MAX KLEIN BIBLE MINISTRIES
The Seven Baptisms
Written by: Max Klein
Baptism means identification or association:
Introduction:
1. This meaning began in Homer's time. Homer wrote of the one-eyed giant, Cyclops who had trapped Ulysses and his men in a cave and was eating them one at a time. The ingenious Ulysses devised a plan. He had his men sharpen a large log and together they rammed this log into the eye of the one-eyed Cyclops rendering him blind. They identified (baptized) the sharpened log with Cyclops’ eye which changed Cyclops from a seeing giant to a blind giant. Having blinded the Cyclops, they were able to maneuver their way out of the cave. Another example by Homer: Homer's Odyssey, book 9, used baptism for hot metal identified (baptized) with water when a smith dipped a piece of hot iron into water. This is how a blacksmith would temper swords in the ancient world. After this identification, the sword was made stronger and so less likely to bend.
2. Xenophon said that the Spartan military recruits after finishing infantry training would identify (baptize) their spears with pig’s blood. They would run by a barrel of pig’s blood and thrust their spears into this blood. This ritual, identified their spears with killing and the soldier’s readiness for combat with the enemy.
3. Euripides used the word for a ship identified with the bottom of the sea when it sank. Before sinking, the ship was valuable; after sinking it had no value at all.
4. So "baptize" in the classical Greek meant to identify one thing with another so that the characteristics of the original thing were altered. Therefore, the interpretation of the word "baptism" is identification with something that brings about a change.
5. There are a number of cognates related to this Greek word such as bapto, baptizo, baptisma, baptismos, baptistes, and embapto. A few examples follow:
6. John 13:26, “Jesus then answered, ‘That is the one for whom, I shall dip [the future of the Greek word bapto] the morsel and give it to him. So, when he had dipped [the aorist participle of bapto; the sop now takes on a new meaning that of honor] the sop [the morsel], He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.”
To give someone a sop [a special bit of food usually a piece of bread or meat with a tasty sauce] was the highest honor of a banquet. At a banquet a special piece of bread or meat was prepared along with a special sauce for the guest of honor who would then honor someone by giving it to that person. Jesus as the guest of honor took this sop and dipped it into a special sauce and gave it to Judas. In this way, the Lord Jesus Christ honored Judas as a member of the family of God, and for his ministry as an apostle to the Lost Sheep of Israel. This honor should have given Judas second thoughts regarding his plan to betray Jesus to the Sanhedrin.
7. Matthew 3:7, “but when he [John the Baptizer] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism [identification: the Greek word baptisma], he said to them, “You brood of vipers [poisonous snakes], who warned you to flee from the wrath to come [Baptism of Fire: identification with the fire of Torments and then the Lake of Fire]?”
8. Hebrews 6:1-2, “Therefore, leaving behind the elementary teaching about Christ, let us advance to maturity, not laying again the foundation [of the basics such as]: a change of thinking about dead works [just as an unbeliever must have a change of mind about Christ to obtain salvation, so the believer must have a change of mind about legalism (dead works) in order to obtain the spiritual life], and of faith toward God [Faith-Rest Drill], (2) doctrine of baptisms [the Greek word baptismos; a reference to the seven types of baptism as found in Scripture] as well as the laying on of hands [ritual rebound in the age of Israel], and of resurrection from the dead, and of eternal judgment [the Great White Throne Judgment].
9. Matthew 3:1, “In those days John the Baptizer [the Greek word baptistes; when John baptized someone into the Jordan River, the converts were identified with the plan of God and his kingdom.] came proclaiming [as a herald] in the desert of Judea.”
There are two categories of identification in Scripture namely an actual identification or a real baptism and a representative identification or a ritual baptism which uses water.
The four real or actual identifications with something that has significance.
1. The Baptism of Moses: 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 presents the baptism of Moses, "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; (2) and all were baptized [the Greek word baptizo] into Moses in the cloud [the Lord] and in the sea." This was a real identification in which Moses was identified with the Lord and the open path through the Red Sea and the Jews were identified with Moses. By the way, none of the Jews got wet, only Egyptian unbelievers who were immersed in the water as a means of death.
2. The Baptism of the Cross is found in Matthew 20:22, “But Jesus answered [Salome by addressing her sons] and said, “You [plural: a reference to James and John] do not know what you [James and John] ask. Are you [James and John] able to drink of the cup [bear the punishment of all the sins of the world] that I am about to drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism [the sins of the world identified with Christ followed by the Father judging them] that I am baptized with [identified with]?” They [James and John] said to Him, “We are able. [the dumbest statement that James and John ever made]” [I selected the longer text as did Jerome.]
3. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Retroactive Positional Truth and Current Positional Truth) occurs at salvation for Church Age believers only.
Colossians 2:12. Having been buried [aorist participle] with Him [Jesus Christ] by means of the baptism [God the Holy Spirit identified us with the burial of Jesus Christ as part of our salvation] by means of which [Baptism] you have been raised up [main verb] with Him [in union with Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father] through faith [at the point of salvation] in the operational power from the source of God who has raised Him [the humanity of Christ was given a resurrection body] out from the dead [physical death].
Romans 6:3-9:
Romans 6:3: Or do you not know that all of us who [a correlative] have been baptized into [identified with] Christ Jesus [Current Positional Sanctification: we are in union with Christ in his life in heaven], have been baptized into His death [Retroactive Positional Truth and so identified with his substitutionary spiritual death on the cross]?
Positionally, (in union with Christ) we share His righteousness, heirship, priesthood, destiny, election, eternal life, royalty, sonship etc. All these making us a new spiritual species in Christ Jesus. The plural correlative hosoi (ὅσοι) means that if we were identified with Christ in heaven and we were, then also we have been identified with Christ in his substitutionary spiritual death in which he removed the power of sin nature. Thus, the sin nature should not have power over our lives.
A few more points will be noted:
1. Note that the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation enters the believer into union with Christ at the right hand of God the Father which union is called current positional truth.
2. This verse also mentions identification with Christ in His spiritual death on the cross which identification theologians call retroactive positional truth. Retroactive positional truth also includes identification with Christ in His physical death and burial as well.
3. Identification with Christ in His death, then, has a two-fold connotation namely all personal sins were judged at the cross and since that is the case, God the Father is free to provide in grace, the Recovery Procedure. The second connotation is that good and evil were rejected by Jesus on the cross since good and evil are a part of Satan’s policy and plan. On the cross, Jesus relied on the proto-type spiritual life which operated under the two power options namely God’s power system.
4. So, the old sin nature’s ruling power over the Christian has been broken since all sins were judged on the cross and the Recovery Procedure has been provided. So, Retroactive Positional Truth has destroyed the sovereignty of the old sin nature over the life of the Christian.
5. Also, since Jesus rejected the good and evil policy of Satan so should the believer reject Satan’s policy of good and evil as the believer applies Retroactive Positional Truth.
Romans 6:4: Therefore, we have been buried together with Him through the identification [Baptism of the Spirit] into His death [physical], in order that just as Christ has been raised up from the dead [on Resurrection Sunday], through the glory of the Father [through the Father’s power], [So also we, the dead in Christ, will be raised from the dead by the power of the Father, and those alive at the Rapture, by the power of the Holy Spirit.] in this manner we also might walk in newness of life [Experiential sanctification should reflect our future ultimate sanctification.].
Christ had to die physically “and Jesus having shouted clearly with a loud voice said, Father, into your hands I deposit my [human] spirit, and having said this, he exhaled” (Luke 23:46). This last exhale caused His soul and spirit to depart from his mortal body resulting in physical death. Just as Christ had to die physically in order to obtain his resurrection body, so we must depart from our body of corruption, or mortality in order to receive our eternal body called our resurrection body.
The Newness of Life:
1. The newness of life provided through the baptism of the Spirit includes positional freedom from producing good and evil. Not only are we free from the tyranny of good and evil but we are also free from having to produce good and evil.
2. The believer has no obligation to improve the devil’s world through social action, socialism, welfare state, communism, environmentalism, or any social gospel, social action, getting involved, etc.
3. The human race is protected from Satan’s policy of good and evil through the laws of divine establishment which promote freedom instead of improvement at the cost of freedom.
4. In addition to the Laws of Divine Establishment the believer is insulated from good and evil positionally through the baptism of the Spirit.
5. Divorced from the Old Sin Nature positionally and its useless activity of human good and the function of evil, the life of the believer can be devoted to glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ through maximum knowledge and application of Bible doctrine.
Romans 6:5: For if we have become united with Him [Christ, the new husband] in the likeness of His death [the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross], and we have, and not only this, but also, we shall be [united in the likeness] of His resurrection [Current Positional Truth: in union with the resurrected Christ].
Romans 6:6: Be knowing this [through Retroactive Positional Truth], that our old man [our former husband, the sin nature dates back to the Garden] has been crucified together [with Him], in order that the [human] body, with reference to its sin nature, [the sin nature located in the body] might be rendered powerless [when we use Recovery Procedure and the two power options], that we should no longer be slaves to the sin nature.
“Our old man has been crucified with Him” meaning that the power of the sin nature has been broken on the cross. Since the power of the sin nature was broken by the work of the cross, we as believers have no excuse for not executing the spiritual life. We will not be able to say to Christ at our evaluation that our sin nature was too powerful for us to execute the spiritual life.
A few points for further clarification:
1. Retroactive positional truth is that phase of the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation which identifies the believer with Christ in His spiritual death, physical death and his burial.
2. In the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross all the personal sins in human history were imputed to Christ, but at the same time the other two trends of the old sin nature were not imputed for judgment.
3. Good and evil is the policy of Satan as the ruler of this world and the function of the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life. In fact, the sin nature functions as the agent of Satan.
4. Good and evil were not imputed for judgment on the cross. Hence, in the spiritual death of Christ on the cross they were rejected to remain an issue in the angelic conflict, rejected to be perpetuated in human history as an issue every believer must face, and either overcome through the intake of doctrine or be entrapped by ignorance of doctrine and therefore lose out in glorifying God in time.
5. We are identified with Christ in His spiritual death, which means that we must understand that our sins have been judged and that good and evil has been rejected.
6. It all adds up to the fact that the sovereignty of the old sin nature over human life has been made powerless through retroactive positional truth.
7. The imputation of all personal sins of the human race to Christ on the cross means that the believer through the rebound technique is instantly forgiven sins, cleansed from all wrong doing which includes Satanic good and evil, restored to fellowship and filled with the Spirit.
Romans 6:7: For we who have died [the Christian is identified with the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ: theologically called Retroactive Positional Truth] have been acquitted [positional deliverance] from [the power of] the sin nature.
A few points for further clarification:
1. A dead person is discharged from the obligations of his former sphere of life. This is why the word “death” is used in this context. It is not a literal, physical death we are discussing but identification with Christ in His death.
2. As unbelievers we were under the authority of Satan as the ruler of this world, and under the authority of the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life.
3. Both the power of Satan and the old sin nature have been abrogated through the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation.
4. This passage, then, emphasizes the annulling of the power and the authority of the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life.
5. Positionally, the power of the sin nature has been broken. Experientially, the old sin nature controls to the extent that we fail to understand and utilize the provision and support of logistical grace.
Romans 6:8: Now if we have died with Christ, and we have [retroactive positional truth], we also believe that we shall live in association with Him [the instrumental of association; a reference to Current Positional Truth].
In this verse, the 1st Class conditional sentence shows the relationship between Retroactive Positional Truth with Current Positional Truth. The protasis, the ‘if’ clause states the reality of Retroactive Positional Truth and the apodosis, the concluding clause states the doctrinal inference and the reality of Current Positional Truth. While Retroactive Positional Truth presents positional rejection and separation from good and evil as the policy of Satan and the function of the old sin nature, Current Positional Truth relates the believer to the function of the royal family of God. In other words, they have separate functions.
Romans 6:9: Knowing that because Christ has been raised from the dead [He received a resurrection body], no longer can He die; [physical] death is no longer a master over Him.
Analysis:
1. Retroactive positional truth destroys the sovereign authority of the old sin nature over human life. Current positional truth, on the other hand, destroys the limited authority of physical death in human life.
2. Instead of being ruled by the old sin nature located in the cells of the human body and influencing our souls toward sin, good and evil, we now have a new sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are identified with Him in His deaths, in His burial, resurrection, ascension and session.
3. Before salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit our lives were under the absolute rule of Satan who is the ruler of this world and under the rule of the old sin nature which is the ruler of life, and under the limited rule of physical death. All of that, of course, has been changed since salvation.
4. Now both retroactive and current positional truth have abrogated the authority and power of these former rulers. The power of Satan over our lives has been broken through identification with the rejection of good and evil namely Satan’s policy and plan and through our position in union with Christ. The power of the old sin nature is broken through retroactive positional truth and the power of physical death is broken through current positional truth.
5. Therefore, having studied these things by principle and by implication we are now ready for application, verses 12 & 13 specifically.
6. Having been positionally liberated from the sovereignty of the old sin nature as an absolute ruler, and the authority of physical death, we must recognise and apply doctrine for the experiential victory commanded in verses 11-13.
Galatians 3:25-28, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the authority of [have need of] a school bus. (26) For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (27) For all of you who were baptized into Christ [identified with Christ through union with Him] have clothed yourselves with Christ. (28) There is neither Jew nor Greek [no racial distinction], there is neither slave nor free man [no social or economic distinction], there is neither male nor female [no gender distinction]; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [All Christians have the same privileges and opportunities to execute the spiritual life.]”
Current Positional Truth, Elaborated:
In the Church Age, Current Positional Truth establishes our relationship with Christ as opposed to religion. It refers to the Church Age believer in union with Christ and is the key to understanding the Church Age and how the royal family came into being. Therefore, it is the basis for distinguishing between Christianity and religion. Christianity is a relationship with God without merit whereas religion is a system of works to gain the approbation of God. Never shall the twain meet!
The mechanics of Current Positional Truth is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, whereby the Spirit enters us into union with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For also by agency of the one Spirit we are all baptized [identification resulting in becoming a new spiritual species] into one body [in union with Christ], whether Jews or Greeks [racial distinctions are removed], whether slave or free [class and economic distinctions are removed], even all were made to drink [the aorist passive, the voice of grace] the one Spirit [The Holy Spirit did not ask us whether we wanted to be put into union with Christ or not.].” Ephesians 4:5, “One Lord [becomes our Lord positionally at Salvation]), one faith [faith alone in Christ alone; Acts 16:31], one baptism [Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at salvation].”
Current Positional truth guarantees that there will be no judgment for believers in eternity, Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Thus, the condemnation which occurred at the first birth was removed at the 2nd birth. As a result of being born with the sin nature and the imputation of Adam’s Original Sin, we were condemned to the Lake of Fire for all eternity, but now that has been removed. Romans 5:12, “For this reason just as through one man [Adam] the sin [nature] entered into the world [procreation], and so spiritual death through the sin [the imputation of Adam’s Original Sin to the sin nature], and so spiritual death spread to all mankind, because all sinned when Adam sinned [since we were all genetically in Adam when he sinned, we will receive Adam’s Original Sin].” However, at our spiritual birth, the 2nd birth, our pre-salvation sins were all forgiven including Adam’s Original Sin. After which, the Spirit entered us into union with Christ where there is now no condemnation (Romans 8:1).
Current Positional truth qualifies the believer to live with God forever. To live with God forever, the believer must have eternal life and God’s perfect righteousness, 1 John 5:11-12, “And this is the deposition [testimony] that the God [the Father] has given to us, eternal life, and this life is in his son [Since we are in union with Christ, we share this life.]. (12) and he who has the son [a relationship with the Son] has the life [eternal life] and the one who does not have the son of God [relationship with the Son] does not have the life [eternal life].” 2 Corinthians 5:21, “And He [the Father] made Him who knew no sin [perfection] to be a sin offering [imputation of sins on the cross] as a substitute for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [current positional truth].” To live with God forever means you must have His life, and you must be as righteous as He is.
Positional truth guarantees the believer’s eternal security, Romans 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death [nothing in death] nor life [nothing in life] nor angels nor principalities [ruling angels] nor powers [human organizations] nor things present nor things to come (39) nor height [nothing in heaven] nor depth [nothing in Hades] nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eternal life in Christ is for all eternity!
Positional truth belongs to all categories of believers whether they be apostate, mature, immature, spiritually adult, or carnal. Since Current Positional Truth occurs at the point of salvation before experience in the Christian life begins, it doesn’t depend on that experience. 1 Corinthians 1:2, “to the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus [at salvation], called saints together with all who call upon the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, their [Lord] and ours.” So, even though you may be carnal or in reversionism, you still have positional truth. Being in union with Christ has nothing to do with what you do [experiential righteousness], or don’t do [failure to execute God’s plan]. Current Positional sanctification is completely the work of God the Holy Spirit and so is not based upon our volition, but on the sovereign decision of God. We make the decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we don’t make the decision to enter into union with Christ “all were made to drink the one Spirit” as per 1 Corinthians 12:13. God the Holy Spirit graciously did that for us and so it cannot be undone.
Current Positional truth creates a new spiritual species in Christ as per 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ and he is, he is a new spiritual species. The old things have lost their power; behold, new things have come to pass.” You become a new spiritual species at salvation by being put into union with Christ. It is what God does for you, and therefore it is grace. It is not what you do after salvation, such as the self-righteous works of legalism. The “old things” have to do with spiritual death and those things related to that death; the “new things” refer to things you receive at salvation such as the 40 assets and the unique spiritual life.
Positional truth should motivate the production of divine good and a pattern of life compatible with royalty as per Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his creation, having been created in Christ Jesus [a new spiritual species with many assets] for the purpose of divine good production [via experiential sanctification] which the God [the Father] has prepared in advance [in eternity past, God the Father provided election and predestination as part of our Portfolio of Invisible Assets], that we in the sphere of them [election and predestination] may pattern our lives.”
Even though a Christian may die the Sin on to Death, he will not lose his position in union with Christ (1 John 5:18-20), and so cannot lose his salvation. In order for a believer to lose his position in Christ, he would have to sin in that status, but since the believer cannot sin in union with Christ, he cannot lose his position in Christ and so cannot lose his salvation. Thus, it is comforting and reassuring to a believer to know that even though a loved one may have died the ‘sin on to death’, he has not lost his salvation.
Because we are in union with Christ, we share His:
1. Eternal life, 1 John 5:11, “And this is the deposition [testimony] that the God [the Father] has given to us, eternal life [At salvation, God the Father imputes this life to the human spirit], and this life is in his son [The Christian also shares the life of Christ through union with Him]. (12) and he who has the son [a relationship with the Son] has the life [eternal life] and the one who does not have the son of God [relationship with the Son] does not have the life [eternal life].”
John 14:6, “Jesus said to him [Thomas], ‘I am the way, the truth and the life [eternal life]; no person [in human history] comes face to face with the Father [having an eternal relationship with the Father] except through Me.’”
2. Perfect righteousness, 2 Corinthians 5:21, “And he (God the Father) made him [Jesus] who knew no sin (perfection) to be a sin offering as a substitute for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him [positional truth]. Sharing the righteousness of Christ, we become the objects of God the Father’s love as per Romans 8:39.
3. Election, Ephesians 1:4, “just as He [the Father] has elected us for Himself in Him [Jesus Christ] before the creation of the world [in eternity past], that we may be set apart [experiential sanctification] and blameless [ultimate sanctification] in the presence of Him [Father].”
4. Destiny, Ephesians 1:5, “By means of love, He has predestined us for the purpose of adoption as adult sons to Himself through Christ Jesus our Lord according to the grace purpose of His will.”
5. Sonship, Galatians 3:26, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
6. Heirship, Romans 8:16-17, “The Spirit Himself testifies together [bears witness] with our [human] spirit, that we are the children of God. (17) Now, if we are children and we are, also heirs, on the one hand heirs of God [the Father], and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed [if it is true that], we suffer with Him [pass all three stages of undeserved suffering], that also we might be glorified with Christ.”
7. Sanctification, 1 Corinthians 1:2, “to the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints together with all who call upon the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, their [Lord] and ours.”
8. Priesthood, Hebrews 7:12-19, “For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change in the Law also. (13) For the One [the Lord Jesus Christ] concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe [the tribe of Judah] from which no one has officiated at the altar. (14) For it is evident that our Lord has descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests, (15) and this is clearer still, if another priest arises similar to Melchizedek, and there has, (16) who has become a priest not on the basis of physical requirement [a reference to the Levitical Priesthood] but on the basis of indestructible life [the Lord’s priesthood is forever]. (17) For this reason, it is witnessed, ‘You are a priest forever similar to the order of Melchizedek.’” [We are in union with Christ. Therefore, we are royalty and priests forever. We represent ourselves before God as royal priests.] (18) For, on the one hand, there is a rescinding of the former commandment [the Mosaic Law that authorized the Levitical priesthood] because of its weakness and uselessness (19) (for the Law brought nothing to completion), but on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope [the second door of hope for the Church Age believer—a personal sense of destiny—by which we enter the adult spiritual life] through which we draw near to God.”
Hebrews 7:26-28, “For it is fitting that we should have such a high priest, impeccable integrity, the One who cannot do evil, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; (27) Who does not need daily, like those Levitical priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for their own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He [Jesus] offered up Himself. (28) For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of His [God the Father’s] oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, who has become perfect forever [Jesus Christ is a perfect high priest].”
9. Royalty, 1 Peter 2:9, “ But you and only you are an elect [elect by God the Father] race [as a new spiritual species], a royal priesthood [since Jesus is a king-priest], a holy nation [God’s entity: a nation of priests: every Christian is a priest], a people for God’s own possession [a protected people], so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him [Christ] who has called [in eternity past] you out of darkness [spiritual death and the Cosmic Systems] into His amazing light [his plan];”
10. New Spiritual Species, 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ and he is, he is a new spiritual species. The old things have lost their power [Old Covenant]; behold, new things have come to pass [This would include the New Covenant to the Church.].”
Current Positional Truth changes our relationship with Angels.
1. Through current positional truth the believer is higher than angels positionally.
2. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, and so superior to all angels. By virtue of being in union with Christ, every believer is now positionally superior to angels.
3. Positional truth has fulfilled the believer’s triumph with Christ in the angelic conflict. We are victorious with Him already.
4. Furthermore, positional truth demands compatibility with experiential righteousness. Therefore, the believer’s walk on this earth must be compatible with positional truth since we have perfect security in Christ, we have the freedom to choose for Jesus Christ, to love Jesus Christ, to respond to His love, and to fulfill our purpose on this earth.
What positional truth is not?
1. It is not an experience, emotions or ecstasies.
2. It is not progressive; it cannot be improved in time or eternity.
3. It is not related to human merit or ability.
4. It cannot be changed by God, man or angels. It is eternal in nature.
5. It is not obtained gradually as you grow in grace, but in toto at salvation.
6. It is not known apart from the metabolization of doctrine.
7. From understanding the doctrine of positional truth, we progress in our spiritual life, but we cannot improve it since it is perfect at salvation.
8. We are not in Christ because of what we do (execution of the spiritual life) or fail to do (fail to execute the spiritual life), but because of what God has done.
A few points of explanation:
1. The conclusion from positional truth, whether retroactive or current, is that the Christian must apply these doctrines to his spiritual life.
2. In Romans 7:1-4 where we have an illustration of a woman whose first husband has died freeing her to marry another. This is what actually happens to us as believers at salvation. The old sin nature is the husband up to the point of salvation, but at the moment we believe in Jesus Christ positionally the sin nature is dead, as it were, the first husband has died and we have a new husband through union with Christ. Retroactive Positional Truth removes our first husband, the sin nature whereas Current Positional Truth enters us into union with Christ, our new husband.
3. The old sin nature-husband is still around, still seeking to regain his control over his former wife, the believer. But union with the second husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, has broken the first husband’s authority over the former wife.
4. The Baptism of Fire:
Matthew 3:11, “On the one hand I [John the Baptizer] baptize you [believers] by means of water because of a change of thinking [about Christ], but the one coming after me is mightier than I whose sandals I am not worthy to lace [loosen, remove]. He himself will baptize by means of the Holy Spirit [a reference to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age] and by means of fire [a reference to the Baptism of Fire at the 2nd Advent].”
Baptism of Fire: The baptism of fire (identification with fire) is defined as the judgment of unbelievers both Jew and gentile at the Second Advent. They will be removed from the earth and placed in fire for 1000 years until the Last Judgment, Luke 3:16-17; Mathew 25:31, 33. The analogy to the Baptism of Fire is found in Matthew 24:36-41. The one left in the field is the mature believer; the one taken is the unbeliever.
Parables of the Baptism of Fire:
1. The wheat and the tares (the unbelievers), Matthew 13:24-30, 36-40.
2. The good and bad fish (unbelievers), Matthew 13:47-50.
3. The ten virgins: five wise, five foolish (the unbelievers), Matthew 25:1-13.
4. The sheep and the goats (the unbelievers), Mathew 25:31-46.
5. The talent test, Matthew 25:14-30. The one talent man represents the unbeliever.
If Jesus Christ had not been rejected by the Jewish people, then the age of Israel would have continued until its completion (the Tribulation completes the age of Israel). (However, they did reject Jesus Christ as Savior and Messiah and so the client nation was destroyed, and the Church age was intercalated that is inserted before the age of Israel was complete.) After the completion of the age of Israel at the end of the Tribulation, comes the wrath of God namely the Baptism of Fire when the Lord removes both Jewish and gentile unbelievers from the earth and identifies them with fire forever. After which, the Millennial reign begins.
The Three Ritual Baptisms. None are extant at the present time. They are representative identifications in which water is used as a training aid to represent some principle of doctrine.
1. The Baptism of John is found in Matthew 3:2-6, “Saying, ‘Change your thinking [regarding Christ] for the kingdom of heaven is near.’ [The future king was already on the earth] (3) For this is what was communicated through Isaiah, the prophet saying, ‘The voice of one [John the Baptizer] proclaiming loudly in the desert [of Judea]. Prepare [the aorist tense is a one time-decision] the way of the Lord [an idiomatic expression for salvation]. Keep on making upright [the use of the Recovery Procedure followed by the development of experiential righteousness] His paths!’ (Isaiah 40:3) (4) Now, John himself kept on having a garment of camel’s hair [very uncomfortable] and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. (5) Then [after John went where God wanted him to be] Jerusalem kept on going out to him [face to face] and all Judea and all the districts around the Jordan. (6) and they were being baptized [identified with the kingdom] by him [under John’s authority] in the Jordan River [where Israel crossed when they entered the land], and they kept on confessing their sins [post-salvation confession of sins].”
MAX KLEIN BIBLE MINISTRIES
The Book of Revelation: Chapter Eighteen
A verse-by-verse commentary by Max Klein
Let us bow our heads; If we need to use the Recovery Procedure as found in 1 John 1:9, let us do so at this time that we might be in fellowship. (pause) Father, we thank you for the privilege and opportunity to study your word and for the freedom that you have provided for us here in the Philippines.; furthermore, we express our appreciation to God the Holy Spirit who will enlighten us regarding the message this morning. We as priests pray this through the person of our Lord Christ Jesus, our High Priest, Amen.
Revelation 18:
Verses 1-8: the announcement of judgment.
Verses 9-19: the reaction of public opinion.
Verses 20-24: the response in heaven.
Revelation 18:1
After these things [the content of the previous chapter namely the rise and fall of ecumenical religion] “I saw another angel [from the College of Heralds, the King of Arms, one of the highest-ranking Seraphs] coming down from heaven who has great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory [the glamour, the glory of the uniform of glory in the form of light won by the King of Arms in the prehistoric angelic conflict].
Μετὰ ταῦτα εἶδον ἄλλον ἄγγελον καταβαίνοντα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἔχοντα ἐξουσίαν µεγάλην, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐφωτίσθη ἐκ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ.
Seraphs are defined as angels that have six wings. The King of Arms is one of those who has six wings. There are probably about seven or eight out of all the millions of elect angels who hold this highest rank and one of the highest of all is the King of Arms.
Isaiah 6:1-2. In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple. (2) Seraphs stood above him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
The King of Arms as found in Revelation:
Revelation 5:2. Then, I saw a powerful angel [a Seraph possibly holding a higher rank than the Four Angelic Heralds in the throne room; the Colonel refers to him as the King of Arms] announcing with a great voice, "Who is worthy to break its seals and open the book [the Doom’s Day Book in which are recorded the prophetical events of the Tribulation]?"
Revelation 8:3-5. Then, another angel [the King of Arms] came and took his place before the altar [the Golden Altar of Incense located in the heavenly Temple], and he had an incense shovel made of gold; consequently, much incense was given to him in order that he might offer it with the prayers of all the saints [the martyrs of the Tribulation] on the golden altar [of Incense] which is before the throne. (4) Then, the smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the saints [imprecatory prayers first mentioned in Revelation 6:9-11] went up before God from the hand of the angel [the King of Arms]. (5) Then, the angel [the King of Arms] took the incense shovel, and he filled it with fire from the altar [of the Temple in the 3rd Heaven] and hurled it to the earth [he had authority over the fire: Revelation 14:18]; and there followed peals of thunder, loud noises [audible warning], flashes of lightning [a visual warning] and an earthquake [a frightening warning: all of these are warnings of coming judgments: still time for people to change their minds].
Revelation 10:1. Then I saw [Revelation 10:1-11] another powerful angel [the King of Arms] coming down from heaven, and he was wearing a cloud [The cloud represents the glory, power and wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ], and a rainbow over his head [the Lord’s integrity related to historical disaster], and his face was like the sun [depicts the Lord’s provision of logistical grace blessing and the greater blessings for believers], and his feet were like columns of fire [depicts the Lord’s provision of the wall of fire, the divine protection for the growing believer in personal or historical disaster].
The King of Arms, then, comes from the throne room to claim planet earth for the Lord before the Lord returns. Since he is the Lord’s herald, he has an escutcheon namely the cloud, the face like the sun, the rainbow and the feet like pillars of fire. All of which are designed to portray the greatness of the Lord. The cloud represents the glory, power and wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ; the rainbow over his head is the sign of the Lord’s integrity in the perpetuation of human history; (By application, the Lord will never permit the population of the earth to be destroyed by nuclear activity. Even in the Tribulation most loss of life will be due to warfare and famine, and not nuclear.) The face like the sun depicts the Lord’s provision of logistical grace blessing and the greater blessings for believers; his feet like columns of fire depict the Lord’s provision of the wall of fire - the divine protection for the growing believer in personal or historical disaster.
Revelation 14:18. And in the meantime another angel [the King of Arms, the highest ranking angel outside of Michael and Gabriel], who had authority over the fire [of the Altar of Incense of imprecatory prayers] came out from the altar; and he shouted with a magnificent voice [he has the best voice commensurate with his rank] to him [to the cherub-officer who will be in command of the execution squad of seven] who had the sharp sickle, and said, "Send in your sharp sickle [the 7 Plague (Bowl) Judgments] and harvest the cluster of grapes [the saturation of human degeneracy in different areas around the world] from the vines of the earth, because its grapes are ripe [are rotting, ripened to the point of degeneracy].
Revelation 19:5. Then, a voice [the King of Arms, the highest-ranking Seraph in the College of Heralds] came from the throne saying, “Give praise to our God, all His servants, you who respect him [the Lord Jesus Christ at his coronation], both the small [believers who were losers in time, but now attend the coronation in their resurrection bodies] and the great [the believers who were winners in time].”
Revelation 19:17. Then I saw one angel [the King of Arms] standing in the sunlight; and he shouted with a loud voice saying to all the birds [will communicate in the bird language] which fly in mid-air, ‘Come gather to the great feast from the God [the Lord Jesus Christ],’
Prior to the prehistoric fall of Satan, the highest-ranking category of angels were cherubs, their insignia of rank was four wings. At the conclusion of the prehistorical angelic conflict, a new rank was created for those elect angels whose modus operandi during the prehistoric conflict had glorified the Lord in a special way. In other words, every angel of seraph-rank had received a battlefield commission from the prehistoric conflict. (This would be analogous to the eternal rewards for mature believers at the Evaluation Platform of Christ.)
“Having great authority” Great authority, by the way, is a reward for both angels from the past prehistoric conflict and for believers who are advancing to maturity and glorifying the Lord. In the Millennium the greatest authority will go to those members of the royal family who succeeded in utilizing the Protocol System to the maximum. The exploitation of the Protocol System to the maximum means that certain believers will actually rule nations for the last one thousand years in history. Since this angel maximized God’s Protocol System in the prehistoric angelic conflict, he was promoted to an extremely high rank as King of Arms and given much authority.
“The earth was illumined with his glory” So great is the glory of this angelic body that the entire planet earth is illuminated, and light indicates the greatness of this seraph during the prehistoric angelic conflict. This angelic creature is like Moses or Paul as far as his activities in the prehistoric conflict is concerned. His glory is a reward, a part of the decorations that he received for his faithfulness to God in that ancient period.
Revelation 18:2
And he [the King of Arms] cried out with a mighty voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen [We have the constative aorist tense contemplating the function of finesse judgment in its entirety] is Babylon the great [the nuclear destruction of Babylon as the headquarters of ecumenical religion in the Tribulation]! In fact, she has become a habitation of demons [religion and demon activity function together] and a prison of every unclean spirit [an unclean spirit is synonymous with a demon] and is the sentry post for every unclean [refers to birds that could not be eaten by the Jews inasmuch as the vulture and the buzzard and the eagle feed on carrion and so were taboo] and hateful bird [although these birds do a wonderful job of cleaning up dead animals, most people hate them. These are similar to the vultures of Matthew 24:28 who gather for the great feast.].
καὶ ἔκραξεν ἐν ἰσχυρᾷ φωνῇ λέγων, Ἔπεσεν, ἔπεσεν Βαβυλὼν ἡ µεγάλη, καὶ ἐγένετο κατοικητήριον δαιµονίων καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς πνεύµατος ἀκαθάρτου καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς ὀρνέου ἀκαθάρτου καὶ µεµισηµένου,
Babylon is the title given to the ecumenical religious system, for two reasons namely because ancient Babylon was the origin of the religious system and secondly because Peter while in Rome used Babylon as a code word for Rome as per 1 Peter 5:13. Today, in Italy, we have Rome as the capital of the government and also we have the Vatican which is a state in itself and is the religious capital of a semi-ecumenical religious system. So, in the future, Rome will both be a religious city as well as a civil one. The religious part of Rome will be nuked toward the end of the Tribulation by the political. Via the Lord’s finesse judgment, the political Rome will get tired of being pushed around by the arrogance of the religious system, ecumenical religion of the Tribulation. So, political Rome being one system of evil is going destroy the ecumenical religious system as another system of evil.
1 Peter 5:13. The elect in Babylon [Rome] send greetings to you, and so does my son [functions like a son], Mark [John Mark, the one who wrote the 2nd Gospel and functioned as the amanuensis for Peter in his writing of 1 Peter].
Rome codified by Peter. The ancient city of Babylon did not exist at the time of this writing. Rome was called Babylon as the anticipated center of the ecumenical movement (Revelation 17:1-12). Peter writes this from Rome during Nero’s persecution of the church. This epistle was written in 65 AD while Paul was on his fourth missionary journey in Spain. Paul will not be back for two years. Peter discovered that Nero was sending troops out to gather-up the Christians to whom this epistle is addressed. Peter uses the term Babylon for Rome to codify his address. So, if this letter should be intercepted by the Romans officials, they will not know where Peter is.
Regarding the headquarters for ecumenical religion, this location will also be a center of concentrated demon influence and possession. This religious headquarters is apparently nuked in the Tribulation killing all the inhabitants but not the demons since demons cannot be destroyed by a nuclear detonation. Though the people at headquarters are all killed, the demons continue to operate. The existence of demons there indicates that the great motivation and the great sustaining power of any form of religion is demonism. Demons always sponsor religion and this is why religion is called the devil’s communion table, 1 Corinthians 10:19-21. When the revived Roman Empire finally gets around to putting a nuclear missile into the headquarters of the religious ecumenical system, they destroy people but the demons are totally unhindered.
“A prison of every unclean spirit” When the Lord created the angels, he created them perfectly pure. It would be logical to assume that they became unclean, impure at their fall and subsequently, become more and more unclean as they progress through history. Somewhat similar to the members of the human race which members are born with a sin nature and with Adam’s Original Sin imputed to that sin nature and subsequently, acquire more personal sins as these members of the human race progress through time.
The Lord apparently imprisons these demons at this religious center. The phraseology implies that the Lord will not permit these demons to move out from this site after the destruction of this religious center, and so this location will become their prison. All of the individuals in the religious headquarters which individuals they were influencing and indwelling are all dead. Nothing is left now; the buildings and people all have been destroyed, but the bored demons to keep each other company.
Demonism: “A dwelling place of demons”
1. There are three prison-locations of fallen angels namely those incarcerated in the Abyss, in Tartarus and under the Euphrates River, these first three categories function in bodies. The fourth category are operational fallen angels who are not incarcerated but function under the rule of Satan during human history. (In Genesis 6:1-6 we had the genetic attack of demons upon the human race. It was the greatest attack of demons with bodies in an attempt to frustrate the coming of the true humanity of Christ. After that attack on true humanity, the Lord no longer allowed demons to have bodies in human history with one exception in the Tribulation. In the second half of the Tribulation, the Lord will again allow demons to possess bodies in order to torture and to kill since that phase of history will be Satan’s rebuttal in the Angelic Appeal Trial, and since it will be his rebuttal, Satan will be allowed to use his assets to the fullest.
2. There are two categories of demon activity in human history namely demon influence and demon possession. Demon influence is Satan’s thinking entering the soul of the believer or unbeliever through the concept of black-out of the soul. When there is insufficient truth or a lack of truth in the soul, the person will accept the lies of Satan. Demon possession is a demon indwelling the body of an unbeliever only. Since the believer is indwelt by God the Father, God the Son, and God Holy Spirit, no demon can indwell the body of a believer.
3. For either demon influence or possession to occur, the person must be in position of weakness in the Cosmic System. There cannot be demon influence or possession apart from human consent which requires decisions made from a position of weakness namely the Cosmic System. The believer is in a position of weakness when he is functioning out of fellowship with the Spirit. The unbeliever is in a position of weakness when he rejects the Laws of Establishment.
4. Demons are capable of two categories of violence namely indirect through agents and direct, the demon himself produces the violence. In indirect violence, the demon must attack either through demon influence or demon possession. Demon influence from the Cosmic System is the source of most of the violence we face today motivated by hatred, and anger. So, criminal activity and terrorism are illustrations of demon influence and sometimes indwelling resulting in violence. Direct violence is a phenomenon reserved mostly for the last half of the Tribulation which violence is brought about through the release of those fallen angels located in the Abyss and those under the Euphrates.
(1) The attack of the first demon assault army stationed in the Abyss.
Revelation 9:1-11. Then, the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star [Satan] fall from heaven to the earth, and a key to the entrance of the abyss was given to him [Satan]. (2) Then, he [Satan] unlocked the entrance of the abyss with the result that smoke, like the smoke of a giant furnace, ascended from that entrance; both the radiation from the sun and from the atmosphere became darkened because of the smoke from the entrance of the abyss. (3) And from the smoke, locusts [analogy to describe the method by which the first demon assault army attacks] invaded the earth; and power was given to them, like scorpions have power on the earth [the scorpion sting is painful as will be the torture of these demons], (4) and they were instructed that they should not injure the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God [unbelievers and apostate believers] on their foreheads [believers advancing spiritually will have God’s seal] (5) Also, they were not permitted to kill them [only to torture unbelievers and believers in the Cosmic System], but to torture them for five months, and their torture is like the torture of a scorpion when it strikes a man [intense pain]. (6) Consequently, men [persons living in the Cosmic System] in those days [in the last half of the Tribulation] will seek death [to escape torture], but they will not find it; they will have an intense desire to die, but death will elude them. (7) Now, the appearance of the locust demons was like cavalry horses which have been prepared for warfare; and on their heads as it were crowns like gold [their army patch] and their faces like the faces of men. (8) Furthermore, they had hair like the hair of women [indicating their rejection of bonified authority and their becoming effeminate in nature] and their teeth were like the teeth of lions [had great power and the ability to torture]. (9) Also, they had breastplates like breastplates of iron [demons are not vulnerable to human attacks], and the sound of their wings [analogy continues] was like the thundering of chariots, plus many cavalry horses charging into battle. (10) Also, they had tails plus stings like scorpions, and in their tails is their power to torment those men [in the Cosmic System] five months. (11) They have a king [a commanding general] over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in the Hebrew is Abaddon [destruction] while in the Greek he is called Apollyon [exterminator].
(2) The attack of the second demon assault army stationed under the Euphrates River. In this attack, Satan destroys his own losers in the Cosmic System because arrogance has no loyalty. Just as Satan has no loyalty, so also people involved in demonism have no loyalty or integrity for the arrogance of the Cosmic System cancels integrity, honor, and virtue.
Revelation 9:13-16. Then, the sixth angel [a pursuivant messenger] sounded his trumpet, and I heard one voice [a pursuivant officer of cherub rank] from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, (14) and he gave the order to the sixth trumpet, "Release the four angels [demon army generals] who have been incarcerated at the great river Euphrates. (15) Then, the four angels [demon generals], who have been kept in the state of readiness for this hour and day and month and year, were released in order that they might kill one third of mankind [unbelievers in the Cosmic System on the earth during the Great Tribulation]. (16) In fact, the number of the armies of calvary [under the command of the four generals] is two hundred million; I heard their number.
(3) The attack of the third demon assault army stationed in heaven under the direct command of Satan.
Revelation 12:7-9. Now, there was war in heaven and Michael and his army of elect angels fought against the dragon [Satan]. Furthermore, the dragon and his fallen angels fought back. (8) Nevertheless, he [Satan and his demon assault army] did not win, in fact, a place was no longer found for them in heaven. (9) Then, the great dragon, the ancient serpent [as related to the garden] who is called the devil [accuser, maligner] even Satan, who keeps on deceiving the entire inhabited earth was thrown out of heaven; he was thrown down to earth, furthermore his angels were thrown out of heaven with him.
Revelation 12:13-15. Now, when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth [becomes aware that his time is short], he persecuted the woman [Israel: the greatest wave of anti-Semitism in history] who gave birth to the male child [1st Advent of Jesus Christ]. (14) Nevertheless, the two wings of the great eagle [divine protection of true Israel in first half of Tribulation] had been given [the Lord provides protection through his power] to the woman [Jewish believers in Israel], so that she might fly [not really flying but an analogy to the wings given to her] to her place of refuge [to move to the high desert country of Revelation 12:6] where she will be sustained for 3 1/2 years [the last half of the Tribulation] from the presence of the serpent [Satan who will try to get believing Jews to leave this place of refuge]. (15) Then, the serpent projected from his mouth water [gave the order for the 3rd demon assault army apparently in bodies to attack Jewish people] like a river [moving with great speed and violence] to overtake the woman [unbelieving Jews for most of the believers have already fled], in order that he might cause [Satan as the subject performs the action through intermediary means] her to drown in the flood waters [from the attack of this army].”
(4) Satan’s attack at the end of the Millennium called Gog and Magog.
Revelation 20:7-10. And when the thousand years have been completed, Satan will be released from his prison [to make his closing statement]. (8) And he will go out [predictive future] to deceive [culminative aorist: results in a revolution] the nations, those in the four hemispheres of the earth, Gog [code name for Satan] and Magog [code name for the conspiracy], to concentrate [a military word] them for battle [Satan uses violence] whose number is like the sand of the sea [sand on beaches and under the oceans: an extremely large army]. (9) Then, they marched over the wide terrain of the land [the high desert country of Southern Israel] and they surrounded [culminative aorist] the bivouac of the saints [gentile believers in mortal bodies who will have retreated before this army], and the beloved city [Jerusalem where the Jewish believers in mortal bodies will have fled for security]. Then, fire [or something approximating fire] came down [constative aorist] from God [according to the best manuscripts] out of Heaven and consumed [destroyed] them, (10) and the Devil [the enemy] who had deceived [durative present] them, was thrown [culminative aorist] into the Lake of Fire and burning sulfur, where the beast [the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire] and the false prophet [the dictator who claimed to be the messiah of Israel] were. And they [the three just mentioned] will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
5. Believers and unbelievers in the Cosmic System during the Tribulation are victims of violence from demon assault armies. Satan's rationale in destroying his human servants is that once he is cast to the earth, he doesn’t need them anymore. This is a case of finesse judgment, where omniscient God uses evil to judge and destroy evil.
6. Choose between living in God’s system or Satan’s. Every day, thousands of believers living in the Cosmic System make hundreds of thousands of decisions from a position of weakness. These decisions reflect the cosmic philosophy of Satan. Once decisions are made from free will to live in Satan’s Cosmic System, the person loses his ability to make decisions from a position of strength. All decisions made under the influence of arrogance and in the Cosmic System are decisions from a position of weakness. All decisions made from the Filling of the Spirit and application of Bible doctrine are decisions made from a position of strength.
7. You make decisions all the time, and they will eventuate in a trend. They are either from a position of weakness which leads to a self-destructive trend or from a position of strength leading to an upward trend of spiritual growth and virtue.
8. The believer living under the Two Power Options makes decisions from a position of strength, whereas the believer living in the Cosmic System makes decisions from a position of weakness.
9. Demon possession was the basis for capital punishment in Israel. So serious was contacting demons and demon possession that capital punishment was prescribed by God for this practice.
Leviticus 20:27. Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones, their blood-guiltiness is upon them.
10. There are five methods by which believers get into contact with demons:
a. Wherever idolatry is practiced there are demons behind those idols as per 1 Corinthians 10:19-21.
b. Users of drugs are all liable to demon possession in the case of unbelievers, or demon influence in the case of those who are born again as per Galatians 5:20.
c. The phallic cult is a basis for contact with demons, Isaiah 2:6; Luke 8:2.
d. Mental attitude sins carried to the extreme producing neurosis and psychosis are cases of demon influence and ultimately can lead to demon possession as per Mark 5, where the demon-possessed individuals had all of the characteristics of psychosis.
e. Religious-sensitivity training which is designed to turn the body and soul over to some higher type of power namely demons as per Isaiah 8:19.
11. Demons are the gods of nations.
Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
12. The firstborn judgement in Egypt included the judgement of demons.
Exodus 12:12. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments; I am the Lord.
13. Therefore, the Jews, to be protected from this type of religious infiltration, were prohibited from making sacrifices to demons.
Leviticus 17:7. They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations.
14. Child sacrifice was inspired by demons.
Psalm 106:37-39. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, (38) and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with the blood. (39) Thus, they became unclean in their practices, and played the harlot in their deeds [that is while sacrificing their children].
15. Satan has a lot of power. Satan, when God permits has the power to kill as he did with Job’s children. Expanding this concept, in Job 2:6-8 Satan produced illness in Job. Also, there are many diseases related to demon possession as found in the Bible as per Acts 10:38, Luke 13:16, Matthew 12:22.
16. The Canaanite nations were destroyed for demon activity.
Deuteronomy 18:9-12. When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. (10) There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire [burning as a child sacrifice], one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, (11) or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. (12) For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.
17. The practice of necromancy is a sign of negative volition toward doctrine. It can result in the sin unto death.
1 Chronicles 10:13-14. So, Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also, because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it, (14) and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore, He [the Lord] killed him [Saul] and turned-over the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse.
18. Evil is associated with the rule of demonism, as in the case of Manasseh.
2 Kings 21:1-3. Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzibah. (2) He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed [the Canaanite Nations] before the sons of Israel. (3) For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the demon armies of heaven and served them [through idolatry].
19. Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem in 586 B.C. on the basis of divination.
Ezekiel 21:21-22. For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways [the way to Rabbath, the capital of the Ammonites and the way to Jerusalem, the capital of Judah; which of these two should Nebuchadnezzar destroy first], to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the household idols, he looks at the liver [of the sacrificed animal to determine by divination]. (22) Into his right hand came the divination, 'Jerusalem,' to set battering rams, to open the mouth for slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall.
20. From Revelation 18:2, we learn that Demons are limited by the Lord as to where they can function. Wherever someone sets up an idol of any kind, demons are permitted to go to that geographical area and are permitted to function there by God. Once the idol is destroyed, they have to stay there unless some idol is set up nearby and even then, they have to have divine permission to travel to that new location. Demons are simply not free to roam around the earth at will. Even though Satan is the ruler of this world, the demons are limited to geographical locations which can be traced by the history of idolatry in the human race.
Revelation 18:3
Because all the nations have drunk [the intensive perfect: the demonization began in the past with the result that they are now completely under the control of religion] of the wine [not literal wine but a reference to losing the ability to think] of the passion [emotion which does not originate from thought] of her immorality [a reference to spiritual immorality], and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her [spiritual fornication which is life in the Cosmic System; ecumenical religion not only will dominate politics but also the economies in many parts of the world], and the merchants of the earth [business men, merchants both wholesale and retail dealers who work with ecumenical religion will become wealthy] have become rich from her excessive luxuries [the tremendous economic wealth and luxury of ecumenical religion in the Tribulation which wealth and luxury the merchants of the earth will lust after].
ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυµοῦ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς πεπότικεν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς µετí αὐτῆς ἐπόρνευσαν, καὶ οἱ ἔµποροι τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῆς δυνάµεως τοῦ στρήνους αὐτῆς ἐπλούτησαν.
The word “wine” is used here for the wine of religion intoxicating its converts, making them drunk with arrogance. Therefore “drinking from the wine of the passion [emotion controlling the life] of her fornication” refers to involvement in the Cosmic System. Religion will have a tremendous influence over rulers in the Tribulation.
Emotional Arrogance:
Irrational or Emotional Arrogance is the antithesis of rational arrogance. Rational arrogance uses human viewpoint and academic theory as the criterion for life instead of Bible doctrine. On the other hand, irrational arrogance uses feeling and emotion as the criterion for life instead of Bible doctrine. Normal emotional function responds to the thinking of the precordial frontal lobes of the soul. Emotions are designed, under normal living, to respond to the content of your intellect and to the standards developed from your thinking. When your standards are met in any field of life, your emotions respond in a wonderful way.
Even John became irrational for a short time until reprimanded. John has a very important job to do, and he will not get this job done through emotional weeping. So, in the following verse, one of the Twenty-four Staff Officers will command him to stop this emotional nonsense.
Revelation 5:4-5. And so I wept and wept [John became emotional in reaction to the pressure that he was facing and so was temporarily distracted from his spiritual responsibility], because no one was found who was worthy to open the book or to read [and understand] it; (5) Then, one of the twenty-four general staff officers [of the angelic army] ordered me [John], "Stop weeping [John has a job to do which will require concentration and thought]; look here, the Lion from the tribe of Judah [the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of David], the Root of David [Son of God] has won the victory [in the angelic conflict] and is qualified to begin opening the book and its seven seals.
Emotion is an appreciator and responder and so functioning normally only when under the authority of thought. Just as your volition must be under human authorities of establishment and under the divine authority of the Word of God, so emotion is only normal when it is subordinate to correct thinking. Emotion is a responder and reflector of thinking or lack of thinking in a normal person.
As a system of feeling and response, emotion in itself does not contain any of the following:
1. Emotion has no ability to reason. So, the ability to reason is lost when emotion begins to dominate the soul.
2. Emotion has no capability of thought for emotion was not designed for thinking, but for responsive stimulation.
3. Emotion has no doctrinal content or criteria, and so has no common sense. So, if emotion dominates the soul of a person, that person will be irrational!
Emotion is never the criterion for Christian experience. You are not saved or spiritual because you feel saved or spiritual. Your feelings have absolutely nothing to do with your spiritual status quo. However, your emotions can respond to your spiritual growth or to doctrines you finally understand, just as your emotions respond to other things. Under the principle of irrational arrogance, emotion becomes a major distraction to the execution of the Protocol Plan of God.
Preoccupation with self in arrogance, substitutes emotional stimulation for Bible doctrine and the spiritual life. For example, in the verse above, John was substituting emotional weeping for the proper application of some known truth. Emotion rejects the three r's of Operation Z: reception, retention, and recall of doctrine, all of which require the function of the frontal lobe.
Emotion is not involved in the process of learning and applying the Word and can even lead to blasphemy. Emotion benefits from doctrine learned and responds to it. However, to the extent that you get emotional about some doctrinal point, you lose your objectivity and your ability to actually learn and apply doctrine. Emotional arrogance concludes the following blasphemies:
1. A person is not saved unless he feels saved.
2. A person is not spiritual without an ecstatic experience.
3. A person is not forgiven of his sins without a lot of emotional weeping and wailing.
Emotions cannot solve problems since solving problems requires rational thought, judgment and decision making. Emotional stress causes the believer to act on impulse rather than the application of Bible doctrine. A few examples:
1. The emotion of fear causes flight.
2. The emotion of disgust causes repulsion.
3. The emotion of anger causes violence. Therefore, emotions are feeling functions, and they should never become the criterion for Christianity.
Emotion is defined as a complex, biochemical, physiological process or function concerned with somatic expression of feeling. The prefrontal lobes are the cortical areas associated with thought and decisions. Normal emotions respond to thought in the prefrontal lobes. In cases where the prefrontal lobes have been removed as in a frontal lobotomy, such individuals still have emotional activity since emotions are located in the body not in the frontal lobes. So, while the removal of the prefrontal lobes may eliminate thought, it does not eliminate emotional activity. In summary, emotional arrogance (emotion dominating the soul) is a denial of divine power which is stored and utilized in the prefrontal lobes.
The cosmic believer has three emotional malfunctions. He makes a god out of his emotions as found in Philippians. He is distracted from the protocol plan of God by the improper use of his emotions as found in Romans. He is hindered by emotion in the perception of Bible doctrine as found in 2 Corinthians. In these ways, irrational arrogance makes emotion the criterion for the Christian way of life.
Philippians 3:18-19. For many [cosmic believers] keep walking [modus operandi in the Cosmic System] concerning whom I have communicated to you many times and now continue communicating, even though weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; (19) whose end [of his life] is destruction [sin unto death; whose destiny is loss of Escrow Blessings] whose god was their emotion [their lifestyle since they have rejected divine thinking and power], and whose glory [in their resurrection bodies] will be associated with shame [at the Evaluation Platform of Christ], who keep thinking about earthly things [their distraction; no time to learn the spiritual life].
Romans 16:17-18. Now I urge you, brethren, look out [have discernment through doctrine resident in your souls] for those [the Cosmic Christians who have black-out and scar tissue of the soul] who are causing dissensions and apostasies [causing one to stumble or fail in his spiritual life] contrary to doctrine, which you indeed have learned from a teacher; in fact, be separating from them [the ones who refuse to learn the spiritual life via the two power options]. (18) For such believers do not serve our Lord Christ but their own emotions serving themselves; and by their smooth and flattering speech they [false teachers] deceive the stream of consciousnesses of the unsuspecting [believers ignorant of doctrine].
2 Corinthians 6:11-12. Our mouths [Paul, Apollos and Timothy] have been opened face to face with you, O’ Corinthians; our stream of consciousnesses have been enlarged [all three communicators knew the spiritual life well]. (12) Therefore, you have not been hindered by us, but you have been hindered by your own emotions.
Revelation 18:3. For all the nations have drunk of the wine [not literal wine but a reference to losing the ability to think] of the passion [emotion which does not originate from thought] of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her [spiritual fornication which is life in the Cosmic System], and the merchants of the earth [business men, merchants both wholesale and retail dealers] have become rich from her excessive luxuries [the economic influence of international religion in the Tribulation since the economy of the Tribulation will be tied to this ecumenical religious system].
Characteristics of emotional arrogance:
1. Emotional arrogance is vulnerable to flattery, and flattery encourages unreality about self.
2. Emotional arrogance encourages fear under pressure since emotion cannot think. (Courage is the ability to think under pressure.)
3. Emotional arrogance produces personality disturbances, called psycho-neurotic disorders. Psycho-neurotic personalities use emotional arrogance to try to deal with stress, but instead of solving stress, they manufacture anxiety, piling more pressure on their life. Since emotional arrogance cannot handle anxiety. So, phobic, depressive, obsessive, and compulsive reactions result from emotional arrogance.
4. Emotional arrogance not only eliminates rational thinking in the soul, but produces arrogant preoccupation with the insignificant. Arrogant preoccupation with the insignificant not only destroys any true scale of values in life, but develops an arrogant self-centeredness which destroys capacity for life, love, and happiness. Without capacity from correct thought, details of life will make you miserable.
Again, knowledge is the environment for thinking, not emotion. Emotions are wonderful when they are the result of thinking based on truth; that's what emotions are for. Therefore, emotions are designed to enjoy life, not to run life.
Strength in Faith, Weakness in Emotion:
Now, after God had delivered the Jews, they sang beautifully praising him for their deliverance, but singing does not imply spiritual strength. These believers were not praising and singing because they respected and loved God. They were expressing their appreciation to God for delivering them. Their appreciation was based on their emotional relief from being delivered, not on their appreciation of the Lord. To these Jews the most important priority in their life was their safety, not a harmonious relationship with God. Praising God and singing hymns has meaning if one has a close relationship with God based on knowledge. However, if the believer is ignorant of God and His plan, his relationship with God will be related to emotion. An emotional relationship has no strength!
One can relate to a hymn cognitively or emotionally or both since a hymn contains both lyrics and melody. The purpose of the lyrics is to stimulate thought whereas the purpose of the melody is to stimulate one’s emotion pleasurably. If the believer understands and appreciates the lyrics of a hymn only then can he benefit from his singing and at the same time enjoy the melody. However, if the believer does not understand and appreciate the lyrics of a good hymn, his singing has no spiritual value and becomes a meaningless emotional activity related only to the melody.
Exodus 15:2. The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my deliverance. This is my God, and I will praise him. My father's God; I will extol him.
Exodus 15:15. The chiefs of Edom were dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
Three days after the Jews sang ‘the Lord is my strength’, they demonstrated that they had no spiritual strength at all for they immediately began complaining under the pressure of a simple test. Then one year later after singing about how confident they would be in combat, and how fearful the Edomites, Moabites and the inhabitants of Canaan would be of them, the Jewish army refused to enter the land and wept all night in their fear of the Canaanites! So, the Edomites, Moabites and the inhabitants of Canaan didn't need to worry about that generation of Jews for those men were too cowardly to fight their way into the land (Num. 14:1-11). You see, a believer can sing and praise God until he passes out from exhaustion, but all of this is meaningless unless that believer has strength in his soul from knowledge of God and a continuous fellowship with Him. These Jews produced sinful emotion on one side of the Red Sea and non-sinful emotion on the other side of the Sea. They swung from one end of the emotional spectrum (fear) to the other end (relief from being delivered). Only Moses had divine thought in his soul and true capacity to handle all situations in life. So, when he sang, it had meaning, but for the rest of the Jews, their singing was meaningless since their singing was based on emotion only. So, every time they had a pressure situation, they would worry and fear about their safety and never even once considered God’s provision and plan for their lives. So, they continued to complain and complain until they died in the desert because the majority of these Jews never learned to apply the Word of God by faith to their experience.
Hebrews 4:2-3. For we also have been evangelized [and believed in Christ for the intensive perfect emphasizes the existing results] as they had been [the Jews of the Exodus generation were believers], but the word they heard [after salvation] did not profit them, because those who heard it [Bible teaching from Moses] did not mix it [knowledge of the Word] with faith [no Faith-perception due to carnality]. (3) For we who have believed [in the promises, principles and doctrines of God’s word] enter into the rest [of contentment, tranquility and happiness through spiritual advance].
The Concept of Energy and Ability:
1. Energy without ability is misdirected arrogance. Energy without ability produces mental attitude arrogance or inordinate ambition. When people have energy without ability, they become trouble makers.
2. Energy without ability results in self-righteous arrogance which manifest itself in crusader arrogance. A crusader is a self-righteous person who tries to interfere into someone else’s business, intrudes into the privacy of another and tries to control the life of another. He easily enters into the sins of gossip, and maligning.
3. Energy without ability produces conspiracy arrogance, sexual arrogance, iconoclastic arrogance, morality arrogance, and the arrogance of Christian service. People who have energy but no ability to serve the Lord are always using their energy in pseudo systems of Christian production.
4. Ability without energy is lack of motivation and lack of self-discipline. In other words, the arrogance of laziness.
5. The controlled energy of hard work produces ability, and the ability channels hard work into fields of productive success. Ability is not inherent, it is acquired through hard work, through dedication, through plugging.
6. Energy plus ability produces a true purpose in life.
7. Energy is basically created in the body, but ability is created by the motivation of the soul, not by the intelligence of the soul.
8. Motivation in the soul produces the decisions to take in doctrine consistently regardless of circumstances, regardless of discouragement.
9. Both energy and ability are harnessed through perception and application of Bible doctrine.
10. Therefore, both energy and ability must be related to doctrine and wisdom, otherwise a pseudo drive is created. All pseudo drives terminate in the Cosmic System.
Our Lord’s wisdom and ability during His First Advent was derived from His residence and function in the Prototype Divine Power System, and it resulted in the greatest of all victories in human history, the strategic victory of the cross. Our Lord’s wisdom coupled with His energy and ability at the Second Advent sets in motion the greatest reign in all of human history, the tactical victory of the Second Advent. In the meantime, our Lord has provided the Operational Divine Power System for the royal family so that believers in the Church Age can face and overcome every disaster in life. We have the means of meeting any disaster, any tragedy in life.
Arrogance rejects Grace:
There are four areas in which pride rejects grace. This explains Satan’s pride and human pride, and why pride is the greatest enemy of grace. For example, the pride of the believer who rejects the doctrine of eternal security. A person who rejects eternal security thinks that his own sins are greater than the plan of God. Secondly, there is the pride of the believer who succumbs to the pressure of adversity, and he in self-pity thinks that his suffering is greater than the grace provision of God. Third, there is the pride of pseudo-spirituality, the pride of trying to be spiritual by something one does. Finally, there is the pride of the believer in emotional revolt of the soul who assumes that his feelings and his emotions and experiences are more important than doctrine.
Arrogance related to Personality: the assumption that a good personality means a great person namely that greatness is found in personality.
1. While it is true that some people do have great personalities, it is not true that a great personality has greatness.
2. While flair may accompany greatness, flair in itself is not greatness, it is merely a personality trend.
3. What the average person fails to realize is that personality often obscures the real person.
4. It is true that personality often reveals the person, but it is also true that it can be a disguise as much as a manifestation. Personality can obfuscate the real person.
5. Having a great personality does not imply greatness. This does not downgrade personality but merely places personality in its proper perspective.
6. Personality is merely what people see. No one can see inside of your soul where the real person exists.
7. Personality, then, can be a manifestation or an obfuscation of the real person.
8. Furthermore, personality can be used to disguise hypocrisy for example a coward may have a pleasing personality, but a coward is still a coward.
9. In reality good personality is a non-essential in life, and those who confuse a good personality with greatness do not have the ability to appreciate a great person with integrity.
10. The essential is the function of the soul; the non-essential is the personality which covers the soul. By analogy, the essential is the function of the human body; the non-essential is the clothes that cover the human body.
11. So, the essential is the norms of the soul, the norms of the conscience of the soul. The non-essential is the personality which fronts for the soul.
12. The believer must be inflexible about Bible doctrine in his soul, but he must be flexible about the non-essentials of personality.
Arrogance related to Success:
1. Arrogant presumption can occur when a person has by some standard been labelled or qualified as being successful or the person who has come into public notice, has achieved some kind of public attention may develop an arrogant problem.
2. People who are brilliant or successful in a certain field assume in their arrogance that they are an expert in all fields or subjects. Therefore, in their arrogance they feel qualified to express an opinion on any subject that may come up. The momentum for this tragic flaw comes from success in one field of endeavour which linked with arrogance assumes expertise in every field of endeavour.
Emotional Revolt of the Soul:
Emotional revolt means that emotion replaces thought as the criterion by which one makes judgments and decisions. The believer becomes irrational, egocentric and unstable through emotion for emotion in itself is an empty physiological response; it contains no doctrinal content, no mental function, no norms and standards, and no common sense. The spiritual life cannot be executed through emotion, only through divine thought.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3. And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual persons [believers Filled with the Spirit], but as unto carnal [fleshly, belonging to the sin nature], as childish ones [because emotion was their criterion] in Christ. (2) I gave you milk [basic doctrine] to drink, not solid food [advanced doctrines], for you were not yet able [to receive it], moreover even now, you are still not able [to receive solid food, advanced doctrinal teaching]. (3) For you are still carnal, for while [there are] jealousy and strife among you, are you not carnal and keep walking in conformity with men [unbelievers]? Yes, you are [Expects yes for an answer].
Philippians 3:18-19. For many [cosmic believers] keep walking [modus operandi in the Cosmic System] concerning whom I have communicated to you many times and now continue communicating, even though weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; (19) whose end [of his life] is destruction [sin unto death; whose destiny is loss of Escrow Blessings] whose god was their emotion [their lifestyle since they have rejected divine thinking and power], and whose glory [in their resurrection bodies] will be associated with shame [at the Evaluation Platform of Christ], who keep thinking about earthly things [their distraction; no time to learn the spiritual life].
Revelation 18:3 depicts evil in the Tribulation from the standpoint of religion. So, let’s take a look at Satan’s policy and his system of Evil.
1. Evil is the policy of Satan which became operational when Ishah (after the Fall called Eve) and Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
2. Eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil temporarily destroyed their relationship with the Lord via the loss of their human spirits and the acquisition of sin natures.
3. The sin nature is Satan’s major agent for the implementation of his policy of Evil.
4. ‘Good’ outside of God’s plan is Satanic Cosmic good and always leads to Evil. So, evil is more than ‘good.’ Evil combines good and sin to attack God’s plan for mankind.
5. Evil attacks the Laws of Establishment, laws related to the individual, marriage, family, and nation. Evil also seeks to hinder the unbeliever from understanding and believing in Christ, and if he should believe and become a believer, Satan then attacks his spiritual life.
6. Any attack on the individual’s right of freedom (the right to succeed or fail), the right to privacy, the right to accumulate and own property and the right to protect oneself, wife, family, and property via firearms is evil. (Of course, the criminal has forfeited these rights since through his arrogance attacks the rights of others.)
7. A few examples of evil functions: census taking, the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 caught spying on law abiding citizens, high taxes which attacks success for the purpose of redistribution to those who are failing economically which in turn attacks the right to fail, forced shutdown of businesses, forced mask wearing, social distancing, social security, national health plans, forced vaccinations, the seizure of weapons from law abiding citizens, preventing a woman in her first trimester from having an abortion, any attack upon marriage such as the husband’s authority, autoerotism, fornication, adultery, communal living, homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, bestiality etc., any attack upon the authority of parents over their children such as the parent’s responsibility to administer proper corporal punishment to their children, forced chemo and vaccination of children etc., attack on nationalism through any form of disarmament, the failure to prepare young male citizens for warfare, the United Nations or any other form of internationalism that attacks nationalism.
8. Satan’s attempt to blind the minds of unbelievers through religion.
2 Corinthians 4:4. In whose case, the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.
The luring of Christians away from the execution of the spiritual life through legalism and emotion is part of Satan’s plan of evil.
2 Corinthians 2:11. so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
9. Evil is the adverse trend of society which leads to the malfunction of society, the removal of the legitimate authority and ultimately the destruction of society.
10. Evil is Satan’s policy and function as the ruler of this world. Evil is Satan’s system by which he administers the rulership of this world. Satan cannot restrain sin as the ruler of this world and Satan’s Cosmic good is inevitably parlayed both into sin and evil. So, evil then is the modus operandi and the modus vivendi of Satan as the ruler of this world. Though Satan would like to bring in a world government under his authority, a rule sponsoring world peace and prosperity, he neither has the integrity nor the ability to accomplish this goal.
11. Evil is the function and innovation of that person who is consistently involved in the Cosmic System.
12. The origin of evil is Satan’s genius to devise a system namely Cosmic One and Two to oppose God. So, evil originated in a higher form of creation; it originated in angelic creation. It originated with the greatest of all creatures to come from the hand of God, Satan himself.
Evil: Satan's Policy.
Evil in two categories is the policy of Satan as the ruler of this world. The power of Satan is administered to the human race via the Cosmic System. Evil is the ultimate expression of man's relationship with Satan. Evil in the Cosmic System is both the motivation and momentum of the Cosmic System. In 2 Timothy 3:13, the advance to "more and more evil" is momentum in the Cosmic System. Evil comes in two categories namely motivational evil which originates from false doctrine in the Cosmic System, and functional evil, which is the modus operandi and lifestyle within the Cosmic System.
While the spiritual life is the place for the function of absolute good, Satan's Cosmic System is the place for the function of absolute evil. In the Protocol Plan of God, intrinsic divine good and Satanic evil are mutually exclusive. This means that no evil exists in the spiritual life under the Spirit, and no intrinsic good exists in the Cosmic System. Under the authority of God, the Holy Spirit and the use of metabolized truth, the believer can only produce agathos which is good of intrinsic value. Living one’s life under God’s authority is classified as the purchase of time which is necessary because of evil.
Ephesians 5:16. Keep on redeeming [purchasing] the time [the time allotted to each believer], because the days are evil [The Church Age is a time of concentrated evil].
The protection of God’s power system and the continuance of evil will continue. As long as Satan rules the world, evil will continue to be a part of human history. Even so, God protects the growing believer.
2 Timothy 3:13. But evil men, even deceivers, will advance more and more evil, deceiving and being deceived.
2 Thessalonians 3:3. But the Lord is faithful; He will both empower you and protect you from evil [Bible doctrine protects the believer from Satan's policy of evil].
The Lord's Prayer for the Church addressed this subject in John 17:15, when He asked the Father to "guard them from evil”.
We note the principle of evil. A mandate has come from God warning us about these things:
Romans 12:21. Stop being conquered by evil, but conquer evil by means of the good [intrinsic good].
We have the Protocol Plan of God through which we are insulated and protected from evil, the evil of the Cosmic System. This is one of the most important factors in our daily thinking. We must differentiate between what is virtuous and what is evil, what is honorable and what is dishonorable.
Hebrews 5:13, 14. For everyone partaking of milk [new believers, or losers] is ignorant of doctrine pertaining to righteousness because he is immature, (14) but solid food [advanced doctrine] is belonging to the mature believer who because of self-discipline keeps having his perceptive faculties well trained with reference to differentiating between the virtuous and the evil.
False doctrine is both evil and even insanity.
Ecclesiastes 9:3. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: the same destiny overtakes all. Furthermore, the right lobes [the stream of consciousnesses] of the human race are full of this evil, and there is insanity in their right lobes [stream of consciousnesses] throughout their lives. Afterwards they join the dead [all will die].
Psalm 21:11. Though they plot evil against you, and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed.
Proverbs 12:12, 20, 21. The wicked desire the plunder of evil men, but the root of righteousness produces virtue. (20) Deceit is in the right lobes [the stream of consciousnesses] of those who devise evil [they are thinking evil; they are deceptive; arrogant people cannot be trusted since they have no virtue; they are thinking in terms of motivational evil], but counselors of establishment possess happiness. (21) No evil happens to the righteous [the believer who is inside of the plan of God], but the wicked are filled with trouble.
Psalm 121:7. The Lord will protect you from all evil; he will guard your soul.
Proverbs 1:33. He who listens to me [doctrine] shall live in security, and shall be at ease in the face of evil.
Academic speculation as an example of evil:
2 John 9. Everyone who advances in knowledge [academic speculation] and does not remain on the field of play [of the spiritual life] by means of the doctrine of Christ does not have God [fellowship with God]; for he who persists with doctrine, this same one has both the Father and the Son [fellowship with them].
Pseudo-intellectual arrogance is the basis for many believers trying to reconcile philosophical and scientific speculation with Bible doctrine. Hence, the believer involved in this arrogance must choose between the truth of doctrine and the false concepts in the areas of academic speculation. For example, arrogance chooses evolution over creationism as found in Genesis. Psychology and psychiatry blame man's problems on his environment instead of his bad decisions. Many theories in many academic subjects contradict Bible doctrine in such subjects as history, philosophy, geology, economics, political science, etc.
Regarding an evil society and government:
1. Even though civil authority is evil, revolution is still not the answer.
2. We are not here to be upset or to begin a crusade for better government; we are here to advance to maturity and by so doing, will have an impact on our government.
3. Remember that Jesus Christ controls history, but he does so through a pivot of mature believers. Thus, a large pivot of mature believers influences both the domestic and foreign policy of the nation.
4. Note that the apostle Paul neither advocated the overthrow of Nero’s evil administration, nor a change in the form of government in the Roman Empire. Paul had the ability to distinguish between the principle of authority and the person who exercised the authority. Paul stayed out of politics and away from Christian activism.
5. Paul, the human writer, was not a revolutionist. He was not a conspirator. So, also Christ who did not revolt against government even though He was terribly abused.
1 Peter 2:23-24. and while being reviled, He did not revile in return [did not react with sins of the tongue]; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him [God the Father] who judges righteously; (24). who [Christ] himself bore [carried the burden of our sins and was judged for them] our sins on His body on the wood [a reference to the cross], so that [we the believer] having died to sins [by renouncing it; a reference to retroactive positional truth], we might live unto the righteousness [dative of advantage to produce experiential righteousness]; by whose wound [the judgment of sins] you were healed [the work of reconciliation].
6. Getting rid of an evil administration through violence and revolution only paves the way for something worse.
7. Divinely-ordained civil government comes in several forms: absolute monarchy, limited monarchy, aristocracy, and republic, but not democracy.
8. Freedom always demands authority. Civil authority is ordained by God, not by the will of the people.
9. Civil power and authority are the divine ordinances of the will, the plan, the purpose of God so that the human race can survive in the angelic conflict and fulfill the purpose of the angelic conflict.
10. There are differences of political forms of government but one principle of establishment. So, Christianity can function under many different forms of government.
11. Establishment demands that the one or ones possessing civil authority fulfill the divinely ordained purpose of that power namely to establish and guarantee freedom, privacy, and property.
12. In addition, there must be a military establishment to defend the nation from its foreign enemies and encroachments, and a police force to protect the citizens from criminals within the nation.
“The kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her and the merchants of the earth have become rich from her excessive luxuries” as per Revelation 18:3. Rulers have political power and the giant corporations have monetary power; both will benefit from their relationship with ecumenical religion in the Tribulation; this explains their loyalty. (Later however, the political power will turn against this system.) This is not a loyalty based on virtue, but on Cosmic living! The rulers gain power from this religion and therefore will be loyal as long as it benefits them; the large corporations become prosperous and so their loyalty is purchased. This is generally the structure of life and this is why loyalty is never really loyalty unless there is virtue. Most cases of loyalty in life are purchased: loyalty only exists as long as the price is right, as long as someone is profiting from it, as long as someone is gaining power from it. Loyalty, therefore, is never a virtue in itself, loyalty is only virtuous where virtue preexists. Where there is loyalty without virtue, loyalty without capacity for life, true loyalty doesn’t exist.
Revelation 18:4
I heard another voice [the Officer of Arms from the Angelic College of Heralds] from heaven, saying, “Come out from her [the great prostitute, Babylon the great, the ecumenical religious system of the Tribulation], my people [Obviously, when the abomination of desolation came to Israel as a part of the treaty between the Revived Roman Empire and the state of Israel many Jewish believers succumbed. They saw a chance, perhaps to make some money or they just wanted to survive, a lot of different reasons. So, the vocative, my people, is addressed primarily to Jewish believers but does not exclude Gentile believers in other parts of the world who also joined this system of evil.], so that you might not be associated with [participate in] her sins and might not receive the judgment of her plagues [In other words, the Tribulational believers who enter into the ecumenical religious system and accept the mark of the beast etc., they are going to share in the judgment administered to ecumenical religion namely cursing by association];
Καὶ ἤκουσα ἄλλην φωνὴν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ λέγουσαν, Ἐξέλθατε, ὁ λαός µου, ἐξ αὐτῆς, ἵνα µὴ συγκοινωνήσητε ταῖς ἁµαρτίαις αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐκ τῶν πληγῶν αὐτῆς ἵνα µὴ λάβητε·
We have in this verse a mandate from the Officer of Arms to separate from religion. Why the mandate to separate? If you are in an apostate religious system, a cult of any kind, you will be deemed guilty by association and so you will be disciplined by God because of your association. Separation demands that you stay away from apostate religious systems. Both believers in the Tribulation as well as those believers who are living on the earth in this dispensation of the Church who fail to separate themselves from religion will be disciplined by association and because of participation. Association means that you will be punished by association with evil even though you may not be sinning yourself; participation means that you are not only associating, but also participating in the sins, Cosmic good and evil of the organization and so you will be punished accordingly.
Separation:
1. Separation is the technique of switching from personal love to impersonal love when dealing with friends or loved ones in the Cosmic System. You love them from afar! For example, Abraham had to separate from his father, Terah in order to complete his spiritual life. Joseph, in order to prepare himself spiritually to become the prime minister of Egypt had to be separated from his evil siblings even his great father whom he love very much. From seventeen until thirty, Joseph separated from his family was in slavery in Egypt which the Lord used to prepare Joseph to be the greatest man of his age.
2. One must establish correct priorities in life and one of those priorities is to separate from distractions that might hinder one’s momentum. Until one establishes priorities, he cannot make a correct decision about separation.
3. Separate from Christians who reject doctrine:
2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14. Now we command you, brethren, by the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw [separate] yourselves from every brother [Christian] who walks disorderly, [neither functioning under the authority of God the Holy Spirit nor utilizing God’s power system and so as a result, there is no momentum in the spiritual life], and not according to the tradition [established by Paul, the teachings of Paul handed down from one group to another] you have received from us [these Christians have rejected Paul’s authority]. (14) If anyone does not obey our doctrinal teaching in this epistle, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he may be put to shame.
2 Timothy 3:5. They [believers in the Cosmic System] hold to external forms of the spiritual life, but have renounced the power [the two power options] of that same spiritual life; you also be turning yourself away from these persons.
4. Separation from troublemakers:
Romans 16:17-18. Now I urge you, brethren, look out [have discernment through doctrine resident in the soul] for those who are causing dissensions and apostasies contrary to doctrine, which you have learned from a teacher; in fact, be separating from them. (18) For such believers do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own emotions serving themselves; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the stream of consciousnesses of the unsuspecting [naïve believers with little doctrine].
5. Separation in marriage, and friendship.
2 Corinthians 6:14-15. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers [in marriage]. For what do righteousness [believers with imputed righteousness] and lawlessness [those who will not obey the mandate to believe in Christ] have in common or what fellowship has light [the believer advancing in God’s system] with darkness [the unbeliever advancing in Satan’s Cosmic System]? (15) What harmony is there between Christ and Belial [a personal name for Satan as the quintessence of evil] or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever [in marriage, in friendship, in social life; the answer is nothing]?
6. The believer is to separate from the "fast crowd”.
1 Peter 4:3-4. For the time already past is enough [sufficient for you] to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles [associating with the fast crowd], having pursued a course of sensuality [unrestrained sexual activity], lusts, excess of wine, carousing, drinking parties [related to Bacchus] and abominable idolatries [human sacrifice]. (4) In which manner of life [the fast crowd of the previous verse], they are astonished [mental sins related to pride] that you do not run with them into the same excesses [the fast crowd repeats itself] of dissipation and they keep on maligning you [the vicious side of the fast crowd];
7. The believer is to separate from violence and criminal activity.
Proverbs 1:10-16. My son [Solomon was a teenager], if sinners [technical for the wrong crowd] entice you, do not consent. (11) If they say, "Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; Let us ambush the innocent without cause; [murder] (12) Let us swallow them alive like Sheol [murder them], even whole as those who go down to the pit; [enjoy killing people] (13) We will find all kinds of precious wealth; We will fill our houses with spoil; [enjoy robbery] (14) Throw in your lot with us; We shall all have one purse, [we will split the spoils of our robbery; in government this is called socialism] (15) My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, [stay away from these hoodlums] (16) For their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed blood [to murder].
8. Separation is generally applied to believers. It would be quite impractical to separate from all unbelievers. In your lifetime you are going to have to drive on the same streets as unbelievers; you are going to have to live in neighborhoods with unbelievers, you are going to have to work in the office with unbelievers. However, you must separate from unbelievers in your social life, but must never be used as an excuse for not witnessing.
1 Corinthians 5:9-11. I wrote to you in my letter [this first letter we do not have] not to associate with immoral people [Paul was referring to fellow Christians]; (10) I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world [unbelievers], or with the covetous and swindlers or with idolaters for then you would have to go out of the world [the only way to separate from all sinners is to go to heaven]. (11) But now, I wrote to you [to clarify his previous instructions] not to associate with any man who is called a brother if he should be a fornicator [including adultery and incest] or covetous or an idolater [religious activity like the devil’s communion table] or a railer [a person who is verbally abusive of others: a maligner, gossiper, judger, criticizer, nitpicker etc.] or a drunkard or extortioner [swindler, a believer involved in dishonest business practices], not even to eat [have social intercourse] with such a one.
9. Separation does not imply that you should treat your parents or siblings and relatives unkindly. You do not separate yourself from those who by birth have been joined to you. For example, you are commanded to honor your father and mother even if they should be unbelievers. Furthermore, there are certain times when the application of doctrine requires for you to be present with your unbelieving family members and to be kind toward them.
Judgment:
There are two categories of divine judgment in time namely judgment by pain and judgment by death just as there are also two categories of evangelism: normal and crisis. Judgment by pain is an evangelistic function of God’s grace. Judgment by death is a grace function of God in the preservation of the human race.
Judgment by pain:
1. Judgment by pain is the function of God’s grace in crisis evangelism.
2. Grace before judgment is the function of normal evangelism. Grace in judgment is the function of crisis evangelism. Any kind of historical disaster is related to the grace of God.
3. Normal evangelism is the presentation of the Gospel in time of tranquility and prosperity during normal times. Crisis evangelism occurs in time of historical disaster and personal catastrophe.
4. The administration of the first five bowl judgments in Revelation 16:1-10 is historical disaster under the category of judgment by pain.
5. Normal evangelism occurs in the presentation of the Gospel message through the evangelist, or through personal witnessing.
6. In normal evangelism, the unbeliever has the opportunity of considering the claims of Christ objectively. He has the opportunity of listening to the Gospel objectively without outside pressure.
7. When the unbeliever rejects Christ as his Savior under normal evangelism, he enters into Satan’s Cosmic System namely gate 2 of Cosmic One and eventually gate 2 of Cosmic two, both being gates of negative volition. In Cosmic One, negative volition originates from preoccupation with self. In Cosmic Two, negative volition comes from antagonism towards the Gospel.
8. Through cosmic involvement, the unbeliever becomes disoriented to reality through the blackout of the soul (Cosmic One), and through scar tissue of the soul (Cosmic Two).
9. This condition insulates the unbeliever against the most powerful presentation of the Gospel.
10. God, in His matchless grace, gives the unbeliever another chance for salvation. As long as an unbeliever is alive, there is still hope, but once in the Cosmic System, with blackout and scar tissue of the soul, he has a locked-in subjectivity that cannot change his mind, no matter how powerful the message, or no matter how strong the appeal. Therefore, God gives the unbeliever another chance for salvation by the introduction of pain in some form. It can be a personal catastrophe or historical disaster, or both. Pain is a grace category of Gospel appeal. No matter how great the judgment, there is always a grace aspect to it.
11. Under personal suffering or historical disaster, the pressure of one or more of the many categories of pain forces the unbeliever in the Cosmic System back to reality, forces him to go from subjectivity to a very temporary objectivity. He will have a few moments for retrospection; to recall the phrases he has heard in the Gospel appeal. He’ll remember enough to give him another chance to believe in Christ.
12. Being forced back to reality by pain, the unbeliever is temporarily distracted from the Cosmic System. Whether he really leaves the Cosmic System or not is not really the point, but for a few moments, the Cosmic System loses its influence, so that he can once more objectively reconsider the message he had rejected.
13. Judgment by pain does not kill the unbeliever. He is alive and in pain. This is illustrated by the first five judgments in Revelation 16:1-10.
a. Bowl judgment 1 is cancer of the skin to accompany the mark of the beast on the skin.
b. Bowl judgment 2 & 3 is contamination of both salt and fresh water with blood, to accompany the shedding of the blood of the martyrs.
c. Bowl judgment 4 is unbearable heat to provide a prophetical view of the heat in eternal hell.
d. Bowl judgment 5 is physical darkness to accompany the spiritual darkness of blackout and scar tissue of the soul.
14. Therefore, judgment by pain becomes the last call to personally accept Christ as savior by believing in Him under the principle of crisis evangelism.
15. Crisis evangelism is the judgment of God removing the unbeliever of his human resources. This will temporarily bring the unbeliever back to objective reality.
16. Each bowl judgment intensifies the pain from the grace of God, in order to distract the unbeliever from Cosmic involvement. Paul himself was a convert of crisis evangelism on the road to Damascus. 2 Corinthians 4:3, “If our Gospel is veiled [by the unbeliever rejecting gospel information under normal evangelism], it is veiled to those who are perishing.” This means the unbeliever has heard and understood the Gospel, but has said, “No.” The Gospel isn’t hidden or obscure. Paul heard Steven’s testimony just before Steven was martyred. 2 Corinthians 4:4, “In whose case, the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Judgment by pain temporarily removes the blindness, in order that the unbeliever might once again take an objective view of the gospel. Some unbelievers at this point believe in Christ, others do not.
17. Those unbelievers who do not believe are like the dog who returns to his own vomit, 2 Peter 2:20-22, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the cosmic system by knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [crisis evangelism], they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worst for them than the first.” They have become stronger in their negative volition after rejecting God’s grace in crisis evangelism. They have locked themselves into negative volition for a second time. (21) For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them.” In other words, they have already said, “No.” Now when they say “no” again under a crisis, this has exhausted the last grace function by which they could have been saved. (22), “It happened to them according to the true proverb [26:11], ‘A dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mud.’” Those in crisis evangelism, who say no, return to the Cosmic System. They have rejected the strongest offer of grace namely crisis evangelism, and nothing is left for them but to die.
Judgment by Death:
1. This is the function of God’s grace in the preservation of the human race during the entire course of human history.
2. God has promised that the human race and planet earth will not be destroyed until the end of the Millennium. However, there is a problem since mankind keeps trying to destroy himself on earth through the folly of his bad decisions from the Cosmic System. Not only does mankind have a tendency to destroy himself but others as well. However, the Lord will not permit the destruction of mankind in human history until this history is brought to completion at the end of the Millennial reign of Christ. Judgment by death prevents this destruction of mankind in human history.
3. Man’s freedom and function of volition apart from virtue and establishment restraint is self-destructive. When man is negative toward establishment, the authority defined in it, and the responsibility developed from it, he becomes degenerate under either organized evil like communism or disorganized evil like crime.
4. So, judgment by death is radical surgery to separate the infected part of the human race from the non-contaminated part. The separation is permanent, since God removes through physical death those contaminated, thus giving the rest of the human race the grace opportunity to live and to believe in Christ.
5. One illustration of judgment by death is Sodom and Gomorrah. This gave the progeny of Abraham the chance to use their volition for or against Christ as part of the Angelic Conflict.
6. Perpetuation of the human race down through the last day of the Millennium is God’s grace function in judgment by death.
7. Hence, each category of divine judgment has a purpose. Judgment by death destroys one portion of the human race to preserve another part.
Application to Believers
1. If it were not for judgment by death in previous generations of history, we would not be here now as believers.
2. The perpetuation of the human race is only possible through judgment by death. Judgment by death is a grace blessing to the living who are not degenerate.
3. Judgment by pain is a grace blessing to the unbeliever. By application to the believer residing in the Cosmic System, judgment by pain distracts him from the Cosmic System, gives him the opportunity to use the Recovery Procedure and to continue the spiritual life.
4. So, judgment by pain reorients the believer to reality and to the importance of fellowship with God. Therefore, when the believer loses his priorities and starts to neglect the daily perception of doctrine, God in His grace sends judgment by pain through warning and intensive discipline to bring him back into the plan of God.
Revelation 18:6
Because her sins have piled up as high as heaven [as the 3rd heaven in a figurative sense], and God has remembered her iniquities [God always has a reason for all of his judgments].
ὅτι ἐκολλήθησαν αὐτῆς αἱ ἁµαρτίαι ἄχρι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἐµνηµόνευσεν ὁ θεὸς τὰ ἀδικήµατα αὐτῆς.
When necessary, religion uses violence to resolve its problems. In the Tribulation the sins of ecumenical religion are both criminal and evil as they are related to the phallic cult. While God permits the escalation of these sins and crimes, inevitably the justice of God will judge them. God’s timing in the administration of His justice in punishment is always perfect. God permits the free will of mankind to run its course in any given generation, but in the end, divine justice overrules its consequences in judgment by pain, and judgment by death.
In any given generation, when the sins, Cosmic good and evil reach a saturation point, God must bring judgment in order to preserve the human race. These judgments come in the form of pain and death. If God were not to judge, the human race would destroy itself.
The sins piling up as high as heaven is a reference, again, to the computer of divine decree. These sins, crime, and evil modus operandi of ecumenical religion were entered into the computer of divine decree in eternity past before the foundation of the world. The justice of God coordinates with the omniscience of God and as a result selects the exact right time for the administration of the Seven Bowl Judgments.
In verses 6 and 7, we see that there are always believers who understand historical trends. These believers in verses six and seven will put the matter of judgment in the hands of the Lord based on their understanding of divine judgment and historical trends.
Revelation 18:6
Give back [as a prayer from believers, this is an entreaty and so has the force of an urgent request, a request for the destruction of ecumenical religion based on the integrity of God] to her [a reference to ecumenical religion] as she has given [the Law of Retribution for the persecution and slaughter of believers], in fact pay back double according to her deeds [double punishment for evil deeds: judgment by pain followed by judgment by death]; in the drinking cup which she has mixed, mix for her a double portion [punishment for evil decisions namely judgment by death].
ἀπόδοτε αὐτῇ ὡς καὶ αὐτὴ ἀπέδωκεν, καὶ διπλώσατε [τὰ] διπλᾶ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῆς· ἐν τῷ ποτηρίῳ ᾧ ἐκέρασεν κεράσατε αὐτῇ διπλοῦν·
The concept of double punishment now comes into focus in this verse. Ecumenical religion will be punished and judged both for her decisions and for her deeds. The believers in this passage are praying that God administer judgment, a privilege that does not belong to the believer ordinarily especially in the Church Age. For example, we do not have the right to pray an imprecatory prayer, but in the Tribulation as part of the Age of Israel, a prayer similar to an imprecatory prayer is acceptable under certain conditions where one understands the entire function of historical trends. These believers are praying for double judgment on ecumenical religion. They are not seeking vengeance for they understand that punishment is the monopoly of the justice of God in administering the Law of Retribution. They understand that one must stay out of God’s way; let the justice of God with all the facts handle the situation.
Deuteronomy 32:35. for it stands written, ‘Punishment belongs to me, I will repay, says the Lord’.
Romans 12:19. Stop avenging yourselves, beloved ones, instead give place to the punishment from the justice of God, for it stands written [a quote from Deuteronomy 32:35], "Punishment belongs to me, I will repay, says the Lord."
By way of Application:
1. By leaving the matter in the Lord’s hands perfect justice will be administered by perfect God.
2. When the believer takes personal retaliation, he takes the matter out of the Lord’s hands.
3. The royal family honor code demands that the matter be placed in the Lord’s hands for satisfaction. Personal satisfaction from revenge is no satisfaction, but only invites punitive action from the integrity of God.
4. Most honor codes of aristocracy demand satisfaction through duelling, but the honor code of the royal family demands that satisfaction be administered by the justice of God.
5. The justice of God possesses all the facts and never makes an error in judgment.
6. All royal family squabbles demand the action of the integrity of God rather than revenge or retaliatory tactics of imperfect human beings.
7. Two wrongs do not make a right. Retaliation is the prerogative of divine integrity. Therefore, to add wrong to wrong brings down divine wrath and punitive action on your own head rather than divine discipline on the one who wronged you.
8. The royal family honor code demands that all retaliation and all revenge be left to the function of the justice of God.
9. Psalm 94:1, 2, “O Lord God of vengeance; the God of vengeance has shown forth. Rise up O judge of the earth; render recompense to the arrogant.” Isaiah 33:22, “The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will deliver us.”
10. Justice belongs to the God of justice. God has the monopoly on justice and does not need our help in the function of retaliation and punishment.
11. Therefore, it is part of the royal family honor code and an extension of the Faith-rest Technique to leave punishment in the hands of perfect God who administers perfect justice.
12. The royal family honor code emphasizes the privacy of the believer to live his own life as unto the Lord. This includes punishment and discipline.
13. By taking the matter into one’s own hands means interference with the justice of God and violation of the privacy of the royal priesthood.
14. Revenge or retaliation is therefore a direct violation of the royal family honor code. When you violate the honor code, you are punished by God.
15. Under the honor code you cannot work for blessing, nor retaliate for revenge.
16. The justice of God has monopoly on both blessing and cursing.
Revelation 18:7
To the degree that she [ecumenical religion locked-into the Cosmic System] glorified [the constative aorist gathers the entire existence of ecumenical religion as existing in the Cosmic System] herself [motivational evil: her self-glorification which the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire does not appreciate since he was her sponsor] and lived sensuously [constative aorist tense contemplating the functional evil of the phallic cult in its entirety, not only its concupiscence but also its preying upon the emotions of others], to the same degree give her torment and mourning [a prayer for justice and divine retribution, not personal revenge]; for she [ecumenical religion of the Tribulation] thinks in her heart [stream of consciousness], 'I am enthroned as a queen [has great power and approbation] and I am not [arrogantly certain of her security] a widow [has no power and approbation], and will never [the subjunctive of emphatic negation] see mourning [a false sense of security related to arrogance; she is confident that she will never lose her wealth, power and influence; the administration of divine judgment will never come to her.].'
ὅσα ἐδόξασεν αὑτὴν καὶ ἐστρηνίασεν, τοσοῦτον δότε αὐτῇ βασανισµὸν καὶ πένθος. ὅτι ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς λέγει ὅτι Κάθηµαι βασίλισσα, καὶ χήρα οὐκ εἰµί, καὶ πένθος οὐ µὴ ἴδω·
Ecumenical religion of the Tribulation has fantasized its power into a system of false security, and it is something that people often do, people who suddenly become successful or prominent or famous in some way. They fantasize the publicity, they fantasize the attention, into a system of disorientation to reality which is one of the characteristics of life in the Cosmic System. This disorientation to reality results in a false sense of security, false confidence, which comes from popularity or power or admiration, or a combination of these things. The result is lots of arrogance and lots of fantasizing.
The fulfillment of power lust plus approbation lust will disorient ecumenical religion to the realities of divine judgment. So, ecumenical religion will have a false sense of security which will be destroyed by the administration of the Seventh Bowl Judgment and by the tactical nuclear attack on headquarters at “Babylon”, the code name for the headquarters in Rome.
Revelation 18:8
Therefore, in one day her plagues will come [finesse judgment from God comes to her location, quite assuredly the tactical nuclear destruction of ecumenical religion], death [a nominative of exclamation: every person in the organization will be killed] and mourning [also a nominative of exclamation: emphasizing the great grief of the kings and merchants who have benefited from her influence and economic power] and famine [also a nominative of exclamation: the economic disaster following the destruction of this religious system and the downfall of its economic system], and she will be burned up with fire [judgment by death]; for the Lord God who judges her [ecumenical religion in the latter part of the Tribulation was judged via finesse judgment; the Lord using evil to destroy evil] is mighty [a reference to the omnipotence of the Lord].
διὰ τοῦτο ἐν µιᾷ ἡµέρᾳ ἥξουσιν αἱ πληγαὶ αὐτῆς, θάνατος καὶ πένθος καὶ λιµός, καὶ ἐν πυρὶ κατακαυθήσεται· ὅτι ἰσχυρὸς κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ κρίνας αὐτήν.
In verse 8, we have finesse judgment from God, the inevitable punishment of ecumenical religion of the Tribulation, and the inevitable discipline of believers who follow this same pattern of motivational and functional evil. We note first the suddenness of divine judgment. The reason it is always sudden is because we have a buildup here of a false sense of security. Anyone who builds his security on anything in this life has a false sense of security. Our security must be built upon the structure of Bible doctrine in the soul. Without the structure of doctrine in the soul, the edification complex that comes from gate eight, there is no way that we are going to have a true sense of security and a true orientation to reality. Our reality must be the grace of God. We must be oriented to the grace of God, to the essence of God, His divine attributes and how they function, His policies, His system, all that He has provided for us. As we have noted, God has a plan for each one of us, and this is where our orientation must be. Our orientation cannot be in success or approbation or fame.
This discipline comes as a shock. It means simply that the whole system of fantasizing, the whole system of putting arrogance into action in one’s life, the whole false system of security and subjectivity, is a house of cards and it comes tumbling down, and when it does the person or persons involved are shocked.
Through natural generation, the old sin nature is perpetuated and total depravity which results in self-destructive tendencies. Man left to his own devices and without the restraint of establishment and of a pivot of mature believers and a Client-Nation somewhere on planet earth would destroy himself. Therefore, the self-destructive tendency is corrected through judgment by death. Motivational arrogance and lust for power is a potential bomb in any given generation, a bomb by which man fulfills his own self-destructive tendencies. God has a system to protect us from these things namely radical surgery whereby He separates the infected parts of the human race from the non-contaminated parts of the human race. Thus, the natural tendency of mankind toward self-destruction is restrained by divine judgment by death.
Finesse judgment:
1. In finesse judgment God does not coerce or violate the volition, the free will of any human being.
2. Actually, God uses the motivational evil of man as His agent to punish evil; the motivational evil of one group to punish the evil of another group.
3. Here, then, is finesse. Evil is used to punish evil. One system of evil becomes the agent; the other system of evil becomes the target. For example, the Lord may use the organized evil of a national government as under Nazi Germany to destroy the unorganized evil of crime; there was very little crime in Germany at that time other than the tremendous evil of the government.
4. Finesse judgment dramatizes the use of one’s free-will namely man is the product of his own evil motivation and evil decisions.
5. In fact, finesse judgment is the counterpart to the believer’s self-induced misery from his own bad decisions. This is the other side of the coin from self-induced misery of the individual believer.
6. In application, God uses our bad decisions to punish us, and He does this under the principle that every person is responsible for his own decisions. When we produce evil through evil motivation and evil decisions we become the agent of our own punishment, and God isn’t violating our free will.
7. Much of man’s misery is simply the consequence of his own bad decisions.
8. The misery produced by bad motivation followed by bad decisions becomes God’s agent for our punishment, of God using evil to punish evil.
9. In a similar manner finesse judgment functions. Bad policy and evil decisions nationally become the basis of national judgment. Evil decisions bring both the individual and the nation in contact with evil so that evil punishes evil. This is the pattern of finesse judgment.
Lament for Babylon: verses 9-19: we have the public reaction to the nuclear destruction of the headquarters of ecumenical religion under the code name Babylon the Great.
Revelation 18:9
And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her [spiritual fornication, apostacy], will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her conflagration [the destruction of the ecumenical headquarters in Rome],
Καὶ κλαύσουσιν καὶ κόψονται ἐπí αὐτὴν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς οἱ µετí αὐτῆς πορνεύσαντες καὶ στρηνιάσαντες, ὅταν βλέπωσιν τὸν καπνὸν τῆς πυρώσεως αὐτῆς,
In verse 9, the first lamentation is the wail of the political rulers who had so much to gain through ecumenical religion. (The exception will be the Dictator of the Revived Roman Empire). The constative aorist tense contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety: their spiritual fornication in being involved with ecumenical religion and having lived sensually with her that is they shared in her luxury.
Quite assuredly this is the nuclear destruction of religious Rome as the capital and headquarters of ecumenical religion in the Tribulation. As we have noted, it is destroyed by finesse judgment. The agent in finesse judgment is the Revived Roman Empire of the Tribulation who sponsored ecumenical religion in its infancy. Needless to say, the agent is evil. An evil agent from its own volition and policy destroys the evil entity, ecumenical religion or Satan’s international religious system of the future. Just as there are two cities in Rome today, the city of Rome and the Vatican, so in the future there will be two cities in one geographical area. Without interfering with anyone’s volition or policy, God uses evil to neutralize evil. Finesse judgment dramatizes the doctrine that everyone is the product of his own decisions. In this case ecumenical religion went too far and antagonized the beast dictator, the political sponsor, and ecumenical religion was not prepared for what happened. Evil always comes into existence through man’s own decisions and man’s residence in the Cosmic System.
Revelation 18:10
[the kings of the earth] standing at a distance [because of the contamination from what appears to be a tactical nuke strike] because of the fear of her torture [fear of nuclear contamination from the blast], saying, 'Ouai, Ouai [the Greek gives us the sound of their wailing which is usually translated as ‘woe, woe’], the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come [suddenness of nuclear attack and the quickness of its destruction].'
ἀπὸ µακρόθεν ἑστηκότες διὰ τὸν φόβον τοῦ βασανισµοῦ αὐτῆς, λέγοντες, Οὐαὶ οὐαί, ἡ πόλις ἡ µεγάλη, Βαβυλὼν ἡ πόλις ἡ ἰσχυρά, ὅτι µιᾷ ὥρᾳ ἦλθεν ἡ κρίσις σου.
This nuclear attack represents the principle that arrogance has no loyalty and no virtue. Arrogance has no loyalty to arrogance in others. Many times, the most vicious destruction of an arrogant entity comes from another arrogant entity. As a result of this, Satan is unable to control the arrogant people and entities within his own kingdom. The arrogant motivation of the dictator of the revived Roman empire, a political power, will have no qualms in destroying the arrogance of ecumenical religion of the Tribulation even though the political power of the beast dictator originally sponsored that ecumenical religious system.
Revelation 18:11
And the merchants of the earth both weep and mourn over her [over the destruction of ecumenical religion], because no one buys their cargoes any more [they will be marketing their products to ecumenical religion only. So, there will no longer be a market for their products]
Καὶ οἱ ἔµποροι τῆς γῆς κλαίουσιν καὶ πενθοῦσιν ἐπí αὐτήν, ὅτι τὸν γόµον αὐτῶν οὐδεὶς ἀγοράζει οὐκέτι,
The destruction of ecumenical religion is the simultaneous destruction of world markets and cargoes especially for luxury items. It is the destruction of a wealthy economy and a demand for luxury items related to this power system. No ecumenical religion means no world markets for luxury items. Religion created a false economy based on a demand for luxury items.
Revelation 18:12
Cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble,
γόµον χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου καὶ λίθου τιµίου καὶ µαργαριτῶν καὶ βυσσίνου καὶ πορφύρας καὶ σιρικοῦ καὶ κοκκίνου, καὶ πᾶν ξύλον θύϊνον καὶ πᾶν σκεῦος ἐλεφάντινον καὶ πᾶν σκεῦος ἐκ ξύλου τιµιωτάτου καὶ χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου καὶ µαρµάρου,
Revelation 18:13
And cinnamon and spice [spices were luxury items] and incense and myrrh and frankincense [Myrrh and frankincense refer to the perfumes of the ancient world] and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat [luxury drinks and food] and cattle and sheep [expensive meats], and cargoes of horses and chariots [luxury transportation] and the bodies and souls of men [only wealthy people can afford slaves; this also implies crime for where there is crime there is slavery].
καὶ κιννάµωµον καὶ ἄµωµον καὶ θυµιάµατα καὶ µύρον καὶ λίβανον καὶ οἶνον καὶ ἔλαιον καὶ σεµίδαλιν καὶ σῖτον καὶ κτήνη καὶ πρόβατα, καὶ ἵππων καὶ ῥεδῶν καὶ σωµάτων, καὶ ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων.
Rise in luxury items implies economic prosperity. Luxury is a matter of personal taste, and these items represent the high taste of those involved in this religious system. Luxury not only is a matter of personal taste but also implies the ability to afford those luxuries and religion will have both at that time.
By way of application: Matthew 6:24. “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammona [the Syrian god of wealth].
By way of application, God and his plan must have number one priority in our lives. If we love the temporal things of this world and operate under the lusts of the sin-nature, we will never advance in God the Father’s plan. For example, if gaining wealth is the most important thing in our lives, then we cannot serve God. It is a matter of priorities.
Revelation 18:14
In fact, the peak of your soul’s desire [for luxury items] has gone from you [lust for luxury has been replaced by desire to survive], and all things both riches and glamorous things, have vanished [have passed away from you] and they [these unbeliever-merchants] will no longer ever [the subjunctive of emphatic negation] find these things [this economy will be shut down permanently],
καὶ ἡ ὀπώρα σου τῆς ἐπιθυµίας τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπῆλθεν ἀπὸ σοῦ, καὶ πάντα τὰ λιπαρὰ καὶ τὰ λαµπρὰ ἀπώλετο ἀπὸ σοῦ, καὶ οὐκέτι οὐ µὴ αὐτὰ εὑρήσουσιν.
Our subject in the nominative singular of the Greek word, ὀπώρα (opora), a noun which refers to the star, Sirius in July. It corresponds to the late summer or early fall when fruit ripens. Metaphorically then, it refers to the time of ripeness, and comes to mean the peak of vigor in life.
The lust and desire for luxury items departs with the destruction of ecumenical religion. The market is gone; the merchandise no longer can be sold. Economic prosperity of the last half of the Tribulation depends upon the computer tyranny based on the Mark of the Beast. With the destruction of computer tyranny, there is no demand, the world markets are closed, and the merchants are now bankrupt.
Wealth without capacity eventually destroys the effectiveness and the meaning of wealth. Wealth demands a concern for the entire economy and a great sense of responsibility. People who are wealthy without the capacity are miserable. People with capacity have humility, virtue, happiness, the ability to possess, the ability to be wealthy without arrogance.
The destruction of ecumenical religion with its monopoly, including computer tyranny, will remove forever the wealth, the luxury, the glamour of its adherents. For those still alive, the law of supply and demand is replaced by a scramble for survival. The market is closed and the demand for luxury goods has vanished. The question is asked in Mark 8:36, “What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
Revelation 18:15
The merchants of these things, who became rich from her [ecumenical religion], will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment [fear of the repercussions of the tactical nuclear strike], weeping and mourning [because they have lost a lucrative market for their goods],
οἱ ἔµποροι τούτων, οἱ πλουτήσαντες ἀπí αὐτῆς, ἀπὸ µακρόθεν στήσονται διὰ τὸν φόβον τοῦ βασανισµοῦ αὐτῆς, κλαίοντες καὶ πενθοῦντες,
The ecumenical religious system was the best market and probably the only market for the items being sold by these merchants, items as mentioned in verses 12, 13 and 16. Destruction of ecumenical religion, then is the destruction of these lucrative markets which destruction would imply the bankruptcy of these merchants.
Revelation 18:16
saying, 'Woe, woe [ouai, ouai], the great city [of ecumenical religion], she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste [by a tactical nuclear strike]!'
λέγοντες, Οὐαὶ οὐαί, ἡ πόλις ἡ µεγάλη, ἡ περιβεβληµένη βύσσινον καὶ πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον, καὶ κεχρυσωµένη [ἐν] χρυσίῳ καὶ λίθῳ τιµίῳ καὶ µαργαρίτῃ,
Revelation 18:17
Furthermore, every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance [because of the nuclear contamination; their standing at a relatively close distance would imply that the danger area would be limited to a relatively small radius of the strike],
ὅτι µιᾷ ὥρᾳ ἠρηµώθη ὁ τοσοῦτος πλοῦτος. Καὶ πᾶς κυβερνήτης καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἐπὶ τόπον πλέων καὶ ναῦται καὶ ὅσοι τὴν θάλασσαν ἐργάζονται ἀπὸ µακρόθεν ἔστησαν
Revelation 18:18
When they see the smoke of her conflagration [a reference to the nuclear attack on the headquarters of ecumenical religion in Rome], they keep screaming and saying, what city is like this great city?
καὶ ἔκραζον βλέποντες τὸν καπνὸν τῆς πυρώσεως αὐτῆς λέγοντες, Τίς ὁµοία τῇ πόλει τῇ µεγάλῃ;
Revelation 18:19
And they threw dust on their heads, and they were screaming, both weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe [ouai, ouai; the Greek mimics the sound of the wails and so communicates better than does the English], is the great city, in which all who had ships at sea were made rich by her extravagance! and because in one hour she has been ruined [This refers to a literal hour in which there will be a concentrated nuclear attack, and yet the world will not come to an end due to this future nuclear attack; only a small area will be contaminated and probably for a relatively short time.].
καὶ ἔβαλον χοῦν ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν καὶ ἔκραζον κλαίοντες καὶ πενθοῦντες, λέγοντες, Οὐαὶ οὐαί, ἡ πόλις ἡ µεγάλη, ἐν ᾗ ἐπλούτησαν πάντες οἱ ἔχοντες τὰ πλοῖα ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἐκ τῆς τιµιότητος αὐτῆς, ὅτι µιᾷ ὥρᾳ ἠρηµώθη.
These unbelievers will be distracted from the gospel through apathy, indifference, and possessing wrong priorities. These unbelievers should have made the gospel and understanding God’s plan for their lives number one priority rather than making money and obtaining wealth. So, indifference and wrong priorities will remove the destiny that God would have provided for these individual for whom Jesus Christ provided the work of Atonement on the Cross.
Revelation 18:20
Celebrate over her [the ecumenical religious system], O heaven, and you saints [all believers in heaven] and apostles [New Testament leadership] and prophets [Old Testament leadership], because God has executed judgment on your behalf against her [ecumenical religion].
Εὐφραίνου ἐπí αὐτῇ, οὐρανέ, καὶ οἱ ἅγιοι καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ προφῆται, ὅτι ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ κρίµα ὑµῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς.
The wailing on earth is drowned out by the celebration in heaven. The imprecatory prayers of the Tribulational martyrs have been answered. The pictorial present tense presents to the mind a picture of future events in the process of occurrence. The middle voice is direct middle in which the subject namely the believers mentioned participate in the results of the action, the celebration in heaven, celebrating evil being destroyed by evil. The imperative mood is the imperative of command, a mandate for celebration for God is preserving the human race and will keep it going until the end of history through this this type of radical surgery.
Three categories are involved under the title “the saints.” First of all, the Old Testament believers whom we call “family of God.” Then the New Testament believers whom we call “royal family of God” or “Church Age believers.” Finally, there are the Tribulational martyrs, the ones who offer the imprecatory prayers in Revelation chapter eight. These three categories are not thinking in terms of personal revenge, instead they are rejoicing over something that God has done from his perfect integrity.
Revelation 18:21
Then, the powerful angel [the King of Arms] picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and tossed it into the sea [represents the people throughout the world who adhere to international religion], saying, “so, will Babylon [the headquarters of ecumenical religion in the Tribulation], the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will never ever be found again [the subjunctive of emphatic negation].”
Καὶ ἦρεν εἷς ἄγγελος ἰσχυρὸς λίθον ὡς µύλινον µέγαν καὶ ἔβαλεν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν λέγων, Οὕτως ὁρµήµατι βληθήσεται Βαβυλὼν ἡ µεγάλη πόλις, καὶ οὐ µὴ εὑρεθῇ ἔτι.
This is a sign of judgment and a form of protocol from heaven. This is a warning from the King of Arms before the headquarters of ecumenical religion went under nuclear attack, before it was destroyed by finesse judgment. The boulder hitting the sea means divine judgment. Waves go out from the point of impact; they move all the way out from the epicenter to the very edges. This means that ecumenical religion which is worldwide will be destroyed by the administration of the seventh bowl judgment. Just as the falling millstone drops suddenly and destroys so the religious headquarters will be the recipient of falling missiles which will destroy it and the entire system.
It is interesting that Jeremiah mandated a similar protocol on earth against historical Babylon.
Jeremiah 51:60-64. So, Jeremiah wrote in a single book all the disasters which would come to Babylon, all these words [verses 1-59] which have been written concerning Babylon. (61) Then, Jeremiah said to Seraiah [who was a prince of Judah and would go into captivity with King Zedekiah], ‘As soon as you come to Babylon, make sure that you read all these words aloud, (62) and say, ‘You, O Lord, have spoken concerning this place [Babylon as the political capital of Chaldea] to cut it off so that there be nothing living in it, from man even to beast, it will be a perpetual desolation’. (63) And it will come to pass as soon as you finish reading this book [the part dealing with the fall of the Chaldean Empire] that you will tie a stone to this chapter and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, (64a) and say, ‘Just as Babylon will sink down and not rise again, because of the disaster I am going to bring about’ . . .
Jeremiah prophesied concerning the fall of the literal Babylon whereas in our passage we have the fall of the spiritual Babylon. The literal Babylon was destroyed in B.C. 539. In the case of the literal Babylon a stone was thrown into the middle of the Euphrates, in the case of the spiritual Babylon of the Tribulation, ecumenical religion, a giant millstone will be thrown into the sea.
Revelation 18:22
And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters [representing high quality to music] will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer; and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer [economic ruin in one hour];
καὶ φωνὴ κιθαρῳδῶν καὶ µουσικῶν καὶ αὐλητῶν καὶ σαλπιστῶν οὐ µὴ ἀκουσθῇ ἐν σοὶ ἔτι, καὶ πᾶς τεχνίτης πάσης τέχνης οὐ µὴ εὑρεθῇ ἐν σοὶ ἔτι, καὶ φωνὴ µύλου οὐ µὴ ἀκουσθῇ ἐν σοὶ ἔτι,
There will be a judgment of peripheral categories as found in verses 22-23. Once the boulder hits a point in the sea, destructive waves will move out from that epicenter representing the destruction of others involved in this ecumenical center but located outside of the headquarters located in Rome. First of all, there are the musicians, the entertainment industry. Then there is skilled labor. The third is industry, the fourth is utilities, and the fifth is the social and sexual life of the people. These are the peripheral categories that are destroyed throughout the world. This paragraph then continues the proclamation of the King of Arms. Three categories are mentioned in verse 22 and two of the categories are mentioned in verse 23.
Revelation 18:23
And the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer [the destruction of the utility system]; in fact the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer [the destruction of the social-sexual life of the adherents to ecumenical religion]; for your merchants were the great men of the earth [these merchants were successful business people and so the economy of the ecumenical religious system was very strong; all the same, it will be destroyed], by means of your sorcery [the power of deception, demonism, and drugs] all the nations of the world were deceived.
καὶ φῶς λύχνου οὐ µὴ φάνῃ ἐν σοὶ ἔτι, καὶ φωνὴ νυµφίου καὶ νύµφης οὐ µὴ ἀκουσθῇ ἐν σοὶ ἔτι· ὅτι οἱ ἔµποροί σου ἦσαν οἱ µεγιστᾶνες τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἐν τῇ φαρµακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη,
There are five categories of peripheral judgment mentioned in verses 22 & 23. Note the pattern, then. In verse 21 we have the center of impact of the millstone: divine judgment of ecumenical religious headquarters under the code name Babylon the great. Then in verse 22 judgment waves from the center of the impact move out to engulf musicians, skilled labor and industry. In verse 23 judgment waves from the epicenter move out to engulf utilities and the social-sexual life of the adherents to ecumenical religion. In summary, in verse 22, without skilled labor, industry cannot function. In verse 23 without utilities, like gas and electricity, there is no social life and there is no economy.
A strong economy does not guarantee the deliverance of the nation in times of disaster. Economic prosperity did not deliver the ecumenical system of the Tribulation. There is not enough wealth or influence in the world to hold back the tide of divine judgment. Divine judgment, therefore, has greater power than any system of influence the world has ever known. The integrity of God cannot be bribed by the influence of man. The key to the first principle then is influence; the key to the second principle is power. Influence and power are the two things in the world that generally deliver people, but neither influence nor power in man can stand up against divine judgment. So, the power and the influence of the ecumenical religious system will not deliver them from judgment.
The Greek word φαρµακείᾳ, pharmakeia has three meanings. First it means sorcery, the use of magical arts related to idolatry and demonism. Secondly, it has to do with the use of drugs which in this context has an evil rather than a medicinal connotation. Hence, drug pushers, drug users, adding up to drug abuse. Thirdly, it is related to poisoning. In this context, it would be the poisoning of the minds of mankind with false doctrine from Satan’s Cosmic System. All of these will be very destructive to the nations of the world. Furthermore, the power of demonism, the power of deception, the power of drugs, will not deliver ecumenical religion of the Tribulation.
Revelation 18:24
And in her was found the blood [the martyrdom] of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth [religion uses violence to solve its problems].
καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ αἷµα προφητῶν καὶ ἁγίων εὑρέθη καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐσφαγµένων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.
Religion destroys freedom, happiness and misdirects worship. It is very important to understand that religion is the greatest source of unhappiness that there is since all religious organizations have devised a system whereby one surrenders the custodianship of his happiness and the control of his life to some form of a human hierarchy. Those human beings will require some type of asceticism, self-sacrifice and pseudo-morality which brings about total unhappiness, total lack of capacity for life, and total disorientation to life. On the other hand, Satan doesn’t intend to trap everyone through self-righteousness, through asceticism, self-sacrifice or pseudo-morality, he intends to trap a lot of people through lasciviousness. Not everyone in Satan’s system is religious, but everyone is Satan’s system has surrendered control of his life to someone outside of himself and, therefore, no person, believer or unbeliever, can live religiously in the Cosmic System and have control of his own life and solve his own problems. One of the greatest areas where people surrender the control of their lives and the custodianship of their happiness is through some form of religion. Religion is Satan’s policy and Satan’s system for siphoning off worship to himself instead of worship of God. Religion is the Satanic counterfeit for worship of God and a major part of the angelic conflict in history.
Religion is Satan's strategy for distracting Homo sapiens from the three categories of truth. First, are the Laws of Divine Establishment as taught in the Mosaic Law. Religion seeks to become the state, and once it is in power, it attacks human freedom. Also, the union of religion and state is a major attack on human freedom. Second, is the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Religion distorts salvation by grace through faith into many diverse systems of salvation by works, and third is Bible doctrine for the believer. Religion substitutes false doctrine (or the "doctrine of demons," 2 Timothy 4:1) for truth. Religion sets up a system of works and ritual to replace the Protocol Plan of God.
Religion motivates and produces, through false teachers, every category of evil, violence, terrorism, and murder to force people into their religion which is not only characterized by the doctrine of demons (2 Timothy 4:1), but it has both false teachers and false prophets to communicate this information.
The ecumenical religion is guilty of terrorist activities. Frustrated by their attempt to seize more power, frustrated by the power of God, religion as a Satanic organization resorts to violence and murder to accomplish its objective namely to gain influence and power through terrorism. Criminality is always a sign of failure in life. As a result of failure, they are frustrated and try to compensate for their failure and their frustration by using some form of terrorism, some form of violence in order to compensate for their failure. Criminals are losers in life, the products of their own lust, their own arrogance, and their own bad decisions.
