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 Fourteen
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 Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.A.; furthermore, we express our appreciation to God the Holy Spirit who will enlighten us regarding the message this evening. We as priests pray this through the person of our Lord Christ Jesus, our High Priest, Amen.
MAGA: (viewpoint from truth and common sense)
1. The greatest attack of arrogance occurs immediately after a great victory. Trump just had a tremendous victory.
2. MAGA may morph into MAPS (Make America Poor Surely).
3. Tariffs are an attack upon free trade which attack is an attack upon freedom.
4. Tariffs are an attack against the supply chain which is already very fragile.
5. If tariffs should be levied against Canada, Mexico, and the BRICS, it would be tantamount to an embargo against the United States.
6. The American consumer would have to pay more for all products imported to the United States.
7. All companies operating overseas would have to increase the price of their products which are exported to the United States. For example, Ford and G.M. would have to increase the price of their cars manufactured in Mexico by at least 25%. I guess Americans would be forced to buy more Toyotas.
8. There would be many unforeseen consequences. For example, Apple produces its phones in China since only China has the skilled labor and the raw materials to produce these phones. If 100% tariffs were levied against all products coming from China, the I-Phones would probably quadruple in price for Americans.
9. Tariffs would produce another huge federal bureaucracy which would require all U.S. businesses to deal with this new bureaucracy. This would add to the financial burden of these companies. Furthermore, all U. S. businesses would have to pay a lot more for many products that are only produced overseas.
10. American labor will never be able to compete with the skilled highly motivated Chinese labor which operates on 996 (9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days per week.)
11. Tariffs are no guarantee that suddenly thriving businesses would sprout up all over the United States. If that were true, South America would be an industrial giant.
12. If a president of the United States wants to encourage business in the United State why not remove OSHA, EPA, FEMA, the Departments of Labor, Energy, Agriculture etc. and tons of other bureaucratic burdens on businesses in the United States. Remove all corporation taxes and remove the burden of businesses having to pay social security for their employees. Tariffs are just another tax on businesses!
13. President elect Trump wants to bully the nations of the world to keep the worthless dollar. If we expect nations of the world to keep our dollar, we need to have a dollar with value. I believe that this bullying will only drive more away from this worthless currency.
14. Once the dollar loses its reserve currency status, Americans will not have any wealth remaining and so tariffs will be a moot point.
15. These tariffs could be the catalyst in bringing down all the economies of the world which economies are already teetering.
16. If we were thrust into a world depression, instead of bringing in more businesses to the States, many of the existing businesses would go bankrupt, and the American middle class would be completely wiped-out.
17. Tariffs tend to isolate the country which implements them causing other countries to seek other markets.
18. An axiom regarding tariffs: The government that institutes tariffs, injures its own people the most. In effect when a national government institutes tariffs, it is shooting itself in the foot.
A New Heresy in Asia: This heresy was born by a person who neither understands nor appreciates what the members of the Trinity had to do in order to provide salvation on the Cross. The most difficult thing logically God has ever done was to provide salvation which required the function and the work of a high priest and mediator on the Cross. Therefore, the blessing and punishment are extreme regarding acceptance or rejection. Principle: the punishment for rejecting a work must be commensurate with the difficulty of that work. Also, the blessing for accepting a work must be commensurate with the difficulty of that work. If a person believes in Christ and does nothing else, he will spend all eternity with great happiness in the presence of God. In contrast, the person who rejects the work of the Cross will spend all eternity in the Lake of Fire.
In time on this earth, one is free to choose for good or evil, right or wrong, for the Lord Jesus Christ or to reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Freedom means that one will take the responsibility for his decisions. In eternity, free will does not function in this way. In eternity one will experience the results of how he used his volition in time. These results will be either eternal punishment or eternal blessing.
1. This heresy states that faith in Christ is not an eternal decision made within one’s lifetime on earth.
2. Faith in Christ can be made during one’s lifetime, while in Torments, during the Great White Throne Trial or while in the Lake of Fire. Though the unbeliever has this opportunity to change his mind at any time, it is unlikely that he will avail himself of this opportunity according to this new heresy.
3. Though the author of this new heresy does not state so, it would be logical that the believer also could change his decision regarding Christ at any point in heaven, in the Millennium or in the eternal state since according to this heresy believing in Christ is not an eternal decision made in time.
4. It is also logical that if the unbeliever will have this option to change his thinking about God’s plan, then why not the fallen angels and even Satan himself. Potentially, all creatures in the Lake of Fire could be removed and given some position in the eternal state. Under this heresy, Satan could possibly be brought back as Lucifer.
5. Hypothetically, a Church age person could change his mind about Christ after spending thousands of years in the Lake of Fire according to this new heresy. In that case, he could not be brought back as a member of the Bride of Christ since he would have missed all the stages of his marriage to Christ. He would have missed the contract stage which would have occurred at his salvation during the Church Age; he would have missed the Rapture which is the ceremony phase of this marriage; he would have missed the Wedding Feast at the 2nd Advent, and he would have missed the consummation phase of the marriage which will occur during the Millennial reign of Christ. I guess the Lord would have no choice but to bring him in as a spiritual mistress!
6. Remember that the unbeliever at his physical death was blotted out of the Book of Life. So, now that this unbeliever has changed his mind after spending thousands of years in the Lake of Fire, the Book of Life would have to be sent back to the printer.
7. Hopefully, this heresy will not take hold. Otherwise, this person will become known as the author of the most idiotic heresy ever in Church history, a heresy not based on even one shred of evidence, but on pure emotion based-on misplaced empathy.
8. Revelation 20:10. And the Devil [the enemy] who had deceived them, was thrown into the Lake of Fire and burning sulfur, where the beast [the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire] and the false prophet [the false dictator and messiah of Israel] were. And they [the three just mentioned] will be tormented day and night forever and ever. [If these two dictators will be in the Lake of Fire forever, and they will, so will all unbelievers. If Satan will be condemned to the Lake of Fire forever and he will, so will all fallen angels. By contrast, all believers in history will be locked-in to an eternal relationship with the members of the Trinity. So, also will all the elect angels. It’s an eternal decision!
9. Hebrews 9:27. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.
The Fairness of the Lake of Fire:
A few points regarding this matter:
1. It is impossible for the judicial verdict from the justice of God to be unfair. The judicial verdict here is eternity in the Lake of Fire without recourse—alive, conscious, in pain forever and ever.
2. Unfairness is incompatible with perfect divine essence.
3. Since the self-righteous type prefers to stand on the accumulation of his human good deeds, these deeds will be used to indict him at the last judgment.
4. No sins can be mentioned at the last judgment since Christ has already been judged for those sins at the time of the cross. On the other hand, human good was not judged on the cross.
5. Human good will be the only basis for divine judgment of the unbeliever—Revelation 20:12-15. It is this human good that causes the unbeliever to reject Christ as his savior. This rejection will be punished severely with perfect justice.
6. The self-righteous unbeliever stores up human good, hoarding it for his defence at the last judgment. But no matter how much human good he has accumulated it is never enough.
Outline: Verses
1 – 5. Victory based on the Plan of God
6 – 20. Victory related to the Judgments of God
Revelation 14:1
Then, [the sequential use of the Greek conjunction, kai] I looked, and behold, the Lamb [as portrayed in the 1st Advent] standing on Mount Zion and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand [the Jewish evangelists who will saturate the world with the Gospel and Bible teaching], who [the 144,000] have His name [of the Lord Jesus Christ] and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.
Καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ τὸ ἀρνίον ἑστὸς ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος Σιών, καὶ µετí αὐτοῦ ἑκατὸν τεσσαράκοντα τέσσαρες χιλιάδες ἔχουσαι τὸ ὄνοµα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ ὄνοµα τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ γεγραµµένον ἐπὶ τῶν µετώπων αὐτῶν.
The “Lamb” refers to our Lord Jesus Christ at His first advent. The 1st Advent was the transitional period between the Age of Israel and the Church Age. “The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” as per John 1:29, was a way of connecting the Work of the Cross with the ritual of the Old Testament. Since Israel did not have a completed canon of scripture, they needed many illustrations in the field of soteriology and Christology. For example, all of the articles of furniture spoke of some phase of the work of Christ on the cross, some phase of His unique person as the God-Man. Also, of course, they had five different Levitical sacrifices: three were used to portray the cross; two of them to portray the Recovery Procedure. So, the word “Lamb” simply brings into focus everything that the Jews learned in the Old Testament through the various ritual concepts.
They had ritual teaching. Unfortunately for most, it was ritual without reality. The reality for the Jews during Christ’s 1st Advent would have been to connect Christ and his work to their ritual teachings. So, when the Jews rejected Christ as savior, they had ritual without reality. The Lamb always emphasized the humanity of Christ in His hypostatic union. Hence, the Lamb emphasizes the true humanity of Christ for the true humanity of Christ received the imputation of everyone’s sins on the cross. “Lamb” emphasizes, then, the strategic victory of Christ on the cross during His 1st Advent, and now it is being related to the tactical victory of Christ at the future 2nd Advent.
The title of our Lord Jesus Christ as Lamb emphasizes that the cross must precede the crown. Faith in Christ must precede an eternal relationship with God. At the cross Satan was the ruler of this world but at the second advent Christ will be the ruler of this world forever. Satan will make one more attempt to overthrow our Lord at the end of the Millennium. In the meantime, our Lord Jesus Christ will be ruling the world during that period of one thousand years, and that is the significance of His standing there.
When we get to the Armageddon Campaign, we will see that the Lamb standing on Mount Zion is the ultimate in ending that campaign. Mount Zion, of course, refers to the Millennial Jerusalem. The time noted will be immediately after the regathering of Israel, and the 2nd Advent as the tactical victory of the angelic conflict, then, marks the termination of the time of the devil’s desperation. Mount Zion is chosen as the place of the victory celebration since Israel will be a client nation in the Millennium.
“With Him one hundred and forty-four thousand” The 144,000 were introduced in Revelation 7:4, “Then, I heard [the apostle John concentrates] the number of those who had been sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand were sealed [these Jews by race who will live through-out the world; the first wave of believers] from every tribe of the sons of Israel [except Dan].”
“Who [the 144,000] have His name [of the Lord Jesus Christ] and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” These names are on some type of priestly mitre which comes down over the forehead. In the past the High Priest had written on his miter “Holiness to the Lord.” So, in the future, the 144,000 will be wearing a priestly mitre.
Revelation 14:2
Then I heard a sound from heaven [the singing of the angelic choir] like the sound of many waters [majestic] and like the sound of loud thunder [a great volume from all the elect angels singing]; furthermore, the sound which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps [a sound like a pipe organ accompanying the singing].
καὶ ἤκουσα φωνὴν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὡς φωνὴν ὑδάτων πολλῶν καὶ ὡς φωνὴν βροντῆς µεγάλης, καὶ ἡ φωνὴ ἣν ἤκουσα ὡς κιθαρῳδῶν κιθαριζόντων ἐν ταῖς κιθάραις αὐτῶν.
John not only saw the angelic choir, but heard them as well including the antiphony sung by the 144,000. It is both worship and celebration. The harp in the ancient world was one of the most beautiful instruments. Musical instruments are a legitimate function of worship. Psalms are hymns accompanied by musical instruments as in Psalm 93:2, Ephesian 5:19, Colossians 3:16. The use of musical instruments in worship is found in 1 Chronicles 16:42, Nehemiah 12:36; Psalm 33:2 and Psalm 92:1-3 just to name a few.
Worship:
A few points regarding worship:
1. All worship must be rational, and this is only possible by relating it to Bible doctrine.
2. All worship must be spiritual, therefore related to the Filling of the Spirit and metabolized doctrine which is summarized in John 4:24.
3. To place your bodies under orders as a living, holy (set apart) sacrifice is not a one-shot decision, a so-called dedication to Christian living or service. In reality it is a series of decisions, daily decisions which involve the use of the Recovery-Procedure, when necessary, followed by the maintenance of the Filling of the Spirit, and the consistent intake of Bible doctrine, the means of establishing the royal family honor code in your life.
4. The pattern of the Christian life is never guided by one decision. It takes one decision to become a Christian; after that there are no one-decision panaceas. Always it is a series of decisions. God gives us a day at a time and so we must make decisions each day.
5. Salvation, then, is a one-shot decision, but the spiritual life which follows salvation is a series of decision. You place yourself under orders to God for daily commands, daily decisions, daily function.
A few more points regarding Worship:
1. Spiritual worship is rational worship. Therefore, the emotionalism of tongues and other forms of emotional revolt are excluded.
2. Basically, worship includes certain functions: singing, praying, giving, the intake of doctrine, and the communion service. Each facet of worship demands two things: the Filling of the Holy Spirit and the residence of Bible doctrine in the soul. Always, it is doctrine and the Spirit.
3. Therefore, singing must be related to doctrine and executed under the Filling of the Spirit.
4. Therefore, prayer must conform to doctrine and be executed in the Filling of the Spirit.
5. Therefore, giving must be motivated from doctrine resident in the soul and fulfilled in the Filling of the Spirit.
6. Therefore, perception of doctrine, the most important and basic facet of worship, demands the Filling of the Spirit for inculcation.
7. Therefore, the communion service is a ritual which has no meaning apart from doctrine resident in the soul. Hence, a worship function which is impossible apart from the Filling of the Spirit.
Revelation 14:3
And then [after the harpist] they were singing a new song [a hymn about the tactical victory of the Lord Jesus Christ at the 2nd Advent] before the throne [of God the Father in heaven] and before the four angelic heralds [high ranking seraphs], and before the angelic staff officers [twenty four in number]; furthermore no one was able to learn the song [among human beings] except the one hundred and forty-four thousand [Jewish evangelists and teachers] who have been redeemed [redemption of the body at resurrection] from the earth [all had been martyred during the Tribulation].
καὶ ᾄδουσιν [ὡς] ᾠδὴν καινὴν ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου καὶ ἐνώπιον τῶν τεσσάρων ζῴων καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων· καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐδύνατο µαθεῖν τὴν ᾠδὴν εἰ µὴ αἱ ἑκατὸν τεσσαράκοντα τέσσαρες χιλιάδες, οἱ ἠγορασµένοι ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς.
The singers and the audience: First, the angelic choir sings this song. Then in the antiphonal song, the 144,000 on the earth in their resurrection bodies join the heavenly angelic choir in singing this hymn. They were the only ones on earth who understood it. This song had been revealed only to the 144,000 evangelists when they had gone to heaven. So, when they returned with the Lord and as the Lord stood on Mt. Zion, they sang the same song which they had sung in heaven. There was an audience in heaven namely the Father, the four angelic heralds and the 24 staff officers.
“Who have been redeemed” Redemption of the body is mentioned also in Romans 8, and Ephesians 4. Romans 8:23, “And not only nature but also ourselves [mature believers] even though possessing the first fruits from the Spirit [imputation of Escrow Blessing in time], even we ourselves groan [from undeserved suffering] within ourselves, eagerly anticipating the adoption, that is, the redemption [through resurrection] of our body [Adoption into the family of God means that we will eventually receive a resurrection body in order to spend eternity with God].” Ephesians 4:30, “Furthermore, stop grieving [offending, irritating, insulting] the Holy Spirit, the God [the genitive of apposition] by agency of whom you have been sealed [the Culminative Aorist: the signature guarantee of the Spirit guarantees eternal security.] to the day of redemption [which takes place at the Rapture of the Church]”
Revelation 14:4
These [the 144,000] are they who have not been defiled with women [did not get married though they had normal libido], for they are celibates [will function under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice like Paul had]. These are they who keep following the Lamb wherever He may lead [following the will of God through the function of their souls]. These have been redeemed from among mankind as the first fruits [first to be saved after the Rapture] belonging to God [the Father] and to the Lamb [the Lord Jesus Christ].
οὗτοί εἰσιν οἳ µετὰ γυναικῶν οὐκ ἐµολύνθησαν, παρθένοι γάρ εἰσιν. οὗτοι οἱ ἀκολουθοῦντες τῷ ἀρνίῳ ὅπου ἂν ὑπάγῃ. οὗτοι ἠγοράσθησαν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπαρχὴ τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῷ ἀρνίῳ,
Marriage would have been a distraction to their mission of evangelism in the Tribulation. The people living in the Tribulation will be under extreme historical disaster and will be generally characterized by world-wide degeneration. However, there are always very moral unbelievers even in a degenerate society. They are generally characterized by great self-righteousness, a self-righteous arrogance. Arrogant people, especially arrogant self-righteous people, are always the most difficult to reach in a time of historical disaster. The moral unbeliever hears the gospel message and he says to himself, “I am as good as that person.” So, there comes a time in history when the only impact on the moral unbeliever is a super morality from those who are functioning under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice. That is one of the reasons why the 144,000 will have to function under a super morality by denying themselves normal things in life, such as marriage and legitimate sex. The evangelists of the Tribulation in order to get the attention of the morally self-righteous unbeliever will have to be super moral without becoming self-righteousness. The morally self-righteous unbeliever will never listen to anyone whom he considers inferior to himself in the function of morality.
But the moral unbeliever says, “Look, before I will listen to you, I must be impressed with you.” The degenerate unbeliever doesn’t say that, only the moral unbeliever. And how do the 144,000 evangelists prove they are greater? They look over to the moral unbeliever and say, “Look, you are having legitimate sex in marriage. I am not married and I am not having sex.” And the unbeliever says, “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”
A second reason for not getting married: The 144,000 Jewish evangelists of the Tribulation will demonstrate the highest possible virtuous spiritual life by functioning under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice. Their personal love for God will supersede their normal desires in life and since the time will be short in the Tribulation, these honorable believers will not be able to have normal relationships in life. They will have to choose between their spiritual missions and having normal relationships in life. For them marriage would be a distraction to the normal fulfilment of their mission which will require unusual concentration and expenditure of energy. Concentration is necessary to accomplish one’s responsibilities and for happiness in life. When God gives certain people a job to do and they only have a short period of time in which to do it, concentration is the secret. Life on this earth is short and therefore, one of the secrets to life and happiness is not pleasure but concentration. Happiness comes from concentration. When you concentrate on something in which you are interested, it produces mental happiness. Furthermore, successful people are people who can concentrate and nothing in life is ever achieved without concentration.
The Four Laws of Christian Modus Operandi:
1. The Law of Liberty and Love: These laws are found in 1 Corinthians 8:4-13, “Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God, but one. (5) For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, (6) yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. (7) However, not all men have this knowledge; but some [weak but growing believers], being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled [the Christian should never violate his conscience]. (8) But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat [Don’t make an issue out of the Law of Liberty]. (9) But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak [but growing believer; this is not referring to a hard-core legalist]. (10) For if someone sees you [eating steak at some temple restaurant], who have knowledge [the advanced believer], dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols [A spiritually weak Christian will be encouraged to eat meat at a temple restaurant, but since his conscience cannot handle it, he will be destroyed spiritually]? (11) For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother [a fellow growing believer who is weak] for whose sake Christ died. (12) And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. (13) Therefore, if meat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.” [Even though we operate under the Law of Liberty, we must not use it to offend a weak believer. Under that situation, the Law of Love must overrule the Law of Liberty.]
2. The Law of Expediency: suitable for achieving a particular end; in this case the evangelism of the unbeliever. 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. (17) For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. (18) What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge [never take money from an unbeliever], so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. (19) For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more [souls for Christ]. (20) To the Jews I became as a Jew [for example abstaining from eating pork], so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law [the Jewish unbeliever]; (21) to those who are without law [Gentile unbelievers], as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. (22) To the weak [Jewish and Gentile unbelievers] I became weak, that I might win the weak [to the Lord]; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. (23) I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.” Summary: 1 Corinthians 10:23, “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.”
3. The Law of Supreme Sacrifice: This is always directed toward God. 1 Corinthians 9:1-15, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? (2) If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. (3) My defense to those who examine me is this: (4) Do we not have a right to eat [meat] and drink [wine]? (5) Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? (6) Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working [take the weekends off or take a vacation]? (7) Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense [Paul is a spiritual general]? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? [Paul functioning under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice, did not get paid.] (8) I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? (9) For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.’ God is not concerned about oxen, is He? (10) Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. (11) If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? (12) If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. (13) Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar? (14) So, also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel [to the apostles to the Lost Sheep of Judah]. (15) But I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an empty one.”
“They who keep following the Lamb wherever He may lead”
Introducing Divine Guidance:
1. There are three categories of the will of God namely the Directive Will of God, the believer in fellowship and in obedience to the Spirit, the Permissive Will of God, permitting the believer to live in carnality and thirdly, the overruling will of God, in protecting the believer both in and out of fellowship.
2. The believer functioning under the Directive Will of God is the believer advancing spiritually under the Two Power Options like Paul and Barnabas during their first missionary journey.
3. The believer functioning under the Permissive Will of God is the believer who is in the status of carnality like David when he made the decision to commit adultery.
4. In the Directive Will of God the believer’s modus operandi is twofold: the Filling of the Holy Spirit and consistent spiritual growth through doctrinal inculcation, which is perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine. While Paul was on his missionary journeys, he was under the directive will of God for the most part.
5. No one can ever know the will of God for his life apart from Bible doctrine circulating in the seven compartments of the Stream of Consciousness.
6. In the Permissive Will of God, the believer substitutes human volition for divine sovereignty. The believer is using his volition contrary to the will of God.
7. The believer in the Permissive Will of God is generally kept alive (with some exceptions) under logistical grace, so that he can exercise his options for or against the will of God. Paul lived under the Permissive Will of God the moment he entered into Jerusalem in 58 A.D. for God the Holy Spirit made it absolutely clear what the will of God was for his life and that was for Paul to go west to Rome which directive will, he completely ignored at that time.
8. The Overruling Will of God is designed to accomplish the purpose of God in spite of the failure of the believer. When Paul entered the Temple in Jerusalem in 58 A.D., he was dragged out by a large group of Jews intending to kill him. However, God overruled this attempt and did not allow Paul to be killed. Eventually, Paul was taken to Rome as a prisoner where he was to go two years earlier.
The overruling will of God combined with the directive will of God in guiding the Christian. Acts 16:7, “and after they came to Mysia [on their 2nd missionary journey], they were trying to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus [God the Holy Spirit] would not permit them;”
9. When the believer rejects the Directive Will of God, he enters into the permissive will of God. Under the permissive will of God, he will receive warning and if necessary intensive divine discipline. Under dying discipline, the Permissive Will of God is removed at death since the believer is taken to heaven. The believer’s days of doing as he wills contrary to God’s plan is over.
10. The Permissive Will of God is based on the sovereign decision of God to allow human volition to co-exist with his sovereignty.
11. Another way of looking at divine guidance is through punitive action from God. The believer receives two categories of punitive action from the Supreme Court of Heaven under the concept of indirect punitive action and direct punitive action. The indirect punitive action is stated in the Law of Volitional Responsibility, whereas direct punitive action is related to divine discipline.
Colossians 3:25, “For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of that wrong which he has done [the Law of Volitional Responsibility followed by divine discipline], and there is no partiality.”
Indirect punitive action, suffering related to self obviously follows the policy of wrong thinking, wrong motives, wrong decisions, and wrong actions in life. Sometimes it’s a matter of lack of common sense or bad judgment from not knowing your limitations. Good decisions result in blessing from God; bad decisions result in suffering from self: self-imposed, self-induced, and self-indulged. Divine punitive action is designed to guide the believer back to reality.
Hebrews 12:5-6, “And so you yourselves have forgotten a principle of doctrine which teaches you as sons, ‘My son, do not make light of corrective discipline from the Lord, nor be fainting when you are reproved by Him [intensive discipline]; (6) for whom the Lord loves He disciplines [warning discipline], and He skins alive with a whip every son whom He receives [intensive discipline].”
Divine discipline to the believer is parental training in the royal family of God. Like parental training, divine discipline is designed to inculcate humility, and from that humility, true objectivity for life. You are never oriented to life until you are objective. People who are basically subjective have a much more difficult time in learning from and receiving blessings from God’s discipline. The Law of Volitional Responsibility and divine discipline are ways God used to guide the believer.
12. Under the Directive Will of God, there are three checkpoints namely the geographical will of God, (Where does God want me to be?) the viewpoint will of God, (What does God want me to think?) and the operational will of God (What does God want me to do?). These are not accomplished through emotion or lust. These three must be accomplished through much Biblical information stored in the soul as metabolized doctrine.
Definition:
1. Divine guidance is the doctrine of knowing the will of God for your life, related to both specific and general things, by the operation of your own thinking in the application of doctrine under two categories: The short term will of God, which means, what does God want me to do today? The long term will of God, which means, what does God want me to do with my life?
2. Divine guidance is the communication of God’s will through Bible doctrine. The will of God for the believer is found in every imperative found in the New Testament. A few examples should suffice.
Ephesians 4:30a, “Furthermore stop grieving [καὶ µὴ λυπεῖτε; the negative with the present imperative mood; the present tense signifies that you are doing it; now stop] the Holy Spirit, the God [the genitive of apposition]”
The imperative may be stated with a future indicative as in Matthew 19:18a, “The man inquired, ‘Which ones [in response]?’ Jesus replied, ‘You shall not murder [Οὐ φονεύσεις; a command not to do something]; you shall not commit adultery [Οὐ µοιχεύσεις; a command not to do something];”
The imperative may be stated with an aorist subjunctive as in Luke 10:4b, “and do not greet anyone on the way [καὶ µηδένα κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀσπάσησθε; the subjunctive indicates a potential];”
3. God’s will for the Church Age believer is clearly expressed in the Canon of Scripture, with emphasis on the epistles of the New Testament.
4. Before the completion of the New Testament Canon, God’s sovereign-will, was revealed through direct communication from God in dreams, visions, trances, dialogues, angelic teaching, in discipline, and in that part of the Canon which then existed.
5. Every divine mandate in the epistles dealing with the Filling of the Spirit, perception, metabolization, application of Bible doctrine, and spiritual growth are major factors of God expressing His will for your life.
6. Also, God’s sovereignty is made known to us through divine punishment. Divine discipline and human disaster as a classification of guidance from God is limited to the negative aspect of God’s will. Divine discipline is a warning signal from God that the believer is not in the will of God. Through discipline and disaster, God is saying in effect, “No, you are not in My will and therefore, I will attempt to guide you back via discipline.”
7. The sovereignty of God and the free will of man coexist in human history to resolve the prehistoric angelic conflict. Since they coexist in history, God intends for us to know and do His will.
8. The volition of the believer can respond or react to the will of God. Positive volition results in the believer executing the Protocol Plan of God. Negative volition results in the believer’s failure to fulfill the plan to glorify God.
9. Divine guidance is the doctrine of determining the will of God for your life. Most people want to run to someone else and get counseling. If you are not learning doctrine daily, all the counseling in the world will not help you determine God’s will for your life. Divine guidance and the execution of the will of God should always be a private matter between you and God.
Categories under the Directive Will of God:
1. The viewpoint will of God is what God wants you to think.
2. The operational will of God is what God wants you to do.
3. The geographical will of God is where God wants you to be.
4. You can know the viewpoint, operational, and geographical will of God for your life only by having maximum doctrine in your soul. Only in this way, will the Christian be properly guided.
Mechanics of the Will of God, Acts 11:
1. Guidance through prayer as in verse 5, "I [Peter explaining to Christian Jews in Jerusalem what had happened in Caesarea] was in the city of Joppa praying [we do not know the content of his prayer]; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came right down to me,”
2. Guidance through objective thinking of Bible doctrine, verse 6 “and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air.”
3. Guidance through perception and recall of doctrine, verses 7-10, “I also heard a voice saying to me, `Get up, Peter; kill and eat,' (8) but I said, `By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth,' (9) but a voice from heaven answered a second time, `What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.' (10) This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky.”
4. Guidance through providential circumstances, for example the people we meet, verse 11, “And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea.”
5. Guidance through the Filling of the Holy Spirit and humility, verse 12, “The Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man's house.”
6. Guidance through fellowship and comparison of spiritual data, verses 13-15, “And he [Cornelius] reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, `Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here [about 40 miles away]; (14) and he [Peter] will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and your entire household. (15) And as I [Peter] began to speak [the presentation of the gospel to which Cornelius and his household responded by believing in Christ], the Holy Spirit fell upon them [the Indwelling and the Filling of the Holy Spirit] just as he did upon us at the beginning [of the Church Age at the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem].”
7. Guidance through recalling of doctrine, verse 16, "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, `John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit [baptized into union with Christ].'”
Documentation:
A promise of guidance: Isaiah 58:11, “The Lord will guide you always [the advancing believer]; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”
Ephesians 5:17, “Therefore, stop becoming fools [Either the believer refuses to learn or refuses to apply what he has learned. So, he has neither wisdom nor common sense nor the ability to be guided by the Word.], but keep on understanding what is the will [plan, purpose; the Greek word thelema (θέληµα)] of the Lord.”
A few points of clarification regarding Ephesians 5:17:
1. The Christian must learn the Word before he can execute the Word.
2. Without knowledge of God’s Word there cannot be any application of the Word.
3. Without knowledge of the Word, there cannot be truth in the soul.
4. Without truth in the soul, there cannot be common sense since common sense is a form of applied truth.
5. Without knowledge of God’s truth in the soul, there cannot be wisdom.
6. Without knowledge, common sense, and wisdom, the Christian cannot be guided by the Lord.
In Romans 8:14 we are introduced to the Holy Spirit as the major factor in divine guidance. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” There is no divine guidance apart from knowing the Word of God and being controlled by the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
Romans 12:1, “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God [the grace blessings from the integrity of God] that you place your bodies under orders [obeying God is to be guided by God] as a living, set-apart sacrifice. This is well pleasing to our God - your rational and spiritual worship.” [“That you place your bodies under orders as a living set-apart sacrifice” means to place one’s self at God’s disposal. We are on this earth to serve God, not for God to serve us. Why the body? Why not the brain? Why not the soul? The body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is also the residence of the old sin nature. These two are resident and mutually antagonistic as explained in Galatians 5:16.]
Romans 6:13, “And stop placing your members as weapons of wrong-doing [sin, good & evil] under orders to the sin nature, but put yourself under orders to God [use the Recovery Procedure and expose yourself to daily teaching] as those who are alive out from deaths [We are identified with Christ’s substitutionary death as well as his physical death.], and your members as weapons of righteousness to the God [execute experiential righteousness].” We must be in fellowship with God to be guided by God. Submission involves many decisions throughout the course of our Christian life. We do not decide what the will of God is for us; rather, He decides. He will lead us step by step when we are in fellowship as per the story of Joseph.
Maximum perception of doctrine, techniques, and promises results in the ability to be guided by God. To settle questions and problems not specified in the Bible, the believer must go from the known to the unknown. The known factors regarding guidance are all found in the Scripture. For example, a known factor regarding marriage is found in 2 Corinthians 6:14, where you are told: “Do not be bound together with unbelievers.”
Marriage requires the highest possible spiritual life as per Ephesians 5:22-25. That is the known and answers two questions when should you get married and whom you should marry. So, you should not get married before having the spiritual capacity namely occupation with Christ as per this passage. Then, you must find a mate who also has such capacity. In this way, this passage in Ephesians guides you regarding the subject of marriage. You must marry a Christian with spiritual capacity if you want a successful marriage from the start.
2 Peter 3:18a, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” ‘Grace’ is the sum total of the plan of God. If you are in the will of God, you are in the plan of God. When you are in the plan of God, you should do the will of God. A full knowledge of and compliance with the will of God cannot be acquired apart from the stability of spiritual growth and maturity. Divine guidance involves one step at a time. Each step must be growth and advance in the spiritual life. Actually, the three mandates of guidance cannot be separated, for each is dependent upon the others. We must submit to the will of God through the Filling of the Spirit; we must know the will of God through the Word; and we must have spiritual maturity in order to do the will of God to the maximum. Failure to accomplish these three mandates through carnality, ignorance, and lack of spiritual growth prevents us from doing the will of God for our lives.
The question of the will of God for each individual believer falls into three categories: What does He want me to think? What does He want me to do? Where does He want me to go? Obviously, He wants me to think divine viewpoint. In order to understand the Viewpoint Will of God we must store up doctrine in the right lobe so that it guides all our decisions.
The Operational Will of God: What does God want me to do? The Operational Will of God involves everything that a Christian should and should not do to glorify God. The list of dos and don’ts guides the believer regarding the will of God. So, the requirements for doing the will of God are to learn and apply the Word and to advance to spiritual maturity.
The Geographical Will of God, namely where does God want me to be? This category has to do with location. The geographical will of God, however, is never considered apart from the Operational Will of God. If believers are doing what God wants them to do, then they will eventually wind up in the place where God wants them to be. For example, we all understand that crossing an ocean or going to a foreign country does not make one a missionary. The Operational Will of God must come first. Christians prepare to become missionaries by first witnessing in their own locale, in their own circumstances. A believer who will not witness at home will never witness in another country where conditions are much more difficult. So, the Christian who is obedient to the Viewpoint Will of God, and the Operational Will of God will also be in the Geographical Will of God.
There are many illustrations regarding the Geographical Will of God coupled with divine guidance. An excellent illustration of God’s geographical will is contained in the Book of Jonah. The will of God for Jonah was to go to Nineveh, where he was to declare the Gospel to the Assyrians, the hated enemy of the Jews, but instead of going to Nineveh, he took a ship going in the opposite direction. He was finally thrown overboard, swallowed by a great fish, and vomited onto dry land. Then, he reluctantly proceeded to Nineveh. Jonah’s problem was his dislike of the Assyrians, which created an unwillingness to execute the known geographical will of God. Another dilemma regarding the geographical will of God was faced by Jacob when he was to go down to Egypt for Jacob thought it was wrong for him to leave the Land, so God said, in effect, “Do not be afraid, Jacob. It is my will for you to go to Egypt at this time, but your family will come back again”
This story is found in Genesis 46:1–4, “So Israel [formerly called Jacob] set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. (2) God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, " Jacob, Jacob." And he said, "Here I am." (3) He [the Lord] said, " I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. (4) I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes [you will die in Egypt]."
Paul, in Acts 16, longed to go to Bithynia; but God restrained him because He wanted Paul in Philippi and Peter in Bithynia as per Acts 16:7, “and after they came to Mysia, they [Paul and his team] were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;”
David Livingston, the great missionary explorer of the nineteenth century, planned to go to China but was hindered by the war between England and China. Since it was God’s will for David Livingston to be in Africa, not China, the war in China made it impossible for him to be in that country. The geographical will of God for him was accomplished through this providential circumstance. Adoniram Judson started out for India, but officials would not let him land in Bombay. You see, God wanted him in Burma. So, God overruled! What appeared to be a problem of immigration, was actually a question of the geographical will of God.
Revelation 14:5
Furthermore, no deception was found in their mouth [during their lives in the first half of the Tribulation; they will have as a base great humility which will produce honesty and truthfulness with great integrity; because of their spiritual advance, they will have great control over the sins of the tongue]; they [the 144,000 standing with the Lord on Mount Zion] are blameless [these believers will be absolutely blameless in their resurrection bodies just as all believers in resurrection bodies].
καὶ ἐν τῷ στόµατι αὐτῶν οὐχ εὑρέθη ψεῦδος· ἄµωµοί εἰσιν.
Their virtue was expressed through their speech. They were free of the sins of the tongue. This is the manifestation of the mental attitude, and the completion of the experiential spiritual life. The greatest manifestation of humility verses arrogance, or virtue versus carnality, is found in verbal sinning because all verbal sins are the result of mental sins. The mental sins come first. Mental sins motivate verbal sins. If you are jealous of someone you malign them, if you are bitter toward someone you attack them with slander. So, the actual overt manifestation of the experiential sanctification of these 144,000 evangelists will be their control of the tongue.
James 3:6, “And the tongue is a fire [very dangerous and destructive], the cosmos of wickedness [Satan’s organized system], and is placed in the structure of our anatomy as that which contaminates the entire body [causes the person to become evil], and sets on fire the cycle of existence [verbal sins ignite a chain reaction which can involve every category of sin], and is being set on fire by the agency of Gehenna [a reference to Satan].”
To be great in evangelism, one must be able to treat people as people, not as winners or losers, not as good or evil, not as wealthy or poor, not as smart or stupid, not as beautiful or ugly, not as liberal or conservative, not as black or white etc. A great evangelist treats all unbelievers, the same, precious souls for whom Christ died a substitutionary spiritual death.
“They are blameless” is a reference to ultimate sanctification. The doctrine of sanctification is not only a categorical development of the plan of God, but also it helps us to understand the spiritual life in any given dispensation. The Old Testament dispensation had one category of spiritual life; the Church Age has another; the Tribulation goes back to the Old Testament times, and then the Millennium has an entirely different one. Sanctification is the technical term for describing the plan of God in terms of the divine objective as far as each phase of God’s plan is concerned.
Therefore, sanctification becomes a very technical theological word for the status of the believer in the three phases of the plan of God. Phase one of the plan of God is salvation. That decision: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved;” phase two is the believer in time, beginning at the point of salvation and going to the point of death; phase three is the believer in eternity. Each one of these phases, therefore, has a category of sanctification.
Regarding these Evangelists:
Sanctification at Salvation: At the end of Revelation 14:4 we have salvation: phase one sanctification, “These have been redeemed from among mankind as the first fruits [first to be saved after the Rapture] belonging to God [the Father] and to the Lamb [the Lord Jesus Christ].”
Experiential Sanctification: Then, we noted something about how the spiritual life is manifest in the Tribulation. We find that the spiritual life is mentioned under the concept of the sins of the tongue, that those who avoid slander, maligning, judging, lying, and other evils related to the sins of the tongue, these are the ones who achieve experiential sanctification. “Furthermore, no deception was found in their mouth.”
Ultimate Sanctification: We move on to the end of verse five where we have two words only for ultimate sanctification, “they are blameless.” The present tense is a static present which denotes the eternal state of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. They are standing on Mount Zion with our Lord Jesus Christ in their resurrection bodies, they have entered phase three of the divine plan which we call the status of ultimate sanctification as per Revelation 14:1, “Then, I looked, and behold, the Lamb [as portrayed in the 1st Advent] standing on Mount Zion and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand [the Jewish evangelists, blameless in resurrection bodies], who [the 144,000] have His name [of the Lord Jesus Christ] and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.”
Revelation 14:6
Then I [John] saw [constative aorist: a reference to a vision John will have which he will present in verses 6-20] another angel [an officer from the angelic college of heralds] flying at high noon [the zenith point of the sun in any given time zone; Since the zenith of the sun is midday, it would be the best time for the communication of the gospel.], and he has the eternal Gospel [grace precedes judgment: believing in Christ or not is an eternal decision] to announce the good news [in the last half of the Tribulation] to those who are residing on the earth, both to every nation [Gentiles] and tribe [Jews scattered throughout the world] and language [a floating population of different languages, not associated with any nation] and people [wandering or dislocated people].
Καὶ εἶδον ἄλλον ἄγγελον πετόµενον ἐν µεσουρανήµατι, ἔχοντα εὐαγγέλιον αἰώνιον εὐαγγελίσαι ἐπὶ τοὺς καθηµένους ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶν ἔθνος καὶ φυλὴν καὶ γλῶσσαν καὶ λαόν,
The first angel is found in verses 6 and 7, and this first angel teaches us the principle that grace precedes judgment. We note in verse 6 that the world is evangelized during the devil’s desperation and from this point on in the next few verses, we are going to study operation high noon.
All evangelization in the history of the world must consider the four categories that we have in this passage. The first category is the evangelization of people by nations. All evangelism is done within the framework of a national entity; God rejected internationalism when he destroyed the Tower of Babel. So, it is “to every nation, and tribe [the Jews scattered throughout the world], both language, a reference to the floating population of the earth not associated with either a Gentile nation or with the Jews. The eternal gospel will be communicated to every floating population on planet earth, their language will be included and they will receive the message. The final word is the Greek word laos translated “people,” and this refers to wandering people or dislocated persons in every time zone of the earth.
Revelation 14:7
And he [this angelic officer from the college of heralds] spoke with a loud voice, “Fear [imperative of entreaty: an appeal to human volition via respect and fear of eternal God] God and give glory to Him [by believing in Christ], because the hour of His judgment is about to come [at the 2nd Advent, the judgment of the armies attacking Israel followed by the Baptism of Fire]; and worship Him [involves homage and veneration] who created the atmosphere [the 1st heaven] and the land mass and the oceans and other salt water bodies [98% of the water on this planet is salt water; 2% is fresh with most frozen] and fountains of water [fresh water on the land masses including rivers, lakes and inland seas].”
λέγων ἐν φωνῇ µεγάλῃ, Φοβήθητε τὸν θεὸν καὶ δότε αὐτῷ δόξαν, ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ὥρα τῆς κρίσεως αὐτοῦ, καὶ προσκυνήσατε τῷ ποιήσαντι τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ θάλασσαν καὶ πηγὰς ὑδάτων.
This information is in addition to the gospel information already presented to these people. It presents the coming divine judgment and the relationship between the creator and the savior. This presentation is additional information to what they have already received and a part of crisis evangelism.
The approach here is that there should be fear if you reject the gospel. This is not always the approach in every generation but it is the approach of this angelic messenger. He does this every day at high noon. Everything is silent and only one voice is heard, a voice like thunder but which is broken down into languages in that time zone, and in every language some emphasis of the gospel is given. Here we have that which is unique to the last half of the Tribulation. There should be fear since the time is short and the Baptism of Fire is coming. This fear of God, then, is based on the proximity of the second advent and the finality of the judgment that occurs namely the baptism of fire. This angelic creature presents that urgency.
The message is no better than the acoustics which carry the sound. Hence the tremendous voice of this angel proclaiming the gospel at high noon. Angels apparently can be heard just as thunder can be heard. As he communicated, everyone in that time zone could hear him (tremendous projection of his voice). Furthermore, he had to communicate in all of the different languages of each time zone. This gospel information was presented every day at high noon during the last half of the Tribulation. Crisis evangelism approaches the situation from the standpoint of fear.
“Because the hour of His judgment is about to come [at the 2nd Advent, Armageddon, the judgment of the armies attacking Israel followed by the Baptism of Fire]”
The article “WHAT IS ARMAGEDDON?” is taken from R. B. Thieme Jr’s booklet, Armageddon pages 10-11.
“Revelation 16:12–16 is the only passage in which the word Ἁρµαγεδών (Armageddon) is mentioned. The context of these verses specifies certain events, personalities, nations, and geographical localities which are identified with “the war [πόλεµος, polemos] of the great day of God, the Almighty.” The presence of polemos in Revelation 16:14 indicates that the events described are a part of a war or campaign. A campaign involves a military invasion into unfriendly territory in an effort to locate enemy forces and peoples for the purpose of destruction and subjugation. Thus, a campaign is composed of a series of battles in a specific geographic location, fought either simultaneously or in chronological succession. Inasmuch as this titanic struggle occurs in one land, Palestine, the translation of polemos as “campaign” is preferred to “war.”
The tenor of Scripture describing the location of the campaign leads to the conclusion that the campaign of the great day of God, the Almighty, is fought in at least four specific geographical areas:
1. Jerusalem (Zech. 12:2–11; 14:2);
2. Megiddo and the Plain of Esdraelon (Rev. 16:16);
3. Jehoshaphat Valley, east of Jerusalem (Ezek. 39:11; Joel 3:2, 12);
4. Edom (Isa. 34:16; 63:1–6).
That the conflict will rage throughout the entire land of Palestine is confirmed in the phrase “covering the land” (Ezek. 38:9, 16) and alludes to the fact that the armies will sweep over the land of Palestine.
The Greek word Armageddon is derived from the Hebrew (har Megiddo), meaning the “hill of Megiddo” [Revelation 16:16] (Judg. 5:19). The city of Megiddo occupies a salient position on the southern rim of the Plain of Esdraelon. It was famous as the site of two great victories: Barak and Deborah over the Canaanites (Judg. 4:15), and Gideon over the Midianites (Judg. 7). Here, too, occurred the death of Saul in the battle of Gilboa against the Philistines (1 Sam. 31:8) and Josiah’s death at the hands of Pharaoh Necho’s Egyptian army (2 Kings 23:29–30; 2 Chron. 35:22). So vast is this plain of Esdraelon that Napolean Bonaparte upon reviewing it remarked that all the armies in the world could maneuver in such a place.
While Revelation 16 lacks details of the campaign, it verifies the fact that a mighty conflict involving all the nations of the world takes place in Palestine. These satanically-inspired forces assembled in defiance against God are bent on complete annihilation of His people, Israel. However, those elements and personalities under the domination of Satan and in opposition to God, are themselves destroyed at the climax of this final campaign, the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. Armageddon is not just the decisive defeat of vast military forces representing mighty international empires, but is an integral part of both the closing campaign of the Tribulation and the fulfillment of God’s predicted plan.”
The following article on Armageddon was taken from Thieme’s Bible Doctrine Dictionary page 14.
“Armageddon [from Heb. har megiddo, the hill of Megiddo overlooking the plain of Esdraelon (Rev. 16:16; cf. Judg. 1:27; 5:19)] The last battle of the last campaign of the last world war of history, when besieged Jerusalem is delivered by Jesus Christ, who once and for all annihilates Israel’s enemies and deposes Satan as the ruler of this world (Rev. 19:11—20:3).
During the last half of the Tribulation, when Satan sets vast human and demonic forces into motion (Dan. 11:36–45; Rev. 16:13), four Gentile world powers will eventually converge upon Israel in what Scripture refers to as “the war of the great day of God, the Almighty” (Rev. 16:14; cf. Zech. 12:3). With history’s largest concentration of armies encompassing one small section of Jerusalem, the situation will appear hopeless for the remnant of Jewish believers fighting against all odds. Suddenly a deep darkness will cover the earth, immobilizing the invaders, and a supernatural light will reveal the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. The Lord will descend from heaven and “set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zech. 12:9). With eyes “a flame of fire, . . . robe dipped in blood” (Rev. 19:12–13), the living Word of God will decisively slaughter every hostile army, deliver the believing Jews, and bind Satan in the Abyss “so that he would not deceive the nations any longer” (Rev. 20:3).”
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 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. The unbelievers will be removed from the earth and identified with fire first in Torments and then after the Great White Throne Judgment, the Lake of Fire forever.
The analogy to the Baptism of Fire is found in Matthew 24:38-41. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking [normal living: not alcoholic beverage since there was no alcohol in the Pre-diluvian Civilization: no microorganisms], marrying and giving in marriage [the woman is given to the man: some form of establishment], until the day that Noah entered the ark, (39) and they did not understand [preoccupation with life] until the flood came and took them all [reversionistic unbelievers] away; so [introduces prophecy] will the coming of the Son of Man be [the 2nd Advent]. (40) “Then [at the 2nd Advent] there will be two men in the field; one will be taken [the unbeliever removed via the Baptism of Fire] and one will be left [the believer to enter into the Millennium]. (41) “Two women will be grinding at the mill [normal living]; one will be taken [the unbeliever removed via the Baptism of Fire] and one will be left [the believer to enter into the Millennium].
Parables regarding the Baptism of Fire:
1. The wheat [the believers] and the tares [the unbelievers];
Matthew 13:24-30. He presented another parable to them, saying, ‘The kingdom of Heaven [born again believers on the earth while Christ is absent; Since the king is in heaven, it is called the kingdom of heaven.] is compared to a man [the Lord Jesus Christ] who sowed good seed [believers during the Tribulation] in his field [the world],’ (25) but while men slept [ignorant believers who did not challenge the unbeliever], his enemy [Satan] came and sowed tares [weeds in the wheat field analogous to unbelievers in the Tribulation] among the wheat [believers in the Tribulation] and went his way. (26) But when the blade [of the wheat] had sprung up and had produced fruit [seeds], then the tares also appeared. (27) So, the servants [elect angels as the reapers: verse 39] of the householder [the Lord Jesus Christ] came and said to him, Lord [deity], did you not sow, good seed in your field [originally, the 144,000 Jews]? Then, where have the tares [unbelievers many of whom are religious] come from? (28) He said to them, ‘An enemy [Satan] has done this’. The servants said to him, ‘Then, do you want us to go and gather them up’ [destroy the unbelievers]? (29) But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also root up the wheat with them’. (30) Let both grow together until the harvest [the time of judgment which will immediately follow the 2nd Advent]. And at the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers [the elect angels], ‘First, gather together the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them [at the Baptism of Fire, they will be removed from the earth and placed in the fire of Torments] but gather the wheat into my granary’ [Millennial reign of Christ].
Matthew 13:36-40. Then sending the crowds away, Jesus went into the house. And His disciples came to Him [followed him into the house] saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” (The narrative found in verses 24-30) (37) He answered and said to them, ‘He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man [a title for Lord Jesus Christ since His humanity is true humanity].’ (38) the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the eternal kingdom [the wheat analogous to believers]; but the tares [unbelievers] are the children of the wicked one [Satan]. (39) The enemy who sowed them is the Devil; the harvest is the end of the Age [of the Jewish Age]; and the reapers are the angels. (40) Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire [the Baptism of Fire], so it shall be at the end of the Age [of the Jewish Age].
2. The good [believers] and bad fish [unbelievers];
Matthew 13:47-50. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet [evangelism in the Tribulation] cast into the sea [of nations], and gathered some of every kind of fish [people from all over the earth will be evangelized]; (48) which, when it was full [when the last person is saved in the Tribulation], they [the elect angels] drew to shore [the net at the 2nd Advent] and sat down and gathered the good [believers going into the Millennium] into vessels [a reference to the Millennium] but threw the bad [unbelievers] away [the Baptism of Fire]. (49) So, it shall be at the end of the age [of Israel]. The angels shall come out and separate the wicked [unbelievers who will reject the righteousness which comes only through the cross] from among the justified [the believers who will have received imputed righteousness], (50) and shall cast them [the bad fish, the unbelievers] into the furnace of fire [identified with fire first in Torments and finally in the Lake of Fire]. There shall be wailing [from bad decisions and their consequences] and gnashing of teeth [great frustration from realizing that they have made an eternal decision against the Cross].
3. The ten virgins: five wise [believers], five foolish (the unbelievers);
Matthew 25:1-13. At that time [teaching the Baptism of Fire at the 2nd Advent], shall the kingdom from Heaven [genitive of source: the king came from heaven to establish his Millennial reign] shall be likened to [sets up a parable] ten virgins [the bridesmaids had to be virgins at the time of writing: five of the virgins represent the Jewish believers in mortal bodies at the 2nd Advent; five represent the Jewish unbelievers of the Tribulation], who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom [they were waiting for Christ at the groom’s house; his bride being Church Age believers, and the groomsmen will be all Old Testament believers in resurrection bodies including those who died during the Tribulation]. (2) And five of them were wise [had believed in Christ], and five were foolish [did not believe in Christ]. (3) The foolish ones [Jewish unbelievers of the Tribulation] took their lamps but took [free will] no oil with them [rejected the gospel]. (4) But the wise took oil [picture of regeneration] in their vessels with their own lamps. (5) While the groom tarried [during the Tribulation], they all slumbered and slept. (6) Then, at midnight, a shout occurred, “Behold, the bridegroom [the 2nd Advent]! Go out to meet him.” (7) Then, all those virgins arose [awakened from their slumber] and trimmed their own lamps [each person is responsible for his own decisions]. (8) And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps have gone out.” (9) But the wise answered, saying, “No, lest there be not enough for us and you, but rather go to those who sell, and buy for yourselves [each person must make his own decision regarding faith in Christ].” (10) And while they went to buy, the groom came [too late to believe in Christ]. And they who were prepared [had believed in Christ] went with him into the marriage banquet hall [at the 2nd Advent], and the door was shut. (11) Afterwards, the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord [now they know that He is the Lord, but it is too late; there is no second chance; the unbeliever has a time frame in which to make his eternal decision], open for us, (12) but he answered [from the inside] and said, Truly I say to you, I do not know you [an idiom for no relationship since they were unbelievers and would be removed by the Baptism of Fire with no option to change their minds]. (13) Therefore, be alert [the unbelievers of the Tribulation are commanded to be alert by listening to the gospel and believing in Christ], for you do not know the day or the hour [of the 2nd Advent].
4. The sheep [believers] and the goats [the unbelievers];
Mathew 25:31-46. But when the Son of Man comes in His glory [2nd Advent], and all the holy angels [Elect Angels] with Him, then He shall sit on the throne of His glory [coronation]. (32) And all the gentiles [believers and unbelievers] shall be gathered before Him [Christ]. And He shall separate them [individuals] from one another, as a shepherd [Christ] divides the sheep [believers] from the goats [unbelievers]. (33) And indeed, He shall set the sheep on His right hand [approval], but the goats off the left [rejection]. (34) Then, the King shall say to those on His right hand, Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom [Millennial kingdom] prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [These gentiles were not saved by what they did (verses 35-40). What they did was a manifestation of their appreciation for the 144,000 Jewish evangelist and teachers and since they did these deeds while in fellowship with God, they will be rewarded. (35) For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; (36) I was naked [insufficient clothing for the weather], and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. (37) Then the righteous [those with imputed righteousness] shall answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry, and fed you? Or thirsty, and gave you drink? (38) When did we see You a stranger, and took you in? Or naked, and clothed you? (39) Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and came to You? (40) And the King shall answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren [144,000 Jews: Revelation 7:4-8; Revelation. 14:1-5], you have done it to Me.” (41) Then, He also shall say to those on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire [Baptism of Fire: prepared for the Devil and his angels]. (42) For I was hungry, and you gave Me no food [these unbelievers were hardened from scar tissue of the soul]; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; (43) I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me. (44) Then, they will also answer Him, saying, Lord [at the 2nd Advent, they will recognize Christ as Lord, but it is too late], when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You? (45) Then, He shall answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these [144,000 Jews] you did not do it to Me. [The unbelievers of the Tribulation become hardened through their rejection of Christ. As a manifestation of their hardness, they had no empathy or concern for the 144,000 evangelists.] (46) And these [the individual gentile unbelievers] shall go away into everlasting punishment [there is no reprieve], but the righteous [believers with imputed righteousness] into everlasting life.
5. The talent test: The one talent man represents the unbeliever.
Matthew 25:14-30, “For as a man [the Lord Jesus Christ] traveling into a far country [He goes to heaven at his ascension] called his own servants [the Jews in the Tribulation] and handed over to them his assets [the Jews again will be the custodians of the Word and responsible for its dissemination]. (15) And to one he gave five talents [a talent of gold equals to about 6,000 denarii during N. T. times], to another two, and to another one; to each according to his ability. And he went abroad at once. (16) And going he who had received the five talents traded with the same and made another five talents [a productive believer in the Tribulation]. (17) And likewise, he who had received two, he also gained another two. (18) But he who had received the one talent, went and dug in the earth and hid his lord's silver [Analogous to the unbeliever who is unproductive for the Lord]. (19) After a long time, the lord of those servants came [analogous to Christ at the 2nd Advent] and took account with them. (20) And so, he who had received five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, Lord, you delivered five talents to me. Behold, I have gained five more besides. (21) "Well done, good [intrinsic good from divine power] and faithful servant [for he advanced spiritually]. You have been faithful over [the Jewish responsibility in the Tribulation] a few things [in the tremendous pressure of the Tribulation]; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the happiness of your Lord [the Millennium]." (22) He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered two talents to me. Behold, I have gained two other talents above them. (23) His lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the happiness of your lord [by analogy the Millennium]. (24) And he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you [he is a hypocritical religious unbeliever] that you were a hard man [because you reject the works and the brotherly love of the unbeliever], reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed [Jesus Christ will reap and harvest the unbelievers for the Baptism of Fire. (25) And I was afraid [all unbelievers will be afraid of Christ at the 2nd Advent and rightfully so] and went and hid your talent of silver [analogous to the rejecting the gospel] in the ground. Lo, you have yours [He gave it back]. (26) His lord answered and said to him, “Evil [unsaved] and slothful servant [no production as an unbeliever]! You knew that I reaped where I did not sow, and gathered where I did not scatter seed. [Jesus Christ will reap and harvest the unbelievers for the Baptism of Fire] (27) Then, you should have put my silver talent to the exchangers [analogous to believing in Christ without spiritual growth], and coming I would have received my own with interest. (28) Therefore, take the talent [opportunity for production begins with salvation] from him [by analogy the unbeliever-Jew is stripped of all assets at the 2nd Advent] and give it to him who has ten talents [the man had 5 and gained 5 more and will have production also in the Millennium; in the Millennium this man with 10 has the opportunity to gain more production since he still has 1000 more years to live.] (29) For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will abound [in the Millennium]. But from him who has not [the unbelieving Jew], even that which he has [the opportunity for production through salvation and the spiritual life] shall be taken away from him. (30) And throw the unprofitable servant [in the analogy] into outer darkness [torments]; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth [great frustration].”
6. Cleaning His threshing floor:
Matthew 3:12, “His winnowing-shovel is in his hand, and He [the Lord Jesus Christ at the 2nd Advent] will thoroughly clean [separating the unbelievers from the believers] his threshing floor [analogous to the earth], and he will gather his wheat [believers] into his granary [the Millennium], but he will burn up the chaff [the unbelievers] with unquenchable fire [The Baptism of Fire].”
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.
Revelation 14:8
Then, another angel [another angelic officer], the second one, followed and kept saying, “Babylon the great [ecumenical religion] has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, she [the Greek article] has caused all the nations to drink from the wine of wrath [divine judgment on ecumenical religion as a system] of her fornication [spiritual unfaithfulness to God and his plan].”
Καὶ ἄλλος δεύτερος [ἄγγελος] ἠκολούθησεν λέγων, Ἔπεσεν, ἔπεσεν Βαβυλὼν ἡ µεγάλη, ἣ ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυµοῦ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς πεπότικεν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη.
This second angel announces a judgment on ecumenical religion called ‘Babylon’ in the Tribulation that we are not going to study until we get to chapters 17 & 18. This is not a reference to the city of Babylon, but since the ancient city of Babylon was once the capital of religion, this term is used in the Tribulation. The message of the fall of Babylon is mentioned twice in this verse. God wants people to understand that religion has no future.
Religion:
1. Religion is Satan’s counterfeit as a substitute for salvation and the spiritual life.
2. Religion is a part of Satan’s plan, a part of his strategy, his ace trump.
3. Religion is the worst thing that ever happened to mankind in history, it is a soul-destroyer for it epitomizes Satan’s policy of evil.
4. Religion is not the same as Christianity. All religions operate on a merit system and use human power and dynamics, a substitute for God’s plan. Christianity from day one is relationship with God which operates on grace and uses God’s power and when executed effectively leads to reciprocal love, the believer reciprocating God’s eternal love for him.
5. Therefore, religion and Christianity are opposing forces in the angelic conflict, they are antithetical and mutually exclusive.
6. In religion, man by man’s efforts seeks to gain the approbation of God through his works, power, talent, abilities etc. Hence, religion is always a form of reversionism under the influence of Cosmic evil and always includes some system of legalism.
7. In Christianity, God seeks and finds man through the work of Christ, and from that time onward, it is strictly a matter of grace.
8. Christianity is a relationship with God through regeneration while religion is a relationship with Satan through Cosmic One and Two.
Christianity and religion are antithetical. In Christianity, God saves mankind through personal faith in Jesus Christ. In religion, man seeks to impress God with his works. Religion can be classified as the devil's ace trump for religion was invented by Satan to counterfeit God's plan, purpose, and will for mankind, to blind the unbeliever from the gospel and to divert the believer from the execution of the Protocol Plan of God for the Church Age. Religion is part of the devil's strategy in being "like the Most-High God," as stated in Isaiah 14:14. Christianity is not a religion, but an eternal relationship with God through personal faith in Christ. In religion, Homo sapiens seeks the approbation of God through good deeds, human merit, and various categories of works. Religion reflects the evil genius of Satan, whereas Christianity represents the perfect integrity of God combined with His grace policy.
For deceit and error to be carried out effectively, Satan has devised a system of counterfeits which are the counterfeits of religion such as:
1. Gospel, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers [through religion, philosophy etc.], so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2. Ministers, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, “For such ones are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. (14) Did not even Satan marvelously transform himself into an angel of light? (15) Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.”
3. Communion table, 1 Corinthians 10:19-21, “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? (20), No, I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I do not desire you to become fellow worshippers with demons. (21) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord [the communion service] and the cup of demons [the Cosmic Systems]; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”
4. Doctrine, 1 Timothy 4:1, “But the Spirit [the Holy Spirit is the teacher of Bible doctrine] explicitly teaches that in latter periods of time [the period between the 1st and 2nd Advents namely the Church Age and the Tribulation] some [believers] will withdraw from doctrine, concentrating on deceitful persons [demon telepathy via black-out of the soul from false teachers] and doctrines from demons [involvement in Cosmic 1 & 2].”
5. Spirituality, Galatians 3:1-3, “O foolish Galatians who has hypnotized you [has given you the evil eye]? Before whose eyes [refers to perception, they saw it in their mind’s eye] Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified [was designated clearly: You used to have your eyes on Christ, now you have your eyes on the Mosaic Law]. (2) This only I desire to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing of faith? (3) Are you so stupid that having begun in the sphere of the [Filling of the] Spirit, are you now being brought to completion by the flesh [using human power out of fellowship to advance spiritually]?
6. System of righteousness, Matthew 19:16-22, “Now behold a man came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good shall I do to obtain eternal life?” (17) And He replied to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good [What good shall I do]? There is only one [Jesus] who is good. If you desire to enter into [eternal] life [through your righteousness], and you do, then keep the commandments [all of them which is impossible]. (18) The man inquired, “Which ones?” Jesus replied, “You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness [in court]; (19) you shall honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (20) And the young man answered, “All these, I have guarded. What do I still lack?” (21) And Jesus said to him, “If you desire to be perfect [through works] and you do [though it is impossible], go and sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven [a prophetical statement which would be fulfilled after he would follow Christ in regeneration] then [return] here [after you realize that you are not perfect] and follow Me [in regeneration]. (22) After the young man heard the instruction, he departed grieving for he possessed a lot of property.”
7. False gods. All throughout history people have and will worship demons as gods. In the latter half of the Great Tribulation the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire will be worshiped as a god. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, “Do not let anyone deceive you in any way since it [the Day of the Lord: the Tribulation and 2nd Advent] will not come unless the departure [the Rapture], and the man who is lawless [anti-establishment] shall be revealed, the son of perdition [doomed to destruction], (4) who opposes [the Lord Jesus Christ] and exalts himself above every so called god, or object of worship, so that he is installed in the temple of God [the Jewish temple of the Tribulation], proclaiming himself to be god.”
8. Power (dynamics), 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9, “And then [after the Rapture] the lawless one [dictator of the revived Roman Empire] will be revealed, whom the Lord shall destroy with the breath of His mouth [the least power of God] in fact he shall neutralize him by the very appearance of His coming [2nd Advent], (9) the dictator whose presence [in history] shall be according to the modus operandi of Satan with all power and by means of miracles even wonder miracles of the lie. [Satan promotes him by means of power and miracles.]”
9. Way of life, Matthew 23:13-36: In this passage, the Pharisees emphasized the external condition of a person and ignored the internal condition. They emphasized taboos and outward morality. They ignored internal sins which made their external righteousness a sham. Their outside was clean namely morality and taboos, but their inside was filthy, full of mental sins and lusts.
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 Tim 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.
There are at least five characteristics of false teachers in the Church Age.
1. False teachers are masters of hypocrisy. They use a phony facade, first exposed by our Lord in Matthew 7:15, “Beware [constantly be on your guard] of the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves,” and further developed by Paul in Romans 16:18, “For such believers do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own emotions, and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the right lobes of the unsuspecting [those ignorant of truth].” Behind a public relations facade, false teachers use legalism to convert their victims to religion, Galatians 4:17-18, “They [Judaizers] zealously affect [seek or woo] you [into legalism], not well [not honestly] yes, they wish to exclude you [this means they wish to separate you from me, so that I can’t woo you with grace] in order that you might affect [court or woo] them. (18) But it is good always to be properly courted [by good Bible teachers] in an honorable manner, and not only when I am present with you.”
2. False Teachers flatter their victim, making them feel wanted which flatter appeals to the victim’s pride. 2 Timothy 3:5-7, “Holding to a superficial form [outward appearance] of the spiritual life, but they themselves have disregarded its power; avoid such ones as these. (6) For among them are those [immoral Christian men] who creep into homes [slyly enter the homes] and seduce [captivate] silly women [morally weak women because there is no doctrine in their souls] who are overwhelmed by their sins and are carried away by various lusts. (7) Always learning [these women], but they are never able to come to an epignosis knowledge of the truth.”
3. False teachers promote idolatry as a part of the devil's communion table, Habakkuk 2:18-19, “What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols. (19) Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it.” 1 Corinthians 10:19-22, “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? (20) No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become a sharer in demons. (21). You cannot drink the cup of the Lord [the Communion table requires fellowship] and the cup of demons [demon influence: living in the cosmic system]; therefore, you cannot partake of the table of the Lord [the Eucharist for this worship requires the spiritual life] and the table of demons [demon influence].”
4. False teachers promote self-righteousness, to include legalism, personality arrogance, authority arrogance, crusader arrogance, and works arrogance, 1 Timothy 1:6-7, “From which some men [pastors] have deviated [apostasy through reversionism]. They themselves have turned aside to ineffective teaching desiring to be teachers of the Law. (7) Since they do not understand either what they are teaching or concerning the things about which they speak dogmatically.”
5. False teachers continue to operate throughout the Church Age, as this is the intensified period of the angelic conflict, 1 John 4:1-6, “Beloved, do not believe every personality, but test the person to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have come out into the world. (2) By this you know the person of God: every person [pneuma] that confessed that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. (3) and every person that does not confess Jesus is from God: this is the person of the antichrist of which you have heard that it is coming and now it is already in the world. (4) You are from God, little children and have overcome them because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. (5) They are from the world; therefore, they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. (6). We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the person of truth and the person of error.”
Further information on Religion:
1. Religion destroys virtue and the natural instincts of grace.
2. Religion produces arrogance and ignorance which overrides tolerance, and diminishes one’s ability to think well, and substitutes cruelty. Arrogance plus cruelty lowers the thinking ability of the people so involved.
3. A religious society cannot think and therefore emotes. Out of a religious society come mobs, and terrorism.
4. Religion does not believe in the right of free choice such religions as Islam, the Roman Catholic church and the Greek Orthodox church at certain times, and in India, it is true of the Hindus. In other words, “You can only be free if you accept our religion.”
5. Therefore, under the influence of religion, Medieval history right up through the time of the Renaissance and Reformation not only caused the rise of cities but the inevitable rise of city mobs functioning under terrorism. Mobs had all the arrogance of unchecked power roaming the streets of medieval towns and cities, and all too often selected the Jew as a target. Arrogance becomes a substitute for reason and produces a victim, a target for hatred, vindictiveness, and implacability.
Revelation 14:9
Then, another angel, the third one, followed them [the other two angelic officers], and kept saying with a great voice [at high noon], “If anyone [the converts of ecumenical religion] worships the beast-dictator and his image [the abomination of desolation in the Holy of Holies; in the Greek a 1st class conditional sentence] and receives [futuristic present] his mark [identification] on his forehead or on his hand [the apodosis or the result clause is found in the next verse],”
Καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος τρίτος ἠκολούθησεν αὐτοῖς λέγων ἐν φωνῇ µεγάλῃ, Εἴ τις προσκυνεῖ τὸ θηρίον καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ, καὶ λαµβάνει χάραγµα ἐπὶ τοῦ µετώπου αὐτοῦ ἢ ἐπὶ τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ,
There is a great deal of difference between admiring people which is normal, and worshipping people which is abnormal. While admiration is perfectly normal the worship which is described here is definitely abnormal, and the point is that religion makes people abnormal. When a person becomes tainted with religion in Cosmic One, he becomes preoccupied with himself and in so doing becomes abnormal.
Worship is not love. It takes arrogance to worship arrogance. When these people in the future, will worship the arrogant beast-dictator, they will be demonstrating their arrogance. Religion always makes people seem important when they are not. In effect, their thinking will be that they are worthy to worship the beast. Worshipping a person is preoccupation with oneself; loving a person is concentration on the object of love.
2 Thessalonians 2:4, "[the Son of Perdition, the Dictator of the Revived Roman Empire] who opposes [the Lord Jesus Christ] and exalts himself above every so-called god, or object of worship, so that he is installed in the Temple of God [the Jewish Temple in the middle of the Tribulation], proclaiming himself to be God."
This worship of the image is called the devil’s communion table as per 1 Corinthians 10:19-21, "What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? (20) No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons [idolatry] and not to God; and I do not want you to become worshippers with demons. (21) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord [the Communion table requires fellowship] and the cup of demons [demon influence: living in the Cosmic System and other Satanic functions]; therefore, you cannot partake of the table of the Lord [to worship at the Eucharist requires the spiritual life] and the table of demons [living in the Cosmic System under demon influence and modus operandi]."
Identified with a lifetime mark: These adherents to this religious system will have this mark to identify them. They are first indoctrinated and then they will receive their mark. When a Roman soldier graduated from basics, his serial number was branded on his hand. Also, slaves were branded with a mark. This was a lifetime mark. So, also will these adherents to this religious system.
Revelation 13:18, "Here is wisdom [application of Biblical truth to the situation]. He who has the ability to think let him compute the code-number of the beast-dictator, for it [the number six] is the number of mankind and his number is six hundred and sixty-six [man deified]."
The ID card of ecumenical religion in the last half of the Tribulation: Six is used to represent the number-of-mankind in Scripture. Six tripled is the deifying of man in Satan’s Cosmic System. The deification is the ultimate arrogance of mankind. The code number 666 in the computer, designates all those in the ecumenical system. This ID card or mark is given to everyone who becomes a member of the system and it is apparently related to some futuristic system in the computer field and is not something you carry. Those who have this ID card are those who have rejected the gospel and who have accepted the ecumenical religious system.
Revelation 14:10
He [those who worship the dictator and his image] also shall drink from the wine of the wrath of God [Revelation 16:2 followed by the Baptism of Fire], which has been concentrated [very strong and powerful] in the cup of His anger, and he will be tormented in fire and burning sulfur [Torments followed by the Lake of Fire] before the holy angels [the elect angels are ones who will gather the unbelievers at the 2nd Advent] in the presence of the Lamb [The Lord Jesus Christ resolves the angelic conflict].
καὶ αὐτὸς πίεται ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυµοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ κεκερασµένου ἀκράτου ἐν τῷ ποτηρίῳ τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ βασανισθήσεται ἐν πυρὶ καὶ θείῳ ἐνώπιον ἀγγέλων ἁγίων καὶ ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἀρνίου.
In verses 9 and 10, a conditional sentence, we have the warning of the third angel. Verse 9 is the protasis of that conditional sentence (the premise of a first-class conditional sentence) and verse 10 is the apodosis (the result clause). Explaining the situation in the future: This protasis of a first-class conditional sentence states clearly that many people living during the last half of the Tribulation will become converts to ecumenical religion. The first-class condition, therefore, is called supposition from the viewpoint of reality, therefore logically the apodosis will be a reality also. The reality of the apodosis will be judgment. In summary, if the unbelievers in the latter half of the Tribulation worship the beast dictator and they will, they will also receive severe divine judgment. That will be the future reality!
Revelation 16:2, "So, the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and it became a loathsome and a malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image."
If these religious unbelievers fail to heed the punishment administered in Revelation 16:2, then at the 2nd Advent, they will suffer the Baptism of Fire.
Matthew 13:41-42, "The Son of Man shall send out His angels, and they shall gather [the tares] out of His kingdom [the unbelievers removed from the kingdom of believers on the earth] all the stumbling blocks [unbelievers], and those who practice lawlessness [refusal to believe in Jesus Christ: 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12], (42) and shall cast them into a furnace of fire [initially Torments followed by the Lake of Fire]. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth [just before they are removed, the Jewish unbelievers at the 2nd Advent will realize that they had rejected their Savior and Messiah]."
We have already begun to note that verse 10 dramatizes the doctrinal principle that all people are the products of their own decisions, and in this case the unbelievers who adhere to the ecumenical religious system of the Tribulation, Satan’s system, and worship the beast dictator, receive this ID card related to some super computer system: are the products of their own bad decisions.
We have motivational evil as well as functional evil in this ecumenical religious system of the future. Motivational evil is always arrogant preoccupation with self. Man loses his perspective when he is preoccupied with himself. He also becomes distracted from the truth and eventually indifferent to the truth. That, of course, is residence in Cosmic One. Then there is functional evil, the manifestations of evil in Cosmic One and the anti-doctrine attitudes in Cosmic Two.
Cosmic System:
Rapport in the Cosmic System
1 John 4:5, "They [false teachers, the Gnostics] are out from the cosmic system; therefore, they teach from the source of the cosmic system, and the [believers and unbelievers involved in the] cosmic system understands them."
A few points for elaboration:
1. Both believer and unbeliever in the cosmic system share the same frame of reference and so both like and even enjoy the false teaching which emanates from that system. This explains why the unbeliever dislikes and even hates hearing about the gospel, and why the believer dislikes and even hates accurate Bible teaching.
2. In the cosmic system, the unbeliever and believer will pursue and learn Satan’s counterfeits to everything in God’s plan. The unbeliever of course will learn the counterfeits related to the gospel, whereas the Christian will learn the counterfeits related to the spiritual life.
3. Therefore, the unbeliever becomes prejudiced and biased against the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Christian becomes prejudiced and biased against true Bible teaching. This becomes a double whammy for them for they are not only learning Satan’s cosmic system, but at the same time are proceeding through the Eight Stages of Reversionism.
Introduction to Satan’s Cosmic System:
Definition
The cosmic system is Satan's strategy as the ruler of this world to control believers as well as unbelievers. (However, our study will primarily deal with Satan’s strategy regarding believers.) Satan's cosmic system is composed of two separate power spheres namely Cosmic 1 and 2. Cosmic One is Satan's exploitation of believers through their own arrogance. Cosmic Two is Satan's propaganda to educate and promote antagonism toward anything related to God, His word or anyone one learning or teaching His word. Cosmic one represents Satan's attitude from the time of his prehistoric fall up to the prehistoric angelic trial. Cosmic Two represents Satan's attitude from the time of Adam's fall in the garden to the end of the Millennium. Cosmic One emphasizes arrogance and subjectivity. Cosmic Two emphasizes antagonism and intolerance toward the plan, purpose, and will of God, as well as toward all Christians executing it. Thus, Cosmic One is Satan's philosophy in the prehistoric angelic conflict. Cosmic Two is Satan's philosophy in human history as the ruler of this world.
COSMIC ONE:
1. Emphasizes arrogance; preoccupation with self.
2. Target: ego, self-consciousness of the soul.
3. Results in preoccupation and obsession with self to the exclusion of God and man.
4. Emphasizes self in contrast to God and objective reality.
5. Represents Satan's attitude at the time of his prehistoric fall.
6. Represents Satan's philosophy in the prehistoric angelic conflict when he was obsessed with himself in maximum arrogance.
7. The believer in cosmic one assumes the arrogance of Satan at his fall and becomes a slave to self.
COSMIC TWO:
1. Emphasizes animosity, hatred, antagonism toward God and His plan.
2. Target: truth or doctrine.
3. Results in antagonism toward Christ as the living Word and doctrine as the written Word.
4. Stresses human viewpoint over Divine viewpoint.
5. Represents Satan's attitude from the time of man's historical fall to the end of human history.
6. Represents Satan's philosophy as ruler of this world after the fall of man. Now he is obsessed with destroying the plan of God as the enemy of the plan of God.
7. The believer in cosmic two becomes inculcated with the antagonism of Satan which antagonism began at the fall of human history. Inculcated with this antagonism, the believer becomes a slave to Satan.
Ephesians 2:2, "In which sphere [in spiritual death] you formerly walked [as an unbeliever] according to the lifestyle of this cosmos [Satan’s cosmic system], according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit [Satan] who is now operational [working via Cosmic 1 & 2] in the sons of disobedience [believers not executing the spiritual life]."
The religious Jews who lived during Christ’s 1st Advent did not understand Christ since they rejected revelation from God. Certainly today, cosmic unbelievers and cosmic Christian cannot understand the Christian who is advancing in the spiritual life and executing God’s plan though an advanced Christian can understand those in Satan’s cosmic system through the Word of God.
DOCTRINE OF COSMIC ONE
Gate 1: Motivational Arrogance
All arrogance starts with thinking, moves into motivation, and from there moves into decisions and actions. By definition, motivational arrogance is a complex of mental attitude sins, all of which are related to arrogance or have their foundation in the basic concept of the sin of pride. Pride is defined as inordinate self-esteem, unreasonable conceit, insolence (impudence), being anti-authority, vanity, and employing the three arrogance skills: self-justification, self-deception and self-absorption. Furthermore, pride is an inflated concept of self, and the exaggeration of one's own self-importance. The complex of sins in motivational arrogance includes pride, jealousy, bitterness, hatred, vindictiveness, implacability, revenge motivation, self-pity, guilt reaction, and operation overthink.
The first victim of motivational arrogance was the greatest creature genius of all time. This arrogance motivated Lucifer the Son of the Morning to reject God’s plan (Isaiah 14:12). It was his vanity of beauty and splendor which brought about his arrogance. Ezekiel 28:17a, “Your right lobe was lifted-up [puffed-up with arrogance] because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.” Once arrogance made its way into Satan’s thinking, he became excessively ambitious “I will raise my throne above the shining ones (the angels) of God” as found in Isaiah 14:13. It made him ambitious to the point of irrationality and insanity, “I will make myself like the Most-High [God the Son]” as per Isaiah 14:14b.
Arrogance is a real or imagined sense of superiority which distorts reality, resulting in presumptuous self-righteousness and a false sense of destiny (to be ‘like God’). Thus, arrogance was the original sin of the prehistoric angelic conflict, and became the motivation for the woman's original sin in the garden for she said yes to Satan’s temptation, “you will be like God.” Arrogance is the most basic motivational sin of human life. It is the foundation for all sins, human good and evil, both moral degeneracy related to self-righteousness and immoral degeneracy based on lust related to sex, chemical and criminal arrogance. Thus, arrogance divorces the believer or unbeliever from the realities of life i.e., personal divorcement (Hitler and the Nazis were going to take over the world), historical divorcement (The citizens of a Client-Nation can reject truth and continue to prosper. A government can print money as a substitute for productivity.), and divorcement from spiritual reality (The Christian can become spiritually great apart from the Two Power Options).
Gradually arrogance forces reality out of life, which is how believers become neurotic and psychotic. After all, mental illness is a form of divorcement from reality. An example of mental illness is paranoia (excessive or irrational suspiciousness or distrustfulness of others, leading to a psychosis characterized by systematized delusions of persecution or grandeur). The Jews of the Exodus generation had delusions that Moses was trying to persecute and murder them (Exodus 14:11; 17:3). Their arrogance could not accept the fact that they hated Moses and wanted to kill him, not vice versa. So, these sins were repressed into their subconscious. Repressed since their self-righteousness couldn’t deal with it in the conscience. After which they accused Moses of their very own sins which is called Projection in psychology, “for you have brought us out into this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Exodus 16:3b).
Arrogant persons are easily deceived and are also very vulnerable to flattery. We have all heard of the wealthy person who was deceived by some smooth talker into investing his funds into some financial scheme which did not pan-out, and so he lost his entire investment, or the arrogant woman who was flattered out of her virginity. 2 Timothy 3:6, “For among them are those [immoral Christian men] who creep into homes [slyly enter the homes under a false pretense] and seduce [captivate] silly women [morally weak women because there is no doctrine in their souls] who are overwhelmed by their sins and are carried away by various lusts.”
Arrogance becomes motivation for both inordinate ambition and inordinate competition. When inordinate ambition manifest itself in a lust for power, all integrity and honor vanish. Proverbs 11:2, "When arrogance comes, then comes dishonor; but with the humble is wisdom." In its place, there is deceit and lies. (Sounds like American politicians). This becomes a tragic flaw which neutralizes the beauty, genius, ability, and potential of anyone who entertains it. This arrogant flaw gives a false perspective of life, resulting in a drive toward happiness, but failing to reach it. The politician who seeks power and approbation in the hope of obtaining happiness, a hope he never realizes. He fails to see his own instability and inconsistency and his impact on others from preoccupation with self which preoccupation drives his lust for power.
What does the Scripture say about arrogance? Proverbs 13:10, "Through arrogance comes nothing but strife; but wisdom is with those who receive instruction." Proverbs 16:18, "Arrogance precedes destruction, and before a fall a lifestyle of arrogance." Proverbs 29:23, "A person's arrogance will bring him low, but a lifestyle of humility will attain honor." Isaiah 13:11, "I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity [cosmic involvement]. I will put to an end the arrogance of the proud. Furthermore, I will humble the pride of ruthlessness [tyranny]." James 4:6, "God gives greater grace. This is why the Scripture says [Proverbs 3:34], `God makes war against the arrogant [believer], but He gives grace to the humble [believer].'" 1 Peter 5:5-6, "In the same way, young men [the members of the congregation], be under the authority of the pastors. All of you [in the congregation], fasten yourselves to each other with grace thinking, because `God makes war against the arrogant and gives grace to the humble.' Therefore, humble yourselves under the powerful hand of God, that He may promote you at the proper time." Romans 12:3, "For I say through the grace which has been given to me and to everyone who is among you: Stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance, beyond the point of what you ought to think, but think in terms of sanity for the purpose of being rational without illusion, as God has assigned to each one a standard of thinking from doctrine.” The believer's arrogant lust for ascendancy in life destroys the right priorities in the Christian way of life and replaces them with a false scale of values and gives him false goals in life. Arrogance emphasizes self and people to the exclusion of God emphasis.
Gate 2: Negative Volition Arrogance
The transition from gate 1 to gate 2 as found in 1 Timothy 6:3-4, “If anyone teaches a different doctrine [false doctrine] and does not concur with sound doctrine; those doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ even doctrine pertaining to the spiritual life (4) he has become puffed up with arrogance, understanding nothing [He doesn’t understand anything about the spiritual life] having a morbid obsession about controversies [He wants to argue about everything that he doesn’t understand or agree with.] and verbal conflicts from which originate jealousy, strife (discord), abusive language, evil speculation [as found in certain gates of Cosmic 2].” An example of evil speculation is making a villain out of someone else after you've pulled the pin on your own spiritual life. It's a speculation; it isn't true at all.
Mental attitude arrogance results in preoccupation with self, which results in indifference to Bible doctrine, which results in accepting the cheap substitutes of emotional activity, legalism, human good, and becoming a loser in the Christian life for these cheap substitutes fragment the spiritual life. A fragmented believer that is a believer living his spiritual life out of fellowship with God will have personality conflicts with people especially those who have wronged him for he cannot deal with these conflicts objectively.
There are three stages where doctrine can be rejected namely at the Gnosis stage, the Epignosis stage and finally at the application stage. At the reception stage (Gnosis Stage), arrogance rejects doctrine by failure to be consistent in the daily exposure to Bible teaching or if one is consistent, he may distort it due to a lack of concentration or because of arrogance. Subjectivity bends what is taught to suit its own purpose. At the Epignosis Stage, arrogance attacks this stage by making doctrine your servant instead of your master. Also, doctrine stored as epignosis can also be removed through black-out and destroyed through scar tissue of the soul. At the application Stage, arrogance rejects doctrine at the recall stage by failing to apply metabolized doctrine to experience through the utilization of the ten problem solving devices of the Protocol Plan of God. Recall is the application of metabolized doctrine to the various and multifarious experiences of life. Arrogance attacks this stage by relating metabolized doctrine to personal self-righteousness or to personal self-justification.
Negative volition rejects the following: Reception includes finding the right pastor, i.e., someone who is faithful in the verse-by-verse teaching of Bible doctrine under the principle of line upon line, precept upon precept. Consistent if not daily exposure to Bible teaching either through attendance at a local church where doctrine is taught, called face-to-face teaching or through a consistent program of non-face-to-face teaching, such as audio, video, radio, television or the printed word. Positive volition toward doctrine means that doctrine has #1 priority in your life, and nothing takes precedence over it, including Christian service. Concentration and the avoidance of distractions, whether they are from your own soul or from others. 2 Timothy 3:2-5, "For persons [Church Age believers] will be lovers of self [in Cosmic One], lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers [abusive], disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy [wicked], without love [virtue-love], implacable [unforgiving], slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good [of intrinsic value], treacherous, thoughtless [rash], being puffed up or conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having an overt appearance [outward form] of being spiritual, although they have denied its power [the two power options]. Therefore, avoid these believers.”
Gate 3: Self-Righteous Arrogance
Self-righteousness means to be righteous in one's own esteem; in fact, to be Pharisaical. Our Lord condemned self-righteousness in His great dissertation of Matthew 23, which begins: "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites." It is the arrogant reliance on one's own assumed, inconsistent, and hypocritical righteousness. Self-righteousness is the arrogant conviction that one's own righteousness is superior to that of all others. It is the conclusion that one's own righteousness is so great that intolerance of all others becomes the modus operandi of such blindarrogance. You’ve heard someone say, "after all I've done for you." Self-righteous arrogance is defined as divorcement from reality; it is the logical progression from preoccupation with self. It always produces a system of fantasizing, of bolstering self at the expense of others. There are seven categories of self-righteous arrogance such as: (1) The arrogance of legalism; (2) Personality arrogance; (3) The arrogance of morality; (4) Authority arrogance; (5) Crusader arrogance and Christian activism; (6) The arrogance of Christian service; (7) Transference arrogance:
Arrogant self-righteousness is the motivational arrogance which manifests itself in these seven categories, all of which comprise another step in the drive toward unreality. By the seventh category, the person is locked into arrogance, explaining why believers can become mentally ill. If a believer divorces himself from Bible doctrine, he divorces himself from reality, and the drive toward unreality results in becoming mentally ill.
(1) The arrogance of legalism: From self-righteousness originates the arrogance of legalism from which comes the vanity of the unique experience and erroneous emphasis on human achievement. It begins with believers not understanding the uniqueness of the Church Age, their portfolio of invisible assets, their escrow blessings, the divine decree, equal privilege and equal opportunity in the Protocol Plan of God, their union with Christ producing the royal family of God and the new spiritual species, the ten problem solving devices, the indwelling of the Trinity, and the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union and how it is perpetuated into the Church Age. (Failing to understand these things, they go back to the Mosaic Law for their spiritual life.) Self-righteous arrogance includes any form of legalism. It has three general categories. (1) Salvation by works or human achievement namely adding to faith for eternal life. (2) Spirituality by works, in which people observe certain taboos and get involved in some type of Christian service and call it spirituality; (3) Blessing by works which teaches that blessing from God is based on works, human achievement, self-sacrifice, morality, giving, conforming to a church program, or participating in some ritual. This leads to the erroneous conclusion that the believer is victorious, mature, or great because of some unique experience, some sacrificial modus vivendi, or some system of human works. Self-righteous arrogance is the motivation, while legalism is the function which comes from that motivation. Self-righteous arrogance correlated with the arrogance of legalism concludes that the plan of God succeeds or fails on the basis of human works, rather than concluding the truth, which is that the plan of God succeeds on the basis of what He does in grace, working on our behalf. Therefore, legalism establishes false standards and measures spiritual success on the basis of complying with these false standards. Self-righteous arrogance seeks to impose its standards on others, judging them for not complying.
(2) Personality Arrogance: From the arrogance of legalism comes a change in personality, called personality arrogance. Self-righteous arrogance seeks to dominate people, policy, and authority in its periphery. Self-righteous arrogance establishes false standards and then, seeks to impose those standards on other people. Therefore, self-righteous arrogance produces a domineering, and bullying personality, a person who assumes that he is never wrong in human interaction, a person who often claims sinless perfection. Yet 1 John 1:10 says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and doctrine is not in us." The result is the blind leading the blind, or personality arrogance motivated by self-righteousness, rejecting human privacy, forcing erroneous standards on others in the name of Christianity. (People have a right to make their own mistakes before the Lord. Correction comes either through the teaching of Bible doctrine or divine discipline, but not through another person.) Personality arrogance is irrational and never satisfied until everyone in his periphery is a puppet on a string dancing to his tune, using his standards, fulfilling the principle of the blind leading the blind. Anyone who succumbs to personality arrogance and legalism falls into the worst possible ditch. Personality arrogance attacks the teaching of Bible doctrine at two points: its subject matter, and its communicator. Personality arrogance is the superimposition of personal and false opinions over the principles of God's Word. If the pastor does not agree with his false concepts, the person with personality arrogance attacks the pastor, seeking to discredit him and his ministry. So, indirectly, the person with personality arrogance seeks to destroy true Bible teaching.
(3) The Arrogance of Morality: Legalism, personality arrogance, and the arrogance of morality all go together. There are two categories of morality found in the Bible. True morality is based on the laws of divine establishment as delineated in the Mosaic Law. True morality is designed for both believer and unbeliever. It is related to government, society, and the authorities delegated by God under the laws of divine establishment including ethics, motivation, character, conduct, honor, and integrity. Genuine morality includes respect for privacy, freedom, property, and life and the basis for providing both evangelism and the right to hear Bible doctrine taught. Arrogant self-righteousness distorts human morality into a system of works in opposition to the Protocol Plan of God. For example, salvation by morality, spirituality by morality, and blessing from God by morality is the three tenets of this blasphemy. The Protocol Plan of God for the Church Age produces something higher than morality through residence, function, and momentum in the spiritual life. It produces virtue and the Ten Problem-Solving Devices. Morality is the function of the human race living under the Laws of Divine Establishment. Virtue is the function of the believer who, under the Filling of the Spirit, has advanced to spiritual adulthood. Virtue and grace orientation must be added to morality to avoid arrogance and the fragmentation of one’s spiritual life. Morality-arrogance is expressed by the ignorant and self-righteous believer substituting human morality for virtue. True virtue which includes morality can only be produced by the ministry of God the Holy Spirit and consistent cognition of Bible doctrine. Furthermore, morality-arrogance produces a pseudo happiness in contrast to sharing God’s happiness by the execution of the spiritual life. Morality has limitations which are completely ignored by arrogance. Morality cannot provide salvation, but the arrogant person seeks salvation through morality and works. Morality is not spirituality, but arrogance alleges so. The morality of establishment cannot compare with the virtue produced by the two power options of the spiritual life. Morality relates to freedom; the spiritual life relates to that which is greater than freedom: the Christian way of life, the foundation for all systems of freedom in life. Morality is not the means of establishment function in the client nation, but the result of it. Therefore, morality is everything from paying taxes to serving in the military, having respect for law and law enforcement agencies, the recognition of the privacy of others, respect for freedom, and the recognition of the sacredness of the property and lives of others. However, morality is very vulnerable. Just add arrogant self- righteousness and the virtue is gone from morality
(4) Authority Arrogance: Legitimate authority in life is defined as those powers delegated by God to the human race in such categories as husband over wife, parents over children, government over the people, management over employees, the coach over the team, teachers and professors over students, senior rank over rank and file, the judge over judicial matters, the police officer and the traffic light over law breakers.
When does legitimate authority break-down? Well, authority arrogance always begins in the home. The family is divine institution #3. The parents have the opportunity of teaching their children establishment principles, the greatest of which is respect for authority. The objective of parenthood is to train children in all the principles of life, especially respect for authority in every area of life. When parents fail in this responsibility, authority arrogance rears its ugly head.
The organized humility of the home includes a system for teaching. No parent is always fair. Yet children must learn to face situations which are not fair and still respect and obey the authority of their parents. Without respect for parents and without learning to take responsibility for their decisions, children leave home immature.
Arrogance rejects authority with devastating results such as crime, violence, terrorism, civil disobedience, and revolution. All misery comes from individual volition, from making decisions from arrogance, from rejecting authority and from losing all sense of destiny in life. Freedom is destroyed through the malfunction of our divine institutions in the arrogant attack upon authority. So, authority arrogance is the enemy of freedom, privacy, property, and life. Freedom without authority is anarchy; authority without freedom is tyranny.
Authority arrogance results in the destruction of freedom through socialism, crime, drug addiction, violence, crusader arrogance, the attempt of self-righteousness to superimpose one's will on others. Drug addiction takes away one's individual sense of responsibility, and destroys the proper use of volition. Authority arrogance attacks free enterprise by destroying capitalism via redistribution of wealth and via lock-downs. Authority arrogance attacks military establishment, destroying the command structure (for example peer ratings) necessary for the preservation of the nation. Also, authority arrogance attacks law enforcement, destroying government authority.
Authority arrogance in the local church. Organized humility is the local church; the authority for enforced humility is the pastor. The members of the congregation have volition (positive or negative) to exercise toward the authority of the doctrine and of the pastor. Authority arrogance attacks the pastor who is faithful in teaching doctrine, distracting believers from learning the Word. So, vital is the doctrinal message to the royal family of God that many Scriptures warn against undermining the authority of any pastor.
Isaiah 54:17, "No weapon formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that accuses you in judgment, I will condemn. This is the heritage of the servant of the Lord, and his vindication is from Me,' says the Lord."
Hebrews 13:17, "Keep obeying those pastors who themselves are ruling over you. Submit to their authority, for they keep watching for the benefit of your souls as those who have to render an account."
The pastor receives his authority from God through the delegation of the spiritual gift, proper preparation, and a call from a specific congregation. The pastor exercises his authority through exegetical teaching of the Word of God. His authority does not exist apart from the Word.
Thus, the local church becomes the environment for the authority of teaching the Word of God. It is inevitable that some persons in a congregation will become dissatisfied or disenchanted with a specific ministry. If the dissatisfaction originates from some form of arrogance, the believer will suffer from the Law of Volitional Responsibility and divine discipline. If the fault lies with the pastor, God will punish him beyond anything you could even imagine. If you change churches or reject a ministry, do so without undermining the authority of the pastor. Leave him entirely in the Lord's hands. Otherwise, you will reap more discipline than you can ever imagine. In the home, children are blessed by accepting parental authority; they are cursed from rejecting parental authority. In the local church, believers are blessed by consistent positive volition toward the doctrine; they are cursed by negative volition toward doctrine. Just as a child or adolescent in the home who rejects parental authority is disciplined for authority arrogance all his life, so the believer who rejects the authority of good Bible teaching spends his entire Christian life on earth under discipline.
Authority arrogance comes from having more authority or power than you can handle. Instead of producing a sense of responsibility and challenge to leadership, it produces arrogance. Such a person has no capacity for authority, and no sense of responsibility toward God or others in relationship to that authority. He relates that authority only to himself. He uses his authority for his own personal advancement rather than to fulfill the purpose and policy of an organization.
All legitimate organizations have three principles of normal modus operandi: authority, a purpose, and a policy. Institutional arrogance attacks one or more of these three principles of organizational modus operandi. Institutional arrogance assigns more importance to self, the opinions of self, and self-righteousness, and thereby undermines the authority, attacks the purpose, and seeks to destroy the policy of a legitimate organization. Changes in purpose and policy of an organization must be accompanied by consensus or respectful approach to authority through a form of grievance committees. To bring about changes in authority, purpose, or policy of an organization through any function that undermines that authority is generally associated with some form of arrogance. When you are on the job, what you think is not important. What is important is the purpose, the policy, and the authority of the organization. Your opinion is totally inconsequential. We all face the temptation of this institutional arrogance when we are overlooked, maltreated, under an inferior or jackass type authority, etc. But if you succumb to this temptation, you've had it!
Conspiracy arrogance, a sub-category of authority arrogance is the function of a mutual admiration society designed to overthrow legitimate authority. The mutual admiration society is composed of two categories of arrogance and subjectivity. The arrogant person who has aggressive subjectivity. The inadequate person who has passive subjectivity. The arrogant one assumes that he is greater than the system and the authority structure of the system. The inadequate one assumes that the system has overlooked his talent and ability. The arrogant leads the inadequate in forming a conspiracy against a person or persons who represent authority in that system. These societies are started by someone who is ambitious to take over. This takeover starts with complimenting, then socializing with the inadequate. As they criticize, they slowly but surely build up their own organization to take over.
The pattern for conspiracy arrogance is the subject of Psalm 12:2, “They [mutual admiration society] speak lies each one [arrogantly] to his friends [the inadequate] with lips of flattery, but harbor deception in their hearts [souls]."
The arrogant flatters the inadequate so that he will join him in the conspiracy, using the old ploy, "You have been overlooked; you are better than they." The arrogant flatters the inadequate, causing the inadequate to become dissatisfied with authority. They both malign and slander the authority. Finally, they both combine to form an effective conspiracy. The purpose of the conspiracy: the arrogant wants to replace the authority, and the inadequate wants to be recognized by the authority as being great in the organization.
Psalm 12:3-4, "The Lord will destroy all flattering lips [the conspiracy of the arrogant], the tongue [the conspiracy of the inadequate] which speaks boastful things, (4) who have said, ‘We will triumph in this conspiracy with our tongues. Our lips are with us; who is our master?"
They use verbal language to undermine the authority by slander, gossip, maligning, judging, and false propaganda. Their authority arrogance is seen in the last rhetorical question: "Who is our master?" They are an authority only to themselves and recognize no other. Absalom is the perfect illustration.
2 Samuel 15:2-6, "And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that, when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and would say, ‘Of what city are you? And he would reply, ‘Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. (3) Then Absalom would say to him, ‘See, your claims are good and right; but no man listens to you on the part of the king. (4) Moreover, Absalom would say, ‘Oh, that one would appoint me as judge in the land, then every man who has any suit or cause could come unto me, and I would give him justice! (5) And it was so, that, when any man came near to prostrate himself before him, he would put forth his hand, and take hold of him, and kiss him. (6) In this manner Absalom dealt with all Israel who came to the king for judgment: so, Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel."
(5) Crusader Arrogance: Crusader arrogance is defined as self-righteous arrogance with strong or impulsive desires to superimpose one's opinions and principles on others without their consent. The person afflicted with crusader arrogance believes he is so right and his cause so just that he is justified in using any means to gain his objective, including violence, destruction of property, and causing others to lose their jobs or to be driven from their environment. The perfect illustration of this is the fundamentalist groups who attack abortion clinics. They do not know that the Word of God says that, in every case, God creates life and imputes it at the point of birth. So, abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy is a private matter between a woman and her doctor, and it is no one else's business. Crusader arrogance ignores the honorable and judicial system for the redressing of grievances. Crusader arrogance believes in vigilante solutions which bypass governmental law and order. Hence, crusader arrogance practices and advocates civil disobedience.
(6) The Arrogance of Christian Service: Every believer is in fulltime Christian service from the very point of his salvation until his death or the Rapture. Therefore, there is no such thing as dedication to full-time Christian service. Motivation for Christian service must relate to spiritual growth, to the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, to humility, and to cognition of Bible doctrine. To be effective, all Christian service must be related to humility. Thus, Christian service performed inside the Cosmic System is classified as wood, hay, and stubble as per 1 Corinthians 3:12 and so will be burned at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Christian service should not be confused with spirituality for it is all too often executed while grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit. Christian service is a legitimate function in the Protocol Plan of God, but always as a result, never as a means.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness. (17). that the man of God might be proficient [capable], having been well equipped [prepared] for every good work [Christian service]."
Verse 17 is the result of verse 16. You are not spiritual or mature because of your Christian service. Christian service is never a substitute for momentum in the Protocol Plan of God. Therefore, it becomes imperative to understand that Christian service is the result of momentum and spiritual growth in the Protocol Plan of God, not the means. Christian service must never be confused with spirituality or the Filling of the Spirit, the means of effective service. The arrogance of works or Christian service is the erroneous conclusion and the false doctrine that Christian service and works are the means of fulfilling and executing the Protocol Plan of God.
In Luke 14:11, Jesus said, "Everyone who exalts himself [the arrogance of Christian service] shall be humbled [losers under divine discipline], but he who humbles himself [enforced and genuine humility] is exalted [by the fulfillment of the Protocol Plan of God]."
Arrogance substitutes Christian service for spirituality and for spiritual growth, both of which are unacceptable to the plan of God. You were given a spiritual gift at salvation by God the Holy Spirit, eventually to be manifest in some type of Christian service, but the function of this gift and any other production is destroyed completely by this arrogance. Only the daily feeding on the Word of God can protect your motivation, guarantee your momentum, and maintain your status of genuine humility.
Hebrews 6:1, "Not laying again the foundation of a change of thinking from dead works."
Christian service without momentum in the Protocol Plan of God is dead works. It is the quintessence of human arrogance to assume that Christian service without doctrine in the soul is pleasing to God.
(7) Transference Arrogance: Becoming involved in transference arrogance namely assigning one’s own arrogance to another. One example should do. Joseph's brothers assumed in arrogance that once their father Jacob died, Joseph would take revenge on them for selling him into slavery. It was the brothers themselves who had motivational and functional revenge in their souls which flaws they transferred to Joseph. The brothers assumed that because they had such arrogant thoughts, that Joseph had them also. Therefore, they concluded that Joseph was biding his time, waiting to take his revenge on them, waiting until Jacob’s death. However, this was not true.
Gate 4: Sexual Arrogance
Not only is sexual arrogance defined as illegitimate sex namely any sex outside of marriage, but it is sex in which there is total preoccupation with self. This preoccupation disregards every factor of virtue or consideration of others. Sexual arrogance belongs to those who are classified in 2 Timothy 3:4 as "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." Hence, sexual arrogance is ritual without reality. It precludes love as a motive for sex, and so destroys the honor and integrity of the individuals involved. The result is one more step toward unreality.
Lasciviousness is a trend in the old sin nature which seeks self- gratification in some form of sex. When linked with arrogance, it produces three categories of sexual arrogance namely normal, abnormal and criminal. Normal sexual arrogance includes adultery, fornication and polygamy. Adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone else other than his or her spouse. Fornication is voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons, and of course, polygamy is having more than one wife. Abnormal sexual arrogance includes at least four categories: (1). Masturbation as sexual self-gratification, (2) Homosexuality as sexual activity with a person or persons of the same sex, two men in a sexual relationship, but also includes lesbianism which is sexual activity between two women. (3) Incest is sexual intercourse between members of the same family. (4) Voyeurism is sexual gratification while watching others engage in sex.
Criminal sexual arrogance includes at least four categories. (1) Rape is forcing a person against their will to have sex. (2) Pederasty is an adult male having sex especially with boys. (This is popular with many Muslims.) (3) Necrophilia is erotic attraction to a corpse or having sex with a corpse. (4) Bestiality is sexual relationship between a human being and an animal.
Promiscuity in the man and woman is detrimental to every facet of life, including the spiritual life. Above all, it is detrimental in developing capacity for love, life, and happiness. This is why the Word of God forbids adultery, fornication, pederasty, incest, masturbation, and bestiality. God is not trying to deprive anyone of fun, rather he is trying to guide the person toward happiness. Sex can only be a blessing as an expression of love in monogamy.
Sexual arrogance in the woman can manifest itself through seduction of important persons; e.g., Cleopatra's seduction of Caesar, Messalina's seduction of Claudius, or the famous Aspasia, a famous rhetorician of fifth century B.C. from Miletus, a famous city of Asian Minor. This intelligent and beautiful woman seduced the great Athenian statesman, Pericles. Sexual arrogance in some women relates to the number and importance of their conquests. In some cases, the woman’s flirtatious attitude is designed to receive flattery and to stimulate her arrogance. On the other hand, male sexual arrogance includes a harem or a multiplicity of seductions. The more women with which a man has sex, the more intensified becomes his lust and arrogance. In conclusion, sexual arrogance in both women and men destroys any capacity for love, life and happiness that the person may have had.
Gate 5: Criminal Arrogance. There are two categories of criminals in the world today: unbelievers and believers.
All criminality is acquired through arrogance. No one is born with a genetic tendency toward crime. It is all a matter of arrogance; e.g., authority arrogance, mental attitude arrogance, self-righteous arrogance, sexual arrogance, the arrogance of unhappiness, and above all, psychopathic arrogance. All criminals are such because of their own volition, because they have made a decision to be a criminal. Environment is not the issue in criminality. The environment does not mold the criminal, rather the criminal molds the environment. Honor and integrity can belong to all, not just to one social caste. There may be 8 siblings from a very poor home. Seven become wonderful responsible citizens while one becomes a criminal. Criminals are criminals not because of their environment, but because they will to be so.
Criminality actually begins with rejection of authority in the home. Rejection of parental authority eventually results in the rejection of all legitimate authority including God’s Laws of Establishment, and therefore, the person involved becomes totally disoriented to life. He seeks to superimpose his authority on society. In arrogance, he gives lip service to the authority he encounters, but in his soul, he despises any and all authority except his own. A law-abiding citizen may be irresponsible without being a criminal, but all criminals are irresponsible all the time.
The criminal lives inside the cosmic system. He is totally preoccupied with himself. He is hypersensitive about himself and insensitive toward others. Strangely enough, he is very self-righteous, and filled with self-justification regarding his criminal deeds. For example, it happens many time in prison-riots during which criminals will kill other criminals. When asked why they killed another criminal, they will answer because the other criminal deserved to die. He raped and killed children whereas I merely raped and killed adults for I would never touch a child.
The criminal is a bored person functioning under criminal and power lust. He wants excitement and proof of his power. In fact, the criminal's desire for excitement is so great that he becomes jaded without constant stimulation from excitement. To the criminal, living without excitement is a put-down. Therefore, the criminal requires constant stimulation related to his crimes, sex, torture, alcohol, or drugs, making others afraid of him which give him a sense of absolute power. Eventually, only extreme criminal activity related to torture, rape, and murder is satisfactory as an antidote to his boredom and power lust.
All liars are not criminals, but all criminals are liars. For the criminal, lying is a way of life. Therefore, the criminal becomes a pathological liar. Habitual deceit and lying is the criminal's total disregard for the truth in any form. Lying is the criminal's standard way of dealing with the world, a part of criminal manipulation. The criminal is saturated with a lust pattern of arrogance. He has sexual lust, killer lust, power lust, approbation lust, money lust, stimulation lust requiring extensive use of drugs or alcohol, cruelty lust from which comes torture and abuse of others, as well as homicide. From his arrogant preoccupation with self, the criminal is involved in a lust pattern from which it is almost impossible to break away. His only hope is to become a believer followed by intensive study of God’s word. He needs several years of listening to good Bible teaching just to become a normal human being with a normal soul filled with correct norms and standards and priorities etc. Very few are able to make this transformation even after becoming believers. This is one reason why the Word of God demands the use of capital punishment for criminals.
The believer criminal: The arrogance-factor in crime is the major issue. The only way a criminal can break out of criminal arrogance is by making good decisions; no one can help him. After conversion, there must be consistent positive volition toward doctrine. If there is any inconsistency, the criminal factor continues. The real problem for a believer-criminal is not occasionally getting doctrine, but permanently accepting the authority of some pastor-teacher and staying with doctrine. Any personality conflict immediately arouses the arrogance in him, and he's right back in the arrogance complex, and right back into crime. The criminal believer being anti-establishment is often, anti-God and anti-doctrine. The believer living in the Cosmic System and involved in the various stages of reversionism (spiritual apostasy) is capable of burglary, robbery, kidnapping, shoplifting, mugging, blackmail, larceny, drug activity, prostitution, rape, murder, etc. The criminal often pretends to accept some authority, like that of pastor or evangelist or psychiatrist. Often, he appears to be positive to the Gospel, and even to believe in Christ, but all of this is to advance his own ends in most cases.
If you are interested in further study regarding how a criminal thinks, may I suggest reading, “The Criminal Personality: Volumn I, “A Profile for change” by Samuel Yochelson and Stanton Samenow.
Gate 6: Psychopathic Arrogance
The pre-psychotic personality is subjective, inhibited (unable to act in a normal way), chronically worried, always stubborn, intolerant, inflexible, and always lacking a sense of humor. This personality is further characterized by total inflexibility which acts as a neurotic defense with arrogance related to self-righteousness, perfectionism, and/or the guilt syndrome. Instability is caused by the oscillation between these things. He is irritable, peevish (querulous in temperament or mood), complaining, unable to concentrate, depressed, and full of paranoid ideas (excessive or irrational suspiciousness and distrustfulness of others). It is full of anxiety, has a tendency toward hypochondria (extreme depression often centered on imaginary physical ailments), and has a morbid anxiety about one's own health accompanied by the conjuring up of imaginary illnesses.
Psychopathic arrogance is a volitional drive toward unreality, and it begins with arrogance at a very young age. In the normal person, (the non-psychopathic person) the emotion is under the control and domination of the intellect, the right lobe or mentality of the soul, and so always blends with the intellectual life so as not to disrupt rational modus operandi. Arrogance, the seed for psychopathic arrogance, begins in childhood, where personality is dominated by primitive basic drives to the exclusion of rational behavior. This is seen in children who are permitted tantrums by permissive parents, children who are allowed to sulk, who are deceitful, obstinate, boastful, shameless, and erratic. Christian parents with locked-in legalism who are so involved in their own arrogance that they have actually established an environment for others, such as their children, to move step by step in the drive toward unreality into a psychotic condition. Parents living in the Cosmic System can rear their children under legalism from the cradle, creating the environment of unreality, so that if the children have the same predilections, they will move, step by step, toward a psychotic condition.
The mind in the normal soul is designed to control the emotions and to make the emotions responsive to certain things in life, but when emotion takes over the mind, then there cannot be any rational thought since emotion has no ability to think, to rationalize, and is not related to any field of cognizance. The emotions were designed to respond to what is in the right lobe: the frame of reference, memory center, vocabulary and categorical storage. In the psychopathic person, this normal subordination of emotion to the intellect is not present because of cultivated arrogance and cosmic involvement with its resultant drive toward unreality.
Psychopathy is a general term for mental disturbances or mental disorders. However, psychopathy is also used specifically for certain mental disorders characterized by emotional instability, perversity of conduct, undue conceit, suspiciousness, lack of self-control, lack of social feeling, lack of truthfulness, lack of common sense, and lack of persistence. The psychopathic personality likes to surround himself with others who also lack common sense and who are also moving toward unreality. A society of arrogant people with no respect for legitimate authority, naturally breeds psychopathic personalities. This is prevalent in our fragmented society today. As a result, America's psychopathic persons find the environment in which they live so filled with categories of arrogance that their drive toward unreality seems perfectly normal to them!
The arrogance of self-righteousness and legalism is one of the greatest contributing factors to this problem of Psychosis especially among believers. Typical characteristics of the psychopathic believer include the following: instability namely oscillation from self-righteousness in prosperity to self-pity in adversity, egocentricity regarding everything in relationship to oneself, and egoism which is an excessive love of self which divorces the individual from reality, so that eventually mental disorders occur. The psychopathic believer is the product of his own arrogance and multifarious bad decisions from a position of weakness (Decisions made out of fellowship with God). The environment for his bad decisions is provided by certain segments of so-called Christianity, the holy rollers, the Pentecostals, and the legalistic fundamentalists. These groups have provided a tremendous environment of unreality which is an incubator for these bad decisions.
In a psychotic state, the believer can no longer recover through perception of Bible doctrine and the Recovery Procedure; he first requires psychiatric treatment. Whereas normally, perception of Bible doctrine causes recovery from many things and puts us back on the right track. However, it cannot cause one to recover from a psychotic condition. Until such a person has psychiatric treatment, there can be no recovery. Psychiatry has made tremendous advances in the field of drugs and medicine, so that the psychotic person can function in an almost normal manner. However, without the use of these medicines, it is impossible for such a believer to learn doctrine, regardless of how much and how often he listens. There can be no recovery without medicine!
It is the tendency of those who have provided the environment of unreality through legalism to try to resolve this problem of psychosis through prayer. This problem of mental illness cannot be resolved through prayer since prayer cannot reverse the process by which a believer has become psychotic. A thousand bad decisions cannot be reversed by fervent, daily prayers. That is not the purpose of prayer; prayer was never intended to reverse the Law of Volitional Responsibility just as you are not going to deliver a person through prayer if he has just jumped off the Empire State Building. He will hit the pavement with a splat!
The psychopathic believer or unbeliever lacks the ability to evaluate realistically the object of his emotional responses or reactions. Arrogant preoccupation with self excludes reality and leads to the drive toward a false object. For example, a psychopathic female may fall in love with a male in her periphery, making him the object of her hallucinations (imaginary perceptions) and fantasies. Pursuing this pseudo-love with arrogant fanaticism, the arrogant psychopath loses all objectivity, reasoning power, and moral stability. Regarding procedure, the psychopathic person parlays arrogance into illusion and hallucination. Also, because of his arrogance related to psychosis, he becomes very hypersensitive about himself. He may feel slighted where slighting does not occur. He may blame others for his failures and avoids taking any responsibility for those same failures. Because of his preoccupation with himself coupled with his hypersensitivity, he easily becomes jealous, implacable, resentful, bitter, and can easily entertain delusions of persecution. Apart from medicine, his situation is quite hopeless.
Locked-in arrogance in the psychopathic person results in several categories of psychopathic personalities, such as the manic-depressive person. How does this state begin? In the mild depressive state, the Christian has physical complaints which have no factual basis. This is followed by lack of confidence and a lack of a sense of destiny; instead, he has a sense of inadequacy, unable to stay with a job. This is followed by the manic phase where the believer is very self-righteous, very self-satisfied, and even arrogantly aggressive. He is childish, proud, and intolerant of criticism, irrepressible (without self-control), uninhibited, effusive (marked by excessive emotion or enthusiasm), and often unconventional in speech and manner. Such a person courts the limelight as boastful, flippant, argumentative, has wandering thought patterns, is easily bored, lacks the ability to sustain anything, and never has an enthusiasm sustained for very long. Arrogance in the manic phase is characterized by hostility toward members of one's own family, combining arrogance with unreasonable and unprovoked anger. Oscillation of emotions is very common. In the middle of exuberance, the person may suddenly burst into tears. The manic is self-righteous, officious, and meddlesome. Hallucinations (to affect with visions or imaginary perceptions) in manic excitement are usually arrogant illusions as the manic (unreasonable enthusiasm combined with an elevated mood) builds himself up in order to interfere and straighten out everyone. Therefore, the manic depressive-believer is characterized by alternating mania (emotional highs because of unreasonable enthusiasm) and mental depression. He goes from being depressed to being very excited and self-righteous.
Gate 7: The Arrogance of Unhappiness or the Arrogance of Subjective Preoccupation with Self.
This arrogance is classified as subjective preoccupation with self which destroys any capacity for happiness and frustrates the execution of the Protocol Plan of God. Involvement in Cosmic One not only guarantees unhappiness, but at the same time it invokes erroneous ideas about what constitutes happiness. The myth of arrogance is that people or pleasant circumstances or prosperity can make you happy.
There are three different categories of happiness: pseudo-happiness (minus H), establishment-happiness (neutral H), and sharing God’s happiness (plus H). Pseudo-happiness, refers to this gate, the arrogance of unhappiness. It is a counterfeit happiness; a stimulation or euphoria which for a moment is mistaken for happiness. Establishment-happiness is derived from the execution of the Laws of Divine Establishment. Sharing God’s happiness is true and permanent happiness which resides in the soul of the mature believer who has executed the Protocol Plan of God.
Arrogant believers are unhappy people, so that neutral H and plus H do not apply to them, only minus H, a happiness which requires no capacity or virtue. Pseudo Happiness (minus H) is a guarantee of misery and unhappiness which you make for yourself, to which the Lord adds the three categories of divine discipline namely warning, intensive and dying discipline. No matter what you achieve in life, arrogance destroys your capacity to appreciate it or enjoy it, and prevents any development of virtue. Satan has perpetuated a myth on the human race, which is that people, pleasant circumstances, or moments of stimulation can make you happy. This system of pseudo happiness is a locked-in system that very few people ever overcome. It never occurs to most people that happiness is in the soul, and not related to the happenings of one’s environment.
Satan doesn't need to chase after you in an attempt to make you unhappy. Rather, Satan, as a super genius, has developed a system to ensure that. He simply watches and laughs as you proceed through the different gates of his Cosmic System. When the believer uses his own volition to leave God’s system only to enter the Cosmic System, he becomes deluded, distracted, and deceived by false concepts of happiness. Arrogance is developed from negative volition toward doctrine, and arrogance wallowing in Satan’s Cosmic System destroys the potential for contentment and happiness. Satan relaxes in his executive chair while laughing at the stupidity of most Christians!
The so-called "free spirit" recognizes freedom without any sense of responsibility. The “free spirit” is a totally self-indulgent person living in the Cosmic System. Therefore, the more he seeks happiness, the more happiness eludes him. (You are not happy because you are free to do what you want to do; that is one of the great myths of life.) If you should fall into the ‘free spirit syndrome’, you will make yourself miserable, all your life. You will never convince anyone, but yourself that you are happy by rejecting all responsibility. All of us have responsibility regarding both establishment and the Protocol Plan of God. You can be free to indulge yourself in every whim of life, but when you do so, you will make yourself miserable beyond description. Your misery will only be intensified when God adds divine discipline. The free-spirit associates happiness with every form of stimulation, excitement, and pleasant environment, but never finds true happiness which is found only in the soul of the responsible person.
In the arrogance of unhappiness, the believer relates happiness with money, success, approbation, fame, pleasure, social life, health, sex, romance, friendship, marriage, approbation and power etc. If the believer functioning under the arrogance of unhappiness should obtain some of these things, his unhappiness will only intensify; if he doesn’t get them, his frustration will intensify. Most people, whether they are aware of it or not, build their life around pleasure seeking goals. In between reaching those goals, much of their pseudo happiness comes from anticipation of those pleasures. “I can’t wait until I can get married, and have some little ones;” or “I can’t wait until I become wealthy that I may travel around the world.” Having things or the anticipation of obtaining them, brings neither neutral H nor Plus H to the believer.
Unhappiness combined with unrealistic expectations: For example, marriage combined with the arrogance of unhappiness equals disaster. One of the greatest misconceptions in life is the myth that marriage is a panacea. Many people grow up believing that if you can get married even in state of unhappiness, you will "live happily ever after" tantamount to unrealistic expectation. How can this be since a person is no better in marriage than he is in single status! An arrogant unhappy person in single life will be an arrogant, unhappy person in marriage. Such a believer in marriage causes trouble; two such believers in a marriage will destroy that marriage. Another great myth is that having children can make a person, happy. Now, it is true that a woman with capacity can enjoy her children very much, but they cannot make her happy for logically the more problems one faces, and one will definitely have more problem with children, the harder it is to be happy. A single person has certain number of problems. If he gets married his problems are now three times as many namely his problems, her problems and the problems of interaction. If the couple have children, their problems increase exponentially. What is the bottom line? People, sex, money, prosperity, health, marriage, and children cannot make the believer happy. Those who possess happiness of soul because of their spiritual advance, do enjoy people, entertainment, possessions, success, etc. These things are not the source of their happiness, merely an expression of it.
Let’s develop the concept of unrealistic expectation a bit more. Very few people are loved the way they want to be loved; very few people are treated the way they want to be treated. Because believers are not loved the way they want to be loved or treated the way they want to be treated, they develop a frustration which intensifies the arrogance of unhappiness. For example, unrealistic expectation only intensifies when the unhappy believer assumes that by attending a so-called "friendly" church full of hypocritical, unhappy cosmic believers that somehow, he will find happiness. (Usually, the friendlier the Christians are, the more hypocritical they are.) Until the Christian comes to the realization that happiness is only found in God’s plan, can he stop this drive toward unrealistic expectation.
The person with the arrogance of unhappiness via power lust seeks to control environment and to enslave people such as family, friends, loved ones, business associates, etc. The unhappy person seeks to control people through guilt, trying to make people feel guilty for alleged neglect, through the arousal of self-pity for himself, or seeks control by becoming abusive, argumentative until he whips the person or persons into line. The arrogance of unhappiness seeks to dominate and enslave, to control, and to exercise power. However, gaining power and controlling others does not make an unhappy person, happy.
Illusions about happiness must be rejected: You cannot build your happiness on the details of life such as money, success, pleasure, social life, friends, relatives, health, sex, marriage, children; you cannot build your happiness on pleasant environment; you cannot build your happiness by changing the devil's world, e.g., through crusades, reforms, social engineering (influencing particular attitudes and social behavior), violence, civil disobedience, or revolution. You cannot build your happiness on a moment of time, a moment of pleasure, a moment of power, a moment of stimulation, a moment of approbation, or a moment of success. You cannot build your happiness on self-gratification related to sex, alcohol or drugs. You cannot build your happiness on someone else's unhappiness.
Satan himself is an illustration of the arrogance of unhappiness. As Lucifer, Son of the Morning, Satan was the most beautiful creature ever to come from the hand of God, and the most brilliant and personable. Satan has had more success, power, and approbation than any creature that has ever existed. For example, Satan rules millions and millions of both fallen angels and humans. Yet having "everything," Satan is unhappy, frustrated, bored, and the most miserable creature ever. So why should you think you can be happy with the limited things you have or want? You will never be happy with any of those things!
Without metabolized truth in the soul, you can never be happy. The arrogance of unhappiness is the tragedy of Christmas, the tragedy of family gatherings, the tragedy of marriages, the tragedy of friends and social life, the tragedy of success, the tragedy of wealth etc. ad nauseam. Happiness is an individual state of your soul. First there must be capacity for sharing God’s happiness before this happiness can occupy the soul. This is why Romans 12:3 warns us, " For I say through the grace which has been given to me [Paul’s humility and grace orientation expressed], to everyone [Church Age believer] who is among you, stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance [using the arrogant skills] beyond what you ought to think, but think in terms of sanity [objective spiritual thinking] for the purpose of being rational without illusion [about self and others], as God has assigned to each one a standard of thinking from doctrine [James 4:10].” Being "rational without illusion" describes capacity. Note that happiness is a standard of thinking, not doing, and not being stimulated. The standard of thinking is doctrine, which explains why most believers are so miserable for they don't know doctrine.
Gate 8: Iconoclastic Arrogance
This is subjective preoccupation with others. Unhappiness can come from both preoccupation with self and with others. Iconoclastic arrogance deals with all the problems that come from relating to others. In iconoclastic arrogance, an unhappy person, creates an image of perfection out of a person. Then, when he discovers the person’s feet of clay namely their sins or flaws, he attempts to destroy that image or icon since the person he greatly admired or even idolized has failed him. Illusion becomes disillusion! Enchantment becomes disenchantment.
The mechanics of iconoclastic arrogance are three-fold. Arrogance in a relationship, creates an idol (icon) through excessive admiration or love for another person, and so puts him or her on a pedestal. Note that it is the arrogant one who puts the other on a pedestal, creating problems for himself immediately. Arrogance eventually becomes disenchanted with the object of admiration for arrogant people cannot really be objective toward anyone. Disenchantment occurs quickly in those who are subjective. By becoming disenchanted with the object whom he formerly admired, the arrogant person seeks to destroy the idol he created from his own arrogance. Once arrogant person sees the idol's feet of clay, his unstable arrogant personality which yesterday had excessive admiration for someone whom he formerly idolized, now this arrogant person is full of antagonism toward this same person.
The arrogant believer takes an ordinary mortal who has feet of clay, and from romantic illusions, or from deluded idealism, or from his repertoire of subjectivity, he fashions in his mind an idol of perfection. Arrogance is prone to illusion, never seeing people as they really are. Arrogance only sees people as arrogance would like them to be. The idol of perfection created by arrogance can be a romantic image, a spiritual image, a beautiful or attractive image; nevertheless, it is an image that really doesn't exist.
The illusion, which is an arrogant misconception, becomes the delusion of imposing on the conscious mind an idol which really does not exist. Iconoclastic arrogance creates the idol of perfection, becomes disillusioned when the feet of clay are manifest, and then destroys the idol when the illusion is shattered. For example, an arrogant woman can idolize a man and even marry him in her state of idealism. After the marriage, when his flaws begin to appear, the woman reacts to his feet of clay. The problems that ensue usually eventuate in a horrible marriage or even divorce. A Christian may idolize a pastor, an evangelist, or a missionary, and then demand attention from this created icon. Once that attention is lacking or lagging, the arrogant person becomes frustrated and looks for flaws. Flaws are easy to find if you're looking for them.
Illusion created by arrogance becomes illusion destroyed by arrogance. When illusion becomes disillusion and enchantment becomes disenchantment, the pattern for iconoclastic arrogance is obvious. The arrogant reaction of disillusion or disenchantment enters into all the mental attitude and verbal sins of motivational arrogance. The arrogant iconoclast never blames himself for what he has done in creating an idol and then, in disenchantment or disillusion, destroying it. But in his irrational state of mind, he blames the idol for being created by his own fantasies. Arrogance never takes the responsibility for being arrogant.
The object of arrogant admiration is all too often a believer with attractive qualities, but like all believers, he possesses an old sin nature, his own "feet of clay." Once his old sin nature shows, the arrogant person feels betrayed that he had misplaced his admiration. The problem is that the arrogant person has no true humility, no true love, and no virtue. Furthermore, arrogant subjective believers in their preoccupation with self and others, ignore the reality of the old sin nature and the universal depravity of man.
However, with true love from a state of humility, one has the capacity to love people with their faults. This is because impersonal love, the problem solver for personal relationships, accepts and tolerates people as they are, not as you wish them to be. Even though your eyes are wide open to their failures, their faults do not destroy your love for them.
Admiration must not lead to icon-building. Admiration is a normal expression of one's standards. Normal admiration is very wonderful and is a sign of having some worthwhile standards. When you admire people in certain fields, it merely reflects your own thinking and standards, your priorities. It is not degrading to admire others, but it is arrogant to be idolatrous about people. It is evil and morally degenerate to be iconoclastic about people namely wanting to destroy the icon which you manufactured. The standards of the Protocol Plan of God always relate to virtue, honor, and integrity, and these are expressed in admiration for people, but to become disillusioned, disappointed, or disenchanted with the idol of your own making is abnormal and a sign of moral degeneration. Love, respect, and admiration when normal are related to two things in your life: virtue (good standards and priorities) and humility in your own soul. Humility with virtue never manufactures idols out of humans. Therefore, a person with humility and virtue can form tremendous friendships and have a wonderful marriage and family life.
Role Model Arrogance: Role is defined as the proper or customary function of a person. Society and people in general have assigned certain customary functions to those who perform certain activities in life. This is particularly true of politicians, professional athletes, husbands, wives, teachers, public servants, and pastors. When anyone departs from his role model, he is condemned, rejected, criticized, judged, slandered, and maligned. People in society in general have a predilection for desiring everything to be in its proper place, and they resent any form of deviation.
For this reason, society inevitably has a double standard; they have one standard for the role model, and a second standard for themselves. While a person may excuse himself for his own sins, failures, and flaws, he inevitably condemns the role model for identical sins, failures, and flaws.
In essence, this is another aspect of iconoclastic arrogance. Role model arrogance manufactures hypocrites, legalists, and self-righteous persons. Role model arrogance creates hypocrisy in the clergy, pretending to be superior and legalism in the congregation from becoming self-righteous. Therefore, both clergy and congregation are distracted from what is important, i.e., the mystery doctrine of the Church Age by which the Protocol Plan is executed. In summary, role model arrogance tries to impose impossible or perfect standards on others. This ignores the fact that all believers have a sin nature, and continue to sin after salvation, 1 John 1:8-10.
The Combination of Unrealistic Expectation and Role Model Arrogance: Unrealistic expectation is described as part of the arrogance of unhappiness, subjective preoccupation with self. Unrealistic expectation means that arrogant people are not loved the way they want to be loved or treated the way they want to be treated. On the other hand, Role Model Arrogance is part of iconoclastic arrogance, gate 8 of Cosmic One, defined as subjective preoccupation with other people. Role model arrogance plus unrealistic expectation combine to form a tragic flaw in the believer. It is the tragic flaw of the double standard by which, on the one hand, people justify their own sins while judging, slandering, and condemning the sins of others. Role model arrogance plus unrealistic expectation results in three focus problems: Eyes on self which is a double standard used to justify self, to rationalize away one’s own sins, and to ignore both moral and immoral degeneracy in oneself. Eyes on people include such sins as envy, hatred, bitterness, revenge, gossip, maligning, slander, inordinate ambition, and inordinate competition. Eyes on things is arrogant resentment because others possess material things or have the affection of people which you do not have.
You should not react to the failures, flaws, and sins of other people, but you will if you are involved in iconoclastic arrogance. For example, a shocked wife may try to destroy her husband, the idol of perfection she created before marriage. A shocked husband complains to the bartender that the woman he married is not the woman he dated. Observe the feet of clay before marriage to avoid creating an icon, and after observing the feet of clay, decide whether you can deal with it or not.
How to avoid arrogance as it relates to people: if you desire happiness, contentment, and blessing, remember that you cannot change others; you can only change yourself. Therefore, avoid iconoclastic and role model arrogance which is subjective preoccupation with people. If you love God the Father, have the capacity for impersonal love etc. you will be able to take people as they are. If you fail to become an advanced believer, people will make you miserable as long as you live. Only when the believer is able to function under the advanced spiritual life, can his relationships with people function in a normal way. As an advanced believer, you will be content, share the happiness of God, be blessed by God and will not depend upon people for your happiness.
Gate 9: Rational and Irrational Arrogance
Rational arrogance is pseudo-intellectualism whereas irrational arrogance is the arrogance of emotion. These are the inevitable results of the arrogance-gates 1-8. Rational arrogance is the vanity of intellectual arrogance, or the elitism of the genius I.Q. (Elitism might be defined for this study as that arrogant consciousness of pride which belongs to a select or favorite group of people for people with a high I.Q. have a tendency to look down their noses at those who are less endowed.) Rational arrogance is the vanity of giving precedence to human I.Q. and intellectual attainment. In the Christian, this is failure to understand and appreciate God’s plan which operates via a spiritual I.Q. and momentum from doctrine. The human viewpoint of life expressed through rational arrogance rejects or sets aside divine viewpoint. Rational arrogance generally afflicts those believers in Jesus Christ whose superior I.Q. or educational background which gives them a false sense of elitism or superiority.
All too often, intellectual arrogance compromises Bible doctrine by attempting to reconcile those things found in the Word of God with philosophical and scientific speculation. Because rational or intellectual arrogance is so anthropocentric, it has a tendency to accept as fact theories and philosophical speculations in the field of rationalism, and make them a part of Christian doctrine. For example, a favorite practice of rational or intellectual arrogance is to choose something like the theory of evolution over creationism, because it seems to them to be "more reasonable" than divine revelation in the canon of Scripture. This is consistent with the human viewpoint objective of glorifying self over God.
The trends of rational or intellectual arrogance are noted in the attempt to reform Christianity, beginning with Gnosticism in the second century which tried to reinterpret the Scriptures and to add philosophical concepts which the Word of God rejects. The scholasticism of medieval times tried to merge the theories of Plato and Aristotle with Christian doctrine. In the twentieth century, it is manifest in existentialism, the arrogant system of subjective humanism, a system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Existentialism is a form of philosophical enquiry that explores the nature of existence by emphasizing the experience of a human subject, not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual.
The truth of Bible doctrine forms a system of absolutes, but arrogance intrudes with the glorification of some form of human speculation which excludes the doctrinal viewpoint. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems. However, without the truth of Bible doctrine as the means of establishing the norms of life, intellectualism is meaningless and often very harmful. Under humanism, allegedly, man can only be understood by the subjective analysis of his suffering, guilt feelings, and anxiety. It glorifies man by saying that man is good and honorable by nature and by birth. Therefore, it denies the existence of the old sin nature and the total depravity of man. This arrogance is advocated by such men as Kierkegaard, Sarte, Carl Barth, and Emil Bruner. They call themselves modern theologians, but they are really philosophical speculators. They do not teach doctrine, but attempt to explain Christianity in terms of philosophical speculation.
Intellectual arrogance is difficult to overcome even with good Bible teaching. It often distorts the trends of history and establishes false trends. It uses academic subjects to contradict the lucid and perspicuous statements of Scripture. It uses history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, historical geology, anthropology, and certain aspects of political science; it ends up glorifying Marxist theories, inserting them into academic subjects. Learning these academic subjects often create in the believer an intellectual arrogance which is difficult to overcome when he hears Bible doctrine which contradicts these subjects.
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. 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.
Emotion is normal only when under the authority of thought. Just as your volition must be under the human authorities of establishment and under the divine authority of the Word of God, so emotion only functions normally when it is subordinate to 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: Emotion has no ability to reason. So, the ability to reason is lost if emotion dominates the soul. Emotion has no capability of thought. Emotion was not designed for thinking, but for responsive stimulation. Emotion has no doctrinal content or criteria, and so has no common sense. So, if emotion should dominate the soul of a person, he would be irrational!
Emotion is never the criterion for Christian experience, but if it should become the criterion, you will be distracted from the spiritual life. You must understand that 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 enjoys substituting emotional stimulation for Bible doctrine, therefore forcing doctrine out of your life. 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 doctrine. However, emotion benefits from doctrine learned and responds to it. To the extent that you get emotional about some doctrinal point in class, you lose your objectivity and your ability to actually take in doctrine. Emotional arrogance concludes the following blasphemies: A person is not saved unless he feels saved. A person is not spiritual without an ecstatic experience. A person is not forgiven of his sins without a lot of emotional weeping and wailing.
Emotions cannot solve problems. They 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: The emotion of fear causes flight. The emotion of disgust causes repulsion. 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, such as 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 [the cosmic believers] keep walking [modus operandi in 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 [at the end of their lives] will be destruction [the sin unto death], whose god was their emotions, and their glory [in their resurrection bodies] will be associated with shame [at the Evaluation Platform of Christ] who keeps thinking about earthly things [they were distracted from executing the spiritual life]."
Romans 16:17-18, "Now I urge you, brethren, be alert for those who are causing dissensions and apostasies contrary to doctrine which you have learned. For such believers do not obey our Lord Jesus Christ, but their emotions, serving themselves. And by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the right lobes of the ignorant [of Bible doctrine]."
2 Corinthians 6:11-12, "O you Corinthians, our mouth has been opened face to face with you; [Paul, Apollos, Timothy] our right lobes have been enlarged [by Bible doctrine]. Therefore, you have not been hindered by us, but you have been hindered by your own emotions."
Characteristics of emotional arrogance: Emotional arrogance is vulnerable to flattery, and flattery encourages unreality about self. Emotional arrogance encourages fear under pressure since emotion cannot think. On the other hand, courage is the ability to think under pressure. Furthermore, emotional arrogance produces personality disturbances, called psycho-neurotic disorders resulting in neurotic personalities. 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. Furthermore, 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; that's what emotions are for. Therefore, emotions are designed to enjoy life, not to run life.
Gate 10: Client-Nation Arrogance
The Client-Nation to God is defined in terms of the Laws of Divine Establishment, providing the necessary freedom for three great spiritual functions: Evangelism, the presentation of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ followed by the teaching of Bible doctrine, and finally missionary activity to non-client nations. In addition to these three spiritual functions, the client nation has the responsibility of providing a safe haven for Jewish people under persecution.
When a nation has a large number of believers who have reached spiritual maturity, the Lord will designate that nation a Client-Nation which he personally protects and blesses. After obtaining that status, the Client Nation to God maintains national blessing by those who have reached spiritual maturity, the first strategic objective and especially by those mature believers who have completed Evidence Testing, the second strategic objective and are receiving the fullness of blessing from God. These great believers whose invisible historical impact are the key to the Client-Nation’s function and perpetuation. In principle, as goes the believer in any given generation, so goes the Client Nation and history in that generation. Thus, the true issue for the Church Age is the invisible impact of the spiritual life of the believer. This was never as true as it is in the Church Age. Always in the Old Testament it was a matter of individual leadership, as with Moses, David, Hezekiah, etc. But now the issue is invisible historic impact. God has made blessing in any Church Age generation dependent upon the individual attitude of the Christian toward Bible doctrine.
However, when a maximum number of Christians are living in Satan's Cosmic System and, when the citizens of the Client-Nation reject the Laws of Divine Establishment, the nation comes under cursing namely the punishment of the five cycles of discipline. With the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline, the client nation status is removed, and all too often that nation goes into slavery.
A perspective regarding Client Nations: There are two categories of client nations in history namely Old Testament category: Jewish Client-Nations, of which there were four namely united Israel, divided Israel which produced the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, and then after the Chaldean Captivity, Judea. These Client-Nations existed from Moses until the fall of Judea in August of A.D. 70. These Jewish Client-Nations were followed by the Times of the Gentiles which produce Gentile Client-Nations as per Luke 21:24. These client nations began with S.P.Q.R. and continue up to the present with the U.S.A. if we should still be one.
Since we are discussing Client Nation arrogance, we should know something about nations and their governments. So, let’s begin. There are two general categories of government in any nation in history: good governments and arrogant ones. It is important to distinguish between the two. There are three categories of good governments, and three categories of arrogant governments. It isn't the form of government that matters so much, but whether it is good or arrogant. First category: Monarchy is the rule of one man in the interest of the common good. The arrogant distortion of this is tyranny in the form of dictatorship, the rule of one man for his own advantage. Second category: Aristocracy is the rule of a group of men in the interest of the common good. The arrogant distortion of this is oligarchy, the rule of an interest-group for its own benefit. Third category: Republic is the rule of the better part of the people in the interest of the common good. Its arrogant distortion is democracy, the rule of the worst part of the people for their own selfish benefit.
But regardless of the form of government, the purpose of a client nation is to establish freedom, privacy, and the sacredness of both property and life. The client nation, regardless of government, should provide the environment of freedom so that there can occur evangelism, Bible teaching, missionary activity, and should provide a safe haven for Jews who are being persecuted. However, when arrogance begins to permeate the Client-Nation in the form of apostasy among believers, indifference among unbelievers, and irresponsibility by all, then the Client-Nation attacks the very purpose of its existence.
Client nation arrogance includes moral and immoral degeneration, and blurs the distinctions between church and state, between the military and state, and between free enterprise and state. Therefore, Client-Nation arrogance is characterized by social degeneration, economic depression, military disaster, and the apostasy of believers. It is characterized by an ever-increasing bureaucracy in government rather than leadership and integrity. Arrogance destroys harmony, neutralizes integrity, caters to privileged groups, and demands equality for all regardless of labor or merit. Client nation arrogance destroys human freedom and privacy and confiscates property. Client nation arrogance is that presumption that the blessings and prosperities from God to a Client-Nation are the result of national and ethnic superiority. Arrogance rejects the Laws of Divine Establishment, ridicules the Gospel, and ignores that all national blessing is associated with the pivot (a large group) of mature believers. Under Client-Nation Arrogance, the government advocates such evils as the welfare state, redistribution of wealth, big government, unjust taxation, the rule of the proletariat (blue collar workers) through labor unions, an irresponsible extension of the voting franchise, and the destruction of non-belligerent sovereign nations to gain some economic advantage. Client nation arrogance finds believers involved in activism, crusader arrogance, civil disobedience, violence, and revolution.
Application to Client Nation, USA: Under client nation arrogance, we have extended the voting franchise to the point of irresponsibility. Everyone is arrogant enough to think that his vote is important, that he is discerning enough to distinguish the good from the bad. This results in silly laws, irresponsibility, stupid demagogues, arrogant bureaucracy, and the inevitable distortion of our own wonderful Constitution.
So, what is your responsibility as a Christian to the United States of America as a client nation? As a believer in the United States, it is your primary responsibility to grow-up spiritually in order for the Lord to have a reason for blessing Client Nation USA. To the contrary, activism finds arrogant Christians living inside the Cosmic System, practicing that terrible evil of civil disobedience which is the quintessence of arrogance and demonization. Nothing is ever solved by protests or violence. Violence is distinguished from the function of law and order, i.e., executing violent criminals and destroying national enemies. Christians involved in protest functions are arrogant and have no sense of destiny from the inculcation of doctrine. Only believers living the spiritual life have a true sense of destiny. Not only are we as individuals the products of our own decisions, but tragically today, we are also the products of our decisions collectively made from the demonizing inculcation of the Cosmic System. In the year of 2025, a large portion of unbelievers and the majority of believers are involved in Client Nation Arrogance and as such totally irresponsible.
Cosmic Two: The Antagonistic Complex:
Introduction: The doctrine of Cosmic Two deals with the subject of quenching the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, "Stop quenching the Spirit." Cosmic two is the function of the believer in apostasy under the principle of antagonism. The gates of Cosmic Two are antagonistic not only toward Bible doctrine, but also toward the Protocol Plan of God in general and anything related to God, including the Laws of Divine Establishment.
Gate 1: Motivational Antagonism toward Bible Doctrine and the Protocol Plan of God begins with the Old Sin Nature which is hostile to God and His plan
We have a built-in system of antagonism toward God namely the Sin Nature. Therefore, when the unbeliever or believer spends too much time under the control of the Sin Nature, he will become demonized. The more the unbeliever or believer is demonized under the concept of demon influence, the more antagonistic toward truth he becomes.
As a growing Christian, we choose either for the Spirit or for the Sin Nature. We must learn to take responsibility for our decisions and for our sins. When we succumb to temptation due to negative volition, the Sin Nature takes control of our soul, and we enter into carnality, and we are said to grieve the Holy Spirit. We remain in this status until we use the Recovery Procedure. At which time the Holy Spirit regains control of our soul. Every day, we make constant decisions for either the Sin Nature or the Holy Spirit. Even when we sin in ignorance, we still wanted to do it, and so, we are responsible for that decision. Our volition gave the go-ahead to that temptation to sin, and so as far as God is concerned, we are guilty.
The absolute and relative status of the believer: The absolute status quo of every believer falls into two categories. The believer is either living the spiritual life in God’s Protocol Plan where he is said to be Filled with the Spirit, or he is living in the Cosmic System either one or two or both. In Cosmic One he is grieving the Holy Spirit, and in Cosmic Two he is quenching the Holy Spirit. Therefore, spirituality and carnality are absolutes; you are either completely spiritual or completely carnal. No matter what your stage of spiritual growth, you are either controlled by the Spirit or by the Sin Nature. Spirituality namely being in fellowship with God and carnality are mutually exclusive. The relative status quo of every believer is his spiritual growth or retrogression.
The problem occurs when the Christian stops growing spiritually for whatever reason. A prolonged stay out of fellowship with God the Holy Spirit is called Quenching the Holy Spirit. If the Christian permanently remains out of fellowship with God the Holy Spirit, he will incur blackout and scar tissue of the soul. This is referred to as coming under demon influence. The more he is demonized, the more antagonistic he will become toward truth.
Gate 2: Negative Volition
Cosmic One and Cosmic Two both have negative volition-gates. The negative volition gate of each Cosmic System emphasizes the basic difference between the two systems. Negative volition in Cosmic One always results from arrogance and preoccupation with self but does not necessarily indicate antagonism toward Bible doctrine. Negative volition in Cosmic Two is the direct result of hostility toward the Word of God or toward the one who communicates it. Gate 2 of Cosmic One can be described as indifference to doctrine or having wrong priorities. Gate 2 of Cosmic Two can be described as open antagonism toward the teaching of doctrine and the one who communicates it.
There are three areas of antagonism toward God at gate 2 of Cosmic Two. Negative volition at God-consciousness, a characteristic of the unbeliever only.
Romans 1:18-25, "For the wrath of God is being revealed [made evident, made plain] from heaven [decisions and judgments from the Supreme Court of Heaven] against all ungodliness [heathenism or unbeliever reversionism] and unrighteousness [after having rejected the truth some become immoral and anti-establishment, others become morally self-righteous] of mankind who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, (19) because what may be known [evident, plain] about God is evident in them [the basis for knowing about God at the point of God consciousness]; because God has made it plain to them. (20) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly perceived, being perspicuous through things He has created, namely both His eternal power and His divine nature [such as grace, righteousness justice and omniscience] so that they [the human race] are without excuse. [No defense against the justice of God for negative volition at God consciousness], so that they [the entire human race] are without excuse. (21) For even though they knew him as God, they did not glorify [honor] Him [Christ] as God [negative volition at God-consciousness] nor did they feel obligated to thank Him, in fact, as a result of their negative volition they became futile [received worthless thoughts] in their speculations [evil deliberations], and their foolish heart [ignorant stream of consciousness] receives darkness [black out of the soul]. (22) Although professing themselves to be wise [delusional unbelievers], they became fools [the use of the arrogance skills is the major factor in forgetting about God], (23) and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and birds and quadrupeds and reptiles. (24) Therefore, God turned them over to the lusts from their stream of consciousnesses [the sin nature takes control of the soul in unrestrained sin nature function] to sexual impurity [any sex outside of marriage], for the degrading of their bodies with one another. [There is degradation and degeneration such as in homosexuality, lesbianism etc.] (25) for they exchanged the doctrine [truth] of God for the lie, and they worshiped and served the creature [Satan and his system] rather than the Creator, who is worthy of praise and glorification forever, Amen."
The second area of antagonism toward God which is negative volition at Gospel hearing, a characteristic of the unbeliever.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
The third area of antagonism toward God which is negative volition toward Bible teaching after salvation, a characteristic of the believer only. There are three spheres in which the believer can be negative toward Bible doctrine, called the three R's namely reception, retention and recall. There is no reception since negative volition refuses to listen to good Bible teaching on a consistent basis. Negative volition at the point of understanding rejects the message when it is presented by the pastor either in a local church or its equivalent. Therefore, the truth of God’s word is not metabolized-no retention. And finally, negative volition at the point of recall means that the Christian makes no application of metabolized doctrine, does not use the Problem-solving Devices, has no momentum, and therefore does not fulfill the Protocol Plan of God.
All negative volition in the human race can be classified as rejection or antagonism toward truth in one or more of the three categories of truth which are as follows: The Laws of Divine Establishment for believer and unbelievers. The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for unbelievers, and Bible doctrine for believers in Jesus Christ. When a person rejects truth whether he be unbeliever or believer, he will enter into the Eight Stages of Reversionism. The first sign of this is social degeneration or antiestablishment which is gate 3 of Cosmic Two.
Gate 3: Anti-establishment
The Laws of Divine Establishment are for both believer and unbeliever. These are the basic laws of freedom which permit evangelism, Bible teaching, and missionary activity. The Laws of Divine Establishment balance freedom with authority. Freedom without authority is anarchy; authority without freedom is tyranny. The unbeliever involved in anti-establishment is described in the following passage:
Romans 1:26-32, "For this reason God [the function of the Supreme Court of Heaven] he delivered them over to shameful lusts [of their sin natures]; even their own women exchanged their natural sexual function for that which is unnatural [autoerotism, lesbianism and even bestiality], (27) and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural sexual function with a woman and were inflamed with their lusts toward one another [homosexuality], men with other men committing the shameful deed [homosexuality: indecent acts] and receive in themselves the due penalty of their perversion [many sexual diseases and plagues in history]. (28) Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile, to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them over to a depraved [degenerate] mind, to do those things which are not proper [Not all who reject God at God-consciousness become sexual perverts; some become mental degenerates]. (29) being filled with all categories of unrighteousness, evil, greed, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit; vituperation [they are gossips], (30) slanderers [vilification], haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, (31) irrational, faithless [untrustworthy], implacable [no capacity for love], ruthless [unmerciful]; (32) and although they know the ordinance of God [the Laws of Establishment are taught in a Client Nation], that those who practice such things [rape, kidnapping and murder for example] deserve death, they not only do the same, but they even glorify [also give hearty approval] those who practice them."
The believer involved in antiestablishment is described in 2 Timothy.
2 Timothy 3:2-7, "For persons [Church Age believers] will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal [emotion bringing about the irrational person: unreasonable, cruel, savage, violent, and inhuman], haters of good [of intrinsic value], treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having an overt appearance of the spiritual life [the hypocrisy of legalism], but they have denied its power [the two power options of the spiritual life]. Therefore, avoid these believers [who are anti-establishment and anti-Protocol Plan of God], for among these are those who worm their way into homes and captivate silly [spiritually weak due to a lack of truth in their souls] women who are loaded down with sins and swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to the metabolized knowledge of the truth [truth which can be used for spiritual growth]."
Gate 4: Cosmic Panaceas
Rejection of the Laws of Divine Establishment and the delegated authority assigned to them results in the substitution of false solutions to the problems of life. These false solutions are called cosmic panaceas, Satan’s brilliant ideas! The function of seeking solutions to the problems of life apart from truth in its three categories: the Laws of Divine Establishment, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Bible doctrine. Cosmic panaceas are no substitute for divine solutions which are found in the Protocol Plan of God.
Cosmic panaceas based on arrogance bring about all kinds of evil. Cosmic panaceas demand a full mobilization of arrogance so that self-righteousness, legalism, personality arrogance, authority arrogance, Christian service arrogance, and crusader arrogance will become manifest. They will become manifest in prejudice, violence, terrorism and warfare.
When implementing a Cosmic Panacea both legitimate authority and freedom are sacrificed on the altar of equality. For example, Cosmic Panaceas regarding economy attack freedom in the market place. Laws may guarantee equal opportunity, but no sane government would attempt to provide equality such as in mental health, mental ability, strength, motivation, love ad nauseam, but an arrogant legislative body made up of both Christians and unbelievers try to make us all equal economically by such cosmic ideas as taxing the rich to feed the poor under the concept of redistribution of wealth, the break-up of successful business enterprises, the confiscation of property, the nationalization of industry, and the passing of laws to suit or conform to this false doctrine of economic equality. Furthermore, no sane government would adopt Keynesian Economics whereby debt doesn’t matter. Then, to solve their debt problem, these insane politicians of an insane government, print to infinity which inevitably destroys both the currency and the middle class.
Cosmic panaceas inevitably result in big government fat with bureaucrats and little people with less and less freedom in terms of rights, privacy and property. Cosmic panaceas advocate the criterion that make people slaves to the state rather than the government being the servant of the people. Too many believers are influenced by such cosmic panaceas as socialism, Marxism, and other anti-Biblical idealisms which blind them to the evil Panaceas.
Though government may guarantee equal opportunity, no government or personal interest group can create equality in the human race. Only God can create equality, which He has done for anyone who will believe in Christ. For at salvation, all new believers are provided with 40 assets equally. After which, all these believers are given equal opportunity to execute the spiritual life. This equal opportunity in the spiritual life will inevitably produce inequality as equal opportunity guarantees inequality as demonstrated in both the temporal and spiritual realm. By creating equal opportunity in the Protocol Plan of God, God has guaranteed that in heaven there will be great inequality for there are always some people who will use their equal opportunity, and others who will not.
In the name of the greater good for the greater number, the government commits crimes, sets itself above the law, and therefore destroys the laws which protect our freedom, privacy, property and lives. Socialism and Marxism are anti-freedom and anti-God, though many Christian organizations advocate their false doctrines and try to merge them with Christian doctrine. Without freedom, the individual cannot have a destiny. Without authority or establishment, one cannot have freedom.
Cosmic panaceas are designed to promote the rule of Satan on earth. He is the ruler of this world in name, but he becomes the ruler in effect through the arrogance of believers and unbelievers who cooperate to help his regime through crusader arrogance and cosmic panaceas. History has demonstrated the failure of cosmic panaceas in the devil's world. Crusader arrogance and its resultant cosmic panaceas add up to a false premise, and there is no solution to life based on a false premise or a false conclusion.
Gate 5: Cosmic Degeneration
Degeneration is defined here as deterioration or retrogression of born-again believers who constantly live in Satan's Cosmic System. They deteriorate spiritually and retrogress, so that they go from one category of degeneration to another. Under Cosmic degeneration, the standards and modus operandi of the believer who lives in the Cosmic System declines. Hence, degeneration in the Cosmic System is a process of deterioration, passing from a higher to a lower status quo. Cosmic degeneration rejects the doctrine and the power of the Protocol Plan of God for the Church Age believer. Cosmic degeneration means that the believer either does not understand or rejects the Recovery Procedure, the Ten Problem Solving devices, the Indwelling of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit; the power God’s thinking metabolized in the soul, the significance of the new spiritual species; and the unique ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the Church Age, etc.
There are two categories of Cosmic degeneration namely immoral degeneration which is obvious, and moral degeneration which is not so obvious. When the believer prolongs his residence in the Cosmic System, he begins to deteriorate spiritually so that he moves toward his area of weakness which can be immoral or moral degradation. Immoral degeneration includes such things as crime, violence, sexual perversion, and drug addiction. All of this goes back to a basic rejection of authority in the home “disobedient to their parents” as per 2 Timothy 3:2 and at God-consciousness (awareness) as per Romans 1:24-25.
When the believer becomes immoral, he sometimes shocks himself and often concludes that he is not saved, or he is convinced of this by his friends. Nevertheless, these things occur among believers every day. For example, Abraham committed adultery with the Egyptian, Hagar; David committed adultery with the Jewish Bathsheba, and then murdered her gentile husband, an honorable believer and a general in David’s army. Paul mentions a partial list of sins that were prevalent among the Galatian Christians.
Galatians 5:19, "Now, the works of the flesh [sin nature] are plainly seen such as [a representative list] fornication [including adultery], mental defilement from wrong doing and sexual sins related to abnormality and criminality, and licentious behavior."
The born-again believer in the Cosmic System is far worse generally than the degenerate unbeliever, because the believer must go through far more systems of resistance to do what he does. Consequently, many of the worst people on the face of the earth are degenerate believers.
Regarding immoral degeneracy, God's view and inevitable judgment of homosexuality is memorialized in the Dead Sea. Inevitably, God must judge all forms of immoral degeneracy and eliminate such people from humankind. If this cancerous evil is not purged, it can spread quickly like cancer unchecked. Though, man has the potential for self-destruction, God keeps immoral degeneracy in check through judgment. The punishment for immoral degeneracy is related to two categories of suffering namely the Law of Volitional Responsibility followed by divine discipline.
Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap,”
Much more subtle is moral degeneracy which often passes for spirituality among believers who are ignorant of good Bible teaching. Moral degeneracy can be classified as uncontrolled and unrestrained legalism. Prolonged residence in the Cosmic System results in some believers exercising the functions of self-righteous arrogance to the point of violence, destruction of property, and murder. Peter was about to enter into moral degeneracy when Paul nipped it in the bud.
Galatians 2:11-13, "But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I [Paul] opposed him face to face because he stood condemned [for his legalism and hypocrisy which ultimately lead to moral degeneracy]. (12) Before certain men [legalistic believers] came from James [a legalist himself for a while], he [Peter] used to eat with the Gentiles, but when these legalists came, he began to withdraw and to separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of the circumcision party [the self-righteous Jews from Jerusalem]. (13) Consequently, the rest of the Jews joined Peter in his hypocrisy with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by this hypocrisy."
The apostle Paul as an unbeliever, Saul of Tarsus was guilty of moral degeneracy, resulting in his persecution of Christians.
Acts 8:3, "But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house. He would drag off both men and women and put them in prison."
Because of the function of moral degeneracy in his pre-salvation days, the apostle Paul, the greatest Christian of all, states in retrospective exposition the following:
1 Timothy 1:15, "It is a trustworthy statement [true deposition] deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the worst [in both history and eschatology]."
So, Paul ranked himself as the worst sinner who ever lived not because of immorality for many people persecute and murder people for example Hitler and Stalin murdered millions, but because of his moral degeneracy for he was the most self-righteous person who has ever lived or will live. There was no one in his league. So, one of the worst sinners who ever lived, Saul of Tarsus, was a very moral, self-righteous person, a strong adherent to the legalistic distortions of the Mosaic Law.
Born-again believers through prolonged residence in the Cosmic System can also become involved in moral degeneracy. The Galatian believers were guilty of moral degeneracy which came from their keeping the Mosaic Law for spirituality. This is described as their problem in the following passage:
Galatians 3:1-3, “You foolish Galatians, who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? (2) This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing of faith? (3) Are you so stupid? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being brought to completion [in the spiritual life] by the flesh [functioning out of fellowship under the legalism of the Judaizers]?”
Moral degeneracy often leads to false doctrines, such as sinless perfection.
1 John 1:8, 10, "If we allege that we do not have a sin nature [and therefore, do not sin personally; some will allege this], we are deceiving ourselves and the truth [Bible doctrine] is not in us. (10) If we say that we have not sinned [personally], we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."
Moral degeneracy is characterized by self-deceit combined with ignorance and/or rejection of doctrine. Moral degeneracy had become an evil influence in the Colossian church.
Colossians 2:16-18, "Consequently, stop allowing anyone [legalists] to judge you in food [what kind of food] or in drinking [alcoholic beverage] or in the matter of a feast [Jewish legalists were insisting that the Christians observe their feast day etc.] or of the new moon [the new moon celebration on first day of the lunar month] or of the Sabbaths. (17) Which [feasts, new moon celebrations, and the sabbaths] keep on being a shadow of things about to come; but the reality is from the source of the Christ [substance and reality in contrast to shadows]. (18) Let no one deprive [disqualify] you of your reward taking pleasure in false humility and in the worship of angels [demons; worshipping Satan in the Cosmic System is a religion], taking a stand [on theological issues] on those things which you have seen [through dreams, visions, ecstasy and hallucinations], being inflated with arrogance [the reversionistic believer receives the action of the verb] under the influence of the thinking [the staging area where academic knowledge resides] from the source of his sin nature."
This is an excellent description of self-righteous arrogance which includes the arrogance of legalism, personality arrogance, authority arrogance, crusader arrogance, and the arrogance of Christian service (works).
Gate 6: Demonism
1. There are four categories of fallen angels namely those incarcerated in the Abyss, in Tartarus and under the Euphrates River, and the operational fallen angels who function under the rule of Satan during human history.
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. On the other hand, demon possession is a demon indwelling the body of an unbeliever only. Since the believer is indwelt by God the Father, Son, and 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 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.
Demons are capable of two categories of violence namely indirect and direct. In indirect violence, the demon must attack either through demon influence or demon possession. Much more common today is demon influence from the Cosmic System, which is the source of most of the violence we face motivated by hatred, anger, criminal activity, and terrorism are illustrations of demon influence resulting in violence. Direct violence from demon forces is a phenomenon reserved for the last half of the Tribulation. These demon attacking forces include three angelic assault armies.
(1) The attack of the first demon assault army stationed in the Abyss, Revelation 9:1-12.
(2) The attack of the second demon assault army stationed under the Euphrates River, Revelation 9:12-21.
(3) The attack of the third demon assault army which will be stationed on the earth during the 2nd half of the Tribulation and will be under the direct command of Satan, Revelation 12:7-17, and Satan’s attack at the end of the Millennium called Gog and Magog, Revelation 20:7-10.
4. Believers and unbelievers in the Cosmic System during the Tribulation will become victims of violence from demon assault armies. Satan's rationale in destroying his human servants during the second half of the Tribulation is that since he has been cast to the earth, he no longer needs them. Arrogant creatures have no loyalty, and no integrity. However, the Lord possessing perfect integrity will use this situation to execute his perfect justice. This is a case of finesse judgment, where God uses evil to judge evil.
5. 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 the 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. The arrogance of Satan and his Cosmic System cancels integrity, honor, and virtue. For example, Satan in the second half of the Tribulation, destroys his own losers in the Cosmic System because arrogance has no loyalty to arrogance as per Revelation 9:12-21 where one third of the population of the earth are killed by Satan and his demons. Satan epitomizes total arrogance.
Gate 7: Religion
Christianity and religion are antithetical. In Christianity, God saves mankind through personal faith in Jesus Christ. In religion, man seeks to impress God with his works. Religion can be classified as the devil's ace trump for religion has been invented by Satan to counterfeit God's plan, purpose, and will for mankind, to blind the unbeliever from the gospel and to divert the believer from the execution of the Protocol Plan of God for the Church Age. Religion is part of the devil's strategy in being "like the Most-High God," as stated in Isaiah 14:14. Christianity is not a religion, but an eternal relationship with God through personal faith in Christ. In religion, Homo sapiens seek the approbation of God through good deeds, human merit, and various categories of works. Religion reflects the evil genius of Satan, whereas Christianity represents the perfect integrity of God combined with His grace policy.
For deceit and error to be carried out effectively, Satan has devised a system of counterfeits which are the counterfeits of religion such as:
1. Counterfeit Gospel: 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers [through religion, philosophy etc.], so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2. Counterfeit Ministers: 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, “For such ones are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves [through deceit] into the apostles of Christ. (14) Did not even Satan marvelously transform himself into an angel of light? (15) Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.”
3. Counterfeit Communion table: 1 Corinthians 10:19-21, “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? (20), No, I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I do not desire you to become fellow worshippers with demons. (21) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”
4. Counterfeit Doctrine: 1 Timothy 4:1, “But the Spirit [the Holy Spirit is the teacher of Bible doctrine] explicitly teaches that in latter periods of time [between the 1st and 2nd Advents namely the Church Age and the Tribulation] some [believers] will withdraw from doctrine, concentrating on deceitful personalities and doctrines from demons [involvement in Cosmic 1 and 2].”
5. Counterfeit Spirituality: Galatians 3:1-3, “O foolish Galatians who has hypnotized you [has given you the evil eye]? Before whose eyes [they saw it in their mind’s eye] Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified [was designated clearly: You used to have your eyes on Christ, now you have your eyes on the Mosaic Law]. (2) This only I desire to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing of faith [They received the Filling of the Spirit through faith in Christ]? (3) Are you so stupid that having begun in the sphere of the [Filling of the] Spirit, are you now being brought to completion by the flesh [using human power and dynamics to advance spiritually]?”
6. A Counterfeit System of righteousness, Matthew 19:16-22, “Now behold a man came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good shall I do to obtain eternal life?” (17) And He replied to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good [What good shall I do]? There is only one [Jesus] who is good [and able to fulfill the Mosaic Law]. If you desire to enter into [eternal] life [through your own righteousness], and you do, then keep the commandments [all of them which is impossible for the unbeliever]. (18) The man inquired, “Which ones?” Jesus replied, “You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness [in court]; (19) you shall honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (20) And the young man answered, “All these, I have guarded. What do I still lack?” (21) And Jesus said to him, “If you desire to be perfect [through works] and you do [though it is impossible], go and sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven then [return] here [after you realize that you are not perfect] and follow Me [in regeneration]. (22) After the young man heard the instruction, he departed grieving for he possessed a lot of property.”
7. False gods, a counterfeit for the true God: All throughout history, people have and will worship demons as gods. In the latter half of the Great Tribulation the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire will be worshiped as a god. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, “Do not let anyone deceive you in any way since it [the Day of the Lord which includes the Tribulation and 2nd Advent] will not come unless the departure [Rapture], and the man who is lawless [antiestablishment and anti-God] shall be revealed, the son of perdition [doomed to destruction], (4) [the Son of Perdition was the antecedent] who opposes [the Lord Jesus Christ] and exalts himself above every so-called god, or object of worship, so that he is installed in the Temple of God [the Jewish Temple in the middle of the Tribulation], proclaiming himself to be god.”
8. Counterfeit Power (dynamics): 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9, “And then [after the Rapture] the lawless one [the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire] will be revealed, whom the Lord shall destroy with the breath of His mouth [the least power of God] in fact he shall neutralize him by the very appearance of His coming [at the 2nd Advent], (9) the dictator whose presence [in history] shall be according to the modus operandi of Satan with all power and by means of extra natural miracles even wonder miracles of the lie [wonders that serve the lie].” Satan promotes him by means of extra-natural powers and miracles.
9. A Counterfeit Way of life as per Matthew 23:13-36: In this passage, the Pharisees emphasized the external condition of a person and ignored the internal condition. They emphasized taboos and outward morality. They ignored internal sins which made external righteousness a sham. Their outside was clean, a morality fostering self-righteousness and taboos, but their inside was filthy, full of mental sins and lusts.
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. For example, religion attacks nationalism by becoming the state and once in power, it attacks human freedom. Second, is the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Religion distorts salvation into many diverse systems of salvation by works, and third is Bible doctrine for the believer. Religion substitutes false doctrine, emotionalism and ritual for truth 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 Tim 4:1), but it has both false teachers and false prophets to communicate this information.
There are at least five characteristics of false teachers in the Church Age:
1. False teachers are masters of hypocrisy. They use a phony facade, first exposed by our Lord, later by Paul.
Matthew 7:15, “Beware [constantly be on your guard] of the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves,” and further developed by Paul in Romans 16:18, “For such believers do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own emotions, and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the right lobes of the unsuspecting [those ignorant of truth].”
Behind a public relations facade, false teachers use legalism to woo their victims into accepting religion.
Galatians 4:17-18, "They [Judaizers] zealously affect [seek or woo] you [into legalism], not well [not honestly] yes, they wish to exclude you [this means they wish to separate you from me, so that I can’t woo you with grace] in order that you might affect [court or woo] them. (18) But it is good always to be properly courted [by good Bible teachers] in an honorable manner, and not only when I am present with you."
2. False Teachers flatter their victims, making them feel wanted which flattery appeals to the victim’s pride.
2 Timothy 3:5-7, "Holding to a superficial form [outward appearance] of the spiritual life, but they themselves have disregarded its power [namely the Two Power Options]; avoid such ones as these. (6) For among them are those [immoral Christian men] who creep into homes [slyly enter the homes] and seduce [captivate through flattery] silly women [morally weak women because there is no doctrine in their souls] who are overwhelmed by their sins [with emphasis on arrogance and self-righteousness] and are carried away by various lusts. (7) Always learning [these women], but they are never able to come to a metabolized [epignosis] knowledge of the truth."
3. False teachers promote idolatry as a part of the devil's communion table.
Habakkuk 2:18-19, “What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols. (19) Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it.”
1 Corinthians 10:19-21, “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? (20) No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become a sharer in demons. (21) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord [the Communion table requires fellowship] and the cup of demons at the same time [demon influence: living in the Cosmic System]; therefore, you cannot partake of the table of the Lord [the Eucharist for this worship requires the spiritual life] and the table of demons [demon influence].”
4. False teachers promote self-righteousness, to include legalism, personality arrogance, authority arrogance, crusader arrogance, and works arrogance.
1 Timothy 1:6-7, "From which, some men [pastors] have deviated [apostasy through reversionism]. They themselves have turned aside to ineffective teaching, (7) desiring to be teachers of the Law though they do not understand either what they are teaching or concerning the things about which they speak dogmatically."
5. False teachers continue to operate throughout the Church Age, as this is the intensified period of the angelic conflict.
1 John 4:1-6, "Beloved, do not believe every personality, but test the person to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have come out into the world. (2) By this you know the person of God: every person [pneuma] that confessed that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. (3) and every person that does not confess Jesus is from God: this is the person of the antichrist of which you have heard is coming and now is already in the world. (4) You are from God, little children and have overcome them because greater is He who is in you [God the Son] than he who is in the world [Satan]. (5) They are from the world; therefore, they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. (6) We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the person of truth and the person of error."
Gate 8: Evil as 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, good and evil are mutually exclusive. This means that no evil exists in the spiritual life under the Spirit, and no 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. The mandate regarding evil is given to us in the following verse:
Romans 12:21, "Stop being conquered by evil, [consistent living in the Cosmic System] but conquer evil by means of good [functioning under God’s system of power]."
Living one’s life under God’s authority is classified as the purchase of time which is necessary because of evil as per Ephesians 5:16, "redeeming [purchasing] the time because the days are evil."
The protection of God’s power system and the continuance of evil will continue in this world. As long as Satan rules the world, evil will continue to be a part of human history. 2 Timothy 3:13, "But evil men, even deceivers, will advance more and more evil, deceiving and being deceived." Bible doctrine protects the believer from Satan's policy of evil. 2 Thessalonians 3:3, "But the Lord is faithful; He will both empower you and protect you from 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” [this prayer is answered when the Christian advances spiritually].
Gate 9: Anthropocentric Academic Speculation
The Christian’s protection against academic speculation is found in the following verse:
2 John 9, "Everyone who initially advances spiritually and subsequently does not remain in the field of play by means of the doctrine of Christ [does not continue his advance] does not have God [does not have fellowship with God]; for he who persists with doctrine, this same one has both the Father and the Son [continues to have fellowship with them]."
Pseudointellectual 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. Psychology and psychiatry blame man's problems on his environment instead of bad decisions. Many theories in many academic subjects contradict Bible doctrine in such subjects as history, philosophy, geology, economics, political science, etc.
Revelation 14:11
Then, the smoke [when there is not enough oxygen for a fire to burn cleanly, there will be smoke (soot) in the air, an extremely miserable situation] of their torment [the eternal consciousness of the unbeliever in the Lake of Fire] rises forever and ever; furthermore, they do not have rest day or night [some people rest in the day others in the night, but for these there is no rest] for those who worship the beast-dictator and receive the mark of his name [this arrogant stubbornness will reject even the angelic evangelism etc. and suffers the consequences].
καὶ ὁ καπνὸς τοῦ βασανισµοῦ αὐτῶν εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων ἀναβαίνει, καὶ οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἀνάπαυσιν ἡµέρας καὶ νυκτός, οἱ προσκυνοῦντες τὸ θηρίον καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἴ τις λαµβάνει τὸ χάραγµα τοῦ ὀνόµατος αὐτοῦ.
The smoke keeps rising which emphasizes the eternal and conscious punishment of unbelievers. Man is the product of his own decisions both in time and in eternity. The present tense is the perfective present for what has come to be in the past, the Baptism of Fire which will be followed by the Lake of Fire. A specific group of unbelievers who will live during the last half of the Tribulation and become converts to ecumenical religion will produce the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for the eschatological reality of eternal judgment not only for these unbelievers, but for all unbelievers in human history.
Believing in Christ or rejecting Him is an eternal decision. In eternity the pain for the unbeliever is intense and never stops, and there is no loss of consciousness and there is no escape. It is amazing how many escapes we have from pain in time; but that is in time, not in eternity, “then the smoke of their torment keeps rising forever and ever.” This description of eternal judgment of all unbelievers in human history emphasizes the importance, then, of 2 Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the time of acceptance; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Opportunity to make good decisions or bad are confined to time. Once eternity occurs, decision-making is over, so that unbelievers, those who reject the gospel, are the products of their own bad decisions. In eternity it is too late. When a person dies still saying no to the gospel that is the end of the line. For the unbeliever, there are no decisions made in eternity and there is no reversal of his status.
Those who say yes and believe in Christ have eternal life in a resurrection body and no one can ever change that. All decisions are limited to time and in eternity everyone will take the responsibility for his own decisions which he made in time whether he wants to or not. No decision in life, therefore, is more important than a decision dealing with an absolute. The absolute: “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; but he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Salvation is an absolute. You can believe in Christ and have eternal life; you can reject Christ and have eternal condemnation. The choice is yours!
Death is an absolute of life; realizing that after death no more decisions regarding salvation can be made. It is very important to realize that you are responsible for every decision you make in this life. No greater decisions can be made than those that are in the absolute category. There are many relative decisions in life: Where should I go to school? Whom should I marry? With whom should I associate in social life or business life? All of these things deal with relative factors but when you are dealing with eternity then you are dealing with an absolute and you can’t afford to make a mistake. Repeat: You can’t afford to make that mistake.
The period from the departure of the Church, to the beginning of the Millennial reign of Christ is probably one of the biggest transitional periods in all of human history. In addition to that it is the most disastrous period of human history, a period of concentrated negative volition, a period of great divine judgment, and also a period which demonstrates more than any other period that man is the product of his own decisions. We manufacture our own misery with our own volition and our bad decisions. In one sense, the book of Revelation is certainly discouraging because it demonstrates that man is not getting better, man is only going to get worse.
You can have a life of great happiness and great blessing on this earth, but that life of great blessing and great happiness can never be divorced from why we are here, and we are here because of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, there is a sense in which the believer, through his daily perception of doctrine, maintains a consciousness of the invisible; the eternal, infinite and invisible God. That awareness is very important because it keeps us from the discouragements of life, it keeps us from following the trends of our weaknesses, whatever they may be. It keeps us from despairing which is very easy in times of change, times of social degeneracy, times of political chaos, times of national declension, economic or military disaster or both.
The combination of unbeliever reversionism, cosmic involvement, blackout of the soul, scar tissue of the soul, produces locked-in negative volition and arrogant stubbornness which rejects the daily high noon evangelism from the angelic college of heralds. Crisis evangelism is the most intense and powerful form of gospel preaching, and it has the fewest converts in the last half of the Tribulation. The combination of historical and natural disaster does not change the minds of those unbelievers involved in Satan’s ecumenical system. Neither the warning judgements of the seven seals and the seven trumpets, nor the intensive judgements of the seven last plagues, nor the powerful evangelism of the 144,000, the television ministry of Moses and Elijah, nor the fantastic high noon evangelism of the cherub rank pursuivant officer from the Angelic College of Heralds changes locked-in negative volition.
Eternal Torment in the Lake of Fire: “their torment [the eternal consciousness of the unbeliever in the Lake of Fire] rises forever and ever”
Revelation 20:12-15, "Then I saw the dead [all unbelievers of human history arraigned before the Supreme court in heaven], the great [famous and successful] and the insignificant [losers in history] standing [unbelievers in their resurrection bodies as a result of the 2nd Resurrection] before the throne [the Great White Throne]. Then, the books [which register the good deeds of the unbelievers] were opened [to function as evidence against these unbelievers proving that they are not righteous enough], and another book was opened which is the Book of Life [to verify that they do not possess eternal life]. Then, the dead [unbelievers] were judged from the things which had been written in the books according to their deeds [good deeds and accomplishments]. (13) Then, the sea [where the sea prison of the Nephilim, the half human-half angelic beings are located] gave up their dead which were in it [the sea prison], also Death [apparently became the name of the location where those unbelievers, involved in the Gog-Magog revolution died (called the 1st death). Upon their death, they will be changed from their mortal bodies directly into their eternal bodies (no need for them to be sent to Torments and given interim bodies, and then a short time later have their interim bodies changed into everlasting bodies.) and Hades [all unbelievers in Torments will be changed from their interim bodies to their everlasting bodies] gave up the dead which were in them [two locations namely the Death and the Hades (ὁ θάνατος καὶ ὁ ᾅδης) according to the Granville Sharp Rule which states that if two nouns both possessing articles are joined by the Greek kai (καὶ), they are different, not the same] and they were judged each one of them [individually] on the basis of their deeds [good deeds]. (14) Then, Death [those unbelievers, involved in the Gog-Magog revolution] and Hades [those that came from Torments] were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the 2nd death, the Lake of Fire. (15) And, if anyone’s name having been written in the Book of Life [at birth] was not found in the Book of Life [at the Great White Throne Judgment], he was thrown into the Lake of Fire."
Revelation 20:9, "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. [This will probably be hundreds of millions of unbelievers]."
“Those who worship the beast-dictator,” the Dictator of the Revived Roman Empire.
Revelation 6:2, "Then, I looked, and behold, a white horse [of the first seal representing victory, conquest and dictatorship], and the one mounted on it [the rider is the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire] had a battle bow [most likely used as a weapon of terrorism and gorilla-warfare since the sword, spear and chariot are not mentioned]; and a crown was given to him [because the society was weak]; in fact, as a conqueror, he appeared [on the scene of history] so that he might conquer."
The Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. To the Romans, a white horse depicted victory, conquest and maximum authority. The horse of Roman generals in a triumphal procession was as white as they could get it, a good grey, in other words. The rulers of the Persian Empire rode white horses at all times as a badge of rank to be seen from a distance. The white horse in the Bible is a symbol of several things: victory, leadership, rulership, but in our context, it refers to dictatorship in the Tribulation as a historical trend.
The Rider of this White Horse:
1. The rider is identified as the evilest dictator among the evil dictators of the Tribulation. He is the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire and is given five different names in the Bible, all of which are related to eschatological passages. He is called the beast out of the sea in Revelation 13:1-10, the little horn in Daniel 7, the prince that shall come in Daniel 9:25, the scarlet, colored beast of Revelation 17:3ff, the wicked one (literally, the evil one) in 2 Thessalonians 2:7ff and is the subject of a number of scriptures.
2. The Tribulation will be characterized by dictators, more dictators than at any time in history. Dictators usually come to power during economic hardship, and in order to stay in power, they usually take the country to war. Dictators must have something to occupy the minds of the people because they are not on a solid economic footing.
3. The decline of society throughout the world in the Tribulation will occur for a number of reasons such as the removal of the pivot of mature believers at the Rapture, the disappearance of client nations, and the removal of God the Holy Spirit as the restrainer of evil. The inevitable result is the rise of dictatorships.
4. While the rider of the white horse specifically represents the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire, he also personifies all dictators of the Tribulation and, by application, all dictators of history.
5. One of the trends of the Tribulation is universal loss of freedom because of dictatorships. Dictators substitute their own arrogant volitions for the function of millions of free wills.
6. In this passage, we are not only looking at one dictator, but we are looking at dictators in general inspired by Satan, influenced by the Cosmic System. These dictators will come to power via the vacuum created by social degeneracy.
7. Occasionally in history there is dictator of great genius and humility who comes along and does something inspiring that last for a hundred years or so such as the rule of Julius Caesar.
8. On the other hand, arrogance seeks to dominate its environment whether it be a self-righteous, arrogant Christian in a local church or an arrogant self-righteous dictator in the Tribulation.
The Dictator of the Revived Roman Empire: Passages
There have been many dictators in history but the Roman dictator of the Revived Roman Empire is going to be the last, the greatest, and extremely evil.
Daniel 7:7b-8, “And [the transition from the Roman Empire to the Revived Roman Empire] it had ten horns [the ten-nation confederation in the first part of the Tribulation]. (8) While I was contemplating the horns [the ten nation-confederation], behold, another horn, a little one [the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire], came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it [This dictator decisively defeated three of the nations.]; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man [great perceptive ability; undoubtedly a genius] and a mouth speaking eloquently [Satan will promote and use an intelligent person for this very important role].”
2 Thessalonians 2:6-11, “And so now you know the one who restrains [the Holy Spirit restrains evil in the Church Age] so that he [the dictator of the Revived Roman Empire] may be revealed in his own dispensation [in the Tribulation and not before]. (7) For the Mystery of Lawlessness [already people have made deals with Satan] is already operational only he [the Holy Spirit] who now restrains [will continue that ministry] until he [the Holy Spirit] is taken out of the way [at the Rapture]. (8) And then [after the Rapture] the lawless one [the dictator of the revived Roman Empire] will be revealed, whom the Lord shall destroy with the breath of His mouth [the least power of God] in fact he [the Lord Jesus Christ] shall neutralize him by the very appearance of His coming [at the 2nd Advent], (9) [The dictator of the Revived Roman Empire] whose presence [in history] shall be according to the modus operandi of Satan with all power and by means of extra-natural signs [extra natural phenomena in the spiritual realm like healing] even lying wonders [propaganda]. (10) and by means of all deception of unrighteousness [This dictator is a pathological liar who has a ministry of disinformation and will deceive both unbelievers and some believers] to those who are being destroyed [ruined: If you do not possess truth, you will be deceived, ruined and destroyed.] because they did not receive the love for the truth [These unbelievers reject God at God Consciousness or at Gospel hearing or both; believers reject truth as related to their spiritual lives], in order that they might be delivered [from delusion, from destruction, from catastrophe]. (11) And so, for this reason, God will send them [unbelievers and believers of the Tribulation] the modus operandi of delusion [from black-out and scar tissue of the soul; strong delusion among the masses produces a power to be exploited by demagogues] so that they should believe the lie [the propaganda of the Dictator of the Revived Roman Empire will take advantage of the strong delusion of the masses].”
The dictator of the Revived Roman Empire will be the criminal of criminals
All criminality is acquired through arrogance. No one is born with a genetic tendency toward crime. It is all a matter of arrogance; e.g., authority arrogance, mental attitude arrogance, self-righteous arrogance, sexual arrogance, the arrogance of unhappiness, and above all, psychopathic arrogance. All criminals are such because of their own volition, because they have made many decisions to become a criminal. Environment is not the issue in criminality. The environment does not mold the criminal, rather the criminal molds the environment. Honor and integrity can belong to all, not just to one social caste. There may be 8 siblings from a very poor home. Seven become wonderful responsible citizens while one becomes a criminal. Criminals are criminals not because of their environment, but because they will to be so.
Criminals are arrogant, irresponsible and totally disoriented to authority. Criminality actually begins with rejection of authority in the home. Rejection of parental authority eventually results in the rejection of all legitimate authority including God’s Laws of Establishment, and therefore, the criminal is totally disoriented to life. He seeks to superimpose his authority on society. In arrogance, he gives lip service to the authority he encounters, but in his soul, he despises any and all authority except his own. A law-abiding citizen may be irresponsible without being a criminal, but all criminals are irresponsible all the time.
The criminal lives inside the Cosmic System and through self-justification becomes self-righteous and because of arrogance becomes totally preoccupied with himself. He is hypersensitive about himself and insensitive toward others. Strangely enough, he is very self-righteous, and filled with self-justification regarding his criminal deeds. For example, it happens many times in prison-riots during which criminals will kill other criminals. When asked why they killed another criminal, they will answer because the other criminal deserved to die. He raped and killed children whereas I merely raped and killed adults for I would never touch a child.
The criminal is a bored person. He wants excitement and proof of his power. In fact, the criminal's desire for excitement is so great that he becomes jaded without constant stimulation from excitement. To the criminal, living without excitement is a put-down. Therefore, the criminal requires constant stimulation related to his crimes, sex, torture, alcohol, or drugs, making others afraid of him. Eventually, only extreme criminal activity related to torture, rape, and murder is satisfactory as an antidote to his boredom.
All liars are not criminals, but all criminals are liars. For the criminal, lying is a way of life. Therefore, the criminal becomes a pathological liar. Habitual deceit and lying is the criminal's total disregard for the truth in any form. Lying is the criminal's standard way of dealing with the world, a part of criminal manipulation.
The criminal is saturated with a lust pattern of arrogance. He has sexual lust, killer lust, power lust, approbation lust, money lust, stimulation lust requiring extensive use of drugs or alcohol, cruelty lust from which comes torture and abuse of others, as well as homicide. From his arrogant preoccupation with self, the criminal is involved in a lust pattern from which it is almost impossible to break away.
Revelation 14:12
Here is [this calls for] the staying power [to be able to remain under great pressure and difficulties with happiness; this is tantamount to courage under pressure] of the saints [believers], who fulfill [observe, keep] the mandates from God and the doctrine of Jesus [the humanity of Jesus Christ learned Bible doctrine in the Prototype Spiritual Life].
Ὧδε ἡ ὑποµονὴ τῶν ἁγίων ἐστίν, οἱ τηροῦντες τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν πίστιν Ἰησοῦ.
Regarding courage, General Patton had this to say, “There is a time to take counsel of your fears and there is a time never to listen to your fears. It is always important to know what you are doing. The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That is the time to listen to every fear you can imagine. When you have collected all of the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead with the battle. Every plan you make in war is going to be a live or die decision: you will either live or die as a result of your decision. Since we are not afraid to do either, there is no reason to take counsel of your fear. The chance of being killed in combat is not as great as being killed on our highways. If you want to take counsel of your fears, stop driving a car, and don’t crawl in bed at night for more people die in bed than anywhere else. The person who cannot face death has truly never faced life because every day of life is a day closer to death. To take counsel of your fears about death is to destroy the day that you are living.”
An issue in verses 12 and 13 and in many verses throughout the New Testament is what does the believer do after salvation? It only takes one positive decision for salvation, but after that it takes many daily positive decisions. So, historically in the Tribulation there are going to be believers who make daily positive decisions for the Laws of Divine Establishment and for the intake of Bible doctrine.
Another issue: Can believers survive in historical disaster? Furthermore, can they survive with happiness? In verses twelve and thirteen, we see what happens to many believers of the Tribulation namely how they will survive with all of these problems. When the Tribulation ends with the 2nd Advent of Christ, there will be a tremendous number of believers who will have survived all of these disasters. There is, of course, a great application to this principle namely no matter how great are historical disasters, believers will survive and in many cases with great happiness.
“The staying power” [to be able to remain under great pressure and difficulties with happiness]. The humanity of Christ had this ‘staying power.’ Hebrews 12:2, "Be concentrating on Jesus, the pioneer [the one who established the precedence for our spiritual life] and perfector [He perfected the use of the Prototype Spiritual Life] of our doctrine who because of his exhibited happiness [Sharing the happiness of God provided the strongest possible motivation], he endured the cross [He possessed the greatest possible ‘staying power,’ a power in the soul that allowed Him to handle the greatest possible pressure and suffering with happiness] disregarding the shame [He did not react to the sins for which he was being punished] and sat down [his humanity] at right hand throne of God [a reference to His Session]."
The Christian can also develop this “staying power.” James 1:12, "Happy is the believer who endures [has this staying power; As the humanity of Christ demonstrated maximum staying power, so the mature believer can possess the greatest possible ‘staying power,’ a power in the soul that will allow Him to handle the greatest possible pressure and suffering with happiness] testing [passes the three categories of undeserved suffering] for having become approved [at his evaluation after the Rapture], he shall receive the wreath of life, which he [the Lord] has promised to those who love Him [enduring devotion and reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ]."
The greatest happiness comes to the believer who completes the spiritual life, because in doing so, he obtains the happiness which God has designed for him, the mature believer. The happiness of spiritual maturity is a system of integrity and thinking, a happiness not dependent upon people or things, but related to loving God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. This happiness, referred to as ‘sharing the happiness of God’ has great inner strength and ‘staying power.’ Since the mature believer has both enduring devotion and respect for God, he has the staying power, the inner strength to handle any test or suffering in life.
Church Age believers can have the same happiness as the humanity of Christ enjoyed during his 1st Advent. So, we need to study and understood the happiness of the humanity of Christ during the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. With the perpetuation of the great power experiment, the Prototype Spiritual Life of Christ into the Church Age via the Operational Type Spiritual Life, this great happiness can be obtained in the soul of the Church Age believer as he closes-in on spiritual maturity.
Paul as a mature believer expressed this happiness in Philippians 1:21, “As far as I am concerned, living is Christ and dying is profit.”
John 15:11, “I have taught you these things, in order that My happiness [sometimes referred to as ‘+H’] might be in you, and that your happiness might be completed [fulfilled].”
During His thirty-three years on earth, Jesus Christ had this phenomenal happiness which he acquired through His residence in his Prototype Spiritual Life. Now in this dispensation of the Church, we have the potential for the same perfect (completed) happiness in our Operational Type Spiritual Life. To say that happiness “becomes completed or fulfilled” means it develops in stages. Spiritual self-esteem is only the beginning of this phenomenal happiness. By advancing through Providential Preventative suffering to spiritual autonomy, this happiness based on your spiritual life becomes stronger. By advancing through Momentum Testing to spiritual maturity, this happiness reaches a very high point. When you pass evidence testing, it reaches a peak.
Proverbs 3:13, “Happiness belongs to the person who finds wisdom, even to the person who gains understanding.”
Psalm 31:7, “I will rejoice and be happy in the provision of Your grace.”
This happiness of the advanced spiritual life is always related to the provision of God’s grace which provides a personal sense of destiny for every believer. Without a personal sense of destiny, you will never be happy as a Christian. Furthermore, there must be an interlocking of a personal sense of destiny with Occupation with Christ to produce God’s happiness. No believer ever shares the happiness of God until he has a personal sense of destiny and occupation with Christ. This happiness reaches a peak upon successfully completing Evidence Testing which results in maximum glorification of God.
Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to Him, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think [for example, the privilege of being able to function as a witness in the Angelic Appeal Trial which testimony glorifies God to the maximum] according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory in the Church in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.”
Psalm 119:1-2, “How happy are those whose way is complete [and in so doing the believer develops maximum integrity], who walk in the law of the Lord [the life God has provided for us]. (2) How happy are those who observe His testimonies [a series of mandates from God], who seek Him with all their heart [stream of consciousness].”
(1) The believer who is prepared for historical disaster has a spiritual life classified as integrity.
(2) You cannot be happy without integrity. Integrity is absolutely necessary for love, for everything that relates to God, for everything that relates to people, and for happiness.
(3) The believer’s happiness in disaster is a great testimony to others.
(4) You glorify God by having His happiness.
(5) Having God’s happiness is a testimony on behalf of the Lord.
(6) This happiness is only possible through walking by means of the power of God the Holy Spirit.
Happiness related to confidence: Psalm 146:5, “How happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose confidence is in the Lord his God.”
Happiness related to trusting the Lord: Psalm 84:12, “O Lord of the armies, how happy is the man who trusts in You!”
Happiness related to respecting the Lord: Psalm 112:1, “Praise the Lord! How happy is the man who respects the Lord, who greatly delights in His commands.” Psalm 128:1, “How happy is everyone who respects the Lord, who walks in His ways.
Happiness and love meet in Psalm 100:1-5, “Shout the shout of great happiness to the Lord, all the land [the client nation]. (2) Serve the Lord with a super abundance of happiness [the Hebrew word simchah]; come into His presence with singing. (3) Know that the Lord He is God; it is He who delivered us [a reference to God the Son], and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture [feeding on spiritual food]. (4) Enter into His gates [a place of worship] with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; salute His person. (5) For the Lord is absolute good; His unfailing love [the Hebrew word, chesed] is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.”
How are the Hebrew words chesed and simchah related? The Hebrew word simchah means super abundance of happiness. The word chesed means the unfailing love of God. Chesed is the source of simchah. By putting the two words together, we have the concept that the unfailing love of God has provided a super abundance of happiness for every believer. There never was a time when the unfailing love of God and the perfect happiness of God did not exist. The unfailing love of God is the most powerful source of blessing we have and provides an increasing degree of the super abundance of happiness for the Church Age believer.
(1) The unfailing love of God provides a super abundance of happiness in time for the mature believer.
(2) The happiness in time becomes even greater in dying grace.
(3) The moment we die, we enter into an even greater happiness being face-to-face with the Lord in an interim body with loved ones, who have preceded us into heaven.
(4) Even greater happiness is the happiness we will have in resurrection body at the Rapture of the Church.
(5) We take this great happiness in resurrection body with us for a thousand years into the millennial reign of Christ as we rule with Christ and have an even greater happiness.
(6) Then we have an even greater happiness beyond description in the eternal state. Our human soul today could not stand this happiness of the eternal state, but in resurrection body, it will have the capacity for such a great happiness.
Revelation 14:13
Then, I [John] heard a voice [of God the Holy Spirit] from heaven which said, “Write, 'blessed [Happinesses: This beatitude is related to dying grace] are the dead [mature believers martyred in the last half of the Tribulation who will die under dying grace] who die in the Lord [in the Lord’s perfect timing]. The Spirit says, yes, from now on, in order that they may rest [the predictive future tense regarding rest and refreshment: The interim body is the interim state between physical death and the time of receiving a resurrection body.] from their labors [coping with disaster in the Tribulation] for their accomplishments [fulfilling their spiritual lives under great adversity and therefore, will receive great blessings and rewards in the eternal state] will accompany them [will follow them: idiomatically translated].”
Καὶ ἤκουσα φωνῆς ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ λεγούσης, Γράψον· Μακάριοι οἱ νεκροὶ οἱ ἐν κυρίῳ ἀποθνῄσκοντες ἀπí ἄρτι. ναί, λέγει τὸ πνεῦµα, ἵνα ἀναπαήσονται ἐκ τῶν κόπων αὐτῶν· τὰ γὰρ ἔργα αὐτῶν ἀκολουθεῖ µετí αὐτῶν.
Believers in the Tribulation will be martyred under the concept of dying grace.
Dying Grace:
God provides blessing and happiness to the mature believer in dying. This divine provision is called dying grace. Dying grace is stronger than any pain or suffering in dying. Even in the greatest pain, there is maximum soul stimulation through loving God and the happiness related to it. This is why Paul was able to say in Philippians 1:21, “As far as I am concerned [ethical dative], living is Christ [maximum love for Christ]; dying is gain [under dying grace]."
2 Timothy 4:6-8, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come [Paul has entered the dying stage]. I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course [completed the spiritual life]; I have kept the doctrine. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge will award me on that day [the period of evaluation following the Rapture]; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing [at the Rapture]."
Paul is happy in his dying stage for he knows that he had reached his objective of occupation with Christ [“living is Christ”]. He has finished the spiritual life that God had assigned to him. Since David also had reached occupation with the Lord, he was able to enter into dying with great happiness.
Psalm 23:4a, "Also, when I [David as a mature believer] walk through the valley of the shadow of death [expression for dying], I will not fear harm [In other words, the believer who is occupied with the Lord recognizes the principle that death is just another phase and a mere step into eternity.] since you are with me [an expression of reciprocal love]."
Dying is merely the conclusion of one’s life. If a believer has great happiness in life, he will have even greater happiness in dying. If the believer has the capacity to enjoy (be happy in) life, he will also have the capacity to enjoy dying. On the other hand, if one’s life is full of regret, anxiety and fear, then his sins will be magnified as he moves toward and enters his dying stage. David said that he did not fear the adversity of dying. The Hebrew word ‘ra’ has a number of meanings such as violence, disease, harm, and other categories of adversity involved in death. David did not fear these things, but you will if you do not develop a love for God. David did not fear the pressure and suffering that sometimes comes with dying because of his love for the Lord “since you are with me.” David knew that God’s love never fails in time of adversity.
Each believer will enter his own valley of death. In eternity past God designed a different valley for each believer. For some believers, the valley is very short, but for others the valley is very long with many turns (not straight). If the believer learns the Word of God and develops a wonderful relationship with the members of the trinity, he will have the greatest possible happiness as he goes through the valley that God has designed for him.
Psalm 116:15, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones [the mature believers]."
So, dying grace is God’s last opportunity to bless you in dying and so, dying grace should be the greatest blessings of your life. For the believer who has had the experience of all categories of divine blessing, this is the greatest of all. Dying grace, therefore, is the bridge between receiving Escrow Blessings in time and receiving Escrow Blessings in eternity. In dying grace, the believer walks over a bridge: he walks out of time and into eternity. He leaves behind great blessing in time for even greater blessings in eternity.
Death is an absolute; death is a certainty, in fact if the Rapture doesn’t occur for another hundred years, all of us as mature believers will have had the experience of dying grace and will know what it means to enjoy an interim body and an interim life in the presence of the Lord.
There is nothing more important than dying under God’s perfect wisdom and God’s perfect timing, and that is true for mature believers.
This is illustrated in Hebrews 11:13, "According to doctrine [doctrine resident in the soul] all these died under the principle of dying grace, not having received the promises, but having seen the same [the promises of their escrow blessings in eternity] from a distance, and having saluted and embraced them [via the Faith-rest Drill] also having acknowledged that they were strangers and transients passing through the earth."
Revelation 14:14
Then, I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and He who was sitting on the cloud was like the Son of Man, [Jesus Christ controlling history] and he has a golden wreath on His head [This wreath was earned by His strategic victory on the cross] and a sharp sickle [representing judgment] in His hand [as a result of his victory on the cross, God the Father delegated all judgment to Jesus Christ, the authority to judge the human race at any time].
Καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ νεφέλη λευκή, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν νεφέλην καθήµενον ὅµοιον υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου, ἔχων ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ στέφανον χρυσοῦν καὶ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ δρέπανον ὀξύ.
Jesus Christ Controls History:
1. Jesus Christ has direct control of human history through His divine essence, and through the divine decisions of the Supreme Court of heaven. This is the type of power mentioned in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 33:26, "There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you, and in His Majesty, He rides through the skies."
2. Jesus Christ has indirect control of human history through the function of the Laws of Divine Establishment. There are nations that follow the Laws of Divine Establishment and continue to survive and are even blessed by God through establishment principles. These are the laws related to the individual, marriage, family, and the national entity.
Romans 13:1-8 teaches this principle, “Let every soul be subject to governmental authorities, for there is no authority except delegated by God, that is, those which do exist have been delegated by God. (2) Therefore, those who resist the authority have opposed the ordinance of God [the divine institutions]; in fact, they who oppose shall receive judgment on themselves [punishment]. (3) For governing authorities are not a cause of fear for good function [establishment good] but for evil function [the rejection of the Laws of Establishment]. Really, do you desire not to fear the authority? Keep on doing the good [obedience to the Laws of Divine Establishment] and you will have recognition from it [the establishment type government]; (4). For he [government authority functioning under the Laws of Establishment] is a minister of God to you for the purpose of good [that you may advance under the umbrella of government], but if you do what is evil, keep on being afraid, for he [the government] does not wear the sword for nothing [capital punishment for the crimes deserving of capital punishment]; for you see he is a minister of God, a punisher to execute wrath to him who practices the evil. (5) For this reason, it is necessary to be subordinate to governing authorities, not only because of punishment, but also because of conscience. (6) So, for this reason also keep on paying taxes, for they are public servants of God who make a career out of this same thing. (7) Therefore, discharge your obligations to all: to whom taxes, taxes, to whom custom, custom, to whom respect [for authority], respect, to whom honor, honor. (8) Owe nothing to anyone [fulfill all obligations], except to love one another [impersonally]; for the one who loves another, has fulfilled the Law [of impersonal love.]”
3. Jesus Christ controls history through the hostility of mankind.
In Psalm 76:10, "For the wrath of man shall praise you [the Lord for Lord uses evil to destroy evil in finesse judgment]; With a remnant of wrath, you will gird yourself [The rest are restrained by seeing what happened to the portion wiped out.]"
The rise of Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler are excellent examples of finesse judgment. The communist helped to destroy the Nazis.
4. Jesus Christ controls history with legal control through liability to the laws of volitional responsibility. This is the principle of the sovereignty of God and the free will of mankind coexisting in human history to resolve the prehistoric angelic conflict. This is taught in Hosea 8:7, which tells us that “we sow to the wind and reap the whirlwind.”
Galatians 6:7-8, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he shall also reap. For the one who sows to his own sin nature shall from the sin nature reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap in life eternal."
5. Freedom and volition are the issues in both human history and the prehistoric angelic conflict. This is a part of Jesus Christ controlling history. Since freedom is necessary to resolve the Angelic Appeal Trial regarding the angelic conflict, the free will of mankind and the sovereignty of God must coexist in human history. The unique spiritual life of the Church Age is extremely important as part of the witness for the Prosecution in the rebuttal phase of Satan’s appeal trial.
John 8:32, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."
Psalm 119:45, "I will seek freedom; for I seek Your doctrines."
6. Jesus Christ controls history through the preservation of Israel. Our Lord gave Israel fantastic promises that must be fulfilled at a future time. Through three generations of believers in the Old Testament a new racial species was born.
Romans 9:7-13, "Neither because they are Abraham's posterity [racial Jews] are all children [of the inheritance], but [a quote from Genesis 21:12] “in Isaac your seed shall be elected.” (8) This means that the descendants of the flesh [racial Jews] these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned for the spiritual seed [regenerate Jews]. (9) For the word of the promise [of an heir] is this: [a quote Genesis 18:10] “At this time [the Lord promised to return from the previous year] I will come [to impute blessing] and Sarah will have a son.” (10) And not only this [the previous case history - Isaac, Ishmael], but also Rebecca when she became pregnant from one Isaac, our father. (11) For though the twins had not yet been born, and though they had not accomplished anything good or evil, in order that the predetermined plan of God [the divine decree] might remain in status quo in relationship to election, not from works but from Him who elects. (12) It was said to her [a quote from Genesis 25:23], “The older [Esau] shall be subservient to the younger [Jacob].” (13). Just as it stands written [a quote from Malachi 1:2, 3], “I love that Jacob [an anthropopathism for Jacob having believed in Christ], but I hate that Esau [an anthropopathism for Esau’s rejection of Christ].”"
Because of this, Jesus Christ is called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Matthew 22:32, "I am [and keep on being] the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob [They are alive in his presence: Exodus 3:6]? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living [Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are alive and will be given resurrection bodies at the 2nd Advent]."
Nations are judged for their anti-Semitism. You cannot malign the Jew and get away with it, just as you cannot reject Bible doctrine and get away with it.
7. Jesus Christ controls history through the preservation of planet earth and the entire universe which He created. Colossians 1:16-17 tells us that Jesus Christ not only created the universe but holds it together and preserves it.
Hebrews1:3a, "Jesus Christ holds the universe together by the word of His power. Who [Jesus Christ] being the radiance of His [God the Father's] glory, and [the deity of Christ] the exact image of His essence [the essence of God the Father]; furthermore, He sustains all things by the Word of His power."
Hebrews 1:10 tells us that He created the universe. “And, [Psalm102:25] ‘In the beginning, O Lord [the deity of Christ], You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.’”
Mankind does not have the power to destroy either the earth or the universe. The universe will not be destroyed until the termination of human history and at that time, the Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ will destroy it.
2 Peter 3:10-12, "But the day of the Lord [a protracted period: 2nd Advent to the end of the Millennium] will arrive like a thief [suddenly: fear, panic and shock] in which [day] the heavens will vanish with a sudden roar and the elements [chemical structure of the universe] will be dissolved with intense heat [possibly thermal action from nuclear fusion], both the earth and the works [related to the Book of Works, the basis of indictment at the Last Judgment] in it [the earth] will be investigated [a reference to the Last Judgment]. (11) Since all these things are in the process of being dissolved in this manner [the elements: structure of the earth], what kind of people [directed at the believer] ought you be in a dedicated to Godly lifestyle [which will glorify him]. (12) Anticipating and earnestly desiring the coming Day of God [the eternal state], because of which the burning heavens will be dissolved and the elements [the atomic structure of the universe] will melt [fusion] with intense heat?"
The deity of Christ will then create a new universe for the eternal state.
2 Peter 3:13, "But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells."
Revelation 21:1, "Then, I saw the new heaven and the new earth [Isaiah 65:17] for the first heaven and the first earth were blown away and there was no longer any sea."
8. Jesus Christ controls history through mature believers. Noah was used to preserve the human race in the prediluvian period. Abraham was used to start a new racial species. Moses was used to deliver the Jews from slavery and to begin a new Jewish nation. Joseph was used not only to preserve Egypt but also to prevent the starvation of hundreds of thousands and to provide a safe haven for his Jewish family. Rahab was instrumental in helping the Jewish Army enter the Land. God used the Jewish prophets to warn Israel on numerous occasions, and Jewish dictators to deliver Israel. Finally, one should appreciate how the writers of the New Testament impacted history!
9. More documentation regarding Jesus Christ controlling history:
Psalm 46:1-11, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in pressure [in tight places]. (2) Therefore, we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains should slip into the heart of the sea [This will occur at the 2nd Advent and is the basis for developing Jerusalem as a port in the Millennium.] (3) Though its waters roar and foam [the formation of the seaport], and though the mountains quake at its swelling. Selah. (4) A river whose channels will make glad the city of God [Jerusalem], the holy place of the Tabernacle of the Most-High. (5) Since God is in the midst of her [Jerusalem], she will not be moved [not totter]; the Lord will help her when the morning dawns [when the Millennium dawns]. (6) The Nations made an uproar [the last war in the last half of the Tribulation]; the kingdoms tottered. He [the Lord] raised his voice [uttered His battle cry as per Revelation 19:15], and the [inhabitants of the] earth melted. (7) The Lord of the armies is with us [Israel]; the God of Jacob is our fortification. Selah. (8) Come and see the works of the Lord who has caused desolation in the land [the deliverance of Israel at the 2nd Advent]? (9) He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He smashes the bow and cuts in pieces the spear; He burns the chariots with fire [This will usher in the Millennium]. (10) Cease striving [relax and use the Faith-rest Drill] and know that I am God [the use of the Essence of God rationale]; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth [at the 2nd Advent, Jesus Christ will supersede Satan as the ruler of the earth]. (11) The Lord of the Armies is with us [the citizens of Israel]; The God of Jacob is our fortification. Selah."
Protocol in heaven: the rest of this chapter.
Revelation 14:15
Then another angel [the Officer of Arms- second only to the King of Arms will deliver a command from God the Father] came out of the temple [from heaven], and he shouted with a loud voice to Him [Jesus Christ] who was sitting on the cloud, "Send in Your sickle [of judgment] and reap the harvest, because the hour has come to reap [time for divine judgment], because the harvest of the earth has become over ripe [When the human race through cosmic involvement is in danger of total destruction, then the Lord destroys segments of the human race where the degeneracy exists].
καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ ναοῦ, κράζων ἐν φωνῇ µεγάλῃ τῷ καθηµένῳ ἐπὶ τῆς νεφέλης, Πέµψον τὸ δρέπανόν σου καὶ θέρισον, ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ὥρα θερίσαι, ὅτι ἐξηράνθη ὁ θερισµὸς τῆς γῆς.
Protocol in Heaven:
1. God the Father is in the Heavenly Temple.
2. The Officer of Arms, second only to the King of Arms will deliver a command from God the Father to the Lord Jesus Christ sitting on the cloud.
3. Jesus Christ sitting on the Cloud will swing his sickle over the earth. This will signal His approval of the Seven Bowl Judgments.
4. The highest angel, the King of Arms is at the Altar of Imprecatory Prayer.
5. The Cherub with a sickle in charge of the Execution squad of Seven will come-out of the Temple and await orders from the King of Arms.
6. The King of Arms will come-out from the Altar of Incense and shout a command to the Cherub in charge of the execution squad of seven.
Revelation 14:16
Then, He who was sitting on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped [Jesus Christ who controls history approves of the coming divine judgment which will be executed by the Execution Squad of seven, commanded by a cherub-officer].
καὶ ἔβαλεν ὁ καθήµενος ἐπὶ τῆς νεφέλης τὸ δρέπανον αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐθερίσθη ἡ γῆ.
Revelation 14:17
Then, another angel [a Cherub from the College of Heralds who will command the Execution Squad of Seven to execute the Bowl Judgments] came out of the temple which is in heaven [the heavenly headquarters], and he also had a sharp sickle [the symbol of divine judgment].
Καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, ἔχων καὶ αὐτὸς δρέπανον ὀξύ.
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].
Καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος ἐκ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, ἔχων ἐξουσίαν ἐπὶ τοῦ πυρός, καὶ ἐφώνησεν φωνῇ µεγάλῃ τῷ ἔχοντι τὸ δρέπανον τὸ ὀξὺ λέγων, Πέµψον σου τὸ δρέπανον τὸ ὀξὺ καὶ τρύγησον τοὺς βότρυας τῆς ἀµπέλου τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἤκµασαν αἱ σταφυλαὶ αὐτῆς.
Revelation 8:3, "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."
According to Exodus 30:6, the Altar of Incense was placed just in front of the second veil. The second veil was the one that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and, later on, the temple. This is where the angelic King of Arms will stand. This is the heavenly temple from which the earthly tabernacle and the temple were patterned.
Incense represents the prayers of believers.
Luke 1:7-13, "And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years. (8) Now it came about, while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, (9) according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense [representing the prayers of believers]. (10) And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. (11) And an angel [Gabriel] from the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. (12) And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear gripped him. (13) But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John."
Revelation 8:4, "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]."
Revelation 6:9-11, "And when He [the Lord Jesus Christ] had broken the fifth seal [the historical trend of great martyrdom in the Tribulation], I saw under the altar [of the burnt offering in heaven] the souls [John actually sees their interim bodies which house their souls] of those who had been murdered [slaughtered like sheep], because of the word of God [they advanced rapidly in their spiritual lives], and because of the testimony [which came from their integrity] which they had maintained [they remained faithful to the Lord to the point of their martyrdom]. (10) Furthermore, they [the one’s martyred] shouted and said, "O sovereign Lord [They chose this word wisely for it means unlimited authority and power. It connotes an absolute ruler with unlimited use to exercise His power; They understand that they are addressing the one who controls history through his integrity and power], holy [the integrity of Christ as God] and true [the integrity of the humanity of Christ], how long will it be before you will judge and avenge our blood on the population of the earth?" [They will not be as specific in their imprecatory prayer as David had been.] (11) Also, a white robe [The Roman Stola was a long flowing robe: a reference to the Interim Body.] was given to each one of them [martyrs of the Tribulation. So, even though their mortal bodies were destroyed, they were given a much better body.]; and they were told that they should refresh themselves [enjoy their happiness in their interim bodies] for a little while longer until they, that is until their fellow-servants, even their brethren, those who were destined to be killed [in the Divine Decree] even as they had been killed, should be completed."
Revelation 8:5, "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]."
The Bowl Judgments must take place in order to preserve the human race. Without these judgments the human race would have been destroyed before the 2nd Advent.
Revelation 14:19
Then the angel [the pursuivant officer in command of the execution squad of verse 17] swung his sickle against the earth [the administration of the judgment of the 7 last Plague-Judgments called also Bowl Judgments], and he harvested the vines of the earth [areas of saturated degeneracy], and he threw them into the great [the adjective is masculine gender, an incorrect gender in modifying the following noun in the feminine] wine press [the greatest judgment of human history namely the last Seven Bowl Judgments] of the wrath of God [an anthropopathism explaining divine judgment as coming from the integrity of God].
καὶ ἔβαλεν ὁ ἄγγελος τὸ δρέπανον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐτρύγησεν τὴν ἄµπελον τῆς γῆς καὶ ἔβαλεν εἰς τὴν ληνὸν τοῦ θυµοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν µέγαν.
The mixing of genders in Greek is called a solecism. The name came from the Attic Greek colony of Soloi. On this island, the people were ungrammatical and so made many mistakes in speaking and writing the Greek language. In this passage it draws attention to God’s perfect system of judgment.
Verses 19, 20 take place on earth; then we go back to heaven in verse 21.
Revelation 14:20
In fact the wine press [the accumulation of Cosmic Evil from bad decisions] was trampled outside of the city [of Jerusalem], and the blood flowed out from the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, as far as one hundred and eighty miles [Since a stade (stadium) is approximately 200 yards, this blood would flow outward from Jerusalem for a hundred and eighty mile.]
καὶ ἐπατήθη ἡ ληνὸς ἔξωθεν τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν αἷµα ἐκ τῆς ληνοῦ ἄχρι τῶν χαλινῶν τῶν ἵππων ἀπὸ σταδίων χιλίων ἑξακοσίων.
The justice of God demands that those who live by violence (those attacking Israel) must be judged. The siege of Jerusalem is mentioned in Daniel 11, Zechariah 12, 14 and Revelation 16, 19. You cannot impress the enemy without a lot of killing. This last verse is designed to give believers confidence as to how it will turn out.
Revelation 14:1-20, Translation only:
Then, [the sequential use of the Greek conjunction, kai] I looked, and behold, the Lamb [as portrayed in the 1st Advent] standing on Mount Zion and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand [the Jewish evangelists who will saturate the world with the Gospel and Bible teaching], who [the 144,000] have His name [of the Lord Jesus Christ] and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. (2) Then I heard a sound from heaven [the singing of the angelic choir] like the sound of many waters [majestic] and like the sound of loud thunder [a great volume from all the elect angels singing]; furthermore, the sound which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps [a sound like a pipe organ accompanying the singing]. (3) And then [after the harpist] they were singing a new song [a hymn about the tactical victory of the Lord Jesus Christ at the 2nd Advent] before the throne [of God the Father in heaven] and before the four angelic heralds [high ranking seraphs], and before the angelic staff officers [twenty four in number]; furthermore no one was able to learn the song [among human beings] except the one hundred and forty-four thousand [Jewish evangelists and teachers] who have been redeemed [redemption of the body at resurrection] from the earth [all had been martyred during the Tribulation]. (4) These [the 144,000] are they who have not been defiled with women [did not get married though they had normal libido], for they are celibates [will function under the Law of Supreme Sacrifice like Paul had]. These are they who keep following the Lamb wherever He may lead [following the will of God through the function of their souls]. These have been redeemed from among mankind as the first fruits [first to be saved after the Rapture] belonging to God [the Father] and to the Lamb [the Lord Jesus Christ]. (5) Furthermore, no deception was found in their mouth [during their lives in the first half of the Tribulation; they will have as a base great humility which will produce honesty and truthfulness with great integrity; because of their spiritual advance, they will have great control over the sins of the tongue]; they [the 144,000 standing with the Lord on Mount Zion] are blameless [these believers will be absolutely blameless in their resurrection bodies just as all believers in resurrection bodies]. (6) Then I [John] saw [constative aorist: a reference to a vision John will have which he will present in verses 6-20] another angel [an officer from the angelic college of heralds] flying at high noon [the zenith point of the sun in any given time zone; Since the zenith of the sun is midday, it would be the best time for the communication of the gospel.], and he has the eternal Gospel [grace precedes judgment: believing in Christ or not is an eternal decision] to announce the good news [in the last half of the Tribulation] to those who are residing on the earth, both to every nation [Gentiles] and tribe [Jews scattered throughout the world] and language [a floating population of different languages, not associated with any nation] and people [wandering or dislocated people]. (7) And he [this angelic officer from the college of heralds] spoke with a loud voice, “Fear [imperative of entreaty: an appeal to human volition via respect and fear of eternal God] God and give glory to Him [by believing in Christ], because the hour of His judgment is about to come [at the 2nd Advent, the judgment of the armies attacking Israel followed by the Baptism of Fire]; and worship Him [involves homage and veneration] who created the atmosphere [the 1st heaven] and the land mass and the oceans and other salt water bodies [98% of the water on this planet is salt water; 2% is fresh with most frozen] and fountains of water” [fresh water on the land masses including rivers, lakes and inland seas]. (8) Then, another angel [another angelic officer], the second one, followed and kept saying, “Babylon the great [ecumenical religion] has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, she [the Greek article] has caused all the nations to drink from the wine of wrath [divine judgment on ecumenical religion as a system] of her fornication” [spiritual unfaithfulness to God and his plan]. (9) Then, another angel, the third one, followed them [the other two angelic officers], and kept saying with a great voice [at high noon], “If anyone [the converts of ecumenical religion] worships the beast-dictator and his image [the abomination of desolation in the Holy of Holies; in the Greek a 1st class conditional sentence] and receives [futuristic present] his mark [identification] on his forehead or on his hand” [the apodosis or the result clause is found in the next verse], (10) he [those who worship the dictator and his image] also shall drink from the wine of the wrath of God [Revelation 16:2 followed by the Baptism of Fire], which has been concentrated [very strong and powerful] in the cup of His anger, and he will be tormented in fire and burning sulfur [Torments followed by the Lake of Fire] before the holy angels [the elect angels are ones who will gather the unbelievers at the 2nd Advent] in the presence of the Lamb [The Lord Jesus Christ resolves the angelic conflict]. (11) Then, the smoke [when there is not enough oxygen for a fire to burn cleanly, there will be smoke (soot) in the air, an extremely miserable situation] of their torment [the eternal consciousness of the unbeliever in the Lake of Fire] rises forever and ever; furthermore, they do not have rest day or night [some people rest in the day others in the night, but for these there is no rest] for those who worship the beast-dictator and receive the mark of his name [this arrogant stubbornness will reject even the angelic evangelism etc. and suffers the consequences]. (12) Here is [this calls for] the staying power [to be able to remain under great pressure and difficulties with happiness; this is tantamount to courage under pressure] of the saints [believers], who fulfill [observe, keep] the mandates from God and the doctrine of Jesus [the humanity of Jesus Christ learned Bible doctrine in the Prototype Spiritual Life]. (13) Then, I [John] heard a voice [of God the Holy Spirit] from heaven which said, "Write, 'blessed [Happinesses: This beatitude of dying grace is inserted to bring-out the concept of dying grace] are the dead [mature believers martyred in last half of the Tribulation who will die under dying grace] who die in the Lord [in the Lord’s perfect timing]. The Spirit says, yes, from now on, in order that they may rest [the predictive future tense regarding rest and refreshment: The interim body is the interim state between physical death and the time of receiving a resurrection body.] from their labors [coping with disaster in the Tribulation] for their accomplishments [fulfilling their spiritual lives under great adversity and therefore, will receive great blessings and rewards in the eternal state] will accompany them [will follow them: idiomatically translated]. (14) Then, I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and He who was sitting on the cloud was like the Son of Man, [Jesus Christ controlling history] and he has a golden wreath on His head [This wreath was earned by His strategic victory on the cross] and a sharp sickle [representing judgment] in His hand [as a result of his victory on the cross, God the Father delegated all judgment to Jesus Christ, the authority to judge the human race at any time]. (15) Then another angel [the Officer of Arms- second only to the King of Arms will deliver a command from God the Father] came out of the temple [from heaven], and he shouted with a loud voice to Him who was sitting on the cloud, “Send in Your sickle [of judgment] and reap the harvest, because the hour has come to reap [time for divine judgment], because the harvest of the earth has become over ripe” [When the human race through cosmic involvement is in danger of total destruction, then the Lord destroys segments of the human race where the degeneracy exists]. (16) Then, He who was sitting on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped [Jesus Christ who controls history approves of the coming divine judgment which will be executed by the Execution Squad of seven, commanded by a cherub-officer]. (17) Then, another angel [a Cherub from the College of Heralds who will command the Execution Squad of Seven to execute the Bowl Judgments] came out of the temple which is in heaven [the heavenly headquarters], and he also had a sharp sickle [the symbol of divine judgment]. (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]. (19) Then the angel [the pursuivant officer in command of the execution squad of verse 17] swung his sickle against the earth [the administration of the judgment of the 7 last Plague-Judgments called also Bowl Judgments], and he harvested the vines of the earth [areas of saturated degeneracy], and he threw them into the great [the adjective is masculine gender, an incorrect gender in modifying the following noun in the feminine] wine press of the wrath of God [an anthropopathism explaining divine judgment as coming from the integrity of God]. (20) In fact, the wine press [the accumulation of Cosmic Evil from bad decisions] was trampled outside of the city [of Jerusalem], and the blood flowed out from the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, as far as one hundred and eighty miles [Since a stade (stadium) is approximately 200 yards, this blood would flow outward from Jerusalem for a hundred and eighty mile.]
