God's Game Plan # 7

SYSTEM TESTING 

IN THE DEVIL’S WORLD 

      Genuine unfairness does exist in human organizations and systems. Sooner or later every believer on the momentum line when he is ready will be tested by an unfair system; in your job, family, doctors office, traffic, church, store, social club, marriage, restaurant, nation, city and or even from our own failures; real or imagined. Etc…

     And WE KNOW that God causes ALL THINGS [Even our own failures] to work together for good to those who love God, [Rebound and stay in fellowship] to those who are called according to His purpose. [To reach Spiritual maturity] (Rom 8:28)

     For God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, (Gen 1:3; John 1:5) is The One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge (2Pe 1:19) [Spiritual Thoughts leading to Spiritual maturity] of the glory [Spiritual life] of God in the face of Christ. [His prototype Spiritual life] But we have this treasure [The Holy Spirit, Spiritual life, Divine Thoughts, Etc.] in earthen vessels, [Human bodies] so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God! and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, [Sin nature tests] but not crushed; perplexed, [Thought tests] but not despairing; persecuted, [People tests] but not forsaken; struck down, [Organization and disaster tests] but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, (Rom 6:6-8) so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. (Rom 8:11; (2Pe 1:4) For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death [Experiential death to the old sin nature] (John 12:24-25) for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus [The New nature] (2Pe 1:4) also may be manifested (Gal 2:20) in our mortal flesh. (2Co 4:6-11)

     The advancing believer needs to know this is a necessary part of growth that God has brought to our life! (Deut 32:39) do not allow testing to contribute to failure. (It is only a test!) (Rom 4:20-21)

     And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, [Tests] so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. [Spiritual life made stronger] Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, [Sin nature tests] with insults, [People tests] with distresses, [Thought tests] with persecutions, [System tests] with difficulties, [Disaster tests] for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, [Tested] then I am strong. [Spiritual growth] (2Co 12:9-10)

     If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, [To live in fellowship] because of this the world hates you. Remember the Word that I said to you, A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My Word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. (John 15:18-21)

     Should you become bitter or vindictive and vent your wrath to anyone who will listen? Should you take vengeance or seek to vindicate your sullied honor? Should you threaten to sue? Or fall into worry or self-pity? Indeed not! As a member of the royal family of God, possessing the Spiritual life that sustained the Lord Jesus Christ, you were never intended to behave as unbelievers do, or as believers behave in carnality!  (1Co 3:1-3) But if you allow these momentum tests to lure you into a pattern of sin nature reaction, you miss your opportunity! You act like a Spiritual peasant. Failing the system test means failure to advance at this particular stage of your Spiritual life. No testing of the growing believer ever comes as an accident. (1Co 10:13) If you are treated wrongly, God has a purpose in it! He has a reason for bringing pressure into your life. His objective is to accelerate your growth and capacity for more lovingkindness and Truth! (Psa 108:4; Psa 57:3) When an organization implies that you have failed, you have an occasion to advance that does not exist under conditions of success. We can always learn from our failures; rarely do we learn from our successes. At one time or another everyone fails or is considered a failure! But it is your attitude in failure that determines your mettle, not your attitude in success! Anyone can conduct himself with dignity and poise under agreeable circum­stances, but when difficulties abound; then a person’s true Spiritual growth is illuminated. What you really are is what you are under pressure!

     Unless God opens our eyes, we will not see! You can try to never fail; God will make sure you do! (Job 5:17-18) Most do not have that problem! In other words, paradoxically, failure is the making of a person. No one can succeed without overcoming failure! In disaster he forges the Virtues that lead him out of failure into success. Hence, system testing should be the challenge of the believer, not the destruction! You have no excuse for being shocked when you are treated unfairly. Whoever told you the world was fair? Or that you were perfect! (1Pe 4:12-13) You will fail, and you will be treated unjustly! (1Pe 2:18-25) In reality or just imagined! We grow when we Think with His Promises! (Rom 8:28-32) Integrity comes from Truth — Divine Thinking in the soul, which Satan opposes. As the enemy of Truth, Satan can only be unfair. But in the very quality he lacks, God uses to bless us; and provides strength to deal with his injustices. In Truth and by the integrity of living in the Spiritual life, (Eph 3:10-11) we have the solution to system testing. (Heb 5:8) 

SOCIAL LIFE WITH GOD

     In Reality, the solution to all testing is our social life with God. In specific application, the answer is the combination of implementing Impersonal love and using the faith-rest drill. Anyone with discernment and sufficient humility to possess common sense limits his social life! (Psa 26:1-8) He reserves his Personal Esprit de corps love for just those friends who are not only honorable and stimulating but are also compatible with God Thoughts, Interests, and Objectives in life. (2Co 6:14-18) Beyond that inner circle are many acquaintances whose company he may enjoy on a limited basis. You choose your friends by their Virtues; you like their approach to life and value their observations. Because of their integrity you respect their positive volition and Spiritual growth level; therefore, you care what they Think. When you become the victim of an inequitable system; know that System testing often brings the added consequence of peer pressure and exclusion. You may imagine that your friends condemn you, “or they do” so you avoid them and cut out your social life altogether. But such a reaction is strictly preoc­cupation with self. You have fallen into the arrogance of human false reality and self-pity of the cosmic system! But you may also react by going out of your way to explain yourself. You may devote tremendous energy to justifying yourself so friends will not assume the worst. But people will think whatever the old sin nature wants them to think. (1Pe 2:15) When you have been rejected, fired, or censured by an organization, there will always be people who will look down on you. Gloaters are never hard to find, especially if you have excelled in the past. When your reputation and good name come under attack, you may lose some friends, but they were not true friends in the first place. If they forsake you, (Heb 13:5-6) God will not! You have a choice you can believe what you see and hear or you can believe God's Word! (Prov 16:7; Prov 21:1; (2Co 5:7) Genuine believers are revealed under pressure! Therefore, momentum testing has the added benefit of winnow­ing our social life. (Separating us from the wrong people)  In the final analysis, our social life with God is far more important than our social life with people! Our relationship with God is our stability! (This is only possible by resisting our desires! and obeying His!) (2Co 5:15) He is not upset because you have been treated wrongly. He desires that you be Occupied with Him! And He knows that system testing can accelerate your progress toward that goal! We normally call our fellowship with God “Spirituality” or “worship” or “the Christian way of life,” but these often fail to communicate. “Social life with God” more aptly describes our fellowship with Him. We can also enjoy God during our lives on earth! Through His Truth and lovingkindness! (Psa 25:10) We can find pleasure in Him. Our social life does not depend on being able to see, touch, or hear God; the Word of God is a much “more reliable witness” than our human senses! (2Pe 1:19) When we make our relationship with God our most important social life; that is Spiritual momentum! This is the interlock between Truth in gate four of the Spiritual life and Personal love for God in gate five. If you’re social life with Him is right, then no failure or alleged failure in life can cause you to use your own volition to destroy yourself in the satanic system, this is based on your harmonious rapport with God! (Amos 3:3) Since the challenge to your Spiritual momentum involves: sin nature, people, thought, system and disaster testing; the solutions to these separate pressures must com­bine! The believer must utilize Impersonal love to deal with the people in the sys­tem and must use the faith-rest drill to cope with the injustices of the system itself. This will happen over and over and over again! Until we completely live in God's Reality, by God's will! Or we live by our own reality by Satan's will; (John 6:66-68 ) and die the sin unto death, (Jer 23:17-18) our choice! (Heb 10:26-27) We are not our own we were bought with a price! (1Co 6:19-20; Jer 23:22) (Do we go all in? Or do we fold?) (1Jn 1:5-6)

DIRECT ATTACKS OF THE COSMIC SYSTEM SATANIC CONTROL OF THE SOUL

     Satan has no integrity! In eternity past he received maximum love and gen­erosity from God, which he repaid with ingratitude and treachery. Ruthlessly ambitious to advance himself, Satan promises happiness and prosperity he can­not produce. His policies appear to be noble, elevated, and enlightened, “and no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2Co 11:14-15) But his apparent “good ideas” always have a dark side. If you are not alert to his sinister lies, you become his slave. 

     If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, [Human and demonic thinking] how great is the darkness! (Matt 6:23) 

     Satan is a menacing foe, “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1Pe 5:8) He is single-minded; he knows his objective — to discredit God and establish his own utopia on earth. He is well organized. He has a system for achieving his goal. To gain control over the kingdom he now rules, the devil manipulates mankind in the cosmic system. We as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are Satan’s prey. Satan is an insidious genius who would deceive us all — were we not protected by God, His Thoughts, angels and the Spiritual life.

     A magnetic leader, Satan commands vast forces of fallen angels or demons; Earth and fallen mankind belong to his realm. In the Bible Satan’s kingdom is called the kosmos, usually translated “world.” Kosmos refers to a system, an or­derly, cohesive organization with a purpose, policy and structure of authority. When the Bible declares that someone loves the world (2Ti 4:10; Jas 4:4; (1Jn 2:15-16) or lives according to the human and or demonic thinking of the world, (Rom 12:2; Eph 2:2) that individual resides in the satanic system of power. He enslaves himself to Satan’s authority, executes Satan’s policy, and thinks with Satan’s thoughts and fulfills his purpose! The cosmic system employs two main systems of false reality, which pose the fifth and sixth momentum tests. The arrogance complex: Preoccupation with self, leads the believer into being lukewarm toward God and His Word, while the hatred complex: Preoccupation with others, multiplies that indifference into hatred toward God and His Word. Worldliness is individual involvement in the cosmic system. (Just being out of fellowship and not growing Spiritually) Satan encour­ages superficial definitions of worldliness to camouflage his evil strategy. Legal­istic believers mistakenly assume that worldliness consists of gambling, carous­ing, fornication, smoking, dancing, drinking or any behavior that shocks them personally. But while such activities may reflect poor judgment and may indeed involve sin, in one cate­gory or another, they are not the essence of what the Bible describes as worldly. Worldliness is what you think inside the cosmic system, (Prov 23:7) not just what you do. Satan’s ultimate weapon is evil thought — the subtle distortions of God's Word, half Truths and lies he uses to control man’s thinking! This ultimate weapon is called demon influence. When you embrace satanic thoughts you are the dupe of Satan. Your sincerity does not protect you; ignorance is no excuse. You become your own worst enemy. When you believe “the father of lies,” (John 8:44) the content of your own soul prevents Spiritual growth and prohibits Divine blessings. 

     But that same Spirit [God the Holy Spirit] explicitly communi­cates that in later periods of time some [Believers] will fall away from Truth, [Become apostate] paying attention to deceitful spirits [Occultism through the old sin nature] and concentrating on [False Biblical, demonic and human thoughts] doctrines of demons. (1Ti 4:1) 

     “Doctrines of demons” enters your inventory of ideas when your volition operates without the filling of God the Holy Spirit and Divine Thinking (John 4:24) This absence of Truth, this vacuum in the soul, is called in the Greek mataiotes, “emptiness, vanity.” This vacuum draws in false thoughts filling your soul with arrogance and antagonism. 

     For bombastically speaking arrogant words from the source of emptiness, [The mataiotes vacuum] they [False teachers] keep enticing by lusts, by lasciviousness, those [Believers]who barely escape from those who live in error. [Unbelievers] (2Pe 2:18) 

     Man is weak not strong. We borrow strength — for good or for evil — from two antithetical sources: the Spiritual life or the cosmic system. If you re­fuse the power of the Spiritual life, then you are controlled by the tyran­nical cosmic system. When you reject the Word of Truth, you receive the alterna­tive, satanic thinking, with destructive effect. We either live and Think with God's Thoughts and Spirit or Satan's thoughts and spirit!

     He who eats My flesh [Believes: in who He Is, The Christ!] and drinks My blood [Believes: in what He did, being judged for us!] has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:54)

     It is the Spirit who gives life; [Spiritual Thinking] the flesh [Human thinking] profits nothing! The Words that I have spoken to you are spirit [Spiritual] and are life. (John 6:63) But He answered and said, "It is written, MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, [Human provisions] BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD. [Spiritual provisions] (Matt 4:4) This is a Spiritual life and requires Spiritual Thoughts! (John 6:48; John 14:6) Is not the cup of blessing [Communion] which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? [Lamb of God, being judged for us! Etc.] Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? [The perfect God-man unleavened in Thought and Person, (Matt 16:12) Etc.] (1Co 5:8; (1Co 10:16; Num 9:11-12; John 19:36; John 7:16; John 14:24)

     You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst. (Neh 9:20)

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit [In fellowship] and Truth. [His Thinking] (John 4:24)

     No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles [Unbelievers and believers out of fellowship] sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. [By being out of fellowship] You cannot drink the cup of the Lord [Be in fellowship with The Holy Spirit, Living water, Etc.] and the cup of demons; [False spirit, cosmic system] you cannot partake of the table of the Lord [Truth, Bread of life, manna Etc.] and the table of demons. [False thinking] Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we? (1Co 10:20-22)

     You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world [Living out of fellowship] is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world [Living by human and or satanic thoughts] makes himself an enemy of God. (Jas 4:4)

     If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound Words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the Doctrine conforming to godliness, [Staying in fellowship and reaching Spiritual maturity] he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the Truth, who suppose that godliness [The Spiritual life] is a means of gain. But godliness [Staying in fellowship] actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. (1Ti 6:3-7)

     When we are not content with the Spiritual life and Truth we are living by the flesh!

     For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh [The old sin nature] but according to the Spirit. [In Fellowship] For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things [Human and satanic thoughts] of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things [Spiritual Thoughts] of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, [Temporal: being out of fellowship] but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, [In harmony with God] because the mind set on the flesh [Human and or satanic thoughts] is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, [Thinking of God] for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh [Out of fellowship] cannot please God. (Rom 8:3-8) cf. (Heb 11:6)

     When human volition presents any opportunity, (When we get out of fellowship) Satan seizes the initiative; the individual “receives arrogance.” If the unbeliever refuses protection in the Spiritual life, through faith in Christ, (John 3:18) and or obedience to the laws of establish­ment; (1Ti 1:9) and if the believer fails to rebound and continue in Truth, arrogance inten­sifies. False thinking and evil ideas infiltrate the soul until he can no longer make good decisions! Spiritual “blindness” blacks out his soul; (John 12:40; (2Co 4:3-4) he develops “hardness of heart” or scar tissue of the soul. (Exo 7:22; Exo 9:34) Unknowingly or deliberately, you fall victim to satanic influence by your own volition. You choose to submit to “the spirit [Satan's false spirit] that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” (Eph 2:2) Through active or passive consent, you create an opening for demon thinking to enter your soul. You may actively pursue evil, as in Satan worship or idolatry; (Col 3:5) or you may passively render yourself vulnerable through drug addiction or through attitudes of self-righteousness, self-pity, anger, guilt reaction, being lukewarm, (Rev 3:16) or disrespect for establishment authority. Sin is not just sin; sin triggers the power of the cosmic system. (Rom 1:21)

PROFILE OF SATANIC POLICY 

     Both systems of Satan exploit your bad decisions, impris­oning you in a maze of satanic deceit. By definition a Supernatural life is a system of power in which man is controlled by a power greater than himself. God de­signed one system to bless man; Satan has two systems that enslave man. You cannot change these three Realities! You can only recognize their existence and choose between them! The Spiritual life produces winners in life! The two cosmic systems manufacture losers!

THE COSMIC SYSTEM IS USED AS:          

1. The vehicle for administering Satan's rulership of the world. (Eph 2:2) 

2. A repository and or classroom for the transfer of cosmic and false Biblical thinking to man. (1Ti 4:1-2) 

3. A tactical trap for enslaving mankind. (2Ti 2:26) 

4. A factory for producing losers. (Heb 4:1-2) 

     In the arrogance complex, or cosmic one, man is preoccupied with himself. Because he exaggerates his own importance, he cannot appreciate Divine grace, nor can he enjoy the blessings of God’s plan for his life. By overestimating him­self, he becomes his own worst enemy. He emphasizes self instead of God. In the hatred complex, or cosmic two, man is preoccupied with others and antagonistic toward God and the plan of God. A person, who rejects, disputes, contradicts, or ridicules the Word of God creates his own frustration by fighting against the Truth. (Prov 8:36) The hatred complex emphasizes human viewpoint rather than Divine Viewpoint.

     The arrogance and hatred complexes reflect the history of Satan’s personal career. Originally he was the most powerful, intelligent, and personable of all angels; he was the anointed cherub, the exalted, aristocratic guardian of the throne room of God. (Eze 28:14-15) But, savoring the admiration of other angels, Satan became preoccupied with himself. (Eze 28:17-18) He re­garded himself as the equal of God, and for this blasphemous arrogance he fell from grace. (Isa 14:13-17) In his fall Satan lured one-third of all the angels into his self-centered conspiracy. (Rev 12:4) The arrogance complex duplicates in man Satan’s attitude at the time of his own fall. Two cosmic systems exist because Satan intensified the strategy of ar­rogance that he used originally against the angels. When God created man to duplicate the angelic conflict, (Acts 26:18) the devils darkness expanded from arrogance into deliber­ate, violent opposition toward God. In bitter antagonism Satan contrived the fall of man. (Gen 3:4) The hatred complex duplicates in man Satan’s attitude beginning with the fall of man. The arrogance complex represents the philosophy of Satan in the prehistoric angelic conflict; the hatred complex is his philosophy in the human extension of the angelic conflict. When anyone lives continually in the arrogance complex, he is inculcated with the thinking of Satan as the ruler of fallen angels before the crea­tion of man. Anyone who remains in the hatred complex is inculcated with the thinking of Satan as the ruler of the world after men became his prisoners. (Isa 42:7) Yes everybody! Nice people, and mean, and everything in between! (Rom 3:10-12)

THE TWO PRISONS OF SATAN’S COSMIC SYSTEM 

     Each of Satan’s prisons creates human slaves. The gates of the arro­gance complex interlock to enslave man to his own bad decisions; the hatred complex enslaves man to Satan. The arrogance and hatred complexes explain sin nature good, evil, and misery in the human race! (Matt 7:22-23)

     But if you have bitter jealousy [Preoccupation with others] and selfish ambition [Preoccupation with self] in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the Truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. (Jas 3:14-16)

     But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, [Religion and human morality: nice on the outside] although they have denied its power; [Not living in fellowship] Avoid such men as these! (2Ti 3:1-5)

     The Spiritual life explains Virtue and capacity for love and happiness.

     Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, [No preoccupation with self] is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, [No Preoccupation with others] does not rejoice in unrighteousness, [Being out of fellowship] but rejoices with the Truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love [The Spiritual life] never fails…! (1Co 13:4-8)

     When we always think about what they are wearing, saying, or thinking, Etc. Or if we are always thinking about the future, the past, self, what we want, money, job (Matt 6:31-34) we are living in Satan's prison! (Prov 23:7) God's Reality is completely different!  (1Jn 2:15-17) God does not want us to live double minded; (Jud 1:18-19) the way we participate is by growing to Spiritual maturity, by staying in fellowship, and Thinking with His Thoughts! (1Pe 4:1-5) And this is hard work! (Rom 8:17-18)  As goes the believer, so goes the nation! If a minimum amount of believers don't reach Spiritual maturity God destroys that nation! (Jer 40:2-3; Amos 3:6)

     And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we Commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. (1Th 4:11-12)

     The cosmic system continually threatens your Spiritual momentum. Gates from the arrogance and hatred complexes interlock in many combinations, at­tacking each believer’s personal weaknesses and areas of blindness.

     Be of sober spirit, [Serious-minded] be on the alert. [This is a war!] Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith. [In fellowship, Thinking with the Mind of Christ] (1Pe 5:8-9)

     Wear for yourselves the full armor from God [The Spiritual life] that you may be able to hold your ground against the tactics [False thinking] of the devil. (Eph 6:11) 

     The devious “tactics of the devil” are exposed in the gates of the cosmic system, but we cannot resist the cosmic system in our own power. Only Divine Viewpoint Thinking can defeat the sinister force of the demon influenced (False thinking) in our sin nature. (Matt 15:18-20) We must understand the Commands of the Spiritual life and obey these Thoughts as a guide to using our own judgment and Spiritual common sense. (1Sa 15:22-23; Heb 5:8)

SUMMARY OF THE ARROGANCE COMPLEX 

     The arrogance complex is like quicksand. You may enter by any gate, but once in this prison, you are in a position of weakness. In a state of weakness you cannot make good decisions. If, as a believer, you do not escape through imme­diate rebound and application of Truth, you sink into new weaknesses; suc­cumb to new sins that never before tempted you. Arrogance affects every facet of your soul; demon influence eventually alters your personality. Although one gate drew you into the system, many gates will pull you down until you are buried in cosmic involvement. (This is all God's plan! He makes it easy for us! His way is blessing! Eternal happiness, etc.... Any other way! Misery then death! (Luk 16:28; (2Pe 2:17-22)

There are twelve gates in the arrogance complex:  

1. Attitude arrogance

2. Negative volition

3. Authority arrogance

 4. Self-righteous arrogance

 5. Sexual arrogance

6. Criminal arrogance

7. Psychopathic arrogance

8. Arrogance of unhappiness

9. Iconoclastic arrogance

10. Rational and irrational arrogance

11. Arrogance of Christian service

12. Client nation arrogance

     Gate 1, Attitude arrogance. Mental attitude sins are motivational evil, lead­ing to the functional evils of all other gates of the cosmic system. When you are proud, jealous, vindictive, lustful, afraid, bitter, angry, unforgiving or immersed in self-pity or guilt, you “give the devil an opportunity.” (Eph 4:27) No other category of sin is as destructive to your Spiritual momentum, for as a man “thinks within himself, so he is.” (Prov 23:7) You must guard yourself against mental attitude sins! Rebounding quickly and restoring the relaxed mental attitude of gate two of the Spiritual life.

     Gate 2, Negative volition. Preoccupation with self leaves you indifferent to the Word of Truth. You may concede that Truth is God's Thinking, but your priorities are faulty. You ignore the Word of God, and although not antagonistic, you render yourself defenseless in the Spiritual conflict. Satan manipulates you when you cannot wield the “sword of the Spirit” against false thinking! (Eph 6:17)

     Gate 3, Authority arrogance. In pride man duplicates Satan’s original rebellion against God and the devil’s subsequent tyranny over man. Arrogant people under authority despise their leaders and conspire to overthrow or undermine them; (Psa 12:2-4) arrogant people in authority abuse their power. (2Sa 12:1-9) An arrogant, successful person assumes that the organization in which he excels depends on him, but in reality he depends on the organ­ization for the opportunity and environment for success. The arrogant, unsuc­cessful individual blames the system for failures caused by his own inefficiency, ineptitude, or laziness.

     Gate 4, Self-righteous arrogance. The devil incorporates all possible old sin nature good into his cosmic system, (2Co 11:14) attempting to establish his own Millennium and prove himself “like the Most High God.” (Isa 14:14) Satan turns old sin nature morality into self-righteous arrogance. The self-righteous, legalistic Christian believes his experiences and achievements give him special standing with God, but “there is no partiality with God.” God deals with all mankind by the same standards of justice. (Rom 2:11) Self-righteous people often become crusaders, imposing their prejudices on others. Haughty and vain, they judge anyone less perfect than themselves. (Matt 7:1-2)

     Gate 5, Sexual arrogance. When not harnessed by Virtue in the soul, normal desire for sex becomes a powerful distraction to Spiritual momentum. (2Sa 11:2-4; (1Co 7:33-35) Self-centeredness demands self-gratification. Driven by lust, which is desire out of control, sex ceases to be an expression of his love between husband and wife. An unbridled quest for self-gratification uses rather than loves another person. Sexual arrogance destroys capacity for romantic love and leads to boredom, misery, impotence, perversion and degeneracy. (1Co 6:18) Sex becomes ritual without reality, a frantic search for happiness.

     Gate 6, Criminal arrogance. Criminality is an arrogant way of thinking. (Prov 24:1-2) Despising all authority, the criminal chooses to become a crimi­nal. His own arrogance, not his environment nor his upbringing, leads him to the criminal presumption that he is superior to the rights, privacy and property of others. Instead of improving himself, he continually tries to prove himself, using and hurting others to demonstrate that he is in control. Other people exist only for his convenience. He prides himself in being above the law and regards him­self as a good person. By his own volition, the criminal is un-teachable. God ordains capital punishment for duly convicted criminals. (Exo 21:23; Num 35:30; Rom 13:4)

      Gate 7, Psychopathic arrogance. Apart from certain chemical imbalances in the brain that are physiological not sinful; psychosis illustrates the self-destructive power of human arrogance. Bad decisions limit future options; believer or unbeliever divorce themselves from Divine Reality through their own volition. (Rom 1:21-22) His subjective decisions evolve into a pattern of distorted thinking, which creates a fantasy world in his mind. He does not recognize this imaginary world as unreality and hence has no desire to remedy his illusions. Stubborn, intolerant, insecure, sometimes violent, he cannot relate to other people. This locked-in subjectivity often leads to suicide.

     Gate 8, Arrogance of unhappiness. Happiness is a personal achievement attained through obedience to Divine Commands. Happiness results from Virtue and Truth in the soul translated into good Decisions. In the Spiritual life consis­tent Divine Decisions create an environment for happiness in the soul. The arro­gant person, however, expects circumstances, possessions, and or other people to make him happy. When he is frustrated in these demands, he blames others. He wallows in self-pity, compensating for his bad decisions with further bad deci­sions in a frantic search for new stimulation. Misery does not love company; misery demands company! The unhappy person with a martyr complex spreads a cloud of gloom over all in his periphery in order to control people and have his own way. The arrogance of unhappiness is subjective preoccupation with self. 

     Gate 9, Iconoclastic / Activism arrogance. Historically, in eighth and ninth century Byzantium, an iconoclast or “image breaker” was a fanatic who destroyed reli­gious images or objects of respect and worship. (Gal 1:13) Illustrating cosmic inflexi­bility in personal relationships, an iconoclast is a person who is subjectively pre­occupied with self and others: he builds up a perfect image of someone, then, discovering his idol’s human flaws, attacks this person he delusively worshipped. Worship is a virtue only when directed toward God. (Exo 20:1-7) The arrogant person idol­izes someone; he should at most respect or admire. Inevitably the iconoclast discovers his idol’s feet of clay, suffers disillusionment, and reacts bitterly; destroying the idol he alone created.

     Gate 10, Rational and irrational arrogance. Whether ignorant and stupid or educated and brilliant, the arrogant fancy themselves rational when disputing or superficially interpreting the Bible. I call this rational arrogance, although no distortion of Truth is ultimately rational. God is rational, and He reveals Him­self to the humble, the teachable, those with positive volition. (Psa 25:9) Truth cannot be reconciled with human philosophy and science; man’s thinking must recon­cile itself to God's Thoughts. Irrational arrogance is emotional revolt of the soul. God designed emotion to be governed by the Word of Truth in the mentality; (Mark 14:36) Satan exploits uncontrolled emotion.   

     Gate 11, Arrogance of Christian service. Satan lures sincere Christians into the arrogance complex by weaving normally legitimate deeds into a fabric of legalism. While performing Biblically Commanded activities, (Without the filling of God the Holy Spirit; 1Co 4:20) these believers are oblivious to Satan’s manipulation, unaware that their Spiritual momentum has come to a halt. God Commands Christian service, but prayer, witnessing, giving, teaching, administration, and donations of time, assistance, and expertise to any field of Christian work can also be performed in the power of the old sin nature! (2Ti 3:5) True Chris­tian service is motivated by the Word of Truth in the power of the Spiritual life. No other Way! (John 4:24) Service performed out of fellowship with human thoughts and motives is “wood, hay, and straw” fit for burning, not for eternal reward. (1Co 3:12-13)

     Gate 12, Client nation arrogance. Satan rules the world, but Jesus Christ controls history. Our Lord selects certain nations to be His agents. These client nations have established governments that protect the freedom, privacy, and property of their citizens and, under the Concept of separation of church and state, permit the Gospel and God's Word to be taught. These nations also allow organizations to initiate and support missionary activity to other countries. The client nation is also a haven for the Jews, a place of refuge from anti-Semitism and persecution in other parts of the world. Israel was the original client nation, to be God’s chosen people, whom Christ the Messiah will re-gather and restore to client status at His second advent. During the Church Age, however, God blesses the entire human race through gentile client nations. Believers residing in a client nation are the “salt of the land,” the preserv­ative of the nation, (Matt 5:13) also called the “remnant.” (Rom 9:27; Rom 11:5) Although unheralded in the annals of history, anonymous believers determine the up-trends and downtrends of civilization as Christ directs the course of history to bless or discipline His own. (Jdg 2:2-4) Therefore, to subvert the nations, it is Satan’s strategy to attack the integrity of believers. (Job 1:10-11; Rev 20:3-9) When a majority of believers within a client nation become arrogant, rejecting Divine establishment and the Word of Truth, these believers are guilty of client nation arrogance, hastening Divine judgment against their nation. (Hos 4:1-6) 

SUMMARY OF THE HATRED COMPLEX 

      When the gates of the arrogance complex, interlock with the gates of the hatred complex your pride intensifies into stubborn antagonism. When illusions of self-importance are exposed and challenged, you react with resentment. When Divine establishment, the Gospel, and or the Bible contradicts your self-righteous delusions, you take offense at the Word. You rationalize your sins and defend your conceit by denying and attacking Divine Viewpoint Thinking. To jus­tify your own thoughts, you despise God and His Word. You become the ally of Satan in his unrelent­ing hatred of God and the plan of God.             

     If you were of the world, [Satanically inspired human false realities] the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. [A believer in fellowship Thinking with God's ONE REALITY] (John 15:19)

     When anyone hates his fellow believer, he is in the darkness, [Out of fellowship and in the hatred complex] and he walks in darkness, and he does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1Jn 2:11) 

     In these passages “hatred” is more than an isolated mental attitude sin; hatred is a satanic prison, a sphere of interlocking gates whose power can be resisted only in the greater power of the Spiritual life. Your antagonism toward the plan of God increases as the gates of the hatred complex interlock with each other. Negativism spreads to every area of life. Work, politics, entertainment, and friends all become targets of your uncon­structive criticism. Having destroyed your own relaxed mental attitude and capacity for Divine blessings, you become a chronic complainer. Circumstances and people are never right; you are never satisfied. Enslaved in demon influ­ence, you make yourself and those around you miserable. (1Co 10:9-11) You can never afford to succumb to any of the nine gates of the hatred complex:

 1.   The old sin nature

2.    Negative volition

3.    Degeneration

4.    Antiestablishment

5.    Demonism

6.    Cosmic panaceas (Cure-alls)

7.    Religion

8.    Anthropocentric academic speculation

9.    Evil        

     Gate 1, The old sin nature. As Satan’s inside agent the sin nature within man executes the devil’s sinister policy of hatred and antagonism! (Jer 17:9; Matt 15:18-20) Acquired by Adam at the Fall, the old sin nature exists genetically in the human body, “waging war against the principle of the mind” the human spirit where Divine Thinking, “the law from God,” is received, retained, and recalled. (Rom 7:22-23) By tempting man to commit sin, this inherent distorter of human life continually opposes the Divine plan for blessing man. (Gal 5:17)

     Gate 2, Negative volition. In the arrogance complex, negative volition ignores God through preoccupation with self, but in the hatred complex, preoccupation with others; attacks God, the plan of God and the Bible! Unbelievers who adhere to Divine establishment but then react to the Gospel with negative volition will begin to oppose the Truth they formerly believed. As a result, “the last state [Of negative volition] is worse for them than the first.” (2Pe 2:20) Each rejec­tion of Truth by believer or unbeliever intensifies negative volition until an indi­vidual has locked himself into antagonism toward God. (Exo 9:34-35; Rom 1:20-25)

     Gate 3, Degeneration. Degeneracy is the abuse of freedom that weakens a nation from within, inviting enslavement by a dictator or foreign conqueror. When individual citizens compromise their integrity, the national Spiritual life de­clines, the quality of life within the nation deteriorates. Because of negative voli­tion and prolonged arrogance, “God has delivered them over in the lusts of their old sin nature to degrading passions,” (Gen 19:4-5; Rom 1:26-32) to rampant crime, violence, sexual perversion, and drug addiction. Degeneration is disorganized evil; in contrast to political or religious tyranny, which is organized evil. A dictator monopolizes evil as he restricts freedom and controls the populace; degenerate himself, the tyrant suppresses degeneracy by forcing “strict environmentalist morality” (A political, environmental, economic, religious, demonic —TYRANNY!) upon the people. To secure power, organized evil attacks disor­ganized evil and persecutes Judaism and Christianity; disorganized evil does not persecute but coexists with Christianity. Degenerate unbelievers and believers are evangelized or exposed to Truth by Christians in the Spiritual life, who are the preservative of a nation; the “salt of the land.” (Matt 5:13 ; (2Ti 2:22)

     Gate 4, Antiestablishment. An arrogant individual contributes to the decline of society and the nation, but a rebellious, resentful person who hates Divinely delegated authority makes direct attacks against the Divine institutions — human freedom, marriage, the family, and the national entity. These institutions are essential for the perpetuation and prosperity of mankind, but individuals in the hatred complex subvert human freedom by denouncing its inherent components: freewill, privacy, property, protection and authority. They ridicule the Virtues of marriage and reject parental authority. They condemn, obstruct, and commit treason against the government. Malcontents obsessed with their own anger never offer realistic alternatives but desire only to demolish the authorities under which they live. Oxymoron: Anarchy Rules

     Gate 5, Demonism. Satan commands vast armies of fallen angels or demons who execute his strategy for controlling mankind. Certain echelons of demons operate covertly behind the scenes; others create a variety of overt effects. Demons can indwell the bodies of unbelievers, called demon possession, or in­fluence their souls with “doctrines of demons.” (1Ti 4:1; (2Ti 4:3) Demons cannot possess believers, who are protected by the indwelling God the Holy Spirit, (1Co 6:19-20) but the subjectivity, confusion and false ideas from demon influence effec­tively neutralize the believer.

     Gate 6, Cosmic panaceas. After aggravating the difficulties of life, Satan entices man with solutions apart from the Mind of Christ. Human viewpoint replaces Divine establishment, the Gospel and Divine Thinking. A panacea is an oversimplified, supposed cure-all prescription guaranteed to remedy a complex problem. Pana­ceas captivate the ignorant, those who resent Truth and arrogantly cling to false premises. A prevalent historic panacea is human equality, yet equality cancels freedom! The key to freedom in life; is inequality! Now and in heaven! (Luk 19:24-27; Rev 3:21) Socialism, communism and altruism all claim to accomplish good, but belong to the old sin nature and Satan's system! Although compassion and generosity are Spiritual Virtues practiced by individual believers in the Spiritual life, Christianity and or the Spiritual life is not a program of social justice and or social action. (Matt 24:6; John 12:8) Chris­tianity is not a crusade to eradicate evil from the devil’s world, (1Th 4:11-12) but a system of personal Spiritual growth. Understanding and Thinking with God's Thoughts Filled with God the Holy Spirit — and this provides the ONLY gen­uine solutions to life, death and everything in-between! (Matt 8:22; Luk 9:61-62; John 21:22; Rev 22:11-14)

     Gate 7, Religion. Satan’s most insidious ploy against the human race is religion. Christianity is not a religion. Religion is man by man’s efforts striving to gain the approbation of God; (2Ti 3:5) Christianity is man’s relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, and sharing His Thoughts and Nature! (2Pe 1:4) In religion man seeks God through personal merit and works; (Eph 2:9) in Christianity God seeks man through the saving work of Christ. (Eph 2:8) Christianity nurtures capacity for happiness when the believer turns over the control of his life to God through obedience to Divine Commands. Religion breeds unhappiness to the proselyte who surrenders control of his life and custodianship of his happiness to a hierarchy of human beings, who enforce ritualistic systems of asceticism and or lasciviousness. Christians who work for Divine blessing distort Christianity into legalism. They elevate themselves above Christ by emphasizing Christian service above His perfect, finished work on the Cross. Legalists exalt human production above obedience to Divine protocol and Thinking.

     Gate 8, Anthropocentric academic speculation. “Anthropocentric” means “centered in man; considering man to be the most significant fact of the uni­verse; assuming man to be the measure of all things; interpreting the world in terms of human values and experiences.”  If not seduced by religion, man can be deceived by philosophical academic criticism; to dismiss the Word of God as absolute Truth. When philosophical assumptions give central importance to man instead of God, academic research can amass persuasive yet fraudulent evidence against Divine Viewpoint. Because human rationalism and empiricism cannot prove Biblical Truth, the pseudo-intellectual rejects Truth and “advances in human knowledge out of bounds and does not remain on the field of play; by means of the Mind of Christ.” (2Jn 1:9) No one becomes a winner in life by running brilliant, intellectual touchdowns out of bounds, ignoring the Thinking of the Divine game plan. Life must be interpreted in terms of God’s Reality not man’s. (Mark 8:33)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyOHIFgyGW4&feature=related

     Gate 9, Evil. Evil is Satan’s self-destructive thinking as ruler of the world. The cosmic system is his vehicle for administering this sinister policy. God warns against evil; (Rom 12:9; (1Pe 3:9) and restrains evil in human his­tory through timely Divine judgments. (Gen 6:13; Gen 15:16; Matt 23:37-38; Matt 24:22) God will ultimately destroy all evil; God permits the devil’s policy to run its course in human history, to move people along! Although Satan labors to es­tablish a perfect kingdom, to rival the prophesied Millennium of Christ, the devil is incapable of enlightened rule. Evil excludes integrity. (Heb 5:14) Evil, “craftiness” Satan's thinking, (2Co 11:3) includes much apparent “good,” along with deceit, violence, terror, and confusion. Evil is the manifestation of Satan’s arro­gant, distorted genius in opposition to Divine Thinking, which is the manifestation of God’s grace.

     This summary of the arrogance and hatred complexes forces us to one conclusion: for your own happiness, avoid the cosmic system! In genuine humility you must recognize that you are no match for Satan, now or ever, and must never give him an opportunity to exploit your weaknesses. Regardless of your level of Spiritual maturity, his strategy appeals to your weaknesses. Human weakness can never defeat old sin nature strength. You can successfully pass these momentum tests only by learning and obeying the Divine system. You can follow Christ as a Spiritual winner only in the strength of the Spiritual life! 

DISASTER TESTING 

     The believer’s reaction to intense suffering can divert him from the momentum line and into the two cosmic systems. Loss of a loved one, a crippling accident, dismissal from a long-secured job, sudden disappearance of financial security, terminal illness — these major distractions can cause the believer to focus on himself and his problems to the exclusion of God's Declared Reality. (Matt 6:32-34) Even in the most dreadful circumstances, the believer must remain in control of his Spiritual Thinking, retain his Personal sense of destiny, and make good Decisions from a position of strength — in fellowship. If he permits himself to become enmeshed in mental attitude sins, he surrenders to Spiritual laziness and refuses to take the responsibility for his thoughts and actions! He has entered the cosmic system and failed the disaster test.

     The solution to disaster testing is Thinking by means of the three stages of the faith-rest drill. In particular, the shock of the crisis must be neutralized by Thinking Biblical Promises in stage one of the drill. Promises are concise Thoughts of God’s faithfulness and power, Reminders of His plan for our life.

     Self-pity and fear are often the immediate reactions in a disaster, and the believer controls his subjectivity and fear by reaching out with his faith to Think with Divine Promises. Promises refocus attention on God instead of self; they clear the decks for action, establishing the inner peace of the relaxed mental attitude. Without the relaxed attitude of the Spiritual life, no one can concentrate on the logical Rationales of stage two of the faith-rest drill. Mental sins like self-pity, lust, fear, and worry cut off Spiritual Thought; they obscure Divine Reality; they eliminate common sense. In a crisis the believer must reduce com­plexity to simplicity. He must remember Promises, which clarify his eternal relationship with God, instead of being overwhelmed by the complications that beset him. (Psa 61:2) When Divine Promises have calmed his fear, then with a clear mind he is able to concentrate on God’s provisions and reach Doctrinal conclusions. After Thinking that; “Since God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom 8:31) The believer can then approach the complexity of his current problems from a position of strength, not a position of weakness and reaction. Testing can come as personal disaster in which the believer faces a devastating situation in his own life, or it can take the form of historical disaster. Even the dangers and uncertain­ties of economic depression, social degeneration, and military defeat cannot destroy the Spiritually mature believer’s blessings under the plan of God. (Job 5:19-27) The believer inside the Spiritual life applies the logistical grace Rationale. He knows that God will support and bless him as long as the Divine plan calls for him to remain in this life. He knows that Jesus Christ controls history and that no Divine blessing will be denied to any advancing believer! (Psa 84:11) Historical circumstances never hinder God from blessing Spiritually mature believers. The believer residing in the Spiritual life faces national and worldwide disasters with the same Confidence in God and Courage toward people and circumstances that he maintains in a personal crisis! 

PROSPERITY TESTING 

THE MOST DANGEROUS TEST 

     Disaster obviously challenges the believer’s equilibrium in route to gate eight of the Spiritual life, but a much more subtle and dangerous test is posed by prosperity. Historically, no nation has ever survived its own prosperi­ty; individually, very few Christians successfully pass the prosperity test. Whether in national or personal prosperity, a believer is usually oblivious to the fact that he is confronting the gravest of all obstacles on the road to Spiritual maturity. Prosperity tends to blind the believer to the source of his blessings and the importance of Thinking with the Word of Truth. This causes more Spiritual casualties than does any other momentum test. God’s objective is to bless the believer on earth with Spiritual, temporal, social, historical and even dying blessings “exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think!” (Eph 3:20) Phenomenal Divine blessings are in store for you, not just in heaven but here in the devil’s world. This super-grace prosperity requires great capacity of soul. The accessories of happiness that many people struggle to acquire bring only complications and disillusionment for those who have not developed the capacity for appreciating and using them. Neither wealth, status, promotion, fame, social life, sex, possessions, nor any other attainment; automatically brings happiness. You must acquire the capacity for life, for love, for happiness. Such capacity is one of the mature believer’s Spiritual blessings, which protect him so that other, temporal blessings do not distract him from his continued Spiritual growth! Prosperity is always a test of character, self-discipline, concentration, and capacity. That is the rea­son the greatest blessings of the Christian life are reserved for mature believers or are given as a momentum test to believers who are just reaching the threshold of Spiritual maturity. From the point of Salvation onward, logistical grace provides what may be considered to be wonderful blessings, but the truly exceptional blessings are reserved for those who have developed capacity through consistent residence and function inside the Spiritual life! Because of your faithfulness to the Commands of the Word of God, you will be prospered! God invented the Spiritual life as His game plan for blessing you, and His game plan works! God keeps His word; if you follow His plan, you will be blessed! In social life you may find a wonderful new friend. In business you may be promoted into a new position of confidence that carries great authority. Economically a particular investment may make you wealthy in a relatively short period of time. There is an infinite variety of blessings that God can give; God prospers each believer individually with a different combination of blessings. In the midst of your pleasure and enthusiasm, you cannot imagine that anything could go wrong. But if you forget your Personal love for God, which motivates your Impersonal love for man, and if you forget the source of your capacity for Personal love, Divine Thinking, than everything will go wrong. Not only will you fail to enjoy your life, but any relationship you have, will multiply your own unhappiness and frustration! Any form of prosperity without capacity leads to boredom, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness! 

CAPACITY FOR PROSPERITY 

     No matter what your particular blessings may be that prosperity becomes a test of your capacity. Will you become so preoccupied that you forget the source? Will you complain about what you do not have rather than appreciate what you have? (Heb 13:5) Will you forget that God gave you everything you possess and that He alone sustains you in this life? Many believers never pass the sophomore stage of their Spiritual lives because they lose their perspective in the midst of the wonderful life that God has given them. Even with the relatively routine bless­ings of logistical grace, they fail to pass the prosperity test. Spiritual prosperity in the soul is the basis for enjoying all the temporal pros­perity that God can provide. The easiest thing in the world, however, is to lose your capacity. Your Spiritual prosperity can disappear even though you still possess all the overt accessories of happiness. If you neglect Thinking with the Word of Truth, that is all that is necessary for your capacity to evaporate. You will fail the pros­perity test, if you assume that your blessings alone will sustain you. If you assume that since you have already advanced so far you no longer need to take in Truth every day, day after day, every day! Till death! You will fall into the cosmic system! Momentum must be continually maintained; no believer can afford to neglect the perception of Truth. (Eccles 11:6) But Doctrinal perception is not merely a means to an end, a system of perpet­uating your capacity for overt prosperity. Thinking with the Mind of Christ is its own reward! Truth in the soul is the fountainhead of happiness; temporal blessings are never the source of happiness. (Eccles 12:8) Your happiness from your social life with God inside the Spiritual life overflows into the realm of overt blessings. When your daily wor­ship and fellowship with God through Truth are forgotten, then whatever overt prosperity you may still possess becomes ritual without Reality! The secret to the prosperity test is genuine humility, which enables you to learn capacity and appreciation. Genuine humility motivates obedience to the Divine Commands to faithfully absorb the Word of God! The perception of Truth in gate four not only produces Virtue love for God but also creates and maintains capacity for the blessings that He desires to pour out upon us as the demonstra­tion of His power and integrity in the angelic conflict. (Eph 3:10-11)

STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL VICTORY 

     Every believer is a strategic winner (Eternal life) in the plan of God, but few achieve tactical victory. (Reach Spiritual maturity) Christ won the strategic victory on our behalf; the Cross separates all believers from unbelievers, who remain strategic losers and will spend eter­nity in the Lake of Fire. (Rev 20:15) Our Lord has placed us in a position of supreme advantage over our arch­enemy, Satan, just as a brilliant general decides the outcome of a battle by choos­ing the terrain on which his forces will engage the enemy. At Salvation Christ places us in a position of maximum strength, the Spiritual life! Although His strategic victory guarantees us eternal life and a resurrection body, there is no guarantee of tactical victory in this life or eternal rewards in heaven. We secure tactical victory on the battlefield of our own souls only through continued function in the Spiritual life. Our objective is to become double winners, (Rev 2:26) to seize and hold the high ground of Spiritual maturity in gate eight of God’s power sphere! The strategic winner glorifies Jesus Christ once by making a single decision to believe in Christ for Salvation; (John 3:18) the tactical winner not only believes in Christ but makes thousands of Spiritual Decisions to obey the Commands of the Divine system. The believer advancing to Spiritual maturity maintains his perspective and organizes his life based on right priorities: Commands first, Virtue first, Christ first, grace first, momentum first, God's Thoughts first. The strategic winner is one of the “all” in phase two of God’s plan who receives Divine Personal love; the believer who is also a tactical winner is among the “few” recipients of Divine Personal Esprit de corps love. The greater blessings of time and eternity are reserved exclusively for double winners. Although the single winner will receive a resurrection body in heaven, he loses all eternal rewards. 

TWO CATEGORIES OF WINNERS IN THE PLAN OF GOD 

     Logistical grace sustains the strategic winner even though he lives in the cosmic system. In contrast, the tactical winner has exploited logistical grace in his advance to Spiritual maturity so that now he is blessed by logistical grace and super-grace. No adversity can disturb his inner tranquility; (With practice!) any suffering he endures is intended for blessing and accelerated growth. The believer who is only a strategic winner, however, is upset by the most mundane problems and suffers unbearably under Divine discipline. In all circumstances he creates his own misery, which is relieved only by intermittent stimulation that he mistakes for happiness. In similar circumstances the tactical winner manufactures his own happiness from Thinking with Divine Thoughts and shares the Happiness of God.

     The Christian who fails to exploit his strategic victory fears death and dies under maximum Divine discipline, the sin unto death. (Rev 3:3)  The tactical winner fears nothing in life or death. The believer in the cosmic system is a strategic winner but a tactical loser; after Salvation he will not glorify God, until entering the eternal state. The believer in gate eight of the Spiritual life is a strategic and tactical winner; he glorifies God in time and eternity. The cosmic believer may be a permanent winner, but after Salvation he makes wrong decisions from a position of weakness. The believer who exploits the power of the Spiritual life establishes a habit of making Divine Decisions.

     John defines both categories of victory and declares that only our Lord’s strategic victory places us in position to win the tactical victory. 

     For this is the love for God [Motivational Virtue], that we may continue observing [Thinking with] His Commands, [Advance to tactical victory in the Spiritual life] because every category of humanity which has been born from God [Strategic winners] overcomes the cosmic system, [Strategic victory as the basis for tactical victory] and this is the [Initial] victory which has overcome the cosmic system, our faith. Who is this person overcoming the cosmic system? No one else but he who has come to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. (1Jn 5:3-5) 

     As Peter was writing his second Epistle, he knew that he would soon die and be present face to face with the Lord. (2Pe 1:14-16) This impulsive apostle, who had overcome many obstacles on the road to Spiritual maturity, concludes his dying words with a Command to maintain momentum and achieve tactical victory. 

     You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprin­cipled men, [Carnal believers] you fall from your own stead­fastness, [Secure position in fellowship] but grow in the grace [Logistical grace] and knowledge [The Mind of Christ] of our Lord  and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2Pe 3:17-18) 

     Peter had earlier outlined the system for developing Spiritual momentum. The first three gates of the Spiritual life support the intake of Truth in gate four, and the tactical victory of gate eight is a result of faithfulness in learning and Thinking with the Word of God! 

     Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypoc­risy and envy and all slander, [Mental and verbal sins are eliminated by gates one, two, and three of the Divine sys­tem] like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the Word, [Basic Divine Thoughts] that by it you may grow [Tactical victory] in respect to Salvation, [Strategic victory] if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. [And WE have] (1Pe 2:1-3)

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