Emotional Revolt of the Soul
Before you begin your Bible study, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, be
sure you have named your sins privately to God the Father.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(Known, Unknown and Forgotten sins) (1Jn 1:9)
You will then be in fellowship with God, Filled with the Holy Spirit and ready to
learn Truth from the Word of God.
"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth,"
(John 4:24)
THE VOCABULARY PROBLEM
"The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can
understand it? "I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to
each man according to his ways, (Thoughts) According to the results of his
deeds. (Actions) (Jer 17:9-10)
The emotional revolt of the soul centers around two words found in this
passage, the “heart’” and the “mind.” Although they are literal organs in the
body, they generally do not refer to the physical organs when they are used in
the Bible. Since there is no vocabulary word in either the Hebrew or the Koine
Greek for certain functions of the soul, such as the “emotions,” words of
anatomy which have parallel functions in the soul have been substituted. The
words translated “belly,” “bowels” and “reins” refer to the emotions, thoughts
and or mind of the soul, “Heart” is usually the designation for the "right lobe’’ of
the mentality and or human spirit of the soul. Let’s take a look, then, at the soul.
THE SOUL
Illustration
The soul has essence, which is composed of six characteristics. First of
all, it has self-consciousness, (The element that makes you aware of your own
existence) faith, mentality, volition, emotion and conscience. The soul also has
mentality contained in two frontal lobes. The left lobe, translated “mind” from
the Greek word “nous” is the perceptive lobe. This is a staging area from
which, for believers --- God’s Thinking is transferred to the human spirit and
then to the right lobe.
The right lobe is the dominant lobe and is designated’ by two different
words in the Greek: “kardia’’ (Heart) and “noema” (Understanding and or
Thought). It is the area referred to in, (Prov 23:7) which says, “For as he (A
person) thinks in his heart, (Right lobe) so is he.” “Heart” in the Hebrew refers
to the Divinely designated authority of the soul --- the heart or right lobe of the
mentality of the soul. (The sin nature controls the soul or the Holy Spirit through
our human spirit)
The right lobe, (Spiritual brain for believers) has seven areas: a frame of
reference, memory center, vocabulary storage, categorical storage,
conscience, momentum, and wisdom.
Illustration
Our soul has a viewpoint --- human or God’s; and or a mix of both --- this is
also where you keep memories about people — all kinds of people. It is the
place where you store your attitude toward country, toward life, toward your
job, etc. When you began to think, you began to develop norms and standards.
You have norms and standards about what is right and wrong, what things are
proper, and so on. Some of your norms and standards may be compatible with
God’s and some may not. Truth provides us with information whereby you can
develop God’s norms and standards.
The viewpoint is a combination of what you have in your frame of reference
plus your norms and standards. (Conscience) You have a viewpoint about
everything in life art, music, sports, country, God, church, to name a few. Your
viewpoint determines your attitude toward life and your capacity for life. The
believer’s Divine Viewpoint must have Truth to launch into the soul and into
experiences in life. Finally, technical, Theological categories are identified by
means of the vocabulary.
Another characteristic of the soul is volition. This means that you are
capable of making decisions, and you are responsible for these. The soul also
has emotions. We will be examining the emotions in our study of the “mind and
or reins.” Every soul, since the fall of Adam, has an old sin nature, or Adamic
nature, designated in Scripture by the terms "flesh’’ in, (Rom 8:3-4) and “old
self’ in, (Eph 4:22) The sin nature has an area of weakness which produces
personal sins, an area of strength which produces human morality and
sentiment, a lust pattern, and trends toward asceticism and lasciviousness. It is
the distorter of the soul.
THE DECEITFUL HEART
Our study begins with that part of the soul called the “heart” or right lobe.
In, (Jer 17:9) we are introduced to the “deceitful heart’’ “The heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Since the word
“deceitful” is an adjective, the first phrase should have been translated “the
deceitful heart.” What is a deceitful heart? Deceitful” here denotes some kind of
phony, pseudo-thinking — an action that is antagonistic toward God.
To understand the deceitful heart, we need to understand that technically
all the facets of the soul are linked and interrelated by a very intricate “wiring”
system. There is wiring that goes from the human spirit to the right lobe, which
takes care of Spiritual Thinking; wiring also extends from the old sin nature to
the right lobe. When the old sin nature thinks sin and or sins --- it goes from the
sin nature through the wiring into the right lobe.
If you are thinking about a person or a situation from your frame of
reference when these mental attitude sins come in, you will immediately regard
that person with mental attitude sins.
A “deceitful heart’’ is the right lobe of the mentality filled up with mental
attitude sins from the old sin nature. The mental attitude sins travel in the soul
— from the sin nature to the right lobe. The deceitful factor is that mental
attitude sins completely deceive you in your relationship with God. You are
kidding yourself if you think that you have fellowship with God when you are
involved in mental attitude sins. (Isa 55:7) The worst sinning in the world never
gets outside the soul, though obviously the repercussions do. You can be
jealous and bitter and go in for revenge. Revenge becomes overt when you
malign or gossip or try to hurt; but the mental attitude sin itself doesn’t leave the
soul — apart from rebound, of course.
The heart is said to be "more deceitful than ANYTHING else! In other
words, the sin nature full of mental attitude sins is more desperately sick and
deceitful than anything else in our life! (Jer 17:9) So, when the old sin nature
cycles mental attitude sins into your right lobe, if there is no Truth there to meet
the situation, you couldn’t be worse off Spiritually: we are dangerously sick in
our soul!
Now, “who can know (Understand) it?” Anyone who is functioning under
Operation Z, and who has a frame of reference filled with God’s Thinking --- is
in fellowship, and filled with God the Holy Spirit can Spiritually Understand it.
(1Co 2:15-16) But the next verse is going to give some amplification.
THE HEART SEARCHED
“I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind...” (Jer 17:10) These two
verbs, “search’” and “test” are actually participles in the Hebrew text, and
denote continuous action. In this case, there is never a time when God isn’t
constantly searching the thinking --- if it is human false reality; or God’s Reality;
Thinking as He Thinks --- in order to provide maximum companionship and
blessing. (Job 7:17-18) The primary meaning of “search’’ means “to explore.’’
God is an Explorer. In eternity past God explored every right lobe; therefore,
He knew how each one would operate. Because He is the Explorer of your
soul. He provided salvation for your soul through the work of Jesus Christ on
the cross! (2Th 2:13)
Note that the exploration site is said to be the “heart.” This means that
God is exploring the Thinking of your right lobe in three areas: first, the frame of
reference with its memory center; is being explored to see whether you have
God’s frame of reference. Second, God explores your conscience to determine
whether your norms and standards are compatible with His absolute norms and
standards. Third, your viewpoint is searched. Does your right lobe contain the
necessary Divine Thinking that will give you a Divine Viewpoint about
EVERYTHING in life? (John 16:13)
How do you fill your right lobe with God’s Thinking and Reality? That is the
whole subject of Operation Z. But briefly, Truth is communicated by a pastor-
teacher through, isagogical, categorical, exegetical teaching, (ICE) it then
enters the left (Perceptive) lobe as a staging area. From there it must be
transferred BY FAITH to the human spirit. It is then cycled into the seven areas
of the right lobe. With a Maximum amount of "tested" Truth and time filled with
God the Holy Spirit --- your heart is not only non-deceitful, but it WILL BE
BLAMELESS. (Acts 24:16; Eph 1:4; Php 2:15; (2Pe 3:14)
Paul had to learn Truth and build an edification complex, (ECS; Temple) in
his soul before he could communicate Truth. The more Truth he knew, the more
he was able to teach. Thus his right lobe was enlarged or increased with
knowledge of Truth. Our right lobes are increased in the same way, and the
result is Spiritual maturity through an ECS!
God blesses on the basis of grace, and MAXIMUM grace blessing comes
to the believer with MAXIMUM Spiritual Thinking in the right lobe. So the Lord is
continually exploring the content of your right lobe to see how much grace
blessing He can give you. (Isa 30:18) In addition, Truth in the right lobe gives
both capacity for temporal life as well as for Spiritual life; capacity to enjoy
pleasurable things and social activities, capacity to cope with danger,
temptation, pressures, prosperity and adversity in fact, capacity for
EVERYTHING in life!
THE REINS OR MIND
“Test the mind. “The word “test” here means “to test for function.” The
Lord is constantly testing the “reins = thoughts.” First of all, what are the
“reins’’? The Hebrew word is “kiljah” (Pronounced “keel-ya”) and is translated
“reins in the KJV.” This word in the Hebrew is in the feminine gender, and
anything that is feminine is designed to be a responder. So, as we shall see,
the thoughts and emotions have been designed to be responders of the soul.
Most dictionaries and lexicons will define ‘reins’ as the “kidneys.” But the
word “kiljah” means more than just the kidneys. Every normal person has two
kidneys, and on top of each kidney is an adrenal gland. Adrenal glands secrete
at least two hormones, one of which is adrenalin. This is an emotional hormone,
used to stimulate you for “fright, fight and flight.” The whole system is protected
by a fat pad, which surrounds the kidneys and the adrenals. So “kiljah” actually
refers to the fat pad; but by analogy it refers to the emotions. There is a very
close relationship between the physiological functions of the glands in the fat
pads and the emotions of the soul.
The heart, as the dominant lobe in the mentality of the soul, is analogous to
the man; while the emotions, as the responder and appreciator of the soul, are
comparable to the woman. For this reason they are linked together in certain
passages, (Psa 7:9; Psa 26:2; Jer 11:20; Jer 17:10; Jer 20:12). Just as a man
initiates love to his wife and she responds to his initiation, so the right lobe
initiates to the emotions. The question is, do the emotions respond, or do they
dictate and nag the right lobe? This question must constantly be answered to
determine our capacity for the Spiritual life.
CAPACITY FOR LIFE
Potentially, the believer has the greatest capacity for life; but experientially,
he can wind up in the worst possible shape. You need not possess a lot of
money to enjoy life; but you do need capacity! Although God will assign to you
a certain amount of materialistic things, a right amount of time, prosperity,
testing, adversity, or whatever it might be, these all must be based on your
capacity to enjoy them.
True capacity for both temporal and Spiritual life results when the right
lobe dominates the soul and the emotions respond. Emotion has no Divine
Thinking or knowledge of its own. It depends on the knowledge or Truth of the
right lobe; or lack of it. Therefore, emotion takes on the character of the thing
to which it responds. If emotion responds to Truth in the right lobe, it has great
capacity for life under the happiness spectrum from tranquility to ecstatics. If,
however, emotion responds to the old sin nature, it will produce the misery
spectrum of frustration, self-induced misery, lust, revolt, loss of freedom, scar
tissue, sublimation, etc.
Notice that the word “mind’ is in the plural. (Thoughts) Either the heart is
filled with God’s Thoughts and His REALITY; or Satan’s thoughts and one of his
many, many, MANY REALITIES! Through response to God, Truth and Christian
music, the right lobe, gives the believer capacity for the Spiritual life. When
there is Truth in the heart so that you have a Divine frame of reference, when
the norms and standards are compatible with Divine norms and standards,
when the viewpoint lines up with God’s Viewpoint, then you have capacity for
life. Capacity for life based on Bible Truth; (God’s Thinking) this will insure a full
and wonderful life. Every facet of your life, whether Spiritual or temporal, will be
interesting and fascinating — even phenomenal!
The response of the emotions to Truth is illustrated in, (Psa 16:7). “I will
bless the Lord (A response of Personal love toward God) who has counseled
me, (God’s Thoughts learned through ICE) my Thoughts also instruct me in the
night.” When you have taken in Truth under normal conditions --- when in times
of pressure God the Holy Spirit brings them to the memory center; and the
emotion responds to what you have learned, then you are able to have capacity
for life in ANY and EVERY circumstance! This capacity is described in,
(Psa 16:8) “I have set the Lord continually before me; (By staying in fellowship)
Because He is at my right hand, (Occupation with Christ) I will not be shaken...”
(Or quit Thinking with His Word) (2Pe 1:10)
Now, this is the optimum, the way things SHOULD work. But let’s see how
things go wrong and how the system gets out of balance.
THE EMOTIONAL REVOLT
When we sin and get out of fellowship and quit Thinking with God’s Reality,
(Singular = ONLY ONE) the old sin nature sends out its mental attitude sins and
realities, (Plural = MANY) then the emotion takes those false thoughts and
starts to dictate to the right lobe. What we have then, is: EMOTIONAL
REVOLT IN THE SOUL. This is a “deceitful heart”; THAT IS “desperately sick”!
(Jer 17:9) We are ALL born in this condition; and have to change our minds!
(Rom 3:10-12; Rom 6:17-18; Rom 12:2)
God’s Thinking should dominate the soul; but when the emotions revolt and
start to dominate, the entire system is thrown out of kilter. For example, the
heart should initiate Viewpoints such as, patriotism, Laws of establishment and
Divine institutions; but when the emotions are dictating, you have cowardice,
draft-dodging, socialism and even revolution. God’s Thoughts should initiate
Virtue-love; but when the emotions revolt, then jealousy, lust, fear, worry,
bitterness and implacability come into play.
The heart with Truth in the frame of reference initiates to the emotions and
they respond with appreciation for Truth, for who and what Christ is, for what
God has given us; but when the emotions revolt and become the initiators,
people get into the tongues movement, the “new age” movement, legalism, and
many other Weird activities where the emphasis is on how you FEEL rather
than on Thinking with Truth. This is emotional revolt of the soul!
The more apostate Christianity becomes, the more emphasis there is on
emotional activities — the emotions dictating to the right lobe. As a result we
have people singing “Just as I am, was or hope to be” around a campfire,
dedicating and rededicating, trying to get “the rosy glow” through some
emotional experience. God wants us to get the greatest thing in the world;
capacity for life, death, adversity, prosperity, love and happiness; but that
capacity comes from Truth, not from the emotions!
THE MIND AND FEAR
When an individual is under great pressure, the stimulation of the emotion,
which is related physiologically to the adrenal glands, comes into action. Often
in desperate situations you are able to accomplish phenomenal things.
However, if under pressure you operate on your emotions, you will fight, run
away, or give up! God has provided Truth so that you can have stability in
EVERY situation, including great pressure. Now, Truth is contained in the Bible,
but to be usable, it has to be transferred into your right lobe.
When the old sin nature gets hold of the emotions, the mental attitude sins
of fear, worry, lust, criticism, anxiety, guilt feelings, etc., move through the
emotional pattern. In other words, mental attitude sins start in the old sin
nature, but they go through the emotional pattern and end up in the right lobe.
When this happens, the true function of our emotions is reversed: the emotions
revolt in the soul and begin to dictate to the right lobe! They become a bossy
female instead of a responsive woman. Soul breathings becomes impossible:
you can’t inhale Truth or exhale Divine Thinking. As a result, capacity and or
appreciation for Spiritual and temporal life is destroyed.
THE HINDRANCE TO CAPACITY FOR LIFE
The mental attitude sins from the old sin nature hinder the capacity for life
as well as for love. This Principle is found in, (Prov 23:15-17).
My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart also will be glad; And My
inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak what is right. (Prov 23:15-16)
A wise heart refers to Truth in the frame of reference; Truth forming the
basis of the conscience --- the new norms and standards. Truth forming the
basis of Divine Viewpoint; Truth on the launching pad into the soul and into
experiences in and of life. Now notice Who rejoiced, “God” So when Divine
Thinking is in the right lobe this finds a response and favor with God! If we get a
little up-tight or a little short, then thoughts and emotions backfire.
Do you see the Principle? If you start in the right lobe, and you have inner
happiness because of Truth, you are going to have inner happiness in your
emotions! Of course, the old sin nature, which is the source of temptation ---
might start a rumble; and whenever a mental attitude sin walks in, the trouble
begins! We have a warning in: (Prov 23:17). “Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But live in the fear of the LORD ALWAYS. (STAY IN FELLOWSHIP BY
REJECTING MENTAL ATTITUE SINS!)
All of a sudden, mental attitude sin jealousy enters the emotions. If mental
attitude sins are not handled promptly through, (1Jn 1:9) they multiply and get
worse, so that eventually you get hallucination in the heart, and that is the
“deceitful heart,” or the “desperately sick heart.” The old sin nature says, “Say,
emotion, don’t you get tired of being kicked around by Truth in the soul? Don’t
you get tired of being a responder all the time? Arise and revolt! So up from
the old sin nature comes jealousy; and once jealousy is established in the
emotions, it is a mental attitude sin. Of course, it is true of any mental attitude
sin. The emotion then revolts and you start wide emotional swings. You become
frustrated and miserable, and in the extreme, neurotic or psychotic. You have a
nagging emotion or a sick soul!
Finally, the backup of mental attitude sins causes the emotions to dominate
the right lobe; thus a beast or a monster is created in the soul!
When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within, Then I was
senseless and ignorant; (Of Divine Thinking) I was like a beast before You.
(Psa 73:21-22)
This person’s right lobe was grieved — he fell apart under pressure; his
emotions were punctured — he had wide emotional swings. Therefore, he was
foolish and ignorant and like an animal. “Then I was” indicates that he was a
believer. So, meet the believer-monster, the believer-animal! The believer-
animal has reversed the whole procedure. When the emotion rules the soul, it
shuts down the right lobe and no Truth comes through. This is why we have
legalism and human moral degeneracy; this is why we have draft-dodgers,
liberals and traitors; and this is why some of the people most useful to the devil
in the angelic conflict; are believers out of fellowship; the result: liberal theology,
socialism, social action, new age, and the tongues movement!
For this reason, Divine discipline is Biblically related to the emotions of the
soul.
He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me
desolate. He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow. He made the
arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts. (Lam 3:11-13)
All these phrases are pictures of discipline.
“He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.”
He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust. My
soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. So I say, "My
strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD." Remember my
affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul
remembers And is bowed down within me. (Lam 3:15-20)
As a result, he is filled with mental attitude sin bitterness. Here is a mental
attitude sin going from the sin nature to the mind to the right lobe! Once the
emotion revolts and becomes the aggressor, it loses all capacity for life and
substitutes the misery spectrum for the happiness spectrum!
Interestingly enough, clinical psychology has described the characteristics
of emotional revolt and reversionism, which are closely related, as the
“psychopathic personality. In her book, “Psychopathic Personality and
Neuroses,” Dr. A. A. Terruwe has the following comments, which you will
recognize as symptomatic of both emotional revolt and reversionism.
Psychopath personality is a disease of the EMOTIONAL LIFE. The normal
mature person controls his emotional life by the intellect. In this way the
emotional life blends perfectly with the intellectual life. In the psychopathic
person, the normal subordination of the emotions to intellect is not present.
…It is deficient and in some cases completely lacking. …It is the emotion
that takes over at the expense of the intellect. Even in neurosis, the same
mechanism seems to be the causative factor . . . that is to say that it is the
emotions that control the intellect rather than the intellect controlling the
emotions.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITY:
1. Imbalance
2. Instability
3. Egocentricity
The key defect is lack of regulation of the emotional life by the intellect.
The action of this regulating factor is diminished or abolished in the
psychopathic personality. As a result, the relationship between stimulation and
reaction lose all proportion.
The psychopath lacks the ability to evaluate realistically the OBJECT of
their emotional reactions. This drive towards a false object becomes so intense
that REASON no longer can govern their actions. They lose all objectivity and
all intellectual reasoning abilities as they pursue the false object, and or
themselves with PSEUDO-LOVE fanaticism. This imbalance leads to marked
INSTABILITY of their emotions. The "normal person’s" emotional life is
controlled by the intellectual life, and this in turn leads to a certain degree of
stability.
The psychopathic person in pursuit of his false object by purely emotional
“non-thinking” can change from a love response to unreasonable hatred. This is
why the psychopath is unpredictable ...and can never be trusted! You can never
depend on him. The psychopath with his incapacity for true love becomes
preoccupied with self-gratification. This egocentricity is typical of most
psychopaths. The true psychopath relates everything to himself!
True love and friendship are unknown to the psychopath. When they love, it’
s for their own sake, and the friendship lasts only so long as it is to their
advantage. A psychopath at times can be exceedingly religious and in fact
some psychopaths claim to reach a level of false Spirituality that gives them
supernatural powers, and many become totally involved in mystical existence.
Their false Spiritual life is determined by what they desire instead of what God
desires. ... Disorientation to time, and disorganized delusions.…
THE SHORT-CIRCUIT OF OPERATION Z
The most important things in life are the ability to concentrate and the
ability to express in your Spiritual Thinking and vocabulary the Concepts of God’
s Reality! These come inevitably by a daily intake of the Word of God, and this
must be based on the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in our life. (John 4:23-24)
Thus the importance of rebound can never be minimized. It is the means of
being filled with the Spirit, of checking the emotional revolt in the soul, and of
following through in the function of Operation Z. While the emotion of the
believer who is positive toward the Word appreciates Truth and matures
thereby, the emotion of the carnal and or negative to application believer;
hinders the learning of Truth.
Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened
wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own
affections. (Old sin nature) (2Co 6:11-12)
The open mouth was the communication of Truth, first from the greatest of
all Bible teachers, the Apostle Paul, then from that eloquent speaker, Apollos,
then from Timothy, and later on from Titus. Four great Bible teachers! All of
them taught the Corinthians. All of them taught on the basis of personal study.
Yet the Corinthians failed to learn Truth. Why?
Your Bibles say, “You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in
your own affections. ” Paul is saying, “Ye are not LIMITED by us; (Paul,
Apollos, Timothy or Titus) you are limited by your own EMOTIONAL
PATTERN!” Remember, emotion has no content; it does not produce character;
it cannot hold Truth or capacity for love. Emotion cannot, in fact, hold anything;
it is merely a responder. So when the emotions revolt and take over the
dictatorship of the right lobe, Truth is shut off in the right lobe. It cannot get into
the frame of reference, the norms and standards, or the viewpoint; and since
there is no Truth in the emotions, they get out of line. They initiate to the right
lobe. In other words, since there is no stability in the right lobe, all we can do is
emote and get ecstatic, lustfull, fearfull, hatefull, etc. Emotion becomes the
standard rather than the Word of God!
That is why the Corinthians were suckers for the “tongues movement,”
which necessitated the long dissertation on tongues in (1Co 12:1) thru
(1Co 14:40) These people were in emotional revolt so that they could not take
in Truth. Truth is built upon Truth through the function of Operation Z: Truth
goes into the left or perceptive lobe; then it is transferred by faith to the human
spirit where it becomes Spiritual Understanding; then it cycles up to the right
lobe to fulfill its various functions for application.
Emotion can respond to Truth, but it cannot learn it or build Truth on Truth.
The emotional revolution against the establishment of the soul, then, short-
circuits Operation Z and causes the malfunction or total failure of the grace
apparatus for learning. This is what happened to Judah. (Jer 17:11) says, “…
and in the end he will be a fool”; or literally, “and their end shall be NABAL,
“desperately foolish.” “Desperately foolish” is the emotional revolt which upsets
the balance of the soul’s function. “Desperately foolish’’ means that Truth is cut
off from the heart; “foolish” is the influence from the old sin nature. Since the
emotions have no Doctrinal Thinking, when Truth from the right lobe is not
controlling them, they are “foolish” and when they respond to the sin nature, and
the sin nature fires up mental attitude sins, lust and human moral degeneracy,
the emotions are “desperately sick.”
A nation which goes out under the fifth cycle of discipline has become
desperately sick that is, its people have become totally negative to Bible
Thinking and therefore totally degenerate. God wipes them out to keep the
disease from spreading to other nations. Every time there is a great disaster to
a nation in history, and a large segment of the population is wiped out, you can
write that nation off as desperately sick! God has to preserve the human race.
You are here today with some degree of sanity because God keeps wiping out
the desperately sick.
SEPARATION FROM EMOTIONAL REVOLT
The failure of Operation Z, because of emotional revolt in the soul,
frustrates God’s grace in the life of the believer; and makes God’s plan
impossible to fulfill. This is why Christians can and do become psychotic. For
this reason, believers are commanded to separate from other believers involved
in emotional revolt of the soul.
Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions
and hindrances contrary to the teaching (Thoughts) which you learned, and turn
away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their
own appetites; (Old sin nature’s emotional pattern) and by their smooth and
flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. (Rom 16:17-18)
“Now I urge you” is actually a command. Believers “brethren” are
commanded to make a reconnaissance to observe them which cause divisions
and to beware of them. Why? Because they are in opposition to Truth, and
therefore, they cause stumbling, ruin and misery “hindrances” They are
troublemakers! They are not serving the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies
— EMOTIONS — OLD SIN NATURE; they are in emotional revolt! They are
serving their emotions, and there is nothing in the emotions.
Of course, they can still put out some good words: “by ‘smooth’ words and
‘flattering’ speeches, they deceive the hearts of the stupid and unsuspecting” —
those ignorant of Truth and therefore lacking in discernment. They do the same
thing to you that has happened to them. They get you to go into an emotional
revolt, which cuts off the right lobe.
Believers who live by their emotions are believers whose emotional revolt
has produced chaos of the soul. The emotion is no longer a responder but an
aggressor. Believers with chaos of the soul are troublemakers. And believers
who have learned Truth are commanded to separate from them.
THE OLD SIN NATURE; A PARAMOUR
In effect, emotional revolt is tantamount to the emotions fornicating with the
old sin nature; they are unfaithful. The old sin nature is a paramour which turns
the emotion from a responder into an aggressor or a tyrant and upsets the soul.
If your wife becomes a fornicator, (Physically and or Spiritually --- mentally
unfaithful) and you try to go back to her, you are, as the saying goes, “beating
a dead horse.” Just so, the old sin nature was the culprit that caused you to be
born Spiritually dead. Therefore, to respond to the sin nature is to go back to
something that is DEAD AND DECEITFUL!
The emotional revolt is always the result of the old sin nature reacting in
one of three areas: the area of weakness, which produces mental attitude sins;
the lust pattern; or the area of strength, which produces human moral
degeneracy. The emotions, which were DESIGNED to respond to the right lobe
only, can, however, respond either to Truth or they can respond to jealousy,
pride, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability. They can respond either to the
norms and standards of the right lobe, or to approbation lust, power lust,
materialism lust, sex lust. The emotions can respond either to the Divine
Viewpoint of the right lobe or to the old sin nature.
Backed by the old sin nature, the emotions are the sponsors of human
moral self-righteousness, the motivation of the lust pattern and mental attitude
sins. Emotion was never designed to be a sponsor! But once it revolts against
the heart and becomes an aggressor, it comes under the influence of the old sin
nature, and it loses all capacity for life.
CAPACITY FOR GRACE
God’s Thoughts in the right lobe determines appreciation and capacity for
God’s grace in the emotions of the soul.
A Psalm of David. Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my
integrity, (Spiritual maturity) And I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
(Rom 4:20) Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.
For Your loving-kindness is before my eyes, (In fellowship) And I have walked
in Your Truth. (Thoughts) I do not sit with deceitful men, Nor will I go with
pretenders. I hate the assembly of evildoers, And I will not sit with the wicked.
(Separation) I shall wash my hands in innocence, (Rebound when necessary;
1Jn 1:9) And I will go about Your altar, (Heb 13:10) O LORD, That I may
proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving And declare all Your wonders.
(Psa 73:28) O LORD, I love the habitation of Your house And the place where
Your glory dwells. (The Temple in us) (Psa 26:1-8)
He was not telling God something God didn’t know; he was setting up the
Principle for us. There was no legalism or self-righteousness; he was ready for
death; and therefore the TRUE SPIRITUAL LIFE! Why? He had TRUTH in a
PURIFIED HEART, and Truth in the heart causes response in the emotions.
David could therefore say with confidence, “Examine me, O LORD, and try
me; Test my mind and my heart.
For Your loving-kindness is before my eyes, And I have walked in Your Truth.”
(Psa 26:3) Do you know what “loving-kindness” is? It is grace supplied grace in
action; MAXIMUM FREINDSHIP WITH GOD! “For your grace in action is
before mine eyes.” Why? “Because, (Literally) I have walked in Your Truth
(THOUGHTS).” Truth is the only way you can respond to God’s love!
God found a way in eternity past to bless us, without our getting our
legalistic self-righteous oar into it! And Truth comes through a whole grace
structure. The very fact that we have God’s Thinking to Think with; is GRACE!
The very fact that there are communicators of His Thoughts; is GRACE! The
response to Truth; is GRACE. The means of getting Truth at the right place at
the right time and the capacity for life; is GRACE!
Further, Truth gives the capacity for love, and capacity for love produces
boldness! Some of you ladies are timid souls; some of you are considered to
be very quiet; but when you have the capacity to love someone, you can be as
bold as the brassiest woman who ever lived! David has that type of boldness
with the Lord. But be careful — don’t start saying, “Now, look. Lord, I’m ready
for all that grace; “because if you’re not purified in heart, (The Spiritually mature
life) you’re going to get lightning! (Tested and or disciplined)
When you function daily under Operation Z, a grace operation, the result is
maximum Divine Thinking in our right lobe. With a maximum amount of Truth in
the frame of reference, the Holy Spirit can instantly bring into the memory
center Doctrinal Thoughts which are used to give you a COMPATIBILITY with
God as a part of Category One Personal love for God. God has PERFECT
THOUGHTS. Truth in your frame of reference sets up the PERFECT
THOUGHTS which are consistent with His! (Isa 55:8-9; John 12:49-50;
John 14:21; John 14:23; John 14:24-26) The result is our Viewpoint becomes
Divine Viewpoint. Therefore, when you function daily under Operation Z, and as
a result you have maximum Truth in the right lobe, you then possess maximum
emotional response and great capacity for responding to God’s love. More than
that, when you have maximum Truth in the soul, God possesses your emotional
responses; and by possessing your emotional responses, He gives you in grace
the most fantastic capacity for life:
"But now I come to You; and these things (Thoughts) I speak in the world
so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. (John 17:13)
THE TRAGEDY OF EMOTIONAL REVOLT IN LEADERSHIP
The book of Jeremiah contains many instances of the emotional revolt of
the soul. The fortieth chapter begins the background of a widespread emotional
revolt, which finally led to complete reversionism among the remnant of Judah.
During the first Chaldean invasion, In (Jer 39:1-18) the army had dispersed:
some escaped to Edom, Moab and Ammon; others hid out in the mountains
after escaping from Jerusalem with Zedekiah, the king. When Zedekiah and his
family were captured, most of the generals escaped with the remnants of their
commands. Some of these generals were un-Principled, without a sense of
responsibility, and considered their own personal safety rather than the
protection of the population of Jerusalem. These, notably Ishmael, would later
return to precipitate a civil war among the remnant at Mizpah.
Word had gotten around that the remnant was enjoying prosperity under
Gedaliah, (Jer 40:7-8) whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed as governor of
the Chaldean buffer state. (Jer 41:2) Prosperity always attracts scavengers
and parasites who want to get their hands in the cookie jar. (Jer 40:11-12) For
sixty days after the destruction of Jerusalem, the remnant in Mizpah, where
Gedaliah had set up his headquarters --- enjoyed a period of great happiness
and tranquility, and the realization of the Divine Principles of establishment
which contribute to the stability of a nation. Gedaliah had been taking in the
Word of God under the ministry of Jeremiah. Jeremiah himself was in the
palace.
However, there is a danger, particularly in prosperity, of entering a mild
emotional revolt. Of the three categories of emotional revolt Category One, a
mental attitude sin motivation, Category Two, a lust motivation, and Category
Three, a self-righteous motivation, the latter is most apt to occur during a
period of happiness and prosperity. It is very easy to fall into a trap known as
“sentimental love” or “Sentiment: A personal belief or judgment that is not
founded on proof or certainty; Tender, romantic, or nostalgic feeling or emotion.”
"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and
wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he
cannot be My disciple. (Luk 14:26)
I am not talking about “agape” Impersonal love — the relaxed mental
attitude which we are Commanded toward SELF AND ALL PEOPLE; I am
talking about the subtle pseudo-love-system, which is a sentimental personal
love for friends and family; used as a substitute for Spiritual Virtue and Truth.
(Mark 8:31-38)
We are going to see that Gedaliah fell into this trap; he became extremely
naive, and all the Truth he had been taught went for nothing! As a result, there
would be a civil war, which would eventuate in a general emotional revolt among
the people. The original Mizpah crowd were believers who had establishment
Principles or who were in the process of building them. The Jews who were
returning were apostate fugitives. In the ensuing civil war, the “establishment
Principles” crowd became the “establishment party,” while the fugitive crowd
became the “revolutionary party”
Ominous clouds were gathering on the horizon. The first of these clouds is
evident in, (Jer 40:9-10) as we begin to observe that Gedaliah had
“sentimental” tendencies. He made a solemn promise in verse 9 to people who
were apostate, who came to cut his throat, and who planned to rob, plunder
and enslave the remnant:
Then Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and
to their men, saying, "Do not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans; stay in the
land and serve the king of Babylon, that it may go well with you. (Jer 40:9)
Nothing that Gedaliah said at this point was non-Biblical, but he was naive
about the type of people whom he was welcoming into the fold. He stated the
Chaldean policy, a conciliatory policy, which if abided by, would guarantee their
safety. The reason for this policy toward the believing remnant was that
Jeremiah had been so faithful in his communication of Truth that many of the
hierarchy of the Chaldean military had become believers in Jesus Christ.
Through Truth, the Jewish remnant had understood that the Chaldeans were
the instruments the Lord had chosen to administer the fifth cycle of discipline to
Judah, and these Jews were loathe to fight against them. The Chaldeans,
impressed with their attitude, had reacted favorably toward them.
Foolishly, Gedaliah revealed his own plans to the revolutionists in,
(Jer 40:10) which would leave them free and undisturbed to make their
reconnaissance throughout the land. He wisely took a stand, however, to be a
loyal servant of the Chaldeans, for he understood that this was God’s will. He
then told the conspirators, whom he failed to recognize as wolves in sheep’s
clothing, not to fight the Chaldeans but to settle down to farming. The very fact
that Gedaliah accepted them was the first sign of a breakdown of his own
Spiritual discernment.
The establishment crowd were positive to Truth and were continuing under
Jeremiah’s ministry. The apostate crowd were negative toward Truth and were
infiltrating. This was a time when separation was necessary but would not be
forthcoming. Remember that the source of prosperity at this time was Truth —
Truth that was translated into the lives and souls of the remnant of believers
who remained in the land. But Gedaliah was a weak leader who definitely had
an emotional blind spot about a seemingly beautiful set of circumstances. His
emotions were listened to rather than his Spiritual Thinking. Without taking into
consideration the consequences of the Spiritual compromise involved, he
thought that all these people would be a great help in the land. Yet they merely
wanted to skim off the cream; they wanted the prosperity but not the Truth!
(John 2:24-25; John 6:15-27) Inevitably, then, there would be conflict — unless
Gedaliah as governor had the courage to suppress violence.
Who would have thought that during such a happiness interlude, during the
time of glorious prosperity, war clouds were on the horizon? That most of these
people would soon either be corpses or slaves? Yet that was exactly what was
going to happen!
This leads to a very pertinent question for us to consider: Why are so
many people unable to apply Truth in certain areas, even though they may learn
the Word everyday? The more a believer advances, the greater is his potential
of falling flat on his face because of blind spots. Every advance in Truth has an
increased area for blind spots. Therefore, it is imperative to keep
APPLICATION up with intake. We often fail to realize how many times each
day God gives us the opportunity to apply some facet of Truth; we need to ask
God IMMEDIATELY what are You attempting to teach me! When we fail to do
so, we become naive in certain areas; and if those areas happen to occur in a
period when carnality and or apostasy has infiltrated, we will come under the
anathema of: (Jer 17:5-6)
Thus says the LORD, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind (Anyone
or thing, for our happiness) And makes flesh (The old sin nature) his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the LORD. "For he will be like a bush in the
desert And will not see when prosperity comes, (Of Salvation and or to reach
Spiritual maturity) But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt
without inhabitant. (Jer 17:5-6)
Jeremiah had taught this, but Gedaliah never understood it. As a result, we
are going to see Gedaliah trusting a monster who will murder him, and calling
his dear friend, Johanan, a liar. How could Gedaliah be so deceived? Ishmael
was sweet and personable; Johanan was a plain, blunt and rough soldier. We
all become blinded at some time or other by sweetness. We mistakenly
assume that sweetness, kindness and generosity is Spirituality; and that
bluntness is carnality. (Gal 4:16) When we make this mistake, we create an
area of naiveté; which is incompatible with the Spiritual life or with the Divine
Viewpoint.
There was one general in Biblical history who passed this test; one
hundred percent, and that was David. During one of his campaigns, his canteen
became empty, and he expressed a tremendous thirst. Some of his troops
risked their lives to bring him water. David then did what seemed to be a very
strange thing — he poured the water on the ground. This was a sign of Spiritual
maturity — an ECS! When he saw how much these men loved him, he knew he
could not order them into dangerous assignments which would mean their
deaths if he drank that water, and thus he would become unfair as a field
commander. He would have been weakened in Spiritual courage and would
have catered to the ones who brought him the water. Therefore, he could not
take the water without blinding his eyes; so he poured it out to the LORD.
(2Sa 23:14-17)
Gedaliah, on the other hand, had this malady which comes to all of us
sooner or later — a mild attack of emotional revolt from human sentiment —
pseudo-love. Even a mild attack can so blind the mind that true Divine Thoughts
are destroyed. Thus a potentially great leader was turned into a mediocre
leader. By his own misguided --- sentimental ---sincere --- "brotherly kindness,"
he was actually responsible for the deaths and the temporary enslavement of
many of the establishment crowd! He was also responsible for the deaths of
seventy out of eighty pilgrims who came down from the north. It is very difficult
to be a leader in a time of apostasy. Decisions have to be made objectively and
on the basis of the Word of God — let the chips fall where they may! Gedaliah
wasn’t up to it; David was!
THE WARNING OF THE CONSPIRACY
How many times are we as believers warned about something? It is
imperative that those in leadership listen to and weigh carefully certain
warnings. At one time David was about to slay a drunken bum named Nabal,
(His name means fool; 1Sa 25:25) who owed him a great sum of money.
(1Sa 25:1-42) David was angry — in Category One emotional revolt, mental
attitude sin — and was going to take it out on Nabal’s hide. A beautiful woman
with Divine Thinking; (1Sa 25:3) stopped David in his tracks! (1Sa 25:23-33)
When he dismounted, she gave him excellent advice, which he took. Again, here
was a Spiritually mature man. He weighed the advice, made a decision on the
basis of Truth, and refrained from murder.
By contrast, Gedaliah failed to take good advice. Johanan was military
advisor to Gedaliah. He was honest and blunt and a good soldier. His
weakness was that he didn’t know how to follow through with the Spiritual life. It
takes the military establishment to win freedom, but victory must be followed up
with Truth. Johanan, in, (Jer 40:14) came to Gedaliah in great concern to warn
him of a plot against his life. “Baalis, the Ammonite king,” said Johanan, “is
behind this conspiracy.” It was the objective of Baalis to reap through plunder
the benefits of the prosperity of Truth. The establishment crowd had done a
great job in taking over industry, and the economic recovery of the land was
phenomenal.
Now the plot was to be carried out by Ishmael, who was one of the
generals of the army who had fled the Chaldeans. Josephus tells us that
Ishmael had found refuge in the court of Baalis, and Baalis had found in Ishmael
a willing accomplice to his plot to destroy Gedaliah’s government and plunder
the country. Both Baalis and Ishmael were brilliant men. The difference
between the two was that Ishmael was in emotional revolt because of mental
attitude sins — he was jealous of Gedaliah — while Baalis wanted to rob
Judah, but had no ax to grind. He was not jealous of Gedaliah or the remnant. A
person who is smart but full of mental attitude sins often becomes the dupe of
someone who has less intelligence but no personal emotional revolt.
Ishmael knew how to capitalize on Gedaliah’s naiveté. No doubt he had
already sent word back to Ammon that his job would be easy. He had found
that Gedaliah was a sucker for sentiment and brotherly love. In effect, Gedaliah
had implied that their Doctrinal differences were not important — “Let’s just love
each other; let’s be one big, happy family. You are all welcome to come to my
palace at any time. And Ishmael, I want you especially to come and eat with
me!” Ishmael assured him that he would. Gedaliah was the antithesis of
Ishmael, and he was therefore no match for Ishmael.
Gedaliah was a man in whom there was no guile. (Psa 32:2) His honesty
and forthrightness in responding to Jeremiah’s ministry and staying in the
Chaldean party revealed his own character. However, Gedaliah made the
mistake of assuming --- that everyone was like himself open and aboveboard.
Those who are guileless find it difficult to detect or to believe guile in others. It
never occurred to Gedaliah that Jews would return to the land for any except
the highest motives of patriotism. The only protection that Gedaliah had was in
Truth — particularly Jeremiah’s famous message in: (Jer 17:5) “Cursed is the
man who trusts in mankind...” — because they all have old sin natures!
(John 2:24-25) Furthermore, the happiness interlude had deceived Gedaliah
into watering down Truth.
Gedaliah was the kind of person who went to Bible class when the
pressure was on; when the heat was off, Gedaliah took off! Everything was fine
now and he didn’t need Truth. Invariably when a person gets away from Truth,
he will go into some form of sentimentality compatible with his emotional revolt!
Emotion is controlling the soul; and since emotion has no character, no Truth,
no common sense or discernment, it is inevitable that such a person will begin
to trust and love everyone. This is not true love, but an emotional activity of the
soul.
Gedaliah fell into that trap, and so he could not believe that the Jews who
returned would have evil motives. Leadership demands discernment, which
Gedaliah did not possess. If he would protect himself as well as those he is
leading, a leader must begin by assuming that no one can be trusted;
(Mic 7:5-6; Mat 10:34-39) — which demands knowledge of the Doctrine of sin
and the sin nature. (Do not be overbearing and do not be overrun!) Gedaliah’s
naiveté will result in his own tragic death and civil war in the land.
Now there was still some common sense in the land. An excellent solution
was offered in, (Jer 40:15) by Johanan, his friend. He would simply kill Ishmael
before Ishmael killed Gedaliah! Here is the Principle of maintaining government
or establishment. It takes violence to stop violence. This is also a DIVINE
Principle of law — the Principle of capital punishment. (Gen 9:6; Rom 13:4)
Capital punishment puts teeth in the law. Johanan gave a very good reason for
suggesting that he slay Ishmael. He had discovered the conspiracy and was
well aware that if successful, it would cause the destruction of the remnant!
Unhappily, Gedaliah would not believe Johanan and refused to let him
carry out the suggestion. (Jer 40:16) Furthermore, Gedaliah accused Johanan
of the worst kind of lying. Thus his blindness was complete and his leadership
neutralized!
THE ASSASSINATION OF GEDALIAH
In the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of
the royal family and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men,
came to Mizpah to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. While they were eating bread
together there in Mizpah, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who
were with him arose and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of
Shaphan, with the sword and put to death the one whom the king of Babylon
had appointed over the land. Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were
with him, that is with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found
there, the men of war. (Jer 41:1-3)
Ishmael, the leader of the conspiracy, was the cousin of Zedekiah and
therefore of the royal seed. Since Zedekiah had been blinded and taken to
Chaldea, Ishmael considered himself to be the true king of Judah. He was guilty
of power and approbation lust and was jealous of Gedaliah — two areas of
emotional revolt of the soul. Ishmael had taken up the invitation of Gedaliah to
be his guest for dinner. Ten men came with him. They were hand-picked.
Ishmael had a whole army; but there is one thing a conspirator would never do
and that is to show up with the entire army and frighten the intended victims so
that they are put on guard.
Although they were outnumbered, (The Chaldean garrison was close by,
as were the palace guards) the revolutionists had a carefully laid plan, and
would have the advantage of surprise. Theirs would be a sneak attack, such as
we had at Pearl Harbor. Since the laws of hospitality in the ancient world
forbade violence, this would be the ideal time for their treachery.
Note that Gedaliah has been so overcome by the prosperity of the land
that his emotions have undergone a reverse process. He has been so
stimulated by the happiness interlude that he incorrectly thinks everyone is
wonderful. Prosperity has caused his emotion to be stimulated, but not by
Truth! This false stimulation has cut off Truth in the right lobe; and while
Gedaliah had Truth, he could not apply Truth in this situation. He is in very
serious trouble!
This is what has happened to Christianity today even in fundamental
circles. While still giving it lip service, they have actually departed from Thinking
with God’s Thoughts; and using their own. (Isa 65:2) They are still
acknowledging the Bible as the Word of God; but when you bring up the
importance of THE WORD, (John 1:1) they always come up with something,
that to them is more important… It is more important to love everyone; hangout
with friends and family, it’s more important to work in the church, or to get out
and knock on doors or to help the helpless. They even go so far as to say that
if you emphasize God’s Word, you don’t have Christian love! Truth is being
attacked in one way or another. It no longer has its proper place. (FIRST
PLACE!) (Psa 138:2; Rev 2:4)
Ultimately this leads to complete apostasy, as is evidenced by
“churchianity” today! As is much of our academic training. A Principle that we
need to recognize is that once a national entity permits violent ones to run
through the country without restraint, these can never be stopped short of
greater violence! Johanan is the one who would exercise the greater violence to
stop the violence of the revolutionary party in Mizpah.
The revolutionary party, which began with a Category One preoccupation
with self --- emotional revolt in the leader, Ishmael, now has the objective of
overthrowing the establishment and taking over the fruits of prosperity for
themselves. They have added a Category Two preoccupation with others ---
emotional revolt — power lust and covetousness, and are, of course, in
reversionism. But in destroying the Divinely appointed establishment, which
contains the Divine laws, they will neutralize the very basis of the prosperity!
The first action of the revolutionists begins in, (Jer 41:2) and the action is
violence. Revolutionists always seek to gain their objectives by deceit and or
violence — by the destruction of life, prosperity and property, by intrusion on
the privacy of others, and by intimidation through physical power. The violence
which destroys revolution and preserves freedom must be a part of the Divine
institution, the establishment, and it must be enforced by a trained group of
killers i.e., the MILITARY! Military is a bona fide function. Generally speaking,
military types are the most law abiding group in the land. They learn how to live
with others, to respect the rights of the individual, and yet to function with
others as a team. So the military, both directly and indirectly, plays a great part
in the function and maintenance of freedom, as well as in the economic success
of life.
If Gedaliah in his position as governor of the land, had exercised his
authority, he would have put the conspirators on trial before they ever went so
far as revolution. He would either have executed them or expelled them from
the land, and the happiness and prosperity interlude would have continued. But
he went soft, and in the name of brotherly love and sentimentality; this opened
the door for the takeover of the revolutionists.
As a result, the establishment is going to be wiped out quickly. The
conspirators are well organized and well prepared. THEY KNOW WHAT THEY
ARE DOING! The victims don’t know what’s going on! Lack of awareness of a
conspiracy means a failure of preventive or defensive action when the time
comes. We in this country are neither prepared nor conditioned mentally to
meet our enemies. Our enemies comprise the whole Communist world. We are
taking the soft attitude when we ought to be tough. What will it take for the
United States to come out of its ANTI-GOD AND HIS THINKING lethargy?
The only way we will ever be mentally conditioned is to have another tragedy
such as that at Pearl Harbor. But that is the wrong way to face national
catastrophe. Why should those men have died at Pearl? Every man who died
there, is a monument to the stupidity of this country. Those men were, in effect,
murdered by our leadership and by those Americans who were so anti-military
that a year before the Pearl Harbor attack, the military was still training with
wooden guns! Leadership must recognize the dangers and warnings, face the
issues and prepare the people. We entered World War II on an emotional kick.
But that isn’t the way to preserve freedom!
The account of the assassination of Gedaliah and the Jews who were with
him indicates that, in effect, Gedaliah and the whole establishment party had
brought about their own downfall by lack of awareness of the conspiracy and
failure to have Johanan and the military in readiness. Emotional revolt in the soul
destroys both discernment and alertness. Gedaliah represented authority; and
the elimination of that authority precipitated a civil war. That is the subject of the
rest of, (Jer 41:1-18).
The establishment under Johanan eventually won the civil war, but as has
happened in our country, they lost the peace. Human freedom is perpetuated
by TRUTH! The Mizpah group came out of the war in Category One emotional
revolt — shock and fear — and did not continue with Truth. They went negative
to the Word of God as communicated by Jeremiah Chapters, (Jer 42:1) thru
(Jer 43:1-14). And even though God had promised deliverance and protection
from Chaldean reprisals, they fled to Egypt. Thus the establishment which won
the war destroyed itself. They went into reversionism and died the sin unto
death. (Jer 44:1-30)
THE DIVINE SOLUTION
Now, how is it possible for a believer with Spiritual adulthood to revert to
total apostasy? The answer for the Jews of Judah lay in the fact that they failed
to pass the prosperity test; during the happiness interlude which followed the
fall of Jerusalem. During this period, the Jews were so intrigued with their
prosperity that they forgot its source — GOD AN WHAT HE THINKS WITH ---
HIS WORD! TRUTH! (John 8:31-32) They were like believers who come to
Bible class during adversity but quit in time of prosperity! The enjoyment of
prosperity turns them negative toward Truth; (Jer 22:21) then begins the
accumulation of scar tissue on the left bank of the soul. This, in turn, triggers an
emotional revolt of the soul and quickly goes into reversionism; (A subject that
is dealt with in another book). In emotional revolt, application of Truth is
impossible, and human viewpoint solutions prevent Divine Viewpoint Thinking.
It is tragic that this nation has lost track of the Biblical Principles whereby
we can maintain our freedom. But because we have, we are going to come to
that very place to which the establishment group finally came to in,
(Jer 44:27-28). Our country began very much like the remnant under Gedaliah
— as a nation under God. There were very few people in the entire population
of the thirteen colonies who were not either believers, Theists or Deists —
three groups who recognize the existence of God. Atheism and agnosticism
represented a very small portion of our population.
In our brief history we have been blessed in a magnificent way by God.
Part of God’s blessing is direct and part is indirect. Direct blessing belongs to
the believer only. It starts at salvation, and is based on grace, which is God’s
plan by which we enter Divine blessing through faith in Jesus Christ.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, (Salvation) it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no
one may boast. (Eph 2:8-9)
Indirect blessing, which comes through the Divine Laws, is for believer and
unbeliever alike. The fact that we are still a nation under God enjoying some
measure of freedom, is God’s indirect blessing from which all the people are
benefiting, not just believers. In many cases, this freedom is neither understood
nor properly used. Whenever apostasy, liberalism and potential revolution
exists, liberty is always abused.
In effect, we have in our country today the same things which existed in the
happiness interlude in Judah under Gedaliah. We have Truth available, the
Divine Concepts of freedom and the fantastic prosperity that comes from the
operation of certain Divine Laws, such as, the Divine institutions, the military,
(Neh 4:14) objective-type Law, (Exo 20:1-7) compatible with Divine Institution #
4, (Gen 10:32) Law enforcement and capital punishment, (Gen 9:6;
Rom 13:1-8). These Principles are the reason that the “wicked” (Unbelievers
and carnal believers) often prosper. (Psa 73:12; Jer 12:1) God does not
change His essence or His Word because He sees some unbelievers and
carnal believers following the right Principles of the economy! Yet, in these days
of apostasy, the very existence of this country depends on those who have
Truth --- and Think with God’s Word! They are the “salt of the earth --- the
preservers of a nation!
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless,
(Through emotional revolt) how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good
for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
(Condemned by ALL; God, Satan, believers and unbelievers; no one likes a
quitter!) (Matt 5:13)
As never before in the history of our nation we need Spiritually mature
believers, stabilized by an edification complex in the soul. We must steer clear
of the pitfalls of the emotional revolt of the soul. Our souls must function as God
intended, according to the Divine design: the emotions responding to Truth in
the right, or dominant lobe. Then, and only then — by God’s grace — can we
hope to return to those Principles which made our nation great!
End
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