anything from hobbies and sports to social life, can also take the place of Bible class. Your friends or family may drag you away. Even health and climate can be used as excuses: you don’t feel well; the weather is too good (a perfect day for golf!) or too bad (you will be rained out or snowed in!). In other words, any detail of life, no matter how pleasant or innocuous, that takes precedence over doctrine eventually spells disaster. Once entrenched, unchecked negative volition catapults you into the final stages of reversionism.

BLACKOUT OF THE SOUL

The blackout of the soul is produced directly by the malfunction of GAP through willful rejection of doctrine and indirectly by the believer’s participation in the previously described stages of reversionism. By definition, blackout is that reversionistic state in which the left lobe of the mentality (the nous), devoid of doctrine, is attacked directly by evil concepts and ideas.

In the mechanics, negative volition toward doctrine opens in the left lobe a vacuum called mataiotes in the Greek. Translated “vanity” in Ephesians 4:17, mataiotes is a technical word which must be correlated with the context. In this case, since it pertains to the soul, the term refers to emptiness in the soul. Into this void are drawn those thoughts which are contrary to the divine viewpoint. Satanic propaganda, the “doctrines of [from] demons” (1 Tim. 4:1) and every aberration and human viewpoint of life are sucked into the nous. Demons function as sphere, a kingdom of darkness (Eph. 5:1 1; 6:12; Col. l:13;2 Pet. 2:4), is thus translated into darkness of the soul.

When satanic doctrine or evil moves to the right lobe (the kardia) and corrupts the entire thought pattern, the believer is under demon influence. Since the body of the believer is permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit, he can never be demon-possessed. However, the infiltration of evil into the believer’s soul is in some ways more devastating than the demon possession of an unbeliever. The shroud of evil in the soul renders the believer incapable of using the divine viewpoint. Objectivity is blacked out in every area of life, from the spiritual principles of Bible doctrine to the laws of divine establishment, and is replaced by subjectivity, confusion, instability and frustration.

The most destructive people in the world are believers in reversionism. Their thinking under the influence of evil is totally distorted. In the spiritual realm, subjective thinking is expressed in such activities as blaming God for adversity, or taking one or all of the sublimation routes in life, such as alcohol, drugs, promiscuity. It manifests itself in the inability to maintain a relaxed mental attitude of love toward anyone, extreme inconsistency, neurotic and even psychotic behavior. In the realm of establishment, subjectivity is the basis for all the ivory-tower liberal operations: world peace and disarmament programs, pseudo-love and universal brotherhood propaganda, “the greatest good for the greatest number,” social action to aid the downtrodden, unrealistic schemes that promote the Welfare State.

When the blackout of the soul reaches the right lobe or heart, scar tissue begins to form in the soul — the seventh stage of reversionism.

SCAR TISSUE OF THE SOUL

Synonymous with “hardness of heart” in Scripture, scar tissue develops from the influence of evil on both the left and right lobes. Blackout of soul originates in the left lobe; scar tissue, in the right lobe; from there, they spread throughout the soul. As scar tissue accumulates, Operation Mataiotes draws false doctrine ever more rapidly into the left lobe, which exerts increasingly greater pressure on the right lobe.

You might imagine, for the sake of illustration, that the right lobe contains a number of valves for the intake and distribution of doctrine. In the frame of reference there are two valves, one on each end of the memory center. One feeds into the chambers of the conscience where the norms and standards reside; the other enters the vocabulary storage for the development of the ability to think. Next door to this is categorical storage, which retains ideas and concepts by means of expanded and technical vocabulary. This system of valves connects all the storage areas, by way of the memory center, to the launching pad where divine viewpoint is applied to experience.

When the effects of the blackout of the left lobe reach the right lobe, these valves freeze so that doctrine can no longer circulate in the soul. This means that doctrine cannot be fed into the vocabulary; categories wither; norms and standards degenerate. The ability to utilize the frame of reference as a source of doctrine evaporates, and there is no divine viewpoint on the launching pad for application in the believer’s life. Without the influx of doctrine into the right lobe, all spiritual functions are paralyzed. Doctrine in the subconscious mind is abandoned. Reversionism closes the door so that this information is no longer available for application or growth. This is the prelude to the sin unto death. Scar tissue and the sin unto death are bedfellows!

Hardness of heart becomes the nemesis for both the believer and the unbeliever. There are numerous illustrations in Scripture of unbelievers who departed this life under the principle of scar tissue of the soul. Amenhotep II, the Pharaoh of the Exodus, hardened his own heart through constant resistance to the salvation message (Ex. 7:22; 8:15, 32; 9:34). Although he was repeatedly exposed to the Gospel from Aaron and Moses by both word of mouth and spectacular demonstrations of God’s power, still Pharaoh remained calloused toward grace. With negative volition toward the Gospel, a vacuum was created which-adsorbed demon doctrine into the left lobe. The result” was blackout-of the soul, the atrophy of all Gospel information in the right lobe and finally, hardness of heart that eventually became irreversible (Rom. 2:5; 2 Cor. 4:3,4).

At that stage, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in the sense” of allowing him maximum opportunity to resist grace (Ex. 9:12, 16; 10:1, 20, 27). The purpose of permitting Pharaoh to exhibit such vigorous rejection was the evangelization of the world in his generation (Rom. 9:17; cf. Ex. 9:16). Each time the obdurate Pharaoh expressed his hardness of heart, a unique and extraordinary manifestation of God’s omnipotence awed unbelievers who heard the Gospel. and they were motivated toward a positive response. One of the best-documented conversions was that of Rahab the prostitute who, in distant Jericho, came to know the Lord as a result of Pharaoh’s obstinance (Josh. 2:10, 11).

The Jews of our Lord’s day, including Judas Iscariot (Matt. 27:3-10), followed the same pattern as the Pharaoh of the Exodus. They repeatedly rejected their Messiah, despite the overwhelming evidence of Jesus’ identity, which was clearly revealed in His messages (John 7:46), in His fulfillment of prophecy (John 1:45) and in His miracles (Mark 6:52; John 12:37). Each time they rejected the Savior, the hardness of their hearts became more complete until they were locked in total reversionism. Consequently, the majority of that generation remained in unbelief as their nation went into the Fifth cycle of discipline.

He has blinded their eyes [perception], and He has hardened their heart; lest [result of scar tissue] they should see with their eyes, and perceive by means of their heart [right lobe), and be turned around [receive conversion], and I restore them (John 12:40).

In quoting from Isaiah 6:9, 10, the Lord made it clear that while the Old Testament prophet was addressing himself to his contemporaries, his message applied to all Jews in every age who rejected salvation. “He has blinded their eyes” is a description of the blackout of the soul the opening of the mataiotes and the attack on the left lobe. “Hardened their heart” in the Greek denotes “scar tissue” or “callouses” — the attack on the right lobe as the inevitable result of blackout in the left lobe.

Thus, following the classic reversionistic pattern, the Jews on the whole had reacted toward Christ with mental attitude sins of resentment, jealousy and hostility. They became disillusioned because He did not immediately establish the Messianic Kingdom by defeating their enemies and resolving their national grievances as prophesied in the millennial passages; they willfully hastened down the road of reversionism. Their own stubborn volition blinded them to the truth. They could neither understand nor respond to the ministry of our Lord on earth. Instead of accepting grace, the Jews continued to bow to the tyrannical legalising of their religious leaders. They refused the Light (John 12:36) and accepted the darkness of reversionism; their resultant dispersion was a just and due punishment!

Scar tissue among believers is perfectly illustrated by the Meribah incident. At this desert camp, the Israelites complained and revolted against the Lord’s provision during their wilderness journey (Ex. 17:1-7). All the reactor factors were present, particularly disillusion, discouragement, frustration and self-pity. The Jews did not know enough doctrine to cope with these problems, and their reaction spearheaded a frantic search for happiness which later climaxed in Operation Golden Calf (Ex. 32). The rebellious Jews were annihilated on the spot when, upon his return from Mount Sinai, Moses broke the tablets of stone, demolished the golden idol and forced the offenders to drink a concoction of their own evil!

The combination of the first two reversionistic stages and the Jews’ blatant disrespect for the authority of Moses continued to afflict those still alive. Ignoring the warning discipline and judgment near Sinai, they too suffered blackout of soul and hardness of heart until finally, at Kadesh-barnea, many of them had completed the full cycle of reversionism, which they expressed by denying God’s ability to bring them into the Land (Num. 14). Divine discipline quickly overtook the recalcitrant Jews, and many were killed by the Canaanites when the Israelites defied God’s command — this time, His order that they were not to enter the Land. After thirty-nine years of desert wanderings, the chapter closed on that disobedient, stiff-necked generation when they all eventually died the sin unto death. Only supergrace believers Caleb and Joshua remained to launch the next generation on the successful conquest of the Promised Land.

“Hardness of the neck” is a term for negative volition and hardness of heart, but it emphasizes insubordination against divinely constituted authority, to the point of revolution (2 Kings 17:14; Jer. 7:26,27; 19:15).

But they, our ancestors, acted arrogantly; they hardened their necks [revolution or rejection of authority], and would not listen to your commandments [Bible teaching] . Therefore they refused to listen, and they did not remember your wonderful deeds which you performed among them. Therefore, they hardened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their slavery in Egypt.. (Neh. 9:16,17).

Hardness of the neck is also related to evil.

Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all my servants, the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but hardened their necks. They did evil more than their fathers. And you [Jeremiah] shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you . . . (Jer. 7:25-27).

Because they rejected Bible doctrine, they came under the influence of evil! Evil is often accompanied by certain types of sin, but sin in itself does not tear down what doctrine has built up in the soul of the believer. Since sin was judged at the Cross, the problem of carnality is quickly solved by the rebound technique. It is evil something we think that can totally stifle our effectiveness as believers. Yet the distinction between sin and evil has been obscured in our apostate generation.

The wages paid by hardness of heart are threefold: “strong delusion,” which is actually a synthesis of blackout of the soul and hardness of the heart (2 Thess. 2:10-12); the continuation of reversionism, resulting in the practice of reverse process reversionism (2 Cor. 11); and intensified divine discipline, eventuating in the sin unto death (1 John 5:16).

REVERSE PROCESS REVERSIONISM

The eighth and final stage in the descent into reversionism is characterized by the total influence of evil rather than of doctrine, and the substitution of Satan’s plan for God’s Plan. The modus vivendi of the believer in reverse process reversionism cannot be distinguished from that of the unbeliever.

By definition, “reverse process” means to face in the opposite direction, to change or reverse a judgment of a criticism, to appear in an inverted position by a reversal of objects. Related to the Word of God, reverse process reversionism is the reversal of the objects of the believer’s affection on one hand and scorn on the other, in other words, reverse process reversionism manifests itself when the reversionist spurns that which he should love and loves that which he should spurn. All true values are pushed aside and priorities are reversed.

In the mechanics, the reversionistic believer experiences a reverse process in regard to the true objects of his love or affection in all the categories of love. He becomes enamored with pseudo- objects of love compatible with his distorted spiritual condition. In Category One Love, directed toward God, the reversionistic believer seeks personal glory instead of occupation with Christ. In Category Two Love, he pursues false lovers instead of his right woman. In Category Three Love,

he cultivates hypocritical and superficial acquaintances rather than true friendships. Under this process, the bona fide object of love becomes the target of indifference, hatred, bitterness, cruelty, implacability, maligning, judging and revenge tactics, while inconsequential people become the recipients of attention, flirtation, social or sexual advances, etc.

In Category Two Love, for example, everyone except the divinely designed-partner is an inconsequential person. When either the man or the woman becomes enamored with someone else, it is often an expression of reverse process reversionism. To the believer who is in total reversionism and is obsessed with self-gratification, the rightful object of affection, love or sex is unimportant.

Pride and blind arrogance render the reversionist susceptible to flattery. The male reversionist readily assumes that he is God’s gift to women. The more inflated his ego, the more easily he can be deceived so that even a dumb woman can wrap a very smart man around her finger! In “his arrogance, such a man becomes entangled with an inconsequential woman. He may be of little significance to her, but blinded by approbation lust, he believes what she tells him because it is exactly what he wants to hear! A woman in reversionism also follows the reverse process. She gives her attention or even her body to some other man, while she ignores or scorns her true love.

The Jews of Jeremiah’s day practiced reverse process reversionism toward God and toward their right man or right woman. Immersed in the idolatry of the phallic cult, they transferred their love for the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Israel, to Baal, whose evil worship involved degenerate sexual abuses. A similar situation existed with the Corinthian believers, who demonstrated their reverse process reversionism when they rejected the Apostle Paul as their right pastor and communicator of doctrine in favor of the Judaizers the false apostles, and teachers (2 Cor. 11). The Corinthians lavished their wealth and affection on the Judaizers but heaped criticism, maligning, animosity and cruelty on Paul. They paid the Judaizers a large salary; Paul received not one penny!

I have presented the stages of reversionism in isolation in order to portray the major aspects of spiritual retrogression in a logical sequence. Chronologically, however, these factors in the downward process overlap and intertwine to form an intricate fabric of degeneracy, as we shall see in our study of reversionism in Ephesus.

THE PROBLEM OF SCAR TISSUE IN EPHESUS

To illustrate these principles, I have selected a passage from Ephesians, chapter 4. The chapter outline is simple: verses 1-16 depict the royal family on the road to supergrace; verses 17-19 describe these believers on the road to reversionism; and verses 20-32 teach reversion recovery. Our study will focus on verses 1724, in which Paul launches his admonition to these tottering believers in the Ephesian complex of churches.

This, therefore, I explain and testify [make an emphatic demand] by means of the Lord that you all no longer continue walking just as also the Gentiles [reversionistic unbelievers] keep walking by means of the nothingness [vacuum] of their mind (Eph. 4:17).

The demonstrative pronoun, “this,” draws attention to his message regarding the serious problem of apostasy and reversionism. The use of the verb marturomai, “testify,” with lego, “say” or “explain,” strengthens this warning, and introduces an emphatic demand that they discontinue “walking” according to the pattern of life of the reversionistic society in which they live. Paul then establishes the Source of his warning and confirms his apostolic authority by the phrase, “by means of the Lord.” “Gentiles” is technical nomenclature to designate unbelievers. Believers in reversionism are always easily influenced by other believer reversionists or unbelievers in their periphery.

“In the nothingness [mataiotes] of their mind” indicates the stage of reversionism they have reached. As we have seen, mataiotes is a vacuum that forms in the soul after negative volition becomes the consistent mental attitude. This vacuum sucks false doctrines (evil) into the nous, which generally refers to the left lobe, though in this context it applies to both the left and right lobes.

Having become darkened in their way of thinking [blackout of soul], having become estranged from the life of God [supergrace], because of the ignorance [of doctrine] which keeps on being in them, because of the hardness [scar tissue] of their heart [right lobe] (Eph. 4:18).

The perfect passive participle of skotizo, “darkened,” followed by the present active participle of eimi, “having,” means literally, “having become darkened.” Of their own free will, the Ephesian believers had produced the action of the verb (active voice) and have, as a result, received (passive voice) darkness — blackout of the soul. The intensive perfect tense recognizes that-reversionistic stages one through four have already occurred, while five through eight are just now developing.

The Greek word dianoia (thinking) confirms that this darkness is in the left lobe. In Kittel’s Theological Dictionary, Behm states that dianoia can be used as an alternate for nous. He further explains the meaning of dianoia in terms of thought as a function: “the activity of thinking, the ability to perceive, a way of thinking.” When a person thinks only with his left lobe, (dokeo), he becomes subjective, and corrupt thinking (noema — 2 Cor. 3:14:4:4: 11:3) replaces objective thinking (noeo). The darkened perception aptly describes the blackout of doctrine in the soul.

As Bible doctrine is excluded from the activity of thinking, the mentality of the soul is thrown open to apostate doctrine, false criteria and perverted norms and standards. The result is reversionism, manifested by subjectivity, pseudo-sensitivity, soul fainting (Heb. 12:3), frustration, unhappiness, frantic search for happiness, slavery to the details of life, scar tissue and reverse process reversionism.

It follows that the believer whose thinking has become darkened will inevitably be in a state of alienation (apallotrioo) from God. Used only three times in Scripture (Eph. 2:12; 4:18; Col. 1:21), apallotrioo has three meanings in the Greek, each corresponding to a different stage of divine discipline: “estranged” — the warning phase of discipline; “alienated” — the intensification of discipline; “excluded” — the final stage, the sin unto death. All three apply to the believer with a blacked-out soul.

“The life [zoe] of God” — supergrace — denotes a concept of life related to Bible doctrine. In our passage it is linked to the spiritual growth and progress that God provides for believers through doctrine. Notice that alienation from this spiritual life is not the result of any misbehavior or sin, but of ignorance of doctrine. Agnoia, “no knowledge,” is the root of all failure in the Christian life. It is a perfect description of a believer who is suffering from blackout of soul. There is never a legitimate excuse for ignorance of doctrine. By providing the grace apparatus, God anticipated everything that would be necessary to make doctrine available and easy to assimilate. We simply supply the

positive volition!

If the problem of blackout of the soul stems from ignorance of Bible doctrine, then obviously the solution lies in cognizance. To go from ignorance to cognizance requires a process found in a Greek verb related to agnoia: metanoeo and its cognate metanoia. Traditionally translated “repent,” this word actually connotes the change in mental attitude toward doctrine which results in the resumption of the process of GAP. To recover from any of the eight stages of reversionism, the

believer must change his mind about the importance of Bible doctrine in his life. However, no one-shot decision will do the trick. Such a change requires a continuous series of positive decisions to take in doctrine in spite of distractions, hindrances or mounting pressures (Eph. 3:16-21; 4:11-16; Heb. 6:1-6).

If divine warnings are repeatedly ignored, if no change of mind occurs and if blackout of the soul continues, then the right lobe becomes crippled by the insidious advance of scar tissue. Hence, the last phrase of Ephesians 4:18, “because of the hardness of their heart,” portrays the reciprocal action between hardness of heart and blackout of soul. Porosis actually means “hardness” and represents the paralyzing buildup of scar tissue in the right lobe.

The devastation of soul which negative volition, blackout and scar tissue produce is illustrated in the next verse.

Who [reversionists], while having become calloused [with scar tissue] have betrayed themselves to promiscuous debauchery, resulting in the practice of every kind of immorality in the sphere of insatiable lust [intensified frantic search for happiness (Eph. 4:19).

Once in a state of callousness (apalgeo), or total lack of sensitivity, the reversionist moves in one of three directions, depending on the current trend of his old sin nature. He may be guilty of blind arrogance and the accompanying mental attitude sin activity, as characterized by Hymenaeus and Alexander in 1 Timothy 1:19, 20; 2 Timothy 2:1-7; 4:14. He may take the route-of extreme asceticism described in 1 Timothy 4:3, Or he may accelerate his quest for happiness, as in our context, and commit himself to lasciviousness.

In its intensive stage, this headlong rush for happiness results in self-betrayal, in which inner -misery triggers the desire for overt stimulation, stated in this verse to be aselgeia, lasciviousness. This Greek word encompasses all forms of promiscuity: adultery, fornication, debauchery, seduction, rape, lewdness, and such sexual perversions as incest, bestiality, homosexuality and autoerotism.

Sexual expression in the right man-right woman relationship is a gracious gift from God that not only preexisted the Fall but continues even though mankind is in the state of sinfulness. It can still be a basis for true happiness. Nevertheless, when a reversionist whose soul is covered with scar tissue faces a reactor factor like frustration, any sexual activity for him will inevitably be used as a form of sublimation. But promiscuity or sexual perversion only adds to the scar tissue! When sex fails to produce the happiness for which it was properly designed, the reversionist becomes further frustrated and resorts to other forms of escapism, such as alcohol, drugs or even the more desperate extreme of suicide.

“The practice of every kind of immorality” refers to promiscuity and denotes all types of mental and overt immorality. The addition of pleonexzia, “with greediness or insatiability,” conveys the insatiable lust which only becomes worse in the futile pursuit of pleasure!

Ephesians 4:17-19 actually describes the interaction between the stages of reversionism. Scar tissue and blackout of the soul intensify negative volition, frantic search for happiness and the reaction syndrome. These, in turn, reinforce the scar tissue and blackout of the soul. It is extremely difficult to extricate oneself from this labyrinth of spiritual anarchy, yet the Word of God never presents a negative situation without offering a positive solution. The next four verses outline the conditions for recovery from scar tissue of the soul and reversionism.

THE PRIMACY OF LEARNING DOCTRINE

Any remedy to a spiritual problem must be associated with the Word of God; therefore, learning doctrine is paramount as the answer to reversionism.

But you, members of the royal family of God [Church Age believers] , have not been taught in this manner the Christ (Eph. 4:20).

The conjunctive particle de, translated “but,” sets up a contrast between their present practice of reversionism and the alternative — the Plan of God regarding the function of GAP. Members of the royal family of God should be self-disciplined in the constant intake of Bible doctrine so that they are advancing up the road to either supergrace or ultra-supergrace. This passage reveals the royal family at its worst: negative believers, in Ephesus and throughout the Roman province of Asia, trapped in a reversionistic tailspin. The verse implies that their condition is strictly the result of their own defiant attitude of disobedience to the Word of God and insubordination to their Royal High Priest, Jesus Christ.

Indeed, this was not the manner in which they were taught! The verb manthano relates the process of learning to the categorical instruction from a pastor, and it is employed as a technical term for the academic study of Scripture. Since the correct and accurate teaching of the Word of God discourages any phase of reversionism, neither doctrine nor the pastor-teacher can be blamed for anyone’s reversionistic status. The responsibility lies squarely on the unruly volition of the reversionist himself. In other words, there is no excuse for reversionism! The accusative case of direct object, coupled with the definite article, ho Christos, is literally “the Christ” and relates all Bible doctrine to Him. He has established not only the system by which doctrine is communicated but also the content of doctrine to be taught. To reject doctrine — the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16) — is to renounce the authority of Christ.

Inasmuch as you had begun to hear Him, and had been taught by Him, since the truth [doctrine] is in Jesus (Eph. 4:21).

While verse 20 focuses on the communicator, verse 21 directs our attention to the receiver. Believers “hear” Christ through their own Spirit-filled concentration on the pastor’s teaching of doctrine in the assembly of the local church. The system of GAP is the method by which Christ communicates today to the believer-priest in the royal family of God, and the pastor-teacher is the Lord’s representative in the teaching function of GAP. That the believers in Ephesus had been previously taught is affirmed by the aorist passive indicative of the verb didasko. Counterparts, didaska and manthano “encompass the entire system of Biblical indoctrination: manthano denotes learning under authoritative, categorical instruction; didasko refers to communication. by monologue to a group under strict academic discipline in the classroom of the local church.

The phrase, “since the truth [aletheia] is in Jesus,” again stresses that Bible doctrine has its source in Christ and is the very thinking of Christ. To place themselves back under manthano and didasko is, therefore, essential if they are to remove the scar tissue that constricts the soul!

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF REBOUND IN RECOVERY

That with reference to your former manner of life [reversionism] , you put off [lay aside through rebound] the old man [old sin nature] , which is being corrupted [depraved] according to the lusts from the deceit [reversionism] (Eph. 4:22).

Depending on the context, the “former manner of life” can refer to the behavior pattern typical of either a believer or an unbeliever. In this instance, it describes believers in carnality or in reversionism. Protracted negative volition and carnality without rebound have placed these believers in the final stages of reversionism, a status from which they can escape only by first utilizing rebound.

Rebound or confession of sin (1 John 1 :9) is essential to any type of recovery in the spiritual life. As the key to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer, rebound sets in motion the machinery of GAP and is therefore prerequisite to advancement in the Christian life. “Put off” is the aorist middle infinitive of the compound verb apotithemi, “to take off,” used in the figurative sense of laying aside or ridding yourself of something obnoxious. What the believer must lay aside is that pernicious distorter of the soul, identified in the next phrase as palaios anthropos — the “old man” or old sin nature.

In order for the Holy Spirit to execute the Christian life in the believer, the sin nature must be brought under control. While the sin nature can never in this life be eradicated from the soul, certain of its functions can be instantly halted by the rebound technique and more consistently nullified as the function of GAP provides the believer the alertness to use rebound as soon as it becomes necessary. Therefore, the constantive aorist tense of apotithemi gathers into one entirety every act of rebound, together with the exercise of GAP, by which we recover.

As one of the designations for the old sin nature, the term “old man” links carnality with its origin at the Fall of man. It is in fact “as old as the Fall” !Totally corrupt and depraved, the old sin nature contains a many-faceted lust pattern which can become a source of motivation when the sin nature controls the soul (Eph. 2:3). These lusts range from approbation and power lust to sexual and materialism lusts.

Because reversionists are carnal virtually all the time, lusts are woven into the pattern of reversionism and are called in this verse “the deceit.” In other words, a believer in reversionism fires up the lust activity of the old sin nature, which must be controlled before doctrinal intake can resume.

THE RESUMPTION OF GAP

And that you be restored by means of the Holy Spirit, by means of the mind (Eph. 4:23).

The continuative usage of the particle de, “and,” indicates a logical progression toward recovery from the reversionistic deterioration outlined in the previous verse. When the “old man” has been brought under control by rebound, the next step is to reestablish the function of GAP. The present tense of ananeoo, “to be restored,” is the iterative present, a tense of repeated action, which describes that which recurs at successive intervals. It refers to the consistent exercise of the grace apparatus for perception.

We receive restoration by means of the Holy Spirit, who executes the mechanics of GAP. When verse 23 is connected with the previous verse, it becomes clear that rebound provides recovery of the filling of the Spirit along with restoration to fellowship with God. “Of your mind [nous]” is a rare usage of the ablative of means, which may be employed when the expression of means is accompanied by the implication of origin or source. The nous, then, is both the means and the source of cranking up GAP.

And that you clothe yourself with the new-species man [edification complex of the soul], which, according to the standard of God, has been created in the sphere of righteousness and true holiness [devotion to doctrine] (Eph. 4:24).

There are three infinitives in Ephesians 4:22-24 which describe the process of dissolving scar tissue in the soul in reversion recovery: (1) the aorist middle infinitive of apotithemi in verse 22 — to lay aside the old sin nature by the rebound technique: (2) the present passive infinitive of ananeoo in verse 23 — to operate consistently under the GAP principle; and (3) in verse 24, the aorist middle infinitive enduo — to reconstruct the edification complex in the soul.

In contrast to apotithemi, “to take off” the old man, we now have endue, “to put on,” or literally, “to clothe yourself” with the new man. Kainos is “new in species” rather than in point of time; and when linked with anthropos, “man,” it indicates that the real person is located in the soul. Consequently, to become a new person, there must be a transformation on the inside. However, this change must be “according to the standard of God.” And what is God’s standard? Bible doctrine! Through Bible doctrine and GAP, order is brought out of chaos, and the soul can begin the process of reconstruction. Doctrine creates the edification complex as the function of GAP flourishes in the soul. The completion of the ECS means full recovery from reversionism and is the believer’s entrance into the supergrace life. The once-crumbling edifice in the soul is restored “in the sphere of absolute righteousness [dikaiosune].”

While the believer filled with the Spirit, or in fellowship with God, is in a status of absolute righteousness, the actual “sphere of righteousness” is maximum doctrine in the soul. There must be righteousness in the soul by way of doctrine before there can be righteousness in the life by way of application. Thus, dikaiosune means the total fulfillment of spiritual progress and adjustment to the justice of God. Righteousness is the nobility of the Christian life; hence, members of the royal family of God are expected to live up to their royal status. This is accomplished in only one way — by learning Bible doctrine! Without doctrine, there can exist only a relative righteousness, which is self-righteousness at best, and legalism or religion at worst. The perfect balance of doctrine in the soul and the filling of the Spirit converts righteousness into experience. This balance prevents the superimposition of pseudo-righteousness (legalism) over grace righteousness (grace orientation).

“And true holiness,” kai hosioteti tes aletheias, is literally “devotion to doctrine.” In the Greek, “true” (aletheia) is a noun rather than an adjective. Arndt and Gingrich define aletheia as “the embodiment of knowledge and truth, especially the content of Christianity as the absolute truth.” The derived meaning, then, is Bible doctrine in the soul and human spirit of the believer. Ignorance of doctrine (Eph. 4:18) must be replaced by dedication to doctrine (Eph. 4:24). How do you know when you are on the road to supergrace? You love doctrine above all else; you cannot survive without it, even for one day. Doctrine becomes your very life!

THE PRINCIPLE OF REVERSIONISM

You reversionists have become a casualty [ineffective, useless, neutralized] from Christ, whoever are being justified [vindicated] by means of the Law. You have drifted off course from the grace objective of the supergrace life [God’s Plan] (Gal. 5:4).

This verse in the original text begins with a good Texas expression] “Y’all.” Addressing the reversionists in Galatia, Paul declares them to be “casualties from Christ” in the angelic conflict. The verb katargeo has several connotations in the Greek: “to be useless, powerless, unprofitable, nonproductive, ineffectual, null and void.” In other words, the believers had become neutralized as far as their effectiveness in the royal family of God was concerned. The constantive aorist of katargeo indicates that the Galatians had declined through seven stages of reversionism and were tottering on the brink of the eighth — reverse process reversionism. Each stage carries its own characteristic of ineffectiveness, and as a believer retrogresses, his spiritual dynamics and production decrease proportionately.

The tragic flaw of the Galatians was legalistic reversionism. They were trying to be vindicated on the basis of the Mosaic Law. Although they had been saved by grace (Gal. 1:6; 2:16), they were now adding the works of the Law to the non-meritorious gift of salvation. The Judaizers had slipped into town behind Paul and sold the Galatian believers a fraudulent bill of goods: “Believe in Christ and be circumcised! Believe in Christ and keep the Law!” But the Mosaic Law was never intended to be an instrument of salvation. While it reveals the sinful condition of man and directs his attention to his need of salvation, it can neither save nor provide spirituality. The non-efficacious works of the Law would be equivalent today to joining or giving money to the church, being baptized, feeling sorry for sin, giving up something you enjoy in order to obtain salvation or spiritual status in time.

The very meaning of the word justification (present passive indicative of dikaioo) denotes a total grace function. God found a way in His justice through the mechanics of the Cross to vindicate sinners. Justification, a judicial act of God whereby at the moment of salvation He imputes His own perfect righteousness to the believer, is based on the fact that God must keep His essence uncompromised and intact. God does not love us on the basis of whether we are good or bad, moral or immoral. He loves us because He has credited His own righteousness to our account — because of Christ’s work on the Cross! Man’s works have no part in God’s work. God cannot change His character to accommodate Himself to you or to me; nor can He compromise His integrity by a maudlin, sentimental love that takes no cognizance of sin. In order to be true to His righteousness and justice, God must pronounce a penalty on sin: “The wages of sin [Adam’s original sin] is [spiritual] death [imputation of Adam’s sin to every old sin nature] “ (Rom. 6:23a). Yet “not willing that any should perish” (2 Pet. 3:9), Jesus Christ voluntarily became “sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ paid the penalty of sin by His own spiritual death as He bore our sins in His body on the Cross (1 Pet. 2:24).

The righteousness of the Father was propitiated, or satisfied, by the impeccability of Christ’s humanity as He hung on the Cross, and the justice of the Father was satisfied toward us by the spiritual death of Christ. Because the penalty for sin has been paid in full, the justice of God is free to pardon and to vindicate the sinner who accepts His saving grace by believing in Christ. But He is equally free to justly condemn all who reject the divine provision of salvation. In spite of the continued presence of the old sin nature in the soul, God credits to the believer’s account His own righteousness. Regardless of his subsequent behavior or spiritual status, the believer in Jesus Christ has become the permanent recipient of the maximum, unchanging and eternal love of the Father.

The Galatian believers received the only true justification at the point of their salvation; yet in their reversionistic thinking, they did not recognize the efficacy of God’s grace. By adding their own works, they have taken the road of legalistic reversionism and Paul tells them, “ye are fallen from grace” (King James Version). The aorist active indicative from ekpipto means “to fall away from,” or “to drift off course.” This nautical analogy implies that they had departed from the charted sea-lanes — God’s Plan for their lives — and were heading toward the shoals of disaster — the sin unto death. The culminative aorist of ekpipto emphasizes the results of the constantive aorist of katargeo: they had become powerless and had therefore drifted off course they had moved in the opposite direction from grace. To stay on course requires that the believer function daily under GAP. To drift off course is rejection of Bible doctrine, which leads to reversionism.

Now although the Galatian believers were legalistic and reversionistic, they had not lost their salvation! They had failed to appropriate the grace provision from God for the Christian life and had become nonproductive. The same grace principle not only produces, but sustains and advances the spiritual life of the believer. Ultimately, all reversionism is the rejection of grace. The grace course mapped out by the divine Planner is designed to glorify Him: from saving grace to logistical grace; through logistical grace to supergrace; from supergrace and ultra-supergrace; across the high golden bridge of dying grace into surpassing grace. This is sailing into the sunset of glory! At some point, the Galatians disregarded the divine compass and were caught in the swirling currents of the reversionistic maelstrom!

THE DISCIPLINE OF REVERSIONISM

THE PRINCIPLE OF DISCIPLINE

The renegade believer who persists down the disastrous path of reversionism is subject to ever greater divine discipline with each stage of his decline. Divine discipline is the sum total of punitive measures by which God judges and corrects the believer. In the final analysis, it is the justice of God adjusting to the erring believer and represents the alternative to blessing. Technically, discipline, or chastening, refers to punishment for the believer in time only, while judgment usually designates the punishment of the unbeliever in eternity (John 3:18). During Phase Two, divine discipline is imposed for two reasons: carnality and reversionism. In the sphere of carnality, the discipline is temporary and generally canceled by the rebound technique (1 Cor. 11:31). However, if after rebound the suffering is neither removed nor diminished, its purpose is simply converted from cursing into blessing (Job 5:17, 18). On the other hand, divine discipline for reversionism is a more intensive warning signal to halt the errant Christian.

When the reversionist realizes the purpose of discipline, it is profitable; in fact, it provides the only hope for the believer to gain the perspective necessary to recover from reversionism (Heb. 12:7). Believers who are not teachable by doctrine are only teachable by discipline! The purpose of the divine “woodshed” is to correct the straying believer, not only to bring him to the point of restoration but also to encourage him to advance to maturity. To become disturbed or upset when punitive measures are applied is to forget this vital precept.

And so, you yourselves have forgotten the principle of doctrine which teaches you as sons: My son, do not make light of corrective discipline from the Lord nor be fainting when you are reproved by Him (Heb. 12:5; quoted from Prov. 3:11).

The believers to whom this was addressed were in reversionism and were apparently complaining about the Lord’s disciplinary actions. Because of their implacability, they needed admonition and instruction concerning the purpose of discipline and their proper response to it. In quoting Proverbs 3:11, the writer of Hebrews cautioned them against a flippant attitude toward corrective measures from the Lord. Why? All discipline from God is designed to train, to teach and to strengthen the believer. Paideia connotes teaching via corrective discipline. As long as the believer remains in reversionism, appropriate types of reproof or correction will be administered by the Lord.

Reversionists are susceptible to fainting in the soul, or discouragement; therefore, the writer redirects their attention to the Lord and Bible doctrine.

For you see, whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and He scourges [punishes) every son whom He receives by grace (Heb. 12:6; quoted from Prov. 3:12).

For whom the Lord loves, He judges by punitive action; therefore, like a father to a son in whom He delights (Prov. 3:12).

For these immature, reversionistic believers the Lord must express His disciplinary policy in simple terms. Such individuals lack doctrine and have no frame of reference for comprehending divine justice, so God graciously encourages them with an illustration that they can understand. A parent is responsible to discipline his child — with the goal of training him to become a mature, responsible adult. Normal parents love their children and know that the frequent but short-lived pain of the paddle is much better for them than the perpetual self-induced misery of a life without self-discipline or respect for authority. Thus, God ascribes this type of human love to Himself to encourage “fainting” reversionists to take heart even under His severe discipline. Even the reversionist can get the point: God has the believer’s growth and spiritual advantage in mind. The love of a parent, however, is not actually the divine attribute with which God deals with us. Since the Fall of man, God’s point of contact with us has been His justice. Justice is the action half of God’s integrity; the other half, absolute righteousness, is the principle of His integrity. What righteousness demands, justice executes, and because God never violates His integrity, all actions He takes toward us come from His justice.

Justice can either bless or discipline: if righteousness approves, justice blesses; if righteousness disapproves, justice curses or disciplines. On the other hand, the divine attribute of love can only bless. Furthermore, God’s love can go only where there is perfection. Since negative volition can destroy perfection, what love provides cannot be permanent. Man ceased to be perfect at the Fall and immediately ceased to live under love when God switched the point of contact from love to justice in order to condemn him.

From that moment and forever, justice is the channel from the essence of God through which come all man’s blessings and all man’s discipline. This means that as believers we now receive blessings from God that are permanent. Christ satisfied the justice of God once and for all on the Cross, and God is therefore free to give His own perfect righteousness and eternal life to anyone who believes in His Son. Likewise, even the blessings from God in time are encapsulated against the changing tides of history and, moreover, will be parlayed into eternal rewards. Thus we are secure, as the children in a family are secure, because He treats in justice all members of the royal family of God. Even those under maximum divine discipline in the Final stages of reversionism possess in Christ an eternal relationship with the integrity of God.

An anthropopathism ascribes to God human feelings, passions or thoughts. It is designed to explain God’s policies, thoughts, actions or decisions in human language, easily understandable within a human frame of reference. Although God loves His own righteousness which we as believers now possess, His true attribute of love is not the source of our blessing or discipline. Instead, the human love of a father toward a recalcitrant son is attributed to God in order to picture God’s justice and to encourage the reversionist to respond to discipline with renewed positive volition toward doctrine. The anthropopathism of human love illustrates the function of justice blessing the mature believer, disciplining the reversionist, but in all cases expressing the function of divine integrity.

The word translated “scourge” in Hebrews 12:6 means “to flog” or “to skin alive with a whip” and vividly depicts the concentrated punishment reserved for the reversionist. In verse 5, the rebuke or reproof is less extreme, such as God would administer to the carnal believer.

Paradechomai, “receives,” has several meanings in the Greek, but here it corresponds to the Old Testament word translated “delights” in Proverbs 3:12. Ratsah in the Hebrew has the same connotation as paradechomai and means “to welcome home,” or “to receive favorably.” A child in whom a father delights is always welcome home; likewise will all believers be welcomed to their eternal home, regardless of the extent of their blessing or cursing on earth (2 Tim. 2:11-13).

God keeps believers alive for two reasons: to bless them or to spank them. God is glorified by blessing believers who are adjusted to His justice and are advancing toward or maintaining supergrace. Again, the believer must adjust to the justice of God, or the justice of God will adjust to him! Maladjusted believers in reversionism are kept alive often simply to be disciplined. Before the final axe falls and the believer loses his opportunity to glorify Christ in time, God gives ample warning: grace always precedes judgment. Thus, there is discipline in every phase of reversionism until the believer departs to be with the Lord forever. In heaven, there is neither punishment nor sorrow (Rev. 21:4), so even the most severe chastening cannot be spared if the reversionist is to learn the lessons of doctrine now, while he is on earth.

THE STAGES OF DISCIPLINE

THE WARNING STAGE

Of the three stages of divine discipline, the First warns the believer that his negative volition to doctrine has drawn him away from the Plan of God. The caution signals are generally flashing during the first four stages of reversionism: reaction, the frantic search for happiness, Operation Boomerang and emotional revolt. Warning discipline can occur in either adversity or prosperity, but the removal of the prosperity can sound the alarm. Standing or knocking at the door — a most gentle reminder — expresses this first phase of punitive action.

Stop criticizing, brethren, “against others of the same kind [fellow members of the royal family] that you be not judged. Behold, the Judge-stands at the door, with the result that He keeps on standing at the door (James 5:9).

If you habitually gossip, malign and judge other believers, your discipline is a warning that you are in reversionism! When reversionism is checked in its early stages, before the loss of doctrine becomes critical, recovery is relatively simple: rebound followed by the consistent utilization of the grace apparatus for perception (Rev. 3:20-22).

For the believer who rejects the Lord’s disciplinary knocking on the door of the soul, the next step is intensified misery, again with or without overt prosperity. This second category of divine chastisement is generally found in the last four phases of reversionism: negative volition, blackout, scar tissue and reverse process reversionism. The pattern of discipline is individually designed for each reversionist, but it is often characterized by alternate periods of suffering and blessing. This contrast is designed to alert the believer to the fact that there is no advantage to prosperity or success without the advantage of Bible doctrine! When the prosperity turns into adversity, the reversionist is in the intensive stage, as portrayed graphically by Psalm 38:1-14. Also part of the discipline during this period is the “strong delusion” of 2 Thessalonians 2:11.

THE DYING STAGE

The third stage is the final discipline of the reversionistic believer before he arrives in eternity the sin unto death (1 John 5:16). Instead of crossing the golden bridge of dying grace reserved for supergrace and ultra-supergrace believers, the reversionist transfers from time to eternity under agonizing and miserable conditions to use the military idiom, a low-crawl over ground glass! The sin unto death is administered only after prolonged and unchecked reversionism, and only after the reversionist has failed to respond to the previous stages of discipline (Jer. 44:9-12; Ezek. 20:13; Phil. 3:18, 19). This ultimate destruction is confined to time and in no way implies the loss of salvation. Dying can be the most sublime or the ghastliest experience in the life of a believer! The period of dying might be a few seconds or several years, but whatever it is, the supergrace or ultra-supergrace believer will enjoy it immensely, while the reversionist will experience maximum physical or soul suffering.

Under certain circumstances, Satan is permitted the power of death, and the New Testament records two instances of believers who were turned over to him by the Apostle Paul for the administration of intensive discipline and the sin unto death. No greater disaster could befall any individual than when Satan is thus allowed to do his worst. Only Satan’s evil genius could devise such a torturous death!

I [Paul] made a command decision to deliver such a one [incestuous reversionist] over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, in order that his spirit might be delivered in the day of the Lord (1 Cor. 5:5).

Be having and holding doctrine and a good conscience [freedom from the influence of evil] , which certain ones [reversionists] having rejected have suffered shipwreck concerning their doctrine. Among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered over to Satan in order that they might be taught by discipline not to blaspheme (1 Tim. 1:19, 20).

In both cases, Timothy, the pastor, had failed to live up to his responsibility and had allowed these divisive individuals to run rampant through the congregation (1 Tim. 5:20). Finally, the Apostle Paul was compelled to step in and lower the boom! During the First century, apostolic authority included the power to consign a believer to Satan for discipline, but so far as we know only Paul exercised this prerogative. Nowhere in Scripture do we find that the pastor-teacher today has such authority. The apostolic gifts and power have been replaced by the completed Word of God. Undoubtedly, there are times when God Himself delivers believers to Satan for maximum discipline. It is, however, within the pastor’s authority and duty to administer discipline in certain situations to unruly members of the congregation (Titus 1 :10-13) — certainly a most unpleasant task and one that most pastors avoid. Yet when he faithfully discharges his obligation to teach doctrine, discipline will be minimal (2 Tim. 4:2). Should he consistently fail to communicate the Word of God, the problem is only compounded.

These three believers — Hymenaeus, Alexander and the incestuous Corinthian — were placed in the intensive and dying stages of discipline as a final warning to straighten out or die miserably! Many times suffering awakens people to their reversionism and spurs them back to Bible doctrine and complete recovery, as was the case with the believer in Corinth (2 Cor. 2:6-8). But progress under discipline is slow and painful. How much better to learn the easy way — by doctrine!

It is always characteristic of reversionists to reject the authority of great Bible teachers. The Jews of the Exodus generation resisted Moses (Ex. 17:3); the Mizpah remnant under Jeremiah became totally apathetic to his ministry (Jer. 42-44);27 and the constant rejection and harassment of Paul by the Corinthian believers is well documented (2 Cor. 10,11). A classic Old Testament example of a bitter and tormented departure from this life is the record of the last days of King Saul, a reversionist who died the sin unto death after rejecting both doctrine and the one who communicated it (1 Sam. 28; 1 Chron. 10).

All three phases of discipline are found in 1 Corinthians 11:30: “For this cause many are weak (warning discipline) and sickly (intensive discipline) among you, and many sleep (dying discipline, the sin unto death).” Before the final stage is reached, punitive action can be headed off, according to the next verse, by means of rebound: “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Cor. 11:31). Rebound must be followed by the resumption of GAP for complete restoration.

THE PROFILE OF THE REVERSIONIST

Psalm 7 views the profile of a reversionist — “Cush the Benjamite,” or King Saul. In writing this Psalm, David recounts Saul’s unjust persecutions against him but leaves retributive justice in the hands of the Lord. Well aware of the three stages of discipline, David draws on the verbal imagery of his day to illustrate the certainty of judgment.

If he [the reversionist] does not repent. He [God] will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and prepared it [drawn back the bow and loaded it with an arrow] (Ps. 7:12).

In order to impress his readers as to the seriousness of the offense, the last stage of discipline is presented first. If the reversionist does not repent or change his course from a negative to a positive attitude toward doctrine, God will “sharpen His sword” — the sin unto death. Drawing the bow and aiming the arrow depict the warning and intensive stages of discipline. To be completely effective, each arrow must be constructed for its own bow; and just as every bow required a certain type of arrow, so God has prepared a special form of discipline for every category of reversionism as well as for every individual reversionist.

He [God] has appointed for him [the reversionist] the instruments of death; He shapes His arrows, the burning ones (Ps. 7:13).

“Instruments” in the plural indicate that God has many ways by which He can remove the reversionist under the sin unto death. Whatever manner God chooses will be a traumatic and painful experience! The “burning ones” (dalak) are God’s arrows aimed at those under divine discipline. When God shoots, it constitutes a warning. Please note that God shoots all the arrows! He is the divine Archer, and He will not tolerate amateur archers — believers who take the judgment of a reversionist into their own hands (Rom. 14:4, 10). After all, God’s flaming arrows are far more effective than anyone’s vicious little tongue! Avoid judging others — leave the shooting to God! David applied this principle when he refused to touch Saul.

Behold, he shall have labor pains, [warning discipline] of emptiness [frantic search for happiness, intensification of reactor factors, emotional revolt of the soul] , because he has become pregnant with frustration [reaction, warning discipline] ; therefore, he has given birth to a life of deceit [negative volition, blackout of the soul, scar tissue, reverse process reversionism] (Ps. 7:14).

This verse begins a dissertation on the gestation period of reversionism — from conception to birth. “Behold,” the exclamatory Hebrew word hineh, is used to focus attention on “the importance of what is to follow, i.e., the consequences of involvement in reversionism. It dramatically introduces an analogy between a reversionistic life and the birthpangs of a woman in labor (chabal in the piel imperfect). perpetual pain! Each stage of reversionism carries its own labor pain in the soul. Suddenly, in the midst of the labor pangs, the “baby” issues forth! And what is this progeny called? Awen — “nothingness”! After all the agony of birth, what is there to show for it? Only emptiness, the production of reversionistic evil!

The likening of reversionism to labor pains forms an apt analogy because there must be a pregnancy before there can be a birth. In reversionism, “pregnancy” occurs when there is negative volition toward doctrine. Usually some outside factor must fertilize the negative volition. The two most common agents of conception are emotional revolt and the frantic search for happiness. At first, pregnancy is generally associated with pleasure, just as sublimation for the reactor factors usually consists of some enjoyable activity. In the beginning, the intoxicating pleasure-whirl is all fun. When you are emotionally stimulated, the frustration, disillusion, self-pity or boredom is forgotten for the moment. Forgotten also is Bible doctrine, and you soon become pregnant with reversionism!

Once you disregard doctrine, the emotional revolt is soon accompanied by pain. The “labor pains” are comparable to warning discipline. Whatever generates the lack of response to doctrine carries with it the agony of discipline. The qal perfect of harah, “and hath conceived,” is literally, “because he has become pregnant,” i.e., before he had the labor pains. The labor pains were mentioned first to give them emphasis. The pregnancy is called “mischief” in your English Bible, but the Hebrew word amal means “frustration” or “sin.” It illustrates the inner frustration and anguish that result from the frantic search for happiness, intensification of the reactor factors, and the emotional revolt in the soul when these fail to produce the desired pleasure.

When you persist in the early stages of reversionism, the pregnancy eventually “gives birth” (qal perfect of jaladh) to a life of deceit, duplicity and hypocrisy (shaqer). Every reversionist lives a lie. His soul is dishonest, and his life follows suit. He has no capacity for life and thus inevitably destroys his relationships with others by his own divisiveness and subterfuge. This is the area of reverse process reversionism, where some form of self-gratification pushes aside the Lord Jesus Christ and Bible doctrine. When you devote yourself to some person, pursuit or object to the exclusion of doctrine, you accumulate to yourself all the misery that accompanies the later stages of reversionism.

Whatever reactor factors caused you to become pregnant will in time develop into a habitual life-style. If you originally succumbed to minor frustrations, you will ultimately emerge a neurotic person. If, in the early stage of reversionism you began with indifference, by the time it is “born,” apathy will have reached mammoth proportions.

He dug a grave and explored it’, therefore, he has fallen into the ditch which he made (Ps. 7:15).

This verse draws a new analogy, which explains the volitional aspect of reversionism. The reversionist of his own free will digs (karah) a grave for himself. Every time he makes a decision based on boredom, disillusion, apathy or frustration to go over the hill into sublimation, or when he tries to assuage his self-pity by getting involved in emotional revolt activity, he enters into a pattern of life that if perpetuated solidifies indifference to doctrine. By the time he is in an advanced

state of negative volition, he is also in the intensified phase of discipline. He is caught in his own trap!

Not only does the reversionist dig a pit for himself, but he goes down and explores (chapar) the hole. In other words, he is getting ready to bury himself in his own grave! As the discipline increases, so does his harried quest for happiness and his emotional revolt. Negative volition has opened the mataiotes, and the delusion of satanic doctrine which is drawn in accounts for his course of action. Now he moves quickly into the last three areas of reversionism — the blackout of the

soul, scar tissue and reverse process reversionism.

To fall into the ditch is the last stage of discipline, or the sin unto death. By his own negative volition he has manufactured his own torture chamber and miserable death! He can blame only himself; he alone is accountable for rejecting the grace and blessing of the road to glory!

His frustration shall return upon his own head; his violent oppression of others shall descend on the crown of his head (Ps .7:16).

What began one day as reaction to a little boredom, a little apathy, a little self-pity, a little frustration, will the next day become a horrible nightmare? The thoughts and activities of reversionism can produce only frustration. The double meaning of shub forms a humorous paranomasia in the midst of a serious dissertation. The word means “to return,” which connotes Operation Boomerang, and “to repent,” the means of breaking out of reversionism. The pun suggests that since your own frustration is turning back on you, why shouldn’t you turn back to positive volition toward doctrine and thereby be restored? Otherwise, your self-induced misery will keep returning to haunt you with ever-increasing intensity!

A “violent oppressor” (chamas) is the reversionistic believer who refuses to accept the responsibility for his own failure and takes it out on others in vengeance, gossip, maligning, vindictiveness and implacability. His malevolence toward others, however, will fall upon his own head to form a portion of his discipline. He reaps what he sows (Gal. 6:7)! Every believer is responsible for his own decisions which are contrary to doctrine. On the other hand, God faithfully supports all decisions the believer makes in accordance with doctrine. Thus, blessing upon blessing is multiplied to the supergrace or ultra-supergrace believer. Since he can neither earn nor deserve such blessings, he reaps far beyond Ins own ability to sow!

BIBLICAL NOMENCLATURE FOR REVERSIONISM

There are many terms and descriptions for reversionism in the Bible. As you become aware of the doctrine of reversionism, you will begin to recognize certain words and phrases which indicate the entire concept. It might be just one or two words, such as “wicked” (Prov. 15:9) or the “unstable soul” (2 Pet. 2:14), or it may be a phrase like “drifting off course from grace” (Gal. 5:4), which we have already discussed. We should note in detail other examples of this terminology.

FAILING THE GRACE OF GOD

See to it [take the personal responsibility] that no one falls back from the grace of God; that not one root of bitterness sprouting up cause trouble, and through this the many be contaminated (Heb. 12:15).

Mental attitude sins, represented in this verse by bitterness, are the most devastating category of sin because of their detrimental effect on the soul. Unchecked by rebound and GAP, they become a major contributor to reversionism. The failure to confess any mental attitude sin is to fall short, to be below standard or to fall back from grace (hustereo). All reversionists are characterized by failure in the sphere of grace, by refusal of the grace provision of the rebound technique, and in effect by retreat from the supergrace status. Even though reversionistic believers are kept alive by logistical grace, they have failed to recognize that fellowship with God is maintained by the rebound technique, equally a matter of grace. Rebound means simply to name the sin. The Scriptures do not specify that a believer must feel sorry for sin, compensate for it or do penance in order to be forgiven. Confession is a total grace concept! If the believer has slipped down through the latter stages of reversionism and if he is to halt his own retreat from grace, it becomes necessary to function under GAP to the point of maximum resident doctrine in the soul where God can pour out to him the blessings of supergrace.

The root (riza) of bitterness draws an analogy between the root and mental attitude sins. The root develops from a seed which is dead and burned in the ground (1 Cor. 15:36). The seed is an illustration of sin, and the death of the seed pictures a sin which has been confessed and permanently forgiven under the rebound technique. The reaction situation arises if the believer begins to think about the sin after it is confessed. From that root of remembering the sin springs a mental attitude sin cluster of more bitterness, jealousy, vindictiveness and implacability. When any” sin or failure has been blotted out through rebound, any chain reaction or “chain sinning” that might result in a relapse should terminate.

The sprouting upward of reaction to a previously forgiven sin has two devastating results. The first is the believer’s potential for causing trouble (enochleo) for himself by relapsing into reversionism. The “trouble” is the self-induced misery of reversionism. While all sin originates in the old sin nature, it is nevertheless linked with the volition (James 1:14). In other words, any time you are bitter, it is because you want to be!

Through a recurrence of the reversionism, there is a second result. “The many” — those who are in the periphery of the reacting believer — are defiled (miaino). Remember, the Bible must be interpreted according to the time in which it was written. In the ancient cities, sewage was collected in chamber pots and simply dumped over balconies or from windows into the street below. Anyone passing by was drenched! The victims were said to be miaino — “contaminated”! Reversionism is like dumping sewage into the soul, and no one can have a soul polluted with the sewage of reversionism without corrupting other believers with whom he associates. Under his influence, they too are drawn into reversionism.

ENEMIES OF THE CROSS

For many keep walking, concerning whom I have told you many times and now, even weeping tell you, they have made themselves [by negative volition] the enemies of the Cross of Christ: whose end [death] is destruction, whose god is their emotion; their glory is in their dishonor, who keep thinking about earthly things (Phil. 3:18,19).

The “many” were the large number of reversionistic believers in the first generation of the Church Age. The believer’s “walk” is his function and progress (or lack of progress) in the Christian life. Paul constantly warned those first century believers concerning the danger of reversionism. So intense was his concern that he was often compelled to figuratively weep over their grievous condition! While these believers had accepted the grace of God in salvation, they had subsequently

rejected the principle of grace and turned to legalism rather than the Cross. Grace begins at the Cross; in fact, the Cross epitomizes grace. Those who substitute legalism at any point in their Phase Two experience become enemies of the Cross and therefore of God (1 Sam. 28:16; James 4:4).

There were four characteristics of reversionism related to the Philippian church. First, those “whose end is destruction.” “End” is the termination of Phase Two for the reversionist. Here, “destruction” is the sin unto death. Second, there are those “whose god is their emotion.” Koilia describes the emotional pattern. Reversionists in emotional revolt of the soul become slaves to their emotions, and the proper function of the right lobe is neutralized. A third snare to those who have become hostile to grace is their preoccupation with human celebrityship: “whose [own] glory is their dishonor.” The fourth, those “who think about earthly things,” describes reversionists whose thinking becomes enmeshed in human viewpoint — the satanic policy of evil.

A TORTURED SOUL

And [God] dragged out of danger justified Lot, overpowered under the authority of lawlessness in the sphere of lasciviousness of behavior pattern. The righteous one dwelling among them, by the act of seeing and by the act of hearing, constantly tortured his righteous soul day in and day out because of their lawless deeds (2 Pet. 2:7,8).

The context of this passage is the judgment of the ungodly cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot, a believer, was virtually dragged out of the midst of danger. The word kataponeo, translated “vexed” in verse 7, means “to be exhausted by labor, suffering or pressure,” hence, “to be overpowered.” Lot was helpless in the face of lawlessness and lasciviousness. Although Lot should have separated himself from reversionism, in grace God rescued him and secured his separation before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.

Lot was “righteous” only in the sense of imputed righteousness received at the point of salvation, not because of any “personal spirituality. While Lot enjoyed the company of the “fast crowd,” this compromise with his conscience tortured his soul. The word translated “vexed” in verse 8 is a different Greek word from that in verse 7. The imperfect active indicative from basanizo is literally “tortured.” Since Lot refused to separate from apostasy and was thus out of the geographical will of God, it became a simple matter for him also to be out of the operational will of God. Any believer who is outside the will and Plan of God is a reversionist and possesses no peace in his soul!

FAINTING IN THE MIND

For begin thinking about such a Person as Jesus Christ, having endured such opposition by the sinners against Himself, in order that you do not become exhausted [fatigued, enfeebled by reversionism], fainting in your mind [soul] (Heb. 12:3).

The command to concentrate on Christ (analogizomai) can be obeyed only by the steadfast function of GAP. Doctrine in the soul is the source of divine viewpoint and your sole defense against reversionism and the influence of evil. Nobility of character, impact for Christ, spiritual dynamics, stability, confidence and glorification of the Lord are all related to what you think — the proper function of the soul. A thought can make or break you! As a believer, you are literally a walking battlefield: you are continuously engaged in an inner conflict of mental attitudes — human viewpoint versus divine viewpoint (Isa. 55:8,9).

The Lord Jesus Christ endured (hupomeno) unprecedented pressure throughout His ministry on earth. By carefully considering the Lord’s mental attitude under adversity, your own attitude is invigorated. The perfect thoughts of Christ are contained in Bible doctrine (1 Cor. 2:16); Bible doctrine must determine your viewpoint in life (Phil. 2:5).

When you succumb to pressure, complain and fall apart, your soul becomes “exhausted” (kamno) and “feeble” (elkuo). Both of these are expressions used to describe reversionism. In this state of soul-exhaustion, your own thoughts become your worst enemy. Such mental activity adds up to malfunction of the right lobe, and the result is a miserable, neurotic or psychotic individual. As the believer retrogresses through the various stages of reversionism, his soul is increasingly enfeebled, and he becomes a casualty in the angelic conflict.

As Jesus Christ endured or persisted in GAP under the greatest barrage of human and satanic pressures in history, so your day-by-day perseverance in assimilating doctrine will enable you to meet and overcome every problem, every disaster, every difficulty that you will face in life!

UNCIRCUMCISED OF HEART

Behold, the days are coming, decrees the Lord, when I will punish all the reversionists, being circumcised, yet possessing a foreskin (Jer. 9:25).

The prediction of impending doom for Judah’s reversionism will finally result in the fifth cycle of discipline for that nation and the sin unto death for many of its people. “Circumcised with the uncircumcised,” or literally, “being circumcised, yet possessing a foreskin,” is an oxymoron, which combines contradictory or incongruous words for a particular effect. These Jews had been physically circumcised as a sign of their salvation and special place in the Plan of God through Bible doctrine. Nevertheless, in reversionism, they still possessed “uncircumcised right lobes,” or “foreskins in the soul,” which allowed the filth of mental attitude sins, emotional revolt and scar tissue to accumulate. In other words, reversionism and evil had not been cut away from the soul!

… for all the Gentiles are uncircumcised; but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the right lobe (Jer. 9:26b).

The Jews prided themselves on the ritual of physical circumcision, but they had neglected the grace principle behind the ritual doctrine in the soul! Without realizing it, they had become like the nearby heathen nations who possessed no doctrine and whose uncircumcised males they haughtily disdained. To be thus linked with the Gentiles was a gross insult to the Jews!

Reversionism always destroys the distinction between believers and unbelievers. The difference between Jews and Gentiles does not depend on the rite of circumcision but on the function of GAP, the construction of the edification complex in the soul and the supergrace and ultra-supergrace life. These spiritual accomplishments comprise “circumcision in the soul” which removes the dead skin of reversionism. Ritual without reality is meaningless!

LEAVING YOUR FIRST LOVE

But I hold it against you that you have forsaken your love, the first (Rev. 2:4).

In contrast to their former status of spiritual maturity and occupation with Christ, the Ephesian church had forsaken (aphiemi) their love for the Lord Jesus Christ and were practicing reverse process reversionism in Category One Love. In rejecting Christ, they had given Him the brush-off, transferred their love to asceticism instead and were in apostasy.

FALLEN

Recall to mind, therefore, in what way you have fallen, and change your mind [about doctrine] and do the first works. Otherwise, I Myself will come to you [for punishment] and will agitate and remove your lamp from its place, unless you change your mind [about doctrine] (Rev. 2:5).

The term for reversionism in this verse is stated in the command to reversion recovery, which begins with “remember” (mnemoneuo). To regain their former status, the Ephesians must call to mind some particular doctrine, some specific principle, temporarily obscured, that will stimulate their thoughts toward renewed occupation with Christ. The fragrance of memory of Category One Love is revived only through doctrine. “Fallen” (perfect tense of pipto) is used in connection with

reversionism almost without exception. The perfect tense is a state of completion and indicates that they have regressed through every stage of reversionism.

“To repent” (metanoeo in the aorist active imperative) calls for making a decision a mental, not emotional, process of changing the mind. They must make constant decisions to rebound and to avail themselves of doctrine in order to recover. Poieo, an ingressive aorist, means “begin to do.” The “first works” were the erection of the edification complex in the soul by which they reached maturity. Consequently, the initial step toward recovery is the reconstruction of the ECS by means of GAP!

Unless these reversionists make the decision to recover, Christ will come to them (present middle indicative of erchomai). Although erchomai is sometimes used for the Second Advent, in this context it refers to the immediate certainty of discipline which Christ Himself will administer. Punitive action will not only affect the individuals involved in reversionism, but it can dissolve an entire local church or even a nation. Their “lamp” will be permanently extinguished unless they change their minds. This time metanoeo is in the aorist active subjunctive. Above, the ingressive aorist in the imperative mood commanded them to begin to recover; now the constantive aorist implies that they must make a series of positive decisions toward doctrine. They may or may not comply: the subjunctive mood is the mood of free will.

LUKEWARM BELIEVERS

And unto the messenger of the local church in the area of Laodicea, write. The One who is the Object of faith [Jesus), the Witness, the faithful and dependable One, the originating Source of the act of creation from the God, communicates these things (Rev. 3:14).

While Jesus Christ is the Source of all Bible doctrine. He did not convey this message directly to the church but to the Apostle John. John in turn relayed the message to the divinely appointed messenger of the local church at Laodicea, one of the three cities, along with Colossae and Hierpolis, in the Lyons Valley of what is now western Turkey. In every generation, Jesus Christ is faithful in warning reversionists — not directly, but through pastors teaching Bible doctrine. This passage contains as clear an admonition concerning reversionism as can be found anywhere in the Word of God.

I am cognizant of your production, that you are neither cold nor hot. 0 that you were cold or hot (Rev. 3:15)!

The Lord Jesus Christ in His omniscience knew that the Laodiceans were not producing according to James 1:22-25 — where the believer is commanded to be a “doer of the Word” and not a “hearer only.” A “hearer only” is either a reversionist or a believer who suffers from roadblocks of the soul which prevent his application of doctrine. A “doer” is one who, under the function of GAP, is advancing to supergrace.

That the Laodiceans were neither cold nor hot immediately establishes them as believers. Had they been cold — unbelievers — the solution to their problem would have been simple: one act of non-meritorious faith in Jesus Christ would have changed their status from unbeliever to believer in a moment (Acts 16:31). Had they been hot — supergrace or ultra-supergrace believers — there would have been no problem in the first place. This passage is therefore addressed to

believers somewhere between these two extremes.

So therefore, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to vomit you out from my mouth (Rev. 3:16).

“Lukewarm” (chliaros) implies that they had once been hot but had now cooled off. Chliaros also denotes water mixed with salt which causes vomiting. The Laodicean churches were made up of x-number of believers who, in a status of reversionism, were nauseous to the Lord. Nauseous, yes; but dead, no. Where there is life. there is hope! The recovery begins with a warning of divine discipline. A combination of anthropomorphism and anthropopathism, vomiting expresses the principle of discipline, both national and personal.

Because you keep on contending I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing; and you do not know that you are miserable and pitiable and destitute, both blind and naked (Rev. 3:17).

While “rich” includes having money, it encompasses much more. The Laodiceans possessed an abundance of the details of life which had accrued under supergrace prosperity. Any time the Source is ignored and the details of life (money, materialistic possessions, social life, success) are given priority over doctrine, even for a day, you have become lukewarm; you have your foot on a banana peel, and you are beginning the slide toward reversionism!

Such a believer is unaware of his true condition. His delusion is substantiated by five descriptive adjectives:

(1) “He is miserable.” The compound adjective talaiporos is formed from the Attic verb tlao, meaning “to endure,” and the noun poros, “callous” or “scar tissue.” “To endure scar tissue” is to be miserable or distressed — the First stage of divine discipline. The Laodiceans, with all their wealth, succumbed to the reactor factors and had plunged headlong into pleasure-seeking escapism. Supergrace riches in themselves can neither purchase nor guarantee happiness! The awakening occurs when the mature believer’s happiness turns sour or when some catastrophe hits.

(2) “He is pitiable.” Eleeinos denotes the second or intensive stage of divine discipline.

(3) “He is destitute.” Ptochos is best translated “beggar” or “destitute” and connotes a dependence on others for support or happiness. A person becomes destitute when the hedonistic rat race does not produce the desired result. Under Operation Boomerang, he escalates his frenzied pursuit of that elusive happiness only to fall into emotional revolt of the soul!

(4) “He is blind.” Tuphlos, mental or spiritual blindness, refers to the blackout of the soul. At this stage, the believer is incapable of clear thinking or common sense. Negative volition toward doctrine has opened the mataiotes; the influence of evil has penetrated both lobes. The believer is thus under strong delusion.

(5) “He is naked.” Though generally used for lack of clothing on the body, here gumnos is employed figuratively for nakedness of the soul. The nakedness results from the stages of reversionism and represents the opposite of the capacity for life which is acquired only through doctrine resident in the soul. A believer in this state always practices some form of reverse process reversionism.

I strongly advise you to purchase from Me [from the immediate source of Christ] gold, having been refined from the fire, that you may become rich and buy white clothes that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and purchase collyrium [eyesalve] to rub in the eyes that you may see (Rev. 3:18).

God never issues discipline without ample warning — the principle of grace before judgment. Divine advice to the reversionist therefore is that he purchase “gold” from the always-available source of Christ! Gold is Bible doctrine, and it is the pastor-teacher who refines it prepares it for you!

Next, we have a series of purpose clauses: (1) “that you may become rich,” or increase in riches daily. Following the analogy of the context, we enhance our spiritual riches through consistent daily exposure to Bible teaching. (2) “And buy white clothes that you may clothe yourself.” The edification complex is the clothing of the soul (Col. 3:10) and covers the nakedness of reversionism. (3) “And that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed.” Just as there is humiliation for the person who is made to appear unclothed in public, so the believer without an edification complex becomes a source of shame or discredit to himself. (4) “And rub in the eyes eyesalve that you may see.” The eyesalve, collyrium, was a medicine developed in Laodicea used to treat many diseases. Like eyesalve, doctrine must be “rubbed” into the soul to cure the blindness of reversionism. Just to use this ancient remedy once did not heal the disease; it had to be applied until complete recovery was effected. So it is with doctrine: there must be those daily applications of concentrated doses of

doctrine in the soul! Only then will your priorities begin to line up with the divine perspective and your reversionism be arrested.

Those whom I love, I punish and correct by discipline. Get hot, therefore, and repent (Rev. 3:19).

Again, the love between parent and child is ascribed to God as an anthropopathism to illustrate His justice. If the warning command to recover goes unheeded, God provides further motivation through discipline. Reversionism does not negate God’s justice, but the manifestation of His justice varies with the individual’s spiritual status. To the supergrace believer, divine justice is expressed in supergrace blessing; to the reversionist, in reproof. Corrective discipline refers to the warning stage of discipline and is designed to alert the lukewarm believer during his first stages of revolt against God. More severe punishment is required to jolt a reversionist out of strong delusion; consequently, the punishment described here is the intensive stage of discipline.

The present active imperative from zeleuo conveys a command which, if obeyed, would rectify the lukewarm condition: boil or get hot; put the fire to it! In other words, turn on to doctrine and stay with it! The road to recovery is difficult and painful and demands much time and effort; yet it can be conquered. The reversionist must first repent (metanoeo), or change his mind about the value of doctrine in his life. Then he must make constant decisions to ingest it into his soul.

Behold, I have stood up to the door with the result that I keep on standing up to the door, and knock repeatedly [warning discipline]. If anyone has heard My voice and has opened the door, I will enter face to face with him and have dinner with him, and he with Me (Rev. 3:20).

It is essential to bear in mind that this passage is addressed to believers; therefore, verse 20 is not a salvation appeal but an exhortation to reversion recovery. Here the believer is pictured as a house; inside there should be the warmth and presence of Jesus Christ. However, Christ has been evicted by reversionism: “ … Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates [reversionists] ?” (2 Cor. 13:5). “Unlike the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is permanent, the indwelling of Christ is conditional, since its only purpose is fellowship. While you are in reversionism, Christ cannot fellowship with you.

The believer has been adequately warned; now Jesus Christ stands ready to aid him in recovery. The Lord would rather come into the soul through doctrine than impose divine discipline. The fact that you have a “door” or volition of the soul is an example of a divine provision of grace for Phase Two. The Lord will continue to knock or warn until you either recover from reversionism or die the sin unto death.

“Hear,” a GAP word which means “to listen and concentrate,” represents an affirmative mental attitude toward the Word. The voice of the Lord is heard today through Bible doctrine (1 Cor. 2:16; Heb. 3:7, 15; 4:7). Repentance and positive response to doctrine “open the door” and lead to restoration. As a result, there is renewed fellowship with Christ.

“To sup” denotes excellent food and wonderful fellowship in a relaxed atmosphere. The food is doctrine; the relaxed atmosphere, capacity for life. The Lord Jesus Christ, as the Host, pours blessings into your “cup” fashioned out of supergrace capacity, while you, as the guest, receive the blessings by which God is glorified!

The one conquering I will give to him to sit in association with Me on My throne, as I also have conquered and have sat down in association with My Father on His throne (Rev. 3:21).

Phase Three is a certainty for all believers, regardless of their spiritual status in Phase Two. It is an absolute fact that every member of the royal family of God in the Church Age will enter the heavenly palace to share in the strategic victory of Christ in His resurrection, ascension, session and ultimate millennial and eternal rule. in addition, any believer who reaches and maintains supergrace, or who overcomes reversionism during Phase Two and “GAPs it” to supergrace receives the paragraph of surpassing grace blessings designed exclusively for him in eternity past, over and above the normal blessings of eternity!

The one having an ear hear what the Spirit communicates to the churches (Rev. 3:22).

Anyone who so desires can fire up a lukewarm soul! All he needs is ears. The lukewarm believer is commanded to hear and assimilate Bible doctrine. The Holy Spirit will perform His proper function in illuminating the Truth.

UNBELIEVER REVERSIONISM

FALSE TEACHERS

Reversionism in the unbeliever is rejection of or departure from the laws of divine establishment. While Bible doctrine furnishes stability in the believer’s soul, the laws of divine establishment form a kind of structure in the unbeliever’s soul comparable to the edification complex and serve as an anchor for his life. The second chapter of 2 Peter is devoted to the condemnation of false teachers whose reversionistic doctrine subverts the anchor of divine establishment in the soul. We will touch only on certain verses, however, in order to present the pattern of reversionism in the unbeliever.

But these false teachers, like animals without reason, having been born creatures of instinct for capture and destruction, constantly maligning in which things they have no understanding, and shall be destroyed in their own corruption. Being deprived of credit, the wages of unrighteousness [their human good judged at the Last Judgment] (2 Pet. 2:12, 13a).

Like animals that live by the inherent instinct of their nature, so false teachers operate on the impulse of their sin nature, divorced from reality and any perception of doctrine. Just as dangerous animals must be destroyed, false teachers also are slated for permanent removal at the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:12-15). By “denying the Lord that bought them” (2 Pet. 2:1), they bring about their own judgment. The characteristics of their reversionistic life are described in the second half of verse 13:

They regard as pleasure revelling in the daytime. Moral blots and a disgrace to society, constantly being stimulated by their own deceivings [false doctrine), while being lavishly entertained by you (2 Pet. 2:13b).

The objective of true communication is the inculcation of Bible doctrine so that believers can attain the grace life provided in Christ; but the apostate teacher focuses attention on his own life in order to entice the unwary into accepting his false message. However, the issue is not the personal life of a pastor-teacher but whether or not he communicates the truth. Yet personally charming, socially scintillating and ostentatiously pious, the deceitful communicators receive a wide hearing and everyone clamors to entertain them. Since false teaching requires little time for preparation, with characteristic lack of self-discipline, they indulge in frivolous distractions which guarantee that their unstudied messages will be superficial and inaccurate!

The general trend toward apostasy and negative volition to doctrine is revealed by the fact that the false teachers’ manner of life is extolled as commendable. Yet God evaluates them as a discredit to divine establishment and a disgrace to society. The hapless victims of their heresy are the real suckers. Such people not only accept the satanic doctrine, which leads to the strong delusion of reversionism, but they lavishly entertain the very ones who lead them down the path to destruction!

Having eyes full of adultery [adultresses — i.e., constantly committing mental adultery}, that cannot be restrained from sin [the old sin nature]; beguiling unstable souls: the right lobe having been trained with insatiable avarice, children of a curse [reversionists] (2 Pet. 2:14).

While the apostate preachers are undeniably attractive, the lack of restraint on their old sin natures spawns mental adultery and lasciviousness. Self-discipline and morality are essential for the function of establishment; but these people are non-disciplined and self-seeking, a further manifestation that they are antiestablishment, antigospel, antigrace and antidoctrine! Who is always deluded and trapped by this type of individual? The unstable person; the one who is negative to Bible doctrine or who rejects it as a criterion and depends instead on his feelings and emotions.

The hearts or right lobes of corrupt ministers have already been trained for hedonism (“avarice”) through emotional revolt and reversionism. The soul sets up a series of conditioned reflexes when it rejects authority and establishment. Once a person becomes insatiable in his desire for pleasure, he puts himself under his own curse — the self-induced misery of reversionism.

These reversionists are wells without water [doctrine], and clouds being driven along by a squall [unstable], for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved (2 Pet. 2:17).

In a figurative sense, water represents salvation in Isaiah 55:1; the Holy Spirit in John 7:38, 39; and Bible doctrine in Ephesians 5:26. False teachers are devoid of all three, but the water of the well stresses doctrine. The disappointment of finding a well in the desert filled with nothing but sand is analogous to the inability to quench one’s thirst from the perverted message of a false teacher. Rather than being refreshed by Bible doctrine, his disciples are parched by reversionistic philosophy.

All reversionists, whether teacher or pupil, are unstable people who have no anchor — clouds driven by a squall. Those who are overtaken by the storm the victims of apostates suffer from impaired vision. Zophos, “blackness,” is the blackout in their right lobes which caused them to say No to the Gospel; skotos, “darkness,” is the blindness that pervades the soul as a result of rejection of this Gospel information (2 Cor. 4:3, 4). Darkness accumulates more darkness — blackout of the soul, scar tissue and reverse process reversionism. When an entire people are engulfed in darkness from negative volition to the Gospel or doctrine, that nation suffers catastrophe.

For bombastically speaking arrogant words from the source of the vacuum [mataiotes], they keep enticing [the unstable souls’ of verse 14] by lust, by lasciviousness, those that are scarcely escaping from them, having “a pattern of life in the sphere of error [false doctrine] (2 Pet. 2:18).

These subversive preachers, who literally tutor men in treason, teach “from total blackout of the soul. They imitate the “way of Balaam,” whose reversionism led to madness (2 Pet. 2:15, 16). When they speak (phtheggomai), they employ the same style as Balaam’s ass — loud, bombastic, eloquent words! In this instance, however, the religious con artists must use pompous, persuasive language to cover the emptiness of their message. It takes this type of rhetoric to reach reversionistic people. Unable to absorb the truth of the Word, reversionists are therefore impressed by four and five-syllable words. The mataiotes allows demon doctrine to enter the soul and obscure the truth.

Again the warning is issued regarding the ability of false teachers to beguile or trap unsuspecting victims. Here the danger is from the trend of the old sin nature, which in this case is lasciviousness (2 Cor. 12:21). Just as fornication stimulates the body, so the satanic doctrines of profligate teachers titillate the intellect. Those who are under the influence of these depraved but deceptive renegades are said to have barely escaped from their first exposure to fallacious concepts.

Subsequent rejection of establishment or the Gospel pulls the rug out from under them, and their resultant volatile pattern of life is consistent with their rejection. The groundwork has been laid for their enslavement.

Promising their intended victims freedom, they themselves exist as slaves to corruption. For by whom anyone has been defeated, by this same one [reversionist] he has been enslaved (2 Pet. 2:19).

The treacherous teachers offer enticing promises of freedom, or salvation, yet they themselves are in bondage to their old sin natures. Enslaved in all the stages of reversionism, apostate ministers are unable to free anyone. In fact, they actually set up a system of slavery.

THE PROGRESSION OF REVERSIONISM IN THE UNBELIEVER

For if, having escaped the defilement of the cosmos by means of epignosis of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, again having become involved by this [false doctrine] they are defeated, the latter end has become worse than the first (2 Pet. 2:20).

This verse presents three phases in the progression of enslavement to false teaching and reversionism in the unbeliever: (1) exposure to and rejection of false teaching; (2) exposure to and rejection of the Gospel; (3) exposure to and acceptance of apostate doctrine. Many unbelievers, reared under the laws of establishment, have unusual common sense and discernment. Divine laws, instituted for believer and unbeliever alike, make it possible for the human race to continue and for the angelic conflict to reach its completion. They are the unbeliever’s only defense against satanic evil.

Apopheugo, “having escaped,” means to resist false doctrine on the basis of divine establishment, common sense, discernment and sense of humor. This is the same Greek word used in 2 Peter 2:18, where the disciples of these unprincipled teachers have barely escaped being enslaved by the satanic system of evil. Now suppose such an unbeliever hears a message which is not only anti-doctrine but also antiestablishment. Immediately, he throws up negative signals toward it. Why? Because establishment principles in his soul have taught him discernment and common sense. He cannot tolerate such nonsense and rejects the entire package. At this juncture, he has eluded the satanic infiltration. Then comes the crucial test: this unbeliever with good common sense and excellent judgment is exposed to the Gospel of salvation by grace.

God [the Father] so loved the world [unbelievers] that He gave His uniquely born Son [virgin born, without a sin nature], that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish in eternal judgment but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

He that believes on the Son possesses eternal life; and he that believes not the Son shall not see [eternal] life, but the wrath of God [the Lake of Fire] abides on him (John 3:36).

When an unbeliever hears the Gospel, it enters the left lobe only. Since he has no human spirit, it is impossible for him to understand spiritual phenomena (1 Cor. 2:14). God the Holy Spirit therefore takes the place of the human spirit for the unbeliever (John 16:8-11). He converts Gospel information to gnosis, which is objective information in the left lobe, and cycles it directly into the frame of reference in the right lobe, where it becomes epignosis Gospel, or knowledge fully understood. Once the Gospel has thus become reality to the unbeliever, his volition is forced to make a decision. If he responds rather than reacts, he simply exhales faith in Christ.

Positive volition toward God’s Plan must act in a non-meritorious way; faith is the only system of perception compatible with grace! It is an exhale, not an inhale. You do not “invite Christ into your heart” for salvation! And this is not merely a matter of semantics. Every word in the Bible has utmost significance. Many words have technical connotations in the original language, and the designation for salvation is no exception! When the Bible says “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31), there can be no substitute for the word “believe.” When used in connection with salvation, repentance (Acts 3:19) is a change of mental attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ on the basis of Gospel information received. The change of mind immediately precedes or is coterminous with the decision to believe in Christ.

However, when the unbeliever turns a deaf ear to the Gospel, he begins the destruction not only of the laws of divine establishment in his right lobe but also of his common sense and discernment. Even his sense of humor is no longer a sufficient safeguard. Then at such time that he is re-exposed to the same heresy, he accepts it. The reason he buys it the second time is that he has begun to develop a case of reversionism from negative volition to the Gospel.

As long as the unbeliever is alive, salvation is open to him. But persistent refusal to accept Christ unlocks the mataiotes, and satanic doctrine infiltrates his left lobe so that he looks at life strictly from the human viewpoint (1 Cor. 2:1-16). The resultant blackout of the soul causes him to reject further exposures to the Gospel, and scar tissue forms in the soul, which places him under the strong delusion of 2 Thessalonians 2:11. Now he is trapped in reversionism, and the principle of evil becomes his life-style.

After the unbeliever accepts false doctrine he had previously resisted, “the latter end [enslavement to apostasy] has become worse than the first.” The buildup of the principles of establishment in his soul has been torn down by his own opposition to the message of salvation, and he has literally become enslaved to counterfeit doctrine — the antithesis of John 8:32: “Ye shall know the truth [doctrine], and the truth shall make you free.” Such an individual is a detriment both to himself and to his nation. Formerly a solid, conservative citizen, he is now a confused liberal.

As the number of liberals increases in a nation, so does the inevitability, apart from the overruling grace of God, of the nation’s disintegration. A people defeated internally ultimately are conquered externally by an aggressor nation. Adherence and obedience to establishment principles protects the national entity; disregard for establishment by the majority of its citizens secures its doom!

It would have kept on being better for them not having fully known the way of righteousness, than having fully known, to turn away from the holy commandment, having been delivered to them for their advantage (2 Pet. 2:21).

It would be far better for those victimized by false teaching had they never heard the Gospel. Why? As long as they have not rejected the truth, unbelievers still have an uncomplicated opportunity to be saved. They simply need to hear the Gospel. But once they cast aside the Gospel and accept falsehood, the establishment protection in their soul disintegrates, and they destroy their freedom to believe in Christ. Consequently, there is nothing worse than to be a reversionistic unbeliever!

In His ministry of common grace, the Holy Spirit makes the way of salvation clear. As the Gospel is proclaimed, either through witnessing or by mass evangelism, the Spirit convinces unbelievers “of sin, of righteousness and of judgment” (John 16:811). First, “sin” is defined in this passage as “unbelief,” or the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ the salvation maladjustment to the justice of God. Second, the unbeliever must see his “inability to measure up to the absolute righteousness of God; but when he is properly adjusted to His justice, the righteousness of God is imputed to him. Third, “judgment” is the justice of God adjusting to the unbeliever in eternity, when all unbelievers are condemned to the Lake of Fire along with Satan and his angels (Rev. 20:10-15).

The “holy commandment” — to believe in Christ (1 John 3:23) was clearly communicated to the unbelievers in 2 Peter 2. They had fully understood, the issue of salvation before they refused it. They were therefore without excuse! Of their own free will they exchanged freedom for slavery; stability of soul for reversionism and evil. It is this principle that accounts for the astonishing number of weirdos in our country today, the deterioration of our military and our rapid capitulation to socialism and communism.

But it has happened unto them [the three phases of reversionism in the unbeliever] according to the true proverb [Prov. 26:11} : the dog, having returned to his own vomit, and the sow, having been washed, [returns] to her wallowing in the mud (2 Pet. 2:22).

The “dog” refers to the Gentile unbeliever but is also analogous to the male reversionist; the “sow,” to the Jewish unbeliever, or to the female reversionist. In the first illustration, the dog ingests some food. His stomach, acting as his discernment, sends up signals to reject the food, and the dog vomits it. I have observed this phenomenon of the canine world many times. After ridding himself of the unwanted contents in his stomach (usually on the carpet!), he gets to thinking that there might be something in it that he missed, and back he goes to try it again!

This is a repugnant, nauseating analogy! But that is precisely why the Bible uses it to demonstrate the pattern of reversionism in the unbeliever. He returns to his vomit — the same erroneous teaching he originally rejected — and now accepts it. The difference is in the condition of his soul. When it was stabilized, he tossed aside false doctrine; but later, with his soul in emotional revolt and chaos, he indiscriminately embraces it. Negative volition to the Gospel shattered the laws of establishment in his soul, and he became a confirmed case of reversionism.

No more despicable insult could be hurled at the Jewish reversionist than to liken him to a sow! Here again we see the pattern: the naturally filthy pig has been washed, brushed and powdered; yet when turned loose, she inevitably rushes back to the sty and wallows deliciously in the slime of the mudhole. Likewise, the unbeliever with establishment principles might have been free from falsehood; but once he spurns the saving work of Christ, he rushes headlong into the quagmire of reversionism and evil!

CATEGORIES OF REVERSIONISM

The detours by which you can be sidetracked into reversionism are legion. When you drift off course from grace, your individual area of weakness invariably launches you into the frantic search for happiness and ultimately establishes your own reversionistic pattern. Such a pattern might fall into one of many categories, areas in which you become obsessed with certain details of life. The Word of God in your soul, however, will guide you safely past these pitfalls if you heed its warning signals. Therefore, you should be aware of several representative types of reversionism in order to avoid becoming ensnared by them.

MONETARY REVERSIONISM

Money per se is not sinful; it is, in fact, an extremely useful item. To not enjoy what money can do would be abnormal. As a medium of exchange, it is necessary for the efficient function of an economy and is therefore related to the laws of divine establishment. Monetary transactions are recorded from Genesis to Revelation as a normal activity of life. To possess, to save and to spend money are all absolutely legitimate as far as the Word of God is concerned; but when any of these activities is magnified out of proportion and the love of money becomes an obsession, it is evidence of monetary reversionism (James 4:13,14; 5:1-6).

Monetary reversionism is well documented in Scripture. A few outstanding case histories are those of Solomon (Eccl. 5:106:2), Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10), and Balaam (Jude 11). The “error,” or “deceit [plane] of Balaam” connotes three areas of delusion regarding money: (1) that money is a means of happiness; (2) that money brings security; (3) that money can buy anything! Yet apart from doctrine resident in the soul, there can be only superficial happiness in possessing money or any of the details of life. Security is provided through logistical grace and the supergrace or ultra-supergrace life, not through the accumulation of money (Matt. 6:24-33). Salvation, peace, stability and love are functions of the soul and cannot be purchased!

Let us note the principle of monetary reversionism as found in 1 Timothy 6.

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not concur with sound doctrine — namely, those doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ, even to that doctrine pertaining to godliness — he has received blind arrogance, understanding nothing; … men who have become corrupt in their mind [blackout and scar tissue of the soul] and have become devoid of that doctrine; therefore constantly presuming that godliness is prosperity (1 Tim. 6:3-5).

As in all forms of reversionism, monetary reversionism is characterized by the neglect or rejection of Bible doctrine. Paul therefore begins his discourse on this field of reversionism by stating the great fundamental issue of the Christian life: sound doctrine is the lifeblood of spiritual growth, while false doctrine is the poison that stunts the growing process.

By rejecting the truth, the reversionist has reversed the correct priorities and has assumed that material prosperity implies godliness. “Godliness” (eusebeia) connotes the duty toward God of every believer to reach maturity by establishing a balance of residency in the soul between the filling of the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine. Godliness synonymizes the supergrace or ultra-supergrace status in which material blessings accrue to the believer under God’s grace provision. But in his inordinate occupation with wealth, the reversionist distorts the true meaning of godliness by going through the motions of functioning under GAP. His motivation is not occupation with Christ but material reward. This is using doctrine for illicit purposes. While temporal blessing is one of the characteristics of the supergrace life, every well-off believer cannot presume that he is in supergrace. Remember, the devil is also in the prosperity business. As long as it advances his cause, he exercises his ability to promote reversionists under the influence of evil. But while the reversionistic believer may receive temporary happiness, promotion or success from cosmos diabolicus — Satan’s world system — all this can be removed by divine discipline or used against him for discipline where he does not have capacity to enjoy it.

But godliness associated with capacity for life keeps on being a great means of prosperity (1 Tim. 6:6).

Now we have the true principle in contrast to the false in verse 5.

Affluence does not signify godliness, but godliness itself is spiritual prosperity. The believer is godly because of maximum doctrine resident in his soul. From this resident doctrine, not from money, come the capacities for life, love and happiness as well as the capacity for genuine material prosperity.

For nothing have we brought into this world: it is also obvious that neither are we able to carry out anything (1 Tim. 6:7).

We entered the world without things or the capacity for things. Things are the possessions of life associated with happiness; capacity is the inner soul attitude which is developed under the Grace Plan of God through spiritual growth in Phase Two (2 Pet. 3:18). The capacity for life, a dividend of supergrace and ultra-supergrace, goes with us in Phase Three because of its relationship to doctrine. The only possession we can carry on our trip to heaven is what is already stored in our souls by way of Bible doctrine!

Now, having nourishing food and a change of clothing, let us be content with these things (1 Tim. 6:8).

What is the source of your food and clothing? They are DI — “Divine Issue,” not GI (Government Issue)! God marked out your logistics in eternity past. They may consist of little else than food and clothing, but they will be sufficient to maintain life,. If you advance all the way to supergrace or ultra-supergrace, additional blessings are issued to you which glorify God. Verse 8 states the minimum standard for contentment. It is not necessary to accumulate an abundance of materialistic possessions -to be happy. If you are not content, it is because” you are minus doctrine; if you have doctrine in your soul, you will be content with a can of tuna fish and a barrel!

But those believers who desire to be rich apart from supergrace blessings fall into temptation and a trap, also into many stupid and harmful desires [lusts], which drown those men [reversionistic believers] in ruin [reversionism] and wasteful destruction [sin unto death] (1 Tim. 6:9).

The lusts and desires of false priorities are disastrous in the life of a believer. If verse 9 describes you, your priorities are reversed. Money becomes your master, and you scheme or cheat to obtain it. While “temptation” is enticement to sin, the “trap” is the self-induced misery of reversionism. You may possess money and everything that money can purchase; but with all your money, prosperity and success, you will be miserable and depressed. The trap becomes a life of divine discipline, and the reversionistic believer who departs from the world by way of the sin unto death has lived a wasted life. Wealth, success, prosperity and promotion attained in reversionism do not glorify God, nor can the monetary reversionist ever be satisfied with any of his gains.

For the love of money [avarice] is a root of all those different kinds of evil, through which [love of money] certain ones [reversionistic believers], by intensely desiring it [that is, giving money the number one priority] , have swerved [gone astray] from the doctrine and have impaled themselves with many types of pains (1 Tim. 6:10).

This verse is often and mistakenly interpreted to say that money per se is the root of all evil. But notice, it is the love of money which creates the problem of monetary reversionism — the avarice, cupidity and inordinate lust for wealth! “The root” (riza) is actually “a root”; there is no definite article in the original text. The tree of evil has many roots. The love of money is the root of certain categories of evil, particularly materialism lust.

One of the most dangerous snares in life is the love of money. The minute you begin to love money it becomes your master, and you have succumbed to monetary reversionism. Money is a useful servant but a cruel master. You corrupt money when you allow it to dictate to you; in turn, it corrupts you and motivates you to use it illegitimately for bribery, to buy power or even love. When believers are caught up in these diversions, they swerve off course from Bible doctrine. In defecting from the true source of prosperity, the monetary reversionist has pierced himself with divine discipline — the pain of mind and body which accompanies the last four stages of reversionism.

But you, O man of God [supergrace believer], keep avoiding these things; instead, keep pursuing righteousness, godliness, doctrine, love [filling of the Spirit], perseverance in the function of GAP, humility [grace orientation] (1 Tim. 6:11).

Rather than setting your sights on wealth, aim for the righteousness delineated in the divine Plan — the establishment of a command post of doctrine in the soul! Pursue godliness — the balance of residency in the soul between Bible doctrine and the Filling of the Spirit. In other words, avoid following lesser ends and losing the “pearl of great price” !The pursuit of these grace virtues is achieved through the utilization of GAP and the erection of the edification complex in the soul, represented here by grace orientation.

Teach those that are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to fix their security on the uncertainty of riches, but to fix their security on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17).

Timothy had both rich and poor in his congregation. Paul charged him specifically to warn the affluent members against monetary reversionism. It is a real temptation for the wealthy to feel secure in their material possessions; yet the poverty-stricken are not exempt from monetary reversionism. In fact, poor people are often more avaricious -than the person of substance whom they use as an excuse for harboring resentment and jealousy. The poor are also frequently more devious and dishonest about money; furthermore, not having it, they assume that money is a panacea. Thus, they easily become the pawn of politicians to demand socialistic legislation, higher taxes to “soak the rich” (a heinous fallacy), and other systems to redistribute the wealth.

In view of the uncertainty of life, it is essential to cling only to that which comprises intrinsic value — Bible doctrine. God cannot give everyone money; most people would blow it! Instead, He has given every believer grace capital — Bible doctrine — by which to redeem time. For believers who utilize divine capital, God hooks up temporal prosperity which they can enjoy to the utmost. If we would just sit down and take in doctrine and invest God’s capital, the dividends would pour in, and we would have capacity for them.

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you must realize that you are His guest on this earth. By His sovereign decision, everything you possess could be swept away in a moment of economic or natural catastrophe. On the other hand, whether in time of national prosperity or of national adversity, God in His sovereignty can provide all that you count wonderful. Regardless of your circumstances, the issue is not the possession of money or the lack of it but doctrine in the soul. The only

believers who are ever truly bankrupt are those without Bible doctrine.

VERBAL REVERSIONISM

Three categories of personal sin exist in the human race: (1) mental sins, which include envy, jealousy, pride, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, anger, guilt reaction, self-pity; (2) verbal sins like gossip, slander, maligning, judging, lying: and (3) overt sins, such as murder, adultery, theft, drunkenness.

Each category of sin originates in the old sin nature, and your volition is involved every time you sin. You transgress divine standards, knowingly or unknowingly, because you want to! That portion of the anatomy known as the tongue is the instrument of verbal sins. The habitual practice of the sins of the tongue is the manifestation of verbal reversionism (James 4:11:5:9,12).

Of the seven items on God’s “abomination list” in Proverbs 6:1619, three are verbal sins. These are categorized as slander, lying and the use of the tongue for trouble-making. The three mental sins on the list are directly related to evil: pride, a right lobe devising evil conspiracies and feet which run to evil. Murder, the only overt sin listed, can also be committed with the tongue character assassination (Ps. 64:3, 4). The most devastating weapon any individual possesses is the tongue. Yet no country has ever enacted laws to remove it, although that would undoubtedly benefit the nation far more than the shortsighted folly of anti-gun legislation!

Sins committed with the tongue — one of the most vicious and vile forms of carnality that emanates from the soul — are motivated by mental attitude sins (Ps. 5:9). People indulge in verbal sins casually, thoughtlessly, almost haphazardly, even stupidly, or often vindictively with implacability or bitterness, as the follow-through of some mental sin. Verbal sins in the local church are commonly regarded as inconsequential and are generally excused, yet they can wreak havoc with an entire congregation (James 3:5, 6).

Believers are commanded to separate from anyone in the local church who is repeatedly guilty of sins of the tongue (Rom. 16:17, 18) since this type of individual is designated as a troublemaker (Ps. 52:1, 2). Often Christians find a pseudo-compatibility with other believers and band together to criticize, slander or malign some mutual, often innocent victim; they work each other up in a relentless attack to destroy this person’s reputation. Such activity eventually becomes a psychopathic social life, and these tragic believers slide from one stage of reversionism to another!

Many of you think that some shocking overt sin must be committed before divine discipline is administered. But you can find yourself under triple-compound discipline very quickly as a result of verbal sins.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For by which judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and by which measure you measure, it shall be measured back to you (Matt. 7:1,2).

First, there is discipline for the mental attitude sin that sponsored the sin of the tongue. Second, the verbal sin — gossip, slander, judging, criticism — also carries discipline; now the punishment is doubled. Third, God transfers to you whatever judgment would have gone to the one whom you accused of sinning — and you are under triple-compound discipline. Furthermore, if the sins you reported were real, your victim is relieved of the punishment. If you merely imagined the sins you so viciously enumerated, your innocent victim is blessed. If you would just keep your mouth shut and your nose out of the other person’s business, whatever sins he commits will receive God’s undivided attention and judgment, which, I can assure you, is far more effective than your petty criticism or maligning (Ps. 64:7, 8). However, when you persist in verbal sins, your fate is sure: the sin unto death!

James 5:9-20 is an illustration of verbal reversionism and its resultant discipline — physical illness (verses 14-16), national catastrophe (verses 17, 18) and the sin unto death (verse 20).

Stop criticizing, brethren [members of the royal family of God], against others of the same kind [fellow believers] that you not be judged. Behold, the Judge stands in the past with the result that He keeps standing before the door (James 5:9).

The present active imperative from stenazo means “to vent, to complain, to murmur, to malign, to slander, to criticize”; in other words, to be guilty of the sins of the tongue. The customary present tense indicates a constantly recurring activity. In the active voice, the action is produced by a reversionistic believer whose frantic search for happiness involves belittling others by means of his wagging tongue. Verbal reversionism operates on the principle of building your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness.

The believer who persists in this type of reversionism will most certainly be judged (krino), or disciplined. The Judge, or krites, is God Himself. The English word “critic” is derived from this Greek word. The believer who was critical of others must now face the divine Critic! This is not the judgment of carnality; the solution for carnality is rebound. The judgment of this passage is strictly for reversionism, which results from negative volition toward doctrine. The pattern of discipline for reversionism is gradual: first comes warning adversity — standing or knocking at the door; then increased pressure, such as illness; and finally, the sin unto death. When the believer is in reversionism, God has no recourse other than to shock him or to shake up his soul as a warning to repent.

During Phase Two, the believer has the choice of recognizing one of two authorities: the authority of his right pastor who teaches Bible doctrine; or if he ignores doctrine, the direct disciplinary authority of God. When you absent yourself from the jurisdiction of your right pastor, the only way God can capture your attention is to inflict punishment. If you remain insensitive to the cause of your suffering or if you retaliate, you will go right on out of this life by the ignominious

sin unto death.

However, James 5:10, 11 is parenthetically inserted to remind us that not all adversity is punitive action. The growing believer or the one who is in supergrace often experiences suffering for the purpose of blessing, and this is always true for the ultra-supergrace believer. When the storm clouds are overhead, you should take stock of your spiritual status to determine whether you are taking a nose dive into one of the stages of reversionism or whether the pressure is being applied to facilitate your spiritual growth. If you are positive to doctrine, then the latter will be true.

The discourse on verbal reversionism is resumed in verse 12.

And more important [before all things] , members of the royal family of God, stop making promises with a solemn oath neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but your yes keep on being yes, and your no, no that you not fall under judgment (James 5:12).

In this passage, swearing falsely is employed as the illustration of a sin of the tongue. The present active imperative from omnuo means “to make a promise with an oath.” Omnuo always indicates that the statement itself is a falsehood; but in order to make it appear as the truth, it is proclaimed with a solemn oath. God’s name is often used as a means to cover such a lie. The oath “as God is my witness” can make a fabrication more impressive; the false can masquerade as truth when declared in the name of heaven or in the name of some honest or respected person. Verbal reversionists are dishonest in their souls; thus, their entire lives are characterized by sham, pretense, dissimulation and treachery (Ps. 12).

“Let your yes be yes, and your no, no” is idiomatic for honesty and integrity of soul. It demands that-the expression of the soul’s content in speech be candid, frank, without subterfuge. We in this country are constantly being duped by dishonest, reversionistic politicians — be they believers or unbelievers — who are seeking an easy ride to power through hypocrisy and deception. With half-truths and fraudulent promises, many of these political carrion feed on the so-called minorities, alleging to champion their greedy demands while actually using this cause as a stepping-stone to power.

Any believer who becomes embroiled in the final stages of reversionism, whether verbal or any other type, is subject to severe divine discipline — a life of untold misery and suffering (Ps. 77:1-10). The cursing can be turned to blessing only through the principles of reversion recovery.

Verse 13 again interrupts the exposition of reversionism with a welcome interlude. In contrast to the reversionist, a supergrace believer is now described as being oriented to life and possessing true happiness in either adversity or prosperity.

Anyone among you suffering adversity? Keep offering prayer! Anyone in good spirits? Keep singing in ecstasy of the moment with full possession of your mental faculties (James 5:13).

The reversionist utilizes his voice for propagating deceit; the mature believer expresses his capacity for life in prayer and in joyous singing. The control of the tongue is often a manifestation of spiritual maturity of supergrace status (James 3:2). In fact, a believer can actually lengthen his life and find greater blessings by avoiding the sins of the tongue (Ps. 34:l2, 13).

NATIONAL REVERSIONISM

While the fifth chapter of James primarily stresses certain facets of prayer, three categories of reversionism are brought into focus. We have covered briefly monetary and verbal reversionism; now, beginning with verse 17, James records the experience of a supergrace believer in a national crisis. In this third illustration, the prophet Elijah, a fantastic spiritual giant, patriot and supergrace hero, stemmed the tide of national reversionism by his prayer (1 Kings 17).

Elijah was a human being similar in feelings, circumstances and pressures to us; and by means of prayer, he began to pray not to send rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and one half years (James 5:17). Elijah faced maximum apostasy and reversionism, which threatened his nation with catastrophe. Aware that Israel was on the verge of the fifth cycle of discipline, Elijah besought God on behalf of the people. What was the content of Elijah’s prayer? That God would “knock on the door” !And for three and a half years God knocked on the door of the Northern Kingdom to warn them of impending disaster (Deut. 28:23, 24). Elijah had fearlessly announced God’s warning to Ahab, the king of Israel, who promptly ignored it. Just as promptly, the rain ceased and economic depression set in. The drought devastated the agricultural economy and ultimately served to spur the nation to repentance and reversion recovery.

While believers and unbelievers alike had been wasting time in reversionism and the practice of reverse process reversionism (1 Kings 16:3033), Elijah had redeemed time through prayer and Bible doctrine and became the man for the crisis! At the termination of three and a half years of famine, Elijah, who by now had a price on his head, went back to Ahab (1 Kings 18:1720) and issued his ultimatum to the people of Israel:

How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word (1 Kings 18:21b, KJV).

Elijah’s heroic challenge to the prophets of Baal is well-known (1 Kings 18:25-40). In a period of great national apostasy, a supergrace communicator of the Word stands almost alone (1 Kings 18:22). Elijah was no exception: he was by himself as he ordered the four hundred prophets of Baal to offer their sacrifice and call down fire from their gods. When they were unsuccessful, Elijah called down fire from his God. Just as in the two instances of prayer offered for the reversionists in James 5:1416, so after preparing his sacrifice, Elijah prayed for the repentance of the nation (1 Kings 18:36, 37). Should the people respond, he would then be able to finish the prayer begun three and a half years before. The prayer for the reversionist does not become operational until he has a change of attitude toward Bible doctrine. In answer to Elijah’s prayer, the fire from heaven, which: consumed the sacrifice, sparked the necessary repentance (1 Kings 18:39).

Elijah had begun his first prayer in Ahab’s palace; the prayer, interrupted by three and a half years of national depression, would be concluded on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:4245). This is explained in James 5:17, where Elijah began to pray (ingressive aorist of proseuchomai). In verse 18, the same morphology, proseuchomai, is used; but this time, it is the culminative aorist he terminated his prayer.

And he offered prayer again, and the heaven gave rain, and the land germinated, sprouted, produced its production (James 5:18).

“And he prayed (proseuchomai) again (kai plus palin)” This grammatical construction indicates the resumption of the original prayer after the elapse of three and a half years. As soon as Israel repented, or changed its mind, Elijah went into action. First, he ordered the prophets of Baal seized and executed. That was a manifestation of true love for his nation: as insurance against further corruption of the people, the traitors must be removed. Then, upon removing the useless, reversionistic king from the scene (1 Kings 18:41, 42), Elijah’s prayer for rain became effectively operational (James 5:16b): the rains came, the land revived and the nation was delivered. In place of the fifth cycle of discipline and slavery, God provided national prosperity so that the inhabitants might recover from reversionism, be evangelized where necessary and function under GAP to supergrace.

One of the marked advantages of the believer in supergrace, ultra-supergrace, or the one who is advancing toward the high ground, is the ability to pray for himself in time of adversity. His prayers have great power, and he can also pray effectively for the reversionist. This is a vital function of the supergrace believer, for there comes a time when the reversionist is in such an advanced state of strong delusion, severe illness or dying that he cannot even rebound for himself; he can only suffer!

Is it indeed possible for an entire nation to sink into reversionism? The answer is found in Hosea 4. We will look briefly at the first six verses in which this principle is declared.

Hear the word [doctrine] of Jehovah, you sons of Israel [Northern Kingdom]; for Jehovah has a case against the citizens of the nation because there is nothing of doctrine being taught, nothing of grace being applied and nothing of knowing Elohim being accomplished in the Land (Hos. 4:1).

“Hear,” the qal imperative of the Hebrew verb shama, connotes respect for the authority of the one who teaches doctrine as well as concentration on the message. Shama is equivalent to the function of GAP. The indictment concerned the fact that there was an obvious case of reversionism and evil in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God was presenting evidence against them — not for the purpose of prosecution but as a warning to change their present course. Should His grace be rejected, God would have no alternative but to exercise His righteousness and justice by removing the nation from history. Not only did the Jews fail in their responsibility to disseminate doctrine to other nations, but they neglected it themselves and finally rejected the truth altogether. As a result, Israel began to decline, both spiritually and materially. Bible doctrine is the very lifeline of a nation as well as of the individual believer in Jesus Christ. In ancient history, both Assyria and Rome exemplified this principle. SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus) is the record-holder for the longest tenure as a national entity in all of human history, for it existed, first as a republic, then as an empire, for over a thousand years. But the outstanding period in its history occurred during the era of the Antonine Caesars, from A.D. 96 to A.D. 192. For one hundred years, the Romans were free from warfare. Why? No one dared to challenge them because they possessed the strongest and best-disciplined army in the world.

An even more significant factor was the presence of a superb unit from Cappadocia — the Sixth Legion, known as the “Thunderbolts” — which was recruited from believers only. Bible doctrine gave them a fantastic mental attitude and “made them fearless. Just before the short punitive expedition against the Quadi in 174, this warlike tribe had ambushed a Roman detachment, including the Thunderbolts. But these fantastic believer-soldiers fought a rear guard action under almost

impossible odds, and by sheer courage and indomitable will, they not only reestablished their lines but soundly defeated the enemy! Their intrepidity and example bolstered the entire populace and contributed to the tremendous” prosperity of Rome, which has never been equaled by any other nation. None of the Antonine Caesars were believers. Yet during this period the canon of Scripture was completed, and the impact of Bible doctrine was being felt.

In the Northern Kingdom at the time of Hosea’s writing, circa 700 B.C., religion and legalism had replaced doctrine and grace. When this condition prevails, it inevitably results in confusion, anti-military concepts, loss of freedom, and slavery for a nation. The worst disaster that could befall any people is outlined in Hosea 4:1: no doctrine, no grace and no knowledge of God!

Instead, there is lying [false swearing] and deceiving; murdering and stealing; they break in to commit adultery [rape], and blood reaches out and touches blood [unrestrained violence] (Hos. 4:2).

Verse 2 cites condemning evidence of the fact that the Northern Kingdom had violated the established norms of doctrine, grace and knowledge of God. False swearing is a violation of the third commandment (Ex. 20:7), which prohibits the use of the name of God for evil purposes or as a front for unworthy causes. Also forbidden by this commandment is false testimony or perjury in court sworn in the name of God to be true — to say, for example, “as God is my witness.”

In addition to being devoid of honor and integrity, people in reversionism are themselves susceptible to deceit, so that a reversionistic land abounds in con artists and liars. A man’s word is no longer his bond; business and professional malpractice is the order of the day. Once a country loses doctrine, it also forfeits its principles, and trust is a thing of the past.

In the second couplet, murdering (ratsach) and stealing (ganav) are infractions of the sixth and eighth commandments (Ex. 20:13, 15) and refer to crime — a combination of sin and evil. Crime increases in a nation in direct proportion to the decrease in the knowledge of doctrine and enforcement of the laws of establishment.

Wrongly translated “to commit adultery,” the next phrase is much stronger in the Hebrew: it connotes sex crimes, including rape, a symptom, when rampant, of a sick society, and a breach of the seventh commandment (Ex. 20:14). In a reversionistic nation, murder and violence reign, and there is neither doctrine nor establishment to stem the tide. But when human freedom is thus in jeopardy, God Himself steps in and purges the land through five cycles of discipline (Lev. 26:14-39). Under the fourth cycle of discipline, an enemy power invades the land; under the fifth, the nation is conquered.

For this cause, the Land shall mourn, and everyone who lives in it shall lose strength, along with the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; and also the fish of the lakes shall be destroyed (Hos. 4:3).

Where there is chaos of soul, chaos of the economy is a predictable corollary. “Mourn,” the qal imperfect from aval, is the vocal lamentation for economic depression brought about directly by the destruction of free enterprise and indirectly by the infiltration of reversionism and evil. In the beginning, the Northern Kingdom was a society of highly successful and prosperous people; but as they succumbed to reversionism, they began to think in terms of evil. This eventually overflowed into the economy. The government instituted those systems which stifle and destroy freedom and rob a nation of both its character and its vigor. Israel, originally a Theocracy, eroded into an evil monarchy! Even the environment, particularly animal life, is adversely affected when a nation is judged for reversionism.

Only let no one [reversionistic believer] try to destroy the authority of someone who communicates doctrine i.e., prophet or priest nor impugn [reprimand] anyone who teaches doctrine; since your people resemble those who try to destroy the authority of the priest (Hos. 4:42

Upheaval and revolt in a national entity is symptomatic of a saturation of reversionism and evil. Especially guilty are the believers of that nation, since they have rejected the authority of the communicator of doctrine as well as his message. In the case of our passage, the communicators were prophets and priests. The prophet imparted the spoken Word of God; the priest, the written Word. When a majority of believers in any dispensation resist the doctrinal teaching and the authority of their right teacher, the laws of establishment are abandoned in favor of satanic policies of evil, and national degeneration sets in.

Once the authority of doctrinal teachers has been ridiculed and set aside in a nation, that nation has cut its own throat! No one can extract sufficient doctrine to grow spiritually and become a preserver and stabilizer of his country simply by reading the Bible for himself. The single hope for a people is doctrine, and this must be supplied by communicators with the proper spiritual gift. Without the communication of doctrine, a nation has no future. Little wonder, then, that the believer’s attitude toward doctrine and his right communicator determines the state of the nation! Whether or not the United States survives the liberalism, apostasy, reversionism and evil which today threaten to submerge it, depends on positive or negative volition toward doctrine. The reversionistic Assyrians, on the brink of national destruction in 754 B.C., responded to Jonah’s ministry, recovered and prospered fantastically for 143 more years. The Northern Kingdom of Israel rejected Hosea’s ministry, crashed and burned!

Therefore, you have stumbled in the daylight, and even the prophet will stumble with you in night-darkness; and I will destroy [silence] your Motherland [Northern Kingdom] (Hos. 4:5).

“Therefore” begins to amplify the consequences of negative volition to the doctrine and authority of the true communicator. Just as God supplies an abundance of daylight, hajon, so He had made Bible doctrine equally available to the Jews under Hosea’s ministry. He even allowed them a grace lag of three years to take it in. Yet they squandered their days in frivolous pursuits, reveling in a fool’s paradise of reversionism until they were defeated by the Assyrians in 721 B.C. Even though there was daylight all around them, the apathetic believers were stumbling in darkness because they refused the light. Every day is an opportunity to advance spiritually and to help save the nation because “daylight” must be in the souls of the believers if a nation is to solve its reversionistic problems.

The false prophets, foolishly influenced by the people, stumbled along with them. Instead of exercising their authority, these communicators followed the course of least resistance and told the people what they wanted to hear. The blind were simply leading the blind! As a result of their failure to fulfill their responsibility to study and teach, the apostate preachers were largely responsible for tranquilizing the national mental attitude by advocating disarmament, world peace and compromise with the enemy. The Assyrians would overtake the nation, and the reversionistic teachers would be put to silence permanently, dragging the nation to ruin along with them! Their fate should be a warning to this country and to the liberals who are primarily responsible for undermining the principles in the souls of many great and noble people.

My nation is destroyed from lack of knowledge of doctrine. Because you have rejected the principle of knowing doctrine, therefore I will reject you from being a priest to Me. Since you have neglected the doctrine [Torah] of your God, I even I, will neglect your sons [citizens of the Northern Kingdom] (Hos. 4:6).

You may wonder, why, if Jesus Christ controls history, does He allow evil nations to continue and better nations to be destroyed? Why do the wicked so often prosper while the good suffer? There must be a certain amount of pressure along the way, both personally and nationally, to put sinew in your spiritual character and to maximize your role in the angelic conflict. You must see the reversionist appear to prosper in order to test your priorities. An ambush by friends or loved ones, for example, forces you to draw upon the spiritual assets of doctrine resident in your soul and serves to reinforce your determination to continue your advance. Does doctrine indeed have First place in your life? At this period in her history, Assyria was kept around as God’s whip to discipline His chosen- nation should they fail, despite His warnings, to grow in grace.

“God set up the nation Israel as a priest nation (Ex. 19:6) to be the custodian of Bible doctrine, to be the primary agent of evangelism throughout the world and to be an example of the principles of freedom and privacy, and it had utterly defaulted on all counts. Consequently, the nation would suffer total defeat and slavery. When a priest nation becomes reversionistic and negative to Bible doctrine, that nation is doomed. The word maas, translated “reject,” is even stronger in the Hebrew — “despise, scorn.” Because they despised God’s Word and scorned it as the solution to their reversionism, God will renounce them. There will be no one left to teach doctrine, for He will overturn and blot out the nation.

Believers are the “salt” of the earth (Mark 9:50), and as go the believers, so goes the nation. If enough believers in a nation are pursuing doctrine and advancing to the high ground of supergrace and ultra-supergrace, the nation and its freedoms will be preserved in spite of destructive foreign policies and decadent politicians.

Two nations in history faced the Assyrian crisis: Israel and Judah. In grace, both were warned. The Northern Kingdom failed to heed the warning and was destroyed. The Southern Kingdom turned back to doctrine, survived the “overflowing scourge” and continued to exist as a nation for 140 more years. However, they too eventually succumbed to reversionism and were defeated by the Chaldeans in 586 B.C. Judah’s situation in Jeremiah’s day so closely parallels conditions in the United States of America today that we should examine a few verses from Jeremiah 8 and 9.

The wise have been dried up, disgraced [reversionism]; they have become terrified and snared [by false doctrine] ; they have rejected the Word of the Lord: what wisdom in them (Jer. 8:9)?

The “wise men,” chakam, were believers who once had an edification complex of the soul and were in supergrace status but had dried up spiritually. Without the inner fortification of doctrine, the Jews became frightened when they came to the realization that they were on the verge of a great catastrophe. And well they should have been, for when national disaster finally overtook them, they were either killed or captured and their Land was devastated.

What precipitated the disaster? They had rejected the Word of the Lord and were taken in by false doctrine! “Rejected” means that they refused it to the point of despising it. This is maximum negative volition. Therefore, “what wisdom is in them?” The answer is satanic wisdom. The mataiotes opened up, and cosmic doctrine infiltrated their right lobes.

Therefore [because of reversionism] I will give their right women to others; their fields to new heirs. For from the smallest [least] even to the greatest — all of them being cut to pieces [defeat in battle] shall be plundered. From the prophet to the priest — all of them keep on producing lies [out of false doctrine] (Jer. 8:10).

This verse summarizes the disintegration of divine establishment in a nation going out under reversionism and anticipates chapter 9. First, they lost their right women to the invaders. Under an agricultural economy, a field represents business; so they lost out in their industry. A third loss was military defeat. God has ordained the military as the basis for protecting human freedom (Neh. 4:14).

The blame for the national disaster is laid directly on the false prophets and priests! Why? They failed in their responsibility to communicate Bible doctrine. Instead, “out of apostasy, or false doctrine, they manufactured lies.” What were their lies? They advocated the satanic policy of human good. It is not the responsibility of the ministry to clean up the tenements, to equalize the races or to improve the environment. Ultimately, change in social and economic conditions can be brought about only through Bible doctrine in the souls of individuals. The responsibility of the pastor is to crank it out!

As they try to heal the fracture of the daughter of My people as being an unimportant matter, saying peace, peace, and there is not peace (Jer. 8:11).

The pseudo-pastors were pacifists, and their message is identical to the “peace at any price” propaganda so prevalent today. “Brotherly love” never stopped an invasion; it has never prevented war and never will prevent war, as demonstrated by Jeremiah 8:1517. The only way for a nation to find peace in the world is to maintain military strength and preparedness and, when necessary, to kill the enemy! That is the manner in which Jesus Christ delivered Israel from the Assyrian invasion of 700 B.C. (2 Kings 19:35), and that is the means by which He will usher in millennial peace (Rev. 19:11-21)!

The time of the harvest has passed on; the summer has been wasted; we have not received deliverance (Jer. 8:20).

Reversionism begets false security. The “time of the harvest” was the time when the liberals and reversionists anticipated deliverance through peace movements and false doctrines. But notice, the Scripture says that that time always passes on. No anti-Biblical system has ever worked for a national entity nor ever will work. The word for “summer” is the gathering of the harvest at the end of the summer; wasting it refers to human viewpoint methods employed in formulating foreign policy.

0 that my head was dissolved into water and my eyes were a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people (Jer. 9:1).

Jeremiah was shocked as he beheld the future of his own homeland steeped in reversionism and evil. He expressed his sorrow and concern idiomatically: Oh, that he might be blinded by tears so that he would not have to face the reality of what was ahead for his nation! So traumatic was the revelation of Judah’s discipline that Jeremiah preferred to forsake his mission rather than declare the tragic consequences of his countrymen’s reversionism. Yet to remain true to his prophetic office, he had to faithfully proclaim the message entrusted to him. He therefore disregarded his personal feelings and lowered the boom! In the remainder of chapter 9, he outlined the devastation which would accrue to the nation under divine discipline: social decay (verses 3, 4, 8), loss of integrity (verses 57, 911), economic disaster (verse 12) and military destruction (verses 13, 14).

They wag their tongues, their bows for lying, and they are not strong according to the truth [doctrine] in the Land; for they go from evil to evil, and they do not know me: a declaration of the Lord. Beware each of his neighbor; do not trust in a brother; for every brother deceiving will defraud, and every neighbor goes about slandering (Jer. 9:3,4).

Social decay was manifested by sins of the tongue — maligning, slander, judging, badrapping, gossiping. After rejecting doctrine, the Jews went from one evil to another — from the early phases of reversionism to the stages in which evil permeates the soul. In the state of strong delusion, it is impossible to know the Lord. He cannot be understood apart from Bible doctrine. Their verbal reversionism elicits Jeremiah’s warning to be on guard against their neighbors. Why? Verse 8 states the answer:

A murdering arrow is their tongue; it speaks from deceit [emotional revolt, scar tissue and reverse process reversionism]: with his mouth one speaks friendship to his neighbor, but in his emotions, he devises a plot or an ambush (Jer. 9:8).

Out of one side of the mouth they expressed brotherly love, while out of the other they laid plans for destruction. Once law enforcement is relaxed, then out of the cracks emerge all the criminal types. All but forgotten is the Biblical axiom that it requires lawful violence to subdue lawless violence. There must be a righteous restraint on people’s old sin natures, which are always potential time bombs. Without laws of establishment, “love thy neighbor” cannot apply. Instead, you must be on guard against those in your vicinity.

Loss of integrity is another characteristic of the downfall of a nation.

They will deceive [cheat) each one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth. They have trained their tongues to speak lies; they wear themselves out to pervert their ways (Jer. 9:5).

With the restraint of neither law nor doctrine, reversionistic people will deceive or cheat each other; they will be unfaithful in business as well as in their social and sexual relationships. When apostasy is the order of the day, they literally “wear themselves out perverting their ways” !This is the story of Romans 1 :24-32.

Your habitation [a place of blessing] in the middle of deceit [reversionism]; in deceit, they refuse to know Me: a decree of the Lord (Jer. 9:6).

Although God had blessed them exceedingly in the Land, yet His chosen people refused to know Him. Negative volition toward doctrine led to blackout of the soul, scar tissue and reverse process reversionism. So what did God do? He put them in the divine refinery!

Therefore, thus saith the Lord of the Armies, behold I will refine them by fire, and I will test them. For how shall I perform in regard to the daughter of my people (Jer. 9:7)?

The Lord would keep them in the furnace until the impurities were removed. Military action is used by God not only for the defense of freedom but as a punitive measure to chastise nations. This is the fifth cycle of discipline. A nation which has declined spiritually and has become degenerate and reversionistic has forfeited its right to exist. When the majority of the inhabitants in a nation are in reversionism and under the influence of evil, divine retribution is a certainty!

Shall I not visit this judgment upon them, decrees the Lord? Or on such a Gentile nation which is like this, shall not my soul avenge itself (Jer. 9:9)?

“Visit” could be for the purpose of blessing or judgment, depending on the context. Here it indicates judgment. But God adds a very interesting clause: “shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation [Goi].” He calls them Gentiles! To categorize the Jews as a Gentile nation is the worst possible insult! Obviously, then, they were on the verge of divine censure. However, the complete significance of the term Goi is gleaned from other passages. It actually affirms that the phallic cult was in full operation in Judah. The Jews had become irrevocably integrated into the Canaanite practices and, like the Canaanites, would go out under the fifth cycle of discipline.

For the mountains I will lift up mourning [weeping] and elegy [song of wailing] , and for the pastures of the open fields a song of lamentation because they are destroyed by fire so that no one can pass through them, nor hear the voice of the flock. Both the birds of the heavens fly away, and the cattle are gone. And I will give Jerusalem to a heap of stones, a lair of jackals. And I will give the cities of Judah to astonishment [heap of ruins] without habitation (Jer. 9:10, 11).

Economic disaster, the third result of national reversionism, affects both its cities and the outlying countryside. Either from natural disaster or at the hand of invading armies, the pastures where the sheep industry of Judah was concentrated would be burned up. The cities would be reduced to rubble, a lair of jackals, without inhabitants. Again, reversionism among the people of a nation is traced to its pastors, who have ceased to declare the Word of God. Ultimately, the overriding principle which staves off divine discipline is the communication of Bible doctrine — not the social gospel, not “getting involved,” not human good nor Madison Avenue gimmicks, but prepared, qualified men with the true message. Our country, like Judah, has been blessed by historical grace but is being destroyed by theological evil!

Who is the man of wisdom that he may communicate this, even to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may publicly communicate it? For what reason is the Land destroyed burned up like a desert so that no one passes through (Jer. 9:12)?

These two questions indicate the necessity for a communicator to know and understand doctrine, particularly prior to national disaster. A man may possess the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher; but if he is devoid of doctrine in his soul, he is disoriented to contemporary history and is therefore totally inadequate and ineffective as far as the crisis situation is concerned. While he may speak with eloquent language and say nothing beautifully, it is still nothing! Unhappily, this is true today of the majority of preachers, even in fundamentalism!

Military destruction is the finale of the reversionistic nation (Jer. 9:12b)… .Along with military defeat comes the loss of freedom as those who are the victims of the invading army are destroyed or enslaved. All privacy and property, all rights disappear, it happened in 586 B.C. in Judah. It is a real possibility today in the United States. The only way to avert disaster is the advance toward supergrace. I selected this passage as the illustration of national reversionism because the comparable situation in our own country should alert us to our desperate need of Bible doctrine — and this does not mean just once a week! We must ingest it as well as digest it every day!

And says the Lord, because they have forsaken My Torah which I gave to their faces [face-to-face teaching through prophets}, and have not listened and obeyed My voice, and have not walked in it; but they went after the hardness of their hearts and after the Baals which their fathers trained them (Jer. 9:13, 14).

In order to forsake or desert something, it must have once been possessed. These people knew doctrine at one time and had either constructed or were constructing an edification complex and were moving to supergrace; but they went negative and lost what they had gained. This will certainly be the case with those of you who forsake face-to-face teaching or do not consistently take in the Word of God. Without the regular feeding of doctrine into your soul, you become vulnerable to the stages of reversionism, and reversionism must be met with divine justice. The Jews of Judah were judged because they went the entire route and ended up in the phallic cult and Baal worship.

PHALLIC REVERSIONISM

Phallic reversionism is degeneracy through licentiousness and lasciviousness. It is found throughout the Bible (cf. 2 Cor. 12:21; Eph. 4:19; 5:5; Col. 3:5; 1 Pet. 4:3; Jude 4), but its practice first flourished as a religion with the idolatrous Canaanites before the Israelites occupied the Land. Despite the direct divine commands and strict warnings against fraternizing with the Canaanites, the Jews repeatedly compromised with them and “went a-whoring” after Baal. While the Jews conquered the Canaanites on the battlefield, the Canaanites conquered the Jews through the apostasy of the phallic cult!

This cult, a virtual kaleidoscope of immorality (Lev. 18:3-25), was practiced in groves of trees along with the worship of a nude female idol, variously called Ashtoreth, Astarte, Ishtar, Venus or Aphrodite. Inspired by demonism, which is always found where idolatry exists (Lev. 20:6), the worship included frenzied group sex (Lev. 20:15), autoerotism, bestiality, incest and human sacrifice (Deut. 12:29-31). Balaam, the reversionistic prophet employed by the enemies of the Jews, was able to cast a stumbling block in their path because of their proclivity for the phallic cult (Num. 25:1; 31:15, 16; Rev. 2:14, 20-23). Fifteen hundred years later, certain believers in Pergamos were charged with phallic reversionism after the doctrine of Balaam.

But I have some concise things against you, because you have and hold there ones holding fast to the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to throw a trap [enticement] before the sons of Israel namely, to eat animals sacrificed to idols [Category One Love reversion] and to fornicate [Category Two Love reversion] (Rev. 2:14).

The earlier Jews had become so occupied in sexual activity with the Moabite and Midianite women that they fell into the entire pattern of reversionism. Their idolatry was reverse process reversionism in Category One Love, while their fornication was reverse process reversionism in Category Two Love. The reason the phallic cult was so devastating was that it attacked both of these categories of love and destroyed capacity for loving either God or the opposite sex. Both idolatry and fornication are spiritually destructive to the individual and to the nation.

The church in Thyatira was similarly indicted for harboring a woman, who called herself a prophetess, but was in fact a phallic reversionist (Rev. 2:20-23). A counterpart of the famous Jezebel, who brought the phallic cult and worship of Baal to Israel when she married King Ahab, this unnamed woman of Thyatira was also leading other believers into phallic reversionism. The passage records her just retribution.

NARCOTIC REVERSIONISM

Often associated with phallic cult activity is the use of narcotics or alcohol as added stimuli for licentious orgies. To seek stimulation or happiness through chemicals is another form of reversionism. Phallic reversionism- is linked with narcotic or alcoholic reversionism in Galatians 5:19-21:

Now the deeds from the source of the flesh [old” sin nature) are evident, which are such a category as the following: fornication, immorality, lasciviousness, idolatry, drug addiction, personal animosities, strife, discord, jealousy, tantrums, contentious self-seekings, dissentions, factions [opposed to doctrine], jealousies, inebriations, lascivious parties and similar things to these.…

Continuous carnality, that is, an uncontrolled old sin nature, is the precursor of reversionism. The Greek work pharmakeia can mean sorcery or witchcraft, but it more specifically refers to the misuse of drugs stimulation through chemicals. A similar situation to that in Galatia existed in the Southern Kingdom in Jeremiah’s day.

Therefore, thus saith the Lord of the Armies, the God of Israel, behold, I will cause them — this people [Judah] — to eat wormwood, and I will cause them to drink the water of gall [tears of opium] (Jer. 9:15).

When Jesus Christ was rejected as the God of Israel and the worship of Baal and the phallic cult were substituted, the decline of establishment was inevitable, along with spiritual and social decay. “Lord of the Armies” signifies the function of establishment in Israel, particularly the role of the military in the maintenance of human freedom. “God of Israel,” on the other hand, represents Jesus Christ in the operation of the spiritual principles of grace. Together, the Lord’s titles stress the two areas where recovery is required. First, by means of an awakening agent such as a great national catastrophe, the people must be brought back to the laws of divine establishment. Second, the believers in the nation must return to their daily intake of Bible doctrine.

Wormwood, a poisonous plant, depicts the self-destructiveness of negative volition. While a person might derive some pleasure or satisfaction from eating the plant, at the same time he poisoned himself by eating it. When the Jews became unfaithful to the Lord and sought pleasure in the phallic cult, they poisoned their own souls with self-induced misery. “Wormwood” is the spiritual disintegration of the soul. Gall was also a poisonous plant. In building up wormwood of the soul, they tried to compensate with alcohol or drugs (gall). But such abuse only destroys the brain chemically, which, in turn, impairs the ability of the soul to function.

The Bible is adamant in prohibiting the use of drugs except for medicinal purposes. Abuse of drugs and alcohol is not only a sign of reversionism, but it also creates the possibility of permanent limitation and abnormality of the soul. To recover from drug addiction is a difficult road, many times impossible without doctrine. The reason is that narcotics temporarily and often permanently knock out the neurons in the brain which print information. There is neither blessing nor genuine stimulation in becoming involved in narcotics. There is, however fantastic blessing and excitement related to reality on the road to glory with Bible doctrine!

Between wormwood and gall, the Jews neutralized their own souls while rejecting their only hope — Jesus Christ and Bible doctrine. “Tears” are the realization of their failure and form a part of their discipline. Social anarchy and departure from the laws of establishment will cause people who are not stabilized by doctrine in their souls to desperately seek happiness and substitute some form of artificial stimulation. Drug addiction is always a factor in national declension, and Israel was no exception. It therefore became necessary for God to administer the fifth cycle of discipline.

And I will disperse them among the nations, which they did not know, neither they nor their fathers, and I will send the sword after them, until I have destroyed them (Jer. 9:16).

The Lord of the Armies next turned His attention to the anti-military female peaceniks who, fearful for those they loved personally, had contributed their share toward the demoralization of the military establishment in Judah.

Thus the Lord of the Armies has said, become alert and call for the lamenting [reversionists] that they may come, and send for the women with doctrine that they may come also (Jer. 9:17).

They had better reconsider their precarious position! “Funsville” was over, and those who had been living it up were commanded to assemble for a lesson in weeping for the country. Also ordered to appear were the supergrace women, who were to teach the reversionistic crowd how to lament genuinely for those they loved those who in vain attempts to protect their women would be killed in thirty days!

Such lessons were designed to abruptly awaken the women to what they had done in reversionism. Not only had they brushed aside their right men and gone after paramours, but they had worshipped Baal instead of the God of Israel. They had heeded the false prophets and refused the Word as communicated by Jeremiah. They must now learn to face reality, for the Chaldeans would shortly invade the Land to rape and pillage, torture and kill. Most of these women would soon die or be forced into a slavery worse than death. Gone would be the voice of Bible teaching and in its place only the sound of the wailing voices of the reversionistic women (Jer. 9:18, 19). Yet regardless of how ominous may loom the future, there is always a ray of hope.

For hear, 0 women, the Word of the Lord, and seize and possess with your ears the word of His mouth [doctrinal teaching], and train your daughters elegy [song of lamentation for the dead], and each one her neighbor a death song (Jer. 9:20).

Bible doctrine must have primacy, for its presence in the soul is the “wall of fire” that protects in national catastrophe, and it is the only hope for these women. It alone is the basis for happiness and recovery from reversionism and the sole way to pass the prosperity test should they survive. But why must they continue the death song? Because it will be a testimony to the approaching fifth cycle of discipline — a means of alerting people to the importance of doctrine while it is still available!

ANTIESTABLISHMENT REVERSIONISM

Closely akin to national reversionism is the antiestablishment principle which focuses on individual rather than mass reversionism. To be in antiestablishment reversionism is to reject the divine institutions: to misuse one’s freedoms and rights; to set aside the institutions of marriage and family; to reject a nation’s authority, represented by its police and military forces; to condemn its system of law and order and its policy of free enterprise; and to favor instead some form of internationalism, socialism, liberalism, communism or revolution. In other words, antiestablishment reversionism resists, either mentally or overtly, divinely constituted authority, ranging from self-discipline to the authority of the local, state and national governments. It fails to take cognizance of the fact that without authority the human race would be in utter chaos. Some of the worst kinds of antiestablishment reversionists are draft-dodgers, conscientious objectors, revolutionists and sex perverts, all of whom contribute to the decadence and, if not restrained, to the collapse of a nation (Rom. 1:18-32:3:13-18).

Because when they knew the God [Gospel-hearing], they did not honor Christ as God [negative volition]; nor did they feel obligated to thank Him. In fact [as a result of their negative volition or maladjustment to the justice of God at salvation], they received worthless thoughts in their evil cerebrations, and their ignorant [nonunderstanding] right lobe received darkness [blackout of the soul] (Rom. 1:21).

Corruption runs rampant in a nation, when, in spite of a saturation of evangelism, the Gospel is rejected. God never judges a nation nor sets in motion the punitive measures which express His perfect justice until He has given that nation every opportunity to accept the remedy. The solution must begin with regeneration, the entrance into God’s Plan. The previous two verses in this chapter dealt with God-consciousness — the point at which a person recognizes through the function of his own mentality the existence of God. In response to positive volition at God-consciousness, God must, and always does, provide Gospel information. Now in verse 21, the issue is Gospel-hearing. Negative volition at God-consciousness and at Gospel-hearing leaves the individual without-defense at the Last Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15).

No matter how decadent a national entity may be, that nation will have had the opportunity of deliverance through response to the Gospel. Thus, God in His grace first offers the individual in a declining nation the opportunity to adjust to the justice of God for salvation, and then uses that salvation as a means of arresting the nation’s downfall. However, they failed to make the necessary adjustment to the justice of God. Their emotions revolted against and suppressed all establishment

principles so that they fell in line with the policy and philosophy of evil. Their souls were in darkness, and their reversionism was complete (cf. Eph. 4:18). Any nation saturated with such individuals is finished!

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools (Rom. 1:22).

Their assumption that they were wise was evil thinking and arrogance. Darkness in the right lobe from reversionism can be applied to life only as foolishness — worthless thoughts and evil rationalizations. The reversionist cannot solve the problems of life because he is himself one of the main problems — he can think only in terms of foolishness. We are plagued in this country today with fools who think what they are doing is wisdom — government leaders who advocate disarmament, military cutbacks, welfare and socialism. Free enterprise, privacy and freedom are disappearing from this land, and no one dares to stand up and speak. What is the result? They exchange common sense for a monstrous type of evil — idolatry and heathenism.

And changed [exchanged] the glory [essence] of the incorruptible [immortal] God for an image in the form of corruptible [mortal] mankind and birds and quadrupeds and reptiles (Rom. 1 :23).

God’s structure of divine laws is designed to protect the entire human race. In addition, He has a series of spiritual laws which make it possible for the believer to grow spiritually and to act as a preservative in the human race. “Change” means to transform that which is glorious into a state of depravity by a process of alteration and decline. There are certain factors which contribute to the alteration in this case, negative reaction to Bible doctrine and rejection of the laws of divine

establishment. The glory, or essence, of the incorruptible God is found in the laws of divine establishment, which apply to the human race. The darkness of the reversionist has no understanding of the essence of God nor of His laws; he distorts these divine laws by setting up a system of idolatry, worshipping symbols of God’s creations while at the same time failing to recognize the Creator. The arrogance of reversionism seeks to corrupt the power and glory of God by substituting some other object of worship. Creative power can never supersede Creator power!

Systems and institutions are not distorted until those who live under them have declined. The remedy, therefore, must be in the souls of the people. When the unbeliever refuses to make the proper adjustment to the justice of God, then the justice of God will adjust to him, first, in temporal judgment, and finally, in eternal judgment. Thus, because of their indifference either at the point of God-consciousness or at Gospel-hearing and the resultant scar tissue and darkness in the right lobe, a segment of humanity is delivered by the justice of God to a succession of divine laws of punishment.

Romans 1:24-28 presents three “deliveries” of unbelieving reversionists to the consequences of their reversionism. The first is the delivery to immorality (verses 24, 25); second, to perversion (verses 26, 27); and third, to the function of evil (verse 28).

Therefore [because of heathenism and idolatry], the [justice of] God delivered them over in the lusts of their right lobes [divine justice handed them over to judgment] to immoral status [alienation from God through maladjustment to the justice of God at either God-consciousness or Gospel-hearing], that their bodies might be degraded among themselves (Rom. 1:24).

In delivering the reversionists to their own lust pattern, God is actually respecting their free wills. They have deliberately chosen against the principles of divine establishment which protect and perpetuate the human race. When this happens, the old sin nature assumes full control and expresses itself both in sin and in the satanic policies of human good and evil.

The unbeliever who grows up, untaught and untrained, under permissive parents possesses neither doctrine nor divine establishment in his soul. He has no concept of the principles of freedom, privacy, the right of private property or respect for authority. If he then expresses negative volition at God-consciousness and again at the point of Gospel-hearing, his sole aim in life is to gratify himself. In emotional revolt, with nothing in his right lobe to which to respond, he accepts chemical stimulation and other substitutes in a frantic search for happiness. He will wind up in total anarchy and eventually become psychotic. An all too frequent expression of this pattern is the abuse and misuse of the body in the practice of homosexuality and other distortions of God’s design for sex the corruption of right man-right woman. Thus, when neither doctrine nor the principles of establishment are operational in the soul, the individual lives on a subhuman level.

They [reversionists] who exchange the doctrine of the God for the lie [false doctrine of Satan, evil], they [reversionists under the influence of evil] both worship and serve the creature [Satan] rather than the Creator [Jesus Christ], who is blessed forever. Amen (Rom. 1:25)!

Always a poor exchange for Bible doctrine, reversionism never occurs unless an individual is first exposed to the truth and rejects it. The “lie,” therefore, is evil propaganda, or any substitute for either the Gospel or doctrine, and often embodies a system of religion mixed with such corruptions as sexual deviation. The religion of Baal included homosexuality, bestiality, autoerotism and fornication. Since God is worshipped through doctrine, a person whose content of soul is expressed in these perversions substitutes the creature, Satan, or something he provides, as the object of highest worship.

Jesus Christ is the only true Object of worship and will be eternally blessed. Eulogetos means more than the mere praise of mankind. The adjective here connotes the inviolability of the attributes of God but focuses on one in particular justice. This attribute protects all the divine characteristics from compromise in providing blessing or cursing for sinful man. Justice is free to bless the unbeliever who adjusts to divine justice at salvation by faith in Christ. The maladjusted reversionist, who exchanges the truth of God for the devil’s lie, must be judged by that same justice. The validity of this doctrine is affirmed by the final “amen.”

The second delivery — to perversion — stems from the distorted soul of the reversionist who exchanges doctrine for evil. Once there are kinks in the soul, they are manifested overtly, and misemployment of the body follows.

Because of this [reversionism], God delivered them over to sexual passions of dishonor [perversions]. For not only their females exchanged the natural [normal] function of sex for that which is contrary to natural function [normal use of sex] (Rom. 1:26).

Sex is an honorable passion designed to be an expression of Category Two Love between right man and right woman. Any sexual activity outside this divine structure is dishonorable. Without doctrine or establishment in the soul, sex ultimately degenerates into perversion. There are three responses forbidden to the woman: response to herself (autoerotism); response to another woman (lesbianism); response to the wrong man (fornication or adultery).

And likewise also the males, having forsaken the natural function of sex with the female, have become inflamed with sexual desire in their lust toward each other [of the same sex], homosexual males with homosexual males, accomplishing the perverted act and receiving back payment in themselves — that judgment of their perversion, which was inevitable (Rom. 1 :27).

There is no double standard. What applies to one sex also applies to the other. Both male and female are under the same Plan of God for right man-right woman. People are not born homosexuals; they are born male or female, and God has designed one for the other. Therefore, anyone involved in homosexuality is a depraved and abnormal person. The Bible states that homosexuality is not only a sin from the old sin nature and a disease of the soul but a cancer in society (Lev. 18:22-30). To condone homosexuality is an attack upon human freedom, marriage, the family and the nation. If this abject decadence is sufficiently widespread, society self-destructs, and the nation eventually falls into total obliteration.

There is special judgment and cursing on homosexuality and lesbianism (Lev. 18:22). Society may excorciate the behavior of the fixed deviant, but reversionism or maladjustment to the justice of God actually produces the judgment of such abnormal sinfulness and evil. The pay-off of sexual perversion is usually some form of neurosis or psychosis.

It takes volition to become involved with homosexuality, and it takes volition to cease and desist from this form of carnality and reversionism. Since homosexuality is an acquired sin and cultivated evil, it is curable by the same process as reversionism — through instantaneous adjustment to the justice of God in salvation for the unbeliever, or rebound for the believer, followed by maximum adjustment to the justice of God in the persistent intake of doctrine. Doctrine must reside in the soul and motivate the volition to overcome homosexuality and perversion.

And since in full knowledge [epignosis at Gospel-hearing] , they rejected having the God after careful examination of Him, the God [justice of God] delivered them over to a worthless mind, doing those evil things which are improper (Rom. 1 :28).

In this verse is found the third delivery to the function of evil. God, in grace and justice, revealed Himself to these reversionists who, even after careful examination (dokimazo), did not respond. In turn, God, in a humorous paronomasia, examined them closely and disqualified (adokimazo) them. Finding them worthless, He handed them over to their own worthless, reversionistic mind, which parallels 2 Peter 2:20-22.

Rejection of epignosis Gospel opens the mataiotes vacuum, draws into the mind the evil doctrines of Satan, and blacks out the soul. His thinking stifled by scar tissue and evil, the reversionist is unable to orient to reality and openly rebels against authority, as in the case of a woman who rejects the truth of the right man-right woman principle and switches to lesbianism. The evil functions of a person whose mind has been corrupted by reversionistic thinking are listed in the following verses.

Being fully influenced by all categories of anti-justice [reversionism from maladjustment to the justice of God]: by a state of evil, by inordinate desire, by function of evil; full of jealousy, full of murder, full of dissension [strife, discord], full of treachery [deceit, cunning], full of evil craftiness; they have become gossips [slanderers] (Rom. 1:29).

“Righteousness,” dikaiosune, is derived from the Attic Greek and connotes the thinking of a judge. Josephus described this word as “adjustment to the law.” In bringing it into the New Testament, Paul used it to denote the justice of God. Applied to the believer, dikaiosune does not refer to personal righteousness but is a technical term for adjustment to the justice of God. Now in Romans 1:29, we have its antonym, adikia, meaning “unrighteous act,” or “anti-justice,” which is equivalent to maladjustment to the justice of God.

“Being fully influenced by all categories of anti-justice” is actually the title for the remainder of the passage, which lists the pay-off of reversionism. Pleroo has several meanings in the Greek: “to fill up a deficiency, to fully possess, to fill with a certain quality, to fully influence.” In contrast to the grace wages paid by Bible doctrine in the soul, antiestablishment concepts fill the reversionist. The evils mentioned in this passage completely occupy the life of the reversionist: mental attitude sins, crime, anti-establishment; all these fully influence the unbeliever who spurns the Gospel or the believer who thinks contrary to doctrine.

Paralleling Romans 2:4, where three words are used to describe the riches of grace — “goodness, forbearance and longsuffering” — here, three words describe the categories of adikia or maladjustment: “evil [satanic thinking], inordinate desire [the frantic search for happiness, which is the link between evil thought and evil function], and the function of evil [the outworking of-the principle of evil].” When both believers and unbelievers in a national entity are filled with all ant-ijustice and evil, as enumerated in the rest of the passage, the disintegration of the nation is a foregone conclusion.

Slanderers, God-haters, insolent [haughty, overbearing, disrespectful], arrogant ones, boastful presumption [swaggerers, braggarts], fabricators of evil things, with reference to parents, disobedient ones. Ignorant ones [blackout of the soul], contract-breakers [faithless, perfidious], unloving [no instincts of love] implacable [inexorable, irreconcilable, unmerciful, neither appeased nor reconciled] (Rom. 1:30, 31).

Each of the items in the list follows a natural progression and explains how a people degenerate from antiestablishment to reversionism and heathenism.

Such are those who, though they have total perception [complete cognizance] of the legal requirements of the justice of God [i.e., to make instant adjustment to the justice of God by believing in Jesus Christ], that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only are doing the same things, but also give their approval to those who practice the same evil of heathenism (Rom. 1:32).

In God’s eyes, reversionists qualify for death! Both the unbeliever who has rejected the Gospel and the believer who has refused doctrine have turned their backs on an issue which they understood: both were cognizant of the judgment or the sentence of condemnation involved in their actions. Furthermore, those who sanction the practice of reversionism are included in the condemnation. In other words, they have made heroes out of villains! Heathenism actually consists of both the practice of antiestablishment and the approval of such practices by those who are opposed to the laws of establishment.

As with the individual, so a nation in reversionism is deserving of extermination, and many nations have gone out under this principle. Part of the function of the justice of God toward heathenism or unbeliever reversionism is to abandon heathenism to its modus vivendi. Such abandonment intensifies the aberrations of heathenism and produces a self-destructing degeneracy. The most awful disaster that can happen to human beings or to nations is to be left to their own destruction by the justice of God.

Only grace can reverse the situation, for grace gives us what we do not deserve. Right now our country merits death; but because of the grace of God, we have not fully reaped our just deserts. Where grace continues to operate, there is hope! The hope for our country is not in politics or politicians but in Bible doctrine. The door remains open because people are still positive toward doctrine.

PSYCHOTIC REVERSIONISM

Reversionism can and frequently does lead to neurotic, psychotic or psychopathic behavior. Balaam is a prime example of this type of reversionism.

Abandoning the straight road [to supergrace and ultra-supergrace], they have been deluded, having pursued the road of Balaam of Beor [reversionism], who loved the reward of wrongdoing [monetary reversionism] (2 Pet. 2:15).

A reversionistic believer who has abandoned (kataleipo) the straight road has swerved away from the normal Christian life; that is, he is no longer taking in doctrine on a daily basis or advancing toward the high ground of the supergrace life. The constantive aorist tense of kataleipo indicates a series of negative decisions toward doctrine. In forsaking the “straight road, the reversionists in this passage were deluded by satanic doctrine which infiltrated the two lobes of the mentality through the opening of the mataiotes. In their delusion, they followed the devious path of Balaam.

Although a Gentile prophet, Balaam was truly born again (Num. 22:18; 24:4): but his “road” was the pursuit of reversionism which eventually resulted in madness. He had once functioned under GAP but later rejected or neglected Bible doctrine and entangled his soul in the turmoil of monetary reversionism. After Balak, the king of Moab, offered him “a million dollars” to curse Israel (Num. 22:6), Balaam tortured himself with the dollar sign every day for the rest of his life! The lust pattern of his old in nature amounted to intense and insatiable avarice and led to his insanity — but not before he received an unusual warning.

But he received a rebuke for his own transgression, [psychotic and monetary reversionism]: the dumb ass, having preached eloquently with the voice of a man, had forbidden the madness [insanity] of the prophet (2 Pet. 2:16).

Under the strong delusion and unabated hardness of heart of reversionism, Balaam became psychotic, described by Peter as paraphronia — “outside objective thinking.” Persistent reversionism is a major cause of a neurotic or psychotic condition, and believers are not immune! A person in this state loses common sense, discernment and even his sense of humor. He becomes totally thoughtless of others, selfish, self-centered and extremely unpleasant to be around. He does not share others’ enthusiasms and has no capacity for compassion or love in any category.

After Balaam explored every avenue in an attempt to find a loophole in the divine prohibition and earn the reward offered by Balak (Num. 22), God was forced to step in and forbid the prophet from fulfilling his deceitful mission in Moab. A dumb ass had the good sense to obey the Lord, even when the Lord’s prophet did not. Three times the ass turned aside from the path when the Lord, invisible to Balaam, barred her way. After Balaam struck her the third time for her recalcitrant behavior, the animal spoke (phtheggomai) in a forceful or eloquent manner in an effort to forestall the prophet’s obduracy.

God, speaking through the voiceless ass, was actually expressing His anger in grace, for He would give Balaam three opportunities to obey Him - but no more (Num. 23). While the Holy Spirit hindered Balaam from cursing Israel, forcing him instead to prophesy blessing (Num. 24), Balaam still found a way to eventually earn his fee. Aware that intermarriage with their heathen neighbors would weaken the Jews and bring God’s wrath down upon them, Balaam advised the Moabite women to entice the Israelites into fornication and the rites of the phallic cult (Num. 25). For their complicity, God disciplined and purged Israel; yet they lived on under God’s blessing and protection in spite of every satanic attempt to annihilate them. Balaam, on the other hand, rejected grace and died the sin unto death (Num. 31:8).

The psychotic or neurotic reversionist in the church today takes up the communicator’s time by demanding counseling and attention. He expects the pastor-teacher to take up the slack in his life or to wave the “magic wand” and make his troubles instantly disappear! But the mentally ill reversionist is never interested in Bible doctrine itself or the permanent solution it offers. He is simply a shoo-in candidate for a tragic end!

ASCETIC REVERSIONISM

Ascetic reversionism is the practice of austere self-denial, which is assumed to be a means of gaining the approbation of God for either salvation or spirituality. A guilt reaction for some embarrassing or regrettable activity often forms the basis for asceticism. For example, a promiscuous woman, or a man who has been a heavy drinker, a woman chaser and generally a “hell raiser,” may do a complete reversal and attempt to compensate for a guilt complex by indulging in a little self-recrimination. Believers frequently try to “make it up to God” by some form of abstinence or self-denial. These people are not positive to doctrine. They are simply keeping their noses to the ascetic grindstone because of the rattling of the skeleton in the closet! Yet guilt feelings are as sinful as any overt sin they may have committed.

Everyone has a trend in his old sin nature toward asceticism. This trend is more prominent in some individuals than in others, as well as more pronounced at certain times than at others. Asceticism is often an escape hatch from reality. On the other hand, many people think they are not accomplishing anything for God unless they are suffering. These types become spiritual flagellants.

Since Ephesus was noted for its phallic activities, many believers in the Ephesian church were especially open to asceticism as a reaction to their former association with the licentious debaucheries of the phallic cult. Thus, the Judaizers found ready acceptance for their doctrines of asceticism. Two forms of asceticism were employed in the attack on Ephesus: the prohibition of sex and the abstinence from certain foods.

They forbid marriage and command abstinence from certain foods, which God has created for receiving with thanksgiving by faithful believers, even those who have full knowledge of the doctrine with the result that they have maximum doctrine resident in the soul (1 Tim. 4:3).

Ascetic reversionism rejects the legitimate enjoyment of sex in the divine institution of marriage. Some believers in Ephesus went so far as to forbid marriage altogether. Based on reaction to the sexual excesses that always exist in heathenism, acceptance of asceticism by many of these believers was the solution to their guilt problems.

The Greek word broma, translated “meat” in the King James Version, refers to food in general; but since asceticism often teaches that eating meat becomes an offense to God, meat is the most commonly prohibited food. Why did the ascetic reversionists consider the eating of meat to be displeasing to God? Because it is necessary to kill a creature which He has created. Paul wastes no time in refuting this erroneous concept.

Because everything created by God is good for food, and nothing is to be rejected as unclean, if the food is received with thanksgiving (1 Tim. 4:4).

God created animals, birds and fish for food (Gen. 9:3). The only prerequisite for receiving any divine provision is that we be thankful, whether for God’s provisions for happiness in marriage or pleasure in eating. A person who becomes an ascetic reversionist is particularly ludicrous because he purposely avoids all capacity for life.

LEGALISTIC AND RITUALISTIC REVERSIONISM

Following the current trend of his old sin nature, a reversionist can go in one of two directions. If he is prone to lasciviousness, he will wind up in phallicism or some type of chemical sublimation; if he has a tendency toward asceticism, he will steer a course toward legalism. This latter may take many forms: monasticism, tabooism or “holy roller” activity, to name a few. Legalistic reversionism utilizes a system of human good and self-righteousness for personal aggrandizement. Since it is human nature to want to feel superior to others, legalism is a common — indeed, an extremely popular — type of reversionism. People actually love to be self-righteous; somehow it makes them feel clean and good even great! All forms of reversionism might ultimately be classified as legalism, for reversionism of any variety is a do-it-yourself lot.

The Books of Galatians and Hebrews are both directed toward legalistic reversionism, with Hebrews focusing specifically on the problem of religious ritualism. However, I would like to illustrate legalistic reversionism from a passage in Colossians.

Consequently, stop allowing anyone to judge you in eating or drinking [food or alcoholic beverage] or in the matter of a feast or of the new month, or of the sabbaths, which keep on being a shadow of those things about to come; but the reality is from the source of Christ (Col. 2:16,17).

Krino, translated “judge,” more explicitly denotes an evaluation of other people which intrudes upon their privacy. In context, the source of judging was from legalistic, self-righteous, ascetic believers, who sought to build their righteousness on the taboos of Judaism. The “son of the bondwoman” always persecutes the “son of the free-woman” (Gal. 4:29-31). In other words, the legalist invariably judges the grace believer not vice versa (Matt. 7:15; Rom. 14:4, 10). Here, the ones involved in judging were guilty of the worst type of legalism meddling in the affairs of other believers, trying to run their lives or to squeeze them into their own mold of pseudo-spirituality. When you set yourself up as the criterion for spirituality, you are in effect playing God.

The observation of taboos is perhaps the most common sign of legalistic reversionism; but equally prevalent are criticism of others and the attempts to build your righteousness on someone else’s unrighteousness (his failure” to meet your standards or to conform to human standards of religion). The legalistic believers in Colosse sat in judgment on those who violated their standards in two areas: (1) food and drink taboos, and (2) the observation of ritual days. While the background of this passage is obviously Judaism, the problem remains extant today.

Fundamentalism adopted a form of legalism around the turn of the century in relation to the observance of Sunday. Like the pharasaical distortions of the ancient Sabbath, certain activities were to be avoided by Christians on Sunday. In addition to Sunday taboos, other regulations were instituted, such as the restriction of certain foods on specified days or seasons and the prohibition of alcoholic beverage.

Believers with a trend toward asceticism distort eating habits into a system of self-righteous legalism. In this case, reverse process reversionism rejects Bible doctrine and substitutes such inconsequential issues as food taboos. In reality, it is not what goes into the stomach but what enters the soul that counts (Jer. 15:16; Matt. 4:4). Where the drinking of alcoholic beverage is concerned, there are certain Biblical prohibitions designed to protect the human race within the framework of each particular society; but these do not determine spiritual growth or lack of it. Drinking becomes a sin when it escalates into drunkenness or alcoholism, which are always detrimental and potentially destructive to society as well as to the individual. The problem here, however, is building personal prejudices into a system of pseudo-spirituality.

The observance of special holy days is no longer bona fide in the present dispensation of the Church. They were legitimate in the Old Testament as teaching aids to reveal the Plan of God for Israel and the two Advents of Christ; but once the reality has come, the shadows flee (Heb. 10). The believer today is to regard every day alike. We are not to remain in the shadows of ritual twilight but are to move into the sunlight of Bible doctrine. The infiltration of obsolete shadows and rituals into the Christian way of life is indicative of legalism, pseudo-righteousness and pseudo-spirituality. To set apart special days as holy, individually or collectively, bears the unmistakable stamp of reversionism.

To concentrate on the unadulterated teaching of Bible doctrine under a system of strict academic discipline requires thinking! A large segment of society today finds it far less taxing to blindly follow the twaddle of religious ritual. The next verse lists some of the phony virtues which have been proclaimed from the pulpits of apostasy as part of the Christian way of life.

Let no one deprive you of reward, taking pleasure in self-effacement and in worship of the angels [demons], taking a stand on those things which he has seen [viz., dreams, visions, trances, hallucinations], being inflated with arrogance under the influence of the thinking from the source of his flesh [old sin nature combined with evil] (Col. 2:18).

Most people erroneously assume that what impresses them also impresses God, and “humility” tops the list! However, the true concept of humility has generally been distorted into self- effacement — that is, catering to the asceticism of the old sin nature by a system of self-depreciation. Nothing puffs one up so much as to put oneself down! To construe humility as some external activity is a counterfeit from religion. Genuine humility is in the soul — grace orientation based on doctrine. Those who take pleasure in self-effacement have succumbed to satanic religious apostasy and evil, thereby disqualifying themselves from the reward of blessing from God.

The worship of demons is a form of religious reversionism which attacks the soul and affects overt functions. Remember that in the later stages of reversionism, the doctrines of demons — expressions of Satan’s policy of evil — influence the believer through the opening of the mataiotes when the believer has locked in his negative volition toward doctrine. Whenever a person becomes involved in any system of false teaching, idolatry, necromancy or drug addiction, he is dabbling in

demon worship.

A further religious activity is implied by the pursuit of the invisible — trances, dreams or visions. These hallucinations are construed to be on a par with Bible doctrine; but with the completion of the canon of Scripture, revelation through these media has ceased. God speaks today only through His written Word. Ecstatics are a snare for the spiritual moron or the reversionistic believer. The believer who yields to one of these attacks of religion invariably becomes puffed up with arrogance.

Next, we have a description of a believer who has voluntarily subordinated himself to a system of legalisrn in the vain hope of gaining some blessing from God.

Since you have died together with Christ from the ultimate source of the basic principles of the world [devil’s kingdom], why, as functioning [living] in the world, are you constantly submitting to legalism … according to the ordinances [ascetic systems] and doctrines of men (Col. 2:20, 22b)?

Every believer is in union with Christ and is therefore identified with Him both retroactively in His spiritual and physical deaths and burial (Rom. 6:314), and currently in His position at the right hand of the Father (Col. 3:1). According to the principle of retroactive positional truth, Christ rejected human good and evil at the Cross and was separated from them in His burial. Under the present control of Satan, the world is filled with satanic propaganda which centers in human good. Christians, therefore, are forbidden either to love the world (1 John 2:15, 16) or to conform to the world (Rom. 12:2). In fact, since Christ has overcome the satanic cosmos (John 16:33), believers can also defeat the world (1 John 5:4, 5) and become even more than conquerors (Rom. 8:37). Through retroactive positional truth the believer is separated positionally from good and evil so that the rulership of Satan and the old sin nature is broken (Rom. 6:1-5). The Word of God is designed to vanquish the evil human viewpoint of the world (1 Cor. 1 :20; 3:19) along with its instigator, the devil (1 John 2:14).

Paul questions those religious Colossians, “Why? Why wallow in the mire of legalism when you already possess every provision needed to live on the highest plane with Christ?” Yet believers continually place themselves under the panaceas of the world — the external and superficial taboos of asceticism or legalism — because they have an elevated opinion of their own works. They are impressed by what they have given up for God!

Legalism and asceticism often go hand in hand. The legalist assumes that “touch not, taste not, handle not” are the means of fulfilling the command to overcome the world. Worldliness is a state of mind and can be conquered only by a right mental attitude and a viewpoint based on Bible doctrine (2 Cor. 10:4, 5; Phil. 2:5). Three taboos of Judaism are inserted parenthetically, between verses 20 and 22b, to illustrate legalistic reversionism.

You shall not touch, neither taste [food] , nor shall you touch for the purpose of harm all of which things [legalistic taboos] are intended for destruction by being used (Col. 2:21,22a)..….

The aorist middle subjunctive from hopto, “touch not,” generally refers to sexual activity; but here it is used not so much in a prohibition of fornication as in a command to celibacy. Certain ascetics excluded from salvation anyone who participated in any type of sex within or outside of marriage. The ascetic reversionist cannot reconcile any sexual function as legitimate or harmonious with Christianity. This is not only a distorted view, but it completely disregards certain portions of Scripture on the subject (Heb. 13:4).

“Taste not” was a food taboo which originated in the restriction of certain foods for the protection of the ancient Jews. It had subsequently been twisted into a system of pseudo-spirituality. The third taboo, the aorist active subjunctive from thiggano, means “to touch for the purpose of using violence” — a ban on killing in any sense of the word. This has been superimposed into our society in that capital punishment is considered more of a crime than murder. It is also the basis for modern metempsychosis which forbids the killing of even a fly — it might be someone’s mother! “Killing” in Scripture is not only legitimate in many instances but in some cases is stated to be an absolute necessity. Those who follow these taboos will soon find themselves in a landslide toward reversionism.

Which category of things, indeed, have a reputation of wisdom by means of a self-made system of religion based on emotionalism, and by means of self-effacement and by means of unsparing, non-indulgence of the body [extreme asceticism] , which things are not of any value against gratification from the source of the old sin nature (Col. 2:23).

Taboos become a false system of doctrine which passes for wisdom. Two areas of expression are mentioned: emotional religions, such as practiced by Pentecostals; pseudo-humility and total neglect of the body — aptly illustrated today by hippies and “Jesus freaks.” Yet when legalists or ascetics are put to the test, they blow it every time. Under pressure, they will quickly show their arrogance.

ARROGANCE IN REVERSIONISM

Pride is not only a sin but when over-inflated can also be a symptom of reversionism in both the believer and the unbeliever. Together, pride and reversionism create a portfolio of evil! Satan’s policy of evil sprang from his original sin of pride (Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:14-17); predictably, therefore, he would appeal to the woman’s pride in his attack on mankind in the Garden. The basic mental attitude sin in the human race since that time has been pride, and it is perhaps the most

insidious because it always stems from the influence of evil. The amalgamation of pride and evil is dangerously subtle.

Everyone succumbs to inordinate self-esteem at some time or in some area; to be unaware of it is to be blindly arrogant. The person who meets all the prerequisites of reversionism will sooner or later fall into the trap of blind arrogance. He goes blindly on his way, assuming that his peculiarities of personality are free from any sinful connotation. Yet blind arrogance in both male and female of the royal family of God is probably the most formidable roadblock in the Christian life.

How can you discern whether or not you are guilty of pride or blind arrogance? Pride is never a single sin. In fact, all mental attitude sins come in clusters; pride is simply the trigger that releases them. Under normal conditions pride may not be evident, but pressure exposes the existence of the original sin by drawing out a corresponding sin or sins. Ail arrogant people are totally different under stress, and they demonstrate their pride through some counterpart sin. The counterparts to pride or arrogance can either be mental sins, verbal sins or a composite of both. Pride stands alone only when the individual is in a no-pressure situation; but when the pride is compressed, out will pop jealousy, cowardice, self-pity, vindictiveness, pettiness, maligning, gossip. Operation Vengeance! Pride and its counterpart are a two-sided coin; they flip back and forth. For instance, if you are inclined to be jealous, you are arrogant; if you are arrogant, you will manifest jealousy. You consider yourself to be more important than some rival. A coward will often be a vociferous braggart. Tacitus, an unbeliever, recognized this when he wrote: “Every coward who proved his timidity in the hour of danger, was afterward the most talkative and bold in his discourse.”

People who think that humility constitutes an uttering of pious phrases and outward neglect of their person are in fact hypocritically arrogant. On the other hand, beauty, talent, ability, personality, attainments or possessions do not necessarily lead to pride or blind arrogance, as such legalists commonly believe. Often the less a person has going for him, the more arrogance he displays. This is empty pride or vanity. To develop a king-size case of arrogance, all you need to do is reject Bible doctrine.

Invariably, all reversionists are arrogant. When you assume that your priorities come before God’s, you are arrogant! God’s optimum Plan for your life is centered in doctrine. If you place anything before doctrine, you have a false system of priorities, and hence blind arrogance. How many believers, who think they can lose their salvation by some sin they commit, consider themselves proud? Yet it is the height of arrogance to presume that you can commit a sin that is greater than God’s Plan of eternal security! How many Pentecostals, who regard speaking in tongues to be more important than doctrine, will admit that they are arrogant? In reality, they are on an ego trip.

For any believer to imply that he has achieved what no other believer could, or that he has had some unique experience, or that his life has more significance than anyone else’s, is blind arrogance. Christianity as a whole has replaced the pure teaching of Bible doctrine with programism, emotionalism and works, none of which contribute to spiritual maturity. As a result, believers in our churches today are proud of the way they have hustled in this or that organization, proud of the number of Scripture verses they have memorized, the vows and victorious-life dedications they have made, and all the other pseudo-criteria of Christianity which constitute blind arrogance in our day.

Many passages in the Bible bring out the principle of “part and counterpart” in relation to arrogance. We should note a few of these.

If anyone teaches a different [falser doctrine, and does not concur with sound doctrine — namely those doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ, even to that doctrine pertaining to godliness [supergrace], he has received blind arrogance, understanding nothing; but he has a morbid obsession about controversies and verbal conflicts from which originate jealousy, discord, malignings, evil speculations; incessant quarrelings between men who have become corrupt in their mind [distorted by reversionism] , and have become devoid of that doctrine [blackout of the soul, scar tissue] . . . (1 Tim. 6:3-5).

Believers in reversionism will not agree with sound doctrine; that is precisely why they are in reversionism. Thus, lacking divine viewpoint, they inevitably become arrogant. It is arrogance to imagine you can get along without something God has provided namely, daily spiritual food.

Blind arrogance is characterized by ignorance and the inflation of a person’s opinion of himself beyond his true status. Under this thin veneer of pride lurks a multiplicity of inner sins — jealousy, envy, bitterness, resentment, anger, implacability, self-pity, guilt complex and a variety of morbid obsessions. Once these latent antagonisms are brought to the surface, they become verbal sins. The reversionist’s pride is exposed in the emergence of its counterparts; he now turns against anyone who poses a threat to his fabricated self-image, and he retaliates with slander, maligning, gossip, judging, vengeance! The proud individual will exhibit different counterpart sins at different times and in reaction to different challenges to his false opinion of himself.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money [distorted scale of values], boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy (2 Tim. 3:2).

Pride is not limited to adults. Children express this sin early in life, and it often has dire consequences in the teenage period. A teenage girl, whose vanity has been inflated by undue compliments and who perhaps has been chosen the most beautiful girl in her class, is likely to develop a case of arrogance. It may not be obvious until her father, who has keen discernment, forbids her to date a certain boy, whom she regards as a status symbol. The pressure on her pride causes it to

submerge, and its counterpart becomes evident: a mental attitude sin of resentment gives way to anger, deceit or open defiance. Arrogance is a contributing factor to disobedience.

Since appreciation is a part of capacity for life, an arrogant person, devoid of both, is therefore always ungrateful. “Unholy” denotes a negative attitude toward doctrine.

Hang-ups are also counterparts to pride or arrogance. A hang-up is an obstacle in the normal function of life related to pride. Labeled “syndromes” by psychologists, these are symptoms typical of a condition: the condition is pride or arrogance; the syndrome is the counterpart of pride. All hang-ups have their roots in pride. There would be no hang-ups if pride did not exist! Hang-ups or pride syndromes reveal character flaws, which cause a person to become snagged in some form of subjectivity or abnormality in either thinking or function. When pride or arrogance is under pressure, the hang-up or character flaw becomes apparent. However, flair must never be mistaken for a character flaw. General George S. Patton, Jr., who possessed great flair, capacity for life, and integrity, has often been erroneously accused of arrogance. There are real and apparent character flaws, and the two must be distinguished.

Flaws or hang-ups limit a person’s ability to learn Bible doctrine. They run the gamut from legalistic, guilt, emotional, cowardice and inadequacy syndromes to socialistic, liberal, anti-Semitic and antiestablishment hang-ups. Pride and blind arrogance reject all authority in life. When a believer, so infected, is put under pressure by the pastor’s message, the symptom is revealed, and the result is resistance to doctrine. The hang-up causes the arrogant believer to sit in judgment on the message and to disagree on the basis of his own false, preconceived notions, with no regard for the true exegesis of the passage being taught.

The solution to the see-saw of pride and its counterpart is, as always, positive volition toward Bible doctrine, which insulates the soul against pride and blind arrogance.

Then He opens the ears of men [function of GAP] and seals their instruction [doctrine resident in the soul], that He may turn aside from His discipline and protect man from the pride complex (Job 33:16, 17).

REVERSION RECOVERY

THE HEBREWS’ REVERSIONISM

No treatise on the subject of reversionism would be complete without mentioning that very real problem among the Jews in Jerusalem at the time of the writing of the Book of Hebrews, for in this epistle’s admonition also lies the solution to reversionism. Addressed to the believing Jews around A.D. 67, it was the last warning before the fifth cycle of discipline was administered for the second time to the Southern Kingdom.

After Nebuchadnezzar invaded the Land in 586 B.C., the Jews were dispersed for seventy years. Judah was then restored to the Land and continued as a nation until A.D. 70. Now, once again, the nation was on the verge of collapse. The majority of its inhabitants were in reversionism, and they had been steadily moving toward the point of no return. Yet the fact that they were alive signified that God was giving them still another opportunity to recover.

The purpose of the epistle to the Hebrews was to jar the recipients and awaken them to their reversionism and their desperate need of Bible doctrine. Those who understood and applied doctrine would depart from Jerusalem before the legions of Titus invaded the Land.

The main thrust of the book is to teach the high priesthood of Jesus Christ and the universal priesthood of believers. This was a modus operandi entirely foreign to Jewish background. Why? Jesus Christ, the High Priest, was not from the Tribe of Levi but from the Tribe of Judah. Nor was the newly instituted priesthood of the believer dependent on physical birth, as was the Levitical priesthood; it was now a royal priesthood based on the new birth (1 Pet. 2:9). This meant that the Jewish believers were under a new dispensation and now had a different mode of worship. If they did not orient to the new way of life, they would be enslaved or perish, along with a million other Jews, in August of A.D. 70 — the last month of the final year of the Biblical recognition of Israel as a national entity until the Second Advent of Christ!

The writer of Hebrews had scarcely begun his subject when he was compelled to interrupt himself. The doctrine was too advanced for the Jews in reversionism. He could not continue until he had alerted them concerning their precarious position and had presented the issue of reversion recovery. Consequently, he found it necessary to insert a parenthetical dissertation on reversionism. Concerning whom [Christ] we have many doctrines to communicate and hard to explain, because you have become apathetic [through a process of negative volition] in the sphere of hearing (Heb. 5:11).

Still untaught were the doctrines essential for entrance into supergrace status and the normal function of the believer’s priesthood. The advanced doctrines which relate the royal priesthood to the supergrace life require a foundation of basic principles. Under repeated acts of negative volition, these believers had gradually receded into reversionism and no longer possessed the necessary frame of reference.

For also because of the time [proximity of the fifth cycle of discipline to Judah], being obligated to be communicators [of divine viewpoint in time of crisis], you require once more teaching of certain things, the elementary principles of the doctrines from God, and you have become ones having need of milk and not solid food (Heb. 5:12).

Many of them had been saved long enough that under normal growth they should have been able to disseminate divine viewpoint in the time of national crisis; yet in the various stages of reversionism, they were unable to assimilate doctrine even for themselves. Whatever a believer might have originally learned is ultimately lost in reversionism. Since doctrine is built on doctrine, the “solid food” could not be taught until they had relearned basic doctrine.

For everyone partaking of milk is ignorant of doctrine pertaining to-righteousness [supergrace status], because he is immature (Heb. 5:13).

The reversionist has reverted from maturity to spiritual infancy and can no longer apply the Word to experience. The latter stages of reversionism completely close-down the function of doctrine in the right lobe.

But solid food [advanced doctrine] is belonging to the mature [growing or supergrace believers], the ones who, because of self-discipline, keep having their perceptive faculties well-trained with reference to differentiating between both the honorable and evil (Heb. 5:14).

In contrast to the spiritual baby or reversionist, the mature believer possesses all the prerequisites for consistent intake of advanced doctrine, not the least of which is self-discipline. Lack of self-control is a sign of immaturity in both the physical and spiritual realms. Under persistent self-discipline, the believer is able to concentrate under the function of GAP, and he becomes obedient to the authority of both the Word and the one who communicates it. Thus, he matures quickly and

acquires discernment.

To understand what is honorable and what is evil is one of the most important distinctions in the Word of God. Only a mature believer can distinguish between doctrine as the manifestation of God’s grace and evil as the expression of Satan’s genius, between the honorable function of supergrace and the evil function of the reversionist.

RELEARNING BASIC DOCTRINE

The first six verses of Hebrews 6 indicate just how bad the situation was with the Jews in Jerusalem in A.D. 67. This passage is one of the most universally misinterpreted areas of the Bible. But once it is understood from the original Greek grammar and syntax, it becomes crystal clear and leaves no doubt as to its precise meaning.

Therefore, having graduated from the doctrine, the elementary doctrines of the Christ, let us advance ourselves toward maturity [the supergrace life], not laying down again the foundation, i.e., change of mind away from dead works, and of faith toward God (Heb. 6:1).

“Therefore” — because the recipients of this epistle were in reversionism and because the time for recovery was short (only three years) — a command was given which would spearhead reversion recovery: “Advance!” Bear in mind that the writer was addressing believers in Jesus Christ. As royal priests, by now they should have graduated from basic training; in reversionism, however, they were back in “boot camp”! Now they were exhorted to resume their advance to supergrace; but the mood is potential: it depended on rebound and relearning the basic doctrines of Scripture under the principle of GAP.

These basics are defined as the “elementary doctrines (arche) of the Christ.” Every item on the list of fundamental doctrines which follows refers to Christology; therefore, this phrase is a descriptive title of the list. Christology includes the Incarnation; the Hypostatic Union; the vicarious sacrifice of Christ; the perpetuation of His priesthood as the King-Priest through resurrection, ascension and session; the strategic victory, of the angelic conflict: and the believer’s relationship to the strategic victory through the baptism of the Spirit and through positional truth.

After rebuilding the foundation, they must make strides toward maturity. “Let us advance,” pharo, is a military word which has far greater strength than the English suggests. It means to advance in combat, to advance when you are under a barrage of pressure or when you are behind. Here, the tendential present, used of an action which is intended but not actually taking place, indicates that they were not advancing but were in fact retreating. How can they regain their ground? By relearning whatever elementary doctrine is necessary to attack and demolish their particular brand of reversionism which, in this case, is legalistic reversionism. They must understand the royal priesthood and how it differs from the Levitical priesthood. Knowledge of the subjects listed in verses I and 2 is absolutely essential in order to master the rest of this epistle.

“Not laying down again” implies a sense of urgency in view of the proximity of the fifth cycle of discipline. There would be no future opportunity to do an about-face should they repeat their lapse into reversionism. The first item in the foundation which must be rebuilt is “repentance (metanoia) from dead works.” Metanoia always means a change of mind or a reversal in thinking. It has no emotional connotation whatever, not even when used of salvation. It definitely does not mean to feel sorry for sins!

In context, the change of mental attitude is toward “dead works” energy-of-the-flesh deeds which are dead to God’s Plan (2 Tim. 1:9). Any believer who is sincerely working in an attempt to make points with God or who is simply fired up by emotion is producing dead works human good. God is not impressed with a facade of human good. Why not? No matter how good, how noble or what end results accrue, human good is from the old sin nature and is an expression of the satanic policy of evil! Neither sin, human good nor evil is acceptable to God (Isa. 64:6; Rom. 8:8).

Human good must not be confused with morality. Morality has a legitimate place in God’s Plan; human good does not (Rom. 13:4, 5). Morality is a part of the function of the laws of divine establishment and is essential for the perpetuation of the human race and its participation in the angelic conflict. It is moral to enforce law, to execute criminals and to destroy the enemies of our country. But it is human good and therefore the satanic policy of evil to send aid to our enemies, to placate minorities, to pity the criminal and let him loose on society.

The legalistic reversionist seeks salvation or spirituality by his own good deeds, ability or ingenuity (Tit. 3:5). But in grace, God has already done all the work. Therefore, in order to carry out the command to advance, the Jews must change their minds away from dead works and toward God’s work.

The second doctrine in the list, “faith [pistis] toward God,” has three connotations: Phase One — pistis entrance into the Plan of God: Christ is the object of faith in salvation; Phase Two pistis — faith in doctrine: the written Word is the object of faith and faith-rest; and finally, that which is believed, or doctrine itself, which gives capacity for blessing and victory in Phase Two.

Of the doctrine of baptisms, as well as of laying on of hands, resurrection from the source of deaths, and of eternal judgment (Heb. 6:2).

Item number three is “the doctrine of baptisms.” The noun baptismos, from the Greek verb baptizo, means “to dip, to immerse, to baptize” and denotes identification. There are seven types of baptisms in Scripture, four real baptisms or actual identifications, and three ritual baptisms or representative identifications. The believer must be able to distinguish between the different baptisms before he can advance to certain other doctrines.

Fourth on the list, closely related to the doctrine of baptisms, is the parallel classification of the “laying on of hands.” This refers to three types of ritual identifications designed to portray various ministries of Jesus Christ that are pertinent to the strategic victory of the angelic conflict, along with the correlation of the believer to this victory. (1) The Old Testament sacrifices in which the sins of the guilty sinner were identified with the innocent animal (Lev. 1:4). As the priest laid one hand on the offering, the other on the offerer and symbolically transferred the sins of the guilty to the innocent victim, he was representing Christ’s identification with our sins on the Cross. (2) The laying on of hands for blessing and healing (Acts 6:6; 28:8). This ritual was strictly a function of the apostolic period and is no longer in effect. (3) The ordination to the ministry — a recognition of the candidate’s gift of pastor-teacher (1 Tim. 4:14).

The fifth doctrine on the agenda is “resurrection from the source of deaths,” the ablative of source from the plural nekros. Jesus Christ suffered two deaths on the Cross: spiritual death occurred as He bore our sins in His own body (1 Pet. 2:24); physical death, when He dismissed His own spirit (Luke 23:46). His subsequent resurrection perpetuated His royal priesthood. As Royalty, Christ will rule forever; as a Priest, Christ conducts a ministry of intercession for every believer

(Heb. 7:25).

The final principle to relearn, “and of eternal judgment,” describes the Last Judgment at the Great White Throne where all unbelievers will be resurrected to stand before Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge (Rev. 20). Since they rejected His saving work on the Cross, their indictment will be based on their own works of human good. Their sins, judged at the Cross, are no longer an issue.

THE PRINCIPLE OF VOLITION IN RECOVERY

And this we will begin to do, if only the God gives permission (Heb. 6:3).

This verse is the spark that kindles reversion recovery. It is one of those passages which demonstrates that human beings have free will, but that free will must choose to operate in accord with divine will in order for anyone to find true happiness and capacity for life. That is the purpose of the Word of God. The Jews had made a decision to take the road back from reversionism, and they recognized that it would not be easy. “And” connects the two major thoughts in this paragraph: the reversionistic condition of the believers in Jerusalem in A.D. 67 (Heb. 5:11-14), and the challenge for them to recover (Heb. 6:1-6).

In the process of capitulating to reversionism, they had rejected the authority of their right pastor as well as his message. To regroup would require determination, persistence, time and the function of GAP day after day after day. Reversionism is not overcome by a simplistic rededication, a one-shot decision or some other emotional claptrap!

“This” refers to graduation from the basic doctrines of Christology related to Soteriology and the steady progress toward supergrace maturity. The aorist active indicative of poieo is ingressive, which denotes entrance into a state or condition. Therefore, they were actually saying, “This we will begin to do.” However, the third class condition “if” recognizes that the sovereignty of God is always a determining factor in Phase Two. Since it takes time to learn doctrine, the believers would gain the tactical objective of supergrace status only if God permitted them to remain on earth long enough to do so. Whenever it is God’s time to remove us from this life, we will depart — period! The writer did not know whether they would live long enough to recoup; he knew only that the fifth cycle of discipline was dangerously close. Every time a believer retrogresses into reversionism, the time for restoration becomes shorter. Should God take him home before he recovers, he misses that much of Ins supergrace blessing in time and surpassing grace in eternity.

THE HINDERING LIFE-STYLE

For you see, impossible for those having once been illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and having tasted for themselves the gracious gift from heaven, and having become partners with the Holy Spirit (Heb. 6:4).

After the dissertation on relearning basic doctrines, perhaps you have said, “I come to Bible class every night. I’m learning all these doctrines, yet I’m no farther ahead. I’m not any happier. I don’t have any of that supergrace prosperity. Bible doctrine doesn’t work!” If you fall into that category, this next section sounds a note of special warning for you. What is the roadblock that binders your advance to supergrace, even though you may be exposing yourself to doctrine? The

conjunctive particle gar, translated “for,” anticipates this question and introduces the explanation.

While they have the positive volition to doctrine which is prerequisite to rallying from reversionism, some modus operandi or modus vivendi, some pattern of behavior or thought, is preventing reversion recovery. In modern vernacular, these patterns are often termed “life-style.” This might be some function of immorality, some kind of religious activity or self-righteousness or a series of practices which combine to form an evil pattern of life. The hindering life-style of the Jews in this passage was not sinful or immoral as such, but a religious activity which became one of the most heinous affronts to the Lord Jesus Christ in Jewish history.

The word “impossible,” an accusative singular from the adjective adunatos, is in the emphatic position. The accusative is generally the direct object of the verb, but here it is the subject of an infinitive. As such, it is actually an accusative of general reference, which describes the person or action connected with the infinitive. In this paragraph, the infinitive will not occur until the middle of verse 6: “to renew them again.” “Impossible” is the subject of that infinitive, and together, they form the main verb. This gives us the general theme of the sentence, which comprises the entire three verses: the impossibility of recovering from reversionism under certain conditions, as enucleated in verse 6.

Rebound provides only a temporary reprieve because the life-style remains unchanged. A person in this status will never know anything of the normal Christian life, a life so fantastic and so wonderful, it almost defies description! Normal Christian function is living as royalty, in a personal relationship with the King of Kings, with the attendant phenomenal spiritual blessings and supergrace happiness, as well as success, prosperity, wealth. This passage applies to all those in the royal family of God who are not living up to their royal status.

The sentence before us cannot be understood apart from the grammatical principle of antecedent action related to the main verb. So unique in fact is the grammatical construction of this sentence that when you grasp it, you cannot help being struck by the marked emphasis the Holy Spirit has placed on its syntactical structure. We must remember that the Greeks did not underline, rubricate or punctuate; instead, to express emphasis, they used a syntactical system, which was far more accurate and lasting. “Impossible” occurs at the beginning of the sentence to give it the greatest possible intensity: “impossible, definitely impossible!”

In the emphatic position, “impossible” underscores the total impossibility of learning doctrine or regaining supergrace status so long as a type of life-style exists which is in conflict with the daily intake of doctrine. “For those” refers in context to the Jewish believers in legalistic reversionism who have reverted to a life-style of religious activity in the Temple. While they were giving lip service to doctrine, their pattern of life belied their verbal profession.

In our sentence, “impossible to renew again” acts as a main verb for five aorist participles, which describe a believer in reversionism. However, under the antecedent concept, the participles precede the action of the main verb. Significantly, the participles are in different voices, and this is the key to their interpretation. The first, “having once been illuminated,” is the aorist passive participle of photizo. In the passive voice, this aorist participle refers to these people as unbelievers. They had once received enlightenment. The constantive aorist contemplates the action of the participle in its entirety. The length of the entirety depends on the context: it can be a few minutes or a few months. Here, the entirety encompasses the hearing of the Gospel and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in illuminating that Gospel message in the soul. This is the first contact the Holy Spirit has with the unbeliever. Apart from His ministry of common grace, the unbeliever could not understand the Gospel, and none of us would be saved.

The adverb “once,” hapaxz, is connected to this participle to indicate that the action has happened once but cannot occur again. Once a person is saved, he is saved forever — the doctrine of eternal security. Although the Jews were in reversionism, they had believed in Christ, and they could not lose their salvation.

The second participle, “and having tasted for themselves the gracious gift from heaven,” is the aorist middle participle of geuomai. This is a culminative aorist, which views the event in its entirety but emphasizes the result, that is, salvation. The culminative aorist indicates the time when, after having heard the Gospel, the person made a decision to believe in Christ. Therefore, “to taste” is synonymous with faith in Christ. The middle voice is one of the most distinctive phenomena in the Greek language in that the subject participates in the results of the action of the verb. Since this is also a direct middle voice, the action of the verb is referred back to the subject with reflexive force: “having tasted for themselves” !When you believe in Jesus Christ, because of your relationship with Him you immediately possess at least thirty-six spiritual assets, one of which is your royal priesthood, the basis for the second “tasting” found in the next verse.

The free or gracious gift, dorea — one given without strings — is said to come from heaven. Epouranios, the word for heaven, is in the ablative of source, indicating that the absolute Source is God. God the Father is the Author of the Plan in which Jesus Christ by His own volition became the gracious Gift the God-Man, the unique Person of the universe, the only Savior (2 Cor. 9:15; Eph. 2:8). Most commentaries go to great lengths to try to prove that those who “tasted” were not really saved because they took only a “sip” of Christ. Yet this same verb is used in Hebrews 2:9, where it states that Christ tasted death. Did He just take a “sip” of death and not actually die? Not at all! He completed His saving work on the Cross — spiritual death — and died physically when His saving work was finished! To taste the heavenly gift confirms that the Jews in context were saved.

Participle number three, “and having become partners with the Holy Spirit,” is the aorist passive participle of ginomai. Only a believer receives partnership with God the Holy Spirit! This includes the five ministries of the Holy Spirit to the believer at salvation by which the believer, along with the Holy Spirit, glorifies Christ. 36 The culminative concept also includes the present ministry of the Spirit in sustaining the believer in Phase Two.

And having tasted for themselves noble doctrine from God, and His inherent abilities of the coming age (Heb. 6:5).

This verse presents the fourth participle. “Having tasted,” the aorist middle participle of geuomai, again denotes appropriation; but this time the object changes. The first “taste” was of the Living Word, Jesus Christ; now we have the tasting of Bible doctrine, the written Word. The constantive aorist gathers into one entirety every moment that we take in doctrine. By the consistent utilization of GAP, the balance of residency between the filling of the Holy Spirit and maximum Bible doctrine in the soul takes us to the tactical victory of the angelic conflict, which is the supergrace or ultra-supergrace life. This tactical victory is the logical result of the strategic victory of the Cross and the ministries of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The middle voice depicts the subject (the Jews) as participating in the results (supergrace) of the action (tasting). Those who function under GAP to the point of supergrace take part in the outcome: spiritual blessings and material blessings — success, happiness, prosperity of all descriptions! The direct middle again has reflexive force: “having tasted for themselves noble doctrine from God.” “Noble” represents the high quality of the spiritual food of which we partake. As royal priests, we possess royal food! Instead of logos, the usual term for “word,” rema is used here to denote what is spoken, hence, doctrine communicated by the pastor-teacher through his spiritual gift and doctrine assimilated by the believer through the grace apparatus for perception.

Also they have “tasted” God’s power, dunamis. His inherent ability to provide supergrace and ultra-supergrace blessings in the devil’s world. The coming age, aion, specifies the Millennium, a time when GAP will function to the maximum, and “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9). Every time a believer today reaches supergrace or ultra- supergrace, he experiences a foretaste of millennial blessing!

The fifth participle is located in verse 6:

And having gone astray into reversionism, for you see, impossible to restore them again with reference to repentance [basic list], while [so long as] they again and again crucify to themselves the Son of God, even exposing Him to public shame and contempt (Heb. 6:6).

Since all the participles in a list must be translated in a consistent manner, “if,” as it appears in the King James Version, is not acceptable here, and the participle should be rendered simply “having fallen away.” This is the aorist active participle of parapipto. “Fallen away” is literally “to revert, to defect, to go astray, to become apostate,” and the constantive aorist contemplates the entire process and pattern of reversionism. For the first time, we have the active voice, and for the first time, these believers acted on their own initiative. The passive voice indicates that they received outright the grace gifts; the middle voice, that through grace, they participated in the results of the action.

All four participles in verses 4 and 5 are grace functions none of them was deserved or earned: (1) they had been recipients of common grace (enlightenment regarding the Gospel); (2) they had made a non-meritorious decision for Christ (tasted salvation); (3) they received the indwelling Holy Spirit; and (4) they received the written Word of God (tasted noble doctrine). In grace, God was doing all the work; but when the Jewish believers finally tried to get their oars in, they were wrecked on the shoals of reversionism.

We now come to the second half of the main verb, anakainizo — “to restore.” The adverb palm, “again,” relates back-to a previous adverb, hapaxz, “once,” in verse 4. Hapaxz indicates that once we have been saved, we cannot lose our salvation; palin, however, is a reminder that we are capable of drifting off course from grace. It is impossible to regain the objective as long as we continue to retreat from it. Remember, in order to recover, it is necessary to learn again the basic doctrines enumerated in verses 1 and 2. The Greeks never repeated an entire list once it had been stated. The next time it was cited, only the first item was mentioned. Number one on the slate, “repentance from dead works,” is the only one repeated here, but it refers to the entire list of basic doctrines.

Forward progress is impossible, therefore, as long as two conditions, as specified by two temporal participles, persist. The first of these is the present active participle, “they crucify again and again [anastauroo] the Son of God.” How were they crucifying Christ over and over again? By yielding to legalistic pressure and offering animal sacrifices! They possessed the reality but were returning to dabble in the shadows. Jesus Christ was crucified once; He never again need suffer for sins. His once-for-all sacrifice was completely efficacious. The believers in this passage had accepted the saving work of Christ. They no longer needed to go back into the Temple with their sacrifices, which in Old Testament times had symbolized the future work of Christ on the Cross, nor to enter into the other ritualistic practices of Judaism. To do so was to submit themselves to a priesthood that was now defunct — the Levitical priesthood. They were under a new modus operandi — the royal priesthood.

In the Church Age, the royal priesthood is the only bona fide operation for believers. Every believer is commissioned a royal priest with direct access to the Father. The High Priest, Jesus Christ, the God-Man, won the strategic victory of the angelic conflict by His deaths, burial, resurrection, ascension and session, which removes the old Holy of Holies as a worship function.

The second temporal participle is from paradeigmatizo, “to put to open shame,” and means “to hold in contempt, to expose to ignominy, to publicly embarrass.” Every time they returned to the Temple and engaged in its ritual, they exposed Jesus Christ to public shame and contempt. This legalistic operation had become their life-style and was blasphemous to their Lord. Any such modus vivendi reflects negative volition to doctrine and sponsors apostasy. As long as a conflict existed between learning doctrine and going to the Temple, they could not escape from reversionism. Already they were slated to die a horrible death in the siege of Jerusalem under the fifth cycle of discipline. If they were to avoid the sin unto death, these roadblocks must be eliminated.

While there is no Temple today, by application, whatever a believer does habitually that keeps him from the function of GAP — whether it is something as innocuous as television, the bowling league or an association with a male or a female, or the more insidious practice of some form of human good — is tantamount to willful disregard of Jesus Christ and obstructs reversion recovery. Attitude toward the Word determines attitude toward Christ. The Living Word cannot be divorced from the written Word!

No believer can move toward his objective while retreating from it. He can regain fellowship temporarily but never make any spiritual headway so long as his life-style compromises the Lord Jesus Christ. Supergrace is incompatible with a frantic search for happiness. God has provided a superior happiness in the supergrace and ultra-supergrace life, but it cannot be achieved through man’s own ability, schemes, sinfulness or evil practices.

SUPERGRACE OR REVERSIONISM?

Reversionism maligns God in several ways: first, it rejects His food Bible doctrine, and second, it refuses His blessings. God has for every believer — without exception — immeasurable, incomparable blessings; moreover. He desires to pour them out unrestrainedly. But He cannot pour unless the believer possesses the capacity to receive them. Neglect or rejection of Bible doctrine destroys the whole package. The believer in reversionism is blasphemous. He says in effect, “I don’t want your blessings. Lord; I don’t want your wealth, your success or prosperity; I don’t want my right man or right woman; I don’t want a glorious social life; I don’t want a life with meaning and purpose and definition; I don’t want spiritual power. Don’t interfere in my life I’ll do it my way!”

Everyone wants to be happy, but we must face the issue: by what means will you seek that happiness? The road to supergrace and ultra-supergrace via the daily function of GAP is God’s way; the path of reversed priorities — seeking happiness and success apart from Bible doctrine — is man’s way. Perhaps you never realized that you have blasphemed God by your obdurate, self-indulgent life-style. You have never understood that He possesses phenomenal capacity for giving and that He has been waiting possibly for years to shower blessings in your direction. It is His character to give, and He gives on a grace basis. When you refuse His grace, He has no alternative but discipline. From the moment you are born again, you must make repeated decisions to accept God’s offer of fantastic happiness, or you will wind up in the disgrace column and go out under the sin unto death!

Reversionists are losers all the way! Reversionism and evil are sinister roadblocks in the path of tactical victory in the Christian life; yet there is no excuse for any believer not to be a winner or to live daily in the sphere of supergrace or ultra-supergrace. God is glorified by winners, and He intends for every believer to be in this echelon. Doctrine in the soul not only animates capacity for life, for love and for blessing, but it enables the believer to emerge victorious in the angelic conflict.

The Jewish believers who had reached supergrace between A.D. 67 and A.D. 70 were delivered from one of the worst national disasters in history and survived to enjoy blessing and prosperity in many far-flung areas of the Roman Empire. The reversionists, on the other hand, were caught in the catastrophe and died the sin unto death. Should our nation continue on its present course, we will undoubtedly find ourselves in the same situation. Likewise, in the Tribulation, only supergrace and ultra-supergrace believers will survive the awesome disasters, culminating in the final conflict at Armageddon, to enter the perfect state of millennial blessing.

It is the mature believer who knows what he is doing and where he is going in life. Bible doctrine resident in the soul is the exclusive means of maintaining sanity in an insane world! Doctrine can not only change the life of the believer, but it can alter the course of history, and reverse the tide of carnality, apostasy, reversionism and evil. Yet only when a maximum number of believers are faithfully taking in doctrine are national reversionism and the impact of evil diverted.